Brianna Perfetti 3/30

  Today in class we continued to watch the last of the film reviews. We watched Claire's, Brooke's, and Sean's reviews. Claire's review was about The Sandlot, Brooke's review was about Now you see me 2, and Sean's was about Planet of the Apes. In the final minutes of class we finished up the reviews we're writing and voted for 5 of our classmate's who's review was the best. The winner will have the best picture. We have till tomorrow to post our tweets reviews o our classmates video links.

Joanna Muino 3/29

Today in class we only had 31 minutes because of the shortened parcc schedule so we could only watch 3 critical reviews. The reviews were on television shows such as Friends, Family Guy, and Hayao Miyazaki. Friends and Family Guy are both comedic shows with the intent of bringing a smile to the viewer's face. In the critical review of friends, she gave a good overview of the show with specific details as to how relationships are key in the show, with the title “The one where relationships are key” in relation to the show because all of the episodes start with a title like that. The review of family guy gave excellent examples of how making random jokes can either be very funny to the viewer or make the show seem very dumb, in family guy's case, there is a very thin line between being funny or being dumb. He showed a clip of the main character, Peter, fighting a chicken. He gave an example of another show, Always Sunny In Philadelphia, showing that making random jokes can be very funny or very dumb, in this case it was funny because when they were dancing they thought that they were very good and looked put together but in reality they looked like a mess. Hayao Miyazaki is a director of television shows, I don't know much of his work but from the critical review I can tell that his television shows are based around the emotions of his characters.

3/29 Brooke Rossiter

Today, we started class by discussing what the plan was. The plan for today's class was that we were going to finish watching the critical reviews done by our classmates. We started with Bridget's criticism review. Bridget's review was on the tv show, Game of Thrones. Her title was called Game of Thrones Character Focus: Cersei Lannister. Her film film discussed the character, Cersei. She talked about her relationships with others and her plan. Bridget's voiceovers in her film were the perfect volume and flowed very nicely with her film. She did a really good job with her review by keeping it interesting and entertaining to others. The next critical review that we watched was done by Michael M. Mike did a wonderful job with his video. His video discussed the movie, "Back to the Future." He brought up many interesting facts about how the director shot the movie. He also spoke very nicely and kept his critical review very interesting to the audience. Mike was the last critical review that we watched as a class. We ended class by brainstorming who we were going to pick for our top 5 critical reviews. By the time we did this class was over, due to the shortened periods because of the parcc testing!

3/29/17 ~ Shelby Vermeulen

Today in class we had a shortened period due to PARCC testing. With only a 31 minute class, we spent the majority of it watching our classmates reviews and 'tweeting' about them. We watched videos on Friends and Family Guy. The video on Friends discussed the relationships and how they grow throughout the series. The review on Family Guy was based on randomness in comedy and its effect. I found the Friends video really fun to watch because I have seen the show. Having seen only a small amount of Family Guy, the show looked funny and interesting. 

Dianna Oelkers 3/27/17

Today in class we continued to watch the critical reviews produced by our classmates. After the class was done watching each video we individually conducted a 'tweet" in the google docs Mr. Rivers provided for us. The "tweet" we write must give the creator of the critical review feedback on how they did. Also don't forget to jot down which of your peers composed the best reviews in the class. At the end of that google docs Mr. Rivers posted for us, there is space provided to put down the name of the top five best critical reviews shown in your class.Then the reviews with the most picks will be shown in every class, and after that each class will pick the best review amongst all of those. So the critical reviews we watched in class today were on Good Will Hunting, Patrick Swayze movies, Saving Private Ryan v. Captain America, and The Office. In the first video the creator talked about how captivating the dialogue in the movie is, the creator explained that the movie Good Will Hunting was produced on a very low budget but despite that, the director established an amazing film that didn't need impressive camera shots or scenes to be a great movie. The second video reviewed all of Patrick Swayze biggest roles, it talked and showed why and how Swayze was such a good actor. The next video compared and contrasted both movies and showed the viewer how similar Saving Private Ryan and Captain America really are. The last video used clips from the show The Office to explain to the audience how awkward the show really is.We are coming down to the end of our film festival, while watching each video you can really tell who put all of their energy and best efforts into creating a review that was good. To someone who struggled more with creating this particular project, maybe this could be a lesson that if you are assigned a similar projects like this in the future to really take you time with it. But over all, so far, I think everyone did a great job. 

