District Coach on the Go
21 Jul 2017 Leave a comment
In 2016, at 176X at Truman high school, I saw these bathroom signs: “Boys Bathroom Special Ed” and “Girls Bathroom Special Ed.” Hmm, segregation much? I alerted a staff member who alerted the custodian.
The signs have since been removed. The real questions is, how come no one else who saw these signs –including the students using the bathrooms — thought it was wrong (and possibly illegal)? How could these signs be up for so long and no one said a thing?
21 Jul 2017 Leave a comment
in 3D design, 3D Printing, developmentally disabled Tags: blind, cardboard
We visited a shop that made concept and object indicators out of cardboard (plus whatever the actual object was). These clever cards can be used as prompts, as labels for storage bins, for the visually impaired, for the developmentally disabled, etc.
It would be cool to 3D print them, although they would have to be hand-painted afterwards.
06 Jul 2017 Leave a comment
in Useful Information Tags: area, capacity, cubic, decimals, distance, fractions, length, liquid, mass, metric, multiplication, percents, surface, temperature, time, volume, weight
Product: Tops Marble Composition Book, 7.5 X 9.75 Inches, College Rule, 100 Sheets, White (63796)
Sold by: Tops Products
Cost: out of stock everywhere
I saw this composition book for sale for $8.00. Crazy right? Except this chart really does happen to have Useful Information. It has fractions (and decimals and percents). And temperature conversion. And is written in clear English. For example, under Metric Unit Conversion, the column reads “When You Know: ________ Multiply By: ________ To Find: ________”.
What I do not see are roods (square measure), scruples (Apothecaries’ weight), reams (paper measure), grains (troy weight), or knots (miscellaneous measures). It is also the only chart to include “mass.”
Hidden Highlights
Categories
Metric Unit Conversions (Length and Distance; Surface or Area; Volume and Capacity [Liquid]; Weight and Mass; Termperature)
Fractions
Decimals and Percents
Multiplication Chart
06 Jul 2017 Leave a comment
in Useful Information Tags: apothecaries', avoirdupois, capacity, circular, conversion tables, cubic, dry, length, linear, liquid, metric, miscelleneous, multiplication, paper, surface, time, troy, weight
Product: Staples Graph Composition Book, 9.75 X 7.5 Graph Paper Notebook, Black (not marbled – ed)
Sold by: Staples
cost: $2.00
This Useful Information chart is on the inside back cover of a graph paper composition notebook. The cover is not the typical marble design. Right away I see some cool icons and graphics…the other Useful Information charts 1-3 have only text. Also, this one has a 3-inch ruler! The content is much the same as chart 2.
Hidden Highlights
Categories
Conversion Tables (length, capacity, weight; metric to American standard)
Multiplication Table
Table of Time Measure
Table of Dry Measure
Table of Liquid Measure
Table of Paper Measure
Table of Linear Measure
Miscellaneous Measures
Table of Cubic Measure
Table of Avoirdupois Weight (pounds and ounces: what we use in America)
Table of Troy Weight (for gold, silver, precious metals)
Table of Circular Measure
Table of Apothecaries’ Weight (for medicines)
Table of Surface Measure (as opposed to Square measure)
06 Jul 2017 Leave a comment
in Useful Information Tags: apothecaries' fluid, avoirdupois, circular, cubic, linear, liquid, miscelleneous, multiplication, square
Product: School Smart Flexible Cover Skip-A-Line Marble Patten Composition Book, Grade 3, 9-3/4 x 7-1/2 in, 100 Pages, Red
Sold by: Classroom Direct
Cost: $1.87
This product is made for 3rd graders (for some reason), so presumably the Useful Information will be especially useful for 8-year-olds. I am hoping that it will list the number of marbles that can fit into a pocket (29); the average weight of a frog (depends: if it is the pee pee kind, then really light weight); or number of pices of gum that can be jammed into a mouth (no upper limit).
Hidden Highlights:
Categories
Liquid Measure
Cubic Measure
Avoirdupois Weight
Miscellaneous
Square Measure (as opposed to Surface Measure)
Linear Measure
Circular Measure
Apothecaries’ Fluid Measure
Multiplication Table
06 Jul 2017 Leave a comment
in Useful Information Tags: apothecaries', avoirdupois, capacity, circular, conversion tables, cubic, dry, length, linear, liquid, metric, miscelleneous, paper, surface, time, troy, weight
Product: School Smart Hard Cover Marbleback Composition Book
Sold by: Walmart
Cost: $1.87
This is the inside back cover of the composition book. There is another Useful Information chart on the outside cover of this notebook, with different information. It appears as if it was written by a different author.
Hidden Highlights:
Categories
Conversion Tables (length, capacity, weight; metric to American standard)
Multiplication Table
Table of Time Measure
Table of Dry Measure
Table of Liquid Measure
Table of Paper Measure
Table of Linear Measure
Miscellaneous Measures
Table of Cubic Measure
Table of Avoirdupois Weight (pounds and ounces: what we use in America)
Table of Troy Weight (for gold, silver, precious metals)
Table of Circular Measure
Table of Apothecaries’ Weight (for medicines)
Table of Surface Measure (as opposed to Square Measure)
06 Jul 2017 Leave a comment
in Useful Information Tags: apothecaries' fluid, avoirdupois, cubic, linear, liquid, measure, miscelleneous, multiplication, square, weight
Product: School Smart Hard Cover Marbleback Composition Book
Sold by Walmart for $1.87
This chart is on the outside back cover. What is interesting is that the book has another Useful Information chart on the inside back cover, just in case one wasn’t enough. I would guess that about 90% of the information is the same in both charts, though there are differences. You may notice that there are no metric-to-metric or metric-to-U.S. standard conversion tables.
Hidden Highlights:
Categories
Liquid Measure
Cubic Measure
Avoirdupois Weight
Miscellaneous
Square Measure (as opposed to Surface Measure)
Linear Measure
Circular Measure
Apothecaries’ Fluid Measure
Multiplication Table
06 Jul 2017 1 Comment
in Useful Information Tags: conversion tables, math, measurement
From their youngest days, students will be exposed to a plethora of information, some good, some bad, some pointless.
And then there is information that is so important, so useful, that children are exposed to it all day, every day. Yet they never really notice. I am refering to the Useful Information charts that appear on the backs or insides of composition notebooks.
Although most of the tables and charts show math-related data — Multiplication Tables, Metric Conversion Tables, etc., — there are some differences between charts and occasionally some truly obscure gold.
In this six-part series, I will compare different Useful Information charts and try to find unique features and otherwise uncommon nuggets of info.
03 Jul 2017 Leave a comment
in 37R, 3D design Tags: 37R, 3D design, ipad
I cannot quite figure out what this is a model of, but I love the look of it. Maybe a student used an iPad. Does anyone regognize the app?
03 Jul 2017 Leave a comment
in 811K Tags: gear icon, MacOS
I was updating a computer from MacOS 7.2 to 7.5. I may have interrupted the installation during the computer restart. This is the icon that appeared on the screen.
Here is a close up
.
Has anyone seen a gear icon before? I did a google search and could not find a reference anywhere.
Occasional Observations of Traveling Technology Coach 