Aren’t those beautiful hands?  Anyway…

According to many different reports out there, the Zune 30 GB version has a hardware configuration problem which made EVERY SINGLE ZUNE 30 TO FREEZE TODAY AT THE BOOT UP SCREEN.  It feels great to be a part of history.  Apparently is has to do with the way the hardware/software handles leap year.

Microsoft has responded by provided this information on the official Zune website as the solution to the problem.  Basically, wait until tomorrow.

Links to Articles about the Issue

• http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/12/31/zune.player.failures/?iref=hpmostpop
• http://www.toptechnews.com/news/Zune-Malfunction-Ticks-Off-Users/story.xhtml?story_id=13300F3FOU4L
• http://www.betanews.com/article/Y2K9_bug_hits_30_GB_Zunes/1230751818

By the way, I finally understand the point of twitter and can be found at http://www.twitter.com/higgysports

Like any other year, the trend is to look back on the year with a view on biggest positive and biggest negative moments.  In the world of sports, being a Cleveland fan can be lonely; however, there is one moment I have not been able to forget about which involves Michael Phelps.  Actually, it is not even Phelps, it is his USA swimming teammate Jason Lezak.  I can still hear the words of the announcers.

From Wikipedia

The United States trying to hang on to second, they should get the silver medal, Australia is in Bronze territory right now, but Lezak is closing a little bit on Bernard, can the veteran chase him down and pull off a shocker here? There’s no doubt that he’s tightening up. Bernard is losing some ground, here comes Lezak… UNBELIEVABLE AT THE END, HE’S DONE IT! THE U.S. HAS DONE IT! HE DID IT! HE DID IT! Phelps’s hopes [are] alive!
”

-Dan Hicks and Rowdy Gaines calling the final lap of the 4×100m relay.

Here is the YouTube video showing the race I am speaking of…

Wild about Fun! and Math! and Puzzles! and Life!

Recently, I have discovered a neat math related website called Wild About Math! Maybe it was just timing; however, in the middle of reading a book about prime numbers and have my mind twisted by my constant thoughts of number theory I ran into this post.  The post asks how many divisors there are for 10!.  Being a computer science teacher, I couldn’t help myself from writing a program to check it out.  I never actually joined the contest; however, I started to investigate many of the past posts.  For those that are reading my blog from a math teacher standpoint, take a look for yourself.  This is definitely going to take a spot in my blogroll.

NECC 2009 in Washington, D.C.

I submitted my paperwork to my district and only time will tell if I am going to NECC 2009.  I have wanted to go for the last couple of summers and am finally deciding that the 7 hour drive is close enough for me to make the trip.  Any of my readers going this year?

Everyone find something to laugh about, cry about, and talk about during this holiday season.  Have a happy, healthy, and safe holiday season.

From the 2008 Mensa Page-A-Day Calendar

Brad set out in a motorboat at 2PM on Saturday with enough fuel for two days.  He arrived at 2PM on Sunday with an empty tank.  With no supernatural or weather phenomena, what happened?

The scenarios coming from my Algebra I students were comical on several levels.  Some of the responses from the students lacked any sense of basic geography skills which I feel are being stripped away from students.  By the way, I absolutely love geography and maps.  I spent the first five years of my television life watching the weather channel.  I would stay up for hours drawing maps and watching the the weather.

Here is the main response from the student body

The difference in time is because the boat was anchored for basically the entire week and it it took from Saturday ONE WEEK to Sunday of ANOTHER WEEK.

While that scenario is not out the question, I made sure to emphasize that this was the same weekend (implied).

I began discussing the problem by emphasizing time zones and why they exist.  The students bought into the time zone idea; however, they were still not thinking about crossing the international dateline.  Finally, a couple of students were thinking about the dateline and this opened up a can of worms from me because of how dearly I love geography.

I then opened Google Earth and we explored the globe.  It just kills me how little some students know about the globe.  I am not just talking about the names of countries, but information about different regions.

End of Day 1 Exploration

Beginning of Day 2 Exploration

I was so excited to show the students the top of the Stratosphere via Google Earth. 

We then began discussing what time the image was taken.  The conclusion was during the morning hours because of the shadow going TOWARD THE WEST, meaning the sun is TO THE EAST.

I then could not help myself and showed the students the Dole Plantation Maze from the Hawaiian plantation.

I then discussed how to solve mazes in general.  The students had never heard of the "right hand rule", which is just a way of solving a maze that is absent a tricky cycle.  Basically, if you keep your right hand on the wall of a maze, you are guaranteed to be at the finish eventually, granted the maze has meet certain conditions.

