Staying on Target

This is a good time for teachers to examine how their 183 days can best be allotted for their educational objectives. The beginning of a new school year enables teachers to review past projects and assess the quality value in time and purpose.

An example: Last year a project used a digital camcorder to investigate the motion principles of time, rate and distance, and the teacher and students were excited to use video software to observe objects in slow motion. However, the students took too much time to learn the software program and had to speed through the scientific observation and conclusion part of the project.

An old Swahili proverb, “aiming is not hitting,” explains what you need to do now. Why did the project not hit the target goal if everyone was aiming at the same target? Did you allow enough time for student preparation or should you train a few leader students in the use of the software, a few in the use of the camcorder and a few in scientific investigation and conclusions?

Now you have a “feeder system” for the next projects. Learn to aim more accurately at the target this year and change the processes based on last year’s dilemmas and experiences.

Mac Tips: Mighty Mice

Mac users need suffer mouse envy no more. Mighty Mouse can scroll in any direction and has left, right and programmable buttons. Learn more at www.apple.com/mightymouse.

In addition, Microsoft USB mice that are PC/Mac compatible offer the usual left/right/scroll features with installed drivers.