February 25, 2015

More Work on Your Blogs


We will take a pause in our Genius Hour research to create and publish a new blog post. I will not be with you in class, but I have made my expectations very clear. I have created a screencast to help you with this assignment. I have noticed many of my students, and even some teachers (yes even me) have what I would consider to be "snow sickness." There seems to be an overall difficulty remaining focused and remembering simple instructions. Have no fear! This screencast will walk you through all of the steps for class today. Please use this resource, the agenda on the back board, and the resources in your Workstation Resource Folders to help your meet with success today. I cannot wait to read your latest posts!!! Have a super weekend. I'll see you next week.

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February 22, 2015

Back from Break

Welcome back!   This crazy winter did not take a break last week.  I hope you enjoyed your time off and are back rested and ready to work hard.  I spent some time researching a few different topics I cannot wait to share with you, but in due time.  First things first.....we are already up to the letter "P" in named storms.  Pandora dumped a wintery mix on us Saturday night through Sunday.  Luckily, the bulk of the storm was rain which shrunk some of our snow mounds.  Unfortunately the air coming in behind Pandora has caused temperatures to plummet.  We are now left with smaller mounds of snow, well actually frozen solid ice hills.  It is making it hard to walk out there!  Let's hope we don't get another storm this winter.  Just in case you were wondering, the next storm will be names, "Quantum."  
Okay, back to business.  We will start out by using the new Web Evaluation Checklist I created and have shared with all of you in Google Classroom (there is also one next to your workstation.)  Let's take a look at the site, Dihydrogen Monoxide Research. You and a computer neighbor will have 10 minutes to decide whether or not this site is reliable, valid, and credible using this checklist.
I also created an infographic to help you with your web evaluation process.  Check it out!
I will expect you to go through this process with any site you choose to use as a resource for your GHP.  It may take a little extra time in the beginning, but after some practice you will get very efficient at this process.
I have gone through all of your GHP organizers and will be sharing this feedback with you during class 1.  Some of you have asked to work with a partner.  Those of you for whom I have approved a partnership will need to move seats.  This may take a few moments.  I will initiate this process.  Some of you are struggling with ideas for your Genius Hour Projects.  You may find this video, "Obvious to you, Amazing to others," inspirational.

I hope you enjoyed the pep talk from Kid President which was playing as you walked in to class!  Help him spread his message!
                           
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February 8, 2015

#RAK Week 2015!

I am keeping my fingers crossed in the hopes we actually have a complete week of school!!  What a great week this should be, not only in school, but across the world.  Did you know this is Random Act of Kindness Week?  Check out the Random Acts of Kindness Foundation site.  We will take a moment at the beginning of our first class to check it out.  What will you do to celebrate this week?  I'm not sure if "celebrate" is the correct word, but you get my gist.

Please take the Pop Culture Survey for the yearbook.  If you don't like any of the responses, pick the one you dislike the least.

Before you begin your research for your Genius Hour projects, we will need to do a little brushing up on our web evaluation skills.  You will be given one of three tools and one of three websites to evaluate with a partner.  We will then have a class discussion to compare and contrast the tools and see what you found out about the sites.

Spotlight Tool:  Infographics using Piktochart

You will then begin researching!!!!  I will share a feedback form with you.  I think I will do this using Google Classroom.  I would like your input on this, so we will chat about it at the beginning of the week.

I hope you all enjoy your vacation next week!  It will give you something to blog about when you get back.

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February 3, 2015

Welcome Back!!

This is going to be short and sweet.  Holy cow!!!  I hope you all survived the storms.  We will be reviewing and catching up this week.  If you did not take the assessment I will be giving it to you when you walk in the door.  Progress reports will not be going home until February 13th.  Try to turn your "Genius Hour" brains back on.  See you later Linus....who's up next?!!!!

And of course.......CONGRATS TO THE PATS!!!!

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