Recently in class we started learning about ideologies and what exactly they are. Ideology is defined as: a system of ideas and ideals, especially one which form the basis of economic or political theory and policy. To learn more about this, since the majority of the class is going to University next year we learned more about the topic through a series of lectures. Here are my notes from it:
So in more of a concise way (rather then reading 5 pages of notes) I will explain the political spectrum and specific ideologies. The political spectrum is a spectrum of political ideologies ranging from far left (communism) to far right (fascism). The further left you go the more it supports social equality and popular or state control of the major institutions of political and economic life. While right wing supports conservatism ideas and value tradition, structure, duty, and authority. Right wing is more opposed to government-provided universal healthcare.
Here is a more in depth look into the key ideologies:
Liberalism is: a political doctrine that takes protecting and enhancing the freedom of the individual to be the central problem of politics. Liberals typically believe that government is necessary to protect individuals from being harmed by others.
Communism is: a political doctrine that aims to replace private property and a profit-based economy with public ownership and communal control of at least the major means of production (e.g., mines, mills, and factories) and the natural resources of a society.
Fascism is: a political doctrine that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition.
Socialism is: a political doctrine advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods.
We also took a few quizzes to see where we were on the political spectrum. We used the website Political Compass which plots out where exactly they think you are in regards to your political compass by asking questions about things such as the economy, views on authority and even sex and religion.
With all this in mind here are my results:
To see a comparison this is where other political figures stand on the political compass. (Above image)
Overall these results did not surprise me because I don’t believe that I am a very aggressive person however do still want things to be fair and will stand up for rights that I believe in. Knowing my political ideologies are very useful for the future because as I get older it becomes more and more relevant since I am having to make more and more decisions in regards to this.
Have you ever heard of Billy Joel? You may have heard of his song “It’s still rock n roll to me” or maybe even “Piano man”. But what about the song “We didn’t start the fire”. If you have heard it you would know that he lists major, significant events and people from the time he was born to 1989 (when the song was written). But what makes these events and people significant?
Well that was exactly what we were looking at in this unit. We were given the choice of looking into one of the topics he mentioned with only one restriction, that it couldn’t be from the 80’s or earlier.
We were told to think as a class as to what makes an event significant and need to know questions we had regrading this project. Out of that we were told that we would be presenting our research in a 5 minute presentation to the class in 2 weeks. We would also need to create an artifact of in other words something to reflect our thoughts and learning.
With all this in mind and a multitude of subjects to choose from I finally decided on the choice to research Malcom X. At first I was unsure if this was a smart decision because in this project I wanted to punch myself outside of my comfort zones and was worried that since we had previously done a civil rights movement that this would be to close of a subject and I wouldn’t find it challenging. But oh how I was wrong.
My driving question regarding Malcom X and his significance was:
How did Malcom X’s controversial opinion on the civil rights movement cause him to be a significant figure to this day?
So with that in mind we had a few classes to begin our 5-10 page research paper. Click here for it. I found doing this research I found out things I had never known before but was very intrigued by. For example I had heard of Malcom X however didn’t truly know what he stood for or who he was. I learned that growing up he had a very tough life which then lead him into a life of crime. And once in state prison for the third time he met a man who changed his life for ever and caused him to join the Nation of Islam. That Malcolm X as a result of his past and that one interaction was then an activist for racial integration being the primary goal for black freedoms and was a prominent figure for the Nation of Islam. And that his controversial opinions on freedom have caused people around the world to be treated differently.
As for the artifact I decided to write poems. Now I have never thought of myself as a good writer and have never been confident in my work so this truly was a challenge. I decided to take the poems not literally talking about Malcom X but instead about his ideas and how he has changed the world.
To read my other poems as well Click here.
It was then time to present all of our hard work to the class. I decided to present mine through support of a keynote and so here it is:
A key aspect of this project was communication. So analyzing how we share our ideas when we write, speak, and represent.I believe I was able to express my ideas in an interesting format through use of my poems. By analyzing the information I learned about and then putting it into my own words and thoughts truly you could see my learning. Another form of communication that I would like to improve on was the public speaking during my presentation. I have never been a confident public speaker and have struggled with just talking to small groups even. I feel that was evident in my keynote presentation as I was presenting to the class because I began very quite and focused on the teacher rather than looking at the whole class. However slowly as I began to get more comfortable I grew in confidence and began to speak louder and focus on others a little more. This is definitely was a challenge at times and something I would like to improve on however I am proud of how I communicated in this project.
