You may ask why PowerPoint? After all the writing was done in WORD, so why not use the same drawing tools within WORD? My answer is that WORD 2003 generates a most annoying drawing area which I have always disliked. Years ago I had to switch from Claris(Apple)Works to WORD and I have always thought WORD was inferior until the 2007 version which our district will finally move to in the 2010-2011 school year. But the creation of 2D overlayed objects in PowerPoint 2003 did not generate the annoying drawing area and would be simpler for the students. Here is what the students had to say about the Cartoon Challenge:
My name is Anthonee Arkright, and this is what I think about the Cartoon Challenge. I thought it was a great way to be more socially active, and how to learn how to make things on second life. I also thought it was a great way for the mentors, and mentees to get to know each other better. It was also a great way to be focused on something that will let us boost our grade up. Personally, I thought it was a really fun challenge, that I didn’t mind doing. I also thought it was a really different and original challenge. Most of us thought it was cool that we could pick any cartoon character from Dora the Explorer, to Stewie Griffin. The Cartoon Challenge was also a great way for us to learn how to use the tools on Second Life. This was also a great challenge to do, because it counted as a big part of our grade.
I thought that this was also a great way for us to interact with the Second Life computer program. One of the best things about the Cartoon Challenge was that once we completed it, we get linden for finishing our cartoon characters. We were told to make one cartoon and another companion cartoon character from the same series. There were two really fun parts, picking a cartoon, and making the cartoon. The one I chose was Winnie the Pooh. I was originally going to make Brian Griffin, but then I thought he was going to be too hard to make. It was also cool because no one has ever done the cartoon challenge before, not even the teachers. Everyone thought that this was a really fun challenge, and I hope that we do another project like this one very soon.
(Teacher’s Note: Although I do not condone the behavior of characters like Stewie Griffin, I am not so naïve that I don’t know that teens do watch shows that are often inappropriate. This was true even when I was teaching in a Catholic School! What this was about was giving students a say in the work they do, focusing on building challenges, and increasing the engagement. I think you can tell by these responses that middle school students appreciate being able to have a say in the learning process. It is something I have always believed important. Would I prevent kids from watching South Park or Family Guy if I could? Of course. Will they sneak watching it anyway? You bet! All I can do is try to guide them gently and hope they grow up to make good decisions in the future.)
I learned many things from the cartoon assignment in Second Life. First, I learned how to manage prims better. In my previous experiences I had learned how to build things, but on this current assignment I was able to make a cartoon character of my choice. The cartoon character that I picked was Bloo from Imaginary Friends. He seems like a really fun and exciting cartoon character to make. From the beginning of the assignment I was scared at the fact that I wasn’t going to be able to create my cartoon character. But with the help of friends and teachers, I was able to create Bloo. I was really excited because my cartoon character was coming to life in Second Life. I manipulated some of the characteristics on the character to make it seem as the real one from the cartoon series. And to me that was really exciting because I could manage my characters eyes, mouth, body figure, etc. That was a really nice experience for me to learn because I had never created a cartoon character. I felt like I had to do something simple because I never worked with creating a cartoon character, and in order for me to do something good, I had to work on something simple and that’s why I decided to pick Bloo as my cartoon character. Since I knew he wasn’t that difficult to make, I was able to create him. I have really learned new skills and abilities in Second Life. Now with the new assignment, I can build objects more precisely according to their characteristics. I think Second Life is a really fun class to take. You learn many things and it’s a really good class to take. _Evert Moonwall
While working on the cartoon challenge on Second Life I learned plenty of new things. We could not use any images we got from the internet (such as the characters face, but we only used the certain prims which are built into Second Life. The character which I chose to do is Oscar “The Grouch.” I personally believe my character was fairly simple seeing he had little complex areas, but for me the hardest part was building the open structure for the mouth and making his home seem as though it is a real trash can. Other challenges would have to be getting the color which was the closest as possible to the actual character. After all this the rest was easy seeing how everything else I needed to do could be copied after I had finished one so there was actually no grand challenge. While I was building my characters green figure and his metallic trash can I was filled with an urge of thrill and enjoyment all at the same time. These are only the simple reasons which I believed this project was fun and a great learning experience. _Jorrge Rodas
