A couple ideas for blog entries / comments

Here are a few ideas for blog entries. Please be reminded that you are to have at least two well thought out entries to get full credit for your blogging assignment.

Idea #1 - This time of the year, it seems a lot of publications go with a "list" theme. Time Magazine has an awesome Top 10 everything piece. Another cool list to look at is the 100 top websites for the year ahead. Check the sites out then make your own end of the year list about something you are interested in.

Idea #2 - The end of the calendar year, a lot of us make new years resolutions. What are your goals for the year ahead?

Answer in the comments or create your own blog entries about either of these topics, or blog about something you want to blog about. I don't want to get too hung up about being to specific in my requirements for grading these. I can see that many of your blogs are really well done, so the only requirements are: 1) At least two professional sounding, well thought out, blog entries using correct grammar, punctuation and language. 2) At least five professional sounding, well thought out, blog comments using correct grammarcomments on a classmates (or my) blog. Also, don't be afraid to add hyperlinks and pictures. They can help spice up your entries a little.

As a sidenote, I will be around today to check your access tutorials (Colleges, Bikes, Books, Federal Legislature Databases) as I have delayed grading these long enough.

Inspect those Gadgets

Adding gadgets to your website or blog is a great way to customize content that is already available. Using content that is already available somewhere else is called syndication.

Please use Wednesday, 12-17, to inspect the gadgets available for you to use on your school blog. Select at least two gadgets to add to your blog. As always, please be school appropriate.

Go-go gadget blog! (Inspector Gadget was a sweet cartoon I used to run home from school to watch in the 5th grade.)

Blog Grading and Guidelines

Well, here's the deal with the blogs and how they will be graded. The initial blog should be set up by the end of day today. Two well thought out entries should be posted on your blog. This initial set up is worth 50 points.

You will also receive 10 points per good, intelligent, professional comments that you post on other classmates. You should post at least 5 times to get the full 50 points.

We will be adding additional things (RSS feeds, widgets, HTML code) to our blogs on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

Additional Guidelines:
Remember, this is a school blog. It is also open for anyone to see. Therefore, if you make or have made any inappropriate comments, go delete them now. (THAT MEANS YOU HOLLISTER)

Also, while I encourage candor about feelings and want your posts to be 'real', I can not allow any disparaging remarks about fellow staff members. If you have written a post that has negative comments, please revise it accordingly.

Please avoid making inane comments, as I have to read through all comments and make sure they are appropriate. This is a class activity. After the semester I would encourage you all to continue to blog about whatever you want. But during this class activity, keep it professional.

Post your blog address here

Put your school blog address in the comments of this post!

Blog Etiquette

Read this blog entry - he says pretty much all there is to say about blogging etiquette. http://mudpuppy.wordpress.com/2007/03/14/blog-etiquette/#comment-21465

Assignment for 12-12:

Define Etiquette and cite three examples of etiquette related to technology.

Create your own blog and make at least two, well thought-out entries. (Due Tuesday, Dec. 16th)

Blog Guidelines / Rules

Before we get too much further into blogging, there are some things that we need to talk about.

We need to set some guidelines so that we can continue to use this as an instructional tool without any hassle from me, your parents, the administrators or the school district.

I have three rules that I would like to start with:

1) This is an educational blog, not a personal one. Please keep it professional. That doesn't mean it has to be boring, but that does mean that we don't talk about what we are doing on a Saturday night. (Besides, you guys already have your myspaces, facebooks, etc. for that.)

2) Pls dnt use txting lngwige. W R nt txting, so use crct englsh. An LOL here or there is fine, but studies have show that the use of blogging as an educational tool can increase proficiency in writing.

3) Develop your thoughts. When asked to comment on a blog as an assignment, don't just say 'Yeah dude, that rocks'. Take time to develop your thoughts. Try to contribute something new. Do some additional research. Add an anecdotal experience.

Other than that, there are some common sense things I would like for us to develop together.

