Salutations
A long time ago, on a planet far far away we began the relapse of what is called the “Winter Exhibition”. I apologize for how long and overdue this moment has been, so take a picture. Make it last. On a more serious note, I have been quite preoccupied lately. Let me re-stride this metaphorical wave of inspiration. (This, ladies and gentlemen is a scintillating example of why one should never give me access to a keyboard. The results are catastrophic to say the least.) To warm up towards this subject, I figured that it would be helpful to rejig my outlook on the situation. Pop quiz hot shots, how do we do this? if you responded with “by telling jokes”, then congratulations you have officially earned my respect. I would have also accepted Seth MacFarlane and cat videos.
Luke and Obi-Wan walk into a Chinese restaurant. Ten minutes into the meal, Luke’s still having trouble with the chopsticks, dropping food everywhere. Obi-Wan finally snaps, “Use the forks, Luke.”
Project summary
How might we build an interactive exhibit which explains the hero’s journey? This was the question that drove the following project. Our task was to refine our story telling skills in the form of a short story that conveyed the evolution of an unlikely hero. Our final product would be an interactive exhibit that brings the driving question to life, including theatrical elements, a creation of our choosing and a full repertoire of the entire journey. For my group, our planet of setting was Endor. By group I mean my assembly of trustee peers, Liam, Kaia, Rhiann, Ryan, Ben and Asha. By the end of this project, my goal was to have a deeper understanding of literature techniques, and to have the ability to identify them. How did I do this? The answer lies in the core competencies, as well as in my final product.
CORE COMPETENCIES
Expressing and Supporting Opinions
Express an opinion and support it with credible evidence.
This competency was interwoven throughout this project. Although, I believe that the best example of my work using this ISTE standard was the movie review post. I did not have any experience with writing a persuasive essay. The thought of doing so was daunting, as I knew that I could support a case in person, yet how could I do that in my writing? In class, we practiced doing this, using credible evidence and writing techniques. I practiced this competency on my parents as well. When the time came to write our movie reviews, it felt natural to sit down and discuss my subject. I developed confidence in this competency, and I am finding myself using it in my daily life.
Evidence
Assess the justification for competing historical accounts after investigating points of contention, reliability of sources, and adequacy
of evidence.
Although as I mentioned in my previous paragraph on expressing and supporting an opinion, I have used evidence both audible, visual and researched to do all of my work. When I have a quote to support the work that I am doing, I feel much more confident in the final product. I found this competency to be very useful when it came to building our design. On Endor lies many lush environments, and to replicate them in our room at the Winter Exhibition would be difficult, yet very rewarding. We used research and evidence to create the floor plan for what would be our exhibition room. My team for this particular assignment included Liam, Kaia, Rhiann, Ryan, Ben and Asha. I found myself learning and benefitting from not only the research, but the process. I would say that researching has inspired me to change and mould my work ethic. Am I proud of how I worked with those competency? Yes. Do I believe that I took my learning to the next level by implementing it into my daily life and changing my habits as a result of being inspired by it? Yes.
Literary Identification and Analysis
Recognize how literary elements, techniques, and devices enhance and shape meaning.
Using our understanding of literary terms and devices, we completed a short story analysis test. To be blunt about it, I could have done better on this test. I did think that I was fully prepared, as in I had read every book, completed every work sheet, done every enhancing questionnaire, created flash cards and quizzed myself. I used study techniques that helped me comprehend not only what literary identification is, but how it works. The pros of this milestones were that I identified an excellent study technique, I prepared myself well, and I now have a full understanding of literary identification and analysis. On the dark side, I had not prepared for a dominant part of the quiz, which would be free answer. When I opened the quiz, I was startled to say the least. Fortunately, all of that studying came in handy as what I was not aware of was that it was also helping me form opinions and use my knowledge to support using evidence. Overall, the literary test went well.
The Writing Process
Transform ideas and information, using appropriate features, forms, and genres, through the writing process to plan, create, assess, and refine original, engaging, and meaningful literary and informational texts for a variety of purposes, audiences, and messages while using an increasing repertoire of conventions (Canadian spelling, grammar, and punctuation) and appropriate citations for clarity, effectiveness, and impact.