Overall this was a very interesting project that I learned a lot about what makes an event significant as well as Malcom X himself. Being able to find out just how important one man was and how much he has influenced our world was amazing. I learned that the most important factor of significance is how much it affects people both presently and for the future. In order for a moment or person to be significant they must affect people. Whether that means it has affected one person or the entire world it has still affected someone. What I think my biggest struggle was coming up with how to express myself. This was difficult because despite feeling passionate about the subject and understanding it, it is such an important topic and felt as though it was so important to say what I wanted in the right way.
And in regards to what I was most proud of, I was proud of what I leaned as well as the poem. Usually I don’t think of myself as a writer or a public speaker however surprised myself in both aspects.
Overall I very much so enjoyed this project and can’t wait for the next unit!
Dachtler, Matthias. “GRIN – Malcolmania: The Cultural Rebirth Of Malcolm X As Pop Icon.” Publish Your Master’s Thesis, Bachelor’s Thesis, Essay or Term Paper, https://www.grin.com/document/110505.
It’s come to that time of the year again when emails are sent out and it is time to prepare an Mpol. I would first like to begin by saying the POL declaration:
“Thank you for coming to my presentation of learning. I am the expert on my own learning. I am also responsible and accountable for my own learning. You can expect me to give an honest evaluation of my progress. We will discuss my strengths and weaknesses. Thank you in advance for listening and for offering feedback that I can use to improve as a learner.”
Since I have been going through this for 5 years now you would think that I would be repeating topics and unable to think of new creative ways to express myself. However as this is PLP and there is always something on the go, that is most definitely not the case. Our presentations are supposed to focus on one driving question which is “What is your learning goal that you want to reach by the end of this school year, and how will you meet it?”
With that in mind I would like to address that in the future…
I would like to be able to push forward and step outside of my comfort zones both with my classmates as well as within projects.
My first example of how I would like to push myself and did in certain aspects however didn’t in others and would like to improve on in in the future was our taming of the shrew project. In this project we began by Reflecting on why the novel we had read over the summer (for me that was: A prayer for Owen Meany) was a classic. This was then a good lead into the next section of this unit, which was reading and looking into The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare. We looked at the role women had at that time as well as women’s roles through a few different decades. I found this unit very interesting because I had never truly been interested in Shakespeare. However due to the interesting aspects of the play that we looked at and the different points of view I was very intrigued by this project.
The fact that we were able to see bard on the beach and see a different reenactment of this play made me interested which also plays back to my goal I mentioned at the beginning of this conversation that I would like to express myself in different more interesting ways such as the way bard on the beach expressed them self in an intriguing way which is helpful and inspiring.
Then it was time to get in groups and work on our own projects regarding taming of the shrew and women of the time period. So I was assigned in a group with Mimi and Ethan and we were assigned act five which in other words is the “grand finale”. We were assigned the 60’s and were told to animate this scene based on that time period.
This is where I believe my goal for the remainder of the school year comes into account. I believe that in the process of changing the script and changing how I thought in regards to this subject I did accomplish that and thought of things out of my comfort zone. However in regards to the animation itself I believe that I could have done better.
I have always struggled with the technology side of things and feel as though I have never been good at animation. In this project if I were to redo it again, I would like to challenge myself to be more creative as well as put myself out there more so. Though I was happy with the final result I do wish I had as well as my group put in my effort and then would have resulted with a project that I was even more proud of.
The next project I would like to talk about is the famous horror unit. Going into this unit I was weary to say the least. I have never been a huge fan of horror or even seen any in general. This unit confused me as too why exactly we were doing it and how it would benefit me.
However despite all of these doubts I pushed forward and stepped outside of my comfort zone. There are a few specific examples that show this, the first being that despite being scared and weary I still wanted to learn. I stuck through and read the books, watched the movies such as Get Out and did all of this because I wanted to push myself and truly wanted to understand.
And by doing so I was able to understand the topic and actually found it very interesting. I learned that the horror industry truly does reflect on our society and what is going on at the time. That horror allows people to face there fears without actually dealing with them.
