Dear Students,
We’ve already talked a bit in class about ethics, the school’s computing policy, and a long list of things you are strictly forbidden to do (no plagiarizing, no copyright infringement, no illegal file sharing, etc. etc.) It’s really not fair to just go on and on about what you CAN’T do, so what CAN you do? What if you need a picture for your club poster or a great song for your video project, and you don’t want to break the rules? Enter Creative Commons. Creative Commons licenses are a way for artists, musicians, authors and other creative types to put a label on their work marking it as free to share. It’s not stealing to use their work, because they want you to be able to use it, build on it, create something new from it.
These two short movies from Creative Commons (which some 6th graders saw in class already) provide a great, entertaining introduction to the power of Creative Commons. Check it out to learn more.
We’ll be using Creative Commons licensed works in class, and you’ll also have a chance to mark your own work as free to share, so that other people can take something that you made and make something new and different from it. As they say in the first video, “it’s what the Internet is all about!”
Posted on September 21st, 2007 by Ms. Ruthie Hansen
Filed under: Dear Students | No Comments »
Last week sixth grade students completed a movie project inspired by Life’s Little Instruction Book. The students paired up to brainstorm tips and tricks on succeeding in sixth grade at Lab. They used a nifty program called Inspiration to collect their thoughts and ideas. In rapid-fire mode, Inspiration creates a mind map on the fly, automatically populating bubbles with each new entry and connecting them to each other in a web of ideas. We wanted to make a slide show in PowerPoint, but I didn’t want to make the students type each entry more than once. Luckily, Inspiration features “export to PowerPoint” and with one click the students were able to create a new PowerPoint presentation with a new slide for each brilliant idea.
The kids then styled the slides in PowerPoint, and timed them to flip over every three seconds or so. PowerPoint’s “Make Movie” feature converted the slide show into a movie, which the kids then manipulated in iMovie to add a sound track.
So, to recap– From Inspiration, to PowerPoint, to iMovie, to your screen! Check out the links below for some examples of the students’ work.
Alex and Eliot’s Movie
Melora and Lillian’s Movie
Melora and Lillian’s Movie
Louie and Magda’s Movie
Louie and Magda’s Movie
The students really impressed me on this project. Not only with their insightful advice and helpful hints (”Don’t wear clothes that are too tight.” “Always respect your teachers.” etc.) but with their ability to effortlessly navigate between different applications and create a polished final product– in only three class periods.
Posted on September 18th, 2007 by Ms. Ruthie Hansen
Filed under: video, student work | 3 Comments »
Dear Students,
Hello! Welcome to Ms. Hansen’s Computer Science blog. I’ll be posting here every so often to talk about what we’re doing in class and what you should be doing at home. Bookmark this site and show it to your parents so they can know what we’re doing, too.
Homework.
Yes, homework already. One of our goals for this year is to become stellar touch typists. Like learning to play the piano, learning to type takes practice– I expect you to practice with your CustomTyping.com account at least twice a week for fifteen minutes each time. Whenever you’re typing– whether you’re writing a letter to a friend, typing a humanities assignment, or chatting with your friends on AIM– try to rest your fingers on the home row keys and teach each finger to do its own job. It will probably feel slow and awkward at first, especially if you’ve devised your own typing system like I did when I first started typing. With dilligent practice you’ll become super-typers, your fingers will remember where all the keys are located and you won’t even have to think about each individual letter, the words will just flow from your fingertips!
So, get practicing! See you in class! Sincerely, Ms. Hansen
Posted on September 10th, 2007 by Ms. Ruthie Hansen
Filed under: typing, Dear Students, homework | Comments Off