Category Archives: Writing

Immigrant Documentary

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Have you ever made a documentary about someone? Well I just have, in this blog post I will be talking about the process of making my video, and what I have learned as a result of this project. So keep on reading to find out more!

My experience making the video wasn’t as good as I had thought it would be. That is because, when I started doing my script I thought I was in a really good position, and felt like I was a step ahead of everybody else. That was until I realized I had to change my whole script to sound just like a story, not a narrative. That step back felt really bad, because I had spent a lot of time on my script just to know I had to change the whole thing. After I had finally finished my script, I had to get photos, and not only photos from my dad who was my interviewee. But I also had to get photos that fully matched my script, and that were also from wevideo. So that wasn’t very good either. After I had finished getting all my pictures and putting them all into place, which also wasn’t the best. I had to do a voice over. To me it was like a breath of fresh air, because it was really easy compared to the other things I had to do. That is because for the voice over all you had to do was just read your script, and try to match up with your pictures. In all, my experience making the video wasn’t the greatest.

I had learned many things as a result from the immigration project. I learned a lot of things that I didn’t know before about my dad that I know now. Like how he taught at both Brandeis and Harvard, I only knew that he just taught, and I didn’t even know where. Another thing I learned as a result of the project was conducting an interview. Like I learned how to pace myself and wait for the interviewee to stop and think about the question, and don’t stop them when they are talking, and also nod to show them I am understanding what they are saying. One more thing that I learned as a result of the project was how to create a proper video. I had made many videos before, but for this one it was the longest and I had to put most work into it. I have also only done one other video this year, and because it wasn’t just last week I remembered and learned new things. Like how to customize the photos, or edit and change the music. In all, I learned many things as a result from the immigration project.

In conclusion, in this blog post I talked about the process of making my video, and what I had learned as a result of this project. So now that I have finished my immigration project, have you ever done an immigration project?

Immigration Interview

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Do you know anyone who has immigrated somewhere? Have you ever done an interview? Because I have just finished one, in this blog post you will be hearing about my experience preparing for the interview, and my experience conducting the interview. So keep on reading to find out more!

My experience preparing for the interview wasn’t that  hard to me, because once my teacher gave me the instructions for the interview questions, I got straight to work. On the first day I had already gotten 20 questions, and we only needed 10 – 15 questions. The reason why the questions were easy to make is because I was interviewing my dad, and I know him really well. I had to consider if the questions that I had created were open-ended questions, which was kind of hard, because sometimes it’s pretty hard to tell if the question was open-ended or not. After I was sure that I had finished, I checked with my teacher to add the finishing touches, to make sure each question was good and open ended. By the end, my teacher had helped me make 15 good questions. After all of that, my teacher helped me print my questions onto paper so I can bring it home and interview my dad. The resources that I had received to help me with my interview questions didn’t really help, since I had used any of the questions that they had suggested. In all, preparing for the interview was pretty easy for me.

My experience conducting the interview was good. The only bad thing about it was, it took awhile to even start my interview with my dad, because we would plan it one day, then sometimes our schedule could change and we wouldn’t be able to do it. My interview was conducted inside my house, in the living room. It was in person, not on the phone. Though I did record the interview. It went completely as I expected, because it was long, but not too long. Also, I had heard how my friends’ interviews had gone, so I had known what to expect. I learned how to act and say. For example, I had to wait and make sure that the person I was interviewing had fully finished what they had to say before I continued to ask more questions. Another example is, I had to add follow up questions when I thought I should have. I learned many more small but interesting stories I hadn’t known about my dad before. Like when his plane that was taking him to America was struck by lightning. Or where he had worked as a professor. In all, I had a good experience while conducting my interview.

In conclusion, in this blog post I talked about my experience preparing for the interview, and my experience conducting the interview. It was pretty fun to make, because I had never done an interview before. Now that I have thought about it, I would like to know, have you ever done an interview?

Feature Article

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Have you ever written a big piece of writing? Well I have, I just finished writing and publishing my feature article. In this blog post I am going to be talking about the things I enjoyed, and found tough for the writing and formatting on my feature article. So keep reading to find out more! 

When I was writing my feature article, I enjoyed a few things, but I also found a few things challenging. One of the things I enjoyed about writing my feature article was writing about the activity that I like most (soccer). This is because writing about soccer felt so easy to write about since I knew it so well, it also didn’t take long to think about any of my writing. There are a few things that were challenging about writing my feature article. One of the things was editing my writing. The reason for this is that you have to find every small mistake with punctuation, spelling, and even how it sounds. In all, I enjoyed many things about my feature article, I also found some things pretty challenging. 

