This week was an interesting one, simply because we did not do much of the activity with the students. Instead, they took it upon themselves to ask for help from their teacher to plan out what their next step should be. We were there to answer any questions they may have had, but for the most part, they were planning how pictures would work for them, and how they should plan to take some of the scene pictures. By the end of the meeting, ti seemed that they had planned what needed to be done, and were ready to move forward with taking the pictures needed for their scenes. Reflecting on this, I think that this shows a lot of maturity on behalf of the students, who began just five weeks ago not really know what needed to be done, to now moving on their own without assistance from us. Maybe that is a positive sign of our leadership taking place?

This week was mainly dedicated to reviewing the amazing progress we had last week. Most of the meeting this week was dedicated to deciding what the next move should be, and trying to figure out which students would draw which scenes. There was definitely difficulty in concentrating this time around, as it seemed that there may not have been a teacher present, and the kids were a bit more riled up. However, the kids still had a positive outlook on the project and seemed excited to continue. As a group, we also realized that drawing may not work with the deadline crunch we are facing, so we will reach out to see if there is a chance to use pictures with faces being left out or potentially digitally covered, maybe with an emoji or something else to make sure that the privacy of the children is still being protected, but that it is easier for everyone to continue on the project.

Every week working with the kids is a new adventure, simply because this is a new experience for both groups. This week, however, the kids were right on top of everything, and we were able to run through our scene again to make sure the kids understood and get a rough script made for our scene. The idea to gamify the entire process worked really well! We explained to the kids how they would be playing a game similar to improv. From there, the entire process went smoothly, as we would set up the scene for the kids, and they would act out how they would behave. At this point, we could expect to clean up the script in the next week or so, and we can begin with the drawing or other forms of visual media we may be using.

Overall there is a tremendous success in how this project is turning out, and I am confident that the kids will do really well as we begin to enter the second half of the project’s timeline.

This was our second week working with the community partners on our Shakespeare project. At first, it was a bit confusing, since the number of kids that we were working with fluctuated from last week. That being said, it seemed like the kids were a bit more prepared to pick up on the material, and by the end of the session, there was a general understanding of what the story was about. This made me wonder though, how can we get the kids to focus more? They are absolutely picking up on the major themes of our scene, but they seem to be stuck on the major themes. We have to find a way to get them to begin creating dialogue and eventually move on to creating their pictures. (We’re still trying to figure out if it will be drawings, robots, or both.)

I think that there may be a way though. Perhaps if we were to “gamify” the way that the scene is given to them, we may be able to get better responses. Maybe if we make the writing of the script more like a game, we will be more successful in getting a script ready for whatever art form may have to accompany it.

This week we began to meet with the children with whom we will be working on our scene with. The three students in the room were all great to meet, and seemed very interested in what we were doing. As we explained what the project was supposed to look like, they tossed out ideas and even brought up how they use robots in their classroom, and whether or not they could use those robots in their videos. We also had them watch a quick synopsis of what Much Ado About Nothing is about, in order to make sure that they understand the context of what the project will look like on their end. I know that COVID-19 will make this year different than previous years, but that being said, it doesn’t not mean that the project will be any less interesting. We have an opportunity to interact with kids and potentially teach them skills like recording and sound editing if they want to learn, and we in turn could learn about these robots that they are now being taught to use in class (I once took a Lego robotics class, I wonder if its anything like that). Anyways, I am extremely excited to work with my group members and with the students. If we can keep the positive momentum I saw on Monday, then I know that we will end up with a successful project.