Computers Class has probably been one of my favorite and most effective classes. But the questions that I am asking myself are: Has the class helped me in other classes at all? Will this stuff even matter in the future. The short answers to these questions are obviously "Yes" and "Yes".

The Computers class has really helped me in other classes. Since Computech is a very technology based school, a lot of our assignments have to be done on computers and with different types of programs on computers. Without Computers class, it would be very hard to complete these assignments just because of the lack of computer skills, and these computer skills are definitely taught superbly to us in Computers class.

In Core class the other day, I was taking a Mesoamerica essay test. It took me almost two periods long to finish the essay. For the most part, it was very boring, and my hand was aching after  writing for a long while. However, at about halfway through the essay, Ms. Dineen (An eighth grade Algebra teacher) walked into the classroom, and handed a little slip of paper to my substitute teacher that day. I never get slips for leaving early or having to go the office, so I just ignored. But then, the substitute started walking towards me, and she handed me the paper. It read:

Vahae O.                         Room: 54
Your math teacher, Mr. Erickson, has told me that you are on of his best math students. Come to my room at lunch time tomorrow, and you can join the math team for this year's math competition, Math-o-Rama.
Questions? Come to room 62 and talk to me.                                                                    Sincerely,   
                                                                                                                                                                Mr. Pearson


I was thrilled! I wanted to join the Math Club before, but I always had sports I was participating in. The next day, I picked up my lunch from the cafeteria, and headed towards Mr. Pearson's room. As soon as I walked in, I was greeted by Mr. Pearson ( The eighth grade geometry and algebra teacher) and I was shown to a table near some of my friends from Algebra class. Our competition is June 6th, so my team and I have to practice really hard. Wish us good luck!

Yesterday, Thursday, was Open House! When my family and I arrived here at Computech, we visited the Computers Lab first. Since I don't have many printed projects for my Computers class, we just looked at what I could look forward to in 8th, by looking at the different projects Mr. Vinson ( One of the two eighth grade teachers for computers) had assigned his students. We then went to my Art class to see the different master pieces (Wink, wink) I had created. My family was impressed about my work, especially my little brother and sister. They're really excited to see the things I do at school, since they are still in elementary school. We then headed to my Algebra classroom. My family and I watched a short presentation of all of the different Prop Projects that I and other students created. We then went to my Spanish class, but after seeing that about 5 pairs of parents and their kids were standing in a line to talk to Mr. Aberle, we just headed towards my Core class. Once there, I showed my family my Renaissance Project. They liked it and recall seeing me work on it at home. I then introduced Mrs. Baird, and my family were most impressed with the comments she had about me. We then went to my Rocketry Class, even though I had that class last semester. After Rocketry Class, we visited my Spanish class, and we talked to Mr. Aberle. Mr. Aberle said very good things about me. After that we had to go home because it was 8 p.m. It was probably my favorite and best Open House yet

I really like Google Drawing. It's a great tool, and I hope to use it again for more projects. I don't think that Microsoft has a program that is anything like Google Drawing. I like how easy it is to create text boxes with pictures behind them. I've done two Google Drawings so far, and I think that they couldn't have come out any better if I tried to do the same thing on Microsoft Word. I'm really glad I got to learn about Google Drawing. 

The only thing that I don't like about Google Drawing is that its Print Preview isn't very accurate. Yesterday I tried to print a Google Drawing for a very important history project, and it did not turn out as I hoped. The print preview did not have an option to print my project on the whole paper. It instead had large borders on the sides, which will probably bring my grade down just a little bit. I still do recommend Google Drawing, though.

I think that Prezi is one of the greatest presentation programs ever. It definitely gets your point across to the audience. The way I found Prezi was when our computers teacher, Mr. Kimbley, assigned a project to present something with whatever presenting program you would like. He gave us some programs that he would like us to rather use than others. These programs were Microsoft PowerPoint, Google Slides, Slide Rocket, and Prezi. He said that PowerPoint, Google Slides, and Slide Rocket were all very similar, but Prezi is totally different. I decided to try out Prezi. It turned out to be a wonderful way to present any topic. It's very exciting to see one, and it's not very boring like familiar PowerPoint of Slides. I will definitely consider Prezi as a very good option the net time I'm assigned to present something. 

