Free Throw Contest

The Knights of Columbus branch # 12487 is sponsoring a Free-Throw Contest January 12, 2008 at 1 PM at the Charter Oak-Ute High School Gym. Kids from the Charter Oak, Dow City and Ute areas are all eligible. Registration begins at noon, January 13. For more information, please contact Randy Staley at 712-678-3844

Cover idea

This MIGHT be something LIKE what our cover COULD end up looking SORT OF like...
I will tell you that we won't be doing pink or red or magenta or anything like that.

But I should also say "good work" to the Senior Dream team; Cody, Chris, Jamie, and Liv for their hard work and creativity.

What kind of shape are you in?

Want to learn what Mr. Mallory tried to teach Boyer Valley's elementary teachers? Click the link below:

Shape Slide Show

Escher in the Classroom

Escher in the Classroom
Here's a great lesson on making tesselations. I think it would probably work for at least 5th grade, maybe even 4th. You can go all-out and make them with sponges or foam-core so that kids can experience them as puzzle pieces.

Inkscape tutorial: Elements

Inkscape tutorial: Elements & Principles

This tutorial will demonstrate the elements and principles of design which are normally taught to early art students in order to understand various properties used in art making. This is not an exhaustive list, so please add, subtract, and combine to make this tutorial more comprehensive.

Sub Lessons; Wed. Dec. 12

Mallory Lesson Plans
Wednesday, December 12

1 ∙ Web Design-

Continue working on Case Problem Websites and Final Websites
Chris G. may go to Mrs. Koenig’s if he needs help on Govt.
No games for Shawn

2 ∙ Drawing-

Should work on finishing erased sailor drawing in sketchbook. When done, should try drawing either self or a classmate on another page in their sketchbook

3 ∙ Planning Period-

4 ∙ MS Art-

Last day to finish painting portraits, or may free paint or glaze ceramics.

Expect an art criticism activity on Friday

Clean-up at 11:40, lunch at 11:52

∙ DEAR time-

Quiet and reading books, not homework

5 ∙ Ceramics-

Work on faces or glazing. Everyone should be working.

Andrew or Derek may (carefully) unload the kiln. Anyone done with their face may glaze items from the kiln.

6 ∙ Yearbook-

Seniors please work on Cover &/or end-sheets

Sophomores please work on finishing InDesign Pages

Vicky Jones may call Burgess Health Clinic about ad (phone # on coffee maker)

Juniors either work on pages or go to South Lab to work on ALECKS (math)

7 ∙ MS Cheer-

No Practice, Send to Mrs. McQueen’s study hall, they’ve known already

Mal • Toons

Mal • Toons
Here's a brand new blog of nothing but Mr. Mallory's cartoons. Why not use them in History or Government class?

1984; not just a Van Halen album

Category:	Books
Genre:	Literature & Fiction
Author:	George Orwell

Wow. This was good. The last time I read this book, I think it was 1984.
At that time, I saw it merely as some weird science fiction thing that fortunately hadn't come true. Of course, my English teacher at the time tried to help us see how it was about conformity.

Two things motivated me to give it another look. Someone said that it was a brilliant political satire. SATIRE, I thought, satires are funny. Okay, you know how people imagine different actor's voices as different characters when they read a book? I thought I'd try to imagine what this book would be like if it were a movie made by the Coen Brothers or Tim Burton. (I figured that Woody Allen or Mel Brooks was a little too silly). It helped, especially early on when Winston Smith's life is so bleak and lonely.

The other thing that encouraged me to read it was when a friend suggested a cartoon idea to me- (see below) I just figured he was referring to the illegal wire taps and email phishing, but it it SO much more than that- the propaganda, the use and abuse of the media, TORTURE, and the psychological tricks of perpetual war. Wow. It is really frightening.

The first part of this book is bleak and depressing, the second part is an exciting combination of political thriller and romance. The third part is almost as surreal and existential as a Jean Paul Sarte play.

What is truly frightening is not the idea of this book being somehow prophetic, or of how it features many of the kinds of ideologies and tactics of the current administration, what is really scary- and shaming, is that this isn't just a satire of Socialism or post WWII Brittan or 1940's America, or the NAZIs or the Soviets or the cold war, it isn't just a satire about conformity- and it is, by the way. It occurred to me that John Hughes or somebody could rip off the basic plot and turn it into a movie about how miserable high school can be. It's not just a warning about how society or governments could evolve. What it is is a searing commentary on human nature. Very much in line with the political philosophy of Thomas Hobbes. We are all oppressors and followers. We are all capable of torture or betrayal. That's the frightening part.

If you read this and really take it seriously, you will be bound to become skeptical of any politician- regardless or party or promise. You will treasure and appreciate you rights, freedoms and your relationships. And you just might be a little less comfortable undressing with the TV on. I don't have a web-cam on my computer. Do you?


See you in the place where there is no darkness. (or room 101, whichever).
Read more of Mr. Mallory's book reviews at http://tmal.multiply.com/reviews

Two more by Miranda

Here are a couple more pictures that I'm pretty sure Miranda took (maybe Holli?) I think you'll recognize these hams as members of our yearbook staff. I figure, anyone who's goofy enough to pose like this deserves to be embarrassed by having the pictures posted on the internet.

Yearbook; Miranda's Awesome Eye

Miss Willis took these three pictures. I sure hope she registers to take Digital Photography 2nd hour next semester because I think she's great. I was going to use the one of the auditorium chairs as the picture of the week this week on the school website- but I figured parents want to see kids and the Drill team shot that I took was more topical with them going to State. I AM using the ones below as the picture of the week starting this Friday. They were both so good, I couldn't choose, so I put them together in Photoshop. The one on the left is a great example of "framing" the subject. Both show how changing your angle can make an otherwise mundane topic into a really dynamic composition. I wonder what Mr. Boysen would think since our esteemed Woods teacher used to teach Darkroom Photography for years.

