Be Prepared

It feels satisfying and reassuring when I come across an article that agrees with a previous assertion of mine.

Joel, of "So You Want To Teach," posted an article on his blog that agrees with most everything that I stated about how preparation is vital to classroom management.

One of the primary reasons we lose our temper and los control of a classroom setting is because something surprises us or catches us off guard.

Just as it is the Boy Scout’s motto, “Be prepared” applies well in most every setting.

We’ve all been there. Some unexpected thing happens, we don’t know how to respond, and we just lash out with some sort of reaction. The difference between a response and a reaction is that the response is premeditated, and the reaction is instinctual.

Student E-Folios

Jeff Utecht, of The Thinking Stick blog discusses a great idea for any classroom.

E-folios.

Essentially, each student will create a blog. On their personal blogs, they will create categories for each of the subjects. There, they will keep samples of their work, be it scans, video, whatever.

Then, one category is labelled SLC (Student Led Conferences).

In the SLC, the student puts some of their favorite examples of their work from all the subjects. Then, during the parent-teacher interview, the students can lead the meeting and show their work to their parents.

Student blogs also provide students with the opportunity to reflect on their own learning.

Grademate

I was reading an edublog yclept "Cliotech," authored by Jennifer Dorman.

This led me to her Diigo page, on which Jennifer has bookmarked lots of good educational websites.

This, in turn, led me to Grademate.

This year, I utilized an online grade-keeping program called Snapgrades. It is good. But Grademate looks better. Grademate's interface looks nicer. Grademate allows students to view their marks for free; whereas, with Snapgrade, the teacher must pay a fee for this service.

Diigo and Delicious are great places to find resources once you find people (in my case, teachers) who bookmark things that are interesting to you.

Photo by Whimsical Chris

Recommended Edublogs

Here is a link to a PDF page that recommends about two dozen edublogs.

Chatbots

Larry Ferlazzo is an amazing edublogger who always finds great resources.

He wrote a recent post about Chatbots, which are websites that have robots you can chat with.

This chatbot speaks decent English, and could be fun in a classroom.

However, Virsona is a website that really piqued my interest.

Users can create Chatbots, and then input information for the Chatbots to use in conversations. Historical figures, such as Albert Einstein, can be programmed by anybody. It is an interesting way to have a conversation with a historical person, make them come alive, and learn about them.

Another thing users can do is create individual Chatbots. For example, I could create a Chatbot fashioned after myself, and program it to provide answers that I would provide. That way, friends and family members could have a conversation with me, even after I am no longer living. :)

Backup

Perhaps one of the most unpleasnt tasks related to computing is backing up data.

I have fixed many computers. To my knowledge, almost nobody backs up their important information.

For most people, I assume, the most important data is photographs. I have dozens of CD filled with thousands of family photographs. Organizing and backing-up photos is not a glamorous chore.

I have two better backup solutions, one for my desktop computer and one for my laptop.

For my desktop, I bought a 500GB external hard drive. There are many free programs that can be used to help you back up your important data. I use a freeware program called SynchBack. I like it. It is simple, easy to use, and it lets me backup my data to an external hard drive.

For my laptop, I use Dropbox. Dropbox lets me keep a copy of my important documents online. Dropbox is great because, unlike most other online storage website, I do not need to visit the webite to upload files. Dropbox creates a folder on my computer. When I want something to be backed up, I drag it into the folder and it is automatically uploaded. If I disconnect from the internet, then my upload is automatically resumed when I reconnect. The only drawback to Dropbox is that there is a limit of 5GB of space for the free account.

I may have stumbled upon a solution.

Microsoft's Skydrive gives users 25GB of free storage. Thanks to the RSS feed on my Google Reader, I discover a new utility from LifeHacker. It is called Gladinet. It claims to offer a similar service to Dropbox, in that users can simply drag-and-drop files onto a local folder in order to upload them to various online storage sites. Gladinet can be connected to a Skydrive account.

The only drawback so far is that you have to download and install Microsoft's NET Framwork, which is annoying.

I'll give it a spin and let you know how I like it.

Edit: Gladinet is much more than a simple backup utility. It has many features such as sharing resources between computers over the internet and intranets. In the future, it promises to make it possible to do things such as work on a Word document online using an online word processing program. That is to say, use the internet like a computer without installing anything on your local computer.

One drawback of Skydrive is that it has a maximum file size of 50MB.

Daily Routine

Sometimes the prospect of teaching makes me feel anxious.

Sometimes I feel like I am expected to entertain these kids for 4+ hours, and I don't know what to do.

Sometimes I run out of activities; sometimes the kids get bored. Sometimes, I keep looking at the clock.

The solution to this problem, like the solution to many problems, is to be well prepared.

If I, as a teacher, had to invent 4 hours of activities every day, then of course, I would become overwhelmed. It's an impossible task.

The solution to this problem is to have a daily routine. A template. Do not try to re-invent the wheel every day.

Here is a daily routine I prepared for my 5-6 English class:

Period 0

Write schedule on board

Prepare worksheets and materials

Period 1

Writing: Journal / Blog entry

Reading comprehension

Period 2

Silent reading – Reading Record

Math Test

Math Lesson

Period 3

Grammar Test

Grammar Lesson

The Writing Process

Science/Socials

Game

Period 4

Spelling / Vocabulary

Story-Telling

Speaking

Listening

Math Basics Drills

Period 5

Art

Puzzle