As a retired teacher I like to once in a while reflect back upon that other life I led in the classroom  (I also like to split infinitives on purpose) and amuse myself with some of the unsuccessful attempts I made at educating my students.  But I guess I learned a few things from these errors, so it was not a total loss.

           An article on Hal Holbrook recently reminded me of a live performance I saw many years ago of his Mark Twain Tonight.  For those unfamiliar with it, Holbrook does a one-man show as Mark Twain made up of numerous quips for which Twain has become known.  As attested by the thousands of people who have enjoyed this performance it is an extremely hilarious evening of entertainment.  Twain had just the talent for putting the dig-in on just about any topic, and Holbrook captured this talent nicely. It was a funny show.

           It turns out that shortly after this performance I was going to teach one of Twain’s most memorable books, Huckleberry Finn, so my intelligent mind tapped my dull mind on the shoulder and said something like this: “Hey! Why not get a recording of Hal Holbrook’s Mark Twain Tonight and play it for your classes.  This would really set the stage for your literature study.  And it's funny, too.” 

           If you are planning on using this program as an introduction to the language and humor of Twain’s novels, I recommend it highly – with a caveat I explained below.

           Well, it seemed like a great idea, so I went out and found a recording of that memorable night and brought it into class.  This was in the old days when we only had record players.  I told the kids they were in for a hilarious treat and some bladder busting laughs. (By the way, if you want to get a response out of your students, show them an old phonograph -- probably never saw one live.)

           I was already starting to chuckle at the thought of some of those lines as I put the disk on the turntable.  I could see the anticipation in the eyes of my students as well.  They needed...no, they wanted a good laugh.  I put the needle down on the platter and quickly scurried to the back of the room so I could observe my students as they enjoyed the humor of Mark Twain.

           Holbrook starts his performance with a few subtle jokes that probably take some maturity and experience to understand, so I wasn’t surprised that my students didn’t start laughing immediately – wry humor and all that, you know.

           Well, after about 10 minutes into the recording I was rolling on the floor with fits of laughter.  The rapier wit of Twain was too much.  He knew how to phrase comments about the human circus that hit right home.  Unfortunately I was the only one in the room at the time who understood Holbrook’s rendition of Twain.  Most of the kids sat there politely, some of the girls found it an appropriate time to touch up their make up, and some of the guys found it opportune to catch a few z’s, but some students managed to muster up a courtesy laugh (out of respect for the old boy in the back of the room).

           We never did make it through the complete recording.  While I enjoyed listening to it, I couldn’t stand the suffering of my students.  When I took the needle off the recording some of them looked at me as if to say, “Why are you stopping this now?”  But I could also detect a sigh of relief in the atmosphere.

           Once again, as a teacher, I had learned a lesson.  Humor is not in words alone.  Sometimes humor also needs visibility.  Today the results would probably be different, because instead of an audio recording of Hal Holbrook playing Mark Twain, I could use the DVD showing this performance.  The stop and go look on Holbrook's face as he timed the jokes was extremely important, and it became painfully clear to me that day that an audio recording was not going to do the job.

 So, if you plan on using your iPod’s to play the audio recording of Mark Twain Tonight – don’t.  Opt for a video version of the program, and your students will see what Mark Twain and Huckleberry Finn is all about.

           By the way.  If you want to see a short video from Mark Twain Tonight you can find it at ETV1.  Take a look at this on your computer by clicking here. It’s also available on DVD.

           If you plan on having your students read Huckleberry Finn in your classes, you might be interested in Baggetta_Ware’s Huckleberry Finn Test Generator.  As your students read this long work by Twain you will want to test them regularly to see if they are doing the reading, and our test generator will allow you to quickly manufacture hundreds of worksheets and tests organized by chapters.

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Important News: Baggetta_Ware now supports instant downloads when you order programs using Pay Pal or your credit card via Pay Pal.  Now you don't have to wait to get your programs. Click "RETURN TO MERCHANT OR RETURN TO BAGGETTA_WARE" and you will be delivered to a page from which you can download your purchase immediately.
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Mark Twain Dabbles In Technology

Here's Twain's comment on the latest technology of his day.

