Final Project Post, May 2014

I was exploring my family history with much passion and enthusiasm when I sent out this email (backup) to my family members in order to inquire about more information that I could possibly get about my family history and background.
Next, I interviewed two of my family members to find specific information regarding their childhood and growing up: I first interviewed my mother, Leanne, and next interviewed my father, Sam.
After this, in order to get a more organized perspective of my family size, history, and growth, I made a family tree.
Now that I had my whole family organized more efficiently, I found specific information about randomly selected family members and organized it into a prezi.
Next I made a 'story-line', so to speak, of both sides of my families history and flashed forward to the union of my parents and then my siblings and I.

Finally, I made a short story of me growing throughout my years in Geneva and Kansas

May 5, 2014

The video is very true and shows an accurate depiction of today's society. In today's world, much of society has become engrossed in social media and many of the new technological advances that have emerged since our birth. While many of these advances are changing the world and are very beneficial, there is a point where one simply becomes too involved in technology and are stuck in a screen instead of the living the much more exciting real world that they can if one simply turned off their computer for the day. The result of us always needing to be with technology has weakened our social skills and our ability to make real relationships with people in the real world. The result of technology has become malignant to much of society today.

April 24, 2104

School is not all about learning information and pointless facts for four years. In fact, there is a lot of information in many classes that you will never need or aren't useful to any degree. High school is for teaching the youth to learn to cope with difficulties in life, which will occur in much greater magnitude as life goes on. Life is not easy, and high school is simply giving us a sample of that, testing us of our desire to overcome hardship, rather than raise the flag and give up, because in life one cannot simply give up.

April 21, 2014

Reflect on your stop-motion animation project. How did it go? What worked? What didn't work? If you're not finished - why? If you are finished go in to detail about the project and what you learned. Give as much detail and information as possible.
I thought that it went very smoothly and I liked it more than the other projects we have done. I felt that it was less busy work than some other projects that we have done. I wish that I would have used a tripod for my pictures because I didn't think they would come out THAT shaky, but I didn't have a tripod available to me. I have learned how to compile a ton of pictures into one short video that is entertaining but I suppose could be educational if used right. The only thing that didn't work for me was the shakiness that is in my video from lack of a tripod available to me.

Thursday, April 10

Blog Post of the Day: What is your idea for your stop-motion animation? Explain yourself. Have you started taking photos? If not, when do you plan to take your photos? What is your action plan for today? What is your plan to GET SOMETHING DONE?

I am going to do a stop-motion animation of my room 'cleaning itself'. I have finished taking photos but I have not compiled them all together yet.

Monday, April 7

What is stop motion animation? If you don't know, look it up! Explain. Stop motion is where you take an object that is at rest, take numerous pictures of it in slightly different positions each time, and then put the pictures together to give the illusion that the object is in fact moving.

STORYBOARD- Random Events of A Bros Night April 5, 2014

April 5, 2014

Tell me about your 5 frame storyboard. What did you like about the project? What did you dislike? Was it hard to fit a story in to 5 images? Do you think you tell a clear story? What would you do differently if you could? Explain.
I actually really disliked this project. I have downloaded the pictures to my computer at home, sent the email to my school computer with the pictures, checked my email and they were there; however, now only one of the pictures is here. I am really frustrated with this project, and I do not think a whole story can fit into five frames regardless. I would make it fit in ten slides.

April 1, 2014

What is a storyboard? If you don't know, what do you think it is? How are storyboards used? What are some different ways that storyboards can be made?
A storyboard is a graphic organizer created using images to help someone understand an idea, project, or outline. Storyboards are used in a variety of situations such as theater, film, comics, and more. Storyboards can be made using animations and illustrations, and using 2D or 3D. Story boards are often made to provoke a stronger reaction from the audience that you are trying to persuade or inform of the subject of the storyboard.

March 27, 2014

Did you get your pictures taken yesterday? Did you enjoy going on the photo scavenger hunt? Why do you think I had you take those types of pictures?My partner and I both got all of the necessary pictures taken. We did not have any trouble at all with it. I didn't really have too much fun with it, but it was certainly something different. I think you had us take those pictures because they are all different but can all be edited a different way I assume.

March 25, 2014

What do you know about photography? When you take pictures what kind of camera do you use? Do you use your cell phone? Do you own a digital camera that is not your cell phone? Explain. I do not know a whole lot about photography, and consider myself a novice in the subject. I have never been too fascinated by photography. I solely rely on my smart phone when I need to take pictures; however, my parents have two professional cameras that they enjoy to use for special occasions. I usually only use a higher quality camera at sporting events or while on vacation.

