A Closing Reflection (Part 2)

The beginning of my posts starts here
I am now going to post my finished videos!!! :D
Here's the (very short) first one:

And a (longer... but not by much) second one:
My dad blocked Youtube so I couldn't upload it!

UPDATE! It has been uploaded!

I actually have another version of this video with a voice over (my sister pointed out that people who are illiterate can't read this, but I said that this was more for people who can read so that they can't help people who don't. However, she insisted, and it wasn't that difficult to make a voiced over version). That video can be found here.

Explaining and Assessing My Product

Explanation: Videos

The first video is about 145 slides long, which seems a lot, but when I put it to 8 frames per second, it's merely 22 seconds long. It's hard to tell how much work I put into it because how quick it is. Anyways, so I first sketched out all 140+ slides--meaning, I didn't colour them. I realised that not colouring was a big mistake. A I was satisfied with what I did, I had to go back through all the frames and color in everything. What this basically meant was redoing my entire project, and it was tedious. Sometimes I was very unhappy with what I sketched out, so I basically redid everything! I'm a little bit of a perfectionist, and I wanted to put, you know, quality into my work. I made a blog post of all my mistakes (for both videos), so check that post for some of the errors I had to redo. What I should have done was colour everything first and make sure every slide was the best it could be before I move on. I didn't enjoy having to do that video twice, and it was very unnecessary. 

In my second video,  I drew 500+ slides... which equates to 1:11. I knew I wanted my second to be longer with more impact, but I didn't want it too long where it would be boring to everyone, and I thought that around a minute is ideal. I decided that instead of putting the words on a frame for people to read, I'll make doodles (they're towards the end) and have the words move/be animated. I am most proud of the "burning books" part of my second video :) I got the font ideas from dafont.com, so I can't take all the credit. 

For both videos, the steps I found that were necessary were getting feedback and rechecking everything. Before I had feedback, I had around 350 frames that were in a different order than I have currently. When I went to my sister for advice, she gave me an honest opinion and said my video needed more about how someone can help. I was just saying to read a book, so how is that helping people who can't read? (Again, she pointed out that people who can't read wouldn't know what I would talking about.) I then added the last slide about helping others (with a drawing of two people reading and a hand giving  a book) and helping yourself (with a drawing of a little hedgehog reading--I love hedgehogs!). I went to my dad, and he pointed out of a lot of errors like how he couldn't read the yellow or understand why I put things in a certain order. After all this feedback, I spent two to three hours taking this feedback and improving my video so I could put out the best quality as possible :)

Volunteering/Blogging

Another component to my project was to volunteer at various literacy sites and blog about my experiences. Although I volunteered mostly at Punahou, I feel like I made a good impact in the community. At Punahou, the program I volunteer for doesn't usually have volunteers and the teachers/advisers are too busy to engage with the kids. I feel like by sitting with them and reading with them, I have helped connect with the children and reaffirm the importance of literacy. 

On my reflections, I found it very nice to just think about what I've done and most importantly, share it. I like that I can relay what I have learned onto a blog to show. This isn't only about a project for me, but it's also something that I can educate others with. 

Assessment

Before I tackled this project, I set some standards on how I want my project to turn out. 

Significance: Does my video/blog have something important to say? Does it benefit my cause?

Clarity: Are my intentions clear?

Impact: How has my project impacted the community and myself? 

Now that I'm done, I'm going to assess what I have produced (the blog and videos) based on what I said above. 

Significance: Does my video/blog have something important to say? Does it benefit my cause?

Yes,  I feel like both of my videos and my blog has something important to say, especially about literacy (in Hawaii). I hope people stop taking reading and writing for granted, as there are not many people who can read/write. My mom can be considered illiterate, as she was born/raised in Korea (she learned English from watching TV)--she can read/write some English, but only to a certain extent because she didn't go to an English school (well, she went briefly but was too busy to continue). I hope that more people will want to volunteer at literacy programs. You can give a book to someone by simply clicking a link: http://www.theliteracysite.com/clickToGive/home.faces?siteId=6 CLICK IT AND A GIVE A BOOK! I'm trying to motivate people with my animations, and I feel like to the right audience, it benefits my cause. Another way I'm benefitting my cause is actually volunteering by reading books to children (or having them read to me). 

