May 8, 2014 - LAST CLASS 91 minutes
Computer Vocabulary Quiz:  After our break today students had an opportunity to study Computer Vocabulary Lists 1 & 2 before taking the online quizzes.  These quizzes give many of our students credit for the computer knowledge that they already know. Office Yoga Break:  Today we practiced a simple yoga stretch for your wrist.  Students are always reminded to not spend too much time sitting in front of computers and that they should take breaks every 30-40 minutes.  After the stretch everyone had a chance to get up and move around the room.  Make-up Time: Since this is our last class all students have time to make up any work they may have missed. All projects were handed back and students could submit anything they missed or re-submit a project that they hadn't finished for full credit. Closure to Computer Class: Students were reminded that computers are constantly changing and that they have to learn to adjust to new programs, new hardware and new ways of using technology all the time. We are all constantly learning to adapt to new technology.  Students were also reminded that this was their only required computer class here at Council Rock and that should they wish to learn more about computer technology they should look carefully at the High School Program Planning Guide for the many elective classes that incorporate computer skills.  (PA-BCIT Standards:  15.6.8.M, 15.2.8.E) Technology Current Event Video:  For our last current event this year we watched a TED Presentation by Gary Kovacs, the CEO of Mozilla, about how internet users are tracked.  He demonstrated how many companies were following him and his daughter when they were online during a typical day.  During the presentation he demonstrated how a free download for Firefox called Collusion can be used to find out who is tracking you online.  (PA-BCIT Standards:  15.4.8.A, 15.5.8.J, 15.9.8.L, 15.9.8.M) May 6, 2013 91 minutes Internet Moment:  Today we discussed what a wiki is and visited the largest wiki in the internet: Wikipedia. Students were shown how easily a wikipedia article can be edited and we discussed some of the reason it can't be used in academic work.  However, students were shown what parts of a wikipedia article they could use to help them when they are doing research for school projects.  We also looked at an edited version of Wikipedia that is intended to be used by students.  The Wikipedia Selection for Schools which was created by the SOS Children's Villages which is a not for profit group in the United Kingdom. Finish First Aid Posters:  All students had time today to finish this project and print a rough draft in black and white.  Each student had a chance to review their rough draft with the teacher before printing their final draft in full color.  Click here to enlarge the project description.  (PA-BCIT Standards: 15.3.8.A, 15.3.8.B, 15.3.8.E, 15.3.8.H, 15.3.8.S, 15.3.8.X, 15.4.8.B) Office Yoga Break: Students are always reminded to take breaks from the computer and their gaming systems and to get exercise. Today we practiced a simple yoga stretch, a seated twist, and students got up and moved around some afterwards. Turn Publisher and Word Projects into Webpages:  Students were shown how to turn each of their projects into single file webpages.  These individual webpages will be linked to a homepage to create a simple website using MS Expression. Microsoft Expression Demonstration:  We started class today with a webpage editing demonstration.  The School intranet homepage is located on the district S: drive so it is accessible to all students and staff.  Today students were shown how this intranet page is edited MS Expression.  Next class we will all use MS Expression Technology Current Event Video:  We finished class today with a TED Presentation by Peter Norvig of Stanford University about using internet technology to teach thousands of students online. May 2, 2014 94 minutes Internet Moment:  Students were shown GeoGuessr.com today and allowed to spend 5 minutes playing the game at the beginning class.  The highest score in our class today was just over 9,500.  Office Yoga Break:  Students are always reminded to not spend too much time sitting in front of computers.  Breaks should be taken at least every 30-40 minutes.  For our break today we practiced a simple yoga stretch for your ankles and then everyone had a chance to get up and move around the room some.  Students were also encouraged to share their work and ideas with each other during this gallery walk activity. Google Earth Tour Quiz:  As a follow-up to our previous tour on Google Earth students were challenged to list everywhere they had gone and what they had seen on their tour of the 3 dimensional visual imagery in Google Earth last class. This activity helped to demonstrate the effectiveness of using 3D spatial references, such as the virtual environment of Google Earth, to augment memory.    