Mar
29
2009
My family celebrated Earth Hour 2009 by sitting in the dark for an hour; we discovered, as we turned off the lights around the house, that we had many appliances and gadgets plugged in that were drawing power. In the kitchen, featured in this photo were three appliances that were not in use drawing power because all three have clocks — we certainly do not need three clocks in our small kitchen. So, what is the solution? Be aware! Unplug or turn off things that you do not need.
Technology is a wonderful thing, but it has created a host of problems. Earth Hour 2009 shed a little light on some of the problems that technology has created – appliances, computers and other gadgets that draw power when not in use; lights on unnecessarily; broken gadgets filling our landfills… What can you do to make a difference? Visit Twenty-two Tips to Greener Living Gadgets for tips to a great beginning.
Mar
14
2009
In my last post, I referenced SoftChalk, a very simple program for creating interactive Web pages. This week, the marketing fashion teacher introduced it to her students, distributed headphones for watching three short introductory videos, and provided them with guidelines for a marketing project using SoftChalk. The students were engaged instantaneously; by the end of the first 90-minute block, one student had almost completed his multi-page assignment using many of the tools offered by SoftChalk, and the others were well on their way to producing a finished product — a testimony to the simplicity of the software tool and to the readiness of students to use technology. Our marketing teacher and her students have quickly become the in-house experts for this software and are ready to help others.
VBCPS has a site license for SoftChalk, and our teachers may install it on a home computer (PC or Mac) obtaining the activations code from the Intranet (under Department of Technology, Instructional Resources, and SoftChalk); for everyone else, there is a 30-day free trial. Engage your students using SoftChalk; it is easy to learn, especially if you take a few minutes to watch three short videos on the help menu.
