Monday, November 24th

What are you doing for Thanksgiving? Do you have any traditions? Go in to detail about your plans for the 5 day weekend.

Over Thanksgiving I am going to Orlando, Florida with my mom until Sunday. I am helping her with a work event for Hallmark while we're there. I'm not sure what are plans are for celebrating Thanksgiving this year but we'll probably go out to dinner or something like that. Usually for Thanksgiving my family goes to my grandparent's house in Beatrice, Nebraska. We see my mom's side of the family and hang out with them for a few days. The past couple of years we've spent with our neighbor's but some of them have moved away. 

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Monday, November 17th

Consider the quote below. What exactly do you think it means and how does it relate to Web Design?

The quote in this image talks about the effectiveness of design. When companies or websites use certain designs they make it so the customers want to use their product or service. This relates to web design because the more effective a website is, the more people will be attracted to it. Web design is about designing a website that will be effective and give the viewers the message the designer wants to relay. Design helps things work because if something runs smoothly then people will want to use it more often. If a website is easy to navigate and it looks professional then it becomes more effective. Although design is what a website looks like, it makes the overall feel of it better if things are readable, easy to navigate, and there is some kind of color scheme.


User Experience: the overall experience of a person using a product such as a website or computer application, especially in terms of how easy or pleasing it is to use.

Thursday, November 13th

Reflect on your learning this semester so far in this class. Think about the first day you walked in to this room until right now. What have you learned about Web Design? What have you learned beyond Web Design? Explain yourself.

So far in web design I have learned how to create a website and the different codes to use so I can get specific things on my website. I have also learned about the different tools I can use to create a website like Notepad ++ and Dreamweaver. I have learned the different kinds of jobs related to web design and also how to update and create a blog.

Friday, November 7th

Define the following terms on your blog. Do not copy and paste definitions. Site where you got your definition.

FTP- The File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a standard network protocol used to transfer computer files from one host to another host over a TCP-based network, such as the Internet.

Web Server- A web server is a computer system that processes requests via HTTP, the basic network protocol used to distribute information on the World Wide Web.

Web Hosting (also list examples of web hosting companies)- the activity or business of providing storage space and access for websites. (web.com, iPage, register.com, justhost.com)

Monday, November 3rd

Tell me about your weekend. Give me details and photos!

Over the weekend I had my friends over for Halloween night and we had food and carved pumpkins and handed out candy to kids. My favorite thing about that day was being around everyone because we don't get to sped a lot of time together as a whole group. I also had State Cup for soccer in Topeka. I had one game on Saturday and another game on Sunday and my team won both of the games. State Cup continues into next weekend when we play at Swope Park and my team has an automatic bid into the finals.

Monday, October 20th

Tell me about your weekend. Share pics!

Over the weekend I went to Nebraska to visit my cousin and also to visit Nebraska-Omaha which is where I will be playing soccer next year. My visit was really exciting and the girls on the team were very nice and helpful when they showed me around. I then went to the University of Nebraska to and stayed overnight in the dorms with my closest cousin. We ordered pizza and watched the football game on Saturday night.

Friday, October 17th

What kind of background do you have with Photoshop? Have you used it before? What other types of design and editing software have you used before? Explain.

I used Photoshop in 8th grade and pretty much used the basic concepts of it. We didn't really get into a lot of detail with it. I have really only used Photoshop a little bit and I've used other editing things that are on my phone but nothing more advanced than that.

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Monday, October 13th

The type of school courses that we would need to have would include things like personal finance, a class on how to understand taxes, a class on buying homes and cars, and classes on how to understand social norms. I would want the curriculum to be based around real-life tasks that would benefit me later on in life when I had to do things in the real world. You would study by applying them in a similar situation and maybe interviewing someone who had to do to them. These classes would be different because they would have real-world application rather than doing pointless tasks that don't benefit students when they go out and look for a job.

Thursday, October 9th

Copyright Law and Career Search

Career Search

Copyright Law

Tuesday October 7th, 2014

The following article was in the September issue of The Tiger Print. Read the article (even if you already have) and respond to it below. What do you think? Do you agree? Disagree? Consider all perspectives of the article while you respond.

