All Mixed Up?

For our last project of the year we had to create our own documentaries.  I choose to do mine on racial identity.  This is something that I connect with personally, as I am of mixed race and have received an increasing amount of questions from those around me recently and this is a way to address them.  I hope to one day continue to study this topic and continue my research to eventually turn this into a real deal, full-scale documentary.
Here is the link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQmeIC3TXuI

Janet Lomax Interview

In September, I was provided an opportunity to interview Janet Lomax, a local news anchor for channel 10 News.  I asked her questions about women in journalism and her career.  The following are photos from the event:

Reflection

Journalism Reflection 2013-2014

            The Creative Journalism course that I took this year was a fun and interesting new experience.  I learned many new things and experimented with many components of the ever-increasing communication field.  We have done things like PSA campaigns with press releases, commercials, photojournalism and currently documentaries.  My favorite unit and project we have done was the photojournalism unit and photo essays.  I really connected with my topic because it was about my grandparents and the church that they were married in.  I feel like my photos turned out quite beautifully for my first try at photography.

            Another one of the projects I enjoyed this year was writing my 1,000-word article on education throughout the world.  Again, this was another topic that I feel strongly about.  I feel like American education needs serious reform, and soon before our country falls behind in certain ways on a global scale.  It took quite a bit of research to complete the article, but I am glad that I did.

            Overall, I feel that Creative Journalism has helped me grow as a person and a student.  As a person it has taught me how to be a little more dedicated and hardworking when seeing my projects through to the end.  As a student it has bettered my academic writing and researching skills.  I feel like I have grown and accomplished many new things this year in Creative Journalism. 

Commerical

     We did a unit in TV and commercials and this is a mock commercial I did for Apple's Ipods.

     http://youtu.be/5c_P_vAozR8

Bio Video

To begin our documentary unit, we started by creating short personal bio pics on ourselves.  Here is the link to mine:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqI947tQwIg

PSA Video

Earlier in the school year, we had to get into groups to create a PSA package.  This is the link to the video I created with Grace and Yasmine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nym28cEdLA0

1000 Word Article on Education

Education Around the Globe

by Jaymee Pride

           

Education has always been important to the success and fulfillment of individual personal life goals, but it has become imperative for the success of a nation’s future society.  Interestingly enough, even though the United States is a world power, the country isn’t doing so well in the educational field, although it has all of the resources available to do so.  On PISA exams (Programme for International Student Assessment) the United States ranked seventeenth overall out of sixty-six countries. 

The PISA exam is taken globally to measure the skill of students worldwide in literacy, math and science.  A few countries among the top ten are Shanghai-China, Finland and Japan.  All of these countries are smaller than the United States of America, yet they are seeing far better scores and are ranked higher on national as well as international exams.  The education systems of Shanghai, Finland and Japan differ greatly from each other; but the US could take away some strategies from each country.

FINLAND has been the most talked about country when it comes to education.  In the 2009 PISA they ranked first in science and second in math and reading, the only country ahead of them was South Korea.  Finland is a small country with a population of around 5.4 million people and spends thirty percent less per student than the US, yet still manages to have some of the highest test scores in the world.

Finland began its educational reforms about forty years ago in an attempt to industrialize after World War II.  Their educational system is quite different from the western world.  In Finland, children don’t begin school until the age of seven so they have a chance to be a kid and learn through experience.  The academic abilities of students are not accounted for in the first six years of their educational careers and the only mandatory standardized test in Finland is taken at the age of sixteen. 

There is much less pressure put on Finnish students because their goal isn’t to compete but to better themselves.  Homework isn’t given until teenaged years as well.  One of the more interesting things that Finland implemented was smaller class sizes and more teachers.  Classes have less than twenty students and on average three teachers.  Two of the three teachers instruct while the third helps those who are having difficulties. 

Overcrowded classrooms pose a challenge for American schools who usually average one teacher per class and at times, upwards of twenty-five students.  In Finland teachers are also just as prestigious as doctors of lawyers, because their job is just as important.  The wages for teachers in Finland are much better than those for American teachers.  Teachers are responsible for the future of their nation, in theory.  The kids they teach are the future of their nation.  The children also treat them with the respect that they deserve as well.

All Finnish schools have a student welfare team made up of the principal, classroom teachers, special education teachers and the school nurse and psychologist.  They meet frequently, usually every other week to discuss problems and students that may need interventions.  Academic interventions are put into place at the first sign of trouble so the student isn’t struggling to keep up.  It is also very rare for Finnish students to be held back or move up a grade.  Finnish education is funded 100% in full by their government, which is a big deal.  In America at the beginning of the recession, education was one of the first things to which spending was cut.  Overall, Finland’s education system is so successful because everyone involved works together to reach the high standards they set.

JAPAN has a educational system that contains lots of regulations.  Their Ministry of Education keeps a close watch on ciricculum and textbooks to maintain a higher standard.  The Japanese educational system, like Finland, underwent reforms after World War II. 

The amount of years students were to attend mandatory schooling was made longer and is similar the US system of elementary, middle and high school and then university if desired.  The population of Japan is one of the best educated in the world and enrollment in high school is about ninety-six percent nationwide. 

The approach  to education in Japan is very uniform, standards are set high and are expected to be met, which puts pressure on students.  Many students in Japan are competitive and are compelled to do well in schoool.  Japanese students have an ambition that may go unmatched by any other country.  Teachers are respected and thought of highly as well as all other authorities and elders.  A lot of focus is on sciences and technology as Japan is a very industrialized country.  Much of Japan’s industry is in the manufacturing of automobiles and consumer electronics, those companies include Canon, Sony and Toyota.  Much of Japan’s success is due to the fast-paced nature of their culture that requires their students to meet the high standards set for them.  If they don’t, the nation of Japan would loose the position it holds in the world.

