Progress Report Time

It is hard to believe, but we are half way through the first nine weeks of school! Can you believe it! It just seems like we started a couple of weeks ago. I've barely gotten into the routine yet. But, here we are, ready to post grades for the first half of the grading period.

So, where are you at the one quarter mark of the semester in your class? If you are in the block class, you are, or should be twenty-five percent finished with the curriculum. I am finding this hard to believe. Maybe you feel that you've been in school for a long time, but I don't, not yet anyway.

We are choosing our topics, and it's getting interesting as we're seeing the variety of ideas coming from this small class: science, social issues, math, environmental issues. What else will develop? This is a wide variety of ideas and should make for some interesting games. We shall see. I am excited! Let the games begin.

Exploring a Game Topic

Today we looked at topics for games and students started thinking about what kinds of things they would like to make a game about. One of the sources that we talked about and visited was the website http://www.icivics.org/.

This is a wonderful source for ideas for games and a wealth of information for students who are interested in civics or want to learn more about civics and what it is. The graphics and game play is really good. The students enjoyed visiting the site and may use some of the ideas for games.

I feel sure we will visit this site again.

Game Design Progress

This year is off to a very good start. It has been very busy, but it is a good beginning to what's going to be a good year I think. The students are catching on so quickly that I think they will really enjoy their game-making in the game design class.

We are a little behind schedule already, but getting the content and making sure things are completed is much more important than just covering the material. I learned that from last year's experience. It's hard not to feel so rushed to get everything finished in time. There's just so much to do, and when things don't go as planned or there are interruptions then it just makes us get further behind. I feel a little defeated about it.

But, that is the nature of the school day, and we will work around it. We have some very good, creative students with great possibilities in our class and I'm looking forward to some great things happening this year. I'm also excited about our middle school classes. They are doing very well too, and they are so excited about the class. This is great to see. I can't wait to see what they are able to do.

It is hard to believe that we are at the end of the first grading period already--or will be by the end of the week. I am woefully behind in my weekly blogging posts. I will strive to improve as the year goes on. The beginning is always a struggle for me as new classes begin.