Wednesday

I am in general very happy with the reviews that you did for the Horizon Project and the comments you made on the blogs. I think about 80% of you showed a real depth of understanding about design, writing, and the creative process. Many of the rest of you went through the motions. Always do your best.

Go to teachertube.com and check out the scores for the movies I posted. Kelly's movie is in the lead with over 1700 views! Related to the horizon project this is a social network and an emerging form of publication. You have a global audience! Have something to say.

Project 8 should be in progress at this point. The quiz is posted on the wiki. Have some fun with it.

Technorati Tags: hz07 teachertube

Extra Credit

Want extra credit? To get extra credit you must be finished with all other assignments.

Extra credit will be making short videos. All rules about copyright apply. The movies must be 28 seconds long.

Option 1: Make a video that will make a 1st grader laugh.
Option 2: Make a video that will make Mr. Freund laugh.
Option 3: Do the opposite topic from the video assignment (i.e. if you did Darfur, now do cyberbullying).

Videos, Dreamweaver, Darfur

Videos on Darfur and cyberbullying are starting to be deposited in the UDrive. Check them out. Leave comments on the directors blogs. I am posting the best videos to teachertube.com
Many of you are finishing Project 6. Check the notes from a previous blog entry. Be sure that you create TWO files: the template and the Bahia Park file.

Project 7 notes: skip page 7.38. Also, when you are doing the hotspot and behaviors for the three regions of Florida do them one at a time. I couldn't get them to work all at once. This will make sense when you do the project.

Project 6, Project 7 and the movie are due by Thursday April 19.

Check out this use of technology. Learn how to use this technology! This is the expectation of the world we live in, that you can present information using these tools. Old school would have been a chart with the places that have been burned. I think this tool is more effective. I am not sure all of you have Google Earth on your machines. Period One will let me know.

This may sound a bit like a sermon but I hope some of you have been effected by the images from Darfur or the stories of cyberbullying. Making the videos and increasing awareness is a small step in solving the problem. Never waste a day. Students in Darfur would do anything to have your life for even a day. And I know some of your lives are NOT easy. There are students in this community who have incredible challenges, yet you never hear about it. And then there are students who spend the day in PAC because they did something stupid. Don't waste a day and don't let your classmates waste a day. Imagine if those in PAC or the large amount of students who are "ME" people took some energy and pored it into raising awareness about Darfur. If it saved one life or stopped the conflict one day early it would be worth it.

If it was you been chased down by the militia, your sisters killed, your mom raped and beaten could you imagine if you sent a cry for help and nobody answered? Or cared? Or even knew where Darfur was?

Technorati Tags: darfur video stopcyberbullying

Stuff

Many of you are off to a good start on your movie. Please be sure to note your subject in your blog. If you do the work at home you will need to burn the movie file on to a CD. You want the MOVIE FILE, not the project. If you think you are done please save the movie file into the Udrive. Be sure to name your file correctly.

Project 6 involves templates and some work in CSS language. This work is fairly detailed, but pretty simple. Creating templates or style sheets is a time saver. We will not spend much time on this. However, if you decide to go further into programming this would be an excellent area to focus on as it unleashes a lot of the more powerful features of Dreamweaver.

For project six you will do the project, the outline, and the quiz. No extras. Be aware that the "logo" image is actually named "title" in this project.

And check out freeplaymusic. I found this site this morning and like it a lot so far. Very easy to use. (Aargh---someone just let me know its currently blocked for students. I will work on it).

Video

We have talked often about how video is becoming more and more essential for web site design and construction. Almost every website you visit has a video component. In addition, videos are used in business, academics, sports, and other disciplines. It is an essential means of communication in todays society and I feel everyone should understand the basics of creating a video.

This weeks assignment is on the class wiki. The assignment involves creating a public service announcement for students. The assignment has some very specific instructions so I urge you to read it carefully. The most important part of the assignment is to tell a story! Can you get your point across in 28 seconds?

I encourage you to collaborate on this project, however I do require that you use mixed gender teams. You can be in teams of 1-4 people.

I want to make clear that if you are new to this type of software I do not expect anything too technically grand. You will use this assignment to experiment and play around with the software.

Good luck.

Video

I have talked a lot about how traditional ways of assessment aren't always productive. Here are two examples of video that are truly outstanding by high school students.

1. AP Psychology: Sleep Disorders. This is a youtube video, which is blocked here at school. I urge you to watch it at home, especially if you are taking AP Psych.

2. Sweatshop Video. By a student in California. Put on headphones as the music is essential. After viewing this powerful movie I think you will have a better idea of the potential for video and what superior work looks like. As you can see, this video is about the STORY, not just about stringing images together. (this doesnt seeem to be playing right now in school, I'm working on it)

Encourage your teachers to allow you to use alternative assessments. Then impress them!

I am adapting the HTML assignment: Your quiz will be on Chapter 8. You still must be able to talk about each chapter and the techniques, but I realize we ran out of time and need to make the quiz thing easier.

Technorati Tags: sweatshop APPsych youtube video assessment

Tuesday

We are finishing the second part of our sample exam today. Some of the pages are very impressive. I think all of you did well once you sat down and tried to solve the problem. Today we will evaluate the projects and look at our classmates work. I think you will be impressed by how far we have come.

You will need to do this on the exam without any assistance. If you need to practice, start now.

I think our class is getting a lot of reading world wide which is cool. Check the clustrmap on this page and on the blogmeister. You should all have a clustrmap on your blogs. Let me know if you try to insert one (I have to upload it). Those of you who are still skeptical about EVERYTHING must recognize how the dynamics of the class change now that people realize we are being monitored world-wide.

I think this is my first movie post of the year but vacation is coming up and I wanted to update my movie picks. With a baby at home, its hard to keep up.

Movies I have seen recently: (stars out of five)
Casino Royale: Three stars (first scene was five stars)
Da Vinci Code: One star. (horrible....)
This is Spinal Tap: Five stars
The Departed: Four stars (rough movie, not for kids).
The Break-Up: Four stars (Mrs. Schneider says-5 stars)

Movies I want to see:
Pursuit of Happyness
Good Shepherd
Rocky Balboa