This article is something I feel very strongly about. I agree and I think that a lot of times society gives girls a bad image because of the way they dress and they don't really think about the fact that boys are the ones who need to give girls respect for being confident. If  a girl is confident enough to wear something and is comfortable enough to do so then I think people should respect that. If boys are distracted by the girls around them that should not be a reflection on the girls, it should be a reflection on the boys.

Monday, October 6th

Tell me about your weekend! If you don't have anything fun to share, tell me about the city you live in. What do you love about Kansas City? Do you have a favorite place in the city? Favorite team? :) Favorite event? Explain.

Over the weekend I had two soccer games which I played at the Overland Park Soccer Complex. My team won both games, the first one was 6-1 and the second one was 7-3. It was weird because those are really high scoring games. I also celebrated my little sister's 16th birthday on Sunday and we went out to eat at Bonefish Grill. After we went out to eat we went over to our neighbor's house to watch the Royals' game which was really exciting!

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Monday, September 29th

Tell me about your Homecoming weekend! If you didn't participate in the Homecoming festivities, what did you do? Share pics!

Over the weekend I traveled to St. Louis for another soccer weekend. I played in two games that we won and tied. St. Louis was incredibly hot and it was kind of hard to play in that heat. Although the games went fairly well everyone was really worn out by the time we had to drive home on Sunday. This weekend we spent a total of 8 hours in the car.

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Monday, September 22nd

How was your weekend? Did you do anything exciting? Share photos!

Over the weekend I had an early birthday party because my birthday is this Thursday. My friends and I went to Pinstripes and then came back to my house to hang out. On Saturday I went to Muscatine, Iowa to play in the Midwest Regional league for soccer. My team had two games. Muscatine is about a five and half hour drive so I spent almost 12 hours in the car in two days. I then came home and had to finish a lot of my homework last night.

Friday, September 19th

Now that you are several weeks in to this class and have coded one (super small) website, what do you think? What are your thoughts on web design? Is it what you thought it would be? Is it better? Worse? What's your favorite part? What's your least favorite part? Explain.

Although web design is not what I thought it would be, it's really rewarding when you get the coding right. I like to see everything when it all comes together. The finishing product is definitely the best part, and when you get to decorate everything and give it colors and different fonts. My least favorite part is starting with a blank page and having to think "what do I do?"

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Thursday, September 18th

What is the importance of deadlines? How do high school deadlines reflect or simulate "real world" experience? Give an example of when you met or or didn't meet a deadline that was important.

Deadlines are important in order to keep things in line. Having them makes sure that all things are in on time and then continue on to new objectives. In my experience I have had a deadline set that was months away from the current time. I would wait until the night before the assignment was due to do it and it caused a lot of stress and anxiety. I met the deadline but it was a lot of unneeded pressure to finish.

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Tuesday, September 16th

Reflect on this quote. Give an example of a time in your life that this might have been the case.

I know that a lot of times even when I know I'm not prepared for a test, I think to myself
"I'm ready." Most of the time that this happens I feel overwhelmed and I don't feel like working to try and really understand the material. I know that when this happens I am failing to prepare and in turn, I have to prepare to fail.

Monday, September 15th

What did you do this weekend? Share pictures if you have them!

Over the weekend I went to the football game on Friday night with a bunch of my friends. We cooked out before we went to the game and we also painted some of our friend's bodies. On Saturday my grandparents came down from Nebraska to celebrate my sister Brooke and I's birthdays which are only 10 days apart. We took my grandma shopping and had dinner at our house. We each got a gift from them and we also watched the Nebraska football game.

Thursday, September 11th

Below is one of my favorite quotes that I found on Pinterest. Think read and think about what this says and then blog about it. What does this quote mean to you? Elaborate! Feel free to give an example of tell a story.


I think this quote shows people that there really is an endless list of possibilities. Although we say that we get bored, there are so many things that we could be doing and exploring. There are s many things we could be researching. We may not know the answers to everything but that doesn't mean we can't know the answers to a lot of things. I really believe that school is not giving us the best education we can get, but letting kids explore and see things and places that they've never seen before is really what counts.

Tuesday, September 9th

How do you express your creativity? Explain.

