and the up side

This is part two of a two-part post:

The sims we work on are owned by the Wayne-Finger Lakes BOCES district. Yesterday, the BOCES administrators had a meeting at which they saw a presentation on SL. Lynn (SL name)asked me if some of my students could come inworld so she could relay questions to them from the admins. Because of the timing of the meeting, I was only able to have three students there (one for only 15 min).

At her end, Lynn projected the SL image on the large screen so everyone in the room could see. She and her assistant (whom I've never met in RL, but have met in SL several times) split the duties, with Emilie asking the students questions and Lynn asking me the teacher-directed questions in IM so the converstations would be easier to follow.

Let me say right now, that when you give kids real-world tasks and ask them to step up to the plate...they do so with a panache that makes one proud. In the classroom, I was dealing with three different converstaions at the same time: the IM with Lynn, the kid's conversations in general chat and the rest of my regular classroom that had never seen SL before. Needless to say this latter group was enthralled by the fact that we were in a meeting with a group of people thirty miles away while still sitting there and talking to them at the same time. And to see their fellow students simply and easily step into these roles impressed the heck out of them.

Two things impressed me on the kids' end. The first deals with a student who, quite frankly, isn't all that interested in anything I have to teach her. She's unfocused and not always willing to do what needs to be done. But her demeanor and answers in that meeting bespoke a higher level of maturity than I'd seen in her before. Getting to see her in the role of teacher to the admins was an eye-opener for me.

The second dealt with the secret two of us had. I'm a female teacher, but play a male avatar. Reason? I was curious to see if the kids responded differently to me inworld than in RL. One of the students who partook in this conversation yesterday is a male student who has created an absolutely beautiful female avatar. Reason: it's role playing and he wanted to explore that part of his personality.

Partway through our coversation, it dawned on me that these administrators would have no idea of who was behind the computer. They wouldn't know our true genders. I brought this up to the three of us left in the classroom (my class had been dismissed for lunch and one of the students in the meeting had to go to geometry). We got a chuckle over it and continued to play our parts and answer questions.

At the end however, I asked them, in chat, if we should reveal our secret. Of course, the admins now all wanted to know what it was and my male student grinned in RL and said, "You bet!" So I told them I am actually a female teacher. That got a laugh from them and when I gave my reason, they thought that a cool experiment to undertake. Then my male student revealed his gender and Lynn told me later she thought they were going to fall out of their chairs. She said they roared and couldn't get over how they'd made assumptions based on what they saw on the screen. A good teachable moment that she used to great effect.

So as frustrated as I get with them sometimes, when it's truly important, the kids step up and make me proud. We had a good time with admins yesterday (turns out to be mostly Superintendents, Assistant Superintendents, Directors and various principals). It sounds as if they had as much fun as we did.

Thespis

frustrations

This is the first part a two-part blog post:

I haven't been keeping up with the blog because, quite honestly, I've been disappointed in the way this year's class is working. Or not working, to be more specific. Where last year's group hung together and created the Drop In, working on their own within the groups, this year's class has fragmented, with several more intent on playing and making attempts to create their own little kingdoms than with working on the class projects. I've had to delete several of these "homes" more than once and am close to shutting down the entire project because of their lack of cooperation.

I can kick them out of SL entirely, and if this were the adult grid and I had tenants who so blatantly ignored the rules, I wouldn't hesitate to ban them from the sim. But this is a classroom and as such, I've been trying to teach and model the behaviors I want them to follow. So I delete and redirect -- over and over again.

We're working on a Civil War build as a class. They've chosen a relatively obscure battle on the theory that everyone already knows about the famous ones. This way others will be able to learn something they might not find in their textbook. We're recreating the Battle of New Market, specifically the Bushong farm and the Field of Lost Shoes. As I said, this is an uphill battle to keep them on task, but we're getting there.

Thespis

Outside

(The following was written outside, then transcribed here afterward)

Today was an experiment for me. I haven't taken kids outside for class in decades (yes, I've been teaching for decades. Plural.). Recently, however, I've been thinking that taking a group outside would be fun -- it's just been a matter of getting up the nerve. My Creative Writing class is small and filled with upperclassmen, so a good opportunity to let the squirrels scold and the ants explore us.

