In response to the recent challenge from te@chthought, I'm participating in a 30 day blogging mission, starting September 1st!
Day 14
What is feedback for learning, and how well do you give it to students?
Feedback in a learning environment is the response from the audience. Who is the audience of the student's work? What was the intended message of the work? Did the audience receive this message? What was the audience response?
I ensure that my students' projects have an audience, and that the audience feedback is clear. I am never the audience - it's usually the entire middle school and/or a film contest's judges and viewership. We also post our movies to YouTube or Vimeo, in which case the audience expands to friends, family, subscribers and - potentially - the world (although this RARELY is the case).
Students then reflect on the feedback they received from their audiences in a self-reflection and evaluation at the end of the term.
Sunday, September 14, 2014
30 Day Blogging Challenge from Te@chThought: Day 13
In response to the recent challenge from te@chthought, I'm participating in a 30 day blogging mission, starting September 1st!
Day 13
Name the top edtech tools that you use on a consistent basis in the classroom, and rank them in terms of their perceived (by you) effectiveness
The top edtech tools that I use in order of effectiveness are:
iMovie
Digital storytelling that's intuitive enough for kids to use on their first try
iPhone 5S camera app
I just offer my phone up for the students to use - the 120fps slow motion is an amazing resource!
Google Docs
This is the central hub for data storage and organization of the entire middle school. Students upload their finished work and share it with me through this app.
Photoshop
Learning how to take a good photo is becoming more and more important, and you don't learn it on your own - there are composition rules. Learning digital photo manipulation is important in terms of creative expression and media literacy.
Adobe Voice
This is the easiest app for voice recording I've ever used, and it delivers a high quality digital storytelling product in a very short time!
Blogger
The middle school has adopted Blogger as the blogging app of choice, and all students grades 6-8 use blogs regularly in their classes. Teachers prioritize its use for reflection and portfolio collection.
Instagram
My classes use a shared Instagram account to collect and share a gallery of daily experiences. The kids love it and it's good modeling for productive uses of social media.
Hyperlapse
My new favorite app is Hyperlapse from Instagram. A separate app on its own, Hyperlapse allows for very smooth time-lapse shots, acting like a steadicam, but free and easy to use. It taps into the iPhone's gyroscope to stabilize the image.
Day 13
Name the top edtech tools that you use on a consistent basis in the classroom, and rank them in terms of their perceived (by you) effectiveness
The top edtech tools that I use in order of effectiveness are:
iMovie
Digital storytelling that's intuitive enough for kids to use on their first try
iPhone 5S camera app
I just offer my phone up for the students to use - the 120fps slow motion is an amazing resource!
Google Docs
This is the central hub for data storage and organization of the entire middle school. Students upload their finished work and share it with me through this app.
Photoshop
Learning how to take a good photo is becoming more and more important, and you don't learn it on your own - there are composition rules. Learning digital photo manipulation is important in terms of creative expression and media literacy.
Adobe Voice
This is the easiest app for voice recording I've ever used, and it delivers a high quality digital storytelling product in a very short time!
Blogger
The middle school has adopted Blogger as the blogging app of choice, and all students grades 6-8 use blogs regularly in their classes. Teachers prioritize its use for reflection and portfolio collection.
My classes use a shared Instagram account to collect and share a gallery of daily experiences. The kids love it and it's good modeling for productive uses of social media.
Hyperlapse
My new favorite app is Hyperlapse from Instagram. A separate app on its own, Hyperlapse allows for very smooth time-lapse shots, acting like a steadicam, but free and easy to use. It taps into the iPhone's gyroscope to stabilize the image.
Friday, September 12, 2014
30 Day Blogging Challenge from Te@chThought: Day 12
In response to the recent challenge from te@chthought, I'm participating in a 30 day blogging mission, starting September 1st!
Day 12
How do you envision your teaching changing over the next 5 years?
My focus right now is digital storytelling. As I look ahead in Media Arts, I see a move to mobile devices. Cameras as we know them will become specialty items for some professional photographers, while students will need to learn sophistication with linking the benefits of various photo/video/animation apps into a conglomerated piece of media or exhibit that will communicate the intended message or story. It will be interdisciplinary by necessity, because in the next 5 years, traditional classroom teaching will change, and digital storytelling will be a big part of that change.
I see a lot of code in my future. Web design. Animation, both 2D and 3D. Robotics. 3D printing. Video game design.
