Category Archives: education

The Two Biggest Reasons I Use Dropbox.com

Leave a reply

The two biggest things about Dropbox (for me):

1. Installing that tiny piece of software on multiple computers means when you upload a file to Dropbox on ONE computer, it automatically syncs to ALL your computers. I don’t even create files on my harddrive anymore, I just create them directly in Dropbox and there they are. I’ve stopped using a flash drive – I no longer need it. Any computer you can connect to on the Internet, you can access your Dropbox files.

2. Shared folders. A.MA.ZING. My co-teacher and I share a folder. When she creates something and puts it in the shared folder, it syncs to both of our computers (and any computer we have Dropbox installed on). My friend wants to see some of the work I’ve done on this or that project – no prob: I set up a shared folder and put the files in. He or she can look at them, edit them, save them, and it syncs back to my machine. Another friend wants a copy of Snoop Dogg’s “Santa Claus Is Going Straight to the Ghetto” song? Sure thing. Let me create a shared folder for you… The potential to collaborate is second only to using Google Docs (and that’s a different type of collaboration tool altogether).

If you’re not using Dropbox yet, you should be. http://db.tt/iwJ5rr5

It’s the end of the school year? Seriously?

1 Reply

hard to believe we’re weeks away from sending our latest batch of seniors out into the world.

where did the year go?

one highlight: teaching Steinbeck’s The Red Pony and riding my “pony” through class, yee-hawing at the top of my lungs each period. thoroughly embarrassed the crap out of my students. it was good.

if i’ve not said it recently: i love teaching. i love teaching English. i love teaching high school English.

“Mr. Rust, are we having a classroom Christmas party?”

2 Replies

Every year, without fail, several students will ask, “Mr. Rust, are we having a classroom Christmas party?” and every year, without fail, I stare at them incredulously, and sputter, “A classroom Christmas party?? Dudes, YOU GUYS ARE IN HIGH SCHOOL!!!”

Every year, I produce a new picture in an attempt at heading off the question.

This year’s entry:

Several students still had to ask. *sigh*

for kate: an update

3 Replies

the latest excitement:

  • i’m down 41lbs from last june to 244lbs
  • i continue to run 5x / week, lift weights 3x / week, bike infrequently, watch my calories, do some circuit training a couple times a week, drink lots of water, and juggle daily.
  • i started doing yoga 3 weeks ago and am enjoying it quite a bit – very relaxing, yet also a workout. i frequently do it at night before heading to bed and it helps the insomniac in me fall asleep.
  • this pic was taken this afternoon while hamming for the camera:
  • the picture drives me to ask the question: if you had a high school teacher with guns like that, would you be messing around with him? no? then why the heck do my students mess with me? is it the shoes? is it the smile? maybe i don’t flash the guns around enough?
  • i’m neck-deep in IEP writing, with somewhere around 18 IEP’s due in the next 2 months. oy vey.
  • add to this that i’m taking a course on educational assessments at UWF and it’s a double oy vey.
  • stephen king’s Under the Dome was a great read until the last 30 pages. he really is a master of plot development, but his endings are so frequently just blah.
  • i’ve now worn my Vibram Five Fingers every day for three months and i’m telling ya: these things are absolutely awesome. i did acquire a second pair of them (seen in above picture) and do all my teaching, workouts, running, etc. in them. my feet / legs / knees / back have never felt better. i realize i have a followup i need to do on my previous post – it’ll happen, promise!
  • spring break is the last week in march – i’m planning on being in Cincinnati for a couple days. am thinking of arranging some kind of party for a couple hours one night and see if we can’t get everyone together in one room to visit and catch up!
  • there’s more to tell, but this was unplanned and as such, my brain is mush.

thanks to kate for the kick in the ass.

baker college online: grammar FAIL Contest!!

10 Replies

dunno about you, but if i were looking for an online college and ran across the following ad, i’d run quickly in the opposite direction.

doesn’t anyone proof these before they’re put out, or is it just that no one notices except folks with grammar fetishes?

bakeronline-grammar

where’s my red ink Internet pen when i need it??

anyone who can not only point out the error but also:

  • explain why it’s incorrect and
  • fix the error

will have their name put in a hat and i will draw one name for the following prizes:

  • a sheet of sparkly star stickers to show your friends how smart you are!
  • a Santa hat viciously ripped off the top of a dog toy by my dog!
  • a couple of beautiful seashells pulled straight out of the Gulf of Mexico!
  • an autographed picture of my shrinking manboobs!

to be eligible to win said prizes, you must live in the continental US.

Deadline: Midnight (Central time) on Tuesday August 25, 2009. NO CHEATING! don’t read the other comments until you’ve made your own!

baker college online? you’ll never have me as a student.

be careful whom you piss off

2 Replies

lise subbed for me yesterday.

when she came home, she told me about one student who was continually disrespectful to her, then insulted her. he’s a new student in the class, but well known to the disciplinary officers.

today that student strolled into class all cool and whatnot. “whassup, mr. rust?” he asked.

“siddown and shut up.” was my reply.

“what’s wrong with you?”

“you dis my wife and insult her yesterday? wrong way to get on my good side. sit. shut it.”

*look of disbelief* “that was your wife?”

*rest of class laughs uproariously*

he sat and pouted the rest of the class.

haiku contest winners

Leave a reply

this was the email sent out friday morning at school announcing our haiku contest winners… names deleted to protect the innocent.

______________________

My distinguished panel of judges and I wrestled with many entries and almost came to blows in our struggle to choose the top three haiku – here are the results!

