TASK 3
TASK 3: Creating "About My School" page - This task has expired. Click here for the new version !
Here starts the fun part! We are ready to start constructing pages for our Google Site. Your Google site construction will finish at the end of 3rd quarter. Once the design of the websites are over, we will organize a big website contest among all campuses just like last year with 5 different categories and great awards. If your website has a beautiful design and substantive scientific content, your teacher will register your website to the contest. Details are coming soon! Don't be late! Visit http://http://www.stemcontest.com for more information.
STEP 1:
Login to https://sites.google.com/ with your gmail account (e.g. firstname.lastname.harmony2015@gmail.com)
Click on your Google site that you have previously created
Click on NEW PAGE button on the upper right corner of the screen
Name your page as "ABOUT MY SCHOOL"
Select the default template (Webpage)
Select location of your page. Choose "page at the top level"
Click on CREATE button at the top
Start editing your page. Once you are done with editing click on SAVE button on the upper right corner of the screen
Attention ! You will keep your home page blank until the 3rd period , there is nothing to do with home page now ! So do not delete home page , keep it blank !
STEP 2:
You may start to writing about yourself, never give out private information! Do not write your full name! For example, you may directly start with "I am student at (name of your school)"
Give general information about your school, science education, and stem activities in your school
Add links (URLs) about your school under your page by using the LINK button at the top. Harmony Public School students will add following links.
http://harmonytx.org
http://www.facebook.com/HarmonyTexas
http://www.youtube.com/harmonyschools
Write a text descriptor and then hyperlink the text instead of the complete link or URL
Example: Harmony Public Schools Correct
http://harmonytx.org/ Incorrect.
All external links should open in a new window/tab. Always check "Open this link in a new window" when you are inserting a web address by using the LINK button.
Here is a sample site from previous years how the links are entered to the page https://sites.google.com/site/hsa2011wahab14/home/my-school
Use banners, logos or small photos for links like the sample above.You may use banners or photos like "Watch us on YouTube" and " like us on Facebook"
You can insert any photo, banner, or logo by using INSERT from the top-left corner menu. When you click on a banner or logo it should open the related page in a new window not to the image itself.
You may change the layout of your page from the LAYOUT menu at the top. Use layouts to organize your page.
Add the text about your school. You can find some information about your school from school website. For example, if you are going to Harmony Public School, you can add the information below; (DO NOT ADD THIS INFORMATION IF YOU ARE NOT GOING TO HARMONY SCHOOLS)
"Harmony Public Schools: Where Excellence is Our Standard"
Harmony Schools blend: The highest standards and expectations,
A rigorous math and science-centered curriculum, and Engaged and Dedicated teachers and families, to cultivate excellence and prepare students to succeed in college, careers and life.
We are equipping Harmony Schools' students for college, preparing them for life and helping them achieve excellence, while making a positive impact on our community, our state and our nation. At the Harmony Schools, we are dedicated to creating an academically rigorous environment that nurtures students, expects excellence and helps all students realize their full potential. At Harmony, we believe every child can succeed, and we are committed to helping them realize their full potential At Harmony, we believe families play an important role in helping students achieve excellence and are an integral part of our school's community. A Harmony education fosters excellence as a life-skill, and opens the door to a world of opportunity. At the Harmony Schools, by focusing on math and science, we are developing the next generation of innovators and thinkers we need to succeed in the global economy and environment. At the Harmony Schools, we are leading the way in math and science education, so our children can lead our state and our nation in the future. At Harmony, we provide a safe, nurturing academic environment that expects excellence and prepares students for success in college and in life.
Harmony Public Schools is the recipient of Race To the Top District (RTT-D) grant in 2012. With RTT-D grant funds, Harmony is implementing a cross-disciplinary, multi-sensory, technology-enabled project-based learning (PBL) curriculum that integrates STEM, social studies, and English Language Arts (ELA). Researchers have documented numerous benefits of project-based approaches beyond the development of content knowledge: students learning through a project-based curriculum develop the ability to transfer their learning to new situations, demonstrate an increased ability to define problems and support their reasoning, and are better able to tackle conceptual problems than those taught with a more traditional curriculum. Through creative and innovative uses of technology such as video storytelling and web sites, Harmony students are publicly sharing their work both throughout the process and in a culminating capstone presentation, ensuring an authentic and meaningful context for deep student learning.
Public Schools have developed a STEM curriculum that incorporates project-based and inquiry-based learning titled “STEM Students on the Stage (S.O.S TM)” with the Race to the Top grant funded by U.S. Department of Education with the goal of not only increasing students’ STEM knowledge and interest but also balancing student-centered teaching with state and national standards to promote success and investment in the learning process through PBL projects
STEP 3:
Insert one or two YouTube movies about your school to your page by using the INSERT from the top-left corner menu.Here are some sample movies for Harmony Public School students to be inserted;
STEP 4: (Optional) Once you are done with about my school page, please support your school by subscribing to following YouTube channels:
Harmony Public School YouTube Channel; http://www.youtube.com/harmonyschools
You school channel, such as
Your friends' YouTube channels for PBL projects (if you know any)
You may also show your support, if you have a Facebook account. Please LIKE the following Facebook accounts:
Your school Facebook Page
Thanks for your kind support !
TRAINING MATERIALS
GRADING POLICY
Your teacher may grade your work them in by using one of the methods:
Grading Policy (Method 1): You may be assigned same grades as your assignment for Task 8 and Task 9.
Grading Policy (Method 2):Task 8 can be graded based on the content of your "About My School" page, and Task 9 can be graded based on the the layout and design of your page.
The design of your website is very important. Please make sure to organize the information on your site. Don't have empty page and neither make it crowded with so much information.
If you want to make your site more beautiful, you may change the default theme. Use MORE menu on the top- right corner of the screen. Choose "Menu>Manage Site>Themes, Colors, and Fonts" option under this menu and to change your theme.
Extra credit assignment (optional);
Construct one more page about :
1- Texas High School Projects
2- T-STEM
3- I-SWEEEP and I sweep stem expo public day
Find and add related links , movies and photo albums of previous years
NOTE TO STUDENTS:
If you have some technical problems about any of the steps above , seek help from your class mates who are good at editing Google site during after school time with your friends.
NOTE TO TEACHERS:
You may subscribe to student page or site from the MORE menu located on the top-right corner. This would allow you to receive emails regarding the updates done by your students to their sites.
