With the long layoff, we have several things we need to cover.

1. Vocabulary - we will still have our regularly scheduled vocab quiz this Friday.  In order to keep things on track we have to stay with our original schedule for quizzes.  However, I will add an additional day for those who still have not posted their definitions.  This means that for those of you who have not completed this it MUST! get done by tonight.
2. Technique - we will have a technique grade again this week, even though it is a short week.  One thing regarding technique grades - if you miss the majority of a week when we have technique I will take the next technique grade we have and double it.
3. Our main priority continues to be to learn the keyboard.  We will add in some other things as we go, but until we learn all of the keys learning and practicing will be the major emphasis of things in class.

Today we will review the keys we have learned and add in the U (R1) and the C (L2).

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WIKI

HTTP

EMOTICON

After talking about each of those vocabulary words briefly we will continue with learning the symbol keys.  The good news is that today is the last day of learning the symbol keys - yaaayy!!

Today we will learn the = (R4), the _ (left shift + R4), and the * (left shift + R2).  After today we only have the keypad left to learn.  However, it takes a lot less time than learning either the letters, numbers, or symbols.

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This week:

Vocabulary
Create Wikispace accounts
Create a Classmarker account
Review of all keys learned
Learn N, G, Left Shift key, period (.)
Technique grade 

TODAY:
We are going to begin by talking about the vocab words and vocab lists for the class.  If you go to the vocabulary page on the blog youll see a variety of information - well be covering this today.  Additionally, youll need to have access to the wikispaces page so that you can submit vocabulary definitions (thats already been done by me - you will need to verify by checking your gmail, and well do that in a little bit).

The vocabulary for this class is really split into 2 parts - on one hand you will be responsible for knowing all of the vocabulary words for any given week, and you will demonstrate your knowledge by completing a vocab quiz.  On the other hand you will be required to find definitions for the vocab words and post them to the wiki for everyone to study off of.  This "research process" will be graded, just as the vocab quizzes will be graded (our first vocabulary quiz will be this Friday, and it will be taken online on a website called Classmarker).

When you post a definition to the Wiki, your definition should be easy to understand.  Sometimes, after finding a definition, you will see that the definition that you have found doesnt help you to understand what that vocab word means (or is).  Therefore, find definitions that are easy to understand, and if you cant find one that makes sense please see me so I can help you write an easy-to-understand definition.

Additionally, if you have a vocab word that is an acronym (GPS, WWW, or FAQ) then please include what the letters stand for (for example, WWW stands for World Wide Web, and when you enter your vocab definition on the wiki make sure to include that).
This will seem a little foreign to begin with, but we will be talking about this every day between now and the end of next week, which is when your first quiz will be.
You could set up a calendar reminder in Google so that you receive an email - this way you will be reminded several days in advance of when you need to have a definition posted on the wiki.  And, since you already know the words that you will be asked to define, you could find a definition for each of your words and save those definitions in a Google Doc - then when it is your week all you have to do is copy from your Google Doc to the Wiki.

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After watching the video on some of the vocabulary words, please continue working on your Internet Safety project.

One caution I would highlight - we seem to be having issues with students who are using Chrome.  Usually what happens is there is a window that pops up asking you to allow or deny something regarding GoAnimate!...and then you are unable to choose either (in other words your computer basically locks up).  So, I highly recommend that you choose to use either Firefox or Safari in order to avoid that happening.  When this does happen you will not be able to save your information - Im sure youd hate to do 30 minutes of work only to have it not save because this window pops up.

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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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DO NOT CHANGE THE BACKGROUNDS ON THE COMPUTER!!  This actually is a violation of the computer lab policy and should not be attempted.

I want to start today by discussing a few things regarding this weeks vocabulary list - Operating System, Windows, Tool bar, and Menu bar.

After explaining those to you I am going to give you time in class today to search for definitions for your vocabulary words.  After today there shouldnt be anyone who doesnt have a definition posted when it is time for their words to be posted on the Wikispaces page.  Youre not going to be able to post your definitions in class today but you will have your definitions.

Once this is complete we will head back to the practice websites for more practice.

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