Dec. 17, 18 and 19

Dec. 17 and Dec. 18: Students practiced using the Walsworth yearbook design website to create a 2 page spread.

Dec. 19: We watched Kung Fu Panda. No Homework over the holiday break. Happy Holidays.

Wednesday, Thursday, Friday Dec. 10,11,12

Wednesday and Thursday: Students looked over a list of themes from the Walsworth yearbook company, and picked the 3 themes they liked best. From that list, students picked the one they liked beset and began constructing a cover illustrating that theme.

Friday: Reese Lyons, our Walsworth representative was a guest in class today. She spoke to students about the Walsworth website and about cover design.

Monday Dec, 8, Tuesday, Dec. 9

Monday and Tuesday: I collected the Gremlins film reviews. Students worked on creating the Yearbook Staff Photo page.

Wed. Dec. 3 and Thursday Dec. 4

Wednesday and Thursday: Students are watching the film Gremlins (rated PG) and will write a film review about the film that will be due on Monday. 

Tuesday, Dec. 2

Today students worked on the yearbook theme and turning in any  last minute assignments that may not have been graded. 

Monday, Dec. 1

Today we took a staff photo (yearbook staff) and worked on creating a theme for the yearbook. 

Thanksgiving Break

Grades are almost set. There is one big assignment left. I asked to students to work towards conducting and writing a newspaper article about Zane. The idea was presented in late September and is one that I referred to frequently this trimester. The idea/assignment was as follows:

1. Come up with an idea for a newspaper article about an aspect of Zane Middle School.
2. Write a lead paragraph about said subject.
3. Create a list of 3 people to interview about the story and create at least 5 questions to ask each subject. 2 of the 3 interviewees needed to be adults.
4. Conduct the interviews and record the responses.
5. Craft the article using the quotations from the interview subjects. The final article should be 3 paragraphs of at least 5 sentences each, and should include quotations.

This is due no later than after-school on Monday Dec. 1. It is a 50 point assignment.

Wed. Nov. 19

Today students worked on the extra credit photoshop tutorials. 

Tuesday, Nov. 18

Today I had a substitute teacher. Students worked on photoshop tutorials that came with the program. 

Friday, Nov. 14 and Monday Nov. 17

Friday: I reviewed my expectations for the interviewing assignment and told students that they needed to have the interviews completed by the end of school on Monday. Students finished the Halloween yearbook spreads. 

Monday: I checked off the students who had conducted their interviews and they will begin writing their news article tomorrow. Students  who had not done the interviews yet worked on a different assignment to get partial credit. Interviews need to be completed to write the article which is due on Friday. It will be an important part of their grade. 

Thursday, Nov. 13

Students continued on the Halloween spreads. Interviews need to be completed by Monday at the end of the school day. 

Wednesday, Nov. 12

Students are working on the Halloween photo spread for the yearbook. I also passed back the interview questions each student generated for the news article they'll be writing about an aspect of Zane. They are to conduct 3 interviews of at least 5 questions. 2 of the interviews need to be conducted with adults. Interviews need to be completed, and responses recorded by the end of school on Monday.

Friday, Nov. 7, Monday Nov. 10

Friday: Students worked on a "light blast" effect using photoshop. 

Monday: Students worked on their first yearbook "spread." They are creating a 2-page spread about Halloween using the photos that were taken on Halloween. 

Wed. Nov 5 and Thurs. Nov. 6

Wednesday and Thursday: Students worked on creating a promotional sales poster for the yearbook. 

Tuesday, Nov. 4

Today the students who had completed their presidential issue posters presented them to the class. Some students chose not to present, or were not prepared and took an F on that portion of the assignment. 

Monday, Nov. 3

Today students got a look at what assignments they still needed to turn in and worked to do so. Tomorrow the presidential issue presentations will occur for those groups who are ready. 

Friday, Oct. 31

Students finished and handed in their Halloween images. Issue presentations will be on Monday and Tuesday. Students need to turn in written scripts of what they'll say prior to presenting. 

Thursday, Oct. 30

Today students began work on a photoshop/photobooth Halloween image. Presentations of presidential issue posters will begin Monday. Students need to hand in a script of their presentation in order to present. Scripts are due no later than the end of lunch on Monday. 

Wed. Oct. 29

Presidential Issue Posters. 

Tuesday, Oct. 28

Presidential issues posters. 

Monday, Oct. 27

Students worked on presidential issue posters. 

Thursday Oct. 23, Friday Oct. 24

Students have selected an issue facing the candidates in the upcoming election. Working in pairs they will create a mock movie poster that illustrates the issue in Photoshop. They will also create a written portion that they'll present to the class next week.

Wed. Oct. 22

Today students turned in the Impressionist images, and their typed questions for the interviews they'll conduct. We'll start a new project about the issues facing both presidential candidates this upcoming election tomorrow. 

Tuesday, Oct. 21

Today students worked to improve their question creation and interview skills by interviewing a classmate. 

