Troy Patterson

Educator, Thinker, Consultant

Month: September 2025

Person sitting at a bench with a newspaper in front of their face.
Person sitting at a bench with a newspaper in front of their face.

Weekly Review 202506

September 22, 2025 / / 0 Comments

Post Update: Idea Board (Padlet Alternative)

I’ve updated the last Weekly Review to include the examples of Idea Board. I’ve also added it to one of my Moodle sites so that I can start playing around with ideas.

Josh Ritter

I Believe in You, My Honeydew is now available. My copy arrived last night. I listened to it on the way into work this morning. Solid album.

I strongly encourage supporting local artists. There are tons of really great artists out there. Go see a show. Buy an album if you can.

novelWriter

I’m checking out novelWriter. It seems to be similar to Scrivner, but open-source.

There is nothing wrong with supporting good, commercial software. I have purchased Scrivner, though I don’t use it much. It was worth the price.

I also believe in open-source software. This may work out well for you.

iOS 26, Mac OS 26

I’ve updated to the newest OS for all of my devices. I have to say that much of the interface looks a bit “fuzzy” to me. That is, the icons and text are just not a clear and crisp as they use to be.

I do kind of like the visual structures (rounded rectangles), but the clarity thing is bothersome.

Naturally, my main iMac decided to go into convulsions. It seems that when I update the iMac, I need to unplug the external drives that are attached. Of course, I forget this until there is an issue. While simply unplugging the drives usually returns the update process activity, this time I had to invoke the DFU process. This means dragging another Mac to put next to the iMac, connecting them up with a USB-C cord and following very specific instructions.

Fortunately, all is well. Middle School Matters was recorded and published on time.

Our Past, Their Future

It’s long been a question to be answered in my educational career,

Are we preparing kids for our past or their future?

That question has been persistent for me.

This has come up again as the discussion around phones and screens is one of the hot topics. It’s something that I’ll be continuing to think about and discuss.

Periodic Table
Periodic Table

Periodic Table Personalities

September 20, 2025 / / 0 Comments

I’ve posted a “Periodic Table Personalities” resource over on Middle School Matters.

Periodic Table Personalities is the embodiment of the personification of those elements that make up our world.

Students simply answer a few questions about themselves to find that elemental connection. That’s right, students answer some (16) questions and then are presented with their “Element”.

Thanks to Shawn McGirr who developed this wonderful resource. This is an H5P activity that can be downloaded and reused.

Students Marking Up Digital Text

September 15, 2025 / / 0 Comments

Recently, I was asked about having students “mark up” (annotating) digital text. The specific example involves students marking up a math problem. For example, the students are given a story problem. Each student identifies parts of the story problem by: 

  • Underline – (the question)
  • Circle – (the numbers and units)
  • Box – (math action words)
  • Line – (extra information)

Traditionally, this has been done by printing out the story problem on a sheet of paper (two per page), then cutting them up and passing them out to students. 

This is based on the CUBES strategy for math. However, the basics of this could be used for a variety of classes.

Can this be done digitally? 

Yes. 

I considered using Apple’s Freeform. However, since the teacher uses Canva and Google Classroom, it seemed best to go with those tools.

For this example, we are going to use the Whiteboard feature in Canva. 

  • Log in to Canva
  • Click on Classwork along the left-hand panel.
  • Select “Whiteboard”
  • Add in your story problem (cut and paste may work best)
  • Click on “Share”
  • Select “Google Classroom”
  • Select the Class in Google Classroom
  • Select the Share Action “Create assignment”
  • Enter appropriate Google Classroom information:
    • Title (Required)
    • Instructions (optional)
    • Assign to All Students or by group
    • Add a Due date (optional)
    • Add a Topic (optional)
    • Set Grading category (optional)
    • Set Points (optional)
  • Click Assign

Student Actions:

  • Students will see the Assignment in Google Classroom
  • Students click on “Use Template”
  • Students click on “Open in Editor”
  • Students will need to know how to use the whiteboard in Canva
    • Tools on the left side
    • Select Tools | The Red Marker | Blue Pen
  • Now students are ready to Mark up the document.
  • (*They can use other tools as well. The highlighter can be used in many colors. This is a great transferable skill that has many uses.)

The end result is that each student will get their own copy of the story problem on a whiteboard. Since it is a digital whiteboard, the students can mark it up as directed. 

Weekly Review 202505

Weekly Review 202505

September 13, 2025 / / 1 Comment

“Padlet” in Moodle (H5P)

Oliver Tacke has created a wonderful resource in H5P that mirrors some of the functionality of Padlet. I haven’t had a chance to play with it yet, but it looks interesting.

Here is a basic example:

The second example shows the different types of boards.

Joplin

I accidentally double-clicked on a note in Joplin. To my surprise, the note opened in an additional, separate window. This is awesome!

