Final Project

This is my final project for Emerging Technologies. This project represents my knowledge and ability of using internet-based programs in a creative way and also in a practical way. My first link is my interview with my dad. My dad knew quite a lot about our family history. Here are his answers:
Transcript #1

This is my second link and interview. I chose to interview my grandma. She did not know much about our history but she knew a lot about the generations close to us such as all of her brothers' and sisters' families and all of her cousins. Here are her answers:
Transcript #2

My email was written to my dad because he knew so much about the history of our family. My dad was able to give me plenty of interesting information.
Email

This is my family tree dating all the way back to 1790. This part of the project was my favorite and I learned so many interesting things about my family while doing it.
Family Echo

My family tree on Prezi represents 15 of my closest relatives that I knew/know the best. These family members mean a lot to me.

The infographic below represents who my family is. It tells where my ancestors come from as well as what those ancestors passed on to the future generations such as my generation. I learned where I came from as well as why we came to the states.

Tuesday, April 28th

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 teacher is telling us what school is really about. It's not just about the numbers, grades, and academics. The academics are important but it is not the "main event." The main event is learning everyday how to confront and deal with problems as they come along. Maturing in how you handle things is the main event. Taking something seriously such as your academics is also the main event. To succeed in the main event, you need to put in effort. You will never succeed if you do not know how to deal with life as it is thrown at you. Teachers care about their students and want to see them succeed. Sometimes students get too wrapped up in what they think school is about, that they forget to grow and learn how to go through life as they should. 

Friday, April 17th

1. What was your stop motion animation about? Why did you choose your video to be about this? 

My stop motion animation was about clothing cleaning themselves off of the floor of a dirty room. The clothing put themselves in a dresser drawer. I chose this because I thought the element of things that don't normally move would be good to represent in clothing because, obviously, clothing can't move on its own. 

2. 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).

Well, I did definitely not think what I did was going to be easy. I knew it would take a lot of time and since I am a perfectionist, nothing is ever super easy for me. I thought it would be challenging and it for sure was, but it was all worth the time and effort because I am really pleased with how it came out.

3. If you could rate your stop motion on a 1-10 scale. 1 being low effort and not very good and 10 being out of this world/mindblowing, how would you rate your project? Explain why.

I would rate mine somewhere between and 8 and 9. I showed people in the class my stop motion and they were really impressed that I was able to make clothing move smoothly into a drawer on its own. The only thing I knocked myself down for was jumping from the floor to the drawer was difficult and I was unable to smoothly put the clothing up into the drawer until it was already in a little bit. I looked fine after I did that. 

4. In hindsight, what would you do differently the second time around? Better lighting? Time management? Explain yourself.

I would make my positioning better. throughout the stop motion, the camera angle would change- probably from me bumping it on accident or pressing the camera button too hard.

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

My stop motion is different from all the others I've seen. I was able to convey the idea of inanimate objects moving by themselves in a smooth way. The idea of "something cleaning up themselves" is a unique idea that no one ever thought of in the class.

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

I deserve an A on this project. Not a 100 but definitely an A. I had good lighting, a unique idea, inanimate objects moving, smooth transition of pictures, a wow factor of clothes moving themselves, and the large amount of effort I put into this project. The only thing I would dock myself for is the shift in camera angles.

Tuesday, April 14th

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

This weekend was one for the books! Prom was Saturday and I had the time of my life. I thought it was cool that I spent zero dollars on getting ready and on my dress. Talk about saving money! Prom and after prom was so much fun. I wish I didn't leave after prom early. I left because I am never able to stay up that late, so I got tired and left. On Sunday night my friends and I had a Bob's Burgers marathon and that was super fun as well. This weekend was overall a success!

Tuesday, April 7th

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.

• Start off with a messy room
• Messy bed
• As the stop motion progresses the room will clean itself
• Normally rooms can't clean themselves
• Clothes will crawl up hampers on their own and clothes will find their way into drawers on their own
• The bed will start off with all of its sheets and covers off of it and the sheets will put themselves on the bed and create a perfectly made bed!
• I will need a tripod
• I will be taking photos with my cell phone but will move all pictures to my Google drive so my space isn't totally taken up 

Monday, April 6th

Tell me all about your weekend and please share photos!

