Monthly Archives: November 2015

Nov 19 2015

PowToon Unit Reflection

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While composing my PowToon, I succeeded and was challenged in many aspects. One of these aspects are the sound and images within the PowToon. The first thing I realized was how different composing the cartoon was in comparison to the academic paper. More particularly, there were so many elements that make up a single second in the PowToon. When writing my paper, I had a complete lay out of what was to be said/written for every sentence. With the PowToon, in one second you must think of the timing of the audio, music, visual and what/how the visual would appear. With this being said, I was not the most comfortable with the voice over at first. I felt my voice was too high pitched and too fast. I couldn’t get myself to take the necessary brakes when reading the script. At this point, I decided to record my voice in Garage Band in order to add “fake” pauses. I feel this was a large learning moment for me and one of my strengths. I was able to really problem solve and get creative with each individual slide. I loved creating my academic paper into an entertaining video. At the same time, I feel that initial attempt to record and time the slides with the voice over was my weaknesses. Even though the sound track was not my strength, my favorite part was the clever remarks. I think these remarks really added the personality of my PowToon. On the other hand, my favorite part of the visual track was all the blank slides where I got to really be creative. Overall, I feel I really learned a lot about me as a writer through many different modes.

Prior to this PowToon, I had very little experience in designing a visual presentation. With this being said, many of the designing process was enjoyable and difficult. I really enjoyed creating the blank screens. It felt like it was an empty canvas where I could create whatever I wanted. I was able to choose the colors and the location of each picture as to where with the templet screens I was more limited. In opposition, the hardest part was having the images appear in sync with the sound track. Therefore, there were several decisions that I had to make that I was not initially anticipating. I had drawn out on paper what I originally wanted with the script, but once I got on the website I realized that my character and visual options were limited. I had to rethink several ideas but I believe in the end it worked out for the best. For example, I really wanted to have younger and teenaged students at one point in my slides. The only issue was there wasn’t teenage aged animations in PowToon. On the other hand, I think that my favorite design choice was choosing the classroom theme. It really helped create and further express the topic of my argument. In conclusion, I found that I liked using the electronic environment more than I anticipated.

I believe that remixing my initial paper into a cartoon was both good and bad. For starters, by having a written paper I already had my actual argument planned out for me. The down side to this advantage was that some of the academic evidence that I had used in my paper was harder to express through visuals. Therefore, in reaction, I prefer the essay over the PowToon to express my argument. I think that I liked the essay better for the sole purpose of being able to build strong creditability to my argument. Yes, it was possible to add creditability with the PowToon, but I was able to analyze and expand on my sources more with the written paper. In opposition, I feel that with my topic being standardized testing, taken by children and young adults, the animated visual was more effected in reaching the audience the topic refers to. The students that take these test addressed in my paper, are more inclined to watch a cartoon than read a lengthy essay. In addition, I feel that one of the advantages to using the visual animation was that the words were easier to compose because they were short and more relaxed. On the contrary, I couldn’t use many of the credible quotes from my original paper. At the end of the day, I enjoyed composing the visual medium but I could better explain my argument through the academic paper.

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Nov 11 2015

Op doc learning moment

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When watching these videos in class, I learned what I wanted and didn’t want in my project. Things that I know I want to include is a variety of colors and simple typeface. I want it to look like a classroom to further express the topic and it’s environment. In contrast, I don’t want my video to go to fast. I did not like the last op-doc because I found myself trying to look at the pictures rather than listening to the message. In addition, I want to have plenty of negative space in order to keep the visuals and audience in focus. Overall, I learned a lot about how I want my video to look like.

Nov 9 2015

Learning from others voiceovers

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I learned a lot today listening to my peer’s voiceovers. In particular, I understand the value of clear organization and appropriate tone. One of my group members had a strong sense of voice in his recording. He had peeks in his voice accompanied by many questions asked periodically. It kept my attention and allowed me to continue to think along with him. Also, I learned from another member the importance of having a clear and concise flow to the recording. All the evidence and points were good, but by not having them in a easy to listen order made the story confusing. Overall, I learned a lot from my groups voiceovers.

Nov 4 2015

Argumentative Unit Reflection

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  1. Through out this project, I learned many things about editing, information on my topic and composing an argumentative paper. The most valuable thing that I learned was how to edit my paper in a more efficient and beneficial way. Looking at each sentence and deleting the unnecessary words really helped improve my paper. I feel that I become repetitive and extremely wordy at some points in my paper. I plan to use this technique of editing a sentence one at a time in my future papers. Another learning moment was when reading the other forums in the debate. I tend to be a closed minded thinker on controversial topics I’m passionate about. This paper really forced me to listen and take into account other perspectives and experiences on a particular topic. For example, my topic was based around whether or not standardized testing was a good measurement of our education system. I have always been against testing, but when researching the benefits of these tests for some individuals, I was more open minded. In opposition, some of the arguments proposed further pushed my perspective of the story and helped me expand my original stance on the debate. Lastly, I learned a lot about how to organize and compose an argumentative paper. In the past, I wrote argumentative papers that were scattered and unorganized. I was never aware that there was a certain structure to the paper. I used to think that every paragraph looked at both the positives and negatives of the situation. Therefore, I have never written a rebuttal paragraph. I found that learning the layout of the paper really helped me in developing my thoughts and ideas. Overall, this project was very full of numerous learning opportunities.

 

  1. After completing the paper, I had several questions that remained unanswered. One question is how do I add more personality to my paper? I feel that I make good points supported by effective evidence, but it lacks in voice and personality. When referring back to the example paper on excelsior OWL, I admired the way his paper flowed and was filled with personality. While I feel I am improving on adding voice, I still would like some more tips on how to add voice effectively. In addition to this, I had a question in regards to the topic itself. As a future educator, I want nothing more than to know that my students will be successful in everything they do under my supervision. With this being said, I wonder what will become of standardized testing by the time I become a teacher. Will the government take away some test and add others? Will they get rid of testing all together? Will states continue to add more testing requirements in addition to those of the nation? I understand the point of view of the students because I personally experienced the tests first hand. I am very curious and optimistic about what will happen to my future students and if they will endure the test like me or if they will have new standards.

 

  1. I think my opinion after completing this project is about how important argumentative writing will be in the future. As much as I hate to say it, we will need the knowledge of this particular writing style no matter what profession we chose. In the business world, one may need it with proposing new ideas and changes to major corporations. Educators will need it when fighting for something for their students whether its within their school or district. Lawyers and politicians will constantly be using argumentative writing for various ways of completing their jobs. In conclusion, argumentative writing techniques was a very important and valuable thing to learn for the future.