OK GO

OK GO my new favorite band has created a new video "Last Leaf." I love this band and keep missing them when they tour near me but someday I will be in the crowd. Anyway OK GO is beyond creative with thier videos and I love to show these to my students in film club. The "Last Leaf" video is a great example of stop animation. Some of of film club members have been inspired by OK GO to create some really cool videos. I can't wait to see what happens when they see this one.
OK GO also posted that they used a Samsung NX100 iFn which has a pretty cool websited to go along with it. This DSLR camera has some really great features and with the ifunction lens makes it very easy to use. This is very helpful to a Mr. Riley who happens to be pricing out DSLR cameras at this very moment : )

How To Create a Greeting Card in Publisher 2007

I created a new video on how to create a greeting card using Publisher 2007. This video will show you how to create a greeting card using Publisher 2007. Included is an overview of the Task Manager window and how to use Mail Merge to fill in reciepient names. Hope you enjoy

Day 24

Day 24 of the 30 day cycle finds all students completing a test in Excel 2007.  I place a completed excel assignment on my website and have students recreate it.  My goal is to eventually have students apply and create an excel assignment based on data that I present.  For now though students complete the following assignments.  Grade 6  Grade 7  Grade 8

Grade 7 & 8 students will need to print the formulas as well as a finished assignment.

 

Dell 1720dn

In my classroom I have a Dell 1720dn printer.  The printer error light came on the other day and asked me to replace the printer drum which I did.  Once I replaced the drum I figured I was good to go, this was not the case.  The "replace printer cartridge" light and the "error" light were still blinking.  I looked up how to reset the printer and found that I should hold down the cancel button after I replaced the drum.  So I took the drum out and replaced it, then held down the cancel button and the replace printer cartridge button and the error light were still blinking.  I then found out that the imaging drum counter needed to be reset.  Here is how to do that:

1. Open the front cover
2. Hold down the cancel button
3. The lights will "chase" each other
4. Release the button
5. Close the front cover
6. Press the green arrow to print a "print settings" report
7. On the report look for Cartridge information, Photoconductor should read OK
8. Breath a sigh of relief and resume normal printing

Day 23

Back from Thanksgiving break and are in the last 7 days of this cycle.  All students will begin working with Mavis Beacon keyboarding.  Then we will discuss Cyber Monday, what it is and how it can affect us.  All classes will review Excel and prepare for an excel test tomorow.  7th & 8th graders review how to create and insert coment boxes, print formulas, & use page break preview.  Grade 6 students will also complete and review Excel. 

 

Create online invitations with Evite

made a short how to video on creating online invitations using Evite.  Evite is a free service that allows you to send invitaions to guests and track your RSVP's.  As the Host you can see when people have viewed your invite and your guests can post reponses.  You can put in your address and guests may use an online mapping tool to get directions.  Check out the video here.

 

Mahalo & page2rss

Checking out my statistics on Google Webmaster I noticed I that Mahalo linked to me.  I wondered who or what Mahalo is. From thier website "Mahalo is a human-powered search engine dedicated to help people easily find information and resources they can trust. Mahalo launched in public alpha in May of 2007, added the freelance-fueled Mahalo Greenhouse in June and graduated to public beta in October of that year. In December 2008, Mahalo introduced Mahalo Dollars through the addition of Mahalo Answers. The Greenhouse closed down after Mahalo introduced Mahalo Tasks and Page Management in June, 2009."  I liked it and found a lot of information that I found helpful.  I wish Mahalo well.

Page2rss has also linked to me & I need to admidt I don't understand why they did or really who they are. 

Day 21 & 22

Over these 2 days students will work on an excel assignment individually.  I am looking to see how much information has been leaned and what can be recalled.  I allow students to work with a partner for assistance, however all students need to complete the assignment. 

All classes begin with Mavis keyboarding practice then move into the assignment.  Grade 7 & 8 will complete the Good Luck Grams.  This is an assignment that I students must write in formulas, merge & center cells, use the autosum, and create 3 types of charts.

