the ADMIN pages

Our English class today is using the school laptop cart in our classroom. Mr. Eliott mentioned to me last year that he custom-built the other cart, but this one's HP-branded and everything. We're doing a bit of Internet research on ethos, logos, and pathos. Me, being done five minutes into the period, am now here.

It's an astounding sight-- all of us using laptops to learn. Although I do have one complaint: what's with the stupid "bar" or whatever on the bottom of the laptops? It raises up the back end of the laptop by a good two inches (my newspaper has evened out the front half for me). I'm pretty sure it's not a lock of some kind, because I was able to take it off. C'mon, laptops are supposed to be used flat on the desk/lap.

I hope more teachers take advantage of this. This is an incredible teaching method. Information at our fingertips-- even if the rest of the school's computer labs are booked.

Is everyone using the laptops just for the class assignment? Nope. On just the handful of screens I can see, half of them are looking at other stuff. Okay, I guess mine is included. But I'm sure Mr. Jakes won't mind. After all, I'm blogging. And praising a purchase by my district that I'm sure he spearheaded.

EDIT: Hooray! Mr. Bartell just asked if we think he should use these more often. From the class: a resounding "yes." Time to shut down.

Several other Engadget items worth noting from the past few months:

First up: a UK highway device that not only tells you how fast you're going, but also your license plate. Will a smarter Big Brother slow more people down?

Also slightly related is a car-ready durable hard drive that can handle some pretty extreme temperatures. No more changing CDs!

A $60/month gym for teens located in Mountain View, CA that offers PCs, Macs, wifi, and all sorts of fitness-related games... hey, it worked for Chris Pirillo.

This is an interesting item on two guys' method for cheating vending machines in the form of video documentary. Highly educational.

I've been catching up a bit lately on my 22,000+ unread RSS items.

Noticed this from Engadget back in August: Someone built a barbeque/hotplate warmer using 30 USB ports on his PC. Definitely not something to try at home. There's probably a reason USB power consumption is limited.

I have an open question for all teachers who require their students to use a specific organizational method.

Why do you force your methods onto us? Why is it that I am required to use a binder for organizing my worksheets, notes, and quizzes? Why can't I choose my own way of keeping papers? I don't like to carry my backpack around during the day, and I certainly don't have the time to go to my locker between every period. Especially now, where just today I was forced to come to a complete halt twice on two different stairways because some people (freshman? idiots? both?) decide to either go up the down stairway or cause congestion at the landings. I don't want to keep all of my stuff in a binder, because then I'd have to carry them all around with me.

I appreciate your kindness and suggestions that we keep our work in our binders. But please, do not require me to do this. Last year, I got by just fine with two 3-subject notebooks that had two-pocket dividers between the sections. All my papers were organized terrificly into them. Never once did I forget my homework in my locker, because it was stuck in a binder I didn't even want to use.

At the very maximum, give the binder users extra credit. Some of us work best in our own little worlds, with our own little organizational methods. This Friday, I'll be giving my binder to my Spanish teacher for her to check for neatness. Thank you, Señorita Little, but I graduated sixth grade in 2002. We're all high school students now. We're all perfectly capable of maintaining our own belongings. We don't need you to mommy us into using a binder simply because you feel it would be the best way. I hardly ever bring my backpack home with me, and I certainly don't want to carry my binder in my hands, in addition to my aforementioned 3-subject notebook, assignment/planner book (which I'm still unsure if I'm gonna use this year-- last year, the garbage can ate mine and I never looked back), and calculator. My single worksheet of Spanish homework fits perfectly into my notebook, and any notes I need in order to complete it will fit just fine as well. I don't need to lug my binder home with me every night.

I thought this was a Spanish class, not personal management.

I don't mean to just pick on her, however. Even Mr. Gales, one of my favorite teachers, required us to use a binder to keep all of our Biology materials together. Was it intended to keep worksheets and the like in order so students could study from it? Yes. Did I ever study in your class? No.

