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Blogtagged January 1, 2007

Posted by Joseph Papaleo in Colleagues, General, Paul Harrington, Tom Barrett, blogs.
3 comments

I’ve had a complete break from blogging after finishing work for the year. To my surprise, I’ve been blogtagged – twice! By Paul Harrington and Tom Barrett. Thanks!

OK – 5 things about me

  1. I “worked” as a volunteer for 7 years with an organization called Camp Challenge – later renamed Challenge Cancer Support Network many years ago. It was a support group for kids and their siblings with Cancer or hematological diseases. Lost many friends, but made one great friend. My wife Christine. We first met while she was a “camper” and then she returned a few years later as a leader. Many years later, we started going out and what do you know, we got married.
  2. We have 4 children – Jeremy 9, Claire 8, Olivia 4 and Zoe 2. Each is unique and I love them all very much.
  3. For Olivia’s birth, Christine went into a very quick labour. Realising we were not going to get to the hospital in time, I called the ambulance. While on the phone, Christine’s waters broke and I ended up “catching” Olivia in the bathroom. We have a recording of the phone conversation of Olivia’s birth which I’ll play at her 21st Birthday.
  4. I am highly allergic to Nuts and Sesame Seeds. My allergies started with walnuts and Sesame Seeds when I was about 8 years old and as I got older, I became allergic to other nuts. Of course, back then, no-one had any idea and so I continued to eat nuts that I wasn’t allergic to. But then I became allergic to them. Most people allergic to nuts are allergic to peanuts, but I’m not. But to be on the safe side, I’ve been told not to eat them anymore. Oh, how I long to eat Crunchy Nut Breakfast cereal again (remember me Tom next time you indulge!) I now carry an epipen (adrenaline) in case of accidental ingestation – my throat may swell, causing my airway to block – don’t really want to think about it at all.
  5. I love painting walls. Give me a room to paint during the holidays and I’m happy. I actually find it therapeutic – a chance to slow down, a chance to think, time to reflect on life, listen to the radio, etc. The satisfaciton when the job is done is great. And these holidays (we have our 6 weeks off now), I hope to get as much of our renovations done as possible on our newly acquired home.

5 people to tag -

  1. Mario Papaleo (my brother who is new to blogging, so it will give him some time to practice.
  2. Gary Chapman (Work colleague)
  3. Paul Kelly (Work colleague)
  4. Rosa Ochoa (I just discovered her blog – an Australian teacher)
  5. SoulCradler (I just discovered her blog – a new Australian teacher)

k12onlineconference – Follow up November 7, 2006

Posted by Joseph Papaleo in Google Earth, Janine Lim, Paul Harrington, Screencast, Tom Barrett, k12online.
4 comments

Last week, my presentation on “Around the World in 80 Minutes” was uploaded to a server somewhere and was made available to anyone interested. While no comments were left on the k12online confernece site, a few people sent me personal messages to tell me how things went, or I found references to it on other people’s blogs.

Thanks to those people who wrote to me.

Tom Barrett made a reference to the work on his blog and then Paul Harrington made a comment that people mentioned Tom’s work during the closing skypecast. Pity I missed it. I hope Tom gets many more visitors. Qlock

Janine Lim (she’s the master, I’m still an apprentice) Videoconferncing expert, made a reference to my presentation on her blog and stated she learnt about Qlock, a great utility for your desktop showing world times. A very handy feature when trying to work in various time zones.

I hope anyone who watched it learnt something. I certainly learnt heaps while reseraching the presenation and then actually producing and editing it.

Now, I just need to find time to watch/listen to some more presenations.

Maths in Google Earth October 1, 2006

Posted by Joseph Papaleo in Google Earth, Paul Harrington, Tom Barrett, blogs, mathematics.
comments closed

I just came across Tom Barrett’s blog via Paul Harrington. He is a Primary teacher in the UK and his blog is all about using IT in his classroom. Looking through it, I discovered a great project he has developed for Maths.

It got me thinking about a project I’m planning for my Year 9 Maths classes. I have been nutting my brain out for the last few weeks, trying to put together a real life project for simultaneous equations. And the solution appeared as I looked at Tom’s site.

The project idea goes something like this – and any mathematicians out there, I know the earth is round and the soltuions won’t be exact, but they’ll be close enough for this task.

Bingo, a real life problem solving activity using Simultaneous Equations and Google Earth at the same time. And who said Maths is boring??
I’ll post the actual assignment to this blog and other places for other teachers to use in the near future.

podOmatic = podmail September 27, 2006

Posted by Joseph Papaleo in General, Paul Harrington, Screencast, Web2.0, blogs, mathematics, podcasts.
comments closed

With thanks to Paul Harrington and Judy O’Connell, I have just stumbled on podOmatic. This site is similar to Odeo (but in my opinion, it is “safer” – read the end comment) and allows users to create podcasts and store them on their server for access by anyone else. But, the most exciting thing for me is it is now possible to have a podmail account.

What is podMail?
podMail is just like regular email, only different. With podMail, you now have the power to create your own audio or upload existing audio from your computer and podMail it right into your friend’s iPod!
What kinds of messages can I receive at my podomatic.com e-mail address?
Although you can send anything to anyone using podMail, we restrict what kinds of messages get to you from the e-mail world. This is to prevent spam from going into your account. So if you’re using podMail, send whatever you want! If you’re using an e-mail client, or you are asking your friends to send you e-mail @podomatic.com, remember that e-mail from the outside world must include an mp3 attachment to be delivered to you @podomatic.com.
Where does podMail go?
podMail goes from podOmatic into your iPod. We transfer it from our servers through podAmigo into your daycast, where you can hear it at your leisure.
Who can hear my podMail?
Only you. It has the same privacy characteristics as email.
http://www.podomatic.com/faq
How cool? Or should that be “How sick!” I can now create a podcast and e-mail it directly to my students iPod!! Wow! Imagine creating a set of revision notes for your senior students (of course, many of us have these already in Word format, all we’d need to do is use a reader to convert them) in podcast format and then send them via podmail to our students so they can listen to it on their iPods as they travel to and from school before their major exams!!
But it could be even better than that! podOmatic allows the user to create podcasts with slideshows or screencasts (think PowerPoint, Camtasia). If a student had a Video iPod, imagine the posssibilities. Sending students copies of a vodcast, screencast, whatever you’d like to call it. As a senior Maths and IT teacher, and exams coming up, I’ll be investigating this area further.
And why am I more excited about podOmatic than Odeo? Because podOmatic doesn’t have a sex category on their front page as Odeo has. I find it disturbing that Odeo looks like a great site, but they let everyone know about their sex podcasts on their homepage. And they are pretty graphic. I’m not prepared to show students Odeo with the potential backlash from parents when their child can access porn so easily. podOmatic has it too, but it is not so obvious and a search needs to be done. Call me a prude, but I wouldn’t feel comfortable showing kids Odeo in class.
I’ll be sending a message to podOmatic to keep it clean for our students. Please feel free to ask them too.
I’d be interested in knowing how others may use podmail in their classes in the future.