Creek Project--Update Three

This post is going up very late. I haven't had a lot of time to get to it.

Monday was the first day of presenting projects for the Creek Project. The Biology Teacher and I weren't 100% sure what to expect. The projects today were all from her honors students.

There were some very well done ones. One student recreated a salamander habitat (using craft store eyes as eggs). It was not the most engaging presentation, because the information was put on posters around the scene, but it was visually appealing. And, based on the info, it was clear that the students had learned something about the salamanders.

Students did infuse technology into their projects. One group wrote an original song. The execution was not great--the audio was poor quality (fortunately they provided a lyrics sheet for listeners to read along), and their refrain was a bit long. But, they lyrics showed a good understanding of their question, and the animations that went with it were an engaging mix of scientific and funny. One group did their project in the form of an episode of "House." In it, a fix owner brings in a fish that was harmed by pollutants in the creek, and Dr. House has to diagnose what the pollutants were, based on the fish's symptoms, in order to create a treatment to save the fish. The teacher eventually had to ask for their script because some parts the audio was good, and others it was bad. Another group did a series of sketches with a "water safetey lass" (basically a friendly eco cop) explaining to different people in different scenarios how what they were doing was having a negative effect on creek water.

One of the big concerns was the Photo Story projects. A lot of these students had done Photo Stories for the Helen Keller 3 Days of Sight project. So, feeling comfortable with that program, used it again. However, with laptops were reimaged, and Photo Story was removed. Fortunately, the students were easily able to access non-reimaged laptops to use. However, some of them did not remember the step to convert from a Photo Story to a WMV file. It was easy enough to deal with because the teacher still had Photo Story and I was able to help students convert during the period. I am more concerned because I would like to see student retaining more of the tech skills I am trying to impart. That being said, I did see improved file management.

Another concern was that some of the projects got more caught up in trying to be impressive or interactive, and strayed from the overall idea of teaching something and answering a question. Several of the games did a good job of testing knowledge but a poor job of presenting that knowledge ahead of time. Other projects simply presented research, with no context of an overall question.

We had discussed the idea previously, and came back to it again. The Biology teacher and I both felt that, if the students had been given more structure--been responsible for first coming up with a question, and then doing research, and then being introduced to the idea of being able to display their research/learning in a way of their choosing--more of the projects would have retained focus.

It was encouraging, though, to see students being creative. A lot of them used programs that they were not formally introduced to in school. Others used programs that we had taught them, but were able to discover and use some of the more advanced functions. And, so students who did not use a lot of technology did some very creative low tech things. Next year, going about this project in a more structured way, and still allowing for that creativity, will create even better results.

Sight Project--Assessment Day Two

Day two went a little more smoothly for me at least.

I checked in with the teacher at the beginning of the day, and she hadn't been happy with any of the grids she'd typed up, even though we had the rubric more or less finished. I offered to type it up for her and make copies. We then used the new grid to revisit our notes from watching the videos.

It was slow going at first, with a lot of second guessing. The teacher was unhappy that the students hadn't had a rubric to begin with. It was a big problem. It wasn't an oversight--we both knew at the beginning that not having a rubric was not a good idea--so much as planning/logistic/experience issue. In the end, we decided to grade the projects according to the rubric, and then give a 2% curve.

As far as the experience issue here, I think it would be good for both the teacher and the students to have experience. Of course, experience with projects, not just the same project multiple years, will help the teacher feel more confident in making a rubric ahead of time, and give her a better idea of what to look for. And, it will give the students more time to get better with the tech so that the tech is not detracting from the skills and content of the class. And it will help them to know how they are going to be graded--not just because they'll have a rubric, but they will be used to having this teacher grade them with similar rubrics (and used to having their classmates as an audience).

After getting through most of the already viewed stories, I decided to bring up some of the ideas that I'd had. For some reason I'm always nervous about that part of working with teachers. I don't want them to feel that I'm being pushy, or criticizing. And I don't want to step on toes.

