A Writer's Journey
Disney Films & Gender Social Norms Podcast
Hello, I'm glad you find your way here!
This page is a summary and reflection of all the work I have done from week 1 to week 7 including a major project of the course, the podcast and microsite, which is one of the milestones of the journey. The podcast is a discussion with four of my classmates on Disney's impacts on the social construction of genders. During the process, we accomplished more of our goals in the course objective.
Hope you enjoy my story!
Pre-Prodution
"Understand the importance of peer review to your own reading and writing"
This was a piece of comments from one of my classmates on my week 3 exploratory draft. From these feedbacks, I noticed some strengths and weaknesses of my writings. For instance, I found out that my topic sentence could be confusing to the readers due to its lengthiness. When I was working on the podcast and writing the essay, I paid closer attention to avoiding lengthy sentences and tried to convey my ideas in a more accurate way.
"Improve your written literacy, digital literacy, and overall communication skills across several media: annotations, reflective analytic writing, conventional writing"​
This was one of many annotations I had made on Disney films; I found that I referred to this annotation frequently in our podcast and the essay preparation. It was from the discussion post examining Beauty and the Beast (2017) in week 3. Through this type of activities, I learned to write in different means: annotations, reflective analytic writing, etc
"Understanding the importance of relfection"​
This is part of my week 3 reflection blog on “habits of mind.” Having frequent reflections throughout learning provided me a better understanding of my learning process and the course materials. Everytime I make these reflections, I am able to have more insightful interpretations about it.
Figure 1 - A comment from my classmate on the topic sentences of Week 3 Exploratory Draft.
Figure 2 - One annotations about lyrics sang by Belle in Beauty and the Beast (2017) during week 3.
Figure 3 - An excerpt from my week 3 reflection blog tracking my progress of "Habits of Mind".
Prodution - Link to microsite/podcast
"Practice collaboration and learn how to be an effective collaborator"​
As the script editor for the podcast, I organized a master script for the recording process. Other members of the group would have a better idea for the speaking orders and estimated time so they could arrange their ideas accordingly. Everyone had different roles in the project, and we were responsible for the duties assigned and complied with the deadlines.
"Improve your written literacy, digital literacy, and overall communication skills across several media: podcast script"​
As I was drafting my outline/script for the podcast, I made lots of revisions during the process. At the beginning, I only outlined my main ideas, the examples, and citations for each segment. When we practiced the first round of recording, I found it was not as smooth as I expected. Then, each of us added some transitions and interactions to our own drafts in between each person. The second round of recording was much more successful and professional. This picture is part of my script which I discuss about the impacts of lyrics on female gender roles.
"Practice communication skills by reading, speaking, and composing in different types of media (written, audio, video, websites)"​
The image to the left is a small excerpt of the contents that I contributed to the microsite. In this podcast project, I learned how to deliver my ideas clearly and precisely in the speaking part. I also practiced in research and citation when I assembled some of the contents for the microsite.
Figure 4 - The master script arranged by me for the group podcast recording.
Figure 5 - An excerpt of my outline for the discussion during the podcast including some transitions between each person's term.
Figure 6 - A snapshot of some content that I contributed to the microsite.
Post-Production Reflection
Learning from Mistakes
The first segment of our discussion focuses on discussing Disney fairy tales in female gender roles, which is also what my essay focuses on. One of our group members mentioned a very intriguing angle in interpreting the evolution of female gender roles--they never changed. She talked about how female characters are always constructed to further highlight the male characters’ halo. She provided me with some insights to my essay, which I am planning to write about the fixed female standards versus the character’s dynamic reactions to these standards in different time periods.
Collaboration
An effective collaboration would make the team working more efficient and enjoyable. I think my group did a marvelous job in dividing and accomplishing the tasks. Each of us was responsible for duties assigned according to our roles. The recording only took about 2-3 hours to complete including some editing and revising in between. The podcast editor and microsite editor did outstandingly in assembling the final production. I think what leads to this successful collaboration was that everyone contributed equally and comply with the tasks.
Ideas for the essay
The first segment of our discussion focuses on discussing Disney fairy tales in female gender roles, which is also what my essay focuses on. One of our group members mentioned a very intriguing angle in interpreting the evolution of female gender roles--they never changed. She talked about how female characters are always constructed to further highlight the male characters’ halo. She provided me with some insights to my essay, which I am planning to write about the fixed female standards versus the character’s dynamic reactions to these standards in different time periods.
