Just a Miner Blog

Math Competition Club

Mr. Carr (admin) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:57:03 +0000

The Math Club at Placerita recently finished the American Math Challenge, an online mathematics competition. Unfortunately, none of our students earned a top 100 award. Or anywhere close to the top 100 for that matter. I’m wondering if some schools and classes used their class time to participate in this competition. While this not outside [...]

Online Notetaking – Algebra

Mr. Carr (admin) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 11:48:23 +0000

Over the last year and a half our school has been going under “Modernization”. As a result of the classroom upgrades, my classroom moved into a new and very large computer lab classroom in February. Very large as compared to the last computer lab which was housed in a portable. In addition to teaching computer [...]

Things to Accomplish – Reflection

Mr. Carr (admin) — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 04:00:35 +0000

Many of the things I wished to accomplish this school year did not come to fruition: Google Apps usage by our students, podcasting in my classes, etc. I did accomplish finishing the classes I needed to earn my clear credential. There is something to be said about having a teaching position to be able to [...]

Wiki/Deki Experiment in Beginning Algebra

Mr. Carr (admin) — Fri, 29 May 2009 18:18:38 +0000

Earlier the semester I had one of my Algebra classes compile their notes on a deki/wiki (pjhs.wik.is). I view the students work on this as a great success even though I did not follow through after a few weeks. Now at the end of the semester the students are studying and taking their final exam. [...]

Loss of Teacher Control Over a Teacher Initiated Idea/Program

Mr. Carr (admin) — Fri, 29 May 2009 15:48:53 +0000

The issue that motivated this post has seemingly been resolved. Yet,these were the thoughts I had at the time. I still believe in the central issue of the district administration supporting teachers instead of dictating what teachers can collaborate on and taking credit for their ideas. Hence, the post is here. Collaboration is a key component [...]

Online Gradebook

Mr. Carr (admin) — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 18:55:31 +0000

While this post may be redundant for those teachers already using an online gradebook as a stand alone application/website or as part of a Student Information System (SIS), hopefully, for those teachers that do not use an online gradebook, it will provide some motivation into branching out and giving one a try. I’ve been using [...]

Inauguration: Historic Irony

Mr. Carr (admin) — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 16:48:49 +0000

This bit of history was sent to me, and the rest of our staff, by our History department chair. Just thought it was interesting and wanted to share. Dear Colleagues: Most of you know by now that Abraham Lincoln’s Bible will be used at the inauguration of Barack Obama. The swearing in is the responsibility of the [...]

New Subject for Web Design Students

Mr. Carr (admin) — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 05:22:18 +0000

I’ve taught a beginning web design to my 8th grade class for about a year and a half now. My school has licenses to use FrontPage on our student computers. We also have licenses to use Dreamweaver. But at the time I needed to make a decision as to which piece of software I was [...]

New Years – Things to Accomplish

Mr. Carr (admin) — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 06:46:19 +0000

I’m a teacher, technology coordinator, and webmaster for a middle school. This is the first blog I’m writing. Hopefully more will follow. I teach Algebra and Computer Technology (mostly software right now). I’m in a great need to involve more up to date web tools into the Tech classes. This need comes from my students. [...]