I started by suggesting she introduce the background work for the project sooner--have students collecting pictures for the length of the unit. This would give them more in class time to work with the videos, and make it more likely that they would take time to find images that interested them, and not just images they had on hand. She definitely liked that idea. Then I suggested that since they would be doing it during the play, she could tie it more to the play by having it be about what students would show Helen Keller, and why, instead of just what they wanted to see. I couldn't tell how she felt about that, though.

The bell schedule was normal for day two. We watched the videos with rubrics in hand. I used the back to take notes to compare with the teacher later. I then circled what I felt were appropriate scores in each category. I'd say the hardest part was quickly getting student names on the papers so I would know which comments went with which students.

I saw a lot of the same patterns that had emerged on the first viewing day. Students often felt like they missed or lost the point of "sight" vs. dying. There were long meaningless stretches of photos with no narration, no captions, no explanation, and no music. And, several stories had sections that just felt insincere. I really believed that some students wanted to see Paris. Others, I had a hard time buying that they would ever go to Italy to see Venice "and other sighs." For the most part, though, everyone had several good elements to their story.

At the end of each class she did something that I wasn't expecting, but was really pleased to see. She just asked for feedback on the project. Apparently she does this for every project. I did this from time to time when I taught, but not nearly enough. It was very informal, too. She just asked, and kids raised their hands to comment.

Fortunately, I happened to have my computer on me and just took notes (for my own reflective benefit, and for this blog). (The computer is a good thing because I type faster than I can write neatly).

Predictably, the conversation took a pretty similar course in all of her classes. The first two offered their comments with little extra prodding. The last class was hesitant to speak at all, though. They did come to many of the same conclusions as the first too, but it took some leading questions to get them anywhere. It reminded me of the first day I'd been in that class and, as this group of girls came through the door talking a mile a minute, the teacher told me "if you ask them to talk, you get stares. If you let them talk, they won't shut up."

The most common comment from students was that they needed more time. Going a long with that, several agreed that if they had been able to work on it from home it wouldn't have been so bad. Or, they would have been able to work more efficiently (my word) if they had had more time ahead of time to learn and get used to the program. (It makes me feel like I'm doing a decent job of reflecting that I was able to anticipate this before hearing the student feedback). Some other criticism were that a lot of the projects were too similar to one another and not enough were original; the computers themselves froze or didn't connect properly which wasted a lot of in-class work time for some students; some people didn't have access to cameras so they didn't have access to personal pictures; some people had so many pictures they didn't know how to fit them all in or what to do with them; the background noise of the class made recording hard; they were embarrassed to show them; and some students (mostly the same that had been making this complain since day one) didn't see a point in having to record themselves talk. One student said she didn't see a point to the project at all, and another said she didn't really see how it was related to Helen Keller.

A lot of these problems could actually be fixed with more time, more explanation in the beginnig, and now having a few projects to show as examples. More time will let them learn the program, give them more time to plan out thier story, allow us teachers to make accomodations for small groups to record outside of the classroom, and give students time to really fine tune their projects for a better finished product. I would say that, using the analogy of an essay assignment, students did some prewriting and a first draft, but some didn't have time for much, if any, editing.

One thing I didn't anticipate was the a lot of students didn't know how (or didn't want) to limit their pictures of friends. They wanted to use every picture on their camera. Next time when I explain about not over using transitions and making the story flow and using music that makes sense, I will a) better explain what I mean about music making sense and b) explain that sometimes less is more and using too many pictures that have nothing new to add to the story will bore the audience. I would also like to add an audience grade component to the project. I don't know how many teachers would be willing to use this as part of the grade, or how heavily they would weigh it, but I think allowing students to critique one another, with their feedback being worth something, it would encourage them to a) do better on their own projects, b) feel a little empowered in class, and c) if they were allowed to critique their own projects, too, help them learn to be more reflective.

