Week 20

Welcome to Week 20 of Keyboarding & the Beginning of 2nd Semester!

Actually, today is the last day of the 1st semester, so you still have one more day to raise those scores! Overall, I am very pleased with the results of 1st semester. A majority of students have received a grade of A or B in the class. Great job!

Your first assignment for the 2nd semester will address your 8th Grade English-Language Arts standard 1.6, which pertains to oral communication/presentation.

This week you will:

• Begin lessons 12-33 in Keyboarding Online
• Present your art project to the class using the classroom display monitor
  

In your student agenda, please write down your Week 20 Learning Objective:
We will learn how to speak publicly by presenting to the class.

Tech Tip Tuesday - Free Creative Content with a Creative Commons License

For today's Tech Tip Tuesday, we are going to visit two very cool online creative content distributing websites:

creativecommons.org

and

jamendo.com

A Creative Commons license allows anyone who creates intellectual property content (such as music, art, photography, prose, poetry, scientific research, etc.) to share their work with other users, so that they may use the work legally. A Creative Commons license specifically details how you are able to legally use the work (published, on the web, with or without attribution, with or without modification, with or without payment). The Creative Commons website also allows you to search for content so that you can find the content you need, which details exactly how your are able to use the content legally, even in a public forum such as on your website. Just check the license every time you find content you wish to use to verify the extent of your usage rights.

Jamendo.com is a music website where musicians share music that they have created. These talented artists have shared almost 300,000 free-to-use, Creative Commons-licensed tracks. When you or your students need free music, you can search jamendo.com for all music genres. Remember, this music is released with a Creative Commons license, so you are free to use it as you wish, with few or no restrictions!

Ready, set, share!

Week 19

Welcome to Week 19 of Keyboarding & the end of 1st Semester!

Wow, the 1st semester is already over...how time flies when you're having fun!

Congratulations, all students are finished with all of the Keyboarding Online lessons 1-11. Keep checking your student data profile to target your lower speeds (WPM), and continue to retake these lessons to raise your grade. Remember, the one-minute lines in each lesson are worth a lot more than the other lines.

All students have submitted a graphic art project to Ms. Kline. Remember to check for your art project, printed in color, on Ms. Kline's art "Wall of Fame." Check for your art on Ms. Kline's web page, too!

Everyone should have plenty of time during this final week in January to raise his/her final semester grade before the end of the semester. Great job everyone!

This week you will:

• Target your low speeds (WPM) in your Keyboarding Online lessons
• Retake lessons 1-11 in Keyboarding Online to achieve a higher speed
  
• Verify that your graphic art project has been submitted to Ms. Kline as a .jpg by looking for your project on Ms. Kline's art Wall of Fame and on Ms. Kline's web page
  

Ms. Kline's Week 19 Key Vocabulary:

• Review vocabulary from weeks 1 - 16

Tech Tip Tuesday - Make a Word Cloud

For today's Tech Tip Tuesday, we are going to learn how to use a word cloud generator, also known as a tag cloud!

A word cloud generator analyzes text you enter, or from a website's RSS feed to find the words that are most used in that text or website. The most frequently used words appear larger than others.The online program we will use today is called "Wordle." Wordle allows you to enter text, or paste in text from a web site, or load a website's RSS feed URL, or load a del.icio.us user name. After creating your word cloud, you can change the font name, font color, delete unwanted words, change the shape of the word cloud, save it on the Wordle website, or print it.

Here is the word cloud I generated from my blog, mskline.net
Go to wordle.net to create your new word cloud today!

Week 18

Welcome to Week 18 of Keyboarding!

Coming down to the home stretch...

Again, everyone should be finished with all of the Keyboarding Online lessons 1-11. Keep checking your student data profile to target your lower speeds (WPM), and continue to retake these lessons to raise your grade. Remember, the one-minute lines in each lesson are worth a lot more than the other lines.

Be sure that you have submitted your graphic art project to Ms. Kline by checking for your art project, printed in color, on Ms. Kline's art "Wall of Fame." Check for your art on Ms. Kline's web page, too!

Everyone should have plenty of time during these final two weeks in January to raise his/her final semester grade before the end of the semester. Great job everyone!

This week you will:

• Target your low speeds (WPM) in your Keyboarding Online lessons
• Retake lessons 1-11 in Keyboarding Online to achieve a higher speed
  
• Verify that your graphic art project has been submitted to Ms. Kline as a .jpg by looking for your project on Ms. Kline's art Wall of Fame and on Ms. Kline's web page
  

Ms. Kline's Week 18 Key Vocabulary:

• Review vocabulary from weeks 1 - 16

Celebrating Dr. King's Legacy & African-American Heritage Month

This weekend, on January 15, we will be celebrating the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. King's birthday became a federal holiday, Martin Luther King Day in 1986.

Dr. King was instrumental in bringing about the civil rights movement in the United States, and the much needed changes to American society, such as the Civil Rights Act, that that movement brought about.

Dr. King's holiday also kicks off African-American Heritage Month which runs from February 1 - 28. Although this month has a long history dating back to 1926 when it was only one week, it began to be celebrated for an entire month in 1976.

For your homeroom project this month, we are making African-American Heritage Month posters. Please find an article in Wikipedia about someone whom you admire and wish to celebrate, add an image to a word processing document, and write three facts about this person. Don't forget to cite your resource as well as the creator of the image you are using. Because you are using Wikipedia, the image is in the public domain!

Read more about Ms. Kline's heroes!

Week 17

Welcome to Week 17 of Keyboarding!

Welcome back! You should be well rested after the long three week winter break!

At this point everyone should be finished with all of the Keyboarding Online lessons 1-11. You will continue to use your student data profile to target your lower speeds (WPM), then retake these lessons to raise your grade. Remember, the one-minute lines in each lesson are worth a lot more than the other lines.

All graphic art projects should have been submitted to Ms. Kline as a .jpg. Look for your art project, printed in color, on Ms. Kline's art "Wall of Fame." Students who have turned in their permission slips will also have their art projects posted to Ms. Kline's web page on the Spurgeon Intermediate website.

Everyone should have plenty of time during these final three weeks in January to raise his/her final semester grade before the end of the semester. Great job everyone!

This week you will:

• Target your low speeds (WPM) in your Keyboarding Online lessons
• Retake lessons 1-11 in Keyboarding Online to achieve a higher speed
  
• Verify that your graphic art project has been submitted to Ms. Kline as a .jpg by looking for your project on Ms. Kline's art Wall of Fame.
  

Ms. Kline's Week 17 Key Vocabulary:

• Review vocabulary from weeks 1 - 16