The latest update (or maybe before that and I missed it) includes Markdown row highlighting. Joplin keeps being a really, really good choice for me.

Power of First Impressions & Tech

We know the power of first impressions. I was thinking of first impressions in troubleshooting. Sometimes, people get frustrated about Technology not working. (I get that, I get frustrated too.) However, the blame is frequently passed along that the thing (could be a site, hardware, etc) isn’t working (e.g., I need a new computer because this one won’t…) and the thing is the problem. Then it turns out that the user hasn’t restarted the computer in months. A restart fixes the thing. However, that first impression sticks.

COVID

Maine is currently requiring a prescription to receive the COVID vaccine, unless you are over 65 or have certain health conditions. Maine law requires a vaccine to be on recommended list from the CDC. I feel for the doctors and pharmacists who are now being put into a very uncomfortable position.

So, I checked the State of Maine’s website on Covid Response. Apparently, I’m not allowed to view it.

Trip

I’m planning on taking a trip to Ireland and Scotland next year. I can either spend lots of time trying to figure out how to get around, where to stay, etc. OR I can book a tour.

So, I’m currently looking at CIE tours. The reviews seem good. Does anyone have experience with CIE tours? Do you know of another option that you would recommend?

Weekly Review 202504

September 6, 2025 / / 1 Comment

Anniversary

Today (well, a day last month) is the day that I officially wed my wonderful, fun, loving, smart, intelligent, beautiful wife. Turns out that the priest didn’t actually file some paperwork, so we got to do it again with our kids as witnesses. So many great years together.

AI

This year is going to continue to be about AI in schools. There are lots of concerns (e.g. water usage, power consumption, copyright, moral, etc), but the reality is that AI will be part of our (and our students) lives. I’m planning on lots of training and information for our staff.

Technology and Respect

I had an interesting chat with a fellow Tech Director the other day. We were doing the general chat thing, when the other Tech Director noted Technology Directors are the “Rodney Dangerfields” of education. (*To those of you unfamiliar with Mr. Dangerfield, he was well known for the line “I get no respect”). The Tech Director noted how difficult it was to get training time with teachers. Teachers have so very little professional development time. There are so many things that teachers could grow and develop with opportunity.

The other Tech Director went on with another example. “I was at XXX, and noticed that there were reserved parking spaces for the Superinendent, Director of Business, Director of Curriculum, Director of Food Services”. Notice which Director is missing? It’s not about the parking space, but the mind space.

Things I Learned This Week

Take hearing aids out if using an electric beard trimmer

Yea, not my most shining moment. On one hand, I’m so used to wearing hearing aids that I don’t really think about it. On the other, I thought that I wasn’t getting close enough to be an issue (wrong on that one). Those little wire tubes do split nicely though.

Facebook in Maine

In Maine, businesses may not update their website (check Facebook, they may update that). The kids invited us to go skating. They checked the website and the skating rink was opened from 7:30 – 10:00 p.m. The kids picked us up and we headed off to skate. However, when we arrived, they were pretty obviously closed. A little more searching, AND, there is a Facebook post stating that they take July off and are closed. I don’t use Facebook.

Flowers

My wife has done an absolutely fantastic job of planting, cultivating, and growing flowers around the house. The yard looks absolutely fantastic.

A Little Taste of Michigan

It turns out that you can order an Olga’s Snackers Kit directly from Olga’s. I can confirm that they are wonderful. I would lower the air fryer temperature just a bit though.

52Frames

I broke my string of a year and half of posting in 52Frames. The killer is that I had a picture ready to go, but decided to wait until Sunday. See, I was taking a hike with my youngest, and knew that I was taking my camera. So, week 30, Unusual Crop has no entry from me. My submission would’ve been a whale seen from a boat.
Whale Tale, the tale of humpback whale in the ocean

Garage Organization

I’m finally making progress on organizing my garage. I still have a ways to go, but the tool organization means that I can actually find tools now. I’ve also made efforts on small parts.

Jesse Terry

We went on Monday night to see Jesse Terry. Jesse Terry is an independent artist who has created some wonderful music. We had to go to Castine in order to see the show. This is a two-hour drive. Gee, if only we had a concert venue* near us.

On the way, we stopped in Bucksport for dinner at Chalee Thai-Sushi. The food was terrific. The place is small, with three dine-in chairs, but obviously owned and operated by a passionate couple. We chose to “take-out” and walked down the stairs to a picnic table.

It was a good show. He played straight through for a little over two hours. It is absolutely wonderful to hear the story behind the songs. This just deepens and enriches the song.

(* We have a terrific concert venue which is wholly under utilized. A local restaurant has more events at Johnson Hall than Johnson Hall does. However, most of those are posted on Facebook, so I can’t see those.)

Copyright 2026 - All Rights Reserved.

© 2026 Troy Patterson

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