Online Communications

Discussing the Pledge of Allegiance on a Forum

Using on online forum, we are learning the opinions of students about the Pledge of Allegiance and whether "under God" should be in the Pledge.

We posted the following forum topic:
"Despite a ban on reciting the Pledge of Allegiance by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in February, public school students are still allowed to say the pledge because the case was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court April 30. Until the Supreme Court overturns the ban or affirms the Appeals Court decision, the ban is stayed.
The Appeals Court banned the pledge on the basis that the phrase “under God” violated the separation of church and state. If the Supreme Court hears the case, it may not make a decision until June 2004."
Source: Hollister (California) Free Lance
http://www.hollisterfreelance.com/news/newsview.asp?c=74443

1. Do you think that students should say the Pledge of Allegiance in school?

2. Do you think they should say " under God" ?

3. Explain your answer.

We have been regularly checking replies to our post. We have asked the other students to reply to our post and to also read other people's posts. We have received posts from students from other schools, too.

When the discussion is over we will summarize what people thought and present it to our history class. our history teacher may hold a discussion about our summary.

Technologies associated with this: Presentation || Online Communications

E-Portfolio

An e-portfolio can show many aspects of ones academic progress. An e-portfolio shared by student practitioners highlight different issues than those commonly discussed in the academic literature; instead of discussing reflection or standards, students emphasize design and audience. Interestingly, the latter elements engage students in some aspects of the former, requiring them to think critically about how best to present their accomplishments. Check out some great e-portfolios at e-portfolios shared by student practitioners highlight different issues than those commonly discussed in the academic literature; instead of discussing reflection or standards, students emphasize design and audience. Interestingly, the latter elements engage students in some aspects of the former, requiring them to think critically about how best to present their accomplishments.
http://catalyst.washington.edu/web_tools/portfolio.html

Technologies associated with this: Online Communications || Web Publishing

Project with Beverly Farms

Students in my class at Hoover will be going to the nearby elementary school, Beverly Farms. About 8 of us will be working with 2nd graders in Ms. Koningsburg's class. We will each pair up with one of the students and will be illustrating a sotry that they create. As the class is working on web design, we will probably post the illustrations to the web using anything that interests us.

Technologies associated with this: Online Communications || Web Publishing

Teach Senior Citizens to use Computers

My project was to teach senior citizens to use computers. To teach them I only went over the basics and made sure that they became comfortable with computers. I tought them simple computer usage first such as moving the mouse and touch typing. After that I moved onto Microsoft Word, and then I went over more typing, changing font sizes, printing saving, etc. After that I moved onto simple web browsing and e-mail. When all of this was complete the senior seemed to have a much better understanding of computers than when they started.

I worked with each of the seniors individually. The first thing that we worked on was Microsoft Word and all of its functions. These classes were worked on at the Shelburne Falls senior center and later on at the computer lab at Mohawk.

In Microsoft Word, we worked on everything that goes with word processing from holding down shift to inserting clip art.

After we worked on Microsoft Word for a while and the senior had become fairly proficient, we moved onto the Internet for a brief while. For the Internet, we used Microsoft Internet Explorer. We went over e-mail and simple Web browsing.

Technologies associated with this: Online Communications || Internet Research || Word Processor