Vocab Quiz #4; Internet Safety

You will get a few minutes at the beginning of the hour to review for the vocab quiz.  Do not go to Classmarker until I say it is ok to do so.

Again...once you complete your quiz get with your partner and keep creating videos!

Vocabulary; Internet Safety

After watching the video on some of the vocabulary words, please continue working on your Internet Safety project.

One caution I would highlight - we seem to be having issues with students who are using Chrome.  Usually what happens is there is a window that pops up asking you to allow or deny something regarding GoAnimate!...and then you are unable to choose either (in other words your computer basically locks up).  So, I highly recommend that you choose to use either Firefox or Safari in order to avoid that happening.  When this does happen you will not be able to save your information - I'm sure you'd hate to do 30 minutes of work only to have it not save because this window pops up.

Internet Safety project - continues!

We are still working on our Internet Safety project.  Since I haven't said anything about it in a while, please make sure to check the rubric at the bottom of the Internet Safety page on the blog to remind yourself what you need to accomplish.  Also, keep in mind the theme of "Would a 3rd grader understand what you are creating?"  In other words, make it simple.

Vocab definitions due! Internet Safety project

For those who have vocab definitions due please remember that your definitions needs to be posted to the Wikispaces webpage by tonight!

We will be working on our Internet Safety project during class today.  I have new login information for you - please be sure to write this information down!!  You will have to start over with a new video, but you should be ok because you would have only had a maximum of 30 seconds from your last video.

Continue Internet Safety project; vocab definitions due by tomorrow (week #4)

We will continue working on the Internet Safety project today.  You should be gathering information and forming what you gather into a cohesive movie.  If you have questions about Go Animate! I will do my best to answer your questions.

This is a vocabulary week - definitions are due on the Wikispaces page by tomorrow night.  This week's theme is Software.

Crossword Puzzle due; Internet safety

Please hand in your crossword puzzle to the gray tray on my desk.  You will need to make sure your name is on the handout!

Today you will use the hour to work with your partner(s) on your Internet Safety project.  If you haven't created an account at GoAnimate! you may want to get that done ASAP.  

As you are creating your movies/videos, here is a suggestion to help you simplify what you create:  list the topic you are going to cover, next explain what the topic is, then provide as many details as you can about the Internet safety topic, and if you haven't already provided details on how a person can avoid having that happen to them.  

There has been a change to the vocab lists - I found out yesterday that the week of ISAT is the week of March 10-14.  Originally the ISAT testing was scheduled for the week before, and when the vocab weeks were setup the week of March 10-14 was a vocab week while March 3-7 was not a vocab week.  We will now have to switch those weeks - for those of you who were originally responsible for week 5 vocab words you are still responsible for the same words, it's just that you now have one less week to complete your definitions.  If you had followed my advice early in the semester and entered your definitions for all of the weeks as early as possible you have nothing to worry about.  If, however, you have not posted your definitions for week 5 you will need to have them posted by Tuesday, Mar. 4th.

Internet Safety and passwords

Today we will be covering passwords.  Below are 4 different websites that offer the ability to help you generate a password for a website.  Having unique passwords on the various websites you have usernames for will be very valuable in the future.  Right now you probably don't have a bunch of websites that you have a username with that protects your private information...but you will in the future, and using different passwords on those websites will be crucial for your Internet Safety, and for your financial safety as well.  Imagine someone who has the same password for their checking account, savings account, retirement account, cell phone provider, cable provider, etc. - if a person were to figure out what their ONE password is they would really be able to make that person's life completely miserable!

Here are the four websites:

Norton Password Generator
Random Password Generator
New Password Generator
Password Bird

After looking at these websites we will begin looking at Go Animate!  This will be the website we use to create your Internet Safety video.  The website has some pretty cool characteristics that we will go over...my guess is by the time you get done creating your video you will be much better at using the website than I am.

You and your partner will need to create a username and password.  You will be solely responsible for remembering what that information is - I am not going to ask what your username and passwords are so make sure to keep them written down in your Google Doc that houses your passwords.

There are some restrictions with the website, the most notable of which (at least for our cause) is that you only are allowed 2 mins per video.  To further restrict our goal of creating an Internet Safety video in which you cover 4 topics, you can only have one action and one character talking per scene. I would recommend thinking about creating 2 videos where you use each video to talk about 2 of your topics (this is not a requirement, but after looking at the following instructions you may find that creating 2 videos will make your job easier).

As for your video, you will want to keep the following in mind as you create your video:  would a 3rd grader be able to understand your video?  Do you explain your topic in easy to understand terms (terms that a 3rd grader would understand)?  Do you provide a lot of details so that a 3rd grader could watch your video and then NOT have any questions afterwards?  If you can keep those things in mind as you create your video you will go a long way towards solving the first two criteria of your grade (Clarity of Presentation and Depth of Understanding).

