google.com/cse

google.com/cse lets you create a search engine which searches only the sites that you list as acceptable.

http://www.tumblr.com/

Do you use Tumblr?  It looks like a combination of sites I already use and I am too lazy to merge everything to a new site.  Looks engageing though.  Tumblr lets you effortlessly share anything. Post text, photos, quotes, links, music, and videos, from your browser, phone, desktop, email, or wherever you happen to be. You can customize everything, from colors, to your theme's HTML.

A message from Twitter

I recieved this from Twitter, I have to say I like it.  I use HootSuite and TweetDeck and think both applications are awesome.  Having these new changes tak effect sounds cool and makes me feel like I have more control.  good work Twitter.

Over the coming weeks, we will be making two important updates that will impact how you interact with Twitter applications. We are sending this notice to all Twitter users to make sure you are aware of these changes.
What are applications?
There are over 250,000 applications built using the Twitter API. To use most applications, you first authorize the application to access your Twitter account, after which you can use it to read and post Tweets, discover new users and more. Applications come in many varieties, including desktop applications like TweetDeck, Seesmic, or EchoFon, websites such as TweetMeme, fflick, or Topsy, or mobile applications such as Twitter for iPhone, Twitter for Blackberry, or Foursquare.
Update 1: New authorization rules for applications
Starting August 31, all applications will be required to use "OAuth" to access your Twitter account.
What's OAuth?
OAuth is a technology that enables applications to access Twitter on your behalf with your approval without asking you directly for your password.
Desktop and mobile applications may still ask for your password once, but after that request, they are required to use OAuth in order to access your timeline or allow you to tweet.
What does this mean for me?
Applications are no longer allowed to store your password.
If you change your password, the applications will continue to work.
Some applications you have been using may require you to reauthorize them or may stop functioning at the time of this change.
All applications you have authorized will be listed at http://twitter.com/settings/connections.
You can revoke access to any application at any time from the list.
Update 2: t.co URL wrapping
In the coming weeks, we will be expanding the roll-out of our link wrapping service t.co, which wraps links in Tweets with a new, simplified link. Wrapped links are displayed in a way that is easier to read, with the actual domain and part of the URL showing, so that you know what you are clicking on. When you click on a wrapped link, your request will pass through the Twitter service to check if the destination site is known to contain malware, and we then will forward you on to the destination URL. All of that should happen in an instant.
You will start seeing these links on certain accounts that have opted-in to the service; we expect to roll this out to all users by the end of the year. When this happens, all links shared on Twitter.com or third-party apps will be wrapped with a t.co URL.
What does this mean for me?
A really long link such as http://www.amazon.com/Delivering-Happiness-Profits-Passion-Purpose/dp/0446563048 might be wrapped as http://t.co/DRo0trj for display on SMS, but it could be displayed to web or application users as amazon.com/Delivering- or as the whole URL or page title.
You will start seeing links in a way that removes the obscurity of shortened links and lets you know where each link will take you.
When you click on these links from Twitter.com or a Twitter application, Twitter will log that click. We hope to use this data to provide better and more relevant content to you over time.
Thanks for reading this important update. Come and check what's new at http://twitter.com.
Thanks,
The Twitter Team

Day 9

Today all students began with Mavis Beacon keyboarging practice. 
Grade 7 students began working on the Reformat me document.  A lesson designed to teach the basics of reformatting. 
Grade 8 students began the Styleize assignment.  We practiced using styles in Word 2007, applied them to a document, and discussed applications.  I will be adding to this document to include more information regarding bibliography, footnotes, and references.
Grade 6 students will begin the Schedule assignment.

Day 8

We began class today watching a video on Cloud Computing. 

Today all students will work on the IP.

Grade 6

Today you will continue to work on your independent Project Script

You should have 15 completed questions by the end of the period

Don't forget to keep track of your sources

If you feel like you are behind I will give you a pass for OP

All of your questions should be completed by next Friday 9/24

Grade 7

Today we will watch a video on Cloud Computing

You will have the remainder of the period to complete the IP Script

Next week we will have a keyboarding quiz and layout the IP in PowerPoint

Grade 8

• Today you will continue to work on the IP script
• Depending on which project you chose you will need to complete the script differently

PowerPoint

PhotoStory

You should have completed evaluating the 2 websites and answering the questions on page 1 You should complete page 2 Today This is meant to help you brainstorm What do/don't you want to include in your website? What are the goals? fan club members? sales? Who is your target audience for your site? How will you communicate with them? Page 3 is meant to help you plan your website Type in notes to yourself on what you would like to include on each webpage. We will work with PP next week.

By the end of the period you should have 3 bullets for each section of your script Remember you will need at least 1 picture for each bullet point You must save the pictures to your H drive When you find a picture right click on it select save picture as save to your H drive we will import to PhotoStory next week

Day 7

Grade 7 & 8 completed their assignments and printed them out.  I was pleased with how students were able to apply what was learned over the previous lessons.  Some were extreamly creative.  At the end of class as part of our closure we discussed how these skills could be applied in other classes or assignments.

Grade 6 students completed the portrait assignment.  They were introduced to creating custom footers, text boxes, formating text and selecting a printer.

Using Styles in Word 2007

I have wanted to and finally have created a lesson on styles in Word 2007.  I really wanted to take the basics of what styles are and reformat a document to teach styles skills.  This basic lesson introduces the student to the very basics of styles.  Students will download a document to thier drive that has a list of instructions to complete the assignment.  The document is broken into sections so the student may see how the styles affect each piece of the document.  This is as basic as i can create.  Once this lesson is complete students will need to create a new document with styles.  It will need a Title, 2 subtitles, 2 subsections, and a table of contents.  these should all be formated seperatly.  I am eager to see how students will apply this new skill. 
For those wishing to try I have included a link to a google document containing the basic lesson document.  I suggest copy & pasting it into Word 2007 and follow along with the video.

