Here is the link to my 5 minute iMovie on two grocery stores in Valdez, Alaska--Rogue's Garden, a health food store, and Carrs Safeway, a "mainstream" grocery store.
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Friday, February 24, 2012
QuadBlogging, the next chapter for my English classes?
On a walk today, while thinking about a problem that I share with my English students, I realized that an organization like QuadBlogging offers some solutions. My English students and I feel uninspired as writers because we don't have a meaningful audience for our work. I have enjoyed designing this blog and writing my weekly posts, yet our class is not set up to encourage (or require) fellow students to respond to our blogs. As a blog author, I feel that I have designed a comfortable and creative place for people to have discussions and share their ideas, yet no one shows up to partake in the discussion. My sophomore English students, for the most part, really dislike the type of writing they are required to turn in to their teachers. They know that their writing will be analyzed, graded, given a bit of positive feedback, and returned to them. What a boring journey for a piece of writing. Who cares about writing a quality essay, except for those students who are highly motivated to get a good grade? In our CEP 882 class, our small group discussions on Facebook are improving in quality and relevance, yet our blogs are silent repositories for our weekly posts and creative projects. How can I change the journey of my students' writing so that they can post to a blog and receive meaningful feedback from fellow students around the world? I wish that I had feedback on my blog posts, and I know that it would breathe life into my students' writing to have an audience for a blog that showcases their ideas and creative projects.
In the system of QuadBlogging, a group of 4 schools makes an agreement to comment on each other's blogs on a 4-week rotation schedule. These schools are matched by grade level and specific interests. I plan to be a full-time English teacher next year, with a classroom blog for each English class. With the QuadBlogging structure, my students will be able to respond to the blogs created by students in other parts of the U.S. (or world) during a 3-week period while they prepare the posts that they want to share with the 3 partner schools. During their week in the spotlight, the students will receive quality comments on their writing from fellow students. I look forward to measuring the growth in writing skills and motivation while doing this QuadBlogging program next year, as compared to the relatively slow rate of growth this year with the traditional system of classroom writing.
I know that this post doesn't connect to our interior design studies for this week, except in the imaginative way in which a blogger deliberately creates a "salon" environment for discussions on selected ideas. When the blogger's voice echoes in an empty "salon", the motivation to write starts to die away.
In the system of QuadBlogging, a group of 4 schools makes an agreement to comment on each other's blogs on a 4-week rotation schedule. These schools are matched by grade level and specific interests. I plan to be a full-time English teacher next year, with a classroom blog for each English class. With the QuadBlogging structure, my students will be able to respond to the blogs created by students in other parts of the U.S. (or world) during a 3-week period while they prepare the posts that they want to share with the 3 partner schools. During their week in the spotlight, the students will receive quality comments on their writing from fellow students. I look forward to measuring the growth in writing skills and motivation while doing this QuadBlogging program next year, as compared to the relatively slow rate of growth this year with the traditional system of classroom writing.
I know that this post doesn't connect to our interior design studies for this week, except in the imaginative way in which a blogger deliberately creates a "salon" environment for discussions on selected ideas. When the blogger's voice echoes in an empty "salon", the motivation to write starts to die away.
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Connections between Japanese Internment Camps and my 4-6th grade classroom
This post is in honor of the teacher who inspired me to follow in her footsteps, Ms. Chiyo Masuda. I learned life-long lessons during my three years as her student in a combined grade classroom for 4th-6th grade in Berkeley, California. As a young girl, Ms. Masuda and her family were forced to live in a Japanese-American internment camp during WWII. By teaching her students about how she dealt with this early exposure to racism and fear, she showed us to rise above injustice and prejudice in order to create a respectful learning community. (Here is a link to an excellent student-created Voice Thread about the Internment Camp experience)
In my recent studies of interior design, I have been thinking about Ms. Masuda's effective interior design of our 4th-6th classroom. Even though I was young, I have three years worth of memories of that classroom, with a wall of windows opposite the doorway, cozy nooks for game playing, low bookshelves that created a window seat area, tables for collaborative work and beautiful pieces of Japanese artwork along with featured student artwork. In the evocative terminology of Sarah Susanka, I responded to the elements of "light to walk towards", "shelter around activity", "public to private"(group work spaces and private reading spaces) and "point of focus" (the Japanese and student artwork.)
