Tuesday, April 26, 2011

The Epic Romeo and Juliet Persuasive Essay

     The Epic Romeo and Juliet project taught much more than if a more traditional approach had been taken. This project has given the freshman students a chance to read the story in depth and get a better understanding of it. This was a hands-on project that each individual had an important part in. The students were given a chance to share ideas with the other classes as well as another school from Iowa. In addition, they will walk away from this project with lasting memories. As a project that was almost completely student run, the students gained responsibility and leadership skills. There are many ways to teach about this story in school, however no method is superior to this assignment.
     Understanding the story in depth is an important part of reading The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. The students who took part in this project, primarily the writers, were able to read the story in depth. The writers had to read the story and translate it to modern language. This helped them to read the story and get a full understanding of it. While reading the story out loud in class no one pays very much attention because they think they don’t have to. Rewriting and acting out the story forces everyone to appreciate the story. Gaining something from reading this story is extremely important. This project gave everyone a chance to read the story in depth, but it also gave everyone a chance to be a part of it.
     This project was hands-on and each person was given something to do. No student was left without some sort of role that was important to the project. If the story had been read in class, only a few students would have been given a role to read. Instead, each student was given a way to participate and no one was left out. It’s important to get everyone involved in things at school so they understand what they are supposed to learn. Getting involved makes learning and remembering the information much easier. Being involved with the project is important in school, but sharing ideas and communicating is something that is important even after the school years.
     The students were given a chance to work with their peers from the other freshman English classes, as well as some students from a high school in Van Meter, Iowa. They were able to share ideas with one another and use them to make the project even better. With so many students, there are certainly going to be many ideas that can be put together to make an incredible end product. Understanding how to use the many ideas in a way that they will all work together is a good skill to learn. It is also significant for the students to be sure they include other people’s thoughts so it is a mixture of ideas, not just the way one person wants it to be. These skills can be used in the future, especially because many jobs require people to know how to communicate well with others. With this project, students were given an opportunity to gain some communication skills that will help them in the future. Not only will the students walk away from this project with helpful skills, but they will also have memories that are sure to last for many years.
     The students had a great deal of fun making this movie. When people think back to school they shouldn’t remember boring tests and homework, but exciting projects such as this one. School doesn’t have to be boring. This project was a fun way to study Romeo and Juliet. Each student will remember this for a very long time. New friendships were formed and the whole process was enjoyable. Looking back on the project in the future will surely bring back great memories. Each student had a lot of fun making this movie and they will always remember this wonderful project. The students were given lasting memories, however they were also given great responsibility.
     The project was almost completely student run. The students surely gained leadership skills by doing this project. The students were in charge of making sure everything got done when it needed to be and if anything went wrong, they were able to come up with a solution. With so many students and different classes, it would seem that the students would have trouble keeping everything in order. However, with good communication and responsibility, things worked out rather smoothly. The students were able to learn a lot from being responsible for the whole project. Making sure that things were done correctly and on time was important for the students as well. Since the students ran the project, it also gave them a reason to try and work harder. They want to prove to the teachers, as well as others who will see the movie, that they can do big things, like this, on their own. This project could either be a success or a failure. The students obviously wanted it to be a success, so this gave them even more of a reason to work hard and get the job done right. Working on their own will let the students take pride in the work they did. The students will certainly leave this project with a feeling of pride and accomplishment.
     The students were given an opportunity to read and understand this play with great depth. Since the project was hands-on and everyone was involved, much more was taken from this experience. Each person will walk away with many new skills as well as memories. The student ran project gave everyone a feeling of achievement and satisfaction. Although traditionally taught in a different fashion, this by far was the best way to learn about The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet.
    

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Congratulations!!!!!! :D

The Epic Romeo and Juliet project is officially finished! After all the hard work and time that has been put into this project, it is a relief to be finished. It took a lot of work and effort but it was definitely worth it. I am super proud with what we all accomplished. I couldn’t have thought of a better way to teach us about Romeo and Juliet. I think everyone can agree that we learned way more from this project than we ever would have if we had just read it out loud during class and taken tests on it. This project has given us a chance to get deeper into the story. We walk away from this project with a lot of memories. This is something that everyone will hopefully remember for many years in the future. It is something that will stick with everyone. It’s important to do fun and memorable things in school because I know that I don’t want to grow up and think back to school as being a bunch of tests and boring work. This is definitely going to be something I remember for a long time. Every time I went to a filming session, I had a lot of fun. I know that the movie will be amazing and I’m so happy that I am a part of it. Congratulations to everyone for the hard work and effort. I can’t wait to see the final product!!