Only one comment really bothered me. One student said that she didn't see a point in using the computers for the project. She liked the idea of what they were doing, but would have prefered to just make a scrap book. I know that this particular students had a good deal of trouble with getting the laptop to boot up properly and connect to the network. And, she missed a day, and therefore missed in class time to work. I think perhaps we need to do a better job of explaining to students that they need to learn how to figure out how to do things. I hope that, even though she was complaining in class, she actually did get something out of the project, even if she doesn't realize it yet. I hope that she didn't just learn a little about Photo Story, but that she was able to reflect on herself, and to pick up a few tricks about learning something new.

There were some good comments too. I just like saving the posititves for last. Students called the project unique. Some said that, given more time, they could have really gotten into it ("I could have talked for days about what I really wanted to see.) Some enjoyed working on the project, and even used the word fun. And, my favorite comments, were the students who wanted to do it again, and felt that they could do so much better next time.

Fortunately, a lot of these same students are working on the bio project, and will have the chance, if they choose, to use a Photo Story for the creek project.

Presidential My Space--Assessments

I offered to help the Social Studies teacher grade the wiki project when we were finished. I fear I wasn't that helpful. I only managed to help with a small handful. He was pretty well finished by the third day of grading, and I just wasn't moving as fast. I did get a chance to look at most of them, and even leave a few comments for him/the students.

Some of the projects turned out really well. Students were creative, and found resources online to make things more interesting.

A few students disappointed by plagiarizing. Only one went so far as to copy another student's project. No one, at least, sabotaged anyone else or defaced a page that did not belong to them.

For the most part, though, it wasn't plagiarizing as much as a lack of summarizing skills that plagued the students. As a result, the teacher even went so far as to give the plagiarizing/badly summarizing students the chance to redo the project instead of loosing credit.

So, the Social Studies teacher and I talked about the lack of summarizing skills. A lot of students think that copying and pasting an article, and removing or replacing a certain number of words, is the same as rephrasing. They also think that picking out key phrases or sentences, and copying them word for word, is summarizing. The English teacher from that team happened to stop in during this conversation and said that, although she does teach summarizing, she hasn't gotten to that part of her curriculum yet.

First of all, this made me wonder if it would be a good idea to have the teams sit down, looked at shared skills, who is teaching them, and when they are being taught. After all, it would be really good practice and reinforcement for students to learn summarizing in English, and then have a summarizing project/assignment in Social Studies the following week. And, it would save the Social Studies teacher a good deal of aggravation if he held the summarizing project until after the topic was covered in Social Studies.

Summarizing happened to come up as a topic on twitter just a few hours later, and I was able to pass this resource along. There were some interesting ideas. I also made the suggestion of giving the students an article, and having them write a "text message" to a friend explaining it. I do think most of these kids can summarize--they just don't have the skills to make a connection between how they "give the short version" to friend and what teachers want out of them in a writing assignment.

By permission of the teacher, I've copied a few of these wikis over, and removed student names from them, so I can show some samples. I picked a few at random from each class, and then copied the ones I liked best as examples. Check them out here.

Creek Project--Update One

I'm not going to track the Creek Project on a daily basis. Some days very little if anything happens with it. And some days, something happens, but not enough to prompt a blog entry.

We are closing in on the midway checkpoint. On March 9, 7 days from now, the students will have to turn "evidence" into the Biology teacher. All of them have so far turned in their project sheets--detailing their questions, and their projects.

I have only worked with a few students. I showed one group how to create a voki, or use gizmoz (which tends to work a little better on student computers). I was a little disappointed because the student computers do not all have flash up to date, so neither of these programs were running properly.

I worked with another group to show them how to remove lyrics from an MP3 using Audacity. That way, they will be able to record themselves singing their new lyrics over the music. They plan on working on this from home, though, where they have garage band. Being a PC user at home and school, I'm not as familiar with garage band, and don't know if they will be able to do the same thing. However, I am optimistic. I didn't just show them how to do it. I knew there was a tutorial on youtube, so I did a search, explaining to them what I was searching for and how. After finding the tutorial, I made the students follow it. They had to watch what was happening and read the captions. After a successful run, I made the students repeat the process without the aid of the tutorial. I feel confident that they will remember how to do it in Audacity, and will be able to figure out how to do it in another program.

