Linking slideshows to your blog page

For the next few weeks we will create a series of slideshows and either link or embed those presentations to your blog page.

Here is an example of how to link a Google Presentation slideshow to your blogger page.















Earlier this week you were asked to use Google Presentation to create a slideshow on the topic of Safe Digital Social Networking - how to be safe on MySpace and Facebook. To conclude that assignment, I need you to link that slideshow to your blog page. The link below is a short example of what that slideshow should look like and what you need to do to link it to your blog. Click here to view slideshow.

Today, you were instructed to set Gwendolyn Brooks' famous poem We Real Cool to pictures. This assignment also needs to be linked to your blog page. There are only seven lines to this poem. It is short but deep. Choose your images wisely. Read between the lines. The slideshow must contain nine slides. Slide one is your title slide. Slides two through eight must represent the poem and your last slide must list the precise web site where you obtained your images. See me right away if you have questions.

Mr. Songhai
11/29/07

Just look under foot

For about a month now, we've been beginning Media Literacy class with an activator - a topic of the day, that you reflect on and post to Google Groups. The activator serves to get your brains stimulated and to get you primed for other classroom business at hand. Usually I will select the activator topics and you post your responses on the Habari Gani Page in Google Groups.

Lately I've been asking all students to post the daily topic on your blog page, as well as on the Habari Gani page. The daily topics have generally dealt with local, national and international events. Surprisingly, many of you have had questions about where to go to find the answers to many of the activator topics - especially those topics dealing with local, national and international matters.



As the title of this posts suggests, Just look under foot. Just look under foot because the majority of the answers to the daily activators can be found on your news tabs in iGoogle, Pageflakes and Netvibes. Remember, this is a paperless classroom. No textbooks and no handouts. The majority of the information you will need for this class can be found on the tabbed pages on your three personal start pages. iGoogle, Netvibes and Pageflakes. You however have to search through your news feeds and other tabbed pages for the answers. I will not give you the answers! If you are not sure aboout what information should go where see my post Information Islands on Your Desktop.

Recently, I introduced you all to ipl.org - The Internet Public Library. There is a wealth of information contained on that web page. Right now we are just focusing on the newspapers feeds on the Internet Public Library page. Use this page to find local, national and international news stories.

H. Songhai
11/19/07

Where we've been and where we go from here

The first marking period is officially over. Progress reports have been sent home and grades have been entered. It's time to start setting the stage for the second term. Some of you have worked very hard since the beginning of the school year. You've followed directions, stayed current with your assignments and asked questions when you were in doubt.

















The above image is a screenshot of West Oak Lane. Our school is located in West Oak Lane. Can you recognize West Oak Lane on the map? Click the image for a larger view. I've lived in or near this community for over 40 years. Can you see our school? Do you know where we are on the academic map? Can you retrace the scholastic steps we've taken to get to this point in Media Literacy class?

If you are lost, need a compass and don't know where we've been or where we are going, then here is a little road map that might help you.

All Media Literacy students should have the following accounts:

iGoogle
Netvibes
Pageflakes
Flickr or Photobucket
Google Groups
Blogger
Voicethread
Skype

Procedures

You should know how to add tabs to your personal start pages and how to add feeds to your various tabs. You should know how to use the PrintScreen key and know how to take screenshots of your desktop. All students should know how to paste your screenshots in Microsoft Paint and how to save your images as JPEG files.

Hardware

All students should have a microphone so that you can record your various assignments.













Although it is not mandatory, all students would benefit from having some type of MP3 player to listen to podcasts and other multimedia files. If you don't have an MP3 player, you will need to listen to and watch the various multimedia files on your home computer or the school computers.












First assignment for second semester:

All students must produce an original multimedia rendition of Nikki Giovanni's poem Ego Trippin'. All students must create this project in Voicethread. See me in class for more details.

Good luck in semester two.

H. Songhai
11/4/07