Editorial Report 15b

LAST BLOG POST. I will miss you untitled blog. It's kind of funny how my blog never got a title an my whole essay is on procrastination.

Audience Questions

• Again, the content didn't change too much. I elaborated on a few points so my revised version is a bit longer, and I rewrote a few sentences so the paragraph would be easier to read and relate to the theme of the essay as a whole.
• Virtually no changes in form. It's still a paragraph, but now it has an indent. And it's double spaced.

Rough cut

Project 2 came with many more challenges. The interviews are the first element of project 2 that comes to mind. I was lucky enough to  find interviewees in the college of nursing easily and set up three interviews. It was annoying having to do so much planning in advance- since it isn’t my strong suit- but I was learning that planning was a key aspect to success in this course. The challenge was actually conducting the interviews. I’m usually a shy person when I first met people, so I was very apprehensive going into the interviews. Fortunately, I think I conducted the interviews well and received valuable information- again I was surprised. I was taken aback again when I began to actually create my podcast. I had never used Garageband or made anything similar to a podcast, and it honestly felt impossible that I would be successful at it when the project was first assigned. I am still honestly surprised at the final podcast I submitted. It ended up sounding much more professional and well-done than I anticipated, and frankly, I was very pleased with myself. The take-away from this project was again, the benefit of planning, and that perhaps I had more potential than I was giving myself.

Revised Version

Project 2 came with many more challenges, one of the most significant challenges being setting up and conducting interviews. I was lucky enough to easily find interviewees in the College of Nursing and set up three interviews, two with published nurses and one graduate student. It was annoying having to do so much planning in advance since it isn’t my strong suit, but I was learning that planning was a key aspect to success in this course. Conducting the interviews felt like it would be a struggle for me since I can be shy when I first meet people. Fortunately, I conducted the interviews more confidently than I expected and received valuable information. I was surprised again- apparently planning for things and thoroughly preparing really did create better results. Although the interviews went smoothly, the creation of the podcast was much more challenging. I had never used Garageband or made anything similar to a podcast, and it honestly felt impossible that I would be successful at it when the project was first assigned. My blog posts leading up to this project were more frantic and unsure than Project 1, and I remember my expectations for the final product were quite low. I am still honestly impressed at the final podcast I submitted. It ended up sounding much more professional and well-done than I anticipated, and frankly, I was very pleased with myself. The take-away from this project was again, the benefit of planning, and that perhaps I had more potential than I was giving myself.

Almost time to submit guys. Food awaits afterwards. 

Editorial Report 15a

Second to last blog post EVER. It's a little sad, but mostly really great. Maybe I'll take up blogging as a hobby from now on? Probably not, but.

Audience Questions

• The content didn't change too much in the edited version. I rewrote a few sentences more concisely, which I think improves the flow of the paragraph. I also expanded on a few points I realized were a bit vague. I added a little bit about time management since that's an important theme in my essay.
• The only way the form changed was that this paragraph was previously a part of another very very long paragraph. I went through and spaced out my paragraphs more so its easier to read, after my peer reviewers recommended it.

Rough Cut

At the beginning of the semester with project 1, I was still holding on to the mentality that I had in my past english courses. I needed structure, I wanted the 5 paragraph standard essay back that I was trained to write for four years. I wanted to be told what to do rather than have all the creative freedom I didn't know what to do with yet. I chose a QRG for project 1. Looking back, that was the best choice I could've made. The QRG is still a very structured genre, so although it took some getting used to, I could still follow a very distinct form. I couldn't have imagined the way I would manipulate  the genres I'd be working with later, and the kind of freedom I would take in creating the projects.

Revised Version

When we began Project 1 at the start of the semester, I was still holding on to the mentality that I had in my past English courses. I needed structure, I wanted the 5 paragraph standard essay that I was trained to write for four years. I wanted to be told what to do rather than have all the creative freedom I didn't know what to do with yet. I wanted to get away without planning or managing my time and just do everything the night before like I always had. The coursework for Project 1 quickly revealed that I would not be getting what I wanted. I made a smart choice during this project by choosing to do a QRG, because it is still a very structured genre. Although it took some getting used to, I could still follow a very distinct form. I couldn't have imagined the way I would manipulate the genres I'd be working with later in the course, and the kind of freedom I would take in creating the projects.