Today, I touched bases with the Biology teacher again. She is in the process of introducing the project to her non-honors class this week. Yesterday she had them pick a question, and yesterday and today they worked on researching their topic. This way, they are more focused on what the purpose of the project is than on the technology or "product" part of it. Then, once they have gathered their research, she is going to introduce the project. She is still deliberating on how much in class time to give students to work on it. These students do not have a study hall like the honors students, and many of them will not have the ability to work on their projects at home. She has also decided to limit their project choices. They will be able to do a Photo Story, game, poster, or design another project (and get approval). This leaves the students free to be creative with their project design, but it also focuses students who might be overwhelmed with too many choices.

She regrets the order she did things in with the honors classes. Because she introduced the project all at once, a lot of students focused on what they were doing instead of why. Students had decided to do a Photo Story or a web site before deciding what question they were answering. Because of this, the projects might end up not fitting the objectives of the students. One example is a group of students that decided to do a website on fish--but they had no clear idea of what the purpose or function of the website was, or what information would be on it, or how to make it an interesting, engaging site that people would want to visit. I think we both agree, in the future, it would be a good idea to assign students to pick a question before introducing the project. For honors, at least, I still feel that it might be reasonable to have them responsible for doing research while putting together their projects. It would force the students to make intelligent use of their time, and redirect both the project and research based on one another.

Sight Project--Day Two

Day two was a very productive work day for the kids.

A few kids needed some technical help. A few kids have decided to make collages in paint and transfer them into Photo Story. Some students still needed help with figuring out how to save files to a specific place, figuring out why they couldn't just paste a picture into the insert picture dialogue box, or selecting multiple pictures at once. For the most part students worked diligently throughout the class period finding and importing pictures. No one has started narrating yet.

I am a little worried about the three day timeline. Students were not given any set limit to how many or how few pictures they need, and so some have about thirty. I wouldn't be as concerned if the program was internet based. As it is, though, we gave students the url where they could download Photo Story, but not everyone has internet access, and not every parent is going to let kids randomly install software.

I talked with the teacher about the time. She asked my opinion. I told her that the kids were making good use of the time (better on day two than on day one), and that I didn't think most of them would get finished in time. The projects are due Friday, so they will have two days to work on them outside of class, but not everyone will have access to the software at home (and most probably don't have microphones). She agreed. She decided to continue telling students that they only have one more work day, but to give them a fourth day. That way, the will continue to work during day three, believing its their last chance, but they will have the needed fourth day.

Most students are still in the process of finding and importing pictures. Some have started to plan or put their actual stories together--thinking about what they want to say. I find that they want to get instant feed back before committing to anything. But they aren't looking for teacher feed back. They are looking for peer feedback. Its been a noisy project, but most of the conversations are about what they picked and why. I don't think most of them realize that these conversations are part of the planning process. By explaining what and why to classmates, they are preparing to record those same thoughts.

Presidential My Space--Day Three

Last day of the project.

Projects are not due til the following day, so students can work on them from home, or stay after school.

One of the benefits of this project was that students could easily access their work from anywhere. There was no saving of files involved. At the same time, it was not a public web space, so student privacy was maintained. This is probably the #1 reason I'm such a big fan of wikis.

I was in and out of the class today, because I was starting a project with another teacher. For the most part, students made good use of their time, and worked throughout.

One thing I saw was that honors students, who had to follow the general rubric, as well as extra directions that were posted on their class page, were forgetting the extra directions. In the past, when a teacher has divided a wiki into classes, I have them post all of the directions on each classes' page. Its redundant, but I think it helps the students stay organized. I think in this case especially, it would have been a very good idea.

As the project went on, and, as is common, a lot of student were more concerned with how things looked than the content, the teacher and I came up with the idea of using the directions/rubric as a check sheet. We suggested to students to print it out, and check off requirements as they were met. Quite a few students took the suggestion. I think I'll remember that for similar projects in the future, and encourage teachers to either do directions in more of list form, or to have a list version of the directions. Its easier to check off items on a list than in a paragraph.