Clarity: Are my intentions clear?

I think that because I made two videos, my intentions are clear. Having the blog stand alone would give a questionable intention---like what am I trying to say with all this mention of literacy? How am I helping people by blogging about it? I think that by volunteering, I'm making it clear that I want to help eradicate illiteracy and give awareness to people who take it for granted. 

Impact: How has my project impacted the community and myself? 

Not only have I made a video, but I have impacted the community by volunteering. In the Punahou community, I helped the 2nd and 4th graders concentrate and try to improve their reading (and reading comprehension) skills. For myself, I think that I pushed myself by drawing 500+ frames--it took lots of effort and dedication (very hard to procrastinate).


And on that note...

I do enjoy this picture, but I think that some TV is good! (Maybe that's just my Vampire Diaries addiction talking though)

A Closing Reflection (Part 1)

...well, for only this Quality Project, of course.
Here's the big picture:

I would make this picture larger, but it wouldn't fit on the page! Click here for a bigger image.

Although they are not books, I have read the First Reading Blog (click to read) and articles like 1 in 6 Hawaii Adults Are Functionally Illiterate or Hawaii Literacy or About Children's Literacy.

Overall Feeling
I do think that this project was worth my time and effort because I gained a lot of knowledge and experience through it. I volunteered at least twice a week in the timespan on my project (totals up to about _ times), and I was able to volunteer at three different literacy places. (When I went to find more places, I was told that the programs were at the beginning of the year, so I was too late!) The first is the place I most visited, which is after school at the Winnie Units in Punahou. I helped 2nd and 4th graders improve their literacy skills, and it was really enjoyable. The kids are great to help, but they do get distracted a lot! I'm still (and I will for as long as I have 2:30 breaks) volunteering there twice a cycle, although school is almost over. I made a post about how this program works, which you can visit here. I signed up to volunteer at this place just for KEY Club and this project, and I've gotten so much out of it that I'm going to keep on continuing volunteering. I didn't only help Punahou students; I went to a literacy program that benefited low income families, and I found that experience very rewarding.

These volunteering opportunities I've done have really made this project worth it for me! I knew that illiteracy is a problem, but I didn't realise how much of the population (you can read more here) is affected! I know I can't much of a difference by myself, so I brought some friends. I want more people to be aware of the issue now, and it made more motivated to create those videos (UPDATE: I uploaded the videos I'm talking about in the post above!). This project was definitely worth my time and effort because not only did I learn more about literacy, but I know not to take being literate for granted--and I've made relationships with kids (when a little came up and hugged me, I was so touched!!!I'm not allowed to name people because of privacy, but she's so cute!!! ).

My essential question when I first started this project: Why is literacy so important?
After completing this project, I would freak out if someone asked me this! Literacy is extremely important because of how neglected this topic is. Many people, especially at Punahou, take for granted the ability to read and write--I know I do. One out of five (about 20%) of people in Hawaii aren't able to do tasks like read a menu or something as important as reading how to properly take medication. This question has been answered to me in so many different ways, and I hope it's apparent throughout this blog. I see how much I grown from just volunteering for community service to actually looking forward to 2:30 breaks (no offense English) so that I could help out the 2nd and 4th graders with their literacy problems. I want them to succeed and realise that they shouldn't be taking reading/writing for granted either.

Some 4th graders I helped at Literacy! The guy on the left only got one wrong that day!