QUIZ:  Where I went on Google Earth Today  (PA-BCIT Standards:  15.4.8.A, 15.6.8.M) Technology Current Event Video: We finished class today with a video about 3D printing body parts from Zoomin TV in the U.K. April 30, 2014 63 minutes* Internet Moment:  Today we explored Google Earth and discussed how a 3 dimensional virtual environment can be used to augment human memory.  We started by discussing what spatial memory is and how it is used to make modern video games so engaging.  Students were then introduced to the memory palace or method of loci as an effective way to use 3 dimensional visual imagery to help a person remember large amounts of information.  We then went to Google Earth and began a tour of the earth, the sky, Mars and the moon. The whole class followed a specific list of locations.  (PA-BCIT Standards:  15.4.8.A, 15.6.8.M) Google Earth Tour Quiz: Next class, as a follow-up to our Google Earth activity, all students will take a quiz to see how much of the virtual tour they remember. Full Page Ad Project:  All students had time to work on this project today.  Most students finished and printed this project in class.   Click here to enlarge the project description.  (PA-BCIT Standards:  15.3.8.A, 15.3.8.B, 15.3.8.E, 15.4.8.D, 15.4.8.G, 15.9.8.A) Technology Current Event Video:  We finished class today with a short video from "Stuff to Blow Your Mind" about Constructing a Memory Palace. * Class time was shorter today due to the PSSA testing schedule April 28, 2014 104 minutes Internet Moment:  Today our students were introduced to the "joy of statistics" by viewing GapMinder.org which is a free online resource where statistics from all around the world are presented in an easy to understand visual format. We looked at the "Wealth & Health of Nations" chart. As a demonstration of how the website works we tracked the life expectancy and income changes in the USA and China over the last 200 years.  We also looked at how 8th grade math scores and changing in Japan, Canada and the  United States.  Students then had time to explore the website on their own. (PA-BCIT Standards: 15.4.8.A, 15.6.8.M, 15.7.8.A, 15.7.8.F, 15.7.8.H, 15.7.8.L)   Technology Current Event Video:  We finished class today with a video from the BBC in which Hans Rosling describes how Gapminder.org can be used to identify trends and misconceptions by looking at the data. April 24, 2014 44 minutes   Brochure Project: Students had time to finish the copyright brochure project in MS Publisher today.   Students were also shown how to print on both sides of a sheet of paper and how to trifold a brochure.  Each student then had an opportunity to review a rough draft of their project with the teacher.  Not everyone turned in this project today.  Everyone had time to print this project out in class today.  Click here to enlarge the project description.  (PA-BCIT Standards:  15.1.5.B, 15.3.5.A, 15.3.8.B, 15.3.5.D, 15.3.8.D, 15.3.8.E, 15.4.8.G, 15.3.8.U, 15.6.8.L) Technology Current Event Video:  We finished class today with a short video from TechnoBuffalo.com about computer displays from LG that were transparent and mirrors.  These were on display at the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, NV.  April 22, 2014 91 minutes  Brochure Project: Students had time to finish the copyright brochure project in MS Publisher today.   Students were also shown how to print on both sides of a sheet of paper and how to trifold a brochure.  Each student then had an opportunity to review a rough draft of their project with the teacher.  Not everyone turned in this project today.  There will be time to print this project out next class.  Click here to enlarge the project description.  (PA-BCIT Standards:  15.1.5.B, 15.3.5.A, 15.3.8.B, 15.3.5.D, 15.3.8.D, 15.3.8.E, 15.4.8.G, 15.3.8.U, 15.6.8.L) Office Yoga Break: Students are always reminded to not spend too much time in front of computers and to take breaks every 30-40 minutes. Today we practiced a simple yoga stretch that helps prevent carpal tunnel syndrome.  Before the stretch the causes and symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome were explained to the class.  After the stretch all students had an opportunity to take a short break and move around.  (PA-BCIT Standard:  15.4.5.D,) Check Grades:  Since we are at the halfway point in this class students were asked to log into the Home Access Center and check their computer class grades.  Students were also reminded that if they could not log in their parents had to go to the Newtown Middle School website and follow the directions at the bottom of the webpage to create a student account. Technology Current Event Video:   We watched part of a TED Presentation by John Maeda, the President of the Rhode Island School of Design.  In the video he talked about how he became a graphic designer and how he used technology.  He also did a presentation about content & form that demonstrated the use different of different fonts to convey meaning. Students were encouraged to watched the rest of the video on their own.  (PA BCIT Standard: 15.4.8.A, 15.8.8.K, 15.9.8.A) April 15, 2014 44 minutes Internet Moment:  Today all students had a chance to visit www.SOS.FBI.gov and try the online learning activities for 8th graders. This is part of a monthly competition that is run by the FBI and the intent of the online activities is to help students develop safe internet habits.  