stj.ecacs16.ab.ca

Pick a question(s) from “The Human Condition” page of course focus questions.

Read a news story(or 3-5 related stories) that in some way explore “The Human Condition.” (adding RSS widgets from cbc.ca/rss/ is a great way to do this.)

Write about the news while at the same time responding to the focus question(s).

Make sure your writing is in your own voice at all times, and that after reading your writing the reader learns something about the news story, something about “The Human Condition”, and something about your personal identity.

Who am I? We often speak of one’s “personal identity” as what makes one the person one is. Your identity in this sense consists roughly of those properties that make you unique as an individual and different from others. Or it is the way you see or define yourself. Or it may be the network of values and convictions that structure your life.

An example from me illustrates the question, Why do we do what we do?.

From my example, what is learned about the news? What is learned about how I see “The Human Condition”(hint: which question(s) have I attempted to answer)? What is learned about my personal identity?

Please pingback a new sample of your writing about the news to this post, and/or leave a comment.

©2008 Pingo Lingo. All Rights Reserved.

Monday evening, after the kids went to bed, I sat on the couch watching “Terminator” immersing myself in my weekly paranoia about machines one day bringing an end to humanity. The gist of this episode, like the films, put the basic humanness of its otherwise innocent characters on a bleak collision course with a war of extinction with “the machines.” The future looks bleak indeed.

But this episode had too much dialogue, too much weeping; no car chases, no gun fights. I quickly lost interest.

I wandered the web on my MacBook when I stumbled accross a BBC story of a former Swiss miltary pilot crossing the English channel with a rocket strapped to his back. I watched the video. I watched in silence as he jumped from a plane in Calais, France, and zipped off into the blue. I watched as he blasted past onlookers and chase planes. I watched as he deployed his parachute and landed in Dover, England, with nothing more than a stumble.

No threats, no deaths, no terror, no markets collapsing, no war, no hospital waiting rooms, no polution. Just one man, with a a rocket strapped to his back leading by example.

This story fills me with hope. There are yet a few hope-filled heros who do not become distracted from their focus; no obstacle clouds their pursuit of an ideal; no risk is unmanaged.

“I’m not worried about risk, I manage risk”, he said. What a profound confidence.

Yves Rossy landed safely. He valued risk, he measure it, planned for it, managed it … and landed it. I admire his achievement. I admire his desire to see a future in which we fly “a little bit like a bird.” I admire his desire to lead humanity forward to do what we have never done before. I admire his lack of paranoia about some undefined chance of failure. I admire his unflinching focus on success.

Next week, when I sit down to watch “Terminator,” it’ll be a bit easier to remind myself that a bleak future is fiction. Human fulfillment is possible if we do what we do with love, with joy, and with faith. Yves Rossy is “down to earth” by reminding us we are called to the stars.

“Flight of the Jet Man,” airs again on Friday October 3rd on National Geographic Channel(US). Can anyone find out when(if) it’s on in Canada?

©2008 Pingo Lingo. All Rights Reserved.

I’d like some help considering what pair of films we ought to study in LA 9. Keeping in mind our course focus questions, what pair of films should we study in class?

1. Why We Fight vs. The Atomic Cafe
2. Artificial Intelligence: AI vs. I, Robot
3. Hoosiers vs. Rudy
4. Godzilla vs. King Kong
5. Close Encounters of the Third Kind vs. Signs
6. The Princess Bride vs. Dragon Heart
7. Arachnophobia vs. Misery
8. The Outsiders vs. Hairspray
9. The Iron Giant vs. E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial

Please leave a comment with a critical reason for your preference of films.

©2008 Pingo Lingo. All Rights Reserved.

After mulling over the possibilities of focus in my own mind, discussion in the STJ forums amongst students, and reflecting on literature choices from the first two weeks of class I’ve decide the following:

Language Arts 9 will focus on “The Human Condition - In Search of Self.” Early course discussions emphasized relationships (family and friends) and feelings that confuse or hinder the development of new relationships. We’ve seen doubts and fears in our approach to self and others and we’ll continue to grow in our maturing voices and sincerity.

