21st Century Literacy via a Film Festival

Posted on July 3rd, 2009 in 21st Century Education, Education, Film Festival, NCTE, Reflections, Technology, Uncategorized by Bill

As I’ve written before, I was the coordinator of a Film Festival in my district this last spring.  While the night went exceedingly well, upon looking back on it, there are several things that I’ve been looking at for next year. A friend of mine, asked me to reflect on the program through the lens of the NCTE 21st Century Curriculum and Assessment Framework.  Because there were so many different types of entries in the program and such a range of curricular areas involved, it’s tough to really bring all of it together so I’ll be general and we’ll see how this goes.

Develop proficiency with the tools of technology

In many cases, one of the main goals that teachers had when they started their film festival projects was to get students familiar with the tools of technology.  Focusing on the tools is a starting point in many cases, but once we got beyond how to edit video and where to begin a project, we started to focus more on the evaluating the sources that were found.  The process became as important as the final product.  We looked at the literary skills that were involved in working through the problems, evaluating possible solutions and working together to become creators rather than simply consumers of information.

Build relationships with others to pose and solve problems collaboratively and cross-culturally

One of the biggest successes of the film festival process was the collaborative nature of the work. While some were individual submissions, the vast majority were done as a group.  They worked thorough many problems and found solutions that were acceptable for all involved.  Additionally, many came away with a new understanding of the possibilities of working together.  When talking with students about what they learned, they weren’t just focused on their own part of the project.  They were learning from each other and, in many cases, stopped relying on their teachers as the sole people with the correct answers.

Design and share information for global communities that have a variety of purposes

Students who participated in the film festival were creating content that would be viewed by a greater audience.  The students were expanding their realm and evaluating the purpose of their films and the response their films would have on the audience both in the festival and later online as they were archived in a gallery.

Manage, analyze, and synthesize multiple streams of simultaneously presented information

Again, because of the nature of this project, information came from internet sites, databases, books, video, interviews, etc.  This proved to be beneficial for teachers as they asked their students to evaluate the reliability of the informaiton they found as they worked through their research process. Then, in most cases, students took that information and created their own meaning from it.  This new meaning resulted in a transformational experience in which students were not simply consumers of the information, but made it relevant to their own world and work.  Through those projects, students had a far deeper understanding of the material, had exercised their higher-order thinking skills, and created a relevant product that they were proud of.  One example of this is “The Great Car Robbery” created by a group of high school students who were studying the Niobe Myth.

Create, critique, analyze, and evaluate multimedia texts

One of the things that we’ve asked some of the students to do is to reflect on the experience.  We’ve gotten a variety of responses but mostly, because of our medium, students talked about the challenges of technology and  video editing.  However, when pushed, those who’s projects were of high quality realized that they learned a great deal through their projects that had nothing to do with the technical process of making the video.  They were working with concepts, solving problems and working together as they analyzed and reconstituted the information in a meaningful format.

Attend to the ethical responsibilities required by complex environments

Probably one of the biggest questions that students and teachers had when working with the materials had to do with copywrite and fair use.  Because the films that would be shown at the festival would also be shown on the Higher Educagtion Channel, we worked to compile a list of resources teachers could use that wouldn’t violate copywrite.  This was tough for many teachers who believe in and use fair use in their classrooms.  However, it was a great opportunity to model real world methods and have conversations about the implications of using the work of others.  This is something that we’re still trying to work out right now.  One of the things that I hope to accomplish this year is to provide other ways to find music, pictures and video for use in films.  I’m not sure what this will look like, but I want to show students that there are a number of places that provide royalty-free materials that we can use.  This was a learning experience for both student and teacher.  Truly, some didn’t think it was worth it.  However, I think it’s important to model ethical use of information as we work with students.  The film festival was a great vehicle to do just that.

I’ve been meaning to write about the Film Festival for awhile now and just haven’t made myself do it.  Looking at the NCTE Framework as a tool to think through the process and the projects provides some insight into how effective it might be in the classroom.  There are many changes that will be made this year and the framework will help to work through some of the issues that might be important.