Yearbook; This week

Now that we have server access again, please get back into InDesign and try to finish the Fall sports pages you were working on in November.

• Seniors can be working on our cover, since Josten's sent us a template.
• I will try to check up on each of you individually to see the progress on your pages, offer help, and make sure that they are saved in the right place. Before too long, I can take Bonnie, Cody and Christine or someone, and start preparing some of these pages for submission, and uploading them to the Josten's site.
• I have login names and passwords for everyone for the Josten's Yearbook Avenue website.
  
• Monday, Dec. 10 Colleen will visit. Be ready with any questions you may have for her.
  
• Mrs. Staley has class lists for me in my mailbox, so Thursday and Friday, we may be able to start creating Class pages.
• We also may as well start working on our ad pages before Christmas break. I may put you into teams of two, assign 2 spreads to each team. I'll start one DPS and then you'll be on your own for the second set of pages.
• When we get back from Christmas break, we should immediately start on Winter sports pages, even though the sports will still be going. We can also assign club pages too.
  

Drawing; Faces

This week we're reading Chapter 10; Values (p. 194 ff)
We have 3 more faces to draw, including your finals. When in doubt, go back and re-read Dr. Edward's directions on pp. 181-187. Also, she has some additional pointers that may help on pg. 188 for drawing any face.

Web Design

So, we went about 2 weeks without server/internet access...
Here on out we really only have 3 weeks left. I have 3 major goals and we need to use all of our class time to achieve them:

1. Review for the final. I have 4 portions of it that we will work on together in class as a worksheet. We may get them repeated as quizzes, so keep them and be studying them.
2. Get those case project sites done and your personal sites done. -These are each 1/3 of your "final" grade, along with the post-test we're studying for.
3. Have some fun and find out some tricks you can add to your pages. Here are a few websites I recommend for getting codes to experiment with:

• http://pixelhivedesign.com/tutorials
• http://bignosebird.com
• http://www.turnstep.com
• http://www.lissaexplains.com/fun3.shtml

Congratulations Drill team

Congratulations to the Drill team for their wins at the State Competition in Des Moines last Saturday:

• 1st place in pom
• 4th place in hiphop
• 2nd in show production

BV school website

Always trying to improve the website, I've been working on a couple of
things the last couple of days.

* About a week ago SOCS updated our template, that meant that you
can now see more headlines on the front page and the navigation
section has been cleaned up a little with "drop-down" menus.
* We totally revamped the "Standards & Benchmarks" page under
District; Curriculum. Lots of thanks to AEA rep. Terri Bush and BVN
Title Reading teacher Alison Leisinger for their help with that.
* It dawned on me that I haven't been utilizing the top banner
position, so I coded-in scrolling marquees to with the Drill and
Basketball teams good luck in their contests this weekend. This will
be a great way to flash important announcements (like cancellations
and postponements due to weather)
* SOCS now offers polls. We could have a different poll on every
section and subsection if anyone has any suggestions. I put a simple
presidential Iowa caucus poll on the front page. Vote early and vote
often!
* And... TaDa! I revamped our masthead. It just seemed like
another way to help Boyer Valley's website stand out from other
school's, not that the in-house graphic designers at SOCS don't do a
great job- but I really like the new look.

As always, please email me anything you think should get put on the site.

_____________________________
Ted's cartoons, artworks, photos, and commentary at:
http://tmal.multiply.com

"The gospel is meant to comfort the afflicted and afflict the
comfortable." ~Garrison Keillor

Picture of the Week

Hey staff-

Sorry about being stalled with the computer's not having access to
either the network or the web.
If you'd like, we can go back to the book! Actually we probably will
anyway, so I shouldn't joke about it or use it as an idle threat. But
hey- great job selling ads. We're only around $1,800, and it would be
much better to have around $2,700 or more, but like I keep saying,
we'll have a couple more waves in our campaign.

In other news, the senior class voted to pop for a color section. So,
once our computer lab is in business again, we should select a team to
layout those pages- even without many pictures yet. That's an
important principle of graphic design that we should all learn. Layout
first, then put pictures into it- don't just slap a layout together
after you have pictures. That's not a design, that's an accident.

But here's what I'm REALLY writing you about- Photography. I've
instituted a new feature on the school website, called "Pic of the
week." I back-loaded a picture for each week we've been in school so
far already and unfortunately most of the ones I could find were by
me. Believe it or not, vain as I am, I'd much rather feature YOURS.
So, from now on, think of it as a contest. Take pictures at school or
at least of school people/stuff and let me know when you have a great
one that you think would make a good Pic of the week. Upload it or
email it to me and make sure I know what to look for- write me a note
or something- you know what a flake I am.

When they're posted, you'll see them at
http://www.boyer-valley.k12.ia.us/vnews/display.v/SEC/District%3E%3E%20The%20Archive%20Yearbook

See you 6th hour

Music

Drawing by Sophomore Christine Harriott, PhotoShop enhancements by Coach Mallory

Our post-literate society

A 24 hour moratorium on consumer spending - participate by not participating

This November 23rd, environmentalists, social activists and concerned citizens in as many as 65 countries will hit the streets for a 24-hour consumer fast in celebration of the 15th annual Buy Nothing Day, a global cultural phenomenon that originated in Vancouver, Canada. Read more.

