Public Education and other things...

Stop Motion Project #1-Design

williamupp — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 18:27:16 +0000

Over the weekend I want you to come up with an idea for your first stop motion project. This first project will be a stop motion of an inanimate object (an apple, a chair, etc.) Your item will gain life through the use of stop motion photography. I want you to write a no more than 1 page description of your object, and how you intend to make it move (chair moving down stairs, piece of paper moving across a table, etc.)

This paper can be typed, written, posted on your blog, etc. It is due when you come to class on Monday.

2011 Media Class Photo Upload

williamupp — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 01:54:04 +0000

You should now have some photos on your computer, ready to start editing. Using Photoshop CS4, edit the photo to your liking. When you have your first photo ready to go, upload it to your blog. This first photo needs to be uploaded to your blog and to Flickr by Wednesday, January 19th.

My first Post

williamupp — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 21:01:44 +0000

I am posting this to test posting.

Create your own radio ad

williamupp — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 15:01:55 +0000

You and a partner (or two) are going to create a 30-second radio advertisement for a product. The product should be something that you like (clothes, resturant, electronic device, game system, vacation spot, etc.), and that you think people of your age would also like. You will need to write a script for your ad. You will want to add some music and sound effects to enhance your ad. When creating your ad, make sure that the music, sounds, and words you use will appeal to your target audience.

Here is a sample timeline for creating this project:
Decide on a product-Monday
Write the script-Monday, Tuesday
Record the script in the studio-Tuesday, Wednesday
Move the recording to your PC in the lab-Wednesday
Add music and sound effects in the lab- Wednesday, Thursday
Finalize the advertisement-Wednesday, Thursday

Once you have completed the project, share your experience on your blog.

You will be graded on time spent in class working, your script, the sounds and music used, and the overall effectiveness of your ad.

This project will begin on Monday, December 13, and be due by Friday, December 17. This will count as a test grade, worth 150 points.

Here are some websites to help you
www.freeplaymusic.com- all the sound clips here are legally free for you to use.
http://www.a1freesoundeffects.com/ Free sound effects
http://audacity.sourceforge.net Free audio recorder

Our country’s laws-Intro To Business Assignment for Novemeber 8, 2010

williamupp — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 15:47:28 +0000

You need to create blog entry based on the following information (which can also be found on page 191, question #20). Entitle your blog entry as “How our government protects its citizens.”

This is due by Monday, November 8, 2010.

Research three laws (reference your text book in section 11.1 about these) that the government has created to protect individuals. Include one law in each of the following categories: environmental-protection (http://www.epa.gov/lawsregs/laws/), consumer protection (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumer_protection#United_States), and employee protection(http://managementhelp.org/legal/emp_law/emp_law.htm). Investigate the costs and benefits of the laws to citizens as well as their effects on business.

Intro to Business-Country Profile Project

williamupp — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 14:35:44 +0000

You will create a profile of a country of the world. Included in this will be the country name, flag, political structure (ie, king/queen, president, prime minister, etc.), economic structure (command, market, mixed), major exports (and the countries exported to), major imports (and countries imported from), trade deficit/surplus and who with, standard of living, type of currency, and anything else that you want to include. You need to focus on how your country relates to the United States (politically, economically, trade, etc.)

As to the presentation, we will create a blog account for you, and I want you to create this on that blog. This project will be due on Tuesday, October 26. I will give you time in class on Friday, Oct. 22 and Monday, Oct. 25, but I am expecting you to do a majority of the work on your own.

This will count as your test grade for Chapter 10.

The weather is changing, and so should our idea of technology integration!

williamupp — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 14:03:29 +0000

As I sit in my living room on the first Saturday in October, I am amazed at how life runs like the weather, hot, then cold, and just to mix it up, sometimese it is beautiful. I am looking out my front window, and today is starting out as one of those grey, rainy, cool, autumn days. Not much is moving around, save for a couple of birds and the odd dog walking down the street. It is early in the day, and not too many folks are up and at them yet. The cool breeze is pushing its way through the open window, putting just a hint of chill in my home. Right now, it is peacefull and serene. What will happen in the next few hours, no one knows. But for now, I am sitting and enjoying this tranquility.

Which leads me to an interesting thought for an early Saturday morning. As an educator and a technology leader for a small rural school district, I have been hearing and reading more and more about technology integration in schools, about how all schools need more and better technology in their classrooms which would lead to higher test scores and to greater and more meaningful learning for our students. Being a “tech guy” you would think that I would be banging the drums and raising the banner for this thinking, but to be honest I am totally against it.

Technology integration in all classrooms is a wonderful goal to try to achieve. However, there is a huge difference between placing technolgy in a classroom and integrating technology into a classroom. What good does it do our students to simply place an interactive whiteboard in a room and have it used as a projector screen? Or giving students access to a mobile computer lab without teaching them how to use it effectively? I firmly believe that if we put tech in the hands of teachers and students, then we need to back that up with training.

We first need to instruct and train staff on what the tech is, how it works, and, more importantly, how they can use it in their classroom. It is very easy to show a computer applications teacher the benefits of a computer system to thier classroom, but it can be a challenge to show a history teacher with 35 years experience how the laptops can work in her classroom. Time must be invested for all staff so that they become comfortable in using technology in their classroom. When this happens, then true technology intergration can take place. Elementary teachers will be using netbook devices to engage 2nd graders, junior high teachers will have their language classes create short stories in a word processing program, and high school students will be creating presentations that are more presentation than just shows. When this type of integration of technology, coupled with proper support from tech leaders and administrators, occurs, then and only then we will see students improving their learning and showing the potential that we all know is right there, under the surface.

I am glancing back out my front window. The rain has stopped and the sun is out. It is going to be a glorious day.

Thanks for reading.

New School Year

williamupp — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 17:27:06 +0000

The 2010-2011 school year is off and running. Welcome to it!

Intro To Business Class-Social Marketing Campaign Reflection

williamupp — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 12:26:47 +0000

We have completed our social marketing campaign on Texting and Driving. You need to write your thoughts about this unit to me. You can do this either on your blog, typed in a word processing program (such as Microsoft Word), or hand write it (as long as I can read it.)

What I am looking for is a description of the process we used to arrive at our idea, what we did to create the poster and the video, and finally your thoughts about this unit (did you enjoy it, how could it be done better, what did you learn from this expereience from the information as well as the technical side, how has this unit enhanced how you view social marketing, etc.)

This paper should be no more than 2 pages in length, or about 8-12 good paragraphs. It is due by Monday, March 22.

Media Class Stop Motion #1 Uploads

williamupp — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 01:34:33 +0000

I have uploaded all of your 1st stop motion videos to You Tube. They are all very good. I am looking forward to your next projects.