5x5 Video Challenge

To shoot my 5x5 I used a small point and shoot camera. The shooting was fairly easy since I already had a mental sense of what I wanted to do. Editing was the hard part. It took me hours trying to import and figure out WeVideo so I finally gave up and used YouTube Video Editor. It took me less than 15 minutes to edit the shots in there. I lik the way mine turned out but next time I thin I'll use more dynamic shots: maybe experiment with shutter speed, zoom, and motion. I would also like to get shots from somewhere other tha my house. Be idea I have for next time is a walk through my neighborhood.

Dystopian Trailer Review

V for Vendetta by James McTeigue, Joel Silver, and the Wachowski Beothers

In the year 2020, the United Kingdom is ruled by the fascist and totalitarian "Nosefire" party. The party has instituted concentration camps for the termination of unwanted populace, such as prisoners and homosexuals. Most live in content with this dystopian society but revolutionary and political outlaw, "V" is a vigilante who plans on gradually taking down the British Governement by uniting the masses. 
From beging, the trailer identifies the government as an antagonist and lays down a  quote that captures the spirits of the movies, starting with V's words "People shouldn't be afraid of their government, the government to be afraid of it's people." This is the most identifiable catalyst. The trailer is peculiar in that the catalyst is at the beginning. The trailer is fast paced with flashing images and intense, suspenseful music. While it is hard to get the plt or significance of characters, such as evey, (Natalie Portman) it is easy to understand where the tension lies and significant quotes like the one in the beginning reoccur to help increase understanding. 
Here's the Link

The article, "Preparing Students to Learn Withut Us,” focuses on the importance of personalized learning for students based on individual passion and interest. It urges the institution of such personalized education and clearly and descriptively describes the necessities of implementing it. It consisely explains the concept and author, Will Richardson uses effective example to support his stance.                                                                                                                                                   "We can take what could be very limiting common core requirements and put them in the hands of the students and, in return, they get to demonstrate growth by applying them to activities and assessments that align to their own passions and interests [but to do so,] we have to be comfortable with being uncomfortable, because we don't know the exact direction that a class will go when we walk in." 


These quotes essentially summarize the entire article. Coming from the point of view of teacher, it clearly states the benefits and requisits of this new learning style. The benefits are obviously increased student fascinations and learning but this requires teachers to adjust to a (for the most part) foreign form of teaching, which might prove as difficult for many. 

The article does a good job to summarize a topic that has been prevalent for years in the realm of education but what surprised me the most is the apparent neglect to similar and eproductive real world examples. One obvious one that jumps to mind is that of Montessori Education, an educational approach developed by Italian teacher and physician, Maria Montessori. Having attended a Montessori school, I can vouch for its effectiveness. Montessori education emphasizes freedom and fosters curiosity. A key aspect of this approach is the mixture of various grade levels within classrooms since everyone is encouraged to move at their own pace. The concepts are obviously akin for the most part but differ in emphasis. Where as personalized learning seems to focus on transferring required material to an understandable platform,  (passion. Montessori seems to be more focused on intellectual individuality.

I think that this concept is great t an extent. I recall in 8th grade my french teacher tried this method, where pay everything we learnt tied back to our chosen passion. It was grat for the first few weeks but if you're anything like me with multiple interests, it would get a bit redundant. This system would best work in our classroom if our "passions" we're not so rigidly incorporated.

I am personally greatly interested in music, arts,  and culture. It would be great if we could explore these worlds during this course. 

The Expendables Review

The link to my annotated review

http://diigo.com/0sv9y
Last month, Silver Chips released a review of the 2012 movie, "The Expendables." The tone of the article was an unimpressed yet positive one. Although the writer continuously emphasized the corniness and worn out feel, he also expresses it as a quench to a nostalgic thirst of classic action movies, due to it''s all star line up including Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger. The review focused too much on the plot, acting, and appeal, that it seemed to look over the theme.

My First Post

I'm Kalanzi. I'm 16 years old and in CAP 10 at Montgomery Blair High School. I'm into all types of art, especially music. The thing I like most about film making film making is audio, effects, and directing. My favorite film project was the info flow show opens we did last year. My partner Conor and I got all swagged out (dressed up very nicely) and filmed ourselves on a typical Conor and Kalanzi day set to music. We even wrote some some fresh raps but unfortunately we encountered a serious of technical difficulties. I think the blogs were a good idea. We can use them to connect the three cap groups and increase productivity for inter-group assignments. (change project e.g.) It is also serves as a possible online class communication platform and an alternate way of turning in assignments.