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Gina Dukes NHD Project

Posted by Gina Dukes in American History - Laufenberg on


Below is a hyper link to my NHD project that includes the process paper, annotated bibliography and the script of my performance.

Battling Bastard of Bataan: An account of a P.O.W.

Screen shot 2011-03-01 at 10.19.39 PM

Benchmark Reflection


I chose this topic because there weren't any other topics that interested me, and after reading the book, Ghost Soldiers,  I was so intrigued by this story that I never heard of before. I decided that the Bataan Death March would be something worth researching and would meet the topic of Diplomacy, Debate and Successes & Failures.


I knew that I wanted to perform long before I had picked my topic and that is because in school I've done a lot of projects similar to the other choices such as websites, papers, and documentaries. I wanted to do something different and I was attracted to the idea of performing because I knew that not many people would pick it, therefore my project might have a good chance of standing out.


I ran into trouble with the actual acting. I've  written many different pieces that were meant to be performed, but I've rarely had to embody a character and act. In Drama class, I would always struggle with characterization, so I figured that this project would probably help me be a stronger actor. However, now I feel as thought I've bitten off more than I could chew and while I am confident that I'll be able to perform in front of others, I'm not sure if it'll be the best quality. 


What went well with this project was the timing. I had a lot of time to write my script and because I chose to do a performance there wasn't much for me to work on except for practicing, which I think I could've done more of.


If I had to do it over I would maybe just have picked the easy way out and would've created another documentary, or I would've picked a different topic. I think that my topic was okay, but it wasn't anything that I felt particularly passionate about and it didn't stir my bones when I thought of it. I would probably pick a topic that I felt more connected to. I would also take my work more seriously. Because I chose a performance, I don't think I worked as hard as I should've and I spent a lot of my time slacking when I could've been rehearsing.


Throughout this project, I learned a lot about World War 2. I'm not sure if I was absent from school during that part of history class( I was sick a lot in elementary school), but I had a vague set of information on World War 2. Since researching the Bataan Death March, I learned  about America's past relationship with the Japanese and America's history in the Philippines. I also learned of some courageous men who survived the war and the horrible prison camps.

NHD Project: Education: the Pursuit of Justice

Posted by Anonymous in American History - Laufenberg on
I chose to do this topic originally because in my ILP (Marshall Brennan) we were learning about student rights and I thought this could become the perfect topic for my NHD project Donna and I chose to turn it into a documentary together because we originally wanted to incorporate ​my ILP into it but that became an impossibility. 

We chose to do a documentary because we are both very creative and felt we could make this our own. We also wanted to film my ILP. Even though not all of our ideas worked out we still enjoyed making the video.

We ran into trouble when we didn't have enough time to have both of us record. It ended up being that I would record and Donna would just write some of the things out for me. An easy fix but it was difficult at the time.

I feel that besides the ILP aspect it turned out exactly how I imagined it. I don't like some of the pictures we used but they were all that was available. 

I would gather all of the info first before trying to make anything because sometimes we got stuck having to go back and find things we neglected to get before. It made everything take longer.

I actually learned more about my topic this time around. There was a tad more research involved and I also had to listen to the court cases which gave me the chance to understand more of what was going on. 



Q3 Benchmark Reflection

Posted by Rick Kinard in American History - Laufenberg on
OUR PROJECT

Why did i choose this topic?
Originally i was going to do immigration in America the difference between unexcepted illegal immigration and people exempt illegal immigration. Then I figured why not go deeper and decided to talk about how becoming a citizen has changed along the years. Upon doing research i noticed the way it changed was no fair to the people of a nation we were at conflict with even if they were trying to flee.

Why did you choose this type of presentation format?
I want to do a video but

Kabbour Rizq NHD reflection America though out the ages

Posted by Kabbour Rizq in American History - Laufenberg on
Our NHD project

We chose the Topic of America through out the ages because it combined aspects from all of our projects effectively  and we felt we could do a lot with such a broad topic. We chose the format because we new from the beginning  that the message would best be conveyed through using videos. But after a few brainstorming sessions we decided we could not get everything across with just video or just words so we chose the website because it effectively combined the two mediums to make a project we would be proud of. Also we felt it would be the most accessible to the largest amount of people. We did not really run into any problems with the project the brain storming and coming up with how to host all the info we wanted was the only part that was a bit of a struggle the rest just came fairly naturally. What went well in the project was the videos and presentation. I liked the way the video went as a summary of the event for people who did not understand the background and the text was the analysis. I feel that if i ran across our website on the internet i would feel safe using it as a source to reference for a similar work. The project went quite swimmingly and i can not think of a thing I would change about it. To do the project it required we looked up information about some of the most important events in american history. I felt that it let me refresh my memory on a lot of topics i already had an understanding of but not a mastery. After this project though i feel confident in discussing at length any of the events mentioned.