When

North America: 23rd November, 2007
Find out more

Digital Learners

I know, I fail at this too. It's easy enough to use ourselves, but how do we harness it to teach? And I know, if we stopped blocking all these sites, how could we keep all the viruses off our servers and how could we keep the kids from texting and instant messaging all the time, dirty stuff, naughty stuffy, mean stuff, gossip, bullying etc. etc?

I don't knw. But I know we need to do better.

Hey kids,

I've been doing some work on our school's website. It's always a work
in progress; I'm trying to fix some things that we could do better and
add some new things that I've been learning.

Please give it a visit and bookmark it as one of your favorites. If
you're on a school computer, you may even consider making it your
homepage.

How many Boyer Valley students, parents, and alumni do you have in
your email address book? Recent grads in college? Any over in Iraq or
Afghanistan? I've had some tell me that since their Publisher's
illness, the Dunlap Reporter hasn't been able to maintain their
website, so recent graduates come to our school's site to see what's
going on.

http://www.boyer-valley.k12.ia.us

Have any ideas for how we can improve it? Is there anything that you
or your parents feel like you need on a school website? Let me know.
On the bottom of the page there's a "contact our website coordinator"
link, click it and send me an email. The goal is communication. You
can help me make it the best school website around.

Sub Lessons Tues 11/13/07

1. Web Design
Chris Reiz and Chris Groniga should work all hour on their personal DreamWeaver sites. They should both try to get at least 3 pages pretty well done by the end of the hour. —Shawn Pallaya should 1. Help the Chrises with their pages, 2. Go back and work on his Case Problem site, or 3. Use today as a study hall (even if he needs to go to Mrs. Koenig’s to do that).

2. Intro Drawing —
Draw a portrait of each of your three classmates in your sketchbook Should be drawing all hour, but it’s alright if they only get 1 or 2 done- that should mean they are doing their best

3. Planning Period —
Enjoy a break

4. 7th Grade Art —
In pencil, on the 11x14 paper, using a mirror- draw a self -portrait (Lunch isn’t until 11:52) — 12:15-12:32 Drop Everything And Read (DEAR) time. One student per table, SILENT reading.
not homework, not talking, not watering plants- quiet and reading

5. Ceramics —
Continue working on skulls

6. Yearbook
Upperclassmen should either work on the cover design, or help the underclassmen with their pages. “Coaches/Mentor” assignments: Bonnie- Vicki & Kensie, Jamie- Olivia, Cody- Holli & Kenzie, Chris- Miranda & Christine

• Holli- 062 Cross Country
• Olivia- 048 Yearbook
• Christine- 076 Band, 077 Choir
• Kenzie H- 027 MS Volleyball
• Kensie J- 079 Activities Division
• Vicki- 055 Sports Division
• Miranda- 047 Clubs Division

Underclassmen should be working on their assigned layouts in InDesign. If they either finish or are at an impasse, they may use the time as a study hall or may start one of the following pages for extra credit:

• 003 Elementary Division
• 026 MS Football
• 052 NHS
• 056 Baseball/Softball

7. Middle School Cheer —
NO Middle School Cheer today- must report to study hall, Should leave for basketball game immediately after school and look for Rena Hayden.

Help Crawford County Memorial Hospital win an MRI

Siemens is giving an MRI scanner away free. This $1.5 million scanner could be won by CCMH if they receive enough votes for the video they made. Go to www.winanmri.com to vote. You may vote once a day until Dec. 31st.

Difference between conceptual & perceptual

I don't usually like seeing pictures of myself, but I caught a yearbook staffer trying to shoot me during 7th Grade Art and it occurred to me that I may as well be using this blog as part of my teaching portfolio that the State requires. Also a chance to share some stuff with elementary teachers for their professional development and to reinforce stuff that high school drawing students are learning.

To introduce junior high students to the element of design, line and to drawing, we talked about how to accurately draw what you see in real life, you have to overcome the prior knowledge you already have of the subject matter. In other words, to avoid making mistakes, you have to avoid letting your fast working, logical brain from superimposing concepts about things and using over-simplified "clip art."
For example. Our brains "know" that a stool has a circle for a top, and four legs that are all the same length and all on a flat level. Ah, but knowing is not seeing. What we see, is an elliptical top that is way to narrow to ever sit on, and each of the legs is a different length and even a different width. Kids often make mistakes in drawing because they "know" too much about what they are looking at, resulting in distorted perspectives and overly simplified images. Ironically, Cubists like Picasso drew that way on purpose, because they were visually analyzing and abstracting the basic concepts and geometric shapes of things from multiple perspectives simultaneously.

Is this getting a little deep? Maybe the next picture will make more sense.

We "know" that adult humans have 32 teeth. But if you draw a smile with exactly 32 teeth in it, it's going to look ridiculous, because even Jack Nicholson as the Joker in the Batman movie doesn't have a broad enough jaw to show all 32 teeth! Gums and lips and tongue and the natural curve (the "arch" as dentists call it) all conspire to hide most of them. The best way to draw teeth is not to. by focusing on the negative-space around the teeth and the shared edge between the teeth and the darkness of the inside of your mouth, you're much more likely to record accurate perceptions where the size and placement relationships are more correct.

Word Game for Free Rice

A little vocab never hurt anybody!

Test yourself here

 For each word y0ou get right, they donate 10 grains of rice through the United Nations to help fight world hunger.

http://freerice.com/index.php 

This is also a great mind-challenge! Of course, if you want to help and learn more words thereby stretching your vocabulary- instead of flexing intellectual muscles you already have; open http://www.merriam-webster.com in a separate tab or window so you can cheat! Hey, you're still helping people.

