iMovie Self Evaluation and Peer Review

I've done it on my last blogpost. I evaluated two group's so I will do two more. Here are the rubrics:

My iMovie:

Content Rubric
Introduction~ A description of the pharaoh is relevant, factual and correct. Time he/she ruled is correct.	5	4	3	2	1
Pharaoh’s accomplishments ~ Clearly explains the important contributions the pharaoh made during his/her rule.	5	4	3	2	1
Architectural Achievements ~Clearly describes and explains the important buildings/monuments that were built during this time. Explain how evidence of their religious beliefs is shown in these buildings.	5	4	3	2	1

Skills Rubric
images ~ All images are relevant, interesting and of good quality (saved properly as a jpg). Images match narration throughout.	5	4	3	2	1
Narration ~ Voices are clear, loud and fluent with good intonation. It is obvious you have practiced your part before recording. No background noise.	5	4	3	2	1
Transitions & Effects ~ Subtle transitions between the parts of the presentation are used throughout. Any effects used only enhance the message and are compatible with the image content.	5	4	3	2	1

Dania and Johanna's -

I- Movie Presentation

Group members: Dania and Johanna

Pharaoh: Nefertiti Final Grade: 30/30

Your movie should be approximately 3 minutes in length ( no more than 4 minutes)

Content Rubric
Introduction~ A description of the pharaoh is relevant, factual and correct. Time he/she ruled is correct.	5	4	3	2	1
Pharaoh’s accomplishments ~ Clearly explains the important contributions the pharaoh made during his/her rule.	5	4	3	2	1
Architectural Achievements ~Clearly describes and explains the important buildings/monuments that were built during this time. Explain how evidence of their religious beliefs is shown in these buildings.	5	4	3	2	1

Skills Rubric
images ~ All images are relevant, interesting and of good quality (saved properly as a jpg). Images match narration throughout.	5	4	3	2	1
Narration ~ Voices are clear, loud and fluent with good intonation. It is obvious you have practiced your part before recording. No background noise.	5	4	3	2	1
Transitions & Effects ~ Subtle transitions between the parts of the presentation are used throughout. Any effects used only enhance the message and are compatible with the image content.	5	4	3	2	1

Notes:

I really loved their presentation. The introduction was wonderful because they said how long Nerfertiti ruled for and when she was born. I also liked the intro page because it was very creative. Their pictures were wonderful because they matched the timing and they matched the subject. The voice they used was very nice because they explained a few things then Johanna pretended to be Nerfertiti and spoke as if she was Nefertiti.

William and Cameron's -

I- Movie Presentation

Group members: William and Cameron

Pharaoh: Khufu Final Grade: 23/30

Your movie should be approximately 3 minutes in length ( no more than 4 minutes)

Content Rubric
Introduction~ A description of the pharaoh is relevant, factual and correct. Time he/she ruled is correct.	5	4	3	2	1
Pharaoh’s accomplishments ~ Clearly explains the important contributions the pharaoh made during his/her rule.	5	4	3	2	1
Architectural Achievements ~Clearly describes and explains the important buildings/monuments that were built during this time. Explain how evidence of their religious beliefs is shown in these buildings.	5	4	3	2	1

Skills Rubric
images ~ All images are relevant, interesting and of good quality (saved properly as a jpg). Images match narration throughout.	5	4	3	2	1
Narration ~ Voices are clear, loud and fluent with good intonation. It is obvious you have practiced your part before recording. No background noise.	5	4	3	2	1
Transitions & Effects ~ Subtle transitions between the parts of the presentation are used throughout. Any effects used only enhance the message and are compatible with the image content.	5	4	3	2	1

Notes:

Their presentation was short but enjoyable. Their voices had lots of echo but that wasn't their fault. The pictures were good but they weren't of Khufu although they did have to do with what they were saying. I also enjoyed the 'background music.' ;)

Victor and Ramon -

I- Movie Presentation

Group members: Victor and Ramon

Pharaoh: Ramses II Final Grade: 30/30

Your movie should be approximately 3 minutes in length ( no more than 4 minutes)