Quarter Three NHD Benchmark: Gay Rights

Posted by Sofia Frank-Fischer in American History - Laufenberg on
Maxime, Julia and I worked together to create this website about the history of gay rights.

I have always been interested in gay rights. I have deep beliefs about the topic and feel personally connected to it, partly because the laws concerning gays have changed so much within my lifetime. I didn't know much about the history, but I was constantly hearing on the news about changes. Also, I knew that it was clearly a debate, so it fit the NHD requirements.
At first, our group chose to create a website. My part was the Prezi and also the conclusion. I wanted to do a Prezi because the idea of a zooming time seemed like a good one and I wanted to try to make one. Once the three of us created our website, we realized that it would not fit the requirements for a National History Day website. Mostly, that was because we had too much video in the site. We realized that our video was easily convertible to a documentary. For our actual submission, we created a documentary.
We ran into trouble with this project when we realized that our product did not fit the requirements for National History Day. I personally had some trouble trying to fit our information into matching circles in the Prezi timeline: some of the events seemed too complicated and others too simple.
Our website turned out well. We all added to it - about evenly - and it ended up looking like the hard work of three people. Not only was it aesthetically pleasing, it also contained all the information we wanted it to contain. I think that my Prezi turned out quite well, too.
I would read the rules for a website much more carefully. Then, knowing about all the restrictions, we would be able to decide between creating a website and creating a documentary. I think that I would have wanted to make a documentary originally. If we had known earlier, I could have made a Prezi that was more suited for use in a video. We also could have put more effort into the documentary and not have wasted time on the website.
I learned that the debate about gays in the military does not go as far back as I thought and that it was much more than just an argument back and forth about whether or not gays should be allowed in the military. There were other aspects to the debate, such as the Solomon decision. I also am able to clearly understand how the laws have changed recently. I learned more about creating Prezis, which is always interesting. I also got a bit more experience with how to deal with suddenly having to change a product. I had to format my project to meet imposed guidelines, which is a skill I will certainly need to have for the rest of my life.

Q3 NHD Benchmark and Reflection

Posted by Rita Willard on

Reflection
I chose the topic because I wanted to know more about it. History has never really interested me but looking at what other people(in this case nations) think and do to a person(nation) that they dislike is always some sort of spark to get me into watching or looking what happens. I chose the website format because I felt that I knew what I was doing and could create a good product with different aspects like both text and video instead of just text or just video. I ran into trouble in this project with the process paper because I am not strong in the writing area so it took me a while to get to writing the paper. I thought that I combined the video and the written parts very well and did well in getting primary sources to back it up. If I had to do it over I think I would change topics because the topic I picked was old and depressing and was not as good of a topic as I originally thought it would be. I would also change the way I went about the project because we were told we would have class time so I tried to use that to get people to look at it and help me but we never got class time so it was never critiqued well because my time after school is filled with responsibilities so there was never really enough time. I learned that my new time management has to get even better and I learned that I should never underestimate a project that looks small cause if it looks small its actually gigantic.

Women in Combat

Posted by Samuel Sirochman in American History - Laufenberg on

    We chose Women in Combat, because after looking at all of our research from our individual papers the research Brenda did was the best. Also because after consideration we figured it would be the best and easiest topic to explain in the time allotted (for the video). We chose a video because, none of us had the public speaking skills to perform live, the website was something none of us were familiar with, and a paper written by three people never turns out well. Finally, Brenda and I both take digvid, which gives us skills with film editing which gives us an advantage in this category over other participants.
    We ran into trouble with looking for a time when all three of us could work together in person, so our thoughts and ideas on the project all made an impact on the video. Although we had little time together, what time we did spend together we worked extremely efficiently in it, causing us to have a very good video that represents all of our individual ideas of the topic into one video.
    If we had to do it over, I would work on the computers in Herman's room and not these laptops, because they are much faster and would have allowed us to have an even higher quality video. I learned a lot about the struggles women had in order for them to be in combat. Also from a working standpoint, I learned how to work together with two other people on a topic that I was still learning. It was a progressive project, for me because as I was taking in the knowledge I was pushing it back out into a video.

