What's Going On? December 18th through December 22nd

WCTC Field Trip

WCTC field trip open to all students interested in the School of Business 
(IT, Hospitality, Business, Culinary, etc)

In the next 10 years, 2/3 of the careers with the highest growth in the United States are projected to be requiring degrees that are found at the technical colleges.  On January 11th, North students may participate in a field trip to see Waukesha County Technical College's School of Business.  The School of Business includes careers in the fields of Information Technology, Business & Management, Finance, Hospitality/Culinary/Baking, and Marketing & Sales.   Any North students are able to join the experience, and we strongly encourage 10th and 11th graders to participate in order to help them start looking into options for the future.  Departure time will be 8am, and return will be 11am.   Cost:  $5 per student.   Permission slips can be picked up from Ms. Kabitzke, Ms. Kamenar, Mr. Burden, and Ms. Kube.   This is a rare opportunity to experience hands-on activities at WCTC, meet the professors, tour the campus, and hear about the programs available.  Deadline to register:  Friday, January 5th.  

Here is a brief description of what WCTC is planning for us on this day:

• A “Game of Life” activity to simulate some of the experiences/careers/salaries students may experience. Marketing, global, business and accounting careers will be discussed along the way. 
• Threecybercrimee scenarios will be set up and then the students will break into groups to solve the cyber crimes and then learn about the associated IT careers – such as database analyst, Cyber Security, Network, Web Development and Support.

Programming the Web 1

We will start off this week by taking the lesson 12 review questions.  Students should finish up their lesson 12 assignment before winter break.  We will also talk about our lesson 13 assignment and get started on it.  Students will have the opportunity to finish up this assignment and we will complete our lesson 13 review questions on Friday when we return from break.

App Development 1

We will start off the week by finishing up our "Loops Challenge" formative assessment.  Before we leave for break, students should expect to see a formative assessment on BlackBoard on loops.  Once we wrap up loops, we will spend some time investigating some Safari services and how to use the camera features on an iPhone or iPad.

AP Computer Science Principles

During our last week before winter break, students will be finishing up our 1.4.7 practice "Create" task.  Students can choose to work with a partner on an image technique using masks and filters.  Students will work on creating the Python code that will support their work as well as a written explanation of their work, simulating the "Create" task that will need to be submitted to the AP board in April.  Additionally, each day, students will be expected to provide entries into a digital document to show all of their thought processes and progress on their project.  This assignment should be completed and submitted to our shared folder on Google Drive before winter break.

Additionally, students should be working on a practice "Explore" task, where students investigate a piece of technology.  This is an out-of-class activity, and students should be working on this independently.  We will have a check-in on Friday, January 5th to see the progress made.  The final summative assessment will be due on Friday, January 12th.  

What's Going On? December 11th through December 15th

Programming the Web 1

This week, we will continue our study of lesson 12 where we will work with formatting images in Photoshop for our website.  Along with this week, students will need to read chapters 21 and 22 as well as complete the accompanying reading guide.  We will have one web assignment to complete throughout the week.

App Development 1

At the beginning of the week, students will work on completing their "Word Play" app reflection form to wrap up our unit.  After that, we will move into our last unit of the semester.  We will spend the rest of the week talking about algorithms and looping structures.  Students should expect to see a formative assessment before the end of the week so we can make sure we are on the right track.

AP Computer Science Principles

On Monday, students will finish up our 1.4.6 activity.  Students will need to read chapter 6 in the book "Blown to Bits" in order to answer the reflection questions about the impact of technology on society.  Additionally, students will be working on a practice "Explore" task that will need to be submitted for the AP exam in April.  After this is complete, we will move into our 1.4.7 activity where students will have another opportunity to practice the "Create" task which will also need to be submitted for the AP exam in April.







Have you registered for the AP test?

Only two students have registered so far!  Don't delay, register today!

Looking Ahead: Semester Exams

For those of you who like to plan ahead, here is our exam schedule for January.  We will talk about what our exam will look like when we get closer to this time.

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What's Going On? December 4th through December 8th

Note: I will be out of the classroom on Monday morning due to Yearbook Club Picture day and on Tuesday and Wednesday due to a conference.  I will still be available to answer questions via e-mail.

Hour of Code
December 4th through December 8th is Computer Science Education Week.  This week, students from all over the world will participate in an activity to learn a little bit more about computer science.  North will hold our own activity after school on Thursday from 3:10-4:10pm in room 300.  During this session, we will work with a Google add-on called "Story Speaker".  In this session, each student will have a chance to write a "Choose your adventure"-style story.  Once the story is written, with all of the different options, students can have Google present the story.  This program can be run via a Chrome browser and also with a Google Home device.