That doesn’t mean that I know will be watching horror movies every night and reading books about it until 3am but it does give me a better understanding of why others do.
Another aspect of this project that I put myself out there and feel as though I stepped outside of my comfort zone was in Seattle applying to be producer. I felt this was stepping outside my comfort zone because first being that this is a horror unit and that would mean I would be even more hands on in a way in the production process. And second that it is a hands on role that means you must be in charge and apart of the class in every aspect. However I was not given that role but instead given post production supervisor, script supervisor, camera operator and location manager. So a fair bit of work that enabled its own challenges.I believe this was one aspect that I pushed myself in the project and put my all in both to the project as well as with my classmates.
And finally what I would like to discuss is our most recent fire where we researched what makes an event of person significant through researching topics mentioned in Billy Joel’s “We didn’t start the fire” song. I found this a very interesting topic was somewhat excited to begin researching. I chose to research Malcom X and my driving question was “How did Malcom X’s controversial opinion on the civil rights movement cause him to be a significant figure to this day?”. Being given the opportunity to do anything I want and research and show an artifact regarding anything was a big task and an opportunity to push myself into areas that I may not think are within my comfort zone. So deciding to research Malcom X at first I was weary because I didn’t want it to seem as though I was putting in less work because we had researched the Civil Rights movement previously. However after doing some surface level research I realized that this one man had done so much and I was genuinely curious about his significance. So in one way I did push myself to look at the civil rights movement differently.
Then when it came to the actual artifact we were too create this was where I struggled. I wasn’t sure how to express what I thought and felt in a way that others would understand and was actually interesting.
As you know from previous Mpols and meetings such as this one that. Feel that. Have always struggled with writing. So with that in mind and still being hesitant to the idea, I decided to take the full leap and have my artifacts be poems.
This truly pushed me out of my comfort zone to a place that I was not expecting however in the end was glad I did because I am proud of my final results.
Overall in the few projects that we have completed in this school year I feel as though I have pushed myself into new comfort zones but would still like to further myself. I know with projects and fellow classmates it is easy to rely on others and simply say that I’m not good at it so I’ll take the easier way out. And in the past I definitely have done that. However for the future I would like to push myself to think outside the box, take risks, put my voice out there with classmates and not rely on others skills or my present skills but rather to learn new ones.
In conclusion thank you for listening and I would like to propose to you the question:
Do you agree that I should push myself and not be afraid to step out of my comfort zone and abilities? And what advice would you have for me moving forward in which I could improve myself and have the confidence to step out of my comfort zone?
Another unit done means another blog post. But what could it be about this time, especially based off a title like that?
Well recently in class we had the opportunity to complete a unit on horror. Our driving question was:
Why is horror such an effective way to reflect and comment on our society?
In order to answer this question we first had to have some knowledge on the subject. So we started off the project by looking at the horror genre through the time and how though you may think there is no hidden meaning behind a scary movie there truly is. To get this project rolling we began to read Frankenstein written by Mary Shelley. Going into this book I expected to read about a novel about a big green scary monster named Frankenstein as that is how modern day story’s portray him. However as I started to read I was instantly shocked at how much deeper this story is rather than simplybeing about a creature that destroys things. This was our first connection as to how horror does have a deeper meaning and that you truly should look for all of the details. Learning this and having this fresh in our mind was then a perfect transition to actually watching some horror films. We began by watching the 1978 Halloween movie, as this was my first ever horror movie experience I wasn’t sure what exactly to expect. If you would like to read more about the experience and how I believed that film reflected on society you can read my previous blog post which has been linked. Next up seeing as how we are dealing with different issues then we were in 1978 we also watched the movie Get Out. This film made it very evident how social issues are a part of horror films and relevant to the time. Yet another movie we watched was James Whales Frankenstein which showed yet another different perspective on society which is represented through a horror film.
At this point we had seen a few films and had a basis understanding however we were given the opportunity to deepen our learning we went on a field study.We hopped on the bus and travelled to Seattle Washington in order to learn more about this genre and other aspects of it. The first stop on this trip was the LeMay Car Museum. Now you may be thinking what does this have to do with our project at all? Well it surprisingly was very useful because it allowed us to see just how much society at the time can affect so much, even cars.
one of the many cars at the museum
Truly why we went to Seattle though was to look through the MoPop museum and specifically the horror exhibit. This exhibit included everything from props such as like the Jason mask to video interviews of directors talking about films and the genre in general.
