I’ve been thinking about writing aids. I write very seldom because it’s often hard to control the pen, and therefore slow and shaky and laborious. I waste a lot of paper when my capital letters go wavering across it like dismayed stick figures. And yet when my speech or my voice goes, that’s what I’m left with. (Yes, I do have an AlphaSmart, but it’s not something I can carry around just in case, and this happens so rarely.) There’s nothing as portable as a pen or pencil, if you’re able to use them.

I do carry an alphabet with me at all times — that is, I can fingerspell, though more slowly now than I’d like. The problem with that is most people can’t read it. It has worked a few times, though. If you think something like that would be useful, here’s a fingerspelling quiz with other links to learn the alphabet. If you literally want to carry an alphabet with you, you could print out a picture of a keyboard and point to the letters on it, or print out a table with common words on it. (I’m aware there are more expensive options out there, but the less expensive options tend to come to mind first. This goes for pretty much everything.)

But usually I find myself indicating pen and paper, with a very patient person reading over my shoulder. It’s inconvenient for both of us, at least in terms of the time it takes. I don’t know if any writing aids would stop the tremor or not, but the Evo Pen looks interesting. There are other possibilities on the ErgoCube site.

Do this poll before reading this post:

Is blogging a glorified diary?  My sister thinks so.  I think not.  A diary is low-tech and the audience is to oneself or the sappy “dear diary.”  Also there is only one possible category: “my life.”  I hate handwriting (typing is a different story.)  Also, I never really blog about “my life” per se.  If my blog were about my life, it would read something like:

Woke up.  Walked with my mom.  Applied for 5 jobs today.  Got some wood.  Ate dinner while watching the news.  Read 150 pages in some book.  Wrote a blog.  Got ready for bed.  Read some Bible and prayed.  Went to bed

There would be some variance there.  Perhaps I played some computer games rather than read a book for example.  The thing is I would bore myself to death (and the few readers of this blog).  I cannot record my every little move that I make (nor do I want to).  I tried that on Twitter and it lasted a very short time.

Blogging is different from keeping a diary because:

• The audience is whoever, which means that I can write to appeal to whoever, write to appeal to certain reader groups, or write with the assumption that whoever reads this will have to adapt to my style.  I prefer option #3.
• The audience is whoever, so I have to be sure not to disclose any secrets that I (or other people) do not want out on the Internet where it is not easy to erase.  I had an idea for blog but it involved talking about someone in my Bible study.  Therefore, I decided to keep anything potentially sensitive out of my blogs.
• The audience is whoever, so anyone can use this post for any purpose.  That can be supporting their blog, commenting, information (although I doubt much of that can come from my blog), and advertising (both legitimately and illegitimately).
• The category can be anything you want so I guess you could blog exclusively about your life.
• Blogging is high-tech with regards to a diary.  Part of what drew me to blogging was the tech options.  If you can’t already tell, I am interested in the blogging itself.  For example, this blog is an excuse to create a poll, which I haven’t done before.  However, I can’t seem to make a poll at this time.

I took a few minutes to set up this cute little slideshow to highlight pictures from last night’s trick-or-treatin’ adventure.  That just reminded me of how much I enjoy using smilebox to share certain photos with family members.  It’s a great free service (with advanced services available with payment), and could be used to highlight classroom activities each week!  After a month or so, you could even give the task of creation over to your students!  Post to facebook, your blog, or you can email your creations across the globe!

Make a Smilebox greeting

Stop Your Search Engines

A new application (only available for Macs) offers a form of “self-binding” to keep yourself from succumbing to the siren song of the Internet.

Developed by a graduate student (no surprise there), the app, called Freedom, blocks your Internet access for up to eight hours at a stretch.

A low tech version of this strategy is to find a coffee shop without internet access, if such a thing exists anymore, or print out what you’re working on — on real paper — and head somewhere without your computer!  Just a few hours.  You’ll be amazed by how much you can get done.

As educators, it’s understandable that you would want to tie class assignments to the current events going on in the community (nation, etc).  Well, this idea is an easy way to let your students sharpen their tech skills and enjoy themselves at the same time!  Virtual pumpkin carving!  There are many sites out there, each giving something special (like lighting the pumpkin when you are done, or special carving tools).

You can use the site that I did to create this masterpiece to the left (ha). Or you can peruse the other sites available to find one suitable for the skill level of your students.

One of my favorites, is this .swf file that has been around for a few years, currently posted to another edtech blog.

Cyberhunt does all the work for you, you just choose a stencil, and then select what to do next.

Bloompetals lets you pick a pumpkin, and carve it, but only in straight lines.

The Dayton Daily News has a cat there to watch your every move! (Playing with the cat is as much fun as carving the pumpkin)

Primary Games (great resource for activities!!) is geared more towards the k-2 group with a magnetic placement type of strategy.  Students move around black pieces of traditional carvings to make their own pumpkins.

Finally, you can hit up The Pumpkin Farm for their version of a jack-o-lantern, which I liken to playing with a Mr. Potato Head.

Get busy thinking how you can apply this to your classroom.  Math teachers, make it a contest to who can use the most geometric shapes in their design (and name them!).  Writing teachers, have students make a scary pumpkin and then write a creative story as a class involving everyone’s pumpkins.  For the teachers that actually carve pumpkins inside the classroom (like my son’s kindergarten class did one year), use this for class discussion on how the pumpkin should look.  Carve it virtually first so the kids can choose what features to have.

Good luck, and get cracking (um, carving)!