A friend of mine recently sent me an article on the importance of parental support when it comes to the academic success of the students. The article contain many good points, but what I want to share is a simple list of "10 Ways to Help Your Kids With Their Homework." I don't want to steal from the author of these suggestions so I will provide the link rather than copying them in this blog, but I would encourage you to look at the 10 suggestions. They may not all be practical for your situation, but how can you use this information to maximize your student's success? I hope you find this link helpful!
Click here to check out - 10 Ways to Help Your Kids With Their Homework.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Happy New Year
When I was a student at Shepherd High School, one of my teachers told me about the "relativity of time." I listened intently. It seemed to make sense at the time, but it makes even more sense now. Let me try to explain and show why saying "hello" to 2011 already seems crazy.
The idea of the relativity of time is that your years pass relative to your overall years of life. In other words, when you are two years old and you live two more to be four, you have double your years of life. It has doubled in two years. Now, when you live four more years and are eight years old, you have double your live again. It has taken four years. Since it is a doubling of your years of life again, the time seems "relatively" the same as the first two. The four years seem to pass as fast as the two. If you carry that our further, you would have the same effect from eight to sixteen, sixteen to thirty-two, thirty-two to sixty-four, etc. That is a little scary!
But, the older I get, the more it makes sense. It is hard to believe how far away the year 2000 seemed when I was a high school student in the 1980s. Now, we are not only passed the year 2000, but we are already in 2011. I know that people always say, "It goes fast." The older you get the faster it seems to go. I guess the lesson on the relativity of time is true. As the years roll by, it makes more and more sense.
Happy New Year, everyone! Enjoy the year and don't waste a moment of it. It really does goes, too fast!
Good Bye, Mustache!
Written on December 20, 2010.
Well, I am sitting in my office contemplating what tomorrow will look like. Or, should I say what I will look like. Over the years, SHS has generated thousands of dollars for the Shepherd Tri-Township's Christmas Outreach Program. This outreach helps provide gifts to families in need. SHS has done a fund-raiser called "Penny-Pile-Up" for about 10 years. In recent years, the Student Improvement Team, who initiated Penny-Pile-Up, included the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in memory of Kara Spindler and Darren Wiles. During this time, there have been many class competitions and incentives that usually involved a staff member doing something that would motivate the students, like shaving a head, doing a skit, or in my case shaving a mustache. I am not sure how I feel about it. I started this mustache when I went to Florida for spring break my Junior year of high school. That would be the spring of 1986. Let's see, that is 24 years. My kids are wondering what is under there. They are afraid I will look like the people in the "Got Milk" commercials. I guess if that is the case I will have to take advantage of a tanning package to even things out a little. My wife, Kristi, and I have talked several times about the incentives, hoping that the students actually understand the importance and value of giving and sharing with others. We don't want students to donate just to see a crazy antic. We also want to provide an incentive that makes it fun. It was under that thinking that I offered up the mustache. It looks like it has provided some motivation. The students raised over $1,500. I don't know how much over the $1,500, but that was the important number to me since that was the goal the students needed to reach to see me get my mustache shaved off. They even auctioned off the "right" to do the clipping/shaving. So I don't know what I will look like tomorrow, but if it helped provide an incentive for students to donate to others so they can have a brighter Christmas, it was worth it!
P.S. The students did raise the $1,500. So I did have to shave. I started growing it out again, though!
Monday, December 13, 2010
A Parent's Guide to Facebook
I know that Facebook is a huge part of our social culture. But, many parents struggle with how to guide their kids because their kids are usually one step ahead of them on the learning curve. The annotation below has several links that can help parents with this social media. I hope you find this helpful.
via Free Technology for Teachers by noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Byrne) on 11/8/10
H/T to Sylvia Martinez for the news about this guide.
Applications for Education
If you occasionally find yourself fielding questions from parents about Facebook and social networking, A Parents' Guide to Facebook is a good resource to refer them too.
Here are some related items that may be of interest to you:
Phishing Detection Education
Zilladog - Kid Friendly, Parent Monitored Email
Safe Computing Tools for Kids - Windows Based
Sending Large Files on the Internet
My wife, Kristi, is the media specialist for Shepherd Public Schools. She shared the information below with me, and I thought it might be good to post for everyone. I hope you find this helpful!
Sending Large Files on the Internet
Have you ever needed to send a file to someone electronically and the file was too large to email? With the close of the semester or grading period nearing, large files that represent a culmination of the term’s assignments or projects may need to be sent via the Internet. Whether the file is a PowerPoint/Keynote presentation, spreadsheet, video or audio file, sending these files via email is problematic due to content filters and file size limits. There are several resources that you can use to send a file to someone via the Internet if emailing a very large file is not permissible.
One of the those services is Dropbox. With Dropbox, you can upload files and access them via any computer that is connected to the Internet. If you are collaborating with others, you can share folders or individual files bypassing email filters or file size limits. It is free, quick and easy to use Dropbox. You can install the Dropbox app and easily move files into your online Dropbox without navigating to the Dropbox website by using their application. The free Dropbox is limited to 2GB of space and if you share Dropbox with others, you can get an additional 250MB of space. If you sign up with a .EDU email, each person that you refer to Dropbox will earn you an additional 500 MB of space instead of just the 250 MB.
There is an app for Dropbox! You can sync your files and access them anytime, anywhere via the internet on a computer, iTouch, iPhone, iPad, etc.
Author’s Note: If you are interested in signing up for Dropbox, I would greatly appreciate the extra space earned if you use my personal referral link although it isn’t necessary to use this link to begin using Dropbox: http://db.tt/dHoct9T. (This is not Kristi's link... It is from the original source on the Discovery Educator Network.)
DropItToMe
DROPitTOme is a service that is used with a Dropbox account. DROPitTOme allows you to send files to your Dropbox via email. Once you connect the service to your Dropbox, you will receive a personalized email that allows you send attachments that are posted to your Dropbox. The service is easy to use and setup and most importantly, is also free to use!
(Source: Discovery Educator Network. "DEN Blog Network - December Ed Tech News You Can Use." Message to the author. 6 Dec. 2010. E-mail.)
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Veterans Day Program
Shepherd High School and Middle School are hosting a Veterans Day Program on November 11th. The high school has held a program since 1997. The middle school started to have a program of their own, but last year the programs were combined. Veterans are invited to attend and are celebrated at the program. There are special music presentations by the choir and the band. There are special readings that also celebrate the sacrifice of the veterans.
If you see this post before the program, please consider attending. The program is in the high school gym at 9:00. It is good for our students and is always enjoyed by the community guests and veterans. There is a special reception for the veterans following the program.
Cross Country State Finals
I went down with Mrs. Bridges to the Cross Country State Finals on Saturday. This was a very exciting time. Both our boys and girls qualified. I don't want to mention names of runners because they all did well, and I don't want leave anyone else. The boys ended up in 3rd out of the 27 teams that qualified. This is very good. A few of the runners set personal records. The girls ended up 9th. This was also very good. Their goals was to make the top ten, and they achieved this goal. Both teams had tremendous seasons!
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