Final Project- Winter 2013

These first two links are links to my interviews with my family members on both sides. The first one is a family member on my Mom's side. Click Here The next one is family member on my Dad's side. Click Here This next link is a link to my Persuasive Email. Click Here This is a link to my Family Tree made on Family Echo. Click Here This one is my Prezi. It displays members of my family tree and tells us a bit of information about them. We learn about my Parents, Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins and siblings. My second-to-last one is my Infographic. It displays family information in a fun, creative, way. This last one is a link to my 5 frame storyboard. It shows me presented with the problem on how to find information about my family. I then look in old photo albums and find some pretty interesting things. I then show these interesting things to my family members and we all learn a bit more about our family history. Click here to View the Story

11/15/13

1) Katie Gemperli

Drawing a person, she was very artistic and I was very impressed. 

2) Troy Vansicle

Moving shoes; the shoes appeared to be moving on their own, and I was impressed. It looked cool. 

3) Cookie Cooks

His video was a group stick figures fighting. It was funny and made me laugh. 

11/13/13

Journal - How did you stop motion animation turn out? If you could give it a grade, what would you give it out of 60 points? What did you learn from creating this video?

my stop motion is going to be 60/60 points because its the best stop motion animation to ever come out since 1986. I learned valuable life skills such as you can wait till' the last minute to do a project and still get a good grade. 

11/11/2013

Journal - How far along are you on your stop motion animation? What did you do over the weekend to work on you stop motion animation? Do you have all your pictures today? Will you have all your pictures by the end of the hour? Give me a detailed updated.

I have started taking photos; however, i don't have them with me today. I changed my idea to cars. I'll move two matchbox cars around and have them race. I should be done by tomorrow.

11/8/2013

Journal - What are you planning on doing for your stop-motion animation video? What story are you going to tell? How will your video be fun and different? Who is taking your photos? When are you taking your photos?

I have a couple of ideas, two that stand out in particular. The first will be a lot of pennies. I will move them around my desk so it appears that they are moving on their own. My second idea would involve an action figure of some sort. I would just move the figure so it would look like it is walking on its' own. I will be taking my photos on my own with a tri-pod  at my house.

11/6/2013

Journal - What story will your storyboard tell? Explain in detail.

My storyboard portrays the epic tale of world hunger and the struggle to come across a slight bit of food. I become hungry, I look for food, open the fridge, and make a sandwich. 

11/4/2013

What photo editing tool(s) have you used so far on your 5 photos project? Do you like the tool? Is it easy to use? Hard to use? What's good about it? Whats bad about it? Give a detailed review of the tool.

So far I've been using Plxr, It's a good tool because it mimics Photoshop but it doesn't cost any money. It's very easy to use and self-explanatory. My favorite tool on Plxr would be the "pen" tool. You can draw on photos just like a real pin!

11/1/2013

Journal - What are the pros and cons to photo editing? What are some examples of when photo editing is fun and appropriate? When can photo editing be inappropriate or too much?

There are both pros and cons to photo editing. A pro would be you're able to make photos look cool and edit them. A con would be you could edit the photo so much to where the photo doesn't look like you and you could give people false first impressions.

10/28/2013

Journal – What is your favorite web tool that we have used in class so far this year? Why is it your favorite web tool? What do you like about it? How can you use it again in the future?

My favorite web tool is Prezi. Its my favorite tool because it delivers the same information as a power point but it adds more "flare". Prezi adds movement, 3D backgrounds, and color to any presentation. Prezi really makes your presentation better than it would be with a normal presentation tool. 

10/21/13

10/21/2013

Journal- What did you do this weekend?

This weekend I went camping with my family. I'm not going to lie, I hate camping. The idea of having to chop up your own wood, start your own fire, catch your own food, and so on really doesn't "float my boat". I'm not a peasant, I want grade A caviar with sparkling cider in a golden chalice, not grilled salmon with bottled water. I'm also really mad I didn't turn up this weekend because I was too busy cuddled up in a sleeping bag with my own misery.

10/17/2013

Journal - What makes a presentation memorable? What makes a presentation stand out and not boring? How are you going to make your presentation better than anyone else? How will you make it unique? Explain.

