Digital Footprints stay with you for the rest of your online and offline life so it’s very important to make sure it is a good one. Digital footprints can have both good and bad effects like either helping me get a job or making it so I do not get the job, so I know that I need to check up regularly on my digital footprint and make sure my actions are careful to keep it clean. Social Media and Social Networking is very helpful because it helps me talk to people that I may have lost touch with or talk to family all over the world but I also need to post responsibly like making sure the things that I post are appropriate and not hateful or mean. Some goals I have for my online spaces are to have a welcoming place for others and to have a safe space for me and others, which I will accomplish by watching what I post and thinking twice every time I do and post things that empower other and myself always. I make ethical choices like keeping certain opinions to myself if they aren’t popular and if I don’t agree with another persons opinion to also keep that to myself, in order to make sure everyone feels safe and validated. My strategies for keeping a healthy online presence is to post only sometimes and when I do to make sure I am in the right mindset and make sure it is kind and helpful. My choices about sharing about myself and the people around me are always well thought out to make sure that everyone I post is comfortable with it and that I am also comfortable with it, which will inform my decisions in the future about continuing to be aware of what I post. My strengths as an online presence include trying to empower everyone around me, being aware of what my posts and being aware of what my posts say about me as a person. This can also help in my offline life because practicing good habits of being kind and being aware can make me a better person to be around. My online experiences have affected what I do offline because I can find new hobbies or ideas of things to do and can help me grow as a person. I work to keep and build online relationships by talking to my friends daily and making sure they are doing okay, and checking up on them so that they know that they have somebody to be there for them. By being aware of what I post and whom it will affect I can make a safe space for myself and those around me and that will help me have a positive impact on my peers.
Elements of the town: Waterways and ocean, surrounded by forest, is in close proximity to a bigger city.
Population: 92
Explanation / Brief History: The town was starting to be populated in 1719 when it was discovered the forests and the rivers to transport the goods out of the town quickly. When it was still a very small community by the water a nymph was supposedly spotted and that is where the name originates from.
Media Fluency Reflection
How was the ease of access in building the town, and what software did you use specifically?
Creating my town was not very hard because I used the Sims 4 which I already knew my way around pretty well, and I could get inspiration for my buildings from the community. The building tools are really easy to use for me and since I already used this program I knew how to build with the wall tools and add decoration, so I had a bit of an advantage.
2. Were you able to apply the skills you learned in the planning stages appropriately to a digital environment?
I think that I was able to use the skills I learned because I had been experimenting with the different build styles and different building or editing tools before I built my town. I had been trying different rooves on houses and rooms until I found a way that I liked and used that in the making of my town.
3. What were the sources you researched that made this an “authentic make-believe” town?
When I was building my town I looked back through the book Lyddie because I thought that it would be an accurate portrayal of a town in that time period. I tried to include all the things that a town would need like a train station, stores, jobs, a post office, and housing. In the book Lyddie those were necessary places for a town to have so that the citizens could live happily.
4. Is there other software online that could have done the job better? Explain.
The software I used was helpful for this project and I think it was a good match, but I also could have used Minecraft for this project because I think that I probably could have been a bit more creative with it. In The Sims there are limited options to what you can build with whereas in Minecraft you can build a lot more freely. If I had to choose which was more suited for this project between Minecraft and The Sims I think that Minecraft would have been better since I could have been more authentic with jobs of the citizens, and a bit more free with the building but I was happy with the final product that I have now.
Technology can be both a stressor and a stress reliever for me, which sometimes makes things difficult. When I am trying to relax or taking some time for myself then it can be helpful. Watching a show or playing a game when I’m trying to relax can be helpful and a de-stressor to have a small escape during the day. Technology can also be a bad thing sometimes, like when I’m trying to focus on something and it can be a distraction and cause me stress since I wasn’t using my time wisely so then I have to work for a long time. Technology I think has lowered my stress levels this year because I’m familiar with technology so that made online school better for me, and it helped me not be so worried that I was going to have gaps in my education. Technology can be both a good thing and a bad thing in my life, but the good is greater than the bad so I think that overall, technology has helped me learn and grow this past year.
Our project is on How to Use Quotation Marks by Leland, Emily and Aiden. Our project covers using quotation marks in speech, quotes and with punctuation as well as some famous quotes. We used a PowerPoint template to create our project.
Hi, my name is Emily, and I am a student at Centennial Secondary School. My favorite course is Science because I really like participating in experiments and hands on projects. It’s fun to go out and find things to test, look at, and experiment on. One of my favorite science projects is Elephant’s toothpaste because it’s easy to prepare, fun to watch, and–even though I know what’s coming–it’s still exciting every time.
One of the best ways that I learn is hands-on because it gives me a chance to learn things for myself, rather than doing worksheets or writing because somebody gives me the answer. I like to have to figure out things and to challenge myself so I can learn and grow. Going out and experiencing is part of the “hands-on” idea and for me, it’s much more enjoyable that watching videos, or reading papers about the topic.
When I am feeling challenged or can’t figure something out, I usually take a break and rethink the problem before I try to solve it again. I try to calm my mind which can sometimes be hard to do, but listening to music, watching a video, or playing a game often helps. Listening to music or watching a video are the better options because playing games can make me more frustrated, which doesn’t help me calm down. Taking small breaks doesn’t make my progress of whatever I’m working on very much slower, but if I don’t watch the time, there could be a problem!
My Favorite Video
The Harry Potter series is one of my favorite series of novels so I added a link to the first movie, which is where it all starts. I really like these movies because they are suspenseful at times, mysterious, and adventurous. I think the books are well written, and the movies are really good too. My favourite part about the movies is all the scenery and detail on the sets like the Hogwarts castle, the Forbidden Forest, and the Quidditch Pitch.
I use Spotify all the time it has most of my music on it. I use Spotify when I’m working on schoolwork, when I’m playing games, and when I’m talking to my friends. I use Spotify when I’m doing just about anything that I need to be focused on, because music helps me concentrate. In my family we play music all the time so it’s a habit to have music on in the background a lot of the time. Spotify is really fun, helpful, and easy to use which makes it easier to concentrate on tasks, or have some background noise.
Favourite Image
(Photo taken by me)
This is an image of the Legislature building in Victoria, BC, which I have visited. It’s a place that me and my family go for getaways at the end of summer or during spring so it holds a lot of memories for me. The Legislature is a really good representative of my time there. Every time we visit we try to be near the Legislature because it’s walking distance to a lot of things that we like to do. The Legislature is in the heart of the areas that we usually visit in Victoria which is convenient.
Favourite Quote
My favorite quote is from Dolly Parton and it is: “If you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain.” I like this quote because it’s inspiring and it makes you think a little bit. It’s a real life example and it’s not a complicated reference to figure out, which is nice. Rainbows represent the good, or the reward, after you make it through the storm, which represents the hard times, or misfortunes. I think it’s a really accurate representation of getting through hard times and finding the good.
References
“‘If You Want the Rainbow, You Gotta Put up with the Rain.” – Dolly Parton.” GoLeanSixSigma.com, 24 Feb. 2017, goleansixsigma.com/if-you-want-the-rainbow-you-gotta-put-up-with-the-rain/.
