September 30

Good Morning and Welcome to the last day of September. Below is our agenda for today:

Ensure you have completed and submitted:

• The Flying Butterfly Effect

Ensure you have posted a blog for the assignment that includes the posted youtube video and a response to these questions:

• Describe the assignment you just completed. What was the task and what needed to be done in order for you to successfully complete the assignment?
• What new skills did you learn from completing this assignment? Be specific and use correct names for the different tools you needed to use to complete the assignment. ie Classic Motion Guide, Keyframes, symbols, etc. Reread the assignment description or watch the tutorial to remind yourself
• Was the assignment easy to complete? Did you have any trouble? What did you have trouble with and how did you resolve the issue? What was the most fun aspect of the project and the most challenging?
• Besides making the butterfly flap its wings consistently and using the pan and zoom features in your animation, what other types of animations could you make successfully now using similar tools to the ones used in this project? How do you think the pan and zoom effect will help you with our next assignment that will involve a car driving down the road?

**Note: if you are having trouble posting to youtube, try exporting your file as an .avi file today and see if that works better.  It worked for me this AM.

Moving forward:

• Begin drawing your background and key symbols for our next assignment - Creating Shape Tweens, Car Driving Assignment.  See my image posted on the blog as an example.  After this assignment we will begin working with frame by frame animation.

Complete name tag for Friday's mentor event (to be done at the end of class)

Although I had wanted to take a moment to work on the large chart and track grades today, I don't currently have access to IC and therefore could not print transcripts. This is on hold for the time being.

Thanks!
Mr. Rubin

Academy Mentor Program Begins Friday!

Good Morning Academy Juniors and welcome back from an unexpected long weekend!  Today we are going to jump into one of the most unique, and in my opinion, powerful experiences the Academy program can offer you.  Our Academy Mentor Program.  Beginning this Friday you will meet with a mentor from our local community 4 times this year.  Those 4 times (if you want to make a note for yourself) will be October 2nd (this Friday), December 4th, January 29th and March 4th.  Similar to last year, these mentor meetings are meant for you to establish a relationship with an adult from our local community who is interested in helping you pursue your goals and dreams.  The 4 mentor meetings will be spent discussing goals and aspirations along with how you plan to achieve them, discussing college and preparing to successfully complete a college application, taking the time to develop a comprehensive resume and discuss different career pathways available to you and, finally, developing professional business etiquette via mock interviews and more.  All of these activities are developed with your success in mind, but, it is important to remember, that you are the one in control of your own success.

With that said, please respond to the following questions thoroughly in a 5-7+ sentence paragraph.  You can and should use your experience from last year to guide your responses:

• What is a mentor in your own words?
• What are your thoughts about being paired with a mentor?
• How do you think that a mentor could help you?  Is there any way you can think of that having a mentor would not help you?
• What would you want in a mentor?  Is there anything specific that you would absolutely want your mentor to help you with?  Think about things that would be appropriate to ask a mentor for.  Is there anything that would be inappropriate to ask your mentor for?
• What are your top 3 goals and aspirations?  How do you plan to achieve them and how could a mentor help with this process?
• What are 3 keys to making a great first impression when you meet your mentor on Friday?
• What else would you want to know about this program before getting started and/or what concerns do you have (if any)?

Thank you for a thorough, thoughtful response ... now I need you to respond to a short survey regarding the program so I can successfully pair you with someone you can/will work well with.  After that, we will discuss this program, specifically how Friday is going to work, in detail.

Survey link: https://goo.gl/DdVqDy

Week of September 19-23

Below are the expectations for the week of September 19-23.

Adobe 2-D Flash Animation:

Students are expected to be working on the assignment introduced Friday 9/18 entitled "Continuing our Work with Symbols & adding a simple panning technique - The Flying Butterfly Effect."

Although the due date is specified as the block day (9/21-9/22) it must be submitted as a .swf file in Schoology by the end of class on Friday September 23rd!  If you finish the assignments early I encourage you to add additional creative elements to the project to make it outstanding.

Be sure to utilize the step by step instructions in Schoology.  In addition, please watch the video tutorial I created (I completed the same project) posted on youtube.  The link can be found on Schoology.  If you have no assignments to work on for another class you should work on creating the background for our next assignment - for that assignment you will need a car, a mountain range, trees, etc and need each of those to be on separate layers (see image below).

