Final Project - Hour 1

For our final in Emerging Technology we were assigned to do research on our family history and then present the information using the skills that we have developed over the time of the course. First, I made two transcripts, one for my mom, Michele, and one for my Great Aunt, Jeanne, with around twenty questions on each. Then, I sat down with my mom and interviewed her at home, and since my aunt lives in Missouri, I had to call her and interview her over the phone. Then, after the interviews, I decided to email my grandma so that I could get a variety of information from more than two people. My grandma did respond back to the email and gave me a lot of names for my great grandparents and great great relatives. After I gathered more information about my family history from some of my family members, I made my family tree using Family Echo. Then, after I got an idea of what my family tree looked liked, I picked 16 people off of the family tree who I felt were an important part of the family, who I also knew somewhat well, and put them on my detailed family tree using Prezi. After the making the detailed family tree on Prezi, I finished everything off with an infographic with where my family originated from along with some statistics. While doing this project, not only did I get to test and reuse my skills that I have been learning to use all semester in the course of Emerging Technology, but I also got to talk to some of my family members and learn a lot of new things about the history of my family.

Infographic:



Prezi:

Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Read THIS blog post by a teacher. I mean actually read it. Take it in. Think about it. And then, write about it. What do you think about it? What is the teacher trying to say? In your own words explain what "the main event" is.

This blog post was about school and how he cares so much about all of his students.  How they are stressing him out, not because they have a bad grade, but because they quit.  He talks about how you will face much harder things in life than school, and that school prepares you for those hardships in life.  That when you quit in school, you are only setting yourself up to fail. The teacher basically said that as long as you're in my life, I will never give up on you, I will make it difficult for you to quit.  That you can do whatever you want, but when you come back tomorrow, he is going to give you a fresh start because you are worth it. He also basically gave them two options, no in between.  If you want to succeed, man/women up now so that you can deal with the hardships in your life. Or, you could step down and let yourself fail and die alone, depressed, and broke.  He acts like he is giving you two options, but he is really saying that you need to step up, no more excuses, and pick up that pencil because we are going to do this, together.

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

For my group's stop motion animation, we are capturing a lunch boxes journey. So far we have taken photos of the lunch box coming out of the locker and down the hallway, turning the corner. We still have a good amount of pictures to take since we had a shorter amount of time yesterday.  Grace was taking the photos and I've been moving the lunch box and other items.

Friday, April 17, 2015

Answer the following questions thoroughly on your blog.

1. What was your stop motion animation about? Why did you choose your video to be about this? Was it because it was easy, because it would be fun, or it would be challenging? Explain your reasoning behind your project (and be honest).

My stop motion animation was based off of a Henna tattoo that I got sometime in August in 2014 for my dad.  It was just a really cool design that showed something of my past, something that is apart of me and represents me.  I chose to draw the design because it was just something I like to draw and sketch in my free time.  The drawing itself is easier once you memorize it, but drawing it little by little, literally, was a little challenging.  Then my biggest challenge was keeping the camera stationary (which I know that I failed that portion of the project and I would have retaken my pictures if I would have had more free time to mess around with out of school, and I really wish that I could of retaken them or started over).  It was hard trying to keep the camera stationary because I didn't have the tripod in class, so I had to do my best without.  Then I didn't finish all the way in class and I usually don't get to physically get to come home to start homework until about 8:00 - 8:30 pm. So I'm finishing homework from other classes, then by then it's 12:00 - 1:00 am and I'm having to take pictures trying my best to keep the camera stationary and then knowing that I couldn't do anything about the lighting because I was in two different places bot with completely different lighting. It was actually more on the frustrating and stressful side rather than the fun side and now from that experience, I probably won't make another one in my free time for fun.  

2. If you could rate your stop motion on a 1-10 scale. 1 being low effort and no very good and 10 being out of this world/mind blowing, how would you rate your project? Explain why.
In hindsight, what would you do differently the second time around? Better lighting? Time management? Explain yourself.

I would probably give my project a six or a seven.  I know that I made mistakes along the way with it being my first time trying to make a stop motion animation, but I wouldn't pull an all nighter just to redo something that I didn't enjoy making in the first place.  I really love to watch them and I think that they're cool and all, but I don't enjoy making them myself. I know that I made mistakes with the lighting and having the camera stationary.  Next time around I would probably just scratch the whole Henna tattoo design and just do something more fun and less personal like the human skate board or making a food.  If I were to keep this design, I would say that I need to do all of my pictures in one location, use a tripod, and just in general, keep everything more consistent.  

