Carrying Out the Plan

To reach the goals set in my GAME plan I am going to need locate some resources. First, I need to narrow down the broad idea of "real life issues" into some hot topics that will hook my students I think selecting some very localized topics as well as some national or world-wide topics may be a place to begin. Why just today I received an e-mail from Discovery Education about a project called the, "We can change the World Challenge". I will get more information about the details of this project to see if it will relate to my students but I know there are thousands more like it if I could locate them. If I wanted to stay closer to home a locate some local issues, I think the local newspaper and even talking to students about everyday problems could assist in the search. I believe I could get a lot of assistance from posting a request for project ideas on my Ning group, Art 2.0, as well as putting out a feeler on Twitter. I just want to find something that will spark real creativity and not just another poster contest. So far, I have not made much progress on this goal other than committing to reaching out to my support group for ideas.

My other goal of modeling collaborative learning groups is progressing quite nicely. I have tapped into some resources in my school that will be working with me on a collaborative project. First, I have a group of fifth graders very interested in filmmaking. One has become very proficient at making stop motion films using his web cam and Windows Movie Maker. Even though I personally know a lot about creating animation, my skills lie in using real film. I have dabbled in digital film-making but not on the level he has been working. I have also located a college art student (the daughter of a co-worker) who is seeking to meet the requirements of her current college course and log community service hours by working in my art classroom. She also happens to be a very experienced digital filmmaker. I have made arrangements for her to come and share her expertise. She is familiar with using I-movie not. So together, the three of us, along with the other students interested in film-making ,will be dependent on learning this whole process together. We will collectively discover what it takes to complete a full project from start to finish by each bringing to the group our area of expertise.
The other collaborative effort I am working on is a cross-curricular project with another teacher. I would like to develop a project where we both will depend on each others areas of expertise to plan and execute the learning experience for our students. I have already spoken to a few teachers whom I felt would be flexible enough and creative in their instruction to work along with me in this endeavor. I will keep you updated on how things will progress.