Time online related to our attitude?

Read this article, and then write at least 200 words (tools, word count)

http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/12/14/3817983/ohio-study-heavy-online-use-can.html

• provide a summary of the article. In a paragraph or two, what is the article saying? What is the main point?
• Share your opinion of the article. Have you experienced something similar? Have you known other people that have seemed to be like the article describes? Describe your experience.
• Include your name in BOLD, centered
• Underline one sentence in your writing. Usually underlining is used to emphasize something.
• Italicize a sentence. Often you italicize something that might be unexpected.

Share the document with me (click share, then in the lower box type sean@firstchristianacademy.com then click share and save). It is due tomorrow 12/19/13 by noon. 10 points deducted for each day late.

Critical Thinking Skills with technology and computers 12-4-2013

Hi 7th and 8th graders. Here's your assignment for the day. Copy this text into a document and type your answers next to the questions.


You're planning on driving from New Port Richey, Florida up to Chicago. Using google maps:
How long will that drive take?
How many miles is the drive?
What are two major highways you'll be on during the way?
If you wanted to stay the night in a hotel near a midpoint, what looks to be a good place to stay?

You're driving from Tampa, Florida to Los Angeles, California.
How long will that drive take?
How many miles is the drive?
What are two major highways you'll be on during the way?
The drive will take three days. Pick the two places to stop. Where are they?

You make $8.50 an hour and work 15 hours a week. Set up a spread sheet that shows how much you'll make in a year.

What if you get a raise to $9.50 an hour?
What if you work 20 hours a week?


What's the distance to the moon?
If you could drive there, how many hours would it take to drive at 60 miles per hour?
What if you were in a plane traveling at 500 miles per hour. How many hours would it take?

Presentation Skills, October 2013

First Christian Academy Technology and Computer Class

October, 2013

Developing Presentation Skills

We’re going to work on putting together a presentation and then presenting it in class in a couple weeks.

Assignment: Pick a topic from the list below and start researching.

• A current event in the news
• A historical event
• A story from the Bible
• A review of a book you read recently
• A technology product that you would like to use

Your presentation needs to have at least TEN slides (no more than fifteen) and at least FIVE pictures in it. Slides may have pictures and text on the same slide. You may have no more than TEN words on any one slide. One of the goals of this project is that you will be able to give your presentation and NOT read from the screen. The screen should only have your main points that you will elaborate while talking. Creative presentations will be rewarded...make it look great and spend time on it.

You won’t be graded on how well you speak or if you are nervous. You WILL be graded on how little or much you need to look at your screen. The goal is to have it all memorized and change slides at the right time and be ready to talk about what’s ON the screen without looking AT the screen.

Your presentation must be between 3 and 5 minutes. Anything less or more will deduct 10 points. Practice your presentation at least 5 times with a timer so you know what you’re going to say and how long it will last. (hint, this is where many people lose points, and usually for not having enough memorized to talk about. Practice and get to four minutes, and if you forget some material, hopefully you’ll make it in the range needed).

You’ll be graded October 23 for progress. Your slides should be DONE within one week and then you’ll spend time memorizing and practicing the next week. Assignment is DUE October 30, 2013.

You'll be graded on:

 Time.  Your presentation needs to be between 3 and 5 minutes.  Any shorter or longer and you'll lose 10 points.  Use a stopwatch and practice it at least 3 times so you know you're within the time frame.  (20 points)

 Did you put effort into the presentation with pictures, text, and graphics.  Does it show that you put time into it? (20 points)

 Do you have between 10 and 15 slides?  (20 points)

 Did you keep to the 10 word limit on each slide? (20 points)

 Were you able to talk about your subject and not just read what is on each slide?  You should be able to provide additional details as you go along.  Just use summary sentences on the presentation, then talk it through when you present.  (20 points)

Read and write about two articles

Read this article:

http://chriskresser.com/how-artificial-light-is-wrecking-your-sleep-and-what-to-do-about-it

Then write three paragraphs with at least three sentences in each paragraph. The first paragraph should summarize the article. The second paragraph should give your thoughts on the article (do you agree or disagree? why?). Use the third paragraph to describe any changes you'll make to your life after reading the article. Put your name at the top.

