ISTE 11: Days 2 & 3

29. June 2011 · Write a comment · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , , , ,

In reverse chronological order, and sort of bullet-y.  tl;dr version: some interesting controversy among computer science people, good food, still meh.

  • Rode home on the train with a colleague, early, skipped the keynote by Chris Lehmann, even though I’m sure it was fab.  I was conferenced out.
  • Wandered around Reading Terminal Market with said colleague.  She got sushi.
  • Attended a session on recruiting and retaining girls in technology and other stem fields.  It was pretty interesting, covering some ground about gender and stereotypes that I hadn’t seen others bring up before in similar kinds of sessions at ISTE.
  • Wandered around the playground area, where I saw the following:

  • I also saw a robotics team–mostly boys–and they named their robot a girl’s name–sigh.
  • Found the VEX booth and talked to them for a while.  They had the classroom competition set up.  I talked to them a little about our competition teams and how I’m adding a middle school team.  Then I asked if C (and some variations) were the only languages you could use on the robots.  As it turns about, they have a “brain” that’s basically Linux and that can accept any language.  It’s illegal for competition, but I’d love to get my hands on one and see if I could tie it into my existing curriculum that uses Python.
  • Wandered around the Exhibitor area.  Talked to some Google people.  Saw waaaaay too many Interactive Whiteboards.  And while some of them clearly do some cool things, they’re no longer game changers.  Five years from now, I think, they’ll be almost as pointless as overhead projectors.  Tablets are the next big thing.  I stopped by the BrainPop booth.  I love their animations, and they’ve added games.  Turns out we just got a subscription–pretty fun.
  • Wandering around the Exhibitor area made me feel a little ill.  Education is seen primarily as a market, as a way to make money.  Very few of the vendors, to me, seem to be interested in really improving education or teaching or learning.
  • Attended a breakfast for computer science teachers.  We heard two talks, one by David Gagnon from the University of Wisconsin, who discussed games and learning.  And then we heard from a woman and her students and how they use Scratch.  Both talks were good, through watching the Twitter feed, I was a little disturbed that someone (don’t know who exactly) said they didn’t know anything about computer games–and they teach computer science.  Wow. Just wow.
  • Last night, I ended the evening at an NCWIT event, for which I was very late, but I still got to talk to a couple of people.  I missed the drawing for Engineer Barbie.  Bummer.
  • Prior to that, I went to a cocktail hour sponsored by LearnBoost, which I found out from my friend Audrey Watters, a writer/journalist who I try to run into and talk to as much as possible. LearnBoost is a very cool application, btw, and one of the few vendors out there who seem to really listen to what educators want.  Check it out!
  • I needed that cocktail hour because just before that, I was at a Computational Thinking session where fights nearly broke out.  The CS teachers questions the goal of the curriculum, and saw it as pushing out computer science as its own class.  The presenters really didn’t have an answer for them, which was telling.  Discussion was somewhat heated.
  • And that whole issue–CS vs. “Technology”–was something that had continued (with the same actors) from the CS SIG meeting.  I heard stories of whole programs being wiped out as administrators invested more time and money in courses on using applications.  Fascinating stuff, and I got the feeling that not everyone in the group agreed and kind of wanted the controversy to go away.  I’ll have more on that another day.
  • Preceding that, I was at a pleasant meeting of teachers from Independent Schools. No controversies here.  Just sharing information.

At various points, I hung out in the Bloggers’ Cafe, chatting with various people, including Jenn Orr and her colleague and whoever was within earshot.  I also spent time in the Market, eating at Pearl’s Oyster Bar (so yummy), getting Thai takeout, getting BBQ chicken, and getting a couple of cannolis from Termini Brothers (also yummy).  I lost my power cord to my phone, but I bought a new one at Radio Shack.  Basically, I wasn’t terribly impressed.  I learned a few things, but it didn’t thrill me.  I don’t think I’ll make the trek to San Diego for next year’s.  I want to learn, to have interesting conversations, and not be talked at or, worse, sold to.

