Computer Tips and Maintenance

Tri-County held its commecement ceremony on Thursday, and it went incredibly well.  I was able to wrangle the foreign PA system and get it set perfectly with no feedback on any of the channels.  A student assisted me in the taping component of the event when I had to man the PA system and slideshows.  I am very thankful to the student for being an awesome assistant.

Now that the year is really winding down, I get to think about the network and the adjustments I am going to make to it in order to streamline it.  Right now, looking at our server rack is akin to viewing a violent spaghetti fight.  I would like to adjust this so that there are only 9 lines running from the class rooms with switches in each room so that if there is an issue, it can be addressed easily.  And of course I need to ensure the lines from the prinicipal, secretary and student services coordinator are in place as well.  Since I will be teaching and doing tech coordinator work, I need to make sure that I am as set as possible before I begin teaching.  I am going to do everything in my power to make sure I don’t get as stressed out during the school year as I did when I did similiar duties in the middle school.

Our district has also signed on for the new MLTI deployment, which is something I have mixed feelings about.  I love the idea of one to one computing, but Macs are too expensive and complex for this undertaking.  I could get three Netbooks for the cost of one Mac and student needs would be served just as well.  The politics of the issue are what get me the most.  Basically it was a no-bid contract and that’s what bothers me.  I am 100 percent positive that a better deal for Maine taxpayers could have been found and still be on the cutting edge of computing in the classroom.  I’m a Mac person too, so this isn’t about being a PC person dissing Macs.  I adore my Mac and all it’s power, but it’s an awfully expensive web browser and word processor in the everyday classroom environment.  I do look forward to the spiffy Cisco network that will be installed for the new deployment.

The road goes ever on and on.  Where it leads, no one knows, but we travel down it with hopeful hearts anyway.

Tomorrow the TCTC students go through thier recognition ceremony.  I will be showing a slideshow of photos set to music before the event and I will be taping it also.  I get to pass out scholarships to students also, something that I am very much so looking forward to.  Climbing up into the tower above the gymnasium is the most daunting part for me though.

This year has been a radical change from my previous environment.  I love middle school and middle school students and I miss my students a lot.  But this year has been an amazing learning experience.  I absorbed so much information about networking, Active Directory, and the pain that is networking printing it’s crazy.  I got to help students in a support role, not a direct instructing role, and I see how students need assistance better now that I’ve experienced it from the other side.  Next year I am teaching Computer Repair Systems, the instructor is being placed on active duty for 18 to 24 months and I get the chance to teach his class.  I am looking forward to being back in the instructor role again, but I am still unsure of how to “teach” high school students.  I am sure I will figure it out and I know I’ll have help along the way.

Yesterday and today our students in the Graphic Design and Communications sat for the Adobe Certified Assistant test.  Of yesterday’s group, four sat for the exam and they all passed! Yay!  Today’s group will have one student sitting for the exam.  The classes are small (average of 5 kids!) and they had to have an average of an 88 in order to sit for the exam.  So those students who earned the right to sit for an otherwise really expensive test have been granted that privilege.

We also have a Pre-Technical program that is aimed at high school freshmen and sophomores to prevent them from dropping out of school.  The focus is on green energy technologies and getting students involved in the growing field of renewable energy.  In the winter, students designed a solar-panel powered ice fishing trap: it was a regular ice fishing trap like one you would buy at LL Bean or Cabela’s that has a solar panel wired to it so that when the fish takes the bait and goes with it, the trap flag is raised and hits a trip that emits a high pithched and very attention grabbing noise.  The kids then got to take it out on the ice.  They had to drill the holes with an ice auger, build a snow fort to protect them and the bait from the whipping wind of the lake and set the traps.  Now that the weather is nicer, students have built a raft using old plastic bottles such as milk jugs and laundry soap containers and they are going to run a course today with it to test the raft.  It’s a nice lesson in reusing products for another purpose.  One man’s trash is another man’s pontoon!

I’ll post photos when I get back!

Today was one of those days that flew by in my building.  It’s odd because Thursday and Friday of last week seemed to drag and today it was over before I felt as though I got going.

