This semester I teach a computer graphics course...which is really fun, because it's oodles of Photoshop (or Pixlr, which is essentially an equally as awesome ONLINE Photoshop program that is FREE!!) fun and all of the computer-techie stuff I enjoy doing in my regular life. (Side note: it's so incredibly awesome that I get to teach classes that I am not only interested in, but actually do in my personal time so it's fun to teach and show students how to use these programs to better and enhance the things they're doing in school (or outside of school too!))
Anyways, so this year I decided to launch an 'iPhoneography' course for my students -- basically, I walk through some ins and outs of taking good pictures (and editing them!) with their iPhones (or smart phones, it's basically the same stuff regardless of what device you have).
I had posted that I was doing this on a few of my social media channels, and I got several friends asking me about the course I wrote and if they could have a copy of it...so I decided to whip it up as a blog post here so I could 1. quick reference it if need be 2. pass it along to my friends who were asking about it 3. maybe it'll be useful to other tech teachers out there to use in their own classrooms!
The presentation I made (click here for the direct link to it) is pretty self-explanatory I think...I tried to make it as easy to self-navigate as possible, so that my students had a very information-packed guide to reference if they needed to go back to anything we went over.
My students will be starting this project soon and I cannot WAIT to see what they come up with (hint: the project asks them to put to the test everything we went over in the iPhoneography guide...so they'll have to play with unique perspectives, use sun flares, etc...).
I'd love some feedback on my iPhoneography guide too if you want to give it! Is there anything I left out?! Or anything I got wrong?! Or something that you'd like to see me talk more about?! I'm open! Let me know and I'll add it--cause that's the beauty of Google Slides, I can add it and it auto-updates on your end with the presentation link so no need to re-post or re-send out the presentation...pretty cool, eh?!! If you're not using Google Drive, you really REALLY should be...but that's a post for another day! :)
First off, let me apologize for the huge lack of posts recently...teaching is busy, life is busier, and I've seemingly neglected my teaching blog here. BUT! I hope to make amends this year and have more than the pathetic 6 posts I had for all of 2015. Stay tuned.
Anyways, I felt compelled to write this post today for so many reasons, but the main one finally pushing me to do it happened yesterday. You see, it's course selection week here at the high school I teach at, and all of the freshman, sophomores, and juniors are carefully plotting out the classes they will take in 2016-2017. In talking with another teacher yesterday, she was telling me about a conversation she was having with one of her students about what courses to take next year. The student told her she was going to sign up for Computer Apps (one of the classes I teach) because, "That class is easy." Immediately my defenses went up and I felt the need to justify and defend my course to my fellow teacher. How dare they say my class is easy! It most certainly is not...wait, is it really actually easy?!
That conversation stuck with me, because obviously students at my school think my class is easy. And you know what?! It is. It truly is an "easy" class, but I loathe, no I HATE that it is referred to as that. Why?! Because even though the content we are covering may be being labeled "easy" by it's takers, it most is more than just an easy class: it's a practical one. It's one that the content learned in here can be transferred and applied into every.single.one. of their other courses, and even into their lives outside of school. It prepares them for the tasks they'll have to complete in their future schoolings and even college! So yes, it may be easy, but it most certainly is not JUST that. It is applicable. It is practical. It teaches skills that will be used in countless other areas of their education and lives.
Generally my students do very well in my classes, and I always get the comments that, "If everyone has an A, then you must not be challenging them enough" --translation: your class is too easy. Again, this irks me the wrong way. And I actually secretly wish my classes were pass/fail because of this. Anyways, again, when people make these comments, I immediately go defensive teacher and feel the need to justify to them that that is NOT the case at all, that they are learning practical application skills. You blow your tire and get a mechanic to fix it. They fix it = you're good to go. They don't fix it (or don't fix it right) = they failed and you're still stuck...until they make it right. Thus is the jam for my class: students do the work = they pass. Students don't do the work (or do it incorrectly) = they don't pass...until they make it right. My classes are "tech" classes after all.
The next time someone tells me my classes are easy or that I'm not challenging my students enough, I'm pointing them to this blog post. I teach 3 different classes: video production, computer graphics, and computer applications, and what I've said here applies to all of them. Yes, they may be labeled "easy", but the are so much more than that. They are...
