Tallahassee Community College

The Classroom Enquirer

Volume 4, Issue 3

F E BR U AR Y 1 ST , 2 0 57

Digital Citizenship
Special points of interest:
What weve learned this
month
Accolades
Obituary for the class hamster
Calendar

Earlier this
month our class learned
about digital citizenship
and cyberbullying. We
discovered how hard it is
to truly delete something
off the internet, and how
bullying someone online
is just as bad as bullying
them in person. Ideally
now that we all understand netiquette and why
cyberbullying is bad well
all strive to be better people, at least on the internet.

This was an important thing to learn

because it helps foster a
positive environment for
the students that even
goes beyond the classroom walls.

We also sent
home a letter warning
parents about cyberbullying and how they can
help prevent it.

Inside this issue:

Fifth Grade Flubs

Animoto

Obituary. Or is it?

Prezi

Popplet

Accolades

Calendar

Fair Use and Copyright

This month in
class we learned how to
use copyrighted materials
without asking for permission, and why thats
okay! We learned about
what copyrights are, how
to get them, and how to
work around them . Now

they understand how Im

able to play a Youtube
video in class without
being arrested.
This is important
because were at an age
where research is important for our assign-

ments as well as daily life

and we need to know
what were allowed to use
and how much of it.

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T HE C LA S S R O O M E NQ U I R E R

V O LU M E 4 , I S S U E 3

Fifth Grade Flubs, a Teachers Choice Ends in

Disaster
In school news this month,
one of the fifth grade language arts
teachers made the horrible mistake
of assigning a book based on a students suggestion that everyone
should read it, without reading it
herself.
In hindsight I should have
read it first, but its really the
parents fault for letting the child
who suggested 50 Shades of Grey
read it in the first place. If I had
known how poorly it was written I
would never have assigned it. The
teacher who wished to remain anonymous claimed.
It was just so badly writ-

ten and would have taught the students bad writing habits, and the
relationship is surprisingly abusive.
I would have spent a semester reading the book and another explaining
everything thats wrong with the
writing and narrative. We could
only get through two chapters before we all agreed that it was an
incredibly awful book. The fact that
its made so much money proves
that the public education system
fails some people. Like literally everyone involved in getting that book
written and published. Ill be talking with the student who suggested
this book, and more importantly her
parents.

The only thing the principal

had to say about this situation?
She did what!?!?

Animoto
We used this in class to make
This month in class we
learned how to use Animoto. A computer program that lets people design their own 30 second videos. We
used this in class to make fake movie trailers for the book we just finished in class.

dents.. The students definitely enjoyed using it, and well most likely
use it for other projects in the future, or as an alternative project for
students with different learning
styles.

fake movie trailers for the book

we just finished in class.

This is a good program because its very hands on, and fun to
work with, which engages the stu-

Has Science Gone too Far?

In class news today, our pet
hamster Snicklefritz has tragically
passed away . However, not all was
lost, as some of the more scientifically minded students decided to
attempt to bring the hamster back
to life.
We learned in science class

that a lot of the bodys functions like

your heart beating and your brain
are caused by electrical pulses. We
figured that it worked in Frankenstein, we might as well give it a
shot! said Viktor, the leader of the
project.
It actually worked, and

Snicklefritz is
alive and
well. Unfortunately, he wont stop screaming and he keeps biting the students, who seem to be getting incredibly sick. More on this story as
it develops in the next newsletter!

V O LU M E 4 , I S S U E 3

T HE C LA S S R O O M E NQ U I R E R

PAGE 3

Prezi: Are We Finally Saved from the Tyranny of

PowerPoint?
This month in class we decided to go over the pros and cons of
Microsoft PowerPoint, and the pros
and cons of an alternative presentation program, Prezi.
PowerPoint is easy to use,
for example, but theyre kind of
bland, and Microsoft Office (which
includes PowerPoint) is rather expensive.
Prezi on the other hand is
free and has a more interesting layout than PowerPoint, however its
not quite as easy to use and requires more time to set up. The students who decided to use Prezi instead of PowerPoint for their

presentations generally had more

difficulties getting their presentation to work properly.
Its the students choice in
terms of what they want to use, but
this
teacher
will be
sticking
with
PowerPoint.

Popplet
This month in class we also
learned how to use Popplet. Its a
free program that helps students
better organize their thoughts.

students organize their

papers!

Basically you make a bubble with your main idea/topic, then

connect it to other bubbles with
things like your thesis or talking
points until you have a well organized web of ideas. It really helps

Accolades
Fight Club Winners:

Cindy

Lucille

George Michael

Most Spiders Eaten

in One Sitting:

Lucas

Perfect Attendance for the

Month:

Stacy

Andrew Ryan Elementary: No Gods or kings, only man.

ANDREW RYAN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

1960 Rapture Avenue

Phone: 800-420-6969
Fax: 800-123-4567
E-mail: fake@gmail.com

December 2014

Organization
Business Tagline or Motto

Sun

Mon

Tue

Wed

Thu

Fri

Sat

Were on the Web!

example.com

Back Page Story Headline

9 PTA

10

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12 Kin-

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dergarten
fight club

Meeting
This story can fit 175-225 words.
If your newsletter is folded and
mailed, this story will appear on the
back. So, its a good idea to make it
easy to read at a glance.

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A question and answer session is a

good way to quickly capture the attention of readers. You can either
compile questions that youve
Startreceived since the last edition or you
of generic
Christ-quescan summarize some
mas Break
tions that are frequently
asked
about your organization.

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23

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You can also use this space to remind readers to mark their calendars for a regular event, such as a
breakfast meeting for vendors every
third Tuesday of the month, or a
biannual charity auction.

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25

Christmas

A listing of names and titles of managers in your organization is a good

way to give your newsletter a personal touch. If your organization is
small, you may want to list the
names of all employees.

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clude a listing of those here. You

may want to refer your readers to
any other forms of communication
that youve created for your organization.

If space is available, this is a good

place to insert a clip art image or
some other graphic.

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Caption describing picture or graphic.

If you have any prices of standard
products or services, you can in-

31 New
Years Eve

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