January 26, 2015 - LAST CLASS 91 minutes
 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.  Almost everyone finished today.  (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) Make-up Time & Checking Grades: Since this is our last full class all students had 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.  All students were asked to log into the HAC and check their grades for this class. The few students who could not log in to check their grades were reminded, one more time, that they have to talk to their parents about getting their email address registered in the system. 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 (now called Lightbeam) 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) January 22, 2015 104 minutes  Finish the Online Collaboration Project:  All groups had some time to finish and turn in their completed projects.  Each group prepared a 7 day travel itinerary for a trip to Austria.  As part of the project they had to do internet research, collaborate with a shared Google Doc, and stick to a budget.  Click here for the project directions.  The completed itineraries can be viewed here. The rubric for the project can be viewed here. Click here to enlarge the project description.  (PA-BCIT Standards: 15.3.8.E, 15.3.8.M, 15.3.8.S, 15.3.8.U, 15.3.12.W, 15.3.8.X, 15.4.8.D) Office Yoga Break:  During long classes like this one students are always reminded to take breaks and get exercise. Students shouldn't spend more than 30-40 minutes in front of a computer without taking a break.  As part of our break today we practiced a simple office yoga stretch for your thigh.  FIRST AID PROJECT DIRECTIONS: Technology Current Event Video: As a followup to the Think Before You Post slide show students were asked to watch this story from Fox 47 News in Madison, Wisconsin about employers who use social media searches to investigate job applicants. (PA-BCIT Standards: 15.2.5.M, 15.2.8.K, 15.8.8.M, 15.5.8.J, 15.4.5.A, 15.4.5.B) January 20, 2015 44 minutes Internet Moment:  As part of the Online Collaboration Project that we started today in class, students were shown how to use Google Maps to learn more about Austria. The class was shown how to search for specific destinations, hotels, restaurants and activities. They were also reminded to research youth hostels and public transportation options.  January 15, 2015 91 minutes 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  (PA-BCIT Standards:  15.4.8.A, 15.6.8.M) Internet Moment:  Students were shown GeoGuessr.com today and we spent about 5 minutes playing the game at the beginning class today.  The highest score in our class today was 12,800 points. Finish Full Page Ad Project:  All students had a chance to finish and print their full page ad project today.   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:  During long classes like this one students are always reminded to take breaks and get exercise. Students shouldn't spend more than 30-40 minutes in front of a computer without taking a break.  As part of our break today we practiced a simple office yoga stretch for your thigh. Technology Current Event Video:  We finished class today with a short video about tourism in Austria. January 13, 2015 104 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   Work on Full Page Ads:  All students had time today to work on 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.  Some students finished today but all students will have some time to finish and print next class.  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:  During long classes like this one students are always reminded to take breaks and get exercise. Students shouldn't spend more than 30-40 minutes in front of a computer without taking a break.  As part of our break today we practiced a simple office yoga stretch for your shoulders and back.  After the break everyone had a chance to get up and walk around. Log on and Check Grades:  All students were asked to log into the Home Access Center and check their grades.  Since January 1st, 2015 all HAC accounts have been updated so that students can accessed their grades using their regular district log in and password.  All students should be able to log in and check their grades routinely. Technology Current Event Video:  We finished class today with a short video from "Stuff to Blow Your Mind" about Constructing a Memory Palace. January 9, 2015 12 minutes*  * Class time was shorter today due to the High School Arts Presentations rotation schedule January 7, 2015 91 minutes  Finish Brochure Project:  All students had time to finish this project today.  Students were shown how to print on both sides of a sheet of paper and how to trifold a brochure.  Everyone had a chance to review a rough draft with the teacher before turning in a final draft.  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:  During long classes like this one students are always reminded to take breaks and get exercise. Students shouldn't spend more than 30-40 minutes in front of a computer without taking a break. For our break today we practiced a simple office yoga stretch for your arms. The Universal Arts of Graphic Design:  As a review of the projects our students have done in Publisher we watched a short video from PBSoffbook about what graphic arts is and what a graphic designer does. January 5, 2015 104 minutes  Technology Use Survey: All students in this class participated in the annual NMS Student Technology Use Survey. After the survey students had time to review the results from previous years. All results going back to 2006 can be viewed here.  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,) Technology Current Event Video:  We finished class today with a follow-up activity to the financial literacy game we played at the beginning of class we watched a short video from Bank America about setting up a personal budget.  