...and so much more. We learn the ins and outs of all things Google. We learn how to build a website from scratch, learn how to create an interactive timeline and story map, and learn how to use social media to organize and prep for projects. We do lessons on how to take good pictures with your cell phone called iPhoneography, we learn what mobile journalism is and how it applies to the daily lives of high schoolers, we learn how to shoot, record, edit, and finalize movies in a complex editor, and we learn how to manipulate images and create new ones using Photoshop. Every.single.one. of these skills and content we do in my class are used elsewhere in our school--and then even outside of it. They are applying and transferring the knowledge they learn and acquire in my class to others. Call my class fun, exciting, enjoyable, creative, hands-on, time-consuming, challenging, frustrating, engaging--but don't call it easy. It's so much more than that.
It's no secret that I love technology. I love it a whole whole lot. I am so fortunate and blessed to be in a job that revolves around solely that: technology! I get to spend my time helping others with tech problems, teaching them new things they can do with a program or on their phones/computers, and, probably my favorite part, still teaching students in the tech realm. If I can't stay home with my babies, this is what I want to be doing.
One of the classes I teach is video production. This is such a fun class -- the students learn a ton about mobile journalism, videoing and interviewing techniques, editing, content gathering, and so much more. One of the biggest things I've taught them is NO VERTICAL VIDEOS...
(I hope you learned something watching that too!) -- I am guilty of recording video holding my phone upright cause, let's be honest, it's just easier to record one handed that way. HOWEVER, most of the time you really are cutting off a ton of "stuff" that you could be capturing if you just flipped your phone over and recorded horizontally! Crazy, isn't it?!! Try it next time you're recording a movie...
Anyways, so! I love my job. Earlier today was one of the big reasons why. Last week, I took a group of my students down to KSDK news channel 5. Well, this week they were in for a treat: my buddy Kay Quinn from KSDK was coming to UA to see our video production and broadcast setup! How cool, right?!! My students were sooooo jazzed that she was coming and that they'd get to show off some of their own broadcasting skills to her.
Kay arrived this morning and I gave her a tour around our campus and introduced her to a few people, and then she met with the day's broadcast team. I don't teach broadcast (although I'd love to if I was ever given the chance!), but I was able to be the broadcast director for today since a few of my students who are in my video production class are also on the broadcast team and were up to do shows this week.
The students wanted Kay to be a co-anchor for the day's broadcast, and she happily obliged! How cool is that, right?!!
They did a run-through of the show and then went live. It.was.awesome. I was beaming with pride for them because they did such an amazing job on the teleprompter, control board, directing, and anchoring. It went flawlessly!
The feedback the girls got about their broadcast was just terrific -- even now, well after the school day is over, I'm just giddy with excitement for them that they got to have this awesome learning experience! I hope it's something they truly never forgot.
So, this is just one of the reasons why I flippin' love my job. Getting to help orchestrate experiences like this for my students just makes everything I do worth it. I am fortunate to be in a teaching position that is very 'real life' applicable and I love love LOVE being able to show, give, and teach my students things that they can not only learn from, but apply to their real lives as well.
I recently published a post for Sopris Learning's EdView360 blog all about my top 5 favorite tech projects...and challenging teachers to try them in their classrooms this year.
You can click the link below and read my post...and then maybe try some of those projects in your own classrooms this school year as well!! Feel free to shoot me an email if you have any questions!
This semester, instead of teaching video production, I am teaching computer graphics. I do miss my video production class and projects a lot, but I am LOVING the projects and products that my computer graphics students are producing!
They recently just completed a project using Pixlr editor--which is an online FREE editing software, very similar to photoshop (I LOVE IT). They can create their work online, save it to their online gallery, and pick up where they left back off the next day. Did I mention it's free?!! I love it.
Anyways, so after learning how to use the Pixlr program, my students completed this project -- they had to create 5 different edits using Pixlr. They had several days in class to work on this--after getting the hang of using the program, and I am blown away with what they created! Seriously, how awesome are some of these?!
Before I show off some of their work, here are the 5 edit categories they had to make:
Mini Project 1: Movie Poster
You will take a movie of your choice and re-create the poster in your own style. You can incorporate elements from the original poster in your new one, or start fresh and use completely new ideas to craft your poster.
You need to make sure you select a movie that you’ve seen, so if you drastically change the poster from the original it still fits in with the “theme” of the movie. Make sure your poster includes the necessary information as well (title, director, main characters, rating, etc…).