_____________________________

Pirate Prayers at:
http://malloryprayer.blogspot.com

Ted's cartoons, artworks, photos, and commentary at:
http://tmal.multiply.com

"The gospel is meant to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable." ~Garrison Keillor

Yearbook; important dates

Remember to get your planned-absence sheets from Mr. Mallory ASAP because...

• Thursday, November 15- Sell Ads

There are also some other dates you should be aware of:

• Friday, November 30- Currently assigned pages due
• Friday, November 30- Cover Design due (Cody & your team- Jamie, Liv, House?)
• Wednesday, December 19- Cover due in to plant
  
• March 31- Plant Deadline 1- 28 pages due
• April 1- Color Deadline- IF SENIORS vote to pay for color, the Senior Section must be in
• June 9- Final Deadline for 2007-08 book

Other stuff you should know-

• Soon, you will be able to do some of the work for the yearbook online. Next week, I'll give you your login names and passwords, and give you a quick tour of http://yearbookavenue.jostens.com
• You may also be interested in Colleen's website, so get ideas and maybe even help that you don't get from me. No password necessary to visit http://www.yearbookexplosion.com
• You can now pre-order your copy of the 2007-08 Yearbook just by visiting the school's website http://www.boyer-valley.k12.ia.us

Don't just order your own yearbook, but be sure to tell kids and their parents, email them the web address, get this out there so people start buying them.

• Yes, we'll go back and review those terms from 2 weeks ago, I'll actually post them here this time, and we'll re-schedule our little vocabulary quiz for NEXT Friday (11/16).
• Hey- I wanna tell you. You guys are doing a great job so far. I really appreciate how you're pretty much all actually diving in and trying to do this layout thing on InDesign. I know you'll probably think I'm just blowing smoke here, but I think that this may be the best yearbook staff I have EVER had. I mean that. I even told Colleen that I thought so. Keep it up!

Drawing a blank to see better than ever

Drawing students are taking notes this week, learning about the correct placement and proportions of features in portrait drawing (see also pp. 168-170 in 'Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain). Each day we tackle a different feature. Wednesday was eyes, Thursday were noses, Friday will be mouths, and so on through ears and hair. After taking notes they have to sketch the featured features from real life! So, don't feel awkward if someone is staring at you in class, they're just studying your anatomy!

Next we'll deal with profiles and 3/4 Views, then the skull, and back to full-fledged real life faces.

Ceramics; Haunted Houses

Vicki's two-story fixer-upper

Kara's Flintsone's cave, complete with Dino!

Ashley's Dark Tower, notice the bat just below the ramparts!

Just before Halloween, Ceramics students used the slab-construction method to create haunted houses. They are certainly scary!

Drawing; A "real" perspective drawing

Kassi

Zach

Ryan

Last week, Drawing and Seeing students took to the halls with their 18x24" newsprint pads and used the skills they'd been learning about "sighting" angles and relationships, and using a "basic-unit" to record their perceptions as accurately as they could. Their assignment came from pp. 152-153 in our textbook, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain.

Yearbook; November

• Thursday, Nov. 8, Colleen Arneson from Josten's will be visiting
• Tuesday, Nov. 13 Mr. Mallory will be at a workshop for school website directors
  
• Thursday, Nov. 15, Fall Ad Canvasing Day- get your planned absence make-up slip from Mr. Mallory
• Thursday, Nov. 22 Turkey-Day! Give thanks for a couple of days off of school.
  

Editor/Coaching Teams:

Bonnie- Vicki & Kensie
Jamie- Olivia
Cody- Holli & Kenzie
Chris- Miranda & Christine

Page Assignments

Save pages in "\\Server1\archive\2008 Yearbook\Deadline 01"
if the computer won't let you, please let Mr. Mallory know and temporarily save your layouts in
"C:\2008 YearTech\2008 Yearbook\Deadline 01"
Bonnie, Jamie, Cody, & Chris' pages were due Nov. 1
The rest of these pages are due Dec. 3

• Bonnie- 058-059 Volleyball
  
• Holli- 062 Cross Country
  
• Olivia- 048 Yearbook
  
• Christine- 076 Band, 077 Choir
  
• Kenzie H- 027 MS Volleyball
  
• Chris- 061-062 Football
  
• Kensie J- 079 Activities Division
  
• Vicki- 055 Sports Division
  
• Cody- 057 Fall Cheer
  
• Jamie- 080-081 Homecoming
  
• Miranda- 047 Clubs Division
  

Feeling ambitious? Cody, Jamie, Liv & Chris- gonna get our cover designed? Also- Once you have you're assigned pages done, here are a few others that should get done soon for Deadline 01:

• 003 Elementary Division
• 026 MS Football
• 052 NHS
• 056 Baseball/Softball

Cheerleading Tryouts

Varsity Cheer for Basketball:

• Tryout practices 3:20-5 pm Mon Nov 12
  & 3:00-4:30 pm Wed Nov 14
  (Mr. Mallory will be gone on Tuesday)
  
• Cheer Tryouts Thursday, Nov. 15
  
• Sign-up sheet outside room 219
  
• Please pick up permission forms and Teacher recommendations from Coach Mallory Wed-Fri this week

Click here to download paperwork

Web Design; Bob

Wanna see the website (in-progress) that our web design class has been working on?

http://boyer-valley.k12.ia.us/Bob's/index.html

Coming soon, individual student websites too, maybe.

Web Design; New terms for Friday Nov 9th Quiz

Anchor tags for absolute and relative links (See page 118).