Start Internet Safety Project

Today we will begin working on the Internet Safety project.  You will be working with a partner on this project, so we are going to discuss how you can make sure that you both have access to the same information using your Google Drive and documents.

Once we complete that we will take a look at the Internet Safety page on the blog.  Here you will find all the information you will need for this project.  You are welcome to do your own search outside of what you find on the blog, but my research has shown me that what is listed here is plenty to help you cover what you will be doing with the project.

You and your partner will need to decide on 4 areas of Internet Safety to present on.  You can choose among these areas to research:

IDENTITY THEFT
PASSWORDS AND PASSWORD PROTECTION
SOCIAL NETWORKING AND USING SELF-CONTROL
RELIABILITY OF INFORMATION FOUND ON WEBSITES
CYBERBULLYING AND/OR HARASSMENT
ACCESSING INAPPROPRIATE WEBSITES (WHAT TO DO)
EMAIL AND/OR PHISHING AND/OR SPAM (PITFALLS AND HOW TO AVOID)

If the Internet Safety page has a link to a website that no longer works, or takes you to a website that doesn't have anything to do with Internet Safety please let me know so I can fix it (or delete it, depending on the situation).

Crossword Puzzle; Learn apostrophe ('), hyphen (-), and quotation marks (")

Today you will be receiving a crossword puzzle that will be due this Friday.  This crossword puzzle contains vocab words from vocab lists 1 through 3.  This is a homework assignment - you will not receive class time to complete this.  Additionally, you are welcome to turn this in anytime before Friday, but it must be turned in no later than Friday to earn full credit.

Today we are going to learn 3 new symbols on the keyboard, but you'll only be learning 2 new keys.  The apostrophe (R4), the hyphen (R4), and the quotation marks (Left Shift + R4) are the new symbols.  As you will notice from above, you also will be using your right little finger on all three of these symbols - it's going to get a workout today!

Just to give you an idea of where we are going - tomorrow we are going to start our Internet Safety unit.  When we work on Internet Safety you will be working on a website to create a short video.  The website will require a username and password.

After the Internet Safety project we will head back to learning the ten numbers across the top of the keyboard and the symbols on the numbers.  That should get us pretty close to the end of the first 9 weeks of second semester.

Vocab quiz #3; Caps Lock key, Question Mark key, and Tab key

Today we will review at the beginning of the hour for vocab quiz #3.

After the quiz, if you did not finish yesterday's assignment you need to complete it and send it to me.

If you are done with both please open Microsoft Word and turn to page 17.  You'll need to type lines 1-3 on 8B using the Caps Lock key (L4) once; after you complete those lines you need to complete lines 4-6 once on 8B - here you will learn the question mark key (Left Shift + R4).

Once you have completed the above lines go to 8C and complete each of those lines once.  In this section you will learn to use the TAB key (L4) - a TAB allows you to move your cursor to a preset position on the line of writing.  For you, as you will see when you type these lines, the preset position is 1/2" from the left margin.

After completing all of these lines raise your hand and I will come and check your work.  Then you may go to any of the practice sites listed on the Website Resources page of the blog.  Make sure to work with your speed skin on your keyboard for the entire hour!

Formatting Activity 1

Today we are going to complete our first formatting activity.  This should be an easy way for everyone to help their grade - this formatting activity (or FA as I like to abbreviate them) will ask you to do some simple formatting in Microsoft Word, such as change your font, font size, and highlighting text.  Unfortunately, I can't be here today so I am going to leave you with the following video that should help guide you with what you need to accomplish.

In addition to completing the formatting activity you will need to attach the file you create (the assignment) to an email.  DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, ATTACH A GOOGLE DOC FILE TO YOUR EMAIL AND SEND IT TO ME!!! If you go to the How To page on the blog there is a video labeled "Attach a File to Gmail" that you need to watch to learn how to attach your desktop file to your email so you can send it to me.

Your complete attention will be directed at the video while it is playing - anyone caught working on the assignment before the video is completed will lose 10% of the value of the assignment (or in this case 1.5 pts since the assignment will be worth 14 pts).

In addition to watching the video, remember that there is a vocab quiz tomorrow - please prepare accordingly.  The video is embedded next; below the video are the instructions to FA1.  IT IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT THAT YOU FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS TO ALL OF THE FORMATTING ACTIVITIES IN ORDER, AND COMPLETELY READ EACH INSTRUCTION BEFORE WORKING TO COMPLETE THE INSTRUCTION!! 

