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.

I'm a little skeptical about this article. I can see this teacher talking about a few students but definitely not all of them. Not all teachers actually care about their students-- I get this feeling from the teachers I've had in the past and currently have who don't even smile at me when I go out of my way to say hello. I have teachers who make rude and sarcastic remarks to me and other students as well, roll their eyes, and treat me like I'm stupid. I also have overheard teachers that gossip about students-- and no, not in a "trying to help" way. I know that in life your'e not going to get along with everybody, but on occasions I feel like students show more maturity than certain teachers do. If school is truly meant to teach us about life then some teachers are doing it wrong. I understand that every teacher and every administrator is different, but I can easily say that I have and have had teachers whose dis-respectfulness and attitude have left me with negative thinking of my schooling years. When the author says "It is your resilience in conquering the main event — adversity — that truly prepares you for life after school," I will consider that next time I'm talked down to or mistreated by a teacher and stand up for myself, asking not to be spoken to in ways that are rude and that put me down. The overall concept of this article is good, I agree that school prepares you for life. But from what I've experienced in my high school career is that for some teachers it really is the grade that matters most-- not the learning, not the student.

April 22nd

For our group stop-motion animation, we are using a white board to draw out some pictures. Lynda will be drawing a tiger with the statement "class of 2015 turn up or transfer." This idea was Jared's who is obviously very creative. I will be helping to take the pictures and getting things set up. We are overall splitting the project equally among us.

April 14th

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

This weekend was pretty fun. Friday I hung out with my mom because my dad left town that day for a few weeks. Saturday I went to the gym in the morning and then got some things done for prom. The after party at my friends house was too good of a time. It was definitely a great way to begin the ending of senior year. On Sunday I didn't get back home till mid-afternoon and slept until at least 6. Monday I slept in late again and then had a haircut early that afternoon. Monday evening I did some more car shopping but sadly I still haven't found anything that I like more than my current car or anything that drives as well. Sooo the search continues.

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.

For my stop motion animation I am going to do a chess game playing without people. The pieces will move in motions around the board and eventually come up with a winner. The person helping me will most likely be one of my friends or my sister. I need a chess board to do this and lucky for me I already have one for some reason. I plan on shooting this either in my house or if the weather is nice outside.

April 6th

Tell me all about your weekend and please share photos!

This weekend was super fun. On Friday I went to Lawrence with a few of my friends and we had a good time and definitely burned some calories. The next morning we came home and I got the news that I have to sell my car and get a new one-- which was bittersweet news. On Saturday I went to check out some cars and got a few test drives in. That night I went to a few gatherings and had a blast with my friends. Sunday I went to my Nana's and had dinner with some family and then met up with an friend I hadn't seen for a while which was nice. Overall 5/5 weekend.

April 3rd

This 5 frame story board reflects the plot of this book going from lighter to darker.

April 1st

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

I like the transition to warmer weather. I love being outside, taking walks with my dog, and eating ice cream-- which all is nice to do this time of year. It's also exciting because we are going into the last few months of school and getting ready to graduate. I couldn't be more excited for these next two months.

Photo Edits

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.

Yes, I completed the scavenger hunt at school, I got a lot of pictures that matched the checklist given. I did take a few more at home though that I thought would be better.They weren't very hard to take, they just might not be very good.

March 27th

What do you know about photography and/or photo editing? Do you take photos? How do you take photos? Do you edit photos before posting them on social media? How do you edit them? Explain any background or knowledge you have about photography and photo editing. Do you like it? Do you have any interest?

I really don't know very much about photography or photo editing. I take a lot of pictures but they are always on  my cell phone and I don't necessarily take much time to do editing other than adding a filter or something. I don't have an immediate interest in photography or serious photo editing, I rather like to take pictures in a moment and remember them the way they were taken. I do understand why people enjoy it so much, I just don't find it as thrilling. 

Global Issue Presentation

March 23rd

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

Spring Break was pretty crazy, I went to Mexico with most of the seniors and had the time of my life. Each day was super relaxing and the weather was great the entire trip. The resort we stayed at was pretty nice and the service was good too. We met up with some other schools while down there too which was fun. A small group of us got the opportunity to go to a club in downtown Cancun called Coco Bongo and it was possibly the best night of my life. Mexico sure didn't disappoint and was worth all the money I payed.

March 11th

What are you doing for Spring Break?

For spring break I am going to Mexico with some of my friends in the senior class. We are going to Cancun and staying at a resort on Playa del Carmen. I'm there for seven days and am excited considering I payed for the whole trip myself so I'm looking to forward to seeing what I dropped all this money on. I can't wait to spend this break with some of my closest friends.

