The Eighth and Final Blog Post - Reflection

 I had never written a blog before, nor I had understood what a blog was used for. While I am still a bit confused, I know how useful a blog can be, even though some blogs are only opinions. However, most blogs are informational and filled with the author's voice. There are travel blogs that recommend what to do in which city or country, there are blogs about reading and writing tips, and about recipes for food. There is a blog for just about anything!

While I felt like I struggled writing blogs in the beginning, I feel like my most professionally written blog was my very first one about technology. I feel like I tried really hard to sound professional and this kind of resembles an academically written paper (or that is what it feels like to me).

The blog that I enjoyed the most making and felt the most passionate about was actually my fourth blog post, which is my creativity nomination. Anytime I can explain my passion and how digital storytelling has been around for ages before it even had a name, the enthusiasm and work ethic of my writing shoots up when I get to write about my passions. There are so many great games out there that came out on older gaming systems that involved storytelling, such as "The Legend of Zelda" and "Sonic", which recently came out with a second movie.

My multimodal design nomination is the blog where I introduced myself by creating a collage. For this blog, I had to create a digital collage of my interests and hobbies, and I had never done anything like that before. I had asked my peers what program they used or where to go, and I was recommended to use canva, which was my first time using it. I loved being able to use a multimodal device to put saved pictures and google images together in a cohesive manner, without the use of glue, paper, and having to print the pictures out. It was a fun experience and I will probably be using canva in the future!

As for my civic engagement nomination, it would have to be my seventh blog post where I posted a video I made to go with the book I read for that specific topic. The section I chose to highlight from the endangered species list were wolves, which are my favorite animal, but there are so many animals on the endangered list and more awareness needs to be raised, especially when it comes to leaving animals alone in the wild. I can not emphasis that enough. My dad, step-mother, step-uncle, took a trip to Yellowstone National Park, where the animals are wild, but it is a sanctuary and the animals roam free. There were a couple times where we would see a ton of buffalo either on the side of the road or in the middle of the road, and people would park, get out of the car with their child in their arms, and encourage their child to try and pet the wild buffalo. Wild animals are not pets, they are not domesticated, and something can go horribly wrong if one tries to interfere with the wildlife. Luckily nothing happened while we were there, but ... yea, that topic gets me heated, apologies.

As for my people's choice award ... oh boy. I would have to say Rigel's posts. I would read her posts and be able to relate, and we were also able to have some good conversation about what she had written.

Thanks for being my blog posts buddies this semester and I hope to see some of you in class next semester!

Pro Blog Post 7 - Digital Story

For my book, "Back From the Brink: Saving Animals From Extinction" written by Nancy, F. Castaldo, I chose to make a digital story which may have turned out to be a Public Service Announcement (PSA) on Kizoa. This is my first time creating a non-recorded video with music, text, and pictures, but it was a fun way to let my creativity flow. Normally, I only make Power Points, but there is so much more that can be done with video making. Though, I still prefer Power Points because they are more in my comfort zone, but it is important to try new things and explore outside of the box, or outside one's comfort zone.

With the book I chose, I knew immediately what I wanted to do because there is a section on wolves, and wolves are my favorite animal and I wanted to spread awareness about the importance of wolves. The music I chose for my video fit very well with my text and pictures I included in my video and I think it adds a bit of emotion and intensity.

By using a movie to convey the message, it can reach more people in this world of media and online, as almost everyone has access to the internet. A movie also makes it more entertaining as opposed to just hearing someone speak, as some voices tend to be monotone and there is always more than one way to convey a message. It is also beneficial to have the lyrics or the music line up to the images or text that the message is trying to convey.

I would encourage multimodal devices for my students to help spread the word about the cause or causes they wish to take up as said previously, it will reach thousands of people if posted online and it will raise awareness at a very high rate.

Please enjoy the movie I made and the link may ask you if you would like to be redirected, and make sure to hit 'yes' or to click on the link it is redirecting to.

https://youtu.be/fnE0NC--tLA

Note: For some reason my Kizoa link was not loading the video on my end, so I decided to download it and upload it to youtube. It has been awhile since I uploaded a video, and I did not realize I could edit my videos on youtube as well! I may try to use youtube for my next project, but that would be another learning curve.