Content Rubric
Introduction~ A description of the pharaoh is relevant, factual and correct. Time he/she ruled is correct.	5	4	3	2	1
Pharaoh’s accomplishments ~ Clearly explains the important contributions the pharaoh made during his/her rule.	5	4	3	2	1
Architectural Achievements ~Clearly describes and explains the important buildings/monuments that were built during this time. Explain how evidence of their religious beliefs is shown in these buildings.	5	4	3	2	1

Skills Rubric
images ~ All images are relevant, interesting and of good quality (saved properly as a jpg). Images match narration throughout.	5	4	3	2	1
Narration ~ Voices are clear, loud and fluent with good intonation. It is obvious you have practiced your part before recording. No background noise.	5	4	3	2	1
Transitions & Effects ~ Subtle transitions between the parts of the presentation are used throughout. Any effects used only enhance the message and are compatible with the image content.	5	4	3	2	1

Notes:

The introduction was very good because they had all the required information. They included all the accomplishments as well. They also had the architectural information. The pictures matched their narration and the transitions were good.

Sorry about the spacing. I don't know what happened. I tried fixing it but it didn't work.

Pharaoh iMovie Reflection

In humanities class, we had to make an iMovie about an ancient Egyptian pharaoh. My friend and I chose to study about the pharaoh Khufu. It was graded with a rubric. We have to write a reflection based on that rubric. Here's how I thought I did:

I feel that we had a good introduction about Khufu because we had a lot of background information including info about Khufu's parents and children. In terms of Khufu's accomplishments, we didn't really have much information. I think that we did pretty well with architectural achievements because we wrote a lot about the Great Pyramid of Giza which Khufu built.

I think we did well with images because we had about 20-25 pictures and only repeated about 2 pictures twice. It took a while for Mao and I had a bit of trouble synchronizing the photos and our narration but I feel the content of pictures were very good. The narration itself was clear and we could understand our own voices pretty well. The transitions in our iMovie were pretty good but we repeated some transitions.

Content Rubric
Introduction~ A description of the pharaoh is relevant, factual and correct. Time he/she ruled is correct.	5	4	3	2	1
Pharaoh’s accomplishments ~ Clearly explains the important contributions the pharaoh made during his/her rule.	5	4	3	2	1
Architectural Achievements ~Clearly describes and explains the important buildings/monuments that were built during this time. Explain how evidence of their religious beliefs is shown in these buildings.	5	4	3	2	1

Skills Rubric
images ~ All images are relevant, interesting and of good quality (saved properly as a jpg). Images match narration throughout.	5	4	3	2	1
Narration ~ Voices are clear, loud and fluent with good intonation. It is obvious you have practiced your part before recording. No background noise.	5	4	3	2	1
Transitions & Effects ~ Subtle transitions between the parts of the presentation are used throughout. Any effects used only enhance the message and are compatible with the image content.	5	4	3	2	1

Total Grade: 27/30

Micah and Rosee did their presentation on the Pharaoh King Tut. They had good information about King Tut and they had interesting pictures. Although they repeated the pictures once or twice, I liked how they had an end slide that gave us a nice laugh. This group didn't have MLA format though.

Another group, Johanna and Dania did their project on Nefertiti. I liked the way they narrated the information. They didn't just read it out in a boring, bland way. Johanna acted as if she was Nefertiti and she said things in her point of view. Their pictures were really nice because they matched the pictures with the narration really really well. I think they had MLA citations but I'm not sure.

This is the URL to watch my project about the Pharaoh Khufu: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fApkB6svaCo

City Connections Reflection

In humanities class, we had to make a project about our home city. We had to list environmental factors, historical factors and statistical factors. I did my project on Boston, Massachusetts.

I think I had good pictures, I spoke with a clear voice and I listed all my sources.

I need to improve on eye contact. I remember when I was looking at the screen a lot instead of looking at the audience.

I learnt that everyone has a different style of presenting. Some people had a table of contents while other people didn't have any introduction at all. I also noticed that some people really enjoyed presenting while others didn't really like the event.

