Making my final video creative

My final video project is well on its way to being wrapped up and prepared for the final project due during the week of finals. I think already my video is much better than the video I made for midterms. I downloaded the new version of iMovie which made a huge difference for me. It's so much easier to use and it has so many more effects I can apply to make my video look and sound cool. 

One way I'm going to make my video unique and different is by adding a lot of my own voice to it. In my midterm video all I did was interview others and get their opinions. This video is focused on me and my opinion of the involvement around campus. Another thing I did that was different was adding my voice overs. That was different for me because normally I am a very shy person and don't like hearing or seeing myself in videos but I wanted to do my best on this project so I decided it wouldn't be that bad.

I am enjoying making this video because I really like the topic, there's so much to talk about with it and I keep thinking of different things to add to it each day.

Video Proposal!

I'm really excited for the final video project. I really like the topic because it is very open and it's all about me. Most people like the idea because they think it's easy. I don't think that, I think it is very complex and it will be beneficial to show these videos to future incoming freshmen here at SCSU. These videos I feel can help them a lot and teach them things about school and the new environment they will be living in.

My Proposal:

I would like to focus my video on the problem of the low involvement rate on and around campus. I will offer many solutions to the problem and have different interviews of students that are both commuters and students who live on campus to explain what they think about the issue, or if they even think it's an issue at all and to have them share possible ideas and solutions as well. I will also maybe present some information about other universities and see how they get their involvement rate to be so high, or higher than ours here at SCSU. My video will consist of a lot of interviews and maybe a little research but there's not much I can really research about this problem.

Layout:

Opening/ title

Middle (interviews, pictures, slides of information, statistics, etc..)

Strong conclusion/ solution to the problem/ tie everything together

Credits!

Campus Safari #12 Attend a talk or lecture on campus

On Tuesday November 15 Wes Moore, the author of "The Other Wes Moore" came to SCSU and gave a speech from 7:30 until about 9pm. 

He explained everything from actual events that took place in his life that he wrote about in the book, to the process of having a book published. I found this speech to be very inspirational and very interesting. First of all, he has the voice and attitude of a great speaker in front of large audiences so he caught my attention right away and I wasn't bored for a second. I think his speech also kept students really engaged because he is a young and new author. He made his story out of his everyday life experiences. Wes also stressed how important it is to really evaluate your decisions before you decide to do something because you could be one choice away from making a decision that could change your entire life.

Like in his story he and the other Wes had similar lives, living in Baltimore, in the city. Neither of their mothers loved either of them less than the other. They had all the love and support they could ask for. Just one choice they made differently gave them two very different lives. One of them ended up in jail and the other ended becoming a successful author.

He told us about the process of having a book published. Everything on the pages inside is written by the author and everything on the outside (cover) the publisher decides. The publisher even names the book, the author doesn't get to do that. He told us he had about 5 other titles in mind and that he really disliked "The Other Wes Moore" as a titled for many reasons. One reason he disliked it was because in his words "What kind of selfish author puts their own name in the title of their own book?!" I thought that was funny. He made his speech very lively and fun to listen to.

Learning a foreign language: Is it really necessary?

I found these readings to be very interesting because I have always found taking a foreign language as a way to just fill up my "foreign language requirements." I actually thought of taking a foreign language a different way this year in college when I was placed in Chinese 100. The language and culture really caught my interest and when I started the class I was having so much fun with it learning the language. Don't get me wrong it is a very hard language to learn and to even become fluent in is hard to think about it. Government leaders are trying to make people who take language courses actually learn the language because in today's day and age it is absolutely necessary. The need for fluency in languages has rapidly increased, they are enforcing that people actually learn to speak the language instead of just learning how to write and conjugate verbs.

Learning a second language has many benefits to it according to the SCSU website on foreign language:

• Improves your employment prospects
• Improves your analytical abilities and study skills
• Helps you connect and befriend more people
• Improves your understanding of your native language
• Opens your mind and your world

....etc.

According to another source learning a second language improves your skills to become successful in school and can actually improve skills and grades in math and english and can also improve entrance exam scores.

I think all of this is very interesting and makes me more interested in really trying to learn a second language that I could speak fluently in, which is what I'm currently trying to do in Chinese 100.

Right side Vs. Left side of the brain

I thought the article's that Allison's group picked out were very interesting. The one I found most interesting was the article about the brain and how each side works differently.

The left side of the brain processes things in a linear manner from part to whole and the right side of the brain processes information from whole to parts, it sees the big picture first not the details.