After having 10 minutes to try the online activities our students took the exam. The average score for this class was 89% on the exam.  (PA-BCIT Standards: 15.6.8.M, 15.4.8.B, 15.4.8.A) April 11, 2014 104 minutes Internet Moment:  Today we explored NewsMap.jp which is a graphical interpretation of the top news stories on Google News that was created by Marcos Weskamp, a self described software architect.  He is was also part of the team that founded Flipboard which seeks to  Introduction to Web Conferencing:  Students were introduced to what a webinar or web conference is and what online education could look like.  AnyMeeting.com was used to project presentations from the teacher's desktop to the student's screen and the use of webcams in a webinar was also demonstrated.     Technology Current Event Video:  We finished class today with a short video from How Stuff Works about Tim Berners-Lee and the invention of the World Wide Web. April 9, 2014 44 minutes Internet Moment:  Today we looked at two online resources for fonts. DaFont.com offers over 20,000 fonts that are either freeware, shareware, demo versions or in the public domain.  These fonts can be downloaded and installed but students were also shown how they can use the Snipping Tool to get images of the fonts they might like.  Students were also shown how they could make their own font using a website like YourFonts.com.  (PA-BCIT Standards:  15.3.8.E, 15.6.5.M, 15.4.5.A)  Hour of Code:  Today our class participated in the Hour of Code. We started by going to the Favorite Links webpage that we had previously made in Word and viewing the source code.  Students were told that this code, a mixture of HTML and JavaScript, was the list of specific instructions that tell your web browser how to display the webpage. When students saved their Word document as a "single file webpage" Microsoft Word wrote this code for them.  We then watched the tutorial video below to introduce the online coding activity.  Students then went to the online Blockly Maze Tutorial to write JavaScript.  Technology Current Event Video:  We finished class today with a video from code.org about what most schools don't teach - computer coding.  This video featured many famous and not so famous people talking about how they learned to code. April 7, 2014 91 minutes Internet Moment:  We looked at zoom.it today which is a free screen zooming service that is owned by Microsoft.  Students were then shown two other online examples of the    screen zooming technology:  The NMS Mosaic Project and the Deep Zoom image of Yosemite National Park.  Students had time to explore these websites.  Font Presentation:  In this presentation the development of the two basic font families (serif & sans serif) as well as the best uses for each of them was covered. Students were also shown how they read primarily through identifying sight words and why it's so hard to spell and grammar check your own work. (serif & san serif) and the best uses for each category, students proceeded to make a Font Guide in MS Publisher. The final student project should look just like the original. We also discussed the concept of WYSIWYG in graphic design on computers. Click here to enlarge the project description. Almost everyone finished this project in class today.  (PA-BCIT Standards:  15.3.8.E, 15.4.8.G, 15.4.2.K, 15.3.8.X) Break:  Students are always reminded to not spend too much time sitting in front of computers.  Breaks should be taken every 30-40 minutes.  For our break today we practiced a simple yoga stretch for your shoulder and then everyone had a chance to get up and move around some. Font Conference Video:  As a follow-up to the Font Presentation we watched a short video from College Humor about a fictitious "Font Conference": April 3, 2014 104 minutes    Online Typing Activities: As a follow up to the typing test we looked at the typing speeds for the whole 8th grade in Excel and looked at graphs of past speeds for Newtown Middle School students.  Students were then given some time to find at least 3 online typing activities (tutorials or games) that they enjoyed. They were to then add these typing activities to their favorites or bookmarks list so they could go back and practice their typing skills in class when they finished their projects.  (PA-BCIT Standard: 15.6.2.L)Office Yoga & a Break:  Students are always reminded to not spend more that 30-40 minutes at a computer without taking a break.  During today's long class class we took a break and everyone had an opportunity to get up and move around.  This also gave everyone an opportunity to view each others projects and share ideas.  As part of our break today we also practiced a simple yoga stretch for your thigh.   Technology Current Event Video:  We watched a TED presentation by Keller Rinaudo about a smart phone powered mini robot and some of the things it could do. (PA BCIT Standards:  15.4.5.A, 15.4.8.A) April 1, 2014 44 minutes Internet Moment:  We started class today by looking for bears at PolarBearInASnowStorm.com. Class Blog:  Students were shown TodayInComputerClass.com and told that they can check here anytime to review what work was done in class.  