Infographic Affimative Action

RESOURCES

Prezi Affirmative Action March 24, 2014

Resources

March 24, 2014

Welcome back! How was your Spring Break? Tell me all about it. You've been out of school for 10 days so I know you will have plenty to share. Make it good. -My Spring Break was superb!! Unfortunately I was unable to go anywhere this Spring, so instead I had a crucial STAYCATION. Over the course of those ten days I worked at Picklemans (OF COURSE!!) a lot! Another bad part about Spring Break is that I got very sick and didn't really eat much for four days, but after that I was healed and healthy again. On the 19th I celebrated my big 17th birthday, when I finally became responsibleand mature of course. My 21 year old sister Bailey was home from college in St. Paul, Minnesota, as well as my nineteen year old brother Tucker from Manhattan. On the 21st we celebrated my brother's 20th birthday and that was a lot of fun. THAT SUMS UP ANYTHING IMPORTANT THAT HAPPENED OVER MY SPRING BREAK... THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR STAYING TUNED!!

March 6, 2014

Prepare yourself... I want you to really THINK about this blog post. I mean use your brain. What is the significance of an infographic? What is the point of pairing graphics and information together? What impact can this have on a reader or viewer. EXPLAIN
">An infographic is a tool used to draw one's attention as it gives information of a particular issue. An infographic is simply a way of giving information to someone whom you want to inform or sway the opinion of. The point of pairing graphics and information together is to connect the information and the graphics together and to make it easier for the recipient of information to understand. The result of this can be increased understanding of the subject, created opinions by readers, and more informed subjects.

March 4, 2014

;">If you had the option of writing a 3 page paper or creating an infographic - which one would you choose? Explain yourself<">I would much rather write a three-page paper. I am not very pro-infographic as of right now because I feel that while it CAN be visually pleasing, it is only successful with topics filled with dates, stats, and pictures: none of which apply to my very opinion-based global issue. I feel that an essay is an easy way to follow along and understand and become informed of the global issue that is being discussed. Quite frankly, I find papers to be more interesting than infographics.

February 28, 2014

How far along are you on your infographic? Will you be finished and ready to embed on to your blog by the end of the hour today? Do you think you've used your time wisely in class? Explain yourself.I am doing pretty good, but finding enough information on Affirmative Action is a struggle, especially because a lot of the controversy surrounding Affirmative Action is opinion rather than statistics. I think that I've made pretty good use of my time, other than my intense debates and conversations with my teacher. I need to continue to research statistics and incorporate those into my developing infographic.

February 27, 2014

Why do I have you brainstorm and collect your information in a Google Doc before putting in to final draft? Explain.
It helps us piece our thoughts together into a well-thought-out plan for writing our paper. Brainstorming helps create an organized draft for what will later become a final essay. Putting the information onto a Google document ensures that we have all of our information gathered and that we have direction when beginning to actually write our final draft.

February 25, 2014

Yesterday I introduced you to infographics... tell me again what they are and how they are used? What is the benefit of an infographic? What goes into an infogrpahic?Also, go out and see if you can find an already existing infographic on your global issue. Save the image to your computer and upload the image into your blog post for today. Save the source link to the image so that you can site the image in your blog post. See my examples at the end of this post
An infographic is a more interesting way of displaying information to a desired audience. The benefit is that you should be able to successfully keep the audience interested and inform that person of information at the same time. Statistics, pictures, and information.
Link

February 24, 2014

Post your research paper to your blog. Give me a short (one paragraph summary) of your paper and include the link for me read your paper">Affirmative action is a very controversial issue in today's world, particularly to the United States. Affirmative action, or the program that gives priority to applicants who are members of the minority, or a female, has been around since the Civil Rights Movements in the 1960's. There are two opposing sides who are at a standoff over whether to keep affirmative action or change/retire it. The people who wish to keep it believe that racism still exists and members of the minority need to have an edge in the work force and when applying for college. The pro-change group believes that it should be based off of social economic basis rather than off of one's ascribed status, or remove it altogether.

Here is my paper

February 18, 2014

Where are you at with your 5 paragraph essay so far? How is it coming? Is it easy to write? Difficult to write? Is it helpful that you created an outline first? Explain.I am done with everything but the conclusion. I think that it is fairly easy but I forgot to source my evidence. I didn't find it very helpful to create an outline, but I suppose it possibly could have helped with the structure of my paper... maybe. I feel like a have a solid natural sense of direction when writing a paper so depending on the topic, sometimes I dislike having to create an outline

February 3, 2014

Tell me about your Sweetheart weekend. If you didn't go to Sweetheart, what did you do? I want details!

