Well, You've Done It Now!

After two days of not being able to access this blog to post assignments and updates, this blog is moving. The new location is misterbjerkeca.wordpress.com

See you there!

Six Weeks Exam Update

The six weeks exam will consist of presenting one image from Illustrator, one image from Photoshop and one short animation. You should take a finished document from a lesson in the application, and alter it significantly. Then you write a blog post about what you did, detailing the changes, tools and techniques that you used. The blog post must be at least five sentences, with the more detail the better. Grading for this section will be kind of backwards! You will begin with a 70 if you have five sentences. Then for every term, tool and technique included in your description, you get one additional point. Listing terms and techniques is not allowed - they must be part of your description.
You should have three posts - one about each image.

There is no part two to this exam. We will start HTML next week (except second period).

Feeling Overwhelmed? Afraid You're Not Passing?

If you think that you are going to have trouble getting all of the lessons and the six weeks exam done, you can arrange to attend tutorials next week from 8:00 - 8:50.
If you attend every day, and work the entire time.

If you are close to finishing Photoshop and have finished all Illustrator lessons, you will pass.

If you started in my class at the semester break, you should be almost done with Illustrator, and should start into Photoshop next week.

Be sure that you have blog entries for every day of class so far (at least 25 through this week), and that each blog entry has at least three sentences that describe the lesson you worked on, and TEKS. Blog entries do not count if there are not at least three sentences and TEKS. Blog entries about your personal life do not count.

Shelby Dewitt made a very generous donation to the food drive, and will be able to write a short essay for her final exam. Thanks Shelby! Much good karma.

If you still want to try to get a little bit ahead by bring in some food, I will accept it before first period Monday.

Preserving the Past

This is great - making something old new again.
Just the kind of project an enterprising student could propose for the rest of the semester.
link
If you are interested in books, this link is to a book that was scanned by someone to share over the internet.
Preserving and sharing media from the past would be a great project that would benefit more than just yourself.
If it sounds interesting to you, let me know.

Pacing

You should be finishing Lesson 8 in Photoshop today.
If you are behind, you should come in during zero hour or lunch to start catching up.
The deadline is Feb 21 and it is unlikely you will pass unless you have finished all of the Photoshop lessons (through 12, skipping 9).
When you finish all of the lessons you should come to my desk and show me your blog - I will enter your grade as an 80, and raise it depending upon how many Flash lessons you get done.

FLASH LESSONS ARE NOW ON THE "S" DRIVE!

Assignment Due March 10th

1. Choose a recent trend in technology (any technology). It could be cell phones, desktop computers, automobiles, just about anything that uses electricity.
2. Describe the technology and the trend it fits in. Be sure to address the aspects from section 12 of the TEKS below.
3. Predict the future of this technology/trend. Be sure to describe all of the aspects from section 11 below.
3. Submit the essay, in MLA format by email. The email must have the subject line: TRENDS IN TECHNOLOGY.

If you need assistance, you must ask for help before March 3rd. This means you need to plan ahead and probably start the essay before March 3rd.

(11) The student describes the intended and unintended effects of technological solutions. The student is expected to:

(A) use an assessment strategy to determine the risks and benefits of technological developments in computer technology;

(B) describe how technology has affected individuals, societies, cultures, economies, and environments;

(C) discuss the international effects of the use of computer technology; and

(D) describe how and why technology evolves.

(12) The student describes how and why computer technology evolves. The student is expected to:

(A) describe how changes in computer technology affect business and industry;

(B) describe how the development and use of computer technology are influenced by past events;

(C) describe change and the factors that affect the adoption or rejection of computer technology; and

(D) describe the factors that encourage the evolution of technology.

Flash Begins Tomorrow

Flash begins tomorrow - all of the lesson files will be available in the usual place. You need to complete through lesson 15.

HTML is Coming!