Students were also reminded that they can learn a lot more about money by taking the Personal Finance class at the high school. December 22, 2014 44 minutes  Technology Current Event Video:  We finished class today with a TED presentation by Margaret Stewart about how copyright laws are handled on YouTube. December 18, 2014 91 minutes  Formal Interviewing Using Skype: Our students practiced formal interviewing techniques by Skyping with Ms. Papakalousi's 8th grade students at Winners Education, an English Language School in Athens Greece. Before the interview we discussed how a formal video conference is different from a more informal video chat with friends. We also discussed specific things to do and not do. During the video conference we learned about how they were celebrating the upcoming holidays. We learned that all of them would be celebrating Christmas and that they had 15 vacation days during their break, more than us. They also asked our students many questions about what we would be doing for the holidays and favorite foods. They were unfamiliar with the Hanukkah. They also asked if it was snowing here. We then had some fun and played Pictionary Their English was very good and they were also very interested in making connections with our students via Instagram. Before the interview we prepared our questions in advance so we could learn more about school in Greece. After the interview we reviewed what went well and what we could improve next time. (PA-BCIT: 15.2.8.H, 15.3.8.K, 15.3.8.M, 15.7.8.I, 15.7.8.J)    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. December 16, 2014 104 minutes Internet Moment: Today we looked at two online resources for fonts. DaFont.com offers over 26,000 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)  Font Presentation:  In this presentation the development of the two basic font families (serif & sans serif) as well as the best uses for each was discussed. 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. We will finish this project next class.  (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. For our break today we did a gallery walk to share project ideas. We then practiced a simple yoga stretch for your spine.\ Hour of Code:  Today our class participated in the Hour of Code. We started by viewing the source code for this webpage.  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.  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.  Font Conference Video:  As a follow-up to the Font Presentation we watched a short video from College Humor about a fictitious "Font Conference": December 12, 2014 44 minutes Internet Moment: We looked at a Microsoft Web Application for creating zoomable high resolution photos.   Students were also shown two other examples of zoomable photos that were created using the web application:  the NMS Mosaic Project and the Deep Zoom image of Yosemite National Park. Students had time to explore these websites.  Student Blogging Activity:  Our students prepared a one paragraph response to a blog entry Ms. Chernaya. an english language teacher at the City of Moscow Secondary School with Advanced Study of Foreign Languages, Number 1302.  Mrs. Chernaya's English Language students are practicing their writing skills by blogging and they will be reading our student's comments and replying to them.  The topic of the blog is health and fitness and our students shared what they do to stay healthy and fit.  You can view the comments here.  In this activity our students are demonstrating appropriate internet communication skills and paragraph writing skills by commenting on their blog entries.  We also used MS Word as a resource to help with spelling and grammar..  Students were reminded that whenever they post anything online they should make an effort to make sure it will reflect positively on them.  (PA-BCIT Standards:  15.3.8.G, 15.3.8.M, 15.4.5.A, 15.4.8.B) Technology Current Event Video:  We finished class today with a TED presentation by Keller Rinaudo who demonstrated a mini robot that's powered by a cell phone. December 10, 2014 91 minutes   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.  Office Yoga Break:  During long classes like this one students are always reminded to take breaks and get exercise. Students shouldn't spend more than 30-40 minutes in front of a computer without taking a break. For our break today we practiced a simple office yoga stretch for your arms.  Technology Current Event Video:  We finished class today by watching a short speed design.  The video featured the work of an 18 year old graphic design student in Manchester, England.  In the video you can see how he designed the logo for his design student.  December 8, 2014 104 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) Finish MLA Paragraph: All students had time today to finish typing and then print their MLA Paragraphs.  Unfortunately we were unable to print this project due to a district network issue.  (PA-B.C.I.T. Standards: 15.3.5.A, 15.3.8.A)  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. We then used the survey as the outline for a presentation about basic computer knowledge .  Introduction to Computer Class Presentation: This presentation was a follow up to the survey and covered basic computer concepts everyone should be familiar with such as:
After the presentation students were asked to use various online search engines to search for themselves to see what their "digital footprint" looks like. Break:  During long classes like this one students are always reminded to take breaks and get exercise. Students shouldn't spend more than 30-40 minutes in front of a computer without taking a break. 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: 41.7 WPM Click here for more information about typing speeds at Newtown Middle School. We also reviewed the graph below:  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. This 2014 revision of the presentation was created by Jose Esteves, a professor of Information Systems at the IE Business School in Spain.   December 4, 2014 44 minutes Mr. McNulty is absent today.  Students will be doing the following activities: Seating Chart:  At the direction of the substitute teacher seats will be assigned. Log on and Explore:  All students will be logging on, going to the START menu and exploring what's new on our computers this year.  Take note that in the computer lab we now have Microsoft Office 2013 instead of 2010.  All students should be able to find the 2013 programs.  |
