Today we and yesterday we presented presentations. Yesterday we did it in front of the other classes and today we did it in front of our parents. I wasn’t that nervous in front of the other classes but in front of the parents I got nervous and I forgot a whole sentence. I think that while presenting in front of the parents I talked way to quickly. When I presented for the other class I looked out the window so I didn’t get distracted by other people and when I practiced at home I would always look out my window, so that helped me. But there was no window behind the audience so I couldn’t really look out of a window unless I looked to the side.
I also think that I kept people interested during my speech and they didn’t get bored. Overall I think that it went really well but I could have done a little bit better.
I had a lot of fun during this whole Capstone process but I’m glad that it’s over.
This is the video of me presenting in front of the parents:
About a week ago I started working on my final project for Capstone. for your final project you can choose between an Ignite or a TED Talk or a couple of other options but I narrowed it down to those two. At first I wanted to do a TED Talk and I was almost sure that I would do that. Then we went to the computer lab and talked about which we wanted to choose. my computer teacher said that he liked Ignites better and he gave us a lot of the pros of doing Ignites. Than I decided that I was going to do an Ignite. So I started to work on it. After I finished writing the script, making the slideshow, and memorizing all of it I presented in front of the class and I messed up really badly but the thing is, I forgot one word and it messed up my whole thing because of the timing. So after that I decided to do a TED Talk. Since mine was only three minutes and it’s supposed to be about four or more I added a little to my slides and I’m working on talking slower.
I think that the hardest part for me while I was working on the final project was probably the beginning because at first I couldn’t think of what to write or how to write it. But once I started it just got easier and easier. Now probably the hardest part is not getting nervous when presenting in front of a crowd. Overall I think that working on the final project has been the most fun part of the process but i’m really expected to finish the unit and get it over with at the same time.
To answer our main inquiry question we have to write an essay. I wrote my essay about three of the ways that technology has improved interior design. I think that while writing the essay it was easy to find reasons and examples because I did a lot of research on the three reasons that I choose. When I first heard that we had to do an essay I got really stressed. When we started the project I didn’t know that we had to write an essay. When I started to plan out my essay I realized that it wasn’t as hard as I thought and when I finished my plan I got so much less stressed.
This is my essay for answering my main inquiry question:
Technology has changed many things. Have you ever thought about how much it has changed interior design? Interior design is the process or art of designing the inside of any space. My main inquiry question is, “How have apps, online design sharing sites, and HGTV (Home & Garden Television) affected interior design?” According to Josiah Motley, author at The Next Web, interior design is one of the things that has not been affected by technology that much. But I strongly disagree because there are three or more significant ways that technology has affected interior design. It’s much quicker to get inspiration, it is more budget friendly, and it is easier to communicate with professionals.
My first reason that technology has improved interior design is because it’s easier and quicker to find inspiration. One example is looking at apps or websites like Pinterest or Instagram. Prior to the use of technology in interior design, people used to have to go to multiple stores to find motivation and to view various designs. Now on Pinterest, shoppers can look up anything and it will show pictures, provide ideas, and give inspiration. Interior designer, Laurie Scovotti said that she likes to shop at retailers and then put all of her new ideas on Pinterest on an inspiration board. Another example is that anything can be viewed online and items can be immediately purchased for your own home. This proves that if an app provides inspiration, you can choose to purchase that item without needing to take the time to travel to showrooms or stores to find ideas. There is an app called Hutch that if someone takes a picture of their room and puts it on the app, the app will add furniture and patterns to make your room look better. A third example is that by watching a youtube video of how other people designed their rooms and it may help viewers design their own space. This shows that technology has made it easier to get inspired in so many ways.
My second reason that technology has improved interior design is because it’s more budget friendly than it used to be. It used to be much more money and only wealthy people could afford an interior designer. Now, anyone can go on a website or an app for free and find things that will look good in their room. There is an app called Wayfair that people use which is free and it helps people find furniture and it gives them ideas for their own spaces. This shows that technology is helping people design their spaces for very little money or no money at all. Also, people can get free apps that will find professional interior designers. Individuals can take an online survey to help them figure out their style and match them with designers that have a similar style. This shows that by getting an app for a few dollars or even for free anyone can get in touch with a professional interior designer. The designers can then be hired for a few hundred dollars or less to help design rooms and homes. There are also TV shows on HGTV that are included in the price of cable, so for the people who already have cable (and a lot of people do), there is no additional cost. Everyone that has cable can watch HGTV for free and it can help them get ideas to design their homes.
My final reason that technology has improved interior design is because of increased communication. One way it has helped communication is through the use of emailing and texting. People used to have to go to the store to buy something and then meet with their clients to show it to them. Now, all that someone has to do is look up a picture and send it to your client. This shows that technology is very helpful to interior designers because they could just text or email a picture of something to their client. They no longer have to actually go to the store and then meet with their client each time. Another way technology has improved interior design by communication is that some apps (Roomle, Occipital, etc.) can make a blueprint of a room and you can add furniture. It is easier to understand the structure of a room if there is an example or model of it. It would be easier to explain to a client all of the ideas for the room if there is a 3D model that they can look at while listening to the ideas. Also, the app Occipital can measure your room and it could help to determine if something fits in the room or not.This shows that when a client doesn’t understand what an interior designer is talking about they can look at a model of the room. Clients can add anything and play around with the apps until they find what they like. People can also get apps that connect them with a professional interior designer and communicate freely over the app. This shows that there are many ways that have made it easier to communicate with an interior designer.