March 9th

Tell me about your weekend.

On Friday I went to a friends house and spent most of the night there, which was a lot of fun and very refreshing. Saturday the weather was great so I went to the gym and did half my workout inside and half outside. I then took my dog to the park and spent the rest of my day relaxing. Sunday I caught up on some sleep and got some homework done.

March 6th

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

I would give more freedom to seniors. I have friends at other schools in the district and at their schools, if you're 18 you can sign yourself out as excused. At our school you can sign yourself out at 18 but it's counted as unexcused. Most of us over the age of 18 would know how to handle a rule like that without taking advantage of it and be aware of the consequences as well. Parents still get the email that you've signed out, so I don't understand the mistrust in senior students when most would be able to handle the freedom.

March 4th

In order to have a good presentation:

1. Don't stare at the screen the whole time.
2. Know what your'e wanting to talk about.
3. Try not to over talk on one slide.
4. Don't try to fit too much in on one slide.
5. Do your best to make eye contact with your audience.
6. If you aren't as comfortable with presenting, go over notes first and over prepare.
7. Introduce yourself when you first get up you your presenting area.
8. Always end a presentation saying thank you before you leave the presentation area.
9. Try your best to look like you actually want to be up there.
10. Smile at your audience.

March 2nd

This weekend was pretty low-key. I went out on Friday with some friends and then spent the night at their place. Saturday I got to the gym before the weather got too bad and then decided to spend the night at home. Sunday I got in a good workout, did some shopping, and finished all my homework.

Infographic

easel.ly

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.

- Make sure all the numbers add up.
- Use reliable sources
- Use trendy, clever knowledge
- Infographics make you 40% more relevant to hipsters
- Use a few different types of charts to display statistics

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!

This weekend I stayed home sick on Friday and watched HBO. Saturday I woke up, made some breakfast, then went to the gym. That night I went to my friends house and hung out with some friends, when I got home I ate some leftovers and went straight to bed. Sunday I went up to the gym and then came home and did some homework.

February 18th

My favorite food: Too many to chose from!!
Foods I'd like to avoid: Tomatoes
My favorite things to learn: Life science
My favorite color: Anything neutral
My best friends are: Mary, Lynda, Jen, Kaelen
My favorite games to play: I can't remember the last game I played
My favorite books: 50 Shades of Grey, anything non-fiction
My favorite movies or TV shows: Law & Order, Real Housewives, Sex & the City, any action movie.
My favorite holiday: Fourth of July
Things I do well: Exercise, start conversation, listening
Things I need to practice more: Confidence, time-management
My favorite place to go: Lifetime, Centerfire, dog park
My favorite family activities: Hiking, going out to eat
My favorite thing to do outside: Hike, explore new places, go for walks/runs
My favorite chore: Vacuuming
My least favorite chore: Dusting
What I want to be when I grow up: Wish I knew
A place I want to visit: Southern Asia, Australia, anywhere in Europe
My favorite part of the year: The transition of Summer to Fall
My favorite part of each day: Gym, work, seeing my family and pets

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?

In modern society I believe the push to strive in education is a big concern for many countries. This cartoon is trying to say that while other countries are making more and more progress, the USA is falling behind. The perspective of an adult or teacher would be that students are losing study habits to technology and other distractions while in other parts of the world students are excelling. 

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?

I believe that the more effort and time we spend on something, the more promising it will be. Good things take time; spending no time on a list of things will still leave you with a finished list, but what matters is how quality the work is. Focusing on doing your undoubtedly best work will take you far in whatever you do. I think going through the education system can really give the wrong idea for students sometimes; we rush to get it done, but do we really engage in focus and understanding? Putting the time, the deep thought, and the focus will conclude in success.

February 9th

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

This weekend I worked both Saturday and Sunday, I also had a few pretty good workouts. On Saturday night I went to my friend Kendra's house which was pretty fun. Sunday was a beautiful day outside so I took my dog to the dog park and we ran around for an hour. Overall it was a pretty solid weekend :-)

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.)

I have learned about different programs and organizations providing services to abused or mistreated animals. These organizations do what they can to speak out and stop this necessary treatment. I also came across some info graphics which gave me more of an insight on animal testing statistics.

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.

This weekend was a good time. Sweetheart was fun and the friend I took, Austin, was a lot of fun as well. We went to dinner at Macaroni Grill and the food was actually really good. After that some of us decided not to go to the dance because we didn't really want to spend the money. We went to our after party at Jen Maxwell's and had a great time from then on. I was extremely tired the next day, but overall it was a great night. 

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.