Hartford, March 19, 1875
Gentlemen:

    Please do not use my name in any way. Please do not even divulge the fact that I own a machine. I have entirely stopped using the Type-Writer, for the reason that I never could write a letter with it to anybody without receiving a request by return mail that I would not only describe the machine but state what progress I had made in the use of it, etc., etc. I don't like to write letters, and so I don't want people to know that I own this curiosity-breeding little joker.

Yours truly,
Saml. L. Clemens

The first typed manuscript ever submitted to a publisher was one of Mark Twain's masterpieces.

(If you want to stun your kids again, show them an old typewriter.  It will give them some insight to what writer's had to go through before the word processor.)

A New Way of Using Recordings In the Classroom: The iPod

           Did you know that teachers are coming up with all kinds of ideas for using the iPod for educational purposes?  No kidding.  The instrument that has commandeered the eardrums of millions of teens throughout the world can also be used to capture the minds of your students. 

           Some of the newer iPods can be used to record sound with a bit of manipulation, but it is easier to record our sounds using the Sound Recorder built into Windows.  (I’m not that familiar with Apple computers, but I’m sure they have facilities that make recording very easy.) 

           Use these recording devices on your computer to record your information and then save it as a .wav file.  Then use iTunes to convert this to a file that can be played on the iPod.  This is a lot like recording to a cassette tape (seems like so many years ago) that can then be played on portable cassette players.  You might want to make recordings of actors performing dramatic lines your students can listen to.  You could even record a focused lesson for students that need extra help and let them put the recording on their iPods to play when they get bored listening to heavy metal – you might have to monitor this, however.

           If you have an attachment to use the iPod to play through a stereo system, you can use the recordings in class just as we mature teachers did in the old days, when we use to take out the record player or tape player and thrill the class.  But the real power of the iPod is its portability and its popularity, and this is what you’ll want to exploit.

           Okay, Baggetta, get to the point.  How can I use these wonder machines to captivate my students?

           Many teachers have already come up with some interesting ideas.  One iPod Website gives you a bunch of Adobe Reader files (.pdf) covering the use of the iPod for Music, Math, History, and Language.  Take a look at how one teacher uses this device to teach math and music.  Others use the iPod as a listening device, a travelogue maker, student reporter, oral history log, etc.  Lots of interesting ideas.  You might find some ways of using the little iPod to your advantage.

           Foreign language teachers might even want to record some dialog that would help their students learn important phrases – might even make a good project to have students create some recordings that do this, also.  If your school is willing to foot the bill you can even purchase language programs that play on the iPod, like iLingo that can help when learning Japanese.  You might also want to take a look at the AIT English Study Project if you are planning on using your iPod as a tool for language study.

           Finally, take a look at iPods In the Classroom for a good overview of what might be the future of audio and video in the classroom.

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Important News: Baggetta_Ware never charges for shipping on CD orders.  Also, Teachers who belong to
a teacher association can take 20% off any CD order -- simply identify your organization and your member
ID on your order and deduct 20%.  How cool is that?
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Important News: Baggetta_Ware NEVER charges for UPGRADES.  If we fix or improve a program you can
download it for free with proof of purchase.  Most companies thrive on the money they make from upgrades,

but we feel you should have the security of a well running program from the start, so we offer upgrades and

fixes at no charge.  Hey!  We make mistakes like everyone else, but we also make amends.
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F_ree Software For the Month Of May

           I know it’s getting that time of year when teachers and students start to wind down (the end of the year is coming).  Often you are looking for some kinds of activities that will keep the kids on track and yet keep them reading and working on curriculum material.  Quizzing is often a part of learning in the classroom and one of the most fun types of quizzes is the matching quiz.  Hey! – we play these quiz games in magazines and have been raised on them since childhood, so it makes sense to bring this ploy into the learning experience.

           I liked giving matching quizzes in class because they entice the students into competition with the teacher.  The teacher sets up a list of items the students have studied in a certain order and dares his charges to sort out the list.  It’s fun to try, and it’s easy to correct.