Then, do the same for this article (three paragraphs, at least three sentenses in each paragraph)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2439365/Do-suffer-iPosture-Tablets-smartphones-causing-epidemic-pain-people-hunch-devices.html

I will come around and view your document.

Bible Project update

Hi FCA Tech Class

Here is a snapshot of my sample spreadsheet. Your spreadsheet should look similar. You'll need to put in YOUR numbers for the cost to create the audio book. Also, if you came up with different numbers for create space costs or other expenses, put those in. Your income, expenses, and profit will probably not match mine exactly. Remember to use formulas to calculate numbers. When grading, I'll look at your spreadsheet and change the number of sales and the sale price and will look to see if the other numbers change automatically.

Lastly, quick review of what you should have prepared by MONDAY. Your video ad should be on Youtube. Your print ad should be designed. Your website should be updated and include an order form (google drive form link or embed). All of that needs to be done prior to the start of our next class. See you soon! Mr. Caldwell

(click the graphic below and it may get bigger)

Print and Deliver Bibles Group Project, September 2013

First Christian Academy

Computers and Technology Class, 2013.

sean@firstchristianacademy.com

Group Project 1: Print and deliver Bibles. Due September 25, 2013.

This assignment is on the web here:http://sean-fca.blogspot.com

Summary: Your group works at a major publishing company that sees an opportunity to deliver the Bible to people. Your group has also decided to create an audiobook version of the Bible. Using the tools we’ve been learning about in class, your group will:

• Create a shared Google drive document that all the group members will be able to access to include their progress along the way. We went over how to do this in class the day this project was assigned. Put each persons name in the document and some spaces so they can type in their updates.
• Calculate how much it will cost to publish the Bibles and detail this information in the shared document and in a spreadsheet. You will be using Amazon’s self-publishing unit called Create Space. Visit this page and determine the costs of the project. https://www.createspace.com/Special/Help/Rights/servicepricing.jsp
  You will get prices for Custom Publishing Solutions: “Custom Advanced.” Then you will also purchase “Kindle Conversion” and “Full Color Posters.”
• Another part of the project will be to calculate cost to create the audiobook of the New Testament Bible. Use the internet to get an estimate of how many words are in the New Testament. Then calculate the total time of the audiobook (in other words, how many hours will the finished narration of the New Testament Bible end up lasting?). You will hire a narrator to read the Bible and will need to calculate how many hours narration that will entail. Go to this page to find the rate of speech for “Speech and listening” and then calculate how many hours the Bible would take. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Words_per_minute  The narrator will be paid $215 per hour to read and the studio will cost $75 per hour to record it. How much will it cost for the entire Bible to be read and recorded? You (FCA student) will also be responsible for narrating one chapter from the Bible. Pick any single chapter from Genesis, Proverbs, Luke, John, or James and record it.
• You will create advertising for your Bible, print and video. The print ad should have at least 2 original pictures on it, no more than four. Take the pictures with a phone or digital camera and import the picture to a computer. What to write? suggestion, go to Amazon or similar and look at some Bibles for sale. What do they list as the benefits of their particular product? The video should be 30 seconds long and can have either video or at least 5 still pictures displayed. It needs to be narrated by the video creator. Write the script (50-70 words will be to 30 seconds) and narrate it. This script will need to be turned in early in the project. You can use Windows movie maker or similar software to add voice over the video. Upload the finished video piece to Youtube at least two days prior to the project due date.
• A website will be created. The website should have a main page, a details page, and an order form. Wordpress.com is a good start, you could also use sites.google.com   The website should have pictures and look as nice as you can make it. Use a google form to have orders submitted (we’ll go over this in class one week during the project time). The video ad should be embedded in the website.
• Orders will need to be shipped to customers. You can use UPS or USPS to ship your Bibles. Which one is most economical? For UPS pricing, click here and select ground shipping. For USPS pricing (priority, first class, or ‘media mail’), click here. Assume the book is 2 pounds. You’ll need to look at three sample shipments to get an idea of who has better pricing. Shipment one will go from Zip code 34653 to 19087. Shipment two will go from 34653 to 30301. Shipment three will go from 34653 to 90001. Include the cost for each individual shipment (both UPS and USPS) in your shared document, in the presentation, and share which shipping company you decided to use.
• Create a spreadsheet that will show what it will cost to create/print and ship 100 Bibles, 1,000 Bibles, 10,000 Bibles, and 100,000 Bibles (use average shipping costs from your calculations). Create Space keeps 30% of all income made by selling through Amazon--this needs to be shown in your spreadsheet. On that same spreadsheet, how much income will be generated by selling 100, 1,000, 10,000, and 100,000 Bibles? Use formulas so that you can change the selling price and see the new results. If the calculations are not using formulas, the spreadsheet will not earn a good grade. If you’re confused as to what this means, please talk to me early in the project.

