One thing about teaching is that it's always full of surprises. This week, I was unpleasantly surprised that my third year students don't share the same enthusiasm as I do for a particular project.
Here's the background that builds up to this week: This summer was when I received my pleasant surprise. A group of my 2nd year students had made a commercial for our school store's very popular product, the Breeze Freeze, 100% frozen fruit juice. These ads were a hit on our daily news broadcast. I uploaded these videos to YouTube so everyone could continue to enjoy them. Lo and behold, the Breeze Freeze company found the videos, and they were so impressed by them that they instituted a national YouTube competition. The school of the winning video will win two free cases of Breeze Freeze product - enough for 320 cups of frozen delight. The school store will decide on how to reward the winners.
Now, you would think that my students would try to exceed in this project, but it has been rather lack luster. They just don't share my enthusiasm, and I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I set the deadline for this project on Wednesday. I still have two groups that haven't finished. Granted, the quality of this year's videos don't compare the those of last year. Perhaps that shouldn't surprise me, but it does. Maybe I'm just disappointed.
Hi Amy. I am not sure why the students are not motivated ? You think that they would be especially since they received some recognition for a large company promoting their original idea of doing a commercial. I would figure out WHAT motivates this group of students. Maybe they feel that it is too much work for the risk of not winning the freeze pops. If they like recognition, you could film them filming the commercial. Show their hard work on the news. I did this once, and the broadcasting students liked displaying their hard work of filming and editing. If its individual gain they desire, maybe you could get them a nice certificate or prize out of your broadcasting budget. You could also motivate them for participating by taking them on a special field trip. These are a few ideas. However, they may never be motivated and may be "on" to the next project. In this case, I think you should pat yourself on the back for having a company adopt your idea, and see what else your creative geniuses can explore. Good Luck. Lori
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