Chaparral Technical Institute

Programming for Iphones is a challenging task, yet their are many applications that one could develop to help users. For instance how about an autotagging photo program that does a GPS tag and tags the photo with user profile settings. You could import photos for tagging also with variable tags. For instance I want to tag photos with my copyright info, but no gps. Then I could update tags from within my program on my iphone. That is one of the programs that the Chaparral Technical Institute would like to provide free. If you are a programmer interested in programming for the Iphone please contact us at 432-522-7276.

Absence from Blog

I have been absent from this blog for a long time. Photography business has been scaled down to practically dormant. I will start again when I retire from teaching during the next ten years.

Until then I will write about observations of the world, my favorite people and things, etc.

Peace and Agape,
Michael

Culver Experiences

I have started working in the mornings at Culver Detention Center in Midland, Texas. The students there range in age from about 12-20. I am there for special education support. My favorite thing to do is fill in for the teachers there when they are absent. I am then able to teach History and Math lessons.

Technology Use in Classroooms

As a teacher I believe technology is a tool that can be used in classrooms effectively. In the past I have used overheads, blackboards, calculators, videos, video cameras, Microsoft Media Player, calculators, Photoshop, Microsoft Word, Producer, PowerPoint, e-mail with other students, graphics, Google Sketch Up, and other web applications.

I believe technology should be used to enhance education. It should supplement a lesson plan
to make the lesson plan come alive. I also think it is a great tool for students to express their learning through an active presentation to teach others what they have learned. When we tell others what we learned it is very powerful. However, more powerful is when we actually teach someone else.

I think students should be involved in developing their own assessment. They should be encouraged to share what they learn and teach others what they think is important. For instance in Texas we have the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills elements known as TEKS.

Here is an example 7th Grade Social Studies TEK
(8) History. The student understands individuals, issues, and events of the Civil War. The student is expected to:

(A) explain the roles played by significant individuals during the Civil War, including Jefferson Davis, Ulysses S. Grant, Robert E. Lee, and Abraham Lincoln;

What were the roles of these men? How could multimedia and technology allow someone to explain the significant roles they played? We could have a video where we interview teachers and principals on what role they think these people played. We could do research and provide a comparison table on contributions they made. We could draw pictures and illustrate a flipbook that shows what they did. There are scores of ways to show how these individuals were significant. The key is that technology allows the student motivation to show what they know in a non-traditional way then a multiple question paper and pencil test.

I would love to have students produce these types of self-assessments using rubrics. Currently, I work as a teacher working with students that are in trouble. The assignments the students receive are usually worksheets with fill in the blanks. I have yet to see the use of technology to motivate students to research.

In my humble opinion I think that is what we, as teachers, should be doing. For instance, what good is an adjective, preposition, or verb. Have students show through examples how these can be used most effectively. For example, something short was Shakespeare’s “To be or not to be, that is the question.” What does that mean and why was it so profound?

Thanks for listening,

Michael Leyba

Photography Class

I’m going to be teaching a photography class very soon. The class will offer photography instruction for both digital and film cameras. The focus of each class will be different. We will also have time for questions and answers about your specific camera. This class will be available via internet if you are interested, please contact me at 432-522-7276 or e-mail me at ml@michaelleyba.com.

Thanks for listening,
Michael

Portraits by Michael
http://www.michaelleyba.com
The Tea Party
http://www.teaparty4u.com

The Tea Party by Michael Leyba

The Tea Party is a fun place to be with all the decorations and dress up possibilities. We hope you will look into having a Tea Party soon for your favorite occasion. Please drop in and have a snack with us. Remember that the Tea Party is where the fun begins and memories are made for tomorrow.

Here are few photos of recent guests:

Thanks for listening,

Michael

Portraits by Michael
http://www.michaelleyba.com

The Tea Party
http://www.teaparty4u.com

Go Daddy by Michael Leyba

I think Go Daddy has the best technical support of any company. There people are extremely sharp. I have had to use this tech support on several occasions and all the people know there way through the system. The Go Daddy interface is pretty technical and very deep, but the user support folks can walk you through it so it is easy. I’m impressed. There is more control for the website owner than any other system I’ve used.

Great Support!

Thanks for listening,
Michael

Portraits by Michael
Michael Leyba
http://www.michaelleyba.com

The Tea Party
http://www.teaparty4u.com

Portraits by Michael

Welcome to my blog for Monday, June 18, 2007. Good news, I found my wallet. You might not even know it was missing.
It is a royal pain when you lose something important like that. I found it at my Portraits by Michael Studio. It was in a back room in a bag I had carried from home. Not a good place to put it.

The Tea Party is going well here and we are excited about the parties. If you have little girls and would like them to learn what it would be like to have a princess or tea party please come by our location at 3211 West Wadley Suite#12 in Midland, Texas. It is where the fun begins and memories are made for tomorrow.
Thanks for listening.
Michael

Portraits by Michael
http://www.michaelleyba.com

The Tea Party
http://www.teaparty4u.com

Phone 432-522-7276

Crissy & Noel Wedding

Had a great wedding yesterday with a wonderful couple. The images were great and they did such a terrific job posing and being natural. The outdoor photos at the Kingdom Hall grass were fantastic. The bridesmaids were beautiful in their pink dresses waving the scarves in the air. It was very moving.

Here is one of the photos from that session.

The Tea Party

We have our tea party in business now. It is exciting to see the transformation of the space from a floor with four walls to a place where kids are having so much fun playing at being kids. We’ve had several boys and girls come in and dress up and have a blast. The children are so beautiful at being themselves. As a photographer, I get really amazed at some of the creative poses the boys and girls make as they are playing with teddy bears, china, and clothes. I will attach a few photos here and there are so more on our website at http://www.teaparty4u.com where you will see a small sampling of some of the great kids we were able to learn about.