This project will take at least three hours of time from each group member. If you’re putting in less than that, don’t expect an excellent grade. Excellent work gets rewarded in many areas of life. Spend time early so you’re not caught by problems near the due date. I will have a help session via google hangouts during the project. You can meet virtually by using a Google Hangout if getting together outside of class is difficult. You don’t have to meet as a group outside of class.

Note on the project: In reality, you could only freely publish a Bible translation that is in the public domain. If you wanted to publish a current translation (NIV, NASB, The Message, etc.) you would need to pay royalties to another company.

First Christian Academy

Computers and Technology Class, 2013.

sean@firstchristianacademy.com

Assignment Sheet for Group Project 1: Print and deliver Bibles.

This assignment is on the web here: http://sean-fca.blogspot.com

Each group member will sign up for a portion of the group project. Here are the various jobs. Write one person’s name on each line. You will be entirely responsible for that section of the assignment. The first four slots must be 7th or 8th graders. The last two slots are for 6th graders.

____________________________________ Within one week, I will be responsible for creating the shared Google drive document and sharing it will all group members via their email address. You will also be responsible for finding the costs from Create Space and also for calculating shipping costs. This information will be displayed on the shared document prior to our next class meeting (September 11, 2013). You will then be responsible for providing updates to Mr. Caldwell each week on progress on the project.

____________________________________ I will be responsible for creating the advertising for the project. I will take pictures with a camera, then create a print ad and create a video. Prior to September 11, 2013 I will have the wording for the print ad and a script for the video in the shared document. Then I will continue creating the ad and video for the following two weeks.

____________________________________ I will be responsible for creating the website as described on the assignment sheet. Prior to our next class meeting, September 11, 2013, I will have selected a place to create the website (wordpress or sites.google.com for example) and will have at least three paragraphs of ideas for text in the shared Google document. I will also find out how much it costs to buy a domain name (.com) and pay for a year of web hosting.

____________________________________ I will be responsible for calculating costs to create the audiobook of the New Testament prior to our next class meeting. This includes the number of words in the Bible, the average rate of narrated speech, and how many hours that would last in narrated speech (all due September 11, 2013). I will also narrate and record one chapter of the Bible from Genesis, Proverbs, Luke, John, or James prior to the next week (September 18, 2013). Then I will be responsible for creating the main spreadsheet that shows costs as well as income from the project at the various sales levels before September 18, 2013.

____________________________________ I will assist the student creating the advertising.

____________________________________ I will assist the student creating the website.

Show me your Summer!

Students will give a presentation that shows some pictures of what they did over the summer. Use google presentation, power point, or some other software to be able to display it. Students should use at least five pictures. Ten would be better if you want a better grade. If you don't have any pictures from summer, grab some generic ones from the internet that are similar to what you did. If you didn't do much, tell me what you would like to have done.

Due September 4, 2013.

2013 2014 FCA Student info

Welcome students!

Whether you're returning or new to this class, I'm really excited to meet you and learn about computers and technology together. Class syllabus can be viewed here.

Tell me a little about you by filling out the form below.

Mr. Caldwell
Here's my email to put into your gmail contacts:
sean@firstchristianacademy.com

Computers and technology at FCA

June 2013
Hi Parents and students.

