Friday, August 30th

Journal - What are your hobbies and extra curricular activities? Where do you spend your free time? Tell me three of your favorite things (movies, TV show, magazine, sport, color, etc.)

I'm involved in dance team here at Blue Valley and also take dance several days a week at Legacy School of the Arts. It keeps me plenty busy all of the time as I have dance team every morning plus Thursday nights and Saturday afternoons on top of football games and competitions. I'm also very much involved in the youth group at my Synagogue, Beth Torah and I work. So, with all of this I don't really have much free time. And when I do, it's usually used getting caught up on school work, college applications, sleeping, etc. 
I have plenty of favorite things in my life but I somehow doubt you would like to hear them all. So three of them include that my favorite animal is turtles, specifically sea turtles. My reasoning behind this is that they're always super chill and look so content with life. Also, they're just wonderful in general. Also, I very much enjoy finding new music on a regular basis. If I don't find it, I have plenty of friends who are way in to music and always willing to share their new finds with me. If I'm not extremely busy, I like to search the interwebs for some new tunes. A third favorite of  mine would be that my favorite show is Arrested Development. Sadly, it's only on Netflix. And it's a show the whole world needs to experience. I've already gone through every single episode in all four episodes and can quote it without fail. Overall, the best show ever. 

Who Am I Presentation

Wednesday, August 28th

Journal - What are some qualities of a good presentation? How can you make a boring presentation interesting? Explain.

To give a good presentation, there are many things that come into play. For starters, it helps to sound like you enjoy what you're talking about. If you sound like you hate it, then your audience will probably hate it, too. Also, it's always a smart idea to make eye contact with your audience. Another thing is to never just read off of a screen or poster. You're audience can do all of that by themselves and don't need your help. Just summarize what's the screen or poster and go more into depth in your own words. It makes it much more interesting to look at. To make a boring presentation more interesting, it's good to include visuals. Also, as I said earlier, be sure to just point your main points on your presentation and then speak more in depth in your own words about the topic. On occasion, it can also be fun to get your crowd involved by having them get up and move or voice their own opinions.

Monday, August 26th

Journal - 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 I should be able to use it."

I agree with this completely! And why is it I agree with this statement? Well, for starters, the internet is not a private little secret for only the privileged to use. It is something that every single person can use and can view basically anything on. If you post a picture, you're putting it out for the world to see. Even if you post it on something that is considered private, there are still ways for people to get it. If you enable only a few people to see something, they can do whatever they please with your picture. They have the ability to save it on their computer and spread it anywhere they would like. If you're posting pictures on the internet, you should be aware that you are not the one and only person who will ever see. As I said earlier, the internet is free game for everyone to use. If you want to keep your photos away from the eyes of the world, then it's best for you to never post them anywhere online. There's always a way to dig them up. 

Friday, August 23rd

Journal - What is the importance of online safety and protecting your information? What do you do to protect yourself online? Share an experience you or someone you know has had with online safety.

There are many reasons as to why online safety and protecting your information is important. For starters, you don't want someone to pose as you. On top of that, you don't want any creepy folks to come after you. Another thing is that people can steal your banking and credit card information and can buy thousands of dollars in stuff as a nice little surprise for you to find out later. To protect myself, I choose to be the bright little person I am and don't share my address just anywhere online. I also don't share any of my banking info anywhere. On top of this, I choose not to respond to the kind people sending me emails asking for my credit card information to help make my life more simple when,  in fact, they are lying. 
An experience I've had with online safety is when I first made a Facebook and didn't have my privacy settings set up to a standard. Because of this, everyone in the whole wide world could see all about the life of Sarah Rawitch. Soon after, strange people from around the country tried to add me on Facebook and I had no connections with them at all. Soon after, I learned that it's a smart idea to use privacy settings. 

Wednesday, August 21st

Journal - Tell me what you know about Web 2.0. List example Web 2.0 sites. Are you on any sites that let you “post” information? What are those sites? How often do you use them? What do you post on them?

Web 2.0 is any site that you can post information on. Some examples of this are Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, MySpace, Wanelo, Instagram, Blogspot, Pintrest, Youtube, Reddit, etc. 
I have a twitter that I never actually get on, also I forgot I had one for quite awhile until someone tweeted me this one time. Also, I have a Facebook. I can post about my all the fascinating things that happen in my life. I can also list things like work information, schools that I've attended, books and movies I enjoy and more. There, I can also look at other people's lives and see what their up to through their profile and pictures. It is also a good tool to keep in touch with people that you don't see on a normal basis and keeps you up to date on events and other such things you need to know about. I probably go and check my Facebook about once a day or so but don't post much on a regular basis. I have a Tumblr that I occasionally get on and post about anything that holds my attention for about .5 seconds and occasionally post things about my life. It's a highly entertaining website. Besides these, I also have a Wanelo account that I get on on occasion to look at clothes that I wish I could actually buy. 

Tuesday, August 20th

Journal - After watching the short clip of Ashton Kutcher's acceptance speech what did you take away from his advice? What does this quote mean to you -"Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you, and you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use."

Response-  After watching Ashton Kutcher, or Chris, whatever works, receive his award chosen by the thousands of screaming teenage girls throughout the United States I took away several different things from his speech. The first being that I would rather not be stuck in a room with all of those screaming girls. But besides that, I took away that even though the road to where you want to be someday may be long and exhausting, you’ll get there through many small steps that will eventually lead to the top. I also took away that that not only does getting to where you want to be take plenty of patience, but it also takes the ability to use your mind. You have to be creative and use your intelligence to get where you want to be as it’s the best way to show who it is you really are.

The quote "Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you, and you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use" can mean many things to me. One idea about the quote that stands out to me is that if you set your mind to change the world, it’s possible. Everyone is on an even playing ground when it comes to influencing the world and the one’s that work their way up and show that they’re willing to work are the ones that make it far. This quote can go on to say how you don’t have to be the top student in your class to make it far in life, but someone who has the drive to make their dreams become a reality, which is trait that stands out in few.