Journalism Project Reflection
This journalism project was probably one of my favorite projects so for in Humanities class. For this project we dove into a current issue that we felt was important to ourselves. We researched the topic and found credible sources that we could use for evidence and wrote an article supporting our argument. Each student either created the article by there selves our with a partner of their choice. I chose to work with a partner (Owen Hickerson) and we combined ideas and came up with an article. Our topic was Colorado's marijuana laws and how it is has been beneficial and negative to the state. During the process we made a outline of our article and shared it with our peers. Then, our peers edited our paragraphs and made grammatical changes that we could fix to make our paragraph better. After that, all of our class typed up their first rough draft hoping for this to be the last draft they type. Once that was completed and edits were made we discussed our article with Ally and finalized our rough draft. Now that our final draft is done we got into groups and figured out how we are gonna make our newspaper and who is going to do what. Our class split into teams, each team with a different role on putting the newspaper together. In the end, our class created a beautiful website with each of our topics in a different folder. We exhibited the website to the whole school on Monday and I feel like this project was a complete success.
This project has shaped the way I see journalism, the media, biases and balance because when we started this project I learned about things that I never knew before. There are so many techniques that media uses to persuade the reader. The language and word choice they use can totally change the readers bias about the topic they're reading about. I also learned that many media sources have a certain bias and that can effect how you perceive the information given to you, but some media sources do not have a bias and those should be the sources where you get your information. So from now on I'll know where to get my news from and what sources I can get it from.
My journalism skills developed in this project because each of us took on the role of becoming an actual journalist. We developed skills on our own but we got most of our help from our teacher Ally. Some of the skills we learned were trying not to have a bias, choosing a topic that is relevant to you and our community, and editing our paragraphs so that they are as professional as they can be. If I were to do something different next time it would be to work by myself and put as much effort into the project as possible. Something I did well on was exhibiting my information and gathering the credible sources to use in my article.
This journalism project was probably one of my favorite projects so for in Humanities class. For this project we dove into a current issue that we felt was important to ourselves. We researched the topic and found credible sources that we could use for evidence and wrote an article supporting our argument. Each student either created the article by there selves our with a partner of their choice. I chose to work with a partner (Owen Hickerson) and we combined ideas and came up with an article. Our topic was Colorado's marijuana laws and how it is has been beneficial and negative to the state. During the process we made a outline of our article and shared it with our peers. Then, our peers edited our paragraphs and made grammatical changes that we could fix to make our paragraph better. After that, all of our class typed up their first rough draft hoping for this to be the last draft they type. Once that was completed and edits were made we discussed our article with Ally and finalized our rough draft. Now that our final draft is done we got into groups and figured out how we are gonna make our newspaper and who is going to do what. Our class split into teams, each team with a different role on putting the newspaper together. In the end, our class created a beautiful website with each of our topics in a different folder. We exhibited the website to the whole school on Monday and I feel like this project was a complete success.
This project has shaped the way I see journalism, the media, biases and balance because when we started this project I learned about things that I never knew before. There are so many techniques that media uses to persuade the reader. The language and word choice they use can totally change the readers bias about the topic they're reading about. I also learned that many media sources have a certain bias and that can effect how you perceive the information given to you, but some media sources do not have a bias and those should be the sources where you get your information. So from now on I'll know where to get my news from and what sources I can get it from.
My journalism skills developed in this project because each of us took on the role of becoming an actual journalist. We developed skills on our own but we got most of our help from our teacher Ally. Some of the skills we learned were trying not to have a bias, choosing a topic that is relevant to you and our community, and editing our paragraphs so that they are as professional as they can be. If I were to do something different next time it would be to work by myself and put as much effort into the project as possible. Something I did well on was exhibiting my information and gathering the credible sources to use in my article.
Imperialism on Trial
This Imperialism on Trial project was based around the book “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe. We made a mock trial about whether Okonkwo was responsible for his suicide or was the British government responsible. We put the case on trial and went to the county courthouse to process the case. My part in this case was a lawyer who represented the District Commissioner and Reverend Smith. I wrote direct examination questions for each character and interviewed them so that the truth about Okonkwo’s death could be exposed. I had to present in front of a jury and audience as I presented my case and defended my witness.
My role in this mock trial was a lawyer who had to defend two witnesses, Reverend James Smith and the District Commissioner Cecil Dansforth. I wrote direct examination question to prove that my side was not responsible for Okonkwo’s death. Some of my stronger questions are “What crimes did Okonkwo commit?” and “What happened to your church?”. I thought that these questions really brought out the unstable part of Okonkwo and proved that he was responsible for his own death. As a lawyer, I would get up on the podium and ask my witness questions that brought out points on why Okonkwo was stable and committed suicide.
During this project, I developed a lot of skills that I realized I would need later in life. During this project I worked with people that I wouldn’t usually work with. Being able to work with people that you don’t get along with or don’t usually work with is a great skill because you never know the situation you’ll be put in or the people you’ll work with. Another awesome skill that I really developed was my public speaking skill. I was a lawyer so I had to ask question to my witness in front of a bunch of people. Some of which I knew and some of which I didn’t. The last skill that will really help me and I can use in the future is the skill of learning how to talk in court. I learned the norms of how to talk in court terms and the proper body language to use in a trial.
Overall, I took a lot away from this project, academically and personally. I learned what imperialism is and how it affected the country of Africa. I took away that Europeans did things that they didn’t think would hurt anyone but they really did. I also learned how imperialism affected so many countries and how it changed the lives of indigenous people forever. I also took away a lot of the skills above that will help me in the present as well as the future.
