Our Final Mentor Meeting of 2013-2014

Good Morning!!!  Today we are going to begin getting prepared for our final mentor meeting of the 2013-2014 school year which is, yes, this Friday!!  That means it is the last chance you will be meeting with your mentor and is the last opportunity you have to leave a lasting impression - and you want that lasting impression (or their memory of you) to be a positive one.  Discuss a few things that you can/should do in preparation for this last mentor meeting that you feel will help leave a good impression on your mentor.  Why do you think it is important to finish the year with your mentor on a positive note and how could it benefit you down the road?

Put in a little critical thinking as you complete this blog post.  Come up with some good reasons, perhaps work towards having the best in the class :)

Thanks and we will get started shortly!!

Mr. Rubin

Academy Website Complete!!

Congratulations on completing your Academy Website!!  I hope that you, you and your partner or perhaps your small group are proud of the work you created.  Today you will need to post a brief reflection of the work you completed.  Below are the questions I would like you to reflect on:

1.  What was your impression of WIX.  Do you think it is a quality online website buiolding tool?  What were some of the features of the web builder that you liked?  What features would you also like to see included in the program?
2.  What do you think of the site that you created?  What would you say some of the best features of the site are?  What would you say (taking another look at the site) could be improved?  Can you make those changes?
3.  What do you think of the power of a website?  Is it a good marketing tool for the Academy?  What other marketing tools do you think would be valuable for a program like ours in which we require students to learn about and apply for the program?
4.  Lastly, reflecting on the project itself, what did you enjoy about this project?  What were some of the greatest challenges that you and your group faced throughout the design process?  How did you overcome those challenges?

Thanks for your thorough thoughtful responses.  In addition, please post a screenshot of the front page of your site and please include a link to your site.  Remember that your group is also responsible for emailing me a link to your site with all group members names in the email!

Thanks and Happy Monday!

Earth Day!

Good Morning and Happy April 22nd, 2014!  Today is Earth Day!  While I promise not to harp on it being Earth day, today seemed like a great opportunity to consider both the Environmental and Economic benefits of shopping at local stores.  Below is an image and a series of questions.  Please look at the image and then respond as best as you can (3-4 sentences each) to each question posed.

Question 1: What does it mean to you to shop locally?

Question 2:  Looking at the image above, what are some of the primary reasons it benefits your local communities economy to shop at locally owned and run businesses?  Give specific examples from the chart that highlight how much of your money stays nearby, where your money goes, etc.

Question 3:  Although it is not specified in the image (and, of course, because today is earth day) what do you see as the environmental benefits of shopping at locally owned and operated businesses? You can take a second to do a quick online Google search for an answer ... you'll find plenty of sites with ideas! 

Remember, your response to each question should be 3-4 sentences ... yes, a little bit longer of a blog post but a good opportunity to do some critical thinking about economics and the environment on earth day!

Thank you!

Sophomore Year Coming to an End!

Good Morning and Happy Monday!  Welcome back from Spring Break 2014 and the beginning of the final stretch of the school year!  We literally have 6 weeks or 23 days of class left until you begin your finals and actually a week less until you begin developing a presentation for one of your Portfolio projects ... that actually means less than 20 days of class left in here!  I am very excited and proud of those of you who have really been pushing hard and the many accomplishments you have made to date but it is important for everyone to finish out the school year strong, motivated and ready to take your next step forward to junior year.

As we ease into today, how was your spring break?  Did you work a lot?  Play a lot?  A little of both? How did you spend your spring break?  What was your favorite activity over the break?  In addition, what are you looking forward to as we approach the end of the school year?  Are you simply excited for summer or are there other things you are looking forward to during these last few weeks?  Finally, what is one thing you need to do/accomplish this week that has been troubling you/making you anxious that if you take care of, you will feel better!  Talking to a teacher?  Taking care of something at home? Etc?

