Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Class 7: Website Creation
So you think you're creative enough to make a website. You have all sorts of ideas of colors, fonts, widgets, links, and hypertext running around in your head but you don't know where to start. Lucky you, that's what Class 7 is about.
Website Creation
It's kind of entertaining that there are websites that have websites that you can have. There are free sites like Google Sites, Weebly, and Yola who do two things for you: host your site and help you create it. There are sites like Wetpaint who let you only make sites on topics you are interested in. There are sites like GoDaddy where you can purchase a domain name (like webstermiddle.org or whatever name you want your website to be called), and purchase a separate package for creating your site, and/or another package for email from your site, etc. It all depends on what you want and how individual you feel like getting with your site.
Widgets
A widgets is a separate application that goes on any webpage, including a blog. When you were learning iGoogle, you put widgets on that page to personalize it. Widgets can tell the time, give a fact of the day, sports scores, or anything else you can think of. Here are some widget sites:
Yahoo! Widgets
Feedzilla
Apple Widgets (only for Apple computer dashboards)
Google Widgets (awesome for your blog or iGoogle page!)
Assignment:
Create a website on one of the free sites. Add a widget or four.
Website Creation
It's kind of entertaining that there are websites that have websites that you can have. There are free sites like Google Sites, Weebly, and Yola who do two things for you: host your site and help you create it. There are sites like Wetpaint who let you only make sites on topics you are interested in. There are sites like GoDaddy where you can purchase a domain name (like webstermiddle.org or whatever name you want your website to be called), and purchase a separate package for creating your site, and/or another package for email from your site, etc. It all depends on what you want and how individual you feel like getting with your site.
Widgets
A widgets is a separate application that goes on any webpage, including a blog. When you were learning iGoogle, you put widgets on that page to personalize it. Widgets can tell the time, give a fact of the day, sports scores, or anything else you can think of. Here are some widget sites:
Yahoo! Widgets
Feedzilla
Apple Widgets (only for Apple computer dashboards)
Google Widgets (awesome for your blog or iGoogle page!)
Assignment:
Create a website on one of the free sites. Add a widget or four.
Class 6: Google Fun!
Last class we began with some fun applications from Google. This week we're going to play with some more!
Google Reader
Google Reader is a great place to collect blogs like the ones you looked at last week. Sometimes you might not have time to traipse all over the web looking for what our friends or other interesting personalities wrote, so having one website with all your favorite blogs on it is definitely a time-saver.
If you have a Mac, you might want a program like Gruml. This gets downloaded onto your computer and allows you access to your blogs from Google Reader. Just as for any program you want to download, ask your parent or guardian if it's all right first.
Assignment: Sign in using your Google account. Add Book Talk with Mrs. Bender to your Google Reader.
iGoogle
For a fun way to look at blogs-and everything else you're interested in--check out iGoogle. iGoogle is, basically, a website designed by you for you. It can be your homepage every time you sign in! Google has all sorts of fun things to go on your homepage: movie showtimes, weather, news, comics, and much, much more.
Assignment: Create an iGoogle page. Include Google Reader and Google Docs.
Google Products
Google Products has a ton of programs and applications you can use. You can read free ebooks, look at your house on Google Earth, and compare the trends like which is more popular: vampires or zombies? Check them all out.
Assignment: Search Google's vast array of applications. Using Google Trends, which IS more popular today, vampires or Zombies? Which is the #1 city by zombie?
Google Reader
Google Reader is a great place to collect blogs like the ones you looked at last week. Sometimes you might not have time to traipse all over the web looking for what our friends or other interesting personalities wrote, so having one website with all your favorite blogs on it is definitely a time-saver.
If you have a Mac, you might want a program like Gruml. This gets downloaded onto your computer and allows you access to your blogs from Google Reader. Just as for any program you want to download, ask your parent or guardian if it's all right first.
Assignment: Sign in using your Google account. Add Book Talk with Mrs. Bender to your Google Reader.
iGoogle
For a fun way to look at blogs-and everything else you're interested in--check out iGoogle. iGoogle is, basically, a website designed by you for you. It can be your homepage every time you sign in! Google has all sorts of fun things to go on your homepage: movie showtimes, weather, news, comics, and much, much more.
Assignment: Create an iGoogle page. Include Google Reader and Google Docs.
Google Products
Google Products has a ton of programs and applications you can use. You can read free ebooks, look at your house on Google Earth, and compare the trends like which is more popular: vampires or zombies? Check them all out.
Assignment: Search Google's vast array of applications. Using Google Trends, which IS more popular today, vampires or Zombies? Which is the #1 city by zombie?
Class 5: Web-Based Publishing
Web-Based Publishing
Web-based desktop publishing allows us to write and save our documents on the Internet rather than leaving them on a computer or depending on a thumb drive to carry them around. Perks include having all documents available at any computer. Negatives include lack of availability if the Internet goes down. Some web-based publishing sites are Zoho and Google Docs.
Assignment:
Log in to Google Docs.
The first of your four book trailers will be created using Google Presentation. See the Book Talk with Mrs. Bender blog for an example.
