reaching up & out and leaving our mark
In this issue of Bulldog 2.0, we will look at the projects of Bosse’s Student Tech Team as well as venture inside Jeff Dierlam’s classroom to see some of the great websites students created to explore world cultures. Ryan Merriwether speaks about how he uses Apex in his math classes, and Robin Woebkenberg discusses how the counselors plan to use a survey in Angel to gather data about elective choices. Jeff Thornton shares a technology checklist he provides to his students. Our feature website, Wordle, appears throughout the newsletter, and we’ll learn how to use it in each of the curricular areas. I also introduce our new IT specialist, Trace Hayden, and he helps me better understand UltraSurf and its impact on our teaching.
Office Hours: Students welcome to walk in during lunch hours & help requests available in media center and attendance office
Out of the office Tuesday mornings 7:30-10:30
Missy Feller missy.feller@evsc.k12.in.us eLearning Coach Bosse High School 812.435.8888 ext. 41131
Providing tech support isn’t easy and one reason is because you never know what people don’t know. When ESL teacher Janelle Nisly asked if the Tech Team was available to work with her students on a video project, my team’s first question was “what do they know how to do?” “They’re doing PhotoStory and MovieMaker projects. Start from there,” I told them. So, armed with cameras and video equipment, we worked with her students for two days and helped them complete their modernized fairy tale projects. And so started our service-based Tech Team (T2). For fall homecoming, we videoed and photographed the pep assembly festivities, as we did for Teen Power activities. We entered the Tech Team challenge initiated by Jason Bailey and videoed the netbooks throughout the building. In late November, two of our members represented the team at the district-wide summit and met with other tech team members from all over the city. The greatest aspect of our tech team is the knowledgebase they hold. Because they work on the netbooks every day, they are our greatest resources. Although they cannot log in with administrative rights, they do know how to troubleshoot common issues and know how to quickly get in touch with me through instant-messaging. If you have an idea for a project with the tech team, please let me or one of the team members know. Bosse Tech Team meets every Friday during homeroom. Students interested in joining the team may contact a current member or email me at missy.feller@evsc.k12.in.us or Trace Hayden at trace.hayden@evsc.k12.in.us
feature by robin.woebkenberg@evsc.k12.in.us
our part and saving paper as well. Ms. Crick spoke with Mrs. Feller
Every year, just like clockwork,
incorporate the netbooks into
and they took it one step farther –
enrollment time rolls around. This
counseling. Like most other
Mrs. Feller would create a survey
means all of the counselors, this
things, SAT/ACT enrollment,
to allow students to rank their
year at Bosse it is just Ms.
college applications and
choices, so if the first elective
Roberts and myself, go to each
transcripts are now done online.
conflicted in the schedule, Ms.
English class, hand out enrollment
Ms. Roberts and I have found that
Roberts and I would know what
sheets and pull each student out
using the netbooks to instruct
the next alternative would be.
into the hallway for an individual
students on how to correctly fill
While the concept sounds simple,
enrollment session. Both of us, as
out these forms has been very
translating the idea into a survey
a general rule, enjoy talking with
helpful, whether individually or as
that large in Angel was a feat that
students. Really, we do. Frankly,
a class. Students may be
evidently no one had attempted
we like to talk about some things
technologically savvy in many
before. Mrs. Feller worked long
more than others, but often don’t
ways, but we have found that
and hard to create the perfect
get a choice in the matter – the
most lack the skills necessary to
survey. She hit roadblocks along
students often share way more
accurately complete and submit
the way, asked questions to Angel
than we ever imagined they
these forms on their own.
that had never been asked before
would. Enrollment is a different
We wanted to incorporate the
and pushed the limits of what was
netbooks into enrollment this
possible. She was persistent and
year. Complete online enrollment
created a tool that other high
explanation of what Human
was piloted at another school last
schools want to use. Mrs. Crick,
Development is, we are ready to
year and did not get favorable
Ms. Roberts and I are extremely
explore different career options.