Reinventing Comics

Posted on April 21st, 2009 in Uncategorized by Bill

A couple weeks ago I was given a copy of the book Reinventing Comics by Scott McCloud so that I might be able to participate in a professional development group that is being offered by the Communication Arts Coordinator in my district.  The purpose behind the group is to explore a variety of media and explore how it is changing the reading and communication patterns of those in society.  With the popularity of graphic novels in the English classroom and with my interest in media literacy as a whole, the topic intriques me.

One of the comics that McCloud brings up is Maus by Art Spiegelman as a turning point comics in our society.  I read Maus many years ago and was completely enthralled by the retelling of a Holocaust survivors story in the form of a graphic novel.  However, until reading McClouds book, I didn’t realize how much symbolism and purposeful placement went into the creation of the work.  Through the use of pictures and text, the medium itself can engage in ways that have, in my opinion, not been explored by most teachers of literature and reading.  In many ways, the techniques that I used to teach in my media classes regarding video production, also lend themselves to comics and graphic novels.

The book itself is a little meta in that, in order to analyze comics and the industry, McCloud explains his thoughts through the use of a traditional comic book.  It’s interesting to see the book evolve as he changes topics and gives insight into the world of the comic artist.

While I don’t feel as though I came away with anything revolutionary from the book, I do have a better appreciation and am starting to look at comics and graphic novels as a real possibility for teaching media literacy.  McCloud’s premise that computers and the Internet have the ability to change the way people read comics has great possibilities for both the creation and consumption of comics in and out of the classroom.

What’s the focus, the tool or the process?

Posted on March 31st, 2009 in 21st Century Education, Education, English, Film Festival, Reflections, Technology by Bill

Yesterday, a few of my colleagues and I took a trip to Effingham, Illinois to see the 6th Annual AHA Film Festival.  This festival has grown over the years from 150 to around 1500 attendees and incorporates two different school districts.  Essentially, two English teachers, Joe Fatheree and Craig Lindvahl, have collaborated on a multimedia class and decided to recognize their student’s work in a public forum.  As Joe described his classroom, it reminded me of the project based classroom that I had a few years ago.  Just as in Joe’s class, my students created films and told their story.  We talked about and studied cinematic techniques and tried to create an avenue in which students who weren’t strong writers could still tell their stories.  They wrote, rewrote, filmed, refilmed, edited and reedited before they came away with a product that they could be proud of.

We went so that we could get some pointers and ideas on how to run our own festival happening in about one month.  While our scope is different (ours is grades K-12 and district wide, while AHA encompasses two high school classes) and we are not awarding prizes for our festival, the meaning is still the same, we want to celebrate student work through video.  I learned a lot yesterday and, as I was driving home (and laying in bed awake thinking about the day) I began to think about the quality of the films that the students in Effingham had created.  To be frank… they were outstanding.  They were still student films and they are definitely still learning, but as I thought about many of the student films that I’ve seen in my years teaching, I think these are among the best.  Not because of the equipment that they used, nor because of the fact that Joe and Craig are both film makers. No, these students understood that film making is really storytelling.  They were telling a story and that was the focus of the entire class.

The technical capacity to make films is getting significantly lower.  With cell phones capable of capturing video to Flip cameras to more traditional video cameras, the equipment is getting cheaper.  Nearly every computer out there has a video editing application built into the operating system and now there are even online video creation tools that can be used.  The rules have changed when it comes to the tools.  However, the methods of storytelling remains very much unchanged.  So that makes me wonder (yet again) do the tools really matter?  There will always be technical obstacles that must be addressed, but does learning what to click on in Movie Maker, iMovie, Premiere or Final Cut Pro really what we should be teaching, or should we be more focused on the process of storytelling?  Yes, learning the program has it’s place, but when you’re telling a story, what do you focus on, the tool or the process?  For me it’s always been process.  Technical details can be worked out and many times, I’m not the one to figure it out.  If I can teach the process, regardless of what tool is chosen, the story can be told.  It just makes me wonder, how many districts are teaching the tool rather than the process when it comes to digital storytelling?  And for those that are, how can that mindset be changed?