           The fly in the ointment for the teacher, of course, is to come up with all kinds of matching quizzes – especially if you are going to offer the same content to several classes at a time.  You could dig around in workbooks (they love to offer matching quizzes) and copy them for use with your classes, but you always end up with the same patterns.

           So, Baggetta, is there a software solution to generating short matching quizzes on any topic that won’t take a lot of work…and is easy to correct?  Of course there is!  I’ve just created a simple program I unabashedly call Match-A-Rama (alright – stop snickering at me), and I offer it to you as this month’s complimentary download from Baggetta_Ware.

           With Match-A-Rama you type up a list of  items (words, authors, titles, formulas, terms, etc) – only 12 are allowed to make it a quick matching quiz – and a corresponding list of answers.  Save as a .txt file and then run Match-A-Rama on your Windows PC to generate dozens of variations on that list.  You even get answer keys that make correcting a snap. 

           If you don’t plan on giving any matching quizzes at this time of the year, you might want to download this and save it to our hard drive, since it will only be up on the website for one month.

 Instructional Step-By-Step Videos Now Available for Download from Baggetta_Ware – No Charge.

           As I mentioned in the header to this Ramblings I have added some instructional video files to the Baggetta_Ware Teacher Tech site.  Many more teachers are using Windows PC in their classrooms and a lot of them are having this operating system (OS) thrust upon them without any formal training.  This can be fun and adventurous, of course, for those who like their lives peppered with the unknown, but many teachers would like to be able to master some of the rudiments of the Windows desktop, at least.

           I had many of my customers write emails to me, confused and technically paralyzed because they do not know how to perform some simple functions on the Windows desktop and on the Internet as well.  I try to clarify the tasks in an email, by adding information to the website, and by making phone calls, but often this is not enough.  There is nothing like a live demonstration to clear up a problem.  And none of these tasks are really difficult.  Actually they are very easy, but if you are unfamiliar with the steps to the procedures, they might as well be….uh… Rocket Science. 

           Since I can not come and sit next to each of you and step you through these processes, I have done the next best thing and started a series of Video/Audio demonstrations which you can view right from the site, and you will need Windows media player already installed on your machines to view these – this is available free from Microsoft – Version 10 is now available, and it is a beauty (they are so generous).

           The lessons are fairly easy to follow, but just in case you are one of those learners who has to have printed material in front of you, I’ve also accompanied each video lesson with a printed version.  Now you can look at the video and then take the steps slowly, one at a time, on paper.  I’ve used this step-by-step method in my English classes and computer training classes, and the response to this kind of instruction has been very positive.

           The first lesson is entitled Making A New Folder on the Windows Desktop.  One of my program users sent an email one time saying that she knew how to Save a program being downloaded from the internet, but she wasn’t sure of where she should save it.  My usual answer is to first create a New Folder on your Windows desktop and then save all downloads there.  This was all fine with her, but she had no idea how to create one of these folders.  This simple video lesson will take you through the few steps in this process and soon you will be creating folders for all occasions.

           Keep checking our Computer Video Lessons page as we plan on offering other videos that will help you learn more about using your computer in your classroom.  If you are having difficulty understanding something about your computer, Windows, or the Internet, drop me a line.  It might make a good topic for a video lesson.

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Important News: Baggetta_Ware offers a catalog which you can request directly from our site.  Just type
in your mailing information in an email and send it along to us, and we'll send our catalog off to you.  Go to Baggetta_Ware to get our latest catalog.
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 Shortcut Reference Tent (Exclusive Offer For Newsletter Recipients)

    Here's a handy little Shortcut Reference Tent I keep on my desk.  Let's face it, there are a lot of terms and keyboard moves, and if you don't use them often enough you forget them.  This is especially true as software gets more complicated.  But, thank goodness, some keyboard moves have been standardized in a lot of software and with this Reference Tent,  I've got you covered (pun intended).  Here's the steps to making your own handy Reference Tent:

Step 1:    Right click with your mouse on the image below.

