Welcome to Computer Apps! Week 1

Welcome to the computer apps blog. Everything you'll need to know to be successful in this class will be here.
I update this blog frequently. You will be responsible for checking it each day that you have class. You will also be expected to check it if you are absent.
*If you have no internet access outside of school, please make sure to let me know.



Tuesday, February 1
Our 1st Day Agenda:

• Greetings.
• Let's look at the syllabus.
• Ooh ohh! An Assignment ALREADY... WE LOVE YOU, MS LUZZI!

This is the course syllabus:

You can click on each page to expand it so that you can read it. This document will be permanently housed on this website. You can not lose it. Therefore, you and I will always be held responsible for its contents. (This is one of the tricks about the internet, kiddos! Nothing you put online ever really goes away... We'll talk more about that soon!)

And now... The Syllabus Scavenger Hunt!!! (handout)
You have until the end of this period to complete the scavenger hunt and turn it in. Please do this alone. Only YOU can keep YOU on track in this class. Knowing what is in the syllabus is a BIG STEP in the right direction!

Homework: Please bring in a flash drive by Monday, February 7


Wednesday, February 2 - HAPPY GROUNDHOG DAY!!!


Agenda:

• Going over the syllabus scavenger hunt.
• Further discussion of expectations.
• Taking a good look at the blog.
• Tour of your desktop!
  

Each week's blog post will be broken up by days/ dates of the week. Sometimes the full week of lessons will not be posted by Monday. You will have to check the blog for updates every day. You don't want to miss anything... especially the exciting pictures of my cat (of which there are likely to be many)!

Daily classwork/ lessons/ instructions will be in PURPLE.
Assignments to turn in will be in RED.
Homework will be in GREEN.

Now, Let's take a look at your desktop...

On top is your Microsoft Office folder. Take a look inside to see which MS programs are available.

Next is My Computer. If you plug in your flash drive it will show up in there (either as a drive or a folder). You can access the work you have saved on your flash drive here.

Then there's the Recycle Bin. You can drag items here that you want to get rid of.

Internet Explorer... you know what that's about.

• My Documents: If you save anything on the computer's hard drive, you will save it here. Open the My Documents folder. there is A LOT of junk in there. To keep things as neat and organized as possible please follow these directions now:
  
• Open My documents.
• Click File.
• Mouse over New.
• Click Folder (all the way on top).
• Name the new folder: CompAppsPer1, CompAppsPer6, or CompAppsPer7... depending on which period class you're in.
  

Done? Click here. Explore this site. Take the typing test. Write down your results.

Below My Documents are two software programs, Audacity and Mavis Beacon. Audacity is a sound editing program... we may or may not use it. Mavis Beacon is our typing software. You will get to know it very well.


Thursday, February 3

Agenda:

• Make a GMAIL account.
• Practice sending an attachment.
• Make sure Ms Luzzi's email address is saved to your address book.
• Discussion: Using professional language in an email. Some of U R gonna H8 this.

Click in the GMAIL link and follow the steps on the Gmail homepage to create an account.
Please choose: Firstname.Lastname@gmail.com as your user ID.

Once you have created your new (and very professional sounding) email account, you will make and send an attachment! (YAY YOU!!!)

First you need a document or a picture stored on your hard drive or flash drive... in other words, something to attach.
Please go to MS Word.
Open a NEW DOCUMENT.
Click SAVE AS.
Save the document as YourNameDocument.doc (ie: MsLuzzi.doc) into the MY DOCUMENTS folder.
You can type one sentence about anything on the document... this is just for practice.
Click SAVE.
Close the document.

Go back to your email and click: Compose Mail.
Follow the steps in the pictures below.
Check it out:

Find the document you just created.

Email your attachment to me (sluzzi@uaagl.org) and you're done!
*Please be sure to type my email address correctly in your email to me! You may notice I typed it in incorrectly in my example... and guess what? When I sent it to myself... I never got it!*

From now on, any time you need to email me, type the letters "sl". My email address should pop up automatically after that!

And now... A little bit about language.
The way we communicate with others is so important. Like it or not, people judge us by our words. Please use this class as an opportunity to practice typing your emails without slang or instant-message shorthand.
You will probably, not very long from now, be using email to communicate with prospective employers and officials at the colleges of your choice.
They do not want to see the letter R as a substitute for the word "are"... Some of them really would hate (not H8) that. So please, just don't do it.

Homework: Please bring in a flash drive by Monday, February 7


Friday, February 4
Happy Friday, my little flowers!

Sooo... What's a blog?
A blog can be many things. Let's look at a couple of examples and then try to define it for ourselves:
http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/
http://recordsibuy.blogspot.com/
http://www.unwinnable.com/
http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york/yankees
http://www.newdressaday.com/
http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/
http://orangette.blogspot.com/

Here are 7 blogs. There are thousands... maybe millions of blogs out there on every kind of topic you can imagine. Let's just take 15 minutes to look at these few, though... See if you can come up with a definition for what a blog really is.

Please open up a new MS Word document.
Click SAVE AS.
Save the document as YOURNAMEblogs into the MY DOCUMENTS folder.
Then, choose one of the seven blogs listed above to focus on and answer the following questions in complete sentences. You may cut&paste the questions into your document if you want to.

1. Which blog are you writing about?
2. What about that blog made you choose it?
3. What is the blog about?
4. Do there seem to be more that one author writing in this blog or only one?
5. Who do you think is the intended audience for this blog?
6. If you were asked to contribute an article to this blog what do you think you would write about?
7. What is something you don't like or would change about this blog?
8. What is a blog, anyway?
   

When you have finished answering the questions you can click SAVE. Then, please go to your gmail account and email me your responses as an attachment.

You don't have to decide today, but please start thinking about what you would like your own blog to be about.

Homework!
Write (on paper or in an email) 3 posible topics or themes you would like to focus on in your own blog. Please turn this in by WEDNESDAY, February 9
Please bring in a flash drive by Monday, February 7
Finished Early? Here's a few things you can do:

• Return to the blog you chose to write about earlier. Look for LINKS in the blog. They may lead to other parts of the same blog OR they may lead to other blogs or websites. FOLLOW THEM. Go from link to link... see where you end up.
• Do a little research. See if you can find any information on the history of blogging.
• Play typing games on http://www.typingtest.com/
• Also, you can try http://www.onlytypinggames.com/games/alpha-attack/
  

I played Alpha Attack last night. It was pretty fun.

Have a fun weekend!!!