Starting on February 19th we will have a short unit on HTML. This unit will be different than the last three which have all been independent learning.
You will need to listen to a presentation, post answers to some questions, and work on a small web page.
It is very important that you keep up with the lessons. It is YOUR RESPONSIBILITY to make sure that you finish every lesson.
The lessons will be:
Intro to HTML - What it is!
CSS - The River of Style
Accessibility - Reading without Seeing
Tables and Frames - Not Woodworking!
Media - Streams of Consciousness
Tools - Websites for the Codeless
Evaluation - How Do They Measure Up!

If you want to start working on your six weeks exam, you can get started now.
The six weeks exam will consist of two parts: Part one is presenting one image from Illustrator, one image from Photoshop and one short animation. For part one, you should take a finished document from a lesson in the application, and alter it significantly. Then you write a blog post about what you did, detailing the changes, tools and techniques that you used. The blog post must be at least five sentences, with the more detail the better. Grading for this section will be kind of backwards! You will begin with a 70 if you have five sentences. Then for every term, tool and technique included in your description, you get one additional point.
Part two is another summary. You need to write a summary of the seven lessons of the HTML unit and then write a piece about how they tie together. This part of the exam will be graded based on insight. What is insight? Insight is knowledge that you gain by thinking about and examining an idea. If you took a cup of water on a very windy day and threw the water in the direction the wind is coming from, you would soon gain a valuable insight - and you would get wet. Again you will start at a 70 for writing at least two five sentence paragraphs and the summary of each lesson. You will get TEN points for each insight that you write about in the last two paragraphs.
So the exam will go like this:
PART ONE
Three altered documents, one each from Illustrator, Photoshop and Flash, and a description of each and what you changed = 70 points
Terms, tools and techniques included in the three descriptions = one point for each term, tool or technique. If you get 20 points this way, you get a 10 points bonus.
PART TWO
Summary of the seven lessons on HTML = 70 points
Insight you gained from HTML lessons and the summary = 10 points each.

You will be allowed to get higher than a 200 out of 200 on this exam, but it will still be out of 200. This means if you get a 250, that you will raise your exam average significantly. When's the last time you got to blow the top score off of an exam?!?

You will need work to finish as many lessons in Flash as you can. The person who finishes the most lessons in each class gets 30 extra points on the exam. Woohoo!

Image Archives: Medical Etc.

Here is a great archive, though hard to navigate (browse doesn't seem to work): http://wwwihm.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/gw_44_3/chameleon?skin=nlm

These are especially good: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/horse/gallery.html

Also: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/dreamanatomy/da_gallery.html

Many fine images are buried here: http://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/

And also: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/historicalanatomies/intro.html

BIG REWARD

I have lost the CD with all of the lesson files for Flash Classroom in a Book.
If you can produce the CD, you get a 100 on your final exam.
I don't care where it comes from.

End of the Six Weeks

At the end of this six weeks, you must have finished all of the assigned Illustrator and Photoshop lessons to pass.
And, you have to actually have done the work. How do you prove that you have done the work?
The deadline is Wednesday, February 20th at the end of class.
Every blog entry must have a description of what you did in the lesson (three sentences minimum) and a picture of your result, and the TEKS.
If you do not pass this class it will affect your eligibility.

Imaginative Art Work

Check out this blog - with some of the most creative illustrations I have seen:
link

Never Underestimate Minimalism

Sometimes the most effective message is simple.
(from BoingBoing) link

If You Don't Think Your Vote Counts

If you don't think that your vote counts, from CNN we see:
Fewer than 50 votes separate Obama and Clinton in New Mexico, with 98 percent of Tuesday's vote counted.

That means if only the eligible voters that we have in McCallum had voted in New Mexico, it could have changed who becomes president.

Voting is the only chance you have to change things.

Safety Tips, Missing Children and Hoaxes

A phenomenon that the internet has created is the email (and often web site) hoax.
It is always important to make sure that your source (a web site or email) is reliable. This means that the information is true, or in the case of advice, that it is from a true expert. Just because something sounds true, is said to be from an expert, or is really believable. Before wasting time and money "sharing" this information with others, you need to verify it.
The best place to start is at Snopes.