I'm so hungry but I don't want to eat until after I submit my final. What should I eat... I battle with this question daily.

Peer Review 15

This week I peer reviewed Sienna's production report 14b.

I chose to peer review Sienna's work with aspects of both the content suggestion activity and a recommendation about form.

• I gave Sienna a suggestion of changing one design element from a picture of a puppy (which would have also been great tbh) to some pictures of herself and friends her freshman year, since she's taking on a more emotional, personal tone in her conclusion. I also suggested she expand on a couple points she included in her content about how she grew as a student, like listing a few of the ways she grew that she may have mentioned in the beginnings of the essay.

• I incorporated more of what I know about the conventions of a video essay (from the examples on d2L) to give Sienna suggestions on what types of pictures she should include, as well as what I know about the project final.

• I really admired the way Sienna directly mentioned her audience in her conclusion, and how she wasn't afraid to end on a nice personal note. 

No sleep, I am dying.

Open Post to Peer Reviewers

I'm actually following the production schedule this week! I'm growing up guys.

Here's a link to my Rough Cut of the final project.

Author response

• What I want peer reviewers to know: this is a pretty rough essay. I think my tone varied between semi-casual and formal, so if you notice that too please let me know. I also followed a 5 paragraph form (intro, 3 body paragraphs, conclusion) which has made my paragraphs HUGE. Should I change this or is it widely known that 5 paragraphs is the convention to follow? I was always taught that 5 paragraphs was the way to go, so I stuck to that but let me know. 

• Weaknesses: Like I said, I'm really unsure about how I kept the tone. I also think I may have included too much unnecessary information. Let me know if you think I should cut the final draft down!

• Strengths: I think I'm fulfilling what the final is asking of me. It's a pretty thorough reflection of how I felt as the semester progressed and what I got out of each project, then the course as a whole. I'm feeling very confident in terms of content, it's form and the amount of content where I have some worries.

I think I love Snoop Dog. Gz and Hustlas is a classic everyone should go listen to it. One of the best intros.

Production Report 14b

Does anyone watch unbreakable kimmy schmidt? It's really funny but I go back and forth between thinking its way too stupid and thinking it's the best thing that's ever happened. I recommend if you like dumb things. 

Audience questions

• Again, form isn't playing a huge role in the content here. It's gone from a bullet to a paragraph again, which is what a college essay calls for. 
• This is just the beginnings of what my essay will look like, so it's still pretty easy to get things written up quickly. I figured it only made sense to write the bullets chronologically as I have them on the outline, so I won't have to be filling in things later. The deep thinking parts haven't been reached yet.

Here's a bit from my content outline:

• I also want to explain how I worked and wrote/created material at the beginning of the semester and compare that with how I’ve changed- i surprised myself with how hard I worked and how much I accomplished in comparison to how I’ve worked before in other English classes.

Now here's an edited version fit for my essay:

At the beginning of the semester with project 1, I was still holding on to the mentality that I had in my past english courses. I needed structure, I wanted the 5 paragraph standard essay back that I was trained to write for four years. I wanted to be told what to do rather than have all the creative freedom I didn't know what to do with yet. I chose a QRG for project 1. Looking back, that was the best choice I could've made. The QRG is still a very structured genre, so although it took some getting used to, I could still follow a very distinct form. I couldn't have imagined the way I would manipulate  the genres I'd be working with later, and the kind of freedom I would take in creating the projects. 

Finals makes me want to eat ice cream.

Production Report 14a

I think I really want Drake tickets so I can listen to Views live but I also think I might be poor and I don't want to pay $150 for nose bleeds. I will probably not be seeing Views live.

Audience questions

• I'm doing a college essay this time, so there wasn't much form to worry about it. The form changed from just a quick bullet point to an opening paragraph fit for an essay.
• This is just an opening section, so it wasn't too hard to come up with something to open with; production was smooth.

