Friday - June 1, 2012

Internet Moment:  Today we tried using some virtual piano websites as an example of an online music resource.  Students had a few minutes to play some music.

Start First Aid Posters:  This is the final 8th grade project in MS Publisher.  Students are to use all the skills they have learned in Publisher to create a series of three first aid posters that share a graphical theme that they created.  Information and pictures can be used from the internet but all resources must be correctly cited on each poster using the correct MLA Works Cited Format.  Students were instructed on how to use easybib.com to help them create their works cited.  This is a cross-curricular project so students may submit their finished first aid posters to their Health Teachers for extra credit.  Click here to enlarge the project description.

Technology Current Event Video - We watched a short TED presentation by Gary Kovacs, the CEO of the the Mozilla Corporation about how we are tracked when we are on the internet and a free plug-in for Firefox called Collusion that allows you to graphically see the tracking in real-time.  After the video students downloaded the Collusion software, we surfed the internet for a little while and we watched who was watching us online.

Gary Kovacs:  Tracking the Trackers

Friday - May 25, 2012

Internet Moment:  Students watched a presentation about how VOIP and webcams are combined to make video chatting possible. Streaming video from the internet was demonstrated and we watched live video from Cocoa Beach in Florida.  The increased use of security cameras was discussed and we also discussed privacy rights and exactly where people should not be video recorded.  We also visited EarthCam.com to view some online webcams from all around the world.

Finish Full Page Ad Project:  Students completed their rough draft, reviewed it with the teacher and then printed their final draft in full color.

Formal Interviewing Techniques Using Webcams:  Our students practiced formal interviewing techniques by Skyping with Mr. McCutcheon at Archie Stouffer Elementary School in Minden, Ontario, Canada.  We learned about what school is like for his students, when their summer vacation is, what their school day looks like and what the weather is like there.  Before the interview we talked about the differences between web chatting with friends and participating in a formal web conference. We also prepared questions in advance.

Technology Current Event Video:  At the end of class we watched a short video about job interview techniques using webcams.

Skype Interview Tips

 

Internet Moment:  Today students had an opportunity to tour major art museums all around the globe by visiting the Google Art Project.  This website offers virtual 3D tours of museums and high resolution images of the art work within.

Start Publisher Brochure Project:  Students take an existing brochure for computer class and recreate it in Publisher 2010 using a premade template as a starting point.   Students also practiced their typing by re-typing the text.  Click here to enlarge the project description.  We just started this project.

Technology Current Event:  Last year all students watched this TED Video about Sixth Sense Technology coming out of the MIT Media Lab.  As a follow up 8th graders watched this new video that features more of Pranav Mistry's ideas:

Pranav Mistry's Sixth-Sense & Microsoft's Productivity Future Vision
 

Tuesday - May 15, 2012

Internet Moment:  Today we explored Google Sketchup which is a great example of a free CAD program.  CAD, or computer aided design/drafting, has become very common across many fields and students should have some knowledge of what 3D designing looks and feels like on a computer.  Though it is available at school, Google Sketchup is a free download that students can download at home so they can continue to learn more about this important skill on their own.

Started Basic HTML:  Students learned about computer coding by creating a website in basic HTML (Hypertext Markup Language).  Students were also introduced to what a webinar is.  AnyMeeting.com was used to project the teacher's desktop to the student's screen and the use of webcams in  a webinar was also demonstrated.  Using Anymeeting.com also made it possible for Mrs. Gershman (the computer teacher at Holland Middle School) to visit our class and watch the lesson.  Students typed the HTML into notepad to create a simple webpage that included a background color, font color, fonts style, inserting pictures.  The use of hexadecimal numbers to create colors was also explained.  Finally, we experimented with adding free JavaScript from DynamicDrive.com.  Click here to enlarge the project description.

Technology Current Event Video:  We watched the first part a TED presentation by Salman Khan the creator of Khan Academy.  He spoke about his ideas for using online video resources like YouTube to teach all kinds of subjects online. 

Salman Khan: Lets use video to reinvent education
 

Wednesday - May 9, 2012

Internet Moment:  To give students some insight into what college is like they explored Open Courseware at MIT and the Open Courseware Consortium which includes colleges and universities all around the world.  After a brief presentation about college vocabulary (including different academic degrees, majors and what a syllabus is) student were given time to explore the websites.  This was also an opportunity for them to see what online instruction might look like.

Finish Publisher Font Guide:  All students completed this project, printed it and turned it in.

