February 9, 2009

Dear 7th & 8th Dr. Data Computer Class Parents:

"Particular Excitement In The Air":

Mr. Cruse and & Dr. Data Podcasting Workshop and More!

Special note: In your child is still not doing as well as desired in Dr. Data's classes, Don't take lightly of : Success Guaranteed in Dr. Data's 7th & 8th Grade Computer Classes if Students/Parents Follow These Guidelines! Very important web page for both parents and students. Students can't fail if parents and students do their fair-share! and Dr. Data means that.

Here are some tips for your perusal to also assist both students and parents..

  1. A Must See To Believe: Mr. Wiley Cruse and Dr. Data as the dynamic duo! See our sample podcasting that we created for our podcasting workshop for teachers in the Bear Creek Attendance area on Monday, February 23, 2009. Good news: 8th grader computer classes will also be doing podcasts in May! Again, you must see and hear to believe what's in this podcast. All you need as QuickTime and a Broadband Internet connection: Just click on more or double click on the photo of Mr. Cruse and Dr. Data and you'll have instant Internet magic. The link is: http://web.me.com/wcruse/Carmody_Middle_School_Instrumental_Music/Podcast/Podcast.html! We created it in just one hour. Again, there is particular excitement on the Internet air waves in Dr. Data's classes these days.

  2. Parents of 7th and 8th Grade Classes: please consider giving your child a blank floppy disk or an inexpensive (under $10.00) flash (thumb) drive so they can not only save their class work on these portable devices on a daily basis but can also bring their class work home as well to finish them as homework and resubmit to me the next school day. Note: Carmody's library also can check out a flashdrive for your child to use for free, much like checking out a book.

  3. 7th Grade Classes: Final project for the 7th grade word processing unit is the Korean Penpal letter. It is a 400-point two-part pen pal letter assignment to a Korean student in Seoul, Korea which will be due in either February 27, 2009 with the preliminary one-page draft and March 6, 20090 with the final copy of two pages double spaced type. See separate hand-out dealing with Penpal instructions. Penpal instructions. All students were given the same work sheet two weeks ago. Students can work on this final project at home or in class or both. That's why the thumb drives are so important making it possible to work seamlessly with hesitation whenever they have time to work on this final project. Note: preliminary draft can be either handwritten or typed but the final version of March 6, 2009 has to be typed two pages, double spaced. Suggest parents checking the Korean Penal for typos, sentence syntax, grammar and the use of topic sentences in each paragraph. This is CSAP quality of the first order! Good luck with your child achieving word processing and CSAP expertise! Dr. Data will give his 7th grade classes some time on this Wednesday and Thursday to work especially on their pen pal letters and on Friday as well.

  4. 7th Grade Classes: We are now into the Word Processing unit for the next four weeks, but you will also have extra-credit opportunities to make posters/banners for your favorite teacher at Carmody whenever they finish the day's assignment. We just completed assigment number 4.


  5. 8th Grade Classes: please continue to bring your digital cameras or telephones with camera capabilities or photos all week to be scanned so that you can put them on your five business cards you created last week. Be sure to bring the appropriate USB cables to transfer files from your digital camera/phone to your computer workstation. If these cables are not available, students can e-mail themselves the photos as text messages on their cell phones. We begin Week 6 on Wednesday learning about using Internet search engines.

  6. Grades are usually posted daily before Dr. Data leaves school by 4 p.m. So parents and students can have a daily intelligent dinner conversation about what their child did in my class on a daily basis. Strongly suggest that you use your Carmody's Parent Portal at https://campus.jeffco.k12.co.us/campus/portal/jeffco_IC.jsp If parents don't have a log in for Carmody Parent Portal, you need to to go to the school office in person to obtain because of security. Note: sometimes Dr. Data will complete posting grades late in the evening occasionally. So check in the morning for updates if you feel there are some missing grades from the previous day.

  7. Must see to believe it! Creativity in the Carmody Computer Program. Dr. Data is now sponsoring many extra-credit opportunities for both 7th and 8th grades to do on computers for Carmody faculty members. Whenever they have finished their daily and/or weekly work, these students can be assigned to undertake special assignments for Carmody staff and to be rewarded extra-credit . Most of the seventeen projects deal with multimedia applications including graphics and layout, such as newsletters, banners, flyers, PowerPoint slide shows, web pages, and much more. For more details, go to http://www.kuzmich.com/carmody/Projects.html for actual samples of work done by our students for Carmody's faculty. Not only a great way to provide valuable services to our faculty, but talented students who participate in these extra-credit projects can also apply to be a student assistants next semester specializing in creative computer generated projects for Carmody. With practice, both my 7th & 8th grade computer students will gain confidence and real-work experience using computers as they contribute to the Carmody environment. And I already have some qualified 7th grader students who will be doing award certificates for our faculty for Carmody staff as well for extra-credit. If your 7th or 8th grade child would benefit from such experiences , please e-mail Dr. Data about this matter as several faculty members already have projects to be done ASAP! Already several award certificates designed by 7th graders are now posted at: http://www.kuzmich.com/carmody/Projects.html for your perusal.

  8. Both 7th and 8th Grade students can and should double or triple their typing speed over this semester only if they practice daily at home between 10 to 30 minutes a day. To accomplish this, go to the first unit of instruction at my keyboarding instruction web site at: http://www.kuzmich.com/carmody/keyboard_lessons.html. And practice diligently. Most students level off in their typing speeds but those that practice at home can and will double or triple their speed over the semester!


    9. Below are some good free on-line web sites for your child lto practice their typing at home on a daily basis and/or at school between 10 and 30 minutes a day. Eventually going through all four web sites throughout the semester. And these web sites are free! Nothing to purchase.

  9. Reminder: your child can earn 25 extra-credit points every week if you print out their progress report each week from Carmody's Parent Portal and sign and date the print out. See the Carmody Parent Portal at: https://campus.jeffco.k12.co.us/campus/portal/jeffco_IC.jsp

  10. Reminder: students can earn unlimited extra-credit for every page (2 points per page) if they type assignments for their other teachers. Just have your child submit the graded paper to Dr. Data after being graded. Unlimited number of points!!! So encourage your child to type all school papers and earn credit both the other teachers and Dr. Data simultaneously!

  11. Need to contact Dr. Data, please e-mail him at: jkuzmich@earthlink.net for quick response: morning, afternoon or evening and yes, even over the weekends.

  12. Have a great week! Dr. Data will be in San Antonio, Texas beginning Wednesday attending the 2009 National Conference for the Technology Institute for Music Educators. Learning all kinds of good stuff!

Hope this helps and looking forward to a successful semester. Again, please stay in touch with Carmody's Parent Portal at https://campus.jeffco.k12.co.us/campus/portal/jeffco_IC.jsp which is your true reality check 24/7 for Dr. Data classes.

Till next time,

Dr. Data