 

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ISTE 11: First Impressions

27. June 2011 · Write a comment · Categories: Uncategorized

So far, meh. For those who don’t know, ISTE stands for International Society for Technology in Education.  This is *the* conference for people interested in technology and education.  I came in bright and early this morning and then ended up skipping the first session because it looked bleh.  It was something about technology standards.  And maybe there was something worthwhile that I missed, but “meh.”  I did get to meet up with my friend Jenn and her colleague, which was nice–always good to connect with people.

My meh assessment so far comes from two places.  One, the sessions are mostly targeted at people who’ve never used Google Apps, Twitter, Blogs or [insert your tech tool here].  I could run many of the sessions.  They’re focused on tools versus pedagogy.  I’m being general her, I realize, but that’s my sense looking over the program.  I prefer, and have gotten used to, an “unconference” model where we have conversations around topics rather have people talk at us for an hour or so.  Additionally, I’m more interested in topics about computer science than applications.  The second place comes from my being new to the K-12 space so I don’t know that many people I can connect with.  That issue will, of course, resolve itself with time.

The first is just me evolving from being a user to a producer of technology, and being more interested in moving kids in that direction, too.  I did go to a session, however, where another teacher said something along the same lines, that he wished we would shift our focus a bit away from having students be just users of technology and toward having them create applications.

I’m sitting in a Python and Robots session right now, which is right up my alley, thought I’m having trouble focusing on the PowerPoint at the front.  He hasn’t said anything I don’t know.  He’s now mentioning Mr. Geeky and his programming course (IPRE), so maybe I’ll pay attention now.

Tomorrow, there are more CS-oriented sessions, so I think that’s going to be a better day for me.  Will report back tomorrow.

Productivity, Priorities, and Preferences

24. June 2011 · 7 comments · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: ,

I’m a failed participant in at least two productivity schemas–GTD and Flylady most recently.  I’ve been trying to think about why I failed at those programs and what would be the best approach for me.  The thing is, in my work life, I’m pretty darn organized.  I make lists.  I plan well in advance.  I keep a good schedule.  I communicate with colleagues when necessary.

On the home front, things are less organized.  I had great plans a year ago.  And while I kept up the pace for a while once school began, all it really took was a couple of longer than normal days to throw me off.  I didn’t stress about the home front, however.  I just let it go.  I kept things at a minimum level I could deal with (which is pretty good).  But now I want to simplify.  I want to purge the stuff that I don’t need.  I want to remember to make those appointments (and remember when they are after I make them).  I don’t want thoughts that I might have forgotten something disrupt the work I need to get done.

There are things from my previous failed attempts that I like, and that I think are doable. Taking 15 minutes to declutter an area is completely doable.  Making lists (sometimes while decluttering) is something I’m good at.  Getting the rest of the family to pitch in? Hit or miss.  So I’m going to try to do just those two things this summer.  Declutter in 15 minute intervals–even if it’s just once a day.  Make lists.  Cross stuff off the lists.  Relax.

Conferencing as a family affair

23. June 2011 · 2 comments · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , , , , ,

I have just returned from the NCGS STEM Symposium where Mr. Geeky and I were on a panel together.  We had originally submitted a presentation on the partnership we’ve developed between his students and mine, but we ended up on a panel about the pipeline.  It was really interesting and a lot of fun to do.  Because we have children that can’t be left at home, we brought them along.  We left them at the hotel for the first half of the day, and brought them over in time for our session, the last one of the day.  They sat in the back taking photos of us and seemingly listening — hard to tell.  At the end, Geeky Boy asked a question about the relationship between teachers and students and got several responses.  He’s decided he likes conferences and wants to go to more.  We might have a future academic on our hands.

We also spent some time with a couple of teachers and another professor from Wellesley.  Mr. Geeky has new computing platform he’s working on that is not only good for college level teaching, but has appealed to K-12 teachers (me among them, of course).  A couple of teachers contacted him and we met them for dinner and talked CS curriculum and robotics.  They were very nice people and I look forward to sharing resources and working with them.  I’m jealous of their positions–they are in a full CS department where CS is required starting in 6th grade!  It sounds awesome.

