Learning Essay
I had never heard about “melodrama”. When I first came to the class, I was nervous because I never heard about the word and I cannot find any clear definition of it. It's a relief when I learned that we were going to read Harry Potter. However, how to write it in a melodramatic way wasn't very clear to me. I modified the words in the paragraph I chose and picked a part that seemed melodramatic to me. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
I began to gain a more complete idea of melodrama after I read Ben Singer and the Communist Manifesto. Before class discussion, I wrote a first version of my reflection on Communist Manifesto. After class, I rewrote it and compared Ben Singer with the Manifesto. In the next class, we performed in assigned groups the Poor of New York and the People's Lawyer. Each group needed to choose one or two parts from the plays and each person in the group was given at least one role. We were required to perform in a melodramatic way. This class was a lot of fun. It did help me understand melodrama better. After reading Linda Williams, each of us needed to post three questions for our classmates and also answer three questions. I like this interactive way of learning. By referring to my classmates' questions, I learn about their perspectives on melodrama.
To be honest, the watching of the Birth of a Nation isn't so delightful. This film lasts about 3 hours and is completely silent. I spent the whole night watching it and finishing storify. Storify is a new thing to me and it makes me panic when I watched the film, because I kept thinking how to use storify. However, after I finished watching and started to use storify, it's not that hard for me. The other use of storify is also to write a reflection of a film. The Battleship Potemkin.
For readings of Elizabeth Anker, we are given the assignments of the following:
Use presentation software such as Powerpoint or Prezi to present the following in thoughtful context:
a) Two examples of media stories that are completely unrelated to 9/11 or similar themes that seem to you to confirm Anker’s views;
b) Two stories that Williams helps you to analyze;
c) Two stories or issues where you think a melodramatic approach to journalism might be justified (again, avoiding 9/11 related themes).
This is my first time using Prezi and the layout of the pages is a little bit messy. However, overall, I feel satisfied with my work on prezi. And in Prezi, one of the two stories I tell is about white pollution. When I decided to choose the topic for my project site, I'm recommended by Marc(my professor) to use white pollution.
Then we start building our websites. Weebly is another new thing to me. I like this class because I learn to use many interesting websites that I shall never use if I didn't take this class. My first try on weebly is to write a poem by myself on reflection on one of Langston Hughes' poems.
Another website used is Wikia, we write a short passage about the Jungle.
Bitstrip is interesting and illustrative. With it, we write our literature reviews. Though the form is comic, bitstrip can still convey a message vividly. My version of bitstrip
Last but not least, our project website is the focus of this semester. It's a complete work. I feel proud to have it done. Overall, my final hypertext includes twenty pages with an average of two or three internal links per page. I have five navigation bars. My site has two external links, contains a 2000 word printable essay version. I have an annotated bibliography with six sources total.
I began to gain a more complete idea of melodrama after I read Ben Singer and the Communist Manifesto. Before class discussion, I wrote a first version of my reflection on Communist Manifesto. After class, I rewrote it and compared Ben Singer with the Manifesto. In the next class, we performed in assigned groups the Poor of New York and the People's Lawyer. Each group needed to choose one or two parts from the plays and each person in the group was given at least one role. We were required to perform in a melodramatic way. This class was a lot of fun. It did help me understand melodrama better. After reading Linda Williams, each of us needed to post three questions for our classmates and also answer three questions. I like this interactive way of learning. By referring to my classmates' questions, I learn about their perspectives on melodrama.
To be honest, the watching of the Birth of a Nation isn't so delightful. This film lasts about 3 hours and is completely silent. I spent the whole night watching it and finishing storify. Storify is a new thing to me and it makes me panic when I watched the film, because I kept thinking how to use storify. However, after I finished watching and started to use storify, it's not that hard for me. The other use of storify is also to write a reflection of a film. The Battleship Potemkin.
For readings of Elizabeth Anker, we are given the assignments of the following:
Use presentation software such as Powerpoint or Prezi to present the following in thoughtful context:
a) Two examples of media stories that are completely unrelated to 9/11 or similar themes that seem to you to confirm Anker’s views;
b) Two stories that Williams helps you to analyze;
c) Two stories or issues where you think a melodramatic approach to journalism might be justified (again, avoiding 9/11 related themes).
This is my first time using Prezi and the layout of the pages is a little bit messy. However, overall, I feel satisfied with my work on prezi. And in Prezi, one of the two stories I tell is about white pollution. When I decided to choose the topic for my project site, I'm recommended by Marc(my professor) to use white pollution.
Then we start building our websites. Weebly is another new thing to me. I like this class because I learn to use many interesting websites that I shall never use if I didn't take this class. My first try on weebly is to write a poem by myself on reflection on one of Langston Hughes' poems.
Another website used is Wikia, we write a short passage about the Jungle.
Bitstrip is interesting and illustrative. With it, we write our literature reviews. Though the form is comic, bitstrip can still convey a message vividly. My version of bitstrip
Last but not least, our project website is the focus of this semester. It's a complete work. I feel proud to have it done. Overall, my final hypertext includes twenty pages with an average of two or three internal links per page. I have five navigation bars. My site has two external links, contains a 2000 word printable essay version. I have an annotated bibliography with six sources total.