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.

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.

Formatting Activity 6

Today's formatting activity has you learning how to insert symbols into your document.  Symbols can be used for a variety of reasons - to represent currencies, arrows, greek letters of the alphabet, and other symbols such as a trademark.

Also, this is the only formatting activity that doesn't get embedded on the blog.  You will have a handout that you are given and will need to type the handout in order to complete the formatting activity.  

There are a couple of reminders for today...they are as follows:

1. Vocab definitions need to be posted to the wiki page by tonight.  
2. You still have your podcast that needs to be completed.  You have plenty of time to get this done (it is due Friday May 10th - almost 3 weeks from now).  However, remember that you are not able to use class time to complete this project so plan accordingly.  I already have had a couple of people submit their podcast (super job to those who completed theirs already!).  Below is the podcast rubric (it is worth 10 points).

Week 9 vocab (Multimedia/Graphics #1); podcasting; completing work

One of the vocab words for this week is PODCAST.  You will be creating a podcast using the website called VOCAROO.  I will be showing you today how you can create a very simple podcast; you will be doing this on your own OUTSIDE OF CLASS TIME!!! This is due on Friday, May 10 - that's 3 weeks from now to give you plenty of time to complete this project.  However, I highly recommend that you get this done as soon as you can...if you wait until later you will forget and/or not get it done.

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.
   
5. Once your podcast has been embedded on your blog you will need to send me an email with a link to your blog so I can listen to and grade your podcast.  Please make sure that you include a proper subject line for the email.

For today work on whatever needs to get done (yes that includes vocabulary definitions - if you want to post your definitions to the wiki page you can do that today).  If you have nothing to work on for me you either need a book to read or homework from another class to work on - you will be busy with one of these 2 things the entire hour.

WEEK OF DEC. 17TH

This is the last week of school, and I am going to give you directions today on what you need to accomplish this week.  Most of this you already know, but some of it will be new (we will in fact have one more Formatting Activity and we will cover what needs to be done for that today in class).  Here are the activities you need to complete this week:

1. Formatting Activity 15 (embedded below)
2. Send me an email with a link to the journal page on your blog.  You should have 3 weeks of journal reflections that have images embedded on them (Nov. 26, Dec. 3rd, and Dec. 10th). 
3. There is a crossword puzzle for this week - it is due on Thursday.
4. Your podcast is also due Thursday - make sure you email it to me ASAP.
5. Any missing assignments should be completed and submitted to me as per the instructions for that particular assignment.
6. If you are completed with everything you are to work in Alice.  If you complete the most recent set of instructions I can give you additional problems to solve in Alice.

FA15 -

Lastly, in light of the recent tragedy in Connecticut I am including the link below in case you feel so compelled to help the families affected by what has happened.  Please do this on your own time (in other words at home), but helping others in small ways is a tremendous way to demonstrate giving to others during the Christmas season.

Sandy Hook help

Flash animation (2 videos); Finish FA10; podcast reminder

*ALL VOCAB WORDS SHOULD BE DEFINED BY TONIGHT ON YOUR WIKISPACES PAGE!  IF YOU NEED TO COME IN DURING LUNCH RECESS OR STAY AFTER SCHOOL PLEASE DO THAT TO GET IT DONE.

**DON'T FORGET TO COMPLETE YOUR PODCAST!  YOU'VE STILL GOT PLENTY OF TIME.  REMEMBER - COMPLETE THE PODCAST AT VOCAROO, EMBED IT ON YOUR BLOG, THEN SEND ME A LINK TO YOUR BLOG SO I CAN LISTEN TO IT ON YOUR BLOG.

These two videos explain what Flash animation is.  You have seen Flash (sometimes called Flash animation) in action if you've ever been on the Internet - you just didn't know you were seeing it.  The first video explains what Flash is, then the second video shows how a person can create a simple animation using Flash software.

After watching the videos we will be completing FA10.  If you complete FA10 during class and you have missing assignment, you should work to complete anything that is missing.  If you are all caught up you can begin working on the following Alice instructional unit:

Fish Fairy World

Podcast reminder; JPG/GIF; FA10

IF YOU HAVEN'T YET COMPLETED YOUR PODCAST YOU ARE DOWN TO 8 SCHOOL DAYS TO GETTING THAT COMPLETED!  I WILL BE POSTING IT IN THE GRADEBOOK ON SKYWARD TODAY!

After watching the video above we will be working on FA10.  This formatting activity has you entering Clip Art images into a document.  Since we have already learned to insert images into a document when we did our SLC portfolio covers, this should largely be a quick review on how to insert an image into a document (with a new wrinkle or two).