Step 2:    Move the mouse down the pop out menu to Print Picture...

Step 3:    Set the printer you want to use and under Preferences in the printer dialog

                set the printer to Landscape printing.

Step 4:    Print the image.

Step 5:    Cut the image out of the sheet of paper (we suggest the heaviest paper you can find).

                Leaving about 1/2" at the top and bottom to tape as a base.

Step 6:    Fold the tent at the center line and at the bottom of each card half.  Tape at the bottom.

Stand this up on your desk next to your computer, and you will be able to work at your computer with new confidence.

If the image does not show here, come to our website and request a free catalog and demo disk.  This will have the tent enclosed.  www.baggetta.com

Shameless Plug for Baggetta_Ware
        Well.  This brings us to another conclusion of my Ramblings.  Hope you enjoyed this issue, and please send me your comments and ideas for future issues.  Remember to come and visit us at Baggetta_Ware.  We have lots of interesting Windows software for student reading and teacher Classroom Management.  Also be sure to check out our Literary Test Generators -- the programs that will allow you to quickly generate hundreds of tests or worksheets and variations as well.  We also have Social Studies, Grammar, and the versatile Anything Academic Test Generator, for teachers of any subject.  For those who need ready-made tests, take a look at our newest section called Literary Exams with dozens of tests ready to go.

We also have another software gift for you if you recommend our site to one of your colleagues or friends.

Have a happy month of May.

Best,

Al Baggetta

Baggetta_Ware

Teacher Tech

On the Web:  www.baggetta.com

Tel:           413-786-8241

eMail:        abaggetta@comcast.net

                   baggetta@baggetta.com

                   abaggetta@yahoo.com

Baggetta_Ware

177 Adams Street

Agawam, MA  01001

U. S. A.

Hi, folks.  Welcome to the first edition of Baggetta_Ware Ramblings.  Starting with this issue I’m going to include some little tidbits about teaching.  Some will be tips I’ve picked up over 36 years of teaching English on the high school level.  There will also be news of little discoveries I’ve made about advances in technology that will help teachers and students.  I’ll also include some anecdotes that might provide a chuckle for new and experienced teachers alike, and I’ll keep you up to date on the workings of Baggetta_Ware and our latest offerings, including our monthly FREEWARE program.  Feel free to write me with comments about the newsletter and the software along with suggestions you might have for new programs that will help making teaching a little bit easier.

                    HEADLINE:  NEW TEACHER LEARNS A LESSON (c. 1970)

            I was reading an article on student cheating the other day (yes – some of them do “fudge” when they get a chance), and it reminded me of an early experience I had as a second-year teacher.  It’s a bit amusing, but I thought it might illuminate a possible problem when giving exams and maybe you could use a good laugh at my expense.

           I’ve always liked giving daily quizzes when my students were given reading assignments – kept them on their toes, I thought.  As I walked around the room up and down the aisles administering a quiz one day I thought to myself how cunning I was.  These kids knew I was going to test them daily, so they definitely would do the reading.   (How naive was that?)  And from what I had seen so far over the last week my plan was working.

           Well, I liked to patrol the class while the kids were working and this session I was rounding the front of the second row, and I noticed the girl in the front seat hovering over her test.  Boy, I thought to myself, has this test got her thinking – look at that concentration.  Poor kid must have been burning the midnight oil to make sure she passed this one.

           I settled against my desk watching her, and she must have felt the vibes traveling through the air because she sheepishly looked up at me, still hugging the area around her test.  The other kids were diligently working, so I quickly gave her a “hello” wave of my hand. 

           Must have caught her off guard because she held up her left hand (the one without the pencil) and with a windshield wiper movement waved back at me.  Suddenly she went pale because she understood that her wave was showing all of the answers to the quiz -- imprinted on her palm.  She quickly realized her mistake and plopped her hand down on the desk – drawing the attention of the whole class and Baggetta. 

           I had already caught her dead to right, but I asked to see her hand more closely.  Reluctantly she showed it to me (this was before students got all those rights), and I was amazed that she had all of the correct answers, in the exact order I had them on the test.

