M.A. Hochberg’s Technology for Teaching

• The security keypad you are trying to use does NOT disarm the alarms.
• The custodian finds you trying to break in and scolds you for opening the doors incorrectly.
• The keypad you need to use is at the other end of building. You are not supposed to use the front door.
• The COWs are a room off the computer lab but the calf is lost.
• The custodian finds the calf in the paint closet.
• The combination locks to the Cows have been changed recently and the custodian doesn’t have the new combo.
• The phone call for help drops the call.
• The first Ethernet cable doesn’t work.
• The second Ethernet cable is too short.
• The 4-plug power outlet under the table doesn’t work.
• The 2-plug one does.
• The first desktop computer doesn’t power on.
• The computer next to it powers on but will not boot up.
• The computers that are on a table, with keyboard, mouse, power cord and Ethernet cables ready to use, don’t work.
• The computers that are on another table with no power cords, Ethernet cables, keyboard or mice do work.
• The first mouse doesn’t work.
• The second one does.
• Things are now working—until the laptops run out of power. Stop and find two power cords, one for each type of laptop.
• Time it took to actually do the work you came to do: 15 minutes.
• Time it took to get in, set up, and clean up: 2 hours and 40 minutes.
• Total time at the site: 2 hours 55 minutes

End of the year gifts are rare for non-teachers but sometimes we are remembered with the perfect gift.

This computer is made from two ounces of Euphoria Chocolate. Thank you!

Our schools have “Cow Herders,” students who give up one recess a week to learn about the COWs, laptops, printers, and other technology. There are two teams of Cow Herders, one from each school. Their primary responsibility is to take care of the COWs, moving them, cleaning them, and trouble shooting connection and printing problems. They are a great group of kids and I wanted them to have something a little more than an ordinary award certificate. Here’s what they got instead:

The student’s certificates have their name printed above the picture of a computer. I used the CD label portion of The Print Shop 2 program to create the labels. 8D It has a merge feature too!

I like to make things from e-waste. One of the most common e-waste items nowadays are CDs. Here’s a project that I made from CDs, just in time for Halloween.