How I Think Mrs. Balaconis Should Assess This Project
My teacher, Mrs. Balaconis, will be grading this project based on
Breadth: Does this project include both a reading and a written component? Have you included a written reflection?
These two posts (Part 1 and Part 2) are my reflection, and this blog shows my reading/writing. I have posted my volunteering experiences, what I've learned about all the different types of relevant literacy (Children's literacy, Adult literacy, and Hawaii literacy), and the process of my videos. I made sure to do thorough research and to write it in a (hopefully) interesting way.

Depth: Does this project reflect thoughtful engagement with the process in every step?
I think that Mrs. Balaconis should know that I spent most of my weekends working on my video at home or my dad's office and that during the weekdays, I volunteered at literacy libraries. I reflected upon these experiences through this blog (starting with the post "Quality Project"), so look through this!!!

Accuracy: Does this project reflect careful attention to editing, eliminating careless mistakes that deflect attention from the product?
I went to get feedback from my family to make sure that there were no problems; I didn't want to have a bias when trying to improve my work. Sometimes I was irritated at what my dad had to say (he was extremely honest), but I feel like I needed that honesty to help refine what I've done--I'm very grateful for his feedback. (See my post about the errors I've made while working on my videos) I also tried to proofread my blog at least twice--and I did catch a bunch of typos--so I think that helped to eliminate careless mistakes.

Completeness: Does this product itself feel rich and satisfying, leaving the audience with a sense of fullness or satisfaction?
I think that this blog tied everything together--the places I volunteered at, the research I've done, and the videos I've made. I sure hope that it's rich and satisfying because I do think that this blog helps. I hope to give the audience more knowledge about literacy and to become more involved, as this is important if we want to stop illiteracy and educate people.

Precision: In the accompanying reflection, has the creator of the project included specific details addressing the process, evaluating the project, and reflecting upon the learning experience?
I feel like this entire blog is a reflection of my project, which is mostly doing something (either helping at the Winnie Units or creating either of my videos). I tried to include all my missteps, improvements and research that all amount to the contents of this blog. To make the blog interesting, I added images and tried to make an occasional joke while still being serious about the issue. I think I made it clear what I have to done to help

Visual appeal: Is this product aesthetically pleasing, leaving the audience with a sense of awe in the time of energy spent toward its presentation?
The video resolution is not very high because I used my Mom's iPad, transfered to my computer, downloaded it to iMovie, added sound, and converted it to Quicktime, and then uploaded it to YouTube, but I feel like that doesn't take away from the video. The added sound make my videos a little more interesting (like I added page turning, explosion, and fire crackling sounds) and appealing.

May these odds be in my favor! :D

The logo for an Oklahoma literacy program

Look out for Part 2 of this reflection!

Literacy In Hawaii

I've posted lots of information about literacy in general, so now I want to focus more on my community.

Website for Hawaii Literacy: http://www.hawaiiliteracy.org/
Their slogan is "If you can read this, you can help"--I like it!

Interestingly enough, back in the 1800s, Hawaii had the highest literacy rate of any country in the world. Currently, 1 in 6 Hawaii adults are illiterate. This means they aren't able to read and/or write above an elementary level. These adults aren't able to help their children with their homework, fill out basic forms (meaning, they can't read bank statements, job applications, emails, or medication prescriptions), and read road signs or menus. That's 20% of people who can't do things that we (yes, including myself) take for granted every day!

There are various "literacy libraries" around the island which help children, teens, and adults. They offer access to books (that could, of course, be borrowed), homework help, the use of computers, and activities that generally encourage a healthy lifestyle. This is very effective for getting people involved and interested in not only literacy but also their overall well-being.

The Book Mobile!

In addition, there are book mobiles (as I mentioned in a previous post) or "Classrooms on Wheels" that travel to six places each week providing books and promoting reading/learning. Laptops are also inside the mobile and are free for children and/or adults to use. Not only books, but there are interactive activities to get children excited about reading!


I think this an awesome idea because some people don't have the convenient library in their neighborhood. Also, some libraries may be intimidating to some people, and the Book Mobile has a friendly atmosphere that "invites" and interests children (adults/teens as well). Last year,
this has provided over 1,000 kids and parents, lending over an estimated 15,000 books!