I have also reflected on how incredibly devastating it must have been to Ms. Masuda as a young child of 7 to be forcibly moved from her family home in the Bay Area to the ugly barracks of the internment camp. I can't recall which camp was her "home" nor can I remember how many years she spent there. My dear teacher passed away 16 years ago, so I am unable to talk with her about her experiences. However, during her three years as my teacher, I remember how she gathered us together in reading groups focused on books such as Farewell to Manzanar and Number the Stars so that we could learn about the heart-wrenching experiences of the concentration camps of the Holocaust and the Japanese Internment camps. The Voicethread project (in the link above) includes some thought-provoking interviews with survivors of the Japanese Internment camps. One woman recalls the shame felt by the intensely private Japanese women when they had to use public latrines without walls for privacy. Using their artistic talents to rise above their inhumane conditions, the women discovered that they could salvage and decorate large boxes, thus creating beautiful privacy shields for their personal use. I imagine that Ms. Masuda, her family and friends in the internment camps had to use all of their strength of will and artistic powers to find beauty in the desert environments of the barracks. Perhaps these experiences helped to fine-tune her sense of interior design, so that she could create spaces where my classmates and I could feel at home in the classroom.
In my recent studies of interior design, I have been thinking about Ms. Masuda's effective interior design of our 4th-6th classroom. Even though I was young, I have three years worth of memories of that classroom, with a wall of windows opposite the doorway, cozy nooks for game playing, low bookshelves that created a window seat area, tables for collaborative work and beautiful pieces of Japanese artwork along with featured student artwork. In the evocative terminology of Sarah Susanka, I responded to the elements of "light to walk towards", "shelter around activity", "public to private"(group work spaces and private reading spaces) and "point of focus" (the Japanese and student artwork.)
I have also reflected on how incredibly devastating it must have been to Ms. Masuda as a young child of 7 to be forcibly moved from her family home in the Bay Area to the ugly barracks of the internment camp. I can't recall which camp was her "home" nor can I remember how many years she spent there. My dear teacher passed away 16 years ago, so I am unable to talk with her about her experiences. However, during her three years as my teacher, I remember how she gathered us together in reading groups focused on books such as Farewell to Manzanar and Number the Stars so that we could learn about the heart-wrenching experiences of the concentration camps of the Holocaust and the Japanese Internment camps. The Voicethread project (in the link above) includes some thought-provoking interviews with survivors of the Japanese Internment camps. One woman recalls the shame felt by the intensely private Japanese women when they had to use public latrines without walls for privacy. Using their artistic talents to rise above their inhumane conditions, the women discovered that they could salvage and decorate large boxes, thus creating beautiful privacy shields for their personal use. I imagine that Ms. Masuda, her family and friends in the internment camps had to use all of their strength of will and artistic powers to find beauty in the desert environments of the barracks. Perhaps these experiences helped to fine-tune her sense of interior design, so that she could create spaces where my classmates and I could feel at home in the classroom.
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Telling Compelling Stories
Last weekend, I coached a group of 8 young students who won the "Judge's Award" at a statewide LEGO robotics tournament in Fairbanks, Alaska. Our young team won this award (and a wonderful LEGO trophy) because they were able to tell a compelling story to the judges. Last September, an 8-year old student (with some help from his 11-year old brother) wrote a persuasive letter to our school principal asking him to find the funding for a LEGO robotics club. Last weekend, the students explained how this persuasive letter created opportunities for 18 young LEGO fanatics, and allowed our team to win a qualifying event, which resulted in funding for our participation in the state competition. Since our club started in late September, we have enjoyed five months of hands-on, challenging learning experiences with LEGO robotics materials. These learning opportunities were the direct result of one person's compelling story, written as a persuasive letter, which set everything in motion.
As a language arts teacher, I want students to understand the power of well-written and well-told stories. Even if the students are dreaming of a career in films, game design or another entertainment industry, they need to learn how to appreciate, analyze and write compelling stories. If they want to create an award-winning game, they need to use the age-old elements of a compelling story design when creating this game. If they want to persuade someone to bring their amazing game design concept to the market, they need to understand the age-old techniques of story-telling and persuasion. I found three important ideas in the Groh articles about the film-maker as a story-teller: find the “so what?” element of your story; start the story at the point where your audience cares about something important; and find a way to condense your story (or lesson or grant proposal, etc.) into two sentences in order to understand the answer to the question, "so what?"