It was helpful to learn at this very well done exhibit that fear is the anticipation that something is about to occur and is what keeps us alive and competitive as a species. It was also helpful to learn that a monster is something that will wait until you are least prepared, identification of a creatures primary strengths and weaknesses.
Other parts of the exhibition included directors such as Eli Roth and John Landis talking about films that changed them, the film industry as well as films directed by them.
That night we then went to the George Town morgue which is a haunted house type thing that is supposed to be one of the scariest in North America. Seeing as how I have never even been in a single haunted house and get scared fairly easily, knowing that not only would it scare me in the moment but that I would also think about it lying after I decided against entering. Once back at the hotel however it wasn’t quite time for bed because we then began the main project of this unit. Creating a horror movie. That night we began by discussing ideas for possible stories and also interviewed for roles such as director, producer and screen writer. I decided to apply as the director however did not get the but instead was given Post production supervisor, script supervisor, camera operator and location manager. So a fair bit of work to do.
As a class we began discussing possible story options and came up with a few. Once back in Vancouver with the teachers being away for a week it was up to us to think about the story and for the script team to start writing.
After contemplating many different story options the key creative team agreed that our best option was to make the movie about a group of teens who pulled grad pranks and got caught and as a result the janitor has to watch them and clean up after them which pushes him over the edge. As my role on the script team wasn’t needed until we were in the midst of filming and I couldn’t determine the locations until the script was complete it seemed that for a few days there was nothing to do. But after a while and after many revisions of the script that changed.
This was the location decisions I made:
We then began filming and came across many issues such as scheduling and communication. For example a few times while we were filming we could not continue either because the actor in the scene wasn’t there, we couldn’t use the location we had planned for or we assumed we could do it another time. This ended up being a major downfall and somewhat caused is to not fully complete this production. We were supposed to complete the film December 13th however were not even close to completing the film at that point so we continued on past the deadline.
As time went on we were struggling to complete this project. We would set times and decide we were filming however at the end would not fully accomplish what we had set out to on our call sheets.
So after all this time we decided with only a few scenes left that we couldn’t finish filming the movie. So we decided to create a trailer instead and here it is:
Overall this project was definitely a learning curve. As a team we had to learn our specific strengths and weaknesses. We learned that communication is key in all aspects. Wether that means communicating what we feel about the project, timing, ideas and much more.
I also specifically learned that it is important to get your ideas out there however not to take to much control and take things personally. This was very difficult at times however in the long run it ended up helping the entire project I believe.It was also very interesting learning all of the aspects of the film industry. Living in Vancouver there constantly are movies being filmed either at service itself, across the street from my house and all over the city. So to know a little bit more about all the intensive work that goes into a film is very helpful and interesting.
Another conclusion from this project was that I never realized how much the horror industry and stories in general are affected by society. I had always viewed horror movies as just something that is scary. However it is much more then that. They allow people to face there fears indirectly.
Overall this unit has been very interesting and I know that it will be useful for the future. So as I used to say when I first started writing these blogs.
Bye for Now.
When you think of the story of Frankenstein (1818), you likely think of the stiff green monster with bolts in his head walking around scaring people. However, have you ever actually read the story of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley?
Recently in class we had the opportunity to read the classic novel by Mary Shelley and let me tell you, it was not what I was expecting. Getting into the book as many do I was expecting this big scary monster who attacked people all the time simply out of rage. However as you get further and further into the book, I realized that the monster isn’t Frankenstein but rather is mankind. Now you may be totally flabber gasted by this statement, but here are some reasons why that is true.
There are many aspects to this intense story however questionably one of the most important and key aspects of this story is the one of Dr. Victor Frankenstein’s creations. At the time as this book was being written the science written about had never been thought of and was a rather barbaric way of thinking of creating a creature. Though this is a fictional story, the fact that the Doctor would even think to take human bodies and fuse them together to create a whole new, human like creature is very inhuman. In the 1931 movie version of this book it also points out very obviously that they specifically chose to take out the normal brain and instead use the abnormal brain. This just shows how inhumane the people were since they wouldn’t even give the creature a fighting chance to be a part of society and accepted. And yet the doctor has the audacity to say that he is “god like” since he created this creature. It is true, that in the Bible it says God created all things however he also cares for all things and loves them, trying to give them the best.