Towards the end of one of the classes, I asked the teacher about grading the project. He seemed pleased to have someone to help him grade, and suggested that I go through the projects, make grade suggestions, and he'd either take the suggestions or not. Part of me regrets the offer, because its more work. Most of me knows that I haven't assessed anything in a long time. It will be good to get back into it. Also, being useful to teachers helps build those relationships. If another teacher asks me to help put together a project for the simple reason that he/she thinks I'll do all the grading, than that is a great opportunity to introduce yet another teacher to using tech in the classroom.

The projects look very good. It seems that most of the students included most of the required content. I don't know how many students went outside of their comfort zone and had fun being creative, though. I probably won't get to assessing anything today. I'll have to update on how the finished projects are, once I've been through some of them--I even got permission to post some examples once I remove student names.

Sight Project--Day One

The sight project got off to a slightly rocky start. The teacher and I weren't on exactly the same page about the path the project was going to take.

Students have to decide what things that want to see with their last three days of sight. I was under the impression that students had already been told to start gathering pictures (bringing them from home) and thinking about what they wanted. The teacher was under the impression that students would start planning out their projects on the first day in class.

Basically, the first class was instructed on how to use Photo Story, and then told to start planning things out before going on a hodge podge truck through google images, searching for anything that popped into their minds. So, they rather predictably put aside paper and pencil that were meant for planning, and started going searching and saving, and importing photos. During class, I wrote an "order of operations" for the project on the board:

1. Plan
2. Find
3. Import
4. Create

I can't say that I'm 100% satisfied with that order of operations. Again, though, it comes down to not necessarily knowing the class as well as I would like. For some students, especially less organized students, this is probably great structure. For others, its going to be restrictive. I don't think kids need to find ALL pictures before importing, but it might help them stay organized. I don't think that all students need to import ALL pictures before creating--creating covering all aspects of using the program, including scripting, ordering, etc. I think for some kids, it would be good if they felt that they could do a little--write a note or a caption, befor they forget some good idea they had.

I do think, however, that some students will do things in their own order despite what was on the board. So, again, I think that the organization will help some students, and I hope that it won't hinder others. I do agree with the teacher that having kids plan out WHAT they want before beginning an image search will prevent them from being wasteful with their time. However, I hope that students who have an idea or two know that they can still go back and add it, even if the've moved on to import or create.

For the rest of the classes, I went through the "order of operations," as I for some reason insisted on calling it, before showing them how to use Photo Story.

I was rather pleased with how my intro went. I think Photo Story is very easy to use, and most students could have picked up on it without much help. However, I took the opurtunity to go over some other computer basics. I stressed the importance of checking for network drives before beginning any work. I don't know if it is a laptop issue or a wireless issue, but frequently, students cannot connect to their network drives. They work half the class, and then can't save. Sometimes they end up saving to the desktop without telling anyone, and lose their work. So I stressed that, if they do work, they deserve to have something to show for it.

Then, when going over saving photos, I went over file organization. I talked about putting things in folders, putting things where you will remember them, and naming things with some amount of logic. I'm sure a few kids already knew what I was talking about, but my experience tells me that most of them didn't. I think we live in a world where kids have always had the latest technology, and we assume they can use it. Largely that is true. But that doesn't mean that we don't have to take a minute to teach them old time skills like organization. Most teachers know student folders end up a mess, with papers sticking out, for a majority of students. I don't think its safe to assume their computer folders look any different. I probably didn't win any converts to the cause of hyper organization, but I think I opened a few eyes to the idea that they don't have to have one giant folder full of files they can't recognize.

