Tuesday, November 30

A boy took a teacher and a room full of classmates hostage yesterday in Wisconsin. Read the full story here. Last week we practiced our lock-down drill. We have never had to go into an actual "lock-down," but it is good to have a plan in place. Put yourself in the hostage situation in Wisconsin. What would you do in that particular situation? How would you react? What can be done to ensure this does not happen again? Did you read the comments after the article? The one I found humorous was to arm all the teachers. I can tell you this, if it comes to the point where teachers have to be armed in the classroom, I know one teacher, namely me, who will be retiring.

The end of the semester will be here before you know it. Interim reports are due this week. I will work on getting papers graded and returned to you. I will be grading blog posts on Thursday. Make sure you have responded. In order to receive a "5," you need to answer the blog completely using formal language (capital letters, correct spelling, no abbreviations, complete sentences.)

After you have finished with your blog post, your next podcast assignment is to record an informational podcast. There is a handout with complete instructions on the desk in the front of the room. Help yourself.

Assignment for Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Good Morning/Afternoon! You need to continue to modify your All About Me presentation. Add text to your slides. If you have too many objects on the slide, you may have to delete some of those objects to make room for the text. Once you have your text added, animate your presentation. The presentation should run from start to finish without any clicking.

Reminder: Classroom rules are in effect. Absolutely no texting and no iPods (or equivalent).

Distracted Drivers

I was listening to the radio on the way to school this morning, and one of the news stories was about how many accidents are caused each year by drivers that are distracted. Distractions include texting, talking on the phone, changing the music and eating. I'm guilty of doing everything but texting. Are you a distracted driver? Do you think there should be a cell phone law in Coshocton?

Our driver's ed instructor, Mr. Yurjevic, was diagnosed yesterday with APL Leukemia. This type of leukemia is very treatable. He is in the hospital and will undergo 15 days of intense chemotherapy. Mr. Yurjevic has taught many of you to drive. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers. If you would like to send him a card, here is his address:

The James
Attention: Greg Yurjevic, Room 1041
300 W. Tenth Avenue
Columbus, OH 43210

Don't have a stamp? Bring a card to school, and I will make sure he gets it. It is going to be a rough couple of weeks for him. I am sure that he would appreciate hearing from his former students.

Technology Making a Difference

This article in The Coshocton Tribune tells about a high school in Cincinnati that went through some major changes. Read the article and give me your thoughts.

LeBron James' New Nike Commercial

My mom is a Akron St. Vincent/St. Mary's graduate. I have an uncle that still lives in the Akron area and both of his boys grdauated from St. V. (They were a few years older than LeBron.) My uncle had season tickets to all the basketball games. We have had many conversations over the years about LeBron. When Lebron was in contract negotiations, I was sure he would stay in Cleveland. Obviously, I was wrong. Have you watched his new Nike commercial? Time to plug in your headphones if you have them with you.....there are a few pairs of headphones in the cupboard in the back of the room. Here is the link to the commercial. Watch it and let me know what you think. What do you think was LeBron's goal with this commercial? What about Nike's goal?

Friday, October 22, 2010

Good Morning/Afternoon. Today you need to work on your nine week's assessment portfolio. I will be returning to you papers that I have graded this week. Your job is to get organized. See last week's post for more information regarding the portfolio. I will be grading the portfolios next Thursday.

You may have noticed that I put grades for the blog responses from this 9 weeks in Progress Book. Please remember that spelling and punctuation count. The most common error I found was the capitalization of "I." I should never be typed lower case. If you want to get the full 5 points for a blog posting, you should also make sure that you answer all parts of the blog posting. There were a few instances where there were no ID numbers listed. If you responded and have a grade of "0," you might want to check to see if you included your lunch number as part of your post. If you need to make up a blog post, type the word MAKE-UP with your lunch number at the beginning. Last day for blog make-ups is Wednesday, October 27, 2010.

It's important that your name is included on all make-up work.

How Will You Spend Your Dash?

A friend sent me a link to an inspirational movie. I thought I would share it with you. Click on this link. Hope you have a wonderful Tuesday.

To Do List - Friday, October 15

The first item on your To Do List for today is to finish the assignment from Wednesday. Be sure that all the printouts and the directions are stapled in order and that your name is on all the pages. Next, check Progress Book to see if you have any missing assignments. Complete or print anything that is missing and put in the yellow bin. I will be passing back graded papers today during class. You need to put them in your folders. Last item is to organize the graded papers in your folder. Create a spreadsheet that lists the assignments that have been graded and returned to you. Include the grade. The organization and appearance of this spreadsheet will be part of your nine week's assessment. I suggest that you take some time with the formatting (utilize borders, shading, font changes, etc). Save the file as "Portfolio List."

Let's Talk Typos

I made a typo on my last blog post. Hate when I make a typographical error. Most of the time I attribute my typos to being in a hurry and not going back and re-reading and checking before printing or posting. Last week there was a news story about a typographical error on a cereal box. See if you can Google and find the story. What can you do to make sure your assignments are error free?

Fair Time

It's here....The Coshocton County Fair. Are you among the avid fair goers that get a weekly pass and go every day? Do you boycot? If you go, what are your favorite things to do and eat? Remember spelling and punctuation (capital letters on proper nouns!) counts toward your score on your blog post.

Twitter

Do you Twitter? I don't really see the point, but posting Tweets has been gaining in popularity. I came across this article about a hacker attack on the popular site. Please read the article. Do you think the 17 year-old will get in trouble? Should he?

Facebook in the News.....Again

Facebook made the evening news again last night. A story about a Centerburg teacher ran on 10 tv. Find the story and let me know what you think. How is the school board going to figure out the truth? Is it possible for someone to "hack" into someone else's facebook account? How should someone be punished if they are the ones that did the hacking? How is this teacher's reputation affected? I'm tempted to delete my facebook account. Do I really need one?

Google Debuts "Instant" Search

Yesterday Google announced the latest and greatest search feature....Instant Search. This article gives you a brief overview of how it will work. Go to Google and search for Google Instant. As of the writing of this blog post, it's not available yet. Listed on the site are FAQs. In your blog posting for today, give me your thoughts on this new feature. Where do you normally start your Internet searches? Why do you start where you start? Remember when you post, start your post with your lunch number so I know who you are.