Career Description Assignment
Step 1 - Organize your information about a career path you've worked out for yourself.
You're going to want to be able to fully and factually describe the career field and specifically the job you want to talk about. You need to include what it takes to become one, how much someone generally earns doing the job you want, and what kinds of skill are regularly employed by someone who does that job. But you will also have to describe the career choice from your own perspective: why you find it interesting, what about you makes you think you'll do well at it, and so on. You should also talk about the entire career field that relates to the job you're interested in in terms of what kinds of people are involved in it, how these jobs affect society in one way or another, and so on. Use the results from your self assessment to help describe this. Step 2 - Put it all in a PowerPoint presentation called I Have a Dream To Become... (that's your title). Title Slide (with your name) Job Slide with details Remaining Slides: Description of the career path with stats
Make the image dominate the space (aim for 80% image, 20% text) Step 3 - When finished, submit it above. Step 4 - EXTRA: To consider just how much the quoted salary you have in your presentation will buy you in a year, go here and see what your estimates would be compared to the job you've chosen. Add another slide to your presentation that describes your situation. Databases - January, 2013
For our next project, we're going to be looking at online DATABASES, which are online collections of information that have tools that allow you to pull out and organize that information in a variety of ways.
You may not realize it, but most apps on your smartphone or tablet, and all search engines, use databases to help you manage information everyday. Websites that offer a choice of products, such as music or games, that you can select based on your specific preferences are using a database to help you find what you're looking for. A TABLE of information stored in rows and columns, as in a spreadsheet, can be considered a very simple database. By sorting the lists in each column according to a certain order you select, you can quickly find information in a general way, and if you then sort more columns into specific order, you may be able to pinpoint a specific line of information that matches what you're looking for. A relational database, however, is usually much quicker. You specify everything you're looking for up front, and the database then collects everything that matches what you've specified and puts it in a form that can help you further refine your search if you need to. It does this by using a whole bunch of tables at once. Every database is made up of individual RECORDS that describe one thing as fully as possible. Each characteristic of that thing that may be of interest is stored in separate labeled FIELDS inside the record.
A table is a list of records in rows with fields listed across the row in the same order in each record so that, when looking down the columns of fields, you see the same kind of information on each line in that column. Databases keep track of records with lots of fields by taking some of those fields and making them into separate tables that summarize key information to help organize the data. The records in those tables may have additional fields that point to other tables of information. This is what makes the database relational - it is creating specific relationships between elements of the database that can help organize the information when it is being searched. A database search is called a query. Step 1 - Learn what these terms mean (get the best definition you can that you can understand and explain to somebody else if asked):
Step 2 - List at least five different online databases that many people regularly use, and describe what people hope to find when they query those databases. Choose databases that offer different kinds of results. If you can't think of ones you already know, check out this page. Step 3 - Visit this site and explore at least three different paths from the first page to find one role in each path you would be interested in pursuing. You'll end up with three things altogether to list and describe what kinds of things they do, how much they get paid to do it on average, what it takes to become one, and how much future demand there will be. [If it helps you decide, you will eventually be making a presentation to the class about your choices.] Step 4 - Write up your answers to all three steps in a Word file and upload it on this page (above). Advanced PowerPoint Presentations - Due Dec. 21
We are going to enter into the realm of Advanced PowerPoint, which means we're going to design a presentation using all the various best and most compelling methods we can to keep our audience informed and interested.
The text file below holds the last verse of the Christmas song, The Twelve Days of Christmas. In this song, someone sings of what their true love has sent them for each of the twelve days of the Christmas season. We are going to make a slide presentation showing each day's present filling a slide, with the song text superimposed over the image, and with smooth transitions between slides. We will start with the twelfth day simply because it names all the presents in one sequence. Four issues will be uppermost in our presentations:
The text must be in an appropriate and legible font. It must be visible over or alongside the imagery but cannot dominate the slide. The text must appear via animation, BUT ONLY THE FIRST TIME IT IS SEEN and must enter smoothly and quickly. Every slide will use the same form of animation. The pictured item is not animated, so that the viewer sees the image immediately followed by the words. The transition to the next slide must be quick, but it also must be smooth. Every slide will use the same form of transition. Phase 1: Your first slide will hold nothing but the Title: The Twelve Days of Christmas. Your second slide (Prelude) will have the words: "On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me..." Put the words inside a frame on top of a very simple background. Each slide after that will be one of the days, counting down from 12. Your last slide will hold your credits, which include your name, and the page source of EACH of your images. Altogether, you should end up with exactly 15 slides. Phase 2: Once I've approved your 12th Day sequence, your next task is to create the entire song, copying and re-using the slides you've already made. Don't build the entire song UNTIL I've approved your 12th Day collection. NOTES for PHASE 2:
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Eighth Grade Final Project – Spring 2013At this point in your schooling, you’ve learned to create things using a variety of applications. By now, you should know what goes into and how to create basic documents and presentations, and you should know how to manipulate graphics and audio files. You've also done some basic programming. These are skills that everyone will continue to need throughout their schooling and later on when they enter the work force.