If you want to work offline but store the same work on different computers, you may want to download (you have to download it on to each computer) and then create an account on Dropbox. It will save your information to a server, and then when you log on to each Dropbox on each computer, your work will be there. You can store PDF's as well as photographs here.
Weblogs
Weblogs, or blogs, are online journals, like the one you are reading now. Anyone can write one, and there are many free blog sites like Blogger, LiveJournal, and Wordpress. There are even special blogs just for kids!
Assignment:
Read some of the following blogs:
Book Talk with Mrs. Bender This is where your book trailers will go!
Blog Search Engine Just like a web search engine, but for blogs
Web-based desktop publishing allows us to write and save our documents on the Internet rather than leaving them on a computer or depending on a thumb drive to carry them around. Perks include having all documents available at any computer. Negatives include lack of availability if the Internet goes down. Some web-based publishing sites are Zoho and Google Docs.
Assignment:
Log in to Google Docs.
- Create a document. Write a note to me. Share it with me.
- Create a survey about something. Your first question should be "Name?". Invite me.
- Create a presentation on something you are interested in. Share it with me.
The first of your four book trailers will be created using Google Presentation. See the Book Talk with Mrs. Bender blog for an example.
If you want to work offline but store the same work on different computers, you may want to download (you have to download it on to each computer) and then create an account on Dropbox. It will save your information to a server, and then when you log on to each Dropbox on each computer, your work will be there. You can store PDF's as well as photographs here.
Weblogs
Weblogs, or blogs, are online journals, like the one you are reading now. Anyone can write one, and there are many free blog sites like Blogger, LiveJournal, and Wordpress. There are even special blogs just for kids!
Assignment:
Read some of the following blogs:
Book Talk with Mrs. Bender This is where your book trailers will go!
Blog Search Engine Just like a web search engine, but for blogs
Monday, August 30, 2010
Class 4: Search the Web
It's not always so easy to search the web. There are so many sites with so much information that it can be quite overwhelming to find out what it is you want.
Be Discerning!
Do you believe everything that anyone tells you? Well, you shouldn't. Likewise, just because it's on the Internet doesn't mean it's true. Use your head and check your facts. For instance, a site like Wikipedia, like all Wikis, is created by the users. What this means is that people like you and I write and post the information. Their information can be just as right or wrong as yours or mine. Additionally, there are people out there who give out misinformation on purpose.
Story: A teacher librarian once told me that a student in her class was giving a presentation on the country he had researched, which happened to be England. One of the things the teacher had asked for was the state religion. The student stood in front of the class and recited that the religion with the most followers was the Jedi. When pressed, the student cited Wikipedia as their source of information. How embarrassing! Don't be that student.
Any site can have misinformation on it, even news sources like CNN. Be very careful when citing information.
Searching Sites
A great way to search is to use the Boolean Search method. There are three basic Boolean Search Operators: and, but, and not. They will make your searches a lot clearer to the engine you are working with.
The first operator, and, narrows a search by combining terms; it will retrieve documents that use both the search terms you specify, as in this example:
Disneyland and California
The second operator, or, broadens a search to include results that contain either of the words you type in. Or is a good tool to use when there are several common spellings or synonyms of a word, as in this example:
liberal or democrat
Finally, the third operator, not, will narrow a search by excluding certain search terms. Not retrieves documents that contain one, but not the other,of the search terms you enter, as in this example:
Oz not Australia
Web Searching Sites
There are many search sites that are useful for students, like Google, GoodSearch, and Kids Click. GoodSearch is particularly cool because if you type in Daniel Webster Middle School (Los Angeles) in the charity section, you get to donate to us every time you click. Kids Click is neat because all the categories are organized in Dewey Decimal System (DDS) order. And Google is currently the most popular web search site on the net.
A metasearch engine is a search engine that searches other search engines. Examples of these are Mama and Dogpile.
Do: Using the Boolean Search method,
Saving Your Sites
You can always bookmark a website on your personal computer. But what happens if you want that site and you're elsewhere? Or you want to share it with others? Social bookmarking sites like Diigo and Delicious are very useful for this.
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://groups.diigo.com/widget_mana/group_widget?group_name=dwmslmc" ></script><noscript><a href="http://groups.diigo.com/group/dwmslmc" >Diigo Groups</a></noscript>
Do: Create an account at Diigo and link to dwmslmc--you should have already received an invitation. Add your favorite link of the day and explain why it's your favorite.
What is the Internet? Watch this video on the machine, and what it truly is.
http://websearch.about.com/od/internetresearch/a/boolean.htm
Be Discerning!
Do you believe everything that anyone tells you? Well, you shouldn't. Likewise, just because it's on the Internet doesn't mean it's true. Use your head and check your facts. For instance, a site like Wikipedia, like all Wikis, is created by the users. What this means is that people like you and I write and post the information. Their information can be just as right or wrong as yours or mine. Additionally, there are people out there who give out misinformation on purpose.
