I was at Grace Hopper two weeks back as a part of teh CSTA leadership Advocacy meeting. As always lots of great information.

I spotted this video posted in LinkedIn earlier today - it is a great view of the types of jobs available in tech, and how girls fit in to the picture.

Google Loves Grace Hopper

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Today we are going to check to make sure your Classmarker account works (this is the online website we will go tomorrow to take the vocab quiz).  I will give you your username and passwords so you can gain access.

Next we will create a new Google document that will hold all of your usernames and passwords - this way you will have 24/7 access to the usernames and passwords and you wont have to memorize them or carry around papers to help you remember what they are.

After we get that accomplished we will review all of the keys weve learned so far.

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We are now starting to have several websites that require usernames and passwords, and I feel it is best to create a Google Doc that will house that information so that you dont have to worry about trying to remember what goes where.  Therefore, we are going to create a Google Doc today that will store that important information (for the websites we have) so that you dont have to try to remember what username and password goes with what site.  You should have information for Classmarker and Wikispaces - well be adding to that list as we continue throughout the semester (and youre certainly welcome to include any other websites that you want that require usernames and passwords).

After completing the password file in Google we will warm up by typing lines 1-10 on 5C, page 11.  Then we will learn 2 new keys - the B (L1) and the Y (R1).

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Google just awarded their Science Fair 2012 awards. The grand prize winner was Brittany Wenger from Florida. She won $50,000 scholarship, an internship and a trip to the Galapagos Islands. Not too shabby.

Her project focused on breast cancer detection. She wrote a program in Java that analyzed large data sets from the cloud looking for patterns.

"For Wenger, one of the highlights of the experience was meeting famed computer scientist Vint Cerf, who talked with her at length about computer science and neural networks."

Googles site also has some materials for teachers interested in the competition.

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Google launched final version with the number 21 of Chrome browser . Among improvements most important include support for “Retina Display”
, a white bubble from Apple fans , and some pluses in chapter audio-video and access at system peripherals.

You can find out more from official blog Google Chrome . Update is simple , give on Settings -> About Google Chrome.
http://blog-de-filme-online.blogspot.ro/

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Exit passes - each of you will get 4 passes for the semester to use to leave class to go to your locker or to the restroom.  If you need to do one or the other you come ask me, then youll need to grab a blue sheet (these will be on the island near the electric stapler and electric pencil sharpener), take it with you (it will act as your hall pass), and then bring it back to the room with you, sign it, and then hand it in.  The ones that you dont use will be counted as extra credit at the end of the semester.

Today we are going to start with making two changes to your Google account.  Actually, we are going to add two things to your Google account.

First, we are going to add a contact in your Gmail.  You need to have at least one contact in your Gmail account, and that is me.  My email address is included below.

Here is how you create a contact in Gmail:

1. Click on "Gmail" in the top left.
2. Choose "Contacts"
3. Click on "New Contact"
4. Fill in appropriate information
5. My school email address is dpardoe@dist228.org

The next thing we are going to accomplish is to create whats called a signature.  The purpose of the signature, in terms of an email account, is that you can automatically add your signature to every outgoing email message that you send.  This is useful because you should always include your name at the end of every email.

Here is how you create a personal signature for your Gmail account:

1. Click on the settings wheel in the top right.
2. Choose "Settings"
3. Scroll down to "Signature"
4. Fill in appropriate information
5. Format as you please
6. Click on "Save changes" at bottom

If you have a signature and choose to include it with your emails it is going to include it every time you send an email.  

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At the beginning of the hour we will move to our new seats.

Once at your new seats you can log into your Google account.  We are going to look at how the vocabulary for class works.  This involves using information that is on the class blog and setting up reminders in your Google account (Ill show you how to do this today).  We have our first vocab quiz next week, so some of you will need to get definitions right away.  The only thing we wont be able to go over today is how to use Wikispaces, the website we will use to post definitions on.  We will cover how to do that tomorrow.

After going through the vocabulary information we will learn 2 new keys; however, todays keys are not letters.  Instead we will learn the Left Shift key (L4) and the period (R3).

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To start today I want to have everyone create a folder in their Google Drive for this class.  I dont really care what you call it, but just like a folder on a computer works the folder in your Google Drive will help you stay organized - youll be able to keep all of the formatting activities in this one spot and then know where your information is in case something happens.

We will then start working on FA2 - the purpose of this formatting activity is to help you understand the difference between Save and Save As.


Activity 2Activity 2

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We are going to start by modifying your Google signature, so youll need to log into your Google account to begin with.  As I went through the day yesterday I began to realize that instead of having problems with people copying the wrong web address we can just make a permanent change to your signature by adding a link to your your blog in your signature.

Once we get done with that you will have the rest of the class period to complete FA8.  This should be emailed.  Make sure that you attach a Microsoft Word file (not a Google Doc), and you will be working with your speed skin on your keyboard.

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This is a talk given at the Stanfords Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders podcast by Marissa Meyer, new CEO at Yahoo back in 2006.

The talk is 48 minutes total, and they have it broken down into ten video clips. These would make great prompts for student discussion boards.

Of course as a high school computer science teacher this news is very exciting. She is a very visible and successful computer science major. All the news buzz about her balancing work and family have been a bit overdone in the media, buy for the girls in our classes it is great to see this conversation play out on such a large stage.

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