In addition to inserting ClipArt images into a Word document I will also be showing you how you can insert ClipArt by downloading them from the Internet.  ClipArt images are now a generic term for graphic files; they used to be a collection of cartoon-like images that came on a separate CD when you purchased a program called WordPerfect (a word processing program popular in the late 1980's and early 1990's).


FA10 -

Multimedia vocab list; streaming video; podcast; keypad

The new list of vocab words has been posted on the wikispaces page.  This is week #9 - MULTIMEDIA/GRAPHICS #1.  All of these words are related to either multimedia and/or graphics.  Please have your definitions posted by Tuesday night.

Here is our first look at one of the vocab words for this week (Streaming Video):

One of the vocab words for this week is PODCAST.  You will be creating a podcast using the website  called VOCAROO.  I will be showing you today how you can create a very simple podcast; you will be doing this on your own OUTSIDE OF CLASS TIME!!! You will have the rest of the semester to complete this project.  However, I highly recommend that you get this done as soon as you can...if you wait until later you will forget and/or not get it done.

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.  
5. Once your podcast has been embedded on your blog you will need to send me an email with a link to your blog so I can listen and grade your podcast.

The last thing we are going to do today is start learning the keypad.  We will use Excel when we are learning the keypad.

PODCAST DUE TODAY! FA12

Your podcast is due today!!  If you still haven't completed it, Vocaroo is the website you need to go to when you create your podcast.

The Formatting Activity and the corresponding directions are on yesterday's blogpost.  I can't emphasize enough that you need to follow the directions very carefully when completing this formatting activity.  Make sure you go step by step!

Have you completed your definitions on Wikispaces?  If not, get that done as soon as possible - your definitions should be on the Wikispaces page by the end of the day on Monday.

Also, your Edmodo posts are due next Wednesday - do you have them completed?

If you are done with the formatting activity, work on the 3 dragon tutorials in Alice (links are below):

Dragon tutorial Part 1
Dragon Tutorial Part 2
Dragon Tutorial Part 3

Podcast; Formatting Activity 12

Image by Cool Text: Logo and Button Generator - Create Your Own Logo

If you have not yet posted your definitions to the wikispaces page you need to get that done by Monday of next week.  If you have not yet been told what your words are then you need to get in touch with your leader to find out.

After completing FA11 (Formatting in Excel), you need to complete the following Formatting Activity 12, which is also completed using Excel.  However, unlike FA11, this formatting activity requires you to insert functions and do quite a bit more in terms of formatting.  We will review some of the formatting things that we have already covered in Excel at the beginning of the hour before starting on FA12.



Activity 12 -

Edmodo; Excel & Formatting Activity 11

Logo Design by FlamingText.com

Our last Edmodo assignment is now on Edmodo!! I know it's been a few weeks since we used Edmodo, but we have this last discussion to complete. The discussion is as follows:

The year is 2032 (that's 20 years from now)...think of some sort of technology that you frequently use - how has that current technology changed?  Or what new technology, that we don't have now, is a part of our everyday life?  Post your response with an original answer before responding to at least 2 of your classmates.

Today, we're going to find out what you have learned in Excel. The next Formatting Activity (FA11), will challenge you to format an Excel worksheet. This should be fairly easy to complete - most of this is formatting that is similar to Word. The assignment is embedded below.



FA11 -






If you complete FA11 and you get your Edmodo post completed you can work on the following Alice tutorials that were posted on the blog last Friday (you may have already started these):


Dragon tutorial Part 1
Dragon Tutorial Part 2
Dragon Tutorial Part 3

Formatting in Excel

PODCAST IS DUE FRIDAY!


We will continue our work in Excel today by working with the file that we were working on yesterday.

Here is an additional Excel problem that you can work on by yourself to see if you can accomplish a few simple formatting steps in Excel.


stocks

Excel introduction; Podcast

Remember that your podcast is due this Friday!  In order to access the website that you use to create your podcast, go to Vocaroo.  The instructions on how to create a podcast are located on the blogpost from Tuesday, April 24th.

Today we will begin learning how to use Excel.  As I will talk about in class, I think Excel is one of the most dynamic software programs that an individual can use.  There are so many things that you can do with Excel that makes it a fantastic program to use - unfortunately we are only going to be scratching the surface of it's capabilities with what we cover in the next 2 weeks.

In Excel we will try to cover the following today:  formatting cells (font style, font size, bold, italics, etc.), adding a border around cells, changing the column width, changing the row height, merge and center information across a series of cells, wrapping text on 2 lines, inserting a function (i.e. adding a column), showing formulas (CTRL + ~), and the printing process (this is very different from printing in Word).

Oh, and by the way, there is no Vocab list this week.  Our final vocab list will be next week.  That means that if you are defining words for list #10 there is no reason that shouldn't be done by next Monday.  You've got the entire week to get that completed - leaders should contact their group members today to let them know what words they are to define!

