1. Students had two classes today. One of those classes was used in the computer room and the second was in the English classroom. Most of the students showed a good use of their time.
2. They should be comfortable by now with their choice of poem. (No one should be starting over at this point.) I’ve heard some great ideas coming from the kids and they seem to be enjoying the process.
3. We were unable to book the pc room for the second class, so students worked in the classroom on the written portion of the assignment. They will have to orally present an analysis of their poem to the class at the time of their mult-media presentation. They used this class to look deeper into the poem they are working with to find its true meaning, forms of figurative language that are most effective and such things. (They have a list of six areas they need to consider for their evaluation.)
4. We will set the due date for this project for three weeks away (mid October). There may be a few classes scattered here and there for them to work on this. However, I made it clear that class time will only be given as much as they show me they need it. If little work is being completed, my understanding, then, will be that they are ready and capable on their own time and we will only continue to move forward through the unit. They really control the speed we go.

PS: I was so excited about the potential of their multi-media assignment so I’ve started a project of my own! I’m looking forward to sharing it with the class when they present their own. We’ll see if I am as creative as they seem to be!