Blabberize

eTech Ohio Convention

Mr. Adams, Ms. Furlong, Ms. Lundy, and Ms. Staten attended the eTech convention this last week. They had their own booth to show off some of the new equipment they have received as part of the ARRA grant.

Yes, Mr. Mann was there too. I even went down on Tuesday when most of my students were sleeping in due to the bad weather. It took me a while to get there, but I made it before 8:00 for session one.

I love these conventions. They can be exhausting, but I am always intellectually stimulated and many times even moved by the content. Some of the sessions are not particularly interesting because I have already been exposed to a lot. One session on News Broadcasting even made me mad because the presented didn't know a whole lot of what he was talking about. His school's show was a joke.

On a more positive side, one presenter made me think more about what I plan with my students. These presentations help me to throw off the tendency to be conservative and to try and risk more with my classes. Teachers can so easily fall into the pattern of doing things the same old way. This conference always gives me confidence to try new things. It has always been worthwhile to go to these conventions. I just wish I could talk more teachers into attending.

Try Dictating Instead of Typing

I've mentioned the program Dragon Naturally Speaking version 10 on my website, so I thought I would give you a more in-depth review of this product here on my blog. I am actually using Dragon to compose this blog entry.

Dragon works great with Microsoft Word if you have this program. I have not been able to test it on other word processors to see how effective it is. The price sure is right for this product, and I might mention that for $37.95 you get the program as well as the headset that has a microphone built into it. Some of you may prefer to do your writing with pen and pencil before transferring it to the computer. This program would be excellent for that because all you need to do is pick up the paper you have written and talk it right into the computer. I am actually writing this entry by just talking into the microphone. I did not do any pre-writing.

So far the only corrections I have had to make are for the money amount above and just three or four other minor corrections. There isn't a lot of difficulty in setting the program up on your computer. It took me less than half an hour to get things set. You do have to read in initial narration piece when you first start up the program. Over time the program is supposed to learn how you talk and become more accurate.

On a technical note, this program will require at least one megabyte of RAM. I am running the program on Windows XP. If you have a really old computer, you may have some problems with this program. I think my PC is at least five years old, and it is running quite well.

I have found with this program that I can spin out a lot more words, but I'm not so sure that I am doing my best writing. I should say composing instead of writing because I'm not actually writing it all, I'm just talking. Although the program does make some mistakes it is so cool to see how many words you can so rapidly put down in your word processor. It just doesn't seem to be quite as hard work to do as typing on the keyboard.

I don't think we’re there yet, but I think that in the future people will not be typing in text messages to their cell phones. They will just talk the text message into the cell phone and send it on its way. Imagine how much faster this could be then texting is even now.

Exciting Football Game in Lexington, Kentucky

This football team had beaten the number one team in the country last week. They were up 28-10 at half time. What were the chances they could be beaten? I am referring to South Carolina of course. They were playing the University of Kentucky, and I thought it was going to be a blowout.

My niece Emma is a Sweetheart Majorette for the UK Marching Band, so my wife Cindy and I decided to drive down to Lexington, Kentucky this weekend to watch Emma perform at the game. We have seen Emma perform at several events over the years. Shed is an awesome twirler. I took my camera equipment down and captured some excellent images. I will have some of these images in my photo gallery soon so stayed tuned. The weather was absolutely terrific this weekend--not too hot, not too cold.

Before the game, which was scheduled to start at 6:00, we did a little tailgating near the stadium. It only cost us $20 for parking. Ha! Attending sporting events these days is getting out of hand. But now on to the story of the game.

I thought the rout would continue in the second half. I was wrong. South Carolina did not score another point in the game, and the Wildcats scored touchdowns on three convincing drives. When it was 28-23 with South Carolina ahead, Kentucky tried a two point conversion and was unsuccessful. After another three and out, UK marched down the field and scored again with under two minutes to play in the game. This time the two point conversion worked and the score was 31-28 in favor of the Cats. With 1:15 seconds left in the game, the Gamecocks finally mounted some offense and moved down into the red zone with only 11 seconds remaining. They decided to try one more play to win the game outright with the chance to kick a field goal remaining if the play failed.

