Crosswords

http://www.planetisaac.com/crosswords/

While going though my classes I had to make a make a sheet for students for review. Well I decided to make a crossword puzzle, I knew there was software out there for this.

I ended up trying Crossword Forge.

Crossword Forge is a great product. Slam in your data and click a button, and to quote David Bowie, "Whamm bam, thank you Ma'am." I had a crossword puzzle ready to go. I added in background and it looks great.

What is even better . . . I can export to the web. I can export to PDF.

The web function will allow the end user to receve hints and more.

Crossword Forge works for Macintosh and WinTel boxes. The Macintosh version is not yet Universal (maybe). According to the web site it is however, I used the PPC version on my MacBook.

Overall, two thumbs up.

Why I Think ETS Is A Scam

The other link to this article is here: http://www.planetisaac.com/praxis/2006/10/why-i-think-ets-is-scam.html


Why I Think ETS Is A Scam

I have decided I really do not like ETS. This has to be the greatest money making scam of all time.

1. Convince all these states they need your tests.
2. Make the poor teachers have to pay for the tests.
3. Charge a testing service fee of $40 per day.
4. Charge for late fees through the nose and have the cut off really early.
5. Charge $40 for any changes.
6. Charge an extra $30 for any changes done on the phone which you have to do if you want to add a test under number five.
7. Charge $35 for score reports.


The best part of this scam is they charge somewhat low prices for the test, say $35 for most tests. Yet the testing fee can kill you.

On Sept. 16 I ran into a single mom who was taking the tests. She took three tests in one day to avoid the $40 penalty. Something is wrong here. I was dead after taking two tests that day.

The cost of extra score reports are through the roof. I am appalled that they cost $35 for extra reports. This costs more than ordering all my transcripts to send (I have six schools to order from.)

All I can say is three cheers for ETS, you found another way to nickel and dime teachers to death.

Educational Research

Dear fans,

Please excuse this post. I am writing this to make a point that a lot of educational research is circular and desiring to credit themselves with something.

Therefore . . .

Research can be highly self-serving.

Have a happy day.

(/sarcasm on)
Remember you read it on the internet so it must be true. (/sarcasm off)

Foundations of Teaching Test

Well I took the big bad FOUNDATIONS OF TEACHING test. I took the pretest and well I did okay. I passed by one point.

So what did I do in reaction to this. I did not study.

What! That is right I did not study. I worked on the next class and took some well earned time off.

So last Thursday I finally took the test. The worst part is I only found out about 2 days in advance.

I passed by 10 percentage points. The test was long and hard. They have the worst kind of questions. Many questions had choose all that are correct.

There was one of these that only had one correct answer. So the question. Could I have passed this without taking the classes. No.

It is nice to have this section beyond me.