Hi Everyone! This is Kris Swanson. Most of you know me, but for any newbies and Mr Cantrell, I will provide some background information. (I cannot link you to my web page for I do not have one. I am hoping that this class will provide me with the information I need to figure out how to create one.)
I am finishing up my 16th year teaching at Norris Middle School in Omaha Public Schools. I teach 7th and 8th grade Science. I know very little about technology and am looking forward to learning tons in this course. I have a Smart Board in my room. Right now I use it as a screen and not much else. Yikes! You all must be cringing!
I will be joining you, for most of this class, from Quito Ecuador. My daughter and son-in-law (and 2 grandchildren!) live in Quito and work as trip facilitators for short term mission trips to South America. (See their blog here: http://www.cjmergeministries.blogspot.com) Grandma is going to help out with the kids as the summer is their busy season. I will be leaving for Quito May 29 and returning July 8!
But enough about me.....On to the flyer.
I must confess that I chose this topic because there were lots of instructions given. I think I need all the help I can get.
8th Grade Send-Off
Norris Middle School
Join your 8th grade friends and teachers to celebrate our years at Norris.A full day of fun! Enjoy go-carting, mini golf, batting cages and the arcade!
Let's make memories as we say good-bye to middle school and head to high school!
- When: Thursday May 12, 2011 8:00-2:30
- Where: Papio Bay Fun Center
- How much?: $15 for unlimited fun all day
Kris Swanson
kristin.swanson@ops.org
May 9, 2011
First of all, I must tell you that this little bit of whimsy took me nearly an hour and a half to create. I can't say that I have ever made an actual flyer in Word to compare this to, but I do use Word to create all of the usual school type documents. I found the Blog quite easy to use. As the tutorial stated it is very similar to writing an e-mail.
There were, however, some differences with the Blog. The fonts available on the Blog were limited. I was not able to use Comic Sans or Arial Narrow per the instructions. It is possible that perhaps you could get to more fonts on the blog, but I was unable to figure out how to do that. Secondly, I could not choose my font size by number. The Blog site only let me choose from smallest, small, Normal, Large, and Largest.
I therefore, could not follow the instructions for the lab to the letter as it indicated the exact font size. I made my best guess.
The last item that proved to be difficult was instruction number 5.
Create a bulleted list that provides information about the meeting. Display the bulleted list with a one-half inch margin in 12-point Arial, bold font.
All in all, the blog was quite easy to use. It does have some limitations, but I wouldn't see this as a problem. The flyer that I created would work just fine, it just could not be done exactly as the instructions stated. I understand the Blogs primary purpose is communication rather than formal writing. Word allows for more variation and many more formatting options.
I shall publish this post and be a blogging virgin no longer!!
I am blown away by your blog and a bit jealous. I keep reading through the information and I still sit dumb founded and puzzled. I have figured out how to comment on your posting and Tyler's posting.
ReplyDeleteYour presentation looks great. How did you manage to get the photo on here? You speak a lot of your incompetency, but your blog is very nicely done.
Ecuador-well it looks like you are the prime example of why technology is so important. You will still be able to complete the course while in another country amazing. Enjoy every moment.
Congratulations on your first blog!
This was my first blogging attempt as well. When creating my blog I wanted to underline some things in my blog and I was unable to find the underline button.This adventure is rather frustrating at first, but I think that it will get easier the more we get use to it.
ReplyDeleteWell done! I think this is a good first assignment since it introduces you to the options available while blogging compared to Word. I like the picture - it caught my eye while I was scrolling and made me stop to see what was all around it.
ReplyDeleteThis will be fun - you'll be in Ecuador, I'll be in China, and most of the class will be in Nebraska! The wonders of technology!
Kris, your blog looks great and I admire your tenacity to create something that looks like it would be difficult. If you hadn't mentioned some of the troubles you had I would not have noticed because the spacing and font size looks fine for a flyer like that. Ahhh....Ecuador...China... Africa is where my next teaching adventure will be but that is a couple of years down the road. Technology will be even further advanced and I can't wait.
ReplyDeleteKris, nice job on your flier. It sounds like we all pretty much experienced the same problems. Although, I think Kris is fibbing when she said she was a virgin. Virgin blogger that it. My flyer does not look as great which is frustrating as I spent two hours on it. Can't tell huh? I did get to thinking about something I read in our book. Keep in mind, it all sounded kind of foriegn, but the book stated that Apple and Microsoft provided accessibilty features, built in features, and features that allow users to customize their computers. Are these custom features accessible when blogging? Can we customize a blog we create? Are there instructions on navigation? I must admit, everytime I come to this site, I get an intense gitter and overwhelming feeling. I feel like I got to use the bathroom and can breathe because of how much info is shared and what I must look at. I sure hope this gets easier. I must also admit, I keep asking my children how to do/create something. I think I would have liked to take this course in person so that I could ask a person for direct explanations and physical examples. Anyone want to meet for coffee? I do see the need for this course, I just think my brain is from an older generation.
ReplyDeleteWow Kris - I love that you put a picture of yourself on your blog. Super cute. I am going to say you going to be teaching this class soon! Posting self-portraits, travelling to distant places but still keeping up with class, all so perfect!! (If I were in word I would insert a smiley face graphic here.)
ReplyDeleteGreat job on your flier. You are sending your kids to high school and I am sending my seniors off to college! Funny how they are so different in age yet want to have the same type of fun day! Have an awesome trip!