The pass into the end zone was tipped by one UK player and then caught by another UK player to end the game. What looked like a yawner of a game in the first half turned into one of the most exciting games I have seen in a quite a while.

Football Friday Night

This last Friday night I went to the football game. I was excited to try out my new camera lens that I bought this summer. The weather was absolutely perfect. Unfortunately I got there a little later than I intended, so I didn't get a chance to take as many pictures of the band during pregame as I had hoped. I did get a nice variety of photographs, however. I hope to put some of these pictures up on my website within the next week or so. I've always been impressed with the Franklin Heights' band. They work so hard, and it shows.

I like music a lot, but I am not a musician by any means. My mother was a concert pianist, and she tried very hard to get me to learn to play. I was more interested in being outdoors and playing sports to bother with sitting and practicing for hours and hours. Maybe if I'd had a chance to learn to play the drums instead of the piano, I might have become a musician. I’ve always loved to tap and bang on things ever since I was little. My mother never seemed to pick this up that learning the drums might've been the way to get me interested in music. Whenever I go to a concert that has a band, I always seem to be watching the drummer.

I haven't taken many photos at school in the recent last few years because I was a yearbook advisor for so long, and I took lots and lots of pictures. For several years, I attended every sport offered at Franklin Heights to shoot photos for the yearbook. I got a bit tired of taking so many pictures. But now there's been enough time, and I think I'm ready to start using my camera again.

Great Start to the Year

I have so far been very impressed with my second period class. I don't think I have ever gotten such a positive response as the one I received from the assignment where students were asked to simply write a letter to Mr. Mann and introduce themselves. Some people think that what makes a really good class is a super teacher. But what I have learned over the years is that the most important ingredient for a super class is the attitude that students bring to the class.

I remember a class I took at Ohio State University that was one of the most exciting interesting, and worthwhile classes I took in my graduate studies. I couldn't wait to get to this class it was so much fun and also so intellectually exhilarating. The course was about non-verbal communication, and it taught me so many things that I didn't know. My wife was also doing graduate studies at the same time, and so I recommended that she also take this course. After a week or so, she told me that she hated the class. I couldn't believe it, so I decided to visit her class.

What I found were two or three individuals who argued and disagreed with everything that the professor had to say. It made the class so unpleasant and that I could understand why my wife was not enjoying the class. There is a dynamic in any class that is going to determine the success of that class. To a large extent, the joy of learning is largely dependent on the cooperativeness of the students in the class.

About My Summer Vacation

I know that English teachers often ask students to write about their summer experiences. And if my students choose not to write on this topic, that will be fine. But I do think it is important to reflect over the summer months. I think it is important to consider whether the time spent over the summer was of any real value. Students often say in one circumstance or another that they're bored. I seriously cannot remember the last time that I was bored. I have too many interests to find myself bored. I enjoy photography, computers, reading all sorts of things, and spending time with my family.

Two summers ago I took the entire summer off. I wasn't bored -- I just needed more things to keep me busy and to feel that I was accomplishing something significant. I found that when I got back to school in the fall, I felt a lot better about myself. So now I teach some fun classes at Columbus Academy during the summer months. This last summer I taught digital photography, webpage design, and computer animation. It was a great learning experience for me, and I got paid to do it. The money gave me a chance to invest in some camera equipment that I've been wanting.

I hear people talking about how they can't wait till they retire. But I am not that anxious to retire. As long as my health is good, I hope to continue to work. I just heard Dick LeBeau’s acceptance speech for the football Hall of Fame. I think Dick LeBeau is in his 70s and still coaching football. He said in his speech, "never let anyone tell you that you're too old." Look at Joe Paterno. He coaches football for Penn State, and he is in his mid 80s. I suppose if you hate your job that it's a good idea to retire if you can. But I think you ought to look for something else to do as long as you have good health.