• Absolute Link; specifies the complete path (web address) to a linked page.
  example- "http://www.sitename.com"
  
• Document Relative Link; specifies the location of a linked page within the same web site relative to the page you're on.
  example-"anotherpage.htm"
  
• Site Root Relative Link; specifies the location of the linked page relative to the local root folder. Used sometimes when sites have subfolders within the root folder.
  example- "/subfolder/anotherpage.htm"

Iowa Arts Council Iowa Scholarship for the Arts

Iowa Arts Council Iowa Scholarship for the Arts

Iowa Scholarship for the Arts

Application Deadlines & Dates

The Iowa Arts Council must receive your application no later than 4:30 p.m. the day of the deadline listed below. This is NOT a postmark deadline. If the deadline falls on a state holiday or on a Saturday or Sunday, it will be extended to the next working day.

Application Deadline: December 10, 2007

Scholarship Amount: $1,000 to $2,000

Scholarships are for college or university costs that will occur during the following academic year: 2008-2009.

GO TO APPLICATION FORM »

AMERICAN MASTERS "Good Ol' Charles Schulz"

Chris, I know you're on vacation, so you may not even get this-

or ANYONE really interested in cartoning, this would be an awesome show that you would want to watch (or record). I will have parent/teacher conferences tonight so I will have to miss it.

Monday, October 29, 2007
9:00-10:30 p.m. ET

– From Charlie Brown to the Little Red-Haired Girl, Documentary Explores the Universal Appeal of the Artist Who Redefined the Comic Strip; Life and Work Intertwine in Cartoons, Home Movies, Original Animations and Interviews With Family Members, Real-Life Inspirations for Cartoon Characters and Cartoonists Jules Feiffer and Lynn Johnston –

Linus never sees the Great Pumpkin. The nefarious Red Baron always gets away. Good ol’ Charlie Brown never, ever kicks that football. Armed only with security blankets and vivid imaginations, the “Peanuts” gang endured unrequited love, loneliness, resentment and despair for almost 50 years — just like their creator, Charles M. Schulz. Every day for decades, Schulz poured out his heart on the comics page and helped us all laugh at life’s toughest struggles. Although characters like Snoopy and phrases like “Happiness is a warm puppy” became part of a billion-dollar global phenomenon, success failed to quell Schulz’s own doubts. “I can’t believe they think I’m that good,” Schulz said tearfully at the end of his last on-camera interview. “I just did the best I could.”

In “Good Ol’ Charles Schulz,” AMERICAN MASTERS presents an unexpected portrait of the man behind the most popular comic strip in history. The feature-length documentary premieres Monday, October 29, 2007, 9:00-10:30 p.m. ET on PBS.

Read more here

In Memory

Any time you hear about an accident involving kids it's sad. When I heard that this accident happened so close to us, I was also nervous. My wife teaches at Mapleton, but I let it go when they didn't call her in to work (she's also a guidance counselor).

So it was terrible when I came in to school and Rena told me who one of the kids was. Bradley was an insanely gifted mascot. I had really hoped that he would continue on in high school but he struggled with grades and than his family moved out of our district. I had lost touch with him, but Rena has remained close to his sister, Nichole who cheer in both middle school and Varsity.

Heaven must need mascots. Bradley will be a great one.

Please keep Nichole and the Kline family in your thoughts and prayers during this difficult time.

Associated Press - October 28, 2007 7:24 PM ET

MAPLETON, Iowa (AP) - Two teenagers were killed and a third person was injured in a crash near Mapleton in western Iowa.

The Iowa State Patrol says that 19-year-old Michael Babcock of Odebolt, and 15-year-old Bradley Kline Jr., of Schleswig, were killed in the wreck on Saturday.

Twenty-1-year-old Scott Mau of Odebolt was taken by helicopter to Mercy Hospital in Des Moines. Hospital officials did not give any information on his condition.

A patrol report showed that a pickup truck driven by Babcock left the road at a bridge just south of Mapleton in western Iowa.

The patrol says that two people were thrown from the truck and trapped underneath. The other occupant was found inside the truck.

The accident is believed to have happened about 1:30 a.m. Saturday. The truck wasn't found until 12 hours later.

The investigation was continuing.

Information from: The Des Moines Register, http://www.desmoinesregister.com

How sincere is your pumpkin patch?

Cartooning Reading List

Anyone who's seriously interested in cartooning might want to get their hands on one or some of these books. I keep copies of them in my classroom if anyone would like to borrow one. Chris H (House) has the McCloud one checked out from me right now. Both of the Eisner books are actually used as college textbooks.

Understanding Comics
by Scott McCloud
1994 Harper
ISBN# 978-0060976255

Cartooning
by Mort Gerberg
1989 William Morrow and Company Inc. NYC, New York
ISBN# 1-55710-017-9

Comics and Sequential Art
by Will Eisner
1985 Poorhouse Press Tamarac, Florida
ISBN# 0-9614728-1-2

Graphic Storytelling and the Visual Narrative
by Will Eisner
1996 Poorhouse Press Tamarac, Florida
ISBN# 0-9614728-2-0

The Everything Cartooning Book
by Brad J. Guigar
2005 Adams Media Avon, Massatchussetts
ISBN# 1-59337-145-4

Eight Days...

House: Caricature

A caricature is either a portrait that exaggerates or distorts the essence of a person or thing to create an easily identifiable visual likeness, or in literature, a description of a person using exaggeration of some characteristics and oversimplification of others. Caricatures can be insulting or complimentary and can serve a political purpose or be drawn solely for entertainment. Caricatures of politicians are commonly used in editorial cartoons, while caricatures of movie stars are often found in entertainment magazines. (Read more about caricatures on Wikipedia)

When you think of caricature, you probably think of those people at the fair or in malls or tourist traps who sit there with an easel and draw funny pictures of people with small bodies and huge heads. But did you know there is actually a National Caricaturist's Network with their own trade magazine and conventions and everything? There's even an online museum of some of the greatest caricaturists of the 19th and early 20th centuries at www.greatcaricatures.com.

