Work, Work, Work.

 What a busy day!

Our CIA5 Group is one week into the Literacy Through Photography (by Wendy Ewald) experiment. They learned how to analyze a photo. We talked about photo elicitation, or how we emotionally respond to photos. Students had an assignment to represent a typical school night in their homes. At home, they took photographs on cell phones, digital cameras and even one Polaroid!

After printing off the image, students were asked four questions about their image and responded in journals. They swapped images with another person, then had to guess their story, using the same questions. They met at the end to learn the real story behind the images. We had a few technical difficulties and a handful of those who chose not to participate, but the work produced was compelling and beautiful. Kudos!! Next week, we work on self-portraits and writing about our strengths.

WMS had an amazing opportunity today to participate in a live webcast with NASA. They celebrated twelve years of science at the International Space Station by going live with a moderator speaking to some of the support team at the Payload Operations & Integration Center (POIC). The POIC is kind of like "mission control" for the science experiments that happen at the ISS. Participating schools  watched a video tour of the facility. Through e-mail, some asked about some of the science experiments from the ISS, and had questions about their careers. This is the first time NASA was "live" there, so we were fortunate for this opportunity!

Our shire is coming along nicely! Mr. Corbitt's 8th grade elective class came in to help build the setting. It's getting so close to completion. Thanks, guys!

Believe it or not, I help out too.



Sure, he's that tall!



Making stones for the path. (We know you didn't cut this one ;)



Artists at work

At the end of the day, I met with some of our Battle of the Books team. We nailed down procedures, quizzed ourselved dizzy, then had a serious discussion about some strategies for tomorrow's competition. We can do this!! 



Don't we look serious? You can't even tell we're eating chocolate!