50

50. I told my Doctor that I might be half way. He laughed and said, "At least you're an optimist."
50 years old, 15 more and I will have old age pension. ..... now what..... what about all those things that i was going to do. i better get busy.

New blog

Once i have a blog i click on new post. I give it a title and type information in it. Click Publish Post

Chico

This morning i whistled for our dog Chico. It was early and the dew was laying about were ever there was shadow. Chico did not arrive. Hmmm...... He is off on an adventure again.
Later this morning i whistled again and up he gets from the tree bark piled around the trees, as if he had been there all night..... right, you sly dog you. Off on an adventure and then pretending to be just getting up.
It was time to tie him up so he does not follow me to school. So, I walk to the car and throw my lunch in the back seat. Chico sees this and knows i am not taking the truck. So therefore he knows that he cannot come with me. He stares at me with some kind of hope and a longing look in his eye but no,.... i walk past the truck towards his chain. He does not follow. I call him and he does not come. I call him again and he just looks at me. I crouch down and call him. This usually works. No. he watches and waits. His tail is still. I insist he come and he finally moves. He jogs toward me but changes his mind and hurries to the quad and jumps up on the box on the back rack. he looks at me again with that look of , I would rather go quadding than be tied up look. Poor creature.
I tied him up any way.

Math resource

Yesterday a staff member that also teaches math handed me a resource for math testing. I looked it over and found it to be very good and will use it today . This staff member is somewhat new to the use of technology. This morning i asked him where he got it. He said, "online, you just go the the web site and click on...." and so on.
It is a good feeling when others on my staff are using technology for teaching.

moodle

So,.... why is it that as a group of teachers, we do not create a unit of study or 2 on a Moodle?

We could edit it and, change it as we go. It could evolve. It could make reference to the curriculum. It could be like a group of teachers publishing something we all could use. Perhaps, it could be created by a PLC group for the purpose of teaching a given area of study.

Eyebrows

Why do Eye brows grow? More importantly , why do they wait till a guy is getting older and then they start to grow? What is up with that? Do eyebrows stay dormant for a while? Eye brows were never a problem before. Are they a sign of grouchy old man syndrome or something?

Bullying is when ...

Bullying is when people are not nice. It is when someone makes another person feel bad for an invalid reason. Bullying includes the total absence of Empathy for another person. Bullying is acting in a way that erodes another persons self concept. A person who bullies is counter productive to a group dynamic.

Sometimes bullying is used to gain friends or popularity. Sometimes bullying tactics are used to get people to do stuff. Bullying used to get people to do stuff, causes unhealthy stress and may be counter productive.

Each and every person has a different background, from which they have observed, experienced, and learned behavior. This most likely, will influence how people will act in new situations.
The more education one has, the more environments and experiences one may draw on to help determine how to interact with others.

So how do we help others when it is perceived that they are being a bully.

1. Tell them that they're behavior is being perceived as bullying.
2. Explain what bullying is.
3. Provide them with knowledge and examples of what is acceptable behavior is.
4. Teach them to be empathetic people.

So, ... what do people need in a computer?

I took apart my  mini netbook today.... 

Taking things apart helps me understand better, how things work, ... like Mom's video camera, but that is a different story.

The hard drive is really small.  The size  of  1/2 a matchbook.      It seems to be well put together as the hard drive, wireless card and RAM are all available by taking out a few screws. One could change hard drives  in a few minutes if needed, and carry an extra in your pocket. This might even make tech support easier.  Presently, most uses of computers are some kind of connected to the internet process.   This type of computer  provides this in a portable format. 

Advantages.

1.  Better battery life should be expected - ... as it has a small screen,  and no dvd rom to spin to use up power.  I have used it all day without charging it up.

2.  Portability - it is somewhat easy to carry around....  not quite as easy as a phone though. 

3.  Economy - lower cost

What does it need?