Additional information about the AHA Film Festival can be found here:

Drawing in Google Docs

Posted on March 26th, 2009 in 21st Century Education, Education, Google Tools, Online Apps, Technology by Bill

I just found out that Google added a new feature in Google Docs. You can now create drawings that may just simulate graphic organizers. I don’t think that it will replace tools like Inspiration, but it will create another option for those teachers using Google Docs with their students. It’s as simple as selecting “Insert” –> “Drawing”. For more information, visit the Google Docs Blog.

The Tipping Point

Posted on March 12th, 2009 in 21st Century Education, Education, Reflections, Technology, authors, leadership, projects by Bill

I was surprised, excited and a little disappointed when I found out that Malcolm Gladwell was going to be a keynote speaker for NECC this year in Washington D.C.  Surprised because I was just finishing his book, The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference; excited because I was becoming more familiar with his work and disappointed because I don’t think I will be fortunate enough to be able to attend NECC this year.

Lately I have been thinking, planning and attending meetings concerning teacher development in regards to technology.  How can we most effectively help teachers consider their practice and try to use technology to enhance their classrooms.  We have multiple solutions and are still very much at the thinking, talking and planning stages.  However, after reading Gladwell’s book, I think that one of the things we might want to consider is how might we most effectively use the people who are most directly impacting kids — teachers who are in the classroom.  So, as a part of our planning process, maybe we need to look at the Connectors, Mavens and Salesmen so that we might create our own “epidemic” of technology integration.  According to Gladwell, each of the groups has their own strengths and roles in the spreading of an idea or concept.  If we could identify and harness the potential of these people, would an epidemic follow?  I’m not sure.  However, from my time in the classroom, I do know a few things when it comes to teachers.

1. Connectors are vital to spreading the word.  Teachers talk to each other about practice, about students, about challenges and about successes.  As educators, we come to our classrooms to help students.  That help takes on many forms, but overall, we have the same goal.  We spend countless hours being developed but until a connection is made and it’s something that has been proven to work, we are reluctant to change our approach.  If Connectors can see results in their own practice, the word will spread about what is happening in their classes.

2. Mavens are also vital to spreading the word, but they look for ways to help their colleagues.  When Maven teachers finds something that works, they will learn as much about it so that they might help others.  I would consider myself a Maven in that aspect.  As a classroom teacher I was often called upon by my fellow teachers, administrators in my building and at the district level and even parents and students to help them work through technology problems that they might be having.  I wanted to help make their lives easier and knew enough about technology to help them.  What this prompted was a learning revolution for me as I attempted to solve their technological woes.  It was fun for me but it also had a greater purpose in that I was helping others for the betterment of education.  There are Mavens all over the district that want to help just as I did, but I think we need a method in which to identify them so that we can give them the support they need as they help their colleagues.

3.  Finally, we need Salespeople to help “sell it” to our teachers.  To create an “epidemic”, we need to have buy-in from those who are reluctant.

We are all at different places in our learning and have different needs, but I have made a commitment to help teachers (not just in my district) use technology in their classrooms.  I just wonder what the little things are that can help us reach that tipping point and where can we find them.  Do we want an instructional technology epidemic?  Is that even feasible with the amount of content that is crammed into the curricular offerings of our public schools?  Can we afford not to have technology in the hands of our students?

As I continue to think about the plans in my own district, I will continue to think back to and make connections with this book and Gladwell’s ideas.  Is there something there?  I’m not sure, but maybe as I follow my Twitter friends and find a backchannel for the keynote, I’ll find some clarity.

21st Century Bloom’s Taxonomy

Posted on March 2nd, 2009 in 21st Century Education, Education, English, Technology by Bill

For a number of years, I posted Bloom’s Taxonomy on the wall of my classroom as a discussion point for my students and I as we began our CyberEnglish journey.  It became part of our studies and really set the tone for the semester.  Because we started talking about learning from day one, we had a basis for talking about their education and the work that we would be doing that semester.