Of course, I wore my white pants today -- and I gave my two car blankets to the kids. So I'm sure I'll teach the rest of the day with grass stains on my rear end.

Interesting. Two students immediately separated themselves and headed away from the group to write. One of the others made note of it and called them "the real writers." The stereotype of the solitary writer haunts even these 17-year olds. Another girl is near me, but faced away from the group in a world of her own creation.

The others have all clumped together, but even there the dynamics are interesting. The two boys who do not feel creative or comfortable are sitting on the rocks together in conversation. There's a girl sitting somewhat solo, facing another group of three and who is regaling them with stories -- not realizing she's actually involved in creative storytelling by her very nature. Two others sit with their backs against different sides of the same tree, listening, writing, looking, writing. In the midst, yet separate. Jouralists in the making.

So why do I find myself sitting in the sunshine on a beautiful late summer/early autumn day writing about them instead of starting my own story? Because as a teacher, my attention is divided. To my left my solo two -- to my right all the others. They are my responsibility and while I'm not worried they'll escape on me, it's still my duty to be aware of their existence. But when I write fiction, I notice so little of the world around me. I get so involved in the story unfolding inside my head, letting the words flow down through my hunched shoulders and along my arms to emerge on the computer screen via my flying fingers, that it, in fact, takes a scream from one of the girls to bring me back to their fears of a creepy-crawly that turns out to be an ant.

The other reason I can't write fiction lies in the fact that I have no computer in front of me. I'm writing long-hand and I've long since lost patience with how long it takes for the words to get out of my head and through the pen/pencil. And why no laptop? It wouldn't be fair to the kids. I didn't let them bring out the school's laptops as they can't save anything this far from the server and I don't trust the batteries. And its hardly fair for me to sit here with one and not allow them. So I'm writing the old-fashioned way for an hour or so of time.

Okay, so what does all this have to do with virtual worlds? I posit the question, what are stories if not the original virtual worlds? The stories told around the fire centuries ago are no less and no more real than the worlds we create inside a computer, for all our modern stories are written with zeroes and ones. The stories have meaning in both media -- and so my Creative Writing class is as much a class in virtual worlds as my Virtual Worlds course in Second Life.

Funny, I'm getting flack from three students who don't want to be out here. Have I moved them too far from their comfort zone? Do they not like the ants or the fuzzy catepillers? My upbeat mood is rapidly deflating. Only three of them seem to have gotten any inspiration -- or even tried. The remaining six are just glad I'm not watching them too closely and are enjoying their conversations. I'm thinking I have to call this experiment a failure.

(back in my room, having posted and asked for feedback from the kids)

I'm not far off. Most of them enjoyed the opportunity to get out of the building and enjoy the weather. Only a few found it conducive to writing. Of the three who expressed dislike outside, one said he finds it difficult to write with a pen (a physical difficulty) and would enjoy it if he could take a laptop out with him. One of the girls said she would like it if she could sit somewhere other than the ground. Picnic tables were mentioned as a solution. So not as much of a failure as I thought. I might do this again...

new school year...

A new year brings new administrators as well as new kids in my class. Will be interesting to see how this all plays out...

Hope everyone had a good summer. I spent mine in RL traveling and visiting new lands and seeing faraway places. I crossed two things off my "10 things to do before I die" list -- which, of course, means I now need to add two things to it. I figure if I keep the list at ten, I'll never be done...and hence, never die! Well, one can always hope...

Regular updates to start up with the coming of the school year. Till then...take care :)

some end of the year musings

Had a great meeting with our BOCES liason and the kids today...Lynn Yoder (SL Name) came to our RL classroom for a chat. We debriefed a little (what worked, what didn't) and Lynn told us about some exciting new stuff for next year. To wit:

Next year there's a possibility another school will be holding a Virtual Worlds course at the same time we do. This will give us an opportunity to mix the classes and get the kids working on collaborative projects between the districts. Geographically our schools are about 70 miles away from each other. Our sports teams compete against one another, so this will be a fun opportunity to meet them in another setting.

In addition, at least one other school has expressed an interest in bringing kids on "field trips" into SL. Lynn told the class that those who remain will be asked to provide specific builds depending on what these teachers request. I saw grins from the four returning students, that told me they're excited about that possiblity.