Unfortunately, on Friday I worked, but after that I went to my girlfriends so at least their was that on Friday. On Saturday, I worked once again from 11-2, after that I just slept until like 5 o'clock, when I commenced getting ready for sweetheart. I went to pictures which is always a blast because I always photo bomb in people's pictures. After pictures we went to dinner at Cenzettis which was a great great buffet and if you're reading this, I want to eat there again. The dance was pretty fun and afterwards I went to another peer's house for a small gathering until about 2am, when I left to go to a friend's house where I slept over.

Who do you look up to in life? Why? What have they done to help you or guide you? I look up to my entire family. They are all full of charismatic, compassionate, and good people. They are rare in the sense that they are all compassionate towards others, and always look to help others, something that seems to be harder to find in today's society. My family has raised and taught me to show the same compassion and love for other people as they have, and to never think that you're better than the next. My parents, brother, and sister all have great qualities that I hope have been passed down to me through genetics or through learning.

January 30, 2014

Tell me about the global issue you selected yesterday. Briefly restate your paragraph from yesterday.

I selected affirmative action. I chose this issue because it is a program that affects a lot of people going into college and entering the work force, particularly in the United States, which is probably the most diverse nation in the world. I feel like their is a lot to learn about affirmative action such as how many people it affects, the two opposing sides and their arguments, and the possible future that affirmative action has.

Smoking Is Bad: January 27, 2014

January 27, 2014

If you could pick one issue in the world to fix or change what would it be and why?
 If I could pick anything in the world to change, it would be world peace. This means at both the individual level as well as the global level. At the individual level, murder and crime rates would be gone, something that is very valuable to me personally. At the global level, the wars, almost all of which seem completely unreasonable and meaningless to me. All of the wars in the middle east, it seems, have not achieved anything at all and only seem to cause death and put nations into debt (us) and despair (them).

January 23, 2014

What is a Public Service Announcement? If you don't know what it is, Google it. In your own words, now tell me what it is? What are they used for? Can you recall an example of a PSA you've seen before?

A PSA is a piece of media used to try and establish or change the public's view about a certain issue or topic, or to try and inform the people about a topic. They are used to inform the public and try to get the people to form an opinion one way or another and sway them into doing something. An example of a PSA I've seen before is ASPCA, which is a no-kill animal shelter that urges the general public to donate to help save the lives of numerous animals, at the 'cost of a dollar a day'.

January 21, 2014

My three day weekend was great. On Friday, I went to Chipotle with three of my good friends: Don, Amanda, and Mattie. Then, on Saturday, I cleaned my room which took about three hours... and then finally I went to the gym before hanging out and getting ice cream with Amanda. On Sunday, I had an 11-2 shift at Picklemans and then later I had my second rec basketball game against a lot of the senior football players, and lost after a great game. On Sunday night I hung out and had a sleep over with three of my friends (we stayed up all night playing video games). On Monday, I went out to lunch with my mom at Smokey's (barbeque) and then went and got a few articles of clothing. That night I went to dinner with my girlfriend Amanda and her family at her grandparents house to celebrate Amanda's birthday and it was a lot of fun.

Friday, January 17

January 16, 2014

I have learned that Google Drive and Presentation are pretty useful and interactive applications. I have really come to appreciate the fact that you don't have to worry about saving anything, because it automatically does it. I would not necessarily say that it is better than PowerPoint, but I think both of them have their pros and their cons.  I believe that both Google Presentation and Microsoft PowerPoint could achieve the same goals and requirements for a presentation that one would like to make. However, I am not saying that either are perfect, either. Some problems, or rather, things I dislike about Presentation, is that it seems overly basic, and might lack some of the specific tools that another presentation tool might have

Monday, January 13

Images are free for everybody to use. If a person posts a picture on the internet, no matter what the facts surrounding it are, they should be able to use it. The internet is an innovation in technology that is free for EVERYBODY to use, and a person should knowingly post the picture, realizing that another person will more than likely use the posted picture at one point or another. People should obviously post pictures with discrepancy, or else that picture could end up somewhere that they don't want the picture to be.

Friday, January 10

What do you want to learn in the class the semester? What information do you want to walk away with that you didn't know before? Elaborate!

I feel like there is a great deal of knowledge that I can attain over the course of this semester. I would like to learn more about the increasingly rapid growing technology of today, that was not available to people of previous generations. I feel like technology today and all of its capabilities are so interesting and ever more intricate that being able to know more about technology will provide me with plenty of benefits later in life. I feel like the relationship between human and technology is being more and more important and prominent than ever before, and that taking a class in high school will provide me with better information than one who has not taken this class.