Hello again fellow out of the box thinkers! Today I’ll be talking about what it was like when the rest of my class FINALLY left here to go to Alberta!… Of course I’m just joking, I greatly prefer it when they are here.

I was excited for them, it would be fun to see all their pictures and posts on the PLP Instagram. To watch their learning and progress, and their learning process. As well as seeing all of their inevitable funny adventures, like the ones that I took part in last year in Oregon, but new and different.

I was even more excited about some of the projects we were starting. I had millions ideas bursting, especially for our black and white silent film i was going to make with my group of the other two students not going to Alberta. The group was of Aedan, Alex, and myself. We had planned to do a cop and robber themed movie about one dumb cop (played by me), chasing a clever thief (played by Aedan) attempting to steal from a school, including some funny encounters with school students (played by Alex). Notice the differences between our planning and the video itself.. are there any that you notice? I find that it’s always best to go with whatever is working instead of always sticking to the plan.

The Robbery (silent film):

 

On a Sunday morning, very early, the Alberta bound students met at the school where they all stored their luggage on the PLP bus, and climbed aboard. Tired and groggy, the Alberta trip began, as I was left to my own sort of adventure.

On Monday morning the three students left, Aedan, Alex, and myself were left to plan our three imposing video projects. We had a lot of work to do, after all two of these videos were to be made in groups, and we didn’t know each other well… yet.

 

I like doing things today because it frees me up to do more tomorrow. But sometimes, tomorrow seems like it’s going to be a much better day, doesn’t it?

The more we worked on the videos together, the more we all got to know about each other. However that didn’t happen as much as I would have liked, as I was usually separated from them when we worked on individual projects. Which by the way was also most of the time, I found myself often reminding them to work together instead of getting distracted. I hate nagging people, but I would rather nag than have to rush and be stressed on the last day. That’s why I preferred filming to editing or planning, the latter options were very slow, and when out I wouldn’t have to remind anyone of what we should be doing.

Alas, there were times when stalled or procrastinated. The more we stalled, the easier it became to forget about the fact that we should be working. This also made my group members seem to be happier, and some of them (including myself) began to get a bit agitated or resentful of working as a group. I know that I should have been more of a leader, but I found myself often working in the library on my individual identity video project instead of using valuable group time.

Eventually closing of the Non Alberta experience came… but not quite yet. The videos needed some more work, and we needed to film a few last shots for the video that wasn’t quite done yet. Most of us wanted to work, but Alex was in another class. Aedan and I went filming for all the shots we could. When Alex returned we finished filming and edited it over the weekend.

This is how it turned out…

Seycove Identity:

On the following Tuesday, the Alberta students returned, and with them were crazy stories, amazing images, and the end of a very abnormal 10 days for me.

Now I know I must manage my future groups as a leader(if there is no other leader figure), even if they don’t  necessarily want to be lead. I will learn to use motivation better, and to not let it get me down when groups don’t work as a well oiled machine.

I am glad I got the chance to get to know both Alex, and Aedan better, as well as getting to know my community and myself in more depth! This has been an incredible Non Alberta Experience.