Educator, Thinker, Moodler, Podcaster, Open-source advocate. Check out the world's longest running middle school focused podcast at https://middleschoolmatters.com
I’ve had a few discussions with people who want technology to be “like utilities”. That is, they just want the technology to work. I understand this. I wish it were like this too. Essentially, they want technology to be like the water spigot or the light switch. Flip it on, it works. However, at this point, technology is not there. For starters, we may want different things from technology than other users.
For example, hit that switch and the projector turns on and shows the video that you want. Um, where is that video? Are you wired directly to the projector? Do you want this to work wirelessly?
I probably should have some better examples. But the point really is that we may not all want the same thing to happen when we flip that switch. Thus, we’re going to have to learn to make the technology do what we want.
Talk Like A Pirate Day
So this last week was “Talk Like a Pirate Day”. Sadly, not one of my known peeps was participating.
Heated Seats
Well, this week was the first time this fall that I was thrilled to have heated seats. This is one of those little pleasures that I really enjoy.
Brendan James
We went to see Brendan James at the City Winery in Boston. What a wonderful show. I can’t tell you how much I enjoy seeing singer/songwriters perform their work in a small, intimate venue. Like Ari Hest, Brendan James is a thoughtful, singer/songwriter who can make you think and touch your soul. He played great songs and shared a bunch of wonderful stories.
Brendan James also has new album out (Leap Taken). We bought it, directly from him on the honor system. Grab the CD, scan the Venmo code and send him money.
Rm even got to request a song that he played.
Local Comedy
I also got to go to a local comedy show with a friend. It was an interesting evening. One could definitely tell that different comedians were at different points in their development. Timing and pacing are so very important in comedy.
There was a bit too much focus on crass jokes for me. I’m not really a prude, but I also think that you don’t have to fall only to sexual points to be funny.
However, the company was great. It was nice to get out to see a local show.
Darktable
I’m watching some videos trying to learn how to use Darktable. These are very interesting. I’m hoping to at least get good enough to develop some passable photographs.
Every week I do a podcast, well, almost every week. This past week, I made a major oopsie (yep, that is the official term). While putting the show together, which is recorded in a couple of segments, I copied in a segment from the previous week.
Acadia
On Sunday, Rm and I headed to Acadia National Park to meet up with daughter #1 and a friend of hers who is here to visit. We had a wonderful hike together. Rm and I stuck around to watch the ocean for a bit. As the ocean came in, we were close, but safe, that we got sprayed a bit.
York
Our continuing participation in the Maine Yarn Cruise, ok, mostly Rm, but I get to go along frequently to see new places. One of the spots to visit was in York. We explored a bit of York as well. Specifically, we visited the Nubble Lighthouse. The Nubble Lighthouse was a nice visit. Afterward, we headed out for dinner. We stopped at a restaurant with outside seating. The restaurant was technically what you would call a “hole in the wall”. Our expectations weren’t high, but we ordered. The food turned out to be excellent (only surpassed by the company). I had a fried haddock sandwich that was marvelous.
Ari Hest
Rm and I went to see Ari Hest at the The Music Hall Lounge in Portsmouth, NH. If you aren’t familiar with Ari Hest, check out his music. While he gets some fame for working with Judy Collins, his music stands on its’ own.
The venue was really nice. It’s a really small space, very intimate. We sat about ten feet away. No opening act, just Ari Hest. We had two lovely table mates as well.
I really prefer these shows over the stadium-sized shows. Smaller venue artists connect with the audience in a way that is impossible in large venues. Rather than spectacle, you get connection. Many of these artists, and Ari Hest certainly qualifies, are the modern-day philosophers, poets, and guides.
Portsmouth also has a wonderfully cute downtown. Rm and I will have to go back when more things are open and we can explore.
Matt Mullenweg
Matt Mullenweg was on This Week in Google recently. I was fascinated by many parts of the show. Specifically, I was interested in some of his views on open-source and usability. I need to relisten with specific attention. But here are a couple of things that struck me:
Social networks have to find what makes them special. Matt recently purchased Tumblr. There was discussion about Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and more social networks.
