Friday, December 9, 2011

First Full Week...

We're finishing our first full week in CommTech, yaaa!
We've had a smooth start at using Adobe Dreamweaver and have learned about a few tools along the way.

Name 3 things that have increased your interest and made the week (and a half) a little more exciting. Explain in full sentence form (minimum of 3 sentences).

Also, feel free to modify or add an additional game or other element to your blog.
 These tools are located under the heading "Design" above.

Killing the Stroke!

Read this short article and explain in your own words how to easily switch the Stroke and Fill settings for a specific shape simply by pressing a key on the keyboard.  There are 2 ways in which you can perform a switch.  Explain in sentence form.

http://www.indesignmag.com/Content.asp/id/tipoftheweek-2011

Flash Vs. HTML5

The Adobe Flash Player has long been the tool of choice to bring animation and videos to the Internet until Apple discontinued the use of Flash on the iPod and iPad.  So we are waiting for the ultimate replacement software.  HTML5 could be the one.

Find 3 reasons that HTML5 is equivilent to Adobe Flash, and 2 features that it still does not have, by checking out this site:

http://thenextweb.com/apple/2010/05/14/html5-vs-flash-what-you-havent-heard/

Write your answers in clear sentences describing each point to the best of your knowledge so far.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

A Bad Situation Turned Good

Have you ever had a bad situation that appeared to be a little threatening, but due to some good old positive thinking, you were able to turn it into a good situation?

Sometimes the only way to make the best of a bad situation is to find a way to turn it all around. Find something you can do to flip the problem into a solution.

A common one might be when a person is being bullied because that person is not very popular, and you step in as a friend and help the person walk away from the situation.  Talking someone out of a situation takes a lot more nerve and confidence than joining in and being another bully.

Have you ever been in a bad situation, where your bravery has helped someone else?

Or have you been in a bad situation where changing your tone with someone else has made the situation more positive?

Explain your experience with one of the two situations above.

Friday, November 11, 2011

What is a Cenotaph?


Remembrance Day has been an event that is held all over Canada to remember those who have fought and who have lost their lives at war.  This is in remembrance of all people involved in all war's of our time and before.

Cenotaph's are a monument that are recognized on Remembrance Day. 

What is a Cenotaph and what does it represent?

What incident happened in Montrial last weekend that affects how a whole community will feel on Remembrance Day this year?  Explain how Canadian Forces Sgt. Brangwyn Jones feels about this incident.

Find the answers in this article:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/story/2011/09/26/girouard-park-cenotaph-vandalized.html

Friday, November 4, 2011

Random Acts of Kindness

Random Acts of Kindness is a time when a person willingly and spontaneously performs a good deed for someone else.  This type of gesture is promoted world wide to encourage people to do a good turn.

Where and when did this tradition start?

Have you performed a random act of kindness recently?

If not, what could you do to randomly help someone else?

Remember, this activity is a good way to upgrade your writing skills - write in full, detailed answers ;-)

Friday, October 28, 2011

Oooh, It's Halloween...Verry Scarrry!!!

Halloween has been around for...a long time...and every year, we enjoy getting dressed up and scaring someone or just simply having fun!  For many years now, I have enjoyed taking my 3 daughters out trick or treating, and just having a memorable time watching them walk up to some very scarrry halloween houses.  One of the most scarrry houses that we have seen had lots of grave stones, pumkins and a couple of scarrry looking zombies in front of the house, but what we didn't see until we got right up to the house was Freddy Krueger on the roof top with a real chainsaw and as we were leaving, a corps rose from the coffin on the front lawn. 

OOOOHHH, VERRRY SCARRRY!!!!

What scarrry experiences have you had so far on halloween?
Give us some scarrry details to excite our halloween spirits!
Also, add some scarrry halloween visuals to your blog as we are running a contest today for the scarrriest halloween blog - win a very tasty prize on Monday!!!



Friday, October 21, 2011

Learning Photoshop

We have been working with Photoshop 8 for the past 2 weeks, learning how to enhance, crop, lasso, and make the main subject stand out in the photo.  This a software that is used in the real world to enhance photos used in the newspapers and magazines that people purchase everyday.

Explain how a photo would be enhanced for a specific newspaper or magazine and include how 3 Photoshop tools would be used to prepare the photo (minimum of 3 sentences).

Thursday, October 13, 2011

My Favourite Teacher

I would say that my favourite teacher of all time was my French teacher in high school.  Mr. Campitelli was an entertaining teacher who did a great job delivering lessons and made everyone feel welcome in his class.  He was a true mentor as he talked to all of his students and really got to know them well.  He would also talk about life experiences and gave good advise when needed.
Have you ever had a favourite teacher, a teacher that you feel has really been a true mentor who has helped you to learn better, someone who you feel has done an outstanding job teaching you?

Write a full three sentence (or more ;-) paragraph explaining who that outstanding teacher might be.  If you don't have one, write about what would make a good teacher for you.

