Websites
Public Domain Day and Happy New Year!
Every year, January 1st, is Public Domain Day. This is an observance of when copyrights expire and works enter into the public domain–free for all to use. According to Duke Law Center for the Study of the Public Domain, here are some of the newly-available artistic works you might like a/o January 1, 2021:
- F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
- Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway
- Ernest Hemingway, In Our Time
- Franz Kafka, The Trial (in German)
- Theodore Dreiser, An American Tragedy
- Sinclair Lewis, Arrowsmith
- Agatha Christie, The Secret of Chimneys
- Aldous Huxley, Those Barren Leaves
- W. Somerset Maugham, The Painted Veil
- Edith Wharton, The Writing of Fiction
- Etsu Inagaki Sugimoto, A Daughter of the Samurai
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How do I become a Web Designer?
As High School seniors prepare to graduate, many will choose something about computers for their job or continued studies. There’s no greater excitement than being part of the team that puts a face on the internet with web design. Here’s a great overview of that field from a school that prepares students for this future job:
How do I become a web designer?
Many of our older students are now considering what careers they wish to pursue. Some will decide to work locally while some will either choose to study locally or abroad. With information technology playing an integral role in all our lives and with even the smallest of businesses having a website, we have seen an increasing trend in the number of students who wish to become web designers. Of course, this has become a complex field with lots of competition, even when qualified.
As a international school in Bangkok, we always encourage pupils to follow their dream careers and seek employment in something that they enjoy. As part of our role as educators, we must prepare students for what to expect in the world of work. In particular, our HS students often need guidance about how to begin their journey, and our careers team are always available to make suggestions and offer help as required. In this article, we will look at what is necessary to become a web designer upon leaving school.
What is the role of a web designer?
Web designers conduct work on various types of website, either for themselves, the company that they work for or for their own clients. It can cover a broad range of topics from relatively simple blogger sites to complicated e-commerce websites with multiple landing pages and sometimes hundreds of thousands of products. However, the role also involves other aspects, aside from the technical points, and this can often go overlooked.
A web designer will need to meet clients to establish what they require for their site. It will include gaining an insight into their business, their objectives and their client base. From here, it is the designer’s job to formulate a plan, showing the structure of the website, including choosing text, background and colour schemes. In some cases, the web designer may be asked for their advice regarding branding and the inclusion of multimedia.
After the site has been completed, the web designer will conduct thorough testing and once complete, upload the site to a server, from where it will be available to the public. Some clients may ask the web designer to work with them on an ongoing basis, managing the site, and uploading fresh content.
20 Great Websites to Inspire 2nd Graders
Here’s a great list of age-appropriate, safe websites that will inspire 2nd graders whether they’re in your classroom or at home:
- Edutainment with BBC
- Games that make you think
- Puzzle of student pic–create
- Plant games
- Plant life cycle
- Computer basics
- Computer puzzle
- Parts of the computer
- Videos on Computer Basics K-6
- Google World of Wonders
- Mt. Everest
- Flash cards and more
- Grammar—Adjectives
- Grammar games
- High-frequency words—hangman
- Vocabulary Fun
- Vocabulary-Spelling City
- Word and logic problems
- Word Study Games—Merriam Webster
- Virtual tour of America—via Biplane
More websites for 2nd graders
12 Great Websites to Inspire 4th Graders
Here’s a great list of age-appropriate, safe websites that will inspire 4th graders whether they’re in your classroom or at home:
- Coffee shop--the economics of running a business
- Everfi.com–finances for K-12
- Learning Games from BrainPop
- Virtual weather, machines and surgery–clever, mind-expanding games; some are free, others fee so look for ‘free’ under the ‘games’ tab
- Grammaropolis–membership required; see if your school has joined; lots of grammar-intensive fun games
- Samorost—problem solving adventure in outer space; one game free, the rest for a fee
- Simulations–varied science games; highly popular; they do a good job of explaining complicated science
- States of Matter Game–a simple Quia game
- Internet research sites for kids–an age-appropriate list of safe internet research websites for kids
- Libraryspot.com–another age-appropriate list of safe internet research websites for kids
- Research—facts–and age-appropriate list of safe internet research websites for kids
- World Almanac for Kids
9 Great Websites to Inspire Kindergartners
Here’s a great list of age-appropriate, safe websites that will inspire kindergarten-age children whether they’re in your classroom or at home:
- ‘I love you’ in languages Afrikaans to Zulu
- Counting Money–a collection of visual money websites for kindergartners
- Edugames—drag-and-drop puzzles; great for mouse skills
- Internet4Classrooms–-popular Kindergarten links
- KinderSite—lots of kindergarten websites
- Mr. Picasso Head–draw a Picasso potato head
- Shapes and colors
- The Learning Planet–worksheets and games; free
- ZooWhiz--collection of math, reading word skills and literacy games/learning with a zoo theme–requires registration (free and then fee)
Internet Safety Month–Rules to Live By
June is National Internet Safety Month, thanks to a resolution passed in 2005 by the U.S. Senate. The goal is to raise awareness about online safety for all, with a special focus on kids ranging from tots to teens. Children are just as connected to the Internet as adults. This is a great list of internet cautions I got from an online efriend a few years ago. It covers all the basics, avoids boring details, and gives kids (and adults) rules to live by:
Not everything you read online is true
It used to be anything we read in print was true. We could trust newspapers, magazines and books as reliable sources of information. It’s not the same with the web. Since anyone can become published, some of the stuff you’re reading online isn’t true. Even worse, some people are just rewriting stuff they read from other people online, so you might be reading the same false information over and over again. Even Wikipedia isn’t necessarily a reliable source. If you’re researching something online, consider the source. Some poorly written, ramdom web page, isn’t necessarily a good source. However, if you find a .gov or .org site, the information has a better chance of being true. Always look at who owns the website and whether or not they have an agenda before considering whether or not certain information is true.
Not everyone you meet online are who they say they are
This is the hard part because we want to trust our friends, even our online friends. The truth is, some of the people you meet online are lying about who they really are. Sometimes adults pretend to be kids and kids pretend to be someone else. They do this for a variety of reasons; grownups might want to try and have sex with kids or frenemies might want to act like friends to get information on someone they want to bully at school or online. Unless you know someone very well and can verify their identity, don’t trust that everyone who you speak to online are who they say they are.
Some people who are pretending to be kids really aren’t. There are grownups who pretend to be kids so teens and kids won’t get creeped out talking with them. This is never a good thing. Most of the grownups who are looking to talk to kids are looking for sex. Parents need to monitor their kids’ friends list and ask questions about the friends they don’t know. It’s more prevalent than you think and it COULD happen to you.
Not everyone you “friend” is your friend. Just like in the real world, not everyone you know is a friend. Think long and hard about the people you’re “friending.” Drama doesn’t just stay in school anymore, now it follows you home thanks to the social networks. Plus, stuff y
ou share with what you think is a private social networking page is a simple cut and paste away from being broadcast all over school. Also, be careful when friending friends of friends and friends of friends of friends. You don’t really know these people, why are you giving them access to your private life? Sometimes, it’s like giving them the keys to your house.