Assignment for Thursday 12-11:

1) Review the following web sites to look over other teachers' blogging "rules" and other articles related to blogging.

http://www.budtheteacher.com/wiki/index.php?title=Blogging_Rules

http://www.classblogmeister.com/bloggers_contract.doc

http://www.edtechmag.com/k12/issues/january-february-2006/professional-edge.html

2) What are at least two rules for blogging that we should adopt?

3) Should I have posted the picture of my brother's truck even though that has nothing to do with our class? Isn't that a personal thing rather than a professional thing?

Pre web vs. Web 1.0 vs. Web 2.0

So my sweet and cool leather jacket got caught on a door yesterday morning. While this may seem inconsequential to you, it made me kind of salty. Also there was a tiny circle-ly area in my back that kept getting cold.

I want this fissure repaired quickly and effectively. After I got done googling different iterations of "leather repair kit" or "leather jacket repair I was taken to amazon.com where the first result was this leather repair kit.

I was almost ready to buy, but then I saw the reviews.

I then looked at the "Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought" section of the page and saw that this product has a much better rating.

So it got me to thinking:

How would this catastrophic event have been handled differently in the two previous "Eras" (for lack of a better term) compared to how this played out today?

- The Pre-Iternet Era?
- Web 1.0 Era?

Maybe one day in class we will fix the hole and then post a review. Then we will be super-good web 2.0 citizens.

Top Coder

You've heard of Top Chef. But how about Top Coder?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TopCoder

How does this business model use "Web 2.0"?

If you are like "What's a business model?", then google it!

(See, you can make big bucks by paying attention in computer class.)

Check out Top Coder!

My Brothers Truck!

My brother (who is also a teacher) got into a crash this weekend. This is (was) his truck. Luckily, he was wearing his seat belt and he walked away with a few small scratches. Do you wear your seatbelt?

WEB 2.0 Activity

As I was trying to come up with a good "WEB 2.0" activity, I was going to make a nice powerpoint and worksheet. But that is so 2004.

So this is what I came up with instead.

First, Check this video out:
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/420984/web_2_0_the_machine_is_us_ing_us/

Then, in a few paragraphs, address each of the following questions:

1) Based on the video you watched, how would YOU define "web 2.0"? If you are still not so sure about it, you can google "web 2.0" and you will find many different definitions. But, please try to explain in your own words, rather than regurgitating some web definition.

2) How do you use web 2.0 technology in your life, both personal and academic?

3) Finally, please read each others discussions. If you'd like you can respond to each others posts.

4) Read and reply to other blog entries as you see fit.

21st century skills

Our school district's mission is "To prepare today's students for tommorow's world."

When I prepare lessons, I try to incorporate three things:

Critical Thinking
Problem Solving
Self-Directed Learning

What do you think? Are you ready to contribute to a 21st century economy?
Please discuss: How has your education here at Harvey helped or hindered your ability to participate in the 21st century global economy?

How do you "fix" a school?

Time magazine had a pretty interesting article about education,

How to Fix America's Schools. Read it. It's not at all boring, I promise.

What do you think about Chancellor Rhee's approach? In what ways is our school in need of "fixing"? Please discuss!

I Digress...

I Digress...

I was looking up stuff for my video 1 class because we are doing animation and I found this video which I thought was awesome.

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/571458/my_animated_world

Blogging - What the Heck is it?

What the heck is a blog? Well, if you google "what is a blog", you get a blog about blogs:

"For a detailed more description about blogs see http://wiki.wordpress.org/IntroToBlogs . . . A blog is basically a journal that is available on the web. The activity of updating a blog is "blogging" and someone who keeps a blog is a "blogger."

"Blogs are typically updated daily using software that allows people with little or no technical background to update and maintain the blog. Postings on a blog are almost always arranged in cronological order with the most recent additions featured most prominantly." www.matisse.net/files/glossary.html

There are more definitions, but hey, you can google that stuff on your own if you don't get it yet.

This blog will be used in addition to the class website http://webclass.painesville-city.k12.oh.us/

The purpose of this blog is to provide students with an opportunity to provide feedback on discussion topics, lessons and more. This is an alternative to providing you with paper worksheets and if we use it properly, it will be a better learning tool.

So stay tuned to http://mrpatty.blogspot.com/ and we will see how this works.