Reflections 4/13/11

We are almost done editing our movie!  We have added all of the music and all of the credits, we just need to add the bloopers and perfect everything else.  Hopefully we can have everything finished before Monday.  I give myself a 5 out of 5 for productiveness today.  Tomorrow is FLVS and I hope that I can accomplish a lot.

Daily Goals 4/13/11

Today we plan to finish our movie!  It is almost done.  We have all of the clips put in, but the editing is a little rough and we need too perfect it.  We also need to add the rest of Kylie's voice overs and add credits and bloopers.  We have had ITBS testing this morning and we don't have very much time left for our project work.  My partners and I need to spend our time wisely today to finish the video.

Reflections 4/11/11

Good news! We have just about finished editing our movie!  I spent the afternoon with Alyssa and we were vigorously editing.  We only need one more workday to complete it all.  I practiced my presentation with Mrs. Kelly this morning; I thought it went swell!  I am excited to show everyone what I worked on.  I achieved my goals today because I was focused.  I give myself a 5 out of 5 for productiveness for the day.

Daily Goals 4/11/11

My goal for today is to edit the movie!  We have everything filmed and we need to get a good start on the editing process.  We have until Wednesday to finish everything.  I also need to practice my presentation with Mrs. Kelly.  I am presenting my project, "What Makes a Song a Hit," tomorrow morning.  I need to turn in the final draft of my literary analysis today.  I believe that today is going to be very productive!

Reflections 4/6/11

Today was very successful! My group finished the filming of our movie. We are now going to start the editing process. Editing is going to take a few days so we might have to edit some after school. I almost finished revising the feedback that my experts gave me. I have a few more things on that list that I need to complete. I also need someone else to proofread it before tomorrow and before I have my presentation workshop. Overall I would give myself a 10 out of 10 for productiveness today. I feel like I completed what I needed to.

Daily Goals 4/6/11

Today my group has to finish the remainder of our filming. We are going to finish filming the boy part and we are going to start filming the girl part. Kylie is a great actress and McKenzie and Alyssa are great co-directors. We are really excited for this project and are expecting it to be great. Today I also need to finish my first project which was on music from the previous PBL cycle. I have gotten expert reviews and I need to put the finishing touches. I also need to plan my presentation.

Reflections 4/4/11

Today has been a very productive day! My group finished about half of our filming. I would give us a 10 out of 10 for productiveness today. We are probably going to have to spend some extra days filming after school to complete our project. I am feeling very comfortable that we are going to finish our project on time.

Daily Goals 4/4/11

Today my group has one main goal: BEGIN FILMING! We have finished out script and we are ready to start filming now. I have collected all of the props that we need and I am getting ready to go over the script with Kylie. I think today is going to be a very productive day. I have a good feeling that we are going to get a lot done. I also hope to communicate effectively with my  partners also.

Daily Goals 3/30/11

Hello everyone! My group is getting really excited for our project today.  I think that our goals on Monday were a little far fetched.  Today we are planning more reasonable goals that will better support our project.  So far we are on the ball for this round of PBL projects.  I really think that our short film is going to be great.  Here are the goals for today:

• Finish script
• Decide what props we need
• Lay out the scenes
• Communicate with my partners effectively 
• Teach Kylie how to play the ukulele for our short film 

Reflections 3/28/11

I think that I was very diligent in completing my daily goals. I would give myself about an eight for today. I would give myself an eight because I did not finish the script for the movie. But in place of finishing the script, my partners and I worked on the costuming which is another important factor for this movie. I feel that we are on pace so far. I also feel that we are going to have an excellent project.

Daily Goals 1/28/2011

I am super excited for this round of projects! The whole school is doing a group project this time and our essential question is "What is Creativity?" The students have broken into smaller groups and are completing projects using sub essential questions. I am in a group with Kylie and Alyssa. Our sub essential question is, "How can we successfully write, film, edit, and produce a one-woman short romantic comedy." Right now we are finishing our project planning form. My daily goals for today are:

• Complete project planning form
• Successfully collaborate with my partners
• Get the outline for our film
• Finish the script
• Be prepared for Wednesday PBL
• Hopefully be ready to film on Wednesday

Daily Goals 3/23/11

I have one main goal today: GET MY PROJECT DONE! To get my project done today I need to be extremely focused on my work. I will also need to make sure that I have time set away this evening to work on my project if I do not get it finished during school.

