1. The document is a reflection by Cynda Tate and Ella Wilkie on their semester project about the effects of parental deployment in the military on children. 2. They explored how parental absence due to war drastically changes all aspects of children's lives, especially interactions with parents and feelings of losing both parents. 3. By using a Glogster with links to other media like VoiceThread and PowerPoint, Cynda and Ella felt they created an impactful project that showed the difficulties faced by children with deployed parents.

1. Cynda Tate and Ella Wilkie
Ms. Lester
Honors Lit/Comp
1 May 2012
End of Semester Summative Reflection
1) After learning more about the issue, I learned that all aspects of children’s lives are drastically
changed by having the absence of a parent due to being in the war. Ella and I found one of the
most drastic problems to be the interaction between parents and children. Because the parent at
home is often changed by the absence of her spouse and the one deployed is changed by the
personal view of war, it is possible that children feel as if they are losing both of their parents in
a way. Because of this feeling, separation often grows between children and their parents and
lack of communication grows. Due to this new distance along with other issues, a child’s daily
life is almost always altered. Different ages and genders experience different levels of severity of
symptoms such as anxiety, stress, depression, and behavioral and emotional issues. Parental
deployments cause continuous worry in children about their parent’s illnesses that could be both
physical and mental, along with the constant worry about the of death of their parent. The only
question that remains after looking deeper into the topic is if the effects of having parents in the
war are long-term and follow the child into her adulthood, or if they eventually fade away.
2) At first, finding information about the topic was fairly difficult because our topic is just now
beginning to be really recognized. However, after I searched for more general terms, I began to
find more sources that were relevant. Because Ella and I are good friends, we knew before we
started the project that there would probably be a minimal amount of problems with time
management because we are both so driven. Although we had a little confusion about the due

2. date, we finished by the weekend before the project was due, and in my opinion, we managed
our time well. The only issues we had with technology were those with Google Document which
lasted only one day. Overall, my stress level was kept very low in comparison with the last
project.
3) Ella and I chose to include three different digital elements on our final project which was a
Glogster. Overall, we were working with four different mediums, which at times, got
overwhelming. In my opinion, our project probably involved more work than many of the others
because of the way we decided to lay it out. Even though our Gloster with links to VoiceThread,
PowerPoint, and Prezi might have been more difficult than other projects, I do not regret the
decision of our layout because I think it has the most effect on the viewer. Because Ella and I are
both still children, our topic meant a lot more to us than other topics might have because we
could easily relate to the effects that children with deployed parents were experiencing. Hearing
about the constant pain and struggle children in this situation face had the most impact on me
and allowed me to see the view from a different type of lifestyle.
4) Both All Quiet on the Western Front and my novel, The Things They Carried, had glimpses of
what life was like at home while a loved one was away at war. In All Quiet on the Western Front,
the reader saw the perspective of Paul Baumer’s mother. In The Things They Carried, the reader
saw the apparent separation that war had brought between one of the main characters, Jimmy
Cross, and his girlfriend Martha. After seeing how both protagonist's relationships grew farther
apart between different relatives, Ella and I decided that we wanted to focus on how bonds
between parents and children are altered because of war. We both realized that the topic of
effects on children at home had not came about in the cohort discussions, so we thought it would
be interesting to look farther into the topic.

3. 5) Like stated earlier, my book nor the cohort discussions involved anything about our project.
The bulk of my knowledge about the topic came from reading non-fiction articles about the
issue, resultingly having the most impact on me. The issue of children with deployed parents has
definitely had a lasting influence on me to be more considerate and thoughtful of military
families and the problems they have to encounter daily. Our final product, completed in Gloster
with links out to various mediums, shows the powerful information that was portrayed to Ella
and I by reading the various database articles. In my opinion, it will send an impacting message
to all viewers and cause others to believe that children with deployed parents face an excessive
amount of difficulties that other children do not have to endure.
6) I normally have problems working with others on projects like this one, but Ella and I worked
well together and I felt as if I was under a minimal amount of stress the whole eight weeks. Both
of us completed the parts of the project that were assigned to us, which led to great time
management. I am most proud of our final product because of how much work we both put into
the Glogster. I am excited to see how viewers react to our project and if their views of children
with deployed parents are drastically changed, just like mine was when I began researching.
7) Just like in the last project, working with so many different websites (Gloster, Prezi,
Voicethread, PowerPoint, Slide Share, Easy Bib, Netvibes, databases, etc.) caused it to be fairly
hard to stay organized. Although Netvibes was supposed to be the website where we could
access all our websites, dealing with so many was still overwhelming at times. However, I was
more comfortable during the process of completing this project than I was when doing the Fall
project. With more practice, I feel as if this skill could be mastered.
8) 1.1.4 Find, Evaluate, and select appropriate sources to answer questions. I believe I used
effective search terms to find sources that were relative to my topic and the questions I had about

4. it.
1.1.9 Collaborate with others to broaden and deepen understanding. Normally it is fairly difficult
for me to work with partners on projects, however working with Ella on this project proved to be
very helpful. By discussing various articles that we both found, I got a better understanding and
depth than I would have by working alone.
2.1.2 Organize knowledge so that it is useful. Between both Ella and I, we found an abundant
amount of information about our topic. Although this is a good thing, it was essential that we
sorted through the sources to group the information that would be useful to our project. I believe
we both did an effective job of doing so.
3.1.3 Use writing and speaking skills to communicate new understandings effectively. Because
Ella and I did separate research, an important aspect of the project was to communicate our
findings and combine them in a way that would be most impacting on the viewer. In my opinion,
we were successful in joining just the right amount of information while keeping separate some
of our findings such as specific facts about the issue.
4.1.8 Use creative and artistic formats to express personal learning. Ella and I used a total of four
mediums to portray information to the reader. Through our Gloster, Prezi, Powerpoint, and
Voicethread I think we could show creativity and the ability to use different avenues to show
what we learned personally.
9) By creating a Glogster with links out to different mediums, my learning process was greatly
enhanced in a number of ways. By adding pictures and other graphics along with text to explain
our issue, I not only got a better understanding of the topic, but so will the viewers. By straying
away from the traditional research paper, I became more knowledgeable in the area of
technology, which present day along with our future revolves around. I truly believe I learned

5. more by doing a Gloster than I would have doing any other type of project because I had to look
deeper into the topic to be able to portray the lasting impact on viewers which was my original
goal.
10) Our Netvibes dashboard displayed links to various pages such as our class libguides page,
email, Flickr, our class agenda, to do lists, and webnotes. It was my starting point at the
beginning of each class period because I was able to go directly to the websites I needed without
the hassle of dealing with URS addresses. I believe we used Netvibes effectively, and I would
not change the way I used it in the future. I believe my Netvibes page says that I am a visual
learner and that I am creative in the way I portray information.
11) I think I am good at sorting through information about a specific topic and finding what is
useful or not. I do not have a problem seeing the deeper meaning within an article, and I think I
am effective of displaying that information to a reader or viewer. I am prepared to portray
information through writing, along with more present day learning styles such as digitally. I am
confident in my researching skills, and normally have little trouble finding an excessive amount
of information about the desired topic.