December 2, 2015 - LAST CLASS 91 minutes
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. 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.  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) November 30, 2015 104 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:  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. 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.  FBLA Presentation:  We had three guest speakers from the Future Business Leaders of America at our high school.  They did a American Enterprise Project presentation about the stock market for our class.  Technology Current Event Video: We finished class today with a short video about tourism in Kerala, India. November 23, 2015 44 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. Next class all students will take a quiz to see how much of the Google Earth tour they can recall. (PA-BCIT Standards: 15.4.8.A, 15.6.8.M)  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. 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) 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 half day schedule November 19, 2015 74 minutes* Internet Safety Assembly Followup: As a followup to today's Internet Safety presentation by FBI Internet Specialist Cerena Coughlin, all students were asked to take a few minutes and search for themselves on Google.   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. 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) Technology Current Event Video: As a follow-up to the think before you post presentation we watched a short video from Kim Komando about some of the negative consequences that have happened from posting photos without thinking first. (PA-BCIT Standards: 15.2.8.H, 15.2.8.L, 15.6.8.M, 15.3.8.T, 15.3.8.T, 15.3.5.V, 15.3.8.Q, 15.5.8.J, 15.6.8.M, 15.8.8.J) (ISTE Standards: 1d, 2c, 3c, 4a, 5a, 5b, 5c, 5d, 6b) * Class time was shorter today due to the Cyber Safety presentation by Special Agent Coughlin of the F.B.I. November 17, 2015 104 minutes Review the Blogging Activity:  Students had time today to review the blog entries that they made for the Russian students last class.  We used Google Maps to learn more about the City of Moscow Secondary School with Advanced Study of Foreign Languages, Number 1302. Unfortunately their school webpage is blocked at our school so we couldn't view it.  Students were shown the Children's Internet Protection Act and we discussed that the puzzle of censorship is not just deciding what to censor but deciding when to stop censoring. Internet Moment:  Everyone went to http://geoguessr.com/ and had some time to try this online geography game that uses Google Street View pictures.  Ethan had the highest score in our class, over 15,000 points. FIRST AID PROJECT DIRECTIONS: Technology Current Event Video:  We finished class today with a video from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation about recent advances in biotechnology and the possibilities for 3D printing body parts in the future. November 13, 2015 44 minutes  Student Blogging Activity: Our students prepared a one paragraph blog post reply for Ms. Chernaya's English language students 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.  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. Students were shown how to open their Microsoft Office 365 accounts and we used the online version of 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 short video that Ms. Chernaya's students made about their school. November 12, 2015 104 minutes Internet Moment: Today we explored NewsMap.jp which is a graphical interpretation of the top news stories on Google News.  It was created by Marcos Weskamp, a self described software architect. He was also part of the team that founded Flipboard which seeks to bring the design experience of magazines to web and tablet technology.  As part of this activity we discussed the important relationship between internet technology and design.  (PA BCIT Standards: 15.2.8.B, 15.2.8.C, 15.2.8.D, 15.2.8.E)     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 sides. 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. In the video they talk about his upbringing and described how he developed HTML. They also evaluate the impact that the World Wide Web has had on the world. Students were reminded that all the technology that they experience was created be people just like themselves. November 11, 2015 91 minutes   Full Page Ads:  All students had time to finish this project today. Completed projects were printed in full color using the color printer in the back of the room. Students wrote their names on the back of their projects before turning them in.  Unfortunately there were some technical problems with the color printer. 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) 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. 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 Star Wars Tutorial to write JavaScript.   