Thursday, April 29, 2010

1.  I have been working on your original paper prototype videos.  Email me today and I will give you the codes that you may use to upload your videos to your project page.
2.  Continue to work in your teams on your game design.  Be sure to spread the work up evenly.  SEVERAL groups have yet to finish the written sections of your team and individual project pages.  Complete it!  You will also be evaluating your team members in the near future using a guided rubric.  Have you been doing your part?
3.  I will be around to individually conference with each group today.
You only have roughly 2 weeks to complete  your game and begin your presentations!!!!

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Today:

Those of you who weren't here on Monday.  You need to go and check out Monday's blog post.  You will work in a group today to complete that activity.  Shaina, Sam, Ashley, Jeremiah, Bonnie, and Kayla  this is you!

The rest of the class, please finish the blog activity from Monday, turn in your chat histories, and continue to work on your games.  Remember, we will have special visitors in the building tomorrow.  Please stay on task.  I will be grading your blogs today.

Learning Log Check On Friday!!!!!!

Taking A Literature Break!!!!

You all have been working so incredibly hard on your games. I'm very proud of you and the work that you have been doing.  Today, we are going to take a step away from FLASH, and concentrate more on the online text, the features of gmail, and the blogs.

Gmail Feature
Gmail has a chat feature which I'm sure you all use.  Gmail also has a group chat feature.  Group chat allows a person to invite more than one person to a chat session.  Once you have started a chat session with one person, you can click on the video and more tab.  There you will find a group chat option that allows you to invite other individuals to chat session.  

Now that you know about the group chat feature on gmail, I want you to use it.

Today's Assignment

You and your partner are going to pair up with one other group.  The two groups are going to become  a literature circle.   One person in each literature circle needs to set up a group chat using the directions I just gave you. DO NOT log out or click out of the group chat box. Once the group chat has been established you will need to individually log on to the online textbook and read the poem found on page 826.  After this poem has been read, one person in the literature circle will need to provide a summary using the chat feature.  The other members of the circle will construct a well developed chat question to post on the group chat.  Everyone will participate in a discussion about the poem using the three to four discussion questions posted. 

You will complete this process for three poems.  The poems are found on pages 826, 827, and 831-833. 


Once you have completed reading and group chatting all three poems, one person from the literature circle needs to PRINT the group chat history and turn it into me for a grade.

Everyone needs to write a blog post on the EXPERIENCE not necessarily the poetry.

You have a lot to do and only today and half of the class tomorrow to finish it. 

FYI onEnterFrame

Copied from The Globaloria Educator's Bulletin:  

As students are adding more code to their games, a few of them have hit the same roadblock: you can only use onEnterFrame once per frame. Here’s how to steer clear of the problem.

Any code between onEnterFrame’s brackets will run once per frame at the frame rate of the file.  At Flash’s default frame rate of 12 frames per second, that means the code will run twelve times per second, thus creating a game control loop.

In the mini-game example, we used onEnterFrame to make the carrot move continuously across the stage.  It worked because the code kept redrawing the carrot a few pixels to the right of its previous location.

How to Fix It:
If your student has more than one onEnterFrame in their ActionScript on a single frame (even if they’re on different layers) they need to be consolidated or the file will not work. 

Here’s an example from a student’s file:

obj1._y = 1;
onEnterFrame = function() {
     obj1._y = obj1._y + 10;
    if (trashcan.hitTest(obj1)) {
    obj1._x = 5;
    }
}

obj2._y = 10;
onEnterFrame = function() {
     obj2._y = obj2._y + 5;
    if (trashcan.hitTest(obj2)) {
    obj2._x = 5;
    }
}

And here’s how you consolidate the code:
obj1._y = 1;
obj2._y = 10;

onEnterFrame = function() {
     obj1._y = obj1._y + 10;
    if (trashcan.hitTest(obj1)) {
        obj1._x = 5;
        }
     obj2._y = obj2._y + 5;
    if (trashcan.hitTest(obj2)) {
        obj1._x = 5;
        }
}

Weds., April 21, 2010

First of all, after meeting with each group individually, I am so impressed with your progress!  Congrats!  However, now is the time to put it in gear.  We only have a little bit of time left in the school year. 

Today:
1.  Please, take this survey.
2.  Continue working on your games and team pages.
3.  Later this week, I will have the guidelines for your presentations.
4.  Let me know if you have any questions.

RHS's Hands Are Not For Hate: Civic Responsibilty

Last week, several groups within our community were told that God hated them by a group of less than tolerant individuals from Kansas.  West Virginians were told that they were less than human due to sexual orientation, religious decisions, employment, gender, and any other 'difference' that one could muster up. 

The Covenant House in Charleston, WV organized a FLASH MOB and A Stop The Hate Rally on the Capitol steps the evening that the hate group was protesting diversity.  The rally was to promote diversity, difference, and focus energies and power on the positive rather than dwell in the  negative of the HATERS. 