Conversation versus connection. This was interesting as well. Are we looking for connection (Facebook’s default value) or communication?
So, I’ll need to go back and listen again with purpose.
One of the other things that Matt talked about was making the canvases, and brushes of the internet.
Millionaire Dollar Idea
ig Nobel Awards of 2022. The Applied Cardiology Prize is about blind dating and how their heart rate becomes synchronized. Develop a device with a Green, Yellow, and Red light. Each dater wears a finger clip, the box sits in the middle of the table.
For the first time in a couple of years, I got sick. It seems to have been food poisoning, several COVID tests continually came back negative. So Saturday was no podcast. I was pretty much out for the whole day.
Back to Work
Time for schools to open. Time for me to be back to work full time. This was the first summer that I had off in roughly twelve years. (To be clear, I still did lots of work this summer. I still held meetings with my guys. But I didn’t work every day. I mostly had meetings remotely.)
I’m hoping that this year will be much more “normal”. There were so many things that I wanted to do last year, but just couldn’t.
Moodle Times
Lots of Moodle work over the past couple of weeks. This was generated by yearly training requirements. Every year, we need to do compliance training. It’s not the most enthralling experience (either for the teachers that take it or the organization that has to provide it), but it is an important process. There are legal considerations.
I utilized Lesson for the staff members. This allows me to control their path so that they must be successful. If they don’t get a question correct, I can give them information and redirect them to try again. I give them unlimited attempts so, really, they just need to pay a little bit of attention and they will be successful. However, I hit just a bit of a roadblock. Even though I have no penalties set, and the highest attempt, by default, Moodle tells them that their additional attempt may not count. Ouch. Some staff members will read that and freak out. Not what I want. So, a quick trip to Language Strings and I can then edit out that parenthetical language. Now the staff members will not receive the inaccurate language. Yea!
I’m being told that the Lesson module will be deprecated in the future. There is a push for H5P to be utilized instead. Now, I love H5P. But there are issues with H5P sometimes too. For example, I also did the activities in H5P, since I did them last year in H5P, it was a simple Reuse download and upload. H5P is currently duplicating the Header (which is really ugly and confusing for users). There is a CSS addition to remove the extra Heading.
/* Hide the doubling of the description on H5P activities */ div#hvpintro.box.py-3.mod_introbox { display: none!important; }
That goes into the Raw Initial SCSS box. This fixes the duplicate header.
However, the Lesson module ends up being much cleaner and better organized. Specifically, in H5P, the student (in this case the staff) has to click on the “Submit Report” button to, well, Submit their answers. Since this looks like a summary sheet, some staff members miss that they need to click that button.
So, I generally try to add in a bit of humor. (I have to be very careful about this though.) Everyone has an indicator of Awesomeness. Each staff member can see their very own Current Level of Awesomeness… via Checklist plugin and the Checklist block. This provides the staff members with a quick thermometer of how much they have completed and how much is left to go. *Mine is empty as I’m the teacher of the course.I also have the ability, and the button, for the Overview of Students.
Once they have completed the course, every user gets a badge and a certificate. Moodle has two different certificate possibilities (which leads to some confusion). One of them gave me fits trying to develop the certificate. I couldn’t get elements to reliably “stick” where they were put.
The documentation on the other one is less than stellar. Developed for Moodle Workplace, rather than the open-source Moodle version, it is built-in to Workplace. The key is to add an activity “Course Certificate” and the appropriate restrictions. Then, things work wonderfully well.
Presentation
Yea, my presentation proposal was accepted. Now, I have to prepare a presentation. I’ll be presenting on H5P at the ACTEM Conference. I have some ideas on how to structure the presentation, but I need to further develop them. I’m thinking that I’ll be making them play as part of the presentation. That may involve setting up a server. There are some great support resources available, so mostly, I’ll be putting my spin on the use of H5P.