I had a good time today going out with some of the Criminal Justice students to a small private airport nearby and watched them take a police cruiser out and do manuevers with it.  I’ll post a few pics in the Photos section for you to take a look at.  The instructor was amazingly fluent as he went through a series of cones in reverse, doing figure 8s and loops around the tarmac.  The students thought that they had to do as well as their instructor and a few were over-confident in their skills.  About half a dozen skid marks later, the students had a new understanding of driving skills!  The cruiser was going to be used for a summer Driver’s Education course, but new tires might be in order first.  I was invited to go out with the students on Tuesday, on the condition that I drive.  No need to let them see my Mario Andretti skills (hahaha), but I will be there for pictures.

I am also putting together a slide show for the end of the year.  I am using iMovie to do it, and I love it.  It’s so simple – I drag and drop my pictures into the new project, set the timings and effects (gotta love Ken Burns effect!!) and add the music.  I have 3 of the 9 total programs complete and am making good time on it, seeing as how it’s due on the 21st of May.

So long for now, I’ll go post those photos for a good chuckle.

It’s pollen and prom season here in central Maine and both are rearing their ugly heads .  The pollen has knocked me for a loop and I am slow to recover.  Prom time equals the immediate withdrawl of interest in all things academic and the onset of “senioritis”, even you are not a senior, you WILL contract this disorder.  Staff even catches this nasty little bug.

I have reined in my loaning of the laptops to students, things have an odd tendency to grow legs and run off this time of year, never to be heard from again.  I must say though I have had huge success this year with loaning the school laptops to students who need them.  I have only had one issue of improper handling and luckily it didn’t hurt the machine.  Most students know that laptops do not go on buses while on and open, while playing chess.  One did need a reminder though.  But all in all, I have to say that my students did a remarkable job being responsible.  They knew to come to me and ask before borrowing while in school and knew to bring the machines back promptly on the due date when allowed to take them home.  I didn’t have to do a lot of running around chasing after machines.

Students are beginning to take their exams in both their regular sending schools and their certification exams at the tech center.  The Graphic Design and Communications students are taking their Adobe Certified Assistant exams this upcoming week.  The Health Occupations and Commerical Truck Driving students took their CNA and CDL exams respectively this week.  Over half of the truck driving students recieved their licenses and we will know shortly on the CNA students.

Happy Mother’s Day to all.

I finally got the site set up so that my videos are all on one page and the posts on another.  I had to change my theme in order to gain access to the pages tabs at the top of the screen.  Even though I consider myself tech savvy, this has a bit of a learning curve for me.  It doesn’t help that I have rural DSL with super slow speed.

I think now I have this set up so that I can use it in future courses, so I am glad that I signed up for it.  All it will  need is some tweaking to accommodate my future class.  I may use this when I take over teaching Computer Systems Repair next year when our regular teacher goes out on active duty with the Air Guard in Kansas.  I’ll link the blog in Moodle and I think I’ll use this site as a way of tracking journaling.

I’m going to work on some more videos and some screen shots for the Video How Tos page and I think I’ll make a photos page as well.

On April 30th and May 1st, I had the great experience of traveling to southern Maine Thursday and Friday for the Career and Technical Education Commerical Driving License Class A and B student skills competition.  I went with 9 students and their amazing instructor Mrs. Kimball (which is pretty cool, having a female truck driving instructor!!).  The students had to complete 3 tasks in the event: a written CDL test with sample questions from the actual license test, a Pre-Trip Inspection where students had to simulate a walk around of the truck and trailer and explain to the judges what they are looking at and how to make sure all equipment is safe and secure, and a driving course with sample CDL driving test tasks.  Our Tri County kids did an amazing job; in the individual Class A competition, 2 of our students took fourth and second place and the team won the Class A overall award.  This is at least the fourth consecutive year our students brought home the state trophy.

It’s a true testament to how well our CTE staff cares about our kids and their knowledge of thier chosen fields.  All our students in the CDL program knew what was expected of them from the State examiners, and they met and exceeded those expectations.  Our students know how to be safe and legal drivers when they enter the profession thanks to Mrs. Kimball and Mr. Gerald who make sure each student fully understands what s/he is doing and the responsibility that comes with it.  I feel pretty good knowing that when they begin to drive truck for a living, they will be safer than the average bear.

Hello and welcome to my Computer tips and maintenance blog that I have started for students.  Here you will find helpful information that will help you navigate through the Macintosh OS X platform.

I also like to discuss the general goings-on with my technical high school – we are getting ready to end the year and a lot of exciting things are happening.  On this page you will find me dithering bout my students.