When the hurly-burly’s done

So the Odyssey Movie Project is over, as is the school year. That’s not entirely true. We’ve entered our four-day exam period, but I don’t count that as part of the year. I still can’t figure out what kind of educational value final exams have–it’s not like the feedback on them, such as it is, is going to be used for much, as the course is over. That might be something for another post.

Right now, I want to celebrate.

Back in early May, 81 students learned that they’d be responsible for creating an original film based on The Odyssey. They were given skeletal instructions and turned loose to get the thing made in about a month and a half. They decided on a basic plot line and spent a couple of weeks writing a script (big shout to Star and Brad at Plotbot for their help) and storyboarding the whole thing.

Then all hell broke loose. There were casting, musical, location, wardrobe, and directorial decisions to be made. There were egos to soothe, shy people to draw out, budgetary concerns to overcome, and camera equipment to reserve. Students asked parents for permission to have an entire English class over to shoot at their houses. Ed’s class dumped my two classes, complete with an honest-to-goodness “It’s not you, it’s us” speech.

Editing hiccups happened. Fights occurred. There were a lot of suspicious looks from teachers in my corner of the building when they walked by. Snacks were eaten.

For a while, I didn’t think either of my classes would finish their appointed movie sections. It wasn’t until I saw all three movies this morning that I believed.

Let me assure you: there is nothing more thrilling than when your doubts are allayed. When the last strains of “Don’t Stop Believing” echoed in the auditorium at the end of the last movie, I finally realized what had happened: They did it.

81 sophomores.

3 fencing foils.

3 dance parties.

Innumerable (hopefully non-adult) shots.

1 dog.

Even the Download Beeping Song sounded good.

Was it a perfect project? Absolutely not. The feedback we’ve gotten has called for more structure, more definite due dates, more guidance. Totally fair. We sort of made this project up as we went along, no doubt. If I were to do this again with another class, say, maybe next year’s sophomores, I’d include strict dates for certain benchmarks to be met (first draft of script, final script, storyboard, shoot schedule, minutes of raw footage, etc). I’d also be much better at ensuring that students were reflecting every day on what had been accomplished, maybe through their blogs. I don’t know.

For now, though, I’m happy that it’s all done. The rest of the end-of-year wind-down seems anticlimactic.

Thanks, everyone. It’s been real.

Download Don’t Stop Believing.

Rosters and ground rules. (more…)

Playing in the background as I write this:  Michael Franti, Songs from the Front Porch

Blowing through the window as I write this:  The first serious summer evening breeze of the year.  It’s a perfect temperature and the wind is at just the right speed.  I’m actually just killing time writing this while a friend is on his way over to sit on lawn chairs in my very small yard and catch up.  It’s been too long since we’ve done that, even though we live near each other now and see each other in passing pretty often.

The school year ends, for all intents and purposes, tomorrow.  It’s the last day before Memorial Day, which means it’s the last day before it seems more than a little foolish to keep up the charade. And I wish I could play along with that, but something’s happened.

The Odyssey project might be breaking down.

I don’t know.  Maybe not.  But this week has been pretty rough.

Am I egotistical enough to say that it’s because I’ve missed two of our three meeting days this week because of other commitments I couldn’t get out of?  Of course I am, and I believe that that’s a big reason for what’s gone down.  With a few exceptions, the sophomores just aren’t taking any initiative. There are actors with one or two lines who think that sitting around waiting for a shoot to be scheduled counts as contributing; there are music crew members who refuse to be flexible; there are costume/wardrobe people who keep forgetting to tell the actors what they’re supposed to wear.  There are vision clashes and communication breakdowns and rampaging egos and trampled shy people who are just trying to get something, anything done.

There are, though, a few students who are getting more than their share of crunk on this project, and I commend each one.  These are students who understand that when they signed up for an Honors English class, it was because the ratio of work to reward would be challenging, and they’d be called upon to think creatively.  This isn’t an AP class, after all–these students need to be able to use 21st century skills to work together and produce new knowledge.

And the kicker is that I know they can do it.  I’ve seen what they’ve produced earlier–satirical films, informative wikis, brochures about reform movements, a fully-realized production of Macbeth–which makes this feeling about a hundred times worse.  Where’s the energy, the drive?  When I tell a dozen of them on Tuesday that they’re currently rocking pretty fat Ds on this project, will that motivate them to figure out what needs to be done and do it?

This is really dorky, even for me. Enjoy.

If you don’t get why this is funny, look at this.

Via Clay.

“Lane Euler“: meteoric growth in critical thinking and weblogging, and a person to trust to the grave–I can tell already.

“Fashion Freak“: a rare honesty and decency, a mind alive in this one. Somehow seems an “old soul” (in a good, mature way).

“Ace Husky Uno“: makes me think of Nestor’s injunction to the young in The Iliad: “Be a man of eloquence and action.” (He was telling Achilles not to be just a jock, but a literate man as well. If only our modern “he-men” valued the tongue as much as the bicep.) Husky Uno is an amazing basketball player and thinker. He handled Swift like he handles lay-ups. And macho peer pressure doesn’t keep him from talking in class. Too cool.

“Ha! Enjoy“: another one whose sincerity and ability to reflect and enjoy it makes me happy.

“Pick Man Track“: another athlete strong enough to lead instead of follow–a real role model who breaks the “thinking ain’t cool” mold for weaker young jocks around him.

“Just Yell“: a born writer and giant-killer.

And yes, there are plenty of my ENG223 students who have done some fine writing as well.  But we haven’t, as a group, quite gotten to the stage that Clay’s students have.  We’re not really bloggers yet–we use blogs to complete homework assignments, for the most part, not as a means of expression or connection to the world at large.  This is something that Evan Olmstead and I’ll be working on a lot next year.

Maybe there was too much technology and not enough time to play–I’m thinking about the wikis, the PlotBot site, and all the rest–to let the blogs grow organically.  Maybe the emphasis on blogs in the beginning of the year was a turn-off, or maybe a lot of students really don’t want to be met where they live, out in digital land.  I just don’t know.

Props, though, are in order to these folks.  I’ll use their site titles so’s to stay kind of consistent with Clay’s post.

Is There Life on Mars?  After starting off as one of the more blog-skeptical students in the class, she’s recently announced her intention to use her blog a lot more.  We’ll see if this is serious, or if she’s just tweaking her very gullible and optimistic teacher.

lol, internet:   Not a lot of independent/unprovoked blogging, but great voice.

Dark Universe Version 2.0:  Again, not really any unprovoked blogging, but this is a student who obviously thinks very deeply about what he reads and writes, and is not afraid to grapple with his thoughts in a public forum.

A Cogitative Consciousness:  This student puts in a lot of time and effort to make sure his blog posts are well-crafted and readable, not to mention thought-provoking.  Writing is a serious pursuit for him, which is evident to anyone who reads his blog.

There are plenty more of my students who have the potential to be great bloggers, but it just hasn’t happened yet.  Maybe it will, maybe it won’t.  I’ll try not to lose too much sleep over it–despite what I’ve read and written, there is far more to life than this.