The Plan vs. The Reality

The plan

30 students were to take a trip to the Museum to examine the artifacts
all students were to be grouped and conduct research about the artists, artifacts, and time period in which the piece was created
podcasts were to be made by each group and if there were duplicate podcasts then the class and Museum officials were to judge
- Students were to publish:
  - 15-20 podcasts, wikipages, blog posts, digital videos or online scrapbooks with research and creative endeavors.

The reality

Only 18 students went on the trip. Partly because of a change in my teaching schedule and partly because the number of students with my level of “acceptable behavior” dictated that some of the students were uninvited.
The dedication to the creation of the wikipages was not as robust as I would have liked (to say the least.) As usual when the computer comes out, the games begin as does the ‘facebooking’.
Much to my surprise, no one wanted to create podcasts. We practiced creating podcasts in class and I thought that many of them felt that it was great fun. Instead, they all seemed to baulk at the idea of having their voice recorded for a museum display. I had a really hard time convincing them to participate.
- Students published:
  - 10 podcasts, wikipages, blog posts, and online scrapbooks with research and creative endeavors.
  - The students who participated in the podcasts have become more self confident and seem to have been empowered by their experiences.
  - I am so pleased. They started off scared and timid as they worked on their scripts and then recorded, re-recorded and in many cases re-re-recorded their podcasts and the growth that I have seen in them is astonishing.

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