Projects Update

The famous Americans project was redirected because of curriculum concerns. In order to fill a curriculum requirement, the teacher has to have the students give a speech. I remain optimistic, though, that another project will happen with that teacher.

The blog project is moving ahead. The teacher involved is being more independent of me than others. He is also having students do most of the work outside of class. I helped him set up the initial structure. The students will be presenting in class as usual, and blogging about it outside of class. I will keep in touch and discuss how to evaluate the blog entries, but I think he has a pretty good idea of what he wants for that as well. I am most curious to get his feedback after the project is complete/once it has gotten started (the structure is set up but the first blog entry probably won't happen til after the break). In past years, students have given feedback to the presentations via a worksheet. I am curious if they will find this method more engaging, and if they will participate in more back and forth as a result of the more interactive nature of the medium. I am inclined to think that they might not, being that they are given only a 24 hour window in which to comment. I plan to suggest that in the future the teacher requires students to comment within 24 hours but gives some motivation (aka extra credit or such) for students to continue the conversation after the first day.