Several Riverside High School students wanted to be a part of the experience.  In class and in the halls, students began to have a dialog about civic responsibilities and how it was their turn to stand up for what they believed was right.  Students held discussions about how turning a blind eye creates more harm than good.  They felt that it was their turn to stand up and say "Stop The Hate!"  They were kind enough to invite their teacher to join them, so I went joyfully!

As an educator and loyal supporter of diversity, I had a profound experience at the Capitol that evening.  I was impressed with how many individuals came to support The Covenant House and give a message of positivity to those that needed to hear it.  I was PROUD that 10th, 11th, and 12th grade students came out in the rain to stand up for something that they believed in.  I was PROUD that they understood the real meaning behind Civic Responsibility and followed through with their mission of sending a positive message.  It was fun.  It was heartwarming.  It was a proud moment.  It was a moment that none of them will forget. 

You can read one student's personal account of the rally on his blog post "Stop The Hate Rally."  Please, watch the videos that follow to see for yourself why some of the students opted to "Stop The Hate."

Cody, Riverside Student



Ashley, Riverside Student



Riverside High School Students Creating A Poster



Stop The Hate Flash Mob
Steps of WV Capitol
Charleston, WV
April 8, 2010

The Final Stretch

You should be far enough along on your game drawing to begin ADDING INTERACTION and ASSEMBLING YOUR DEMO.  Make sure that you watch the tutorials and follow the links that they suggest.  They are incredibly helpful. Remember there is a blog post that needs to be completed with each tutorial.   I will begin meeting with each group to discuss progress and what kinks need to be worked out. 

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Today, you need to get caught up.  You should have finished the following:

1.  The PJ/Animation Blog.
2.  The WV Blog and comment on two other blogs.
3.  The Renaissance Selection Flash visual finished and posted on your project page.
4.  Up to date Learning Log.

Once all of these elements are completed, please continue working on your game with your partner.  Please remember there is a written element to the team page that needs to be completed.  Begin doing that.  Also start thinking about how you are going to present your game to the class, school and the people from Globaloria.  What will the power point presentation look like?

On a side note, several of my AP students are going to join me at "The Stop The Hate" Rally at the Cap Complex this evening.  If you are interested in flash mob dancing and rallying for diversity and acceptance, then please feel free to join us.  

WV Girl and Thoughts of West Virginia

Photo Credit

W.Va. Girl

by Mike Morningstar

You've been carryin' heartache 'round these small and dirty towns

Clutched-up in your heart and soul Bluefield to Wheeling town

I've seen you down in the coal mine shacks, in the mountains of the north

And the southern farmlands cracked your hands, to show these men your worth



West Virginia Girl I've loved you from the start, WVa Girl these songs I sing for you

For I know God loves you in his heart, God knows I love you too



With all the weight of decades upon you as you strive

With the poverty around your door, the wisdom in your eyes

Don't the coal dust ever make you weep as it sifts into your sod

Don't your tears e'er seem to blur your sleep, come a dreamin' out for God



You have seen your sons and husbands carried from those mines

With a "coal tattoo" deep in their chest, a death stare in their eyes

Down in Farmington I heard your cries and I felt your misery too

Small comfort tho' my song may bring, I'm singin' it for you



Now I sing this song for every West Virginia Girl I've known

And for every one I'll never know who shares this mountain home

For my Mama and my Grandma, all who gave their love to me

For the Gypsy and her mother, and the "one who would not be"



Assignment: 
 

Today, I would like you to take a minute and reflect on what you just read, what has recently happened within our community, and what the state of West Virginia means to you, to other residents, and also what it might mean to outsiders.  How has technology helped and hindered us?  How are West Virginians perceived?  Construct a well developed, thoughtful, grammatically correct, and rich (meaning has links, pictures, etc) blog that addresses those thoughts.  Once you have finished your blog, read two other posts from peers or from me and make comment.  Begin a dialog. 

Monday, April 5, 2010

Catch Up:  Look at your grades on edline.  Have you completed something after the due date and it isn't marked in the grade book?  If so, WRITE down the assignment and where it is located (ie your blog, team page, wiki page).  Please give this to me immediately.

Today's Assignment:  go to the online textbook and select one of the readings from The Renaissance section.  Read that particular selection.  Using FLASH, create one scene that provides a basic summary of the reading.  Then create a second scene that shows a visual representation of the piece that you have read using FLASH.  Create a third scene and provide the reason why you have drawn this specific representation.  If you provide workable buttons to connect the three scenes you will receive extra credit.

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Adding Animation.  Today, you will review a tutorial on the wiki that discusses animating your FLASH drawings.  This will explain more about keyframes and how to make your individual characters move.  Please watch the video, practice animating, and create the blog post that accompanies this lesson.

No, this is not an April Fool's Day Joke.