Next days

It is testament to the independance of the students that I can lump together the next several days in one entry.

The students are at various stages and progressing on their own at their own pace. They all know what has to be done and how to do it. If they have questions, their first line of attack is asking a peer! Great stuff! Kirk was there on Day 3 and there were a few technology glitches, but they got worked out. He showed two students who were ready to advance to the next phase, how to put their sound tracks into Moviemaker. Those students are now putting in images to enhance their stories. I was present for Day 4 and could answer some technology questions and problem solve for one student. Day 5, neither of us was present in the flesh, although we had a normal Breeze session where I could monitor their work.

Next week, one of us will be there every few days to make sure that they are able to move ahead.

We have to give up the laptops for three days for another request, but that shouldn't hinder our progress-we will just have to extend our deadline.

It is going very well, I think!

Day 2

Much better day! In our post-class reflection yesterday, there are some things I realized I hadn't done and wanted to start the day today with that. Kirk also had some technology things he wanted to clear up. The day started with everybody logging in (not all at the same time because only a couple can do it at once without overloading the pipe)-no glitches there. Then I went through the 'Analyses finales' that I should have done yesterday. First, the SVAF sheet (know-savoir, want to know-veux savoir, learned - appris, can do-faire). They can only complete the first two columns, and the rest will be a work in progress. Then the daily journal. I had them journal about what they learned/did yesterday, and at the end of this class they will journal again. Next was the Peer editing, Step by step checklist, Rubric, Personal Evaluation, and Comparison. They noticed that they couldn't write on these pages from Moodle, so rather than have them copy and paste into Word and then do it, I created a link to the original Word page and they could just go ahead. Then we noticed that we had nowhere to save these, so we created another subfolder with 'Analyses' as a title. Kirk showed them how to log in to their personal workstations in case they get out of range and the computer goes to sleep mode. Once we were done that, they went to record. Kirk set up a second mobile wireless upstairs so they could find some quiet places up there and still have internet. Three student finished recording and are ready to start editing. Three students have not started yet. All of the others are in various stages of recording.

I am wondering if two weeks will be long enough.

And away we go!

Ready, set, go! or not quite that confident.... But we did go, and even though the first day was chaotic, in a controlled busy let's get at it kind of way, we accomplished what we set out to do.

The students already knew what I wanted them to do, so some were very eager to get started. Some were only excited about the netbooks. Some were hesitant, clearly thinking-what is she up to now and how much work is this going to be for me?? And of course, regardless of how many warnings they were given about being ready with their completed, corrected story, 3 were not ready at all.

After I did my introductory spiel, about comparing a 'regular' story to a 'digital' story, what was the same and what might be different, Kirk and Robert had a spiel of their own about usage of the computers. Since this is an experiment of sorts, there were/are kinks to get worked out, such as what happens when we leave the proximity of the mobile wireless? what if I spend lots of time recording, and my computer goes to sleep? where do I save my stuff? how do I find my stuff after I saved it?

The kids who had their stories ready to go were anxious to start recording. They didn't really want to hear all the little hints and suggestions being made to them, however necessary they were. It took a good half hour before they could get started. We quickly learned that more than one person recording in a room is not possible. And since this is a small school, there aren't very many places that are quiet and secluded in the middle of the school day. Hallways, entries, empty book rooms, even bathrooms became recording studios. Whatever works!!

Even though I didn't feel satisfied with the first day's accomplishments, Kirk and Rob both assured me that it was fine: we introduced the project, explained what the final product would/could be after having gone through the processes, showed them where to find it on Moodle, created folders and subfolders, entertained several possibilities of presentation, and got many kinks worked out of the system. So, I guess for a first day, although it didn't go 'linear' as I would prefer it, it was still a good blast-off.

Date is set

The mobile lab is ready to go. We have set a date for May 19th as the beginning of our adventure. I have the unit planned from beginning to end, with step by step worksheets and instructions all posted on Moodle. The rubric for evaluation needs a few tweaks, but it is essentially ready. Kirk and a technician will be going out to ZP on Monday with the laptops to make sure they are networked or imaged or whatever. I will be going out to ZP for both Wednesday and Thursday to get a solid start with the kids, then Kirk will be there to support them on the other days. The students were well warned that they must have their story corrected and ready to go before Wednesday. Some of them still have grammatical errors and are in their 3rd or 4th correction. They won't get their hands on any computers until I give the ok. They all seem very excited with the project, or at least, with the ability to work with their own laptop for two weeks.

Questions:

• will they be able to finish in 2 weeks?
• did I make it too restricted?
• will they be able to be creative and spread their wings?
• Are my expectations too high?
• What unforeseen glitches will potentially stop the process?
• Is the anticipation going to be the best thing about this whole thing?
• what if it doesn't turn out the way I envision it?
• what if they kids don't learn what I want them to?

As with anything new and 'out of the box', I just have to forge ahead and hope that I will land on my feet. I think this will work, therefore I will make it work! the power of positive thinking!