Programming the Web 1

This week, we will dive into lesson 11 where we will talk about how we can hide text using the "Phark Technique" as well as how to create a responsive web page.  During Monday's class we will finish going through our notes.  For our class periods Wednesday through Friday, students will be working on web assignments 11A and 11B.  Our weekly reading guide will be checked during class on Thursday and we will complete our weekly review questions during class on Friday.

App Development 1

This week, students will be working to complete our end of unit app challenge: Word Play.  I would expect that we will wrap up this app mid-week.  After this, we will move into our final project for the semester: Rock, Paper Scissors.  We will finish off the week by talking about how to design a large-scale project and sketch it out using pseudocode.  We will also talk about how we can repeat a portion of code using loops.

AP Computer Science Principles

This week, we will continue our study of images and object-oriented libraries.  We will talk about how we can modify images using an algorithm.  We will also take some time toward the end of the week to talk about our "Explore" task.  For this task, students are required to research how a specific piece of technology has impacted society.  Later in the year, students will have a minimum of 8 hours of class time to complete the research and write up their findings.









Have you registered for the AP test?

Only two students have registered so far!  Don't delay, register today!

What's Going On? November 27th through December 1st

Programming the Web 1

This week, students will be working on unit 10.  In this week's lesson, students will have a reading guide to go along with our chapter 16 reading.  Students will also have 10 multiple choice questions at the end of the week.  We will have two web assignments to work on throughout the week, utilizing margins and floating.





App Development 1

This week, students will be working on our end of unit app challenge: Word Play.  Students will apply what they have learned about creating multiple view controllers to create a multi-screen app.  For the MVP of this app, students will prompt the app user for a word in a text field. That word will then appear as part of a sentence on the following screen.






AP Computer Science Principles

This week, we will continue our study of lesson 1.4.  We will spend our time focusing on how an image can be represented as an array of information in order to specify the look of each pixel on a screen.  On Tuesday of this week, students will learn to manipulate an image programmatically by placing a picture of the Earth in the correct location of a person's eye.  On Wednesday, students will write an image algorithm to apply a filter to a folder of photos.  We will wrap up the week by talking about the "explore" task which students will be working on later in the year to submit as part of the performance tasks for the AP exam.



Have you registered for the AP test?

Interested in Computer Programming?

MSOE has invited students to a special event called "Computer Unknown" on December 8th and 9th.  This FREE event will include a coding competition, some info about MSOE, a Bucks game, Laser Tag, and pizza.  Check out the link for more info: http://www.msoe.edu/campus-life/event/computer-unknown-an-epic-event-in-computer-science/

What's Going On? November 20th and November 21st

Thanksgiving Break This Week!

This is just a reminder that we will have Thanksgiving break this week, so we will only meet on Monday and Tuesday.  This means that we will run a Monday-style schedule both days, so be prepared to see all of your classes.  Over your break, I hope you find some time to rest and relax so you can come back refreshed and ready to work for three weeks before winter break.




Programming the Web 1

Rather than start a new unit before the break, we will spend a couple of days reviewing some basic HTML structures involved with creating layouts.  We will review div tags, headers, footers, nav, and floating.

App Development 1

During our two days of class, students will participate in a formative "hackwich" known as "Intergalactic Travel".  In this assignment, students will learn how to create two different screens and navigate between them using the navigation controller.  Students will also learn how to pass information between the two screens.

AP Computer Science Principles

This week, we will continue with our study of lesson 1.4.  Students will spend Monday wrapping up our objects and methods assignment 1.4.2.  We will spend Tuesday taking a look at how images are represented using numeric values and how those values can be manipulated in order to make changes to an image.

Have you registered for the AP test?

What's Going On? November 13th through November 17th

App Development

Now that we have finished our Tip Calculator app, it is time to start our next unit.  We will start this week studying arrays and students will complete an "Array Challenge" program.  Students will also see a formative on arrays mid-way through the week.  At the end of the week, we will check out how we can make multiple screens in our app and work through navigating between them.

Programming the Web

This week, we will continue our study of lesson 9 where students will work with floating and positioning.  Along with this week, students will have a reading guide due on Wednesday and will complete our 10 multiple choice questions during class on Thursday.  Along with this week, students will have 4 web assignments to create.  The four assignments are all tutorials with step-by-step instructions that appear in our textbook.



AP Computer Science Principles

This week, students will continue working on our large-scale collaborative project on running a simulation for the "Prisoner's Dilemma".  We will run the simulation during class on Tuesday to see who has the best strategy.  Once this is complete, we will move on to our 1.4 unit on Images and Object-Oriented Libraries.  We will spend our last two class days of the week talking a little bit about abstraction and we will talk about the make up of a class and how functions fit into a class definition.