During summer, many families consider buying a laptop or other technology for their student entering the next grade. Since all 6th, 7th, and 8th graders utilize laptops or tablets at FCA for multiple classes, here are some details and suggestions as well as email details for middle school students.

FCA's computer class uses Google's free online suite of apps (called Google Docs or Google Drive).  This means your student need to have a gmail account and know how to log in and out.  Many incoming 6th graders have trouble remembering their password for the first few weeks; any help you can provide will be appreciated.  If you want to write their password down and put it in their bag for the first few weeks, that might help.  Need to setup a new gmail account?  Visit www.gmail.com to get started; it's free.

Some parents have asked if a tablet (iPad, Nexus 7, etc) will work as a substitute for a laptop. At this point we're still requiring students to have a normal laptop.  With a Bluetooth keyboard attached, tablets can be useful and will probably be fully functional for a school computer within the next couple years, but as of now laptops will work better than a tablet setup.

If you want to purchase a laptop that runs Windows, there are many laptops that are around $400 that will work fine.  A screen size near 14-15 inches is ideal.  Battery life should be between 2 and 4 hours.  Netbooks, a popular category a few years ago, are not recommended.  Here are two suggestions as of Summer 2013 that are very functional and also reasonably priced:

Dell Inspiron 15 i15RV-6190BLK 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black Matte with Textured Finish)

ASUS K55N-DS81 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black)

Another suggestion is to look at the Samsung Chromebook (Wi-Fi, 11.6-Inch) (click to view).  A Chromebook is designed for environments with wireless connectivity.  Our entire campus is covered by free wireless; if you have wifi at home, the Chromebook offers a few advantages over a traditional laptop.  They are thin and light, have a great battery life, update themselves to the latest version automatically, and have been shown to avoid viruses better than most other systems.  The downside?  They don't run windows...so if your student wants to run other programs that are not on the web, they can't.  But for a school laptop, these have worked out really well for some students.

Can my student use an Apple Mac?  Absolutely!  We spend most of our time in a browser, so the operating system is not as important as in years past.

Hope those suggestions get you ready for the new school year.  Please add a comment to this post if you want to interact or have a question; you can also email me.  Looking forward to teaching your students!  Sean Caldwell.

Year end wrap up

Hi Students!

Today wraps up the school year for the computers and technology class.  The assignment we'll work on today is to share some of the things we've learned and provide feedback to improve the class.

Click here and fill out the form.  This will be graded in class.

Opening up a Business - April 2013

First Christian Academy, Computer & Technology Class

Group Project:  Integration presentation. April, 2013.

Our next group project will integrate the material we’ve learned throughout the year.  You will get into groups of 3-5 people and decide who is doing what portion of the project.  You’ll turn that in this week.  Then you’ll have about three weeks to work on the project in and out of class, and will then present your project by having your files on your computer for me to check, and presenting the project to the class (5 minutes to present).

You are an entrepreneur and are considering opening a business.  You’ll need to search and hire employees, formulate a budget, prepare a business plan, present your idea to potential investors, design an advertisement, and open up the business!  There are four choices below.  Your group will pick one of the four and also turn that in today.

Business choices:

Coffee Shop.   You’ll open a coffee shop, employ people, and try to make a profit.

Car dealership.   You’ll buy sell and trade used cars.

Cell phone store.   Your store will buy and sell used cell phones.

Tutoring Center.   Your business will help middle and high school students with various subjects.

Here are the minimum requirements to receive a passing grade.  Go above and beyond, make it creative, and receive additional credit.  Each group member will do at least one of the following major parts of the project.  If your group is smaller, each person may need to do two.

Search for employees:  Create a one page job description for at least TWO positions inside the company (ideas here).  How many hours will the job require?  What days and times will the person work?  What will they do?  What skills are necessary to do the job?  How much will the job pay?  THEN find out what it costs to place an advertisement in the Tampa Times or on a job website like Monster.com and list that cost in your advertising budget spreadsheet.

