Tuesday, March 31, 2009

A Witness to Student Achievement..at its best!


Last night, I witnessed a celebration of student achievement. In Effingham, Illinois, over 1000 people went to watch films produced by high school students. In addition to the high school films, a film done by a 4th grade student in Wisconsin and a first grade class in Alabama were awesome. It was amazing to see the crowd reaction and seeing the smiles of the students as their film was shown on the big screen. What I was impressed with most was their “people” skills as I met several of them at the seminars previous to the show. Their technology and storytelling ability was unbelievable. I am always thrilled to attend the AHA Film Festival and the seminars. The seminars this year were great. I was able to meet some great people and learn something from awesome teachers that I can apply in my classroom as I strive to be a better teacher. My students took a lot of information back and shared it with their classmates. They expressed to me several things where our school could improve and how the students could improve within the classroom. My students also touched on a real key issue. The community celebrated with the students on their achievements. Unfortunately, academics and the arts are not celebrated, which is where my students think we could improve. Great job Joe, Craig and the rest of the combined Multimedia class of Effingham and Teutopolis students! I’m looking forward to next years AHA Film Festival.