In Third Place, Xxxx Xxxxxxxxx wins the lightly used Continental Airlines Barf Bag for:

Anticipation
Like puppy dog tail wagging
June, July, August

In Second Place, Xxxxxxx Xxxxxx wins Nunzilla for the following submission:

Awakening minds
Butterflies’ wings emerging
An Aha moment

And finally, the First Place Winner of the snarky office door hangers, Xxxxx Xxxxxxxx submitted:

Will someone teach boys
To pull up their sagging pants
No peep shows at school
_____________________________________

Honorable Mentions abound (as will Mardi Gras beads):

Xxxxxxxxx Xxxxxx sent:
Darn, It is Monday
WhY am I here? Oh that’s right
I Get paid Friday

Xxxxx Xxxx says:
That Crow woman canÂ
clean and jerk three hundred pounds!
sixty pounds, five lifts

Xxxxxxx Xxxxxx opined:
I wonder today
at the students’ attitudes
and ask, “what went wrong?”

Xxxx Xxxxxxxxx also sez:
Apathy abounds,
Stealing moments on cell phones,
Ignorance remains.

Xxxxxx Xxxxxxxx ventures:
Hazardous meeting
The blowhard passes me by
I feign diffidence

and finally, for managing to sneak in the name of our first female Pulitzer Prize winner for Poetry, Xxx Xxxxxx declared:

What is in a name?
Edna St Vincent Millay
Poetry? Oh yes!

(Nancy Boyd wouldn’t have worked quite as well in that one, would it, Jay?)

Thanks to everyone who participated – it truly was fun to wade through the submissions and hard to pick the top ones!

school haiku contest

3 Replies

the following was an email i sent to the entire school this morning initiating a haiku contest…
—————————-

Win prizes and literary fame in the PFHSÂ Staff Haiku Contest!

Well, maybe not literary fame, but hey – prizes! Bragging rights!

The History:
I write haiku to keep from going insane. I keep a notebook with me in my backpack where I write my haiku as a way to keep my cool in the face of adversity and frustration (read: students and school politics, etc.). It’s a quick, fun, and easy little trick that I can do right in the classroom as I catch my breath, grind my teeth, and try to keep my hands from grabbing someone’s throat.

What Is Haiku:
Haiku is a Japanese form of poetry that consists of 17 total syllables split into three lines with 5 syllables in the first line, 7 syllables in the 2nd line, and 5 syllables in the third line. This is a simplified explanation of something that can easily be Googled, but for the purpose of this contest, the above makes sense, right?

Examples:
Last Friday was a bad day for me. 2/3 of the way through the day, I wrote the following haiku:

(5 syllables) Thank God it’s Friday?
(7 syllables) Hah! I laugh with contempt and
(5 syllables) Write mass referrals.

I write haiku when good things happen, too. The following examples include both good and not so good:

My boss, Frank Murphy
The best principal on earth!
Keep my job next year?

Awful Seventh class!
Rust stuck it to them, and how!
No compassion here.

Valentine’s Day is
anniversary of our
agreement to wed!

A friend of mine also writes haiku and we sometimes email each other with them:

The stone we do roll…
A task so Sisyphean…
Whiskey’s the answer!Â

And now, The Contest:
Be creative! Write some haiku! They can be funny, serious, concerned, worried, angry – whatever tone you want them to have! The only rules are:

1. Be sure to stay within the confines of 17 syllables broken into a 5-7-5 pattern.
2. Make your haiku school-related.
3. Submit as many haiku as you want!

Submit / email your school related haiku to me before the end of business Thursday (February 26) and my distinguished panel of judges and I will award prizes for the top three haiku, and several honorable mentions.

The Prizes (see attached picture for each item in all its glory):
1st place will receive a pack of six handy Office Door Hangers with messages like: Out To Lunch (and short a sandwich); Meeting In Progress (the practical alternative to work); Bad Day In Progress (enter at your own risk); and three others! Use these door hangers to warn students and staff of your current disposition!
2nd place will receive Nunzilla! This fire-breathing wind-up sister trudges straight out of a Catholic school student’s nightmare like a determined disciplnary force, with green eyes blazing and sparks flying from her mouth!
3rd place will receive a lightly used Continental Airlines Barf Bag / Seat Occupied sign.
Honorable Mentions will receive a strand of Mardi Gras beads caught and harvested this past Saturday morning on the streets of downtown Pensacola.

Go ye therefore and write!

Scott

haiku-contest-prizes.jpg

so far? the entries are quite good!

and the answer is…

1 Reply

thirteen.

that’s the magic number of pronouns in the extra credit question posed friday.

“how so?” you might be thinking. let’s break it down, shall we?

calvinhobbes.jpg

panel 1: “you” “me” “you” “they” “you”
panel 2: “it” “you” “someone” “your”
panel 3: “I” “you”
panel 4: “I” “I”

final tally = 13

for those who guessed 15, i am assuming you added “these” in panel 1, and perhaps one of the instances of “that” in panel 4. both of these words CAN be used as pronouns, but “these” is an adjective modifying “assignments,” and the word “that” is used as an adverb (showing extent or degree).

my two winners? kate (a way cool chick and junior at U of Maryland) and rachael (another way cool chick, and a junior at Miami University). i’ll have your prizes in the mail this week!

one thing i learned here is: this extra credit question will be virtually impossible for my students to get. 15+ people responded to this via comments, facebook, text messages, and in person, and only two got it right (and at least 40 others clicked on the link but refused to answer the question, making me suspect those folks didn’t know it either). i may need to modify this one and make it multiple choice.

thanks for participating!