Prisoner's Dilemma Outcomes

Registering for the AP Exam

What's Going On? November 6th through November 10th

Programming the Web 1

This week, students will continue to work on their midterm assignment.  For this task, students have been given a screenshot of how all four pages making up our website should look.  All pictures have been provided.  Students have Friday, November 3rd through Thursday, November 9th to complete this assignment.  If students need additional lab time, they should contact me ASAP about coming in early or arranging another time.  Students will also complete our 20 multiple choice questions during class on Thursday.  This assessment will NOT be open-book, open-note like they have in the past.  However, the questions have already appeared in the eight assessments taken so far throughout the semester.



App Development 1

This week, students will continue working on our end of unit app challenge, Tip Calculator.  For our MVP of this project, students will allow our app user to enter a bill amount and then calculate a 15% tip.  Students can add up to 7 suggested "stretches" to enhance the features of the app.  If students need additional lab time, they should contact me about coming in early or arranging another time.



AP Computer Science Principles

This week, we will continue our study of the Python programming language.  We will investigate looping structures, such as the 'for' loop and the 'while' loop.  We will end this "1.3" unit by working with a large-scale program through Git Hub.  Students will work on creating and implementing a strategy for the "Prisoner's Dilemma". 




The Evolution of Google

Recently a news article came to my inbox about the Evolution of Google and how search engine searches have changed over time.  If you are interested, you can check it out here.

What's Going On? October 30th through November 3rd

Programming the Web 1

This week, students will finish up our eighth lesson for the semester.  Students should complete our assigned reading and the accompanying reading guide by Wednesday's class.  We will also complete our ten multiple choice questions on Wednesday.  Students will have Monday and Tuesday's class to complete assignment 8A, where students will work with the box model in CSS.


Midterm

On Thursday, students will begin our midterm assignment.  Students will be given a picture of what our four pages of a website should look like, as well as the images and text for the website.  Students will be given one week to duplicate the site.  During this time, students can consult the internet, past assignments, and our textbook.  Students can also ask for a hint if needed.  We will also have 20 multiple choice questions during the following week.  These questions will NOT be open-book and open-note but will be made up of all of the questions we have seen so far through the semester.


App Development 1

We will start off the week by talking about segues.  This is how we can navigate between two screens in an app.  We will then complete a short "hackwich" called FizzBuzz.  In this formative app, we will create two text fields for our app user to enter two integers.  When we tap a button, the numbers will be multiplied and display a different result based on the output.  In this app, students will learn how we can use a function within an app as well as practice using conditional statements.  After our "hackwich", students will start on our third end of unit app challenge for the year, "Tip Calculator".

AP Computer Science Principles

We will continue our study of the Python programming language this week.  We will start the week focusing on Strings.  On Tuesdsay and Wednesday, we talk about Tuples and lists.  We will finish the week by talking about looping structures, focusing on the for loop.  Along with this week, students should complete two submission documents: 1.3.5 and 1.3.6.

What's Going On? October 23rd through October 25th

Short Week This Week!

This is just a reminder that we will run a Monday-style schedule on Monday and Tuesday.  On Wednesday, we have a shortened schedule with early release and students have the day off on Thursday and Friday.  Enjoy your time and find some time to regroup!


Programming the Web 1

On Monday during this short week, students will have some time to finish up our lesson 7 web assignments.  On Tuesday and Wednesday, we will go through our notes for lesson 8 where we will study the box model in CSS.  This will set us up so that we can hit the ground running when we return from our short break.



App Development

This week, we will spend some time talking about the "scope" of variables.  That is, how variables can be created and referenced from different parts of our code.  Once we have talked about this, we will create a short app where we practice gesture recognizers, including the pan gesture and the tap gesture.  We will add a simple rectangle to the screen, and by using the different gestures, we will be able to tap on the rectangle to change its color and drag the rectangle to a different location on the screen.



AP Computer Science Principles

This week, we will continue our study of the Python programming language.  This week, we will spend some time focusing on nested "if" statements and strings.

College, Career and Community Resource Fair 

Monday, October 23rd, the school district of Waukesha will be hosting the 2nd annual College, Career and Community Resource Fair at Waukesha South High School.   The fair will take place from 4:30 to 7:30 PM  in the Fieldhouse and surrounding Classrooms. There are several new additions to the fair and some wonderful resources from last year will also be included.

Here is what the night will entail: 

* 50+ Colleges and Universities (public, private, in-state and out-of-state)

* Over 50 local Career Professionals ready to either share about their career or invite students to job shadow, join internships, or be hired on the spot

* 20+ Community representatives offering volunteer opportunities to students.