Vactionland
It seems like I’m still on vacation in many ways. Some of this is due to a conscious decision to enjoy things. Some is probably due to moving and not having the same kind of supports and connections around. I don’t really have friends in the area. Many of the places that we are going are places that we are learning about. We lack familiarity of place and people. Thus, things sometimes seem more like vacation than home.,
Book Banning
There are several movements to ban books around the country. Here in Maine, two books seem to be under the microscope. There is a push from some people to ban GenderQueer by Maia Kobabe. This is a graphic novel that is in some high schools. I borrowed it from Hoopla through my local library. It is a quick read. The book addresses growing up, sexuality, and gender identification. This is definitely a book that high schoolers should have access to. Even though it may make some parents feel uncomfortable, it is crucial that our teenagers have access to this information. Our goal should never be to make things like they were for us but to make things better for our kids.
Hypothesis
I’m a big fan of Hypothesis. Essentially, Hypothesis is social bookmarking. Hypothesis allows for annotation on web pages. These annotations can be public or private and include tagging. I’ve used Hypothesis to replace Diigo. I had used Diigo for quite a while, but then reached the limits of the free version. Hypothesis is free and open-source. Theoretically, I could set up a server to run Hypothesis, but that isn’t necessary. The web version of Hypothesis doesn’t have limits.
One of the features that I would love, is the ability to see annotations or bookmarks by groups. I would love to see an indicator as to which group a site is bookmarked in.
We had a terrific dinner with a couple of friends. Rm made some Detroit Style Pizza. Yes, this involved purchasing the correct pan (you’ve got to have the proper tools). This was the first go with the new pan. I must say, Rm knocked it out of the park as usual. Anyway, everyone enjoyed the pizza.
We also shared some Venor’s with them. This is a magical elixir that is difficult to get in Maine. Maine has Moxie, like several other local area specialties. Venor’s is really a treat for us.
We also shared a bottle of wine from Black Star Farms Winery that was acquired on a recent trip back to Michigan. We are big fans of the wines from Black Star Farms Winery. We now have a couple more friends that are also fans (at least of the Arcturos Pinot Noir).
Clambake
We also had an opportunity to partake in the Cabbage Island Clambake. This was part of enjoying our wedding anniversary. We headed down to Booth Bay Harbor and checked in. Naturally, we were a bit early, so we got to do a little wandering around Booth Bay as well. The boat ride out includes a tour and explanation of some of the islands.
Then it’s time to dock on Cabbage Island. You can see and smell the smoke rising from the prep area. We disembarked on the island and found a table overlooking the water. There was a young married couple there as well.
A bit of conversation, a bit of enjoying the view, and it’s time for dinner. We started with clam chowder. We were lucky enough to be able to go up to collect our dinner early. Oh, what a dinner it was. Two lobsters, corn on the cob, oysters, onion, and an egg. The couple next to us had a great time working on the lobsters and such. Next up was a generous piece of blueberry cake.
We had some time left so we took a quick walk over to the other side of the island to watch the sunset.
The ferry ride back was much quicker (which I’m sure Hazel appreciated).
D1 Housework
I had the wonderful opportunity to visit D1 and help her with some work around the house. This is one of the main reasons that we moved to Maine in the first place.
For some reason, it is much easier to work on someone else’s house. The motivation seems a bit higher. I really enjoyed helping her out and getting to hang out with her for a while.
Dark Table
I’ve been working on increasing my proficiency in photography. As part of that, I’ve been working on improving my photo editing skills. Really, I should say developing (see what I did there?) my skills as I’m starting out as a total newbie.
Anyway, along those lines, I’ve started a series on Darktable through Youtube. Darktable is an open-source photo editing program. Yes, I do have access to Adobe Lightroom through work. However, photography is mostly for personal pleasure. I like to keep some of those lines clear. When the time comes and I don’t have access through work, I don’t want to lose all my photos.
So, I’m starting with the basics and learning Darktable. Darktable is a really powerful program that can really do so much. I’ll never win awards, but I am enjoying figuring out what I like and how to improve the pictures that I take.
I have learned and applied a few specific things with Darktable already. Now though, I’m looking to really build my understanding and ability to correct photos to what I want to see.