I liked the cartoon challenge. I liked the fact that you got to actually pick your own cartoon instead of given one to make. Making the cartoon was fun because as you progress your cartoon starts to look more and more like the real cartoon character. My cartoon character was Plankton from SpongeBob. Plankton was this little oval shaped guy who always wanted to steal the crabby patty recipe. He’s not that complicated of a character to build so I chose him. While building my character I noticed that it was coming along pretty good and it started to get really fun at points in the building process. At first I though that it was going to be really boring and hard but I was surprised at how easy and how fun it actually was. Second Life is pretty fun when you get to build stuff. Well, I only built one thing but I don’t think that it can be that hard. I hope that the other projects and stuff that we get to build will be as fun as this one because if they are then I will really like this program. I wouldn’t only like to build easy stuff though because I would also like some challenges along the way. I wouldn’t want all of the projects to be hard because when stuff gets to hard it frustrates me a little bit so that’s why I started off with Plankton so that I could do a little simple project to start off with. So its cool and its fun. _Fabiann Ghost
From Second Life, I have learned that I can build things that I didn’t know I could build. This activity was fun and educational at the same time. Thanks to Armando, I have learned how to place things in my character like other shapes for example. He has also showed me to look at my character from different angles to make my character as best as possible. I chose this character because it is one of my favorite characters other then Sponge Bob. Patrick Star is very funny and I think he is awesome because of the way he acts. This is my first time doing this and I think I would learn much more then I already know about Second Life. This is a very good program to teach little kids because of the three dimensional objects it has. I just hope I get to learn more about this program before I leave this school. _Jonathin Yexil
In the Cartoon Challenge I am making Winnie the Pooh. I chose Winnie the Pooh because I used to watch it all the time when I was small. I learned a lot from this challenge from many people who have helped me. What I learned was that I can change shapes, change the color of the shapes, and that we can build whatever we want like the cartoon challenge and probably the things that we are going to build to make some Linden dollars. I hope I can be able to make another character from Winnie the Pooh and make it 3D. I was hoping that I can make Piglet the small pig that is very smart but very little, but there is also the old rabbit that is almost always mad and angry, or Eyore who is sad and doesn’t really talk to anyone, but he talks when he feels like talking to his friends. I still wish I can finish Winnie the Pooh. _Laurra Starfall
In Second Life we are doing a cartoon character challenge. The cartoon person that I selected was Mike Wazowski from Monsters Inc. I did Mike Wazowski because I liked the Monsters Inc movie. I am almost finished with this project. I am in the process of doing his legs and then I will be completed. The cartoon challenge was a new project and I was really looking forward to it. This is a project that should be used in the future with other Second Life classes. What I learned from this project is that you need to pay attention to detail when creating your character. This project really helps you be creative in what you want to do, because you got to choose what character you were going to create. This is probably the most interesting project that we have done since I have been in Second Life. I can’t wait till I finish this project! _Jesus Panache
What I learned from Second Life is I am making a cartoon character of Carl Wheezer from Jimmy Neutron. He is kind of chunky and dweebish. He really never likes getting into trouble because his parents would really get mad if he were to get into big trouble with Jimmy Neutron. He likes to go on spaceships with Jimmy and Sean. Carl has asthma and he has to take his inhaler when he gets creeped out and sees something scary. Carl is a very nice boy but if you get him mad he can be really mad. I picked Carl because he is cool. That’s my opinion that he is my favorite character. Carl is kind of funny when he laughs. He sounds like a pig and a cow when it chews the hay. When Carl’s parents embraced him he gets red like a tomato. When Carl gets a bad grade he tries to hide the grade. _Armando Moonwall
In Second Life I am doing the character Humpy Dumpty. The Reason why is because it looks very simple and real cool. Humpty Dumpty was my favorite story to read as a child even though the story was very short. I was Humpty Dumpty for Halloween when I was just 4 years old. I think Humpty Dumpty is real funny because when his body cracks open instead of putting him back together I say eat him and make scrambled eggs or boiled eggs. I think Second Life is the most amazing program ever invented. My real name is Luis and I am a seventh grader. I first tried to make the Monopoly man but the thing I had problems with was that I couldn’t get the mustache right and I couldn’t even make the mustache into the proper shape. I am really looking forward to finishing this project. By the way my avatars name is Louiz Longfall.
Today we are making cartoon characters as a project. I really enjoy this project because it’s fun for me. I like projects that I can relate to, and this is something that my nephew and I can relate to. It reminds me of how my nephew and I relate with each other. So what we needed to do in this project is pick a cartoon character and build them in Second Life. You will have to use your building tools and use all the objects that you need to be able to build your character as best to your ability that you can. Then you can go to the internet and see what type of style or fabric you want and then you can go and download it on Second Life. Also you can pick all the other types of colors so that it can match to the cartoon character you are building. My avatar name is Aymee Verwood.
In Second Life we are creating cartoon characters from cartoon shows and it is quite a challenge because we have to build it from blocks and we have to put textures on our cartoon characters. Some of the Second Life students are creating a popular TV show character named SpongeBob Squarepants and others are either creating cartoon characters or characters that are in games and in cartoons.
