ASUS Eee PC 1005HA-M and 1005HA-H

The Eee PC 1008HA "Seashell" has basically just started to get recognized and, instead of letting the machine soak up the press, ASUS has decided to announce new variations of the 1008HA, and only a day after. But these new netbooks are not the 1005HAB that was tipped off on ASUS' support site. They are, however, the ASUS Eee PC 1005HA-M and the 1005HA-H.

The 1005HA-M and 1005HA-H have the same slim styling as the "Seashell" but with a few added upgrades. Both computers have removable batteries, both 6-cell for each computer good for up to 8 hours of battery life.

The 1005HA-M takes a lower end approach coming in with a 1.6GHz Atom N270 processor, 160GB hard drive, and 1GB of RAM and Wi-Fi and a 1.3 megapixel webcam but does not support Bluetooth.

The 1005HA-H is mostly the same as the "Seashell" as far as integral gears go with a few differences. The 1005HA-H has two USB 2.0 ports, keeps the 1.66GHz Atom Processor, supports Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, 1 GB of RAM, 160GB hard drive. Both the 1005HA-H and 1005HA-M have 10-inch WSVGA 1024 x 600 displays with the 1005HA-H adding a glossy coating.

Connectivity wise, both computers contain 3 USB 2.0 ports, audio in/out, ethernet, and a 2-in-1 card reader. The measure about 10mm thicker than the Eee PC 1008HA and also weigh about 0.3kg more.

The ASUS Eee PC 1005HA-H comes with a price tag of $473 and the ASUS Eee PC 1005HA-M comes in at $405. Both machines come in either black or white colors and should go on sale in France by the end of July with a release in the U.S. sometime after that.

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AR week 2- Moving Forward

Moving forward...
After completing my last cycle of my action research, I started working towards exhibitions and how I was going to present all this information, learning, and growth in a 10 minute presentation. The task, ever since I have started concentrating on it, has become daunting. I am not afraid of speaking nor lacking excitement about what I am presenting. It is merely, how do you reduce down a year’s worth of thinking and reflecting into 10 minutes.

I am hoping what I am presenting will be worthwhile and memorable. I want to start off presenting my kids, their one word reflections and then move into what I did this year and reflections from me. I also want to Skype in one of my students, maybe two depending on time, into the presentation. Time is a factor though and I am unsure how much time to devout to each section.

Moving forward though, I have been thinking about where I want to be a year from now. In Melissa’s class we are spending some time looking at being agents of change. Reflecting on where I am now, I can’t imagine anymore on my plate, but there are some areas I know I want more from and want to expand.

1- I want my classroom especially my students to be examples of the possibilities in education. I want to put my kids out there so others can see the possibilities.
2- I want to put myself out there. I have really enjoyed over the past couple of years traveling and speaking with Karl Fisch. I want to do more of this, and unsure how to move forward on this. I know at one point Margaret suggested just speaking at various conferences, but this requires time and money to travel of which my district doesn’t fund and I don’t personally have the money. Anyone out there want to fund this endeavor?
3- I want to be a leader in my school, district, state and heck, even nation for teaching. I want to speak about the transformational difference of empowering students with their learning and technologies role in the process. Next year, our ninth grade LA classes will all be 1-1 classes. I want to help lead this adventure. I can foresee a role for me in sharing my past experiences to help others move forward. I also can see me being a leader for my district in having a classroom where others can learn from.

I am really thankful for this opportunity to start thinking about where I want to grow and how I want to grow. I know after having some time off this summer, my batteries will be refreshed, my spirit enlivened and more clearly see how this next year fills out.

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Why Standardized Testing Doesn’t Work for My Kid

The other day, my daughter came home from school and as usual we started in on her math homework. They are starting to learn fractions in her 1st grade class. The first question on the worksheet asked her to take two candy bars that were drawn on the paper and divide each into ½. Now, one of the candy bars was much larger than the other. After she had divided the candy bars into two, the next part of the problem asked which half of candy bar she would rather have. Knowing that she is my daughter, she, of course, picked ½ of the smaller candy bar. I asked her why she picked that half? She said that if she picked the smaller half then she wouldn’t get sick from eating all that candy.

Do you think on standardized testing they have a space for her to explain her choice for eating healthy on a math question?