Mini Project 2: EdCampSTL Poster
Using information from this site, you will create a poster promoting EdCampSTL. You need to come up with a unique poster to promote this event, while making sure you give the appropriate information (date, time, location, etc…) from the website. You may incorporate any logos you see from the website, but you do not have to.
You want your poster to be creative, unique, and something that catches the viewer’s attention while also giving them the necessary details for the event.
Mini Project 3: Photobomb
You will take a popular image or picture and “photobomb” yourself into it. This means you’ll need to take/get a photo of yourself that would “fit” in the image that you are placing yourself in to be photobombed.
You need to make sure that you do indeed look like you are “photobombing” the picture; meaning that you could have actually been there in real life in the photograph (so you may need to do some color enhancements and editing as well)
Mini Project 4: Landscape Edit
Grab a landscape pic (mountains, beach, valley, prairie, etc…) off of Google Images and drastically change the picture: change the colors, sharpen/blur the image, add a sunset, etc… -- but your project must look vastly different than its original.
Make sure your editing doesn’t completely distort your landscape; add editing effects that are unique and enhance your new image and landscape look!
Mini Project 5: YOUR CHOICE
This project is your choice: create/edit/modify/enhance/WHATEVER! in Pixlr--you have complete freedom here to create something of your choosing.
BE PREPARED to explain your creation/edit to the class and why you chose to do something like that.
IDEAS: create a flyer for an upcoming sports event/school function, edit a picture, combine multiple pictures into one
A couple years ago, I had my students create videos for the 2012 Show-Me a Movie Contest; however, we couldn't submit them because of my oversight in that they had to be less than 2 minutes long, and all of my students' videos were over 2 minutes. Woops.
So this year, for the 2014 Show-Me a Movie Contest my video production class each created videos in the Show-Me Your Community category. One of the groups explored how the St. Louis community is fixated on the "Where did you go to high school?" question, another group explored the Ursuline community and theme of "Serviam" (through claymation), and the last group looked at the new Strange Donuts that opened in the Kirkwood community and how much they give back.
Overall, I am super impressed with these videos and really love how different they all are but still showcase how the community is across these different areas. Enjoy...I sure did!
A couple weeks ago I posted about Knight Lab's Timeline Project my advanced computer apps students did. This was a great project that turned out fantastic.
Another "lab" that Northwestern University's Knight Lab has is called Story Map. Story Map lets you tell a story via a map or picture/graphic. This is an awesome tool that can really make story-telling come to life in any content area. Obviously it is a map, so anything that is "mapable" is able to be created on this. However, you can also use your own pictures or graphics as well to tell your story! For example, a science teacher could take a picture of their entire experiment and then go through their "story" by visiting each of the specific experiment elements or pieces.
My students just completed a project using Story Map to tell a story of something "mapable" that they chose, as long as it hit all of the project requirements. Some of them created map timelines of events, others retold a character's journey in a movie or book, while others just mapped out the tour route of their favorite band.
Overall I was super happy with the products they were able to produce, and the high-quality they all turned out to be. Story Map really took their information to a new level in how it was displayed and produced using this lab.
Check out some of the examples below that my students created. Enjoy!
Northwestern University has come out with this amazing timeline application called Timeline JS, or Knight Lab Timeline as I refer to it. Northwestern has this "Knight Lab" that "advances news media innovation and education. Developing ideas from experimentation through adoption, the Lab makes technology that aims to help make information meaningful and promotes quality storytelling on the Internet."
After I came across Knight Lab's timeline, I immediately wanted my Advanced Computer Application students to dabble in it and create their own interactive (and beautifully looking!) timelines.
After a few requirements from me (at least 20 events, must have a start date, must have multi-sentence text accompanying the event, must have a media item and credit, etc...), students headed over to http://timeline.knightlab.com/ and grabbed the Google Spreadsheet template that they would then use to build their timeline. This is a feature I really loved--that the entire timeline was built using a Google Doc!! How cool is that?!! Hello auto-save, and syncing with Google Drive!
The goal was to have students embed their timelines on their Google Sites they created earlier in the semester, but that was one hiccup of the Timeline's embed feature: it wouldn't allow for embedding on Google Sites (which I actually think is on Google's end, not Knight Lab's). I did find a work around to this, but it was super complicated and wayyyyy more steps than I wanted to roll out, so instead I just had students share their timeline preview links with me, and that worked just fine!
