Digital Stories

(My own digital story starts at 7:35)

Artist/Teacher Statement 
This assignment was definitely one of my favorites to do this semester. Usually, I prefer to work alone for my assignments, especially projects, but this one was much better done as a team. For our final project, we focused on a theme from the novel Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson which was different modes of speaking. Each of us group members began to brainstorm different ways in which we each like to “speak out.” We all had some sort of outlet that allowed us to express our opinions in the best way we could. It was also something we each enjoyed and had talent. After we each chose our mode of speaking, we needed to decide how we would present this cohesively and collaboratively. Since I decided that my mode of speaking was dance, I chose to do a live aspect of my presentation. The first half of my digital story are dance clips with music and my voice over while the second half was images and my live dancing. Paired with my live dancing were words on the video that describes emotions I was emitting. While I was dancing to music, behind me are these words that represent what I am expressing. This is exactly why dance is my mode of speaking that my digital story is emphasizes. It is powerful to move my body in a way that touches people and allows them to feel something. That something is what I chose. In a classroom, this would be so beneficial to use with students. I would allow them to make they're own digitals stories that represent something about their live, personal or public. This is a great tool of using media for storytelling in any setting like class.

Script/Storyboard 
“The truth about me is I love to speak and I must be heard. Dance is the best way that I can do this. I am very opinionated and my experiences are important to be heard. Being a good listener also comes with being a good storyteller. Performance is ironic because it’s in your face but it isn't always specific. Different modes of dance express various messages. What I want to express is up to me and my body and my performance.”

Part 1: 6 dance clips one after another (Genesis music track and voice over underneath)

Part 2: 5 images with words (Ambivalence, Apprehension, Isolation, Comfort, Optimism)

Part 3: Live dancing to music (Til Enda) and choreographed piece both done by myself

Game For Change

Kill Everything: The Game

This assignment was definitely the one I struggled with the most. I have been very proud of my past creations but this one does not seem as significant. For my video game, I wanted to do something that was somewhat fun to play and not just a bunch of words flying around like some of the other websites. That is why I decided to go with Sploder. I originally was designing a game using Game-o-matic but I realized I didn’t fully understand how to play the game. It was also apparently under some sort of maintenance which allowed me to not be able to save any game I created. After the confusion, I decided to go with Sploder which was fine too. With Sploder, I was able to save the game (after signing up and making an account) and customize it the way I wanted. Something interesting that I noticed is that there were no signs of female options in the characters or tools that were offered. Maybe I just didn’t find them but regardless it was interesting because it made me think of the social issue of feminism. I kind of wanted to focus on feminism as a social issue but I really found no way to incorporate that into the game. Finally, I chose the social issue of desensitization in video games. My video game is literally called “Kill Everything” and all you do is kill a bunch of little monsters without even thinking. I address the fact that killing and violence is so apparent in our society that most video games, even simple ones like mine, center around this theme. I would not use this in my classroom because it seems less effective and more problematic. I don't think the social issues are well portrayed in these games or at least the platforms that I found….

Sources:

http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/violence-desensitize.htm

http://www.utsa.edu/today/2013/08/videogames.html

http://health.usnews.com/health-news/news/articles/2013/05/09/violent-video-games-may-numb-players-to-brutality-study-finds

Process Piece: Choreographing

I decided to focus on the choreographic process for this assignment because I thought it could be well expressed through video. Although audio was not part of the final product, I realized it didn’t necessarily need it. Because the video is dancing, I assumed not having any audio would be detrimental. Fortunately, the visuals spoke for themselves and didn’t need sound to convey the message. Being a former dance major but still an active dancer allows my passion for dance to grow even more. This is why I decided to portray a process I was very familiar with but also enjoyed. The choreographic process involves more than what is shown in my video which was the real challenge. I went back and forth deciding what is significant in the choreographic process that needed to be included. There was a lot of editing to be done in the 3 minutes of footage I had. After careful reviewing, I deleted chunks that weren’t necessary and extended the ones that needed more emphasis. For example, the beginning of the choreographic process involves tons of workshopping and selection of movement. I included a lot of footage of counting and marking movements to show moments of thought process that happen while choreographing. In the middle of the process, there’s tons of trial and error instances where changes are constantly being made for aesthetic reasons and so forth. In the end, there is a finished product which is solidified and finally the performance quality is added. This process is not simple but I think through video, it can be expressed interestingly. Thanks to my best friend Ethan, there were great camera shots in the footage that I appreciated. This assignment was probably the most fun to make because it explored my creativity, artistry, and passions altogether.

Round Robin

Beyonce was having such a hard time thinking about what to do for her next world tour.

She knew she should be paying attention to the game, but she was just so preoccupied with her thoughts she couldn't concentrate.