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LC3- Week 2

I have been reading The Handbook for Emerging Technologies and am pleasantly encouraged by the work I have done in my classroom and staff development efforts that I have experienced that align so nicely to what the authors are describing. The authors are describing the necessary changes we must make to our educational system in order to embrace the technological revolution that is underway. They however, do not just jump at using tech for tech sake, but using it in meaningful and relevant ways. I find that throughout this handbook they provide such well thought out counterpoints that this handbook would be a great basis for discussion for teachers who are on their way to 21st century learning environments ad those who are more hesitant. They provide well thought out groundwork for us to consider and how to see our role as an educator change and adapt.
What strikes me the most is how doable a 21st century education or learning environment is and how often we make excuses as to why it can’t be done. We are at the peak of change here. It is our time to step up for our students and make a difference. As the authors claim:

“The aim of education to 'arm every single person for the vital combat for lucidity' appears more difficult in a world of hyper-fragmentation, reflected in the development of the Internet and in the breakdown of traditional information structures such as newspapers, journals, and books.

How is education to fulfill its societal role of clarifying confusion when tools of control over information creation and dissemination rest in the hands of learners, contributing to the growing complexity and confusion of information abundance?”

I see all of this coming true with the changes I have made in my classroom. By empowering my students with technology that allows them to seek out understanding and clarification, my students have a new understanding of the world around them. However, this doesn’t mean that I have just let them loose in the wide world of web-surfing. Instead my role as a teacher has shifted. I can see my job as a combination of atelier, network administrator, facilitator, concierge and curator. Teaching is not a one descriptor job anymore. We need to be adaptable as do our students. And technology makes it all possible to not only meet the ever growing and changing needs of our students but for ourselves as professional learners too.

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LC3- AR reflection

Having lost my student teacher, I am back to full time teaching. It was so great to have the kids back. I missed them so much. I missed teasing them, talking with them, and watching them grow and learn. It was so hard to remove myself and become a “bystander” to their learning while helping Randon grow as a teacher and learner. To transfer my focus from 30 to 1 was a challenging task. I am still wondering how well it all went. I think it was hard on all of us, but over the long term, will be something we are all better for.

Interestingly, after Randon was done student teaching, I talked to the kids about taking away the No D policy and multiple redos. They were adamantly against it. In fact, many of the kids were not comfortable with going back to a traditional approach to learning. I wonder what will happen with them next year. How are they going to succeed next year in classes where there are enforced deadlines and no redos? Have I set them up for failure? Or can I look at this in a positive light wondering that if they now know how to succeed and learn best, will they apply those skills into other classes? Will they advocate for themselves in their future classes letting their teachers know how they learn best? So we are continuing on with these policies in place and the kids still in charge of their grade and learning.

I also wonder for myself what I am going to do next year. Will I try this again? Will I take away the D and have multiple redos? How will the kids respond? Will they be as engaged and interested? Will they want to be participants? Can I do this again?

The rest of this semester the kids have been working on coming back to me. It has been a welcome transition I think for them, but they are readjusting after struggling at times with classroom management policies that were in place with Randon and now switching back to the way I run the classroom. I am planning on taking their pictures and doing some wordle.net work them this week for my final presentation. I am asking them to give me one word that describes the change in them, in the class, and the change in learning. I want to take these words and their images creating some works of art to display at my presentation creating more of a gallery approach rather than a traditional poster board. Hopefully my art metaphor will carry over into all things. My vision is of frames of them as art work with charts, data, and words as art work as well. We will see if I can get it all to come together without it being tacky or overwhelming.
The mode for the next few weeks is working on my presentation, cleaning up my website (adding images and quotes), and doing lots of reading.

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LC3-1

Last nights first LC meeting of the last semester of our OMET program was desperately needed. I think many of us are facing this last semester with trepidation and excitement. We can see the end in sight, but there is much work to be completed before all the hard work pays off.

