Why 2013 is the best class EVER

This morning as I was greeting the students who came in to the lab, we were chatting about how much school they have left this year. I told them that I remember last summer when they were fresh out of middle school and still a little uncertain (even if they were pretending not to be) about heading off to high school and about what being in ITA would be like. But now, they have done their Many Uses of Computers camp last summer, so they can identify parts of a computer and they can make power point presentations; they have had a graphics design unit, either in Illustrator or Photoshop, so they can create and manipulate images for electronic media; and they have had a semester of web design, so they are familiar with html code and css design. They know a lot! They also have a lot of useful, hands-on, personal experience using software that most high school students their age are probably not even aware of. They are visibly more confident and relaxed (and taller) than they were last summer. I am impressed with them. They have worked hard all year and it has been a pleasure to be their instructor.

Today we started the day with a few minutes to finish up some things they need to fix for their Behind the Wheel project. AJ had evaluated their projects and saved some comment sheets for each team. They got right to work. Then they had 25 minutes to do a road test where they were required to build a  website when they were given the necessary files to do so.

Then, after a short break we went upstairs to join AJ for an introduction to Vegas Video camp. AJ did a great job of getting the students excited about what they can do this summer with video camp.

AJ talked to us about ways to plan a good movie and showed us a music video he made. Then I reviewed the design principles with everyone. Then AJ had the students identify props used in his video. This allowed the students to discuss and identify various elements that make up a movie. Then students brainstormed movie ideas.

AJ did a really great job of getting the students excited about what they can do this summer with video camp.

Trying not to doze off "Behind the Wheel" on a Cold Spring Morning

(Stephanie and Jacob are making a website!)

This morning in Felipe and Eliza's room, students got off to a bit of a slow start -- maybe the frosty morning made everyone's blood a little sluggish. At 5 minutes after 9, many students still had not arrived (although Aneda was here bright and early!).

Our first activity today was to look at a spreadsheet that Felipe had made detailing each group's BTW project and which parts need work. Eliza went over the spreadsheet with the class, showing the groups that some of the sites were in good shape, while others were still looking illegible or missing images. Then we got right to work. Illa was popping up out of his chair a lot to talk to every one else on his team, so he had to be reminded firmly to focus on his own screen.

Aubrey, Lucy, Remi, Nick, D.J. all needed to take a CSS and HTML permit test while the others were working on their BTW.

Snapshot at 9:47 from my view at the back of the room (Eliza): Illa is working on summaries of the Friday trilogy movies, which his group as titled ITA Saturdays; Remi is focused on his permit test;  Juan is looking at his scores in Panda, but Eliza has reminded him repeatedly to concentrate on his summaries of the Toy Story movies; David is busily grafting his photo on to the head of a the Toy Story astronaut; Lucy is moving quickly through her permit test on Learn@UW; Jacob is cleaning up a graft of what looks likes Remi's head on to an X-Men poster; Aubrey is working on his permit test I can't see Aneda's screen clearly, but she seems to be working on summaries; for some reason, Collin is looking at You Tube videos (hopefully those having to do with his Blade trilogy work); DJ too is on Learn@UW taking a permit test; Stephanie is fixing html code for her site and flipping back and forth between that screen and gmail chat where she seems to be chatting with Jacob about their work (following our instructions to be quiet while others work on their permit tests); I just had to remind Jose again to focus on his summaries; Juan M. is busily editing HTML code, and Nick is working on his permit test. Full circle! Illa is still looking for a summary of the last Friday movie (with a significant sidetrack into image databases).

So far it seems that students have made significant progress.

10:06 and the room is silent, with only the sounds of clicks and keyboards (amazing).

Felipe warned the students that this really is the last day they will have time to work on their BTW in class REALLY TRULY (because sometimes we say that and it is an idle threat because we really give them them another chance). Next week the student will do introductory stuff for the summer video unit, so there really will be no time for working on the BTW.

Then we had a break and we consumed some sugary snacks  . . .

Excell stopped by to let everyone know that they need to turn in important paperwork so that they can stay in ITA. (Get that paperwork done, students! We want to see you back next year!!)

After the break, Illa asked Eliza to look at the summaries he had written for the ITA Saturday movies. He had written some amusing stories--and quite well done (although we did have to fix some mistakes with capitalization). Way to go, Illa!

(Everyone is working hard at ITA!)

Yes, in spite of a few early reminders to concentrate, after a little while the students got focused and really worked hard for the rest of the day. 

We ended the day with a Dreamweaver test and a blog.

Thanks to Felipe for great session photos!!!!