Widgets and Gadgets

It's hard to believe this is our last full week of school in 2014.  We will have some interruptions with concert rehearsals and the performance on Thursday and Friday.  Please try to stay on task so you can publish your second blog post before we leave for our break.  During class one you will be adding widgets and gadgets to your blog.  I have resources on the second page of this blog to help with this task.  Please include the following gadgets on your blogs:

• Page Counter  (Blogger:  Blog Stats)
• Blog Roll  (Blogger:  Blog List)
• Subscription Gadget (Blogger:  Subscription Links)

You may add others if you choose.  I would suggest a translator gadget and you may also want to look at VOKI and clustrmap as well. Think about where you are putting your gadgets.  Remember-the most important part of your blog is your words.  Nothing should distract your readers from your words!!

Please be sure to settle on your title and URL. Once you are comfortable with it; you will need to share your blog information with me by completing the blog creation form found on:  Blog Collection Form resource.

During class two this week you will work on your second blog post.  Please be sure to use the BPS Blogging and Commenting Guidelines as you are working on it.  Create a Google doc, title it Blog Post #2, and compose away.  Once you have finished this post, please have a classmate edit your work.  Once it has been checked out by a peer (peer edit) you will need to copy and paste it on to your blog.  Remember to give your new post a title, and a label (tag).  Check it one last time before you hit "publish."

Have a super week!

     ~Mrs. White :)

A Different Way to Review Copyright

This week you will be revisiting those copyright terms.  When I reviewed your "Copyright Terms" definition assignments, I realized many of you are still not fully understanding them, and what copyright really means.  Instead of having you simply redefine the terms, I have decided to have you create a "Copyright Quiz" using your Google Forms.  I have created a couple of resources to help you with this.  Mr. Persico will be there to help you with this assignment.  If you are using your Effective Effort strategies, you will be using all of your resources and your time to get this assignment done.  It will most definitely take you all of class one and most likely some of class two to finish this assignment.  Please take your time and think about the questions you write.  Here are the two resources you will need for this assignment.  "Creating a Copyright Quiz Using Google Forms" and "Creating a Google Form" will both help you.  Have fun being the teacher.
**Sorry my friends; I forgort to make those docs "public" earlier.  You should be all set now.

Once you have finished this project I would like you to explore a Brain Pop unit on "Paraphrasing."  This is a skill you all need to work on.  This Brain Pop unit is just an introduction. The log in information for Brain Pop can be found on the whiteboard in the back of the room. We will be taking another look at paraphrasing after vacation.

**Important information about make up work:  You should be receiving your feedback on your blog post and copyright terms assignments during class one this week.  If you received an incomplete for an assignment on your progress report you must turn in the completed work by this Friday, February 14th.  Please be sure to carefully read the instructions on the back board of my lab.  You must staple your new blog post to a new rubric and turn in both the old and new assignments.  Be sure your name and ILT# are on any work  you turn in to me.  Please email me any questions you might have.

If you should be really focused and get through both of these assignments, I would like you to work on your blogs!  If I don't run in to you in the hallways, have a great vacation!

Website Evaluation

I will not be in class with my Monday students this week.  I will be attending an Apple Seminar in Millis.  I hope to bring back some exciting information about 1:1 iPad programs in middle schools.  In my absence Mrs. Diggins will be sharing this week’s first lesson with you.  Please make me proud and show her how responsible and hardworking you all are!!

This week we will move on to the second part or phase of getting better at searching and finding information.  This weekend I was visiting my parents and my dad asked me a question.  “What is the difference between .com, .gov, and .org?  Is one better than another?”  I laughed before I answered his question thinking, “Gee if he asks any of my students after this week, they would be able to answer his questions!!”  Last week we focused on changing your keyword searches when looking for your information.  Once you find your search results, how do you decide whether or not the results are any good?  Are the sites reliable, valid, and credible?  We will start our week off by watching a video, “Internet Skills:  How to Evaluate a Website.”  We will then work together as a class to evaluate two websites.  Once you have practiced together, you will select a school appropriate site to evaluate on your own.  You will complete a form which will guide you through this process.

So let’s check out our first website.  It is called “Build Your WiLDSeLF.”  This is really a fun site.  But we need to decide how reliable, valid, and credible this site truly is.  We will try to answer the questions found on the “Website Evaluation Guide” you have been given.  This guide has been adapted from EasyBib’s Criteria for Evaluating Websites.   After evaluating “Build Your WiLDSeLF” we will take a look at a site which is one of the hyperlinks you should have checked on this site.  We will now take a look at the “New York Aquarium” site.

So we have checked out two sites together.  I think you are ready to “fly solo.”  You will need to choose a school appropriate site of your own and follow the same procedure.  This time you will need to complete the Website Evaluation Form which is on the other side of your Website Evaluation Guide.