Using GarageBand For Podcasts

/0 Comments/in /by

Garageband is an awesome tool to use for your podcasts.  It is free, easy to use, yet has some extra features that you can use if you want to become an audio expert.
garagebandThese two videos should help you out.

For free music (Bumpers) head to BenSound.com

 

Helpful Links

 

 

Tutorials

Getting Started

https://youtu.be/tbDlSmpYItg

Download Sounds from YouTube thanks to KeepVid.com

https://youtu.be/xBquFKzG_ps

Adding Bumpers

Export when finished

https://youtu.be/D7XXn2AWRI8

Nano Wri Mo Middle School Sign Up

/0 Comments/in /by

Sign ups

Ready to sign up for NanoWriMo?  Awesome!  Here are the steps to make it happen.

    1. Go to this website: ywp.nanowrimo.org
    2. Click the big sign up button
    3. Select “Young Writer”
    4. Put in your birthday
    5. Add class code of PTNIURPF
    6. Confirm it is ISB Middle School
    7. Enter YOUR SCHOOL email address, Username, First Name and Time Zone
    8. Enter password information and create the account.
    9. Enter your title, synopsis and the rest of it.  You can ALWAYS change it later.  No worries.

Done!!

Writing Time

Writing can be done at home, during classes (with teacher permission) and during lunch and after school sessions.

Meeting Times

  • Mondays in room 204 at lunch
  • Thursdays, after school, in room 204

Questions?  Contact Mr. Boll michaelb@isb.ac.th

Distracting Videos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiHaY-542SY

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKTBv7ZqFcU

MineCraft

/0 Comments/in /by

Playing Minecraft

  1. Search for StartLauncher.jar file
  2. Open it
  3. Pick “Start MinecraftEDU”
  4. Pick “Minecraft EDU Hosting Account”
  5. Enter your username and password.  Your teacher has this information
  6. Enjoy!

Installing Minecraft

Steps to success

  1. Download and install this “Jar” file.  You will need admin access to install it.
  2. Search for StartLauncher.jar file in spotlight
  3. Open it up
  4. Username is panther1  and password is panther1.  For the next person, it is panther2 and panther2.  Let your teacher assign a number to you
  5. Enjoy!

Copyright Free Images and Citing Them

/0 Comments/in /by

The web is FULL of fantastic images.  However, we really should only use safe images where the owner of the image or picture has said  “Yes, you may use my picture!”

This video will help you to use two sites.  One of them is Google Images and the other is Pics4learning.com

Get help citing your images here at EasyBib.

 

https://youtu.be/IDwf-o72hts

 

 

 

Import Your Schedule from Powerschool to Google Calendar

/0 Comments/in /by

Intro

Every wonder what your schedule would look like in Google Calendar?  Like you could actually know where you are supposed to be every day and also share your free/busy time with others.  So awesome!

Step-By-Step

Check out his video by our own Chris Bell on how to make it happen.

https://youtu.be/0_FTL_CoVsQ

Should I Be an Administrator on My Child’s Laptop?

/1 Comment/in /by

Here We Go Again

It is a new school year and as a middle school student, there are three primary reasons they come to school every day: Friends, friends and… laptops. Laptops were only added in the last seven years or so.

For grade six, it is an opportunity to take a step closer to adulthood. For grades seven and eight, picking up their laptop is like a long lost friend connecting with them after a long summer.

Please note that grade six students do not take their laptops home for about six weeks as they transition to these laptops in the classrooms.

Parent Point of View

From a parent’s point of view, the laptop may bring along a host of worries and concerns: 

  • Will they use it too much? 
  • Will they communicate with people I don’t approve of?
  • Will the play games non-stop?
  • Will it help them with their homework (the answer is yes ;-) )
  • Will they use it too much and stay up too late?
  • Will I be able to control how they use it?

As a parent of two children (now 17 and 19) I do remember how I felt as a middle school parent.  I was a concerned that they would make inappropriate choices and mistakes.  

