5 students

This semester I have only 5 Game Design II students and they are in class while I am teaching another class. I am not as comfortable with this but it seems to be going ok. Two of the students are from last year so they had to go back and review some concepts which has been helpful to both them and me. Because they are in while I am teaching another class they get very little attention. This does not seem to be a problem because they just work and ask questions when I am not busy. It just feels like I am not giving them enough attention.

Pen Tool

I have two Game Design II students who have improved the quality of their work by using the pen tool to trace objects. Even doing simple assignments the students are taking the time to make them look nice. I am having them do some of the assignments over just for practice and that has worked well. Check them out!
Courtney's Work
Emily's Work

Blogging

I want to let all the instructors know how important I think blogging is. I have learned more from my students about how they learn and what I may need to reteach but reading their blogs. In fact I think it is so important that all my classes now do blog entries.

Lindsey and Justin are students in Business Computer Applications II and had to blog about harassment. Leah and Patrick are in Web Page Design and had to blog about their personal computer skills. Leah added the extra boy blog on her own--that was definitely not an assignment but look at what she thought and how much she wrote. The last two entries are from Digital Imaging and they had to answer certain questions they were given.

http://lindseylumx3.blogspot.com/
http://jsnyder-justin.blogspot.com/
http://www.leahxknicely.blogspot.com/
http://patricksthoughtsoncomputers.blogspot.com/
http://www.amylee18.blogspot.com/
http://idk-shasta.blogspot.com/

Sometimes I have the students to read and make comments on other students'blogs. I give the students a grade for blogging. Generally the requirement is that they answered the question(s).

I have found that the students are very honest and insightful. I have learned things about my students that I would not have known otherwise. Believe it or not they actually like doing it. They are writing and they actually like it.

If you are not blogging--I strongly encourage you to blog and have your students to blog. Let's see what you can learn.

Two Day Conference

I enjoyed the two day conference. It was fun seeing everyone again but I also learned several things. I have so little time to learn on my own so the coding sessions really helped me. I understand coding better and I am better prepared to share it with my students. I have installed the Globaloria tool bar on all the computers that I use. This program continues to improve and I am happy to be part of it.

Over

The semester started so well--however the weather made sure we did not have the ending I desired. My students missed so many days they were not able to finish their games. The presentations were scheduled twice and the weather cancelled both days. I am in Florida and someone back at school is recording the presentations of the students who could make it today. It is not the same as having a formal presentation but there is nothing else I can do at this point except be disappointed. All well it will make me plan different next school year.

In School

I can't believe it. We are actually in school today. We have had snow/flood days 4 of the last 6 days of school. If the weather report holds true we may have 1 or 2 more snow days this week. This has changed what I expect of my students at the end of this course. Given more time they could have completed their games but I don't think they are going to have the time now to do so. That is disappointing because they have worked so hard. However I am pleased with what they have and excited to see their presentations on Thursday.

Back to School

It is January 2 and we are back to school. This game design class has two weeks to get their games ready for presentation. Coding is still the major problem at this point so we are planning WebEx for next week to try to get through some of those problems.

I am proud of what the students have created and accomplished so far and I hope their final presentations reflect their true learning.