Teaching CS in Dallas

What this blog is about....

Every day this week, I've woken up to an email from a spammer.  In the past I was getting them once or twice a month.

My definition of a spammer ... any one who emails unsolicited.  Evil spammers are people who want a link to your website.  Even eviler, and that's what I have been getting this week, is people who want a link and haven't bothered even reading the blog.

Here's the deal.  I blog purely for myself.  I'm not after selling anything.  I do not welcome or accept guest hosts (this is mine, darn it), and if I link to another website, it's because I think it might be useful to an other computer science teacher (and no, I don't teach business).

I don't post lesson plans because the lesson plans I have, I have written for the district on extra pay, and have been provided to the other teachers in the district.  If I do come up with something unique, and my movies are one of them, I post it here.

Most of the time, I just delete that spam, but today I think I'll answer back with this post.

Only one bad class right now

It’s the last period of the day.

So here’s how my day goes:

• 1st Period – CS
• Super kids.  Quit a few come early.  A couple of them have families with chronic time problems.  They come in, sit down, participate in demonstrations and most get their work done.  Those who don’t do it quietly.
• 2nd Period – Math Study Skills
• Do Texas Web Tutor – small class – quiet but does do some off task talking and surfing.  Everyone gets something done.
• 3rd Period – PAWS (Study Hall)
• Seniors – have figured out the rules in days, quiet roar, hey, they have figured out how to come to school every day and get things done.  Most are passing, most of their classes.  No one “failing”.
• 4rd Period – Tech Support
• 5th Period – Lunch
• 6th Period – PreAP – Doing XNA
• Awesome
• 7th Period – Math Study Skills
• Finally got them to understand the rules, oddly losing a couple of kids who weren’t discipline problems nor regular attendees helped.  They were kids not passing the TAKS who just did and are now in Reconnect trying to get credits.  One has come back for help but during PAWS, not this class.
• 8th Period – Math Study Skills
• Driving me nuts!
• MP3 player stolen in this class the day before Winter Break
• Have had to start sending people out and rearranging students.
• Called 6 parents during class yesterday.
• One kid had his phone out, was ignoring me, I took it put it in desk drawer and it disappeared later in the class period.

I haven’t had a class so radically bad in years and so dramatically different.  Starting Monday, I’m going to ask a different administrator a day to attend.

ARGH!

Loving Typepad

I love Typepad.  I was a Movable Type user for years, had it installed on my own server, and while I liked it, it was a pain in the rear.

I would get writers block every time I had to update it.

I even tried Wordpress when Movable Type went to a pay model.

By I LOVE Typepad.  So much I am a Typepad affliate and will get a referral fee for anyone who signs up.   They also pay for Movable type

Here's why I love it:

• I don't have to do with upgrading the system.  They change something, they do and I don't have to.  Yeah, I can write code and do maintance but when it comes to blogging I don't want to.
• I can post any way I want.  I can go to their web interface, use my phone, use Windows Live Writer or Adobe Contribute.  Or even Snag It.  I can even post by sending an email, and can respond to comments that way too.
• If I have a question, they answer it.
• I can use my own domain.

Create Your Blog Today TypePad

Campus Tech Rant - Why do I have to repeat myself!

Typical dialogue:

Do you think that the district will come out and do ....

I'll be happy to put in a ticket and see.

Do you think that the district wil come out and do ....

I'll be happy to put in a ticket and see.

Do you think that the district wil come out and do ....

I'll be happy to put in a ticket and see.

At this point, I walk out of the room and think you are an idiot.

What is the point of the exercise, do you think I'm going to change my answer?  That's all I can do.  Put in a ticket and see what happens.  I also think they want me to stop and write everything down but it's YOUR lab and you get to manage it.

Oh, and this one is retiring in a few months and some days I think she already has.

zune premium car kit

I am always looking for the perfect way to listen to my electronic devices in my car. headphones arent safe even my bluetooth. i have gone throigh 5 or 6 and so far was not successful until this one. and yes each one was better than the last.

I know the ultimate solution is to trade up to a new car but I'm not ready yet.   Would like to replace this Escape with an Escape Hyprid with Sync, but that isn't for a while yet, if at all.

Anyway, this Zune Premium Car Kit found a good frequency quickly, and manages to overpower the station as I drive around town.  Something that has been difficult for any other FM car transmitter.

It's worth the price, especially if you can get it at discount like Amazon like I did.

Visual Basic + Twitter is almost as easy #52WoC

My first mistake was to write the problem in Visual Studio 2003 .Net since that's what I teach with.

When I opened it in Visual Studio 2008, it works out of the box.

Here's the form:

So the code is just as easy as the C# code:

 

C# + Twitter is incredibly easy

I just found the 52 weeks Coding Challenge by Dream in Code and decided to take some time I am supervising my students to try coing a Twitter program.

So I've created a little C# program that sends a direct message.

I got the actual code from http://www.dreamincode.net/code/snippet4094.htm

 and the idea from http://www.dreamincode.net/forums/showtopic150412.htm

The implementation code is incredibly simple:

sendDirectMessage(

"kathweaver", "password", txtTo.Text, txtMessage.Text);

I've got my twitter username, twitter password hard coded and am sending the text from a textbox for the recipent and the message.

Why I love @SnagIt - Easy blog posting

Make a movie, but basically, if you want to blog about something on your computer screen, it's super simple.  Especially if you use Typepad.  There is an output accessory,which you install into SnagIt -- go to the Output Accessory Manager and install it.

Once you install it, you click on the Send Tag, Pick Typepad, and it has an input window for the blog -- better yet, watch how I just did it.

 

 

However, Camtasia is a bit more awkward, as I have to upload the movie to Screen cast, and then link to it while I am actually logged into Typepad.  I think as I have a tweet out about it.

Sample SnagIt

Here is my sample.

@mail2web is a fabulous service

I have been using mail2web forever, mostly to pull email when I haven't been at my home machine.  Several years ago when I started using smart phones, I started to look for a solution that would give me the perfect email experience.

I define that as having all my email available, always in one place.  When they make Exchange accounts available, I jumped for it.  In fact, kweaver.org is listed with them, and I have a redirection to get to the TypePad Blogs.

By using Exchange, I have about a weeks worth of mail on my smart phone at any one time.  I have the last six months or so mail on the exchange service and I automatically archive to my Windows Home Server -- have the archive on a file on the server itself.

It's rare that I need the over six months old mail but it's nice it is there.  I archived all the messages I got from my friends when Marcie, my Excellent Agility beagle died, and when I need to remember how special she was, I go read a few messages, which I couldn't do at the time.

My husband and I coorespond via email when he is on trips -- he has his home account set up on his blackberry in addition to his office mail, and it's nice to go back to the archived messages and see where either one of us was -- I usually move all that mail to it's own folder.

Outlook 2010 is looking REAL good, and it will be nice to go to Exchange 2010 when it is available, and I'm sure Mail2Web will be right up there with it.

But if you just need to check your pop mail at someone's computer, mail2web is good for that too.

More on the Tilt 2 and MyMobiler

So I've had my Tilt2 for over a week.  Well, I did a swap on Friday, was very unhappy because the screen scratches like you wouldn't believe.  Swapped out phones and bought a case which makes a HUGE difference.

Other that I love it. 

One of my favorite applications is My Mobiler.   See it at http://mymobiler.com/.  My Mobiler allows me to have my phone hooked up to my computer and be able to manipulate it.  Better yet,I can make a movie with it though some frames are missing.

My biggest problem is adding voice.

However, I'm finding using the Camtasia recorder works best.