End of Day 2 Exploration

Beginning of Day 3 Exploration

I queued up some locations on the globe that I knew were easy to find and had a general idea of their location without using any special markings.  I chose to show the students the following locations:

• Dole Plantation Maze (again)
• Top of the Stratosphere (again)
• World’s Largest Tire
• World’s Largest Hotel
• Tennis Court on top of the World’s Largest Hotel

While I may have not been engaging my students in the math of the situation, I have the right to teach them general life knowledge, which is more than some people can say, when the hallway is their friend between periods.

End of Day 3 Exploration

Beginning of Day 4 of Exploration

The students were taking a quiz, and I provided them several challenging mazes to complete after they were done with the quiz.  I could tell that several of them used the "right hand rule" idea to solve the mazes.

End of Day 4 of Exploration

All of this exploration was over a four day period and I was able to incorporate some time into each day to discuss the topic for at least 10 minutes instead of just giving some time to work on homework in silence.

Pre-Calculus Class Blog
Honors Algebra II Blog
Algebra I Blog (A work in progress)

I have learned that it is best to delegate all of the responsibility to the students when it comes to daily notes.  It is up to the student body to know how the scribe for the day is and if something goes wrong with the process, that it is everyone’s fault.  I do not have a make a daily announcement, update a posting in the classroom, or remind people.  Instead, I get the pleasure of reading and grading.  OK, maybe grading isn’t a pleasure; however, it has to be done.

In recent classroom happening, my students fell in love with this video when we were studying the Quadratic Formula.

1 to 1 Tablet PC Project

I am one of the teachers who is part of the first ever 1 to 1 Tablet PC in my district.  Around 30 of our students will be carrying around a Gateway E-155 Tablet PC for an advanced educational experience.  There are specific classes in the school which were assigned to the 1 to 1 Project, and it turns out that my AP Computer Science A course is one of them.  I am so exciting for the 1 to 1 educational experience to start.  I feel like a kid again!  Here are some thoughts I have on the 1 to 1 Tablet PC Project:

• The ability of the students to create dynamic notes and find information quickly will be very exciting
• The organizational skills (or lack there of) will come into play.  Having taught introductory computer courses, sometime it takes 10 minutes to make sure students save their files correctly.  Never the less, these are bright students overall.
• Using the wireless projector and specialized monitoring software, I will be able to have the teacher project information, have the students project information, lock the machines down at anytime for any reason, monitor each students progress via a thumbnail view, and take over the students computers.

AP Computer Science A

Going along the lines of the Tablet PC Project, I have decided to adopt Blue Pelican Java by Charles Cook for my classroom text.  Why am I using this textbook?  It is because I’m transitioning to an eBook.  My students will each have a copy of this free eBook on their tablets and will be able to browse the material at their leisure.  My students will need to make the transition of a paperfull book to a paperless book.  This is going to be tough on the teacher too; however, I am motivated enough at this point to give anything a try as I try to improve my teaching.  I chose this textbook because I really like the way it is organized section by section and it gets right to the point of the material.  My style in AP Computer Science A is to use the book as a reference.  There are many times I teach a topic completely and then we reference the textbook to pick up on some vocabulary or syntax I may have ignored.

Do I know how well the 1 to 1 computing will go in this course?

No.  However, I feel with my technological background and pension for Web 2.0 will be molded together to create a fun and enjoyable class at a faster pace than previous years.

Do I know how well the transition to  exclusive eBook instruction will go?

No. Therefore, I chose an eBook that I was confident contained the material in an organized fashion and had the best chance for success.

Do I have confidence in the Gridworld Case Study yet?

No.  I would really like to get some feedback from fellow bloggers and AP teachers because this is the first year I have not attended an AP Computer Science Summer Institute.

Web 2.0 Plans for AP Computer Science A

I plan on having all presentations and long term projects integrated into our classroom blog.  Our History of Computing Project at the very beginning of the year will consist of a blog post.  I am concerned about brining java code and syntax into the Web 2.0 world because it is the student’s own though processing that creates the code; therefore, I will create opportunities throughout the year for the students to comment on issues in Computer Science on our classroom blog.  There are several experts out there that make informational posts about Computer Science, including Alfred Thompson (My favorite and it is an easy read).  I am going to be looking for professions in the computing arena to comment on my students’ posts.  Since this will be my first year of Web 2.0 integration in this class, I hope the force is strong in this class. (Don’t think too hard about that last line)

Algebra I

This will be my first time as a full time teacher with a course below the level of Algebra II; however, I am up for the challenge and thoroughly enjoy the topic of algebra.  Due to many reasons, include the brain development of students this age, their math has been slowly building over several years.  Once they hit high school, that is really when it starts to pick up speed and then all of the sudden they are at graduation. it goes quickly.  Here are some thoughts I have on teaching Algebra I.