Literary Response #3 "A Farewell to Arms"

I had an interesting, and rather odd connection with Frederick Henry, the main protagonist, in this book. (I am going to call him Henry in this blog because that is the name he is most commonly referred to in the book.) Henry, while on the Italian World War 1 front was shot in the legs by Austrian soldiers. He hurt his right need pretty badly. He made it to safety and was eventually moved to the American hospital in Milan, Italy because he was an American and had connections with the right people. Henry had to undergo surgeries and had to participate in the 1917 version of physical therapy. His incident connects to my life because I have had an injury to my right knee and I had to have surgery.

Reflections 3/21/11

For today, I think I would give myself an eight when rating the amount of work that I got done today. I would give myself an eight because I did not complete the amount of work that I would have liked at school and I am doing it at home instead. I just finished my book "A Farewell to Arms" for my literary analysis and I am going to post my last blog on that book shortly after this. I got a fair amount of work done on my project today and I am excited that it is coming along the way that it is. I also completed a discussion-based assessment for my H.O.P.E. course today which I did not put on my daily goals previously.

Daily Goals 3/21/11

I have many things to do today. Below is the list of items I need to complete:

• Finish literary analysis book
• Post last blog
• Finish project
• End of day blog

Literary Response #2 "A Farewell To Arms"

So far, I am really liking this book. I am enjoying Ernest Hemingway's "matter of fact" style of writing. His writing style is really different than any other novelist's style of writing that I have read previously. A Farewell to Arms takes place on the Italian front of World War 1. Much of the book takes place in Milan, Italy. So far in the novel the main protagonist has been living in a villa. He has also been driving around the front in his ambulance. The main protagonist's name is Lieutenant Frederic Henry. Lieutenant Henry is an ambulance driver on the front; he is also an American. Lieutenant is often called Tenente, which is Italian for Lieutenant, throughout the novel. So far I have learned that Lieutenant Henry is the type of character who keeps a lot of his feelings to himself. He is the type of person whom everybody in the novel likes and whom everybody thinks they know a lot about but they do not realize that he is a very deep character. The other main character in "A Farewell to Arms" is Catherine Barkley, an English nurse. Catherine is described as very beautiful and tall. She is also very intelligent. Catherine falls in love with Lieutenant Henry almost immediately. He loves her to a degree but tries hard to not fall farther in love with her. I don't know how or if their love progresses because I have not read far enough into the book yet. At this point in the novel it surprised me how frankly their love was portrayed.  Their are two conflicts that I have come across so far in this book. The first conflict being that Lieutenant Henry was wounded in an attack on the Italian army. He is spending time recovering and was moved to an American hospital in Milan right now in the book. Catherine is also being moved to that hospital because there is a lack of nurses. The second conflict I found was Lieutenant Henry's reluctance to love Catherine when she loves him so obviously and boldly. He thinks that she is beautiful but shows a real reluctance to "love" her.

Daily Goals 3/16/11

Daily Goals:

• Review what I already have done on my project
• Continue to get information to put in the Prezi
• Work on the Prezi
• Pick songs to use 
• Get at least half of my project completed

Reflections 3/14/11

Today has been a very effective day. I have gotten quite a lot done on my project "What makes a hit song". Here are the goals that I was supposed to have completed for today:

• Start on my project "What makes a hit song?"
• Lay out project
• Pick songs
• Start putting information into Prezi

I have started work on my project. I gathered information this morning and I still need about another day to gather all the information that I need for my project. I have decided on a flow-chart type layout for my project. I don't have the specifics for the Prezi  necessarily, but I have an idea. Later tonight I will work on getting the specifics down and work on getting my vision for the project down. I am still undecided on the songs that I am going to use for my project. I will need a little more time to figure out the direction that I am going with my project in order to determine the exact songs I will use. I have decided that I will use songs from the billboard charts though. I have started my Prezi also. 

Daily Goals 3/14/11

Daily Goals:

• Start on my project "What makes a hit song?"
• Lay out project
• Pick songs
• Start putting information into Prezi

I will need to spend my time wisely in order to complete all my work that I have to do today. 

Literary Response #1 "Farewell to Arms"

I am excited for this cycle of literary responses! I have chosen to read "Farewell to Arms" which is by Ernest Hemingway. "Farewell to Arms" is a literary war novel written about World War 1. This book has a few main themes. The first is that war is a very grim reality. The second theme in "Farewell to Arms" is that there is a relationship between love and pain. The main idea and the themes are the same in this novel.