Sunday, December 30, 2007
An alternative to Word: software found free at GoogleDocs
In a NYTimes article entitled "Yes, There Can Be Life After Word," Damon Darlin writes, "Google let me slip Microsoft’s monopoly. Its Google Docs is a free suite of office applications. You can find it at docs.google.com.
It works just like Office, but you use it online. The software that makes it work isn’t on your computer, but on one of Google’s.
You use the word processor just like Word, or I should say, the version you might remember from the early 1990s, before Microsoft added all the bells and whistles that you never need.
I had tried to use the stripped-down word processor from Microsoft that came installed on the notebook, Microsoft Works. But it didn’t allow me to paste 500 words into a document, or even a fraction of that, so it seemed too hobbled to use.
Google Docs also has a spreadsheet program that apes Microsoft’s Excel and a presentation application that can substitute for PowerPoint. There is also Calendar, replacing one function of Microsoft Outlook.
The advantage to Google Docs is that you can work on a document at home on one computer, store it and then grab the same document on another computer, even at the office.
You could work on the document with any computer that has an Internet connection. (There’s the hitch: you can’t work on it while on a plane.)"
GoogleDocs represents a new game and an end to the near-monopoly enjoyed by Microsoft for many years. Clearly, smart students and teachers are going to know GoogleDocs.
It works just like Office, but you use it online. The software that makes it work isn’t on your computer, but on one of Google’s.
You use the word processor just like Word, or I should say, the version you might remember from the early 1990s, before Microsoft added all the bells and whistles that you never need.
I had tried to use the stripped-down word processor from Microsoft that came installed on the notebook, Microsoft Works. But it didn’t allow me to paste 500 words into a document, or even a fraction of that, so it seemed too hobbled to use.
Google Docs also has a spreadsheet program that apes Microsoft’s Excel and a presentation application that can substitute for PowerPoint. There is also Calendar, replacing one function of Microsoft Outlook.
The advantage to Google Docs is that you can work on a document at home on one computer, store it and then grab the same document on another computer, even at the office.
You could work on the document with any computer that has an Internet connection. (There’s the hitch: you can’t work on it while on a plane.)"
GoogleDocs represents a new game and an end to the near-monopoly enjoyed by Microsoft for many years. Clearly, smart students and teachers are going to know GoogleDocs.
Geographic illiteracy endemic to US, says Chicago reporter Stevenson Swanson
Jordan Mitchell and Kathy Fontaine teaching belly dance at cmhs, Shreveport
Originally uploaded by trudeau
As a large country separated from the rest of the world by two oceans, the U.S. has not had to concern itself as much with such fine points as knowing that Guinea is a country in Africa and that New Guinea is an island north of Australia.
Also, with English the dominant language of international business and culture, it's easier for Americans -- as well as Canadians and Britons, who also rank low in geographic knowledge -- to overlook the fact that the world is made of multiple cultures.
"We tend not to give as much importance to other cultures and languages as we might otherwise," Garcia said. "We don't travel outside our own country as much as people in other countries. We don't speak multiple languages as people in Europe commonly do."
In recent years, another factor has been the priorities of the No Child Left Behind Act, aimed at improving academic performance in U.S. schools. The law's testing requirements emphasize reading and mathematics. Although geography is listed as one of nine key subject areas in the law, it is the only subject that is not provided with teaching funds under the act.
"With No Child Left Behind, it's geography that's being left behind," said Kimberly Crews, executive director of the National Council for Geographic Education, a professional organization that works to improve the teaching of geography. "Especially in the last five or six years, we've witnessed a decline in the teaching of geography."
The council is lobbying Congress to pass pending legislation that would provide $15 million a year to fund college and university programs to train elementary and secondary instructors to teach geography, either as a stand-alone subject or as a topic that is woven into other subjects.
The article also points out people trying to make a difference in geographic learning. Swanson cites the GeographyZone.com. and MyWonderfulWorld.com.
He completes the story the way do at CMHS: with a mult-choice, open-notes quiz. Here 'tis:
How's your geography IQ?
Test your knowledge of the world with these five questions from the National Geographic bee. Hint: all of the countries are on the same continent.
1. This tiny city-state, located on one of the world's most strategic straits is one of the busiest ports in the world.
2. Israel captured the Golan Heights from this neighboring country in the Six-Day War in 1967.
3. Abu Dhabi and Dubai are states with significant oil reserves in this country.
4. The nations of Turkmenistan, Usbakistan and Tajikistan all border this landlocked country in the Hindu Kush Mountains.
5. Goa, which has been influenced by both Hindu and Roman Catholic traditions, is a state in this country.
- - -
Geo-answers
1. Singapore
2. Syria
3. United Arab Emirates
4. Afghanistan
5. India
Most of my students and readers should have gotten #2, 3, and 4, IMHO. With the new semester we'll have student Zoe Auld as a guest who knows about Goa because her mother's family resides there.
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Laptop for a 14 year-old? Yes, indubitably
My 11 year-old will get his own laptop at age 14, according to my plan. I hope he'll be able to use it in several classes. As long as students are monitored, I believe such units make a great addition to classroom instruction and practice.
Especially for students who are advanced and prone to boredom, a portable device with wireless function gives a student the ability to deepen his awareness of classroom topics and of the skills of reading comprehension and composition that are the key to the future.
That's Colton Gardner above, a terrific lad and a responsible laptop user.
Especially for students who are advanced and prone to boredom, a portable device with wireless function gives a student the ability to deepen his awareness of classroom topics and of the skills of reading comprehension and composition that are the key to the future.
That's Colton Gardner above, a terrific lad and a responsible laptop user.
Artful map project: Massachusetts 07
The teacher finally finally finished his project. Although I must say that this is the first draft and I'm looking forward to several more versions. Colors aren't right, compass rose not right, needs general tweaking.
Send me your favorite holiday photo as you visit, play and explore. That's trudeau@earthlink.net.
Send me your favorite holiday photo as you visit, play and explore. That's trudeau@earthlink.net.
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