English 10 will focus on “Decisions - Action or Apathy.” Students have been focusing on adolescent decision making: pressures to fit, or not; conflicts between work, family, and school; dealing with consequences to decisions and exploring the role of emotions in “life’s lessons.”

English 20 will focus on “World Perspectives - The Social Experience.” The discussions of our first text, Brave New World, have really determined our focus for us. The discussions go well beyond a defense of personal happiness(or lack thereof) and explore individual, group, and social responsibility. We’ll need to emphasize further the role of literature as a means of Social Criticism. We need to bring into the classroom real analysis of systems that exemplify shortcomings in Canadian Society.

These focus questions will heavily influence all major assignments and the mid-term exams in LA 9, English 10, and English 20.

©2008 Pingo Lingo. All Rights Reserved.

I asked a student, “Is it bigger than a breadbox?” today. Their blank look reminded me that the older I get, the further removed I become from the popular lingo of my students. I have no desire to immerse myself fully in the vocabulary of my students, but I can leech unto them the background of some of my “Pingo Lingo.”

When I was a kid we would travel by station wagon, between Prince Albert and Saskatoon, and we would play “20 Questions“. We would each take turns thinking of something, and we would then each in turn ask questions until we where able to guess what the person was thinking. The first question was always, “Is it bigger than a breadbox?”

©2008 Pingo Lingo. All Rights Reserved.

Using the format of a blog, comment at the end of each reading session on both the substance of your reading and its effects on you.

Record pages or sections on which you are commenting. Record your impressions of characters, events, conflicts, descriptions. Record responses to your own questions. Record questions about the novel as you read. Respond to course focus questions.

Make sure you take the time after, during, or before each reading session to make an entry into your blog. 10-15 sentences per reading session might be enough.

Make each entry interesting, personal, intelligent. Avoid retelling the story or simply “dumbing-down” the text. Write posts that engages your readers in critical thinking, enhances their attention span, and fills them with speculative awe.

Write several short posts per week, once a day at least. Write longer posts when your mood strikes you. Tag each post before publishing. Use categories such as the following to keep your responses organized:

Utopia
Community, Identity, Stability
Science and Technology
Conditioning
Soma
Sensual Pleasures
Religion
Family Life
Death
Skinner
Kohlberg
Piaget
Erikson
Freud
Adler
Thoreau

Track the posts you make and the comments you send and receive in a spreadsheet. Try to spend no more than 15 minutes on the computer per class. If that isn’t enough, do more work at home or during spare time. There is a need for quite, concentrated reading time during your day. Here we go.

©2008 Pingo Lingo. All Rights Reserved.

I’ve added a bit of mumbo jumbo to the edit-post form to show readability stats. The function shows word/sentence count and:

The Gunning-Fog index gives the number of years of education needed to understand the text. Short, plain sentences score better than long, complicated sentences. Based on words per sentence and “hard” words per sentence.

The Flesch-Kincaid index gives the number of years of education needed to understand the text. Short, plain sentences score better than long, complicated sentences. Based on syllables per word and words per sentence.

The Flesch index, usually between 0 and 100, indicates how difficult the text is to read. The higher the score, the easier the text is to read. Based on syllables per word and words per sentence.

This short post warrants the following scores so far:
Words: 123 Sentences: 10 Fog: 9.1 Kincaid: 7.0 Flesch: 67

These simple stats basically mean anyone in about grades 7-9 should be able to easily read this post.

It might be interesting to look back on posts you’ve written, click on edit, and see what scores these formulas calculate for your readability.

According to wikipedia, the formula is 50+ years old and is built into MS Office as well.

I promise not to get too fired up about linguistics, but I have been doing oodles of programming lately… and I am an English teacher, after all.

Now I’ve scored: Fog: 9.4 Kincaid: 6.5 Flesch: 69

Out.

©2008 Pingo Lingo. All Rights Reserved.

The new MacPro server is set up and ready to go and each new iMac is lit up and rolling. Still a couple install bugs I have to sort out: like naming each computer(minor error at startup as Leopard assigns its own name). They should get you to the net and back.

