Wooster School Blog Site

Our blog has been upgraded and moved to http://www.woosternet.org/blogs. This site should no longer be updated.

For this assignment, you will do a 5-minute interview of a classmate and post it as an audiofile on your blog. What will your interview them about? That is your choice but you should interview them about something they are interested in. The interview is about them not you! Please just use their first name for safety purposes. Questions like, “Where do you live?” are also not appropriate.

Before you do the interview, you need to read this article which will give you some tips on how to conduct a good interview. Good luck!

Test

 Standard Podcast: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

A Video on Technology and Learning.

 Technology and Learning: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Please click on the “comment” link and submit your idea for the next blog post assignment for the class. I will then review these and pick one or more.

You walk into a Wooster School restroom and find a $100 bill. You are alone. What do you do? Please answer this question honestly in a blog post following standard blogging guidelines.  First answer what you think you would do. Then answer what you think is the right thing to do?

 Next, let’ s say that you took the money and didn’t tell anyone. The next day, Mr. Van Auken tells you at lunch that he left the money and would really appreciate it if you returned it. What would you do then? How would you return it?

You will be studying global warming in Science class. You will write 2 posts on global warming following the standard blogging guidelines (you should know by now what these are).

We will prepare for this assignment differently then the other assignments. Instead of searching for an article we will will use RSS. Using bloglines as your feed aggregator, you will search for feeds on global warming. You will then subscribe to at least 3 of these feeds. You will use these feeds to get the information for writing your two blog posts. Your posts should link to where you found the information. What exactly should you write these two posts on? Here are some topics you may want to include:

• What is global warming?
• How is it affecting our climate?
• How will it affect you in the future?
• Can we do anything to stop it?
• Is global warming a real problem or a myth?

You do not have to answer all of these questions. However, you should following the standard blogging guidelines and write two thoughtful, well-written posts. If you finish this in one period you have probably not spent enough time on the assignment.

For this assignment, start by watching this video on Web 2.0. Then, find an article (remember to use a reliable source), on Web 2.0 and read it. Then, using what you learned in the article and in the video, respond to the following questions:

1. What is Web 2.0?
2. What makes Web 2.0 different from Web 1.0?
3. What are the advantages of Web 2.0?
4. What are some examples of web sites that use Web 2.0 and why? Include links.
5. What else did you learn?

Please do not type each of these questions and answer them one-by-one. The answers should be incorporated in your blog post in paragraph form. Also, remember to follow blog norms:

• At least 2 paragraphs (This is a minimum. Remember, you don’t get a high grade for doing the minimum)
• Proofread by another classmate so there is no spelling or grammar mistakes
• Appropriate
• At least one picture
• Link to the article

UPDATE - 3/27/07 - Some of you were having trouble finding a good article on Web 2.0 so I’ve included the following link: http://www.techsoup.org/learningcenter/webbuilding/page4758.cfm

You don’t have to pick this article but I think it’s pretty good if you want to use it. 

Also, remember to keep commenting on eachother’s posts. You should comment on at least one post per day in class.

Write a post on a topic of your choice. It can go along with the general theme of your site. Blogging norms apply. See this post for the blogging norms.  You should read an article on your topic first so that you are educating yourself. Link to it in your blog too so others can read it.

1st and Second Blog Assignment

Blog Norms:

- Proper punctuation and spelling
- Nothing inappropriate
- At least one picture
- No informal language
- At least 2 paragraphs (each paragraph at least 4 sentences). Many will need to be longer
- Proofread before publishing. Two student proofreaders.
- Write it Word first
- Use a reliable source
 

Assignment 1:
Blog you wrote for Mrs. Hruska
If you typed it already and have it at home, email it to yourself or put it on the blog at home.
If you’ve handwritten it, type it first in Word.
 

Assignment 2:

Internet Safety Blog
Read one article online on some aspect of Internet Safety or blogging safety
- TMI (Too much information). What information should you leave out?
- Instant Messaging Safety
- MySpace
- Positive aspects of social networking sites

Write a blog critiquing the article you read. Things you may want to include.
- Major points of the article
- What you liked about
- What you didn’t like
- What point were interesting
- Things you agreed with
- Things you disagreed with

In your post, create a link to the article you read and add a picture