While writing my story, which used this competency, I had a variety of things to consider. Was I using proper grammar? Was it meaningful and engaging? Who was my audience? What purpose would it serve? What sources did I need to site? How many rounds of critique did my story need to go through to be passable as a short story? To say the least, I answered all of these questions. The questions themselves were the simple part. Iterating the answers did not come as easily as I had expected. I used other competencies that I had already developed an understanding of such as using evidence, and literary analysis. My story developed from good, to better, to outstanding all thanks to the people who helped me. When I first wrote my story, it was ok. Not my finest piece of work. I will go more in-depth about it later in this blog post, but a key price of information which helped it improve was the fact that I asked for help. Yes, you heard that right. Asking for help has always been one of my weaknesses, despite the fact that it comes very naturally to some people. My story was read by my group, my family, my friends, my neighbours, my extended family, etc. In total, I received 8 rounds of critique on my story. In my opinion, this is an excellent example of the writing process. I overcame a urge obstacle in order to complete this competency well, and I am proud of that.
Creating and Extending Shared Understanding
Exchange ideas and viewpoints to build shared understanding and extend thinking.
Using my understanding of the hero’s journey, I completed a graphic organizer that prepared me for story creation. I used my peers, and their knowledge to enhance my story graph. By doing this, we were creating and extending a shared understanding. It helped us moving forward as we created our stories, decorated our room and presented our findings. I am truly thankful for how well my group worked together, as we truly did extend our learning.
What is the hero’s journey
The monomyth, or the hero's journey, is the common template of a broad category of tales and lore that involves a hero who goes on an adventure, and in a decisive crisis wins a victory, and then comes home changed or transformed.
Milestones
Considering that there were six milestones in this project, I have selected my top three favourite that show the creation process of my story.
Star Wars opinion piece
This was not my best work, to say the least. I selected this milestone as an example of my work because it shows the greatest growth from all of the competencies. I did not receive feedback on this essay that I was happy about. In my opinion, I could have improved this by proof reading multiple times. In reflection, this would have upped my chances of getting better recognition for the writing statement. Nonetheless, all of my ideas were present on the page, in a well laid out manner. I was rattled at the fact that I did not do as well as I had hoped, but in many respects it was a good thing. It opened room for improvement, and motivated me to go further.
A movie review post
As I have already discussed in this blog post, I completed a movie review post which I have submitted in a New York Times writing contest. I was proud of this work because it demonstrated how well I understand creative writing, and how I have implemented strategies to enhance it. This milestone built off the previous one, in the sense that I saw great improvement. The paragraph was shorter, snappier, and overall more satisfying to read. Do I think that it was my best work? No. But am I proud of it? To a certain extent. Here, we tolerate nothing but the epitome of my work.
Exhibition presentation
The infamous day finally rolled around. It was time to decorate our room, prepare our tables and lay our the completed story for all to see. By this time, I had used all of the competencies in this project, and it was time for me to proudly display my work. But the work never ends. I used these skills even while presenting, and I am using them now while writing this blog post. I presented well, I used my effective communication skills to convey the point. On the day of, I even decided to create a mind map that shows the brainstorming behind my idea. The full story was on display for all to see, and I received good feedback from those who read it.
The process
My first draft of the story was interesting to say the least. Beginning with what was done well, I think that I had effectively delivered an image of the scene by using description. I had balanced out the mood of the scene by using humour, and foreshadowing what would come. The critique that I received was to connect this portion of the story with the rest, as it was a very small and contained moment.
In the second draft of my story, I improved how my story connected to those of others. I did this by communicating with my teammates and using a web of my creation to fit the pieces of my story together. The critique that. Received throughout the next couple of rounds said that it had improved greatly. Now, I needed to focus on shortening my chapter
In the third draft, I used past critique and shortened my portion of the story. The deadline was arriving rapidly, which is why I only had time to complete one more draft amongst the sea of other projects. To date, this was my favourite draft of the story. Still, it could have been improved.
My story, chapter 6
I had done it. Small scraps fell daintily from the sky, covering the ground like a blanket. Remains of what were once ominous white storm troopers now lay at my feet, converted to fragments.
