At the forefront and some reasons to celebrate: Tomorrow my digital storytellers begin recording their VoiceOvers. I've arranged for my classes to record six at a time Monday through Thursday this week...They're nervous; I'm excited. Late last week, I moved my digital tellers out of the oldest lab in our building into one of the newest--the library lab--where students experienced less difficulties saving and accessing their stories. We've found flash drives to be a necessity for the projects in the future as students with large stories aren't allotted enough hard drive space to save their stories. Luckily, the tech office has been very flexible in allotting students extra hard drive space! Additionally, my students have been very flexible with problems we've encountered. On top of that, the library media specialist has been my wing-man with this project! I'm so lucky to have support!
I'm hoping to get my VoiceOver group started and then work with a small groups of students on how to make your own music in PhotoStory and how to complete the citation slide at the end of the presentation. We've found that numerous public domain sites for music and sound effects are blocked at school...arghh!
I FINALLY have gathered and linked all my artifacts for the NETS for Teachers within my
portfolio. Now I have to neaten things up! Looking at classmates' portfolios has been hugely helpful as it gives me an idea of what I'd like the feel of my portfolio to be--the color schemes, the text, the organization of, etc.
Backtracking: Unfortunately I'm still experiencing many difficulties with portfolio access. Some days I cannot access my site for a whole day; other days it's only for a few hours...Sometimes the editor feature locks up and my changes won't save. Ughh.
Additionally, for some reason, my laptop's connectivity changes to a limited connectivity status which allows me NO connection to the Internet. A source shows up that I cannot get rid of and takes over my computer...I've lost hours and days of work, literally. But,
what doesn't destroy you, makes you stronger, right?
Looking ahead: I am nervous about the remaining steps of the portfolio process and actually getting mine done! I'm nauseated regarding how far behind I've grown. This course, coupled with higher expectations and more work at school (day job) and my husband working out of state during the week, has brought me to whits end...I truly wonder if I have what it takes to finish this course as well as the program.
I have less than 48 hours to complete 2nd quarter comments and grades for my students, so that's next on the list this evening. I am thankful half this school year is over and excited at how far many of my students have come!
Loser alert: I failed my team Thursday evening when I fell asleep cuddling my son who wasn't feeling well...I didn't wake up in time for our meeting.
