Who Am I Project

Click here to be redirected to my family letter.
Click here to find my Mother's side of the family's questionnaire.
Click here to go to my Father's side of the family's questionnaire.

Monday, December 2

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. Currently I have finished both sides of interviews, family echo, my persuasive letter to family members, and outlined/started my Prezi family tree. The event that I want to do a 5-frame storyboard for is going on next week and that will be easily completed within the timeline of deadlines. Over the break I collected photos of family members and finished up my interviews with my grandparents who came in town from California. I am on track for what needs to be completed when and I am feeling quite confident in my effort that is being put in to make it a great collection of work.

November 15, 2013

Katie Gemperli- Drawing
Her stop-motion animation looked like it took a lot of thought and processing to come out with the finished film. Not only was it original, but it was also well drawn and looked very professional. I am honestly jealous of her drawing skills and think that it really represented true talent on a deeper level scale than just the projects requirements.

Nicole Hagel- Post-It Notes
The post-it notes was very clever and clean cut. The pictures were clear and looked great while watching the film. I thought that she put a lot of time and effort to keep her project organized and presented it in a way that was really well done.

Pat Wallace- I Woke Up In A New Bugatti
Funny.

Wednesday, November 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? I think my stop motion turned out great! Although I did not stick to my original plans I thought that the pictures that I took turned out to be alright after all. One thing that I think is common during this class is we don't really get a lot of time to get quality vs. quantity. We go from project to project without doing more and making the projects we are doing better. Instead it is step by step finish, get it done, move on to the next. I would give it probably 55/60 just because it is short but still original and

Monday, November 11

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. My stop motion animation is starting to come along. I have started to brainstorm further on my topics and today after school will start to take my photos. By tomorrow I plan on having the correct amount of photos with good quality. Since it is with horses it will take multiple tries I am assuming but I will get it right. Over the weekend I was out of town for a horse show competing at Zone Finals so I did not get the time to take any photos for my stop motion animation. I do not have my pictures completed today but I will have all of my pictures tonight/tomorrow. It wasn't very easy to start the project out leaving town for a horse show.

Friday, November 8

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? My stop-motion animation video will have something to do with me and my horses. Since horses are a huge part of my life and I know no one else but True would have the chance to do something with them, it would be interesting to find a way to interoperate them into my project. My top ideas were: brushing a dirty horse off and then tacking them up and then un tacking them, feeding them a carrot with the carrot disappearing, and then riding them at the different gaits. I'm not sure which yet, but I think all would be equal opportunities to show off some creativity. The stories are all going to tell the motion of something whether it be how to care for a horse, ride a horse, or spoil a horse I'm not entirely sure but I will do my best to work hard and 'WOW' people with the spark horses wow me with. I think that True and I will help each other take the pictures considering we both ride together and know each others horses inside and out. We are planning on going out on Tuesday and taking the pictures, and then having them ready by block to edit and place together.

Wednesday, November 6

Journal - What story will your storyboard tell? Explain in detail. My story board is my morning and what I do to get to school in the morning! It starts with me getting up at 6 a.m., still sleeping because I'm always still tired, then finally waking up and brushing my teeth, straightening/styling my hair, putting on makeup, going to Starbucks, driving to school, and then finally getting to school to my favorite class (1st hour!!!) and being with my friends. The straightening my hair is me actually partaking in the act whereas my make up is sitting on the counter. I obviously didn't do me getting dressed in the morning, so instead I chose to include Starbucks because that is something I do EVERY morning!

Monday, November 4

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. I was absent on Friday and have not been able to start using a photo editing tool yet. I like to use photo editing tools though and they are all really easy to use no matter what kind it is! I know of a tool that I have used before called Picnik. It is a great 'free' tool (with options to pay money of course) and it is so easy to use. It provides a step-by-step process of what to edit first in a picture all the way down to adding fun stickers and things that aren't always necessary, just as a fun touch. Picnik is a tool that I would recommend to anyone. It provides simple and advanced editing skills with the option to add in stickers, borders, faces, etc,.