The next 5 years... this time frame means everything to the future of Media Arts.
Day 12
How do you envision your teaching changing over the next 5 years?
My focus right now is digital storytelling. As I look ahead in Media Arts, I see a move to mobile devices. Cameras as we know them will become specialty items for some professional photographers, while students will need to learn sophistication with linking the benefits of various photo/video/animation apps into a conglomerated piece of media or exhibit that will communicate the intended message or story. It will be interdisciplinary by necessity, because in the next 5 years, traditional classroom teaching will change, and digital storytelling will be a big part of that change.
I see a lot of code in my future. Web design. Animation, both 2D and 3D. Robotics. 3D printing. Video game design.
The next 5 years... this time frame means everything to the future of Media Arts.
Thursday, September 11, 2014
30 Day Blogging Challenge from Te@chThought: Day 11
In response to the recent challenge from te@chthought, I'm participating in a 30 day blogging mission, starting September 1st!
Day 11
What is your favorite part of the school day and why?
My favorite part of the school day is when I'm teaching! I only teach 2 classes among my other responsibilities, and with our 7-day rotating schedule that means for 4 of those 7 days I'm only teaching one section.
My class, Media Arts, is a rare gem of education in a media-soaked world that needs more guided instruction. Kids should be critical about their consumption and able to wield the mighty camera when they have a story to tell their world.
I'm linking to a recently created organization called the Portland Center for the Media Arts
who made this point better than I could myself:
"More than half of all Internet content is video. There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that video is an immensely powerful form of communication. Today, more than ever, actions on a screen really do speak louder than words on a page. A well-presented video message has the capacity to engage emotions and inspire action."
Day 11
What is your favorite part of the school day and why?
My favorite part of the school day is when I'm teaching! I only teach 2 classes among my other responsibilities, and with our 7-day rotating schedule that means for 4 of those 7 days I'm only teaching one section.
My class, Media Arts, is a rare gem of education in a media-soaked world that needs more guided instruction. Kids should be critical about their consumption and able to wield the mighty camera when they have a story to tell their world.
I'm linking to a recently created organization called the Portland Center for the Media Arts
who made this point better than I could myself:
"More than half of all Internet content is video. There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that video is an immensely powerful form of communication. Today, more than ever, actions on a screen really do speak louder than words on a page. A well-presented video message has the capacity to engage emotions and inspire action."
Wednesday, September 10, 2014
30 Day Blogging Challenge from Te@chThought: Day 10
In response to the recent challenge from te@chthought, I'm participating in a 30 day blogging mission, starting September 1st!
Day 10
Share 5 random facts about yourself
Share 4 things from your bucket list
Share 3 things that you hope for this year
Share 2 things that have made you laugh or cry as an educator
Share 1 thing you wish more people knew about you
5 random facts:
Day 10
Share 5 random facts about yourself
Share 4 things from your bucket list
Share 3 things that you hope for this year
Share 2 things that have made you laugh or cry as an educator
Share 1 thing you wish more people knew about you
5 random facts:
- I love karaoke
- I've made documentaries in China, Japan and El Salvador
- I'm participating in the commute by bike challenge this month
- I dusted off my backpacking gear this summer after nearly 10 years of car camping
- I bought a surfboard a couple months ago because I think surfing in Oregon sounds exactly like the kind of obsession I need right now
- Interview Shigeru Miyamoto
- Get a computer science certification
- Learn how to play the blues
- See lava
- Teach an online ed class
- Teach a 3D modeling/animation class
- Learn web design and HTML basics
- Last week, when students made videos using Adobe Voice in only 20 minutes that were heartfelt renderings of their experiences visiting Torii Gate (a memorial for the Japanese Americans brought to what is now the Portland Expo Center and MAX Yellow Line station)
- Every time I get to see the students perform the 8th grade musical, whatever it is, because it's a totally inclusive production - every student in the 8th grade has a role
- I wish more people knew I tutored math. It's a really great break from the chaos of middle school to work on math problems one-on-one with a student who needs my help.
Tuesday, September 9, 2014
30 Day Blogging Challenge from Te@chThought: Day 9
In response to the recent challenge from te@chthought, I'm participating in a 30 day blogging mission, starting September 1st!
Day 9
Write about one of your biggest accomplishments in your teaching that no one knows about (or may not care).