This weekend was a pretty relaxing weekend to say the least. On Friday after school I hung out with a good friend of mine. On Saturday that same friend and I went to downtown and had lunch at McFadden's with my dad, his wife, and my two younger brothers. McFadden's has such good food! After that I hung around the house a bit and got ice cream with a friend and went to nanny later that evening. We got ice cream at Blue Chip Cookie a.k.a. the best ice cream shop in all of Johnson County. I nannied until a little after 12 and went to get McDonald's since I hadn't had dinner and nothing else was open. On Sunday, it was Easter and my family doesn't really do anything special on Easter so it was sort of a relaxing day. I ate a ton of food, my dad brought us donuts and my boyfriend's family made a ham and sweet potato dinner so I ate at their house. It was a good weekend.

Storyboard

"Life of a Child"

Wednesday, April 1st

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

I love this time of year because it is the time when you get to break out those shorts from last summer. I also love getting rid of all the old clothes that aren't in style/don't fit anymore. I fill my wardrobe with new clothes this time of year and it makes me so happy to see the changing styles. This time of year you see the trees blooming the white flowers they do in the spring and the grass turning green. My absolute favorite part about this time of year is being able to roll the car windows down blasting good music.

Monday, March 30th

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.

I took most of my pictures during class. I was able to capture some interesting colors and angles. I am going to do more at home since I have more interesting and personal items at home. I still want a picture of someone laughing and a pair of hands. I am not the biggest fan of taking artistic or creative photos so this project has challenged my creative side. the picture below is one of my favorites. It looks never-ending and like it can go on forever.

Monday, March 23rd

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

This spring break My family and I drove to Colorado to Ski in Vail, Beaver Creek, and Keystone. I learned to ski much better than how I used to ski like, thanks to my uncle. My sister and brothers and I had a great time going back to Beaver again since it was where we originally learned to ski. I learned to ski expert slopes, how to better my balance with my poles, and also to keep my feet together more. We stayed in Keystone right outside of the village and drove to Vail and Beaver. The views were breathtaking, and in my opinion, much prettier than a beach.

Government Surveillance Prezi

Wednesday, March 11th

What are you doing for Spring Break?

For spring break I will be driving to Colorado with my family. Our family is full of good skiers and we would much rather hit up the mountains than sit on a beach all day. Usually, the drive to Colorado takes about 12-14 hours. We rent a white church van because it can fit all 6 of us plus our luggage pretty well. This time, we are staying in Keystone, Colorado. Keystone is one of the most popular skiing places in Colorado. We have passes for the week to ski wherever we want in places including: Keystone, Copper Mountain, Vail, Breckenridge, and Beaver Creek. Colorado is probably my favorite place to go. I have so much excitement for this trip because I get to re-visit all of the places I have skied in the past few years. I also am super excited to walk through all the mountain towns and shop and meet really cool people. The people in Colorado are my favorite type of people because they are so laid back, down to earth, friendly, and active. You can always strike up and conversation with a Coloradan. I can't wait!

Monday, March 9th

Tell me about your weekend.

This weekend was the best weekend I have had in a while. On Friday, I had Relay for Life. I did not end up staying awake the whole time like I had hoped, but it was still so much fun. I walked the track a lot of the time, I also saw some old friends from my old school and it was nice to see them again and catch up. My attempt to stay up all night was drinking 3 monsters and 2 cups of straight coffee. I jumped rope, did zumba, played games that they had there and more. We also raised the most money we ever have this year. 

Wednesday, March 4th

If you were to give someone advice on how to make the best presentation, what 10 pieces of advice would you give them?