If you're REALLY serious about learning to caricature and improving your drawing and especially caricaturing skills, I highly recommend that you take a look at Kirk Bjorndahl's website and he'll walk you through several exercises and steps designed to help.

Before you get started drawing your own caricatures, you might want to take a look at a few of the better caricaturists out there.

• John S. Pritchett - a cartoonist first from New York and now Hawaii
• Al Hirschfeld - was one of the all time greatest caricaturists, he is best known for Broadway and Hollywood stars.
• Julia Suits - boasts a number of nationally prominent newspapers as subscribers, including the Los Angeles Times, the Houston Chronicle

Caricature Assignment #1 (Due Friday 10/26)
Google Image Search a decent portrait of each of the following;
Jay Leno, David Letterman, Conan O'Brien, and Jimmy Kimmel
Then, in your sketch book draw draw a caricature of each of them.

Caricature Assignment #2 (Due Tuesday 11/6)
Google Image Search a decent portrait of each of the following;
Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, Fred Thompson, and John McCain
Then, in your sketch book draw draw a caricature of each of them.

Caricature Assignment #3 (Due Thursday 11/8)
Google Image Search a decent portrait of each of the following;
Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Edwards, Bill Richardson
Then, in your sketch book draw draw a caricature of each of them.

Caricature Assignment #4 (Due Monday 11/12)
Google Image Search a decent portrait of each of the following;
George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Brittney Spears, OJ Simpson
Then, in your sketch book draw draw a caricature of each of them.

Caricature Assignment #5 -Last one, I promise! (Due Wednesday 11/14)
In your sketch book draw draw a caricature of each of the following;
A classmate, a teacher, an administrator, yourself

Whew! That ought to keep you busy for a while. Sometime between now and then I will post another "web-quest" for you on actual editorial cartooning- but the practice you'll be getting from this will make sure you're ready for drawing those.

Fire Prayer Request

As you might imagine, since we used to teach at Los Angeles Lutheran Jr/Sr High School, My wife and I are very concerned about our many friends, former students and former colleagues in Southern California. Can you imagine 250,000 people in 7 counties having to be evacuated? An area the size of Washington DC has been burned. From Malibu to Mexico is effected- basically an area the size of South Carolina!

The Buckweed and Stevensen Ranch/Magic Fires have us the me worried. Especially after that wild accident in the I-5 tunnel last week. Basically these fires are each on opposite sides of the Santa Clarita Valley. We used to go to Church at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Canyon Country.

Breathing, driving, and if it comes to it- evacuating are a major dangers that our friends are facing- let alone the possibility of losing life, home, and property.
I was disappointed by the coverage on CNN, so I turned to a local TV station there, KTLA, they had a terrific link to an interactive map of the fires from Google.

Please, it's not just a bunch of rich celebrities in Malibu Canyon, it's real people all over Southern California. If these fires aren't contained soon, this could become LA and San Diego's Katrina.

Please pray that the Lord would protect the residents in the fire's path and that He would guard, protect, and guide the many firefighters, both professional and volunteer and the National Guardsmen and women who help too. Pray that the 70-100 mph winds would die down and that moisture would come so that the fires could be contained and put out.

Thank you.

Yearbook; This week

Bonnie, Cody, Chris, and Jamie have until next Friday, Nov 1 do get their Fall sports pages done. Please include schedules, scores, records etc.

Olivia, Miranda, and Holli have their first InDesign layouts done. They, and Vicki can use 6th period as a study hall while Mr. Mallory gets Kensie, Kenzie and Megan started on InDesign.
Christine needs to finish her InDesign layout today.

If you're done with a layout or waiting for help, please use your time as a studyhall, ask permission to leave the room for whatever reasons. Thank you.

Ceramics; this week

Monday- glaze small slab boxes
Tues-Fri- Create slab shoes
Meanwhile- we'll start 2 people at a time on the wheel

House; Let's try Cartooning

So okay, 'House' as we'll call him here is a Senior. He's had Drawing and Painting and was interested in Drawing II but we didn't offer it this year, so we set up an independent-study "Advanced Drawing" for him. But he's not loving it. He's really disappointed that we haven't had a cartooning class for a few years. Alrighty then. Since House isn't planing on majoring in visual arts in college, and his drawing style is really expressive anyway, we'll throw something together here for the second quarter. Some of it will still be Drawing II stuff because it will apply to cartooning skills, but mostly, we're gonna switch gears and focus on the cartooning.

Here's the order I'm gonna go in for ya, House;

1. We'll start off with the grandaddy of all tooning, editorial cartooning. This is my forte' anyway.
2. Then we'll move into "Gag" or single-panel cartoons, this is the stuff of magazines and greeting cards. It's not near as easy as it looks
3. Next, we'll kick it up a notch and move on to the comic strip, the greatest American art form
4. Ultimately we'll gear up for comics and graphic novels. The may just be the most important form of literature and art of the 21st century.
5. Now, I'm not promising anything, but if there's time and you have a gift for things like Microsoft/Windows Movie Maker and/or Macromedia Flash- you might even have a chance to dip your toe into animation.

Now, to get you started, let's do a little bit of research shall we?