Another key point that is pointed out in the original movie and the original book is when the creature does rise up. Victor had been working on his creation for months and it was driving him to the point of insanity, however the fact that he didn’t even have the decency to comfort the creature and teach it shows that he in a certain way did not care. In the movie we also see this but in a different way, through the camera shots and angles as well as in the location. When the creature first rise’s and then the doctor leave’s the room and the creature walks to find his creator you first get this scene as he walks through the doors backwards. This just points out the fact that he truly was like an infant and didnt know any common sense or anything about society and yet there was no effort put in to help him.
As we get more into the movie it is made very obviously that the monster is just trying to learn and doesn’t realize what he is doing wrong. For example in one scene the creature has to sit down and has to be told multiple times the same phrase just as children do when they first learn things. Another scene in the movie that was cinematically revolutionary was the scene of the girl by the lake playing and throwing daisys into the water with the creature. We see that she doesn’t make the stereotypes that other older ones did based on his appearance and she didnt make these judgments because it was not yet engraved into her. In this shot we see that he is copying her because he assume’s that is what friend’s do and has never experienced this joy before and so thinking he is correct throws her into the lake which then drowns her. It is obvious in the way this is shot that he did not mean the murder in a cruel way but instead was trying to show love which just points out that he is not the monster though he may be stereotyped that way. Another point that makes this scene so inhuman is the fact that this was the first movie scene that showed a child die on screen. This just shows that the director James Whale had an unusual and inhuman way of looking at things.
Speaking of James Whale we also were able to watch the movie Gods and Monsters which is a somewhat fictional story of Whale befriending the grounds keeper. The movie show’s just how much the Korean War which he fought him affected him and his film making. That until the day of his death (which was suicide) he suffered as a result or mankind wars that were horrific and yet again inhumane.
So we’ve looked into the two movie’s in depth, proving the point as to why the monster is mankind however back to the book is where we get one of the main point’s as to why this is true.
From when the creature was first created he alway’s wanted a friend and companion. That is the reasoning for the killings that occur, as well as why he threaten’s Frankenstein and his future bride. However the doctor is hesitant which is understandable but he also has to realize that everyone just wants to be loved, even if they aren’t stereotypically normal. And after he does agree to create a companion for the creature he then destroys it as a result of fear for himself and others. What he doesn’t think is that this will cause an outrage and rightfully so. To not be given company or love and yet so close is a monstrous act that Frankenstein did which then resulted in more deaths. This scene also further shows that people just want to be accepted and yet when that is taken away it is cruel.
Overall in the two movie’s and books though automatically people may assume that the monster is the creature in reality is that instead it is mankind. That mankind wont except people or things that aren’t stereotypically normal and yet will except fighting in wars and actually killing each other for little to no reason. Hopefully as time goes on these stereotypes will be broken down and people will become kinder and more excepting however in the meantime what we have to do is make an effort ourselves.
Recently in class we started watching the film Get Out by Jordan Peele. This film is about an African American man, meeting his white girlfriend’s family for the first time. Within the first ten minutes of this film you get the sense that something is going to happen however you’re not sure what. That is one reason why the film is just so terrifying. Since you are confused throughout the movie and yet at the same time you are also dealing with such large topics; the main one being racism. And since racism is so relevant today and has such a crucial role in our history and current day it strikes a chord with most people.
To get a small sense of what the movie is about here is the trailer:
This movie was released just as US President Obama was coming to his final term meaning race was very much so a topic on peoples mind’s. Anotherideapeopleweremostlikelysubconsciouslyawareofwasthatwhitepeopledidn‘tevenrealizetheywerebeingracist, andyettheywerewhichisverypresentthroughoutthefilm. Forexampleinoneofthefirstscenes whenChris (themaincharacter) ismeetinghisgirlfriend’sdadthefathermentionsthat “hewouldhaveelectedObamaforanother4years”. ThisisracistinthefactthatheisgeneralizedthatautomaticallyallAfricanAmericanssupportObama, andhehastheobligationtosayhesupportsthem. Thispointalsoplaysintowhythemovieissohorrifying. Thatitismindbendingandcausesyoutodoubtifwhatyouareseeingorhearingistrue. Andthatpeoplecansayonethingandmeananotherorevensubconsciouslymeansomethingelsesotrulyyoucannevertrustanyone.