We discussed what this next semester is going to focus on and I really appreciated hearing about our readings, expectations, and assignments going forward. I am especially excited about the idea of creating our ideal job and then interviewing with one of our classmates to get that job. I think this is a prime example of a real world application of learning. This is the kind of activity I try and create for my students where their learning is applied to a new situation. Also, there is a great measure of creativity here. We get to think about our ideal job- what would we do? What would we be responsible for? What changes could we make to the world? I am excited to learn who I will be paired with and start working towards designing my ideal job (right now I have no idea) and thinking about where that job would be and what I would be doing. I think talking this out with some people that know me best would be a good idea to flush out some thoughts. Luckily MR is sending us information about this assignment with interview tips and suggestions for designing our ideal jobs.

We also talked about presentations/ exhibitions in June. This is something that has been weighing on my mind for some time. I really want to do my best and impress not only my colleagues but myself as well. I remember watching the presentations from last year and hearing people say that some of the presentations were mind blowing. I want to hear that about mine. It was really helpful to get some clarification on what all of this is going to look like. I like the idea of presenting with our group all focusing on similar ideas/ topics/ venues of AR work. I think that lends itself to a nice cohesive presentation. I have already started working on my presentation (more the visuals that I want to use). I think I am going to use some charts and graphs, but I want to remain consistent and steadfast with the use of the emerging works of art metaphor- Creating more successful learners. We did a great exercise last night playing with verb choices that reflect our metaphor. MR did this with me first semester, but I would like to spend some more time with my LC exploring this.

Going forward, I think I will continue spending time figuring out my presentation, planning my exhibition board, and contemplating what my future job will be. Also, I will be reading, reading, reading, and umm…reading. I like the idea that we are going to be exclusively in Google Sites. I think this will be an excellent change into using one platform for all things OMET. I am doing something similar in my own classes and would like to see ways that I can expand my classroom by the work that we are doing in LC’s.

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HP ProBook 4510s

A laptop is one of the most important pieces of equipment a person needs, especially if you are always on the road traveling for business reasons. But finding an affordable laptop that has all the features you need for your business is no easy task.

well HP's new laptop, the ProBook 4510s, is perfect for any traveling businessman by offering substance as well as style at a reasonable cost. The ProBook is HP's entry-level computer for business users. The laptop has a black, glossy lid which is prone to fingerprints, a glossy keyboard, a speaker strip lining the top of the laptop as well as a satin palm rest. The ProBook has a thin bezel which is easy to focus. An interesting design feature is the turquoise blue glow that emanates from the QuickLook 2 buttons, the power button, and LED lights on the system and if black isn't your style and you are looking for a hotter look, the ProBook also comes in red, or Merlot, as HP calls it.

The ProBook also has a good size to it. It measures 15.6 inches and weighs about 5.6 pounds. It has a 16:9 display with a wide footprint of 14.6 x 9.8 inches and 1.2 to 1.5 inch thickness. The ProBook is also the first laptop from HP to have island-style keys which makes for a more refined look. The slight texture to the keys, which are also scratch resistant, have a nice finish and are spaced apart comfortably. The touchpad, which measures 3.3 x 1.7 inches, has a rubber-like surface which gives the perfect amount of friction but the buttons on the touchpad are different from traditional ones. The touchpad buttons on the ProBook only depress at the end closest to the user. It kind of gives the feeling of pressing a piano key, which some people may like or dislike.

The 15.6 inch display is bright with an LED backlight and has a matte finish that provides really good viewing angles. The sound system varies depending on what you are listening to. Video clips and movies sound good whereas music was faint, even at max volume.

Considering this is a business computer, the ProBook 4510s has a plethora of ports for all of your needs. It comes with Ethernet and modem jacks, a Kensington Lock slot, headphone and mic ports, one VGA output, one HDMI output, and four USB 2.0 slots. For low-profile broadband cards, the ProBook comes with an Expresscard/34 slot and also has a 5-in-1 memory card reader. Another interesting design feature is that none of these ports are located on the back of the laptop, aside from the memory card reader, mic ports, and headphone ports which are located on the front, all the ports are located on the sides. The ProBook also comes with a good battery life. The six0cell battery lasts you around four and a half hours which is longer lasting than the average laptop by about 70 mins. There is also an optional eight-cell battery upgrade which claims to add 34% more battery life at a $10 fee.

All in all this computer is perfect for anybody on the road constantly for business trips, meetings, or one who is just in the habit of traveling. A definite recommendation for anyone looking for an affordable business laptop.

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