Capstone Extra Movie Blog Post

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Making a movie might have been the most fun part of our Capstone project. We got to pick pictures, choose music, and share our research. The worst part about it was the recording because you needed to have the same type of recording in the same setting with the same tone. It was annoying especially when I was in a different place or had to speak louder because of background noise. But making a movie was still very fun and we got to share them with our classmates for advice and tips. In Cindy’s movie, she explained that when scientists wanted to share ideas, they could present them at a conference. Our movies and presentations were like that because we could present them in front of the class, with all our classmates and teachers watching.

Before the movie, we had to make a script. It wasn’t very exciting because we had to put all our research into simpler phrases to say. Also, I got my script corrected a lot. While the script was boring, it wasn’t hard or complicated. Before the script, we wrote an essay explaining the answer to our main question. What we were supposed to do was copy sentences or paragraphs from the essay onto the script and adapt it to make it match. So it wasn’t very difficult.

The movie was kind of the opposite – it was fun but hard. I think the most fun part was picking out a song because you could listen to music and think about the movie. In the end, I picked a song called Espionage, which was fitting because my topic was Cold War Espionage. It was too short so I had to start it up again on a slide talking about Aldrich Ames. It didn’t sound too weird and I was happy with it. But the most difficult part about the movie(other than recording) was picking photos. When Google searching, I had to use the “Tools” function under Images to set a Creative Commons license filter. That eliminated a lot of photos I wanted to use, but I found a trick. On Google Drive, when you use “Search the Web”, it automatically gives you free photos. There, I just clicked into the picture I wanted and double-tapped to get the file. Then I’d have a free photo. But when I didn’t have the photo I wanted, I had to search for something else or switch the topic. Sometimes, I happened upon a photo that was perfect for my movie but wasn’t free. When this happened, it was very annoying.

In conclusion, the final presentation/movie was sometimes fun and sometimes boring. It was sometimes hard and sometimes easy. In the end, though, I managed to complete it and make the best version of my video that I could. I hope that my whole Capstone project will be as successful as the movie. Because my Capstone is really a crowning achievement.

Capstone Blog Post #3

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Researching for my Capstone project was very boring. Also, it was challenging. That was because sometimes, I couldn’t understand the article I was reading or it didn’t have answers to my questions. I had a very difficult resource to understand and interpret, which ended up having only two sentences in my notes for it. Something exciting, though, was finding just the right paragraph with the answers I needed and extra information I didn’t think I’d need. While this nearly never happened, that just made it all the more exciting. Something I learned is you usually have to read a sentence or paragraph a few times before you find a connection between it and the question or topic. This applies to everything, even if you think you know what it’s about.

For my presentation, I decided to do a movie. This was because I didn’t want to memorize a script or talk to a live audience, which was what you had to do in a TED talk or Ignite. I already knew that I wouldn’t be good at it because I did it before. But movies had more features and options, so it was very clear which style of presentation I should choose. Some challenges I faced were recording and picking pictures(you can read more about my movie in my “Capstone Extra Movie Blog Post” post).

I learned that you need to always perfect and look for mistakes in your presentation(whether it’s a TED talk, Ignite, or movie) to make it the best you can. If you always think that your presentation is the best you can make, then you won’t be able to have a good enough presentation. This is important to know because then, you’ll always have a good presentation.

Capstone Blog Post #2

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The purpose of the interview was just to gain some more information and maybe get more perspectives. The information should be something you couldn’t get by searching for it and it’s good to get some opinions as well. I was worried about not being able to get an interview or the interviewee giving me bad information, and also nervous about what he would think of me. It was still really exciting to interview an expert, though.