Technology Current Event Video:  To finish class today we watched a video from TED about how a CAPTCHA works and what they're planning on using CAPTCHA technology for in the future.  Basically they want to translate the internet into multiple languages as an online collaboration project.  The presentation was by computer scientist Luis von Ahu who was one of the inventors of the CAPTCHA.  Luis von Ahun:  Massive-scale online collaboration.
 

Tuesday - May 8, 2012

Internet Moment:  Today we explored Google Earth and discussed how a 3 dimensional virtual environment can be used to augment human memory.  We started by watching a short video about the ancient memory technique known as Memory Palace and how this technique could be used to prepare for a test.  Students then opened Google Earth and we began a tour of the earth and the moon.  The whole class followed a specific list of locations.  Afterwards students typed out a paragraph about where they went and what they saw to demonstrate the effectiveness of using 3D spatial references, such as the virtual environment of Google Earth, to augment memory.  We then concluded with a demonstration of a Virtual Memory Palace.

* Today's class was short due to the half day schedule.

Monday - May 7, 2012

Tuesday - May 1, 2012

Internet Moment:  Students were shown the different parts of a web address.  We looked at http://www.google.co.il, http://www.google.co.jp, and http://www.google.co.nz.  Students were shown how they can use the different domain names to narrow a search geographically.  For example when we used Google in New Zealand to search for "skiing" and get very different results than when we search for "skiing" in Google.com.

Finish MLA Paragraph: Students finished and printed this project.

Seating Assignments:  All students have an assigned seat/computer in computer class.

Typing Test:  All students took a typing test using http://www.typingtest.com.  Each student had 10 minutes to take the 1 minute test multiple times.  Their best adjusted speed was recorded and graphed in an Excel spreadsheet.  The average typing speed for this class was:   45.2 WPM  Click here for more information about typing speeds at Newtown Middle School. 

Online Typing Activities:  Students were given some time to find at least 3 online typing activities (tutorials or games) that they enjoyed.  They were to then add these typing activities to their favorites or bookmarks list so they could go back and practice their typing skills in class when they finish their projects.

Technology Current Events Video:  Electrical and Computer Engineers Design Wheelchair Controlled By a Magnet on the User's Tongue.

Monday - April 30, 2012

Internet Moment:  We started with a brief lecture about different web browsers and an explanation of what an intranet is.  Students were also shown how to use popular news aggregators to find current events, search for specific news stories, find new videos and search the archives of old newspapers.  We used Google News, Bing News to find out what was going on in our world today.   Students were shown an archive search from 1964 for "Council Rock" as an example.

MLA Paragraph Project:  All 8th grade students must demonstrate the ability to use the MLA format (which is used at Council Rock and most colleges) in MS Word 2010.  To do this project all students demonstrated many basic skills including:  formatting text, changing line & paragraph spacing, inserting breaks and formatting in the MLA format.  Click here to enlarge the project description.  Most students finished this project in class today.

Technology Current Events Video:  Today we watched a video from ABC News> Tech This Out about the Best Tech Gift Ideas for Mother's Day.

Friday - April 27,2012 - FIRST CLASS

Introduction to Basic Computer Skills:  Basic rules and classroom procedures were explained.  Students were specifically reminded that because technology is constantly changing they should get into the habit of helping each other out and demonstrating the ability to learn new computer skills through experimentation.  All students reported that they had helped an adult with computer skills but they also need to get used to helping each other out. 

Logon & Explore:  All students were given time to explore the start menu and the various programs available to them at school.  Click here to see a student desktop.

Pixlr.com Project:  Students were shown how to use the online photo editor http://www.pixlr.com to edit a photograph.  Students then shared their modified photos using various district network resources and demonstrated basic skills such as drag & drop.  The best use of the H:, S: & X: drives was also explained.

Computer Class Survey:  All students take a computer class survey.  The results of this survey are used to guide the instruction for the class.  You can view the survey to the right.  Click to enlarge.

Basic Computer Knowledge Lecture:  Using the computer class survey as an outline, a review of basic knowledge about computers was give.  A summary of the presentation can be watched below.

Introduction to Computer Class

Untitled from Mr. McNulty on Vimeo. 

Technology Current Event Video:  Most classes end with a current event video.  Today's video was inspired by an original presentation created by a high school teacher in Colorado, Karl Fisch.  Here is a link to his blog:  THE FISCHBOWL for more information.

Did You Know 3.0