Point A to Point B

Month: June 2008

  • Bravo, Ladies!

    Three students from Heim recently won the Generation YES Go Green video contest. In the contest, students were directed to produce a video about how our school is Green and/or how it could be better at it. In the GenYES spirit, all aspects had to be student-driven. I can tell you without a doubt it was, and doing so proves how much our students can do given the right resources.

    Once Caroline was approached about this contest by Mrs. Merlino, she immediately enlisted Mary and Kelly to join in. The only time I heard from them is when they needed a resource, or some guidance in how to do something. They did it all, and a fine job they did.

    See the winning video at the Generation YES site here, along with the other talented student winners from California. Their videos will be featured at the National Educational Computing Conference in San Antonio June 29-July 2. Bravo, Ladies!

  • Moving Day – See You Soon (Hopefully!)

    movingtruck.jpg

    Moving day is upon me. I have to say that in the real world, I do not like moving, and in the virtual world of moving web hosts, I like it equally as little! After receiving word that my hosting service, Teacherhosting.com, is discontinuing service as of June 30th, I’ve been a bit stressed about making sure everything gets moved.

    I’m off to work with DreamHost, which was recommended by the folks at WordPress.org. This type of move is really nothing big, but if you’ve never done it, it is the worry that is the hard part.

    I’m going to take this opportunity to do the summer “cleaning” of the blog. Over the course of the next month or so there may be some theme changes, content moves, etc. I’m anxious to do my first post after July 1st.

    Happy summer…I plan to be back soon!

    Image citation:
    TheMuuj. Moving truck. Photograph. 27 Jan. 2008. 23 June 2008 <http://flickr.com/photos/themuuj/2224917035/>.

  • A True Buffalo Hero

    Students, please take note: we lost a Buffalonian yesterday that is worthy of the title “hero.” He was not an amazing athlete. He was not a wizard with business dealings or money. He was a smart, straight forward, honest, hard working journalist, and at the top of his game. Tim Russert is the type of person you should aspire to be like.

    I never met Mr. Russert, and since I’m not originally from Buffalo, it may seem strange that I (like many) feel a connection to him. If you read the book he wrote about growing up in Buffalo and his roots in the working class neighborhoods in South Buffalo, you quickly see that he was the epitome of hard work and dedication. Anytime he was on TV, be it Meet the Press, or any number of political shows, he set the bar for journalistic excellence.

    Compare his heroism to the typical sports hero. We easily get caught up in the amazing talents of a Bill or Sabre. They are amazing athletes, but many times the surface ability is given more credit than it is due. I certainly could not compete with the likes of Marshawn Lynch on the football field (or any pro sports player), but when his SUV hits a person, and he evades simple questioning by the police to find the truth, it makes my skin crawl (see related Buffalo News letter to the editor here).

    I certainly do not want to generalize that sports heros are not great types to admire – I just do not like it at all that the amount of attention, money, and importance placed on sports heroes is disproportionately large. I would love it if we put 80,000 people in Ralph Wilson stadium to hear the Buffalo Philharmonic play Beethoven’s 5th Symphony, with everyone singing the opening motif…(OK, maybe not the best venue for Beethoven, but you get the picture).

    Anyway, lets take a little time to stop and reflect on what it means to be great. Tim Russert is everything we should be proud of as Buffalonians, and he is someone any student of any age should aspire to be like when they “grow up.”

    russertrussertrussert.jpg

    Image citation:
    Dbking. Russert Russert Russert. Photograph. 14 June 2008. Flickr. 14 June 2008
    <http://flickr.com/photos/bootbearwdc/2577089389/>.

  • Podcasting in Science Class

    One of the best technology conferences recently was one I did not go to. Rather, it was one I was supposed to go to, but due to a very busy schedule in the labs, could not. So at the last minute I approached a science teacher to go in my place.

    It was the best thing that could have happened. Mrs. Merlino went to Riding the Digital Wave 2008 at our regional BOCES site, and got hooked immediately on podcasting.

    Why was this best? Because since I go to many events and see many new things, I sometimes spend too much time thinking about how something could be rolled out, or what the logistics are, etc. I’ve been hooked on podcasts for a few years now but never got over the hump of getting them into the classroom. Mrs. Merlino saw the end product of podcasting at the conference, and came back to me for the details. With a bit of leg work, we soon had a plan, a podcast feed host, and results.

    I’d like to share an example of her podcasting with you. For this initial attempt she was doing an end-of-year review show to help students prepare for the final exam. As we worked together, I suggested that she get students talking, and present it in a way other students could relate to. In this example, Mark and Kevin talk about moon phases (total time = 3:33):

    Get the Flash Player to see this content.

    moonphases.mp3

    Note the player above is audio only, although it looks like a video window.

    One of the very useful tools with this medium is that when you engage in a dialogue, you can talk through the thinking process. In other podcast episodes, Mrs. Merlino speaks with students, and when they don’t understand, they discuss that. This is a huge learning tool!

    To listen to some of the other episodes in her podcast, titled Merlino’s Mystery Media:

    Click here to subscribe in iTunes

    Click here to subscribe via an RSS aggregator

    Her students are coming in this week to create their own podcasts – it should be really cool!

  • Aaack! Can Anyone Recommend a Good Web Host?

    Flash back to 2004, at the NECC Conference in New Orleans. I think it was during David Thornburg’s spotlight session that I decided to jump into blogging. I did not do a ton of research; rather I wanted to get going quickly. One of the blogging services I took note of (and which happened to be hosting quite a few blogs featured that year) was Teacherhosting.com. I signed up for the basic blogging service, used their provided wizard/templates to get started, and off I went. I did not necessarily know the ins and outs of managing my own blog, but the challenge of it was cool.

    I have purposely stayed with managing my own blog, playing with the mysql databases, installing my own WordPress management system, etc. I do not for one moment pretend to be a techie when it comes to this stuff. My usual preference is for hosted services who do all the dirty work in the background. I want to have an understanding of the technical side of things, and have learned that it is really not magic – just occasionally complex – to manage a site.

    I’m very proud of how this blog has grown, in many ways. For example, the move from the more generic russo.teacherhosting.com to the domain I purchased, pointatopointb.org was a personal milestone. I’ve carefully caressed the look and feel of the site, in addition to the writing (which of course is most important). Check out some of the posts from that first summer of blogging here.

    Fast forward to yesterday, and the following email from Teacherhosting.com:

    “Effective Monday, June 30, 2008, TeacherHosting.com will cease providing Web hosting and e-mail services. This e-mail contains important information about actions that you�ll need to take to prevent any potential interruption in service or data loss.”

    So suddenly in my quest to understand and manage my own site, I now have to figure out how to move hosts. Aaack! Can anyone recommend a good web host (and any tips for a successful move)?