* Eight rotating workshop/presentations provided by the many transition services for all students with an IEP or 504 organized by many of our Special Ed. leaders.

* College Applications Assistance from High school counselors.

* Financial Aid Presentations in English and Spanish from financial aid professionals.

* Scholarship information and College Essay writing from Janet Baer and Erin Martin.

* NCAA Eligibility information provided by Paul Darling

* The list of resources go on! 

What's Going On? October 16th through October 20th

App Development

Last week, students wrapped up their second app challenge of the year, "Multiply".  I was very impressed with the work being done and with how many students attempted multiple "stretches".  I am excited to see what else will be created this semester!

Now that our "Multiply" unit is done, we will move into our "Tip Calculator" unit.  By the end of the unit, students will create an app that will calculate the 15% tip for a bill at a restaurant.  For an added challenge, students can design the app to also calculate a 10%, 20%, and 25% tip.  Additionally, students can develop the app so that the total cost of the bill can be split evenly among several people.

In order to prepare for this app, we will first need to talk about conditional statements as well as how to define our own functions.  We will spend the week focused on these two topics.

AP Computer Science Principles

Now that our work with Scratch and MIT App Inventor is complete, it is time to start learning the Python programming language.  Over the weekend, students should read through the material in lesson 1.3.1: Programs are Data.

With our new language, comes new software.  To program in Python, we will be using the program "Canopy".  This program will be available through our Citrix system, which means that students are able to access it via the internet with a PC or Mac computer.  We will spend our four class days of the week learning about Python variables and functions, using our lesson 1.3.2 materials.  Once we have a solid foundation of this, we will apply our knowledge to conditional statements, using our lesson 1.3.3 materials.

Students who would like some additional support for this unit can check out codecademy.com.  This is a great FREE resource with guided Python tutorials.


Programming for the Web 1

On Monday of this week, students will have the chance to finish up their lesson materials for lesson 6.  On Wednesday, we will move into our 7th lesson of the year.  We will be focused in on how we can use CSS to change colors and backgrounds on our web pages. 

Along with the week, students will need to read chapter 13 in the textbook and complete the accompanying reading guide.  The reading guide will be due on Thursday and our 10 multiple choice questions will be completed on Friday.  Students will also have 3 web assignments to complete for the week.

What's Going On? October 9th through October 13th

App Development

This week, students will continue their work on our end of unit app challenge, "Multiply".  For this summative assessment, students will be creating an app that allows the user to enter in two different numbers.  The basic feature of the app will allow the user to click a button and have the product display on the screen.  Students are also encouraged to add some "bells and whistles" to the app by adding on our "stretches".  Students can display a picture of our school logo when the product is greater than 100, display a "funny" picture when the product is odd, and display a "funnier" picture when the product is even.  Students who are able to complete these stretches are encouraged to experiment with a segmented controller to add in the features of addition, subtraction, and division.


AP Computer Science Principles

Last week, students "pitched" an app that they would like to see created.  This week, students will choose one pitch to work on.  Students will have a week to create the app using MIT App Inventor.  At the end of the week, students will create a video and answer some reflection questions pertaining to their app and the creation process.  This is in preparation for the "Create" performance task that students will need to complete as part of the AP Computer Science Principles exam.  We will practice this skill a few times before students will need to complete the entire project and video on their own.  The goal is to get feedback so that students can create the best possible project.  This week-long project will be entered into Infinite Campus as a summative assessment.


Programming the Web 1

Last week, we had some software issues and we also had a shortened class due to the Homecoming pep rally.  So, it seems like students will need a little bit of extra time to catch up.  Students will have Monday's class to work on finishing up lesson 5 materials or catch up on old assignments.  Students who are ready to move ahead will be able to take a look at lesson 6.  Students should have brought home a grade report reflection.  These signed reflections should have been returned to school on Friday.  If you have not taken care of this obligation yet, please be sure to bring back your signed grade reflection to class on Monday.  Many of the students enrolled in the class have signed up for the WCTC transcripted credit option.  Students will need to earn a "C" or higher in the class to be eligible for WCTC credit.  I want to make sure we have a clear line of communication regarding each students' current status.  Students who need additional lab time are invited to come in Wednesdays and Thursdays from 7:00-8:00am during the month of October.

On Wednesday, the entire class will move on to lesson 6.  Students will need to read chapters 11 and 12 in the textbook and complete the accompanying reading guide.  Students will also have 10 multiple choice questions that go along with the lesson.  This week, our study will take a closer look at CSS, cascading style sheets.  Now that we have practiced adding items to our pages using HTML, we will work on the style of the page.  Students will also have three web assignment tutorials to complete.

