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Tips and tricks: Workarounds

I realized earlier this week that I've figured out several workarounds for when I'm working on my school computer. With filtration that would have Mao crying foul mixed with a lack of administrative access to install programs or change settings, what works at home doesn't at school.

The setup

  • PC: running Windows XP.
  • Internets: Filtered.
  • Administrative rights: None.
  • Browser: Firefox 3 (for whatever reason, I've found that Firefox will often install even on machines where you don't have administrative access. However, the computer tech at school did put Firefox on my computer when I asked.)

How to get YouTube videos at school when they're blocked

There are many ways of doing this, but the following is simply the method that I have found the most effective.

At home: Find a video you like. Go to Zamzar.com. Click the "Download Videos" tab and paste the URL of the video into the appropriate box. Enter the file format you want the video to be downloaded in. For school I usually use the .mpg format, simply because it meshes well with all the Microsoft stuff. Put in your school email, hit convert. It can take a couple hours for your video to be converted, but it's usually ready within an hour.

At school: When the file has been converted Zamzar sends you an email with a link to a page where you can download your file. My school doesn't block Zamzar (so I doubt yours does), so I just go to the download page and save the video to my school computer to use as I see fit. I like this method because it automatically sends the email to my school address and I don't have to remember much.

TwitterAccessing Twitter from school

This is only a trick if Twitter is blocked by your school's internet filter. You need to be running Firefox for this one. Ask you tech people to install Firefox for you if you can't do it yourself. I'd bet they'd be okay with it.

Install either the TwitBin or TwitKit Firefox add-ons. For some reason they're able to retrieve and post tweets even when Twitter is blocked. I suggest both because at my last district TwitKit didn't work with the filter, but TwitBin did. Currently the opposite is true. I don't know enough about how these programs work to give you insight into why that might be, my best advice is simply to try one- if it doesn't work; try the other.

Print screenSaving and editing screenshots images on my school computer

My school computer's a PC, so the clearly superior Skitch program is right out. Other free screenshot tools that are PC compatible generally require administrator access to install, which in my situation is a deal breaker.

  1. Use your PrintScreen button to copy your screen as an image.
  2. Paste the screen image into PowerPoint.
  3. Crop the image, add text, arrows, emphasis, etc.
  4. Save your edits in one of two ways:
  • One: Use the "Save As..." function to save the entire slide as an image. This only works if the screenshot you want is as large as the entire slide, otherwise you get a lot of unnecessary white space.
  • Two: Select all the shapes and text you've added along with the image (do this by holding Ctrl while clicking on each element). Right click on the image. One of the options should be "Save as Image..." Pick that one and it will give you the options of saving your selection in a variety of formats. I generally use .jpg or .gif.

Hopefully you'll find these useful. What workarounds do you use to get around overly protected digital environments?

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Interesting Finds, Vol. 1

I'm going to attempt to post interesting bits I've found recently, both as a way to share with the community things I've found, and as a way to reflect upon items I've found. I won't go as far to guarantee I'll do this weekly (I'd like to), but whenever I get together 5-10 interesting items, I'll be sure to throw them out there. Let me know what you think!

1. Practical Theory: Teaching and Shortcuts

  • Chris Lehmann, inspired by Dan Meyer's 8th episode of his dy/av series, asks that if "Herculean" effort is needed for teachers to be truly effective and great- are there things new teachers can do to help prevent burn-out and reduce the high attrition rate common among new teachers? The comments also contain some good ideas on how to keep good, hard working teachers in the profession. As a teacher that was hired one week before his first teaching job to teach brand new classes with no set curriculum, the humongous work load on new teachers strikes a chord with me, as does the problem of teachers who take too many "shortcuts."
    • Penelope of Where's the Teacher? adds to this thread as well as part of her critique of Hollywood teacher movies. Check it out.

2. The entire dy/av series

  • Dan Meyer decided to create a summer series of short videos on planning, working, management, and more. The series is probably more effective than 95% of new teacher orientation programs (in my opinion). Each week I've looked forward to the next episode, and will miss it when it's gone. Follow this link to the 10th and final episode, which includes links to the other 9.

3. Google Reader Preview Extension for Firefox

  • In Will Richardson's post on the new improved delicious, he quickly notes he's been using this preview extension for Google Reader which allows you to view the actual webpage in the reader window by clicking on a preview button. Why is that cool? It's cool because it means you can read and leave comments directly through Google Reader. No more having 25 tabs of articles whose comments you want to read and where you want to leave comments. I've been looking for something to allow this functionability through GR for awhile!! NOTE: You do need to install the Greasemonkey User Script Add-on to install the GR Preview Extension.

4. Science Teacher: A blog

  • I've been keeping my eyes out for them for awhile, and have just now found my first good one. I've been interested in reading another science teacher who blogs primarily on the teaching of science (as opposed to just edu-tech stuff). Michael Doyle's blog Science Teacher does just that. I'm hoping to do a little more science specific blogging, and I'm grateful for the model that I've found. Thanks to Clay for pointing him out.

5. World War Z

  • Maybe this goes better on a summer reading list, but I thoroughly enjoyed reading Max Brooks' zombie novel, World War Z. It's written as a series of interviews with individuals from around the world recounting the days leading up to and during the "dark years," or their wars with "Zack." Besides being just a good read, it also has some very subtle (but existent) social commentary on consumerism and our service based economy. One of the more interesting parts was the description of job training courses occurring in the midst of the Zombie War. The teachers were all former illegal immigrants, because 80% of the legal population was in the service economy, and didn't actually know how to do anything. Definitely a good read, even if you're not into social commentaries.