Creativity cannot be explained in just one way. It's something that allows someone to give other people an idea of what they are thinking. A lot of people think of creativity as art. Yes, art is a good representation of creativity but there is so much behind it. You have to look deeper into the the meaning. What's behind it? What's the story? Creativity can also be expressed with music, apparel, and literature.

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Friday, September 5th

Kids these days don't know respect. They don't understand what their elders have gone through and what we grew up in. Kids these days don't know how to find their own fun. They never go outside, always stuck to one of their video games or their phones. We didn't have phones and we didn't need them anyways. Kids these days complain when they don't get what they want; do they ever STOP complaining?

Monday, September 8th

What did you do this weekend? Share pictures if you have them!

Over the weekend I went to Rockford, Illinois which is about an hour outside of Chicago. I had two soccer games that were for a MRL. MRL stands for Midwest Regional League which is a league for the top 15 teams in the Midwest. We ended up tying both of our games which wasn't terrible. The downside of this trip was that it was an 8 hour car ride there and back. So I spent a total of 16 hours in the car in a span of 3 days. The car ride did have a plus side - the sunset!

Thursday, September 4th

Tell me about what you have learned in this class so far. Have you learned a lot? Do you want to learn more? What do you want to be able to do by the end of the semester?

In web design so far I have learned how to use blogger a little bit better than last year and how to code a website. I think I've learned a lot and it's different than what I would typically learn about in school. I want to learn more about coding websites and I'm looking forward to doing so. By the end of the semester I hope that I will be able to create my own website on my own.

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Tuesday, September 2nd

Tell me all about your Labor Day weekend. What did you do? Include photos!

Over this weekend I hung out with my friends and my family. Two of our family friends are moving to Michigan soon and we spent a lot of time with them because it's our last weekend together. The one thing I'm excited about though is that they are letting my sister and I decorate our own room in their new house so I spent some time looking for room decorations. We also watched the movie Divergent this weekend during the huge storm that blew through. I also spent some time looking for ideas for my 18th birthday that's coming up soon.

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Friday, August 29th

Read this small newspaper clipping and then write a blog post about it. What are your thoughts? How does it make you feel? Do you agree? Disagree? Explain yourself.

I think this article is being kind of harsh. I don't think that children should spend all of their time acting like an adult. When children are expected to act like adults their entire lives, they're getting rid of important skills such as imagination. At a young age a child's ideas are so important to their future because it gives them character and individuality. Although I do agree that everyone is important and needed, it is difficult for a child to grow up instantly.

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Thursday, August 28th, 2014

Tell me if you agree with this statement and then explain why or why not. "Images on the internet are 'free game' - if someone posted it, I should be able to use it."

This statement could be justified. Realistically, some people do put things on the internet for people to use freely. Some posts though have a copyright and aren't supposed to be used by everyone online. I don't have a true stance on this subject because I think it's a difficult thing to truly solidify an answer to. If I had to pick an answer, I would probably say that I agree everyone should be able to use the images on the internet because people post them online willingly knowing that other people have access to them.

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Tuesday, August 26th

Tell me a little bit about yourself and your life here at BVHS. What activities or clubs are you involved in? What year are you in school? What is your favorite class and/or teacher so far this year? What are you looking forward to this school year? Include some original photos from your phone if you can.

This year I am a senior. I am on the girls soccer team and I am also a starter. I play soccer outside of school as well, and my team travels all over the country to play. For the most part I've really enjoyed my time here and I'm looking forward to having all of the perks that come with being a senior. This year my favorite class is AVID and Mrs. Bakalar is my favorite teacher. I like AVID because we've been together for four years and a lot of my closest friends are in that class.

Monday, August 25th

What do you know about Web Design right now? What did you know about Web Design before you walked in to this class? Tell me as much as you can about how web pages work. Try to use an example if possible.

As of now I know how to use blogger and I know how to set up a website to some degree. After using the codecademy I know how to do some html code. Before coming to this class I knew how to use blogger and how to set that up so I could write posts. I also made another website when I was littler so I know how to work that also. I know that web pages work by the html code that you enter and everything is based around that. All of the designs and extra font changes and colors all have to do with html code.

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