Grade 6 students also complete a Good Luck Grams assignment.  However this project contains elements already learned and concentrates on basic entry and formatting of cells and creating different type of charts. 

Film Club

We are currently in the fourth year of Film Club.  This club has continued to exceed expectations in student participation and projects entered.  Students are challenged to create a short 15 second film which will showcase our sixth, seventh and eighth grade students' storytelling ability using a video camera and film-editing software.  We discuss the entire film making process from concept to finished movie.  Students write their scripts, use story boards to sketch out filming, and edit their films using movie maker. The catch is that the students will only get 15 seconds to tell their story. Participants will have to think critically about their scripts, camera work, and editing.  Festival Highlights will include student speeches, awards for various categories and "Red Carpet" arrival.

The objective of the club is to unite the visual arts with technology & foster an environment where students learn that they have a voice and can tell their own stories using one of the most powerful mediums in our society.  To bring the local community and school community together to celebrate and enjoy the creativity of our student.  To learn how to plan and create a script.  To learn how to use a Digital Camera/Digital Video Camera, Computer and the program Microsoft Movie Maker.

 

I do have students who would like to use advanced programs and software to create special effects in thier films.  I stumbled upon Freddiew's YouTube Page  today and love his FAQ's.  Here is someone who is making quality videos and instead of promoting softare he is encouraging film makers to create with what is available to them first.  I love it.  Thank you Freddie. 

Edublogs

I have been looking for a place to find new lesson ideas and exchange information with peers in other schools.  Unlike the business world it is very difficult for a teacher to interact with peers in different locations or districts.  That is one reason why I took to blogging.  My personal blog is still growing and I am still trying to perfect the style of my blog and what I would like to post.  This school year I began posting what specifically was covered in class every day for the first 2 cycles.  My goal was to link to lesson plans, ideas, and topics.  I wanted to create a view into my classroom.  With the third cycle approaching I am going to change my post topic and focus on another task.  As I look for new lesson plans I have also submitted my blog to the Edublogs list.  This appears to be a great resource of educational blogs that I will be adding to my reader in the very near future.  I am a little bummed that I am currently on page 12 however I hope to move up. 

20 things I learned

The 20 things I learned is a great childrens style book by Google.  It is guide about how browsers and the web have grown.  It has links, hypertext and is fully searchable.  You can check it out here.

Day 18, 19, 20

Due to feild trips, assemblies, etc classes are currently at different places in there current assignments. I am planning on getting all classes back to the same point of progress.
All students begin by adding to thier vocabulary lists. Next we will either complete the individual excel assignment or begin working on hyperlinks and action buttons. Grade 8 students working with PhotoStory will continue to edit photos.
Grade 6

Margin – the margin properties define space around the elements

URL – a web pages address on the internet – uniform resource locator

Ruler - markers at each end of the ruler set the indention levels from the current margin

Selecting - Highlighting a block of text

Software - A list of instructions that computers follow to perform certain tasks; a program, such as Mavis Beacon, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.

Grade 7

Java- is a programming language expressly designed for use in the distributed environment of the internet

RSS- is a method of distributing links to content in your website that you would like others to use – real simple syndication

Firewall – is used to protect a computer or network server from damage by unauthorized users

USB – most common type of computer port used in today's computers - universal serial bus

Bandwidth - refers to how much data you can send through a network or modem connection. measured in bits per second, or "bps."

Grade 8

A Trojan horse is simply a computer program. The program claims to do one thing (it may claim to be a game) but instead does damage when you run it

A worm is a small piece of software that uses computer networks and security holes to replicate itself. A copy of the worm scans the network for another machine that has a specific security hole. It copies itself to the new machine using the security hole, and then starts replicating from there, as well.