Anyways, here's a little bit from the opening section of my rough draft:

Opening section:

• I’m going to grab the reader’s attention by explaining what my first impressions of the course; how overwhelmed I was at the beginning, thinking that it was going to be an average “read a book, write a paper” english course.

And here's a new edited up section that I plan on opening with:

I imagine that walking into a new class at the beginning of the semester will always be a little nerve-wracking, even after I move on from being a new freshman. Walking into the first day of my honors english course made me especially nervous because it was such a small and intimate class; there wasn't room to blend in and hide like in big lecture halls. After reading through the syllabus and really understanding how much work this course would be, my nerves only heightened. All my past english courses had demanded the same sort of work and effort from me- read a book, write and analyze it, take some vocabulary tests or something trivial and that would cover it. I could always get an A with minimal effort. I was floored by what was being asked of me. Only three big assignment? I thought genres were for movies, like indie films and romcoms? I would have to adapt what I knew to new media, like podcasts, video essays and blog posts.

Does it sound too overdone? I tend to write very flowery essays.

Peer Review (14) for David

This week, I peer reviewed David's Production report 14b.

I chose to make more of a copy-editing suggestion for his production schedule.

How did I help him?

• I told David that the way that he's set up his final (organized by project) is a smart way to go, but he should consider the kind of language he's using. It seemed that in the bit he posted for his production report was written casually, giving a blog post kind of vibe. I just reminded him to be careful of this and to keep the rest of the essay semi-formal, since those are the conventions of a blog post. 
• I can't say I really incorporated many materials into this peer review, other than what I know about the conventions of a college essay (which I already know without having to reference anything).

What did I admire?

• I admire the way David has decided to go about organizing his project. Like I said, I like the chronological idea a lot and I think it will translate well into his final. I think my project lacks some organization like he has at this point, so I hope I can come up with something that makes organizational sense like him. 

It feels weird to be reviewing new content after just finishing up my project 3. I'm not ready yet guys.

Production Schedule

I have a little bit of an unconventional production schedule in this blog post. I'll be trying to get everything done quickly because I have two other finals on Friday as well :-)

So, what needs to be done?

• I need to figure out exactly how I'm going to go about organizing my information. I have a pretty good idea since I have my outline but filling in the details is what's important. 

Location?

• Most to all of this work will be done in the lib, my finals week home.

Resources?

• All I'll be using this week is my laptop and my school-fried brain. I'm doing a standard college essay so I don't need to learn new conventions or a new program!!

The Schedule:

• Monday: I'm going to try and get a rough draft done today, and as many of the blog posts for next week completed as possible. 
• Tuesday: Hopefully the blog posts are done today and I can start working on perfecting the paper. 
• Wednesday: I want to be done with the paper today and open up my content to peer reviews, so I can change anything I'll need to change. 
• Thursday: STUDY.
• Friday: FINALS then SUBMIT!

Any changes?

• Like I said, I'm open to making changes if the peer reviewers can give me good tips, but I'm pretty good at writing papers that I'm happy with the first time around. 

Alright, let's get going.

Content Outline

It feels weird to be starting a project so late in the semester. I'm trying really hard to not mentally checkout, so here's a whole new round of blog posts.

Here's a link to my content outline for this course final.

It feels like just yesterday I was making my first blog posts !! Time flies, time flies.

Revised Post to Peer Reviewers

It's out of order and late, but finally finally FINALLY I have a link to my fine cut, and my final draft if I don't change a few things here and there.

Author response

•  I doubt I'll be getting any peer reviews, but even if I did I'm not sure I would want anyone to know anything. I feel confident in my project in the way that at its right now.

• I think my weaknesses are in the way my project flows. I'm not sure if it's the most logical or chronological way of setting things up. I have to go back and mention things I said at the beginning of the project, so I hope this isn't confusing. I also vary between fast transitions between pictures and slow transitions. I'm not sure if this is a strength or a weakness honestly.

• I feel like my form is really strong. I have music and pictures and the main conventions of a video essay; I don't foresee issues in this part of my project. Like I mentioned in my reflection, my project looks better than I imagined it could look, so I'm pleasantly surprised and happy.

At the beginning of the semester, I couldn't imagine actually tackling all the projects we were assigned; now were almost done.

