During this unit, I read The Crucible and learned about the witch trials and their consequences in Salem. Throughout the book, I had to annotate the text and recognize the importance of certain details. After reading the play, I practiced writing several blog posts and TIEAs to show my understanding of the text. Not only did I learn about the historic events of witchcraft, but also how to perform in front of an audience and communicate what I want to convey.
How is Arthur Miller’s The Crucible related to the French Revolutionary War?
The Crucible is a story that revolves around deception among the community and a person initiating chains of undesired consequences. Similarly, the French Revolutionary War also depicts a community of accusations and a revolutionary that causes the deaths of thousands.
Below are three different ways the two events are related.
It can be seen that Betty and Abigail are accusing others of conjuring the Devil. Accusations were thrown around during the Revolutionary War about those who might be against the revolution. Most of the time, blaming is used as a scapegoat to protect oneself. This, however, cost a lot of people’s lives.
Mary Warren is telling John Proctor that people will be hanged if people do not admit or confess their doings with the Devil. This is an extreme consequence for a relatively small wrongdoing. In 1790s France, if one is found or accused of being against the revolution, one would be guillotined. Simply doing something different than the rest of the people in both settings would result in deadly and unreasonable punishments.
ABIGAIL: The wings! Her wings are spreading! Mary, please, don’t, don’t—!
HALE: I see nothing, Your Honor!
DANFORTH: Do you confess this power! Speak!
ABIGAIL: She’s going to come down! She walking the beam!
Abigail is pretending that Mary has transformed into a diabolical bird. This was all orchestrated by Abigail to protect herself and to turn the blame on John Proctor and Mary Warren. Her manipulation eventually succeeds and is now safe from being hanged. Instead, John Proctor is going to be prisoned. This situation can be connected to how Robespierre, the revolutionary, took control of everything and began to kill whoever does not agree with him. By doing so, he was protecting his own opinions and ideas.
Citations
1. Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. New York, Penguin Group, 2003.
Throughout the unit, I learned about the three rhetorical devices: logos, pathos, and ethos. To learn more about these rhetorical devices, I analyzed two persuasive articles. In preparation of my speech, I had to present an excerpt from my independent reading book. These activities taught me skills that I later incorporated into my speech.
To produce a video takes a lot of effort and planning. Hollywood productions usually take about 5 years until they are brought to theaters. To produce a video while collaborating with partners who are from across the world can be even more difficult.
Throughout this unit, Yvonne and I (KAS) worked with Kate (BMSA) to create an amazing movie based on Harry Potter: The Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling.
The book was chosen by Yvonne and me. We thought that because this book is very popular among young adults, it would be interesting to add our magic to it. We chose to write a scene rather than a trailer. The scene was of Draco and Harry’s first encounter in a tailor shop while having their robes tailored for their first year at Hogwarts.
Slytherin’ Behind the Scenes
Script
I have written several movie scripts in the past, but I never actually researched how to write a script correctly. In my previous script writing, I always only have the dialogue portions. This, I realized after researching, is not efficient and is too elusive to whoever has to produce a video off of it. I went to “10 Great Websites To Download Movie Scripts” to see where I can get samples of movie scripts. I clicked on the IMSDB link where it led me to “The Internet Movie Script Database.” I first went to read the Coco movie script. I followed its format for our script writing.
The formatting is essential for another person to understand the script clearly. I also learned about the different abbreviations and their meanings. Some abbreviations were INT., EXT., and V.O., meaning indoors, outdoors, and voice over respectively. I think that the most important part of the script was the directions for the camera and actions. Writing these directions emphasize the ambiance the movie should capture. When Yvonne and I showed the script to Kate, she could understand what we were trying to convey and has a better idea of how we want the movie to look like.
Below is the script for the movie:
Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Bloomsbury Publishing, 1997.
Storyboard
I view storyboarding as the visualization step—transforming words into pictures. This step further elucidates the directions from the script. I also have experience with storyboarding from middle school IT classes. I was drawing them more accurately than I did with the scripting. So when I went to look at example storyboards, I was searching more for details that I should add to the storyboard. From “Draw and Composition for Visual Storytelling,” I find that the storyboards have directions inside the boxes to show the characters’ movements. I decided to add some annotations at the bottom of the storyboard boxes to be clear on which box is referenced too. This way, Kate can film more easily.