Friday, November 1

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? The pro's to photo editing is that they can make pictures look better defined, more professional, and of course over all better. Some of the con's to photo editing is that with some photos you never know how much they have been edited or if the picture is genuine. (Without any touch-ups or photo editing) Photo editing is fun and appropriate at any time- if it is your photo and if you want it to look better than you can edit it in any way, shape, or form that you want. Of course if you were doing something for a job you may just want to have the simple photo without all the enhancements but photo editing is fun and easy and can be done to any photo! Photo editing can be too much when people lose track of what the picture actually looks like. For example Antisdales senior photos are so edited they honestly look horrible. They are worse than a magazine cover. They are so edited that people do not look anything like what they do in real person and it is so fake. Creating 'fake-ness' within a photo is when the editing needs to be turned down.

Monday, October 28

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?


Prezi has definitely been my favorite web tool. I also created a presentation about Prezi, using Prezi, for my English class to explain the reasons why it is such a great web tool. I really like it because it is easy to use and fun to put presentations together! The bubbles and the outlines provide the best view for the audience and the tool itself guides the audiences eyes through the presentation to the specific item being talked about. I wouldn't use any other tool unless I was told to do so. I can use this tool for any and every presentation, to explain any and every topic, and I can adjust it to be used for any and every class. Prezi is the best web tool around and I would recommend it to anyone!

Piktochart- Domestic Violence

Domestic Violence Project

Kizoa slideshow: Domestic Violence Slideshow - Slideshow

Monday, October 21

Journal - Tell me about your weekend. I went to a couple parties and rode my horses. The weekend had beautiful weather, unlike on Friday, and so I made sure to ride outside. Although it was chilly, the sun made it perfect to ride. I went out to dinner with my family and I hung out with my friends all weekend. The weekend was really busy but was fun! True and I on Saturday night went mudding out in my jeep. The track was pretty dry though so we didn't get my car too dirty which was a let down. On Sunday I ended up going out to breakfast and then headed off to the Cheifs game. After the game I went out to dinner and then finally got home and went to bed. This weekend was really fun.

Thursday, October 17

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. My presentations is memorable because of the details that I include. The stories behind domestic violence are already very memorable, and for some hard to comprehend. I made my presentation with less words because I would like to personally describe each topic. I am including the statistics and the different causes, effects, and preventions for the global issue. My presentation will be unique because of the pictures that I include and the way that I describe my global issue. (Plus, I'm the only one with my topic...) The web tool that I am using is not that interesting and I feel like if I could've used Prezi I would have made a much better presentation.

Tuesday, October 15

Journal - What did you learn from the Ted Talk yesterday? Did you find it interesting or accurate? Explain. The Ted Talk was nearly spot on. The women speaking was really accurate about how society is today relative to their usage of technology. I know that with me, I love to be texting my friends all the time and keeping up with what everyone is doing. I am not addicted to my phone though; I may use it a lot but if it came down to it I wouldn't freak out if I lost it or it was stolen. I think that too many people, especially girls, concern themselves too much with how many 'likes' or 'follows' they recieve on a particular social networking site. I think it is ridiculous to let others decided whether or not your photos are beautiful or worthy of said 'like'. When I am hanging out with my friends we are often either checking our phones or on our phones, but we also do things together of course. I feel like that picture of her daughter and her friends was a more 'in the moment' picture and I don't think that people are really hanging out like that the entire time they are together. Checking social networking sites for some is really addicting. I know that one of my friends constantly is updating her status, or posting pictures of stuff that she is doing, but none of it is really worth posting! She just feels the need to check her Facebook or her Instagram 24/7, and decides that every time she does she will post something new. The Ted Talks video really opened my eyes to society and their dependency on technology today. Sometimes I wish life was simpler and that people didn't have the chance to use technology.

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.