I decided to search for experts on Cold War espionage, but all I found was experts on the History of the Cold War or other things. I wanted to interview an expert called Ian Johnson, but when I looked through his website I found that he was more focused on China than the Cold War. I also thought of another possible interviewee, but found that she was mostly talking about film. Because no one was an expert on Cold War espionage, the thought of interviewing an expert on the Cold War and then an expert on espionage crossed my mind. However, I looked through the expert website again and found someone who was an expert on the Cold War and espionage – they’d probably know at least a bit about Cold War espionage, right? Writing the questions was a little hard because I couldn’t think of anything that may be good to ask, but eventually I figured out 12 questions.

First, I emailed my interviewee, Arne Kislenko. He responded quickly, and then we arranged the date. We were going to go for 12:00 p.m. on Sunday, but he was busy at the time and we instead arranged for 5:00 p.m. on Monday. After that, he said he was too busy for 5:00 p.m. so we decided on 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday. I wanted to make a phone call but after some research, found out that calls from the US to Canada cost a dollar a minute. We decided to do a Zoom meeting instead. At first, when he didn’t come on (I think this was because I sent the Zoom link at 6:07), I thought that maybe we’d need to schedule another date. But luckily, it didn’t turn out that way and he came on at around 6:10. It went even better than expected, and lasted over 40 minutes. He was able to give me a lot of information and I started to understand some spy cases better. For instance, I’d only heard the name “Robert Hanssen” before, but Mr. Kislenko told me a lot more about how much information he gave to the Soviets.

While interviewing a complete stranger was really nerve-wracking, I got through it after some challenges and mishaps. I guess that in life, you just have to get through it as best as you can and then, maybe that’ll help. I did enjoy talking with Mr. Kislenko and it was pretty exciting. Maybe this Capstone unit won’t turn out too bad after all!

Capstone Blog Post #1

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Capstone is an inquiry-based research project. A capstone, in the dictionary, is a sort of milestone/crowning achievement, and for us it is the biggest milestone of our six elementary school years. We have to come up with a research topic and a main inquiry question. We will be researching the main inquiry question, which is why it’s important that the question is not too broad, too closed, or too complicated/opinionated. My question is “What were the most important Soviet Union spy missions during the Cold War and how did they impact the outcome?” My topic is Cold War espionage. Other than our main inquiry questions, we also have 5-6 sub-questions, which are more closed than our main ones. I don’t exactly enjoy having to research and take notes, but it is very exciting to have a new unit that is the “crowning achievement” of our time here at Heathcote Elementary.

I had gone to Washington D.C. over Spring Break, and we went to the Spy Museum. There, I had learned a lot about espionage and different spy devices, missions, and Cold War spies. So, when we had to fill out the organizer, under Events that Interest You I put Cold War espionage. My interest was also sparked from a book my dad had in the car called Cold War and wanting to learn more about atomic bombs and such. I chose this topic because I didn’t think it would be very interesting to do something on cats or anything else. I did consider Sculpting, as I could research important sculptors like Michelangelo, but Cold War espionage proved to be more interesting.

My main inquiry question, as stated in the introduction, is “What were the most important Soviet Union spy missions during the Cold War and how did they impact the outcome?” I wasn’t sure, at first, what to write for my question. I had three at first, one about comparing and contrasting important spies, one about stealing secrets about bombs, and the base for my current main inquiry question, something about spy missions. Mrs. Roberts changed my question into the one I have now. Something challenging was trying to come up with a question that fitted into the 4 star question category – I wanted to create one that convinced someone to do something or create something. Unfortunately, my main inquiry question doesn’t do that.

Two of my sub-questions are “How was the end of the Cold War affected by the success of spy missions?” and “Whose job is it to coordinate spy missions? Whose job is it to stop them?” I wasn’t sure, at first, what to write for my questions. I had eight at first, but three of them didn’t completely work. Mrs. Roberts changed my questions into the ones I have now. Something challenging was trying to come up with the questions that would be easy to research. It’s still difficult to take notes.

I like my topic and questions, and am excited to share this crowning achievement. Still, it requires lots of hard work and perseverance, which are sometimes hard to come by. While that’s true, I’m sure that we’ll ultimately figure this out and be proud about this when we look back at our past.