Let's Get Started

It's hard to believe the summer has ended and a new school year has begun.  Today was a soft start to the new school year as I did not teach technology.  It was great having the time to get to know the students on our team.  So I had 100 introductions; just 200 left to go in the next couple of days!
Starting the school year with a "two-day" week is a bit unusual.  I have decided to start the year off with a challenge.  Each of my students will find a piece of line on their workstation.  I will give students 20 minutes to try and learn how to tie a bowline knot using one of the resources below.

 How to Tie a Bowline

 NetKnots.com

If you already know how to tie this useful knot, please find another "knew knot" to tie.  You may be wondering why on earth you are tying a knot in tech class......I guess you will have to stay tuned to find out!!!

Welcome Back!!!!

image link

Commenting and Blog Design

I am looking forward to a "normal" week with my students.  No professional development days, holidays, or class pullouts.  This week I get to see all of my students!  HOORAY!!  We will take a look at the BPS Commenting Guidelines.  Your comments are just as much a part of your digital footprints as your posts.  How do you comment well?  What kinds of comments are you hoping to receive?  These are just a couple of the things we will talk about this week.  In addition, you will get some feedback from your peers and me in the form of "paper" comments.
Once we have completed our test run of blogging and commenting you will move on to creating, or designing your blogs.  I have a couple of good resources for you to take a look at before starting.  One is Ten Tips to Design Impressive and Professional Blogs.   Take a look at the blog/site, "Who is Penny Juice?" and think about the design.  What do you think of it?  Are there some things you would do differently?  Why or Why not?   I will guide you through a couple of settings.  We want to be sure you are able to moderate your comments.  I will explain what this means.  I know you are so anxious to get started with this process.  You are really going to need to nail down your titles for your blogs this week as well.  Try to be creative.
Finally, we will need to wrap up some loose ends. You will need to finish up your blogging guidelines presentations.  I will share a Google form URL next week so you can submit those to me.  Retakes need to be completed by this Friday.  If you have any questions, please be sure to see me.
Fall is most definitely in the air.  The mornings are chilly and the evenings are filled with the smell of warming fires burning.  I wonder if any of my bloggers will share their thoughts of fall in their posts.  I'll just have to wait and see.  Have a great week!

Image Link:  http://rantaboutthisandraveaboutthat.blogspot.com/2012/08/fall-printables.html