What's Going On? October 2nd through October 6th

Programming the Web 1

This week we will move on to our fifth lesson for the year.  During the week, we will focus on images and image maps.  This will also be the first week that we start using the industry-standard software, DreamWeaver.


 During the week, we will learn how to turn an image into a link as well as learn how to adjust the height and width of an image through the HTML code.  Students will also learn how to create an image map.  We will use a single picture of the midwest and be able to insert many links into it.  For example, a web user could click on "Milwaukee" to get to one site and "Chicago" to get to another.

This week, students will need to read chapter 7 in the textbook and complete the accompanying reading guide by Thursday.  We will also have 10 multiple choice questions during class on Friday.  Throughout the week, students will work on three different web page assignments.  Students are considered "on pace" for the class if all lesson 5 items are completed and turned in by the end of class on Friday.

App Development 1

This week, we will continue talking about operators and comparisons.  We ended last week talking about how Swift handles math functions (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, etc).  We will talk more about comparison operators this week.

Once we have had a chance to try out these operators and comparisons in our Swift Playground, students will take a short formative assessment to make sure that we are on the right track.  Once we completed this check in assignment, we will talk a little bit more about how to place items precisely on our storyboard using constraints.  We will end the week with a partner project where students will need to find the errors in an existing Swift program.

AP Computer Science Principles

This week we will continue on with our study of Mobile Apps using MIT App Inventor.  Students will revisit the roles of variables in relation to App Inventor.  We will work with a given program and try to figure out the role of each variable in the app.  We will also add our own finishing touches to it.  During the course of the week, students will experiment with different variable roles, how to create a list and work with all the elements in the list, and the scope of a variable.

Learn Something New!

I recently read an article that highlighted the 50 best free online classes.  There are 19 different technology classes offered for FREE from schools around the world, including MIT and Harvard.

If you love what we are learning in class and are hungry for more, check out this website:

https://www.class-central.com/report/top-50-moocs-2017-edition/#technology.  Looking through the list, there are several courses offered in Python, a course on building a modern computer, and Harvard's Intro to Computer Science Course (CS50x).  If you have some spare time on your hands, it might be something to check out.

What's Going On? September 25th through September 29th

Have Trouble Seeing the Screen? There's An App For That!

I have realized that the setup of our lab does not give ideal seating locations for all students in the room.  I have been in contact with our technology department and they have a solution for us! 

A new app should be available for students soon in "Self Service" called "Spark".  Once it is available, students will need to download this onto their iPads.  I can then share the display computer desktop will all students in the room, giving a much better view of our code.  Students will be able to view the display screen on their own iPad and have the ability to zoom in when needed.  Hopefully, this will help to make every seat in the room an ideal seating location.


Programming the Web 1

This week, we will start our fourth unit of the year.  We will focus on how to create different types of links in a web page.  We will focus on absolute links and relative links.  We will also talk about how we can create an e-mail link as well as how to create links within a web page.

Along with this week, students will need to read chapter 6 in our textbook and complete the accompanying reading guide by Thursday.  We will have three different web pages to create throughout the week.  On Friday, students will complete their 10 multiple choice questions on the lesson.  This is just a reminder that the questions do count as a summative so be sure to preplan your answers!  Students will be considered "on pace" for the class if unit 4 is completed by the end of class on Friday.


App Development 1

This week, we will begin work on our "Multiply App" unit.  We will start off the week talking about more of the features of a textfield.  Specifically, we will talk about how a textfield can call up a keyboard and dismiss it when we are finished entering in our text.

We will also talk about how to create a "segmented controller" as an alternative to creating a lot of different buttons for our app.  We will finish up the week by talking about algorithms and some of the ways that Swift deals with mathematical operators (addition, subtraction, etc.)


AP Computer Science Principles

Now that our Scratch unit is complete, we will move on to our MIT App Inventor unit.  We will start Monday's class by talking about how a computer thinks about information.  Specifically, we will talk about binary, hexadecimal, and decimal numbering systems.  We will spend a little bit of time learning how to convert between two different systems.

Once we talk number systems, we will move on to creating apps for Android devices.  Students will have some tablets that they can use to test out their creations.  Students who have personal access to an Android device are also welcome to download their apps to their devices.

The MIT App Inventor programming environment is similar to what we have seen in Scratch.  We will use "drag and drop" code in order to create our program but we will have a lot more options and flexibility in what we create.  We will start by looking at some existing code and examining its purpose.  Once we figure out what the code does, we will add some more features to it.