Technology has been very helpful to interior designers and to people looking to redesign their homes, it has improved interior design in general. It has become easier to get inspiration, it is more budget friendly and it is easier to communicate with a client or an interior designer. Technology has improved interior design so much already but how do you think technology will change interior design even more in the future?
One of the requirements for Capstone is an interview. As you know, I am doing interior design. Yesterday I interview a lady named Laurie Scovotti. I think that I got a lot of good information from her because some of the answers were unexpected and I think that is really good because then I have different opinions.
I think that the interview went really well because two of my sub questions were hard to research and she went into a deeper explanation about those questions and I found that, that was really helpful.
I think that might interview another person but just a couple of questions that I can’t find that much research on. I think that I got much more research out of it then I thought I would but maybe if I have a question that Laurie can’t answer or I already asked her and I need a new opinion I will text another interior designer.
Overall I think that my interview was really helpful and she gave me a lot of useful information.
Yesterday my grade went to Ellis Island for a school trip. Earlier in the year we studied immigration and Ellis Island but we didn’t get a chance to go untill yesterday. For our immigration project everyone got a country and they made up a character that would be travaling on steerage to America, they also had to pass through Ellis Island.
I’ve been to Ellis island before in second grade. I went with my grade in my old school. In second grade we did it a little bit differently, we studied our family and our ancestors. We picked one of our family members to study (they had to have immigrated to America) and we also did research on the country they were from.
I had fun on the trip but I think that it was a little more fun went I went in second grade because I had already seen and did most of the things. Overall I think that going to Ellis Island was fun and I learned a lot.
One of the things that you have to do for Capstone is a site visit. I’m doing interior design so my mom found a place to go called the Kips Bay Show House. The Kips Bay Show House is where a lot of interior designers all design one room of a big brownstone apartment. They do it every year and it’s only open to people for one month of the year.
There were so many different rooms and so many different styles. My favorite room was a relaxation room because it was different from all of the others and everything there was, was there for a reason and nothing was decoration. Also this room was the only room that we got to meet the designer, his name is Charles Pavarini. I met him and I talked about my project and he told me some cool things about the room. One thing he told me was that rock crystal is the most relaxing stone and he put them throughout the room in one line. He also told me that there was a lighting company called Ketra and you can connect it to be the color of the sun at any time, Ketra also won the 2017 Noble Prize for medicine because it helps people with alzheimer’s disease.
Overall I had so much fun at the Kips Bay Show House and I would definitely go again.
Today my whole grade went on a field trip, with our Spanish teacher to, Pollo a La Brasa which is a puruvian restaurant. We got six different dishes which were split among the table of five. The dishes we got were, Pollo Saltado (chicken and rice), Lomo Saltado (meat and rice), Tallarin Saltado de Carne (meat and noodles), Pescado al Ajo (fish), Ensalada de Verduras (salad), and Chicha Morada (Spanish drink). My favorite dishes were Ensalada de Verduras, Chica Morada and the rice and noodles.
I might go there again with friends but I probably wouldn’t go with my family because the food isn’t great it’s just mediocre. I also think that the food came too quickly, since we ordered so many dishes they came one at a time but they came like five minutes after each other so we didn’t have time to enjoy the food and we kind of had to rush to finish.
I like this trip because this trip was still educational but we got to learn about Spanish foods and it was much more fun then what we usually do.
One of the main things we have to do in our Capstone projects is research. Our research focuses on one certain thing, a question. Everyone comes up with a question that they would like to research about. My teacher gave us a rubric and it helped us come up with a good question. After we got the base of our question we edited it and made it better. Once we finished that we had to come up with five sub questions based off of the question. I first I had no clue what to do for my question and I got really stressed. Then I came up with a base to my question and I kept revising it and adding on to it to make it better. My final question is, How have the seven elements of interior design made it easier and/or harder for interior designers to do there work and how can it be improved and made easier?
After I was happy with my question I started working on my sub questions. I found that it was really hard to come up with sub questions based off of my question. Some of my friends had questions that were easier to make sub questions out of. After I thought about it for a while I finally came up with all sub questions! I was so relived!
After a little while of researching I found that there weren’t many websites to research about my questions. I met with my teacher and we discussed. I decided to change my main inquiry question too, How have apps, online design sharing sites, and HGTV affected interior design? I also changed all of my sub questions.I’m so happy I finished coming up with my sub questions and I’m excited to research my topic!
For the past 2-3 weeks I have been working on a where I’m from poem. A where I’m from poem isn’t just about the country, town, continent, or city you are from it’s about the things you like, what you used to play with or still play with, places you’ve been, things that are important to you, etc. I used a guide to help me write mine and to get some ideas, but in the end I added some lines and moved things around. The guide was helpful at the start because if I didn’t have it I wouldn’t be able to think of anything to write. I had fun writing my “where I’m from” and I recommend it to people of any age.
My class just started a project called Capstone. A Capstone project is where, first you choose a topic and then do a bunch of research, interview someone, and do a site visit. Today I’m going to focus on choosing a topic. My teacher wanted us to keep an open mind about what to do so we don’t just pick something that we think will be easy but we pick something that interests us. To help us choose a good topic she gave us a packet with questions on it like, “what do you collect” and “if you could invent something what would it be?”. I think this packet was helpful because if you can’t think of a topic you can look back at some of your answers and it will help you come up with one.
After thinking about it for a while I think that I’m going to choose interior designing. I want to do interior designing because ever since I was about eight I’ve wanted to be an interior designer. I think that interior designing interests me so much because I like turning an ugly, cluttered space into a beautiful, organized one.
I met with my teacher a couple of times to discuss my topic. We talked about doing something more specific then just interior design. We found this website that had the seven elements of interior design, I wanted to learn more about that specific part of interior design.