Parental Controls

It is possible to use the Parental Controls feature of the laptop to monitor how your child uses the laptop and also control what

Apple Parental Control Settings

Apple Parental Control Settings

times of day the laptop starts up and shuts down.  If this is something you are interested, we can assist.

Here are the steps

  • Fill out this short survey form
  • Inform your child of the decision
  • The laptop will be given to the EdTech department who will install the account and set up parent controls

 

 

For more information on Parental Controls, see this Apple help article.

My Personal Thoughts

I have worked with middle school students and laptops for about 10 years now and my personal feeling is that Parental Controls often do not work as well as we wish to solve our concerns. Students may find ways around the controls or switch to other devices such as their phones.  I find the following generally works best and that Parental Controls are often best as a last resort.

I find the following works very well:

  • Regular conversations about the use of technology at home.  Especially at night during dinner.
  • Using the device(s) in open area such as the living room.  All eyes are on the screens.
  • Regulating when the laptops and other devices must be shut off.  Then, turning in those devices to a parent’s custody for charging.

Thank you very much and please stay in touch: michaelb@isb.ac.th

Parent Talk

For more information, ideas and resources, feel free to attend my Parenting In The Digital Age talk on September 14, 2017, @ 9:00.  See here for more information

MS Technology Tools

/0 Comments/by

Welcome to ISB!

We have a number of technology tools at your disposal here in the Middle School. While at first it can be confusing to have so many different choices, we hope this list will make it a little easier to manage in your first few days and weeks at ISB.

You will notice that there are a few similarities in the website addresses for all of these sites (they all end in isb.ac.th) and that your username and password are the same for almost all of them. Hopefully, this will help you manage all these different tools.

General Computer Log in:
Here is your username and password to log in to the computer at school:
Username: (your ID Card number)
Password: student

Inside ISB Middle School Blog: https://inside.isb.ac.th/middle/
This is where you can find all of the weekly announcements as well as links to all of the teacher blogs here in the Middle School. You do not need a username or password to read these blogs.

PowerSchool: https://powerschool.isb.ac.th/public/
This is where you can keep track of your grades in all of your classes.
Username:
Password:

PantherNet: https://panthernet.isb.ac.th/
This is our online learning portal. Many of your teachers will post assignments, resources, and activities here.
Username: (your ID Card number)
Password:

Student Blogs: https://blogs.isb.ac.th/
Student Blogs Log in: https://blogs.isb.ac.th/wp-login.php
This is the hub for our student blogs. You will create your own blog, usually in Humanities class, but you can always log in at the address above.
Username: (your ID Card number)
Password:

Google Apps (Email, Documents, Sites, etc): https://mail.google.com/a/student.isb.ac.th/
This is our student e-mail tool. You can use this to communicate with other students and teachers here at ISB and beyond.
Username:
Password:

After School Tech Training

/0 Comments/by

How do I?

/0 Comments/by

If you’re wondering how to use the many technology tools we have here at ISB, you’re at the right place!

And if you don’t know what you don’t know, check here to see a list of our tools and why you might want to use them with students.

Access Passwords:

Blogging:

Creative Commons:

Entourage

Firefox

Google Apps:

Hardware:

iMovie:

PantherNet (screencasts, thanks to Dennis!):

TOG:

VoiceThread:

Windows Movie Maker

YouTube:

Laptop Guidelines

/0 Comments/by

All procedures and guidelines have been made with this tenet in mind:

Provide ALL Middle School students with the greatest possible access to laptop computers.

In order for the process to work well, all teachers and staff need to adhere to the guidelines listed below.

Please keep in mind that we do have a limited number of carts, so this system will rely on collegiality and flexibility. We will track the usage of the carts over the next few weeks to see if the system needs to be re-examined. If you have a long term project you would like to plan, please liaise with me so that I can help you ensure you have the laptops you need.

