March 12, 2020 - LAST CLASS 44 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. Students were also reminded to check out the eSchoolPLUS app that's available from Google Play and the iTunes Store. Technology Current Event Video: We watched a short video about how Florida's Orange County Public Schools and local police using a service called SnapTrends to monitor student's social media accounts. March 10, 2020 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)  Break: Students are always reminded to not spend too much time sitting in front of computers. Breaks should be taken every 30-40 minutes. 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 Moana Tutorial to write JavaScript.  Technology Current Event Video: We finished class today with a short video from BlueHost about how websites work. March 6, 2020 104 minutes Internet Moment: Today we explored the online version of  Google Earth and discussed how a three 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 whole class followed a specific list of locations. Next week 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)  Online Collaboration Project: Today we started a group project in which students will use online collaboration tools to plan a travel itinerary. Students will work in groups of 4-5 and they will use a shared Google Slide Show to create a travel itinerary. For this project our students will be planning a 7 day trip to Cape Town, South Africa where they will participate in some tourism activities of their choice. Click here for the project directions and here for the project rubric. Using Google as a currency converter was also demonstrated and students were reminded to use the calculator on their computers to total their travel expenses. 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)  Capetown Travel Video:  We watched this short video about tourism & vacations in Capetown, South Africa. March 4, 2020 44 minutes   Technology Current Event Video: We finished class today with a short video from Good Morning America about an eBay seller. March 2, 2020 91 minutes  The questions were about phrases in English and Ms. Tran's students did an outstanding job. As the game was played our students and the students in Vietnam could see the live rankings of everyone. We could also see and hear Ms. Tran's students. Their school was currently closed as a precautionary measure due to the Coronavirus and instruction was continuing online using platforms such as Microsoft Teams and Google Classroom.    Break: Students are always reminded to not spend too much time working on computers and to take breaks every 30-40 minutes. For our break today everyone had a chance to get up and move around.
 Technology Current Event Video:  We finished class today with a video from a bank in Belgium about the importance of protecting your personal information online. February 25, 2020 104 minutes   Break: Students are always reminded to not spend too much time working on computers and to take breaks every 30-40 minutes. For our break today everyone had a chance to get up and move around. Technology Current Event Video: We finished class today with an interview from Channel 4 News in the U.K. featuring Hans Rosling, the creator of GapMinder.org. February 25, 2020 44 minutes  Work on the Brochure Project: Everyone had some time to work on this project today. Students were reminded to use Google Images and Bing Images to find free images that were in the public domain. Next class students will be shown how to print on both sides of a sheet of paper and how to trifold a brochure.  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) Video: As part of this activity we watched a short video about the importance of developing "Soft Skills". February 21, 2020 91 minutes Mr. McNulty is absent this morning. Internet Moment:  All students should go to earthcam.com and explore their world. Students have 5 minutes to visit live streaming webcams from all around the world. Video - The Biography of Bill Gates:  The development of the computer technology we have today has involved countless innovators.  Certainly one of the most famous computer pioneers is Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft.  Students followed the journey of this American icon from college drop out to tech entrepreneur to becoming one of the richest men in history.  While watching the video all students completed these questions online.