We also discussed what a web log or blog was, how blogs developed into microblogs like Twitter and now mobile phone based apps like Instagram.  This website is the blog or web log for our class. Students were also told that their parents will be sent an email with a link to this website so they can also review what we are doing in computer   class each day.  Assigned Seats: All students have an assigned seat/computer in computer class. Students have a responsibility to report any problems with the machine they have been assigned. In this way we all participate in maintaining our school computers.  Students were also reminded to adjust the keyboard, mouse, chair and monitor to meet their ergonomic needs.  (PA-BCIT Standard:  15.4.5.D, 15.4.2.B, 15.4.8.F) Typing Test: All students took a typing test using TypingTest.com. Each student had 10 minutes to take the 1 minute test multiple times. Their best adjusted speed was recorded and graphed in an Excel spreadsheet. The average typing speed for this class was: 39.1 WPM  Click here for more information about typing speeds at Newtown Middle School. Next class we will discuss this graph and talk about ways to improve your speed:  Technology Current Event Video:  We finished class today with a video about an exciting new hover board technology that was recently released. March 28, 2014 86 minutes* Internet Moment:  Students were asked to compare three popular news aggregator websites:  Google News, Bing News and Yahoo.  We looked at their home pages, their features and their overall appearance.  Though the results were split, a plurality of our students said they preferred Google News when looking for current events online.  (PA BCIT Standards:  15.3.8.E, 15.6.5.L) Basic Computer Knowledge Presentation:  Today students were shown a presentation based on the student computer knowledge survey that they had taken.  This introductory lecture covers basic background information that every student should know about computers such as the development of desktop computers (Apple, IBM & Microsoft), different computer operating systems, internet connection options, developing computer devices (like smart phones and tablet computers) and protecting yourself online.  We will finish the presentation next class. (PA-BCIT Standards:  15.1.5.B, 15.3.5.V, 15.3.8.T, 15.6.8.M) Technology Current Event Video:  Unfortunately we ran out of time for a video today. * Class time was shorter today due to the Circles Schedule March 26, 2014 104 minutes Introduction to Basic Computer Skills Class: Basic rules and classroom procedures were explained. Students were specifically reminded that because technology is constantly changing they should get into the habit of helping each other out and demonstrating the ability to learn new computer skills through experimentation.  All students reported that they had helped an adult with computer skills but they were reminded that it's important to also get used to helping each other.  Pixlr.com Project: Students were shown how to use the online photo editor pixlr.com to edit a photograph.  Students then shared their modified photos using various district network resources and demonstrated basic skills such as drag & drop. The best use of the H:, S: & X: drives was also explained.  We also discussed professional digital photo editing with Adobe PhotoShop. (PA BCIT Standards: 15.4.8.F, 15.4.5.G) Online Survey for Students in Denmark:  Our students participated in a research project about racism by four 9th grade students at the Vonsild Skole in Kolding, Denmark.  The survey only took a few minutes and it was an example of the kind of international and cross-cultural communication that is currently possible using free web tools like Google Drive.  The survey that was created by the students in Denmark can be viewed here.  (PA BCIT Standards:  15.3.5.S, 15.4.5.A, 15.4.5.B, 15.3.5.T) Setting up Student Passwords:  All students were given some suggestions to help them develop good passwords.  Some suggested good password practices were:  Come up with a collection of passwords to rotate through instead of just one, make a pass phrase instead of a password, mix number, letters and symbols together.  Student passwords must be at least 8 characters long and fit the following parameters:Â
 Computer Class Survey: All students take a computer class survey. The results of this survey are used to guide the instruction for the class. You can view the survey to the right.  Click to enlarge.  Next class we will use the survey as the outline for a presentation about basic things everyone should know about computer technology. Technology Current Event Video:  At then end of most computer classes we watch a current event video about emerging trends in technology.  Today's video was inspired by a presentation that was created by a high school teacher in Colorado, Mr. Karl Fisch. Here is a link to his blog:  THE FISCHBOWL for more information. |