• It is important that these develop the fundamental skill set needed to successfully navigate geometry and other all topics of algebra eventually.
• You could agree that I have an advantage because I know exactly what the students need to know; however, I am hoping that I do not cut any corners.
• I hope to integrate many more small video segments, logic puzzles, and intense problem solving than some of the other classes.  My job is to teach them the algebra skill set and get to a point where the concepts can be developed more in depth later.

Web 2.0 Plans for Algebra I

I hope to integrate assignments at least twice a month on the classroom blog, I call each of these assignments a Student Focus.  I have NO IDEA if I will get a chance at a large Web 2.0 project; however, I will give it a try.  I will not use the full Scribe Process in this class.

Honors Algebra II

I have went on record several times and described this class as the “greatest class on the planet to teach for a math teacher like myself.”  Keep in mind, I have never taught AP Calculus AB/BC.  I had the time of my life teaching this class last year and really got to know all of the students on a personal level.  The reason it is the “greatest class on the planet” is because this is the point where mathematics really starts to take a giant step forward and I get to lead them into the edge of the giant forest.  I quickly earned their trust and challenged them unlike they have in their previous mathematics course history.

Once we began the scribe process, the learning of the course was simply AWESOME.  Visit the 2007 - 2008 Honors Algebra II Blog when you get a chance.

Web 2.0 Plans for Honors Algebra II

I am hoping for some collaboration with Darren Kuropatwa with my Honors Algebra II course.  I am definitely going to continue the Scribe Process in this course.  Last year, we only use it in the second half of the year; however, this year we are going to utilize it throughout the entire school year.  I will be able to assign many more web assignments than I have ever even thought about in the past.  I have a challenging class size this year of 30+ so it will be interesting what I will come up with throughout the year.  I plan to use a great deal of videos as springboards for many different topics in algebra and trigonometry.  I have so many plans for this class, it is just that I don’t have any idea what they are yet!  For my fellow educators reading this blog, you know exactly what I mean.

Pre-Calculus

This is going to be my biggest challenge of the year because I really have a lot of Web 2.0 anticipation for this course.  I have two sections of this course, which will really lead toward problems with my scribe process; however, I am mentally working those out as you read.  I will just get to the point..

Web 2.0 Plans for Pre-Calculus

Last year, being my first year teaching Pre-Calculus, I played it relatively safe throughout the year.  I wanted to make sure I knew the material and did not cheat the students out of an education because of my own Web 2.0 endeavor.  I plan to several projects throughout the year posted on the classroom blog and I will use the scribe process in this class; however, I have approximately 64 students taking this course into two different sections.  I am not sure what I am going to do about this at the time of writing this blog entry; however, having some of my Honors Algebra II students sprinkled in the audience, I have no doubt that it will be accepted by the students.  Wish luck to me and I will be out getting opinions about how to handle multiple classes through the scribe process.  Feel free to provide me some feedback of any kind.

On a side note, I recently heard this song on the radio and instantly youtube’d it to see the video.  No matter your set of beliefs, this is a great song and video.  I just thought I would share this with the edublogosphere.

NICKELBACK - IF EVERYONE CARED

This blog entry is for TEC-950: Web 2.0 Tools in the Classroom

Think back on all the Web 2.0 tools that you explored and investigated throughout this course. Which one really stood out? Describe the tool and how you would like to engage your students with this technology.

The tool that obviously blows my mind away is the use of blogs.  I am attempting to use them in my mathematics classes at the high school level which is a challenge.  Considering the way students feel about mathematics as a "cool tool".  It indeed is a real-life tool that each of us has to be aware of to be an informed citizen.  The ability to post content of nearly any kind, be seen by anyone, and discussed in any arena is just the TIP OF THE ICEBERG when describing blogs.  I enjoy blogging about my own experiences and hope to hear from educators about different topics.

This blog entry is for TEC-950: Web 2.0 Tools in the Classroom

Clearly, educators play a vital role ensuring that students are prepared to be productive in the 21^st Century. Discuss the challenges educators will have in making sure their students have the literacies they will need to reach this goal. How will educators have to re-think about content and curriculum in order to promote literacy?

• Educators as whole, are going to have to deal with students who are more informed of technology than the educators.
• I really do not believe the entire argument that the text messaging and instant messaging lacks complete literacy; however, it will be interesting to see where it takes us.
• The scariest thought is that the top 10 jobs of the next 10 years have really not even been developed.  We will be hearing about some wicked degrees out there; however, it is only because they are new and at the hands of the technological world.
• The promotion of literacy and informed citizenship is going to be in the hands of parents more and more and more…