This Imperialism on Trial project was based around the book “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe. We made a mock trial about whether Okonkwo was responsible for his suicide or was the British government responsible. We put the case on trial and went to the county courthouse to process the case. My part in this case was a lawyer who represented the District Commissioner and Reverend Smith. I wrote direct examination questions for each character and interviewed them so that the truth about Okonkwo’s death could be exposed. I had to present in front of a jury and audience as I presented my case and defended my witness.
My role in this mock trial was a lawyer who had to defend two witnesses, Reverend James Smith and the District Commissioner Cecil Dansforth. I wrote direct examination question to prove that my side was not responsible for Okonkwo’s death. Some of my stronger questions are “What crimes did Okonkwo commit?” and “What happened to your church?”. I thought that these questions really brought out the unstable part of Okonkwo and proved that he was responsible for his own death. As a lawyer, I would get up on the podium and ask my witness questions that brought out points on why Okonkwo was stable and committed suicide.
During this project, I developed a lot of skills that I realized I would need later in life. During this project I worked with people that I wouldn’t usually work with. Being able to work with people that you don’t get along with or don’t usually work with is a great skill because you never know the situation you’ll be put in or the people you’ll work with. Another awesome skill that I really developed was my public speaking skill. I was a lawyer so I had to ask question to my witness in front of a bunch of people. Some of which I knew and some of which I didn’t. The last skill that will really help me and I can use in the future is the skill of learning how to talk in court. I learned the norms of how to talk in court terms and the proper body language to use in a trial.
Overall, I took a lot away from this project, academically and personally. I learned what imperialism is and how it affected the country of Africa. I took away that Europeans did things that they didn’t think would hurt anyone but they really did. I also learned how imperialism affected so many countries and how it changed the lives of indigenous people forever. I also took away a lot of the skills above that will help me in the present as well as the future.
The Truth of War
Learning about the truth of war was something that I was very excited to get into. Learning about the many wars our country has been in and why we have decided to go to the wars has completely changed my view for this country. Our class dove into the topic of the Cold War first and made our way all the way to the Vietnam war. Diving deeper into the meaning of any war can give you a true perspective about the political stand points for each side. The truth of war can really be conveyed through some sort of product that gives awareness to the truth about that war. The truths can be positive but also very negative as well. To portray our personal opinions on the truth of war my peers and I all created an art piece that displays our opinion on a certain topic of war. We displayed our artwork to strangers and friends to raise awareness for the topic we chose.
A lot of my skills, including academic and physical, improved when working on this project. We had a lot of time to do work so I had plenty of time to improve my various skills. When working on the actual art piece my group had to build a scale from scratch. All we had were a bunch of 2x4’s, some plywood, and no carpentry experience. That’s where the improvement comes in! Never knowing any carpentry skills I advocated for myself and ask for some guidance from a friend. After learning the basics and being able to drill a screw into some wood, I finally was able to screw in a support to some plywood. After that, it was no problem for me to drill things and I helped drill in about 4 more pieces of wood. My carpentry skill has greatly increased since the start of this project. My academic skills have also improved. Writing the artist statement was a struggle and I couldn’t find the time to make it the best it could be. Learning from this, I know now that next time I should put my best writing skills into the paper and triple check it. I also need to find more time to work on my essay because the paper wasn’t the best it could have been.
When it comes to the truth of war, it is hard to determine if it is the actual truth or a lie made up so that we as people can feel comfortable about the subject. But to find the real truth of war you are going to have to look deeper than the media and what political figures tell us. You have to look at the facts and make your own realization about the truth of war, because finding the truth about war can reveal a lot of things about your country and its political views. The truth of war may also make you realize how bad war is and the damage it does to not only people but communities and economies as well. War is a horrible thing and if more people realized the damage and hardship it brings than maybe the world would change.
Learning about the truth of war was something that I was very excited to get into. Learning about the many wars our country has been in and why we have decided to go to the wars has completely changed my view for this country. Our class dove into the topic of the Cold War first and made our way all the way to the Vietnam war. Diving deeper into the meaning of any war can give you a true perspective about the political stand points for each side. The truth of war can really be conveyed through some sort of product that gives awareness to the truth about that war. The truths can be positive but also very negative as well. To portray our personal opinions on the truth of war my peers and I all created an art piece that displays our opinion on a certain topic of war. We displayed our artwork to strangers and friends to raise awareness for the topic we chose.
A lot of my skills, including academic and physical, improved when working on this project. We had a lot of time to do work so I had plenty of time to improve my various skills. When working on the actual art piece my group had to build a scale from scratch. All we had were a bunch of 2x4’s, some plywood, and no carpentry experience. That’s where the improvement comes in! Never knowing any carpentry skills I advocated for myself and ask for some guidance from a friend. After learning the basics and being able to drill a screw into some wood, I finally was able to screw in a support to some plywood. After that, it was no problem for me to drill things and I helped drill in about 4 more pieces of wood. My carpentry skill has greatly increased since the start of this project. My academic skills have also improved. Writing the artist statement was a struggle and I couldn’t find the time to make it the best it could be. Learning from this, I know now that next time I should put my best writing skills into the paper and triple check it. I also need to find more time to work on my essay because the paper wasn’t the best it could have been.
When it comes to the truth of war, it is hard to determine if it is the actual truth or a lie made up so that we as people can feel comfortable about the subject. But to find the real truth of war you are going to have to look deeper than the media and what political figures tell us. You have to look at the facts and make your own realization about the truth of war, because finding the truth about war can reveal a lot of things about your country and its political views. The truth of war may also make you realize how bad war is and the damage it does to not only people but communities and economies as well. War is a horrible thing and if more people realized the damage and hardship it brings than maybe the world would change.