1. Make sure there are lots of pictures and videos to gets the audience's attention.
2. Make it pretty and interesting looking so the audience has something to focus on other than your words.
3. Be original-Don't be basic
4. Present facts and information that will surprise people and they will pay attention.
5. Relate to audience by telling a story or other information that they can relate to.
6. Have good posture and stand up STRAIGHT. It is professional.
7. When making eye contact, look at either the back wall or on the top of your audience's heads. You won't be as nervous that way and it won't feel like 30 people are staring straight at you.
8. Make hand gestures so it looks like you are into your presentation and you aren't being forced to do it.
9. Speak loud and proud. Don't act like you are nervous.
10. Be confident and act like it.

Friday, March 6th

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

If I were the principle of BVHS I would make a school store. For years, BV stucco Presidents have promised a school store and nothing has happened so I would make it my job to get one to BVHS. BV is the only school in the district without a school store and we have been here the longest. It is not fair for the students of BVHS to not have one. Other than bringing a school store to BV, I would change the dress code to be less strict. The way people dress is not a problem and does not take away learning opportunities from other students as much as taking a student out of class and sending her home to change because of what she is wearing. If anything, that is the most learning you can take away from a student and it contradicts the "education beyond expectation" that the Blue Valley School district has enforced. 

Monday, March 2nd

Tell me about your weekend.

My weekend was pretty nice. On Friday I attended the #BucketsForBacon Basketball games and watched the Lady Tigers, Varsity, and the West and BV teachers play. It was pretty cool to recognize the seniors since it was also Senior Night. After our teachers beat the West teachers, the student section flooded the court in celebration. On Saturday morning I went to Taco Bell for breakfast with my friend. We spent the whole day together and it was awesome. Saturday night, I had a bunch of my friends over to my house and the girls all spent the night. It was super fun to get together with everyone again like old times.

Infographic-Government Surveillance

easel.ly

Wednesday, February 4th

You haven't had a chance to tell me about your Sweetheart weekend yet - tell me about it now! Include photos if you have them. Even if you just laid around on the couch and watched Netflix, tell me all about it.

My sweetheart weekend was awesome. Our group had a party bus pick us all up and it took us to dinner on the plaza to a really nice Italian restaurant called Carmen's. We took group pictures at my house and they were really cute. I also renovated my room to make it look better. I bought all of the material myself and painted, hung things up, and reorganized it. My room is definitely my favorite place to be. I don't have many photos, they all happen to be on my friends' phones since that night I couldn't find my phone. I had a fantastic sweetheart weekend and I couldn't thank my friends enough for being the best people to be around.  

Tuesday, February 24th

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.

5 things I learned about infographics from this infographic:
1.) 90% should be visual
2.) They show a better understanding of the topic you make an infographic about
3.) They are popular- 13 million results for the term "infographic" on google
4.) Infographics help to visualize relationships and statistics simply and easily
5.) Bar charts are the most used graph on an infographic

Monday, February 23rd

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

Friday was easily one of the best nights of my life. It was one of my best friend's birthday and all of our friends planned her something amazing. First, we all met up at our friend Ian's house and hung out there for awhile. Madeline was under the impression that we were staying there all night. When really, there was a HUGE party bus waiting outside for all of us to take us to the plaza. She was so happy to see that we had something big planned for her. The bus took us to her favorite restaurant on the plaza: Chuy's. The bus had surround sound music and we plugged the aux in. Chuy's was amazing and our waiter was so awesome and he loved us so much that we got all of our meals for free! We were shocked we when found out that we didn't have to pay. We gave the waiter all of the giftcards we had and a giant tip and told him he was great. After Chuy's the bus took us to our friend Deni's house and we picked up her and Laurel and went back to Ian's house. We went hottubbing and we all bonded and played Cards Against Humanity. Best night ever, hands down.

Friday, February 20th

The perfects set of classes would include, how to budget, how to plan for college, how to pay taxes, mortgages, how to communicate formally, apply and interview for jobs, strictly grammar class, and other classes like that to improve and get you through basics of life. There would also be a class for every area of jobs for people to take while in high school to see if they would want to further their studies in college. I would study how to be an awesome FBI agent. We would spend our class time learning Farsi, how to track money, breaking codes, and helping in cases. These classes would be much different from the ones we have now. For example, no one really needs to know how to write. The only thing you really need to know is how to speak properly and communication skills to up your charisma game. Some school subjects are useless.

