Leaving Teen Second Life

Right now the plan for the coming school year is to begin anew on the Reaction Grid. Since I will be going back to the classroom as an art teacher, I will use my island on the Reaction Grid for teaching art. I have a great student gallery but if I can get computers for a graphic design course, I will also use the space for 3D sculptural student work. Mrs. Rodriguez will be starting an after school club and her school will be purchasing their own RG island. Mrs. Baron would like to start the new school year off with her own space on the Reaction Grid as well. I will continue to support them as much as my schedule will allow. I look forward to working with more students and demonstrating how engaging lessons can be when taught by an avatar!

New Floor Plans for Last Project

Students don't have much time left before the end of the school year. Classes will be cut for field trips and other end of the year activities, so these probably won't get finished. It was a first completed, first choice situation and students picked from several new floor plans on which they could collaborate. The choices were: two different types of office buildings, a middle school classroom, a primary classroom, an auditorium, and a 50's diner. There was also a club/restaurant project underway from last trimester. Students who completed the Cartoon Challenge with a high degree of craftsmanship got first choice. Students are realizing that just because they say they are done doesn't mean they are finished to my standards. This kind of project is so easy to grade because the rubric is very simple. Either a student did something or they didn't. I enjoy watching the students interpret the floor plans. Today a student asked another what a certain symbol meant. The other student said that it was the symbol for a Christmas tree, when it was actually just a generic indoor plant symbol. I love it! (See video below)

Grid Hopping Cartoon Characters

Today I moved copies of several student created cartoon characters to my Art Gallery on the Reaction Grid. If you have been watching the photostories I have posted, you have seen some of the progress during the Cartoon Challenge. I am making these part of the permanent gallery as I have done with much of my students' work from past years. In the beginning I put student work on the hallway walls at Holy Family in Whitefish Bay, WI. I then got lucky and was able to display work at the local library. When the internet became available to me, I learned HTML and created a website where I posted digital photos I took with my new Sony Mavica. (It had a disk drive, remember?) Now that I have my own virtual land on the Reaction Grid, I have created a 3D Art Gallery with all the student artwork I have collected over the years I have been teaching including the move from Wisconsin to Arizona. People from all over the world can see what used to hang on a home refrigerator. How cool is that?

Fly on the Virtual Wall

Today I watched from my office while Ms. Rodriguez taught her class to rez prims on the musical skybox. (See video below)

The Cartoon Challenge (Final Photostory - May 11)

Students began the Cartoon Challenge which requires that they use prims to build a character of their own choosing. As you can see, student teacher Nik Neximus has done an excellent job while I was away! Kudos Nik! I'm hoping some day Nik becomes an art teacher :) (See video below)

Student Teaches Intro to Prims

Nik Neximus will be taking my class while I go to see my family. Today he continued with beginning prim work and taught the students how to take snapshots and then send them to my epal account. I like to have students get a taste of teaching and perhaps encourage them to consider it as a career. It certainly helps their communication skills! Way to go Nik! (See video below)

Trimester Three Begins

A partially new group of students will be working on PESD Island for this final trimester which is disjointed due to state testing and field trips. I like to spend the beginning part of the trimester in the classroom with the kids so that I get to know them well enough to do the class remotely from my office at the district. This time I don't have nearly as many new names to remember since many have decided to either continue or return from a previous trimester. Some will be on my "watch" list as during their first go round they did not live up to my expectations. Just because this is one of the most fun activities, doesn't mean there isn't rigor built in. The first two classes were our Gimp lessons. This week students will be taking their Gimp designed t-shirts and learning how to bring them into Second Life for their avatars to wear. In previous trimesters I did that step but have decided that the students who have been with me for a while now need to learn how to do this for themselves. (See video below)