I really like the way that you can keep in touch with those who love you anytime of the day. Calling and texting provides people the chance to continuously talk to one another, (or text) and it makes it very simple. Technology has its advantages and disadvantages, but without it I feel like life in today's society would become very difficult. Communication has been made so easy as to just use the tip of your fingers to send a quick message, thought, etc,. to all your friends. I dislike that after you talk to someone through text for such a long time, it then becomes harder to talk to that person in person, unless you know the person really well. I feel like technology is the new form of the 'hand shake', where people will shoot a stranger a text to get to know them instead of going up and introducing themselves. I use technology to keep in touch with friends, family, etc,. and it helps me keep in touch with those that are far away from me too. I use technology to help guide me to different places, using my GPS, and I also use it to communicate and write papers for school. The internet is an amazing tool for quick answers to a question. Although not always reliable the internet is definitely a convenience. Some things that come along with technology that I dislike would be that people can abuse it very easily. When you are texting someone they can easily lie to you, put you down, or act fake because you cannot see their face or who they are with, they can also take pictures of maybe secret things that you thought would stay within the two of you. Technology serves a great purpose for everyday life, but sometimes that purpose gets mistreated, or misunderstood.

Tuesday, October 8

Journal - Tell me about your Homecoming weekend (whether you went to the activities or not!). Tell me about what you did over the weekend As you know, I have been out of town for a horse show for Medal Finals. All week/weekend I have had to get up and ride very early all day, everyday. I work hard to try and be the best at what I do and that requires many hours of persistent effort. During the show we train, excercise, and participate in schooling classes before the actual division. My horse, Artie, and I did amazing and he was such a good boy. I love riding my horses, but sometimes it gets difficult because of school. Riding takes a lot of dedication and through out the weekend I demonstrated just that.

Wednesday, October 2

Journal- What do you know about info graphics? What are their purposes?

Info graphics show a group of statistics in different forms. Sometimes they can be in survey's or with polls such as; bar graphs, pie charts, etc,. When using info graphics it is easy to present statistics in an easy-to-read manner that is straight forward and looks nice. The format of the info graph usually depends on the type of information that is being represented. The purposes of info graphics are to depict statistical information through an easy-to-read chart or graph. You can make the graph suitable to whatever information needs to be represented and you can also make the colors different and the format. Info graphs are fun and easy to use and can help turn boring statistics into a fun picture.

Friday, September 27

Journal- What are your weekend plans?

I left Thursday for a horse show in Washington D.C. that I qualified for with True. We left on Friday morning at 4 am and then had to ride all weekend, all day. When we flew there it took a long time but it was worth it. My barn rode really well throughout the weekend and we hope to keep getting better. Horse shows take up mostly all of my weekends, and that is all we get to do the whole time- ride.

Wednesday, September 25

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 think citing sources is a pain. I prefer to just copy and paste the website or just state the authors name in italics. MLA format is hard because it requires so much information and is a pain having to go search through information trying to find everything you need. I think that citing should certainly only be required for taking someone else's words. I think that taking a picture off of google is a little different because they posted it within a search engine knowing that it would be viewed publicly and used frequently. It is appropriate to cite your sources because people need to sift through what your ideas are and then other outside sources ideas. That is why our paper is not so much outside voice as it is our own words. In order to have an educated paper you need to cite your sources.

Tuesday, September 24

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

It would be too hard to say a specific book, magazine, or publication as my favorite because there are so many to choose from. There are always likes and dislikes about each novel- none of them are perfect. The one that comes to mind when I think of my 'favorite' book would have to be The Great Gatsby. The book is written fantastically with the reader able to really connect with the characters and imagine the setting. It is a very easy read that goes along quickly because you want to keep reading to get to the end. The characters and the story behind Gatsby's life is intriguing and I love it. I have read the book 3 or more times and each time the novel gets even better. I recommend the book to everyone whether they enjoy reading or not because, I do not like to read, but I read it and it was fantastic.

Monday, September 23

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 about things that I care about. If I am very interested in a certain topic I can write as much as needed and possibly even more. I really like to write about things that mean something in my life in particular but writing isn't something that I particularly dislike. Personal writing's and free-write's are my favorites just because usually there are no boundaries to what you can and cannot write. Writing is important because without it people really don't know how to communicate other than face-to-face. Writing allows people to copy down thoughts onto paper without saying a word. I use writing now in English class and also when writing a letter to someone. There are endless ways to use writing whether it be for communicative purposes or for fun. I will use writing my entire life for jobs, communication, writing papers, etc,. Again- there are endless uses for writing.

