After a strange day off yesterday, never thought I would live to see Chardon close school for a hurricane, we are officially in the second grading period.  Students are reminded to complete their work in a timely fashion and use all the resources Mr. Holman and I have provided to help you master content and be successful.  The quiz for the second task of the Greece WebQuest will be Tuesday for CMS students.  That gives you four days to work on the Computer-Side Chat, vocabulary, questions and blog post.
Resources Available to help you be successful:
1. Computer-Side Chats- listen to the lectures as often as needed
2. Custom Google Search- Built into each task and only searches sites concerning Ancient Greece
3. Answer Key- Mr. H and I have created an answer key for the questions
4. Your Teacher- I am here everyday helping students on individual basis.  Computer-Side Chats allow me to work one-on-one with students.  The majority of students take advantage of this...do you?
5. Textbook- The textbooks are always in the back corner of the room
7. Each other- Collaborate and learn with your classmates
8. Blog Buddies- Look at the work of your blog buddy to reflect on your own work.

Due to dangerous weather school has been cancelled for both Beachwood Public Schools and Chardon Local Schools.  Please be safe and Mr. H. and I hope that you and your family do not suffer any damage due to Hurricane Sandy

DIIGO WAS HIJACKED SEE BELOW.   Things should be back to normal in a few days.  Read details below, but for now SITE IS LOCATED AT DIIGO.NET  NOT .com 

Below you will find the conference slideshow we will be using in Nov. for parent conferences.  Please download and save correctly in your social studies folder.  

The first grading period ends this Friday.  We are currently working on TASK 1 of the Greek WebQuest (link to the left).  This information is accessible anywhere you have an internet connection, even your smart phones.  Friday we will take the quiz in-class.  Please encourage your students to use all the available resources on the WebQuest to help them find, process and synthesize the information.  There are built in podcasts (computer-side chats) where Mr. Holman and I discuss information.  There is also a page which contains an answer key to help students check their work.  Mr. Holman and I are trying our best to equip our students with the tools and resources they need to be successful, but the hard-work of the student is the key to the success puzzle. 

Please remember to email me if you have any questions or concerns.

Diigo will change how you work on the web.  You can hightlight, add postit notes, share, bookmark and share on social media.  

If you learn how to use this well, it will change you education forever.  If you missed something in class, click here for a tutorial on how to use Diigo.  

You must Join our group: HistorywithHolman and Pennington.  To do that you already have to have an account.  Then click join now and then click join this group on the right hand side of the new window.  That's all. 

Franklin elementary school is where my wife teaches third grade.  The school is 90 years old and they are in a contest to have the entire inside of the school painted.  

HOWEVER, WE NEED YOUR VOTES.  

You can vote on any device but only one time on each device.  Please take a second a vote on all your devices.  Thanks.  

http://www.glidden.com/contest/vote.do 

What is social media? I know Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, Instagram, Ichat, Skype, ect.... But what is it really?  It can be defined in many ways, here are two: 

1. The best way to define social media is to break it down. Media is an instrument on communication, like a newspaper or a radio, so social media would be a social instrument of communication: see link
2.   "interactive web platforms via which individuals and communities share, co-create, discuss, and modify user-generated content” See link_

So What is social media to a middle schooler?  

Below is a social media counter made by Gary Hayes, what does this tell you about society   

"It's in Apple's DNA that technology alone is not enough.  It's technology married with liberal arts, married with humanities, that makes our hearts sing."
Today marks the one year anniversary of the death of Steve Jobs, founder and CEO of Apple.  The amazing thing about Steve and his company was/is their out-of-the-box thinking.  Apple products have become cultural icons.   Beyond the hype and consumerism of Apple is a dedication to simplifying and making accessible technology to the masses.  I have heard technology directors say the reason they hate Apple is because is makes technology something everyone can do. 
Steve was a college drop out.  He was a man that took risks and followed his heart.  Some would argue he had more failures than success in his life.  It is inarguable, though, that his successes greatly overshadowed the failures.  I do not know the direction apple will go in the future.  It is near impossible to dream of the gadgets, technological advancements and accessibility that Apple will amaze us all with in the future.
Check out Apple's homepage today for a video tribute to Steve Jobs.