It is possible to assess and rationalize the actions of any character in the Crucible by referring to Kolberg’s moral precepts for guidance. Kolberg outlines his precepts as the pre-conventional, conventional, and post-conventional moral state. It should be noted that these precepts are chronological in nature, meaning that a pre-conventional baby will progress to a post-conventional elder throughout their life. Additionally, one does not lose the behaviors of the previous precept once the next step has started – all three precepts remain in a person’s psyche once they’ve absorbed all three at old age.

There are many examples of pre-conventional characters in the Crucible. Pre-conventional characters behave in a way to maximize reward and/or minimize punishment with no regard for group acceptance or personal values. The first pre-conventional character is Abigial Williams, who cries that “It were sport” when confronted by Reverend Parris about the dancing they did in the middle of the woods in the dead of night. Abigail and her accompanying posse did try and perform “witchcraft”, but she lied about it because she fears the consequences of witchery. A Christian is taught to never lie as God damns all liars, but Abigail fears punishment more than she fears the wrath of God. Another character who behaved the way they do to evade punishment or maximize gain is Thomas Putnam who convinced his daughter to testify against Jacobs, which a witness describes as him saying that “she’d given him a fair gift of land”. Putnam, via a proxy, damned Jacobs solely to absorb his land and increase his own status. Finally, Tituba claimed herself to be a “good Christian woman” after being pressed by Parris because the punishment for witchery/turning away from God was being whipped to death – she lied about her religious feelings to avoid dying. To conclude, it is evident that there are pre-conventional characters in the Crucible.

Additionally, there are conventional characters in the Crucible. Conventional characters are characters that perform actions to gain or retain group acceptance. The first example is John Procter, who said “I’ll think on it” when told to confess to adultery to save multiple people from getting hung on falsified charges. He waits so long to confess because his previously good reputation will be completely tarnished as adultery was considered a violation of one of the ten commandments. Furthermore, another character that behaved in a way only to seek group acceptance is Betty, who claims to have seen “Goody Bibber with the Devil!”. She has not, nor will ever see the Devil or any of his accomplices and she chooses to lie about it to corroborate Abigail’s claims after Hale pressed her for names. The final example(s) are the girls who cry “Abby, stop it!” after Abigial initially mimics Mary Willaims to frame her for witching them. Mary Warren is not a witch and has not sent her spirit out to harm them, but they follow along with the de-facto group leader to keep their association. To conclude, it is evident that there are conventional characters in the Crucible.

There are also post-conventional characters in this play. Post-conventional characters internalize a set of values and act according to those values regardless of reward, punishment, or group acceptance. The first example of a post-conventional character is John Procter, who tells the minister of the theocratic town that he “hardly mentions God anymore.” This is a rather inflammatory statement to make to the most powerful cleric in the town, which may lead to a tarnished reputation among the group or retaliation from the minister himself. Another character who behaves in a way to preserve their own value system is Giles Corey, who the narrator describes as not giving a “hoot about public opinion.” He could appeal to the values of the town, or he could be entirely preoccupied with avoiding punishment, but he only sticks to his values. The final example is Mary Warren, who in Act III exclaims to John Procter that she is amazed that Procter and Elizabeth “not see the weighty work we do” when talking about her position in the Salem courts. She does not gain financially, materially, spiritually, or socially from her position, she only does it because she believes that the work in it of itself is pure and righteous. To conclude, it is evident that there are post-conventional characters in the Crucible.

Therefore, the Crucible is packed with characters that may be analyzed thoroughly using Kolberg’s moral precepts.

My inquiry question was “How do I make the Centennial Morning Show good?” That has not changed since I originally set that as my question. As for time management, the addition of CENT time has not been helpful at all given that there is not enough time in it to set up, film and take down. We instead meet and film in block 0 on the last day of the school week. The resource that has been most helpful is the Adobe Creative Cloud Suite provided by Rensen. Otherwise, I have not looked at any past Cent Show episodes or other videos in general.

In the beginning, the hardest challenge was the output of the old editor. We would film an entire episode, send the raw footage to Henry and hear crickets as we waited the entire weekend for him to finish filming. Most of the time, he delivered the final episode late or never. We sacked him [without severance], and I absorbed the position and responsibilities. Over the current 3 week span that I have been editor, I successfully pushed all 3 episodes filmed and done them early. I certainly grew in the Thinking core competency given that I had to develop skill in videography [I’m still the producer] and editing. A plan to share the learning is not needed given that the point of the Cent Show is to be seen by all.

All of the crew are within a friend group and are grade 11’s, so it’s very feasible that this will continue onto next year. Maybe not as my capstone, but still.