Category: Blog

For lack of a better name, I’m calling my new course — Introduction to Computer Science

We have two problems right now:

• Ninth graders are not suited for computer science (well, TAG ones are but they go into PreAP Computer Science)
• We don’t have enough electives for 9th graders.

Solve the problem: come up with an local credit course that will assist the students in getting ready for Computer Science.

The ninth graders that are in my computer science course do not have these basic skills:

• Type with both hands
• Write an email (or even sign up for an email account)
• Use the basic office products
• Use the internet effectively for research

Some of the skills I think they would like to have:

• Take a picture with a digital camera and do some minor changes.
• Make a movie — especially DVD
• Update and decorate Facebook or other type of social networking website
• Write a blog entry or other type of web based content

Skills I would like to them have

• HTML
• Basic programming

The good news is that I have all the software in the classroom needed for that.

So a brief outline for the course:

• 1st Semester
  • Keyboarding
  • E-mail and e-mail etiquette
  • Basic office products
  • Internet Research
  • Products
    • Term paper
    • Presentation about a topic for another class
    • Resume
    • See other departments about other products that I can incorporate
• 2nd Semester
  • HTML
  • Facebook page (or whatever the latest teen social networking site is)
  • Personal website
  • Programming with Alice or Scratch

As an on-going basis, we’ll cover ethics, privacy and copyright. Will also explore technical jobs. Probably as the come up in the news.

First, I’ll start out by saying I believe that Ada Lovelace is a myth and I’d rather honor Grace Hopper.  I did a paper on this and I have not seen any proof that Ada Lovelace wrote a computer program.  However, I know that Grace Hopper did.

Yes, Ada Lovelace lived and yes, she knew Lord Byron and I haven’t seen anything definitive beyond that.  But I’ll let people have their myths.

I’d rather have reality.

There are lots of really cool women in technology who have done some really cool stuff.  I’ll start by honoring every high school CS teacher I know that turns kiddos onto technology. 

My heroes are and have always been the women who left teaching mathematics to help with computers and computing during World War II — Grace was only one of them.   I suspect it was a harder thing to do than we realize. 

I have a Lenovo Think Pad X61 tablet that was given to me by the district for writing curriculum. I don’t use it enough and one reason is that I perceive it as being delicate. Dumb as it has bien thrown in the floor accidently and survied.

Last week I decided to see what cases are out there for if and found a case designed for it to be used as a tablet by Lenovo,   Link here:  http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/web/LenovoPortal/en_US/catalog.workflow:item.detail?GroupID=38&Code=41U3142&current-category-id=DBA092A7A5CD4E598362EF6B5A5A916B  Not a nice link.

It’s nice, and worth the price. However, it does force you to use the Thinkpad as a tablet, something I am still not comfortable with.  I am looking forward to using it when I present the next two weeks after Spring Break.

Shipping was fast — UPS, Signature Required and I got a phone call yesterday that it was coming.

I will definately buy another Lenovo Think Pad — in face, came close to it last week but bought the Netbook instead.

And yes, I am helping the economy as much as I can.

This thing is a keeper, I think.  It fits in my Ameribag – there is a pouch in it just the right size.  It doesn’t add TOO much weight, especially if I take out the items it replaces.

I’ve been installing the software I use on a regular basis – Microsoft Office 2007 (especially OneNote), Jing, Twirl, and set up Outlook. 

I’m not going to install any teaching software or programming software – so far, I want to keep it a fun computer – too much of my stuff is work related.

Works well with ATT phone and worked well with the Wireless internet at the hair place, so I’m very happy.  Ebags has a sleeve on sale that looks like a good solution too.

We’ll see, but so far, a keeper.

I have been wanting a small, portable computer that will allow me to internet stuff.  I have a Thinkpad but it is still a bit too big, plus it’s a school computer.  I have a Gateway, and again to big.  My phone and Nokia Internet Table are too small.

Office Depot  is selling the Acer Aspire 1 for $299.99 and so I snagged one today.  It seems to be the right size.  Something I can keep in my bag, and use my phone to connect with.  I’m going to try installing the software I can’t live without and see what happens.