From Micah's presentation, I learnt that Singapore was founded by Dr. Stamford Raffles. And from Raissa's presentation, I learnt that the population of Melbourne is 4,000,000 people and the ratio of males and females is 50:50.

I feel I could have done better with the environmental factors because I only had one. I feel I did well with the historical factors. For the statistical factors, I didn't get to put the languages that are spoken in Boston and I didn't put the religions that were practiced in Boston. I could have added more maps of Boston but I feel I had enough pictures in all. I also had all the websites I used for my research.

I think that I did pretty well for my presentation but I should have had more eye contact and I should've tried to grab the audience's attention. Ayaka and Dylan had a little game which made the presentations fun but I didn't even have much information. Other people had 10 slides while I had 6. I think I could have added more information on each subject. Otherwise, I think I did pretty well.

Learning Profiles: Profile A

In class one time, Mr. Whiting came in and taught us about learning profiles. If you know your learning profile, then it will be easy to learn because you know what you need to improve on and what your learning strengths are. I have an A profile meaning these things:

I learn best when I focus on the details of what I'm studying. The best ways I learn are by studying, communicating with others and writing. I like to do things in an orderly fashion meaning that I like to do things in order.

I could improve with my gestalt side of my brain. (The creative side.) Being a person who's logical side of the brain is more dominant, I need to do more of seeing the big idea or the big picture. I also need to improve with my ability to think more with more variety. If I could combine all my knowledge together, then it would help my learning process very much.

Things that I can do to help my learning process are if I brainstorm my ideas, I have to trust my instincts and just do what my gut tells me to, I have to express my emotions more, I should do more sports, I should learn that it's okay if I don't understand something and that there are things that are unusual like things can be two different things at the same time and lastly, I should role play personal happenings to understand the big idea. There are other things that people with A learning profiles could do to improve their learning but I feel I already do them.

I would like my teachers to know about me is that I am limited when working under stress. I like being organized so that I can find my things easily and I understand my own work. I am a student that enjoys doing activities that keep me active even though I am not a gestalt learner. I enjoy reading and writing the most. I enjoy activities that involve tech gadgets or things that we do on the computers.

This is a picture of my dominant body parts. 

New Year's Resolution/New Year's Day/Laughing/My two Brothers

One of my new year's resolutions is to write more. I don't write very much at all. I enjoy writing but I don't do it enough. When I start writing, I go really deep into the story and make the story long and it has many details. The problem is that I don't write enough. I would like to write as much as I read and I read quite a lot. I want to write more so that I maintain the creativity of my imagination. If I don't write enough, I'm afraid that I won't be able to think up good ideas and plots for stories and my writing level will go down.

Another resolution I would like to achieve is that I'd like to make more friends. I already have many friends but I'd like to make more.  Making friends is good because it gives you time to socialize and show who you are to new people. I'd like to make new friends because I want to expand my choice of people to hang out with. Even though I already have many friends, I like making new ones because I like to know that if some of my friends leave school, I have my other friends to help me get over my sadness and I can count on them to make my school year fun even without my other friends who left.

My family celebrated New Year's in Hong Kong. We went to the 50's which is a place where they play live music and they welcome children in. The music they play is mostly old songs and songs that aren't really modern. That's why they're called The 50's. The 50's moved from one street to another place because they had to tear down the building that they used to be in.

When we walked into the new 50's, the first thing we saw was a table of people that must have been over the age of 60! We squeezed our way over to our table and sat down. I sat in the biggest, most comfortable chair there. The difference from the old 50's and the new 50's was that the new one is more modern. It is also more stretched out. The new 50's is more like a club and the old 50's was more like a pub. I prefer the new 50's very much. After a few songs, the band introduced the Elvis of Hong Kong. He sang a few songs by Elvis then handed the mic back to the band. They sang a few more songs then all of a sudden, I heard a kid's voice! I realized that it was twins singing "Baby" by Justin Bieber! After the kids sang that, the band went back to singing. Before we knew it, it was 12:00AM! The band sang a celebration song and we all linked hands and sang along. Then, we formed a konga line and went around the place. Everyone joined in! We were happily dancing around and eventually, our feet ached so much, we had to stop. I sent text messages to my two half brothers and my second cousin saying happy new year. After a while, we realized it was already 2AM! My dad and I were hungry so we went with one of the band members and my aunt to eat noodles. After that, we went home and had a good night's sleep.