Malware short for malicious software, is software designed to infiltrate a computer system without the owner's informed consent.Malware includes computer viruses, worms, trojan horses, spyware, dishonest adware, crimeware, most rootkits, and other malicious and unwanted software.BitTorrent Free, open source file-sharing application effective for distributing very large software and media files Spyware Software that "spies" on your computer Spyware can capture information like Web browsing habits, e-mail messages, usernames and passwords, and credit card information. If left unchecked, the software can transmit this data to another person's computer over the Internet.

Microsoft Office Videos II

Ok so I was able to upload 8 more how to videos for 2003 microsoft office products.  Embed a Youtube Video in PowerPoint 2003, How to create slide transitions in PowerPoint 2003, How to Format Pictures in Office 2003, How to format Tab settings in Word 2003, How to add music to a PowerPoint 2003, How to insert and format hyperlinks in PowerPoint 2003, How to use Microsoft Publisher 03 & How to combine 2 or more Powerpoint Presentations.

Office 2003 videos

I have been teaching some adult school classes where we have been using Office 2003 products.  I decided that I should post some how to videos showing some basics.  How to format your PowerPoint 2003 background, How to format a Banner, A longer video on formating banners and word art, How to draw on your PowerPoint presentation, How to Create a footnote in Word 2003, Create Header & Footers Office 2003, Create a table in Word 2003, Insert a Word 2003 document into PowerPoint 03, Format Word Art in Office 2003.  These videos, like my other ones are powerpoint presentations that I turned into a movie.  I hope these help.

MR

Day 16 &17

Day 16 & 17 finda all classes working on excel.  Day 16 began with keyboarding practice and day 17 began with a Did you Know video.  This video is great for opening discussions on technology and uses. 

Grade 7 students begin the 6 month budget assignent.  I have streched this assignment to a 3 day group project.  We discuss page layout, borders, shading, resizing of cells, formating cells, autofill, & Word Art.

Grade 8 begins jumpball inc.  Again I have streched this to a 4 day project so we can take our time and thouroughly discus the changes and formating we make.  We discuss page layout, borders, shading, resizing of cells, formating cells, autofill, copy & pasting tables, why you see #####, inserting pictures, & Word Art.

Grade 6 begins the Grades assignment.  We discuss page layout, borders, shading, resizing of cells, formating cells, autofill, & Word Art.

New EduBlogs to follow

Free Technology for Teachers published his list of Edublog nominations today.  I enjoy FTfT and subscribe to his posts and have now subscibed to his nominies.  learnitin5.com/ how to technology videos for the classroom.  I will be checking this out as 3rd cycle I plan on creating many more "How To" videos and having a format to base mine on will help.  Bit By Bit an Educational Podcast. I enjoy the layout of this blog and may make some changes to my own.   

My own blog has been set up to show what I do in my computer classroom.  I have shared lesson plans, designs & ideas.  I focus on what students are working on, new technology that we discuss and so "How to" videos.  While my blog has only been around for less than a year I have continued to learn and grow my bloging technique and style.  I have grown a steady following and hope my followers continue to grow.  My Youtube channel has enjoyed more success than I thought and has also shown great growth potential.  I hope to continue my own personal growth and hope you my readers will continue to enjoy what is posted.

PowerPoint

I am teaching an Adult School class on PowerPoint.  As I was doing some research I came across this video which I think speaks volumes for what not to include in a presentation.  You can check out the video here.

Day 14/15

Due to field trips, assemblies and a few days off from school all grades as of today are completing the unit on Word. Grade 7 students are tested on Word by reformating a broken document to look like my sample. They will need to reformat text, justify, format a picture, and enter a bibliography. Grade 8 students will copy a document I posted on my teachers website. they will need to format tab settings, create and format a table, format bullets, create a bibliography and add styles and a table of contents. Grade 6 students had to create and format a table, create and format a banner and word art, insert and format a picture from file.
All students at this point have moved from the research phase of the independent project and are working on the design aspect. Grade 6 & 7 students in PowerPoint. Grade 8 in PowerPoint or PhotoStory.