Speaking of returning students, the four mentioned above are returning to the class itself, but three others have asked if they could remain as mentors, even though they're not taking the class. I'm encouraging them to do so, since this IS what they trained for this year. Two others are graduating, four want nothing to do with this after the end of the week (I think they wanted more shoot 'em ups). The others are still making decisions about what they want to do next year. Since I have only 14 in the class, I'm thinking a 50% retention rate (as in coming back to work or help next year) is pretty good!

Some other suggestions/requests for next year:
Allowing students to set up businesses that could actually be run for a profit
Taking out 2 of the carousels (kids admitted it was fun riding one the first time, but they didn't go back. And three carousels is overkill)
Get permissions to modify buildings put in by Ohio State or rebuild them and then remove them as there are bugs and assorted problems with some of them that we can't fix without permissions.
Fill up the libraries with texts from Project Gutenburg.

Winding down!
Thespis

the end is almost here...

We've made it through our first year of VW Explorations -- and have lost only a few along the way. Two students left the class because they turned 18 and thought they would lose their avatars (although apparently this isn't the case; something for me to track down next week). One other student has decided this isn't what he thought it would be when he signed up last year and shut down on me a few weeks ago. He grudgingly does what I ask him, but he lets me know he's not happy.

As for the rest, most are not taking the class next year, but are looking forward to being mentors for the newbies coming in. In fact, one group of girls has been working to create a "mentor center" as a place n00bs can come to ask questions. Very cool initiative on their part!

I had four objectives when starting this course:

•To introduce our students to new ways of learning and doing business using virtual worlds.

Hit: Students learned several new skill sets (how to move, talk, create) in a virtual world. We also talked at length about legal, financial and cultural issues that crop up as a result of a virtual neighborhood.

•To create a body of mentors that will be available next year as more students from other districts begin to use this new technology.

Miss with some hits: Not everyone who took the class this year has signed up to take it again next year. This means we’ll be training newbies again, although there will be a few old-timers to help out. The up-side of this is that BOCES now has its act together and creating the student accounts will be quick and easy (or so I’m told!) so it won’t take as long for the new students to become comfortable enough to mentor others.

•To explore several of the issues surrounding education in a virtual world for myself and see what kinds of things kids learn from using them.

BIG Hit: Was a LOT of fun watching the kids struggle and learn from each other, from the ‘net and from me. Caveat: next year I’m planning to do more community-building exercises as that didn’t happen spontaneously like I expected. The kids formed small groups, but never really formed a community of any sort.

•To create independent learners who don’t need me to tell them what to do next. They can use me as a resource for guidance when needed, but are capable of designing and executing their own projects.

BIGGEST HIT: The creation of the Drop In was one of the most rewarding of my career. It truly was wonderful watching them all take ownership of their sections of the site and then work together to create something useful and beautiful. This was the highlight of the year.

I looked over my blog before I wrote this – and boy, has it been a year of ups and downs. The technical end of getting this class off the boards alone would have been enough to daunt a less-determined teacher. Add in the above-mentioned student-apathy and a healthy dose of attitude from at least one fellow staff member and you have all the elements for a disaster of a year.

And yet, somehow – it wasn’t. I watched students work together to create The Drop In, a central spot where all new students coming in world will get their orientation and skills. It was great to watch them break the task into manageable tasks, then split themselves into groups with each group taking one task and breaking it down even further. They worked together, fought together, succeeded together and in the end, created a practical work of art that will benefit the community for a long time to come.

Would I do it again? Yes. I’ve learned a lot about how to handle kids in several locations at the same time, I’ve even taught from home while they were in world and in class. I’d like the opportunity to go again and see if I can make it a smoother and better experience for all involved.

Till later,
Thespis

Machinima

Finally getting to post the new machinima I made. I'd wanted the kids to do it, but we got scheduled for the Board of Education meeting a month earlier than expected. So I wrote a script, had the kids each record a line and threw this together. A special shout-out to Heath Vercher, whose music I used to underscore this one as well. Sorry, Heath -- forgot to give you credit!

The presentation before the Board went well, although I spoke too fast and tried to cram a half-hour's worth of information into twenty minutes. They seemed to enjoy the video even with the uneven sound quality, though.

And without further ado...our Drop In!