Newon Dennis' Benchmark Reflection

Posted by Newon Dennis in American History - Laufenberg on
​Our benchmark covers the arguments between the two Koreas and how they might not ever be able to decide on a agreement together to stop the suffer of both their people. Family of their families have been separated because they had to choice a side. I think that Yadi and I both covered this subject in a serious and humorous way. To make everyone understand the problem between the countries' fighting and to bring back the thought that there's honestly no need to fight over something as little as territory and government. Yadi and I tried to take as much information as we could to and put make sure not to make too much of a joke of the two countries. We only wanted to have it come out as a a fun and yet serious way to learn of the problems going on between. North and South Korea.

Q3 reflection

Posted by Brenda Chhin in American History - Laufenberg on

Women in Combat 
  • Why did you choose this topic?
    We chose this topic because we were curious about the life of women then compared to now. Women weren't able to do certain things on how society had characterized them as. 

  • Why did you choose this type of presentation format?
    -Personally, I like to work on video documentary, being creative and to visually see your work and the information in sequential order. We also believe that as a group a video is more effective to get a point across. 

  • Where did you run into trouble with the project? 
    -Finding videos that would be helpful in my documentary and making them transition with the music and timing. It takes time to make a completed, professionalized video and we started a little late with it. 

  • What went well with this project?
    -We collaborated really well and we helped one another to complete the assignment. We had each other's back in completing this project. Individually, we found sources that we thought would be helpful and contribute every one of them in the video. 

  • If you had it to do over, what would you change about your decisions or your process?
    -First and foremost, when we started the project. We started late on the video and needed more time. So starting it way earlier than it was due 2days later would of helped us a lot but that was our personal problem. 

  • What did you learn?
    -Women had been through a lot changing their identity as women and to become independent on their on rather than the the man in the house. Taking the jobs as man and getting themselves into combat. Women were working hard to bring themselves up in society and it was all worth it. 

From Factory to Table: Food Safety in America

Posted by Theodora Farah in American History - Laufenberg on
Website is viewable here!
         I chose to do my benchmark on food safety in America because I find the issue both fascinating and a little scary.  Food is such an intimate part of our lives, and I think it is a little disturbing how disconnected we are from the origins of our food.  I chose to do a website because my project was composed of multiple, rather distinct parts, different major turning points in the history of the American food industry, which meant that it might get a little confusing.  I felt that a website would allow for better organization and visual representation.  Most of the problems I had were technical, since I do not have much experience with web design, especially using iWeb.  I also had trouble deciding how to convey all the information I had without overwhelming the pages with text.  One thing that did go quite well was gathering resources.  I had an abundance of sources of information, particularly because food safety in America is "history," but it is also "current."          If I were to do this project again, I would try to find more non-text sources, so that the final product could have a little more variety.  I would also try to get help from someone who had experience with iWeb so that I could do more with the site's design.  I learned quite a lot about the history of food safety in America, as well as about Upton Sinclair and The Jungle.  I also got a handle on the basics of iWeb, which I think could be helpful in the future, and I learned how to present the same information in different ways--turning a wordy thesis paper into a concise web page, for example.

Recruitment

Posted by Zachary Walls in Storytelling - Chase on
I've spent the last few days trying to get people to join Student's run Philly style as we are starting up and we like to start with a large amount of people. I've got a freshman so far and i'm fairly sure i can get more people. on another note STUDENT'S RUN PHILLY STYLE free hoodies,free running shoes (running shoes are 80$ you get them for free) free shirts, shiny medals, the ability to say you ran x amount of miles. Starts monday. 

City on the Hill-John Winthrops

Posted by Brenda Chhin in American History - Laufenberg on
Brenda C, Sam S, Tyler H. 

Modern translation: 

To not live a life full of sins, we must give our lives to the way, the truth, and the life the Lord our God for he is the only way. We must follow his words and have fellowship with one another since we are one church, one body. We must rejoice, work together, and if one must suffer, we all suffer. God has made us a promise and will give us eternal life in his kingdom by receiving his salvation. If we chose to look past this, we will perish and not go to the good land. 

Role play: 

Tyler has been living a sinful life, stealing, partying, doing things that were unhealthy in his life. He then lost his best friend from drug abuse and reality hit that he couldn't live like this. He prayed and God came to him in his dream and saved him. Tyler is saved. 

Quarter 3 history benchmark reflection

Posted by Dennis Mawson in American History - Laufenberg on
Our NHD project


My group chose this topic because we saw the important presence that America had in the world, and we knew that America had been through many events that determined the morals and values the country was founded on, and we decided to explore those more in depth and analyze the events, and their effect on the country.

We chose this form of presentation because it was the most direct way for us to deliver our message. We wanted to show people what the events were about in video format, and also be able to write about them to teach both auditory, and visual learners, and the website seemed to be the most direct, efficient way to do that.

