I'm a researcher.

To be completely honest... I love making videos for classes. History, English, Science, whatever the class, I would always be excited at the thought of making videos for my high school classes. Though it doesn't seem that way, I would always take the lead in a video project when a teacher assigned us into groups. I just felt like it was a fun way to learn (or not learn), but t was a way for me to really show my personality I guess. Well anyway that's why I was all for the video essay idea but I am disappointed that I couldn't give all of my time into it as I wish I coul've as the directors and producers do, so I figured I would take a back seat role and be a researcher. I would have loved being a director or producer but I know I wouldn't have had enough time to really do what the directors and producers have done, everyone for that matter.
To say the least, researching was just something I figured I could do that would still be a good way to help the class, while still being able to handle all of my classes. What I didn't know was how much the research really was a big part of the project. I figured it wouldn't be all that difficult but it has proved to be more so than I thought.
I think the difficulties arise from, not knowing where the video was going, not knowing what to research, having a limited amount of resources, and having to balance all of this with tests through out the week. At first, we (the researchers) didn't really know which direction we were taking with the video so we didn't know what to research, the textbook controversy or Vietnam or the Iraq War, it was just a confusion of what needed to be found. Another difficulty I think has hindered us is the amount of resources we can find. The internet has a lot of information but in regards to the textbook controversy most of it is opinions and facts from only one side, it has been difficult to find the point of view of the people who made these changes. All in all, being a researcher doesn't look as easy as I initially thought, but I'm okay with the role. Hopefully now that we have direction we can get going and make this video!