Teaching CS in Dallas

Teaching when recording

I recently spent some time in a classroom while teachers were teaching with a recording system.  I’m hoping the recording system changed the way they taught, but I tried not to the same.

I can’t fault one teacher, as he was in a classroom by himself, with no students to interact with.  However, he spoke too fast, faster than I can even think for the first half, but did slow down, later which helped.  He still didn’t give the audience much reflection time.

The other two teachers did have students in the classroom, but didn’t interact with their audience much at all. 

I know that the situation DID change my behavior some, as I didn’t call on students, and only took volunteers.  I think part of the reason was that I didn’t KNOW the students, so I didn’t know who to call on, and I didn’t take time to get to know them during the class.

I know if I am specifically demonstrating and recording something that is very short, I don’t take the time to interact with the class until we’re done recording.

Something to think about.

Survelliance Cameras–at Home

We have them at school too.

But since a drunk driver hit our house, my husband wanted to be able to see if we have property damage without leaving the comfort of his bedroom.

Think we’ve managed it.

Here’s our fence:

Which was hit once.  About two years after we bought the house.

Our front yard, not sure how it is going to be when the leaves are all the way in:

We also have a good view of the back yard from two cameras and are thinking about a third.

Best yet, is that I can see my dog room and dog run and know that the dogs are doing good.  We had some storms last week before we had completely set of cameras and being able to check now and then was great.

A former student and good friend (he’s 35 now!) found us some inexpensive cameras, a DVR, and the rest of the parts.  He installed the bulk yesterday.

Why I use TypePad

I can, and have designed a complete website from scratch (http://www.kweaver.net) and have hosted it.  BUT, when I went to do something fast, without having to go through all that, I use TypePad.  I’ve got this blog on Typepad and my Visual Basic lessons there.

Why?

I ran into a bug last night and they answered it this morning with a complete workaround.  It’s probably better than the original solution.

By the way, if you want to learn how to program, see:

http://www.kweaver.us/programming_in_visual_bas/

Interested in Learning Visual Basic?

I’ve started a little project http://www.kweaver.us/programming_in_visual_bas/ and so far it teaches you everything you need to know to write a Hello World program.

I’m doing in a blog format, so you’ll want to start at the first entry: http://www.kweaver.us/programming_in_visual_bas/2012/03/why.html

and work backwards.

Glad to have my computer back - Windows 8

Not ready for prime time yet.  Lots of websites not compatible and also lots of software, including Outlook.

I just restored my computer and it's nice to have my life back.  Yes, my computers, even this new one, are my life.

Windows 8 after using a while

It’s a tad annoying.  I’m getting used to switching between Metro and the Desktop.  So much of what I currently do is on the desktop (Outlook, Visual Studio, etc.).

Use the Windows Key!

Also odd things are broken but better after I ran an update this morning.

Windows 8

It’s interesting.  I have all my old stuff, and it looks the same, but the Start Button is missing.  Don’t like that, liked the start button.

It took a while to load but part of that was taking a backup and making recovery DVDs, since I hadn’t gotten around to it.

It feels like a cross between the Windows Phone 7 and Windows 7.

Donor’s Choose

I really LIKE Donor's Choose. I've finished somewhere over 15 projects now.

Hints: Keep your projects small, I've found I get projects under $200 funded quicker and easier. But maybe I'm just not patient enough for the big ones.

I've had two projects fail, one for a video camera and one for a laptop.

This week they are matching donations with a code of BLOOM.

My donor's choose page is at http://www.donorschoose.com/kweaver

Word as Blogging Client

First, I REALLY like Live Writer, but sometimes it's as easy to use Word as a blogging client as it is to use writer, sometimes easier.

Like now.

I think it correct typing as you go better, but not sure sure.

Netgear Universal Dual Band WiFi Range Extender

Easiest to install networking device EVER.

No wires, no fuss, works right out of the box.

We have a fairly large house, and since we moved back in, we have had trouble with WiFi Coverage in the house. One of my spring break projects is to fix that. Did some research, found references to this device. We'll see how things go through the week, but I put it in the opposite corner of the house and so far we seem to have better coverage.