reviews, so that was out – and we
pleased with this addition to the
With enrollment season on the
would miss the contact with the
enrollment process. The
horizon and down one counselor,
students. We had the idea to take
administration and the counselors
we were thinking about ways to
our least favorite part of
are able to get the data we need
make enrollment easier, but still
enrollment, the elective
to make enrollment move more
meet with each student
explanations, and put them on
smoothly – and our school is
individually. In addition, we are
Angel for the students to review –
being innovative with the
always looking for ways to
eliminating all of the repetition on
netbooks. A win-win for Bosse.
story. While we enjoy talking with each student, after about the 215
th
feature by ryan.merriwether@evsc.k12.in.us I use Apex on a regular basis in my classroom. Apex gives me the opportunity engage students individually. Also, Apex provides students with tutorials that can provide guidance when no one is available to provide help. Today, students are more likely to open a computer to complete school work than open a textbook. Technology is eliminating excuses for students that want to learn to have that opportunity. Apex is an educational tool that can be very beneficial to students.
By selecting the Reports tab in Apex, then clicking on Correlations, teachers may find all activities in any Apex course aligned with a particular state standard.
feature by jeff.dierlam@evsc.k12.in.us
Earlier in the semester I set up a blog to showcase student work from my U.S. Government and Sociology courses. The government students studied the U.S. Constitution and created “scripted debates� over current controversial issues. Students were required to research the constitutional application to their issue. Each pair had to designate someone to support the issue and someone to oppose it. This forced students to research opinions with which they may not necessarily agree. Once the students developed their scripts, they recorded the debate and published it on the course blog. Throughout the following weeks we listened to some of the episodes in class so the students could hear what the other students had done.
My sociology students were also able to post work on the blog. They were charged with the goal of creating an informative website on a culture or their choosing. Students worked in small groups to research the various aspects of culture in relation to the people they were studying. An unexpected learning experience occurred when a group decided to research the culture of a foreign exchange student from Turkey. This gave the student an opportunity to share information about her culture and feel confident speaking in front of the class. If you are interested, this student work (and hopefully more to come) is posted on the BosseCast at www.bossecast.blogspot.com. Also, the BosseCast is published on iTunes. If you search for the BosseCast podcast in iTunes you can subscribe to it and download any future updates.
feature by jeff.thornton@evsc.k12.in.us At the beginning of a semester or grading period is a great time to go over procedures and expectations for class. This year I decided to create a technology list for students. This is a list to share each new grading period as a reminder of my expectations for technology use in my class.
Bring your netbook to class every day. Create a class folder under your ‘Documents’ folder and keep all of your class work there. Organize your folder by class name or period number. Set up a free email account through Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc. Use your email account for communicating with teachers and other school personnel. Try communicating by email before coming to see the person you are trying to contact. Don’t ask your teacher for information that can be found with a google search. Set your Angel course mail to forward to your email account. Be sure you have downloaded the syllabus, procedures, project information for this class and save it in your class folder. If you are having trouble using a new computer program like moviemaker, photostory, glogster, etc., ask a classmate first and then ask google. Bookmark the sites you visit the most. Don’t forget to check your grades everyday on EdEase for current grade and attendance information.
A tag cloud or word cloud arranges pre-determined words so they form a visual representation. On
wordle.net, you don’t need an account to create quick and easy clouds, such as the ones used throughout this newsletter publication. Click Create, paste your words, and Wordle will arrange the words according to the frequency of their use. Words used most often will appear largest. Wordle also allows for font, layout, and color customization. Limitless possibilities exist for creativity with word clouds. Other websites, such as imagechef’s
word mosaic, allow for
even more customization by changing the color of individual words, changing the shape of the cloud, or adding in shapes like stars or hearts within the cloud.