Below is the storyboard for the movie (illustrated by Yvonne and annotated by me):
I found script writing the most interesting because this is the part where I can shape, or should I say SNAPE, the story to fit my own imagination. I am not reading the book anymore, I am the one writing the story, controlling what each character does. When thinking about characters’ actions and the setting of dynamics, I felt connected to the characters.
Moreover, I think the project of working with people in another country is a very rare opportunity. It allows me to learn more about their culture and different lifestyles. It is always nice to make a new friend.
Dumbledore’s Army
While Dumbledore had hundreds of students to support him as a team, I had two partners to help me through this unit. The most significant part of working with people is teamwork and communication. Kate, Yvonne, and I contributed equally in this project. This is very important to me because having equal amount of work prevents conflicts or arguments. Yvonne and I made sure that we were both happy with the amount of work we do. We always notified Kate once we finished something so that we are all on the same page. Kate would also reach back to us. However, recently we haven’t really communicated. A few weeks ago, Kate messaged us that she would have the shot list finished, but Yvonne and I haven’t gotten the shot list yet. When I asked Kate how the video is coming along, she didn’t reply back. I’m unsure how far she is on making the shot list and video. I think our communication was strong in the beginning, but should be stronger as we are wrapping this project up.
Some Pottercular Challenges
One of the very obvious obstacle when working on this project was the long distance between Kate and us. As we live in different countries, the time zones were different. Sometimes when we have class and send the script or storyboard to Kate, she would reply later in the evening. Sometimes when Kate messages us, we have to reply when we wake up for school, which is hours after. To overcome this problem, Yvonne and I would finish our parts very early before the deadline. This creates more time for Kate to get back at us and for us to be able to turn in on time. During this time, Yvonne and I would also reflect on our works and edit.
Homenum Revelio!
After several weeks of writing, filming, and editing, Kate, Yvonne, and I were able to create a movie. Here is the final product:
Muchas personas les gusta comida basura para su alimento preferido todos los dias pero es mala para la salud. Está bien cuando una persona come comida basura una vez o dos veces en una semana. Tu necesitas grasas para tener energía todos los dias. No comer carne o verduras solamente, debes comer ambos y tener un balance. Las verduras da nutrientes en orden desarrollar el cuerpo. La carne da proteínas para cura heridas. Otro que nutrientes y grasas, tu debes tener seis onzas de granos por día. Para tener una dieta sana, no debes poner demasiados azúcares en tus bebidas. Evite restaurantes como McDonald y KFC. En Taiwan, los restaurantes son saludable entonces es más facil comer comida sana.
Ejercicio
Ejercicio es muy importante para mantenerte en forma, es bueno por tu bienestar y reduce obesidad, especialmente con los sedentarios. Tu puedes hacer ejercicio en muchos lugares como el parque o en tu casa. Para hacer ejercicio por un tiempo largo, eliges un deporte que disfrutas. No es bueno cuando eliges un deporte con fuerza. No debes practicar mucho luego. Alguno deportes son en un epuipo, por ejemplo un deporte en la escuela, o solo, por ejemplo levantar pesas. Ejercicio es muy bueno pero no es bueno si haces ejercicio todos los días. Si tienes entrenamiento todos los días, tu debes tener manejo y necesitas moderación en el horario. Debes hacer ejercicio sobre tres veces por una semana.
Sueño
Todas las personas necesitan un descanso despues de un día largo. Este “descanso” es cuando tu tienes tu sueño. La calidad del sueño es muy importante. Si tu tienes un sueño inadecuado, tu desempeño en el proximo día sería mal. Si tu tienes un sueño adecuado, tu desempeño en el proximo día sería bueno. Más personas no tienen un sueño bueno porlos horarios de las personas. Ellos tienen mucho estres despúes del trabajo y ellos no duermen mucho en la noche. Las personas pueden tener daño en la cabeza. Para adherirse el tiempo despúes del trabajo y el sueño, puedes hacer yoga o algo rejantes antes de dormirporque puede aliviar el estres. Tambien, no bebes la cafeina antes de dormir porque la cafeina te despierta.