           When I asked her how she knew what questions I would ask in the exact order, her reply was that a friend of hers in my previous class gave them to her, from a list she had made while taking the test.  Then they put their heads together to come up with the correct answers.

           My first thoughts were that’s nonsense.  No student is going to take the time to write down all the answers to a test, probably fail it in the process, and then give the answers to her friend so she can get a 100%.  Wrong -- turns out, as the girl innocently explained, that she would return the favor at another time in a similar fashion.

           So, I learned two lessons that morning that I’ve followed continually from then on:  It’s a good idea to give quizzes daily to consecutive classes, but they will have to be different quizzes for each class (a lot of work until I invented my literary test generators).  Watch your students very carefully when giving a quiz – not for what they might be using so much as what they might be taking with them when they leave.

Multiple Test Generation On Demand

           You might want to give our literary and social studies test generators a whirl.  They allow you to generate many variations on a quiz, test or worksheet and the answer keys make correcting a breeze.
           Speaking of Test Generators.  We have another new Literary Test Generator available at Baggetta_Ware: Jane Eyre Test Generator.  This one is for Charlotte Brontë’s  popular classic Jane Eyre.  When you get a chance you might want to take a look at it in more detail at our website.

WRITERS ALMANAC

Books of Interest
 
     I mentioned in the bar above that Harper Lee was born in April and there is a new book out about this mysterious writer.  The tile is Mockingbird and the author is Charles Shields.  If you teach the book To Kill a Mockingbird in your classes, you’ll want to take a look at this work.  It’s one of the very few books that really delve into the life of the author and points out many of the origins of the events that take place in the work of fiction. 

   William Shakespeare was also born in April, and there is another fascinating read (and rather short as Shakespeare biographies go) by James Shapiro.  The title is A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare.  Shapiro does an excellent job of presenting the important year 1599 in the life of The Bard.  The text itself was quite interesting, but it is enhanced with several additions at the end of the book: About the Author, About the Book, and Read On – all give interesting insight to the work and the author.  You can pick this book up in paperback and use it as a handy reference to Shakespeare’s most popular plays. It’s even available as an audio book you can run on your computer or CD player.



New Windows FREEWARE now available for April

           My FREEWARE program this month is a handy little device I invented to cure a common problem in my classes.  Many times when studying writers and their works of literature I found it beneficial to have students do some group research and reporting.  This was always fun, and it cut down my correcting load by tons, especially if most of the work was presented orally.  If you haven’t yet tried it, give it a whirl.  I’m sure you’ll be doing much more of it.  All you need is a good rubric for grading and you’re off and running.  We’ve posted two free generic rubrics at our site if you’d like to check them out.

           Fine, Baggetta, but let’s get back on track.  Okay.  I always encountered a problem when organizing groups.  John didn’t want to work with Eddie because they didn’t get along.  Mary didn’t want to work with Elizabeth and Francie because they were part of a clique that she didn’t belong to.  Mrs. Gildflap contacted me after the last grouping and made it very clear that her son Portnoise was not to be grouped with Philip because this young man has no ambition and would only pull Porty down with him – although I think Porty was doing a good enough job of pulling himself down already.

           I tried to be fair when I selected groups, but there was always the suggestion that I was favoring someone, insensitive to dire needs, unaware of social standings, and completely unable to apply the group method because there was so much diversity in the world, and I would only be hurting someone’s self-esteem.  Go figure.

           One day when I was mulling over this predicament I thought that it would be great if there was a computer program that would decide randomly who would be in whose group.  It would make the decisions completely unencumbered by acquaintances, intelligence, and social standings – everybody was equal by computer standards -- and I would be almost out of the picture.

           I found that there were computer programs that did this very deed, but they were rather expensive and time-consuming to learn.  So, I dusted off my Visual Basic programming suite and put together Group Mixer (now developed as Group Mixer2 and offered as freeware).