What can you do to help?
Volunteer or spread awareness!! (Hopefully both.) Ever since Hawaii Literacy started to help people out, approximately over 4,000 people have been able to read and write. (That's like the amount of students at Punahou!) More information about the Book Mobile: http://www.hawaiiliteracy.org/cow/index.html

Children's Literacy

I made a post before about the literacy program I volunteer for, but I haven't actually made a post about the issue.
First, I think this video is cute:

Being someone who is drawing an animation like this, I applaud this person's work. I wish I could draw cute cartoons like this, but I'm doing the best I can. Gosh, this must have taken so long to do!!! I really enjoy it because reading does take you to an entirely new world!! :)
And now to the facts!

Children who are read to (by a family member) have more success in school, according to some statistics from the National Education Association. Some facts include that 60% of these children are able to count to 20 (verses the 44% of children who were not read to). Only 53% of children between the ages three to five are to daily, and these students perform better in academics like math. When parents are involved, the scores are even higher--in fact, there's a 74 point gap between the reading score of children with parent involvement and those without. So parents, read to your children!!! Children will be able to develop stronger reading skills that really benefit for more than school--reading signs and directions are just as important as being able to take a test efficiently.

The only way to get good at reading is to practice!!! For older children, instead of you reading to them, make them read to you. I did this for the literacy program I'm volunteering for at Punahou. It's very effective for reading comprehension, as you can ask questions throughout the book to make sure the children understand what they're reading. This really encourages them to pay attention and not breeze over what they read; sometimes when they understand what they're reading, the children enjoy the book even more.

This sign is made up of Dr. Suess' books :)

Second Video

I completed my first video!!! I even added music and sound effects; the only sad thing is that it's 20 seconds!!! So, for my second video, I want it to be longer with more impact! I'm thinking about having less animation and more words (like that Christmas ad about how much money consumers use).

Also, above is a video I found about adult literacy I found really intriguing--it became my inspiration for the second video, in fact!
Here's a sneak peak of my second video:

I know it's not the best looking video image.... I'm not an artist, but I think animation is fun! UPDATE: This scene isn't even in the video because I decided this wasn't realistic. 

Excuses...

Quality project due in ten days!!! I need to get onto finishing my second video (it's one more focused about the problem).
So this post is going to be able excuses people make about literacy--my meeting with Tamara Martinez made me curious about this issue. Not only do children need literacy help, but adults do as well. In fact, about 44 million adults in the US have been determined illiterate in the English language.

Often adults are overlooked, so here are some signs that indicate adults need help.
- Irritated when filling out forms ("I don't have time to fill this out")
- Walks out when presented with a reading/writing task
- Forms are filled out incorrectly or the same
- Doesn't respond to information via letter (possibly) e-mail
- Asks for direction when they're posted
- Doesn't fill medication prescriptions or properly take medicine
- Has no interest in reading (even important information)
- Uses cash instead of a checking account
Other sayings: "I forgot to bring my glasses", "My handwriting is bad", "I hurt my hand", "I don't do the paperwork in my family"

So why does this happen? (Why don't adults want to get assistance?)
Some adults feel as though they can't get literacy help because they're afraid they're not "smart enough". Some even feel too old to go back to school, and they don't want to re-live high school. Adults shouldn't feel as though they're too busy or their work is too important because learning how to read and write is extremely beneficial--and once they learn, adults won't have to feel "laughed at" anymore.

It is really important to encourage awareness of this issue so that adults that need help receive help, and they should not be ashamed or embarrassed for doing so.

Here's some more information:
Information: http://www.hawaiiliteracy.org/
What to learn more about adult literacy?
In Hawaii: http://www.hawaiiliteracy.org/al/index.html
National Assessment of Adult Literacy: http://nces.ed.gov/naal/

Yay!