If you don't already have a Prezi account, you should get one. And with your choice, there is a free type of account that is pretty much just as good as the paid ones. The other two accounts you must pay for, but apparently you get so many more options and tools to use to create and share your Prezi. Go to my Digital Portfolio under the "My Classes" tab and "Computers". There you will see my "How To Conjugate Spanish Verbs Project". My Prezi is one part of the project, and you can watch at your own time.

Both of these spreadsheet programs are very good, but one definitely stands out. That one is Microsoft Excel. It is great to work with, and very easy. It has a large variety of options to use to make your spreadsheet great. Don't get me wrong, Google Spreadsheet is great ,too. It's quite simple, and not too bad to work with. It's also super simple to share documents, rather than e-mailing or printing it. But it just does not do what Microsoft Excel does. Excel has things like sparklines, and a huge amount of options for your cells. Google Spreadsheet just does not have those wonderful options.

In class we created a gradebook with formulas and our grades on Google Spreadsheet. After that, we uploaded it as a Microsoft Excel so we could easily enter in a chart and a sparkline for each period. We all know it is a lot easier to create charts on Microsoft Excel rather than on Google Spreadsheet. Spreadsheet also doesn't have sparklines. I definitely recommend Microsoft Excel rather than Google Spreadsheet. 

In Computers class, we are taking a course on Excel from a website called GCF ( Goodwill Community Foundation ). It is a website that has many tutorials that you can read or watch ( videos ) on various subjects. Just a few examples are: Any Microsoft Office program, Facebook, Google, Apple, Internet Basics, Job Development, Mobile apps, Money, ect... and it's all free! I do like their tutorials and how you could watch a video on how to do whatever they're teaching you, or you could follow the slides that they have created for you to follow. You could also interact with slides with several methods they use to visually show you everything in that lesson. I think it's a great website.

I do recommend this website for people who want to learn something new or want to learn more about something. This is definitely the website that offers both. I do not recommend this site for people who can't learn from watching videos or slides on the computer. Here is the link.

Everybody has their own opinion on Google Docs or Microsoft Office. I really don't like just one of them.... I like a certain one for certain things. For presentations and things I want to print, definitely Microsoft Office. Its presentations have so many more options than Google Docs, and they look nicer and cleaner. Microsoft Office gives you a lot of organized printing options and gives you a print preview. Google Docs doesn't offer any of those things. 

Now if I had wanted to share my document easily or be able to have access to all my documents at once, or not have to save, I would choose to work with Google Docs. I do most of my school work on Google Docs because it is so easy to share it with faculty and other students. Google Docs also lets me have access to all of my documents, and not have to download or open different software to reach my documents. Google Docs also gives the very convenient option of you not having to save your work. Yes, sometimes I do fell uneasy when I use Google Docs because I don't press anything to save and I wonder, " Did it save?" And of course, it always does. One more thing I find convenient with Google Docs is that you can access your documents from any computer. Microsoft Office, on the other hand, is very troubling when working on a couple of different computers. These are my opinions on Google Docs and Microsoft Office.

Yesterday I attended a meeting in Mr. West's classroom, and it was about the Computech Robotics team. I have never done anything associating robotics with it, so this will be very new for me. We were shown when practice will be held. We also got to see last year's Tournament of Technology, which is the competition we go to after we have created robots for the different tasks.

     There are several tasks. The first one is Battle Bots, which is a competition to either pop the balloon tied to the back of your opponents vehicle, or to push there vehicle out of the ring. The next one is a race where you must control your robot to pick up a block of another and place on the block that has the same color as it. Those two are both new, and the only remote controlled tasks. The next is to program your robot to drive through a maze and push a ball at the end past a colored line. There is another one that is the same as the previous one I talked about, but you have to push the ball past the line that has the same color as it. The next task is to program your robot to follow a black line, push a block a distance, then shoot a little rocket at a target. I can't wait to start!