Unit Day Nine

Hero's Journey Movies were due today, and only two of nine students were able to present! This completely stressed me out because that meant that I would have to get through seven students presentations tomorrow in the shortened period of class in order to grade them because tomorrow was the last day of the nine weeks. Oh, and my teacher really did not want me to spill over my lessons onto Monday because she had to start The Canterbury Tales. And, to top it off, I really had no idea how to grade the movies because the two that I saw were completely different. This reminded me of the cookie rubric we created when Dr. Kist threw in the teddy graham, which threw us all off. Plus, I honestly wanted to give them all 100 percent A's because I knew they all worked really hard on them. Though I wanted to give 100 percent A's, I knew that was not the best policy.

Analyzing the two movies we watched in class today, I could see that both students used the hero's journey theme and created excellent movies with unique hero's they invented. This made me realize that the students were able to apply the concept and theme to their own lives and not just to Beowulf. Realizing this made me happy because I felt as though I actually taught them something. Also, because Dr. Kist came to observe my lesson today, he brought up a few pointers that I definitely realized I should adjust. After watching the two students' films in class, instead of de-briefing and relating their films to the hero's journey and having the students pick out the hero, villain, damsel in distress, and hero's problem, I just asked what the students thought of the film and went onto the next film. Bringing this up, I decided to change my lesson for the next day and add this aspect to my de-briefing of the students' films. This way, I would further push the point of heroes and their difficult journeys, and the students would be able to relate that to their movies.

On the aspect of grading, I am still completely and utterly terrified! I'm afraid to take off points for a project in which I know they worked really hard! Discussing this with my cooperating teacher, I asked if she would look over my grades to see if I gave them what she would have. Immediately after I mentioned this she told me she trusted me and whatever I gave them was fine. This made me more nervous. The entire night, I kept asking my roommates what I should do to the point where they became annoyed with me! Finally, I just sat down and graded the two I saw in class, and realized that once I looked over my rubric, they really did not achieve 100 percents according to my rubric. This made me happy because basically, my rubric graded their movies for me. Now, I'm excited and nervous to see and grade the rest of the movies tomorrow and add the hero de-briefing aspect to the end of each student's film. This should be interesting because I really have no idea how I'm going to get through seven movies tomorrow. My cooperating teacher told me that I should ask the students who really wants and needs to present their film to the class and have them present first. Then, the rest of the students can be graded on my own time. This idea appeals to me because then the grades will be finished and I will not have to come in on Monday. Hopefully all will work out well tomorrow because I am a bit nervous, and I'm ready for this to be over!