Wow, it is interesting to be on the other side of the end-of-term rush. I have a bunch of students coming up asking what can they do to raise their grade when they are still missing assignments. I told one student that she needs to come to after school lab and come to intervention to try and get stuff up and she just looked at me like I had told her to go and jump off a cliff. She wanted extra credit but she is still missing the for credit work. Then I had another student who wanted some extra credit and he was also missing the assigned work and when I told him that he needed to finish that, he gave me the "do I have to?" look. I told him that he can think of it as extra credit if it makes him do the work.
I don't have too many students that are failing (compared to other teachers) but I have a few. It isn't a fun feeling when I have a parent come into my classroom and tell me that I have to do something to help their student finish the assignments. Excuse me? It isn't my responsibility to make the student learn and turn things in. It is the student's right if they want to fail. That doesn't mean I won't try to get them engaged and encouraged to do the work.
But I'm trying something new with my film class right now. I decided to do a unit on Film Piracy and let me tell you, the two classes couldn't be any more different than they are right now. My first class was really into it and trying to pull me on tangents. The second class was actually reserved and they asked a lot of questions that related to what was going on. I think they will do well, but this is my first time teaching this unit, so it is a bit rough around the edges.
The film class also just finished up news stories and while some of them were good, others were really rough and some were just plain old bad! I'm going to see if it is alright for me to post a few of my student's works on here because a few of the stories were really well done. They took pride in what they do and they wouldn't be embarrassed to show their parents or grandparents what they have done. That is a question that I ask them a lot: "Would you be willing to show your parents or your grandparents the project you did?" and if they can answer it with a yes, then most of the time I let them finish the project. There are a few times that I have said no and meant it.
New up for them is either PSA or Commercial. I can't decide.
The multimedia class is finishing up their business cards and I like a few of the designs that I'm seeing. I also had them thinking about text and type and typography. It is interesting to see the differences between their font choices and what I would choose. I guess I just have a bit more experience under my belt.
I'm trying to find a few guest speakers for my classes because I think they are getting tired of hearing just from me.
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