The struggles of the Corona lockdown

So as you know from my last blog the issues us highschoolers are facing due to the Coronavirus, globally.  But it also is affecting us locally. My group members and I still have a lot of filming, editing, re-filming, and re-editing to do. Getting this done has become extremely hard due to this virus. The idea of self-quarantine and social distancing has been overly stressed to everyone. We have been told that going out should be done only if seriously needed. A lot of parents are not letting their children go to their friends' houses, or letting their friends come over to their own house. I and my groupmates parents fall into that category. My group member Jahzenyahs mom will not let her hang out with anyone regardless of the location. My mom is only letting family come over. And there is no hanging out with friends. As for Derek, I am not sure, but he cannot do this project on his own so as of now it is not getting done. This lockdown has put a huge dent in our project. Getting it done will be extremely hard. Depending on how long until this issue last it may not get done by the due date.  In that case, we as students would be very frustrated because we have put in a lot of hard work and we would hate to see it all go down the drain due to a virus. Our Cambridge diploma has taken a lot of hard work and this issue could easily mess up our chances of getting it. If the due date was postponed it may make this situation easier. No matter what we are doing the best we can in this time of conflict. All we can do is hope for the best outcome.

The picture above is a picture of the research I have been doing on Cambridge Aice exam updates.

WHAT is going on?!

So as you might know the world is having a huge global issue. This issue is the coronavirus.  Unfortunately, this virus is greatly affecting many of highschooler's school lives in the U.S in many negative ways. It started off as a minor issue. Not even slight worry came over us highschoolers, up until about two weeks ago. Then the havoc started. Teachers were warning us that school may be canceled. Kids were coming to school in gloves and masks, or they just weren't coming at all.  And now our school is canceled until, as of right now, April 15th. All school activities have been canceled and online work has begun. But you have to realize the timing of this all that makes it so much worse.  School got canceled right around the end of our 3rd quarter meaning we were not able to finish up our quarter. End of the year exams, including our Aice exams, is right around the corner and now this issue has caused our standardized state testing to be canceled and has caused a huge push back in preparing for our Aice exams which are very important for a lot of juniors. Us juniors were in the middle of SAT time. We were getting our college/graduation requirements done around this time. The news has been keeping us updated, but all it does is just make us more stressed. We now have the option of retaking the school year. We also have been hearing that all grades this school year no longer count. This is a  HUGE deal. And on top of all the information on the school, we have to also remain safe from this virus. Our spring break is ruined. The beach is closed.  Soon I believe almost everything will be and we must stay inside. We are in a huge part of history right now.

Peer Review and Reshoot Planning

    So you may remember me discussing in my last blog how I missed the peer review due to absence, sickness, and confusion. I then discussed how when I got to class the next day that I would speak with my teacher, which I did. When speaking to her I explained the same situation that I did to the blog. I told her that I was not here due to being confused with dates, and sick. I told her I made sure to still blog about this situation. She told me I did exactly what I should've done and that I am on track. I then asked her if there was any way to make up the review. To which she then explained that the peer review was not an assignment for her or Cambridge, rather something to help my group. She told me that if I wanted I could go find the group meant to peer review my group's project or ask a friend/family member, but it was not required. I decided that it was important to have someone else eyes watch and critique our project. So I showed my stepdad and sister the draft. They gave some good feedback that I will for sure use. The feedback is hard to understand unless you have watched the video, but basically, they expressed confusion of shots and lack of skill in acting. I'm not yet sure what feedback my other group members received,  but based on mine, I definitely think some reshooting needs to take place.  So I have started to talk with one of my group members, Jahzenyah, to plan days we can meet up, but not Derek. So she and I decided to discuss it all together in class tomorrow. Tomorrow in class we will first discuss critiques given to each other by family members. We will then discuss what needs to be changed/added. Lastly, we will discuss and schedule the days we will reshoot along with the days we will finish. I am not sure yet if we are on track with filming and getting this project done. That will be determined tomorrow when we discuss what I stated above.

In this picture above you see me stepdad discussing some acting issues with the main character.

Peer Review

    So, unfortunately, I was not able to do the peer review another group's first draft of their project, nor was anyone able to review my groups. This is the case for many reasons. To start I was confused with the dates for when everything took place. I was under the impression that we would be doing the peer review on March 5th because I had wrote that done, but I am now realizing that was just for the blog. I clearly was not thinking because I did not even have this class on March 5th, but the reason, why I was confused with the school schedule this week, will be explained later on. So when I made the decision to stay home I did not think I would be missing the peer review. The reason I decided to miss school was that for the past few weeks, I have been in and out of being extremely under the weather. I tend to have symptoms of sickness come and go randomly. Because of this, my school attendance has suffered. So the day that our class was peer-reviewing I stayed home with a migraine and sore throat. Not only is this situation complicated due to my absences and sickness, but it is also because this week we had our SAT and an early release. So the schedule has been very hectic and I still haven't gotten the chance to speak with my teacher about how to make up this peer review. This was also the reason why I was confused on which days I had this class. My plan, for now, is to continue to edit and critique things I find that need to be critiqued. This is because there is always room for improvement. I have found that if I continue to go back and watch the draft of our final project every day I will find new things I can fix. That way it can be in it's best shape by the time I show it to another group. I finally have AICE Media tomorrow so I plan on going to my teacher immediately to discuss with her what I can do.  I also have talked with my group members, but I was slightly confused on their end. Although there, the did not peer review other group's work. So I was not able to even know how the peer review took place or anything about it.

Above is a picture of just some absences due to being sick over these last few weeks.