The next day, we met physics professor, Robbie Berg from Wellesley who does a lot of work with robotics and microcontrollers.  He helped design the Pico boards I have played around with a bit, and that I’m working on a way to work into some of what I do with my middle schoolers.  We got to see his robotics studio, where they have not only a ton of legos and microcontrollers, but a laser cutter, a 3-D printer, and some other cool equipment.

We had planned to hang around the next day and do some sightseeing in Boston, but it started to rain, and we were exhausted, so we decided to just head home.  We’re planning to make another trek in that direction, perhaps later this summer.  I think this was a good trip for us and the kids.  It was really the first time they’d seen us in a professional setting, talking about our work with others.  They hear it a lot around the house, and, of course, Geeky Girl sees me in the classroom, but it’s different to see how other people react and to participate in the conversation. They both got a good sense of what college is really like, another bonus to our trip.

Gettin’ Geeky wit’ it

18. June 2011 · 1 comment · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , , ,

The Innards--Or Part of them

So yesterday, while my house was occupied with, first, 5 teenage boys, and then two teenage girls, I decided to run a hardware test on my iMac.  We’ve had the machine for a just a couple of years–we’re approaching 3, I think.  It’s suffered some failures in the last 6-9 months.  I had run the hardware test before and found no problems with it.  This time, however, I got the message indicating imminent hard drive failure, so I started googling what I should do.  I found a couple of people who’d replaced the hard drive themselves, so I decided that would be a good way to go.

Mr. Geeky and I trekked over to our local computer store, picked up a 1 TB hard drive for $65, a screwdriver set for $20 (it has 100 pieces!), some canned air, and some suction cups (next door at Bed, Bath, & Beyond).  We also picked up more memory, but it turned out to be the wrong kind (damn my bad notes).  It took a while to take everything apart–maybe an hour or so.  But it was worth it.  As I type this, I am copying over all my music over from backup.

The screws--roughly where they go back

I also received a new phone today.  I had an original iPhone, which I have gotten a lot of use out of, but it was ceasing to function well for me.  It was slow, and dropped many a phone call.  I got a Motorola Atrix, an Android-based phone.  I thought about moving to an iPhone 4, but the price was way up there and I thought it was time to try something new.  I might even try my hand at developing something for it.  I’ve been having fun setting up my home screen, adding all kinds of widgets.  So far, I like the interface, even though some people complained about Motoblur, I think it’s kind of fun.  It puts social networking front and center, which is a major activity for me on my phone.  I also like having all my Google calendar stuff right there, which was a bit of a challenge on the iPhone. I never really liked Apple’s calendar.

Before all the computer and phone fun started, I spent a couple of hours programming a robot to go in a circle.  It’s an interesting challenge when your motor speeds aren’t very consistent.  More on that later.

Notes on the first week of summer

17. June 2011 · Write a comment · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: ,

Some highlights so far:

  • Went to a cooking class with my colleagues.  So much fun! Plus mojitos!
  • Took care of several myriad appointment stuff–dentist mainly, but also car inspection.
  • Have worked every morning on my class–going well so far.  The sad thing is I know that even if I create fairly detailed lesson plans, I’ll still be tweaking the day before each class.
  • Discussed in-service day plans with the keynote speaker, Chris Penny.  Very excited about this, but also lots of work ahead.
  • Had coffee with a former student, whom I’ve served as a job reference for.  She’s turning down job offers left and right, waiting for the right thing (and the right salary) to come along.  She’s an amazing student, who’s a great example of combining arts and humanities with computing.  She’s an art history major who does web development.  It really can be done!
  • Had dinner with a former colleague who is also considering a career/job move.  Good conversation, good food, can’t beat it.
  • I am up to 3rd grade math.  In two days, that’s not bad.  Actually, I’ll be doing some algebra later today more than likely.  I’m moving at a pretty good clip.
  • Having lunch today with colleagues (different ones from the cooking class).  Looking forward to seeing them outside of school.
  • Today is also Geeky Boy’s last day of school.  Last night was the last day of nagging him about homework/studying (which I think does absolutely no good, but makes me feel like I’m doing *something*).
  • I’m not sure yet if I’ll take the weekend off.  I suspect I’ll do some work since I’ll be away M-W. I live in fear of getting too far behind.
  • Though it sounds a little hectic, I’m really moving at a pretty relaxed pace.  And I’m looking forward to real downtime later this summer.

