Web Design Election Fun #webdesign #busedu

So, after the debates last night, I felt compelled to create an "Election 2016" activity for my Web Design kiddos. I figured I'd share it with you.

I believe it is important that students learn to think critically, especially in web design. So, for this activity, I had them copy a folder (this folder if you'd like to use the activity) with images and an html file inside.

I provided a screenshot inside and they were to try to make the html file match the screenshot. The html file was riddled with errors. And, the images were not all "ready" to be used, so they had to resize some of them, remove backgrounds and "know" to change them to PNG files for transparency, etc.). The heading image, for example, was way too big. And, they had to look at the image below it and use it as a reference to know how big to resize it to be. Lots of thinking! Finding all of the coding errors first was also important... looking for misspelled words, missing quotation marks, missing file extensions, etc., and having to review the contents of the folder were all good skills to help them to be better coders.

This was completed at the end of Unit G if you have used my new Web Design curriculum resource.

Fun stuff! And most of them got it done in a class period (not all... a good chunk were pretty close though!).

I Love Teaching Microsoft Access! #sothere #sorrynotsorry #busedu

In my school district, we offer Computer Applications and Advanced Computer Applications (the latter can be taken for dual college credit). In my many years of teaching, I have run across so many business teachers who "hate" Microsoft Access. They seem to get easily frustrated or even skip it altogether. What a terrible thing to do!!!

I used to teach junior high. My 8th graders learned Microsoft Access (beautifully, I might add) and I always enjoyed teaching it. Right now, in my high school class, we are doing filters and queries, some of my favorite stuff.

In anticipation of doing a quiz on this topic later in the week (using a big ol' database found off the internet from the great state of Massachusetts--of sex offenders)  I wanted to create a review activity using a random database of stuff I created. And, I didn't really want to grade it. I was going to just post the answer key, but (though I trust my kiddos) I wanted a little bit more accountability. So, I thought, how about a Google Form? With data validation! I know some of the electronic "breakout boxes" are done using this technique, so how about a worksheet? :)

Take a look--> https://goo.gl/forms/DiBLkxwhZz89jzNG3  

A few things I learned:

1. This is so easy. There is a little "three dot" spot you click to add on data validation. You can set what the answer has to be equal to (or other parameters). 
2. One big issue... if you don't add the "error text" it will basically give away the answer. So, put in some error text (Try Again, for example). Good thing I tested this out!

So, tomorrow, they will do the activity (without paper) and type answers in the boxes to see if they got the correct number of results. 

And, I guess I'll do the quiz the same way (except no data validation since it will be for a grade). I just love GOOGLE! 

Please tell me someone else loves queries, though!  Oh, if you do, here is a Google Folder with my two databases and the activities. :) Enjoy!

FOLDER WITH QUERY FUN!

Marshmallow Challenge in Web Design! #busedu #teto

Last year, we did this project the first week of class and I decided to do it again today. It's a fun activity that also reinforces the importance of making prototypes and testing design along the way.

I have some playing cards with Rock, Paper, Scissors on them, so as they walked in today, I handed them cards. Then, they had to find their matches to form groups. I carried this forward to playing RPS to determine the group leader, too. A student suggested I give "rock candy" to the winner; man, I didn't think of that!

The instructions I used, with the built-in timer and the debriefing video, are all embedded into the presentation below. You'll also find some pictures from my top teams today.

If you'd like the Slides presentation, click here. If you wish to use it, just click File> Make a Copy and you can save one to your own Google Drive to edit.

Zipgrade and Five Below! #busedu

I know I've blogged about Zipgrade before, probably, but I found a $5 gadget at my local Five Below store that makes grading with Zipgrade and my cell phone so fast! This little clamp thing is genius!

Cell phone clamped to a chair for quick grading!

It gives a nice overview of results:

And item analysis by question:

So, I can see half the class got #6 correct or that 38% of them put B on #9. 