We ran into trouble when it came to doing things like collaborating, and making sure that we were all on the same page about everything. It took some talking to explain to one another what we thought the project should be about, and where we should take it.

Everything in the end, ended up going very well for the project. The videos came out as i expected them to, and the analysis of the events went equally well, and overall this is an educational piece of work that I, and my group, are very proud of.

If we had it to do over, i feel as though we would have found better filming locations, even though space was rather limited, and used a better quality camera and editing system, but we did the best we could with what we had, and regardless i am still very proud of the work my group produced.

I learned a lot about history and some small details that i did not think were important before about events, that fit together in the whole and came out in the end to actually mean a lot. I also learned where the politically correct line is, and got some practice in coming close to that line to push the bounds, but still being responsible enough not to cross the line and cause problems.

SPANISH 1 Ahorita 04/03/11

Posted by Melanie Manuel on
A. ¿Quién es?

  1. El papá de mi mamá es mi...
  2. El abuelito de mi madres es mi...
  3. El hijo único de mi tío es mi...
  4. La esposa de mi tío es mi...
  5. El sobrino de mi mamá es mi...
  6. El hijo de mis padres es mi...

B. Escribe en español
  1. my brother's wife
  2. my niece's mom
  3. my aunt's husband
  4. Señor Sherif's class
  5. my dad's phone
​

Hide and Seek

Posted by Robert Glynn in Storytelling - Chase on
I hide from the world with everything that I am. What you see is just the facade I've put up. I hide in my clothes and I hide in my shoes. I hide above the ceiling looking down on you in the world. I hide from communication and from alarm clocks. I hide behind teeth and dark hazel eyes. Now I sit alone in the corner with my back against the wall and my head in my lap. I'm curled into a ball and you can't see me unless you look closely. 

But will you stop and try to find me?

3/3/11 Rant about ranting

Posted by Andrew Smith in Storytelling - Chase on
I really just felt like ranting, but I don't feel as if I should on this post, or any future posts unless it becomes possible to reply with comments, but I am fairly sure it is not possible, so I'm ranting about how its stupid that there is no like comment system on here. if they are worried about it taking up the whole page then they could just make it like an expandable comment box that wont open unless the post is interesting to you and so you click on it. The reason I don't want to rant on about stuff on here wihtout having a comment system is because rants are opinions and people should be able to comment and disagree.

IncidentZ(for3.1.11) chpt3sec4

Posted by Andrew Smith in Storytelling - Chase on

I knew I was going to die, and 10 minutes ago I would have been ok with this, but the presents of others here made me realize that although I lost so much, and I still had that numb feeling, I still had reason to live, I still had something to protect. So as the man tightened his grip I fought with all my might to break free. At this point Ted had the gunman’s Glock 18 and Jacob was pointing the Glock 19 at the big mans head. “put my brother down” Jacob ordered. The man looked un-phased by this, but he looked back at his friend who was on the ground and took a deep sigh. Then the man released me. I fell to the ground and quickly rolled out of his way and bounced back up to my feet. I was ready to fight. The large man looked at me and then back at his friend. He walked over to his friend and picked him up, checked his pulse and then he sat him up. He looked down at his unconscious friend who was bleeding and drooling out the mouth looked down and shook his head. Then he sat next to his friend and put his hands on his face as though he had a headache. No one said anything. Julia and Ted were hugging each other, and Eve ran up to hug me, dan I could tell wanted to but his male pride stopped him from doing this. He was becoming like Jacob I thought.  Most of the other people were ether staring at me or glaring at the large man. 

            Eventually everyone slowly trickled into other parts of the store, the main door was now closed once again. Everyone kept their distance from the visitors. No one trusted them, a lot of them wanted me to go up to them and talk to them, but I was still feeling down. I was out of my space, and I was eating again, but I wasn’t back to normal, no I was far from it.

            I spent the next few days eating cold soup from cans in the store, people never asked why. We set up an entertainment section and I spent a lot of my time in there, playing violent video games.  It was somewhat ironic how I was the only one who still played the zombie games. No one was even remotely interested in those anymore

            we did not get into the habit of keeping track of dates and time, because none of that really mattered anymore. That’s why I was surprised when I looked at my phones calendar to see that it was almost December.

            Its odd but its also kind of interesting, if it was not for the deaths, this life would have been considered better then our old ones. No school, free access to a warehouse full of goods. It was paradise in hell. 