Today on Twitter I ran across A Visual Representation of Bloom’s Taxonomic Hierarchy with a 21st Century Skills Frame.  I think it offers a good starting point for those who may not be familiar with all of the tools and gives a common frame of reference as to how some of these tools might be used in the classroom.

Image from http://csessums.tumblr.com/

My New Educational Lens

Posted on March 2nd, 2009 in 21st Century Education, Education, NCTE, Notk12onlineconference, Reflections, kids by Bill

I woke up this morning at 3:30 unable to sleep.  Tossing and turning for about 45 minutes, I finally got up to check on my kids which always calms me down.  In my son’s room I began to think about the day we found out we were having twins and how at that moment, everything changed for me.  Suddenly, my wife nor I were the most important people in our lives.  It was a sobering experience.

I had just finished my Master’s degree and was doing corporate training for Executrain of St. Louis.  I enjoyed the job but something didn’t seem right and, after lots of discussion and fretting over what to do, I reentered the educational arena and went back to the high school I had left a few years earlier to teach kids.  This wasn’t an altruistic type of career change and it wasn’t because I thought that I’d enjoy it more.  My return to the classroom was for purely selfish reasons.  I wanted more time with my kids and I wanted make education better for them.  Since then, every move that I make has been dictated by that goal.  My involvement on the NCTE Executive Committee, my work with NotK12Online, my move to my current school district (where my kids will also attend) was all based on my desire for their educational experience to be as rich and productive as possible.

Five years ago that seemed like a great reason, but it was a reason that I couldn’t really see and actually picture.  I can see it now.  This fall my children will be starting Kindergarten.  They will be starting on their edcuational experience.  It makes me wonder whether, in the last year and a half, I’ve made enough of an impact on the teachers in my district.  Will their creativity be stifled by walking in single file lines or will they thrive in an environment in which they have choice and are taught to question?  Unfortunately I can’t say for sure.  But I now have a different lens.  One through which I look at every teacher I work with and ask myself whether I would be satisfied with my kids in their classroom.

My reasons for being in education today are selfish.  I want the best for my kids.  I recognize that and have come to terms with it because if it’s good enough for my kids, then, in my mind, it’s good enough for everyone else’s kids.  Would I have approached the classroom differently if I had had kids when I began my career?  Absolutely.  Now, as I work with teachers, I have a completely different (and I think better) approach than I would have had before my kids were born.  It’s a perspective that keeps me up at night, but one that makes me work harder.  Hopefully, my work is making a difference, not just for my kids, but for all kids.

How important are the tools?

Posted on February 26th, 2009 in Education, English, Google Tools, Online Apps, Reflections, Technology, Tools, leadership by Bill

I’m stuck in a routine. Some may even say that I’m addicted. Almost every day for a good portion of the day I sit in front of my computer. I have it set up the way I want it. My desktop is organized according to my tastes. My Firefox plugins anxiously await my use. Bottom line, my computer and I have a very special relationship because I have personalized it for my uses. My home row keys letters are slowly wearing away and there’s a shiny area on my space bar that shows the wear of my fingers. I know where to find my files and I know which programs will greet me upon startup. This is the very reason that, while I always like the boost in performance, I never truly look forward to getting a new machine. I always have to reconfigure everything. I hard drive failure not only runs away with my data, but it also causes me several hours of preparing my system for me to use meaningfully.

Last year, one of the biggest parts of my job was to hand out new laptops to teachers in my district. To make matters worse, we weren’t just handing out laptops, we were stripping these teachers of their beloved Macs. Over a year and a half later, I still hear comments about how much better the Macs were than these stupid HP laptops that we are now “stuck” with. We develop a personal connection with our tools. The problems, while frustrating, become somehow endearing over time. We know what to expect, we understand the challenges of these tools including their limitations and, however maddening, we get beyond it. Mac or PC, it’s simply a computer… a tool that we use to complete tasks. The passion that comes from these tools I don’t necessarily understand, but I find myself falling into passionate discussions over tools. My phone is one such tool. It’s not that it’s the best, but it certainly suits my needs and I’ve set it up exactly how I want it. They are very personal things and we become attached and fanatical about them. I use OSX, XP, Vista and now Windows 7 and, truly, don’t have a huge preference. My main machine is a PC because that’s what my district uses, but to me, they’re just tools.

