End of Semester

We have reached the end of the first semester of the 2013-2014 school year.  It has gone by extremely fast!

If you are looking for information regarding assignments and the end of the semester in Computer Applications, here is what each student was told in class several times over the last 2 weeks of class:

No assignments will be accepted after Thursday, December 19th.  Students were given 4 straight days (Monday-Thursday of the last week of school) of class time to work on anything that was missing or due (this was in addition to class time that had already been given to students to complete assignments when they were originally due).

The lone exception to late work being turned in is the podcast - students can still submit the podcast to me through email (however if submitted over break the most a student can earn is 50% on the assignment).  If a student chooses to do this they must embed their podcast on their blog and then send me a link to their blog (if you need assistance go to the How To page on the blog - there are detailed instructions there).  The podcast needs to be submitted by Friday, Jan. 3, 2014.

I will continue to add in grades to Skyward as I complete the grading process.  As of right now I have about 175 assignments that have been submitted that I have not yet graded - those include late assignments (for example formatting activities) that were submitted before school was done on Thursday, crossword puzzles, and podcasts.

The Alice projects that the students have been working on will count as extra credit - the grading process will be based on how much of the project the student completed and how well the student followed the instructions for the project.

Happy Holidays!

Continue work to finish the semester

Today you will continue to complete any work that needs to be done.  I would recommend that you do two things in that regard:

1. Check your email.  I have graded quite a few assignments and have sent emails regarding the assignment - in other words if you didn't do things correctly I may not have graded your assignment, sent you an email with instructions on what you need to do to get a grade for an assignment, and am waiting for you to resend me an email.
2. Check to make sure you have all of the vocab quizzes completed.  Some of you have missed time and may not have taken a vocab quiz.  If so, you'll want to get these done, and you can only do that here in class.  Let me know that you are taking one of the quizzes and then you can do it.  Also, if you missed a quiz because you were gone and then you came in at a different time and completed it and I have not entered it into Skyward I need to know so I can change that and your grade can improve.

As we talked about yesterday, you should be working to complete the Alice project.  If you are done with everything and you want to do the podcast I can send you to the computer lab to get that finished.

Crossword puzzle; complete work

With only 4 days remaining the key is to make sure that you have everything completed and turned in.  If you have any missing assignments (check the board) you'll want to get those in…getting 50% on an assignment is much better than getting a zero.

If you have all of your assignments in, and you have completed your Alice project, I will allow you time in class to go to the Computer lab and complete your podcast.  See me during class and I will write you a pass to the computer lab.  However, if the computer labs are being used by classes then completing the podcast will not be a possibility and you will have to work on it outside of class (as you were originally supposed to do).  Remember, the podcast is due Wednesday.  If you turn in the podcast on Thursday you'll lose 10% of the grade, but you'll at least get a grade.  Anything turned in after Thursday will be graded at a 50% reduction.

You will have a crossword puzzle the you will get in class today…it will be due Thursday - no exceptions.  I will not accept this after Christmas, so if you don't turn it in by Thursday you will not get any credit for the crossword puzzle.  This puzzle only covers lists 1-9 (NOT list #10).

Last vocab quiz; FA9; Dragon Alice project

You'll have a few minutes to review for today's Vocab Quiz #10.  Once you get done with the quiz you may continue to work on FA9 if you still have not completed it.  If you are done with FA9 you can start, or continue (depending on what you've done so far) your work on the Dragon Alice project.

Again, the missing assignments list posted on the wall yesterday is updated with the exception of FA8 and FA9 (if you did not turn those assignments in they are missing but they do not show up on the missing assignments list because they haven't been graded).

Lastly, don't forget that you have your podcast that is due next Wednesday, and that it must be embedded on your blog.  If you need to refresh your memory on how to complete that assignment I would suggest going to the How To page on the blog.  This is a homework assignment and cannot be completed in class.

Flash video; FA9

The above video shows you what is possible to do with Flash.  Flash, like Photoshop, is an Adobe product and is a very useful product for digital imagery.  This is a software program that is often used in advertisements and on the web.

Once we get done watching the video you can continue to work on FA9 - it will be due tomorrow.  If you get done with FA9 you can continue your work on the Alice project, which will be due next week.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

You will need the image below for Part 3.  You'll need to save this and then use it as a billboard - no need to worry, the instructions will tell you how to get this done.

Additionally, don't forget that their is a vocab quiz tomorrow.

Lastly, there are new missing assignment lists posted - you may want to see what you have missing so you know what you need to make up.

Java video; FA9

After watching the above video on what Java is we will be learning how to insert shapes and using the drawing tools in Microsoft Word.  Once we get done going over these you will be working on completing FA9.


FA9

Photoshop video; finish FA8

Here is a short video on Photoshop:



If you have not yet posted a definition to Wiki spaces that needs to be done no later than tonight - please get those done!

