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!