Make no mistake about it!  I loved teaching this one! Loved it!  Loved the process, loved the people, loved the problems, LOVED the results, and suddenly as we watched most of the 33 pieces last night and finally moved into the story circle after everyone wrote and wrote their ends to their process pieces, I was exhausted.  The conversation about the articles was rich and shared by the community.  It was a joyous event and it was cool to have Devon there to witness it the whole thing.  I think he truly appreciated the work of the group and the atmosphere as he invited me to teach the course next year.

I feel great about everything but saturated!  I race to the finish line, I get there and then…thud! Where am I in this?  I don’t feel the thrill at the end.  Oh well…It was great even if I’m numb.

And now what do I have to do for the SI?

1. Finish the calendar at least for the first week

2. Camile in week one?

3. Loggers/food/DD : Who volunteered?  Rebecca?

4. My DS log!

5. My workshop/ blogging in the afternoon/directions for the EAnthology.

What else…

  Last weekend I was a nervous wreck about this week that I am just about finished with and as you might expect, it’s ending strong!  My SUNY DS course has one more night left and I just burned the last of the DVD’s for everyone to leave the course with.  3 disks for each person, 33 digital stories to share together and have for as long as the disk lives.  I created a few extras for myself ,but I think that a highlights disk might be in order to share with others.  I will be watching closely as we see them together.  The bottom line is the clarity of the voice over.  I wonder if they will  agree.

I think I need to bring that focus home stronger.  You need to hear the words! Of course great pics resolution and music that doesn’t overpower, and transitions that just move us along.

I am so ready to celebrate the work of this class.  They have been wonderful, beyond my expectations.

And tomorrow, Orientation 2 without Mary but with Tom and the trio of returning fellows and just that phone call with Rebecca was reassuring.  Nice!  I have my list and my new responsibility and time this week to work on my workshop and afternoon of instruction.  HELP!  Kirk? and others?

I will be keeping my reflections for SI’07 here.

What a great experience!  All digital stories were due last night and at 8:45, I was copying Jessica’s last piece onto my Rugged external hard drive as it poured outside.  Inside the room had been a hive of energy since 4PM. Even earlier.  Cindy there ahead of me, obsessed with getting her work just so, of course, it was her piece that as I watched the first dvd version that forced me to dump the DVD and reload her Dad’s piece.  In her efforts to “get it right” her didn’t balance the volume and all those powerful words would have been lost under a very loud music track.  I couldn’t ignore the problem and thank God I haven’t yet trashed an earlier version.  Thank God.  I could see a preview of her sadness.  I had to correct this and did!

Marcella, Sara, Nancy all pushed themselves to the ultimate end and they all felt good as they left for the evening.  Everyone is looking forward to watching all the pieces together as a DS community and sharing food as well.  They will have interesting process pieces and articles to share for one last story circle.

What can I do to make the course better?  I really want to know.  To take it in and think hard about revisions.

I really missed this space to write and reflect with…so here’s my SUNY DS reflections to include:

SUNY DS Class Reflections June 26, 2007

We have two more classes and almost everyone has finished their pieces before schedule.  There was a great feeling last night as everyone worked for the whole session on computers, but because the class feels comfortable as a group, they feel comfortable to get up and support each other.
As Sara struggles in the back and I can’t get to her, Nancy is working with her, Cindy is working with Nancy,  I have Cindy working on my computer, Christine needs a song, I download one from Itunes and then she calls a friend for a better song for her piece.
Yes I have everyone working on Garageband to use their free share software and most did that, but once I realized that I couldn’t count on edublogs at the still time to upload everything to the blog, I had to change my plans and just stick with creating everything on DVD’s and not moving their work to the blog,  I wonder about that.  How can we add more of that into the course next time?
For now, I am taking on the responsibility to use IDVD to create the 3 disks. What can I do next time?
So this is what we have left to do:

1. Final touches on the 3 pieces all due at the end of class on Wednesday: With correct titles on save as…
Share work on storyboards.
2. Writing the process piece with the kid’s model?(Xerox) The last section of this piece will be written after the pieces are presented on the last day.

3. Using the blog for final reflections?

4. Working to find articles online and in library to share together at the last class.

Future DS Plans:

1.Moving to a PC lab with headsets provided.

2.Using Photo Story 3 to allow for work done at home on personal PC’s and have the poetry piece directly connected to a classroom project.

3. Using text more( have it there for the first class) Move beyond DS to reading on Web 2.0?

4. Articles?

5. Add one last DS: process piece as a DS!

6. Online tools?  The blog work was hit hard by its overhaul right in the middle of the classtime.

7. Can’t wait to try this again.

8. Last class: another viewing spot?
SUNY evaluations.

Additional:

2-4 –hour sessions a week worked out, allowing for time to write, create and share in a story circle and work on the computer.  It was good to begin with a poem piece where the text was a given and could be used as a classroom presentation.
And as that piece was worked on the group could write the second piece…working two pieces simultaneously and then the third folded in so that the first piece moved slowly but the other two were being worked on simultaneously.  So the last two pieces really moved quickly once the process for the first piece was clear.  That would be a good way for people to prepare for the class.  Select a favorite poem/taught poem on reading piece and consider photos for it… a storyboard to create before class…

It’s critical for me to download their work to my external hard drive.

Playing with online tools.
ToonDoo

Wikis

Group Photo

Include in Process Piece: Bringing DS into the classroom.  How could you use this process in your classroom?

All DS need to be quicktime files

 Now this was a great DS day!  I lunched with Trace and talked about our common passion for the adventure with DS and the web. We talked about her work/my work, software: Premiere vs Photo Story 3 vs  Imovie now that Trace has a brand new Mac laptop. And plans for a tech inservice.  And I saw her work.  Fantastic!  What a thrill!   A great partner!

And then my DS class.  A wonderful session.  Everyone wrote about their pieces, using the Digitales elements as a rubric source.  And then the story circle: MAGIC.  Then moving to computers and pieces were finished, or close to it.  Not everyone, but with the addition of Garageband and figuring things out with the help of Tine.  She feels great about saving the day, we moved people on….

The course feels clear: the future work…the rest of sessions, the last session is getting crafted…I would love to write more but I can’t even see this page, so for now, I’m signing off.

BK