Yes, I’m soooo thrilled that some of my students have been doing great jobs on their own on the blogosphere.
This year we read The Great Gatsby with grade 11. They had to prepare a project trying to relate a topic with all the lessons they were taking. As they were the language department students, we thought they should do something related with the book they were reading.
When I introduced the era and talked about Scott Fitzgerald, some of them thought it would be great to do something related with the Jazz Age and the concept of American Dream as they all had dreams to pursue. They even thought they could find people in the streets of Istanbul and taking their cameras with them they interviewed people.
The more they researched, the more they liked the rythm of the era.
When we finished reading the book, they were all sad for Jay Gatsby and angry to Daisy.
On Tuesday they are going to present their projects. I saw their drafts but they keep the presentation as a secrets and they are really excited about it. They say they have great surprises for us. I’m curious about it. One group started a blog and used it as a file and put everything they’ve done there; their own articles, articles from web, videos, interviews they’ve done… I think this will be a totally new approach to presenting projects at our school and I hope that on the day of the presentation, they will also use some tools that we tried this year.
When I see their enthusiasm, I feel motivated. I know I can’t reach all of them, the demotivated ones or the ones who resist the idea of studying but I feel when they see their friends’ enthusiasm and motivation, they will start to move too. They will be some motivation for the others and soon some others will join them or I want to believe they will feel they have to join them, too
I think these students make our days brighter and when I see their faces expecting an approval from me, I feel great.
I’m proud of them…