Peer Review (13a) for Jianna

How many peer reviews can I do in one night? Four. I can do four.

I peer reviewed Jianna's fine cut video essay.

• I chose the redesign activity for Jianna's peer review. 

• I basically told Jianna that her passion really shone through in her project, and that she used the logical/emotional appeals well. I suggested that she include more pictures and outside sources, and lower the volume of her music a little so that we can hear her more clearly.

• I used the guidelines for Project 3, as well as the video essay examples to reference for conventions.

• Like I said, I really admire Jianna's passion for her topic, as well as how personally she took on the argument. She made it clear that it meant something to her, which is something I feel that my project may lack. I also really liked the way she recorded her own screen for a bit, which is an idea I think I'm going to have to steal. 

One more!!

Reflection on Local Revision

The last reflection. I could cry. Project 3 was a real struggle guys.

What went right?

• Once I got the hang of iMovie, I think I used it very well and more creatively than I thought I could. I'm actually surprised by how professional my video essay looks; I wasn't expecting it to look bad or anything but I feel like it actually looks really good. I was also happy that I only had to cut down on content, rather than add.

What were the challenges?

• TIME. MANAGEMENT. My video ended up being 15 minutes (I know) so it took FOREVER. I still wanted to give it the same amount of attention and detail throughout the whole thing, so I think the biggest challenge was staying consistent. I also had to change my first section pretty radically, but it was more so the cutting down of information like I already mentioned.

How will next week go?

• I can 100000% guarantee that I will be doing the blogs in a timely manner, and figuring out exactly what I'll be doing ahead of time. I can't have a repeat of project 3. I'm also going to be writing a standard essay, so I won't have to worry about learning new programs or conventions. This is going to save a lot of time. 

How am I feeling about the project?

• Surprisingly good. I feel free now that it's complete and I actually like how it looks. This is probably the most confident I've felt in the final product, so I'm feeling hopeful about a good grade. 

The final is next! Freshman flew right by.

Editorial Report 13a

My project is essentially complete, but I'm going to post the editorial reports for the sake of blog continuity.

Audience Questions

• I cut quite a bit from my script to make it shorter, but otherwise it's the same content. This streamlines the argument a bit.
• Now my content is in video form instead of just a script. I already recorded myself reading off the script but now I have pictures and clips to go along with it; it looks much better now that the eye has something to follow instead of just me talking. 

Here's some of script:

One of my most vivid childhood movies is of me ducking behind a couch when i was four crying my eyes out because my parents were watching one of the Chucky movies. That movie stayed on my mind for years after that, and I can still remember the specific scene I saw. When I was young, I was incredibly afraid of big dolls like Chucky, and they still make me a little uncomfortable to this day.

Many people share this experience with me. How many of us could still be experiencing side effects from our childhood fears today? I want to briefly discuss the effect these films have on children that causes so much concern in parents before I delve into why the MPAA is not the solution.

Like I said, the content in scary movies can vary greatly. There is no way to rank which one of these movies is the scariest or which ones are completely off limits to kids because it is dependent on the movie and everyone’s own individual fears.

The same study I mentioned before done at the University of Michigan identified the most common types of “phobia-producing stimuli” found in horror films; animals, as in predators and monsters, environmental, which ranges from earthquakes to nuclear warfare, blood and gore, situational (like heights and small spaces), and disturbing sounds/distorted images, (DeGroat). Any one given horror film could use several of these stimuli to frighten their viewers, so there are many opportunities for a child to create their own phobia based on just one movie.

This complicated genre may work for adults, but the big issue is how children are affected by them. The most important thing to keep in mind is that the minds of children work much differently than adult brains; they can’t differentiate between fiction and reality until they’re about 7 or 8. Even at that age, it’s very easy for a child to let their emotions get the best of them and override their knowledge of fact and fiction. Studies show that the younger a child is exposed to frightening stimuli, the more likely that negative effects will follow the into their adult lives.

Now here's a link to this bit of script in video format. I've tried a few different ways to upload it, and sometimes it opens and works and other times it doesn't. It might be necessary to download the video, sorryyy.

It feels AMAZING to be so close to being done!