This is just a little test, please ignore.
Author: ryan
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Pew Research – Impact of Digital Tools on Student Writing
The Impact of Digital Tools on Student Writing and How Writing is Taught in Schools is a report from the PewResearchCenter creating from surveying Advanced Placement and National Writing Project teachers. Overall, the teachers believe that digital tools have a postive benefit on student writing with some concern about informal language appearing in formal writing.
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Google Reader shuts off tomorrow, use Google Takeout and Reader is Dead to backup
Tomorrow Google Reader shuts off, have you grabbed your data? The easiest way to backup your subscriptions from Google Reader is to use Google Takeout. This will give you a .zip file with a lot of data, including a subscriptions.xml which you can import into any RSS reader that accepts an OPML file.
This is fine for your list of subscriptions, but I have been using Google Reader as a particular search engine, allowing me to search for items that I have read. I lost this ability with Google Takeout, but then I came across Reader is Dead. Mihai Parparita has created a couple of scripts that back up not only your subscriptions, but also all the items in Google Reader. For me, it was 928,981 items to be downloaded.
Under OS X the script ran right out of the box. If you are on Windows, you will need to install Python first.
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My summer plans 2013
I’m not going to let a little thing like summer already being 3 weeks in the past to stop me from making a few goals on what I want to do this summer. 🙂 And since I’m more likely to accomplish things if I write them down, I decided to post them here for all to see and to also keep me on track.
- Read three novels: The Great Gatsby, Catching Fire, and To Kill a Mockingbird. I usually get so caught up with non-fiction (including all my RSS feeds) that I don’t read as much fiction as I should. There really isn’t any particular reason for reading these, except for the fact that two of them have movies in 2013.
- Write an interactive fiction game in Inform 7. Interactive fiction may be somewhat of a dead genre but I think it’s a fascinating way to create a story. I bought Creating Interactive Fiction with Inform 7 by Aaron Reed in September of 2010. I think it’s about time to put it to use!
- Create a Little Free Library. These are the book equivalent of take a penny/leave a penny.
- Finish my super secret web tool…. 🙂
Is there anything you’re doing this summer?
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T3 – June 20, 2013 – Stop using should
The Problem with “Should”
Jon Spencer lays out the problems with using should.
See, the problem with “should” is that it places all of teaching into rigid, binary, either/or, right/wrong boxes. It takes away the individuality, the autonomy, the creativity and the contextual knowledge required to teach well.
Why you SHOULD stop saying SHOULD
Julia Suppa lists Why you SHOULD stop saying SHOULD.
You get my point. Should is really a useless word – it implies that there’s a better way to do something, and you’re not doing it. It also places blame – either on yourself or on someone else.
Why You Should Stop Saying ‘Should’
Why You Should Stop Saying ‘Should’
It puts the focus on what you’re not doing instead of all the things you are doing. Not recognizing your successes and achievements keeps you on quest to fulfill impossible standards.
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T3 for June 13, 2013 – Subversion, writing, and McDonalds
Is subversion the only way?
Doug Johnson writes about the decisions one must make when deciding what to do when your vision doesn’t align with your organization’s goals.
Writing vs Speaking
John August brings us a TED talk by John McWhorter titled Txtng is killing language. JK!!!. Mr. August discusses the various differences between writing, speaking, and elaborates on Mr. McWhorter’s take on texting.
McDonald’s Theory
Finally, Don Bell uses what he calls the McDonald’s Theory to jump start the decision process with groups.
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The PirateBox is going Bezerk
My PirateBox was basically the MK802 Android mini PC with the top part of the case removed. This was to allow better wifi reception. Since I’ll be taking the PirateBox to Cedar Point, I thought I better make it a little be more secure. I stuffed the guts into an Atari 2600 Bezerk cartridge (don’t worry, this was a spare so I can still play Bezerk. I also kept the inside of the cartridge so I can even play this on if I want).
Before:
And after:
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T3 June 6,2013 – Quitting, the box, and a font
In Pursuit of Happiness
First up is an impassioned teacher’s resignation video. Her speech won’t be a revelation for teachers. I’m posting it for those out there who feel the same way, You’re not alone.
One fascinating aspect of watching this on Youtube is the number of I quit videos from other teachers listed in the What’s related section.
Embrace the box
Stephen Ransom shares a TED video in which he reflects on how teachers use limitations as a reason not to do something.
Font Awesome
This font came up on Twitter from RichLewis007. It’s a font like Wingdings, but with icons like you see in apps and on websites. It would make a great addition to your computer, especially if you are creating help sheets for students or teachers.
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A PirateBox to call my own
In a couple of weeks I will be taking part in the Great Ohio Bike Adventure (GOBA), a week long bike ride through several towns in Ohio. As I was planning on how to power everything, somehow I was reminded of the PirateBox.
A PirateBox is a self contained hotspot that runs a webserver, allowing anyone within range to connect to it and upload or download files. It also has a chat box on the front page for simple chatting needs and a simple image board. The PirateBox grew out of David Darts need to share files with his classes at NYU.
I first stumbled upon the idea either from Alan Levine or Ars Technica and promptly forgot about it. With low cost computers easily accesible, I thought, why not make a PirateBox for GOBA and see what happens. As I was planning to order a Raspberry Pi (most PirateBoxes are made with a wireless router, but I like doing things the hardway) I was reminded of my Mini MK802 Android 4.0 that I already had. Here was a computer a little larger than a pack of gum with 1GB of RAM and wifi. I installed Debian on it (requires a network adapter since you have to use SSH to control it) and then used these directions to finish setting it up. On caveat, you have to apt-get install python since that isn’t in the Debian image.
After a restart, it didn’t show up as a hotspot, so I started digging and came across these directions on setting up an access point on a Raspberry Pi. After I replaced the hostapd program with the one from the website and changed the /opt/piratebox/conf/hostapd.conf config file to match the directions, the PirateBox was in business. I also added a 16GB flash drive for shared file storage. It’s formatted FAT32 so I can easily update it from my computer.
I’ve been carrying it around with me, although I don’t think anyone has connected to it that I hadn’t told yet. On my trip to Cedar Point I’ll be bringing it along to see what bored people standing in line will do with it. It currently has some creative commons works on it (Cory Doctorow book, some Jonathan Coulton songs) and I’ll need to load more before I go. One problem that I have with it is that as soon as I leave wifi, my iPhone latches onto the PirateBox and then nothing works. I end up turning off wifi for now, at least until I come up with a better idea. One other thing I need to do is come up with a better name. I can’t have PirateBox showing up in the wifi settings when I’m in the school.
Now I’m brainstorming what else I can do with it. I have a 1GHz machine with 1GB of RAM (it’s only using 56MB of RAM) running in my pocket at all time. What neat things can I do with it?
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Dictionary of numbers Chrome extension helps the understanding of large numbers
Dictionary of Numbers is a neat extension for Google’s Chrome browser that gives you examples of large numbers in terms that could be easier to visualize. For example, it’s easier to visualize 100M as the height of the Statue of Liberty than just as 100M.
via: Lifehacker