Our last meeting for the year was another productive meeting. Admittedly we didn’t have very much to do as we had already recorded the script, but we were able to have the kids read a few of the intros and summaries of the scenes that we could record and include into our final project. Luckily for us, Henrico forwarded us the photos for our scenes early Thursday afternoon, so we were able to get it all put together pretty quickly and it came out really well. The kids did a fabulous job with drawing the scenes and it’s great that we were able to include them in the recording as well. Again, the teacher that we had for our last few meetings was a total game-changer, as she really excelled at organizing the kids and making sure they were speaking loudly enough and saying the right lines. Communication was so difficult virtually so having somebody in the room helping us was a major help. I can’t wait for everyone to see Act 2!

We had another productive meeting this week with the kids. The more productive and effective teacher was with the kids again, which really helps the kids stay focused and on task. We went through the script with the kids, with each of them reading a different part and hearing their feedback on different ideas. The kids really liked reading through it and seemed excited about the script. They offered some ideas and changes which we should be able to implement and now we are just waiting on them to finish up making the last couple of scenes. Otherwise, I think we should be able to start recording and editing the scenes and speaking parts together over break, which would be great. The whole group feels good about where we are and we have plans to meet so we can work on it together this week. We are all looking forward to seeing the final product!

We had a very productive meeting this week. We have had two different teachers that have rotated through the classroom throughout our meetings. While both are very nice, there is one teacher in particular who has shown that she is much better at controlling the kids and is much more productive. Luckily, we had that teacher this week and she was able to motivate the kids to finish almost all the photos we need for our project. Having someone in the room who takes control and can really keep the kids focused is a huge help to us and just our overall productivity. We were also able to get started on our script. While this is just going to be a loose base, it has helped us to figure out which pictures we need to take to set the scenes up and should help us when we go to do the voice-over work in the next couple of weeks. Next week we hope to get some more input from the kids on what they want to be included in the script so that we can hopefully have their own touch on the final product outside of just the pictures. Overall, we feel really good about our progress so far. We are hopeful that we can finish the script throughout next week and after our next meeting with the kids and go into the Thanksgiving break ready to record and put together the final product.

In our meeting this week we started taking pictures of the action figures in front of the different backgrounds that the kids drew during our last meeting and throughout the week. The kids did a really great job with the drawings, so we feel like we are in really good shape. It took a little time to get organized this week because we had to try and verbalize what we wanted them to do and the teacher that was with the kids really struggled to keep the kids focused and control the room. At certain times things were very hectic and it was hard for us to know if they were even listening to us or if they could hear us. However, by the end we got a few of the pictures and scenes done. Going forward we just need to finish the rest of the scenes and then see how involved in the script and voice over the process the kids want to be, but it may just be easier for our group to handle that part of the project. Overall we are in a good position and I am happy with the progress we have made so far.

Our meeting this week was marred by technological errors. The Google Meet was acting up and kept glitching, pausing, and even booting group members from the meeting every once and awhile. Our meeting was during some pretty serious rainstorms, so we think it may have impacted our connection. We did get it working for a short amount of time and were able to talk to the kids more about their drawings, and they started to work on a few, but eventually, the technology issues started again. Unfortunately, we didn’t get much done but I communicated with them over email and we are hopeful that the students will make some progress on their drawings this week. Luckily we feel we are in a good place overall with the project, so this wasn’t the end of the world. We are hopeful that they continue to make some progress this week and will reevaluate what we need to do going forward.

Our second meeting with our kids went much better than the first one. While the kids were a little shy at first, we ended up having a very productive meeting. We started by creating a short document listing the main characters and the basic plot points of each of our scenes, which really helped to convey what was happening to the kids. Afterward, we talked with the kids about how they want to portray the different scenes. They seemed split between drawing and using action figures, so we settled on a compromise of drawing some backgrounds and using the action figures as the characters to act out the scenes. After that, we discussed each of the scenes and talked about some of the scenes, and gave the kids some ideas about what they could draw. The students seemed to get more excited and into the project after talking about it in detail. It was a very promising second meeting and I am excited to see what the kids make in the coming weeks. I thought creating a worksheet for the kids so that they could look at who the characters are and an outline of what happens in each scene was really helpful for us and them. Given the difficulties with communication over Google Meet, giving the kids a visual resource really helped us communicate key aspects of the project. I am excited about what they are going to come up with in the coming weeks.

Our first meeting with our group was pretty chaotic. The kids were all together in the room, so there were a lot of side comments and they really struggled to stay focused. The kids were funny and seemed somewhat interested, but it was really hard to get and keep their attention for any extended period of time. It was nice having a teacher in the room with them, but she wasn’t particularly effective in getting them to focus. We started by introducing ourselves and we tried to give a basic rundown of the project and the plot. We tried to go more in-depth about our scene and what we are doing, but it was difficult to see if they understood what we were saying and if they understood the plot at all. My group has discussed having a more structured plan going forward and sending their teacher a brief synopsis and character list before our next meeting so that the basic ideas of the play stay fresh in their heads. I think that will greatly help the success of our sessions going forward. From an overall communication standpoint, we had a much more difficult time than I was expecting, but I think we will get the hang of it going forward and as we get more comfortable with the kids and the virtual setting.