It was her first time away from her child, since she had been born, and she was in a state of panic, thinking about the possibilities of the new babysitter messing everything up!

 Luckily the babysitter, Kimmy, had a lot of experience with kids and took care of everything for her.

There was no more stress to be had, so everyone kicked up their heels in relaxation to enjoy big bowls of jelly and ice cream.

When this assignment was first being explained, I was not sure how I felt about the structure. It seemed very simple but it also very reliant on other participants. Usually, I am reluctant for these types of projects but I was excited to try this new idea. I think the concept of having several people contribute to one story is intriguing. It turns out that having so many a variety of perspectives offered into one product results in something very cool which is a funny story in this case. My story was something I was so anxious to get done. I sent the first part of my story that same Wednesday and got the second part back soon after. I wanted to know what others would say about the topic. The result was so understandable even though each person, beside myself, could only see the sentence and picture before them. Surprisingly, my entire story made sense and was entertaining. Because of different knowledge of Beyonce and Kim Kardashian, personality traits and relationships were included in the story contributions which made it good. I would say using this in the classroom would be incredibly practical. This is fun because students would be applying their knowledge of stories or plots they are familiar with to make a better one. They can also use their own imagination to write relevant stories that relate to what they have read. This assignment is a cool twist to doing things like writing alternate endings to stories or practicing critical thinking skills.

Textual Poaching

  

Original Clip

For this assignment, I decided to focus on my Latino ethnicity and the correlation between Hispanic and American culture. I was thinking about what would be a good representation of my background and I thought of a few representations but the best one I thought was a scene from this movie. Selena is a biographical film about a Mexican-American singer Selena who was killed by her manager at the peak of her career. The reason I focused on this part of the movie in particular was because of what was being discussed. In this scene, Selena’s father and telling her and her brother how hard it is to be Mexican-American. He talked about how to fit into society as a mix-cultured person, you have to be twice as American as the Americans and twice as Mexican as the Mexicans. I completely identified with this and thought this was a great representation of myself. Since I am Venezuelan-American, I created a six gifs from the scene with significant quotes. I also changed when Mexican was used to Venezuelan to make it self accurate. This scene is important because I feel it is valuable to understand what it is like to be a mix-cultured person. To fit in to the cultures you belong, you must prove yourself more than those who just belong to one. I think this would be a great exercise to do in the classroom because students will really have a long and creative journey. Thinking about the process, this did take me a while to figure out how to create the gifs and then edit them. With simple tutorials and experimenting, I finally got the hang of it. Giving the students thorough instructions will help them do this a lot easier.

Twitter: Common English Problems

https://twitter.com/CmmnEnglishProb

For my platform, I chose to use Twitter. I am familiar with most of the social media sites but I decided this one would be the most practical for me. As a teacher, I think about what would be the most convenient for my students to use. Twitter came to mind because the ease of the site. I then thought about what is something that would be interesting that they wouldn't mind reading. Because of a trend of correcting grammar on social media, I decided to make a twitter that gives suggestions/corrections on how to use words in English. This is beneficial for student in terms of their writing. Whether it is for assignment or casually, there are tons of words and phrases that are used incorrectly. With this twitter account, I can update students and followers on how to use common incorrect usage of English words. As an English teacher, I would tell my students to follow this account to stay caught up with updates from the account. Another idea would be to have assignments based on the updates from the Twitter where they would have to apply something new they learned from the account to their writing. Students could also use this among each other. It is already pretty common for users online to correct spelling and grammar but this account could be used as a source of that information. With useful updates, this account could gain credibility with students and gain popularity. In the classroom, this is practical and fun.

Six Word Memoir

I Wish I Had Nines Lives

I actually had tons of ideas for this assignment. There were a few six word variations of my memoir but I finally decided on this one because it represents me the best. “I wish I had nine lives” says a couple things about me. One is pretty obvious which is…I LOVE CATS. Any feline, you name it, I am completely obsessed. The image I chose is a picture of my cat, Max, and I. He is back home and I love and miss dearly. As crazy as it sounds, cats are very important to me. I focused on the myth that cats have nine lives because it really appeals to me. If I had nine lives, I would be able to develop all of my passions that I currently have. Because of time and circumstances, I can only focus on a few of my passions in life. I love volleyball, dance, soccer, movies, super smash bros, cats (worth saying again), languages, teaching, food, cultures, etc. I wish I had nine lives because with them, I could do and accomplish everything I’ve ever wanted. When I am passionate about something, I completely fall in love with whatever it may be. Naturally, I put so much effort into things I am passionate about. Wanting to have nine lives relates to my love for cats but also to the many passions I have that I wish to develop. This activity will definitely be useful in my future classroom because it will give students an opportunity to get to know each other but also themselves. They would see how classmates define themselves but also how they define themselves individually. This could be a very cool concept for self identity.