Read this introduction to Editorial cartooning from an Arizona State University course
Art Works- Political Cartooning

Lesson 1. Cartoons in Context

• A Historical Perspective of Cartooning
  
• The Purpose for Political Cartooning
  
• The Cartoon as Art
  
• Cartoons Then and Now

skip a couple of links and go on to

• Caricature: The Visual Foundation for Political Cartoons

Then do the exercises on the next link in your sketchbook.

• Caricature Exercise

It may seem like a lot for the first day or so, but I have some more challenging (and more fun) stuff for you to do once you get these done. Let me know if you think you need both Tues & Wed to get this all read and done. Otherwise I'll hit you with some new stuff on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, keep reading "Understanding Comics" by Scott McCloud.
If you think he does a pretty good job of explaining things, you may want to check out www.scottmccloud.com

Web Design; this week

Read pages 59-67
Review the vocab terms from last Friday's quiz and add these:

• Font
• Serif
• Sans-serif
• Monospaced font

All of these are found on page 64.

Tues-Thurs 10/23-25 you will have class time to work on your Case-Problem websites.
Friday you will each show the class what you have so far.
There will also be a vocab quiz this Friday too.

Next week, we will spend some time either in the book or taking notes Monday and have class time to work on YOUR final project websites Tues-Thurs, then you'll show them Fri and have another quiz.

Drawing; a brief practice in sighting

Mon-Tues 10/22-23
Read pp. 146-151 in DOTRSOTB
and complete a drawing of a corner doorway in your sketchbooks

Wed-Fri 10/24-26 (into Mon of next week if you need it)
Read pp. 152-155 in DOTRSOB
and complete an 18X24 drawing of a hallway in the school.

We will critique these together either Mon or Tues before going on to Chapter 9 (FACES!!!)

Cheer this week

No practice this Thursday Oct 25. Since Maple Valley has their Parent/Teacher Conferences are Tuesday and Thursday, I need to take Grace to Dance at Sheri's & Julie's by 4:30.

I know that everybody's sick, but it would be awesome if we could practice everyday Mon, Tue, & Wed since it is the last game and the last rally. Although, as important as stunting might be to you all, be aware that Kensie's MD thinks she may have pulled something in her knee, which is why it caused her so much pain last Friday.

As you know, we need to finish painting the run through and plan a pep rally. Two things to keep in mind besides Seniors are;
It's Woodbine (you could enlist either ex-twiner Straight or Johnsen if you like) and if VB wins on Tuesday there may be post-seasonal pep rallies.

DEAR; Book Review

Maximum Ride; Saving the world and other extreme sports

Posted by Mallory's on Oct 21, '07 5:49 PM for everyone

Category:	Books
Genre:	Science Fiction & Fantasy
Author:	James Patterson

This is Patterson's third installment in his mutant teen series. As usual, Patterson is an excellent writer, this book is action packed, fast and funny. Sounds like he has a fourth book coming out next Spring. According to an article in Variety, Patterson plans 12 books in total. The entertainment newspaper also reports on a Maximum Ride movie (or three), targeted for release in 2010 and 2011. They will be released by Sony Pictures Animation or Columbia Pictures. Sony Imageworks is responsible for Spiderman and the Polar Express.

Now, as much as I enjoyed "Saving the world and other extreme sports," it isn't absolutely without problems. You could easily read the second book without having read the first one- but I don't think that people who haven't read either of the first two books will get this third one. I also wonder a little bit about whether or not Patterson kind of pushed it a little too far this time, kind of "jumped the shark," as they say in Hollywood. The ending is a last third or so is a little contrived and the ending just a little anticlimactic. But then again, it isn't written for adults and after all, it is about a group of mutant bird-kids trying to save the world from NAZI style mad scientists. How can you possibly push that too far?

So it's guilty escapist pleasure, so what. Why shouldn't reading be fun?
If you did read either of the first two books then you've developed a connection with the characters. I really love and care about Patterson's most famous character Alex Cross, from books like 'London Bridges' and movies like 'Kiss the Girls' (Morgan Freeman make a perfect Cross), so readers who already know the kids in the flock, will LOVE this book. Patterson continues to develop Max's role as a leader/surrogate parent. He also heats things up a little between Max and Fang, and he shows us a lot more about Fang's character. We even find out more about Ari, the wicked 'Eraser' who Max thought she had killed. Fans can continue to follow the flock on the internet by reading Fang's Blog. Patterson also gives us a peek into who Max's mom is, and what the deal is with Jeb and the voice inside her head.

Read more of my book reviews at http://tmal.multiply.com/reviews

Tis the Season...

Yearbook; 'Archive' 08 Staff Picture

Since the theme is automotive, Editor Bonnie suggested we take our picture in front of her Buick!

Cody tries out his new "Air-Cannon" on Jamie.

Drawing; Proportions & Relationships

In chapter 9, Drawing students are learning about "informal perspective" drawing, including things like these where you have to record the visual distortions created when objects are extremely close to you. This only happens if you rectify the paradox of your knowledge (left brain) and your perception (right brain).

Drawing; Chair stare

After studying negative space, using view finders and choosing 'basic units,' Drawing students did their first large (18X24) newsprint drawings. Unfortunately for them, their exciting subject matter was my office chair. Woo hoo!

Ceramics; Trick or Treat

Brett works on his slab-construction creation. Ceramics students are working on "haunted housed" just in time for Halloween.

MS Art; Mosaic Collages

Drawing; From Kassi's Sketchbook

Yearbook; Color Senior Section?

$925 for 8 pages of color. The senior section is usually 6-8 pages. It might be mice to have Homecoming in color. So share that around 49 people and they'd all need to cough up about $20.