February 19, 2020 104 minutes   Dialect Quiz: To help our students understand cultural diversity on the internet we investigated what our own accents sound like by taking the NY Times Dialect Quiz. Students then had an opportunity to compare the dialect heat maps from all the students in our class using a shared Google Slideshow. (PA-BCIT Standard: 15.3.8.J, 15.3.8.K, 15.3.8.X, 15.4.8.D)Language Differences Video: As a follow-up to the dialect activity we watched a short video from The Atlantic about the various dialects in the United States. Break: Students are always reminded to not spend too much time working on computers and to take breaks every 30-40 minutes. For our break today everyone had a chance to get up and move around.  Our students were asked to demonstrate appropriate internet communication skills and paragraph writing skills. Students were reminded to use the spelling and grammar checking features in Google Docs to help them. Our students also demonstrated using the MLA format in Google Docs as part of this project.  Everyone was also reminded that whenever they post anything online they should make an effort to make sure it will reflect positively on them.  Everyone had a opportunity to share their Google Doc with another student and have it proofread before we posted the comments online. We also visited Ms. Golubeva's Class Blog. This activity gave us an opportunity to talk about the differences and similarities between cultures and schools around the world.  (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 from Pond5 about how public domain works. In the video the three ways content enters the public domain is explained (through government, through dedication and time). February 13, 2020 94 minutes    Break: Students are always reminded to not spend too much time working on computers and to take breaks every 30-40 minutes. For our break today everyone had a chance to get up and move around. Font Conference Video:  As a follow-up to the Font Presentation we watched a short video from College Humor about a fictitious "Font Conference". February 11, 2020 February 7, 2020 104 minutes  Online Typing Activities: As a follow up to the typing test students were given some time to find some 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 finish projects.    February 5, 2020 44 minutes  Class Blog: Students were shown TodayInComputerClass.com and told that they can check here anytime to review what work was done in class.  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. Survey Questions: Our class answered some survey questions for Ms. Galina's English Language students at MBOU Gymnasia in Lesosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk, Russia. The questions were about what our school day is like here at Holland Middle School. They were curious to learn about how long our school day is and what subjects we learn. Hopefully we will be able to meet her students sometime soon and learn about their school.  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:  32.1 WPM.  We also reviewed the typing speed graph below and discussed what a bell curve is.  Technology Current Event Video:  We finished class today with a short video from Tech Insider about specific ways to type faster. February 3, 2020 91 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.  Log On & Explore:  All students were given time to explore the start menu, Cortana and the various programs available to them at school.  We also discussed the importance of not being distracted by online games, social media and other online distractions while at school and when they need to get something done at home. 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) Students shared their modified photos using various district network resources. It was also explained to students that this software was actually on a web based computer server in Connecticut and that we were accessing and using it though the internet. This was an example of cloud computing.  Click here to enlarge the project description.  Break: Students are always reminded to not spend too much time working on computers and to take breaks every 30-40 minutes. For our break today we conducted a probability experiment about matching birthdays that you can read about here. Everyone was asked to get up and find the other person in the room who shares their birthday to see if there was a match. Identity Theft: We discussed some of the reasons kids are easy targets for identity thieves and some of the things students can do to protect their information. Strong passwords and being careful about what information they share and who they share it with was stressed. We also watched a video from Channel 3 CBS News about a ransom-ware attack on a local school district.   Students were also reminded to not use their school email for anything inappropriate.  Technology Current Event Video: We finished class today with a short video about some of the newest drones at the 2019 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. |
Internet Moment:  Students used Cartoonify.de to make a custom profile picture for their school Google Account. We discussed the difference between your professional and personal persona and what online "personal branding" was all about. Students were reminded of the importance of learning of manage what they looked like online. Students then shared their images with the class and everyone had time to set their school profile picture.
International Online Game: Our class played a Kahoot game with Mrs. Gershman's Computer Class at Newtown Middle School and Dondi's 8th grade English language students at Boglári Altalanos Iskola, a Primary School in Balatonboglár, Hungary.   It was a 15 question quiz about popular app icons. Chase at HMS came in third, Jake from HMS came in second and Max at HMS won the game today. We used a Google Hangout to share the Kahoot questions with the other school. We also shared video so our students could see each other. Below are some pictures from the game.
Logo Design Video:Â Â Â Â Â
We finished this activity with a short video from Vox about the basics of logo design.
Email Etiquette Video:  We finished this activity with email etiquette tips for college students from Dr. Tracy Brown at California State University in San Marcos. (PA-BCIT Standards 15.3.8.E, 15.3.8.M, 15.3.8.O, 15.3.8.Q, 15.3.8.R, 15.3.8.S, 15.3.8.U, 15.3.8.X, 15.4.8.D, 15.3.8.M, 15.4.8.F)