Pro Blog post 5 - Writing

I think most students want to to know why they got a certain grade they did, or for them to clearly see where points were taken off, and I think a lot of students tend or start to cater their writing styles to what their teachers are looking for, so they do not have their own voice; they are just simply following the prompt and the rubric, and I think teachers need to be a bit more open minded about what the students write, as well as specific to the students. Yes, most teachers will give the rubric to the students prior to the paper submission so the students know what the teacher is looking for, but rubric's can be confusing. I know when I am given a prompt and rubric to work off of, I am confused because it does not explicitly say what the teacher is looking for and I have had other classes just give the assignment, prompt, and in detail what they are looking for with no rubric, which makes more sense to me. As a whole for the student base though, I think students also want consistency with their assignments and that they do not want to write about the same topic multiple times. Students want a range of freedom within a topics and a variety of assignments, but the grading would need to be consistent.

I have had classes where I would have the prompt, discussion, etc (stated above), no rubric, and it would be on a topic I did not necessarily care about, so I would not give that paper or assignment the time it deserved, but I would somehow get an A (perfect score; 100), but there would be no comments. In my Egyptian mythology class I took a semester ago, I got a ... I think 99.5 or 98.5 out of 100, but I did not know why my paper was docked (and I never asked the professor), so there is still that psychological component of: "where did I go wrong? What didn't I do that needed to be done?" Teachers need to give feedback and a why they gave the grade they did, and if the student has a lot of corrections they could make, the teacher should allow the student to edit to increase their grade.

From peers, it is hard to say what students need from them because they may want their friends to read their papers in order for them to get affirmation that their paper is good and makes sense. However, some students do not take constructive criticism well and if a peer makes a comment or suggestion and the teacher takes off for that suggestion or comment, then that could cause conflict between students, and not all students want their paper read by their peers, as often times, students will have the same questions and not necessarily know what to look for. A writing coach on the other hand, is someone a student may not necessarily know and a writing coach is there to help improve the student's writing and there are some students who may not want the help or take the writing coach's comments seriously and I was blessed that the students I worked with took my comments to heart and thanked me for my help and I enjoyed reading their papers and I got to learn some information I had not previously known before.

For my link this week, it took me a little bit to find one as I did not necessarily know what to search for, but ironically enough, I came across two blogs:

https://writingcooperative.com/how-to-just-write-c1e613f48171

https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2014/08/07/improve-writing-skills 

The first blog just talks about how to write and not necessarily focusing on any grammar or spelling, but to just write and the author goes through some steps on how to make this happen. One of the steps requires finding the courage to allow others to read what you have written, which can help alleviate some anxiousness for submitting assignments or allowing peers to read the writing. The second blog (again, kind of ironic) I connected with immediately due to: "Nothing strikes fear into the heart of a marketer quite like being asked to write a blog post". While I am not a marketer, when I saw the syllabus and that we had to write blogs for this class, my anxiety and stress started to soar and my brain immediately began to overthink because I had never done a blog before (which apparently I had in French class in high school, but I blocked those assignments out of my brain). The author then describes a variety of ways to improve the writing, including but not limited to: brushing up on the basics, dissect readings that you admire, and accept that first drafts are never perfect.

Digital Storytelling - Pro Blog post 4

My experience with digital storytelling I guess begins when I started playing video games. After reading the article "Place-Based Digital Storytelling" by Chisholm & Trent, it got me thinking about how playing an online multi massive role playing game (MMORPG) could be counted as digital storytelling. A MMORPG consists of creating a character, which is a different persona than that of the player sitting behind the computer screen, as in the game, the player will only see the character they created, non-player characters (NPCs), monsters, and other players' characters that were created. Most MMO's (multi-massive online) will have their own game lore, as well as quests that the NPCs can give the player to earn better equipment, items, and experience. The quests will sometimes explain the lore, but most people ignore it to get to the game's content. For example, I play an MMORPG called "Dark Age of Camelot" which has three different lores of storytelling in it, but one does not need to know the lore to play. The game is divided into three realms, and each realm has x amount of races, and x amount of classes, and race/class combinations. One realm is called Albion, and the main city is Camelot. The races include Highlanders, Avalonians, Britons, and a couple others. The classes include Wizards, Sorcerers, Paladins, Clerics, Theurgists, and many more. One of the dungeons is called Stonehenge Barrows, which is a dungeon in the middle of a Stonehenge, and another place called Hadrian's Wall, which I just found out was a real place and that is just one teeny tiny introduction. But, the creators included lore from stories that players would know, or could research if they wanted to.