Shawn Mendes is not only a singer, but also an inspiration. Shawn Mendes is a Canadian artist who became famous when he posted a song cover on Vine. He was born on August 8th, 1998 in Toronto, Canada. Mendes is the son of Karen and Manny Mendes. Karen is English, while Manny is Portuguese. He has a sister named Aaliyah. He is now 20 years old. His first song is “Life Of The Party.” Some of the most famous songs he wrote are “Stitches,” “Treat You Better,” and “In My Blood.” His debut album was Handwritten, and two other albums are Illuminate and Shawn Mendes.
I am a fan of Shawn Mendes, but not only because of his appearance or the tune of his music. Shawn Mendes is one of the kindest artists in the pop music world. He embraces all kinds of different people. This—different people with different passions and representations—can be seen in his latest music video of the song “Youth,” featuring Khalid. The song talks about how our youth is strong and powerful. Even though the world is full of hate, we can all conquer it together. The song was also performed with the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Choir during the Billboard Music Award this year. This performance was a tribute to people who have been affected by gun violence.
Another song that I really like is “In My Blood.” This song talks about anxiety and depression. It discusses what having anxiety feels like and how sometimes he wants to give up, but giving up isn’t in his blood. The song connects to many people, especially teenagers that are dealing with stress and anxiety. The song connects to me also because anxiety is something everyone struggles with at different times and levels. School is stressful and sometimes giving up feels like the easiest solution. However, the song makes me more motivated to push through the heavy homework loads and the stress I have.
What are some of his achievements?
Shawn is nominated for two Grammy awards in the 61st Annual Grammy Awards. This is one of his dreams and he achieved it after 5 years in the music industry. “In My Blood” is nominated for Song of the Year, while his album Shawn Mendes is nominated for the Best Pop Vocal Album. His Shawn Mendes album includes a variety of music. The style of the tracks in this album is very different from Handwritten and Illuminate. He was inspired by how he listens to different types of music at different times. He mentioned that “Lost in Japan” was a very important track that showed him that he can produce different genres of music.
Many skills—such as skills on social/communication, writing, and being a digital citizen—can be learned from writing blog posts. Below is a video made by Rina me that discusses the benefits and importance of writing blog posts.
From this assignment, I reminded myself of the benefits of writing blog posts as I wrote the script of the video. The video allowed me to reflect on what I’ve learned and what those things teach me. I find that the most important skill that I used from the skills learned in writing the blog posts is communication. Communication is very important as they help build connections between people. For example, this blog post I’m writing now. I am communicating to you about the importance and benefits of writing blog posts. With communication skills and more practice of it, I can use it in my everyday life. It could help me get my points across more quickly and clearly. An example is if I am giving a presentation in class, I could use those skills learned to help my speaking.
“Pineapples belong on pineapples.”
Image by Claire
“We’re on top of the world!”
Image by Claire
“We’re different flowers from the same garden.”
Image by Allison
The theme of the images is family. All three images are from Claire and me. The images show one of us in with our sibling. We wanted to use pictures of ourselves to demonstrate the theme of family. It allowed us to have more of a personal connection with the images. Originally, I was going to put an image similar to the first one but of me and my sister Andrea. However, the image couldn’t be found so I decided to put another picture of me and my sister.
Claire and her brother Charles are in the first and second images. The first picture shows Claire when she was younger. The caption reads “Pineapples belong on pineapples.” This caption was given because Claire and Charles were both dressed up as pineapples and Claire was holding Charles. Claire was inspired by a WSC debate topic of how pineapple should or shouldn’t be on pizza. In the second picture, Claire and Charles were standing and sitting on a rock. The picture was taken from a lower angle that makes them look like they are on top of the world. Therefore, Claire captioned the image as “We’re on top of the world!”