Cars and Independence
Two of the cars now have updated registrations and inspections. It is a big change moving from cars being registered to match my birthday to being registered all willy-nilly. Plus, in Maine, there is no reminder mailed to me to register my cars. I’ve got to do the adult thing and keep track of that myself. So, all set now, reminders set for the future, and one more difference noted between living in Maine versus Michigan.
Schooner Charm
Rm and I had a wonderful trip on the Schooner Charm. The day was very hot so getting out on the water and the cooling effects of doing so, was greatly appreciated. There is something very calming about being out on the ocean. Due to the hot weather, there was a bit of haze in the distance. Largely this had the effect of seeming like we were out on the water far from land.
Google Photo Embed
We all love pictures. It can be great to share pictures. However, how that happens can matter. One way to do this is to move all of your pictures into a service that hosts and serves them. Usually, this is at the “cost” of everyone staying in that service. For example, Facebook will host your pictures, but they will then keep you in their service (and all that that entails).
I use a self-hosted version of WordPress to post my material. This means that I have control over all the data, but it also means that I have to pay for storage, bandwidth, etc. Pictures can quickly use up space.
Google meanwhile, offers to host and provide photos. You can easily share pictures in Google Photo through a link. However, you can’t embed that link in a WordPress site. Unless…..
The wonderful Amit Agarwal over digital inspiration has developed a site that converts Google Photos links into links that can be embedded into WordPress. Brilliant.
Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris – This was a wonderful needed diversion. This was our favorite movie of the set.
The Story of My Wife – This was a complex story where we just kept thinking, geez, if they only would have a conversation.
River – important but not thrilling
Straighten Up and Fly Right – This was an interesting movie on being different.
Penelope, My Love – based on the real-life experience of a couple with a daughter on the autistic spectrum.
Hazel
Turns out, Hazel is a very strong swimmer. We took her kayaking (with her “shark” life jacket. She quickly jumped out of the kayak and started swimming about. The first time, she kind of went head first under, but quickly changed to jumping out with her head up.
We had taken her into the water in bits to make sure that she was safe. With the latest experience though, she is clearly a strong swimmer.
Clouds
I’m loving all the wonderful views of clouds here in Maine. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.
Rm to D2
Rm took the opportunity to visit our youngest daughter. This is the major reason that we moved to Maine in the first place. All reported a great time.
Wedding & Vacation
We traveled back to Michigan to attend a wedding and enjoy a bit of a vacation. We brought in a wonderful couple to watch Hazel while we were gone.
We traveled all day to Dearborn, arriving in time to enjoy some chicken shawarma sandwiches, tabouli, fatoush, and hummus. The next day we picked up some Michigan favorites (Vernor’s, spices, etc.). We also visited and cleaned Rm’s Dad’s gravesite. Then we headed to Dearborn Brewing, yep, I brought my mug back, for some good beer. We were able to chat with Chris and Amy for a while.
The next day was the wedding. Christian and Jenna had a wonderful ceremony. In between, we stopped off at Qawah House for some coffee. A medium pot of wonderful deliciousness. The reception was fun. After the reception, we headed to La Feria. Though short-staffed, who isn’t these days, the wait was short, and the service was phenomenal (as usual). We cruised around downtown Detroit as visitors.
We headed up to Traverse City the next day. The morning drive was nice. We were surprised that Mackinaw Brewing was closed on a Sunday. Bummer, but it’ll be open tomorrow.
Monday we started with a quick trip up to the Mission Point Lighthouse. This is a wonderful little lighthouse on the 45 parallel. After that we headed off to Traverse City and some wine tasting. The weather was beautiful to sit outside and sip some wine. We stopped at Bonobo Winery for a tasting flight. We enjoyed some conversation and a terrific view. The wine was very good. We headed around to Sutton’s Bay, with a quick stop at Moomer’s for lunch (ice cream – this is vacation after all). The ice cream was wonderful. Next to Sutton’s Bay. We enjoyed wandering around Sutton’s Bay. We even picked up a Peacock for the garden.
We stopped at Black Star Farms for another wine tasting. This one was a bit of a challenge since we know and like so many of their wines. Still, we found a new wine and purchased a few bottles to bring home.