Extra Credit for Final Exam

For every can of food or appropriate item you bring in for the PALS/Student Council Food Drive, you will bank one point on the final exam. There is no limit.
Mrs. Morgan writes, "besides cans (green beans, chili, tuna, stew), please encourage students to bring pasta and sauce, pinto beans, rice, healthy cereal, peanut butter, baby formula and baby food."
One point per item.
Bring in the food to this classroom to get credit.

THE FOOD IS DUE BY FEBRUARY 15th.

Science Videos

Here is an excellent animation for you to think about if you are working on the science video: link

Visualize Whirled Peas

Visualizing text, ideas, concepts and designs is one of the things that we can do on computers in an instant, which in the very recent past would have taken hours.
This site, tagcrowd, is a site that will take text and give you a visual representation based on the freqency of words. In the case of the recent State of the Union speech from Herr Bush, it looks like this.

Try this yourself. The most interesting choices/results submitted by email will receive prizes, and everyone who finds an original set of text, writes up the steps they used to create the tag cloud and posts about it gets extra credit. (You must embed the html for the cloud in your post - it's an html exercise too!)

It is better to select and paste the text into the appropriate field, but you can also use a URL.

This is what my (entire) blog looks like.

application bjerke blog camera chapter class complete create credit daily due essay exam extra film final finish flash fourth grade illustrator image important information learned lessons mister number option photoshop points posted project receive reliable required semester six something specific start students teacher think topic understand video weeks work year

created at TagCrowd.com

BoingBoing Etcetera

There are several interesting posts on boingboing.net from the last few days. I think that several of them would be good project possibilities if they interest you.

Daily Grade Second Semester

For this semester you will receive two daily grades. The first will be based on the number of lessons you complete. You are required to complete 11 Photoshop lessons, and 10 Flash lessons.
You will get 10 points for each lesson.

The second daily grade will be based on whether you work during class.
There are 18 weeks remaining (counting this week).
You will receive 20 points for each week. Each time I observe you not working, you will lose 10 points.

Test Grades will be based on projects assigned each six weeks.

The Rest of the Six Weeks

If you have finished all of the lessons in Photoshop and Illustrator, you need to speak to me about what you are going to do next.
If you do not have all of the Illustrator and Photoshop lessons, keep working on them.

Poster

This is a poster I just created in Illustrator for a client.

Artistic Achievement

Eduardo Alvarez-Rangel and Alex Earle are finalists in a state-wide art competition. A ceremony to honor the finalists and name the winners will be held Tuesday, Feb. 5th at 2 pm at the Capitol.

Music and Fun

I am sorry to inform you that because of two thefts yesterday, no students are allowed to use headphones in this room until further notice. Since personal electronics are not allowed, you should not have any phones, music players or headphones out in this classroom. All players, phones and headphones will be turned in to Campus Police per AISD policy.

A Big Chance

PBS and its newest series, WIRED SCIENCE, are hosting an online student video contest with a first prize of $2,000.
If you are interested in creating a video, your proposal is due to me by February 1st, and your storyboard is due to me by February 8th.

This is an excellent opportunity to be recognized for science or video interest, and build a portfolio for your college applications. This work would also suffice as your spring project for the last eight weeks of this semester.

Oh, and by the way, if you did complete a video and submit it for competition, you would be exempted from the final exam for this class.

(Fixed the link 1/28)
link

Getting Your Photoshop Image Ready to Post to Your Blog

To "export" your image like you did in Illustrator, you need to do things a little bit differently. First you need to change the Image Type (Image menu - choose Type) to RGB. Then you need to save the file with the right extension to post in your blog. To do this use File, Save As and choose jpg.
It's just a little different, but this shows you that Photoshop is treating your images a bit differently - mostly because it starts as a raster image, and you don't have to completely alter the file itself to get the postable file you need.

One of the First Computers

Every computer that was invented in the first half of the 20th century (1900's) was created for military applications. Whether it was ACE, ENIAC or the Electric Brain described in this article. You should read about this and some of the others and think about the implications of military technology on civilian technology.

