Final Project

I created 2 interviews including answers to questions that I sent out to my family to try and gain some information on my ancestors. My First Interview was sent to Marilyn and Ed Pepper who are on my Dad's side. My Second Interview was sent to my Grandma Carole who is my mom's mom. After I sent those interview transcripts, I sent a Persuasive Letter to all of my family members. Next, I created a Family Tree to display as many family members I could. After that I created a Family Prezi. Then I made a Family Infographic to show where my family lives and facts about my family. Then the last thing I created was a 5 Frame Story Board. 

Poverty Infographic

Monday, December 2nd

Journal - Where are you right now on your "Who Do You Think You Are" project? What did you do over the break for the project? Did you interview anyone? Use the checklist below to figure out what you have finished, what you are still working on and what you still have to do. 

Right now in my project I am collecting photos for my Prezi. I have responses to all my emails and all I have to do is add photos to my Prezi then after that I will begin to work on my infographic.

Friday, November 15th

Here's how you will vote:

1. Create a new post on your blog.
2. Create a list of the top three people who's video you liked the best
3. Include the following information:
• Student's Name
• Video Idea
• Why you believe it is one of the best in the class
4. Submit your post to your blog

1. Claire Shafran: I thought her video was really good with the different colors and eating the muffin and I liked the music.

2. Katie Gemperli: drawing, it had a lot of pictures and a lot of details.

3. Nicole Hagel: passing notes, she took a lot of pictures with different colored posted notes and it looked cool.

Wednesday, November 13th

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 animation video turned out pretty good, overall I would give it 55 points out of 60 because a few pictures in the video show my feet which wasn't supposed to happen. I learned that when you make a stop motion animation video, it looks so much better when you take lots and lots of pictures. Also, setting each picture to just last less than half a second is the best to make your video look like its really in motion. Overall my video turned out the way I wanted it to. 

Monday, November 11th

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 was gone over the weekend so I did not get a chance to take my pictures. I have a plan on what I want my video to look like and I have a camera to use. I'm taking my pictures tonight.

Wednesday, November 6th

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

My storyboard will tell how to make cookies. First, you put the cookie dough in a bowl. Secondly, you spray the pan. Third, you make balls with the cookie dough and put it on the pan. Fourth, you put the cookies in the oven for 14 minutes. And lastly, you take the cookies out and eat them.

Monday, November 4th

Journal - 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.

The photo editing tool that I used is called fotoflexer.com I really like this tool because there are many different options on how you can edit your picture. Personally I think it is easy to use because everything is organized and laid out nicely on the screen when editing a photo. You have the choice to upload a photo from your own Facebook which can help many people in the future. I don't think it is hard to use. The good thing about it is that on the top you have all the options on editing your photo and they're all laid right out on the top of the screen. I haven't found anything bad about this photo editing tool yet. 

Friday, November 1st

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?

Some pros for photo editing could be making something look better on the picture than it really is in person. For example, food or clothing. Another pro could be to improve the quality of a picture. If a nice picture that you want to keep turns out blurry or if there is red eyes in the picture, with photo editing you can easily make the picture clear and take out red eyes. A con for photo editing could be that the picture turns out with too much edit and it looks fake. For example, if a girl gets senior pictures and if they are really photo edited, it's really clear that the picture was edited to make her look better. Personally, photo editing it fun when making collages with different filters, fonts, texts, and colors. An example when photo editing can be too inappropriate is making a picture of someone look fake. Another con would be that photo shop is too strong to cover up or change something to look different in the picture. 

Monday, October 28th

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 that we've used so far in class is Prezi. Prezi is my favorite web tool because it provides you with many different background themes, and the transitions in the Prezi are really cool. The thing I like about Prezi is that there are many different options for themes, fonts, colors, and transitions. You can add or delete different bubbles in your Prezi. I think Prezi makes a presentation ten times more interesting to watch.

Poverty- Global Issue

Monday, October 21st

Journal- What did you do this weekend?