I was just working with a new group of 8th grade Media Arts students this morning, and a student asked me if he would need to submit his finished work to a film festival at the end of the term. I looked up at the spot on the wall displaying the modest awards that my students have received for their work, and I noticed the Honorable Mention award for "The Page".
When I moved back to Seattle in 2002 from my film school days in LA, I lived in a house where the rent was less than $300 and the basement was a practice space for bands. I made a friend named Adam whose music and album art were like nothing else I'd ever seen. I was soooo not together back then, but Adam was a focused artist.
Flash forward 10 years, and I'm an art teacher in Portland, OR. I see that Adam's band, Chromatics, which claims to be from Portland but spends all its time in Montreal, was playing a show. I wondered if I'd get a chance to catch up with Adam, who I hadn't seen in a decade. When I walk into the Crystal Ballroom, I see stacks of a brand new album from the band, and Adam turns around. What a great reunion. What a great show. What a great album. Adam was excited about offering my Media Arts students a chance to make a music video for one of his new songs.
My students were thrilled. One particularly driven group of female students chose the song "The Page" and made a music video after school, on the weekends, at each others' houess, and starring them and their parents, in conflict (of course). It's clearly made by teens. It's pure 8th grade ebullience. There's also undeniably a magic to the film.
When I texted Adam what he thought of the video, he replied ecstatically that he and the band loved it. They agreed to make the video "Official" on YouTube. The girls got to enjoy the views climbing from 300 to 1,000 to 2,000... 2 years later and it's about to reach 6,000 views. Not bad for an 8th grade project!
Here's the link to the video on YouTube.
Nobody cares about this story. To anyone reading this far, thank you for letting me indulge in reflecting on a moment that brought my old friendships and young adult life into a beautiful collaboration with the present day, the result of which being that some middle school students got the assignment of a lifetime.
Day 9
Write about one of your biggest accomplishments in your teaching that no one knows about (or may not care).
I was just working with a new group of 8th grade Media Arts students this morning, and a student asked me if he would need to submit his finished work to a film festival at the end of the term. I looked up at the spot on the wall displaying the modest awards that my students have received for their work, and I noticed the Honorable Mention award for "The Page".
When I moved back to Seattle in 2002 from my film school days in LA, I lived in a house where the rent was less than $300 and the basement was a practice space for bands. I made a friend named Adam whose music and album art were like nothing else I'd ever seen. I was soooo not together back then, but Adam was a focused artist.
Flash forward 10 years, and I'm an art teacher in Portland, OR. I see that Adam's band, Chromatics, which claims to be from Portland but spends all its time in Montreal, was playing a show. I wondered if I'd get a chance to catch up with Adam, who I hadn't seen in a decade. When I walk into the Crystal Ballroom, I see stacks of a brand new album from the band, and Adam turns around. What a great reunion. What a great show. What a great album. Adam was excited about offering my Media Arts students a chance to make a music video for one of his new songs.
My students were thrilled. One particularly driven group of female students chose the song "The Page" and made a music video after school, on the weekends, at each others' houess, and starring them and their parents, in conflict (of course). It's clearly made by teens. It's pure 8th grade ebullience. There's also undeniably a magic to the film.
When I texted Adam what he thought of the video, he replied ecstatically that he and the band loved it. They agreed to make the video "Official" on YouTube. The girls got to enjoy the views climbing from 300 to 1,000 to 2,000... 2 years later and it's about to reach 6,000 views. Not bad for an 8th grade project!
Here's the link to the video on YouTube.
Nobody cares about this story. To anyone reading this far, thank you for letting me indulge in reflecting on a moment that brought my old friendships and young adult life into a beautiful collaboration with the present day, the result of which being that some middle school students got the assignment of a lifetime.
Monday, September 8, 2014
30 Day Blogging Challenge from Te@chThought: Day 8
In response to the recent challenge from te@chthought, I'm participating in a 30 day blogging mission, starting September 1st!
Day 8
What's in your desk drawer, and what can you infer from its contents?
I don't really have a desk drawer, but here's a photo of my cupboard
and the pouch of my laptop cover
From these contents, I can infer I need some more organization. And that I am way into tech and maker spaces.
Day 8
What's in your desk drawer, and what can you infer from its contents?
I don't really have a desk drawer, but here's a photo of my cupboard
and the pouch of my laptop cover
From these contents, I can infer I need some more organization. And that I am way into tech and maker spaces.
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