Wednesday, February 18th

Copy and past these over to your blog and tell me a little about yourself. If you have a picture or two that might represent one of your answers make sure to include it.

My favorite food: Anything Italian
Foods I'd like to avoid: Any type of seafood or Mexican
My favorite things to learn: Math and Science
My favorite color: I don't have one
My best friends are: Mollie, Lucy, Liz, Hannah, Lauren, Adam
My favorite games to play: I don't really play games
My favorite books: Paper Towns
My favorite movies or TV shows: Criminal Minds, House, Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Horrible Bosses
My favorite holiday: Christmas or Fourth of July
Things I do well: Math, read, give advice, snow ski, and water ski
Things I need to practice more: Studying
My favorite place to go: Anywhere in Colorado
My favorite family activities: Thanksgiving and other holidays with family
My favorite thing to do outside: Run with my dog
My favorite chore: cleaning anything
My least favorite chore: dishes
What I want to be when I grow up: FBI agent
A place I want to visit: Alaska or Switzerland
My favorite part of the year: Fall
My favorite part of each day: Middle of the night

Tuesday, February 17th

Tell me what you believe this cartoon is trying to say. Do you agree or disagree with this idea? Try and look at this from two different perspectives. What is your perspective? What would be an adult/teacher's perspective?

This picture shows the different study habits of China, India, and USA. It also shows the different stereotypes we encounter when we talk about these countries regarding study habits. Everyone thinks of the Chinese as math geeks, India as the science geniuses, and the USA as the lazy ones who do not do anything. You can never fully agree to a stereotype because stereotypes to not apply to 100% of that race, gender, or other stereotypes you might see. You would have to be ignorant to think that stereotypes apply to everyone. In a sense, though, the top student of your class may be Chinese or Indian and it can make the stereotypes stronger. While maybe not everyone of a certain stereotype fits in their given stereotype, a large number of people may have started the stereotype. Maybe you think that all Chinese are math geeks because almost every Chinese you know is good at math. Or maybe you think that all Indians are science wizards because almost every Indian you know is unnaturally good at science. Maybe it is because they work hard. Or maybe it is their culture to work harder. If I were a teacher and every Indian student I had at straight As then I would most likely somewhat believe in this stereotype.

Public Service Announcement

Tuesday, February 10th

Think about the quote above. What does this mean to you? How could this apply to your life? How could this apply to your school work? I would love to give you less work in class if it meant you were going to focus harder on the work. Do you think you would get more out of it? Would that work for you? Why or why not?

Personally, I can relate to this as to what I do not do. I usually just do the work that teachers assign just to get it done. But if I took more time and focused harder I could probably retain more information. I tend to rush through my work so I can get to whatever I would rather be doing. Rushing does not help the practice or learning process but focusing and actually paying attention to what you are doing can really help obtain more information and it helps you get better at whatever you may be doing. Time management could help with having less to do. Say you are assigned an assignment that takes a while to do, say a week or so. So instead of rushing through it all in one night, work on it progressively throughout the week and with each time you work on it with a lot of focus so that it is the best that it can be.

Monday, February 9th

Tell me all about your weekend! I sure hope you have photos to share.

This weekend I spent a lot of time with my family. I went to the varsity basketball game on Friday night and Saturday morning I babysat my neighbors for a few hours.  After that, I went to my dads house and our family went to my brother's hockey game. I brought along my friend Erik with me. After the hockey game we went to dinner together at Old Chicago's Pizza and it was SO GOOD. Saturday night I hung out with m friends Mollie and Liz and some guys from Rockhurst that I had never met before. It ended up being super fun and I had a great time. Erik and I hung out all day Sunday also.

