Day 36:

Spending some time getting caught up on everyone's journals/blogs. Most are staying up to date. had to talk with a few about journaling every day. I am having some problems getting my comments to post on some of their pages. Either a message comes up that process has been aborted or the comment, while it looks like it published, never finds its way there. Somethihng technical I will have to figure out. I seemed to have less trouble accomplishing this task from my laptop at home.

Day 35:

Used today to catch up on blog viewing and commenting of the students in my class. They are to be reflecting in their journals on The Last Lecture as Pausch's words relate to their projects.

Day 34:

Kids have a lot of energy today - feeling their creative juices flowing. Evan is moving along with setting up his "assistanceship" at Springfield Elementary - that is exciting.

Day 33:

Not much to say today. This is a sign-out day, so I only have 2 students here. They are blogging as I speak(type). Daniele did her first flash mob today. Apparently didn't go so well, as there were too many other activities going on around her. But she did say her phone interview went very well. Kim showed me the certificate of insurance she needed from the board office to be able to host her 5k run. That is super exciting news.

Day 32 (Thursday):

Visited Gabby Arenge's blog about her African Peace Project : http://gabriellearenge.blogspot.com/. I really like the way she is using her blog in many ways. She is definitely using hers as an effective forum to record and document;She includes artifacts of her process/experiences. Also demonstrated in her entries are efforts at planning. But what I like best, and think will resonate most for her later, are her reflections on what she has done, is doing, and will do in Africa. As can be expected from such an prolific journaler, Gabby's ideas are expressed both thoroughly and honestly. I can hear her actual voice in her writing, and that is a very engaging characteristic for an audience of a blog, I would think.

Day 31:

Today was a sign-out day. All seems to be good right now. Kim got the insurance ok from the board office. Daniele is officially having a flash mob on Friday. Clarissa went out today on her first shopping trip with coupons. Hopefully she will come in tomorrow with tales of glory.

Day 30 (Tuesday March 20):

Discussed The Last Lecture today. Interesting to consider points brought up in the book from a teenager/student's perspective instead of just my adult/teacher/parent's. John had a really interesting theory of why kids today can't seem to cope, related to overinflated self-esteem. Raised a whole lot of discussion and theorizing. Students could see some ideas related more to their projects in this section.

Day 29:

Heard a lot from students today, both good and bad, in terms of their progress. On Friday, John had our first outside interview, scheduled with a church in Mt. Laurel. Last minute it got cancelled. Now he is just waiting for an e-mail response regarding postponing. Daniele came in with great news. She made contact with Flashmob America, a huge pr group who does big flashmobs for promos. Their pr person said she might be able to get Daniele an interview. She also got news from our principal about possibly doing a flash mob in school. However, Clarissa and Kim are both facing project-stopping obstacles that need to be overcome for them to move forward. I helped Kim make some headway on accomplishing the next but crucial step in making her 5K happen. And Clarissa, in voicing all the problems she uncovered this weekend with her extreme couponing endeavors, made clear that while she had these many problems, she learned a lot about the process - what needs to happen for her attempts to get stuff for free to work

On the blogging front, I happened across a blog written by a high school friend (when I wasn't even looking). And as it turns out, this isn't the only one he has done, all as part of graduate courses he was taking. I think I have been living with my head in the sand, not realizing how commonplace this forum for communication is. Pretty cool stuff!

Day 28:

Discussed Part III of The Last Lecture today. I was impressed with the introspection and reflection the students demonstrated in their consideration of what they read. It was good to see that they were able to make connections between the book and their projects.

Day 27 (Wednesday, March 14):

Evan and I had our first mentor meeting. Only Kim signed out. The rest worked on independent research.

Day 26 (Tuesday, March 13):

Had an impromptu guest speaker, Gabby Arenge, today. At the end of class on Monday, I told my students they needed to check out my blog entry about losing motivation. Most confirmed my suspicion - that they were also experiencing a similar lack of drive and passion. Thus, the guest speaker, to let them know that she, a previous WISE student, had gotten to this same stage. She reassured them that it was normal to have some difficulty sustaining the same level of interest. We discussed ways to mix it up and to re-energize - mainly, getting out into the field. Thanks, Gabby!

Updated Evan about his request to change project and/or mentor. I will be his mentor and his project has been tweaked a bit so he can continue with his interest in music but take a different approach to his subject. Check his blog for details.

Day 25:

I don't have a lot to say today about student projects as they are working independently right now. As far as blogging, the one thing I have experienced is a lack of consistent motivation on my part. Maybe that is true because I am not getting any comments which would mean that I have an audience. It is difficult to research and write about your experiences when no one will read - no one cares. So lesson #1: Blogging is a form of writing. For writing you are more fulfilled when you have a purpose and an audience. For writing you are more fulfilled when you get feedback about your ideas. Hence, unless a blog is on a topic in which people are interested, there will be no audience or feedback. I wonder if my students' are feeling this same malaise.

Day 24:

Well, I just realized I haven't kept up my end of the bargain this week...no entry since Monday. We've been really busy during class this week, catching up with oral progress reports that we would have done on MOnday if half the class wasn't out on field trips and beginning The Last Lecture. Also, only 20 or so minute classes, with testing. I'm done with excuses now.

Progress reports went well. As expected, some are having difficulties, the obstacles that can be expected when trying to make things happen exactly the way they want them to, and for some it is smooth sailing. I think we were able to help each other in some ways. But, inevitably, one of the biggest life lessons these students learn is to adjust, troubleshoot, and compromise.

Day 20:

So more about blogging as almost a new medium for communicating - I thought I really needed to back up a step to research the origins of blogging and, of course, a basic resource reared its ugly head, and I grabbed it - Wikipedia:

Article titled "Blog" from Wiki:

From this article it appears as though our class community of bloggers is known as an online community (from the source: "An online community is a virtual community that exists online and whose members enable its existence through taking part in membership ritual," in our case journaling about class/project experiences) and the way we are using it is kind of hybrid of two known types: personal blog and corporate/organizational blog. Our purpose is not to influence or persuade; it is more to inform and document.

As for class and progress: only half the students were here today as there were two field trips (when we were going to take some class time to check in with each others' projects by looking at each others' blogs). So I think we will have to move to later in the week.

Day 19:

Well, I'm really excited that a representative from Wise Services has viewed and commented on a post on my blog. I think this format for journals could be the wave of the future. I wonder how many other school are utilizing the internet in this way. Maybe I'll be able to go to their conference in March and find out.

Students are busy at work. Daniele is moving forward on her survey and is finding that her teachers are more than willing to help her. Clarissa said she was really disappointed at the lack of sources and knowledge afforded her in her visit to the local public library yesterday. I suggested to her that heading to the main county branch will provide much more than the local branch. Tomorrow is another sign out day. Maybe a few more will have plans to venture out for some field work.