7th+Grade+Course+Description

=__7____th Grade:__=

(43-minute classes, 5-days/week, for 9 weeks)
• Class Introductions & Class Rules • Macintosh Basic Functions, File & Document Management • Laptop to Desktop to Server Synchronization process -or- • ...Backing up important files & documents • //**Custom Typing**// ( Keyboarding practice on [|www.customtyping.com] ) • **E-Journaling:** Students will create & maintain an electronic journal in //iWorks' Pages//. They will explore the many tools & uses of //Pages// while creating many different journal entries. • **Internet Treasure Hunts:** The teacher gives a specific topic for the students to find, and the students must use Web searching techniques/strategies to find the answer(s). • **Blogging:** Students will set up & participate in a classroom &/or school-wide blog. Students will learn what a blog is, learn appropriate blogging behavior, & learn about its potential uses in various aspects of their lives and our society.

• Mr. Eckley’s Wikiak Place Treasure Hunt
http://eckley-wikiak-place.wikispaces.com/ First, you will explore this Wiki site to familiarize yourself with it. Click around...see where the links take you! Then, begin the treasure hunt by searching around the Wiki site for the answers to the treasure hunt questions. Enjoy!

• Get to Know the Internet Scavenger Hunt: [[file:I-NetTreasureHunt.pages]]
Students will explore many of the tools the Internet has to offer, such as the efficient & safe use of a variety of searching strategies & tools. They will also explore media-awareness issues & responsibilities & strategies for how to deal with certain scenarios one might encounter while Online. Here are some of the resources we will explore:

Searching On the Net
[|Virtual Middle School Library] [|Web Searching Tips] [|How Search Engines Work] [|How Internet Search Engines Work] [|Search Engine Guide: How to Search] [|Search Engine Guide's Search Engine Directory] [|Recommended Search Engines: Tables of Features] [|What is a Search Engine?]

Internet Safety: Hoaxes, Email Rumors, & Urban Legends
[|Current Netlore & Urban Legends] [|Snopes: Rumor Has It] [|Truth or Fiction] [|Internet Scams, Identity Theft, & Urban Legends: Are You At Risk?]

Media-Awareness & Safety
[|Get Net Wise - Safety Tips for Teens] [|Cyber Netrix]

• Media Literacy/Internet Applications:
Students will review & work with the various types of search engines and learn how to utilize them effectively (www.searchenginewatch.com), evaluate web sites, show responsible I-net use, show awareness & strategies about issues concerning the I-net, etc. Students will participate in 12 different interactive online scenarios using a tool called //**Joe Cool or Joe Fool**//? on [|Media Awareness Network]. We will then input & keep vocabulary words & terms with definitions & pictures in //Address Book//. We will watch the movie, //**The Net**// (rated PG-13) & students will post, read, & respond to thoughts, observations, feelings, etc. about various parts of the movie into their class blog.

• Video or Enhanced Podcasting:
Students will review the various types of, and purposes for Podcasting. They will subscribe to an educational video Podcast of their choice and write their responses to various episodes in their E-Journals. Students will also create a Podcast and post it on the district Web server. Some possible ideas for their Podcasts might include the creation of subject specific tutorials for peers &/or teachers, a school news quickie, a school to home relational piece, Media-Awareness topics & strategies, Various technologies & their impact on our world, etc. They should utilize multiple applications to help them create their Podcasts. (ie: Garage Band, iMovie, iPhoto, iTunes, Keynote, Pages, Numbers, SmartBoard, etc.) They should also utilize various peripheral devices & props to help them. (ie: iSight, digital cameras & camcorders, scanners, etc.) [|http://chatt.hdsb.ca/~magps/boylit/Podcasting%20in%20Education]

• Converging Technology Inventions & Their Impacts on Society:
Students explore the significance and purposes of convergence in today’s technology and why it is so prevalent. They will predict changes they think they might expect to see as time goes on and society’s needs and wants for technology evolves. They will look at real-world examples of how engineers, scientists, among other professionals use creativity and innovation to create various forms of converging technology. Then, after analyzing some of society’s current and future needs and wants for new or improved technology, students will create a concept for a new technology that will fill an important niche in our world. They will predict how society might utilize as well as exploit and their invention. Once they have established their concept they must persuade (using proven marketing strategies) potential investors to finance the production of their invention. They will create an iMovie presentation that illustrates their converging technology invention concept, and educated their target audience(s) about the importance of their invention to our society and why it would be worth the investment. //**Any working or retired professionals in our community are invited to come in to serve the role of potential investor and work with students on their concepts.//

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