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Mix-up Fix-up :D

Today we were supposed to have completed our filming for all of act 3. Unfortunately this didn't happen. Last Saturday, we filmed scene 1 and it was never actually filmed. We also went to Riana’s yesterday to film scenes 3 and 5. There are little parts of both of those scenes that we will have to re-do. Those things should not take too long because they are only small sections of the scenes. We are planning on shooting scene 1 next Monday after school. So far everyone has been cooperative and all we need is for this to continue. The filming schedule has been changed multiple times, but everyone has been flexible about it.

I think that this project has been a huge success so far. Everyone has done a great job and I can’t wait to see the final product. There have been kind of a lot of mix-ups but that’s ok. This is the first time anyone has done a project like this, so our mistakes can be learned from. Also, we have come up with solutions for all of the problems that we’ve come across. These mix-ups could actually be a good thing because it gives us a chance to fix anything that might not have been as good before. For being just a group of freshman in high school, I think that this project is really good so far. I hope that the final product is just as great, if not better, than I am hoping it will be. Keep up the great work!!

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Mix Up With Scene 1 and Filming Scenes 3 and 5

On Saturday, we filmed scene 1. I thought that everyone did a great job and it was really good. This is the fight scene where both Mercutio and Tybalt get killed. In my opinion, both of the fights were really good and actually looked pretty realistic.  Unfortunately the scene never got filmed. Yesterday during class, I found out that the scene was either never filmed or somehow erased. This was not the best news and it was so unexpected. I think it's awful that it got erased, but we are going to have to keep going and figure out another day to do it. Even though we stood out in the cold on Saturday, we are going to have to not let it bother us too much or we won't be focused for other parts of the project.
Today we filmed scenes 3 and 5 at Riana's. It was fun and like the other two times we filmed, once people focused and got their lines, we had fun and it came out great. I think that both scenes 3 and 5 were really good. Everyone showed a lot of emotion in their body language, faces, and voices. The filming of act 3 is almost finished with only one more scene to go. I think that all together we did a good job and it was a lot of fun. It was definitely worth all the hard work. Everyone did a great job tonight!

Thursday, March 31, 2011

First Day of Filming Act 3!! :)

Today was the first day of filming for act 3! We went to Noelle's and at first it was hectic and people kept forgetting their lines but once we got it, it was really fun. :D We started off filming scene 4 when the Capulet's and Paris are planning the wedding for Juliet and Paris. Even though it's only ten lines long, we took kind of a lot of takes, but once we got it, we were really excited and proud. After that we filmed scene 2 and I thought that Emma and Noelle did really well. They knew their lines and they showed a lot of emotion. I thought they did a really good job. I had a lot of fun working on this so far and I'm excited to keep working on it. The more we get done, the closer we will be to the final product which I know will be awesome. Thanks to everyone for coming tonight and helping out. I know we got some good shots in and I can't wait to see how it turns out.

On Saturday we are going to film scene 1 which is when Mercutio dies. I'm excited to see an action scene be filmed since both the scenes today were just people talking with each other. This project is a lot of fun and it’s been cool to be a part of it. Keep up the good work everybody and I’ll be looking forward to Saturday for the filming of scene 1.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Week 3

Today we finalized the filming schedual for act 3. I am excited to see how the filming process works for our project. It will be fun to be a part of the filming. It will be awesome to see the final product of the movie and be think that I was a part of that. I think we are doing a wonderful job so far and we should keep up the good work. Act 1 was really good according to Mr. P and that is a good sign. I can't wait to start filming act 3 on Thursday! I think I am going to have a lot of fun with it and I'm looking forward to this.

Friday, March 25, 2011

My New Job as Director

This week the script was completed! I have now stepped in as one of the directors for act 3. The writing process was more fun than I had expected. Now that we are finished writing, we have to start making the filming schedual for act 3. The job of a director will take a lot of work, but I'm glad to have an important role in this project. I'm looking forward to see how this project will turn out. It will be a lot of fun once filming starts. This project takes a lot of effort and hardwork, but I think it will all be worth it in the end.