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Steve Jobs - one of the most successful icons of our time

Steve Jobs has created one of the most successful types of technology in the past half century. The personal computer has evolved over the past forty years, becoming smaller and faster, to meet the needs of the computer market.

Using Steve's Timeline,

Steve Job's Timeline (click here)

Try to answer the following questions:

What year did Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak start their first computer company?

What was the name of their first computer?

Name a current Apple device that you are currently using or would like to use?

(write each answer in sentence form)

Friday, September 30, 2011

The 31st Annual Terry Fox Run For The Cure

The Terry Fox Run for the Cure has been an emotional event for me over the years because it all started when I was a teenager. Terry Fox has been an icon across Canada, that many people are dedicating themselves to support by raising money to find the cure for cancer. The Run for the Cure started in 1980 and continued on Wednesday, as many classes all over Canada were filling cans to raise money and awareness.

What does the Terry Fox Run mean to you?

How much money has been raised throughout the world so far?

How much money was raised at College Heights on Wednesday?


(if you don't know now, ask around and when you find out, add it to your post)

Friday, September 23, 2011

Getting The Most Out Of The Course

Periodically we are going to treat the blog as a journal and report on our progress in the course.  We are moving very quickly through our first unit, so now is the time to review some of the highlights so far.

In all courses you learn to use new tools to do different things.  Your job today is explaining how some of these tools work and how you are using them.

Pick 3 of the most important tools that you have learned recently and explain the following in 2 clear sentences for each tool:

1)  What does the tool do?

2)  How have you used to the tool in your work this week?

Remember, 2 sentences for each of the 3 tools.

Friday, September 16, 2011

The First Full Week...

We're finishing our first full week at College Heights for the 2011-2012 year, yaaa!

All sorts of activities have been going on to get students motivated and involved in classes and outside of the class.  This ranges from the Grade 9 Day to Intramural sports and Teams.

Name 3 things that have increased your interest and made the week (and a half) a little more exciting.  Explain in full sentence form (minimum of 3 sentences).

Also, feel free to modify or add an additional game or other element to your blog.
These tools are located under the heading "Design" above.

Friday, June 10, 2011

Getting Ready...

You've got 6 days left until exams, and the school year will be finished.

Everyone has to deal with this in different way, using different strategies to be successful.

List your top 5 priorities for the next week and write a paragraph about how you are going to meet them.

Friday, June 3, 2011

Filming "The Life of a Pencil"

We have spent the last week creating our own versions of "The Life of a Pencil" and are now finished and ready to show our work.  Several jobs were created in the process of making this video.

What job(s) did you have in the making of your video?

What was the hardest part of creating your video?

What was the most enjoyable part?

Answer each question with a minimum of 2 full sentences.

Friday, May 20, 2011

Career Cruising Investigation

Over the past week, we have been using Career Cruising to investigate the possibilities of working in the field of Communication Technology.  You now have a much better picture of what kinds of jobs are available to you in a related field. 

Do you feel that you have learned about a field that might offer you a profitable future?

Does this require you to go to college after high school?

Out of a range of 1 to 10, what is the chance of you going in this direction? Explain your plan at this point.

Friday, May 6, 2011

Mother's Day

Mother's Day has been around for many years, as long as I can remember anyway.  It's a day to make Mom's feel extra special for the time they have devoted to their family, all year long.  Like all special occasions, Mother's Day had to have started at some time and somewhere.

Where and when did Mother's Day originate or start?

What do you plan to do for your Mom on this Mother's Day weekend?

Friday, April 29, 2011

Starting a New App

Two or three weeks ago, we started a new unit and have started using a new computer application.  Usually, starting a new application requires learning a lot of new stuff, to do new things.  In this case, we are using another Adobe app that has a lot of similar functions as the other apps that we have already learned.

What functions (2) have you found the same (that you already knew). Explain.

Do you feel that using apps from the same group, Adobe, has increased your learning ability?  Explain in 3 sentences.

Friday, March 4, 2011

How Accurate is a Weather Forecast?

For centuries, we have been predicting the weather patterns that flow around the earth every day.  For centuries, we have also been complaining about the lack of accuracy in the forecast.

Visit http://www.timeanddate.com/weather/forecast-accuracy-time.html to find the answers to these questions:

Is forecasting the weather a simple task or a very complex task?  Explain in a minimum of 3 sentences.

How does the accuracy of the weather forecast of today, compare to the accuracy of 20 yeas ago? Look for a specific comparison.

Friday, February 25, 2011

Our School Checkup

This week was a new experience for us all as we prepared ourselves to show the district checkup team what we  have to offer at College Heights.  The checkup was from one end of the school to the other, experiencing the lessons carried out in the classes to the procedures carried out in the main office.  What a day it was!

Were you prepared for the day?

Do you feel that the team was impressed?

(Write a minimum of 3 sentences to answer the questions.)

Friday, February 18, 2011

Family Day

Family Day has not been around for too long. 

In Ontario, who created Family Day and when was it started?

Why was it started?

My plans for Family Day are:

(Write a sentence or 2 for each.)