March 12, 2020 - LAST CLASS 91 minutes
Website Demonstration: Students were shown the process for uploading a finished website to the internet.  Web hosting, domain names and the Domain name system (DNS) was explained.  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 104 minutes Internet Moment: We started class today by exploring GoProHeroes.com which features unique, high resolution action videos that were made using GoPro cameras. 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.  Log on and Check Grades: All students were asked to log into the Home Access Center and check their grades. Starting in 7th grade all Council Rock students have their own HAC username and password. All students should be able to log in and check their grades routinely. Students were also reminded to check out the eSchoolPLUS app that's available from Google Play and the iTunes Store as well as other free apps. Technology Current Event Video: We finished class today with a short video from ColdFusion about recent developments in autonomous robots. March 6, 2020 44 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) Basic HTML Project: All students had some time to work on the website that we were working on in HTML. Students were shown how to insert an image and turn an image into a hyperlink.  We will finish the basic HTML activity by embedding a youtube video and inserting free javascript from dynamicdrive.com next class.  Click here to enlarge the project description.(PA-BCIT Standards: 15.3.8.S, 15.4.8.H) Technology Current Event Video:  We finished class today with short video that explains Hypertext Mark Up Language. March 4, 2020 91 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.   Introduction to Scratch: As a follow-up to the Blockly Maze Tutorial the class was shown Scratch which is a free online code editor that was developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.Students who enjoyed using Blockly, were told that Scratch would be the next step for them to try. All students had about 10 minutes to experiment with Scratch and to view some featured student projects. Students were also encouraged to check out the Scratch Tutorial Videos page on their own and consider joining Scratch. After the activity everyone had a chance to get up, move around and check out each other's Scratch creations. Break: Students are always reminded to not spend too much time sitting in front of computers. Breaks should be taken every 30-40 minutes. Introduction to Webinars: Today students were introduced to what a webinar or web conference is and what online education could look like for them in the future. Today we used Skype to connect with students at Specialized School 1 in Shymkent, Kazakhstan. Even though it was 8:30 PM there some of Ms. Baluza Pirmantayeva's English language students were able to join us for the lesson today. You can see an image of their classroom and what the lesson looked like for them to the right. Below you can see both of our classes on Skype. We used the screen sharing feature to project the presentation to from the teacher's desktop in our classroom and their classroom. The video and sound signal was good and the lesson went well. Hopefully we will be able to do more activities with them in the future.  (PA-BCIT Standards: 15.3.5.J, 15.3.5.K, 15.6.8.M, 15.3.8.X, 15.4.8.A)   Technology Current Event Video: We finished class today with a short video from BlueHost about how websites work. March 2, 2020 104 minutes    Break: Students are always reminded to not spend too much time sitting in front of computers. Breaks should be taken every 30-40 minutes.  Technology Current Event Video: We finished class today with a video about tourism activities in Kerala, India.  February 27, 2020 44 minutes    Technology Current Event Video: We finished class today with a short video from Good Morning America about an eBay seller. February 25, 2020 91 minutes  International Online Game: We played an online Kahoot game with Mrs. Gershman's 8th grade Computer Class at Newtown Middle School and Ms. Xynta's English language class in Skydra, Greece. The topic for today's game was European Geography. Unfortunately there were some technical difficulties with Kahoot today and the video signal kept slowing down. We had to cancel the game after the 7th question.  Technology Current Event Video: We finished class today with a short video from GCFLearnFree.org about the basic principles of graphic design. February 21, 2020 104 minutes   Video: As part of this activity we watched a short video about the importance of developing "Soft Skills". 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. Technology Current Event Video: We ran out of time for a video today. February 19, 2020 94 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 Samsung about some possible future technology that may be available in 2025. February 13, 2020 91 minutes  Finish Font Guide Project:  All students had time to finish the MS Publisher project that we started last class.  Everyone printed and turned in their finished font guide.   TED 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 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) 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.  International Online Game: We played an online Kahoot game with Mrs. Smith's 4th Grade class at Glenbrook Elementary School in Streamwood, Illinois, Mrs. Gershman's 8th grade Computer Class at Newtown Middle School and Ms. Xynta's English language class in Skydra, Greece. The topic for today's game was flags of the world. Brooke from NMS came in third place, Evan from our class came in second and first place went to Caleb at Glenbrook Elementary School. Below you can see some pictures of the different classes that played the game today.  Technology Current Event Video: We finished class today with a short video from Microsoft about possible uses for technology in the future. February 11, 2020 104 minutes Internet Moment:  We experimented with two online geography games but unfortunately the first one was blocked and the second one no longer exists.    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 did a "gallery walk" activity and everyone had a chance to see each others work. Logo Design Video:     We finished this activity with a short video from Vox about the basics of logo design. February 7, 2020 44 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 91 minutes    Assigned Seats: All students have an assigned seat/computer in the lab. 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. Everyone should use the same computer every time they come to the lab. Students were also reminded to adjust the keyboard, mouse, chair and monitor to meet their ergonomic needs when they come to class. We then visited the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) website and searched for their recommendations concerning computer workstations. We also discussed employment laws in the workplace. (PA-BCIT Standard: 15.2.8.I, 15.4.5.D, 15.4.2.B, 15.4.8.F)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:  35.1 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 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.  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. |