I’ve spent far more time than I wanted setting everything up, but I know the value of an automagic, autonomous Mac lab. Each iMac has the standard out of the box Mac stuff, iTunes, Garageband, Safari. But I’ve added the usual favourites as well: Firefox and Microsoft Office. No Adobe applications yet as there was a mix up somewhere and it hasn’t arrived. The new cameras and their bell’s and whistles should be here soon. I still have to order more audio gear(keyboard and mixer) and other odds and ends. The Comtech blog will have details as they unfold.

The iblogs have been updated, again. Little surprises, mostly. New themes, better support for tagging. Recall how we had to add code to align an image in a post, you’ll like the automagic stuff there too. Trackbacks still do what trackbacks do, but we’ll use Pingbacks from here on in.

Post tagging will be emphasized(3-5 tags per post is enough) which means a post should only need to be in one category. This summer I added tags to all my old posts, but in the process deleted all my categories, so I have new work to do there someday :grrr

I’ve added a new blog devoted to tags called iblog.stjschool.org/tags/. It updates on the fly when any post is published at iblogs.stjschool.org. I’ve written a couple widgets to support the rollout of the sitewide tags blog too.

Reminders about blogging at STJ: abide your signed “Computer Use Agreement.” Set your privacy and comment moderation settings to whatever level is comfortable to you (Private blogs do not appear in the tags blog/widgets, though). Don’t forget to update your blogroll and refresh your tagline.

If you are looking for ideas for your first post, my Random Idea Generator, Focus Question Generator, Critical Thinking Generator, Learning Log Generator are all now plugins you need to activate in order to add them to the Edit Post form. Or you could browse Snowflakes, or Ideas won’t keep.

If you want to boast, help, cry, complain, or belly-ache about something about the site go to the Forums. I need some help, again, choosing the course focus questions . . . hint-hint.

• Decisions–Action or Apathy
• Environment and Technology–Reality and Responsibility
• Equality–Pain and Pride
• The Human Condition–In Search of Self
• World Perspectives–The Social Experience

Course Outlines and Reading lists for Language Arts 9, English 10, and English 20.

In 2008/9, each CTS student I teach must earn 2 credits in Information Processing before moving on to the ComTech modules. At least one credit must be in Keyboarding, if you can’t get a second keyboarding credit I recommend Information Highway 2. What Comtech modules will be ready will depend on circumstances in and beyond my control. I have some very interested “Industry Partners” willing to share in our efforts in ComTech.

My son Malcolm took this last image, I like the surreal blur as I puzzle over the Leopard Server install manual in microprint. Notice the 14 inch monitor(circa 1996) The cinema display has since arrived via China–>Alaska–>Ontario–>Calgary–>Edmonton…

©2008 Pingo Lingo. All Rights Reserved.

I’m excited. “Mac-cited”. In July my proposal for ComTech lab equipment was approved and purchases began, finally, for this project. I’ve been tracking orders from UPS, Purolator, FedEx like a kid listening to the radio for reports from the armed forces about Santa’s arrival on Christmas eve. I’ve been to the office to look at every parcel dropped off at the school for the last week only to trudge back to the lab empty handed. When I arrive home, without a word spoken, my wife knows why.

My data projector and ceiling mount arrived today, but it’ll be a while before they are installed.

I’m most excited about the MacPro Server, it seems an eternity since I’ve managed any significant server (since AppleShare 4->6 on a Mac II->G3 circa 2001 was replaced by Redhat 8 - managed by central office ITs). The server’s primary function will be file sharing with the 25 iMacs and accounts for students I teach in the Comtech courses. I’ll be using it to chew through digital video and images, group projects, collaborations multi-user documents with Adobe Master suite, - should be suhweet gazing into the Apple cinema, too. Oh, and a 66 key M-Audio keyboard with Bose Companion 3 speakers - kids on break in their vehicles will come a’knocking on my door to turn it down.

Some specs:

1 MacPro Server: 
Two 3.2GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeo
4GB (4×1GB) RAM
ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT 256MB
4×1TB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb
One 16x SuperDrive
MAC OS X SERVER (UNLIMITED)

1  APPLE CIN HD DISPLAY 23″ FLAT PANEL

25 iMacs:
2.4GHZ INTEL CORE 2 DUO
2GB 800MHZ DDR2 SDRAM - 2×1GB
250GB SERIAL ATA DRIVE

BOSE Companion 3 speakers

I’ll use my new MacBook Pro to present project ideas, tutorials, instruction. I can manage from home/road the school’s web domains and especially iblogs via WPMU(as more of a CMS, really) which sports a blog for every student I teach. I have a 2007 Macbook(personal), but the Macbook Pro should demonstrate anything Adobe Master can do with speed.