Relearning math

14. June 2011 · 4 comments · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , , ,

One of my many goals this summer is to brush up on my math skills.  I do use some math in programming, but I tend to shy away from challenges that involve more difficult math.  I also tend to like projects that involve strings vs. those that involve numbers.  That’s just me.  I do like working with graphics, though, and that requires a lot more math.  I find myself having to look stuff up more often than I’d like or it takes me longer to work something out than it should.

So I hopped on the Khan Academy site to see what they had.  And wouldn’t you know, but they have a game-like way of practicing your math skills.  I’ve been doing math for the last few hours.  And Geeky Boy joined in for a bit.  I started at the beginning with basic addition just for fun, and have only made it up to pre-algebra.  But, it brought back some good memories of when I used to love math.  Prime factorial trees! Long division! So much fun.  I suck at subtraction, but rock at 4 digit multiplication.  I also love moving decimal points around.  I remember when I learned that, I thought that was the coolest thing ever.  You mean you can move it?  And then move it again? So cool.

And I haven’t even really gotten to the good stuff yet.

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Going cableless

14. June 2011 · 3 comments · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , ,

One of our projects for the summer is to try to get rid of cable. We might even get rid of our land line, which we get through our cable company, so we’d be down to just getting Internet from them. We aren’t heavy tv watchers. Mr. Geeky watches a lot of movies, which he’s been downloading from amazon at 3.99 a pop. We signed up for a trial of Netflix streaming and we’re liking it so far.

Stuff we can’t find on Netflix, we can often get from hulu. Geeky girl often watches her shows that way. And Geeky Boy just doesn’t really watch tv at all. Our only issue right now is getting the two live shows we watch at night, Rachel Maddow and The Last Word. We can get them a day later via iTunes podcast or via the msnbc website. It’s just not as seamless a process as we’d like it to be. We have TiVo so we can actually connect to our downloaded music and podcasts via TiVo desktop, but I’ve had some issues getting that to work perfectly.

We’ve looked into other box options but we have two tivos that work perfectly well. For now I think it will be worth it to have to wait a day to see a couple of shows. And if we end up watching even less tv than we do now, not a huge loss really.

Here we go

13. June 2011 · 2 comments · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , ,

It’s going to be a busy summer. This week, I plan to continue work on developing my fall class. I’ve been planning out discussions, a few short lectures, and labs. To keep my programming skills sharp, I plan to work through my own exercises and I’ve devised a challenging project for myself.

I’m also attending 3 conferences, one a week from today, another just a few days after that and another less than two weeks later. I’m hoping those conferences bring me ideas for my work, but I do feel a bit overwhelmed by all of it. Still, I hope to take a real break after the last conference and not really think about work for a good 3 or 4 weeks.

Next summer, I think I’ll limit myself to just one conference. I’ll still be developing courses. That’s the blessing and the curse of building a new program. Even if I had courses in place, I’d still be making changes I’m sure. The pace is going to be different andd I’ll appreciate the downtime, a first for me in a job.

What was that about teachers not working in the summer?

Organizing summer

06. June 2011 · 5 comments · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , , , ,

Mr. Geeky and I were just discussing how to organize our kids this summer.  Geeky Boy is going to one camp.  Geeky Girl isn’t going to any, so we have long days ahead of us.  Though we want them to have relaxing summers, we also don’t want them to totally veg out. Mr. Geeky and I both have work to get done, and my personal plan is to work in the mornings and take the afternoons off.  A few summers ago, perhaps when I was still working on my dissertation, that’s exactly what I did, and it worked well.  I spent a focused 3 or 4 hours in the morning working, and then could relax guilt free in the afternoons.

We want the kids to do the same thing.  Both have summer reading to do.  We’d like them to do some other academic-like work.  We’d even be open to them playing music and other non-computer-like activity.  So we’ll figure out a plan and see what we all come up with.  What do you all do with your long summer days?

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