My sister and I are in the third image. This picture was taken in front of a garden-like place. I chose this picture to be as one of the images because I find my sister’s expression really funny. I captioned the image “We’re different flowers from the same garden,” because our expressions were different and our personalities are quite different also. However, we are still from the same family and the caption shows how we are different and the same simultaneously.
I learned that writing captions aren’t as easy as one would think. The caption would have to be related to the image while maybe having a fun twist or a sub-message. Claire and I wanted to make the captions fun and related to the image at the same time. It took quite a while for us to finally decide on which captions we liked best. Our inspirations were mostly from idioms because they can convey literal and subliminal messages.
Academic honesty is an essential part of integrity. It should be incorporated into coursework during one’s time at school and at work. But, what exactly is academic honesty? Why is it so important? Academic honesty is when one doesn’t plagiarize and would cite the sources used to create the product. It is important because, without academic honesty, there would be serious consequences. One may be kicked out of a school because of owning work not entirely done by him/her. To prevent offending any academic policy, works have to include a bibliography section where all outside sources are cited.
For the topic of academic honesty, I had to make a presentation with my group about academic honesty and present it to my class. I was paired up with Lee and Jai. My partners and I separated the work so everyone had the same amount of work. Lee was responsible for defining the term academic honesty. Jai was responsible for explaining the importance of academic honesty. I was responsible for analyzing handbooks and giving examples of both academic honesty and dishonesty.
Below is the presentation that my group presented to the class:
When I was elaborating on my observations of the handbooks, I talked about how I found that all of them addressed academic honesty one way or the other. The high school handbook of KAS and MAK included definitions of violations and listed some consequences. An example of the KAS highschool handbook defining a violation is in Section 14. “Plagiarism This is defined as the representation of the ideas or work of another person as the student’s own” (34). Asheville High School’s handbook only stated that “Faculty members must be consistent in applying their own policies regarding academic honesty” (17).
For the academically honest example, I talked about how we cited each picture used in our presentation and how the person who owns the screenshot of the bibliography page cited his/her sources. For the academically dishonest example, I said that if one person was writing a lab report and used different websites to help write justifications, but did not cite those sources, the person would be academically dishonest.
While presenting, I tried my best to present with an audible voice. I did not bring a script up with me because I felt that if I brought a script, I would read off the paper. If I read off a piece of paper, the audience would feel that I am not prepared and don’t have a thorough understanding of the topic. I, however, brought up the KAS Highschool Handbook. The handbook was used as a prop to show the audience what parts of the handbook I was talking about. I did glance at the screen a few times, but most of the time, I maintained eye contact with the audience.
My group members also presented loudly. They did not stare at the screen for the whole time either. Their performances were well done, and they demonstrated their knowledge of the topic.
To further enhance my performance, I would add more hand gestures and keep eye contact with the audience even more. These improvements may allow me to connect with the audience more and they may be more interested in the presentation.
The question simply asks, “Are you responsible online?”, “Are you thinking before posting something online?”, or “Are you being safe with the things you do online?”
Being a digital citizen means that you have digital citizenship. Digital citizenship is important to everyone who participates on any kind of social media—Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and more. Having digital citizenship, you have the responsibility of whatever you post online or whatever information you give out online. For more on digital citizenship, please click on this link.
With technology improving and becoming essential, almost every teenager has access to social media. For example, I am the owner of a phone and computer. On social media, a lot of private information can be shared. Thinking that people would share their passwords to strangers seems unreasonable and dangerous, but many people actually do that. To even be able to use social media, some younger users would lie about their age. Below is a video that shows interesting statistics of online safety.
I have accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Youtube. On Facebook and Instagram, I connect with my family and friends by looking at pictures and videos posted. I also watch journalling videos on Instagram because they are very satisfying and inspiring. On Twitter, I follow celebrities and find new information. On Youtube, I often watch videos on studying and lifestyle vlogs as they are very motivational. On all of the platforms, I make sure to be a good digital citizen. Before I post anything on any of the social media platforms, I make sure that the post is kind, safe, and appropriate. I also make sure that I have enough privacy on all of the accounts. I make sure not to give away any passwords or other private information to anyone.
Please ask yourself these questions before posting things on social media. Also, make sure to stay safe online!
