The Lonely Cache
Posted on September 7, 2024 by Bruce

A Year in MINIons- MINIon #∑

Posted on July 23, 2015 by Bruce
sigmaYesterday I returned from what has been called my annual Teacher Summer Camp.  Three days at Indiana State University in Terre Haute. The Extending Teacher Creativity Workshop is a way for Lilly Fellows to socialize, get ready for the new school year, and learn something new. Over the years it has evolved.  I first attended in 2002, which makes me old.  Cecil attends with me (his first appearance was in 2008) and usually gets the royal treatment, that includes multiple kidnapping attempts.  What happens when you put a bunch of very creative people together?  Ungodly horrors that mankind was never meant to experience and creme brûlée French toast.  We actually get a chance to take some time and learn a new skill, practice an old one, or prepare for school. So today’s MINIon is in honor of Jim McClain, creator of Solution Squad, friend, and Lilly Fellow, who had to go through the hazing in Tier One.  For those of you who don’t know Solution Squad, it’s a comic book in which a team of young heroes keep the world safe by using Math based super powers (Jim’s a middle school Math teacher). So while I was learning how to better use colored pencils I took a break and drew this MINIon- Sigma and that about sums it up.

A Year in MINIons- MINIon #1995

Posted on July 22, 2015 by Bruce
1995Umm… working in an elementary school it’s interesting how you can keep track of the fads going around. Usually anything that you hear a school banning must mean it is really popular, popular enough to “disrupt the educational environment.” Huh? So let me get this straight. If kids are really into something, we forbid it at school? Wouldn’t it be better to ride the wave and use it to get kids hooked on learning? I’ll admit, I never understood the appeal of Pokemon, but I didn’t tell my students that they couldn’t bring in cards and I even tried to figure it out. Go Magikarp! When Beanie Babies were all the rage, my class conducted a census at the school to determine how many there actually were. then how long of a line they would make, how much of a classroom would they fill, you get the idea. The students were engaged and learning math concepts! Other fads have come and gone, right now it’s Minecraft, (banned or at least blocked at most schools) educators are finally figuring out how to jump on the bandwagon and hopefully help kids see that what they are learning ties back into something they love.  Oh, and when I went to an education session at a recent conference, the presenter was still talking about Pokemon as a hook, guess I better hunt down my old deck and my Gameboy.

A Year in MINIons- MINIon #1972

Posted on July 21, 2015 by Bruce
1972Yes, I grew up in 80’s.  As I have said to many of my musically inclined friends, “I don’t know much, but I know what know, if you know what I mean.” So if you asked me what music I like- I really can’t say.  It’s a weird mix.  If you ask me my favorite band, I don’t know.  I hear something and I like it.  Puccini’s Nessun Dorma from Turandot, can bring tears to my eyes. I can sing along (poorly) to all the stuff I grew up with which ends up being a lot of Peter, Paul, and Mary.  As for most other music, I just know what I like.  When MINI asked me to do the comic for MTTS 2010, they mentioned a song that they were using and if I could tie that in… I had to google the song.

A Year in MINIons- MINIon #1930

Posted on July 18, 2015 by Bruce
1930This was actually Sue’s idea, but I ran with it.  I realize now how many times I have visited the Art Institute.  It used to be on the list of regular stops when we would visit Chicago.  I love their collection and tend to get lost looking for specific paintings. Recently It’s been more of a rush with specific tasks needing to be accomplished.  Maybe it’s time to go back.

A Year in MINIons- MINIon #1024

Posted on July 17, 2015 by Bruce
1024I’m not into sports. If you’ve known me for any amount of time you know that. When people cheer for their local team, I’m kinda meh. however I do really like robotics competitions. I started by supporting my school’s FIRST LEGO League team, more out of curiosity than anything else. Then my job shifted and I started to really take a look at the world of competitive robotics. I learned more about the various competitions and even coached a few teams at the elementary level. When I first started out I stopped by to observe a robotics camp being put on by our local high school. I now have helped out for the past three years. The kids do a lot of things, but the major activity is to build a robot and compete with it. Each year the competition is a little different. The kids use VEX parts (think erector sets) and simple controls. The robots can get rather complex. At the end of the camp (which was today) they attend the Indiana Robotics Invitational and see what their mentors can do with a big robot. 67 teams from around the world compete in the IRI and if you are interested you can watch it live. Like some competitions you might not get the hang of the scoring, but it is cool seeing what these high schoolers can do and in today’s society what they are prepared to do in the future. Today’s MINIon honors the “kil-a-bytes” Team 1024 from my school district.

A Year in MINIons- MINIon #1967

Posted on July 15, 2015 by Bruce
1967It looks like Loompa land has MINIons too. I could use this post to rant about how Hollywood takes cherished films and decides to remake them for a new audience and ends up not hitting the same mark, but I won’t. At least a parent can still share the book without worrying about it being updated to better attract a target demographic.