Day 6

Grade 7 & 8 were given an assignment that applys what was learned over the last 2 days.  I tried to think of how to better apply what we learned in class over the summer and so far this seems to be a great plan.

Sept 15 / 16

You will create a Word document that contains 2 tables. You should have a banner with word art across the top that reads "Tables" Table 1 - will be 3 columns wide and 6 rows long. •      You will compare and contrast the year you were born & any other year you choose •      You may compare things such as Presidents, Popular culture, etc. •      Font size should be 12, font style Comic Sans •      The first row should be a Title row. •      All borders should be blue Table 2 - Will be 3 columns wide and 6 rows long •      You will compare and contrast 2 devices - example PC & Mac •      The first row will be a title row •      You font size should be 12 •      you may choose your font style and color •      There should be no borders

When you have completed your assignment •      Make sure your name period & date are inserted into the footer section •      Print on Printer #2 the color printer •      Leave your work on the printer and I will collect it from there. Example year 1995 2003 President     #1 Movie

Grade 8

Sept 15 / 16

You will create a document that has a banner with word art Word art should say "NY NY" Create 5 rows of tabs, the settings should be; 1" left, 3" center, 6" right You may include a leader You should include the street addresses of 5 NYC landmarks Lines should be single spaced You will need 5 bullet points and the bullets should be custom formatted to be a picture of a NYC landmark You should inlude information about your landmark You will include a table 3 rows by 4 columns The table should have no borders It should include travel information example train 330 350 410 bus 345 420 445 subway 315 330 345 Your name, period, date should be a footer

Here is a basic sample of what yours should look like Tabsbulletts.pdf When you are done Print on printer #2 Save a copy to the shared students folder, mr riley, your grade, your period, cycle 1 Save as your last name

Grade 6 watched a PowerPoint on word 2007 and began exploring its basic features.  We added a page border, changed page layout and explored how to format pictures we inserted from a saved file.

Wonder How To

Wonder How To is the world's largest collection of fully-curated how-to videos & articles!  It's kind of like a YouTube site however these videos are all "How To" oriented.  I like it.  Everything seems to be well cataloged and indexed.  They found me by the way =) 

Day 5

Grade 7 & 8 completed the review assignments and all grades have registerd for Mavis Beacon typing tutorial.  Tommorow Grade 7 & 8 will have to apply what was learned over the past 2 days.  Grade 6 has completed working with Paint and will move on with Word.  I hope to have my PhotoShop lesson ideas more planned out for future cycles.

Entering Equations in Word 2007

I am curious as to how you are entering or teaching equations in Word 2007.  I found a great video on the subject but would like to know how other teachers, students or others are using this function.

Good Sites

I try and share new and interesting sites with students. Last year I was facinated with the destruction of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Now that students are back it is nice to keep that destruction up front and discuss often. This site http://voicesonthegulf.org/ does a great job of it.
WorldCat is a place where you can search for popular books, music CDs and videos—all of the physical items you're used to getting from libraries. You can also discover many new kinds of digital content, such as downloadable audiobooks. You may also find article citations with links to their full text; authoritative research materials, such as documents and photos of local or historic significance; and digital versions of rare items that aren't available to the public. Because WorldCat libraries serve diverse communities in dozens of countries, resources are available in many languages.
Google Scholar is a simple way to broadly search for scholarly literature. From one place, you can search across many disciplines and sources: articles, theses, books, abstracts and court opinions, from academic publishers, professional societies, online repositories, universities and other web sites. Google Scholar helps you find relevant work across the world of scholarly research.
Ottobib.com/ is a new online bibliography machine. Whats cool is you can create bibliography by isbn#

Day 4

Today we began with our vocabulary lists. All students will have a list of 20 vocabulary words and will be tested at the end of the cycle. During the vocabulary lesson I pulled in some articles I read online earlier. Such as 57,000 scam websites are created each week . We then discuss how to verify a website for autenticity.
Next we watch a PowerPoint on Word 2007. For some this is review but I have found that it helps to revisit vocabulary and terms. Then we begin the assignments.
Grade 7
Vocab
The Colors
Grade 8
Vocab
Tabs
Grade 6
Vocab

Day 3

Today all students will download the Independent Project script and begin researching thier topics. I will be observing students search stratigies to see if they are using the techniques and tools we learned about on day 2. Scripts for the Independent Project can be found here on my blog by completing a simple search.

Plastic Polution

I am showing students this video from Good Morning America on how plastic polution in the Pacific Ocean is making an enormous ecological impact. We will have a class disscussion following the viewing to discuss how you can use social networking site to spread information.

Second Day

The second day of school and of the cycle is complete.  As I normally do on the second day of the cycle I hold a class discussion on Internet search strategies.  I have a great group of classes this cycle  and we had some really great discussions.  The students told me these new strategies would help them with their research in the future.  Many foreign language students told me the language tools section would benefit them and help them with learning about the culture of other countries. 

1st Day

Summer is over and it's back to school time.  I have planned and replanned how I am going to approach different projects and the blog over the summer and am eager to see how things turn out.  The first day is always filled with excitement and a few hicups however I have managed to avoide a few of those hicups by keeping my plans electronically.  Now I just pull up my stencil from last year and am able to fill in the blanks.  I also filled in my schools electronic calander with any school function so I am able to plan around field trips, assemblies, and conferences.  I feel very organized this year and hope to continue on a smooth year.  Thanks to all of those who commented on my blog and youtube over the summer. 

Today I spent each period going over expectations and grading policies with the students.  I have used a PowerPoint presentation to do this for the past 3 years.  Today my voice is killing me and I am ready to create a PhotoStory for the first day.