5/23/13

Today I hiked in the tilden hills behind my house. I went on a loop that startred near the little farm, went through the forest, and ended up running down a sunny hill. I really liked this hike because it had a variety of landscape, uphill, downhill, and I saw a lot of dogs. Here are some pictures from my hike yesterday:

After my hike I really buckled down and worked on my website. I posted 3 pages and worked on my maps section as well. I also worked on my presentation.

5/23/13

Today I hiked the steep ravine trail to Stinson beach and back with avalon. It was a really beautiful day and the hike was extremely nice. Once we got to the beach however, it was super windy and crazy so we didn't really stay there that long. I was really glad that I packed layers on this hike because the temperature kept varying. Here are some pictures from my hike with Avalon.

When I got home I edited my pictures and continued working on my blog posts.

5/22/13

Today I hiked abbots lagoon in Point Reyes. It was sooo windy today! While on the hike I saw lots of birds like quail and songbirds and turkey vultures. I think I took some of my best pictures today and when I edited them I really felt very proud of them. I also just feel accomplished all around about my project. As time goes on I am finally beginning to see my vision in real life. I am more and more happy with my blog as I build it. Here are some pictures from my hike today.

After my hike I went home and worked on my blog. I completed two hike blog posts and worked on the layout of my "maps" section. I also began to research different trailmix ideas to talk about on my blog. Overall today was successful and I feel accomplished. Tomorrow I will be hiking again!

5/20/13

Today I hiked in Lands End. I think it was a really good idea to include this hike in my blog because it is so accessible to teens in san francisco. It was about a 3 mile hike and it was nice and warm today, almost too warm! I went down to the beach and then took a trail all the way to eagle point. Here are some pictures from today.

After the hike I went home and wrote and uploaded my Sibley hike.

4/16/13

Today I was pretty busy working on my blog. I created my "safety" page which covers being aware in the wilderness, not messing with wildlife, packing correctly, etc. I then worked on my "maps" section adding maps from tilden, sibley, and point reyes. Then I began writing my "leave no trace" page that talks about what exactly this concept is and why it is so important to preserve the places we visit. I did not have any time to go hiking today because I am packing and getting ready to go on the Catalina trip. Instead I read a bit more and started planning my "teen health" section which will go over the importance of staying active and the beneficial influences that nature walks can have on teens' minds and bodies.

Because I am going on the Catalina trip which spans from tonight to sunday I will not be able to do anything for senior project tomorrow. 

4/15/13

Today I spent the majority of my time exploring and scrambling around Sibley Volcanic National Reserve. While I was having fun at the same time I really got a good chance to gather information, experience, and photos for my other blog and trail guide. During my time at Sibley I found 3 labyrinths that were really fun to explore and shoot pictures of. I also climbed up to a peak that overlooked Mt. Diablo and some of the East Bay hills as well. Here are some pictures from my hike today at Sibley:

When I got home I edited my pictures and worked on my other blog for the rest of the later afternoon. 

5/14/13

Today I was supposed to go on a hike at Sibley Volcanic National Reserve but when I got there I realized that I forgot my hiking shoes! It was so disappointing because my house is not that close to the trailhead so I couldn't just go back and get them and I couldn't hike in flip flops. Because of this I went home and worked on my other blog all day. I completely changed the way it looked and spent a lot of time customizing it. I then completed my "what to wear" section. I also redid my "mission statement" section and made it into a "deer teen" letter. I think that this made my blog a little more personable and teen friendly which is what I am striving towards anyway. After that I completed my blog post for the Tennessee Valley hike I did last week. Even though I did not get to hike today I feel very accomplished because my site looks really good now and I put up three sections!! I plan on hiking point reyes tomorrow :)

5/13/13

Today I went on the longer loop at Sea View up in Tilden Regional Park. This was a 5 mile hike that overlooked both the bay, city, Mt. Diablo, Mt. Tam, and reservoir. It was a beautiful blue day and turned out to be quite war. This meant a lot of uphill hiking in the heat so lots of sweat! I found a really cool labyrinth on this hike also that was a sweet find! This hike was fun because apart from the beauty of it I had time to look at the map and see how the trail I was taking would run into the one I took before so I could give an honest and thorough explanation on my other blog. 

Here are some pictures from today :)

Later when I got home I researched other tips or blogs for teen hiking and I found some interesting/helpful stuff. Here is one website that has tips for hiking with teens. It's nice to read things like this because it reminds me of aspects I should incorporate into my final product and also just helps me brainstorm.

http://www.thetrailmaster.com/the-trailmaster-blog/the-trailmasters-ten-tips-for-hiking-with-teens

reflection on goals for week 1

This week I feel pretty accomplished. I went on a three hikes and took lots of pictures and a little bit of video. The video situation on my wordpress site was probably the most frustrating thing I dealt with because it was a lot of researching on the internet and looking around only to find that I couldn't upload videos straight to my blog site. Besides that I think that its just been interesting seeing how hard it is to find the balance between creating a good thorough trail guide and creating one that is easy for teens/motivates them. I'm at a place right now where I'm a little worried that no teens will really care about this or want to hike any of these trails but I guess I just have to go for it and see what happens. Next week I hope to write more and continue building my blog site with more information for new hikers and pictures and tips. I also hope to hike three more hikes and do-over one of my hikes I did last week (sea view). For this one I just want to take the longer loop to include that in my blog as well. Overall good week but I still have a lot to do.