I applaud the methods used by my political science and calculus teachers this year. Binders are a strong recommendation, but not required. I have several unused binders sitting in my locker, so I'll make that determination as we accumulate more stuff. Thank you, sirs.

Can someone explain this to me? Am I totally and completely missing a key point here? Is there some real reason teachers ask us to use binders? To make it easier for them to grade our work? Right, because teachers love carting home hundreds of binders for a fun weekend of meticulously checking if the pages are in order. I don't get it.

September 11, 2006. Five years.

Google Video presents 7 Days in September, a pretty powerful documentary about the week following September 11.

via Google Blog

I'm pretty sure this is new, because my grandparents got vanity plates a few years back and they had to submit their request in writing. The Illinois Secretary of State's web site (http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/) now offers the feature to check the vanity license plate database on-the-fly, to see if your request is available.

My choice is.

Cost: $123

Now I just the need the car to put it on. :-/

via bLaugh

I like checking my grades online.

That being said, I don't like having to open three separate windows to do it. My school's online grade system (yeah, the one with the typo) sucks.

Here's an overview of how much it sucks:

Page 1: A disclaimer, with a submit button that tries to hide the URL of the real login page. Last year, it was a piece of cake to snag that URL and bookmark it. This year, they "upgraded" the system.
Page 2: Now, the real login page has a form target of a NEW WINDOW. WHAT THE HELL?
Page 3: The grades. Finally.

Hence, my latest little project was born:
http://piv.dgforums.net/

The latest and greatest way to check your grades online. This tool is for students at Downers Grove South and North.

It basically avoids the disclaimer (although I did include it anyway for good measure) and the other extra window by sending the login info straight into the school's system.

How do I know you aren't logging my password?
You don't.

Well okay, you do. If you look at the source code of the page, the form's target goes straight to the school's script.

I even made a handy llittle bookmark-ready script. It generates hidden form fields and uses JavaScript to send the user right along. Format:
http://piv.dgforums.net/go.php?id=<school ID>&pin=<PIN>&school=<dgs or dgn>

Any thoughts? I might user-friendly-ize the site a bit by creating that bookmark link for them as they type in their login info on the main screen.

Our first full five days are over.

This year is gonna be a challenge for me, I'm gonna admit that upfront. I have 5 weighted classes (3 of which are AP), no lunch period (although I've found I have just enough time after computer science to score some food before English), and early bird P.E.

Like I said, it'll be tough. Last year, I dicked around all year. Didn't fail anything, but came out of three semesters of classes with D's. I never did my homework. I never studied for tests. I flat-out skipped several big projects (community service, ALL the health projects, some English papers). I was suspended twice for various reasons. Not even a terribly fun year, but definitely not really scholarly either.

My first impressions of my teachers this year:

Mrs. O'Brien (Early Bird P.E.): I've been told that as long as I'm on her good side, I'll be fine. P.E.'s never been a problem (meaning I've never gotten below an A, and never studied for a final). In addition, it seems the early bird group seems to be close-knit. Looks to be fun this year. That is, if I can wake up in time every day.

Mr. Conard (Physics 400): Seems alright. We barely touched on real physics stuff only today, and a lot of (older) people have told me how much they sucked at physics, so I should probably be a little more worried. Very laid-back dude. Martin tells me he plays video games (mostly Resident Evil), so that's pretty cool.

Srta. Little (Spanish II): A little quirky, but much less so than Sr. Garcia. She seems nice, takes class at a decent pace, but perhaps that's just the first month of review talking.

Mrs. Boyle (Chemistry 400): One of the classes I got a D in last year (first semester). We have a limited history (not good), but I'm not even sure if she remembers. I'm kinda wary of her, she seems pretty strict, but it's common knowledge her Chem 400 classes last year all got good grades, while Sachtleben (my old teacher, who I hear isn't doing any Chem 400 this year) failed half her class. I've already kinda skipped a few homework assignments in her class, nothing major, but honestly... I've got a bad feeling about this class. Lucky for me I'm only re-taking the first semester. I just hope she's not another Sachtleben.

