"Education's purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one." Malcolm Forbes

Many Many times I look up a how to on the great and powerful YouTube. It’s useful for everything from cooking a roast to installing a disposal under the sink but how is it for a subject like math? The answer is very good indeed. Recently I caught a great interview with the founder of the Khan Academy. He started out recording a few math videos and posting them to Youtube to help his niece. She and others found them useful and now more and more people are contributing and learning from the Khan Academy. It is now a nonprofit that creates videos explaining subjects like biology, math, banking and money….Their admirable mission is to give access to knowledge to anyone. I am a big fan of this idea. I have watched a few of the videos and they work for me. They usually consist of a narrator writing on a digital blackboard. For people who might have a concentration or understanding issues, this is great because you can rewatch it as many times as you need. Plus you can download some for .99 cents to watch on your iPod or whatever. Also many people leave useful comments for these videos unlike other ones on YouTube. So if you are having trouble with a subject try this fantastic free service.

Below is the NPR interview. Quite interesting.

"The English language was carefully, carefully cobbled together by three blind dudes and a German dictionary." Dave Kellett

Today my wife asked me if there are any good vocabulary practice sites that her students could use that aren’t too goofy. I had mentioned Free Rice and Tree Wala before but she wanted a bunch of different sites to match a bunch of different attitudes and learning styles. Below is a list of what I found. Some are good for kids but many are for all ages. Give them a try.

Verbalearn
A really easy to use and great site. It is good for all types of learners from ABE/GED to 7th grade and it is even appropriate for English as a second language students. It keeps track of your mistakes and gives you a study list at the end. Because of the ease of use of the site you can jump into it very quickly

WordGirl Synonym Toast
This one is definitely for the younger user even though I enjoyed playing it. A bunch of toast drops with words on them. You have to click the synonym of the word on the toaster. It’s cute and has good sound effects to spur you on.

Science Vocab Hangman
The site is useful but a bit boring. The reason I mention it is because of the sheer amount of science categories. All you do is choose the segment and scroll down. You have to scroll all the way down and choose ready. From there it is basic hangman. Choose the right letter or watch your person disappear.

Vocab Sushi
This one is so huge it is not even worth me talking about. Head to the site and watch their video. They have everything one would want in a language arts site.

Grammar Ninja
For a very young audience. It is goes through parts of speech. I include this one because you get to whip throwing stars at the correct parts of speech. Pluse everyone loves ninjas. Right???

“If you get the dirty end of the stick, sharpen it and turn it into a useful tool” Colin Powell

To begin again…
August is coming and teachers are starting to think of the coming year. Students are trying to avoid thinking at all. I know have mentioned this before but I think it needs to be restated. Google, you may have heard of it, is really useful. I recommend trying some of the other free services that Google has to offer. Now I am going to use a teacher slant with this but it could be used for any possible business or project. First off register for a Google service because once you do you will have access to all the rest of the services right away. It is free and quick. Gmail is just the tip of the Googleverse. Gmail is their version of email. One of the reasons I recommend using it is that it is searchable just like Google. This means if a student emails you during the year you can find it fairly easily. Also it does have other abilities like IM (chatting with students built directly into it) or the ability to take all emails from a specific conversation and creating a dialogue out of them instead of scattered emails through out the system. Google calendar allows for sharing of schedules and appointments throughout a group or organization. Also these can be saved to a website to make it viewable to all without registering. Google Docs and Sites are the two most underused by teachers. These together are so easy to use and useful it is unbelievable. Docs is an online Microsoft Office like set of tools. All you do is sign in and you have something that looks like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. This alone is good but once you think of the ability to share it between others it makes it supreme. It can be viewed or editable by others at the touch of a button. Finally Google Sites is the culmination of all of these. It is creatable webpage that you can use to communicate info with groups of all sorts. As an example lets say a teacher has a book group. They can post all the info about the book they are going to read and then add photos and music from where the book is set. The great thing is that it requires no real HTML ability. If you can use Microsoft Word then you can easily use Sites. Now I know I am being very general about this post but that is what it is supposed to be. I recommend checking all the sites above and see if they fit a use. Give it a try.