Tuesday, September 17

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 a paper is important because without the outline your paper would be harder to write. Writing an outline before you write the paper helps guide you in writing an effective essay so that you make sure to catch all the important points, it also keeps you on track of what to include so that you don't stray off topic too much. I love to write outlines for my essays/papers because I have a tendency to write way too much that doesn't truly relate to the topic at hand. Outlines allow me to check off what I have included in my paper and give me a sketch on what to use and what not to use. I usually don't use a website to help me outline, instead I just sketch it onto a piece of paper. (But this helps too!) I prefer to organize my thoughts with pen and paper because that way I can pull it out whenever is convenient and not have to log onto a computer, and pull it up onto the screen. In my opinion that is just much easier than using an online tool, but I do think that the online tool can help make it look more 'official' and clean.

Monday, September 16

Journal -Tell me about your weekend. Where did you go? What did you do? I left Thursday to go to a horse show in St. Louis all weekend. This horse show was Maclay Regionals and so I had to place in the top 10 to qualify for Maclay finals and my horse and I did and are going to go to finals. When I go to horse shows I generally get up everyday around 6 a.m. (sometimes earlier, sometimes later) and ride till 5-9 at night depending on the classes. Normally every horse show True and I go together and we stay together for the whole weekend since she rides with me at our barn. Horse shows are very fun but also really tiring so it can get very stressful keeping up with school, but since I have been leaving for horse shows ever since lower/middle school, I am used to it. While at the horse show we don't have a lot of time to hang out and sit around but we do go out to dinner with our barn and we have a really great time together.

Wednesday, September 11

Journal Entry- 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 in life the most is my dad. I love him so much and he has always supported me and whatever I have wanted to do in life. He always gives me the best advice but never really tells me how to solve my problems; instead he gives me ideas of how to fix it and lets me do it myself. My dad has always been there at nearly every one of my horse shows to support me and pick me up if I have a bad show. He has dedicated his life to making sure that mine, and my family's lives are as great as they possibly could be. My dad is the most honest, hard-working, helpful, giving individual I have ever known and will know. He gives so much and expects so little in return. I hope someday I can be half as great of a person as my dad is.

Tuesday, September 10

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

Email etiquette is important in the real world because nearly every business is either run on technology or uses it everyday. Emailing people is important for communication with bosses, potential buyers/sellers, etc,. there are unlimited uses for emailing. Email etiquette is important though to show the receiver that you are educated and respectful when emailing someone else. Whether it is your best friend, or a boss that you are applying for a job, people need to use email etiquette to get further into the business world. Being respectful and educated in an email can put you ahead because more people will consider you for other jobs, or tasks, all because you are nice when you email and talk to others. As soon as you send an email that does not have very good etiquette the person may stop replying, or may tell others that you are not even worth talking to because how you came off to him/her was disrespectful or 'messy'. 

Public Service Announcement: Smoking Cigarettes

Tuesday, September 3

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?

I was not here on Friday, but I know what a PSA, Public Service Announcement, is. A public service announcement is something that raises the communities awareness of a certain struggle or problem facing most of the community. Without Public Service Announcements people wouldn't be able to empathize, (and sympathize) with the problems that are of concern. If I could create a PSA I would include something to do with animals because they are my passion. I would have to include the way that a lot of animals have gone through daily abuse or abandonment and that they need people to be more responsible with their pets. People should always have a chip or a collar with a dog tag on it so that family pets can be returned if lost/stolen. I wouldn't make it like the Sarah McLocklin because nobody sympathizes it and instead switches the channel before the commercial is even done.

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.) I ride horses. I will be gone nearly every thursday-friday this month but will keep up with all my classes. (I will be with True.) I ride everyday for 4+hours and dedicate everything I have to the sport.I have been riding for 13 years and will never stop. I qualified for all the major finals this year and have to be gone a lot to get to all the finals. I have 5 horses and have to spend all of my free time with them training and keeping them and myself in shape. I like to Instagram, especially pictures of my boyfriend and I with friends or my horses and other pets. I don't have anytime really to watch TV but when I do I watch Breaking Bad, Grey's Anatomy, and Law and Order: Special Victims Unit.

