HTML & IP address; journal page on your blog;

I want to cover 2 different words that are on the vocab list for this week.  First, let's look at HTML.    Did you know you can actually see the HTML that is used to create each and every webpage on the Internet?  If you are using Safari, you can go to VIEW > VIEW SOURCE and you will see the HTML that is used to write the webpage you are on.  In Firefox, you will need to go to TOOLS > WEB DEVELOPER > PAGE SOURCE.  Everything you see when you do this is what is written (usually using a program like Adobe Dreamweaver) to create webpages.  You can see that the amount of HTML used is pretty extensive and would probably take someone quite a bit of time to create it.

The other vocab word for this week that I want to cover is IP address.  IP stands for Internet Protocol (remember the word Protocol - it means "rules").  Let's go to this web site:  What is my IP address?
This will explain in better detail what your IP address is.

The next thing you need to do today is send me a link to the journal page on your blog.  You will need to open your Gmail and send me an email that contains the URL to your journal page on your blog.  The address to your journal page will be as follows:

*yourblogname*.blogspot.com/p/journal.html

In the above URL, "*yourblogname*" refers to whatever web address you decided to use for your blog.  Send this URL to me as the body of your message in your email.  Make sure that you include everything in the email that you need to include - if you don't you will lose points.  You should have journals from the following weeks:

Week of Sept 17

Week of Sept 24

Week of Oct. 1

Week of Oct. 15

Week of Oct. 22

Week of Oct. 29

If you do not have one (or more) of these weeks on your Journal page on your blog you can go back to the class blog and find out what we did that week, then post your reflection on your journal page.

After completing these things you will be given the rest of the hour to work on finishing FA5 if you did not get that done on Friday.  Remember, when you get this done it needs to be printed out, signed, and then handed in.  The instructions can be found on Thursday's (Nov. 1st) blogpost.

If you are all done and you are not missing any assignments (see the board), then you can post your definitions to the wiki if you are responsible for defining a word or words this week.

If you have all of the above done, I would like you to go to Type Racer.  I would like you to compete against others to see how you do.  After doing at least 3 races against other people, you can compete against others in the class by going back to the beginning page and clicking on "Race Your Friends" and then sending them the link via email.

There will be people in many different places today on the computer - you will be expected to stay on task and be where you are supposed to be without goofing around.

YOU NEED TO WORK WITH YOUR SPEED SKIN ON YOUR KEYBOARD!

Vocab quiz #3; Journaling on blog

We will take a few minutes to review...then we will take the vocab quiz.  DO NOT GO TO CLASSMARKER UNTIL YOU ARE TOLD TO DO SO!

When you complete the quiz, I want you to go to your blog and create a new PAGE on your blog.  To do that, follow these steps:

1. In the top right of the webpage, click on "Design"
2. On the next page, click on "Pages" on the left side (see image below)

3. Click on the "New Page" button towards the top of the next page, and then select "Blank page"
4. Give the page the title "Journal"
5. At the top of this new blog post, type in "Week of Sept. 17"; hit return twice

One you have entered all of this information, your objective is to write a paragraph about what you have learned in class this week (this is called a reflection post because you are reflecting back on everything we have done in class for the week).  You may include your thoughts about what you liked, what you didn't like, things you learned, etc.  If you have questions about where you think we are headed - include them as well.  Ultimately you should have a paragraph that you can go back to later (like the end of the semester) and read what you have written and remember what transpired this week.

After completing your reflection post on your Journal page, you may go to the following website and practice: 

 FREE ONLINE TYPING GAMES

FREE TYPING GAMES

You will need to practice with the speedskins on your keyboard...so if you want to play games you will  need to keep that in mind.

Vocab quiz; journal reflection (insert image); finish FA6

You will be given several minutes to review for the vocab quiz.  DO NOT GO TO CLASSMARKER UNTIL I ASK YOU TO!

(If you have not bookmarked Classmarker, you may want to do so when you get to the webpage; also, since you are accessing Classmarker today from a different computer you may have to type in all of your login information)

After completing the vocab quiz, write your reflection in your blog on your Journal page.  Refer back to this week's blogposts if you need a refresher on what we have accomplished.  However, we are going to add this nugget...you must post to your blog with an image that represents the blogpost.

Here is how that is done:

1. Go to Google, find a picture that you want to include.  Then click on the image - it will open in a new page.  Ctrl+click on the image, then choose Save Image As..  Save the image to your computer (your Computer Applications folder would be a good place) so you will remember where it's at.
2. Next, go to your blog and edit your Journal entry for this week.  Click on the "Insert image" icon (it looks like this:  )
3. Click on "Choose Files"
4. Then you need to go to wherever you saved your picture on your computer and double click on it.
5. Then click on "Add selected" in the bottom right hand corner.

After your image has been inserted, you can change the size and the location of the image.

After completing the blogpost on your Journal page, if you have not yet completed FA6 from yesterday it needs to be finished today and handed in.  Please do that now if you are not done.

If all of this is done and you have a missing assignment - complete it now.  For example, if you did not finish the Logo quiz earlier in the week then get it done now (it should be completed no later than today).

If you are all caught up, then you can go to the practice websites on the website resources page on the class blog.  I read online yesterday that people with good keyboarding skills are likely to earn an average of $10-$15 more per hour than those who do not have good skills - that means that by taking this class and working to improve your keyboarding skills you are making good money (even though you are not seeing any of that money right now).  I didn't do any research anywhere else on the Internet to see if this is true, so it may not be, but if it is that is a great reason to work hard to do well in here!

Journal; Logo procedures

To start with, please make sure that you hand in your crossword puzzle.  When you hand it in please make sure that you have your name on the top of the paper!

Next, I need you to submit your journal to me.  Here is the process you'll need to follow to do this:

1. Open your blog and go to your journal page
2. Copy your journal page URL (it should look like this - "http://yourblogaddress.blogspot.com/p/journal.html")
3. Open up Gmail and send me an email with a the above link to my school email address.  Remember, you need to have a subject line, and you should also include your name at the end of your email.

In Logo, procedures are "mini-programs" (my term, not something that Logo uses) that you can create by defining a set of instructions for Logo to follow.  These procedures need to be defined using a word that is NOT a command that Logo already "knows".  The advantage to creating and using procedures is that once you define (or create) the procedure all you need to do is "call" (this is programming speak which means that you want Logo to run the "mini-program") the procedure to make it run.

For example, I could create a procedure to draw a square (I would probably call it "Square"), and then every time within the Logo instructions I wanted to have Logo draw a square I would just simply need to type in 'Square'.  Once defined, the procedure is available to use again as long as you save your file that you are working on (the extension for Logo files is .lg).  If you are going to save please make sure to do so in your account.

At this point you should see how we are progressing through learning how to program.  We started with simple instructions (forward, back, right, left), and now have moved to creating a procedure that we can use over and over to accomplish a Logo "task".

Just as with the REPEAT command, there is a specific way that you have to tell Logo that you are creating a procedure.  First, you enter the word "to" and then label the procedure with a name; next you provide the instructions to create the procedure; and finally you enter the word "end" so that Logo knows you are done.  In Logo it would look like this:

? to square

>repeat 4 [fd 100 rt 90]

>end

Once I have defined what I want a square to be, then all I need to do the next time I want Logo to draw a square is simply enter the word square.  Go ahead - try it!