End of the Year Questions

     My favorite project this year was the My Life Project. I found it very entertaining. My least favorite project was the PND Culture project. This project, to me, was boring. I wish that we had learned more about how to use iMovie. I wish we learned how to make more complicated projects. Overall, I enjoyed tech class very much!

My Life-Final Project

1. The songs i used in this project were How Far We've Come by Matchbox 20, 100 years by five for fighting, Pictures of you by the last goodnight, Just Dance by Lady Gaga, and Dance Dance by Fall Out Boy. I chose these songs because they represented by talents and interests, as well as my life.

2. To find my information, for pictures,i searched things like costs in 1996, fashion in 1996, and headlines in 1996. I used google most often. All of my websites were reliable.

3. The technology I used for this project was Keynote and iMovie. I used google and facebook for information and pictures. 

4. Most things went well for me in this project. Almost everything was very easy.

5.  struggled with putting my video into iMovie.

6. I did use still slides in my movie because I thought it was easier to get the information across. I did not use a consistent theme because I didn't find one that fit.

7. I used video in my project by putting a video of the Notre Dame Dance Team performing. I put it after my slides about me being on the team.

8. This type of project could be used if you are in a class that you have to give a project about yourself.

9. I transformed the music by editing it in garage band. I transformed pictures by editing them, and i transformed information by making it appear different.

12. I would do another project like this if I had to. I found it entertaining. If I didn't have to do another project like this, then I probably wouldn't.

Music Genre reflection

A) My music genre was Broadway show tunes (1981-2010) B) I chose this music genre because I like Broadway Musicals. I found my songs based on the shows that I knew from the years 1981-2010 and the songs I liked from these shows. I found my information by searching the topics I needed, then getting information from various broadway websites.  I used powerpoint to make slides, iMovoe to put it all together, YouTube and iTunes to get music and video, GarageBand to cut music, and google images for pictures. Putting the final movie together in iMovie. and using powerpoint for the slides went well for me. It was difficult to cut the music in GarageBand for me. I decided to use still slides because I am familiar with powerpoint, so i used that. This type of project could be used in a music class, to show where different types of music come from, an give examples.  I cited my information, and I cut my music and video to fit the time limit for borrowed pieces of entertainment. I woud do a project like this if I had a topic that interested me. If I didn't, I don't think I would like to do another project like this.

iMovie project

 

1. My role on the team was putting the movie together.
2. I learned that teamwork is not always the most fun.
3. We finished the project quickly.
4. Communication did not go well for us as a team.
5. We first made the powerpoint. Then, we moved the slideshow to iMovie and added transitions, music, and video. Concepts changed when we started adding these effects.
6. I learned how to use iMovie during this project. I learned how to make a project in iMovie and the work that goes into it.
7. This type of project could be useful n all classes, depending on the topic you are studying.
8. I used Noodletools to make MLA citations for the websites, pictures, and interviews that I used.
   
9. I would do another project like this if needed, but if I had a choice, I wouldn't because I don't like the way that iMovie operates.

Podcast Reflection

1.  I cut music to fit the length of my podcast. 2.  I could use a project like this in other classes to talk about the subject I'm earning about. 3. I could use a podcast in a job when giving a presentation. 4.  Recording the podcast was easy for me. Cutting the music was a bit harder for me. 5. I would like to clarify the 5 sound effect rule. I didn't know about that.

PND Culture Project

Our group chose PND baseball as our topic. we chose baseball because one member of our group plays and we thought it would be an interesting topic to research.

We included all different pictures tat have to do with baseball, since that was our topic.

We used email to communicate as a team. we emailed each other document and picture files to make it easier for us to get the project done.

Storyboarding helped us plan out what we will do for our movie, and it also will make making the movie easier. 

Charity Mail Merge project

1. LThe name of my business was the National Basketball Association and the NBA Cares program. The charity I chose was UNICEF, which is a charity that benefits children with the HIV/AIDS virus.
2. I used my knowledge of Microsoft Word. I learned how to use mail merge.
3. The easiest part of this project for me was writing the letter. The hardest part for me was figuring out how to use the mail merge feature.
4. In the future, if I have a job that requires sending letters, I could use the mail merge feature to help me, instead of having to type out every name and address.
5.I learned how to mail merge a letter. I knew that when companies send out formal letters to many people, that they probably didn't type out every single person's name and address, but I didn't know how they got all of the names on separate letters. 

iphoto project

1.I used google images to find images of things that i liked. I chose google because i am familiar with the site. For my name, I took my own pictures because I couldn't find pictures on the internet.
2. I learned how to use iphoto. I had never used it before.
3. I could use the skill involving iphoto in a real-world situation because if someone asked me to help them make a slideshow or how to get photos converted on it, I could help them.
4. I liked both. I feel like it was a good change to do something more creative. I would be okay with going back to projects in Word and Excel, too.

M&M Reflection

I found the m&m project fairly easy. I had to do the same thing in both 7^th and 8^th grade, so I was familiar with the project. I used excel during this project. I already knew how to use excel and some of its functions such as highlighting different sections and moving them, etc. Although I knew how to use it, though, at my grade school we used PCs and not macs, so that was different. I also got confused about how to change the name of the labels on the pie chart. Everything worked correctly for me, so that wasn’t a big problem. In the future, I could try to make the pie chart more readable. I used specific colors, but the labels just had numbers. All in all, I thought this project was fun and easy.  It was also a good learning experience on how to use some programs on a macbook.

M&M Comparison

Tech Introduction Paper

Hi! This is Sydney Abdnour blogging for Mrs. Strauss's technology class. I’m a freshman at Peoria Notre Dame High School, and went to St. Thomas Grade School. I am excited about my first year of high school and look forward to a good school year.

                  I am excited to learn more about technology in this class. I know basic things, but there are more complex machines out there that I have no clue how to use. I hope that when I have finished this course, I will have a better understanding of the technology that I will have to use at this point in my life.

                  In addition, I think that this class will help me when new electronic devices come out.  It could help me by making this new technology easier to figure out. I believe that I will have a good time in this technology class; I feel that I will learn a lot and I hope to learn many new things that could help me in both the near and distant future.