Day 4 – 6

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New Year’s Resolutions

Project

•Identify cues (signs) that help visual storytellers communicate with their audiences.•Distinguish between various shots, and understand how each contributes distinctively to visual storytelling.•Understand how the sequence of frames in a storyboard affects the story the frames are conveying.•Work collaboratively to translate a written story into a visual one.

Learning GoalsRATE YOUR UNDERSTANDING ---

1 2 3 OR 4

The Rationale Quite frequently, the world asks us to use the skills we learn in English class not to explain Shakespeare or grammar concepts, but to explain topics that aren’t inherently English-related.

With your New Year’s Resolution film, you and your team will be using your storytelling skills and understanding of the media to help the viewer make meaning.

This is accomplished through understanding the grammar of film and television.

Do Now

Name as many camera shots as you can and briefly explain their significance in narrative storytelling.

The AssignmentRead over The Grammar of Film and Television:

Recognizing the Meaning Behind the Media. Watch the film you have so far and analyze

whether or not the shots are the following:1. Identify the grammatical move.2. Describe the specific move you saw.3. What was the effect? Why did the director on your

team choose to film it this way?* Complete these tasks on your Film Guide handout.

In your group, talk about your presentation so far. Provide suggestions on what you can do to improve your film

Get On ItYou have exactly 1 and ½ days to complete your

filming.Above all else, keep in mind that the purpose of

this article or presentation is to help your reader achieve their New Year’s resolution.

Good luck!

Thesis Statements are Hugely ImportantA thesis statement will be:

Clear and concise Specific A way for you to tell the reader what to expect in this

paper.

After analyzing the research available on the topic of New Year’s resolutions and general goal making, it becomes clear that success is more likely when we involve monkeys, have as much duct tape as humanly possible, and never, under any circumstances, mix brussels sprouts with ketchup.

Ask: Did I understand all of that? Was I specific? Do I know what this article will talk about?

Expository Writing When we engage in expository writing, we aim to explain something to our readers.

Expository writing is often in 2nd person (you) or 3rd person (it, she, he, they). 2nd person is a tad less formal and 3rd person is a tad more formal.

Think of your reader and what questions they may have. Be clear and concise.

For this assignment, a good structure would be to present the research in your own words, supported by your sources, and then explain what this research means for the reader and how they can use it.

Have a distinctive style and stick to it. If it helps, pretend that you’ll be submitting this article to a blog or presenting it like a TED talk. This may help you decide how formal your writing becomes.

Stick to Good Practices

Always have an engaging introduction with a clear thesis statement.

Each body paragraph should have a clear topic sentence.

Your sources should be woven neatly into your article or presentation and be cited.

Your conclusion should summarize your main points and restate your thesis.

Need more instruction on this?

Skip to 6 Traits of Writing

Engaging introduction techniques:

The Startling Statistic

Two million people around the United States will make New Year’s resolutions. Want to know how many keep them? Only 20%!

The Scenario

Imagine a world where everyone kept their New Year’s Resolutions. Think how many amazing things could happen. Weight would be lost, money would be made, bad habits would be broken, people would become better.

The Question

How did you do on your New Year’s Resolution last year? Most people find sticking to their New Year’s goals to be difficult and often fail to meet them at all.

Topic Sentences

A topic sentence should give your reader the topic of each paragraph in one concise sentence.

“Many people believe that if you just try hard enough, you’ll achieve your goals, but scientists say that will power is exhaustible.”

This sentence tells the reader that this next paragraph will be talking about will power and what science has discovered about it.

“Through many studies, scientists and researchers have discovered that keeping New Year’s resolutions comes down to timing and goal planning.”

My reader is now ready for my next paragraph and knows that I’ll be talking about timing and goal planning.

Using SourcesThe size and scope of your resolution plays a big part in whether or not you complete it. Dr. Important Person of the Really Smart Institute points out that “our brains like smaller, more specific tasks, so it makes sense to break down our goals into smaller steps.”

The size and scope of your resolution plays a big part in whether or not you complete it. Here is a quote that will explain things better. “Our brains like smaller, more specific tasks, so it makes sense to break down our goals into smaller steps.”

Good

Bad

Why is the first example a better way to write in a quote from a source?

End It Already!

A conclusion should: Remind your reader about all of your great points. Restate your overall message or thesis.

When you really think about it, there is no good reason as to why you can’t successfully complete your New Year’s resolution. You need to involve monkeys, have as much duct tape as humanly possible, and never, under any circumstances, should you mix brussels sprouts with ketchup. Once we understand a few things about our brains, goal making becomes a bit simpler and the secret to fulfilling our New Year’s resolution is solved.

I summarized the “points” I made during my article and presentation (highlighted in red) and then restated my overall message (highlighted in blue).

Six Traits of Writing

Perhaps you’ve heard of these. If so, this is a little review. If not, say “Hello!” to some awesome guidelines on writing

something epic!

#1 Ideas: Make sure that you understand what you’re researching enough to present some solid ideas. The ideas in your article or presentation should be a mix of the research you’ve found and your own thoughts on that research.

#2 Organization: We’ve gone over this before, but if your thoughts and ideas are all mangled up, it’ll be hard for your reader to want to keep reading. Make an outline of your paper before composing to help stick to a clear line of thought.

#3 Voice: This is a chance for you to display your humor and wit, your passion and your convictions. Voice comes from a sound understanding of your material and a good vocabulary.

#4 Word Choice: Ever heard of a thesaurus? Don’t use the same words over and over again. If you can’t think of interesting words to use, get out a thesaurus or ask classmates for recommendations. Side note: Avid readers tend to have stellar vocabularies.

#5 Sentence Fluency: You need a flow to your article or presentation. This is best achieved by varying the length of your sentences. You don’t want all short sentences or things seem choppy. Nor do you want all long sentences. The best way to see if things are flowing is to read your article out loud to someone else or practice your presentation to a test audience.

#6 Conventions: Yes, grammar and punctuation matter. You lose a little credibility every time you have an error in your article or presentation. Be sure to proofread your work and have others proofread it as well. Time well spent!

The Research Make sure to find credible sources while researching. This means looking for websites without bias. Science or news websites would be a good place for information.

Make sure that any information you find on a website can be found on other websites as well. This helps to ensure that you’re getting valid information.

The research should act as a support for your thesis. It will not do the explaining for you. It will only support your explanations. See the “Awesome Resources”

handout for a few sources to start with.

Research often means breaking down your subject and finding all aspects of it to type into your search engine.

What are resolutions? They are goals. Perhaps researching how to be successful at making goals would be helpful.

Yes, you can research, “the science of New Year’s resolutions,” but think about the nature of resolutions to help you find even more information.

What types of things are associated with goals? Will power, productivity, motivation. All of those things could use some researching. There are lots of interesting articles and videos on the science of all of those things.

Researching in this way provides depth to your article or presentation. It lets you take in information and come to a conclusion you can share with your readers.