Marketing for Educators

Okay, I just HAVE TO write up a post about a really cool online course I just took called "Marketing for Educators."  If you’re looking to take your side business to the next level, I highly recommend taking this course.  Even if you aren’t an educator, this e-course will give you the confidence to apply your current skills and experience into growing your business.

Most marketing information and courses are aimed at people who have a different skill set and more time on their hands.  Everything in this e-course can be done after in the evenings or on the weekends, which is exactly when you will be working to grow your business any way!

Over five lessons you will learn the basics of marketing your product or service including homework assignments to move you along in the process.  The part I love is that you can do these assignments 

Once you’ve completed the course, you will have:

·       a professional business card

·       a prepared an “elevator pitch”

·       created a list of potential customers

·       written a marketing email

The retail price of the course is $25, but using my code SCOOTER, you’ll receive $5 off the cost of the course. The best part is you can access the course at anytime and use the lessons for any business from photography (like me!) to an Etsy shop and everything in between.

Seriously, this course was SO HELPFUL to me for my photography business.  I also have an Etsy shop for some digital prints I do, and I'm planning on applying this e-course for that as well.

Anywho, I don't do "sponsored" posts...um, ever! --but I thought this one was worthy enough of a blog post by me :)  And, I guess it's not even really sponsored--I'm not reaping any monetary benefits or anything from it (just giving YOU a discount if you use it!), I'm just endorsing it I guess I should say.  It really is a very handy course that I think would be super beneficial for anyone wanting to market their small/side business!

If you take the course (don't forget to use the code SCOOTER for $5 off!!) please let me know what you think of it!  I'm anxious to hear! :)

iPhoneography

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! :)

"That Class is Easy."

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...

THIS.

& THIS.

& THIS.

& THIS.

& THIS.

& THIS.

& THIS.

& THIS.

& THIS.

& THIS.

& THIS.

& THIS.

...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.

Why I Love My Job

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.

Top 5 Tech Projects to Try With Your Students This Year

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!

Top 5 Tech Projects to Try With Your Students This Year

Pixlr Project

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

Show-Me a Movie Contest

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!

Knight Lab Story Map Project

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!

World's Fairs

The Winter Olympics

The Journey of the Traveling Pants

Anne Frank

Lewis & Clark's Expedition

Survivor (TV Show)

John Smith's Journey

Knight Lab Timeline Project

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!

The Disney Channel 

Walt Disney

Destiny's Child

Joe Kelly

Mobile Journalism

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!

WeVideo Project

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!

African American Life in the 1800s Video Challenge

It is no surprise that I love a good video challenge.  We actually have done a video challenge this year already (Lewis & Clark), so the students knew the routine with this challenge: they would take the information that we had been talking about, reading, and studying all week and synthesize it into a movie (using iMovie) in one class period.  I sure do love a good challenge--especially a video one.

After learning about how African Americans lived in the 1800s in the US (both as free and slaves), students had to create a video in just one class period (they actually got until 8pm that night to get it uploaded to the class YouTube channel) that included all of the following information:

African American Life in the 1800s

Video Challenge Directions

---

past video examples

Your Video MUST Include:

• use information/pictures from Lesson 19 and the Zinn Reading
• at least 6 pictures
• sound (either spoken text or background music)
• at least 3 important details about African American life in the 1800s
• details about how free blacks in the south lived
• details about how free blacks in the north lived
• details about how slaves lived
• creative, engaging, and informative
• uploaded to the class YouTube channel by 8pm TODAY! (in iMovie, go to “share” then select “YouTube”--make sure you title your movie with YOUR NAME--then type in the YouTube account info below!)
• username: XXXXXXXXX
• password: XXXXXX

Once again, I am blown away at what these students can create when given a challenge and a limited time to do it! Check out a few of their videos below or click HERE to go to the entire playlist from 2012 and 2014. Bravo 8th graders!!

Mobile Journalism

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!

MRH Community Tech Project

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!

3 Branches of Government Project

In social studies we are currently waist-deep in our Early American Government Unit.  We have just learned about the separation of powers, checks and balances, and 3 branches of government system we have here in the US and where it came from (Articles I, II, & III of the US Constitution!).

Students were challenged to create their own project that detailed our government system in a medium that they felt would best showcase their learning and understanding of this concept.  They could choose from an iMovie, cartoon, song/rap, news article, or an infographic (check out the full project details here).  Once students decided on what project they were going to do, they set out to create their project that showcased all about the 3 branches of government.

First off, the variety and creativity of the projects that were turned in was astounding; not one project was like another (I love this!!), yet they all included the same information, material, and concepts!  I really love project-based learning, and I feel like this project definitely hit on that concept.  Students were able to choose a project medium that they could present their information and knowledge in the best possible way.

Anywho, check out a few of the various projects from below!  I hope you'll enjoy them--and find them as informative!--I sure did!

3 Branches Prezi

3 Branches iMovie

3 Branches News Article

3 Branches Infographic

3 Branches Song