WR#11 Tech Project Timeline

An ABC book/Movie of Loleta by Ms. Watson's Students


Week One
Set up class blog, to showcase work and receive comments.
Introduce project to administrator and school board. (Get permission, support).
Introduce project to students.
Talk to staff, families, and community members.
Send letter to families, board members, chamber of commerce, Ferndale Enterprise.
Post letter downtown.
Introduce interview skills to students. Have them generate questions and interview each other, take interview notes, draw each other. Present interviews--the interviewer tells about the interviewee. (Teacher or helper records video).
Reflect with student.
Reflect without students.


Week Two
Review standards for appropriate topics.
Critique published ABC books with students.
Generate, with students, something about the people and places in Loleta, that correspond to each letter of the alphabet.
Have students generate questions specific to the principal and custodian. Have them interview them, taking notes, recording audio and images (teacher records). Each student will write a story about the principal and the custodian. Demonstrate response to authors.
Have students work together to develop story about principal and custodian.
Work as a group on the story production. As a group, evaluate the story.
Submit the story to the website, school newsletter, Ferndale Enterprise.
Reflect!

Week Three
Figure out a way to make the ABC subjects fit into the rest of the curriculum. Organize by geography (land forms, mapping), families, careers, history, culture, etc.
Send home an update/thanks for contributions letter to families.
Teach students how to use jamcams and how to take good shots.
Teach students how to record sound.
(Pray that all students are superkids, superpowered--no, this could work...)
Reflect!


Week Four
Organize field trips and guest speakers.
Pick the first topic. Have students develop KWRL (knowledge, wonder/questions, resources, learnings chart) about the first topic. Do research, develop specific questions.
Visit first person/place, taking notes, (students, teacher), recording audio (teacher or helper?) and images (teachers, students also?).
Have class work together to make story and production decisions.
Upload story to web, blog. Submit to school news?
Reflect!


Week Five
At this point, it's time to see if any of this actually occurred, can we get a story done each week? was it worth the time, what are students getting out of it, what's the community (school and wider) response?
If things are actually working, continue and consider:
Can students do any of the work in small groups?
Can we do more than one project in a week?

Can we do more than one project in a week?
Can I keep up with the production so I don't have a backlog of undone stuff piling up and causing hideous guilt?

Things to be aware of:
Why are the students doing this and how are they meeting standards?
Have students evaluate their work (writing, knowledge, art, communication skills) and help develop rubrics and specific pointers.
Keep up with the production to keep us on task, focused, and accomplishing.
Keep up with thank-you's to those who help.
Show work-in-progress to school board and at family events.
Send copies to participants at the end.

Plusses:
Valuable project--audience for student work, authentic, students need tech skills, good PR
Have some of last year's kids--they know about movies and are motivated. They can do sound, they know ABC books.
New admin supportive of tech and projects.
Will keep me focused and kids will have to produce.

Week Five
Keep going. At this rate we should be done with weeks to spare at the end of the year. (too tired to do the math now, and wondering if we can do two a week--probably just one is more reasonable, or maybe one every two weeks...)