Personally I think I am left brained because the article says the left side of the brain processes in sequence. I am a very organized person and like to make lists and schedules of things I need to get done everyday. The articles also says the way a right brained person thinks is random and can flip from thought to thought. I am not like this at all, my thoughts are very on track. Left brained students also memorize things such as vocabulary and mathematical formulas. I do this very well and have always my whole life.

I find this whole idea of each side of the brain thinking differently very interesting because as I read each description for different sections such as Verbal vs. nonverbal processing etc. I can think of my friends and family members and can guess what side they probably are just based on the way they figure things out and things they say.

Campus Safari #10 attend an SCSU sponsored social event

On Thursday October 27, I attended SCSU's fall pep rally. I always loved going to pep rally's when I was in high school and an older friend of mine who also goes here told me I should go. I had a lot of fun and it was definitely a different experience for me because my high school was so small and there were so many people at this pep rally. I really liked the Halloween theme they had because they whole gym was decorated and they had candy everywhere for people to have. 

The whole point of the pep rally was to introduce each fall sports team. As each team got called they went to the center of the gym floor and some of them practiced a dance to do or like the gymnastic girls all walked out on hand stands which I thought was pretty cool. They had music playing the whole time and different little skits for entertainment between teams. They also threw shirts out into the crowd but unfortunately I didn't get one.

I really enjoyed watching the two dance team performs because I love dancing and I miss it so much. Personally, I thought the SBDC dance team was better than the SCSU dance team. It was more entertaining and faster paced. They were both really good though and I really want to try to do one of them if I can.

Overall this was a fun event at SCSU to go to with my friends :)

Types of Learning Styles

The different kinds of learning styles has always interested me and I think it's really cool to find out how others learn best. I know that for me personally, I am either a visual or kinesthetic learner. A visual learner is one who learns by looking at graphics or watching demonstrations. A kinesthetic learner is one who learns by hands on experiences.


I found the articles Multiple Intelligence Theory to be very interesting because all of the things listed in the first paragraph I have always thought would be great things for teachers/professors to do; incorporate all learning styles into one instead of just focusing on one. I also like the point that was brought up about schools focusing on linguistic and logical-mathmatical and students who learn better by those two intelligences will do better on standardized tests than kids who don't learn as well in those two areas. If that's true than I think that's why for me I don't perform very well when given a standardized test.


I agree with Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences. Everyone learns differently so to be in a learning community where only one area is worked on it can be much harder for those other learners to succeed. 

Group Readings

I thought that Rachel's group reading and topic about stress negatively affecting people is an important thing for college students, especially, to learn about. I think it's important because the college work load can cause some serious stress for students and it's important they learn different ways to keep themselves from becoming stressed or learning ways to de-stress yourself if you're already in a stressful situation.

This is also a very relevant topic to bring up because I think that time management and stress are very closely related. The way you manage your time can really help from keeping you stressed, or it could actually cause you stress if you don't manage it the right way.

I liked the reading they posted for all of us to read for the discussion. It listed some very relaxing and fun ways to de-stress such as, yoga, a massage, meditation, exercise, etc. I actually found that exercise can be a very good way to de-stress. I wrote about that in a previous blog post that I went running one day when I was stressed and it really helped me forget about everything and get it all out as I ran. I would really like to get a massage at this point in my freshmen year of college, I feel like I have been stressed for so long I just need to relax.

I'm very interested to hear this groups discussion on stress in class!

Interests at SCSU

I have a lot of interests as a freshmen here at Southern. There are so many new things to see, learn about, and do. 

I started going to Colleges Against Cancer meetings with my two room mates just to check it out but I have continued to keep going. This club really interests me because we do a lot of fund raisers and fun activities. Our meetings are really fun too because at the beginning of each one we always do an "ice breaker" to get to know one another better. 

Meetings are every monday from 1:00- about 1:45 at the latest which works out perfectly for me since I get out of class at 1:00 Monday's. Another thing that interests me about this organization is that they raise a lot of money for the American Cancer Society by doing all these fun things. A bunch of the fund raisers we have done so far this semester have been off campus which is nice to get off campus for a few hours during the weekends and do something with friends. My favorite thing we have done so far was Zumba Pink. Zumba pink was a free class (by donation) offered to everyone at SCSU and the point was to get everyone to be decked out in pink and just have a great time while raising money for a great cause. I encourage everyone to come to a meeting and see what this club is all about!