Ideas for Class Improvements

Changing review weeks to planning weeks I think is a really good idea! I like the review weeks because I can think back on everything I've done and make sure it's exactly how I want it to be. However, I think if there was a planning week around Week 8 that would be really helpful. That way students can really think about how they are doing in the class and plan a schedule to either stay on track or change paths to do better. Also, I think a planning week on Week 2 would be helpful because like you said students would have to make a plan for themselves to do well in this class. I also think that would open some students eyes about the level of commitment for this class early on.

I did the story planning option a couple times and I really enjoyed it. It allowed me to think of multiple different scenarios for the story. I also was able to really gather a solid personality for characters. For these I personally looked a lot at your links for Storytelling ideas and more random ideas. Those sites really helped me think more creatively for my planning and storytelling! The only thing I could think of that could be helpful is have a link to a few examples of storytelling planning from past students. I say that because on the first one I did I had no idea what I was doing. It wasn't until I started seeing other student's planning post that I really figured out how to make the most out of them.

I really like the idea of having students reading out loud and recording a mp3 audio to share with you for extra credit. I say that because I really enjoyed the stories that you had recorded yourself reading! With students recording themselves reading stories I think it would take pressure off of you to record yourself reading all of these stories. I have never listened to audio books before, but I really took advantage of the sound cloud in the first half of the semester.

Having writing tutorial videos would be helpful for story writing! I was personally guilty of comma splices and not so easy to read dialogue. The problem is I never knew it was a problem until it was pointed out to me. So I think videos educating students in this early on in the semester would be a helpful tool!

I really enjoyed the way the readings are currently set up! It allows the students to read things they might have initially not thought they would enjoy, but turned out loving. I think if it was broken into themed categories students might not ever read anything outside of their comfort zone.