Thanks for a great response!  We'll get into our groups shortly and continue with creating our Academy Website which is due Friday!  While you are waiting, please make sure you have completed Unit 2, Lesson 2.1 (Learning the 9 and 4 Keys).  If you have not yet, what better way to warm up those fingers after a relaxing spring break :)

Our New Academy Website in Motion!

Good Morning and Happy Block Day!

We have now started to design our second and final website.  This site, as you know, will be our newest marketing tool for the Menlo-Atherton Computer Academy.  I am excited to see some of you excited about the opportunity to create this site and add your own creative touch while informing people (both students and adults) of the unique opportunity.

With that in mind, having started your website, please brainstorm a few items that you think you might need as you develop the perfect site.  I would like you to brainstorm what you can on your own as we get started today but you can update your response as you and your team work on your site during today's block period!

Thanks everybody!  I'm excited to see your progress!

Wrapping Up Yesterday's Discussion

Yesterday we had an in-depth discussion on the importance of furthering your education and the benefits it can bring over the course of your lifetime.  Finally, as we close out today's class period, please write a call to action using both articles that we read today.  Within this call to action you will need to:

• Analyze the importance of an education
• Discuss what you believe the state's role in that process should be
• Use very specific statistics to further your argument
• Ensure your paragraph would be motivating to yourself, your neighbor or anyone else moving forward in their academic career
• Within this paragraph I would also encourage you to use first hand examples including:
• your personal experiences and/or those of people you know and how their education (or lack thereof) has affected their daily lives.
• Your thoughts on how a free education may change one's outlook on furthering their education as we move forward.  
• This final paragraph should be thorough, thoughtful and should also include some statistics from the articles you read that strengthen your argument.

The Importance of Professionalism, Responsibility and the College Education!

Good Morning and Happy Monday -

We are just 5 short days away from Spring Break which I am sure everyone is excited about.  Today, however, we are going to take a moment to read two articles and reflect both individually and as a class on your thoughts regarding the two.

The first article we are going to read discusses the rising cost of not going to College.

Article can be found here: http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2014/02/11/the-rising-cost-of-not-going-to-college/

This article discusses the importance of furthering your education and gives detailed statistics and facts that will surely either curve or reinforce your opinion about a college education.  As you read the article, please take notes on a piece of paper and then share the five most interesting facts you learned or that stood out to you as you read this article on your blog.  Be sure to include an introduction of what the article was about before discussing your five chosen pointers.

The second article we are going to read is on Tennessee's plan to approve free community college for all high school graduates.

Article can be found here: http://goo.gl/WUsQac

This article, as the title implies, discusses the motivation behind Tennessee's plan to offer a free community college education to its residents.  In addition, it explains how a state like Tennessee would fund such a plan.  As you read the article, please highlight the following:

• What does the article discuss
• What are the benefits of a plan such as this one
• What negatives can you envision about putting a plan like this into place

Finally, as we close out today's class period, please write a call to action using both articles that we read today.  Within this call to action you will need to analyze the importance of an education and the state's role in that process.  As part of this, I would imagine you might discuss your experiences personally and/or those of people you know and how their education (or lack thereof) has affected their daily lives.  One discussion point could certainly be on how a free education, such as the one that Tennessee is proposing, may change one's outlook on furthering their education as we move forward.  This final paragraph should be thorough, thoughtful and should also include some statistics from the articles you read that strengthen your argument.

Thank you.

Sandwich Shop Complete

Good Morning and Congratulations on completing your first website.  I am looking forward to seeing some of your creativity.  To submit the project please follow these instructions:

• Publish your website
• Take a screenshot of the homepage only of your sandwich shop (see below)

• Post the picture on your blog.  Include a link to your site and invite the reader of your blog to take a look
• Write a brief reflection.  What did you enjoy most about this project? What challenges did you face?  How do you think a tool like WIX could benefit you or someone you know?  What type of site would you be interested in creating for personal reasons?

Thanks and I look forward to seeing your blog post.