A reminder that each assignment you complete is required to be posted in schoology as a .swf file and on your blog through youtube.   On your blog, please also respond to the same questions listed from your Windmill Assignment for your Butterfly assignment - I have also copied them below:

• Describe the assignment you just completed. What was the task and what needed to be done in order for you to successfully complete the assignment?
• What new skills did you learn from completing this assignment? Be specific and use correct names for the different tools you needed to use to complete the assignment. ie Classic Motion Guide, Keyframes, symbols, etc.  Reread the assignment description or watch the tutorial to remind yourself
• Was the assignment easy to complete? Did you have any trouble? What did you have trouble with and how did you resolve the issue? What was the most fun aspect of the project and the most challenging?
• Besides making the butterfly flap its wings consistently and using the pan and zoom features in your animation, what other types of animations could you make successfully now using similar tools to the ones used in this project?  How do you think the pan and zoom effect will help you with our next assignment that will involve a car driving down the road?

Please stay focused this week.  Because I am not present does not mean that deadlines will not be adhered to or rules will not be enforced.  As a reminder, phones should not be out during classtime and headphones need to be put away (unless you are using the headphones attached to the computer).

Thanks so much!

It's Friday!!

I'm going to be honest - I feel like every other time I start writing a blog post it's Friday!  The weeks are flying by - we are already sending out progress grades and the quarter is going to be over before we know it!!  Today, as we get going, please make sure you have posted a blog for the "Working with Symbols and Managing our Library" assignment - also known as the Windmill Assignment. Similar to previous assignments, the blog questions are:

• Describe the assignment you just completed? What was the task and what needed to be done in order for you to successfully complete the assignment?
• What new skills did you learn from completing this assignment? Be specific and use correct names for the different tools you needed to use to complete the assignment. ie Classic Motion Guide, Keyframes, symbols, etc.  Reread the assignment description or watch the tutorial to remind yourself
• Was the assignment easy to complete? Did you have any trouble? What did you have trouble with and how did you resolve the issue? What was the most fun aspect of the project and the most challenging?
• Besides making the windmill rotate consistently using these new skills, what other types of animations could you make successfully now using similar tools to the ones used in this project?

Think of today as another new start (especially for your blogs).  The work that was previously assigned is over and done with.  For those of you who had a great start, keep it up - for those of you who struggled as we got going, now's your time to stay focused.  In the scheme of things, we haven't done that many assignments so grades can still fluctuate a lot with each assignment!  For your blog - please be sure to write well written thorough responses that you would be proud to share your friends, family and, of course, ME :)

After you have completed this blog post, we are onto our next assignment - "Continuing our Work with Symbols & adding a simple panning technique" ... due to the nature of the assignment we will also refer to this as "The Flying Butterfly Effect."  Step by Step instructions and a video tutorial (by me) can all be found in Schoology - so be sure to login and read the assignment description!!

Thanks everybody and, hey, Happy Friday!

Grades Posted for Q1 Progress!

Good Morning Academy Juniors -

I have some great news, some good news and some bad news!  That news really is dependent on your current grade in my class. While a few students are currently earning an A+, with some even over the 100% mark, there are others of you who are well below 50%.  That is not good news at all.  Academics are important - in particular, your 11th grade year (especially for those of you who maintained above a 2.0 GPA last year) can be incredibly important when it comes to your post high school options ... and you want post high school options!  Just look at the chart above.  The first key to keeping those options open is taking care of business when you come to school.  For this class, that means being in class on time everyday and working to complete every single assignment on time and to the best of your ability.  Unfortunately, some people are not following through with that expectation.

Today is a one time opportunity for our first quarter progress grade.  Read carefully -

• Today only I will offer a make-up opportunity for any missing/incomplete assignments.  Login to School Loop and check your current grade in my class.  While a few of you have 100% or higher (great work) some of you have already fallen below the 50% mark.  Check which assignments, if any, you're missing and know that because of the few assignments completed to date, one missing assignment can have a significant impact on your grade.
• NOTE** The only assignment score I will not regrade is your blog.  If you want to improve it for the sake of having a good quality blog - go for it.  Click on your blogs, edit them, add text, an image, etc but that will be for your personal satisfaction only.
• For ANY assignment you want to receive credit for, follow these instructions:
• Complete the assignment as specified in Schoology.  
• Complete any/all missing assignments and send them to me in 1 single email.  I do not want 4 separate emails from the same person.
• Files must be emailed to me as a .pdf (Ever Growing, Changing ME) or exported .swf file to crubin@seq.org.
• All assignments must be received by the end of your class period today, 9/16 or 9/17
• Any assignment received after that time will not be accepted under any circumstance.
• Grades will be finalized and posted for Q1 progress by Thursday, September 17th @ midnight.

Please take advantage of this opportunity.  Assignments submitted late will not receive full credit but will significantly raise your grade vs. the current "Missing" score.  Those of you who currently have an A in the class - today is not "FREE" time! I encourage you to take this time to work on assignments from other classes (academy or non-academy) so you have a glowing (ALL A's) report card mailed home that you can be proud of and that will create amazing opportunities for you in the future!