Monday, Oct. 20

Students worked to complete their impressionist pictures and then typed the questions they'll be asking for their upcoming interviews. 

Thursday, Oct. 16

Students analyzed impressionist paintings online and then worked on transforming a picture of Zane into an impressionist painting. 

Wednesday, Oct. 15

No class today due to parent conferences.

Tuesday, Oct. 14

Today students began transforming a picture of the Zane campus. They are attempting to make the photograph look like an impressionist painting. 

Thursday, Oct. 9

Students watched a scene from a film and wrote a 5 sentence lead paragraph based on the information from the scene.

Wednesday, Oct. 8

Today students viewed a scene from a film, analyzed the facts presented in the film and wrote a lead paragraph based on the information shown. 

Monday, Oct. 5 and Tues. Oct. 6

Monday: Students read a newspaper article about O.J. Simpson's guilty verdict and answered questions about it. I returned to students their lead paragraph with comments, and asked them to revise the paragraph as well as create a list of questions they'll be asking the 3 people (minimum) they need to interview for their story. 

Tuesday: Students continued revisions. We also analyzed some questions to determine elements of good and bad interview questions. 

Friday, Oct. 3

Today students turned in the versions of American Gothic. 

Thursday, Oct. 2

Students have finished their mock magazine covers and are now transforming American Gothic. It will be due at the end of class on Friday. 

Wednesday, Oct. 1

Students worked on finishing their magazine covers. Others began digitally altering "American Gothic." 

Tuesday, Sept. 30

Today in class we had a tragedy. One of our 17 computers (for 25 students) is on the blink. After that students worked on completing their magazine covers. Progress report grades are due Thursday. I'll have all work graded by then. 

Muddy Waters once said (in song) "The blues had a baby and they named it Rock and Roll." For extra credit, what did he mean? 

Monday, Sept. 29

Today students were not allowed onto the computers until they finished their first draft of one lead paragraph for a potential school newspaper/newsletter. Students are still working on their mock magazine covers. 

Friday, Sept. 26

Students began a project where they design a magazine cover of an existing magazine or one of their own creation. 

Wednesday, Sept. 23 & Thursday, Sept. 24

Wednesday: Mini-Me/Maxi Me  and I asked students to construct a lead paragraph for an article in the Zane newslettter. 

Thursday: Mini-Me/Maxi Me is now due.  Lead paragraph is also due. 

Monday, Sept. 22 and Tuesday Sept. 23

Monday: Students worked to complete an assignment called "mini-me/maxi-me." We took photos of each student in the class on Friday. Students then erased the background from their photo and pasted their body onto another photo. Students then learned how to duplicate layers, flip layers and re-size the image of their body. We continued this today (Tuesday).

Friday, Sept. 19

Today students finished the digital alteration of Munch's "The Scream." Students also had class time to finish any assignments that weren't previously completed as well as an opportunity to complete an extra credit assignment. 

Thursday, Sept. 18

Today students worked on digitally transforming "The Scream" by Edvard Munch.

Wednesday, Sept. 17

Today students worked to finish and hand in their Mona Lisa assignments.

Tuesday, Sept. 16

Students worked on digitally manipulating the Mona Lisa in Photoshop. 

Friday, Sept. 12 and Monday Sept. 15

Friday: Students worked to colorize a black and white digital image.

Monday: Students will finish colorizing a photo and turn it in digitally to the class "drop box." At this point students should have completed their Zane Press/Yearbook pass, and colorized a digital image.

Thursday, Sept. 11

Today students worked to colorize a black and white photo using Photoshop. I am still awaiting the school newspaper idea-paragraph from 2/3 of the class. 

Tuesday, Sept. 9 and Wednesday Sept. 10

Tuesday: Students continued to work press passes/badges. Homework: Bring in a front page newspaper article and write a 4 sentence paragraph about a potential article for the school newspaper/newslettter.

Wednesday: students analyzed lead sentences from different news sources and created headlines and leads from prompts I provided.

Friday, September 5 and Monday, September 8

Friday: Pictures were taken to be used on the Zane Press/Yearbook passes. Beginning students worked on a montage of 5 things they are passionate about using photoshop. Advanced students worked on their press/yearbook passes. 

Monday: All students worked on creating their Zane Press/Yearbook passes. 

Thursday Sept. 4

Today beginning students worked on creating a montage of pictures that illustrate 5 things they are passionate about.

Advanced students worked on creating a Zane Yearbook/Press pass.

Tuesday Sept. 2 and Wednesday Sept. 3

Tuesday: I introduced myself to the class and had them interview each other by asking the following questions to one another:
What was the high point of your summer?
What are 5 things you're passionate about?
What are the 3 most important elements of any yearbook?
What "theme" should we use for the yearbook this year?

We didn't finish the process and will finish on Wed.

Wednesday:

We finished the interview process and I discussed the course outline.