3. Explain what makes your stop motion animation unique. How do you believe you thought "outside of the box" on this project? 

I wold say that my stop motion animation is pretty unique.  I took the Henna design that I got and added to it with more details so it's an original design that most likely no one else would ever have or use.  I wouldn't say that I "thought outside the box", it's just that my dad is always on my mind so it was one of the first things that popped into my head and I wanted something that I could do at school and use my class time wisely for since I knew that I wouldn't have the time to do it at home.  If I would have had more free time at home, I probably would have chosen something else to do like something to do with lacrosse. 

4. What grade do you feel you deserve on this project? Explain your reasoning.

I know that I don't deserve a hundred because of the lighting and stationary mistakes that I made, but I also don't think that I deserve a horrible grade because I still worked hard on it, and just not being able to do it all in one location (at school) and not having a tripod to use (the tools that I needed to do the project properly), it turned out worse than I would have liked it to and by then there was nothing that I could really do about it which killed me inside because I'm always striving and wanting to achieve to the highest that I possibly can, make it better than I possibly thought I could make it, but I didn't do that this time and it's driving me crazy and I sort of feel guilty about it, but it's too late to fix it now.  I mean I want a good grade on this, but because of my mistakes, I probably don't deserve the best grade on this one. 

Monday, April 14, 2015

3 day weekend... how was it? Give me a good story or something funny that happened this weekend. Go.

I'm honestly speechless.  I have no words or thoughts to try to explain my weekend.  There wasn't necessarily anything good that happened over the weekend except for me getting to spend time with my mom and getting to sleep in. I went out to lunch with friends one day too.  Otherwise, the weekend wasn't that great.  Not only because of Reat's one year anniversary, which it still was sad even though I personally didn't know him, but then it's also a reminder that in about two months I'll be facing the same one year anniversary but this time it will be with someone who I was really close to, my dad. It was just and overly sad and devastating weekend.

Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Tell me ALL about what your idea is for your stop-motion animation. I need detail. Who is going to help you take photos? What props do you need? Where do you plan on shooting? EXPLAIN everything.

My idea for my stop motion animation is to do a drawing of a Henna tattoo that  got at the beginning of this school year.  I really like the design and it has a special meaning to me, plus I've also already learned how to draw the design so it would be something that i might be able to complete to my standards and not leave my self so disappointed.  It's a good idea to use for a first top animation video.  The henna tattoo is the word Dad in fancy letters in place of where the drawing of an angel would be.  Then angel wings are drawn out to the side of the word Dad. You add a halo to the top of the name and then put the date he passed away on underneath the word.  I'm still deciding if I'm going to do anything after I'm done drawing, but my plan is to just do the drawing for now and see how it goes with just drawing it.  All I need is a higher up stand (tripod) for my phone (would use my computer screen), a pencil, and a piece of computer paper. I plan on trying to take the pictures right at my computer. 

Monday, April 6, 2015

Tell me all about your weekend and please share photos!

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This weekend I honestly did practically nothing except for homework. The pictures above are not from this past weekend, but from a project that I was working on over the weekend. In ELA we are doing a time capsule writing project and we have to pick twenty different writings to complete and turn in. These pictures are from my Then and Now paper. In this paper we had to choose four pictures. One baby picture, one from elementary school, one from middle school, and then one from now. working on the writings is basically what I did all weekend. I took some breaks and went outside to play wall ball with my lacrosse stick, and then I also mowed the lawn. We didn't really do anything for Easter this year and we didn't have any family come over either, but we did make a little Easter dinner for ourselves.

Five Frame Photo Story

Wednesday, April, 1, 2015

What do you love most about this time of year? Explain why you love it.

My favorite thing about this time of year is the nicer weather and lacrosse.  This is when high school lacrosse is in season and then right after this season ends I start playing with my traveling team.  So it's a time filled with lacrosse and I really love to play lacrosse. I have to say that there is one thing that I hat about this time of the year.  I hate the end of the school year. Yes, I wan't to keep life going and keep progressing and moving forward, but I really hate to say goodbye to all of my teachers and school friends that I might not see next school year or out of school. Just in general, I hate saying goodbye. 

Photo Comparisons

The after picture is on the left and the before picture is on the right. 

 

Monday, March 30, 2015

Did you complete the photo scavenger hunt? What kind of fun pictures were you able to capture? Did you do all your photos at school or did you do some at home over the weekend? Share one of your favorites.