Some fun things?  Live Writer comes with it.

So does a webcam, built in.   Also has Windows Movie Maker so I might be able to make a Vlog entry.

Buy.com — who I really like doing business with — had a sale on the Zune AV this weekend. Arrived today, via Fed Ed.  I decided I wanted it on the TV downstairs — gives me a place to recharge the Zune and an opportunity to watch the Zune on the big TV — besides I have a dock for the computer / TV upstairs anyway.

Also, my home theatre has been furbarred for a while — the TV output wasn’t put into the speaker system which has been a bummer for a while.

We have a cool system — speakers in the back of the living room and on the deck.  It’s really nice to go out to the hot tub and listen to the TV or stereo on the deck — we also have speakers in the back yard for the pool which is now gone.  I’ll have to see if we can still hear the speakers back there or if the wires have been chewed by nature.

House came with the speakers.

It’s actually no fun to do this by yourself, as you have to tweak a bit, in the back, go to the front to see if you are right but I eventually got it done.

Very happy, now I can rock the whole house AND yard literally.

It’s a good thing the neighbors are far away — and the speakers are closer to the street.  Yes I can hear the speakers in the back yard.

Anyone for a Guitar Hero or Rock Band party this weekend (no one under 21 allowed).

Many years ago, when my beagle Marcie was just about 5 months old, I was asked to participate in a photo shoot for a book — it produced the Essential Beagle.  Marcie was featured on 12 pages of the book.

So yesterday, I opened my electronic version of the book and used Snagit to capture the pages that Marcie are on.  It was quite easy.  I save them in .jpg format and put them on my Zune.

Yes, violating copyright, but it is only for my own gratification.  They are great pictures, and it captures a really fun day with Marcie.

Quoted from http://blog.acm.org/archives/csta/2009/03/fixing_computer.html:

Computer Science Teachers Association: Fixing Computer Science Teacher Certification

CSTA has recently published a white paper titled Ensuring Exemplary
Teaching in an Essential Discipline: Addressing the Crisis in Computer Science
Teacher Certification .

If you are considering teaching CS, an excellent read.  I found it interesting because I have met all the criteria.  Of course, they do find Texas has one of the better models for CS Teacher Certification.   I came from the work force, went back to school to get a teaching certificate and did student teaching.  The one thing I did not take then was a methodology course, though I did take one in mathematics. There was not a methodology course in CS offered in the area at the time.  I am certificed in both CS and Mathematics.

Several years after I began teaching, when we made a language change and a course change — from Computer Math to CS I (not PreAP), and from regular QBasic to Visual Basic, my district brought in a professor from UNT who taught a methodology course.  It was a lot of fun, and the class even produced a book that was available to other CS teachers.  What we did was to break down the curriculum in units and broke the class up into groups.  Each group produced curriculum materials for their unit.

I’ve since earned a Master’s Degree majoring in Computer Education and Cognitive Studies that really brought everything together for me curriculum wise.

It was nice to see that CSTA has validated my experiences becoming a teacher.

One of the reasons I wanted a Zune, is that I wanted a portable Game Development environment.  I want to be able to go on the road with a minimum of hardware for demos. The Zune is much easier to set up than the XBox.  If I demo with an Xbox, I really need two projectors, Xbox, computer and all the cables. Oh, and I can already do portable phone development of course.

However, the Thinkpad didn’t recognize the Zune.  I was getting a yellow box with exclaimation mark in the Device Manager and either a Code 18 or Code 1.  I’ve spent hours on the phone — literally — to see if I could get a solution from Microsoft and didn’t.

I’ve asked several people on Twitter and finally got an answer from @
ZuneFAQAH

The answer that worked?  Go to http://is.gd/me0Q install that program, and then install the Zune.  Pretty scary because the ThinkPad Touchpad stopped working. I had to go to the Control Panel, uninstall the Touchpad and then reinstall it.  Finding the driver was touchy, it was in c:\windows\system\drivers but now everything is working like a champ.

Man I love twitter.