Other than gaming, I took a storytelling course at UWM online, and the way we told stories was by posting on online discussion posts on D2L. While we did not record ourselves, it still required us to type out our stories and post them online. However, I would be interested in taking this storytelling to another level by creating a video, as storytelling has always been interesting to me, especially with how far storytelling has come, and storytelling has many forms.

The forms that I enjoy are digital storytelling (as mentioned above), book trailers, and video essays. I feel that these three give the most creativity for creation and output. I feel like these are the three I would use the most in a future classroom to promote writing for students. With being creative, there is not necessarily a wrong answer. One can make up a story in a creative writing class, and create a recording with images. If the student wanted to, they could record themselves telling a story with an accent, or fit their story to a song they enjoy that would fit the topic or story they are portraying or telling to the class. A video essay may intrigue a student who does not like to write, but it would encourage them to write at minimum a script and still require them to search for sources. As for a book trailer, it is similar to a digital storytelling video in the sense that the student gets to have fun making a creative project with images, music, texts, or even voice overs that talk about a book they have read. All these options still require the student to write, but the writing portion itself would not be as daunting to the student.

I got really curious, so I searched for digital storytelling in MMORPG, and found the following two articles. I should have mentioned earlier as well that it is not just MMOs that have storytelling, but many video games do, and there are different varieties or genres for video games. There are: Roleplaying Games (RPGs) such as Skyrim and the older Final Fantasy games that are single player, but have more of an open world feel; there are turn-based or real time strategy games such as Warcraft or Heroes of Might and Magic; and of course one has to mention the Pokémon games which are based off the tv show, but took their own spin with the games, which still follow the storyline of the show in a sense. Anyway, the first article talks about how people want a rich storyline with good character development and that it is more important in gaming. The author says: "As a gamer, you’re not the viewer, you’re the actor! We find ourselves quickly invested in the characters because we’re not just watching them; we’re interacting with them. No other form of media can do this. Gaming places you in the story. " This is what makes gaming unique. I highly recommend reading this article. The second article requires one to download the pdf, but it gives a bit more of a background to gaming as an overall concept, and gives a bit of insight as to where gaming started and where it is going. As I had said earlier, storytelling in general has been around since ancient times, but the modes have changed. Before video and PC games got big, table-top gaming was the next big thing, which is how Dungeons and Dragons (DnD) got so big. While DnD is not digital, it still required the Dungeon Master (DM) to read handbooks and create a story for their group to enjoy. The group would then build their own character on a character sheet, and the stats (strength, intelligence, wisdom, and more) were figured out by rolling a 20-sided die, and their characters would be portrayed with a figurine that would be placed on a dry erase map on the table. Each player (including the DM), would take turns. Some people would take DnD a step further and do a live-action role playing game (LARP'ing) which is where the group would dress up in costume and act out what they are or were doing.

https://www.mmorpg.com/columns/interactive-storytelling-evolution-2000094484

https://www.aaai.org/ocs/index.php/AIIDE/AIIDE09/paper/download/799/1062 (will direct you to download the PDF version.)

Role playing is still going on and has been used in classrooms. For example, in a previous class, I was roleplaying as a teacher and a classmate was roleplaying as the parent of a fictional student. We did this twice. Once was for a parent-teacher conference, and the other was to talk to the parent about a problem the student (their fictional child) had. I hope to use this form as well as the other methods to try and make the classroom interactive and fun, and another means of students to learn and be involved with one another.

The Process of Writing - Pro Blog 3

I have always found self reflections difficult to write, and this post is no different as it is a reflection of one's own writing or writing process and I am not sure how my process differs from others' process as each person has a different way of writing or working through a problem. The problem in this case, is the writing process ... I know that does not make much sense, but it does to me. And now I am ranting ... anywho.