One of my talents are making people laugh. I enjoy making people laugh because I like to see that I make people happy. I also like making people laugh because I like laughing! I'm a kind of person that can make a joke out of almost anything.

Something that not many people know about me is the history of my family. Most people don't know that I have two half brothers that live in Hong Kong. Both my mom and dad were married before. They both divorced and married each other after meeting in a pet store that they worked in. My mom had me when she was 43 so my parents are pretty old. They're old enough to be my grandparents and my brothers could be my parents! One of my brothers already has 3 kids!

Literature Circles - Working Together

This week, we got to do our lit. circles with a partner. My partner was Raissa and I found that we worked quite well together. Working in pairs made it easier to get information because we can talk about it and help each other. When we help each other, we move through the lit. circle quicker. The chapters we did were chapters 10-14 and I found that it was harder to do these chapters because not much happened in them. Working with Raissa really helped me succeed in the lit. circles because she helped me find a good passage and a good question. My weakest point in all lit. circles are the question. I think Raissa really helped me achieve my goal of actually succeeding in making a question. Working with a partner also helped us understand the book more. As I said before, we can talk to each other about the book when working together. At some parts, I didn't understand what was going on. Raissa helped me understand and that probably will boost up our grade for the lit. circle. I look forward to doing other lit. circles with Raissa because it makes the experience fun too!

Lit Circle Reflection

In humanities, we are doing lit circles. Lit circles is where we read a book and then we have to write a mini report about the chapters that we are assigned. We must find 2 important passages, make two questions that can't easily answered, we have to make two connections or reactions about the book and we must find two vocabulary words that we either don't know the definition to or is and interesting word. Here is some more about

During our group's lit circle discussions, we tend to get very excited about the book, True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle. Our discussions have much to do with figuring out what happens in the next chapter and we tend to predict a lot. Early in the book, we already knew who was the bad guy and who was good. We added up many tiny tiny clues and we figured out what the bad guy, Captain Jaggery is going to do to Charlotte and to the crew of the ship. Some of the important parts of the book we discussed about to get to the predictions we have were when the ship cook, Zachariah, gave Charlotte a dirk, when Charlotte is scared with a head in the top cargo and when Charlotte finds a pistol in one of the crew member's chest. These were important because the dirk is going to help Charlotte defend herself later in the book, the head was a mystery to Charlotte and the pistol is one of the most important parts of the story because now, Captain Jaggery is starting to show himself in front of Charlotte unlike before, when he was acting like he was a well mannered man. This pistol starts chaos. Captain Jaggery calls all the crew members and tortures them but only two of them. He punches one in the chest and he dies and then he whips the other until he dies. At least that's what we think. He might not be dead yet. Here are some of the connections and reactions we talked about.

As I said before, we talked about predictions and what's going to happen next. Those were what most of our reactions were about. Some of the connections we made were about how Charlotte related to other characters in other novels. We also had connections about life experiences like how we might have needed courage like Charlotte did when she found the head. One of my connections was about when Charlotte had to say good  bye to her chaperon in the very beginning of the book. I remember the time I said good bye to my best friend's mom and I felt the same type of pain.

One prediction we made was that Captain Jaggery is going to take Charlotte's knife that Zachariah give to her and then Captain Jaggery will kill someone. It will look like Charlotte did it because it was, after all, her knife. We also predicted that Cranick was the stowaway and that prediction was correct. We had another prediction that the crew will launch an attack to captain Jaggery. That one was also true. When we first started reading the book, we thought that Mr. Grummage, the person who lead her to the boat, was Captain Jaggery. This prediction wasn't true.

I enjoy this book very much and look forward to reading more.