Back to Traverse City. Cherry Republic was sadly out of sour cherry balls. Even sadder, Mackinaw Brewing no longer carries the Havarti Cheese appetizers (think mozzarella sticks with Havarti cheese). I was able to pick up a couple of hats from Diversions. Rm did some shoe shopping with no luck.
The next day was another travel day. We headed to the Baseball Hall of Fame area. The only issue was Waze deciding to send us through Canada after I had checked to make sure that it wasn’t. It’s frustrating when you can’t change the route to what you want. Thankfully, I’ve made the trip before, so we could avoid the directions.
The Baseball Hall of Fame was next on our agenda. I had purchased the earliest possible entry time and was glad that I did. We enjoyed seeing the history and controversies presented in the Hall. It was getting pretty packed by the time we left. We had a nice lunch (hot dogs of course, in honor of baseball) and wandered Cooperstown. Then, time for the ride home.
Turkeys?
On our way to pick up our farm share, we saw a family of what looked like turkeys. Two adults and about nine offspring were crossing the road. I saw looked like turkeys, except brown in color, because at least one of them took off in flight (cue Les Nessman here). I’m still searching for what they were.
This was a really nice spot. There is kind of like a river that runs around the edge. Very smooth to kayak on. Rm and I had a nice time.
Great Moose Lake
This was an easy spot to get to. Daughter 1, a friend of hers, and I had a good time. Great Moose Lake is pretty wide. We headed, at a leisurely pace, out toward an island. This was the first time I took my camera as well. i didn’t get a great many good pictures, but I do feel confident in taking the camera in the future.
Swan Lake
Rm, Daughter 2, and I met up at Swan Lake. The Lake was fine, but there were too many motorized craft. It was great to see Daughter 2.
Sir
One of Daughter 1 friends went kayaking with us. She addressed me as “Sir”. I told her to please call me “Troy”, or most anything else but “late for dinner”. I wanted to use humor a bit to let her know that I was totally fine without the honorific. I totally get why. She has respect for her elders. She is also a Doctor. In a different setting, the dynamic would be very different. The context is really important here. I could just as well be meeting her where she was the Doctor and I would be using the honorifics.
Summer Projects
This is the first summer that I’ve had off in over 10 years. Since we’ve moved into a new (old) house, there is lots to do. We’ve been here a year now, and I’m behind where I really wanted to be. I’ve gotten a couple of rooms painted (and installed beadboard in one), but there are many rooms left to go.
I’m working on the hallway and stairs right now. It really does make a difference to get things painted.
I’m also getting quotes on tiling the kitchen and painting the shutters. Ah, the joys of home ownership.
This grand experiment of Democracy is under attack. Democracy requires seeing what is, as well as what you want.
Interesting that those waving the flag the hardest are actually supporting a “king” instead of a Democracy.
Kayaks
I’ve finally ordered a couple of kayaks. This was the result of some searching, reading, and research. I’ve done some canoeing in the past, but not really kayaking. I had to try to understand the verbiage: what is “calm” water versus “flat” water?
I looked through Craig’s List and other used options. At the end of the day, I realized that we aren’t going to be doing a ton of advanced activities with the kayaks, so getting the “basic” model was probably appropriate.
We both agreed that we wanted a “sit-in” instead of “sit-on-top”. We wanted something on the lighter side and stable.
Thus, I’ve ordered the most affordable model that I could find. We have a couple of Lifetime Cruz 100 kayaks on order. Delivery is scheduled for 10 days. I also needed to order a rack to carry the kayaks. That has been completed.
Fortunately, the kayaks come with paddles. We’ll still need to pick up some lifejackets.
Cabinet
I’m still working on building the kitchen cabinet. I’m learning a lot through the process. I’m hoping that the end result is acceptable. No matter what, I’m hoping that what I’m learning will pay off in the future.
Painting
Rm and D1 did some painting over the weekend. I wish that I had the talent that they have. They both do such wonderful, beautiful pictures.