My AP exam is over! Now I can focus more on my project :D I'm almost done with my video, and I've been brainstorming for my next one.

Here are a couple of screenshots of my botch-ups:

Okay, so I drew a whole series of sketches with him in this position, but I realised how awkward and weird this looked.... So, I redid this entire section!

I used this picture as inspiration for the re-doing of Harry P reading.

This is the coloring stage! However, since I was using layers, this kept on happening to me.  I was very (VERY) irritated because in order to fix this, I had to redo the entire thing. Not. Fun. 

So I probably wasted two hours trying to fix some mistakes; it was not a good idea to sketch uncolored then have to go back through every 130+ slides and color them. It probably took longer to color/fix everything than it took to actually draw the animation. It's sad how when you see a video, you don't realise how much effort and time the creator took in order to show the video to you. You still see all the mistakes, even if I--uh, I mean a general animator--spent over 10 hours to create it. I really hope I learn from these mistakes on my next video!

UPDATE:
Although I've learned from my mistake of not colouring, I still made mistakes!

I changed this to "children" because it looks like US adults have one child

My dad said this was too hard to read, so I had to fill in the letters

My dad also said that the "imperial and sign" was confusing

Meeting!

I've been really distracted by my AP exam coming, so I'm sorry for my late post! Anyways, I thought I would talk about my meeting with Tamara Martinez.
She talked to me about different literacy programs: Read To Me International, Read Aloud America, Hands Helping Out, Hawaii Sate Public System, Hawaii Literacy, Mental Health Organisation, and Chaminade University. Now I'll list a brief description of each of these programs!

Read To Me International- This programs encourages parents to read to their children--even ones in jail! They send recording of parents in jail reading a book to their children. Sometimes the parents are moved to a different state, so they're not able to visit their family members. They even provide parenting classes so that when the parents are released, they can care for their children better.

Read Aloud America- Evening gatherings at a cafeteria with a stage of prizes! They have great prizes, like a set of encyclopedias or tires and free nights at the Hilton. In order to win those prizes, they have this "game show" (question-answer) about literacy. They have six sessions throughout the year, and have various programs. Some include Mother Reads, Father Reads where parents are assigned stories to their kids with follow-up activities and a discussion/reflection. This affirmed the importance of parents teaching their kids (UPDATE: read children literacy post above for more information/statistics). There's even pizza at the end!! Everyone really enjoyed it, however, they were cut because of the cost. If you visit some communities, they may have signs that say "Bring RAP Back" (the "p" would be for program).

Hands Helping Out-  This organisation tries to directly benefit people by giving school supplies to those who need it. No child should have to go to school without proper supplies, and some students are embarrassed using old things that they even skip school. Senator Daniel Inouye and his wife, Maggie, started the program back in 1999, and this has had gerat success--they gave school supplies to more than 12,000 students! A mere $8 is enough to fill a backpack with basic and needed supplies.  Their website is in maintenance, but you can still visit this one.

Hawaii State Public System- Free programs open to public storytellers. Some include ESL where instructors help with people who haven't been taught English as their first language.They meet four times a week at a church and teach students about the citizenship tests, letters (interpersonal), and communication skills. This is a direct service based in the community that helps out numerous amounts of people.

Hawaii Literacy/Book Mobile- A gutted out bus that has books on shelves. Educators from Hawaii volunteer to visit various sites with low income families/transitional housing (kinda like a shelter). Anyone over five years old can come unsupervised (there are some exceptions...), so this has a wider range of people and most of them actually want to learn how to read/write.

Mental Health Organisation- This helps to get access to books and provides care and encourages a healthy mentality. There are different programs under this organisation that help with their cause, and they are very focused on spreading their message.