Create a budget:  How much income will the business bring in each month?  For the year?  What will the store cost to operate for a year?  How much is your lease for retail space?  Do you need to buy computers or other electronics?  What will utilities (water, electricity) cost?  Phone / Internet / Cell Phone?  How much will it cost to pay the TWO employees you’ve hired?  Will you have to buy products to sell?  Use a spreadsheet that will total all of these up monthly, and then also show a yearly figure for each row (multiply the monthly by 12 to get the yearly figure).  I will be checking to see if you use FORMULAS for calculations and not a calculator. (this is very important, if you don’t know what that means, please see me quickly).  This is a major part of the project and will take time to do well.  If you do not use for formulas you will lose at least 10 points on the project. Your spreadsheet should look similar to the one we worked on in this assignment.

Prepare a business plan.  Start here to see a sample of a business plan.  Complete at least three sentences for each of the items; Business Plan Executive Summary [5-10 sentences that describe what you’ll be doing], Market Analysis [who are your competitors?], Company Description, Organization & Management [who is doing what?], Marketing & Sales Management [how will you advertise and get customers?], Service / Product Line [what will you be doing or selling?].  Use google docs or word or similar to create a nice looking business plan.  It should be at least one page, no more than two.  This is also a major part of the project.

Present your idea to potential investors.  Create a presentation [google docs, power point, keynote or prezi.com] that has at least 10 slides.  It should show a summary of what you want to do for a business, and give an idea of how much money the potential investor could make.  Use pictures.  Use graphs if you like.  Important:  how many items or services will you need to provide in order to cover your expenses and make a profit?  (remember the expensive drink store story from class).

Design an advertisement.  Use whatever software you like to create an advertisement.  It could be a nice looking presentation slide (google docs or power point) or a video or something else creative.  Make it interesting, creative, and clear to see what you’re selling or the service you provide.  You could also create an infographic, see http://www.entrepreneur.com/blog/225095#  (try using infogr.am, piktochart or easel.ly)

This project is DUE Wednesday May 1, 2013 at the beginning of class.  You will be graded on progress each week.  Be prepared to show me your progress at the beginning of class each week.  Have all documents on on your computer (google docs or similar).

(on the next page, there is a turn in page to tell me what business you’re opening up, and list who is doing what on the project.)

Turn this sheet into Mr. Caldwell.  ONE per GROUP. April 2013.

The business we are choosing to open is (check the box next to the one you’ll open)

⇵Coffee Shop.  You’ll open a coffee shop, employ people, and hope to make a profit!

⇵Car dealership.  You’ll buy sell and trade used cars.

⇵Cell phone store.  Your store will buy and sell used cell phones.

⇵Tutoring Center.  Your business will help middle and high school students with various subject.

Now, write in the names of who will be doing what.  If your group has THREE members, then at least two of them will be doing TWO of the items below.  If your group has FOUR members, then one person would be doing two of them items.  If your group has FIVE members, each member does one of the below:

Job Descriptions / Search for emp: ____________________________________

Create a Budget / Spreadsheet: ____________________________________

Prepare a Business Plan: ____________________________________

Present your idea to investors: ____________________________________

Create an advertisement: ____________________________________

By signing above, you agree you have read this entire project assignment and understand this is a large project that will require you to work a number of hours in total in the next few weeks.

This project is DUE Wednesday May 1, 2013 at the beginning of class.  You will be graded on progress each week.  Be prepared to show me your progress at the beginning of class each week.  Have all documents on on your computer (google docs or similar).

Creating an InfoGraphic - March 2013

Creating an InfoGraphic | March 6, 2013
First Christian Academy
Mr. Caldwell sean@firstchristianacademy.com


Infographics are a great way to present information in an easy to understand way.  They use facts and numbers and combine them creatively to present something that looks like this:


Or like this:


Your assignment is to use one of the online tools we discussed to create an infographic.  See http://www.entrepreneur.com/blog/225095#  (try using infogr.am, piktochart or easel.ly).  Topics could include school, your family, or anything I approve in class.  You could be serious with factual data, or funny with made up numbers.  Consider what you want to convey to your audience and then start to collect some data.  This assignment should take you one to two hours to complete and is due at the beginning of class next week, March 13, 2013.

