Do You Want More Readers?

Students, you are writing and getting readers, but how do you increase the number of readers and bring visitors back on a regular basis to read your blog?

Please read Get to Work! You’ll find that one of the ways to increase the number of readers on your blog is to read other blogs and to comment on them. A monologue doesn’t interest people as much as a conversation does.

Go to the Edublogs Community page. Find a student or class blog that seems interesting. Try to comment on the page. Remember to be a good digital citizen. Remember that with each comment, you represent Incarnation Catholic School. Remember that the comment may be moderated and may not show up on the blog until a teacher approves the comment.

Using Tags and Categories in Your Blog

The purpose of a blog is to communicate ideas to a wider audience than your teacher or classmates. Tags and categories can help to create and to build the audience.

Tags and categories on posts are used to help readers locate information in different ways.

Categories are like chapters of a book; they provide a general overview of the topics you blog about. Whereas tags are more like the index at the back of the book and explode the topic into a million bits.

You are required to include tags for each post and you will be required to develop and include categories for each post by post #3

For additional information read Adding Tags and Categories to a Post. Follow the directions to add a Tag Cloud widget in your sidebar.

Creative Arts: Purpose and Culture

Grade 8 Project
Enduring Understanding:

  • Visual art reflects individual, community, and cultural differences throughout the world.
  • Visual art can portray different views, opinions, and interpretations.
  • Art influences technology and technology influences art.

Guiding Questions

  1. What is the purpose and meaning of your art? What is the purpose and meaning of the art of the artist or museum you selected to study? How does it represent you and your culture?
  2. What are the purposes for which cultures create art?
  3. Who owns art? How is art saved, displayed, distributed and licensed?

Design Cycle

  • investigate
  • design
  • plan
  • create
  • evaluate

Technology Standards
Communication and Collaboration: Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others. Students:

  • interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts or others employing a variety of digital environments and media.
  • communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences using a variety of media and formats.

Critical Thinking, Problem-Solving & Decision-Making: Students use critical thinking skills to plan and conduct research, manage projects, solve problems and make informed decisions using appropriate digital tools and resources. Students:

  • plan and manage activities to develop a solution or complete a project.

Digital Citizenship: Students understand human, cultural, and societal issues related to technology and practice legal and ethical behavior. Students:

  • exhibit leadership for digital citizenship.

Technology Operations and Concepts: Students demonstrate a sound understanding of technology concepts, systems and operations. Students:

  • select and use applications effectively and productively.
  • transfer current knowledge to learning of new technologies.

View rubrics and student products on the wiki: http://icscreativearts.wikispaces.com/home

Art Book pages by E. Prendergast

Student Work – ICS Advertisements

    Assignment:

    Create your own video slideshow on animoto.com. You must create a 30 second advertisement for ICS. Use your school email account to create the account on Animoto.

    Plan the following before you create the media message:

    1. What is the target audience? potential students or parents (early childhood, elementary, or middle school)
    2. What creative techniques are used to attract attention? images and music
    3. How might different people understand this message differently?
    4. What values, lifestyles and points of view are represented in, or omitted from, this message?
    5. Why is this message being sent?
    6. How does the advertisement address the ICS Mission statement?

    Links to Sample Products:

    Links to other students advertisements are on the Media Literacy Wiki.

    Sorakuen Garden, Japan using Animoto

    Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com. You must create a 30 second advertisement for ICS. Use your school email account to create the account on Animoto.

    Plan the following before you create the media message:

    1. What is the target audience? potential students or parents (early childhood, elementary, or middle school)
    2. What creative techniques are used to attract attention? images and music
    3. How might different people understand this message differently?
    4. What values, lifestyles and points of view are represented in, or omitted from, this message?
    5. Why is this message being sent?
    6. How does the advertisement address the ICS Mission statement?

    Technical Aspects

    • number of shots (for a free account, the limit is 12 images)
    • length of each shot (no longer than 30 seconds total for a free account)
    • camera angle of each shot & location of the camera for each (use your best)
    • effects of close-up/medium/long shots (use your best)
    • framing (rule of thirds) (use your best – but crop if necessary)
    • backgrounds (choose slides with appropriate backgrounds)
    • lighting for each shot (use your best)
    • visual transitions (no control in a free 30 second video)
    • sound track (select 30 seconds of music – mp3 format)
    • special effects or animation (no control in a free 30 second video)
    • script/message (your images and  music create the message)

    Tools:

    Complete Assignments:

    1. You may work alone or in pairs.
    2. When you complete the 30 second advertisement for ICS (using Animoto), you or your partner must send the link to my email. Include in the email a summary of your answers to the 6 questions listed above.
    3. You will have today in class and next week in class to work on the assignment. It must be completed before midnight May 6.

    Target Audience Application

    Assignment: Create different photographs of a peer using the same or similar techniques in the Schwarzenegger covers.  Photograph the same person to appeal to two different target audiences.

    Be sure to use the Kodak Top Ten Tips for good photography.

    Rules, Limitations, Procedures:

    1. Do not take photos of anyone younger than grade 7. Use a student in your class or older, if at all possible.
    2. Ask his/her permission to use both photos on a website or as part of a slideshow online.
    3. Do NOT take photos of anyone without permission.
    4. Provide the name and age of the person in the photography.
    5. Download the photos from your camera to a computer. Save them as jpeg or as gif or as png. (View Image File Formats for descriptions of each.) This link may help to save the files correctly. Windows Microsoft You can also use Zamzar to change file formats.
    6. Name each image with your name and audience (example: rcarrier fashion) or your name and audience2 (example: rcarrier business)
    7. Attach each image to an email and send it to me at my school email address.
    8. I must receive the email with the attachments before midnight Sunday, 5/1