Choptank Technology Club

Create your own documentaries with National Geographic’s Wildlife Filmmaker.  Drag and drop video clips, then add sounds, music, and captions. 

Make sure to follow the following rules when posting a

 comment/reply to a blog:

1. Your comment/reply should be about the post you are reading.  If you want to say hi or ask the person a question that does not have to do with the post you should email them.
2. Make a point.  It’s great to hear comments like “Wonderful!” or “Great Job!”  Comments like this are fine, but try to make a more meaningful contribution.  Why is it wonderful?  What was great about the post?  If you disagree with ideas in the post don’t just write “Your Wrong.”  Explain why you disagree in a respectful way.  Do not make your disagreement personal.  (From Grammar Girl)
3. Check your spelling and punctuation before you submit your reply.  Remember your writing is a reflection of you.
4. Use the Living Room Rule.  If you went into someone’s living room as a guest you would not be rude.  If you are rude your comments will not be posted and your privilege to post a comment/reply will be taken away.
5. Pretend your mom is in the room.  Comments/replies that are intentionally misleading, contain false information, threats, verbal abuse, inappropriate statements or pictures, or personal information about others are not allowed.  Remember what you have learned about Internet safety.
6. Be yourself.  Don’t pretend to be anyone else.  However, remember not to give out personal information.  Again, remember your Internet safety.

Every Tech Club member has received an email to get ready for the next meeting.  The email gives directions on how to prepare for the next meeting so everyone will be ready to begin their Blabberize animation.  4th grade students will use the Blabberizer Template at the bottom of the Animation page of the Tech Club webpage.  5th grade students will use the Blabberizer Template 5th Grade at the bottom of the page.

In the future you should make sure you check your emails for upcoming directions before new projects.  If we can finish some of the work outside of meetings we will have more time to use technology during the meetings.

Today in the Tech Club meeting we had our first meeting with the grade levels split.  4th grade did a great job using the Blabberizer site today.  They downloaded a picture they wanted to use, learned how to upload the image to Blabberize, and how to create a mouth on their pictures that they could create sound for.   During our next meeting they will add sound to their Blabberize characters. 

We had a few tech issues today.  The Blabberize site would not go through our filters with student logons.  Students patiently waited for me to log them in and did a great job following directions.  The Blabberize site will be unblocked by our next meeting but meanwhile students can create their own at home or during the school day with my help.

Today students also came home with a list of the sites we will be using for the next several months.  Included in the list is their user names and passwords.  Since we have learned about Internet safety students know not to share sheets with anyone else.

Another fun creative site.  Whyville is a kid friendly site where you can create your own virtual world.  You can design your own look, chat and play games, hang out with friends, and much more.  Try it out and let the Tech Club know what you think.

During this week’s meeting the Tech Club members voted on how to proceed with meetings.  Overall students agreed that there were too many people using the computer lab at one time.  Please click on the Meeting Dates tab at the top of the page to see the result of the Club’s decision.  The dates of 4th or 5th grade meeting can also be found by clicking on the calendar at the top right corner of the page.  We are now up to twenty-three 4th graders and fifteen 5th graders!

We also worked on practicing how to create animations using Dvolver so that during the next meeting we can create animations.  If we have time we will also create animations using Blabberize. 

Due to the popularity of the Technology Club we will be voting this week about meeting dates.  The group is up to 37 students with twenty-two 4th grade students and fifteen 5th grade students.  This is causing some issues with the number of computers available and the noise level from all the exciting activities going on.   I am proposing that we change the meeting dates so that only 4th graders come one week and then only 5th graders come the next week.  This will also insure that if students are in more than one activity that meet on Wednesdays they can alternate their activities without missing anything in the Technology Club.

We may also have a new teacher joining the Technology Club.  Mr. Schwickrath has agreed to come in and become a part of the club!

In today’s meeting students practiced their scripts for their Internet Safety Tip videos.  Due to the fact that the Tech Club now has 37 members (and one teacher!) filming is going more slowly than expected.  Since students are excited about completing their videos I will be pulling them over the next week from Specials to complete their videos.  Today Keturah, Don’Ijaha, and Natale shared with the group why downloading pictures, videos, music, or files from the Internet can be dangerous. 

Several new members joined the Tech Club today and were completing their Internet safety activities so they can participate in the next meetings online activities.  Next week students will be creating animations.  Everyone is excited about what members will create.

Glogster is a site where you can create interactive posters of your work or links to websites that you like.  Glogs can be used for many different reasons.  Some of the Tech Club members have asked me about the site.  Check out the example Glog that I created. 

Glogster now has a section especially for educational uses.  To learn more about Glogster go to http://edu.glogster.com/.

During our last meeting students researching safely downloading asked if there is a way to check downloads for virus’.   Of course the best way to protect your computer is to have a current virus protection program. 

If you are unsure of a file you already downloaded go to:

Leo Notenboom answered the following question in his blog: “Can I check a download for virus’ before I download it?”

• Download only from sites you trust.  If you’re not sure, Google them to see if other people are experiencing trouble with downloads from that site.
• Always download, and never run any download. For example many programs for Windows are provided as a downloadable “.EXE”, or executable file. The default action for a “.EXE” file is to run it … meaning that the program contained in the .EXE would be allowed to run and do whatever it might want. Instead, download the file to a directory on your computer first, so that you can take the next step.
• Scan the download for viruses before installing or running it. Most anti-virus packages can scan a single file, or perhaps a single directory. Use that to point at the file or the directory you’ve downloaded your file into, and do the scan. Make sure your anti-virus scanner’s data base is up to date.. Consider an anti-spyware scan as well.
• Assuming your anti-virus software reported no problems, install, run or otherwise use the download.
• If you have reason to be worried, it often makes sense to re-run the anti-virus scan and the anti-spyware scan after you’ve installed your download.

So what if your download shows up as being infected? First, delete the copy you just downloaded immediately, so that it doesn’t get run by accident. If you can, see if you can find the same download from another source – sometimes malware is present only in some of the downloads of a particular piece of software.