Location of Carts

The Middle School now has 16 laptop carts (15 PC, 1 Mac) available for booking. To make these carts accessible, they are stored by quad, as follows:

  • Carts 1 – 4: Room 325
  • Carts 5 – 8: Room 303 & 304
  • Carts 10 – 13: Room 316
  • Cart 14 – 16: Room 219 (Carts 14 – 15 to be moved to Room 208 later in the year when the room is ready)
  • Mac Cart: PE Office

Cart Booking

The bookings are done online through the calendar Outlook or Entourage. Logon to your email account, go to ‘Public Folders’>’All Public Folders’>MS Calendar. Khun Apple and Khun Eed will still be keeping track of the carts in both locations.

calendarbooking

All new laptop cart calendars have been created by Khun Apple. As in the past, she deleted last year’s calendars at the end of the school year (because they get too full) so you will need to find them in the Public Folders and re-subscribe to add them to your favorites. If you need help, please let me know.

  • ALL laptop carts are available for all MS teachers to book, regardless of what floor/quad they are stored on. Please do not book more than 1 week in advance.
  • Teachers in quads have priority over the laptop carts stored in their quad and can book them more than 1 week in advance. Please do not book laptops from another quad more than 1 week in advance.
  • When booking the carts, please use the simple format of: # of cart(s) – Name – # of students. Make sure you enter your room number in the location field and be precise with the times.
  • To avoid confusion, please try to be aware of the Synergy and early dismissal schedules which will be marked at the tops of the calendar days.

Transporting the Carts

  • For all carts, students may collect them from their stored location.
  • Students may transport the carts between classrooms during the day.
  • A printout of the day’s schedule for that cart (as of 2 pm the previous day) will always be placed on the cart.
  • Carts will be available for pick-up in the morning, starting at 7:00 am. If you would like to pick up the cart(s) earlier than that, a key can be retrieved from Jim or Moe in the office (they typically arrive around 6:30 am). As a courtesy, please leave a note explaining that you’ve collected the cart(s) so that the quad teachers don’t worry that they’ve been stolen overnight.
  • Keys for the carts will be available in the rooms in which they are stored.
  • The teacher who is the first user of the day is responsible for getting the cart(s) from the storage location.
  • The teacher using the cart is responsible for delivering it to the next location in a timely manner.
  • The last teacher user must return the cart before 3:00 pm, plug it in, and make sure the cart switch is turned on. Exception: if a teacher is the last user of the day AND the first user of the same cart(s) on the following day, the teacher may keep the cart(s) in his/her classroom. If this happens, that teacher must check the online schedule for whom to deliver the cart(s) to after they are finished. Otherwise, carts must be returned to the store room locations as a courtesy to the first user of the following day.

Teacher Laptop Cart Management Responsibility

  • The teacher is responsible for how laptops are treated when they are in his/her classroom. Keeping note of which laptop a student gets (or permanently assigning them a number) helps monitor issues as they arise. This also helps retrieve files that may have been saved incorrectly as we can track down which machine a student last used more quickly.
  • All laptops should be plugged in when placed in the cart.
  • The cables should be maintained in a tidy manner.
  • When the cart is not being used it should be plugged in (and the switch turned on) so that the laptops can be charged up.
  • If the individual chargers are removed because laptops need them during class (i.e. the batteries are dead when a class needs them) then, they should be put back in place and the cables Velcro-ed back in.
  • When moving the carts, make sure the cart doors are closed and preferably locked.
  • Please remind students to behave responsibly when transporting and using the laptops. They are a privilege for students to use, yet we use them so much that students begin to take them for granted. This is when silliness, damage, and vandalism occur.
  • Teachers will report any damage to the carts and laptops of which they are aware.

I.A. Laptop Cart Management Responsibility

  • The doors for the storage locations will be unlocked at 7:00 am.
  • The laptop carts will be checked between 2:50 and 3:00 pm that they are in their storage locations and charging the laptops.
  • After 2 pm, printouts of the cart schedules will be printed out and placed on the carts for the next day. If a teacher does not return the cart to its proper location, it is that teacher’s responsibility to look up the next user and deliver the cart.
  • Laptops and carts will be examined and maintained regularly.
  • Damage will be reported to Ed. Tech. for necessary repairs.
  • Instances of procedures not being followed will be shared with administration and Ed. Tech.