A Site That Stank

Okay, so I have to write about a site that is not user friendly. Unfortunately most of my surfing and reading over the Web has to do with school and getting assignments or information for my class. Most of the sites I use if they are not user friendly are not surfed again.

One site that really drove me nuts last year and caused a lot of grief among my fellow teachers and acadamiens (is that a word?) was Center Point. We were force fed this program by our school district and told it was the wave of the future and to get used to it. It was cumbersome, not user friendly and just about the time you would learn how to navigate and get what you wanted the site managers (evil little trolls at a computer terminal I am sure!) would incorporate an update and the pages you just used the day before would be no longer available. It was maddening and also added more stress to our No Child Left Behind mentality (Don’t get me started on this unrealistic goal of our government….)

After all the cursing and whining and sniveling by us noncomputer literate teachers, (Odd we use computers darn near 24/7 in our classrooms but do not know enough to tell the operators what we need, or they just chose not to listen to us.)  we were basically told to shut up and color. This was the wave of the future and the program that was leading the charge. Funny, when the company got gobbled up by another computer conglomerate Centerpoint disappeared and Power School came on line.

It was like a breath of fresh air, a program that did what we wanted, how we wanted, when we wanted it!! Hooray the day has been saved by someone (probably a former teacher) who knew enough to make the program accessible and user friendly. Not only for us teachers but also parents and the students. I know in my heart of hearts it was the elves who found those trolls and set their tails on fire and ran them all out of the bowels of computer purgatory.

Now if I can only find my gradebook  so I can transcribe the correct scores into my computer program the world will be saved for at least one more day.

Death….to Center Point!

Paying Respect

Cadets pay respect during 9/11 Ceremony

For the fifth year in a row the high school cadets from Ben Eielson paid there respect to the fallen hero’s of the tragic September 11th Terrorist attack and also to show support to those brave men and women who are in harms way each and every day.

My Cadets Rock

Homecoming was a whole lot of fun this year. The cadets performed three color guards in a 24 hour period as well as marching in the homecoming parade and completing a drill presentation in front the entire student body using a new type of weapon, ie a lawn chair. It was a riot and the teachers as well as the students had a big laugh as we poked fun at ourselves by performing a armed drill performance using the chairs instead of our customary rifles.

Hap Arnold Wings

Poke Fun at the Air Force

http://chairforce.com/

If you would like to have some fun at the mercy of the USAF go to this site. Most of the posted items are actually from active duty Air Force members who have more time on there hands, than common sense. During this time of political conflict, when the Democrats and Republicans play with the lives of there military members, those same members take time to entertain there own peers and military brethren to lighten up there sometimes stressful environment.

Have fun explore the site and see what kind of news you might find that you won’t see on the front page of the daily newsminer.

First blog for class

This blog was required for the Computer Web design class I am taking this fall at UAF. The professor (Chris) wants us to be able to post and log entries on the web to see if we are actually coherent in our ability to communicate with other human beings.

The reason I am taking this class is to design a Web Page for our JROTC program at BEHS. We are the best JROTC program in the state of Alaska, our cadets prove this on a daily basis. They regularly volunteer on base (Eielson AFB), in North Pole and also the Fairbanks community.

We have some of the best students in the High School and like to brag that we are not just JROTC Nerds, we are Jocks, Brains, Geeks, Nerds and yes normal run of the mill students who enjoy the commaraderie that JROTC provides. We regularly have our students graduate from the program and enroll in ROTC programs all over the US, attend Military Academies and advanced enlistment in the Military. Not everyone goes into the services however they all enjoy the knowledge that they are trained leaders who know how to make a decision, motivate people and get things done.

We are a true and living symbol of the Ben Eielson High School Motto “Small, But Mighty and Proud.”