Week of Jan 3rd–Jan 7th

Highlights for the week: 

  • Welcome to the Spring Semester of 2011!

Monday 3rd: Holiday!

Tuesday 4th: Holiday!

Wednesday 5th: 

- Review

  1. There are always problems with technology and usually several ways to get around the problems… please be patient while we sort things out!

- New

  1. Test your logon to your laptop
  2. Add this blog to your 1) Favorites, or 2) bookmarks bar or 3) create a shortcut to it on your desktop or 4) a shortcut in your S-drive so you can get to it again easily.  Does anyone know how to do all 4?  Why is the green highlight the best option?
  3. Discuss the weekly and daily sections of the blog
  4. Discuss links in the top, right 5 sections
  5. Test access to Google Docs
  6. Hand out permission forms for those who do not have access
  7. Write the yellow highlights below in your agenda for today

- Do 

  1. Think of someone who has had a very positive effect on your life or who has helped you when you needed it… maybe a relative, friend, teacher, etc.
  2. Create a thank you for that person which includes what they’ve done for you and how that has helped you or made you feel good about yourself.  Decorate it to make it look nice (for example, add colors, clip-art, photos, etc.).  Use any computer programs that you’re familiar with to create your thank you (like Word, Powerpoint, Paint, etc.)
  3. Save your work to your S-drive folder as Thanks
  4. Time permitting, we will explore this screencasting program and practice using it.

- Through?

  1. View The Year in Pictures slideshow
  2. Explore the other links at 308 Today

Thursday 6th:

- Review

  1. Agendas out and copy yellow
  2. Questions or comments from yesterday
  3. Logon problems list? 

- New

  1. Watch a student screencast from last semester
  2. View screencast video tutorial.
  3. Introduce Screencast-o-matic.
  4. Record the first rule
  5. Use 800x600 as your recording size
  6. Practice pausing, restarting, and truncating
  7. Discuss how to save and upload screencasts
  8. Record all five class rules and save your recording to your S-drive as SC Rules

- Do 

  1. Complete the Thanks activity
  2. Record a screencast of how you made your Thanks.  Imagine you are teaching someone how to create the same effects you used so I can put the videos together in a software demonstration for us all to view later.
  3. Your recording should be about 2 min.
  4. Save your screencast in your S-drive folder as SC1 (software)  .  For example, if you used paint, it would be named SC1 Paint or if you used PowerPoint, it would be SC1 PowerPoint

- Through?

  1. View The Year in Pictures slideshow

Friday 7th:

- Review

  1. Agendas out and copy yellow
  2. Questions or comments from yesterday
  3. All students who could not logon have had their passwords reset

- New

  1. G-Apps form handed out – the sooner you turn it in, the more extra credit you receive! (Mon 10pts, Tues 9pts, etc.)
  2. Discuss how grading works
  3. Test Google Voice (512-703-0308): If you call (rather than text), please speak slowly and clearly for voice-to-text translation!  Call or text these 2 sentences “Hello Mr. Mercer, this is ____ from your ___ period class.  One of the best things that happened to me this week was____”. 
  4. Introduce Online-Stopwatch

- Do 

  1. Complete Reflections Form from this week (we will do this on this last day of every week, but you can use this form anytime you think of something to add!)
  2. Play one online chess game (or more if you like it) to see if you would like to come to the online chess den activity
  3. Complete Thanks activity and SC1 if you haven’t already done so
  4. View TED clip on 6th Sense Device the last 8 min of class (stopwatch?)
  5. View student pivot demonstrations in J-Drive (I’ll explain how to get there during class)

- Through?

  1. Why play chess? Scan this article on how playing chess can make you wiser
  2. View this slideshow on Christmas lights from around the world

Additional Information:

at