Only several seconds ago, the planet was lit up, vibrating with terror. Now, it was silent. Even the birds were quiet. No one dared make a sound. I knelt down slowly to feel the thin shards between my fingers. As I did so, the thought finally settled in. I had done it. The troopers had turned around and left Endor. Without warning, I let out a big whoop. I, Nicki, had diverted the empire. The thought was so foreign and discombobulated. The moments was surreal. After only a few seconds, the low chime of the lantern pierced the silence, and soon, the vibrant sounds of the forest returned. The rustles of the Quarfs recommenced, and the high vibrato of the Fircles singing made me smile. My home was still here, and I was part of the reason why. I slowly balanced back onto my heels, and rocked myself back onto my feet. There was a faint throbbing in my knee, but it was overshadowed by the glowing sense of pride that crept up from my core and through my heart and cheeks. I took one last look at the wreck that stood in front of me; heaps of the leftover storm craft, and dark swirling liquid all covered in a thin bed of metal where what was once the launch pad stood. Beyond that lay the lush, green forests of Endor, sprinkled with golden sunlight. I turned my head, and began the trek back to Bright Tree. I needed to inform C-3PO that the ships were gone.
As I walked, I could not disguise the elated sense that spread through me. I did cartwheels, and spins and flips with a smile on my face that shone brighter than sunlight. And then, I rammed face first into a tree. Slyly pulling a thorn from my chin, I let out a laugh. As I continued to walk, golden soupy sunlight began to filter through the Cedars. The pungent smell of gas dissipated the further the distance I put between myself and the wreckage. The walk towards the village lay ahead of me, which gave me several minutes to reflect on what had just happened. Had I done the right thing?
After several minutes, I pushed aside a fern and Bright Tree came into sight. At the ridge amongst the beds of Sparkle Seed that grow in the hollows next to a crystal brook stood C-3PO and a small blue box that seemed to be the source of some beeping noise. The box had the symbols R2-D2 scrolled across it’s back. I walked with a spring in my step up to the peak of the ridge, where C-3PO greeted me. “Greetings, Nicki. I see that you have successfully diverted the imperial vessels, and the storm troops have rerouted from Endor. Congratulations.” I beamed. “Thank you very much, it-“ I was interrupted by a sharp whirr from R2-D2, which was quickly followed by a red light. C-3PO twisted his head to that he faced the blue box, to which he said “Excuse me Nicki, it is a message from the alliance.” The beeps and whirs of the blue box were now replaced with a dainty, melodic voice. “C-3PO, we have successfully disabled the shields and we suggest that you and R2-D2 return to the ship”. “Thank you Lea.” replied C-3PO. “Nicki, it has been a pleasure meeting you, and I would like to thank you for contributing your knowledge of this planet. Now we must be off”. With that, he began to walk over the crest of the hill, followed by R2-D2. The two slowly faded into the distance, the tall slender body of C-3PO sharply contrasting the rectilinear shape of R2-D2. The further away they got, the more I became conscience of the irking pain in my knee. Finally, just as strangely as they had appeared, the pair disappeared over the crest, and through the greenery.
I could have stayed, and I would have seen an inauspicious grey ship shaped like a comet lower it’s doors with a puff to C-3PO and R2-D2. But I turned around. Ahead of me lay the bright spance of Endor, dull golden sunlight slowly washing over the rolling hills. I didn’t look back, not even as the ship rumbled, and gusts of air flattened the grass. Not even as the shrill whine increased, and the ship disappeared. No, I couldn’t do that. The world of the rebels had only temporarily collided with mine. I belonged here, on Endor. Besides, I had some unfinished business with Wicket.
Finally, I finished the final draft of my story. It shows tremendous improvement, and how I incorporated the core competencies into the creation process. I used all of the feedback that I received on my first draft, and even related a custom story cover for the book.
In short, I think that this exhibition went well. I am not just saying this for the record. I genuinely grew as a learner, instilled all of the competencies and extended beyond my own expectations. My favourite activity in this project was Milestone 5, our story. I thought that I took advantage of the time that I had, which allowed me to tackle a personal issue as well as finish the project at hand. I did have issues when it came to the literacy test, but my progress and preparation was something to be proud of. In hindsight, I could have gone to visit a teacher about the material of the test. Next time, I will make sure that I do this. I decided to take a step further with this project by creating a cover for my book at using all of the given resources at hand. Not only did I get the job accomplished, but I exceeded my own expectations which is perhaps the best feeling in the world. I will walk away from this project with renewed confidence in my abilities when it comes to Humanities, as well as many tips and study tricks to use in the future. I even have more insight on my own hero’s journey, and how I will be able to overcome just like the character in our story.
I have also created a blog post on the Maker portion of this assignment which I will link here.
Lesson of the day: revise and reiterate. This project taught me that one draft is never enough, which will be a valuable lesson for the future.
”Good morning, and in case I don’t see ya, good afternoon, good evening and goodnight” – The Truman