Yes, I did finish the photo scavenger hunt. I was able to explore the school more and take a lot of pictures that I wouldn't normally take. I did most of my photos at school, but then I had to do two at home over the weekend. Going on the photo scavenger hunt definitely made me open up my eyes and actually pay attention and look at what was around me and all the different possibilities it could hold. 

 

I chose this photo as my favorite because it's just centered and it has a gold lettered word with a tiger foot print too. It represents all the colors of the school. 

Friday, March 27, 2015

What do you know about photography and/or photo editing? Do you take photos? How do you take photos? Do you edit photos before posting them on social media? How do you edit them? Explain any background or knowledge you have about photography and photo editing. Do you like it? Do you have any interest?

I don't know anything at all about photography, but I do take a lot of pictures at family events and just with family and friends. I'm one of the only people in my family who takes a lot of pictures on vacations and at events. So without me, there probably wouldn't be any pictures at all anymore because my Dad was also one of the only people who took pictures. I will occasionally take some nature pictures, but not too often. Sometimes I will filter photos if it looks better with the filter, otherwise I don't add anything to my photos. Actually, most of the time I don't add any filters because I want anyone who sees it to see it how I saw it. I do post on social media every few weeks, usually Facebook and Instagram, which all run through my phone most of the time. I don't usually use my laptop for social media purposes though. So, if I do any editing, it's on my phone, not my laptop. I do like taking photos because I love to go back and look at them later in life and I do have an interest in learning more about photography and maybe how to edit and take better quality pictures. The pictures below are from my trip to California.

Monday, March 23, 2015

Welcome back! Go ahead. Tell me all about your Spring Break. Include photos!

(I shouldn't have to tell you this, but keep it school appropriate. Thank you, seniors.)

I didn't really do anything special for Spring Break. It was actually pretty nice to have a break from school, but Spring Break wasn't in my favor this year. It was quite ironic actually. On Friday the 13th I pulled my hamstring and for about the first week it was very painful and hurt constantly, was horrible to walk on. My mom made me go see a sports medicine doctor for it and by what he said, I could be out of a physical activity (running mostly) for two to four weeks. But it already is mostly painless again so hopefully it won't take that long. So it was a bummer that I couldn't go out and practice lacrosse (which was what I was planning on doing over Spring Break). If we wouldn't of had Spring Break, I probably wouldn't have had the free time to be outside playing lacrosse and then I probably wouldn't have pulled and wouldn't have been pulled out of gym and sports, but it happened so I guess I have to try to make the best out of it and hope it heals quick so that I can get back out on the field. I did accomplish something over Spring Break though. I learned how to juggle (hand eye coordination for goalie) in about five days. So that kept me busy. I also did my Honors Bio year long project over break, so that's out of the way. I only went out one night over break. Of course, I went with Grace to go see Insurgent. I personally loved the movie and would even go see it again. It wasn't the best Spring Break for personal records, but I'm alive and happy and that's all I could ask for. 

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

What are you doing for Spring Break?

I have absolutely nothing planned for Spring Break. I will mainly just be working (refereeing soccer) this Spring Break. I will also enjoy the nice weather that we are having. Unfortunately, now that my mom is a single mom, she has to work a lot more than she used to. So she will be spending Spring Break working, so I might as well work too.  I probably be outside a lot also, practicing lacrosse. Yeah, I'll probably play lacrosse every day. Work (money!), lacrosse, and nice weather. That sounds like a good Spring Break to me. I'm not too big for wanting to go on vacations or traveling and I have traveled a lot this year all ready for my lacrosse team.  I'm excited to have a little break from school. 

Friday, March 6, 2015

If you were the Principal for a week at BVHS, what would that look like? What changes would you make? Why?

I think Mr. Bacon is running the school quite well so I would try to keep up with what he is doing. I wouldn't want to change things because he does make some things fun, the assemblies are awesome. He tries to make Blue Valley High a safe and welcoming environment for everyone and he doesn't tolerate bullying or slacking off. Plus, when you do good, you usually get rewarded for your hard work. You come to school to learn and get prepared for your future so I wouldn't want anything crazy or anything ridiculous like give everyone a tub of ice cream or take a school field trip to Worlds of Fun or cancel all classes. I wouldn't want that because it's still school and we're still here to learn, not to just play all day. You don't really realize how much you learn at school every day until you have to miss a couple days of school. When I was gone in January, it felt like my learning was paused and I actually didn't like the feeling. Then when I came back, I was flooded with knowledge. It was overwhelming when I got back, but it felt so good to be at school again and learning. I think I appreciated school even more after I came back. As a principal, I would try to through some fun things in to keep the students engaged and excited about school, I would make sure to help promote a positive environment, but then I would also promote academics and learning with great importance. 