An email is a form of online communication that is more formal than texting. I use email quite a bit in my personal life to keep up with sales and updates on school things. People use email a lot through work considering it is a more formal way of communicating.

January 28

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

Ten years from now, I will hopefully be out of college and on my way to a career. I will most definitely be keeping young by partying and doing dumb things while still having the appearance of a mature twenty-eight year old. I hope to have pets and a comfortable home of my own. I also hope to be whipping in some solid income to keep up with my late-twenties lifestyle.

January 27

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.

This topic doesn't necessarily cause controversy, it's more on the fact that some people just do not care. Some people do not think animals should have rights or that they deserve anything. Many people in the world subject animals to fatal or unsafe testing, labor, and abuse.

People who are "for" animal rights see that we should not go out of our way to harm animals. It's understood that they can be used for scientific testing without harm, or used as food for survival. What it comes down to is the negligence and immoral actions of people that hurt the living, breathing animals that surround us.

Animal Rights

1. Without doing any research, what background do you currently have on this issue?
     I am aware that this is a serious issue around the world; animals are not treated fairly or morally.
2. What do you want to know about this issue?

     I would like to learn more about the laws set in place and the fight against animal cruelty.
3. Why did you choose this issue? Had it effected your life? Is it something you are passionate about? Explain.

    I have an interest in animal rights and animal protection, I also have pets and have always been an animal lover. I think it is wrong to believe that animals are so far below us; we should be protecting and helping them rather than doing immoral and wrong things to them.

January 26

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.

The reason I think we were supposed to do this assignment is because it opens us up to a new presentation style. Rather than a typical slideshow with numbers and bullets this new presentation we did shows us a more professional, commercial-like way of presenting information. Having knowledge about these different types of slide designs will help us better our future presentations.

Friday, January 23

I think kids take life too seriously. No, that does not mean to literally not take your life seriously... But I do think kids worry too much. The expectations they try to live up to could cause some of this-- which I think is very sad.

PSA

January 20

Tell me all about your 3 day weekend.

This weekend I was sick so I stayed home for most of it. I watched a few movies and hung out with my mom who was being so nice and making me meals. On Sunday I was feeling better and went out with some friends and had some fun. I also went out to eat dinner at Bravo and had a good healthy ending to my weekend.

January 16

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.

This year I am a senior at Blue Valley High School. I am not involved in any clubs or sports here. My favorite class this year is a tough choice-- I don't consider myself a huge fan of school, but if I had to choose it would be AP Biology. What I am looking for this school is a fun time, further experiences, and some confidence before heading to college.

Who Am I

Wednesday, January 14

Always stay open-minded.
Be aware of your surroundings.
Control your emotions.
Don't stray away from a challenge.
Everything will end up okay in the end.
Find the good in people.
Go out and achieve what you want.
Help out when you can, the best you can.
Imagine your self in other people's shoes.
Just relax and go with the flow sometimes.
Kindness will take you far.
Live with the best intentions.
Meditate every once in a while.
No one is perfect.
Open up when you need help.
Practice really does pay off.
Question what you don't understand.
Respect other's feelings.
Self-control will make you easier to be around.
Test what you don't believe.
Understand that everyone's different.
Versatility makes a good team.
We all have our own scars.
You can do it if you work hard.
Zebra cakes make really good snacks.

Tuesday, January 13

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.

This class has gone well for me so far. I am not the most "tech-savvy" person out there, and have always gotten frustrated with computers and their programs. This class however, the first week in at least, is going pretty smooth-- which is very exciting.

Monday, January 12

Tell me about your weekend. What did you do? Upload a photo to your Google Drive and then insert the photo (or photos!) to your blog post to show me what all you did.


This weekend was pretty low-key. I went to the basketball game on Friday, then continued home to watch some HBO. On Saturday I woke up at a good time and went to the gym to do some upper body. After that I went and got a bite to eat then went to hangout with some friends. On Sunday, I did a kickboxing class in the morning and then had work from 2-7. When I got home I worked on less homework than I probably should have.

Friday, January 9

Exercise/Nutrition : A
Watching movies: A
Spending time with friends: A
Being a working woman: A
Staying sane : A

Thursday, January 8

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.





Reading this small article reminds me how many opportunities are outside everyone's doorsteps. I feel like it's become a practice to sit around and complain about having nothing to do; this article addresses that there is plenty of things waiting to be done. Teenagers often attract the stereotype of lazy-- which in my mind is so wrong. We as teenagers have to learn how to make use of our time and begin pushing ourselves into the "grown-up world," but at the same time we are still young and require more experiences to add to our knowledge and understanding of the world around us.