What about the students that we teach? Does it really matter whether they’re sitting in front of an HP or an Apple when they’re typing a paper? They’re simply word processing. Even when it comes to video editing, there are tools on both platforms that students can use to create their movies. Is one easier than the other, maybe. But is the tool really that important? I say No. The skills that students (and adults) take away from any training or class is the important element in the equation. The logo doesn’t matter. The name of the software is immaterial. Do all secondary students need to be able to move through Excel or PowerPoint or is it more important that they understand and adapt their spreadsheet and presentation skills to any computer that is put in front of them? The classroom tools (SMART, Prometheon, Mac, PC, Web 2.0, etc) do not make for learning. Let’s start discussing skills instead of tools and end the argument over which one is better.

Even as I write this, I understand that there are tools that I would have a hard time living without. When Google announced that they were ending their support of Notebook, I was far from amused. However, there are other tools out there. Do they work the same way? No. Is their integration with other Google tools as seamless? No. Do I have the skills to use them effectively? Yes.

Yes, I’m attached to my computer and, yes, it’s a love/hate relationship. But the tools that I use in my daily routine as I work with teachers doesn’t make my work better; it makes it more convenient. I’m not interested in getting rid of my tools that I’ve grown so fond of, but I am interested in helping students acquire the skills to be able to move beyond a tool and still succeed in their tasks.

Image from http://www.sxc.hu/index.phtml

A Travesty

Posted on February 26th, 2009 in Uncategorized by Bill

A friend of mine, Debra Baker, wrote a blog post today about a student she was trying to help.  I’m blogging this for two reasons, so I keep it fresh in my mind, and so others might become aware of it.

A day of learning

Posted on February 25th, 2009 in Education, Film Festival, Technology by Bill

Today was a day well spent with an awful lot of learning. I started the day at an METC Advisory Committee meeting in which we revisited the conference from last month. It was a good discussion which included ideas about virtual conferences and reflections on the conference.

Upon leaving that meeting I went to one of the elementary schools in our district because the Higher Education Channel was coming to our district to do a “Behind the Minds” filming of some of our students as they work on their films for our upcoming Film Festival. Since this was my brain child, I wanted to be there as students talked about their films and were interviewed for the show. Jennifer Young (another TIS) and I were there to supervise and help the students as they worked on their films. These were fifth grade students who had done a presentation earlier in the year in which they became a person who has had a profound affect on society and who stood for something great. Anne Frank, Jane Goodall were among the people they chose and they had footage of them acting the part of these figures. Now they were in the process of whittling down their films to meet our two minute guidelines. During their interviews they discussed problem solving, collaboration and storyboarding as they described the process. They used film terms and talked at great length about what they wanted to say through their films. The entire process was nothing short of awesome. Watching students talk about and reflect on their process was truly transformative and they were very eloquent in their discussions. Through the work of Jennifer Young (another TIS), the morning was a success.

Upon leaving the elementary school, I accompanied the film crew to one of our high schools where they interviewed two junior girls about a sociology project that they embarked on last semester. They too were eloquent in their discussion, but one thing they said really stuck with me. “In all of our other classes, we had to do PowerPoints.” While I’m not completely against PowerPoint, it was clear, when talking to these students, that PowerPoint is an overused presentation technique in their school. They relished the opportunity to do something more meaningful and, as I watched their video, I think they succeeded. Their video was compelling and far more intriguing than any PowerPoint that I’ve ever seen. When they were done, I was interviewed in regards to the details and origins of the Film Festival. It was a great day. Watching students grades 5 and 11 talk about their learning really made me proud of what we’ve done to facilitate the Film Festival in our district and making it about the celebration of student work. I guess more than anything, I’m continually impressed with the abilities of today’s students. The show should air in the next few weeks and will be available online. I’ll post again when it can be viewed.

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