Friday, February 6th

Tell me about some interesting things you have learned about your global issue so far. What have you learned that you didn't know before? Include a couple images from the internet if possible. (Make sure to cite images that are not your own.)

While researching my topic, I have found hard facts about government surveillance. The question is whether I believe what the government tells me or not. I didn't know about all the acts protecting our privacy but also contradicting that the government has the legal ability to search through all of our internet data.

http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSubxxDY_HqSFrmxEM_g_GSwZDFhCsIEKlW01afT-350-p8bZys:obrag.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/domesticspyunclesam.png 

Monday, February 2nd

What is email? When do you use email in your own personal life? List reasons and ways that people use email. What do you know about "email etiquette"? EXPLAIN.

Email is a way of communication that tends to be more formally written than text messages. Even if people don't use email, they still have one. I used to use email to talk to family-mainly my Grandma. I use my personal email for store deals and my school email for emailing teachers, upcoming events, and opportunities at school coming up. I see workers in offices use email all the time and I really don't understand why. Especially teachers. Email tends to be more formal than regular text messages with some friends and is used in professional jobs quite often.

Wednesday, January 28th

Finish this sentence "10 years from now I will be...."

10 years from now I will (hopefully) be traveling the world with someone special to me. I don't want kids until I'm in my thirties because there is so much more to do when you are still young. I don't want to be held down in the best years of my life. I also have little control over what happens and what situations I will be in by that time. 

Tuesday, January 27th

Yesterday I had you choose a global issue and you wrote about it on your blog. Today on your blog I want you to tell me about two different perspectives of your global issue. Are there people for an against your issue? Do people disagree on your issue? Is it a topic that can cause controversy? Look at the issue for two different perspectives. Tell me about those perspectives.

Yesterday I wrote a little bit of what I knew about cults. After further consideration, I chose to change my topic to government surveillance. This topic is talked about but no one really knows much about it. There are conspiracy theories on the internet that the government is always watching your every move and it has been causing rumors and questions have been uprising about this topic. I don't think any American is for government surveillance. No one wants or likes the feeling of being watched. If the government really is watching Americans as much as some people think, it could be a little scary to think about. You never know what the government knows and some might say the government is starting to have too much power. Others who agree with government surveillance, probably think it is necessary to catch crime or some types of fraud. 

Cults

Without doing any research, what background do you currently have on this issue?
What do you want to know about this issue?
Why did you choose this issue? Had it effected your life? Is it something you are passionate about? Explain.

I know about one cult called the Westboro Baptist Church. It goes around the country protesting controversial issues to get attention. I also know that there are religious cults.

I want to know more about what types of cults there are. I also want to know more about what the Westboro's goal is as a group. I don't know how common they are today and I want to know the regulations with cults. 

I chose this topic because this cult has come to protest at funeral for one of the students at BVHS. I have seen them on TV, at concerts, funerals, and other controversial events. 

Monday, January 26th

Last week I asked your to "think differently" and push yourself to be uncommon with your PSA project using Google Slides. Why do you think I asked you to do that? What is the point? Why not just use bullets and headers? Explain.

Normal presentations are boring and don't get that much interested attention from the audience. Presentations that make you think, have interesting information, and have a different effect, are appreciated by the audience. They get more tuned in with what you have to tell them in your presentation. 

Friday, January 23rd

When I was a kid, I didn't have all of these tech things. I didn't have a contact for people i knew. I used to have to memorize people's numbers and call them on the phone on the wall in the kitchen. Kids are getting into such shenanigans these days. I always hear about my grandchildren getting in trouble and other kids in their grade. It's a darn shame, that is. Being all old and crusty, It's hard trying to keep up with the new innovations these days. Kids are always so worried about status. They have too much handed to them and they take those things and gifts for granted. I am genuinely worried for the future generations.

Wednesday, January 21st

What is a public service announcement (PSA)? What do PSA's do? What makes a good PSA? How can you get someone to take action after watching a PSA? What is you PSA idea? Explain in detail.

