I-Movies

Rather than completing a traditional book report, we were required to create an I-movie based on a book our group read related to education. My group read the book Stand for the Best: What I Learned after Leaving My Job as CEO of H&R Block to Become a Teacher and Founder of an Inner-City Charter School by Thomas Bloch. Thomas was a CEO at H and R Bloch, the tax firm founded by his father. Thomas chose to leave his position and go back to college to become a teacher. He was not satisfied with his job and felt the need to do something different with his life. He also went on to found a charter school to help inner city students succeed and be on a college bound track. I was inspired by his story and amazed at how much he gave up to help these students succeed.
Creating an I-movie is definitely a more exciting assignment than writing a traditional book report. However, I don't feel that I learned more through this assignment than I would have with a book report. Our group didn't have a clear direction with our film and it turned out to take a lot of time for those members in our group who knew how to work the I-movie software. I can see myself using Imovies in my classroom in the future and I think it could be used very effectively and the students would be actively involved in the learning process if executed correctly.

Senior Presentation: "The Politics of Genocide, Peace, and Reconciliation in Rwanda”

I attended a senior presentation by Fabrice Musoni entitled "The Politics of Genocide, Peace, and Reconciliation in Rwanda”. It was an incredibly informative presentation about the horrific genocide between the Hutus and the Tutsis of Rwanda that occurred in 1994. I am currently taking the class History of Modern Africa and we have been discussing the Rwanda genocide, so hearing this lecture provided me with a broader understanding of everything that occurred in Rwanda during this tragic time period. The presentation contained information about the history of the Hutus and Tutsis leading up to this horrific time period as well as information about the role of the U.S. government and the U.N. The thing that I found most difficult for me to understand was the fact that the people involved in this genocide were regular civilians who killed their neighbors, friends, and sometimes even their family. The fact that the U.S. failed to take any action in assisting the Rwandans and putting an end to these brutal murders is devastating.
Fabrice had an excellent presentation and is a very good public speaker. He had a very effective power point which he used to provide an outline and main points of his presentation. He also had links to video clips from the movie Ghosts of Rwanda, a Frontline report on the politics and first hand accounts of the Rwanda genocide. He also had links to Youtube clips further exploring the events of the genocide. The variety he incorporated into his power point along with his effective public speaking skills made the presentation very interesting and helped further our understanding of everything that occurred in Rwanda. Effective public speaking is a crucial skill to possess as future teachers in order for us to be prepared to express our opinions and present our ideas clearly to other teachers, administration, and parents. I learned a lot about the genocide in Rwanda because Fabrice was able to present his detailed information clearly and effectively, while appealing to the emotional aspect of this tragedy through video clips, quotes and pictures.