PowerPoint

AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Stupid computers are slow!!! All we had to work on today was our PowerPoint, but the computers were being too slow to instert pictures onto the slides so we didn't get very much done today. It also doesn't help that we had a shortened hour. We were able to complete a couple of slides, but we didn't finish, which was our goal. Now we need to work on it over the weekend, which is not what I wanted to spend my weekend doing. Aw, well. I'll deal with it. Everything else is done so it could definitely be worse.

Projects and Persuasion

So, as I said yesterday, Emily and I didn't think our paper was as long as it was supposed to be, but it had what we wanted to say. We asked Mr. Schoenborn about it and he told us to be more specific. I spent most of the hour writing about the specifics of why we are using PowerPoint rather than Prezi or GooglePresentation. We also went out for a bit to get some pictures of our completed projects and the books we used for our PowerPoint. We got a little bit more done on our PowerPoint and we hope to finish it tomorrow. We don't have too much left so we should be able to get it done. That just leaves our actual presentation and then our reflective essay.We're almost done!!

Persuasive Essay

So, I felt quite productive today. Emily and I worked on our persuasive essay and pretty much finished it. This is supposed to explain why we are presenting our project the way we are. We are doing a simple PowerPoint with a display of our projects, but most of our presentation will be given orally. We did this because we figured that teaching isn't something you can really show in pictures; it needs to be explained to really get the idea. We also explained why we chose PowerPoint over Prezi or GooglePresentation. Neither of us have used GP before and Prezi just seemed like to much work for a simple visual aid. Prezi is good when you want the focus on the visual, but that isn't what we want so we decided to avoid it. PowerPoint is simpler and can help highlight key points without taking the focus away from what we are saying.Our paper doesn't seem long enough using the word count, but lengthwise on the document it seems fine. We're probably going to check over it tomorrow, then submit it and hope that Mr. Schoenborn says it's fine.

Purling

I felt slightly unproductive at the meeting. I currently am not working on a project, but I do have a few that I will begin within the next few days. I ended up not actually doing any knitting or crocheting at all. I spent a good portion of the meeting wandering around taking pictures for our PowerPoint. I got some really funny ones. I made sure to get one with Mrs. Spycher in it since she is our supervisor. I didn't get any with our books so Emily and I will do that tomorrow during class. I got some good pictures of people working. I also have proof that Ian is finally learning how to knit!!!!!!!!! He's completed a few rows since last meeting so he had solid proof that he has finally learned what he is doing. He and Miriam still make mistakes, but over time they'll learn to recognize what it is they've done wrong and hopefully figure out how to fix it. They both made mistakes, but it's good because they were able to recognize that something was wrong, even if they didn't know what they had done or how to fix it. Even I wasn't quite sure how to fix it. As the saying goes, "practice makes perfect". They've gotten to the point now that they can keep going and the more they do, the more confident they'll be and they better they'll get. They are proof that I'm not as terrible a teacher as I thought I was. I don't really like giving others instructions or telling people what to do. I have the potential to be a good leader, I just don't like having others not like me for my decisions. Being a leader means making the hard decisions that others won't like you for and making people do things that they might not want to. Teaching someone how to knit isn't really life-changing, but I still don't feel comfortable telling others what to do, which includes giving instructions. I tend to just grasp how things are done, but I'm not confident that I can explain to others correctly in a way that they'll understand. I have a tendency to feel like if someone doesn't understand what I taught them than I didn't explain it adequately enough for them and the fault is mine so they will be annoyed with me. So, to sum up the meaning of that little tangent, it makes me feel good to know that I was able to do something for someone else and that I have succeeded in passing on the knowledge.

On a random note, Emily brought in a purple elephant that she crocheted and it starred in many of my pictures. Ben helped me pick out some colors to use for a graduation present for a friend. We only have two more meetings, one of which is an end-of-the-year party, which is when we will give Mrs. Spycher her giraffes. Emily and I are for sure making giraffes, Danielle will be making one, and we're hoping that Ben and Eva will also be contributing. Which reminds me that I need to make a googledoc with some possible giraffe patterns on it for anyone who wants to try making one. I would also like to make thank-you cards for the people who donated items. The year is winding up quickly. I'm just hoping we'll have someone willing and able to take up the mantle again next year.

(P.S.: Purling is another form of knitting. It is kind of backwards and puts the stitch on the opposite side of the needle. I chose that as the title because this entry is a little more complex than my others, which works because is slightly more complicated than straight knitting. Also, I couldn't think of a better title.)

Rubric

Yay! Emily and I have finished our rubric and it is approved by Mr. Shoenborn. It was quite hard to do because it is for an oral presentation and neither of us like speaking in front of people. We wanted to avoid the oral parts for grading, but that isn't really possible. We settled with speaking clearly and posture and eye contact, because we figured those would be the easiest for us to accomplish. We'll see how it goes in our actual presentation. We were also able to do some more of our slide show. We still need to take some more pictures for that, though, so we'll try and do that today during our meeting. Yay for being somewhat productive!!

PowerPoint and Pictures

Emily and I spent the hour working on our PowerPoint that will be part of our presentation. Our PowerPoint is mostly just a visual for the audience. Most of the information will be given verbally by me and Emily while we present. Our PowerPoint has the key ideas and then a bunch of pictures. We have pictures of all our yarn (which is A LOT!!!), our hooks and needles, and some pictures from the meetings. We haven't finished yet, but  most of what we have left are slides of only pictures. There might be a couple more informational slides, but not many. We're trying to keep it to a visual aid and nothing else. We got most of it finished, after some technical difficulties, so we'll probably be done with that tomorrow. Then we have a persuasive essay, a rubric, our actual presentation, and a reflective essay left to do, along with this 'journal'. We should be able to get it all done on time, so I'm not worried. Emily and I actually work quite well together and get things done when we aren't goofing off, and we even get some done when we are goofing off. :) All-in-all, a productive day.

Turning

Our last meeting went quite well. We had a couple of new people, Kat and Kaylee (not sure if I spelled that right). Kat already knew knitting so she decided to try crochet, which she seemed to be picking up pretty quickly. I worked on teaching Kaylee and Ian knitting (again). Ian finally seems to be getting somewhere. Yay!! I think part of his earlier failure was my fault. It's hard teaching something that I learned by watching rather than being taught myself. There are certain things I do instinctively but that aren't obvious when learning, like the positions of certain elements, like the worked stitches and the tail. I'm trying to remember and stress these things now that I've realized I was neglecting them before. It's fun actually feeling like I'm doing something beneficial for someone else. I am proud of Ian because even though he hasn't had much luck yet, he hasn't given up. He continues to try and is finally succeeding. :D

I collected e-mails yesterday so I can create a googledoc with giraffe patterns. I'm going to try and provide both knitting and crocheting patterns for anyone who wants to try and make one. The only sad thing is that I have only found knit giraffe patterns using double pointed needles. I don't know how hard it is to work with them because I haven't tried them myself yet, but I'm not sure how our beginning knitters will do if they decide to try making one. I guess you never know until you try.

(P. S.: Turning is a term used in crocheting when you finish a line. You normally chain a few stitches, turn the work, and start the new row. I though this would be appropriate because of Ian's progress. He has reached a turning point and is finally getting the hang of knitting.)