5/10/13

Today was a hiking day for me. I got up and worked on my "mission statement" and "maps" section of my final product. This took a bit of time because I wanted to write something that sounded profesional and that adults could understand but then I realized that the website is for teens so I think I'm going to have to change it up a bit before its completed. Then I went to a hike in the Tilden Regional Park called "sea view". This took up a good chunk of my day and I ended up taking my dog with me who loved it! Here are some pictures from the hike. Then I got home uploading my pictures and began editing them.

5/9/13

Today I continued working on my other blog for my Tennessee Valley Trail. This was a lot of trial and error with blog formatting and picture editing. After this I continued working on the "for beginner hikers"and created a vimeo account that I can upload my videos to and put the link in my blog. I started brainstorming the questions I am going to put in my survey as well. 

5/8/13

Today I went on a hike at Tennessee Valley. It was very nice but a little bit chilly. While on the trail I took videos and pictures and mapped out what I'm going to put on my other blog. Here are some pictures from the hike

 After I got home I started to plan out my "for beginner hikers" page.  This entailed writing about clothing, food, shoes, etc.

5/7/13

Today I worked on my first post to my blog! This entailed editing all the pictures I took yesterday and writing my first trail guide. I had some problems with photo uploading and realized that I won't be able to upload videos straight to the blog. This means I will probably have to create a vimeo account and cut and paste the url to a page on my blog. Here are some of my pictures that I edited from yesterday.

Also, the url to my other blog:
http://takeahikekids.wordpress.com/

5/6/13

Today I hiked arch rock in pt. Reyes. It was an 8.5 mile hike and during it I took photos and videos.After I  went home and did some research on teen health. 

Goals for week of 5/6/13

In this week I hope to go on three of the nine hikes that will be on my blog.  At each location I want to take pictures, gather data, and talk to people on the trail.  Then the rest of the week I will be working on creating my blog.  This will entail working on the aesthetics and the content.

Senior Project

1)
1. Finalize my 9 hikes
2. Pick blog or website
3. Begin to research physical benefits
4. Begin to research phycological benefits
5. Make survey

2) In order to make an awesome senior project product I need to begin to play with wordpress which is the website I will be using.  I think I want to make a blog with wordpress that is similar to a website but is free and a bit more user friendly.  Now I'm just fiddling around with my blog and figuring out what I want to put where.  In order to make this product really great I also need to start collecting photos and video for my blog.

Blog #3

Savita Joshi

4811 Telegraph Ave. #511 Oakland, CA 94609

January 29, 13

Contact

Contact’s address

Dear Ms. Smith:

I hope you will give me the opportunity to interview you in order to learn what it is like to write trail guides for teenagers.

I have always loved hiking, backpacking, and going outside in general.  I love your hiking guidebooks and really admire how you include both facts about each trail but also illustrations and photos of the different attractions.  I love how you make your books accessible to teens and young adults because most trail guides are more adult oriented.  I would love to be able to talk to you in person about your experiences and job.

During this second semester of my senior year I am participating in something called “senior project”, which is where I craft an essential question that interests me and answer it through research and independent work.  I have chosen to create an online trail guide for teenagers, and specifically for those that attend my school.  I think that talking with you about your techniques and tips  will really help me create a fun interactive web site that is attractive to teenagers like myself.

I am very excited to have the change to meet with you and talk about what you do.  If you would like contact me, please call me at 510-919-3703.  Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Savita Joshi

Outline Call

Hello my name is Savita and I was wondering if I could talk to you about a possible interview.  I go to Drew School in San Francisco and am participating in a senior project, which is a student created project that explores a central question.  My question revolves around motivating teens to get outside into nature and since you write teen oriented trail guides I was wondering if we could meet and talk about your work. This would be a great opportunity for me to get some ideas for the online trail guide I am creating at the end of this project. 

I think my main weakness in public speaking is that I have the tendency to talk to fast because I am so nervous.  My strengths are that I can look people in the eye, not fidget, and usually present everything I planned on (don't forget things).  

Things I can do:

1. Remind myself to slow down. Maybe even take a few sips of water or have slides that have pictures and no text to create breaks in my presentation.

2. Practice a lot before hand in front of people I know and people I am not so close with.

3. Ask others for tips that can help me slow down and give a calm presentation.

4. Don't read off a card, memorize most.

5. Don't have too much text on the screen (don't read off screen).

Post #2

Problems:
1. Not having proper supervision during my hikes. To face this issue I will begin hiking now during the weekends so I will for sure have a friend or family member with me. During the three weeks I will have family and friends who are available come with me in shifts.
2. Building a website might be difficult. To face this issue I will find someone who builds them and see if I can get their help. If not I will make a blog instead because I know how to make those.

Steps:
1. Finalize which hikes I will be including in my project
2. Plan when I will hike where leading up to senior project
3. Determine who will be going with me on the hikes
4. Start researching if making a website is a viable option or if I should make a blog
5. Plan what I will be doing during the three weeks (hiking or building website)

 

Blog #1: Reflecting on the Evolution of an Idea

1. I was inspired to pursue my senior project idea last fall because I both love nature and want to make nature accesible to other teenagers.

2. Since the fall my idea hasn't really changed very much except in these few ways.

- I've thought more about my safety during the project and how that can be improved
- I've decided to make a virtual website instead of a book because this way I can add images and video easily
- I've also decided to start working (hiking and gathering info) in order to be more efficient

3. Things I need to do...

* Talk to Ms. Papa about hikes she would recommend
* Make a plan about when/where/and with who I will do certain hikes
* Find a mentor who knows a lot about trail guides/hiking
* Figure out what kind of website I would create and what components I want to add to each post/chapter/hike
* Start hiking!