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 1. right click on it 2. select save picture as 3. save to your H drive 4. we will import to PhotoStory next week

We have added to our vocabulary list

Grade 6

Font – defined as a complete character set of a single size of a particular typeface

Hard Drive device which stores digitally encoded data on rapidly rotating platters with magnetic surfaces

Hardware the physical equipment that makes up a computer system

Icon – a picture on your screen that represents a program or object in your hard drive

Landscape orientation – refers to a page that when printed is wider than it is long

Grade 7

Systray – The collection of small icons on the opposite side of the start menu on the windows task bar

Cookie – data sent to your computer by a web server that records your actions on a certain website

ROM – memory containing hardwire instructions that the computer reads when it boots up. This memory is permanent.

Hyperlink – a word, phrase or image that when clicked will take you to a new place within the current document

Phishing – is an email scam conducted for the purposes of information or identity theft.

Grade 8

Keyword - words that Web surfers use to conduct a search in a search engine. A keyword can consist of a single word, such as "bicycles" or an entire phrase, like "ten speed mountain bikes".

HTML - HTML stands for Hyper Text Markup Language HTML is not a programming language, it is a markup language A markup language is a set of markup tags HTML uses markup tags to describe web pages

Hypertext - Hypertext is text displayed on a computer or other electronic device with references (hyperlinks) to other text that the reader can immediately access

Page source - Also known as "source" and "document source," it is the HTML code (source code) of a Web page (HTML document).

Virus - A virus is a small piece of software that piggybacks on real programs.

Edublog Award Nominations

I would love to win an EduBlog award, seriously I would.  However I can not nominate myself so I am going to nominate some blogs that I follow and that have inspired me to create my own.  How did I come up with my list?  I looked at the stared items in my reader.  I subscribe to over 50 blogs on Education all are excellent and all are worthy of an award.  These just happen to be my go to sites.

 

 

Best individual blog

http://www.freetech4teachers.com/
Best resource sharing blog

http://ilearntechnology.com

Best teacher blog

http://joedale.typepad.com/

 

 

You can nominate your favorite@  http://edublogawards.com/

 

http://www.thinkoutsidetheslide.com/

Do you make PowerPoint presentations?  Then this is a site for you http://www.thinkoutsidetheslide.com/ Is a site dedicated to fixing the common mistakes people make when desinging presentations.  Dave Paradi has done a great job and his site should be entered into your favorites tab.

From my Intro to Office Class

Last week I showed a video on Cloud Computing.  The video showed the basics of how cloud based computing is different than locally saved information.  Next I showed a brief example of sites where you could use cloud based documents.  Google Docs & Zoho are both are free with a user account and can be accessed wherever you have an Internet connection. 

I have attached a file that discusses the basics of attaching a file to an email.  For 2007 users who are still learning where items are located in the ribbon try this link.  Ribbon Hero is an interactive game designed to help you with the learning curve of the ribbon interface. 

Day 12/13

All students began class with keyboarding practice.  Grade 7 & 8 students reviewed how to create a bibliography in Word.  We reviewed the steps involved and discussed the importance of giving credit to sources of information.  This is information that will be reviewed in the language arts classes.  Grade 8 students watched a video on Rockmelt a new browser.  Some students saw the benefit of this new technology while others did not.  Grade 6 students completed the Wordel assignment. 

Grade 6 & 7 students began the basic layout for the powerpoint project.  They will be able to customize and design the project in the future. 

Day 11

Day 11 begins with keyboarding practice for all students.  Grade 7 students begin the Solar Eclipse project (Key)where they reformat a broken document.  I allow students to work with a partner but try not to offer my own assistance.  This gives me a better assessment of student understanding.  Many students are able to complete the assignment within the class period with little assistance.  Grade 8 students work on the Olympics assignment (key).  They also work with a partner to reformat a word document.  Grade 6 students are introduced to the print screen function.  We begin by building a word cloud on Wordle.  Then use the Print Screen function to paste into Word.  All assignments will continue tomorrow. 