Again, please read the instructions above carefully so that you can take advantage of this 1 time opportunity to raise your grade. I hope to receive 1 email from each of you with an assignment (or multiple assignments) before the end of class.  Obviously any extra time should go towards working on your Windmill Assignment.

Thank you!

Mr. Rubin

Tuesday, September 15th - Minimum Day

Good Morning and Happy Tuesday -

Once a year, those of us living in San Mateo County are scheduled to be on call as a potential juror - it is how our justice system works.  Today is that day for me.  Although I am gone, you are expected to make the most of today's 30 minute class period.

Please come in quietly and get right to work.  You should be working on the Windmill Assignment we began yesterday which focuses on working with symbols and managing our library!  Here are some basic reminders for how to successfully complete the drawing of your windmill:

• Insert > New Symbol > (name appropriately) > Draw one of your windmill fans (or feel free to draw the entire windmill fan) > click back to scene 1
• (optional) Insert > New Symbol > (name appropriately) > Drag your windmill fan in, copy and paste it until it looks good to you > click back to scene 1 
• Insert > New Symbol > (name appropriately) > rotate your windmill. This will require 4 keyframes. You need to rotate the windmill 90 degrees (or a 1/4 of a turn) each keyframe. Remember on the final keyframe not to rotate it the full 90 degrees so it doesn't look like it stops/has a glitch in the actual animation > click back to scene 1

In scene 1, drag the rotating windmill to your screen. Make sure it has its own layer. You may then add additional layers to include a creative and colorful background scene.  Remember, in addition to a functional windmill on your animation, you should also be showing growth in your understanding and ability to use the drawing tools!

If a video tutorial might be more helpful, you can find one for this assignment here: https://youtu.be/BpzzXjIsHno

Today is Monday!! 9/14/15

Good Morning and Happy Monday!  I wish I could say we finally have a regular week BUT that's not true - tomorrow is a minimum day!  Before jumping into what we have planned for this week, I wanted to take a second to reflect on Friday's field trip.  Here are a few things I'd love for you to think about and write a summary paragraph on:

• Based on your first few weeks in the Academy, how would you describe the program in your own words?  Are you enjoying being a member of the Academy?  Why or why not?
• Friday's trip was an all inclusive, community building field trip.  What does that mean to you?  How would you describe to someone the purpose of the trip?  Do you think the trip itself actually accomplished that purpose? How or how not?
• How did you like Shoreline lake personally? Did you love it? Hate it? A little of both?  Why? What other suggestions would you have for an all inclusive type trip like the one we took Friday?

After completing the blog, I need you to:

1. Confirm you have successfully submitted all assignments to date on both Schoology and on your blog!  These assignments include:
1. The Ever Growing, Changing Me
2. Getting Acquainted with the Flash Interface
3. Working with Motion Guides
4. Working with Layers and Keyframes
5. Working with Symbols (well, this is coming up)
2. In addition, you should have 7 thorough (5-7 sentence) blog posts.  Please confirm you have all 7 Blog Posts.  Those should include
1. (3) one for each of the Flash Assignments we have completed including a detailed response to the posted set of questions for each.  
2. (1) the start of our write-up for our Ever Growing, Changing ME
3. (3) prompt responses from 8/17, 8/20 and 8/31.  Also be sure that you completed the blogger form so I can access your blog easily: https://goo.gl/coim

Thanks for taking a moment to confirm all of the above and update anything incomplete so we can make sure we all start the school year as strong as possible.

Block Day Post 9/9-9/10

Good Morning! It's already our block day for the week and Friday I won't see you here in the classroom since we're headed to Shoreline Park for the day!! I'll see you on the water though :) I'm excited - it should be a really fun day!! Today we are working towards completing our "Working With Layers and Keyframes" assignment and posting it to both Schoology and our blog.  A reminder to double and triple check the requirements in Schoology and/or School Loop where all of the assignment details are posted. For this assignment you are required to use a minimum of 4 layers to create a background image, a plane flying from one side of your screen to the other while doing a flip in the air as it follows a motion guide. Work to have a very detailed background as you use this as an opportunity to develop new skills using a variety of drawing tools. Remember, the more creativity, the better.  Once you have completed the assignment, post it to be Schoology as a .swf file and to youtube as a Quicktime file so that you are able to embed it on your blog.  In addition to posting the video on your blog, be sure to respond to the following questions:

1. Describe the assignment you just completed?  What was the task and what needed to be done in order for you to successfully complete the assignment?
2. What new skills did you learn from completing this assignment?  Be specific and use correct names for the different tools you needed to use to complete the assignment.  ie Classic Motion Guide, Keyframes, etc.
3. Was the assignment easy to complete?  Did you have any trouble?  What did you have trouble with and how did you resolve the issue?  What was the most fun aspect of the project and the most challenging?
4. Besides making a plane fly using these new skills, what other types of animations could you make successfully now using similar tools to the ones used in this project?