If, and when, you get done with FA1 and you have sent me the email with your attached document you will need to go to the practice websites on the blog.  You may practice using any of the lessons or games, but the speed skin must stay on your keyboard.





Below are the instructions to FA1



FA1.pdf

Learn Z and colon; practice websites

Today we are going to tackle the last letter of the alphabet...and also the last letter that we need to learn - the Z (L4).  Additionally, we will also learn the colon (Shift + R4).

After learning these two keys we will reward ourselves for our hard work on learning all of the keys to the letters of the alphabet by using the practice websites on the blog.

Windows vocab words; Learn Q and comma

At the beginning of class today we are going to discuss a few of the vocab words.  Some of these are easily confused so I want to make sure that we understand the differences between them before Friday's quiz.  We will talk about the following:  toolbar, menu bar, drop-down menu, keyboard shortcut, scroll bar, and function keys.

Additionally we will be learning the Q (L4) and the comma (R2).

Week 3 vocab; learn P and V

This is another week with vocabulary, so those people who are responsible for posting definitions on the Wiki spaces website should have that done by Tuesday night.  Again, it is completely realistic to post definitions for all of your words for the rest of the semester, and if you want to get all of yours done tonight that would be perfectly ok.  You don't have to wait until the week your definitions are due to post the definitions - you can post them early.

We will have another week of technique grades this week as well - continue to concentrate on the little things as this will have a lasting impact on how well you key and how fast you improve.  I have been very pleased with Congo's work on technique - an overwhelming majority of you do a fantastic job of listening and doing what is asked (in terms of technique) and it is paying off!

Today we are going to learn the P (R4) and the V (L1).  After these two letters we are left with only the Z and the Q (in terms of letters) to learn.

Vocab quiz #2; Learn M and X

Today we have our second vocab quiz.  Just like last week we will take the first few minutes to review and then we will be heading to Classmarker to complete the quiz.  DO NOT GO TO CLASSMARKER UNTIL I GIVE YOU THE OK!

After completing the quiz we will be learning the M (R1) and the X (L3).

GPS and router video; blind assignment; Learn M and X

We are going to start with watching two videos - one explains the GPS and the other explains what a router is (you should remember me talking a little bit about a router from last week).

Next is the router video:

View What Is an Internet Router? on Howcast

We will take a few minutes to warm up for the blind assignment.  Today's process will be slightly different than what we did in class on Tuesday, and the difference is just that we are printing out today (which we didn't do on Tuesday).  Therefore, when we get done I will explain what I want you to do. 

The rules for this assignment are as follows:  if you pull your document back on your screen you will lose .5 pts; any misspelled word loses you .5 pts; every time you forget to hit return between words will  reduce your score by .5 pts; and if you take your speed skin off while we are working on this you will lose .5 pts every time you are caught.

After completing all of this we will also learn two new keys - the M (R1) and the X (L3).

Missing assignments; vocab definitions due tonight; practice blind assignment

If you look at the west wall (that's the wall opposite the dry erase board) you will see a printout of missing assignments by class.  I try to keep this updated every week - if you have missing assignments your name, along with the assignment, will be listed here.  This is the same information that can be found on Skyward, so it should not be a surprise.  I just like to make sure that you are able to view what you are missing.

If you have a missing assignment that you turn in or complete you may want to go to your class list and cross off your name and the assignment so you are not confused about what is missing.

Today's reminder - if you have vocab definitions for week 2 you need to make sure that you get those definitions completed and posted to the wikispaces page by tonight.  Speaking of Wikispaces - I've already been contacted by several people to help me help them remember their Wikispaces username.  This is exactly the reason I spent yesterday showing you how to setup a Google Doc file that holds your usernames and passwords to websites - this is now your responsibility.  Creating the file with that information will go a long way towards helping you keep track of that information.

Today we are going to do a little exercise I call blind assignment.  We will warm up first, and then I'll explain how this works.  Today's exercise will be practice, but we will be doing the same thing on Thursday for a grade.  Let's get to it!

Google Docs password file; Learn B and Y

We are now starting to have several websites that require usernames and passwords, and I feel it is best to create a Google Doc that will house that information so that you don't have to worry about trying to remember what goes where.  Therefore, we are going to create a Google Doc today that will store that important information (for the websites we have) so that you don't have to try to remember what username and password goes with what site.  You should have information for Classmarker and Wikispaces - we'll be adding to that list as we continue throughout the semester (and you're certainly welcome to include any other websites that you want that require usernames and passwords).

After completing the password file in Google we will warm up by typing lines 1-10 on 5C, page 11.  Then we will learn 2 new keys - the B (L1) and the Y (R1).