I guess my writing process starts with trying to figure out a topic that I want to write about. For example, in my history class this semester, we have to write a research paper, but we get to choose the topic as long as it relates to the class. In this class and another class, we also get to pick a topic, given this class and the other are projects, but to me, projects and writing are the same. It all boils to the topic. Once a topic is chosen, I then need to conduct research and figure out which quotes I want to use. Once I have the quotes (in a separate note document), I can then begin writing. I differ because I do not use outlines or graphic organizers. I just write. I am not sure if this would be classified as pre-writing, as this is just a way to get ideas to flow, and I cannot skip around. I have to start with a title, intro, body, and conclusion. A lot of people have told me to just start with the body, but in my mind, I cannot, and the title, intro, and conclusion have always been my weak spot. This is the same process for projects, minus the quotes. A project needs a topic, research done on the topic, and if the project is being presented, an intro, body, and conclusion, and the project itself may change and be edited. One idea may not work and so the entire project needs to be revised.

Once I have my 'pre-write' written, I then use this document as well as my notes document to write the rough draft that will be edited and submitted as a final. However, as Flower & Hayes state: "We may call the second draft a “final,” but this is a misnomer, one that leads to a misguided sense of how real-world revision works. It is almost impossible, unless you get very, very lucky, unless your topic has been living in your head for a long, long while, to go from first thinking to working draft in just two tries. A writer may rework a draft for publication three or four times, put it away for a while, and then rework it three or four more. Sometimes, this process goes through several cycles, each of them a combination of rehearsing, drafting, and revision" ("The 9 Rights of Every Writer A Guide for Teachers" 68). I realize this is a long quote, but it provides an explanation for the thought that a piece of writing is never truly complete. A piece of writing can always be worked on or edited or revised.

The articles https://writing.ku.edu/writing-process and

https://cmsw.mit.edu/writing-and-communication-center/resources/writers/writing-process/#:~:text=Writing%20is%20a%20process%20that,develop%20and%20expand%20your%20ideas. explain the processes of writing in a summarization as well what each step means. There is one difference between what step 2 should be, which is if research is needed. Other than that, step 1 is prewriting, step 2 (research if needed) otherwise drafting, step 3 is revising, and the last step is editing.

I was going to provide a picture of the documents themselves, but as these were written for a class, I decided to just take a picture of my saved files, as I did not want to break any Academic Conduct rules. But in Essay One notes are quotes as well as the questions that needed to be addressed in the Essay. Using Essay 1 notes, I was able to write Essay 1 without having to go back and fourth between the texts, as I had already picked out the possible quotes. That does not mean I used all the quotes in my notes, it just means I had an abundance of ideas and I was able to write my paper in a way that incorporated the quotations I had found.

A Biography About MY Experiences - Pro Blog 2

Hello All! My name is Krystine Rabe and I am an Undergraduate at University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. I am currently studying English Education as well as Classics (specifically ancient civilizations). If I am being honest, I am not a huge fan of reading and writing. With that being said, I thoroughly enjoy writing creative stories and researching about other cultures and the various myths associated with them. The trick for me personally is finding a topic I can really connect with. For example, I have written about how archaeology provides information on ancient cultures and how certain individuals may have been treated, and most of this information comes from burial sites. It is truly fascinating what one can learn and how similar ancient cultures were to one another. My reading interests are the same as my writing interests: Fantasy and myths.

My reading and writing experiences mainly come from school experiences. I have read and given feedback on papers written by my peers, and I have received feedback from my peers as well as my instructors, which was a personal challenge. As an introvert and over thinker, I feel like going to an instructor during office hours or before or after class feels like I am imposing on them, which is not the case. Instructors and teachers are there to help and after going to a few of my instructors for additional help, I felt more at ease with my writing and what they would be looking for on future papers. The best I advice I can give to those reading this blog is to go to an instructor if you are struggling. While they will not tell you what to write, they will give you questions to ponder and do not be afraid to bring in a rough draft for them to look over. A rough draft is not the final piece that will be turned in, and there is so much a writer can improve on from a rough draft to the final draft of turn in.

Other than loving to learn about other cultures, I also have a degree in Information Technology Network Administration, and I served as a United States Marine doing and learning about Supply Chain Management. I also have two tattoos: a yin/yang with a dragon in the middle, and my other tattoo is of a dragon holding a twenty side die with a straw hat on its head.