I wanted to share a few of these timelines my students made. They got to choose what person/idea/event they were going to document on a timeline, so their timelines are very varied, yet all unique and well-created. Enjoy!
In my Video Production class, students have been diligently working on various mobile journalism pieces that are use in our bi/tri-weekly UA Today Broadcasts. They are currently working on new pieces now, but have finalized and begun to show their first pieces on the Broadcasts that are being aired currently.
Before each group made their digital MoJo pieces using WeVideo, they used this template to create a storyboard for their piece--because you HAVE to do an outline/draft before you do the final product, even with videos!
Each group came up with their own stories they wanted to showcase: the new lunch food program in the cafeteria, a fun US trivia challenge with the students, a showcase of a recent concert event (Loufest), and study skills.
Overall, I am very impressed with these ladies' first MoJo pieces! I cannot wait to see what their subsequent ones look like--I'm sure they'll keep getting better and better!
Also, students did only use their cell phones AND WeVideo to create these pieces--I'm super impressed with that and how these turned out!
When I was teaching at MRH, I loved doing a good video challenge--whether it was in social studies or technology, I really loved challenging the students to create a video using the elements I had provided for them (and a few that they had to provide on their own).
Now that I'm at Ursuline Academy, one of the classes I teach is Video Production--yes, that's right, an entire class dedicated to creating videos! It's going to be awesome. To start off the year in this class, I decided to do another video challenge, this time to get the students acclimated to using the online video editing software we will use all semester, WeVideo.
Each of the students got a copy of this doc, which included a folder of images, video clips, and sounds that they MUST use in their video (along with any other ones they wanted to include on their own). They had to somehow tie all of these media elements together, using WeVideo, to create their final product.
The students had a few days in class to both play around with WeVideo and learn how to use it, and then create their sample project video. I am loving the way all of these videos turned out! Check out a few below...and click here for the entire playlist! Enjoy!
One of our recent projects in tech has been to partner with Mr. Grossman from the high school tech department and do a mobile journalism unit.
First, before we did anything, we went over what it mobile journalism is, interview techniques, filming techniques, and much more. Obviously this was our first go-around with mobile journalism so we weren't going to be perfect, but we sure wanted to try and be as close to perfect as we could. We spent a lot of time on the MRH High School YouTube channel watching mobile journalism pieces the high school students have done and the techniques and methods they used to do these.
My tech students then partnered up and began brainstorming about possible stories they would want to report on. They thought about upcoming expeditions, class projects, sports, and other MRHMS events.
Each group decided upon one topic to report on: Club Day, MRHMS Boys' Basketball, Whole Foods Health Expedition, and MRH Pianos.
Students then set out with their partner to storyboard their story. They used the template below to map out what they were going to do, questions they were going to ask, shots they were going to get, and everyone's role.
Students had about a week and a half in tech class to get their piece set up, storyboarded, filmed, stock footage captured, and edited together using iMovie (either on their Mac or iPad). Overall, I was really happy with the outcome of these movies! Check out a few of the final products below. For our first go with mobile journalism, I think these turned out awesome. I'm anxious to see how future mojo projects turn out as well!
In technology we just recently finished up our MRH Community Tech Projects. Students were tasked with creating a video (using iMovie) that documents the aspect of the MRH Community that they chose to highlight in their movie.
Students could pick from the list of aspects to make their movie centered around that included MRHMS' metaphor: School as Expedition, MRH's cornerstone program, MRHMS club day, MRHMS adventure club, MRHMS' sustainability program, MRHMS' home visit program, Joe's Place, or MRHMS' bee and garden program.
Students set out and found pictures and videos to use in their movie along with student and staff interviews they set up and wrote questions for.
Overall, these MRH community videos were excellent! Last year's tech class set high standards to what I was expecting and this year's class really lived up to my expectations. Check out a few of their community videos below!
In tech, we have started looking at infographics and what they're used for. We found out that infographics are a fun and quick way to learn about a topic without a ton of heavy reading. Students were then given this project. They had to create their own infographic on one of the four topics they were able to pick from.
Students then used the free site infogr.am to create their own interactive infographics. Check out some of the infographics below that students created! Once again, I'm so impressed with the things these students can create when given a piece of technology to use!
In tech we have just completed another project--this one was all about a hero! The students really had a great time with this project: it pulled together different tech elements (wordle, Google presentation/Keynote, Hero Machine, dafont, and many others) in a creative fashion to have students create a presentation detailing all about their hero!