Once you have finished your assignment and posted to the blog that's it for today.  You should use any additional time you have (if any) to complete work for your classes that is either due soon or is past due.  In addition, remember you will be missing your non-academy classes on Friday - it is important to complete the work for those classes so the teachers will sign your permission slips in the future!

September 8th - We're Back!

Good Morning and Happy Monday!!  Today we have a few things to tackle before moving onto our next assignment - don't worry though, once you're done with these short tasks the assignment is ready and waiting for you in Schoology :)

For today's blog you will be posting a Google Form and responding to a few questions.  Before doing that, however, please complete the following:

• Click on this link: https://goo.gl/coimwo and complete the short form.  It asks you to submit your blog so I can view it.  To do this please carefully follow these directions:
• Go to blogger.com.
• Login
• When your homepage comes up, instead of hitting the orange pencil. click where is says "VIEW BLOG" You should get a live view of your blog - just how anyone else in the world can view it.
• Go to the address bar at the top of the window and copy it.  This address should end with .blogspot.com ... if it says blogger anywhere in the address it is the WRONG address!!
• Paste the correct address into the form and click submit
• be sure you submit the correct address PLEASE!
• Click on this link: http://goo.gl/forms/4scYsWkRZ5 and complete the short form.  
• Once you have opened this, if you know for a fact you completed it previously you don't have to do this.  
• If you have not done it or are not sure - it must be completed!!
• Go to Schoology.com and continue with your assignment "Week 3 - Working With Layers and Keyframes."  On schoology you can find written directions along with a video tutorial for this assignment (Produced by me) which can be found at https://youtu.be/98yO_QdkC7k

Labor Day Weekend! Planes will Fly!

Hello and happy Friday!  Today we are going to continue building on our skills by learning how to better manage layers in our animations, and make simple scenes that can ultimately be strung together to make more complex animated movies.  For this lesson we will continue with our use of keyframes and motion guides and will add 2 new key concepts.

1. We will develop a better understanding of how we work with a more complex graphic by adding multiple layers and drawing only one thing on each layer.  Not only will this make it easier to edit our animation, it also ensures each moving part will function well.
2. We will also learn how to work with keyframes along a motion guide to control our object.  A part of this, we will also learn how to work within a keyframe.  Something that will give you better control over objects you convert to symbols and will also allows you to make your objects a bit more complex.

For today's assignment you will be required to use a minimum of 4 layers to create a background image, a plane flying from one side of your screen to the other while doing a flip in the air as it follows a motion guide.  Your background should be detailed.  Use this as an opportunity to develop new skills using a variety of drawing tools.  Remember, the more creativity, the better.  

For a video tutorial of how to complete today's lesson please visit: https://youtu.be/98yO_QdkC7k.  Remember to be very good about labeling each of your layers and always drawing on the appropriate layer.  Also, when the time comes, remember to make sure you have the free transform tool to rotate your plane as it flies up into the sky.  Insert a keyframe at the desired spot and then rotate, insert a keyframe at the desired spot and then rotate - continue this until you reach the end of the motion guide :)

Most importantly, sit back, relax and have some fun!

First Week of September Block Day!

Logging in today! You will use your Google Username (Student ID) and Password (LD032300). There is a chance you won't have access to your FLASH Files - stay calm and I'll locate them if that's the case :)

Moving forward - good morning and Happy Wednesday!! Thanks so much for working well on your Motion Guide Animations yesterday. You are learning a lot of new skills and, while there is still a lot to learn, this first part can often be the steepest of the learning curve!! Stay calm, focus and you'll do great!! A reminder that once you are done with your motion guide assignment, please export it to a Quicktime file and upload to youtube for your blog and please export it as a .swf movie file and upload to schoology. For more specific instructions, please refer to our previous blog.

Under the video you post to the blog, please quickly respond to the following:

• Explain the assignment in your own word for the person who may be viewing this assignment.
• What were you expected to do to successfully complete this assignment?
• What were 3 different tools (or more if you want to be extra thorough) that you had to work with in Flash to successfully complete this project?
• What did you enjoy about this project? What was challenging? Why, when sometimes things are difficult, is it an important characteristic to be resilient?

After completing and posting this assignment, please hang tight - you may use any additional time before we move on to complete homework or classwork for another class or work on something quietly at your own computer!! Let's see how everyone is doing and then we'll move on!

Thanks and looking forward to a great block day and seeing some amazing animations!

Note:  Here are some basic tutorials that might help those of you having some trouble:

1. Bouncing Objects: https://youtu.be/bdGTzlBUI9Q
2. Using Motion Guides: https://youtu.be/LuR-Yg26JBA
3. Saving, Exporting and Posting Your Files: https://youtu.be/uXiIB2GLMwE