'Who Am I' Presentation

Wednesday, August 28

Journal - What are some qualities of a good presentation? How can you make a boring presentation interesting? Explain. Engage your audience. In order for your presentation to interest other people you must relate to their lives as well as your own. Nobody enjoys listening to a presentation only having the presenter talk about themselves. When somebody gives a presentation some good qualities that the person should have is to make good eye contact with the whole audience. The presenter should look around at each person casually and not just stare at the teacher in the corner, or one individual in the crowd. Another thing that the presenter should do is smile. If the person looks miserable while presenting people will generally not pay attention or care about the content of the presentation. Good posture and stance is another key point to being a good presenter. Standing with your feet towards the audience and not twisting and turning and awkwardly moving about, but instead standing still and confident towards those you are presenting. The presenter should never have his/her back to the audience either, that is a sure sign of being ill-prepared. Those are just a few key points that I think make a good presentation.

Monday, August 26

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 with this statement. I think that if someone posts a picture on the internet they are assuming the risk that the viewers may or may not copy it, tell others about it, use it, etc,. When people post things online whether it be a status update, a personal comment or opinion, or a picture, they are at risk for being judged or copied. People who complain about someone's personal comments on their photos should not be upset. They were the ones who assumed the initial risk of posting it to a much bigger community than just keeping the photo(s) personal. Another thing that I think is that if someone posts something to a social network like a quote or something, anyone should be able to use that quote on one of their pictures: whether or not you would want to do that instead of being original is up to them. People who complain about others opinions of them online are just looking for something to complain about. If you posted a picture on a social page and then got 'hate' comments, you did it to yourself. Now there is the argument that maybe then you should choose your friends more wisely, or post pictures that people won't make rude comments about, but that isn't the question being asked. It's short and simple: IF someone posts images on the internet then they are free game for anyone to use because the internet is a large community of people that may or not be able to be controlled by who sees those pictures.

Friday, August 23rd

"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 because you need to keep your personal information away from strangers that you are unaware of. If a stranger tries to get a hold of information about you, you have no way of knowing how that person will use that information. That person could use it to find out where you live, call your phone number(s), find out your other family members and other personal things that only friends and people you trust can have the knowledge of. There could be people that you don't know checking your facebook or your twitter to see where you live, go to school, etc,. One thing that is important for facebook users to do is to set their profile as private- which means somebody who clicks on your profile cannot see any personal information without you accepting their friend request. The same option is available for twitter, instagram, etc,. I personally have my instagram set to if someone wants to follow me they have to send me a request so that I can approve of who sees my information and my pictures. If I didn't have my Instagram set to the 'private' setting I would have way too many people who are viewing my pictures that I do not know at all. Another reason it is a good choice to set your settings like that is that without it people who follow you could follow you without you even knowing. There pictures wouldn't show up on your notifications and they would obtain to the ability to follow you without you having any idea. One time one of my friends didn't have her facebook profile set to 'private' and someone was able to hack her facebook account and figure out her phone number. Another thing that happened is her friends list became something that nearly everyone in the city (or it seemed like that), was friends with her. She hardly knew anyone of her friends in the list but since her profile wasn't set to 'private' she wasn't able to sort out her friends from people who just wanted to view her profile. Bottom line is: protect your privacy from those who you don't know because you never have any idea of who is really looking you up or checking up on you.

Tuesday, August 20th

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." Everyone has their own way of adding and taking away from/to our communities, society, etc. After observing the video on Ashton Kutcher's acceptance speech people can get a better understanding into a more 'popular' opinion. A person can hear a million times their own parents telling them, "You can make a difference- change the world, etc." but hearing it from a famous person can make you truly think that you actually can make a difference. Ashton's quote is showing that it doesn't take some genius to make a difference in this world, instead be a creative individual, a problem solver, etc,.No matter how big or small an individual is they can impact this world negatively or positively. If some small-town girl decides to make a new food stamp program for her town, no matter how small that town is, she has made a positive impact. That girl decided to change her town for the better and she wasn't some famous actor or actress.