Check out the entire directions/project requirements here.
The students got to present their heroes to the class when they were finished...and each and every hero was unique and different and awesome! Check out some of the presentations below from our hero project! Enjoy!
In tech class this past week the students have been making their own games on this awesome site called Scratch (read more about Scratch for Educators here). It actually is a website hosted by MIT that allows you to write your own scripts/codes for different games, projects, animations, videos, and much more! You can create your own account, save your work, and explore other projects that others have created. What's really cool is that you can "look inside" everyone else's project to see their script and codes they used to make their project, game, etc... work! And the best part: it's free!
I really can't speak highly enough about this site: it really is a super cool game-making (or basically any web-based project you want to do which has you coding everything you want it to do manually) site that teaches you as you are building. It has a very easy user-interface, and a really nice help feature to do everything from a basic overview of how to use it to in-game help when you're stuck with your script.
I created the how-to video below to help my students get started, and then the rest has been on them! The coolest part is that the students have become the teachers (because I'm by no means an expert on this site) and they're the ones volunteering to help their peers when they have a question about their game or how to use Scratch (which is probably the coolest thing to see as a teacher!).
Today the students shared the games they've been working on this past week, and once again, I was super impressed with how they turned out!
Check out the links below to play the games my students created! I hope you'll be as impressed as I am!
A while back in tech the students made some awesome plant family posters (and I forgot to blog about them!). We partnered with our awesome gardener Mrs. Breed-Parks for this project. She wanted some informational posters about the different plant families (and the types of plants that are in them) that we have in our gardens here at MRH.
Students were paired up in teams of 2 and they were each given a plant family. Everything from Amaranthaceae to Solanaceae! (Yeah, I have a hard time pronouncing those too!) Students then headed out to the garden to take pictures of the plants in their family--because the best resources are the ones you gather yourself!
Once students got all of their pictures taken, they then used the template Mrs. Breed-Parks created for them to fill with their information and pictures of the plants in their family.
Check out the posters they created below! Super awesome work!
In tech class, we've been doing a lot with iMovie. A couple weeks ago we did an iMovie trailer project that the students totally rocked. This past week we did an iMovie challenge project, where students had to use certain elements (pictures, song) that were given to them and turn them into a movie where they all tied together.
As a class we went over several basics of iMovie and how to use it, but mostly the students took those basics and just began to play and experiment and figure out how to use iMovie. Students also figured out how to use MacTubes to grab clips of other videos from YouTube, mix songs using Garageband, and find pictures from open-sources on Google images and use them in their movie.
Once again, these students' creativity was shining brightly in their work! The vastly different stories they all came up with using the same pictures and song just demonstrates how all of them think differently about the same content. It truly was a cool project to watch them create into their own iMovie projects. Here are a few for you to enjoy.
Last year in tech students created screencasts using Screencast-o-Matic. As much as I love how easy this site is to use, for some reason our images on our school MacBooks doesn't like the site! So we decided to instead use the screencasting tool built into QuickTime player (that was already on the student's laptops).
Students then set out to create a screencast about how to use a program or application on their computer. They had specific guidelines that had to follow (see here), but pretty much had free reign to make a screencast on whatever they thought would be useful for others to know how to do.
I like this project for a couple of reasons...first, it teaches the students how to make a screencast. And second, it creates a library of "how to" videos for other students (and teachers, and parents!) to learn from! I've already sent out a few of these "how to" videos that the students made to others who were asking how to access a certain program (i.e. our online social studies textbook).
Anyways, here are a few of the student's screencasts. Enjoy!
This year I'm teaching a technology elective again...and I'm thrilled! I love technology, and love how it fits into our mission at MRH Middle School, so the fact that I get to teach an entire class just focusing on that is amazing.
This past week in my technology class we spent time creating our own movie trailers about US using iMovie. The requirements for this project were simple: use iMovie to create a movie trailer that represents you! After we watched my movie trailer I made all about myself, the students set out to create their own. A lot of the students busted out their laptop or cell phone's video camera at home or outside or even at volleyball practice to get some footage they could use for their trailer. Overall, I'm thrilled with how all of these came out. A couple students even made our class pet rat Marbles her own movie trailer! You must check that out here.
Check out all of the students' trailers below! Each one is amazingly unique and does an excellent job showcasing that student! Enjoy!