Looking back at the film you begin to realize everything has a purpose and nothing is simply “filler” or something to waste time. For example in order to save himself at the end of the film Chris fills his ears with cotton he scratched out of the cushion. This is a representation of the cotton trade and the role African Americans had in the world’s history. Anther instance when it’s not until later you realize there was a hidden meaning was when another black man being controlled was wearing clothes that looked very similar to Emit Till’s clothes and what drew him back to reality was the flash of a camera. To me that seems very obvious that they are referencing Emit Till’s death.
In an article by VOX called “Get out is a horror film about benevolent racism. It’s spine-chilling.” They talk about how the film draws on many films such as Silence of the Lambs or the Shining where you are being controlled and now you are however can do nothing about it which to most is a terrifying thought. It’s dealing with that feeling that you are being turned into an object instead of a human.
The feeling of being turned into an object and dehumanized is also an aspect we have been looking at while reading Mary Shelly’s, Frankenstein. The creature just wants to be accepted by others however is at first controlled by Victor Frankenstein. In both story’s the characters have no control over the unfair stereotype put on them which then creates the rest of the story and the mystery. A difference however is that Frankenstein isn’t as complex and complicated as Get Out however that makes sense because as time has gone on it is harder and harder to scare people and so now lots of horror movies are more mind benders.
Overall this film was definitely interesting and more then you would expect it to be. It goes over topics such as racism and individuality and makes you think about not only yourself but society in general. I would never have expected this from a horror movie however it is opening up my eyes as to how significant and reflecting films and specifically horror films can be on society and yourself.
John Carpenters film Halloween, released in 1978 has been widely accepted as a horror film classic and even as the creator of the Slasher genre within horror however why? For what reason does this film create such an impact on people and is still being watched to this day?
Wellonereasonwhythisfilmwasandissohorrifyingtoviewersisbecauseoftheelementofmysterythroughoutthisentirefilm. Thoughtheremaynotbemuchbloodorgoreactuallyshownonscreenweknowthatitistakingplaceandtheaspectofsuspenseandmysterycreatesahorrifyingfeeling. Thesenseofmysterycanbeseenineveryaspectofthefilm, fromthecamerashots, themotivationofMichealMyersandalsoastowhatwillhappennextattheendofthefilmasthingsaren’tfullyresolved. Anotherreasonwhythismovieisconfusingandalsoterrifyingtopeopleisbecausewedon’tknowwhyMichaelMyersiskillingpeople. Weknowthatheisapsychopath, andhekilledhissisterhoweverwehavenoideawhyheisgoingafterLaurie (themaincharacter). Thedirectorcouldhavecreatedthisplotlinebecauseitshowsthatnomatterhowperfectyouareorifyouarelivingagoodlifethatthingscanhappentoyounomatterwhat, thatitcouldsimplyjust all be a result of badluck.
Anotherreasonwhythedirectorcouldhavecreatedthissenseofconfusionisbecausethismoviewasreleasedjustasall theinformationabouttheVietnamwarwascomingout. This aspect couldhavebeenreflectedintothemoviebecauseofthefearpeoplehad. Thatthesepeoplewhoweregoodpeople, were harmedfornoreasonother thanbadluck, that they werekilledandmanyhadtosuffertheconsequences.
Regarding the music in this film it is truly revolutionary to the film industry. Even if you haven’t seen the movie or even watch horror movies in general (like me) you have most likely heard the iconic eerie slasher music.
Overall Halloween was an interesting film and definitely more then you think it would be. This movie is revolutionary to all future films and will never be forgotten.
A classic piece of literature is defined as “To be generally agreed upon as a classic, works meet some common high standards for quality, appeal, longevity, and influence.” In this time many pieces of writing are considered a classic for those very reasons however what does this say about the people and culture at the time of being written. Well to start off the school year, way back in July we were given a classic novel to read over the same so we could get our minds thinking about the very subject. I decided to read (and was the only one to do so) A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving.