You may not feel like you know everything there is to know about all these things, but you do know how to make something using each of these:
So, for your last project in computers, you are going to choose your own topic and use it to demonstrate just how much of the above skills you've been able to retain to this point. The topic you choose must be about how you would like to see our future improved and what you think it will require for some to make it happen.
For example, you could create a well-crafted PowerPoint presentation that includes a slide that holds a video that can be clicked on to play. That's two things: Slide Presentation and Video editing. Another slide could hold a carefully crafted image you've made that further adds to the presentation topic. That's three things. Or you could incorporate a carefully-recorded narration using Audacity into a video using your own art work and video clips that speak to your subject. That's two things. You could create an accurate summary of details using a spreadsheet and then highlight key elements in your narrative. That's three things. Or you could start with an analysis of something that can be extracted from extensive research in various databases, and then lay it out the details in a spreadsheet, which would be two things, and then describe where your plan would take them if certain things were put into place. Putting that much in a slide show or video would be three things (but only if the analysis is extensive). Or you could tell a story of how something is now and how it could be later using one of the animation or video editors, as long as the information presented is well thought out and described fully either in an endnote section or a supplemental storyboard with annotations and bibliography. Your Topic Start by considering the broad kinds of activities humans involve themselves in, such as
Try to imagine what may happen if things don't improve. The population of the world is growing. Its climate is changing. Economic and governmental principles are being challenged. What people once thought to be out of the ordinary is becoming more and more commonplace. We're growing used to so much that once used to be rare and unusual, or even unimaginable. So, use your imagination. What would you like to see in our future world that can be reached with current tools and skills? What would have to change? What may be missing now that would have to be developed? Your Presentation Your final project will create something that can be viewed online. At the beginning of the year, you were given access to a Weebly website. That's where this final project must end up. All supplemental resources must end up there, too. For example, if you make a video, a storyboard and/or script must accompany it fully describing your planning and preparation of the video. Also, if you want to use Scratch, because Scratch files cannot currently be embedded into a website, you would have to upload it to the MIT Scratch site and provide an accurate link to it, and still provide all supplemental files on your own site. This is a solo project. Each student is responsible for creating his or her own final project. You are welcome to collaborate on information gathering, research, editing, etc., but each of you must create your own project to display your own skills in producing presentations. | ||
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Explanation Scale:
A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K - L - M - N - O - P - Q - R - S - T - U - V - W - X - Y - Z LESS understanding MORE understanding Assignment: Check out Julian Treasure's video (above)
Julian Treasure on Four Ways Sound Affects Us is a description of the ways sounds can alter our productivity, mood, and comfort. I want you to consider this presentation not only as a way to take away useful information but as a model of presenting information in a simple but memorable way.
In a single page, answer these questions in complete sentences: How did he speak to the entire audience? How did he grab your attention early? Did he sound like he was talking to you, or down to you? Describe what you felt. How did he make the information easy for you to organize? How did he help you understand that he had a point to his presentation? What is the most important thing you took away from his presentation? What else struck you, positively or negatively, in his presentation? What Makes a Good Explanatory Presentation?
Clarity is about the format and delivery of the presentation. Your audience wants to be able to see and hear clearly what you're trying to get across without distractions. Simplicity is about the message and content itself. Your audience wants to know about the topic you're discussing, and nothing else. They want you to cross the boundary from complexity into understandable simplicity. Memorability is about what your audience takes away from your presentation: what are the key points you need them to remember? Appeal is about how your presentation content relates to each member of your audience. It's a combination of specific content that people can relate to and a sense that your audience can, in fact, come to understand what you're explaining. Building an Explanatory Video
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The Shoot:
Making the Final Product:
- Shoot farthest shots first
- Finish in classroom
- When camera positioned, shoot live action and stop motion from same position
- Avoid changing light conditions (don't shoot outside on cloudy day, make note of indoor lights that are used)
- Leave enough time to preview footage before you quit for the day
Making the Final Product:
- Use Movie Maker 2.6 and/or Zu3D
- Make a clear opening title
- Incorporate titles that describe what's happening at each moment
- Intersperse live action with stop motion
- Make a summary slide at the end
- End credits including 'Class of 2013' and 'Copyright 2012'
- If student names are used, do not use full last names - initials are OK.
