Jane Sheeley                                                                                October 31, 2006

EDLA615: Language Arts and Technology                                Susan Silverman

Assignment                                                                                  Midterm Assignment

Reflection Piece

 

When I started this assignment, I had absolutely no idea what to expect or what was expected of me.  In viewing some of the examples posted, I started to gain a realization of the requirements, but none of the projects actually stood out as something I would have actually enjoyed doing.  I would have just completed them, without taking a personal interest in the final product.  I wanted to alter one of the examples to fit my tastes. 

I have always been very into music, and have enjoyed both working and playing with it.  I decided to take the idea of designing a CD cover and change it.  I did not like the idea of making up fake song titles, to help me fit the theme of the book.  I preferred instead to find my own songs that related to the story and the underlying themes within it.  Little did I know what a huge undertaking this would be!

When I started brainstorming theme ideas, I saw that this project was growing, but I did not really realize yet  the full extent of just how much.  Once I started searching keywords for these themes, I realized that I had “narrowed my song choices down” to only 77 songs.  Ouch!  It was extremely difficult to keep narrowing these choices down to the 36 songs that I ended up using.  I just could not cut any more!  I was already somewhat disappointed in the loss of some fantastic songs that I love and would have liked to include, but whose lyrics just did not fit in as well as these all did.  And, finding the lyrics, and correcting many of them, turned into an enormous undertaking! 

I decided to use some very stark images for my CD.  The front cover is a picture of a boy in a cave of some sort looking across the water at a destroyed city.  The industrial look of the picture attracted me.  I could see Willie as this boy, not because of the futuristic/anime style, but because he now has a safe place from which to observe the destruction that has engulfed London, his former city.

The inside liner notes is a picture from an International printing of Goodnight Mr. Tom.  I had not seen this image before, as all have been reprinted with a much “friendlier” image, and so this one attracted me.  I liked the fact that Willie was breaking out of somewhere that he had once been trapped.  I also liked the fact that it looked like paint marks, which struck me as very symbolic of Willie’s newfound talents.

The image under the CD was one I struggled with.  Originally, I had a picture of a battered and bruised boy, but I was very uncomfortable with the image.  I chose this, because Willie has been stripped to his core, and had only himself for such a long time.  The fact that it is hidden under the CD is symbolic of his hiding his bruises, the very marks that symbolize these feelings.

The back cover art is a picture of a solitary tree.  The tree is all alone, much like Willie and Tom both were until they were brought together by fate.  The tree can also symbolize the growth that each undergo once they find each other.  Together they become strong and united as one.

I  really enjoyed the creativity that this project allowed me.  Both it and reading the book were very enjoyable experiences!

Power Point Presentation

*Lyrics to all songs used in this project
*Adobe Acrobat PDF

Multimedia Project : CD Creation Rubric

 

CATEGORY

4

3

2

1

Attractiveness

Makes excellent use of font, color, graphics, effects, etc. to enhance the presentation.

Makes good use of font, color, graphics, effects, etc. to enhance to presentation.

Makes use of font, color, graphics, effects, etc. but occasionally these detract from the presentation content.

Use of font, color, graphics, effects etc. but these often distract from the presentation content.

Requirements

All requirements are met and exceeded.

All requirements are met.

One requirement was not completely met.

More than one requirement was not completely met.

Mechanics

No misspellings or grammatical errors.

Three or fewer misspellings and/or mechanical errors.

Four misspellings and/or grammatical errors.

More than 4 errors in spelling or grammar.

Content

Covers topic in-depth with details and examples. Subject knowledge is excellent.

Includes essential knowledge about the topic. Subject knowledge appears to be good.

Includes essential information about the topic but there are 1-2 factual errors.

Content is minimal OR there are several factual errors.

Organization

Content is well organized using headings or bulleted lists to group related material.

Uses headings or bulleted lists to organize, but the overall organization of topics appears flawed.

Content is logically organized for the most part.

There was no clear or logical organizational structure, just lots of facts.

Originality

Product shows a large amount of original thought. Ideas are creative and inventive.

Product shows some original thought. Work shows new ideas and insights.

Uses other people's ideas (giving them credit), but there is little evidence of original thinking.

Uses other people's ideas, but does not give them credit.

Credits

All items “borrowed” from the Web have been credited

Most items “borrowed” from the Web have been credited

Some items “borrowed” from the Web have been credited

Few if any items “borrowed” from the Web have been credited.

Timeliness

 

 

Project handed in on time.

Project handed in one day late.

Rubric Made Using: RubiStar ( http://rubistar.4teachers.org )

 

Score: ___30___/30