Dinner Out with Hazel
We headed to Grateful Grain with Hazel for dinner. We’re working on culturing Hazel to noises and crowds. Rm made some excellent chicken sandwiches, including toum. However, it turns out that, apparently, lots of other people had the same idea. There were no parking spots available. The outside seating was completely full. Dang. This isn’t going to work. I remembered that Olive Pit Brewing was in this general direction, so I proposed a change of venue. Off we head. As we are getting close, Rm lets me know that we are in her 14 minutes, as we hit some construction. All is good as we arrive, it’s open, and not packed.
The food was excellent. The beer was good as well. Hazel behaved. We did move from the outside to the inside, mostly due to a motorcycle that kept going around. Hazel did some barking at people walking by, but not horrific.
I met with a student on her project. I put together three web page options for her. We reviewed them and she was really happy with one (the one that I predicted she would like). It’s great to be able to help a kid in some small way.
AutoCrat
I set up and showed our Transportation Director an AutoCrat workflow. He’s been copy/pasting a bunch of information to create Trip Sheets for the bus. Earlier, I had set up a form for him. He was happy that the form saved him lots of time and energy.
When I showed him the AutoCrat workflow, he was ecstatic. This will save him hours of time.
BBQ with Friends
Meeting new people when you’ve moved can be a challenge. We found a couple of terrific ones here in Maine. We recently had a BBQ with them. They shared their house, they have a wonderful, historical home that they put a ton of work into.
The BBQ was wonderful. The friendship was even better.
I am slightly jealous of the exceptional woodwork that Joe does. He’s done a fantastic job of redoing the headers that support the house.
MOOSE
MOOSE will be coming to a close by the end of the month. Our assignment this week was to review work that is being done by other groups. I discovered that our team is in pretty good shape. We still have work to do but are getting pretty close to being done.
This week I’m going to try to create a video for an introduction and overview. I’m thinking it should be a cartoon-based video.
We had a terrific evening of dinner with friends. It’s really nice to be able to get together and learn about new people.
Weather
We get the weather for the entire state. This fascinates me as in my previous neighborhood, we got hyperlocalized weather.
Open Source
Coco Material. I found this site this week and I like it – a lot. Open source, hand drawn cartoons and resources that you (or kids) can modify easily. Free to use – even commercially.
Dine and Discuss
I’ve been invited to a conference called Dine and Discuss. I love this idea.
Crypto
I have some cryptocurrency.
MOOSE
Maine Opportunities for Online Sustained Education I’ve worked more on MOOSE this week. I’ve got the Data Collection piece much closer to done. It was surprisingly hard to find good ideas for Data Collection. Most of the models that I found were focused on whole-class instruction. Since this has to be available for individual use as well as whole-class, I needed to create something that could be done individually.
I have also finished up the Food Waste section.
I’m getting used to the workflow for Drupal. It still takes a bit of thinking, but at least now I pretty much have the workflow down.
Chasing People Out
One of the side effects (and it’s intentional) of several of the laws that we are now seeing passed in certain parts of the country is to drive people out. The Washington Post posted an article about a Florida teacher who is leaving teaching. See the teacher is gay and married. She’s afraid to talk about her life and/or her marriage. Teachers have been encouraged to talk about their life in general. Teachers talk about their spouse (unless of course that spouse is the same sex).
Keep in mind, we have a teacher shortage. Keep in mind that kids need to see the real world. Having a teacher married to someone of the same sex is not going to change anything about the life partner choice that kid will make. However, it might just make that kid kinder, more respectful, more understanding, and more compassionate.
WOW. Fredrik Backman has done it again. Meet Elsa, a different almost eight-year-old. Elsa’s Grandmother is truly a character (and avid defender of Elsa). When Elsa’s Grandmother dies, she sends Elsa on a journey to learn about those around her. That journey involves delivering letters to tell those around that the Grandmother is sorry about things that she has or hasn’t done. The story is couched in the fairy tales that the Grandmother has told Elsa (some of which Elsa knows has been “lifted” from other writers). The fairy tales feature a wurse, drunks, monsters, and more. This is a powerful book that fills your heart and head. The story is extremely week crafted. Elsa may be different, but she is present in all of us. (I looked this up on Wikipedia, so I know it’s true – a reference to Elsa).
