ALA showcase Day Dec 21

The schedule posted below was followed as closely as possible, with both groups from the ALA - the PICO and the BLUEDOT - getting time to showcase their work.

I would like to say at the beginning that i believe i was too ambitious with my thinking here, because i didn't comepletely think through how we would get visitors down into the studio for the BLUEDOT showcase. The visitors to their work turned out to be mostly their parents and some of the PICO students and parents. This is good that they had people to share with, but i would have liked for them to have more interaction with museum visitors. I will rethink this idea and rethink my spaces for the next time.

The BLUEDOT group worked hard for the enire morning and most of them are not finished with their fluency projects. Most of the students are working very hard to complete an independent work that they are passionate about, and some are even using this opportunity to create something that not only incorporates IT skill, but works for a school project as well. This is the case with Wesley's solar car. Caroline is working hard on her film, using new music clips as well as a great story and set design. PJ is working hard on his Microworlds game and Eddie, Leland, and Matthew are all experimenting with IR technology from the crickets. This group has done remarkably well and i can't wait to see all the finished work from this independent creative time.

The PICO group came in and worked so hard - i was so impressed!! we had a couple of the kids who could not make it to the showcase day (this was a week later than originally planned due to a snow day, so some of the kids were already gone for the school break) so i ended up combining a couple of groups. Group 7 - william went to work with tyler from Group 4 because none of their members could make it. The chain created by the groups was so incredibly elaborate - pictures will be coming soon! The News media here picked up on what we were doing and we made the 6pm news here on the NBC affiliate!! These students showed some amazing proficiency with the crickets and their programming, such as creating switches that run uphill and sensors that read when darkness falls to set off domino runs and marbles - these young people were astounding!!!

Special thanks to Gabe, Crystal, Sammie, Myles, and Saafir for all their help and hard work! These young people from the ALA have amazing facilitators and each of them has been a great help to me over the past semester. I appreciate all the hard work and i know some of them also work out at the clubs too. Thanks for helping make the cricket and its usage a reality for these kids, as well as lending your creativity to theirs no matter the project!

Jonathon