Technology Current Event Video:  We finished class today with a video from Code.org about why schools should teach coding. November 9, 2015 97 minutes*  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 back. Technology Current Event Video:  Unfortunately we ran out of time for a video today. * Class time was shorter today due to our Veterans Day Assembly and a fire drill November 5, 2015 44 minutes Technology Current Event Video: We started class today with a short video from Google about using their free services for online group collaboration. (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) (ISTE Standards: 1a, 1b, 1c, 2a, 2b, 2d, 3b, 3c, 3d, 4b, 4c, 5d) Online Collaboration Demonstration: students were shown an example of an international online collaboration project which was organized by Stefan Nielsen, a teacher in Denmark, and involved 30 teachers around the world. The 121212-1212 Project can be viewed here. Students were reminded that tools like Google Docs and Microsoft 356 will be an important part of their future. Online Collaboration Project: Today we experimented with an online collaboration project with Ms. Papakalousi's advanced English language students at the Winners Education English Language School in Athens, Greece. Her students prepared persuasive essays in English in Google Docs and asked our students to edit them for grammar, style, readability and spelling. While our students were working here in Newtown, the students in Greece were able to watch the editing in real time in their classroom on their cell phones. We also had a Skype connection between our classrooms so the students could interact with one another directly. This was a great opportunity to introduce our students to online collaboration using free resources such as Google Drive and Skype. It also gave us an opportunity to discuss cultural and language differences. Below you can see a sample of what the editing process looked like. Click here to view the edited document. (PA-BCIT Standards: 15.3.8.U, 15.3.12.W, 15.3.8.X, 15.4.8.A, 15.4.8.B, 15.4.8.D, 15.3.12.W)  Technology Current Event Video: We started class today with a short video from Google about using their free services for online group collaboration.  We finished with a short video about the collaboration features in Microsoft Office 365.  Our students currently have access to Office 365 through our school district.  Follow this link to learn more.  (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) (ISTE Standards: 1a, 1b, 1c, 2a, 2b, 2d, 3b, 3c, 3d, 4b, 4c, 5d) November 2, 2015 91 minutes   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.  Technology Current Event Video:  Unfortunately we ran out of time for a video today. October 29, 2015 104 minutes Internet Moment: Today we looked at two online resources for fonts. DaFont.com offers over 27,000 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)  Finish Font Guide: Students had time to finish the project we started last class. Everyone printed the completed project.(PA-BCIT Standards: 15.3.8.E, 15.4.8.G, 15.4.2.K, 15.3.8.X) 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 stretch for you neck. 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 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) October 27, 2015 44 minutes Internet Moment: Students explored PhotoSynth.net today which is an online service from Microsoft that used their Silverlight technology. It allows you to "knit" digital photos together to make large 360 degree images that you can pan and zoom into. We also looked at the NMS Mosaic Project as an example of this technology from (PA BCIT Standards: 15.6.8.M)  (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. Everyone will have time to finish this project next class.  (PA-BCIT Standards:  15.3.8.E, 15.4.8.G, 15.4.2.K, 15.3.8.X) Font Conference Video:  As a follow-up to the Font Presentation we watched a short video from College Humor about a fictitious "Font Conference": October 23, 2015 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 with a logo design video from Przemyslaw Jakub Wolosaczonek, a graphic designer in London, England. October 21, 2015 104 minutes Hover Board Video: To mark "Back to the Future Day" we started class by watching this video featuring a recently developed hover board. 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. Most 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 to finish the typing and formatting project that we started last class.  Everyone had a chance to print out and turn in this project today.  Click here to enlarge the project description.  (PA-B.C.I.T. Standards: 15.3.5.A, 15.3.8.A)  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: 38.3 WPM Click here for more information about typing speeds at Newtown Middle School. We also reviewed the graph below:   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 NMS 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.Technology Current Event Video: We finished class today with a short video about what life might be like in the future.  (PA-BCIT Standard: 15.4.8.A) October 19, 2015 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. 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 
 Pixlr.com Project: Students were shown how to use the online photo editor pixlr.com to edit a photograph. We also discussed professional digital photo editing with Adobe PhotoShop. (PA BCIT Standards: 15.4.8.F, 15.4.5.G) Unfortunately we ran out of time to complete this project. Next class students will share 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 will also be explained.  Computer Class Survey: All students will 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. The survey will also be used as the outline for a presentation next class. Student Technology Use Surveys: All students were asked to take and online survey about their use of technology. After the survey students were given some time to explore the results from previous Technology Use Surveys at Newtown Middle School.   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.  (PA-BCIT Standard: 15.4.8.A) |
