Mr. Higgins’ Blog

The world of teaching has found me doing my different things in my spare time. Here are just a few…

• Taking Graduate Courses as I attempt to build up toward my MA+ levels on the pay scale
• Taking and helping with a training on SMART Notebook software, SMART Boards, SMART Senteos, and Tablet PC
• Rearranging my office at my place. I am looking for a cheap solution for an L-shaped desk which fits in the corner of the room.
• Serving on a committee, which is going to integrate a 1-1 tablet solution for several classes at our high school? It seems that we are the only school within about 50 miles in all directions that is even attempting a 1-1 solution.

Now to the fun world of venting through the world of Web 2.0

Computer Science Discussion

1-1 Tablet Solution in AP Computer Science A

I am sure that I am not the first person on the planet to teach AP Computer Science using a 1-1 tablet classroom set. Each of my students is going to have their own tablet for classroom use. I am very excited that I will have the ability to collaborate with the students and supply them notes while dynamically editing and creating programs. I can barely contain my own excitement for the next school year. In the past, I have had a classroom of 5 students in my first year and 3 students in my second year. This next year, I have 9 students signed up for AP Computer Science. It is really a sign of the times and I hope that something exciting like this helps enrollment in the future. Eventually, the plan is that in 5 to 7 years that every student in the high school will have a tablet. Talk about a wireless nightmare!!!

There is NO DISCUSSION AT ALL concerning tablet PC use compared to SmartBoard use. Technology conferences are dominated by the use of the SmartBoard technology; therefore, it makes it awful difficult to find great information on tablet PCs in the classroom when everyone is obsessed with SmartBoards. The ap-compsci listserv barely ever makes any sort of mention about these technologies. The ap-calculus listserv is finally churning out some conversations about a Tablet PC; however, there is very little information at all which details a total 1-1 tablet PC classroom.

General Comments about 1-1 Tablet Solution

We are only allowing students enrolled in three specific AP courses to have the 1-1 tablets during the day. The committee decided that we want to be successful this first time through in hopes that all the bugs will be settled by year two as the “better and smarter” students utilize the technology. Many details will have to be worked out as the school year begins. We are requiring that parents and students attend an initial organizational meeting and a training sessions (students will have about 3 hours total in training). I am very eager, to say the least.

Mathematics Discussion

Honors Algebra II Blog

My implementation of the Honors Algebra II blog was a complete success. My students enjoyed the blogging and student focus process a great deal. There are a few changes that I will make; however, I wanted to share with all of you, my students’ comments about the process. These are snippets from their comments.

Question:

Provide some constructive criticism to our scribe process. Is there anything that needs to change? What did you like? What did you not like? How difficult/easy was it to post using WordPress?

Responses:

“WordPress was fine, although there were browser related issues….Only needing to go on this site once every 45 days or so didn’t help build enthusiam for the site. “

“ wish i had this for some of my other classes…text box starts so small but you can change it so its not a big deal. I thought posting was easy”

“As long as I can remember how to log in, make a new post, comment, etc., using WordPress is relatively easy. Correctly categorizing posts would also make it easier for the reader to benefit from the information. Also, starting sooner next year would give everybody the opportunity to post multiple times…It is a handy reference.”

“Doing the posts was a really good idea….if you were absent the day before, or just needed a little refresher of the notes, they were right there handy at your computer. Number three, and probably the best reason, NO HOMEWORK :] If you were the scribe for the day you didnt have to worry about doing your homework, you just had to go home and get on the computer which 90% of us do everyday anyway”

“The only problem with the posts is when you are the scribe, it takes almost triple the time it would take to do the normal homework.”

“It is fun to create the post. Some of the difficulties were at first it was confusing to learn how to upload pictures and graphs, but now I understand it”

“My first scribe post had a lot of graphs on it and it was easy to make them on fooplot.com”

“I think this is a good idea and wished we would have started it earlier in the year.”

“I think that the scribe posts are a good idea, and they’re alot easier than the homework sometimes.”

I was happy to see that most put time into their responses.