Thomas Education

E-mail is a relatively new form of asynchronous communication, falling somewhere between paper memos and phone calls.  People are not always conscious of the consequences of behaving as if it were paper or talk.  Following are some guidelines I wrote for our staff. E-mail tips: On your computer, use Google-Chrome for school gmail Login to gmail first, before google-drive or docs or photos or classroom Better NOT to use the computer’s “Mail” app Use “Mail” or another browser for your personal e-mail On your phone, use the Gmail app for school gmail Better NOT to use the phone’s “Mail” app One reason: AppleMail cannot actually delete gmail items Another reason: helps keep professional and personal e-mail separate Always include an informative subject line some e-mail systems consider blank subject line to be junk We read the subject line to decide whether to open the e-mail itself We want our students to use good language double-...

ClassDojo is infiltrating our school, bypassing our expensive PlusPortals student/parent/teacher communication methods. ClassDojo is well-designed, sexy, costs no money, and it targets the sweet spot for informal connections. This article promotes the term "Platform Capitalism" which I like -- I am waiting for ClassDojo to try to sell us a subscription, to make us an offer we cannot refuse because they have locked up the most-used connections between classroom and parents. It is obvious that we have lost control; but does that really matter, when the app is so cool? And do we care whether the capitalist monetizes the data we freely provide? Platform Capitalism in the Classroom - DML Central

Here is a sequence of posts, regarding a knotty question faced by all schools: posted in May a query to fellow IT directors in Qatar: Wondering about other organizations' policies regarding sales (or gift) of computers to departing staff. 1. Absolutely not; 2. In special cases, with management permission; or 3. Sure. If so, at what price: A. Zero: part of employment agreement; B. Depends on age of contract; C. Depends on age of machine; D. Token amount, like $200; E. Half of original purchase price; or F. Full replacement value? My response today: Update/follow-up:  we got a management decision on this:  yes, departing staff can purchase their equipment, with management permission.  Price is set using finance department depreciation rules -- currently only 15%/year, so it is NOT a good deal, but somebody may feel sentimental attachment.   We offered purchase in this case because said staff member had spilled coffee on his computer a few weeks before depart...

We have now attended the Anglican Center’s worship services twice.  We are impressed by the determination of so many people to attend worship, braving arcane traffic patterns and crowds and security scanners and very long walks in unshaded sunny heat.  What is officially marked as “Religions Complex” but unofficially called Religion City is the square mile reserved for all non-Muslim religions to build their houses of worship. The Anglican Center serves the Protestant community, with over 30 different groups worshiping in various parts of the building throughout the weekend.  One neighboring building houses the Indian Inter-Denominational Christian Church (the several branches of the ancient Keralan orthodox church), while the largest building is the Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady of the Rosary. Probably the two largest expatriate groups in Qatar are from India and the Philippines. Within the same complex are also Coptic and Greek and Syrian Orthodox churches. ...

The tourism council noted that the Faisal Bin Qassim Museum would be offering tours throughout this holiday, so we decided to try it.  From checking out fbqmuseum.org, I sensed that it was a very personal project, with a little-modified website evidently hand-built by his nephew.  The BookATour page link was dead, as was the GettingHere page link. So we traveled on, relying on google-maps: two frustrating hours later, through road construction and remote desert roads (with hidden speed bumps), we found a sign that pointed to “Museum” ! And we found a highway interchange not marked on google-maps; and we found a highway access road not known to google-maps… lesson: I should have followed my eyes rather than the computer. The Faisal Bin Qassim Museum is strangely anonymous, with few signs identifying the entry road, though the edifice is quite imposing and unusual in the neighborhood.  An old-fashioned unmarked gatehouse controls the driveway, and the entry roads, in f...

We are settling, in our apartment in Al Wakra, Qatar (yes, emphasis on the first syllable: QATar with a sort of soft initial K sound).  The apartment is spacious and solid, with good air-conditioning and reliable electricity and fairly reliable water. The school owns the building, so we know all our neighbors automatically, and we leave our door unlocked.  We are about 5 miles down the coast from the airport. Most of the teachers are US or Canadian, with a few Europeans and Middle Easterners in the mix.  Most of the students are local Qataris whose parents want them both to learn English and to go to a western university -- or at least one of the several university branches in Qatar.   Ours is a private school, owned by one of the family businesses in this suburb of the capital. The country offers its citizens a voucher system which pays parents when their children pass a school year--though our school is too new to qualify for vouchers.   The...

the irony of solar energy: An idiosyncracy of living in a hot climate where there is a history of scarce water supplies or poor municipal systems is that your household water is often provided from a tank on the roof.  Most of our VISTA apartments are supplied from water tanks on the roof, where they get the full sun of the day: solar heat! Because our summer nights are still hot, the water tank never really cools much.   Typically, each room has its own water heater, powered by a(n unmarked) switch on the wall.  The water heater is either in a closet, or the ceiling, or the wall -- so it does not get any solar heat!   Thus, counter-intuitively, in summer, we: 1- leave the hotwater power switch off; 2- turn on the “cold” water tap for hotter water, and 3- get cooler water from the “hot” water tap. Thus in full summer, it is better to take showers in the morning can be rather scalding, when the tank has had a chance to cool somewhat. At some point wh...