technology with intention
Kasha Roseta
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Home page: http://www.billingsmiddleschool.org/beta
Posts by Kasha Roseta
Research Assistants?
1014 days
by Kasha Roseta
in 6th Grade
Today we embarked upon a mini-research project designed to help students merge many of the skills they’ve learned this year in Tech class. We picked a current event – swine flu – and focused on data collection, looking for specific pieces of information on a number of different types of sites, such as major newspapers and magazines, radio stations and government agencies. We also analyzed an interactive map in order to find out where the virus is striking the hardest. Students will be analyzing their data next week.
Choose Your Own Adventure…if you dare…
1028 days
by Kasha Roseta
in 6th Grade
Today we finished our choose-your-own adventure stories. Students worked either independently or in a group to create storylines, write and publish functional Powerpoint presentations that allow readers to choose their fates. See below for some snapsnhots (sorry, hyperlinks don’t function at the moment) of these stories!
Making Tough Choices…
1035 days
by Kasha Roseta
in 6th Grade
Do I simply hand over my million dollars to the bank robbers? Or do I choose to use my long-dormant judo skills to defend my winnings? Do I jump into shark-infested waters? Or do I try to paddle to the distant shore?
These are the types of choices that we’re asking readers to make in our original choose-your-own-adventure stories. Before Spring Break, we typed up our stories in Microsoft Word. Today, we translated those stories into Powerpoint. Not only did we learn the basic functions of the program, but we learned how to be creative with clip art, photos and background choices, making our slides bona fide works of art. The final step was learning how to create hyperlinks, so that with one click, readers are transported down the storyline of their choice – for better or for worse…
We’ll be finishing these up next week, although students are encouraged to work on their slide shows outside of class.
A Grisly End? Or Smooth Sailing?
1078 days
by Kasha Roseta
in 6th Grade
Today kicked off the last part of our Million Dollar Project – turning our previous work into a Choose Your Own Adventure story. Students worked to generate definitions for five key components:
- Setting – Where and when a story takes place
- Character Development – Making the reader care about and know the important characters
- Plot - The storyline..what happens in the story…the ACTION.
- Conflict – The point of greatest tension – ie: the problem.
- Point of View - Who is telling the story? Is it written in first (I), second (you) or third (they) person?
Next, we checked out an online choose your own adventure story, to see if we could identify the above components in that story. The story – an adventure on the high seas complete with bloodthirsty pirates, hungry coral reefs and leaky ships – has several potential endings…some grislier than others.
Next week, we will begin learning the basic MS Word and Powerpoint skills necessary to write and produce our own stories.
One pie, please…
1098 days
by Kasha Roseta
in 6th Grade
Today we spent time learning how to create gorgeous-looking pie charts from our data sets. Students were able to personalize their charts with different colors, backgrounds and other features.
Students excel at….well, Excel.
1105 days
by Kasha Roseta
in 6th Grade
Today marked the start of our Million Dollar Project, Part Two: Introduction to Excel. Students worked diligently to transfer the data contained in their balance sheets into a new spreadsheet. They then worked on properly formatting the cells before learning how to input formulas to calculate their total expenditures and the amount of money left over. Next week, we’ll learn how to create different types of charts from their data, as well as how to make their projects look professional.
An example spreadsheet by Halley. Formulas are used to add, subtract, and create percentages.
How would you spend one MILLION dollars?
1125 days
by Kasha Roseta
in 6th Grade
Buy the moon? A Ferrari? A hamster named Fred? A mansion with a moat? Invest in a stock or two?
These were some student suggestions in response to the challenge we faced today in Tech class, when we began Part I of the “Million Dollar Assignment.” Using a mind-mapping/outlining program called Inspiration, students worked either in pairs or independently to figure out a way to spend one million dollars. There were a few strings attached:
1. Taxes on the full amount must be paid.
2. Only one of any one thing (car, house, etc) can be purchased.
3. 25% of money (after taxes) must be given to charity.
Using an online tax calculator, students got to work, and were somewhat horrified to discover that $328,597 of their hard-won cash would be gone before they would have a chance to spend it. The new subtotal? A mere $671,403.
But wait! What about that 25% earmarked for charity? Subtract $167, 850.75 and the new subtotal is a paltry $503,552.25.
Gulp. Scratch the plans for the Ferrari. Maybe a house is more important than a car after all.
Next class, we will spend more time on researching the actual cost of the things they want to buy – rather than just creating a mind-map – and students will explore the financial feasibility of their current expenditure plans.
All of this is leading up to creating a balance sheet in Microsoft Excel, where they will create formulas to calculate costs, and hopefully, find an equitable way to spend their remaining half-million dollars.