Vocab quiz #9; preparing for Excel next week; Alice

HAVE YOU COMPLETED YOUR PODCAST YET?  For most of you the answer is no.  I think I have, at this point, 3 people who have completed their podcast.  Plan accordingly in getting this done by next Friday - DON'T WAIT UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE!!!

You will be given a few minutes at the beginning of the hour to review for the quiz.

Once we have taken the quiz, post your reflection on your blog - again, make sure to include an image with this week's reflection.

Once you have completed that, enter the following information into Excel.  Type the information in the correct cells as you see here - if your document does not look exactly like it does here that is ok - we will be editing it on Monday and will iron out those problems.  We are not going to use this today, but I want you to have it in an Excel document so we can begin working in Excel next week.  Once you enter this into Excel save it!!!

Excel practice


After completing the information in Excel, you may begin working on this series of Alice tutorials.  These are not "due" at any time - these are for your benefit in learning to use Alice.

Dragon tutorial Part 1
Dragon Tutorial Part 2
Dragon Tutorial Part 3

Complete FA9; podcasting assignment

Today you will be given time to complete FA9 - make sure that you follow the instructions from yesterday's blog.  Today is a shortened hour due to Connections and getting out an hour early, so make sure to plan accordingly.

When you get done, you need to grab the green handout and type it in Excel using the keypad.

If you haven't completed your vocab definitions on Wikispaces and this is your week, you need to get this done before school starts tomorrow.

The following information explains how to create a podcast using Vocaroo.  Once you get to the website you are going to click on the button that says "Click to Record".

Next, you're going to see a window that pops up and asks to have permission to your microphone - choose "Allow".  You will then immediately be able to record your podcast - when you are done, click on "Click to Stop".

Once you have clicked on that you will see some information that comes up below (shown here):

You need to copy the HTML code by first clicking in the bar where you see "<object width=...."so that it is highlighted.  Once you have it copied, you can now go to your blog to "embed" this html code into a new post.Next, open your blog and start a new post.  Click on "Edit HTML" in the top, left corner, as shown here:

Then paste your copied code into the message area of your new post.  Publish your post.  You should now have a Vocaroo icon on your blog that you can click on to start listening to your podcast!Once you have your podcast up and running, send me an email with a link to your blog so I can hear your podcast.  This will be graded!Here are a few websites you can use to help you decide on a speech that you can do for your podcast - you must use one of the speeches on one of these websites: http://www.famousquotes.me.uk/speeches/presidential-speeches/index.htmhttp://www.americanrhetoric.com/top100speechesall.htmlhttp://www.historyplace.com/speeches/previous.htm
Your podcast will be due by next Friday, May 4.  It can be sent after school on that day, but it is due that day.  If you need time to come in here at school to complete it then please make arrangements to do so!

Catch-up day

This is a video that should help you to understand what Java (a programming language) is:

This video explains Flash - an animation software.



After watching this video you should have a much better idea of what Flash animation software can do.



Reminder:  your podcast is due today!  

Please make sure to post it on your blog then send me an email with a link to your blog.  You may want to listen to the podcast first before you copy the HTML code and paste it into your blog to make sure that it sounds ok.

Also, if you are responsible for defining words on Wikispaces that has to be completed before you go to bed tonight.

For today, complete FA11 if you have not yet completed it and handed it in.

Otherwise, you will have time to work on the Alice project - the instructions are below.  Click here to get to the website that houses the rubric for this assignment.  Also, I think I originally said this project would be worth 24 points - that was incorrect; it will be worth 16 points.



Alice project #1 -

Vocab Quiz #9 (Multimedia); FA10

As usual, today at the beginning of the hour you will have a couple of minutes to review for the vocab quiz.  We will then go to Classmarker to take Vocab Quiz #9 on Multimedia and Graphics.

Once you have completed the vocab quiz you will want to start working on FA10.  This formatting activity requires you to insert Clipart into a Word document and resize it.  You will only be working with Clipart, but remember actual images (those you could take with a screenshot or with a digital camera) can be formatted and manipulated in the same manner as the Clipart images.  Please remember from yesterday that in order to move your Clipart image freely throughout your document you must go through the following series of steps while formatting your picture:

1. Click on the Layout tab
2. Choose your Wrapping style (usually either Square or Tight)
3. Click on the Advanced button at the bottom of the window
4. In the Advanced Layout window deselect the box under Options next to "Move object with text"
5. Click OK twice to exit

Formatting Activity 10 is due at the end of the hour today!!  This is a simple assignment and should not take you long to complete.

