Narrative of a WeekThe fictional narrative below tells the true story of a student's week.
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How it works . . . |
Ashlynn's Story
Ashlynn clicked the submit button and slumped back in her desk chair. "Wahoo! I'm done, Mom! He gave me my 70 points for the Uncle Albert shopping spree and I just submitted my Peer Review!" she called into the kitchen.
Her mom, who knew all about Ashlynn's shopping-spree project, smiled. "That's great, honey! So does that mean you have your 300 points?"
Ashlynn walked in and snagged a warm cookie from the cooling rack on the counter. "Not yet. I just turned in a Peer Review for another 30 points. You should see some of the projects the kids in my working-group turned in! Erica went all-out with decorating her Uncle Albert project. So cool! I wish I'd have seen it when I was working on mine. And he liked my little laptop icons!"
The week had started on Monday with two new assignments from the IVL. She followed the link to the classroom and found one big project and a smaller Peer Review. The big project, a "shopping spree," had sounded exciting but intimidating, so she looked through the sample portfolios until she saw examples of what was going to be required. That helped. The directions about taking screenshots needed a little clarification, so she asked in the Q/A Discussion for help. Ashlynn did other schoolwork while she waited for her answer, and then within a couple of hours there were replies and a short discussion and she found something that would work.
When she got screenshots of all the items on the shopping list and figured out how to put those pictures into the required slideshow, she had submitted the project--a day early, even. Not that due-dates are terribly strict, except for the Peer Reviews due Friday, but it felt good to be done with the big project.
The next morning, though, she saw that the project had been graded . . . with a ZERO!
What??! Ah--there was a comment from the teacher, explaining "I clicked to see your slideshow and it said I don't have permissions to do so. Can you go to the top-right of your slideshow and adjust the sharing/permissions so the world can view? Then put in a comment below so I know it's time to go back in and take a look." Oh, okay. Ashlynn found herself muttering, "I am NOT a person used to getting zeros on assignments!" as she fixed the sharing problem. "There." She put a little comment on the assignment, saying "Okay, I fixed it. Thanks for telling me! :)"
It wasn't until that evening that she got the follow-up email: "Ashlynn, I went and saw your slideshow. Looks good, but did you notice that the Project Checklist called for a 'totals' page at the end . . . can you follow that point on the checklist and let me know when I should look again?" What!?! Still no points?!! Sure enough, when she checked the Project Checklist, there it was. And she had even put an __x__ next to that bullet point when she submitted the project. Kind of embarrassing. Resubmitted: "Okay, I added that last page of totals. Sorry!"
Then today, when she had logged back in to see her 70/70 and "Hey, I am more than satisfied with this! I especially like the way you did the Totals page decorated with icon-sized laptops and printers. Nice touch!" Finally! She smiled . . . the little pics of laptops had been a pretty clever idea . . .
Her mom, who knew all about Ashlynn's shopping-spree project, smiled. "That's great, honey! So does that mean you have your 300 points?"
Ashlynn walked in and snagged a warm cookie from the cooling rack on the counter. "Not yet. I just turned in a Peer Review for another 30 points. You should see some of the projects the kids in my working-group turned in! Erica went all-out with decorating her Uncle Albert project. So cool! I wish I'd have seen it when I was working on mine. And he liked my little laptop icons!"
The week had started on Monday with two new assignments from the IVL. She followed the link to the classroom and found one big project and a smaller Peer Review. The big project, a "shopping spree," had sounded exciting but intimidating, so she looked through the sample portfolios until she saw examples of what was going to be required. That helped. The directions about taking screenshots needed a little clarification, so she asked in the Q/A Discussion for help. Ashlynn did other schoolwork while she waited for her answer, and then within a couple of hours there were replies and a short discussion and she found something that would work.
When she got screenshots of all the items on the shopping list and figured out how to put those pictures into the required slideshow, she had submitted the project--a day early, even. Not that due-dates are terribly strict, except for the Peer Reviews due Friday, but it felt good to be done with the big project.
The next morning, though, she saw that the project had been graded . . . with a ZERO!
What??! Ah--there was a comment from the teacher, explaining "I clicked to see your slideshow and it said I don't have permissions to do so. Can you go to the top-right of your slideshow and adjust the sharing/permissions so the world can view? Then put in a comment below so I know it's time to go back in and take a look." Oh, okay. Ashlynn found herself muttering, "I am NOT a person used to getting zeros on assignments!" as she fixed the sharing problem. "There." She put a little comment on the assignment, saying "Okay, I fixed it. Thanks for telling me! :)"
It wasn't until that evening that she got the follow-up email: "Ashlynn, I went and saw your slideshow. Looks good, but did you notice that the Project Checklist called for a 'totals' page at the end . . . can you follow that point on the checklist and let me know when I should look again?" What!?! Still no points?!! Sure enough, when she checked the Project Checklist, there it was. And she had even put an __x__ next to that bullet point when she submitted the project. Kind of embarrassing. Resubmitted: "Okay, I added that last page of totals. Sorry!"
Then today, when she had logged back in to see her 70/70 and "Hey, I am more than satisfied with this! I especially like the way you did the Totals page decorated with icon-sized laptops and printers. Nice touch!" Finally! She smiled . . . the little pics of laptops had been a pretty clever idea . . .