1.  It should have some kind of rubber outside, so that i feel it is more sturdy and rugged.

2.  It needs to have built in GPS, so that applications can use this technology in an integrated way, with other applications .

3.  It needs to have a built in phone so that i can talk to people on a telco network.

4.  It needs a better video card as it is limited to 1020 X 600.

What does it not do?

I have not tried video editing, but i expect it would lack video capability and storage space.

Things i need to try.

- sound editing and video editing

- connecting a GPS receiver 

Computer uses and needs are changing.

1.  Applications like word processing  are now on line, not on a server accessible in one building.

2.  Most high end video and  audio is better done on a workstation with a user home directory located on that same computer as opposed to a network home directory.

3.  People are acquiring personal communication devices.  

So what does this mean?  

It means more questions to ask.  like...

Do we even need centralized servers in a building?

Should we focus on connection or bandwidth?

Should we be focussing on high end computers for video editing and low end for accessing  and inputing  information? 

How long will it be before every student has their own communication device?  

When i went to high school, a new gym was constructed and made available for our grade 12 year.  The school acquired a set of blue badminton racquets.  We had a choice of blue or blue.  They had the balance and finesse of a club.  Over time students brought their own and there was no expectation for the school to provide the racquet.  The school provided the gym and the net and so  on.  

How long will it be before affordable communications devices are brought by all students ?

ICU

ICU - Intensive care unit

What a wonderful place to be if you need a lot of care. I had the opportunity to spend time with my Aunty while she was in hospital for surgery and then later in the ICU. The ICU room is filled with people talking and writing and collaborating and observing and assessing and evaluating and making decisions.

Quite intense.

With all this they say we do not know how the person will do. It is up to them.

Perhaps it is will or ... whether or not a person is able to recover.

Maybe both.

Aunty is 92. She is full of will and determination. She held my hand very tight even when she was barely awake. Almost as though she did not have to make a conscious decision to do so. She was given a 30 to 40% chance. One person that knew her said that if the surgeon said 30 to 40 he may have meant 40 to 50 and knowing Aunt Jo you could add another 20.

Aunty will be getting out of ICU when a bed in observation is ready.

Medstead Broadband student connectivity rate

Medstead Central School is a rural school that worked with Industry Canada to provide high speed access to the school and surrounding rural area. EVSL.com was the successful applicant to Medstead Broadband project. Little Loon Wireless was created and became the ISP.

Before the project began Medstead school had and inadequate connection to the internet and there was no high speed connectivity to the village or reral area.

The folowing is todays connectivity to high speed. 100% survey - students 7-12

87.18% - students connected to high speed
66.67% - students are Little Loon customers
90.91% - rural students are connected to high speed.

* during the project Sasktel deployed DSL connectivity to the village of Medstead.
** a large portion of rural customers are Little Loon

87.18% 66.67% 90.91%

Bandwidth

The current deployment of bandwidth in this province needs to be changed in order to provide everyone with reasonable high speed. I have noticed however that it is moving slowly and most likely it will improve. but... some rural people are being left out. I see city schools bandwidth increasing, so most likely our rural school will follow. The current speed that we have does not meet Industry Canada requirements for high speed.

The cost of technology and where it is going

The cost of technology will be a higher cost to the public if we continue to train them. It will be lower if we educate them.
We need less this is how you do it, and more go discover what this is for.

Well i guess sometimes everyone needs some training, this is how you do this.

Web 2 instead

I am learning again. feels good to change my mind. Web 2 may have removed the need for more stuff in the school, like publishing applications and the need for a static ip. These were very important goals that may or may not be needed anymore, but are nice to have. Static ip what a concept. I notice the service providers charge more for one, than an ip address that changes.
We will continue to publish student work on our own server. We are also using web 2. Web 2 provides a huge variety of resouces.
A server has been turned over to some grade 8 students. it has it's own static ip. it will be interesting to see what they do with it. I expect that they will start with web page stuff. i think i will smake suggesstions that will challenge them after a while. maybe databases.