Once we had finished reading we then wrote a paragraph reflecting on why it is a classic. Reflecting on why it was a classic was then a good lead into the next section of this unit, reading and looking into The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare.
We started reading the play as well as looking into women in the time period because that is a key point to understanding this play as it is all about context.
In order to further understand the play we also went to Bard on the Beach, and saw how the shrew could be interpreted to a different time period.
While we were reading/studying the taming of the shrew we were also looking into how women were viewed and treated throughout different time periods. We looked into these things because we would be put into groups, and assigned to an act to recreate. I was put in a group with Mimi and Ethan and we were assigned act five which in other words is the “grand finale”.
In order to find out a suitable time period to reenact the play we then briefly researched 5 different time periods. My group ended up with the 60’s era because the whole class agreed that we wanted to liberate Kate unlike the original script.
Once we had researched and saw what we wanted to include in our interpretation of this scene it was then time to start actually creating our animation. At the time we were daunted by the fact that we had to animate things since all of us in our group did not feel we were good at animation. So to face this task we decided to all work on the animation so we could make it equal and all learn.
We started off by reading our entire scenes script and cutting out large portions of it. We thought that cutting down the script would be needed because we didn’t want a half hour animation.This process took quite some time however once we were done we were all happy with the results and the time we estimated our animation would take. Before we even started animating though, the only sensible PLP thing to do was create a storyboard. So over a weekend as a group we were able to complete our storyboard. The amount of time and effort we put into this story board I feel really shows in our work which makes me proud. We included everything from the exact seconds to what each character would be doing as they talked.
Next once we knew what we wanted to happen in each scene it was finally time to start animating! This was difficult to split up between the three of us as we were animating over the weekend and wouldn’t be able to meet up to work on it and exchange the file. However we were able to problem solve this and the solution ended up being that Mimi does the first scene, I do the second scene and Ethan works on the audio as well as characters. Though we had put in lots of time into this first draft I would not say that we exceeded in the least bit. That being said this first draft allowed us to see what we still needed to cut and how we did want to animate it. Here is that first draft:
As you can see that first draft there were many downfalls however it gave us a good idea. After reflecting on this first draft as a group we came to the conclusion that scene 1 was not necessary to the point we were trying to get across, so we cut it! We also realized after looking more closely that the characters had a white outline around them which distracted the audience from what the characters are saying, so we split up the work and redid the animation using those images. With all of these changes and a few more smaller ones we finally came up with a finished product that we are proud of, so here it is:
Overall this project was a very interesting one to start off the year with. I liked learning all about how literature throughout time has lasted and what makes a piece of text a classic. I also found it interesting how women’s roles throughout history have changed and just to be able to go more depth then we have in previous years I found very interesting and useful.
Well this is the end of Grade 11 and what a year. I have definitely had my ups and downs and in this year I will be going over all that and also answer the question as to why i am ready to move onto Grade 12. The first thing I would like to show to get things started is just a video with some of the things I have done with PLP this year.
The first aspect of PLP this year that I would like to talk about is a project that I am very proud of how it ended up. This is the video created by Izzy and myself regarding the We Shall Overcome unit. I found this to be a very interesting unit that I wanted to learn more about.
The driving question was: How can the actions of an individual change a system? And at the beginning of this unit I knew that the world is and has been very racist however I never really thought of how it had changed overtime which through this unit i learned more about. I learned that there was a lot more to the civil rights movement then Martin Luther King (though he did play a large role) but that instead when people take action that then can change a system. Through this project I think you can see my eagerness to learn. This shows that I have an open mind to learning and thinking of new paths which I know will be effective next year as I will have to make many decisions and learn lots so that is one reason why I feel I am ready to move onto Grade 12. This project also showed that I am able to work in a pair effectively. I feel that me and Izzy did a good job getting things done and splitting up the work effectively which is a useful skill to have,
Next I will be talking about my World on the Brink project. This project was all about the Cold War, the Cuban missile crisis and really why the world was on the brink during the 60’s. Learning about this was interesting however I was nervous for the final project as it was writing an essay. I have never been a very strong writer even though I understand the information I just don’t know how to put it on paper. However though I may not be the best writer I was try my hardest and want to improve that is why i want to continue to improve my writing skills into my grade 12 year.