Your Goals

Your goals should be to complete these lessons (chapters) as soon as you can, so you can start your project. Your project will take you through the end of the semester.

In the Illustrator book, you need to work through chapter 11.

In P-shop you need to complete chapters 1-8, 10-12.

In the Flash book, you need to work through chapter 15.

How to Get a Progress Report for the Fourth Six Weeks

It is up to you to show me when you finish. If you do not turn in your work, you will not receive credit. I will not come to you and ask you for your work.

If you were transferred into this class at the semester, you must complete the first 6 chapters of Illustrator lessons by the end of next week (Friday, January 25th), or you will receive a progress report.

If you were in this class last semester, you must have a blog entry with the required elements, for each day of class, and you need to have completed through Chapter 11 in Illustrator and the first four lessons in Photoshop. If you do not have 14 blog entries with the required elements, Illustrator through lesson 11, and the first four lessons of Photoshop by Friday the 25th, you will receive a progress report.

You must complete:
Illustrator through lesson 11
Photoshop through lesson 4
14 blog entries

Next Year's Classes

Start investigating now which classes you want to take in next year.
If you really enjoyed a teacher or topic, find out if you can take something from that teacher or about that subject next year.

Next year, I plan to offer Communication Graphics, which will cover visual design and communication. The class will cover Illustrator and Photoshop in depth (much more than in Computer Applications), web design and animation. It will also cover print design and printing in depth. In this class you will produce a professional portfolio (both in a portfolio and on a CD).

I will also be teaching Webmastering (listed as TLNET on the choice sheet). In webmastering you will learn basic web page layout, html, php and some basic Javascript. You will also learn more about Flash and creating Flash sites, blogs, forums and wiki type community content.

For those students who have completed an intermediate class (a technology class beyond Computer Applications like CAMM or Media Tech) there will be "Problems and Solutions in Technology." This is essentially an independent study and students will have the opportunity to study very specific topics (like animation, game design, webmastering, digital imaging and graphics) in-depth. To enroll in this class, you must get teacher approval.

Be sure to use your resources and talk to your teachers. Plan ahead, and have your classes and alternate choices ready for registration.

Schedule for the Fourth Six Weeks

Finish Chapter 11 of Illustrator by Friday 1/18/07. When you finish come to my desk and show me your blog with the pictures and descriptions of what you learned in each lesson. This will be your daily grade for the first two weeks.
In Photoshop you need to complete chapters 1-8, 10-12.
These lessons are due by 2/8/07. When you finish, come to my desk and show me the lessons in your blog for your daily grade.
For your six weeks exam on 2/21/07, you have to choices. You can turn in a paper that discusses three tools in Photoshop that are not available in Illustrator and why, or you can take the online exam. If you choose the paper, it must be at least 500 words and MLA standard.

Fourth Six Weeks Mid-Six Exam

If you finish through chapter 11 in Illustrator early, by Friday 1/11/07, you will receive a 100 on your mid six weeks exam (which will be given Friday 1/25/07).
You must be able to show me a proper post from each lesson with a picture that is in RGB (excluding chapter 1).

If you finish 11 and have the posts, come to my desk during Friday's class so I can review your progress and record your exam grade.

My Camera, Your Camera

When we get through the lessons in Illustrator, Photoshop and Flash, we will be starting a project that will use your Photoshop skills and add new skills in video, still imaging and sound editing.
It is unlikely that we will have more than the one class camera when we start the projects.
If you have a camera at home or know of a camera that you can borrow, you are welcome to bring it. I will even store it in the locked cabinet for you, if you wish.
However,
if you do bring a camera to school, you must understand that it is YOUR responsibility to keep track of it, and keep it safe.
We will be working with still images, and video, so you might be able to share a camera with someone in your group.
Like having your own calculator for math class, you need access to a still camera and video camera for your group. Start thinking and finding something now, but don't bring it to school until your group starts their project. Please be sure that your parents also understand that it is your responsibility to care for the camera.