Ruminations and Reflections

As school years come to a close, I generally spend some time reflecting on the year, especially on any new activities I had my students complete. This year, I'm spending even more time reflecting, especially on the 20Time Project.

First, I want to say how proud I am of my students and their 20Time projects! Their projects, for the most part, were unique, authentic, and inspiring. I know that some students slacked here and there (don't we all?), but what some students accomplished was amazing! Some students really pushed themselves to do things that I truly believe they might not have ever done otherwise. Would Allison have ever learned sign language? Would Aaron have ever learned how to juggle? Would Cole have made a custom guitar? Who knows, but I'm certainly glad they grabbed this opportunity.

I received a LOT of positive feedback from my students on the project. Since it was the first time I did this, there are naturally elements that I want/need to change, but overall it was very successful! What a wonderful experience I had.

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Presentations to Share Progress

This week, my students completed brief presentations about their progress on their 20Time Projects. I think other students really enjoyed hearing the updates - I know I did! I permitted questions, and some of the questions students had for their classmates were great! Some students have made some significant progress. It really was a great day!

Below are some pictures of students' progress. There is one that I would like to highlight first, however. At the beginning of this project, I had a student tell me that he wanted to make a guitar and improve his skills. I had a few questions for him: Are you parents ok with spending money for the supplies? He replied that he talked to them about it, and it was ok. Then I asked, "Do you have any idea if this can even be done?" He said he thought he could do it, and that he'd like to try. That was enough for me. I told him to go for it and that failure is an option - he may not successfully make a guitar this time, but he will certainly learn a lot!  Well, pictured below is what the student brought in for his presentation this week:

DO YOU SEE THIS? This student made a guitar! He isn't done - he still needs to sand it and such, but I'm so stinking excited! It had me wondering that if not for this project, would he have ever done this? Maybe, maybe not. But how awesome is it that he got to do this for English class!

Pictured below is a no-sew blanket made by two students working together. Their goal is to make about 15 of them to donate to local shelters. This is their second blanket.

I have one student who is working to educate people about Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Her project involves and presentation and artwork. Today, she distributed ribbons to show support for those suffering. I'm wearing mine as I write this!

This student and his two partners are creating a website to help incoming freshman navigate the school. It will have a school map with teachers' names on their rooms. I'm a little worried that they may not finish, but they still have time!

 

I could go on and on bragging about my students and their progress. I think they are getting a little bored with it, but I also know they are making progress.

Update on My Own 20Time Project

My intention had been to record the presentations for a future video, but the presentations were so brief that recording them, grading them, and moving on to the next student proved to be too much. I've been able to interview students casually as they work on their projects, though, so hopefully I'll get enough to record them.

What I would really like to do is record their final presentations. These will occur beginning May 17. Unfortunately, that means the video won't be complete for the students to see this school year, but I will finish it over the summer and can share the link with them.

Next, I will need to make arrangements to obtain a tripod and camera so I can record students' final presentations.

Where Have I Been?`

Holy cow! It has been TOO LONG since my last post. Instead of focusing on my own project and blog, I've been focusing on my students' work and doing other teachery things. Busy, busy! In my last blog I stated that I would interview students for another video. I still haven't done that. While students are working on their projects, it is so quiet that I fear my interviewees would feel a bit awkward about doing it. I've considered two options: 1) Having students come during Academic Period to be interviewed. Unfortunately, it's still super quiet; however, I could do it in the hallway. 2) Asking Mrs. Smith to monitor class on a few 20Time days while I take kids out to interview them. I emailed Mrs. Smith (see below), and she agreed to monitor the class for me while I interview. We will discuss details after Spring Break.

My plan for the next couple of weeks is as follows: 1) Create questions for the interviews. 2) Finalize days with Mrs. Smith  3) Begin interviewing students. It's possible I will get done interviewing, at which time I will begin editing another video.

Below are some pictures of students' progress on their projects that they posted on their blogs. Some are doing an excellent job!

                                 



  

Sharing Passion

It's been an interesting few days since my last update as I've been forced outside of my comfort zone. The crazy part is that it's not so bad! I teach public speaking, so one would assume that I have few, if any, qualms about speaking in public. In many situations I'm perfectly comfortable speaking in front of others, but for some reason I'm more than a little hesitant to present in front of colleagues. In fact, over my 20-year career, I can't remember ever officially presenting to colleagues.

Recently, I made the mistake (I say that in jest...mostly) of sharing my practice video with the Director of Secondary Education, Stacie Moore. (Stacie has been a mentor to me as I've made some significant changes in my teaching methods.) Before I knew it, she had roped me into presenting it to the Language Arts department here at the high school. She must have Jedi-mind-tricked me or something because I have no recollection of saying yes. I threw together a quick Google Slide presentation and presented it at a department meeting. It actually seemed to go quite well, and I received a lot of positive feedback afterward (especially about the 20Time Project). I love the project so much that I really just enjoy talking about it to anyone who will listen.