Wednesday, March 4, 2015

1.) Speak loud and clear so everyone can hear you without having to ask you to repeat something.
2.) Make good eye contact so that people feel like you are actually wanting to be presenting and they feel engaged in the presentation as well.
3.) Know your presentation well so you aren't staring at the board or your paper the whole time.
4.) Make sure that you have really done your research well on what you are presenting so that you can answer any question beyond what you may have on your presentation.
5.) Stand up straight, don't slouch. You'll look more professional.
6.) Make sure you stand where everyone can see you and your presentation as well as you being to see everyone else. (They need to see your face! Not your back!)
7.) Don't act nerves or shy.  If you act like you have done it before and you are relaxed, Not only will you get more respect, but people will be more willing to listen to you and will enjoy you presenting.
8.) Don't read directly from your presentation. Leave some bullet points to spread out from but don't write a bunch of sentences.
9.) Include some pictures so people can have an idea in the head of what your topic looks like.
10.) Give examples so that your listeners can relate to your presentation.

Monday, March 2, 2015

Tell me about your weekend.

This weekend was pretty relaxing and laid back. On Friday, my friend Grace and I went to dinner at Freddy's. We both had the cheese burgers with fries. The fry sauce is amazing (Why I go there). Then, we headed back to my house to watch a movie. We ended up watching Non-Stop. Liam Neeson is a favorite actor of mine and I love to watch all of his action movies like Non-Stop, the Taken series, etc. Then, on Saturday morning I had to go work at a Applebee's pancake breakfast fundraiser for my high school lacrosse team, The Blue Valley Titans. My Mom couldn't come so my aunt and some family friends came. It was fun thing to do for the morning. After the pancake breakfast I went with my Aunt Jeanne to her house for the rest of the weekend. We just hung out around her house because it was WAY better than being home alone with my brother. On Saturday night, we met up with my Aunt's son, and a phew other nieces and nephews from that side of the family and we all went to the Japanese Steak House for dinner. It's one of my favorite places to eat because not only is the food really good, you get to watch the chef cook it all. Then the weekend rolled over into Sunday and my Aunt took us home, I worked on a project for ELA, My Mom came home later around 5:30 pm and I just did the normal Sunday routine Doing laundry, homework, anything else that I have to do to be ready for school come Monday morning. 

Info-graphic

easel.ly

Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Use the internet to find an infographic about infographics. Place it in to your blog post. Read it and then give me the top 5 things you learned from it that will help you make a better infographic. 

1.) Infographics are very visual. They stand out. 

2.) I should make it more visual over anything so that people not only understand what's on the infographic, but they will remember what is on the infographic. 

3.) Infographics can go viral so you need to make it look professional and out effort into it to make it look good. 

4.) Use only a few colors so that it stands out, but then it doesn't blind you with a million different colors all at once. 

5.) Pick a few colors for a theme and stick with them. Like, for example, in the infographic above they have the colors grey, white, blue, and orange. They used two brighter colors so that it wasn't totally boring, but then they also used some calmer colors to level out the excitement and calmness that is displayed on the page. 

Monday, February 23, 2015

Tell me about your weekend. Give me a story, something funny that happened, an experiencing you had, the way you felt, etc. Include photos!

My family all together had a pretty busy weekend, but my weekend was more on the relaxing and non-stressful side.  On Friday, this rarely happens, but I had no homework for the weekend so I got to do whatever. I believe that I just ended up watching Netflix the whole night. It was relaxing to not have homework for a change. On Saturday, my Mom and sister, Stephanie, were pretty busy. My sister had her last basketball game in the morning - I went to that. Then, they went to the Girl Scouts Thinking Day - I stayed home for that. I ended up finding some old videos of my best friends and I so my good friend Anna came over and we watched them. It was so nice out that we ended up going outside and I got to teach her how to play Lacrosse. I have to say first time learners can be pretty fun, but I love to teach others to play the sport. Then, after Anna got off work, I headed down to her house and it was her turn to get dinner (fries, pizza rolls, and chocolate chip cookie dough - it was pretty good.) Then while eating our dinner, we watched The Heat and Tammy. It was a night full of laughs. Finally, on Sunday we went to Snow Creek with my cousin Joseph to go tubing.  We hadn't been there in a while so it was a lot of fun, also considering that we haven't had much snow to go sledding with this year.  I'm just happy that I didn't have to spend all weekend doing homework.