"You always pass failure on the way to success." Mickey Rooney

Two days ago I ran into a former student who was talking with her friend. She introduced me and told her friend that I teach computers. He responded “ugh I know nothing about computers.” He also went onto say that he was terrified of not only not knowing how to use it but looking dumb while trying to figure it out. I hear these statements almost every day. Unfortunately everyone believes they are the illiterate or dinosaur computer user. It is natural for people to feel this way but one must go past it. I truly believe anyone can convey information about technology. My main job is not just to teach but to reassure, encourage, and entertain while showing the information to my students. I am writing this for the friend on the street and for others in tech ed limbo. We all need to be taught in one area or another.

• To those who feel they don’t know anything about computers take a chance and take a class. If the teacher doesn’t jive with you then try another. Keep trying till it clicks.
• To the friends and family members of others who don’t know computers please have patience and understanding that you as well do not know it all. Also be considerate and do not assume they know something you know.

Below is a video showing people being questioned about browsers. A browser is an application you use to view the Internet. Think of a browser as the car that drives on the Internet highway. I put this video here to make the point that we all seem to be a bit confused but life still continues to work. As you laugh with these people consider your own knowledge. Failing and feeling a bit dumb is part of the learning process. You must fail to properly learn. Without mistakes life wouldn't be as pleasurable.


I guess I should also mention the video is about the Google browser called Chrome. I have been wanting to test it and review it but it doesn't work on Mac nor in our system. After the video you may want to head over to Google and give it a whirl.

"Training is everything. The peach was once a bitter almond; cauliflower is nothing but cabbage with a college education." Mark Twain

I have many students that come to my classes that use Macs. They ask about classes on Apple products and I tell them realistically there is very little chance I could ever do it. The reason is simple. Apple is a minority in the computer world and Windows is the majority and to this we offer both computers and classes on windows machines. It does make sense. But what about the Apple people then? First off if a student is taking a class about something on the web or even some Microsoft products then it frankly doesn’t matter because they are basically the same. OK fine but what about learning the system and its applications? Well I have an answer but it is not free but still good nonetheless. Apple features a service called OnetoOne training. It is a $99 bucks for a year’s worth of training. What you get for you money is a once a week session with an Apple rep* for 52 weeks. You just make a reservation online and you walk in. They teach you pretty much anything you might have an interest in. They do have a curriculum if you want to follow it but it seems fine to go off topic at anytime. I have recommended this to both friends and family and it has really reduced the phone calls I get. The one joking question I get after a class is “Do you make house calls?” Training is so very necessary especially with programs becoming more and more powerful. People try earnestly to learn this stuff but when they go home they often feel they have been left on a raft to drift in the sea of computer problems. This is the reason why I have a “Ask a question feature on the site. I recommend this OnetoOne service because I believe the price is right for a solo tutorial when you want it. I should also mention they have free classes as well that have multiple students in them. So if you have a Mac and you don’t see the class you want for free then give this a try.

" The least of learning is done in the classrooms." Thomas Merton

A week ago I received a strange question out of the blue. A woman called and explained that she had a learning disability and was trying to pass the written portion of the driving test. She knew what she needed just not where to find it. She told me that she needed to make an online testing/studying method for herself. The actions of inputting all data plus the reinforcement of information would cement it all in her brain. We talked for a while and I gave her a few suggestions that I had. After we spoke I did a bit of research looking for an easy to use and helpful application. I came across Cramberry. At its core it is a set of flash cards. All you do is hop over to the site, register, and start creating sets of flash cards for anything you want to learn or quiz yourself on. If you can type in information in predefined boxes then you can do this. When you have typed in all the questions and answers you can begin to quiz yourself. It shows the question and then you click on it to see the answer. You then tell if you were right or wrong. Wrong answer will come back to haunt you during the rest of the quizzing. I like it for its simplicity but I do wish there was either a shareable or embeddable feature for teachers to share with their students. They do have a sharing button but it only works if the other person is already registered. Why not just make regular flash cards you say? I would agree that they are basically the same however I find I can log onto the site whenever I get a free moment and quiz myself versus carrying around some cards that I may or may not have on me. I recommend giving this one a try.

The answer we discussed and she seemed happy with was that if she owned a device like the iPod Touch or something similar they have plenty of flash card applications that you can design for yourself or they have pre-done ones like for learning languages. She seemed happy with the small portable idea.