Presentations are not memorable, presenters are memorable. Anyone can have a good presentation but if they can't present it well it sucks. A good presenter can make even a bad presentation sound interesting. Good presenters are funny, interesting,  and keep the audience engaged. I will present my presentation with poise, I will enunciate, and I will keep it interesting.  

10/15/20113

Journal - What did you learn from the Ted Talk yesterday? Did you find it interesting or accurate? Explain.

I found the Ted Talk interesting and very informative.  Although I don't completely agree with everything she said in the video, I still believe we are on our phones at inappropriate times. Her speech was exaggerated at some points, but she still provided some pretty powerful points.

10/14/2013

Journal - What do you love about the "digital age" that we currently live in? What do you dislike about it? What are positives ways you use technology in your life? What are some things that come along with technology that you don't like? Explain. I love the digital age because I can communicate with my "homies". Technology impacts my life in a number of ways,good and bad. One good way technology impacts my life is that I can tweet so all my groupies can know every single detail of my life. A bad way technology impacts me is that the some crazy groupies look at what I tweet and stalk me. Its hard being this fabulous, but I manage to make it work .

10/9/2013

10/8/2013

 Tell me about your Homecoming weekend (whether you went to the activities or not!). Tell me about what you did over the weekend. 

Saturday morning started off at the lovely hour of 5 am for a cross country meet. I set a personal record and my first two mile splits were 6:30 and 6:47. after i got back to the school I proceed to sleep until 6 am. Then that night I hung out with Nicole Hagel until I got  grounded... Now I'm grounded until the end of October so my weekends won't be very eventful. 

10/2/2013

What do you know about Infographics? What do you know about them? What are their purpose?

To be honest, I know nothing about Infographics. however, using the picture provided I can assume they are used for advertising. I'm making an assumption that they display statistics, provide charts and graphs, and support a companies viewpoint/product. 

9/27/2013

Journal - What are you weekend plans?

This weekend is going to be prettily chill. It kicks of tonight were I'm going to go off roading with some friends at 215th street and State Line. tomorrow I get to wake up at the lovely hour of 6:00 am to reef soccer. after I'm done reffing I'm going to Michael Gomen's  house to play lacrosse and string lacrosse sticks. Sunday I have a lacrosse and soccer game so it will be pretty busy for me. 

9/25/2013

Journal - Most students view siting work as 'a pain in the butt'. How do you feel about it? Is it necessary? When is it appropriate to cite work? What's the importance of it?

I don't know that "sitting" work is, but I do know what citing work is. I do believe that citing work is a pain in the butt, however, I also believe that it is imperative to give the author credit where it is due. Citing work isn't fun, but it is important to maintain academic integrity in all situations. 

9/24/2013

Journal - What is your favorite book, magazine, or publication? Why?

My favorite magazine is Inside Lacrosse,  I  like it because it is one of the only lacrosse specific magazines available. It also has cool articles in in it, my favorite is called "weapon of choice" I n lacrosse, each stick is very different, this article interviews players about what makes their stick different from everyone else. I also like the " recruiting roundup" I talks about the top projected prospects in the nation and interviews them. Inside Lacrosse is by far my favorite magazine. 

9/23/2013

 Do you enjoy writing? What kind of writing do you enjoy? Why is writing an essential skill in life? How will you use this skill in the future?

This is a joke right? Do I enjoy writing? Yeah, heck no. Writing is probably one of my least favorite things to do in the whole world. Although I do not enjoy writing, I do it because it builds good skills for later in life. One of the many skills it builds is it increases your vocabulary. Possessing a dense vocabulary also helps you in people to people interaction. Using a plethora of words will make you sound more educated and you will come off as more intelligent- which is important for first impressions. 

9/17/2013

Journal - What is creating an outline for a paper important? Do you think it helps you personally? How would you prefer to outline a paper - pen and paper or an online tool? Is there a different way you know if that would prefer to organize your thoughts?

I do believe creating an outline for a paper is important. It helps me personally, and I think its a good idea, but I prefer to use a pen and paper. I make a outline so I can see what my paper will look like and it also helps me illustrate the evidence behind my claims.

9/16/2013

Journal - Tell me about your weekend. Where did you go? What did you do?

