There's an old phrase about how "failing to plan is planning to fail". Is there a saying about what happens when you have a good plan but it gets derailed? So I got a bit behind on my blog post assignments because I was trying to have some "me time" (a.k.a. time with my family and not thinking about work or this course) over Spring Break, then I watched Aaron's video about how we are pretty much out of time. The end of the course kind of snuck up on me. I had planned to use the Program Scratch to engage our Intermediate students, with the help of our District Technology Teacher, and make an instructional video about the project using Screenr, while creating a makerspace in our Library for my final vision project.
With us only returning to school today from Spring Break, and the District Technology Teacher not coming in to work with me on my Scratch Project until after Easter, combined with the fact that my Library budget was depleted due to Battle of the Books, I will be unable to use this idea for my Final Vision Project. I will still be doing the Scratch Project with our Intermediate students, working closely with the District Technology Teacher, and creating an instructional video with Screenr, but they won't be happening for this course. Likewise about the makerspace until I get some funding to purchase materials. These were all ideas gleaned from taking this course, so in the end my practice and passion both have improved as a result of learning about these resources that I think our students will love and will improve our Library, so it will not be a total loss. So these are some of the problems, issues, and roadblocks that I have encountered. Like any obstacle though, it is about how you adapt and move past them as you go forward that is important. I have chosen to amend my previous project and postpone it while I pursue another worthy task.
That being said, my new and revised plan is to create a Screenr video for my Final Vision Project for another assignment with our Grade 7 students. Many of the schools in our District have a nice little tradition for the "graduating" grade 7 students. They "morph" their kindergarten picture with their grade 7 picture for a slideshow at the year end assembly to honor the students as they leave the school. For my Final Vision Project I am going to create a "how to" Screenr video about the morphing program on our District laptops called Sqirlz Morph. My hope is that other teachers in our District will use it to show their grade 7 students how to morph their photos so they can do the work that is often left for teachers or administrators to do at the end of the year which is already a very busy time. I have been fiddling with Screenr and my various scripts, but have not gotten to the editing part, though so far it seems very intuitive and user friendly.
Photo #1 courtesy of:
https://peonut.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/20140120-133002.jpg
Photo #2 courtesy of:
http://www.foxburginn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Time-is-running-out.jpg
Photo #3 courtesy of:
https://tabootrinity.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/no-money1.jpg
Photo #4 courtesy of:
http://a4.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Purple/v4/4e/f6/06/4ef60691-7cb6-9d21-ea0b-88735dd29906/screen320x480.jpeg
Having to reformat and re-envision on the fly is a very useful skill for Teacher-Librarians! The need to be flexible and adaptable and be able to refocus on a new direction or goal on short notice is something that will continue to happen throughout your experiences as a Future TL. I am really glad you are going to continue your explorations of the Makerspace, as well as the Scratch unit and hope that those experiences can be shared within your district, just like your proposed new Vision project. I hope you had a great spring break and time with your family!
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