Friday night I went to a party and it was really fun. Saturday morning I woke up and went to go ride, the weather was perfect for it. I made sure to ride outside that day because the weather was so nice unlike on Friday night. After I rode I went out to lunch with my grandma at Cheesecake Factory. I love my grandma a lot and any time I get to spend with her is awesome. Then, Saturday night Claire and I went mudding in her Jeep out in Belton with some friends. The mud was pretty dry though so we didn't get her car too dirty which sucked. Then on Sunday I went to the Chief's game with a bunch of friends and it was fun to be there when they won!

Tuesday, October 15th

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

After watching the Ted Talk yesterday, I didn't realize how much of an impact technology really has on people till hearing some of the things she had to say. I thought a lot of what she said was accurate and some was not. I thought her whole idea on being "together alone" was very interesting and I never thought of that when I would be on my phone with family or friends in one room. The only idea that she had that I didn't understand was the connection-isolation. When she said that it's bad that kids nowadays want to text instead of talk is bad, I agreed with her because when children grow up using nothing but texting to communicate they don't learn the basic social and communication skills they need in their everyday lives.

Tuesday, October 8th

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

I did not go to homecoming because I was out of town. Even if I was in town I still wouldn't go. Personally, homecoming is pointless. I was at a horse show riding all day everyday while I was gone.

Monday, October 14

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.

The technology in this age has really evolved and grown bigger and stronger, and is continuously growing to get better and better. I personally like all the options of technology that we have today because they are all helpful in different ways using technology as a resource for something is very reliable. The only reason why I wouldn't like all the new technology is because it sometimes gets in the way of more important things in life. Sometimes I find myself procrastinating with technology rather than doing something that actually needs to get done.

Wednesday, October 2nd

Journal - What do you know about infographics? What do you know about them? What are their purpose?

All I know about infographics is that they are kind of like a chart representing data or information. You can have infographics for a lot of things but they probably have to have some kind of percentage of the data or information given. Their purpose is to show the ratio of something to something else.

Wednesday, September 25th

Journal - Most students view citing 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?

When it comes to citing work, I think it's only necessary when you take exact words or sentences from a website. Although teachers think citing work is very important, even if you only use a few words or even if you got some ideas from a website, I only think its important to cite the website if you took exact words from it. Also, when citing, I think its necessary to only copy and paste the website that you used. The important of citing work is so that the person writing the paper, isn't getting all the credit for all the things they said in a paper. Citing work proves that the writer used someone else's words or ideas to put into their paper.

Tuesday, September 24th

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

I don't have a favorite book but I like reading magazines that have famous singers and celebrities in them. I don't read many magazines either but when I do it usually has breaking news about different celebrities and what they are doing or who they are dating.

Monday, September 23rd

Journal - 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?

I enjoy writing because it allows me to express all my thoughts and feelings without having to say them out loud. I enjoy writing more than I enjoy doing science or math related activities and my favorite thing to do is to free write about anything I want. Another type of writing that I enjoy more is reflecting. Writing a reflecting over a project, class, or even over the whole school year I would enjoy. Writing is an essential skill in life because if you are trying to get an important job and you have to write them an email, you want to show them that you are professional and educated by having formal writing skills. It's also essential in high school and college. I will use my writing skill in the future to type research papers and send important emails.

Tuesday, September 17th

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?


Creating an outline for your paper allows you to organize your thoughts before you write/type the paper. Without an outline you may not discuss all of the needed information or add too much off topic information. Outlines are important to keep the paper organized and clean. I personally like to outline my papers before I write them because I think in the end it takes less time to write the paper. I can check off things on my outline that  I have already included in my paper and then know what else there is that needs to be typed. I prefer to outline my papers with pen and paper rather than online. Online is harder to access whereas a piece of paper I can pull out at any time of the day. I don't know of other ways to organize my ideas. 

Monday, September 16th

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

This weekend I went to St. Louis for a horse show. I left Thursday morning and got there Thursday afternoon. I rode with one of the top trainers that night and the next day I started showing. I showed all day Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. When I say I "showed" I mean that I competed in a class riding one of my horses. This past weekend was a really important one because it was the start of a new year in gaining points for different classes, and the big Saturday night equitation class determined whether you qualify for the finals at the National Horse Show in Kentucky. When I wasn't riding, I was hanging with my friends at the show, learning courses, doing homework, or just hanging back at the barn isle with the rest of my barn and barn hands.