Story: A teacher librarian once told me that a student in her class was giving a presentation on the country he had researched, which happened to be England. One of the things the teacher had asked for was the state religion. The student stood in front of the class and recited that the religion with the most followers was the Jedi. When pressed, the student cited Wikipedia as their source of information. How embarrassing! Don't be that student.
Any site can have misinformation on it, even news sources like CNN. Be very careful when citing information.
Searching Sites
A great way to search is to use the Boolean Search method. There are three basic Boolean Search Operators: and, but, and not. They will make your searches a lot clearer to the engine you are working with.
The first operator, and, narrows a search by combining terms; it will retrieve documents that use both the search terms you specify, as in this example:
Disneyland and California
The second operator, or, broadens a search to include results that contain either of the words you type in. Or is a good tool to use when there are several common spellings or synonyms of a word, as in this example:
liberal or democrat
Finally, the third operator, not, will narrow a search by excluding certain search terms. Not retrieves documents that contain one, but not the other,of the search terms you enter, as in this example:
Oz not Australia
Web Searching Sites
There are many search sites that are useful for students, like Google, GoodSearch, and Kids Click. GoodSearch is particularly cool because if you type in Daniel Webster Middle School (Los Angeles) in the charity section, you get to donate to us every time you click. Kids Click is neat because all the categories are organized in Dewey Decimal System (DDS) order. And Google is currently the most popular web search site on the net.
A metasearch engine is a search engine that searches other search engines. Examples of these are Mama and Dogpile.
Do: Using the Boolean Search method,
Saving Your Sites
You can always bookmark a website on your personal computer. But what happens if you want that site and you're elsewhere? Or you want to share it with others? Social bookmarking sites like Diigo and Delicious are very useful for this.
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://groups.diigo.com/widget_mana/group_widget?group_name=dwmslmc" ></script><noscript><a href="http://groups.diigo.com/group/dwmslmc" >Diigo Groups</a></noscript>
Do: Create an account at Diigo and link to dwmslmc--you should have already received an invitation. Add your favorite link of the day and explain why it's your favorite.
What is the Internet? Watch this video on the machine, and what it truly is.
Works Cited
http://dictionary.reference.com/http://websearch.about.com/od/internetresearch/a/boolean.htm
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Class 3: Plagiarism, Copyright, MLA Format, Photographs
Plagiarism
When someone takes credit for work someone else did, it’s called plagiarism. People can plagiarize writing, photographs, artwork, and music, but it’s not very nice to the person who originally created the work.
When someone takes credit for work someone else did, it’s called plagiarism. People can plagiarize writing, photographs, artwork, and music, but it’s not very nice to the person who originally created the work.
MLA
In order to not plagiarize but still borrow someone else’s work, we use citations, which tell the person viewing or listening that the work we used is not our own. In order to correctly cite your work, use the guidelines on this page.
In order to not plagiarize but still borrow someone else’s work, we use citations, which tell the person viewing or listening that the work we used is not our own. In order to correctly cite your work, use the guidelines on this page.
For the remainder of this course, you will need to utilize MLA format for all citations. This includes a works cited page, which you may have previously heard this referred to as a bibliography page. A works cited page can look like this.
Copyright
America and other countries have laws to keep their citizen’s writing, photographs, artwork, and music safe. Learn about American copyright law here.
Watch all four copyright cartoons.
America and other countries have laws to keep their citizen’s writing, photographs, artwork, and music safe. Learn about American copyright law here.
Watch all four copyright cartoons.
View: Disney Copyright Law
Fair Use
Sometimes you can use a part of something for criticism, teaching, or reporting the news, but you should always check the copyright to be sure.
All Rights Reserved
When something is copyrighted with All Rights Reserved, it means that someone else cannot use it without permission--all rights of the piece are reserved for the owner. Sometimes it will say Some Rights Reserved and explain what those are. Other times it will be under Public Domain, which means that anyone can use it for any reason.
Creative Commons
Creative Commons is yet another type of copyright. Check out photographs on Creative Commons. Find a photograph and click on it to see the web page. It will tell you what sort of copyright it has. You can use most of these for free, just be sure to cite them.
Other places to find photographs: Google Images, Flickr. Notice that on Google Images, you can search for a face, photo, clip art, or line drawing.
When you find one you really like, click and drag it to the desktop.
iPhoto
Open iPhoto on your Mac. Take the photograph you dragged to the desktop and drag it to the photo library. Click Edit and see what you can do with it!
Assignment:
Find a website with a photograph and write down the type of copyright it has. Create a Works Cited page in MLA format with 5 websites that you looked at having to do with copyright. Include the website with the photograph.
Class 2: Typing
Are you still hunting and pecking for letters on the keyboard? Did you know that is the slowest way to type?
Go here for free online typing lessons.
Already know how to type? You can try this typing test to see how fast you are. Of course I like the Wizard of Oz test the best... See how well you can do!
Assignment:
Report typing score to Mrs. Bender
Go here for free online typing lessons.
Already know how to type? You can try this typing test to see how fast you are. Of course I like the Wizard of Oz test the best... See how well you can do!
Assignment:
Report typing score to Mrs. Bender
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