What I have learned in the past 24 hours is the teamwork and structure that we need to focus on when working in our small groups. I have learned these things by being around other people who know what they are doing and to try to stay part of the group. This work has extended my thinking about this because since I am know doing Dispatch cuts instead of Native American tribes in Vermont, I have to learn about this topic, instead of the topic I was originally going to do. I think I will have fun doing this topic, but to me I still really want to do Native Americans tribes.

What I hope to do and, or accomplish (if possible) is to work on and interview many people on this topic. But before interviewing people I have to study up on what this is, and how this system works. At least in the next 2.5 months I hope to learn about the system of dispatching and to help in any way I can to do my part in my group. some things I think I will have think the thing that might really challenging is the interviews and how to get to those interviews. This might be challenging because I am not much of a speaker, but I might have to do it if no one else has time to do it. But I am not at all a speaker so this is probably a challenge I might have to overcome. Some things I might have to help with is speaking to someone in a interview. And also staying on task. Whenever I get really nervous I tend to get off topic and think of other things. I hope at the end of this 2.5 month time my team and I can get a lot done.

Brennan Bordonaro-Overnight Retreat: Initial Thoughts on Our Group Blog

Wow. This has been a really fun and productive 25 hours and I am so hyped up for what’s next. So much has been learned that I haven’t even realized how quickly the time has flown by. The connections made from one topic to another here are really quite eye opening. Some of the things I learned about further through the course of this include; how the program is designed to function and the large amount of similar ideas and subjects people have. I have also learned about how the equipment and actual video work is to be accomplished.

My thinking has expanded by quite a bit throughout the time here, enough so that I am coming up with questions about where to go and who to talk to, that I haven’t even begun to come up with an answer with. My thinking has also expanded about how to incorporate more people into my project. I was unsure on a few of the things that were talked about before, and whether or not we were going to be working in groups was definitely one of them.

The next two and a half months are, in my idea, going to be a very fun few months. Although I feel somewhat ahead in my topic because I came here with it and the rest of my group joined it. Because of this I plan on diving deeper into my topic and going through more research. While doing that I am going to be trying not to take such a drastic step forward that I become unsure of what else and how else to continue before the next meeting.

Although this is the topic that I brought to the table and came here somewhat knowledgeable about it, I still feel like there is so much to take in and so much to incorporate into a project, I see difficulty in that aspect of it. Another difficulty that I expect to see in the upcoming few months is that we really hammered down the idea of getting the whole group onto a much deeper understanding of the topic. We came up with that as a plan but we never came up with the plan of when we think a good mark to reach in terms of understanding is before filming. Filming was also an area I think was somewhat lacking in some regards. We didn’t focus that much on it, but it was introduced.

Overall I would consider this to have been a very helpful 24 hours that expanded my thinking and has allowed me to better understand my topic as well as the functioning of this course.

WTS Group Blogging Prompts - Brynna Kearns

The things we are learning here are things that could potentially help improve the future. Researching our topics and reporting about them inspires us to push for these changes, and the more people who do that, the more change and improvement we will see in the future. During this over night meeting I've learned quite a bit about my topic Dispatcher Cuts Throughout Vermont. I've learned about how the dispatcher cuts have effected my community, and I learned the importance of having more qualified dispatchers. I was able to ask a lot of good questions about the topic, and after getting more knowledge about it, I've discovered that I care about it and want to take action in finding solutions. I was able to make a lot of connections between this and my older topic, Elderly Mistreatment in Nursing Homes and Senior Communities. This project will also revolve around saving people and helping people, which is something I'm passionate about. I learned about camera aesthetics and lighting, and how to make an interview look good. Most importantly though, I'm learning to work well among my peers, which will become important down the road.

I look forward to reaching out to people who have opinions about this topic we're doing. I'm interested to see how many people this has already affected. I want see both sides of this argument, too. There are probably some people who think the budget cuts are a major improvement, and  I'd like to hear their reasoning for this. It'll be challenging trying to get all of this started. Getting the ball rolling on projects, for me at least, has always been the hardest part. I'm confident that when we get going on this we'll be really efficient and productive. I will also struggle to keep organized as this is a pretty big project. I'll need to find a system that can I can use to keep all of my research from becoming scattered and disorganized.

Emily Pecsok - Overnight Retreat: Initial Thoughts on Our Group Blog

What have you learned in the last 24 hours and how has that extended your thinking about this project?

Within the last 24 hours, I have learned about the basics of interviewing and using the camera. All of this information has led me to realize that this is really happening. We are not just talking about doing things anymore, we are actually going to do them. I am actually going to go home, work with the camera and research in order to prep for a real interview. We have just been talking about making a change, we have just been talking about what we are going to do, but now we are actually going to go and do these things, and it is surreal.

I have also learned about how all our topics are so connected and have one huge thing in common: they involve community. Every one of the topics involves making a change, and every one of those changes require community and teamwork. It was difficult for me to give up my topic of Bernie Sanders that I had completely devoted myself to, but it was what I had to do, and I like my decision because I need my team's support. I also learned that it takes a village. I am not capable to do this on my own, and I need my group's help. Overall, in these past 24 hours, I have learned about how this entire process takes communities, a community to create, and a community to listen.

What do you look forward to during the next 2.5 months?

In the next 2.5 months, I am excited to view the progress we've made. I'm sure by then we will have already conducted a few interviews and made a lot of plans for the future, and I am really excited for it. What is great about my group is we all live in or really close to Middlebury--we at least all go to school there--and we can actually meet up instead of just going on Google Hangouts. Additionally, we all have certain things we are good at/we enjoy doing and have some connections to people. Brennan has some connections to make it easier to set up interviews and he enjoys interviewing, Brynna knows how some of the technology equipment works and is also good at interviewing, Shoshana is good at finding resources and also enjoys learning about technology, and I am good at organizing my/our thoughts and putting it in writing. All in all, it seems very obvious that a lot of progress is going to be made in the next 2.5 months, but I am excited to see exactly how far along we are.

What will be challenging during the next 2.5 months?

In the next 2.5 months, I think it will be hard to focus. Everyone has a lot going on, and because we don't have What's the Story? meetings almost everyday like we do our other classes, it is forgotten. That is okay, but I must remember that this is still something important to work on.

Additionally, I think that it will be difficult to actually figure out exactly what to do, and exactly what the story is. My group has some idea, but I predict that eventually we are going to realize we don't know enough. Also, I think it's going to be a struggle to interview people, what do we say, what do we do, who do we interview, etc. Finding information or figuring out what information to find may be a struggle because even though my group currently has some idea, probably not all the things on our list are going to be possible to do.

What might you need help with during the next 2.5 months?

I am not sure exactly what I'll need help with. I believe that I will mainly need support, as I do with most of my projects. Additionally, I think that there are, as always, going to be little bumps in the road that I will defiantly need help with and I will seek support from my group and Mrs. Krahn, Mr. O'Leary, Bill Rich, etc. But overall, I don't have anything in particular that I believe I will need help with.