SHANGHAI in China has also been at the top rung of the educational ladder.  The system in Shanghai pairs high performing schools with those who are not quite meeting standards.  The stronger schools equip the lower performing school with a management team that works with teachers and helps give strategies and help with lesson plans.  In Shanghai high schoolers have nine hour days with breaks for exercise in-between lessons. 

The Chinese culture places a great value on education, but the high standard that exists in Shanghai isn’t the same all over china.  Shanghai is an industrialized area with a population around twenty-three million people and there are resources available that the rural areas of China do not have acess to.  Shanghai’s success rate is also high because the students have a passion for learning and desire to better the society in which they live.  In the future it would be great to see the rest of China with the resources to replacate the system that has worked so well in Shangahai.

If the United States used bits and pieces from each of the high performing countries like the smaller class sizes and early intervention in Finland, the high expectations that Japan has for it’s students and the value that Shanghai has for education it would be possible for America to make the list of high scores on the international assesments.  It also wouldn’t be a change that would happen within a few years, achievement and success on that level takes commitment.  The countries talked about above with the highest scores on international exams began their reforms at times when they were faced with great challenges after war and economic collapse.  The US shouldn’t wait until it is completely leveled to the ground to face a problem that is as important as the entire future as a nation; America needs a successful reformation in education soon, before it’s too late.

           

Source(s)

I used facts, figures and statistics from:

ncee.org

washingtonpost.com

something.org

Edutopia- youtube.com

AFTHQ- youtube.com

japan-guide.com

St. James Church Photo Essay

     For my photo essay I chose to focus on Saint James Church in Batavia, N.Y.  It is historic as well as personally relevant.  The church building on the current site is over a hundred years old, but from the church's website I learned that the original church began construction in 1816 and was located on Ellicott Street, which is less than a mile away from where the building is currently.  The 'new' building finished construction in 1908 and has stood tall on East Main Street ever since.

     This photo was taken from the side entrance of the church.  I found the contrast of the darkness in the entryway and the light in the sanctuary visually appealing, but also representative of the darkness of the outside world and the light that many seek from their faith.

This photo is of the altar and many of the articles you see here were in the original church on Ellicott Street.  This is also the altar in front of which my grandparents Allen and Barbara Hamm were married on December 20, 1958 and where they renewed their vows in a celebration of their marriage fifty years to the day.  It was also in front of this altar where each of their funerals both took place.

     This photo is of the archways of the church, which are quite high and impressive.  The flags create an interesting balance of elements, but is off put by the light shining through the windows on the left side.

     This photograph is of a stained glass window and if you look close enough, across the bottom it reads, "To the glory of God and in loving memory of Arthur Marshall."  To achieve such a clear image I turned off the flash because the amount of natural light illuminating the glass was perfect for a completely dark background.

     This photo was taken from the back of the church, which gave the image an interesting perspective. The baptismal and the tall candle are in the foreground but the columns on each side create lines that bring the eyes 'into' the photo and add depth.  The elements included in this photo are just about completely balanced.

     This was taken in the very back of the church where the columbarium is located.  The colors in this stained glass are breathtakingly beautiful against the plain stone of the walls.  The window is so high up and hard to capture, so I tipped my camera upwards to capture the exact point of view I had while looking up at it.  Both of my grandparents' remains are in that columbarium, which I also took a photo of but felt uncomfortable including in this presentation.

     I chose this church as my topic not only for its history and beauty but also for personal reasons.  My personal connection to this church, as I've mentioned before, is through my grandparents.  In a way, it represents the beginning and end of their story.  It is a place in which they started their life together and where they can ultimately continue it in the kingdom of God.

Zoriah Miller Prezi

   In class we had to do reports on photojournalists and I choose Zoriah Miller.  Here is the link to the Prezi, which happens to be messy (sorry), as prezi tends to work slow on our computers and can be challenging to navigate.http://prezi.com/kjt8g5ntwf5c/zoriah-miller/

The Beat: Two Door Cinema Club

By Jaymee Pride

           

Alex Trimble, Sam Halliday and Kevin Baird make up Two Door Cinema Club.  They are an alternative indie pop/rock band from Bangor in Northern Ireland.  Halliday and Trimble met while attending Bangor Grammar School an all boys school for students aged eleven to eighteen, it is notable for its high exam scores.  They met Baird, their other bandmate while hanging out with friends.  They began playing together at the age of sixteen under the name of “Life Without Rory” and competed in a television show on the BBC, but they placed last. 

            Later, after their first attempt, they formed a band under a different name.  Their unique name came from Halliday’s mispronunciation of a local movie theater called Tudor Cinema and the trio has been known as Two Door Cinema Club since then.  They released their first EP titled  “Four Words to Stand On” in 2008 and from that the band got buzz from social media sites like MySpace.  The band has grown big enough to book and sell out international stages and festivals.  This summer they played Glastonbury in the UK and Lollapalooza in the US and Chile.  They are on their way to selling out the 02 Arena in London that holds about 20,000, all of the standing tickets have all ready sold out.  They are currently on their North American tour promoting their album “Beacon” that was released in September of last year. 

They are playing Water Street Music Hall in Rochester, NY October 12, 2013.  It is a show that I am fortunate to have tickets for.  The band sold out Water Street, which holds 1300 people.  Two Door Cinema Club are worth a listen.  Their catchy lyrics are sung by Trimble, backed by Baird’s bass and driven by Halliday’s lead guitar.  Their music is youthful and fun and their delivery and performances are great!