The SLR and Video cameras from Canon should be here from Long’s, I phoned Jason on his first day back from holidays… what a kid I am.

Today I made a pile of old Blueberry iMacs, Indigo iMacs and iMac SEs, to redistribute/sell/trash. The Rev C 266 iMac(9 years old) has been running OS X on 256MB RAM on a partitioned drive for several years - a marvel. I’ll find a reason to keep it. Maybe I can scavenge an SE to take home for my kids.(3, 5, and 8 year-old boys still love Webkinz. They still play DVDs, too.)

Managing a iMac lab for the last 10 years has had it’s ups and downs, but the best source for support has always been the software/manuals from Mike Bombich. Panther(10.3) worked effortlessly, and even if a machine borked once in a while, cloning a new working drive with every piece of lab software intact and active, took  a couple clicks, 3 lines in Terminal, and the patience to wait for the disk to copy. I could swap out drives from a troubled iMac with ease and even had a collection of old pre-cloned drives ready to go in the event of a drive failure, but that was rare. One lost its monitor pmu, one was fried by lightening induced power surge, one had the prongs of the ethernet port vandalized. 7 eMacs just came back from a warranty repair for the bizarre “bulging caps” plague (I was successful talking to Apple’s customer service about their “out of warranty period warranty extension”) . 

Over the last few years our school networking(Cat6, fiber, switches, wirless) has become increasingly stable so I will deploy using Netrestore. Given that each iMac has 250GB, copying bootable disk images(even if by trial and error at first) should be a snap. Space was never a luxury on the 6-20 GB iMacs these behemoths are replacing.

What is “back to school” look like for me? Checking my iblog logs, email via MobileMe, uploading iPhoto pics to the school Galley2, managing the online store, and marking - oh the marking - on my new MacBook pro, with some Johny Winter in iTunes.

My wife, can start using the home iMac more than I do. She accepted my “friend request” in Facebook today. I’ve been in Facebook for 2 years, but I’ve logged in less than 10 times in that span. How do I gracefully reject 12 other friends’ invites to play Bingo that are 10-20 weeks old? I finally put the summer photos from Kodak EasyShare into iPhoto. Maybe she can push them to her Facebook page as I seem not to find the time or the interest to do so.

I’m listening to “Winter Kills” by Yaz now, major flashbacks. Time to go. UPS says the 25 iMacs are in transit from Calgary on time to arrive tomorrow. I’m gonna find a movie to watch, maybe Vantage Point is still on the PVR.

But the VP has a new iPhone. Wonder if he can get a GPS fix on the FedEx van at the staff meeting tomorrow? Out.

©2008 Communication Technology. All Rights Reserved.

Welcome back

©2008 Pingo Lingo. All Rights Reserved.

Submit any revisions you would like to make to the existing Religion 25 exams (see the links in the sidebar).

Thanks.

©2008 Pingo Lingo. All Rights Reserved.

Soon, I’ll know officially the actual funding our school received for it’s role in a Multimedia Initiative Project. The $297,722 award to our division was announced in late April. The proposal included “in kind” promises from the school division for staffing, PD, technical support pushing the overall project funding over $400,000. Yesterday’s video conference with the division project leader suggested our school has about $87,000 to spend on hardware and software.

The project focus is on audio, video, animation, photography, digital production and printing skills.

So I’ve been web shopping.

Hardware:
iMacs(at least 6, but likely several more), NAS storage, printers, SLR digital cameras, HDV cameras, microphones, midi keyboards, mixing boards, speakers.

Software:
iMovie, Garageband, Final Cut, Aperture, etc etc
Adobe CS3 (PhotoShop, Premier, Flash, etc.)

The first stumbling block to building my purchase proposal is costing the site/division licenses for software. I need to hear back from the division technology director about that. After software is costed, the rest will be spent on hardware.

Cool.

©2008 Communication Technology. All Rights Reserved.