Save the infographic on the site that you use to create it and also download it to your local computer.  email it to yourself so that even if your computer is not working you can still access it.

I can’t wait to see how creative you can present some data.

Group Project #1

First Christian Academy, Middle School technology and computers

Group Project 1, February 13, 2013. Due February 27, 2013.
Assignment value:  120 points (20 points for progress next week, plus 100 for the final project).

Get into groups of 4 people (3 or 5 with approval from me).

For this project, you’ll work in a group to accomplish a task using computers and technology.  You’ll be graded on the quality of the group’s work, and the depth of the piece.  Does it look like your group spent time on it?  Whatever you choose to do, do it well!  If the rest of your group says that you didn’t do any work on the project, don’t expect any points.


Ideas:

• Create a video 3-5 minutes in length that promotes an idea or sells a product (real or fake).
• Make a website that promotes an idea or sells a product (real or fake).  Suggestion to use wordpress.com as the engine for the site.  The site should have at least 3 pages on it.
• Create a presentation (at least 15 pages) that promotes an idea or sells a product.  Then present to the class.
• Create a skit that lasts 3-5 minutes and record it on the computer or phone.  All group members play a part.
• Make a cookbook with at least 10 recipes.  Insert pictures and make it look great.

Next week, I want ONE person in the group to show me a document that details out what each person in the group will be doing for the project (editing video, collecting pictures, writing scripts, etc.) and see some progress on the project.  Everyone in the group must have a portion of the project to do.  This will be taken into account if the project is not complete...it will be possible to see who did or did not follow through on their commitment.

The project is due in two weeks; February 27, 2013.  Start working on it now.  We will check on the progress that you’re making next week and you will receive a grade for progress.  You’ll show the project to the class as a group.  Then the entire class will vote for best group for extra credit.

Spreadsheets - Graphs. February 2013

FCA Technology and Computer Class
2013
Mr. Caldwell
sean@firstchristianacademy.com

Introduction to Spreadsheets, part 3
January 30, 2013

We’ve learned how to do a simple spreadsheet with numbers, then percentages.  This week we’re going to insert TWO graphs that will visually show our how our budget looks.  Then we’re going to do another spreadsheet based on a cell phone bill and create a chart there as well.

Open your spreadsheet from last time (it can be the one with or without percentages).  Then select FILE, MAKE A COPY.  Name it “Spreadsheet 3 YOUR NAME Graphs”.  Then select OK.  We’re now working on a new copy of the file.  Select the data as we showed in class and then select insert in the menu.  Select chart.

Choose a chart type.  Note that only some of the chart types will apply to the data we have.

Your chart should show the numbers (or percentages in a pie chart).  Both the data and the labels must display for the assignment to be complete.  If you have many items, not every slice of the graph will have a percentage listed.

Once you have inserted ONE type of chart, please do the same thing and insert a SECOND different type of chart.  My recommendation is to do a PIE chart and also a BAR chart.

Please re-read these instructions before turning in the assignment to get full credit.
2 Points extra credit:  create and insert a total of 4 different chart types.


The chart could look something like this:



For the next part of the assignment, you’re going to need to get the cell phone bill from your parents.  If you don’t have a cell phone bill, then use a cable bill.  If you have neither a cell phone or cable, come see me for other options.
We’re going to add another SHEET to our current spreadsheet like shown in class.  Name the sheet cell phone bill.

Look at the bill.  Find the base price for service, then find all the fees and taxes.  Set up your spreadsheet to look similar to this and then create a pie chart that shows the item (service, fees, tax, etc.  Not more than 5 items are needed.).  Both the data and the labels must display for the assignment to be complete.
Here’s an example:




Assignment is due: Tuesday, February 5, 2013 before 8pm.  This is before our next class. 10 points deducted for each late day.  Please turn it in on time and get full credit.

How to turn in your assignment:  While the document is open, click the SHARE button in the upper right hand corner.  Then where it says “add people” type sean@firstchristianacademy.com and leave “can edit” selected, then press share in the lower left hand corner.  email me if you are having trouble before Tuesday.