Mr. Bruesch (AP Political Science): This class could go either way. Heavy workload, but decent (pretty cool, actually) teacher. He's been there-- he ran a presidential campaign and worked for a governor of Michigan. I just heard today confirmation of what I suspected: he's a Republican. Just did a presentation in his class today; thought it went well.

Mr. Plunkett (AP Computer Science): What's there to say about Mr. Plunkett? I've had him for a class practically every lousy semester I've been at this school. He's a cool guy, based on his computer, well... knowledge. I've forgotten how slow he starts off every programming course. It doesn't help that he's pretty much one of the most boring people in the world to listen to. No offense Mr. P, but let me go ahead and work on my own!! The class is definitely fun (when I say class I mean us, the students-- I'm good friends with 80% of the people in there). Mr. P likes to go over things repeatedly, but the thing he doesn't realize (I guess?) is that those 80% of us already get it, we're sitting there dumbfounded waiting for him to move on. He asks easy-as-shit questions, waits to see if "anyone knows it," and then calls on one us with a trickle of programming skill to answer. See, we don't do the whole "raise your hand if you know the answer" thing. I usually sit there staring at him with my mouth open (unless I'm doing my Calc homework). BORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRING. This class better speed up, or I'll be taking Joe's advice (who took the class year and apparently did this) and just read ahead in the book and teach myself everything. I've taken to quoting Mr. P every Friday (this is an inside joke only the locals will get): "DON'T DRINK AND DRIVE!!!"

Mr. Bartell (English III): Awesome teacher. Hehe, saw him in the parking lot after school today. See below.

Mr. Klaeren (Calculus AB): Pretty funny guy. Eccentric, but still funny. Known to do a John Napier Scottish drawl for the greater part of a period. And regarding rationalizing denominators? Why, that's bad toilet paper!

Mr. Kowallis (MIDI Music): Not the most technical of guys, but definitely knows his music. Known to sing and hum in class. The class is highly unstructured (and highly unsupervised-- Joe and I sit there and talk for entire periods), but maybe it's just the first week. I hope he does a little more instructional time for the next composition. This creative thing is killing me.

There you have it. I'll update my impressions at the semester break, after I've thorougly evaluated these teachers over the course of the next few months.

I'll have a full set of week 1 impressions later tonight, but I think my new English teacher, Mr. Bartell, deserves a post of his own.

He uses the policy of a "democratic classroom." Basically, we created and voted on our own rules. Sleeping in class? The first time, he lets you sleep. Any additional times, you are required to stand up for 10 minutes. Simple, yet effective.

He also has the single most awesome policy I have ever heard on copying: as long as you source it, it's fine. No points off, no deductions, nothing. Any homework, worksheet, or anything but a test or paper, all you have to do is write in the top margin "I copied this from [name or web site]," and you'll get full credit, nothing bad about it. All you have to do is source it.

He hates summer reading as much as we all do. Our project is a simple letter to the principal saying whether we liked the book or not, and a paragraph on the methods of persuasion we used in the letter. Beats the projects my previous two years. Come to think of it, I don't recall what they were.

OH, THAT'S RIGHT. I didn't even do them.

I'll have to be honest, at first I was little worried about having a teacher as odd (?) as Mr. Bartell. He doesn't own a TV, he sees one movie a year, and his mannerisms are not something I'd ever expect from a teacher. He goes to Europe every summer, he lived in Africa for 8 years, and he speaks like 4 languages.

I kinda understand now though. He's one of those activist types. He hates Bush, he assigns an anti-consumerism book (Affluenza) as a class text, and he seems genuinely interested that what we do in class is relevant to making us better people. If we think an assignment is stupid, all we have to do is ask him what the purpose is. If he can't tell us in 10 seconds, we get to rip it up.

I'm looking forward to English this year. Now that's something I never thought I'd say.