Day 10

Wow a full third of the way through the cycle. Today all students begin by taking a keyboarding quiz. Students come into the room and open Word putting their name at the top of the page. I instruct students that they will receive a sentence, place the sentence where they can see it and type the sentence over and over for 5 minutes. The sentence contains every letter in the alphabet and punctuation. As students type the sentence i circulate around the room looking for home row key usage, where students are looking ( at the screen or keyboard) I give some feedback to each as they are completing the test. At the end of the test students print there document out and I grade for accuracy and word count. todays sentence

"Whenever the black fox jumped the squirrel gazed suspiciously."

Grade 6 students contined working on the Independent Project script. They should have completed all of thier questions by the end of this period. Students are also reminded that they should have 4 grades entered into the electronic gradebook.

Grade 7 students contined working on the Independent Project script. They should have completed all of thier research by the end of this period. Students are also reminded that they should have 4 grades entered into the electronic gradebook.

Grade 8 students contined working on the Independent Project script. depending on which project they are working on they will be at different completion levels. Students are also reminded that they should have 3 grades entered into the electronic gradebook.

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

The Buzz Letter

In case you missed it, are curious, or just want to read it....

 

Google rarely contacts Gmail users via email, but we are making an exception to let you know that we've reached a settlement in a lawsuit regarding Google Buzz (http://buzz.google.com), a service we launched within Gmail in February of this year.

Shortly after its launch, we heard from a number of people who were concerned about privacy. In addition, we were sued by a group of Buzz users and recently reached a settlement in this case.

The settlement acknowledges that we quickly changed the service to address users' concerns. In addition, Google has committed $8.5 million to an independent fund, most of which will support organizations promoting privacy education and policy on the web. We will also do more to educate people about privacy controls specific to Buzz. The more people know about privacy online, the better their online experience will be.

Just to be clear, this is not a settlement in which people who use Gmail can file to receive compensation. Everyone in the U.S. who uses Gmail is included in the settlement, unless you personally decide to opt out before December 6, 2010. The Court will consider final approval of the agreement on January 31, 2011. This email is a summary of the settlement, and more detailed information and instructions approved by the court, including instructions about how to opt out, object, or comment, are available at http://www.BuzzClassAction.com.

--------------------------------------------------------------------
This mandatory announcement was sent to all Gmail users in the United States as part of a legal settlement and was authorized by the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.

Google Inc. | 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway | Mountain View, CA 94043

Day 9

Day 9 did not start out as planned.  Our system was unavailable during first period and we experienced a blackout during 3rd.  The blackout lasted 30 seconds but did add a bit of excitement to our day.  Grade 7 students were split.  Period 1 students worked independently because of the unavailable service.  The 6 period students completed work on reformat me.  They were a bit behind period 1 because of a field trip.  8th grade students completed the stylize assignment and reviewed bibliography's.  The stylize project was designed to be a simple and easy project to learn how to incorporate Styles to your document.  Grade 6 finished up the Schedule assignment.

Using Google Docs to Create Forms

I created a video that will show you how to create and read data collected in a Google Doc's form. This is a fantastically easy way to survey people and collect data in real time. You can also use these same techniques to create a quiz or test. you can check out the video here.

Day 8

All grades begin with Mavis Beacon typing practice. 

Grade 7 & 8 complete the Reformat Me assignment.  This assignment is designed as a list of instructions that students follow in order to take a "messed up" documnet and make it look like my sample.  I use this lesson to disuss the "Home" tab and the formating features of Word.  We review how to add a Drop Cap & How to add and remove Text & Paragraph Borders.I also use this assignment to discuss how to create a bibliography in Word and how to enter references.  This can be a confusing assignemt for students and Grade 7 students will take a day and a half to complete. This is review for Grade 8 students so I allow them to work with a partmner and see how much they recall form last year. 

Grade 6 students begin the Schedule assignment.  This assignment is meant to introduce students how to create and edit a table, review how to format a picture, how to add a footer, and introduces how to add and format Word Art and Banners.