Remember the Jedi-mind-tricking I alluded to just a moment ago? Well, Stacie has this mind-tricking skill down to a science. (I must discover her secret!) Yesterday, I presented to the Literacy Council, which is a group of teachers from all grade levels. How Stacie got me to do this is boggling! They're an amazing group of educators, and I'm truly inspired at every meeting. When Literacy Council began last year, I quickly discovered that I had a lot to learn; I settled quite comfortably into the role of learner. The fact that I ended up presenting turned out to be a pretty powerful moment for me. This is a group that I have incredible respect for, and if they took anything away from my presentation I will consider that a compliment and a success. It wasn't a big deal - other teachers do it all the time - but it was a big deal to me! I was pretty nervous to present, but it went well and I again received a lot of positive feedback.

The point is that I've been sharing my practice video and the project with others. Being comfortable with sharing all of this was one of my end-goals, and I accomplished that a lot sooner than I anticipated. I still need to create a better video with better lighting and sound. I intended to interview students today, but I ended up helping students with their projects instead. Next week, I will definitely interview some students. I intend to edit the interviews that I collect next week also. Speaking of the students, most of their projects are going quite well. Most students have secured a mentor. (Thank you to those who have volunteered to help them!) The students are in the early stages of the process still, but I'm seeing progress. One student brought in a sample of one of her recipes, potato candy (what?!), and it was excellent!

This project is seriously so fun! I'm already looking forward to next Friday!

My First Movie

I've actually made a lot of progress on my 20Time project. I've met with Mr. May a couple of times, and I'm thinking I'm just going to roll along without the fancy equipment. Most people don't have access to it, nor will I in the future, so it makes sense to use more realistic equipment. I've been using iMovie on my phone, and it is relatively user-friendly and seems to yield decent results. I might invest in a microphone of some kind, though. I recorded almost all of my students' pitches in order to create my first video. Click on the video below to view it!

Not bad for my first attempt, right? There are some things I need to work on for my final video. First, I need to work on sound. It is inconsistent so I have to adjust the volume as it's playing. Not good. I think a microphone might help with this. Also, each individual clip was edited too tightly. I didn't realize that the transitions would cut into each video, so next time I need to leave an extra second or two at the end of each clip. I'm glad I did a practice one first so that I know what I'm doing on my final video! 

What's next? First I need to continue taking video and pictures as my students are working because who knows what I'll want to include. In order to do this, I need to free up some space on my phone, or perhaps start using my iPad. Next, I want to conduct some interviews/conversations with students for my final video, so I need to be thinking about what questions I will create. All in all, it's been really fun working on this so far!

My Project Pitch

(**example for students**) For my 20Time Project, I will be learning how to create a quality YouTube video. I picked this project for a few reasons. First, since I’ve put a lot of work, research, and planning into creating this project, I wanted to have some way of documenting its triumphs and roadblocks. Second, although I have posted videos to YouTube, I have not edited video and added music. The closest I have come to doing anything like this was when I created my daughter’s graduation video.

Audience and Mentors: The audience for my project is primarily colleagues. I will share it with my fellow English teachers at MHS in addition to some teachers in other districts who are curious about 20-Time. In addition, I will likely use the video to show future students some examples of 20-Time Projects. Possible mentors for my project include Mr. Fries, who teaches Digital Design, and Mr. May, the Media Specialist.

Timeline: Using the backward planning model, I came up with the following tentative timeline:

January 28-29: Record some students’ pitches

January 15-22: Touch base with mentor, research how to make videos and watch other quality videos.

February: Continue recording students at various stages in project, take pics of blogs, etc.

March: Continue researching and working with mentor

April: Begin putting video together

May: Final product can’t be finished until students do Ted Talks. Video completion set for 5/19. Will be able to show partial video prior to that.

Potential Resources:

• Mr. May, Media Specialist
• Mr. Fries, Digital Design teacher
• Digital Design students
• http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/how-to-make-a-youtube-video/
• "How to Make Money from Viral Videos" by Dan Fletcher (found on InfOhio)
• http://www.makeyoutubevideo.com/
• Several YouTube videos

If I create a completed video, I will consider myself successful, even if it isn’t that great. Since it will be my first time, I realize it won’t be perfect. In addition, I can always go back and make some changes to improve it. Next, I will show the video to several people, including my mentor and my family to get their honest feedback. Finally, I will show the video to my students, the stars of the video. All of this feedback will help me determine if it is a quality video. The ultimate success will be feeling proud enough of the video to share it with colleagues.

Pitch Perfect!

Most of my students are doing a great job with their pitches! Some need to learn some presentation skills, but their ideas are great overall. The students are evaluating each other's ideas and providing feedback. From there, students and I will determine if their ideas needs tweaking or if they can move forward.

I did some recording today for my own 20Time Project. I decided that I'm going to create my own video of students' 20Time pitches. This will serve as practice for the larger, more involved video that I'm working on with Mr. May. Speaking of Mr. May, he recorded today as well during 1st and 2nd period. Slowly but surely we will get footage for the video.  Here are some shots of the pitches:

I did some research (see my Works Consulted page on this blog) on how to create and edit videos using an iPhone. I'm recording using iMovie for now. I'm looking forward to playing around with the editing. The pitches will continue tomorrow.