This weekend started off at the lovely time of 5:00 am. You see, I had the first cross country of the year Saturday and had to be at the school bright and early. The meet was at someones farm in Paola, so the bus ride was about 30-45 minutes. the meet started off with girls varsity, girls JV  boys varsity and them boys JV. Boys JV ran at 8:30, which was the last race of the meet, I finished 67th out of about 200 kids. The meet was a good experience, however, I hope to do better next time. 

9/10/2013

Journal - What is good email etiquett and why is it essential in the "real" world? How can having good email etiquette put you ahead?

The first step to good email 

9/11/2013

Who do you look up to in life? Why? What have they done to help you or guide you?

I look up to my dad in life. I'm a lot like my dad so we have a special type of bond compared to my other siblings. They main way we relate is how we both played/are going to play athletics in college. The recruiting process was long and new for me but since my dad did it before he was able to guide me to commit to the right college.

9/10/2013

Journal - What is good email etiquette and why is it essential in the "real" world? How can having good email etiquette put you ahead?


The first step to good email etiquette is to use proper grammar. This is essential in the real world because you want to come across as well mannered and educated. Possessing  good grammar and good email etiquette will put you ahead of the rest of the competition due to the fact that you appear professional and classy. Good email etiquette is imperative if you want to succeed in the real world. 

September 6, 2013

Journal - If there was one big global issue in the world that you could fix, what would it be? A cure for cancer? Save the rain forest? Stop pollution? Think about it and then write about it. Why would you choose that specific issue?

I would chose to end war. When you think about it, war is one of the many causes of  death, poverty, and money loss. War causes death which brings unnecessary hardships to the family who lost a member. without war the family would not be grieving and still have their son/daughter. War would also start to cure poverty. Bombing runs bring about many families to be homeless. with out war families would still have a house to live in. In conclusion, I would chose to end all wars because of the benefitsthat occur from no war. 

Texting and Driving

September 3, 2013

 On Friday we discussed Public Service Announcements. In your own words tell me what they are and what their purpose is. If you could create a PSA what would your topic be? Why?

If I could create a PSA I would create it over texting while driving. Texting while driving is a big problem in our society, and it leads to a lot of car crashes and deaths. The roads would be a much safer place if  everyone stopped texting and driving. 

August 30, 2013

What are your hobbies and extra curricular activities? Where do you spend your free time? Tell me three of your favorite things (movies, TV show, magazine, sport, color, etc.)

My favorite hobbies include Stringing lacrosse sticks, playing lacrosse, and watching girls play lacrosse. I like to play lacrosse because its fun. I like to string lacrosse sticks because its challenging and fun. I like to watch girls play lacrosse because girls who play lacrosse are pretty.

"Who am I?" Presentation

Who am i? from laxkid38

August 28, 2013

 What are some qualities of a good presentation? How can you make a boring presentation interesting? Explain.

Some qualities of an important presentation include the following traits: 
Confidence-  everyone likes a confident speaker, if you're nervous and shaking it makes for an awkward situation for the audience.
Eye contact- Its always good for the audience to have the speaker look at them every once in a while, it keeps them engaged.
Its also good not to look at note cards, or at the screen. Its important to seem prepared even if you're not.
Basically, you want to keep the audience engaged, while having great poise, and seeming prepared. 

August 26, 2013

 Tell me if you agree with this statement and then explain why or why not. "Images on the internet are 'free game' - if someone posted I should be able to use it."

I agree with the statement that images on the internet are "free game". If someone knowingly posted their photograph, panting, sketch or drawing on the internet, then they must accept that there will be people on the web who want to use it. If they are not comfortable, or don't want people using their works, they just shouldn't post it online. 

August 23, 2013

I find online safety to be very critical during the time I spend online, the importance of online safety is to protect information that you don't want strangers to see. To protect myself online I have my Twitter account and Facebook account set to private. I set myself to private because if I don't, a random stranger might track me down and take advantage of me. Online safety is very important to me and I'm glad that I protect myself online. I hope everyone else does too so that we can be a safer community and school. 

Tuesday, August 20

 After watching  Ashton Kutcher's acceptance speech  I realized a lot of things that I didn't before. His quote "Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you, and you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use." really spoke to me. I have never been the smartest in my class, and I know it. Being not as smart as a lot of my peers really bothered me, and I used to think they were better than me. But after watching  Ashton Kutcher's truly inspirational speech I realized  I'm just as good as they are. His speech made me feel a lot better about myself and I'm now more confident in my academic abilities.