What I learned from this challenge was that it takes a while to create our characters because we have to stretch, shrink, and move our objects around in order to create the cartoon characters and then we have to press a button on Second Life that says build and we have to click back and forth a lot . My cartoon character is Toad from a game called Super Mario. He is a little hard to make but at the same time he is easy. I chose Toad because he is apart of the game that I like to play a lot and he also is a part of the game’s series. _Jonathin Frostbite
In Second Life we already had our person (avatar), and we got used to the Second Life world, so then for our project or assignment we had to make a cartoon character. For the cartoon character challenge I am making a character called Kirby. Kirby is a small pink character that comes up in a show called “Kirby Right Back At Ya.” I wanted to make that character because it looked simple to make but then when I started making it, I thought it was a harder one because the challenge was in his eyes. His body shape is just a plain light pink circle and his feet are a more oval shape that are darker pink. His eyes are also similar to ovals but the hard part about them was the inside of them. They have many different colors on them, and I wanted the eyes to come out exactly like the picture of Kirby. _Beckie Blackheart
The Cartoon Project was fascinating because we had to build a cartoon character out of only prims. I personally chose Stewie Griffin, because I like how he looks and acts. His head was the hardest part of the project. I took about 1 hour for the head, and the rest of the body was so easy I finished in about ten minutes. My Second Life Stewie came out pretty nice, because he has the big head with the evil eyes. I like this project a lot because I enjoyed building my character. I also earned a lot of money. This project can help you improve your building skills and creativity. For beginners this project would be a good test to see their building skills and tell teachers or mentors what they can help the beginner on. _Nik Neximus
I learned how to create a cartoon character by putting different shapes together and adding colors to them. I learned how to put different shapes together to make a new one. At first it seemed hard but it wasn’t that difficult, it just took time. I liked the project. It was fun and entertaining and it was simpler because it was an individual project. I like individual projects because it’s hard to coordinate with other people and also it is better because it’s only your ideas and thoughts. I created Mr. Potato Head because he seemed simple. He came out looking pretty good even though I haven’t done the arms yet but I’ll get them in on Tuesday. _Alexus Adored
We had to create a cartoon character of our own choice. I chose the red M&M. So far I have the basic shape of the M&M. I also have the eyes completed. I almost have the mouth of the M&M finished. I don’t know what shape I am going to use for the tongue. I am going to create the arms next. I will use a blank texture and just put the color as a tan or brown color. For the hands I will probably use ovals for the fingers and a sort of small smashed sphere for the palm of the hand. I will link all the parts of the hand then copy it for on the other hand. It will be the same size as the other hand. _Damien Ashmoot
I think that what we are making is great and that it is lots of fun. The cartoon that I have been doing is very fun. I did Spiderpig from the Simpson’s. It’s pretty easy to do. I need much more money to put the skin of the pig and I just have 5 Linden dollars. Lots of people have much more money than me but when I am done I will get 25 Linden dollars so that will give me 30 Linden but I think that she will be giving more than that. The more money the better. It is so you can buy stuff. The teacher has like 1500 Linden and she is rich. _Hassan Drammond
(Teacher’s Note: I had to bring over another avatar just recently because I was running out of Linden and would not have been able to pay anyone past this trimester!)
The cartoon project was a fun and interesting project. I had lots of fun. I thought it was kind of interesting because I had to build a cartoon character that I liked and I had to link them too. I thought it was pretty easy and fun. I thought it was cool that we can build characters and other objects. If I got stuck or didn’t know what to do all I had to do is ask my mentor how or what to do and he would tell me and if I needed better ideas all I had to do is look around at other projects. _Nelson Moorlord
The cartoon challenge was pretty cool because we got to choose what cartoon character we wanted to build. I chose the yellow M&M, and I choose him because I thought he would have been easy to make. The shapes I used were simple. I had lots of fun building him. I got to improve my building skills. I was using different measurement and different shapes and sizes. That helped me improve a bit on my building skills. While building the cartoon character was exciting, you got to see how the other people build theirs too and what shapes they used. _Ohmar Orsini
The cartoon challenge was a challenge to me because we had to create a cartoon character and I am creating Plankton because I think Plankton is pretty cool and it is kind of easy to create him. I learned how to build some cartoon characters and I picked Plankton because, he was my favorite cartoon character and because he is evil in all of his parts but he always fails. I started to build him by going to “build” and all kinds of shapes came out. _Ramoan Gridolfo
The cartoon person I picked was Plankton because he is cool and kind of hard to do like his hands because they have to move it. I am almost finished with my cartoon person. I just need the arms and the face. I like this project because we get do the cartoon person that we want to do. I pick Plankton because he is cool and he comes out in SpongeBob and that show is cool that’s why I picked it. This project is good to do in class and it is fun to do. I like this project because it is great for us. _Paulow Aquila