There were a few things that I enjoyed about formatting my feature article, but there are also a few things I found difficult about formatting my feature article. I enjoyed playing around with all the shapes and sizes to get the format that I liked most. It also felt really really cool to see how the end product turned out after I had finished everything.  Even though I really enjoyed formatting my feature article, there were some tough parts. One of the tough things was making my format perfect for the writing I have. I needed to have all the shapes and boxes fit with all the writing, pictures, and captions, and still make it all look good all together. In all, I enjoyed formatting my feature article, even if there were some obstacles in the way.

In conclusion, I talked about the things I found enjoyable, and the things I found challenging for my writing and formatting on my feature article. I still don’t know something though, how would you think writing a feature would feel like?

5th Grade Identity Maps

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Every person has their traits that make up their identity, I know you and I do. In this blog post I wrote down important things about my identity, and my tablemates identities. So keep reading if you want to see more about our identities.

I have built up a big identity over the years, but there are three things on this list that really show who I am. The first thing is Judaism, this is because it’s my religion and I really feel passionate for it. My family is also fully Jewish so for every Jewish holiday we celebrate, and have dinner with my  cousins, and family friends. We also reconnect on what has happened since we have last seen each other. The second thing is soccer. Soccer is a sport that I have known my whole life. Ever since I was born, my two older brothers surrounded me with a soccer lifestyle. They wanted me to watch and play which is what I still do to this day, and hopefully in the future. The third thing is family. If I never had a family I wouldn’t be here today. I would not be able to play sports or do anything. Family is important for everyone so they are more than deserving of being on this list. This was my list of the three things I chose and why.

I learned a few important things from my tablemates because of their identity map, but I am only stating the most important things about the three of them. The first person I interviewed was Logan. I learned that he was Jewish. It felt pretty cool to know that someone else is the same religion as me in the classroom. The second person is Isabella. I learned that she was from Venezuela. It was really interesting to me,  knowing that she is from another continent and can speak a different language. The third person is Val, the thing I learned about her was that she played many different sports. Like tennis or softball this surprised me, because I never knew what sports she liked and that she even played sports. These were the facts I never knew about my tablemates, until I saw their identity maps.

This writing piece was about the important part of my tablemates and I identities. It was really fun and cool to know more about my classmates. But I still don’t know what are a few important things about your identity? 

5th Grade Fun

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Have you ever realized that it was finally the first day back at school? If you’re like me, you had mixed emotions about the first day of school. But I can list a few very fun things that I have enjoyed in Fifth Grade, and things I am very excited to do this year.

Fifth grade has had a lot of fun things so far, but there are three things that stand out for me. The first thing I’ve really enjoyed is going to our Physical Education (P.E.) classes. P.E. is one of my favorite activities for two reasons. Number one is I really like being active and playing sports, which is what you do in P.E. The other reason is that it helps keep your body stretched and healthy. The second thing is 5th Grade free choice of where to sit in the cafeteria. This is because I have gained so many friends all over the years, and I have created strong relationships with them. Several of these friends are in the other class now, so I don’t get to see them as much. The free choice of where to sit in the cafeteria lets me have some time to catch up with them. The third thing is The Index Card Challenge. This is because it was a very fun and hard challenge, but also it really helped with teamwork. It also encouraged thinking outside the box and patience, because we had to work hard balancing the cards on top of each other. It was also really good to have fun while also learning. Those are the three things on my list that really stood out for me this far in Fifth Grade.

This year in Fifth Grade there are so many great things that are going to happen, but these three things just really seem the best to me. First is Hot Dog Field Day. This is because you get to be outside all day and get to play tug of war, but you also get to play other really fun things. You also get to eat one of my favorite foods like hot dogs. The Moving Up ceremony is the second thing on my list because it is such a memorable thing to move out of elementary school. Also, there is going to be a big moving up party. Where you get to do so many fun things like tug of war, kickball, or dogdeball. Bedford Ropes Trip is the third thing on my list because I love field trips. I also love doing things like climbing or walking on rope bridges, and that’s exactly what you do on the Bedford Ropes trips. Those are the three things I am looking forward to most this school  year.

I just shared three things I’ve enjoyed, and three things I am looking forward to this fifth grade year. Now, what have you enjoyed this year and why? What are you looking forward to this year and why?