           I used it quite a few times when I was teaching, and while it did not resolve all of the emotional connections involved with grouping, it did eliminate a lot of the pressure of making group selections.  You’ll have to make up the project and rubric yourself, but I offer this simple program here for you to use, and I hope you find it a handy tool in your arsenal of educational software.  Click here to download the program directly to your Windows PC from our website – scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the free program icon. Please let me know how it goes with you and the program, if you use it in your classes.

Teachers Mentor and Earn Money With Their Lessons

           The last issue of NEA Journal cited Paul Edelman’s site Teachers Pay Teachers as a new way for teachers to connect with other teachers through lessons they offer.  Teachers can sell their lesson plans (I know this sounds mercenary, but hey, teachers have to eat too), and they can also buy plans, tests, projects, etc. that they might need.  This seems to me an interesting way of mentoring both ways:  Experienced teachers get to pass on their legacy of knowledge and new teachers get to introduce new ideas to the older generation of teachers.  Seems like a win-win situation to me.  If you haven’t visited Teachers Pay Teachers yet, take a look.  You might find it educational.

GREAT NEWS ­-– BAGGETTA_WARE PRODUCTS NOW DOWNLOAD IMMEDIATELY TO YOUR WINDOWS PC.

           Many of our customers have been asking for immediate download availability when they order from our site.  Well, until now if you ordered after 10 PM EST you probably had to wait until the next morning (since I usually turned in about that time).  You could order throughout the night, as many did, but the download link would not arrive until the next morning.  WELL WAIT NO MORE.  Now when you order a program using PayPal (or your credit card) you will be able to DOWNLOAD IMMEDIATELY to your Windows PC.  No more waiting.  This means you can get right to using our great products as fast as your machine will let you.  When you order, simply pay for the item through Pay Pal (using your account or credit card).  When the process is finished you will see a link that says RETURN TO MERCHANT OR RETURN TO BAGGETTA_WARE or RETURN TO BAGGETTA_WARE.  Click this link and you will be taken to a download page from where you will be able to download the product you purchased.  You no longer have to wait for Baggetta to roll out of bed.  If you encounter any problems (which you shouldn’t) please send me an email and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.

NEWS FROM BAGGETTA_WARE

           Unfortunately, due to the complex nature of Windows Pocket PC development, we will no longer be programming for these devices, and we will be dropping all of our current line so that we can concentrate on developing software for Windows PC.  We will still offer support however for anything you have purchased in the past.
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TWO BONUS FREE DOWNLOADS AVAILABLE THIS MONTH

If you’d like to add some excitement to your next boring faculty or in-service meeting download our TEACHER INSERVICE LINGO card printer.  Instructions are included with the download.  You and your fellow faculty members will love it.

Also if you’d like a free copy of our pass printing and tracking database program called PASSTRACKER LITE, just recommend our site to a friend and you will be able to download this unique program right to your machine.
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           If you need a test quickly you can now find many assorted literature tests ready made and available for most word processors.  Check out our new Literary Exams Page to see the current selection of tests available.

           We have also released Interactive Mice and Men as a compliment to our popular Mice and Men Test Generator.  You can check this great program which can be used as an on-screen test or study guide in your classes or in your computer lab.  While visiting us, check out all of our other Interactive Reading Programs.

           We had to do a fix on the Huckleberry Finn Test Generator – Question 3 was ambiguous, but it has now been straightened out.  If you are a current user of the program and would like the free upgrade of the program, please contact us at abaggetta@comcast.net telling us when and where you purchased the program and we will send the new download link.

           Visit our website and check out our new Butterfly buttons.  I took this picture last summer and thought it would make a good inaugural for the spring and summer months.  Clicking on these will lead you to our pages on Interactive Reading Software, Classroom Management Software, Literary Exams, and much more.

           Well that’s about it for now.  We hope you like our new Ramblings and we hope to visit you again next month with more features.  Please send us an email letting us know what you think of our new format and if you have any suggestions to make this newsletter more useful.

Best

Al Baggetta

Baggetta_Ware

Teacher Tech

www.baggetta.com

Tel.      413.786.8241
eMail:  abaggetta@comcast.net

 

177 Adams Street

Agawam, MA 01001

U.S.A.