I also focused on the idea of this being a story telling project. I talked about how, if they scripted themselves, they would sound better. I talked about giving the narration some interest. I tend to get a little sarcastic in front of classes. So to demonstrate what I wanted, I demonstrated what I didn't want. I started with "this is a...um...a picture of my friend Janet. I would want to see her...uh...be-uh-cause...she's my friend...and, uh, yeh...that would be good to see." Then, in a monotone: "This is the ocean. It's pretty. This is a flower. It's pretty. This is my mom. She's pretty." The kids laughed--which was the point--but I think they got it. Modeling is important. A lot of times things seem obvious to teachers, and we are frustrated by students who "don't have any motivation." But, I've found that modeling will improve student outcomes significantly. Just because its obvious to a teacher, doesn't mean its as obvious to a 14 year old who is going to be a bit less self aware. And, humor sticks with people better. I think just showing them a well put together example would have been good, if I'd had one (this is the first time doing this project, so I don't), but showing them what not to do--and making it funny--is also helpful in terms of modeling.

After going through the intro, I let students get started on the project. A few kids have photobucket accounts and were looking through them for photos. Others pulled out cameras. Many went straight to google images.

I did see a few lists started. The teacher instructed students to break their project into 3 days, since it is the last three days of sight. They have to specify what they will see on day one, day two, and day three. For the most part, I saw lists for day one. This is not exactly the amount of planning the teacher wanted--she wanted full lists that could be divided by days later--but at least it is something.

One thing I noticed during class was that a few students had lists that made it look like they were going to die, not go blind. I told the teacher, who laughed, and said she'd make a small announcement tomorrow.

Since the students didn't have a full day to work, most of them focused on pictures that came easily to mind--friends and family. I'm curious what they will think of after they get past the familiar.

Presidential My Space--Day Two

Day two had a lot more work get done.

The first class of the day was the honors class. I was very disappointed with some of the students by the end of class. Most did not make very good or wise use of their time. Very little in the way of content was added. A lot of students spent class making their text look better, or trying to edit the background, or coming up with cute or funny comments to put on the pages. A few did get work done. Many started working in word--they seemed to have an easier time working with text in word (makes sense). So, even those who did a lot of work don't have much to show on the wikis.

The rest of the classes made much better use of time. This did surprise me, since they were non honors classes. A lot of students started having fun with it. The teacher was very good about allowing students to use "slang" and phrasing that would get them kicked out of an English class. He told me its hard for him to read Lincoln saying "yo yo yo, I like country cause we didn have none a dat hippity hop", but he's letting the kids do it anyways. And I'm very glad he is. The kids, despite their word choices, are using accurate info. It did occur to me part way through the day that kids who are being very conservative and straight laced with the language are having a much harder time putting it in their own words. Kids who are "my spacing it up" are actually having an easier time summarizing (that is something I will have to remember).

Also, kids who are having more fun with the language are having more fun with the project, and putting more work into it. The teacher commented more than once that a few kids surprised him. Students who don't usually do well because they are not strong academically--or because they are not motivated to put in effort--are doing well (not all of them, but quite a few). And, again, even though George Washington would roll over in his grave at the way he's now "talking," he's not saying anything that's not true.

A few students didn't make the best use of their time. And a few are still having trouble navigating pages, or dealing with going back and forth between multiple pages. However, its getting better. That makes me happy. I'm glad we did a project that requires a skill that a lot of students lack. It has been a little frustrating for all involved, but the students are getting stronger at a skill that everyone will expect them to have.

And I think the teacher is seeing the value in creativity. Because the kids are able to enjoy the project--and let themselves show through the project--they are doing better. Its not true of all kids. And some are more interested in how things look and being funny than in being accurate (or even substantial). But by letting go of something like standard English (as a Social Studies teacher myself, I can sympathize, but as someone younger, I'm taking it better) he's allowing students to be more engaged. Some students even worked on the projects from home, and have done some amazing things with layout, and using different internet tools.

Sight Project

Another new English Project.

I always complain about my "office" having the only printer on the hall. I should stop complaining about that. I think this is the third project I've gotten by talking to a teacher who was waiting for something to print.

I was just making small talk, and the teacher was leaving. But, I had been working on a wiki that was up on my screen. She actually started to leave, and then said that she wanted to ask me something.