It's not free (well, it is if you don't use more than 100 scans per month) but it's only $6.99 a year. And, you can put in the answer key from your phone (literally, click the A, B, C, etc.). You print your answer sheet blanks (like Scantron) from your computer. I actually export my students from SIS (have to get Excel fancy and text to columns, etc., but it's fast) and put them in. It assigns them a number and you can even go to the classes and print ANSWER SHEETS already pre-populated with their username and number bubbled in. Isn't that awesome!?

Oh, that is was the first test for my new Web Design curriculum.. looks like they have some work to do! :)

Sharing My First Day Classroom Scavenger Hunt! #busedu #getupandmove

It was a teacher workday at school this afternoon and I thought it would be a good time to try to come up with something new for my classroom. So, I decided to create a classroom scavenger hunt that I will hand to students as they walk in the door Thursday. I'll admit, I am borrowing the idea from my fifth grade daughter's teacher (we had open house last night).

After they have completed the activity, I'll take some time to talk about my class, including sharing pictures from previous year of projects in Multimedia and Photoshop. Then, we'll do a few housekeeping things since I teach in a lab (making sure they can log in to the machines, access their user drives, get to the shared drive, etc.).

Here's the link (Google Doc) in case you'd like to make a copy and edit for your own classroom! I thought this was a little better than find your seat, sit down, and wait. Plus, I can't ever pronounce names so hopefully this will help me!  Enjoy!

Web Design Curriculum REVISED and READY! #busedu

Well, my last "big" revamp was in 2012, so this past year and summer I have worked hard to revise my Web Design 1 curriculum. I just finished it (school starts Thursday, so I guess it was time) and though it's a "beta" (I'm sure I will find some issues, typos, or a random file missing), I'm going to go ahead and share.

My goal will be to record some screencast demonstrations to go along with it AND to create online flashcards to go with each unit. But, I haven't got to that part yet. :)

So, feel free to take a look. The PDF of my book that I use in the class is in this Google Drive folder. And, the "data files" are in a zipped folder there, too.

Let me know how it works for you!

WEB DESIGN CURRICULUM - Coding/HTML/CSS/Online Photo Editors

**UPDATE:  8/4/17 Just put the 2017 updated "book" there now. There are also some additional non-book activities in the folder so feel free to look around at those. I fixed some typos that I noted in my book when I last used it, so I advise using the new book (page numbers are the same as 2016, but a few errors are fixed)

Getting Ready...First Day Next Week! And I hate icebreakers... #busedu

So, I have tried many things the first week of school to get kids up and moving or talking. And, I know from experience that some students absolutely despise it. As a teacher, I don't totally dig it either. I wish I cared that you had a baby and lost 80 pounds and went on a cruise and did a mission trip (and it's cool that you did those things...I like to brag sometimes, too) but often people sharing their glory moments just make the person who had to work all summer a mess of depressed. And, kids are the same way (off-topic, I had a great summer and did lots of fun things).

Some ideas I have used in the past are online inventories that tell you what animal you are or something I adapted that identified what cartoon character you are. But, other than having them write it on the board on the chart or all raise their hands if they are lions, I didn't totally encourage interaction (probably because as a student I wasn't super into that, either).

I decided to find something to switch it up this year. And, for only the second time ever, I purchased something on Teachers Pay Teachers. I'll admit, I give everything I make away for free (even on that site) and sometimes think it's not nice to charge for something you made for your classroom anyway, but "teachers gotta teach" and I don't want to be a "hatin' hater" so if it's a great resource, it's different.

After reading a back to school blog post and reliving all the college classes where I had to tell what animal I am most like or what the last book I read was, I found the ideas the author shared to be inspiring. Here's the blog post talking about three back to school games that "don't suck" as he said--Blobs and Line, Concentric Circles, and This or That.

Anyway, long story short, the resources are great! The person put much time into making very clear directions you can show the class and giving several activities you can do. I purchased the Game Bundle for $10. And, I can certainly personalize it to make it more my own, but the hard work is done. I'm looking forward to doing these the first week of school.

Do you have any "go-to" icebreakers that kids love?