Activity 10 -

I am going to encourage each of you to check your Gmail - I have sent many of you emails regarding FA8, which was the Movie Plot Summary activity that you turned in on Monday of this week.  Many of you still have not yet handed this in, and several of you who did turn this in did not send me the correct information in your email.  You were supposed to send me a link to your blog AND the Word document you used to type in your movie summary.  

Next, check the Late Board in the classroom.  If you have missing work please get it handed in as soon as possible!  We only have 2.5 weeks left in the semester, and many of you have poor grades because you are not turning in assignments.  Having missing assignments is by far and away the biggest reason students do not do well in any class - if you turn your assignments in, even if they are late, your chances for good grades dramatically increases!

If you are done with everything, I'd like you to start working on this Alice tutorial:

http://www.cs.duke.edu/csed/alice/aliceInSchools/workshop08/tutorialTopics/tutorial1/methodsSlides.pdf

This will be in preparation for next week's graded Alice assignment.

As a reminder, your podcast is due next Wednesday.  The website to use is Vocaroo.  You need to plan accordingly - if you don't have a microphone on your computer at home you need to figure out the best time to come in to one of the computer labs (my room, 7th Grade Computer lab, or Library) to complete this assignment.  Your speech must obviously be school appropriate.

When you complete the assignment state your name first, then state the speech that you are giving.  You do not have to read the entire speech!  Reading about 1 minute of the speech will work great.  Here are a couple of websites that you can use to find the text to a speech, but you can use any website that has the text to a speech (if you find a different website on your own that is fine).
http://www.famousquotes.me.uk/speeches/presidential-speeches/index.htmhttp://www.americanrhetoric.com/top100speechesall.htmlhttp://www.historyplace.com/speeches/previous.htmhttp://www.famous-speeches-and-speech-topics.info/famous-short-speeches/

Have a great weekend!!

Creating a screenshot; Podcasting

For some reason we have too many people who are not doing their jobs when it comes to posting the definitions for the vocab words on the Wikispaces webpage.  This is an important part of the class, and when you don't do what you are asked to do it doesn't just affect you it affects everyone else in the class.  If you are responsible for defining 2-3 words you MUST get them done by Wednesday so everyone can use these to study.  This is what being part of a team is all about - you need to pull your weight and do your job so the team can be a success.  Screenshots -  this is the taking of a picture of what you have on your screen.  You can either take a screenshot (or what is sometimes also called a screen capture) of the entire screen (Command/Shift/3) or of what you select (Command/Shift/4). Inserting Clipart will be covered today in class - this is very similar to inserting objects so you should have no problems figuring this out.Today we are also going to cover how to create a podcast using Vocaroo.  Once you get to the website you are going to click on the button that says "Click to Record".  

Next, you're going to see a window that pops up and asks to have permission to your microphone - choose "Allow".  You will then immediately be able to record your podcast - when you are done, click on "Click to Stop".

Once you have clicked on that you will see some information that comes up below (shown here):

You need to copy the HTML code by first clicking in the bar where you see "<object width=...."so that it is highlighted.  Once you have it copied, you can now go to your blog to "embed" this html code into a new post.Next, open your blog and start a new post.  Click on "Edit HTML" in the top, right corner, as shown here:

Then paste your copied code into the message area of your new post.  Publish your post.  You should now have a Vocaroo icon on your blog that you can click on to start listening to your podcast!Once you have your podcast up and running, send me an email with a link to your blog so I can hear your podcast.  Here are a few websites you can use to help you decide on a speech that you can do for your podcast: http://www.famousquotes.me.uk/speeches/presidential-speeches/index.htmhttp://www.americanrhetoric.com/top100speechesall.htmlhttp://www.historyplace.com/speeches/previous.htm
Your podcast will be due by next Wednesday, December 7.  It can be sent after school on that day, but it is due that day.  If you need time to come in here at school to complete it then please make arrangements to do so!

Multimedia/graphics

The theme for most of the rest of the semester will involve multimedia and graphics.  In many ways, we've already incorporated much of multimedia and graphics into the class in a variety of ways.  However, over the course of the last couple of weeks we are going to dig even deeper and look at various other ways that we can use and incorporate multimedia and graphics.

To begin on that front we are going to watch a video today covering podcasting.  Here it is:


Podcasting in Plain English from leelefever on Vimeo

Today we are going to learn how to insert autoshapes, text boxes, and WordArt into Word, and then learn how to format those objects.  We are going to cover in class today the following aspects of formatting objects:

1. Changing the size of objects
1. using the mouse
2. using the format menu and popup window
2. Changing the color of objects
3. Adding border to objects
4. Inserting WordArt into Word
5. Formatting WordArt
6. Moving objects freely within Word

If you are responsible for completing the vocab list on Wikispaces this week this must be done by tomorrow - please get this done quickly!