Juliana Oelkers 3/27/17

Today in class we continued watching the critical reviews made by our classmates. After each review we wrote a 'tweet' giving the creator feedback about their video. The videos we watched today were about Good Will Hunting, Patrick Swayze movies, the combat in Saving Private Ryan and Captain America, and The Office. The first video talked about how the use of dialogue made the movie so great and relate-able. The second video went through all the movies that Swayze has been in, but focused mainly on what set his movie Ghost apart from the others. The next video used clips from both movies to show how the fighting in Saving Private Ryan is more realistic than Captain America. The final video used clips from the office that showcased some of the most awkward moments of the show.

After watching a lot of videos from our classmates its easy to tell who worked really hard and went above and beyond. The best videos tend to have a planned script and the voice overs match the visuals. Also they have good clips to support their analysis. The tweets will be very helpful, because we will be able to see what we should have done better. Its very interesting and entertaining to watch everyone's video and I am curious to find out who will win best video.

Joanna Muino 3/27/17

Today in class, we continued to view our classmate's visual critical reviews. The four videos we saw today were reviews of The Office, Patrick Swayze movies, Good Will Hunting, Captain America and Saving Private Ryan. All four of the reviews successfully gave a strong overview of the plot of the television show/ movie(s). In the review of The Office, they gave many examples of the exchange of awkward situations and how the visuals and camera angles and make a situation more uncomfortable for the viewer to watch. The review of the Patrick Swayze movies also showed many examples of different characters that Swayze has starred in. She also said a lot of background information about him and how he became so interested in dancing and acting. In the review of Saving Private Ryan and Captain America titles "Saving Captain America", he gave very strong examples of similarities and differences between the two movies, for example how the deaths were shown throughout the movie. After we view each review we are writing about two sentences about out thoughts on the review, which Mr. Rivers refers to as a "tweet".  As we watch more and more reviews that our classmates have made, we have to keep in mind what when we are done seeing all of them, we have to pick the top 5 reviews as the winners. After we pick the top 5 we will watch them again and then determine the winner of the best critical review. We will also view the top 5 reviews from the other film class and choose our favorite from that class as well.

Michael Tartaglia 3/23/17

Today in class we continued to watch people's critical reviews and write "tweets" or feedback in our google doc titled Film Festival Guide on google classroom. Here everyone can write their own personal feedback and opinion for each critical review. In this document there is also a section to nominate the five best critical reviews from our class. Make sure to not blow off giving everyone constructive criticism as this assignment will count as a formative grade.

The class watched Dianna's, Juliana's, Brianna P's, Terrell's, and Abe's critical review today. Dianna did an outstanding job on her review using symbols and motifs present in The Notebook. She pulled in a lot of examples and explained what they meant. Dianna talked about red constantly showing up and since The Notebook is a romance it was a good color for Allie to wear. Abe also did a great job on his critical review. His critical review was on Super Bad and what made his one of the better ones was that he went into detail about the main characters and plot of the movie. Both reviews were great quality and kept my interest throughout the entire time. Although some reviews are better than others it is always fun to see what our peers are capable of. Now that our senior paper and critical reviews are finished it's refreshing to sit back and relax as we watch our peer's hard work and our own in class.

3/21/17 ~ Shelby Vermeulen

Today in class, we watched our classmates critical reviews and ‘tweeted’ about them in a google doc. Mr. River’s started the class off by telling us how impressed he was with all of our critical reviews. He also informed us that if we didn’t want a movie or tv show to be spoiled for us we could go outside until it’s over. In our class we watched some critical reviews on Split,  The Walking Dead, Breaking Bad, etc. All of the critical reviews we watched were really interesting. I feel that the class was most intrigued by review that had some comedy. After a critical review we would open our computers back up and write down the title and a short note about a classmates podcast next to their name. The rest of this week we are going to spend watching our classmates critical reviews and ‘tweeting’ about them in our google doc. After we watch all of       our classes critical reviews we will show the other Film as Lit class five of what we think are our top reviews and they’ll do the same for us. From there, we will pick a winner!

 

Sarah Veasey 3/17/17

Today in class was the final day we were given in class to work on our WeVideo projects. For most of the class everyone seemed to be focused and on task to try and get as much work done today so they weren't having to do it all at the last minute. Most students were ensuring that they were providing deliberate context for their reviews, crediting relevant artists, summarizing the plot in some detail, evaluate the content, and also evaluating the meaning or theme and finished with a conclusion to their project. We've had plenty of time to complete this project, especially since starting on Monday our class will have a film festival where Mr. Rivers will be showing everyone video in class, so post your videos by 11:59, Sunday March 19th!