After watching the video we will be completing FA8.

If you get done with FA8 you can begin working on the last Alice project - this will be a graded project.  There are 3 parts to this project, but Part 1 is largely a review of everything that we have already accomplished, so it should take you relatively little time to get it completed.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

You will need the image below for Part 3.  You'll need to save this and then use it as a billboard - no need to worry, the instructions will tell you how to get this done.

JPG vs. GIF vs. PNG files; FA8

This is the last week of vocab words, and to start off the week we are going to begin with a video that helps to explain the difference between a .jpg and a .gif .  If you are responsible for vocab words for this week those need to be defined on the Wiki spaces page by Tuesday (that's tomorrow) night!

Vocab quiz #9; finish Alice project

We will take a few minutes at the beginning of the hour to review for quiz #9 over the multimedia and graphics vocab list.

After the quiz you will have time to complete the Alice project - the Fish Fairy assignment - that we started yesterday (the instructions are still on yesterday's blog post).  

If you are done with everything, here are a couple of opportunities to be creative on your own:

http://www.befunky.com

http://stripgenerator.com

http://freerice.com/#/english-vocabulary/1371

Fish Fairy tutorial in Alice; finish FA7

Today you need to finish FA7 and get it submitted to me.  If you are not done it should be completed quickly.

After completing the formatting activity you will need to work on the Alice project below.  This will further your understanding of the Alice program and its capabilites.

I have 2 reminders for you - don't forget that there is a vocab quiz tomorrow, and you need to start thinking about what you are going to do for your podcast, and when you are going to get it done.  I've already had one person turn their podcast in (good job!!).

Lastly, we are exactly 2 weeks away from the end of the semester…if you are missing any assignments you need to start thinking about how you can get those done and submitted for credit.

Beginning Fish Fairy tutorial

Finish FA7; WAV files

This video will explain what a WAV file is.

After viewing the video on WAV files we will continue to work on FA7 - numbered and bulleted lists in Word.  We started working on this yesterday as a class - today you will work on your own WITH your speed skin on your keyboard.  The instructions are embedded below.

Activity 7 -


Don't forget that tonight is the last night that you can post a definition to the wiki spaces page for this week's vocab list (list #9 - Multimedia/Graphics).  Also, if you have vocab words for next week it would be a good time to get them done as soon as possible (tonight, for example).

Streaming video; Creating a podcast

After watching the above video on what streaming video is, I will be showing you how you will be creating your podcast.

The instructions for completing the podcast are as follows:

1. You will use the Vocaroo website to create your podcast, and you will need to make sure that the computer you use has a functioning microphone (all of the computers here at school in the labs and the library have functioning microphones).  
2. The podcast will be you reciting a famous historical speech.  You can choose any speech you want from one of the 3 following websites:
1. Famous quotes
2. American Rhetoric
3. History Place Speeches
3. The podcast ONLY needs to be 1 minute in length; therefore, depending on the speech you choose, you may not have to read the entire speech.
4. After creating the podcast you will embed your podcast on your blog (you will need to give it a proper title).  To do that, click on "HTML Code" at the bottom of the yellow box when you are done with your podcast (shown below).  Copy that information (the HTML code), and then you need to open your blog and create a new post.  In the new post you must click on the "HTML" button BEFORE! you paste the HTML code from Vocaroo!  Once you have this completed you can publish your podcast.

 The podcast will need to be completed by the day before the last day of school - right now that day is Wednesday, December 18.  If we have a snow day between now and then the due date will be moved back one day.





After going through that we will start working on FA 7.  This will be a to-do list that you will create using numbered and bulleted lists.  These look like outlines and are fairly easy to create and work with once you know what you need to do.

Welcome back!

Welcome back!  I hope everyone enjoyed a full week of Thanksgiving break…hopefully your batteries are fully recharged and you are ready for the homestretch!  We only have 3 weeks left until the end of the semester, but there is much to accomplish, starting with what you are going to be doing today.

Today we are going to enter a blogpost on your blog.  I want you to write at least 2 paragraphs about what your Thanksgiving consisted of, and what you are thankful for.  Spelling and grammar do count (this will be a graded assignment), so it might be useful for some of you to type your paragraphs in Word first (so you can do a spell and grammar check) and then copy and paste it into a new blogpost on your blog.  Once you have published your 2 paragraphs you will need to email me a link to your blog - remember when you are sending an email that you need to include the 5 parts to an email (email address, subject line, greeting, body, and signature).

When you complete this assignment in class today you will have the rest of the hour to either complete missing work, or if you have no missing work you may go to the practice websites and practice keying (since I'm sure that you haven't practiced in almost 10 days).

REMEMBER - SPEED SKINS ON YOUR KEYBOARD!

We do have a vocabulary quiz this week, so those of you with vocab words to define need to get that done no later than Wednesday night of this week.