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Final Exam!

Welcome to your final post of the semester!  I can't tell you how much I have enjoyed having you in my class.  Please don't be strangers and I hope to see you in some future classes.  A reminder to turn in your Website Review!

This blog post will be a self-evaluation of your work and work ethic throughout the semester.  Answer the following questions in your blog, again, your audience will need some context for the answers you post.

1.  Read through your entire blog.  Write a one paragraph reflection on the semester.
2.  What unit or project has been most valuable to you?  Explain your answer.
3.  How do you plan to use the technology skills you have learned in class to situations outside of our classroom - for example, other classes, home, work?  Please be specific.
4.  Did you feel that you contributed positively to our class?  What is one thing you did well and one that could use some improvement?
5.  If a potential employer asked you to describe your technology skills, how would you respond?  Please write your answer as though you were talking during an interview, in other words, sell yourself and try to impress.
6.  Now that our course is over, what do you plan to take for electives in the next coming years?  Feel free to look at the course prospectus on-line on the Verona Area School District website.  If you are going to be graduating, are there courses you wish you had taken?  Explain.

Thanks again!

Friday, January 11, 2013

The last full week of the semester and finals next week.  Time flies!  It has been my pleasure to be your instructor, and I hope you have found some tools that you'll be able to use in other settings.

Your blog post this week is three parts:

1. Your thoughts about the Web 2.0 tools your peers have shared so far.  Which have you found most useful?  Have you used any of them yet or before?  
2. News Forum - I have copied and pasted the text below.
3. A reflection of your week.

Have a relaxing weekend as we head into finals week!

The first video is "Search Foreign Pages in English".  Watch it and answer the following questions:

Please find the answer to this question: Apa warna pada bendera Indonesia?

 Red, white, and blue 

 Yellow and green 

 Red and green 

 Red and white

You are interested in learning more about castles in the Czech Republic.  However, you'd like the information from a page written in Czech.  How would you do a search like this?  What do you find?

The second video is called "Combining Search Methods".  Watch this short video and answer the following questions:

Which of these searches shows an effective use of multiple operators?

 [household spending site:org -site:edu] 

 [site:edu site:org household spending] 

 [site:census.gov filetype:pdf household spending] 

 [household spending site:edu OR org]

Write a question that could be answered by using multiple operators.  Your search query should include at least three operators.  Show how you would write the search query, and what the answer to your question is.

Friday, January 4, 2013

Welcome back!  I hope your break was restful.  What a gift to get two extra days!  Your blog post is due by Friday at midnight.  If you miss points, I will not go back and reread it :)

Here is this week's blog prompt:

1. We watched a thirteen minute video around journalism and determining fact from fiction.  Tell me three things about this video.  Remember that your readers may not have seen the video, so be sure to provide context for your readers.
2. What is one thing you hope to accomplish in 2013?  Be specific, and have a plan for reaching your goal. For example, I am planning on running the Madison Marathon next November.  I will follow an eighteen week training program to prepare for the race.
3. Answer the questions from our News Forum.  They are repeated below.  Again, remember to provide context for your readers.

News Forum:  Watch the five minute video titled "Some Search Shortcuts" and answer the following questions:

• What is the capital of Pakistan?  Using the information on the right (after performing your search) what is the most recent population for the capital of Pakistan?
• What is the current weather in Tampa, FL?  How about in zip code 90210?  Where is zip code 90210?
• Tell me the status of Delta flight 5432.
• Your grandma has a bunion.  Sounds nasty.  What is a bunion?
• What are two brand names for the drug ibuprofen?
• go to the list of Google search features, look through and find two not used above.  Create two questions to test your friends' search skills.  Also, provide the answers for your two questions.

Last Post for 2012!

Wow!  It was so fun to host Ms. Kroetz's fifth grade class.  You all were awesome and I am so proud.  A class period to produce a video is a lot to ask, and you did it.  Thanks so much - you will each be earning extra credit for your hard work.  

This last post of 2012 is a little bit lengthy, therefore, I won't be grading these until Wednesday morning.  Be sure to have your post completed by Wednesday at 8am :)

• Please tell me how your experience with the fifth grade student went.  Did you enjoy working with him or her?  Do you think they enjoyed the experience?  Add any suggestions for next time we do this.  Which video tool did you end up using and was it a good choice?
• We used TimeToast to make a timeline.  What did you like/dislike about this tool?  Have there been opportunities for you to use this tool in school?  If you used a different tool, please provide a link and a brief description of this tool.
• Take a minute to reflect on 2012.  I remember reading this in a book I recently read; "The days are long but the years are short."  So, so true.  Did your year go well?  Were there things that you wish you could go back and change?  Did you accomplish what you had hoped to?  What are your goals for 2013?  
• Finally, you were to watch two Google Search videos and answer a few questions.  That information is below.

After watching "Searching Within a Page" answer the following two questions:

1. In your own words, what does the intext operator do?
2. How do you get to the Advanced Search tools?

After watching the "Search by Image" video, complete the following:

While sorting through some trinkets at a garage sale, you find the image below (you will find this image in our News Forum in Moodle). There is a note scrawled on the back that says, "ancestor of manga." Since you are interested in manga, you decide to learn more about the image.  What temple loaned this painting to a national museum?

I wish you a restful break.  Enjoy time with your family and friends, relax, regroup, and I look forward to seeing you in 2013!

December 7, 2012

Winter Break is creeping up on us.  Only ten school days remain for 2012.  Only two blog posts remain for 2012!  Be sure to answer all the questions this week.  I will not be going back to reread your blog once it is published and graded!!!  This week you are asked to answer the following:

This week you watched a short video titled "Searching by file type" which is less than five minutes long.  When done with the video you need to answer these questions:

1.  What is a .kml file type?  Search for and open a kml file in Google Maps and tell us what you learned.

2.  You want to find a sound file that will teach you Morse Code for "I love you". Your friend told you that Wikimedia has all these audio files of people saying things in different languages, in a format called .OGG. Which of the following queries can you use to most easily find the file you want?

[i love you morse code ogg:filetype]

[i love you file morse code type:ogg]
[i love you morse code filetype:ogg
[i love you morse code filetype: ogg]
All of the above

3.  Your teacher is going to Japan, where she will be taken to see a Kabuki play. She asks you for a bit of background on Kabuki. You know that she prefers to read on paper. What would your search look like to find a PDF to print for her?

4.  Give an example of a time when this search technique could be useful or could have been useful to you.

We watched a variety of presentations this week, if you could give advice to the presenters (no names please) what would it be?  What stands out in your mind regarding the presentations?  

Of the four video tools we checked out, which would you use for personal use and why?  

Tell me about your week!  As always, I like reading about how things are going for you both in and outside of school.  Take a paragraph to reflect upon your week.

Timeline Test