Eric Lesch 3/17/17

Today in class, we worked on our essays and critical reviews for the final class. Yes no more time will be used in class to craft our final touches to our two huge summatives. So make sure if you were not here today, you get to work on three critical review which is due on Sunday, aswell as the senior paper which is due just 3 days later. We will have our film festival on Monday, where we will be watching our class and other classes critical reviews. Mr. Rivers also gave us a helpful tip, saying that rather than switching back and forth from your personal email to the riversclassroom email. You could share whatever media you are dealing with with both accounts. This will alow you to be able to switch from one account to another in quick succession without having to sign in and out multiple times.

Michael Botta
3/17/2017

Today in class was our FINAL (I think) day for us to work on our senior papers and critical reviews in school. We began the class by looking at a paragraph from somebody's senior paper. Because of one small error in this paragraph, the student would have failed the whole paper. That small error was that they did not cite the source to a quote they used! Make sure you cite all quotes and include a works cited page! Some other errors included using words like "obviously" and not integrating the quote. As a reminder, the critical review is due this Sunday. It should be around 5-6 minutes long, and we will have our film festival next week, so don't forget to finish your project! The senior paper is due just 3 days later, on Wednesday, so be sure to also get that done, as these two huge summatives will have a huge impact on your grade.

Michael Tartaglia 3/13/17

Today in class Mr. Rivers taught the class how to write an introduction and conclusion paragraph. He first started with the introduction paragraph and told us what not to do. Do not put in a rhetorical questions or a broad focus. He wants us to pull in information from our body paragraphs and put them in our introduction to inform the reader what the scholarly paper is all about. He showed us the introduction for Pirates of the Caribbean where Jack Sparrow introduced himself and the movie. Mr. Rivers had the class analyze the introduction and groups and then we all discussed it with the class. Mr. Rivers asked the class, What does this scene introduce? How? after watching the clip. As a class we combined what we said in our groups to the entire class. Mr. Rivers explains how the time period is not being told it is shown through the clothing, the buildings, the wooden boats, and the language used by Jack Sparrow and his crew. Mr. Rivers then explained what not to do in a conclusion paragraph. He explained that you never start a conclusion paragraph with "In conclusion" or anything across those lines. There needs to be a focus on moving backwards and forwards. There needs to be "why is this topic worth it" and what it means to the importance of the topic. There needs to be a smooth transition from the body paragraph to the conclusion and the conclusion should not be neglected.

Brooke O'Malley 3/09/17

Today in class, we continued working on our senior papers and critical reviews. We continued to add video clips to our critical review videos and continued to draft our senior papers. Mr. Rivers conferenced with some students to discuss their outlines while other students worked on senior paper drafting or the critical reviews.

Maeve McVeigh 3/9/17

Today in class we continued working on our critical reviews and our senior papers. The last of the teacher conferences for our senior paper outlines were finished today. Both projects are due in less than 2 weeks so most students have either finished drafting their body paragraphs or have begun recording for their critical reviews. My goal for today was to make the corrections Mr. Rivers had suggested during our conference yesterday. This included fixing a topic sentence that included a To Be verb. Five points were taken off our outline for each To Be verb used. However, we were given the opportunity to revise our sentences with corrections for three points in return. I also revised my sentences to ensure I include how the evidence I provide is connected to my topic sentences. I also learned how to include film evidence that has dialogue between multiple characters. Tomorrow we will be learning how to do our introductions for our papers which is something I have definitely been having difficulty with. Below is the google classroom post where we could revise our topic and thesis sentences to earn points back on our outline.

Sean Finnegan

Today in class we continued to work on either our critical review video or our senior papers. For the past week our class has been attempting to split time between two projects. Mr. Rivers has been conferencing with students about their organization, thesis statements, and topic sentences. Today in particular he got to the very end of our class list meaning that he has met with everyone at least once. My only goal in class today was to finish revising my topic sentences and start creating paragraphs around them. For the most part I met my goal for the day it took a bit longer to rewrite a few of my topic sentences without using "to be" verbs. Mr. Rivers gave the class an opportunity to resubmit their thesis statement and topic sentences without "to be" verbs to try and get a few points back from their original grade. This was very helpful for a lot of students because five points were taken off for every “to be” verb they used. If they were resubmitted fixed however the opportunity was available to get three of those five points lost back. This has the potential to raise the grades of the class’ organization tremendously. The critical review is a unique project that I have been starting to work on in the past week today I tried to get a few clips together in wevideo. I will be reviewing Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and talk about the main character Ceaser.

Jacey Deleu 3/8/17

Today's class period was the same structure it has been over the past week. Working on our critical review, our senior paper and finishing going up to conference with Mr. Rivers about the senior paper organization. Everyone is working at their own pace and picking which project they want to work on. The critical review is due March 20 and the senior paper is due March 22. Below is the schedule of the due dates for the projects and what the rest of the month looks like for this class.