I’ve read several of Fredrik Backman’s books now, including A Man Called Ove, and Anxious People (both of which I loved). I’ll be reading the rest of his books soon. He has risen to be one of my favorite authors.
MOOSE
I’ve started working on converting some resources to MOOSE. I’ve been adding in Data Collection activities for kids to learn about Data Collection. I hope to work on converting this to MoodleNet as well.
I’ve also worked on a creating the Food Waste materials.
Board Meeting
This was a Board Meeting week as well. That means that Tuesday was a long day. However, the Board Meetings are very focused, productive, and timely.
Audiology Appointment
I had a disappointing audiology appointment. I wear hearing aids, kids, watch that level of music that you are pumping into your ears, and with the move needed to find a new audiologist. Unfortunately, all this turned out to be was a quick clean and sanitize. The audiologist didn’t take any readings or check anything at all. I may be finding a different audiologist.
Principal Conversation
I had a chance to have a conversation with the High School Principal. I really like him a lot. He’s got great ideas, is realistic, and looking out for the kids. I wish that we weren’t dealing with COVID so that I could have had more conversations with him.
Hostas
Thanks to NextDoor, I’ve picked up some Hostas from a neighbor. This also means that I met another neighbor. The Hostas are slated in part for behind the bench on the deck. I’ve cleaned out most of the area behind the bench, still have a bit of knotweed left to remove, and planted a couple of new flowers back there.
School Year
In many ways I can’t believe how close to the end of the year that it is. There is so much that I wanted to do but haven’t been able. Hopefully, COVID will be more manageable next school year. Currently, our elementary school is back to mandated masking. We’re really hoping to avoid returning to remote.
I’ve been thinking a ton about educational technology (to be fair, this is pretty much a constant). Educational technology is different from consumer technology. This leads to interesting practices, beliefs, and practices.
I had an interesting discussion with one of the smartest people I know (my wonderful wife). The discussion revolved around how much teachers develop materials and skills. Technology is now one of those skills. Whereas when we were trained as teachers, we learned to create materials that weren’t technology related, those same skills/ideas are now necessary around technology use.
Open Source
Logseq
Logseq is an open-source, privacy-first, knowledge base. It works on Markdown, which is what I normally write in. (Markdown is plain text that leverages a couple of special characters to create stylized text). I first installed Logseq a couple months ago. However, I had issues with it syncing correctly across devices. Syncing across devices is crucial for me. However, there was an update, so I took a couple of minutes and tried the sync again. It now works. Syncing is handled through iCloud, so nothing extra is needed. iCloud is encrypted, so the data stays with me. Plus, since everything is written in Markdown, the data can be moved from one place to another without loss. No proprietary formats to worry about.
The thing that attracted me about Logseq is the Journaling feature. Essentially, Logseq has a built-in journal feature where a daily entry is automatically created. This makes it super easy to do a daily journal.
Currently, I use Joplin for collecting thoughts, writing blog posts (like this one), and keeping track of things. Joplin has been a favorite of mine for a while. Joplin also utilizes Markdown. If you are looking for a comparison, Evernote is a good comparison. I actually switched from Evernote to Joplin when Evernote began charging for syncing to devices. I’m actually much happier with Joplin than I was with Evernote. Plus, if Joplin stops being developed, I don’t have to worry about losing anything.
So, currently, I think that I’ll try using both of these with specific purpose. Logseq will be a daily journal. Joplin will continue to be my thought collector.
Wick Editor
The Wick Editor is a free, open-source tool for creating games, animations, and everything in-between!
I’ve played around a bit with Wick Editor and it seems very easy to use. I’d love to have a kid start playing around with it.
MOOSE
We have started the process for creating out module. Our driving question is:
How can I improve the impact my community makes on the environment?
Currently, we’re working on creating the Product that the students will design.
Students may want to utilize one of the following to communicate their learnings with the community.
Presentation
PSA
Video
App (Code.org, Scratch, Swift, etc)
Model
Infographic
Create website
I did some work on the site to learn how the site works, and the work got lost.
I’m a bit frustrated by the MOOSE process. I’ll continue on.