You understand those aren't sequential pages exactly, that would be like 35-37, 40-41, 44-45- other stuff would be in between, probably 38-39 would be Sophomores and 42-43 would be juniors. To get them all together like pp.40-46 we'd have to buy 16 color pages, which is $1,850.

Also, we would absolutely HAVE to have ALL the Senior Pictures in by Jan 1. I've already heard people talking about how they haven't even set appointments yet... I'm not dragging my feet, I'd love to have color in the yearbook, I'm just letting you know what some of the challenges will be.

_____________________________
Ted's cartoons, artworks, photos, and commentary at:
http://tmal.multiply.com

Web Design; Better check your notes

Here are three questions that you will need to review in addition to the new terms for this Friday's quiz. Remember, all of my quizzes are always open-note (hint, hint).

13) < name="value">
a) Code for an image
c) Code for placing an anchor, also known as
a bookmark within a webpage
b) Code for an "ordered list"
d) Code that will format text as underlined

14) The location of the Web page in the Web server's file system.
a) Directory Path
c) Domain Name
b) Object Name
d) Spot

20) < href="#value" target="_self">click here
a) Tags for including an image with an
external hyperlink
c) Tags for an ordered list using Roman
numerals
b) Tags for placing a hyperlink inside a
webpage so that visitors can "jump" to
another point within that page (an anchor)
d) Tags for an unordered list using bullets

Web Design; Information Architecture

Alright Web-Heads, here are your assignments for this week;

Remember that I post all of the assignments for this class on this site. Click on the "Web Design" link in my schedule on the right hand menu to see only posts for this class. You can always email me your assignments or questions if you have any at malloryt@boyer-valley.k12.ia.us

There will be a Quiz this Friday, Oct. 19. These are the terms you're responsible for (and where to find them in the book):

• Target Audience (p.50)
• End-user scenarios (p.54)
• Information architecture (p.56)
  
• Navigation system (p.56)
• Flowchart (p.57)
• Concept/Metaphor (pp.61-62)
• Hexadecimal color codes (p.63)

Here's the homework this week

• First we did these together in class for "Bob's Bait Shop"
• Second you'll have to do it for your Case Problem Sites
• Finally, you'll need to do it for your own site- this means that you'll need to turn in two sets of papers, one for your case problem and one for your own.

Create an end-user scenario 1-3 on p.55 (write at least one paragraph, using complete sentences) Please type this in Word and either print it out or email it to me.

Create an information category outline, follow 1-6 on p. 57 and turn in typed outline.

Create a flowchart, follow 1-6 p.58 and turn in your final flowchart/site map/graphic organizer.

Since you'll be gone Tuesday for the Government field trip, these three (really 6 since you each do them for two sites) will be due this Thursday, Oct. 18

Information Architecture Paper

Create at least two "End-User Scenarios."
This is the type of marketing report that you might have to present to a real-life client.

First- Review your site goals and your user profile. Create a character who might visit your website. Give the character a name and attributes such as age, gender, location, etc.

Place the character in a situation where he or she is accessing your web site. Write at least two paragraphs describing the user's surroundings and the user's experience with the site.


Second- Based on your site goals and end user scenarios, start an outline listing at least five categories, and several subcategories in hierarchical order. Break the subcategories into subcategories when necessary.

Finally- Create a flowchart based on your outline, taking into consideration your end user scenarios. The square on top should be your home page. Draw five squares in a horizontal row below your home page. These should represent you major sections, based on your site goals. Draw lines from each main category to your home page to connect them. Draw the subcategories below each main category.

Be prepared to present your marketing reports on Thursday and Friday, Oct. 18-19.
See pages 55-58 in your textbook for examples.

Check out 'Wild Art'

I just overhauled my art blog. When you visit it you can see;
1. My cartoons 2. My photographs & digital images 3. My paintings, drawings, and prints 4. Artworks or photos by some of my students 5. Some of my favorite paintings by famous artists and why I like them. And recently added... 6. Advice and links for elementary teachers who didn't major in Art, but want to teach it to their students. Please, click on the archives to look at more art.

http://malloryart.blogspot.com

Every week there's something new. This week, there's also a slick new look!

Happy October

One of the best websites I've found for Elementary Teachers who looking for ideas

The ArtsConnectEd Web site (www.artsconnected.org) puts you and your students in touch with images, information, and educational resources from the Walker Art Center and The Minneapolis Institute of Arts.
They'll suggest ways to make ArtsConnectEd a part of fun, student-centered learning.

Their "Tool Kit" is a great way to start learning about the elements and principles of design.
Artists use visual elements and principles like line, color and shape as tools to build works of art. Each title has three sections:

• Watch an animated demonstration
  
• Find examples of the concept in works of art from museums
  
• Create your own composition

Visit their Art tool kit at
http://www.artsconnected.org/toolkit/explore.cfm

Mallory's Milieu

You can see all of my cartoons (just MY cartoons) as well as all kinds of my artwork and photography. Not to mention book reviews, recommended links, and even some music and videos. All of it is at http://tmal.multiply.com

Digital Web Magazine - The Elements of Design

Digital Web Magazine - The Elements of Design
he elements of design are the basic components used as part of any composition. They are the objects to be arranged, the constituent parts used to create the composition itself. In most situations the elements of design build upon one another, the former element helping to create the latter, and the elements described in this column are arranged as such. We will be focusing on the elements of point, line, form (shape), texture and color.

Middle School Art; Anstract

Here is an old example by a student a few years ago of the assignment that 7th graders had to work on today. First, they had to find a photograph in a magazine then they had to draw it in 4 steps-

1. As realistically as they can manage
2. In a somewhat abstract manor; simplified and stylized
3. Finally as abstracted as possible- to the point that it appears to be non-objective.