April 22

We are seeing "light at end of tunnel." Both groups will have an interesting game to present at the end of the year. All are working well together. This class has been a positive experience for the students, and word is getting around for next year. I will be taking up two more English classes and wont be able to continue with Globaloria, but two additional teachers have signed on, and Mr. Allder will be continuing.

april 1

class making progress on their games. they seem to be working well together to solve problems. I'm optimistic about the learning taking place and how engrossed they are in their projects.

Class and wiki

Class is making progress on their games. I created a checklist on Word today as a handout, as I am accustomed to doing in my other classes and have done in this class before. It only occured to me today, however, that I ought to create the document on a new wiki page and create a link to it. Seems obvious, and it is, but I didn't do it until now. It's been very hard to change my tried- and-true habits, but, like my class, I'm making progress.

The latest

Skills and ideas are coming together now. Teams are piecing together their games and progress is speeding up. We recently created a wiki checklist that students used to earn a grade (200 pts). Next we will create a checklist for thier game scenes. We had a team with a great ideas, but were having trouble simplifying and organizing the tasks. After giving them time to work through the issues on their own, Mr. Allder stepped in to give them more direct guidance. This team has a much clearer focus now, and morale has improved. Overall, things are looking good.

2-13-09

Practicing demostrations today. Half of class absent, frustrating. Kids have been learning and they're doing well, but they don't relish the thought of demonstrations. I gave them an outline of what to discuss to help them along.

January 29

Class was productive today. Jim showed students his game example and corresponding code, and led students through the process of their own mini-game. I floated around room and helped individual students. Worked well.

January 26

This was the first class after the workshop. I reassured our class that they are on the right track, and I reinforced the ideas of transparent learning. I also told them to go back and embed files onto their wiki pages, not just links, and I told them to save everything they do. I tried to reassure them that it is ok to post "mistakes" or failed attempts, but most students seem a bit hesitant to do that. "But it's not good" was a common refrain. We all feel a little better that we don't have to have a certain percentage of the games completed, however.