Someone Stole My Watch

Project Lead The Way (PLTW) has been a big part of my teaching and my life for the last fifteen years. One of the best parts of my experience with PLTW has been the Summit conferences. Over the years, these events have evolved—there was a time when they held one big conference, then they transitioned to smaller regional events, and now they alternate between a large conference every other year and an off-year event called Masterminds.…

You Said I Could Take It Apart!

Picture of a ford rambler 1960

I believe that as we grow up, life gives us signals about what we should be doing. The key is to pay attention. Sometimes, those signals come later in life. My last fifteen years of teaching were spent in computer science, cybersecurity, and engineering.…

Training & Inservices for Technology

The greatest joy I have is sharing computer science, cybersecurity, & technology with others. The opportunity to share with fellow teachers has always been a highlight but it is a double-edged sword. Teachers who want to lead inservices about technology often ask me for help.…

Perpetuate The Non-Fiction

The following excerpt is from Seymour Papert’s book Mindstorms, published in 1980, yet its relevance to current classroom practices persists. The book is over forty years old and is still as important today as it was in 1980. The passage below speaks to a project by students using “Turtle” programming to create a holiday sign.…

Day 171 May 16, 2023 Unfinished Business

We are in our last week of instruction. This is a time I reflect on what went well and what needs changing for next year. This year I don’t have to plan for next year so I will take time to reflect on thirty years.…

Day 110 February 15, 2023 – Multimedia

I have the had the pleasure of being on the forefront of technology in schools. I did several posts early about the technology I was using in elementary school. In high school we had the chance to explore and create. I started when the multimedia class was PowerPoint and all of the things you could do with it.…

Day 108 February 13, 2023 – War Games

The title for today is a slight throwback to my elementary days but it is worth the story. In 1999 long before 9/11 changed how the government and secure sites handled things, I got to attend a 4-day workshop. The workshop was sponsored by NASA and held at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.…

Day 106 February 9, 2023 – New Adventures

I tell my students that high school is a time to try a lot of different things. In my own high school days I was involved with sports, theatre, vocal music, and the speech team. As I look at my friends from over the years they encompass all of those groups and more.…

Day 78, December 13, 2022 Wifi Highjacking

Being a computer teacher has its advantages. I often will get things before anyone else and get to try them out for others. Earlier in the blog, I spoke about the introduction of laptops to our itinerant staff and how we were unprepared for them as a district.…

Day 47 – October 25, 2022 Early Adopter

Microworlds and Logo programming was my first step into programming with kids. I was doing this with students in the third, fourth, and fifth grades at Montview. As I compare to students coming into my class today, those elementary kids were miles ahead of the high school kids I see now.…