            “yo smitty” john came up behind me and cut into my thoughts, “that big guy and his friend asked to see our leader, and Im assuming that’s you?” I laughed

            “sure, someone has to do it” john smiled

            “its good to have you back man, me and ted set up a parkour area were we can practice, you should check it out. Remember its good for the soul” I laughed again. Parkour sounded good right now. I got up and started walking to meet the guys then I stopped and looked back.

            “john?”

            “ya?”

            “watch my back when I go to talk to these guys, and if I ever die, then I want you and Chris to take over, don’t let our friends die anymore”

            “don’t talk like that man, things will get better”  I smiled and thought to myself, one would hope.

            When I arrived to meet the visitors they were both standing waiting for me, the guy who I shot down with the marbles was still messed up but he was smiling

            “hey man, nice shooting, im sorry we invaded like this, I supposed we owe you an apology” he put out his hand and I reluctantly took it. “we usually can’t trust anyone in this hell, but I guess surviving in numbers gives us more of a chance, my names gannon, gannon the cannon, my big friend here is fade” the big man waved “we want to offer you an apology, and an early Christmas present. We came expecting to take this place as our own, we have stocks and loads of guns and ammo by the back exit where the trucks back stuff in, your welcome to use it, but id like my glock back, it was my friends gun.” I was so taken back by this I almost fell. Theses guys were actually offering a peace offering? I thought about it

            “I don’t know, like you said its hard to trust it, and you were pointing a gun at my….err my friends sister.”

            “look we understand the conflict that we had, and we understand it will take a while for trust to form, but for now, I mean you guys outnumber us anyway. And im sorry I wont hurt your girl, iv lost mine so I know what its like”

            “she aint my…oh whatever…thanks I guess…ill tell everyone”

A Rather Lackluster Tale About Red Pumps

Posted by Christine Walden in Storytelling - Chase on
This marked the first time he had worn a suit in years. He found it uncomfortable and unflattering, somewhat like his relationship with his father. He found the comparison to be particularly fitting when considering that he was only wearing the "polyester identity repressor" at his father's request.
He walked down the hallway, obvious discomfort marring what otherwise might have been a dapper outfit and handsome face, and tried to enjoy the rather distinct clack of his shoes on the hardwood. (It was a lovely sound that reminded him of enthusiastic lip-syncing, red pumps, and companionable silences.)
He reached the door to his father study, cursed whatever stork misread the address given to him as a babe- a quiet ritual that preceded every entry into this office- and crossed the threshold. His father sat in a leather chair, reading the paper, and smoking a cigar. (Having come from a middle-class family, his father's only understanding of how properly to convey innate pretentiousness came from films- please forgive the cliched choice of snob expression on his part. He has yet to finish watching them all.)
His father chose not look away from the paper and assess the outfit when his son approached, choosing instead to compliment the sound of his entrance.
"Now that is the way a true gentleman sounds as he enters a room. Clear, strong footsteps."
The young disgruntled son smiled at the comment for he sounded just a strong and clear when he wore pumps and a well-trimmed dress. Knowing that vocalizing such an observation would in no way be welcome, he kept his silence. (His father had gotten far enough in his cinematic studies to know cross-dressing was a no-no in terms of acceptable upper class behavior.)
The boy sighed, stared down at the brown dress shoes, willing them to the reds pumps awaiting his return at his closet door.

Lyrics Overheard on my Ipod

Posted by Emma Connell in Storytelling - Chase on
Then comes pancake factor number one.
I listen for your footsteps running up the drive
The food that I'm eating it suddenly tasteless. I know I'm alone now. I know what it taste like.
But nobody cares when it gets in their heads. It gets in their lungs as it floats through the air.
I want to be forgotten and I don't want be reminded.
Birds in the sky you know how I feel. Fish in the sea you know how I feel.
Her she comes. She's gonna break your heart in two.
I lay down my life for you and do you think you deserve your freedom?
You've got her in your pocket. and there's no way out now. Put it in your safe and lock it because it's home sweet home.


​

Coincidence

Posted by Taylor Valentine in Storytelling - Chase on
I received an email today from Martin Weaver, a student at Yale, encouraging me to attend.  It was quite a long email, but this paragraph jumped off the page: 

"I should probably tell you a little bit about myself. When I was saw you in the list I got so excited, I'm also half African-American and half Eastern European, my father is Christian and my mother is Jewish! Needless to say, my childhood was filled with surprises. On top of that, I grew up in Philadelphia, PA too, and went to Quaker school for two years, but I moved to Sicklerville, NJ and attended a public school there."

His identity was so similar to mine that I actually asked my mom if I had an older brother that I didn't know about.

I don't, but nonetheless, it was surprising.