The final project or rather course I would like to talk about is PGP. At the beginning of the year I definitely struggled with this. I didn’t know why we were doing this course and to be honest it seemed a little useless. At the beginning I honestly really only enjoyed creating the Dream Board and I feel you could see this in my work as I don’t think I was really putting my all into it.
However as time went on I started to see how what I was reading about and learning would be useful. I started to see that really thinking of the future was important (which stressed me out) and that in order to do that and have a future I needed to set goals wether they be big or small. One example of a goal I set and was then supported was becoming a life guard. I knew that this would be a good skill to have and also a good job thanks to the convincing done by my parents. So in order to get to that point I set goals. I was signed up for the coarse was one goal, then doing the work required for that coarse was the next step ect. So through months and months of swimming and trials I am finally and just recently now a full certified lifeguard and swim teacher which I am proud of and got through thanks to the goal setting and time prioritizing that I learned through PGP. Sol through this you can see that I definitely struggled and had my downfalls and still do. I still struggle with our first things first and efficiently planning my time. However it is getting better slowly and I feel that this progress is one example of why I am ready for grade 12.
Overall grade 11 was definitely an interesting year. I definitely struggled at times and wasn’t sure if I would make it however there were definitely times when I was proud of my work. I cant wait for next year even though it stresses me out and i feel that I’m ready for it as you have heard through this presentation. So that has been my TPol for grade 11 and I would love to hear any questions or comments you have.
At this point in the year you probably realize that I am in coarse called PGP. This coarse at the beginning of the year was very confusing in the sense that I didn’t think it would be useful. However as the school year is coming to a close and I am looking back I realize that a lot of the information we learned would have been useful at the beginning of the year or even years ago. The one key aspect I wish I had known long ago is something that everyone thinks about but maybe doesn’t do. This is goals, from how to set them to actually doing what you said you wanted to accomplish. A goal is defined as “the object of a person’s ambition or effort; an aim or desired result.” This does not mean that goals have to big (they can be if you want) but rather they can be as small as getting to school on time.
As this is PLP to show my learning I have created a video that expresses what I mean:
Now goal setting was a major part of this coarse however it was what I found most useful in my day to day life. Creating this video for example I had to set a goal and we did this in one way by filling out a pitch form causing myself to have to think and set a GOAL as to what I want to do. This was that pitch form:
Now this may not seem by in depth and I admit that it is not my best work. However I had an idea that I simply did not know how to put down on paper. Anyways, as you can see goal setting was one aspect of this coarse however we had two other major categories which were productivity and the seven habits. So how do goals relate to these two topics?
Well first I will talk about how goal setting related to productivity. Productivity is getting things done in an effective way. As Bruce Lee says:
‘If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you’ll never get it done’
In order to set a goal and achieve it you have to be productive. One example that I learned through this coarse was time blocking. This was setting time to do certain things and sticking to that time for the most part. This keeps you on track and allows you to see how much time things actually take. So thanks to time blocking you can see how much time a goal will likely take and you can then fit that into your schedule.
The second aspect of PGP this year was the book 7 habits of high key effective teens by Sean Covey. This book goes in depth of seven habits that you will benefit from, I believe wether you are a teen or not. You learn about what the habit is and then there is a corresponding work book that helps you see how it applies to your life. The one habit that I am going to focus on in this post is Putting first things First which is habit three.
“Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least”- Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
This is the fact that you should prioritize the most important time and put things that aren’t useful after that. This is very useful because it is very easy to simply get distracted and wavy a show for an hour when you should be doing homework. Actually writing down how you spend your time makes you realize that put things that are important ahead of other things is so useful. This is useful for goal setting and achieving because when you have a goal that is important and you want to get done prioritizing what is important is a key point.
Overall the PGP coarse has been so useful in every aspect of my life and I know that I will continue to use these skills in my life now and forever. This coarse has also allowed me to think about what I want to do in the future and how I will achieve that. Though I still don’t know what I want to do after I graduate (which is closer then I think) I now have the skills to analyze steps that I will need to take and what I will need to prioritize in the time to come. So wether it be getting up in the morning or planning where I travel next I am going to put first things first and set a goal so that I can achieve anything!