Volunteers are matched with students--there are over 150 volunteers (!) because various organisations connect for one big event.
Chaminade University- Student clubs--but not a school system format--that have "story hour", crafts, acting, and goodie bags! The students have stories via re-telling/acting, which is very fun and interactive. This leaves a really positive impact on everyone

Beginnings of My Video

I've been brainstorming for what I'm going to do for my literacy video, and I'm starting to draw it all out! I don't want to reveal much about it, but to the left is the beginnings of it :) I know my drawing isn't that good, but I wanted my "quality" to be shown not through a "live-action" video, but one that's been hand-drawn by me! It's extremely difficult to draw on an electronic device--I don't have a tablet that could attach to my computer, so I'm borrowing my mom's iPad. However, because of little success I've been having, I'm considering going to the old pencil and paper! But then that would be I wasted half my day on this.... :( Well, I guess you'll soon see when I release the final product (within a month or so?). I've got an AP Chemistry exam coming up, so I have to use my time wisely.

Oh! Update: I am going to meet with Tamara Martinez on Wednesday (April 11), who is in charge of Hawaii Literacy! I hope to talk to her about more literacy programs, resources, etc!


Another update: This program has given me so many issues! I think that's what you get for trying to use a free program. It deleted a huge chunk of my work, so I didn't think it was worth it if everything I do is going to be deleted. So, I used a different app (called Animator HD) that was only $2, which is relativity cheap for the amount of capabilities. So far, I haven't had any problems and the drawings come out cleaner.

Literacy

Hi!!
So after school today, I helped to with the second grade literacy program. I've been helping out since 2nd Semester Freshman year, and I really enjoy working with the kids!
Here is a picture of me helping out:

I help with the second graders with program called FastForWord Language at Punahou in the Winnie Units. The exercises for the first program include: Ele-bot, Hoop Nut, Moon Ranch, Robo-Dog, Sky Gym, Space Commander, and Whalien Match. You can see descriptions of each activity at the link above.
Not only do these exercises help with reading and spelling, but these help with core skills like language, listening, attentiveness, memory, and sequencing. From my experience, I have found that most of the children are easily distracted and don't have much motive to give their full attention/effort. By sitting with the students, I help them to concentrate and focus.
At the end of the program, the students pick out a book to read. Usually, I would sit with a student and have them read to me (because it challenges them more). After a couple of pages, I would ask questions about the story to see if the student understands what he/she reads--it's a fun experience :D

UPDATE: The students have been given iPads~ So instead of reading at the end, they children get to play interactive reading/spelling/grammar games. As a volunteer, I show them how to work apps and help them through the more challenging exercises.

UPDATE 2: I haven't volunteered at the Discovery Center for Easter! I don't have any pictures, as I forgot to take my camera/phone, but I had a great time! Originally I was supposed to dress up as the Easter bunny and take pictures with the kids, but they had another volunteer do so. I was able to do something even more interesting that pretending to be a bunny: interact with the kids! The ages ranged from toddler to probably 3rd-ish grade (I'm not great at guessing ages, but some of them seemed a little older than the 2nd graders I work with at Punahou). There were different stations for different activities, and one of them included decorating a Easter egg cookie--too bad I didn't volunteer for that station. Instead, I helped them create an Easter chick; they made the wings by tracing out their hands and glued on the beak & feet. There were also some markers to decorate and write messages on their cute chicks for their parents.

Quality Project

It has been a while since I posted!
I have decided that for my Sophomore Quality Project, I will use this blog to document my experiences (kind of like a journal).
First off, the project I will be tackling is on literacy. Why literacy? Well, not because this project is for my English class but because I really enjoy reading! (A rarity for people my age.) I find it unfortunate how many people are not literate but would love to read and yet people who are literate don't all love it--it's taken for granted. So I am hoping to make an impact :D
Since last year, I have been volunteering at Punahou's second grade literacy program. Sometimes I dread having to walk all across campus, but after I help the kids, I know it was worth it. For example, when I went in last week, one of the girls hugged me when she saw me (because we had a break & didn't have literacy for a while)!! It was the cutest experience, and I love it.
I will soon be posting some things I do in the future, and I will hopefully take some pictures soon!