In my free time, I love to watch Netflix, Disney + (I love Disney movies), Hulu, and Amazon Prime with my cat. I love to watch: fantasy, adventure, mystery (even though I can never figure out who did it), and romantic comedies, as well as anime. A few of my favorite shows and movies include: Mulan (animated version), Legally Blonde (both one and two), Fuller House, Knives Out, Frozen (the second one), and most recently Sing Two. I also love to play video games, board games, and card games with friends and family. As for future plans, I hope to travel to Ireland, Scotland, England, Japan, and all over Europe.

If anyone wants to know more, please feel free to ask in the comments!

I have also included an article for those who find it difficult to read, such as myself: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/2xTPv88xR0nt1GVhQZRKt1L/want-to-read-more-books-ten-tips-to-help-you-turn-over-a-new-leaf. The articles lists a few tips, such as joining a book club, listening to audiobooks, and don't be afraid to give up on books you're not enjoying. The last tip I mentioned is probably the hardest tip to accomplish, as sometimes it feels like an obligation to finish a book that was started. I just want to reiterate this: If you rent a book from the library, and you just cannot get into the book, please return it and search for a different book. Do not try to force yourself to read a book you do not like (unless it is a requirement for a class, in which case talk to the instructor to see if there is an alternate book you could read).

Technology: Where has it been? Where is it going? - Pro Blog 1

Even though computers and technology were fairly new when I was growing up, I remember always having a computer in the house. My dad was a computer programmer or data base administrator, so we needed one for when he was on call for work, but mainly we used the computers for computer games. Given, our internet was using Dial-Up back then, so connections and downloads were slow, not to mention this was a time where households only had landlines and with Dial-Up, you could either be on the internet OR on the phone, but not both at the same time. The funny thing is that while I am older than Google, Youtube, Tiktok, Snapchat, Facebook, etc, I do not remember much of what it was like without these social media applications. There was one assignment when I was in first or second grade, and I had to look up definitions for vocabulary words we were learning. I remember using a dictionary my dad kept on his desk, whereas now, one just needs to go to Google or Dictionary.com to look up a word. In addition, for most of my group projects, we use Google Docs so the group members can access the information and complete their portion when they have the time to do so as long as it is completed by the deadline provided. Google docs enables cooperation between group members without having to find time to meet in person. If someone has a question, they can post a comment or write the question in the document and then someone else will be able to answer the question in a timely manner, or if there are two people accessing the document at once, the updates are live. It is truly amazing and terrifying at how far technology has come.

I never used Myspace, which was the same concept as Facebook, but I am always on Facebook and another app called Discord. As a gamer, I tend to come across a lot of friends online from all over the world, and Discord allows us to text, voice, or video call without giving and real information. However, Facebook is nice to stay in contact with family and friends that do not live nearby and messenger is a lot faster than sending a handwritten letter. Facebook is also beneficial to me personally as my brother is in the Army National Guard and he sometimes has access to social media when he is deployed.

Jenkins (2006) "Executive Sumamry, Needed Skills & Participation" (pgs. 3-11), Haddix & Sealey-Ruiz (2012) "Digital Literacies for Urban Youth," and DeJaynes & Curmil-Hall (2019) "Critical Inquiry & Civic Engagement" touch on how technology and digital media have been affecting students and teachers in general. With technology never going away, many teachers are faced with how do they keep up with technology, without leaving students behind? Many English teachers require papers to be either turned in online, or printed out and turned in. This is an issue as not all students can afford access to the internet if research is required, or the student may not have access to a computer at all. Another issue that arises with the use of technology is that the teacher cannot control what website(s) the student goes to. This was an issue that occurred during the shutdown with Covid and I saw it first hand with my niece (now 9) and nephew (now 8). There were times when they would have to attend zoom meetings and they would be on a different tab playing a game or closing the video. My best friend could only do so much to make them pay attention. With the class being online, the teacher did not have much authority and there was little she could do.

While technology can be a double edge sword, it is convenient:  https://www.waldenu.edu/programs/education/resource/top-five-benefits-of-technology-in-the-classroom is an article that explains why technology is important to integrate into the classrooms. Technology can be used to access materials, incorporates different learning styles, and prepares children for the future. Technology is never going away and is constantly improving.