Her kids have been reading about Helen Keller. One of the things the read was what Keller said she would want to see if she could have three days of sight. The teacher than was going to have the students put together a poster/scrap book page about what they would want to see if they only had three days of sight left. She wanted to know if there were any programs like that.

Of course I instantly thought of glogster. But, I wasn't 100% sure about if students could make their glogs private. And, I think we were both a little leary about having the kids have to give the teacher permission to see the project. And, the teacher was not that comfortable with putting pictures of students online (most will likely use pictures of family as part of this project.)

I then thought of Photo Story as a possible offline option. I explained that it was very easy to use. Also, I had just made printable directions at the request of another teacher. She decided that Photo Story fit her needs well.

The students will bring in photos and/or search for photos online. I will show the class the basics of using Photo Story. Students will then create Photo Stories using their pictures, describing them, and explaining why they are significant things and why they would want to see these things if they only had three days of sight left. This allows students to work at their own pace. Those who learn Photo Story more quickly will have the oppurtunity to use more advanced features, or use photo editing software to make their stories more visually interesting. At the end of the project, students will share their projects with the class.

I like this project because it allows students to connect with the class content in a meaningful way. They will also have chance to not only be creative, but show something about themselves. I believe that students do want to feel like they matter as people in school. This project gives them the chance to show who they are to their teacher and their classmates. It will also force them into self reflection. They won't have to write a formal reflection, but they will have to consider what is important to them and why, and what life would be like without sight.

Independant Novel Project

I'm very excited about this project, because it involves a lot more student choice than anything I've been involved with yet.

One of the English teachers has her students select a novel to read for class. Each student picks his own novel. Then, instead of having them do book reports, she wants to have them do projects to show that they have read and understand the main points of the book.

We worked together to bring some of her projects into the 21st centurty. By the end, we had a list of about ten options. This seemed a bit much--too many choices will overwhelm some students, and it certainly would have made grading far more difficult and time consuming. So, the teacher too my suggestions into consideration, and narrowed the list down to five projects that the students can do. This way, students have a chance to play to their strengths and be creative, while being as out there or as conservative with the assignment as they want.

As part of making this assignment more 21st Century, the teacher wanted to let students use web 2.0 and other technology tools. I showed her some options. Some of these tools are things she is very unfamiliar with. Others she is more comfortable with. I suggested that students who know these tools, or feel comfortable learning them on their own, have the option to choose them. She is a little more conservative, and does not want students to be left to their own devices of learning these tools as they go. However, it would have been unreasonable to have me take as much class time as I would have needed to show all of these tools, when kids will be using only one or two at most. As a compromise, I am providing typed overviews with images that will help students learn the basics (I used word and screen captures to create these). My hope is that students who are ambitious or creative will be able to take the basic instructions I provide and then discover some of the more advanced functions of the programs.


The current five projects are:

*Storyboard: You will choose three different, important scenes
throughout the novel that represent your story. You can either take
still-life pictures or create still-life photos in an online program
called bitstrips (like a comic-strip) to show the progress of the
action. You will then write two paragraphs why you chose those scenes
and their significance. The other paragraph will be a reflection on the
process.


*Day-in-the-Life: You will pretend you are the protagonist in the book
in the situations that he/she encounters by creating a "My-Space" type
website. One section will be posted journal entries in the perspective
of that character. You will also include necessary "wall updates" to
show the protagonist's experiences.
The written component will be a two-paragraph "extra ending" or "where
are they now" to your novel.


*Event Location Map: You will use the Inspiration program to represent
the different, essential locations and events in the novel. You should
have ten-twelve selections. You will choose images and labels with a 3-4
sentence description about the location/event.



*Brown Bag: You will choose eight to ten "items" to place in the bag to
represent significant events, situations or characters from the book.
You can use either PhotoStory in which you can take pictures or use
stock images or Jog the Web in which you would select web-sites/images
online. You will provide a 3-4 sentence description of the objects.



*Interview: You will write and record an interview with the protagonist
in your story. It must have ten-twelve in depth questions/answers to
demonstrate all of his/her major situations and experiences. You can
complete this with audio or video.