tag cloud / word cloud sites: http://www.wordle.net http://www.imagechef.com/ic/ word_mosaic/ http://tagul.com/ http://www.tagxedo.com/
classroom applications for word clouds:
English: analyze word choice of your own writing by creating a wordle from prose or poetry Math: create a tag cloud of math terminology World Languages: choose words representative of a culture and create a word cloud Health / PE: use a wordle as a stylist representation of street names of common drugs for a research pamphlet Science: pick key vocabulary from notes and create a tag cloud as a study tool Social Studies: analyze word choice from an important historical speech Business: create a logo for a popular company using wordle Technology / FACS: create a recipe card with ingredients arranged in a cloud Fine Arts / Music: create a wordle biography of an artist or musician using key elements of that person’s life
I’ll be completely honest:
I didn't know
much about UltraSurf until I started researching it during the later part of this semester. Some of the concerns we’ve had about the Internet Explorer browser not working or students not being able to use the Angel secure browser all seem to stem from the presence of UltraSurf on the netbook. In this article, we’ll look at some of the important and deceptive features of UltraSurf all teachers and administrators should know. The original purpose of Ultra Surf was to browse the Internet anonymously, protected against identity theft, and as part of the movement toward censorshipfree Internet surfing. The vast majority of our students load UltraSurf on their netbooks without fully understanding the implications and what effect it will have on the functionality of their web browsers.
Students do not have the administrative rights to install programs on their netbooks but UltraSurf does not require an installation — it is a stand-alone program. To get UltraSurf on the netbook, students must download the program from home or a computer not in the EVSC and transfer the program by flash drive or SD card to the netbook. This is a very conscious effort by the students — there is no way for UltraSurf to “appear” on the netbooks without their knowing. When confronted, students will say “I don’t know how that lock got on my netbook — this is simply not true. UltraSurf is also a very needy program. The newest versions are constantly blocked by the Office of Technology but UltraSurf also develops newer versions on a regular basis. Students who use UltraSurf must be persistent enough to keep it updated. Each time a student wishes to use UltraSurf, he must actively open the program, and by opening UltraSurf, the program will open a new Internet Explorer window. UltraSurf bypasses both filters put in place by the Office of Technology: Lightspeed and ENA. It clears the browsing history and allows for anonymous web browsing. It ONLY works with Internet Explorer.
system tray item
desktop icon
gold lock (located anywhere on screen)
Students may opt to hide the lock through the Options feature of UltraSurf. They may also rename the program or hide the program in a folder not on their desktop. However, if UltraSurf is running, there will be an icon in the system tray, l ocated on the bottom, right corner of the screen.
Constant use of UltraSurf will eventually corrupt the Internet Explorer browser, and since the Angel Secure Browser uses Internet Explorer, this may be why some students’ Secure Browser stopped functioning. Re-imaging the netbook sometimes is the only way to correct this problem because it wipes the netbook clean of all versions of UltraSurf.
The Office of Technology recommends using the Firefox browser because it works better with many of our web-based programs. Firefox does not support the UltraSurf program.
Trace graduated from North High School in 2007 and continued his education at Vincennes University. He graduated with an Associates Degree as a Computer Wireless and Networking Security Specialist in May 2009, and joined the EVSC as an IT Support Technician in October of that year. He’s worked with teachers and tech coordinators at Plaza Park, McGary, and Harrison and transferred to Bosse late this October, replacing Becky Woods who is now full time at the Westside elementary schools. Trace is serving Bosse fulltime Monday through Friday, and in his spare time enjoys serving as Scoutmaster with Troup 312 at Holy Rosary. Trace is an experienced video editor and spent over 145 hours on his senior project creating a professional, 8-minute Star Wars film. Trace also enjoys first-person shooter, real-time strategy, and role playing video games.
F1 = help Function + F1 = sleep Function + F6 = disables wifi Function F8 = toggles between screen views / connects to LCD Function + F11 = print screen (takes picture of everything on screen)
Control + F = find Control + C = copy Control + V = paste Control + X = cut Control + Z = undo Control + D (some programs) = clone/duplicate Control + Enter = go to next page Shift + Enter = go to next line (no spacing)
want to feature in a future newsletter? email me!
reaching up & out and leaving our mark