We are the Champions and my friends!

Originally uploaded by BornToRunND00

Yup! For my birthday and for all of Patriot Nation, the Pats beat the Chargers in the AFC Championship at Gillette. My friends and I sent Brady, Bill, and the Boys off on their pursuit of perfection in Arizona. Go Pats!

a Mini in a major snowstorm

Originally uploaded by BornToRunND00

No school all schools in Boston on Friday as a result of a late afternoon snowstorm on Thursday.
The mayor is still getting criticized for the apparent lack of a “plan” to get students and teachers out of the schools safely and quickly. The Boston Public schools ended at their normal times, but the storm started at noon. Some elementary school students and teachers were stuck in their schools til as late as 9:00pm, waiting for buses and parents that could not get to them through the storm. It took me about 2hrs to get home, but I heard some teachers took 4 hours to go 23 miles!
When my mini and I did get safely home, a warm drink, crackling fireplace, and a christmas tree ready for decoration were waiting for me!

Not a right.

Originally uploaded by msradden

This student has the right idea…just the wrong spelling…but its a very important concept for young people in a technology-enabled school to understand! Yesterday, some students were suspended for using P2P software. Here at TBA we teach young people that the laptop is NOT an entertainment console while at school…it is a tool for learning and communicating…and it is not their own property, but the property of the school.

Storyboard artist at work!

Originally uploaded by msradden

I was able to approve 5 out of the ten teams to begin shooting next week! The teams worked hard to complete their storyboards and to articulate their storyline. Some were literally sent back to the drawing board if their proposals made no sense. Additionally, I pushed for the sources of their information to be accurate, and to include the location of the organization they are representing in their PSA.

Roles and responsibilities

Originally uploaded by msradden

Our senior project manager, Oby, assigned roles and responsibilities to the team and delegated the work to be done over the next 2 weeks.

Client interview

Originally uploaded by msradden

WOW! On Wednesday, our client, Monica Roberts visited my advanced web student-consultants for the kickoff & interview. The team “4 girls, a guy & a laptop” ran the show, asking questions and collecting content from Monica. She was really impressed, as was I, with their professional manner, their skills, and especially the timeline they proposed! Monica and her parents’ church, the BETHLEHEM APOSTOLIC FAITH HOLINESS CHURCH, should have a web site by January 25th, 2008! She was hoping for June…That’s how we do!

Video PSA project Day 1

Originally uploaded by msradden

I kicked off the video PSA project today with one section. They had LIVELY discussions while brainstorming ideas.
Students formed their own teams and brainstormed on sticky paper ideas for their videos. They were instructed to organize their ideas by the following 3 questions : What is your message? Who are you helping? (the organization in the community that could use the PSA) and Who needs to know? (the community of people that needs to see the PSA).

What matters to you?

Originally uploaded by msradden

Today my first group of media seminar students brainstormed issues they wanted to address in their video PSAs. I actually recorded the discussion taking place on my ipod and yet when I tried to download it off the ipod onto my computer, the recording suddenly disappeared! Bummer. But they did record their initial ideas on the wipey board. Have a look!