This is an overview of my experiences throughout creating our final product. It also includes my new knowledge about our topic, Effects of War on Children.

1. Ella Wilkie
Mrs. Lester
Honors World Lit/Comp
2 May 2012
Summative Reflection Project 2012
1) Through researching the effects war has on children, Cynda and I have become much more
knowledgeable. We discovered that children cope with war their own way and in their own time.
Children are most negatively affected by a parent’s deployment in the mental, emotional and
behavioral areas. Many children experienced severe behavioral changes that mainly consisted
of anger toward family and friends. We found that age and gender have a large impact on the
reaction of a child. Girls are more likely to have problems dealing with a parent’s absence
during deployment, while boys have trouble adjusting to the return of a parent. I am now finally
understanding the difficulties that military children experience on a daily basis. The relationship
between a child and their military parent is greatly affected by the amount of deployments and
length of absences. Communication is key when it comes to dealing with situations such as this.
Every family member must put in the effort in order to successfully rise from a victim to a victor
of war.
2) Cynda and I had very little challenges during our project. The only obvious challenge is that
we had to share our information and sometimes the internet was uncooperating. Working as
partners was actually beneficial to both of us because we were able to split the work amongst
ourselves. Sometimes we were led to dead ends when searching for sources. The easy solution

2. to this, however, was to alter our search terms. Time management was not a problem for either
of us. We were able to communicate well and therefore Cynda and I were constantly on top of
things. Both of us are athletes, and our busy schedules often affected our ability to work on our
project as frequently as we would have liked.
3) The most challenging aspect of research during this project was most definitely the Internet
and having to deal with its continuous problems. Several times, Google Docs was experiencing
problems that delayed our ability to share information. I, for one, had a few difficulties at home
when my Internet stopped working all together. Cynda and I eventually did make it through these
obstacles, and were able to complete our project successfully. Getting to see the final product
on the screen of my computer is definitely the most rewarding aspect. It shows that we made
it through the tough research and were able to create a masterpiece. Our project not only is a
reflection of our hard work, but it also gives people an insight to the difficulties that military
children experience.
4) Both All Quiet on the Western Front and my book of choice, Purple Heart had a great
influence on Cynda’s and my decision to conduct further research on the effects war has on
children. Both books explain the trauma and turmoil experienced during war. Cynda’s book was
also a description of a soldier’s time before, during and after deployment. Through discussing
our books, Cynda and I both decided that we knew the obvious problems associated with war
veterans, and we were interested more in how the families dealt with a deployment. Being
children ourselves, Cynda and I agreed that it would be interesting to look into how children
were affected by war.
5) Learning about the amount of difficulties children experience when a parent is deployed had
dramatically changed my view on the entire topic. Being that I do not have a parent in war, I

3. had no insight to the mental, behavioral, and emotional problems associated with the situation.
Reading multiple articles and watching informative videos definitely had the most impact on me.
6) It is incredible that this project has lasted for over two months. Looking back, I feel as though
Cynda and I did an amazing job on research, collaboration, multitasking, and putting together
our final product. I am most proud of the Glogster. Cynda and I have put in a tremendous amount
of work into the four mediums that make up our final product. We have glanced at other projects,
and we have noticed that ours is extremely complex compared to others. I am excited to see how
our viewers will react to our project. Both Cynda and I hope that we will impact the views of
several people around the world, just like ours were changed when we began researching the
topic.
7) Cynda and I used several different different websites during our project. Theses included
Glogster, PowerPoint, Slide Share, Easy Bib, Voicethread, Netvibes, Prezi, and databases. It was
difficult to keep up with all of our sources as well as information. Although Netvibes is a tool for
organizing all of our information, it was still difficult to maintain. Technology is not my forte,
but I feel that in the future, when I am completing another project of this sort, I will at least have
an idea of what I am doing and could possibly enlighten others with my knowledge.
8) 1.1.9 Collaborate with others to broaden and deepen understanding. When Cynda and I
emailed our expert, I feel as though we were able to broaden our understanding through learning
about her experiences. It was a much more effective way to deepen our understanding because
our expert experienced having a parent who was deployed first hand.
1.4.4 Seek appropriate help when it is needed. Throughout this project, there were various
incidences where Cynda and I needed assistance. Ms. Hamilton was a great help when it came to
embedding links and even helping us better understand a certain medium.

4. 2.1.6 Use the writing process, media and visual literacy, and technology skills to create products
that express new understandings. Cynda and I used several different mediums to complete our
final product. We had used Glogster, Voicethread, PowerPoint, and Prezi before, but we had
never used them all together. It was new and interesting to learn how to embed certain codes or
import/export creations. Through our Glogster (as well as our other mediums) we were able to
effectively portray our new and better understandings.
3.1.2 Participate and collaborate as members of a social and intellectual network of learners. We
had several fishbowl discussions concerning the topic of war. We were all able to participate and
express our ideas and opinions to the class. It was interesting learning about everyone’s topic and
how they were going to approach the situation of completing their final product.
3.2.3 Demonstrate teamwork by working productively with others. In our first research project
last fall, I chose to work by myself, and therefore did not have to deal with another person. It
turned out that when Cynda and I became partners for the Spring project, we were very good at
working together. We demonstrated exceptional teamwork through dividing and conquering the
required tasks.
9) My learning process was greatly impacted through creating a Glogster, Voicethread,
PowerPoint, and Prezi. Through organizing information, I was given a better understanding of
the specifics associated with mental, emotional, and behavioral problems military children deal
with. Although I had used all of the mediums included in our final product, it was a challenge to
learn how to use them all together as one project. Looking at Cynda and my final product, I feel
as though I am now even more experienced in all of the digital text mediums.
10) Cynda and I chose to use Netvibes as our information dashboard. We included our class blog
as well as our class wiki. We also decided to use our emails and we inserted several essential

5. widgets such as Gale. Looking back, I personally did not use our Netvibes dashboard all too
much. I greatly regret my decision and am determined to change that in the future. Netvibes
is a very useful tool that appropriately organizes our sources. Next year is a big year for both
Cynda and I, and I know it will prove helpful in several of our classes. When someone looks at
our Netvibes page, one will notice that Cynda and I are very creative and colorful. Based on our
widgets and entries, it shows that we are very involved in our learning and organization.
11) After making it through this project, I feel as though I am invincible. Next year is going to
be difficult, but thanks to the amount of information I have retained in this past year, I am well
prepared for anything that comes my way. Several new digital texts have been introduced to
me such as Prezi. Prezi has proven to be an effective and creative way of displaying specific
information and I will surely use it in the future. Through reading various novels and looking
through sources, I found that I have become a better analytical reader. This being that I have
learned to look beyond the words and find the meanings behind them. My research skills have
definitely improved this year. I am able to correctly evaluate sources and sort through them
based on applying appropriate search terms. This year with Mrs. Lester and Ms. Hamilton has
greatly improved my ability to successfully create a final product to perfection.