BWISER 2007 Days 1 & 2

Yesterday was our first full day at B-WISER and first day of classes. I woke early and decided to get up around 6:30. My roomie, Carolyn, followed suit. The two of us headed for breakfast and had pancakes and sausage. (Carolyn was disappointed in the lack of eggs. I was OK with the lack of eggs myself.)

The morning session was physics, and Dee had the girls doing measurement and density, with me as the faithful assistant. However, I spent much of the second period opening the Cruzer Freedom 1GB flash drives we’d gotten the girls. I put labels on all of them (which had a girl’s name and a female scientist’s name) and separated by groups. And during the third period, I headed off to the computer lab to see how things are set up.

The student machines had a Novell logon that was written on the chalkboard, but the machine hooked to the room projector had a Windows logon that I had not been told. So I decided I’d get my laptop at lunch and use it to run the projector. I had managed to turn on the projector during this testing session, and I’d also successfully transferred the Portable Apps onto one of the USB flash drives. Things were looking good.

After a delicious lunch, I headed off to the computer lab and found that half of the girls were already there. I had the idea during lunch to transfer the Portable Apps onto the computer desktops and tried to do this with girls sitting at machines. Then when they all arrived, I had them do that for me. Meanwhile, when I tried to get the projector on, it wouldn’t come on. So I couldn’t show the girls what I was wanting them to do, but we still managed to get the files transferred onto the PCs and then onto their flash drives. And eventually I figured out the projector. (Definitely a case of the Mondays.)

While the files were transferring onto their flash drives, I did my presentation on The Internet: Search Safely, Search Securely, Search Skeptically. Thanks to of all the aggro at the start of the period, we didn’t have time for the girls to research their female scientists. Alas! But the second and third classes went very smoothly and they did get to research theirs.

After class, Carolyn, Dee and I went to Walmart to take Carolyn’s new shoes back and for Dee to get photos printed. I picked up an extension cord for the wireless router. Then we were back for supper and the evening activity. The girls had 3 activities they were alternating though – bowling, a scavenger hunt, and a craft. Joyce and I supervised the bowling. And even got a game in with Anne, the nurse. I was doing VERY badly at the start, but finally got my groove at frame 9 when I got 3 strikes in a row and wound up with 127. judiang would have been proud. 🙂

Today was another early awakening for me, and Carolyn finally got her eggs. But no meat today – just hash browns with the scrambled eggs. I also had a chocolate muffin, and requiring more carbs, toasted an English muffin and put grape jelly on. Yum!

Physics had the girls racing balloon cars to work through Newton’s Laws and then outside to blast off film cannister cannons. Well, the first two periods had the girls outside. During period 3, they got outside, watched as the rain began down at the end of the street and headed towards them, then Dee herded them back inside before it hit here. So they did the film cannister cannons over the sinks instead. Heh.

After lunch (mmmm, pirogies!) it was time to teach computers again. I showed the girls OpenOffice.org’s Calc Portable and we entered in all the data and calculations for the Work & Power lab. Then we had the girls run/walk/climb/tiger dance (yes, one of them did this) up the stairs outside the classroom. I timed them doing this, then we had them enter the data into Calc. And instantly they had their work and power in climbing the stairs. Woot!

We teachers had the evening off, so I headed off to the chemistry building to meet up with the other teachers, who were helping the chemistry group clean up. Then we headed back for the dorms to get our money. It was time to go to the Toy Store! Yay!

We went to the toy store where I found dad some father’s day & birthday gifts and got me a couple of physics toys. Then on to the movie theater to watch Ocean’s 13. I haven’t seen the first two movies, but having enjoyed this one so much, I think I need to rent the other two. Mucho fun. Finally supper was at Jake’s steakhouse. Where I had beet battered fish & chips and a very nice brownie & ice cream dessert.

We ladies had a blast out this evening. I really love teaching with these ladies each summer and am glad that we were able to have the camp despite the lower numbers.

3 thoughts on “BWISER 2007 Days 1 & 2

  1. Wow, your days sound so busy! And as for bowling, damn you! You improve to break 100 every time. 🙂

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.