Wednesday, September 11th

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

The person I look up to the most would be my dad. He has always been there for me even when he wasn't physically with me. I know I can always go to him with anything I have a problem with and I know he'll give me the best advice anyone could give. He always tells me what his opinion is on something and he gives me different perspectives to everything. My dad does everything he can to help guide me through life and make the right choices. He's been through a lot in his life so he gives great advice and he's always there for me when I need him.

Tuesday, September 10th

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

Good email etiquette is having correct punctuation and grammar and having an introduction to the email such as: Dear or Hello. Having good email etiquette is really important in the real world because if you have to send an email for a potential job opportunity, you want to make it seem like your educated by writing a proper email. Having good email etiquette shows a lot about the person too. It shows they have good manners and that they're smart. Good email etiquette will take you far into the real world.

Texting and Driving

Friday, August 30th

Journal - 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 hobby is horseback riding. It takes up most of my time during the weeks and weekends so I don't have time for anything else. Iv'e been riding for eleven years and I go out of town several times during the school year to compete competitively. During the summer, I go out of state for 2-3 weeks straight. But when I do, I like hanging out with my sisters or friends, listening to music, and playing basketball. I spend most of my free time at the barn riding or with friends. My three favorite TV shows are Awkward, Vampire Diaries, and Grey's Anatomy. I like the color blue and I don't read magazines but when I do they are usually Taylor Swift magazines. 

Tuesday, September 3rd

Journal - 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?

A public service announcement is a big announcement that is supposed to get around to a big group of people and is supposed to spread within a school or community. Usually public service announcements have to do with an event that is going on or going to be happening in the future. If I made a public service announcement it would be about community service or an event that I want people to come to.

Who am I presentation

Wednesday, August 28th

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

Some good qualities of a good presentation is speaking loudly and keeping eye contact and talking slowly. If you talk too fast sometimes people will not be able to understand you and they will get annoyed or bored with your presentation. Another good quality for a good presentation is making time for people to ask questions. Engage with your audience and let them be apart of your presentation. Don't talk too fast or too slow and be excited to share your presentation with the class. So if you want to have a good presentation that people won't get bored, talk slowly and loudly, include your audience in the presentation, make time for questions, and have a good attitude and be exciting. 

Monday, August 26th

Journal - 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 and disagree. Some pictures that are on real business sites, you probably can't use. Pictures that have a copyright sign on the bottom right hand side are illegal to use. I think if you take a picture like that from an important and popular website, you may not use. But any pictures that are on google, you can use. I think that if you get permission to take someone's photos on Facebook then it is ok but if you just take them without asking they might get mad. 

Friday, August 23rd

Journal - What is the importance of online safety and protecting your information? What do you do to protect yourself online? Share an experience you or someone you know has had with online safety.


Online safety is important for people's well being and it protects people's personal information. Without internet safety, I think it would be very dangerous. Even with the safety, people can make fake profiles to talk to the person they want to and eventually find out where they live, where they go to school, and other personal information that shouldn't be given out to strangers. Personally, what I do to protect myself online is that I don't friend request people I don't know and I don't accept friend requests from people I don't know. Even if we have mutual friends, if I don't personally know the person, then it could still be a fake profile. I don't share my address and/or cell phone number on the social networking site and I also don't give out my number. A long time ago my sister Katie had an AIM. Some random person start chatting with her on there, not knowing it was a stranger, she kept talking with him. The person started asking for personal information and wanting to know who she was and where she was. My parents ended up calling the police because of some of the inappropriate things the person was saying and they were scared that Katie's safety was in jeopardy. From then on my siblings and I stopped using AIM.

Tuesday, August 20th

Journal - After watching the short clip of Ashton Kutcher's acceptance speech what did you take away from his advice? What does this quote mean to you -"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."


I think that a lot of people didn't think of life in that way. I think it might have surprised a lot of people from the things he said and I think a lot of people agree with him. After watching and listening to what he said, I also agree. I never thought of life in that way and I think that you can change and influence what other people have started. Also, people can build and influence off of the things that you have built.