Claire Vreeland- 3/7/17

Today in class we started by discussing a quotation format, Stating that, if a bulk of text is needed we must introduce the dialogue, insert a colon after the introduction, indent twice, and then start each quote. When a new person begins "speaking" a new line is started. After detouring from our typical daily routine, we continued to work on either our critical reviews or our senior research papers (which are both summatives). The due date for the critical review is Monday, March 20. And the due date for the senior review paper is Wednesday, March 22. Although I have done some work on my senior research paper, I am waiting to do extensive work until I conference with Mr. Rivers. Students were told for their research and organization (outline) not to use "to be" verbs, and we should not use them in our final draft. Mr. Rivers is giving any student that did not receive a great grade on their organization to get points back for every "to be" verb used. Mr. Rivers will give three points back for every "to be" verb fixed, which, in his words is "NOT TOO SHABBY!". When Mr. Rivers graded our assignments he took five points off for each "to be" verb used. This assignment would be due tomorrow night (March 8). Mr. Rivers said in class today that there are only a few people who needs to have conferences with, but he will try to finish all of these conferences by tomorrow.

below is a picture of the dialogue evidence guide:

Jacey Deleu 3/7/16

Throughout today's class we opened with looking at a sample of integrating evidence into our senior paper and an example of MLA formatting. For the rest of the class students worked on either their critical review video, their senior paper or editing their sentences that used to be verbs. Other students were called up to Mr. Rivers to go over their organization for the senior paper. We have been working multiple days in class to either do one project or work on our paper. I have been working on editing my to be sentences and starting my critical review. For my critical review I picked Finding Dory and I am comparing it to Finding Nemo.

Abe Ancis

3/3/17

Blog Post

Today in class we had a free period to work on either our critical review or our senior paper. Some students had other students peeper review their essay before getting the teacher review. I reviewed Ben thesis and Michael's first few paragraphs. The class worked diligently in order to finish all of their assignments in a timely fashion.

Abe Ancis

3/2/17

Blog Post

Today in Class we work on either our senior research paper or our visual critical reviews. Everyone worked diligently throughout the duration of the class. Some students had other students critique the work they have done so far on either project. Some students including myself have basically finished our senior essays.

Eric Lesch 3/3/17

Nothing that I could write about in length happened today in class. All week we have been doing much of the same thing. Today, we continued to find video clips for our video review and working on drafting our senior paper. Mr. Rivers continues to conference with people to discuss about the progress they have made on their paper and talk about what he thinks could improve your paper.

Katie Hastings 3/2/17

Today, Mr. Rivers was out so we had a substitute. We continued to work on our senior papers and/or our film review videos. Students who were working on the senior paper were either drafting the essay or working on the to be verbs redemption assignment. Students who were working on the film review videos were finding videos on YouTube, downloading them to the computer, and importing them to WeVideo.

Katie Hastings 3/1/17

Today in class, we continued working on our film reviews. This included deciding what exactly we want to review, researching the topic, and importing videos into WeVideo.



In order to import videos to WeVideo, we copied the YouTube link and pasted it into a website called KeepVid.com. From there, the video is saved to the computer, and then you can upload it to WeVideo. As the class did this, Mr. Rivers continued to meet with us individually to discuss our outlines for our senior papers. He spoke with 5 or 6 students, giving them guidance and tips for the actual drafting of the essay. Also, Mr. Rivers posted a Revision Opportunity assignment on Classroom today. When we wrote our outlines, Mr. Rivers instructed us not to use to be verbs in our thesis or topic sentences, but a lot of us used a few to be verbs, and thus, the grades weren't great. To get some points back, you can post the original sentence with the to be verb along with the revised version, without a to be verb. The assignment allows us to get 60% of the credit back, if done correctly.

Sarah Veasey 3/1/17

Happy 1st of March! Today in class we furthered our research and creative writing by either continuing to work on our visual critical reviews or drafting our outlines into to our final Senior Papers. Throughout the class period Mr. Rivers would call up people by random, or by the list created by students on the board, to discuss their outlines. In discussing our outlines he goes over whats working for you and whats working against you in your beginning stages of writing. He also show you if you had any to be verbs in your outline and Mr. Rivers created an assignment on google classroom, due next Wednesday, where you can get 60% of the points back if you include how you changed and edited out the to be verbs to ensure that they don't end up in your senior paper. If students weren't conferencing they were looking for evidence, deciding on a movie or tv show, and even beginning to created their video for their critical review. All and all the class today furthered your productivity in completing two projects that are due to middle/end of March.