A PSA is a public service announcement that has a purpose of persuading someone to do or not to do something. It usually is on the topic of one's health, other's health, the environment, and self morale. For example; Smoking kills, don't kill yourself with smoking. That would be a PSA against smoking and its goal is to get you to stop or not to start smoking. PSA's appeal to one's emotions, logic, and ethics (pathos, logos, ethos).

Tuesday, January 20th

Tell me all about your 3 day weekend. Share photos!

Over the weekend I went to a birthday event for my best friend, Mollie. We went hot tubing and it was a blast. We ordered 6 pizzas for 12 people and it was awesome. Also, I went out to a really nice dinner that my friend Erik took me out to. It is a restaurant called bravo and it was so good! And of course, I babysat for the kids I nanny on Monday and that was fun too.

Friday, January 16th

Tell me a little bit about yourself and your life here at BVHS. What activities or clubs are you involved in? What year are you in school? What is your favorite class and/or teacher so far this year? What are you looking forward to this school year? Include some original photos from your phone if you can.

Although I am a junior at BVHS, this is only my second year here. I went to Blue Valley North freshman year and realized I wanted a change of scenery. I now have wonderful friends that I have been blessed with and I am so grateful to have them in my life. Currently, I am getting more involved with the school and its opportunities it has to offer. I took up the class dance this semester and this is my second time doing it. It really is a fun experience that BVN did not have. I am joining hammock club as well. Last semester i did better in school that I have ever have before. I have been working super hard and am planning on challenging myself next year  by taking rigorous courses. I am so glad I am here and I am looking forward to what the next year and a half has to offer.

Who am I?

Wednesday, January 14th

Accept differences
Before jumping to conclusions, think
Consider your possibilities
Don't think you're better than others
Enjoy life
Fix things
Golden rule
Have pride
Imagine
Justify reasons
Kindness makes peoples' day
Love others
Make mistakes and learn
Not everything works the way you want it to; it's a way of life
Opportunities should not be passed up
Prosper
Quit your bad habits
Respect others always
Start changing for the better
Thumper rule
Understand others
Volunteer
Walk humbly
X-rays happen; it will be okay
You are awesome
Zig-zag through life; don't do the same thing twice

Tuesday, January 13th

What are your thoughts on this class so far? Easy? Hard? Informative? Frustrating? What have you learned so far? What do you want to learn? Explain yourself.

I like how this class focuses on new technologies such as Google drive and other web-based programs. Since we haven't learned about web-based programs yet, it makes it more interesting than Microsoft programs. Technology is not a strong subject but Emerging Technology is taught in a way that makes technology easy to navigate. It is also informing learning about these new programs. I have learned how to work Google Drive better, blogger, and Chrome. I would like to learn more about "the cloud."

Monday, January 12th

Over the weekend I was at my dads house. He lives 5 minutes away from downtown so we went to Harvey's at Union Station for breakfast on Saturday morning. We toured Union Station and it was full of history such as the Kansas City Massacre in the 1930's. Today, there are still bullet holes that you can clearly see on the sides of Union Station. It is sort of cool to walk through a huge part of history of Kansas City.
 

Friday, January 9th

• Watching Netflix
• Listening to music
• Driving
• Partying
• Reading only

Thursday, January 8th

Read this small newspaper clipping and then write a blog post about it. What are your thoughts? How does it make you feel? Do you agree? Disagree? Explain yourself.

Teenagers are stuck in a place where they are told and expected to act like adults but do not have the same rights and cannot do the same thing as adults. In my opinion, teenagers are still under the roof of their parents so they are still supposed to be taken care of'; but at the same time learn how to be responsible and develop good work ethic by doing well in school. They are not adults yet so they should not be totally expected to act like adults but should be taught to act like one. I disagree with the backbone and wishbone statement because teenagers are supposed to be wishing and dreaming; It is what makes a successful person later in life. If teenagers do not have wishes and dreams they will not be successful as they move into college and out of college. They should be allowed to cry, dream, learn good work ethic, learn to help people, and to have fun. Adults need to be more lenient with teenagers and let them grow up and experience life.