Today’s class was focused on the Environmental Project to make use of the planning we have done for the past month.  We let students decide how we best use our time today – they chose to focus entirely on the Plastic Straw Video.

Before we got into the environmental project, we recommitted our Ship’s Articles as a crew to get us focused on the work of the day.  We did a group initiative involving simple commands given to a blindfolded student to accomplish a task.  We call this activity Mars Rover and the photos show 5 objects oriented in a way that needed to be recreated by one transmission at a time.  We asked the group to give us their observations after the task was accomplish: “Frustrating” was one answer.  Another student asked, “Why are we doing this?”  We discussed the idea of a complex project such as the plastic straw video and how breakdowns in communication can add stress.  By keeping directions and communication simple, the group was able to accomplish the task.

After a look at the Ship’s Articles contract we created at the beginning of the year, we had two new students sign on and others recommit to the values listed on the canvas such as: Work hard, Go with the flow, Positive vibes, Respect for Nature, Be nice, Work and thrive with great hustle, Listening, Communication, Adventure, Stretch but don’t break, and Learn new things.

Now the video shoot began!  We were able to borrow a camera and tripod and we ran through the script to make a group effort to get on the same page.  Much focus was put on the section of script where many voices were needed and after snack and our moment of silence, we headed outside to begin our rehearsal.  The photos show a lot of smiles and fun energy.  This project has been a great push for action and today that happened!

“Camera, Action” could be heard from our directors and our video shooter.  We had three locations and were able to get a great beginning of the Plastic Straw Video.  After a solid day of work, our reflection was this question: “Send yourself a moment from today in a time capsule to yourself in 20 years.  What is that moment and why?”  Various answers came back: loved being a note taker and an editor, yelling loudly at the camera, after all this planning we started video capturing, the group worked well together through frustrations, getting the camera out and on the tripod showed that this was really happening, laughing at my perspective, the weather was nice, a sense of accomplishment, being able to say “Camera, Action,” and having friends around.

Thanks for following along with Bravo Team.  Only three classes left before Journey begins on Saturday May 5th.