Travelling with Technology

An upcoming blogging hiatus will be brought to you by....

A family vacation!  However even on vacation, we travel with and use technology...


1) Computer, we take only one, my Dell Studio.  If you are PWSD teacher we have a computer agreement with Dell when purchasing a computer.  We take the computer to download our camera pictures on, watch movies, connect to the hotel wireless and so someone in my family can play WOW.  If you are thinking about purchasing a computer and want some help, just ask! 


2) Camera : we have a Nikon D5000 DSLR which I am in desperate need of a photography course on.  Shooting just on automatic and with the standard lens I can capture the kids no matter how fast they are running.


3) iPhone, I *heart* my iPhone and since data is crazy expensive out of Canada, I opt to just work off wireless at hotels or ones I find waundering around. My phone is my number one tech tool while on vacation.  I used:


Awesome Note (Free or $3.99 for unlimited)

I used the Travel Diary to keep a daily account of what we did.  I also made sure to take a couple of pictures each day with my phone camera so that I could attach them to the journal. 




Posterous (Free but set up on a computer before you leave) Posterous is blogging, dead simple.  I would send the travel diary, above, to a Posterous email address that I have set up before I left.  The travel diary was then posted to my blog.  Dead simple.  You can take a look at our 3 weeks in Holland here.

Compass (Free) because data was so expensive I had to rely on public wireless, which meant Google Maps was usually out of the question.  A paper map and my phone compass usually had us going in the right direction in no time!

Scrabble App ($2.99) totally worth a few dollars to occupy yourself (and up to 4 players) in a Scrabble game.

Alarm Clock (Free) You have to be up on time!

4) Kids iPods - will be loaded with a couple of movies and TV shows for the flight and then app.  iWrite Words (Free/$2.99), Angry Birds (Free/$0.99) and all sorts of crazy stuff.

What do you like to travel with?

Farouq's AISI 11 Reflections

Follow Farouq on twitter @farouqhassanali

Farouq is Peace Wapiti School Division's Science Division 4 Curriculm Coordinator.  After attending the AISI 2011 conference last week he shared the following reflections and lessons learned.


1) Why not consider having Math Fairs? Make them non-competitive and have students create their own unique puzzle. Very often, students who hate Math, and who do not excel with numbers, will show talent in creating and even solving puzzles. You can then demonstrate that Math is simply a language for explaining answers to life’s puzzles. Students can showcase their puzzles to the rest of the school or even parents. The solutions should not be found on the Internet (forcing students to create novel puzzles).




2) Parents should be an integral part of educating students. Consider inviting parents to teach certain lessons or concepts in the classroom. Make an effort to contact parents (by phone or email) and tell them something positive about their children.


3) We need to teach students that what we’re used to measuring – income, accumulation of material goods, IQ and even grades – are a small portion of the happiness pie. What of strong relationships, playing, dancing, singing, environmental sustainability, mental/physical/emotional health?