Now, how do I use these arguments to motivate my Sophomore English students to write their best essays about Shakespeare's timeless drama, Hamlet? How do I answer their "so what?" question about the need to respond to this powerful drama in the form of a five paragraph essay? Good question....
As a language arts teacher, I want students to understand the power of well-written and well-told stories. Even if the students are dreaming of a career in films, game design or another entertainment industry, they need to learn how to appreciate, analyze and write compelling stories. If they want to create an award-winning game, they need to use the age-old elements of a compelling story design when creating this game. If they want to persuade someone to bring their amazing game design concept to the market, they need to understand the age-old techniques of story-telling and persuasion. I found three important ideas in the Groh articles about the film-maker as a story-teller: find the “so what?” element of your story; start the story at the point where your audience cares about something important; and find a way to condense your story (or lesson or grant proposal, etc.) into two sentences in order to understand the answer to the question, "so what?"
Now, how do I use these arguments to motivate my Sophomore English students to write their best essays about Shakespeare's timeless drama, Hamlet? How do I answer their "so what?" question about the need to respond to this powerful drama in the form of a five paragraph essay? Good question....
"Director's Notes" on my "Tae Kwan Snow" short movie
Director’s Notes:
“It was becoming clear to me that as teachers, we rely too much on text and talk. We do not create rich multimedia experiences that enhance learning processes.”
This quote is from Goodman’s 2004 article, “Filmmaking and Research: An Intersection.” In this one-minute movie, I wanted to play with the contrasts between my personal life as a 6th year student of Tae Kwan Do as compared to my professional life as a teacher of a required Sophomore English class. I hoped that my opening sequence of “Tae Kwan Snow” would be visually interesting and intriguing, with a view of the “Valdez Arm” of Prince William Sound. I wanted people to ask questions as they watched this sequence. How much is this action speeded up? Why is this student practicing her “form” (palgwe 7) on a snowy trail? Is it difficult to execute those moves with heavy winter boots?
I wanted to use an extended shot to capture the focus and flow that we practice in our Tae Kwan Do school. I was on my own for the filming, so I set up the camera on a tripod and let it record the action. Due to the time constraint of a minute for the entire movie, I speeded up the “form” to 150% of normal speed. Typically, the form takes slightly less than a minute to complete. I considered doing a “voice over” for the information about the core values of our Tae Kwan Do school, then decided to use the “ticker tape” feature instead so that I wouldn’t interrupt the Native flute music. The musician, Evren Ozan, is a friend of mine—an amazing teenager who composed and performed this piece, “The Climb” when he was 15 years old. He produced 3 CDs before his 15th birthday: Images of Winter (2001), As Things Could Be (2003), and Alluvia (2006). (see http://ozanmusic.com/ for more details on Evren’s musical career.) I admire Evren’s dedication and whole-hearted immersion to his musical studies. When I was a coordinator for home school program in Prince William Sound, I wrote grants in 2005 and 2008 to allow Evren to share his music with students in Valdez and Anchorage, Alaska.
The Tae Kwan Do practice and Evren’s music speak to the core values of our TKD school: courtesy, integrity, respect, self-control, indominable spirit, and perseverance. In contrast, my sophomore English classroom has been a challenge for many reasons, including the fact that our high school does not have a school-wide sense of core values and respect for learning. I have been teaching for 15 years, yet this is my first year in this role as a teacher of a required English class. In my teaching experiences up to this point, I have worked mostly with motivated, enthusiastic students, ranging from kindergarteners, gifted/talented students and home schooling families. I feel like I have hit a brick wall with this group of mostly apathetic, cynical students.
In the classroom scenes, I zeroed in on 2 posters that were hung by my colleague who teaches afternoon English classes in this classroom. The “YOU” is meant to remind students to refrain from using “you” in their essays, yet it speaks to me about the students’ sense of alienation and resentment in this classroom. The “Cell Phones OFF, Brains ON, Any Questions?” is a school-wide poster that disturbs me due to the sarcasm implied in that rhetorical question. Although my colleague and I TRY to teach in a way that fosters curiosity and trust, so that students will ask interesting questions, this poster seems to be heading in the opposite direction. Clearly, students should follow the black/white rules and not even need to ask WHY they can’t use their favorite form of communication—their cell phones.
Although I have progressive ideas about education and the uses of technology in the classroom, the stress of teaching this English class for the first time has resulted in a regression to “old school” teaching: “Pay attention…don’t talk to your neighbor…sit up straight…focus….pay attention…you’ll need to know this for the test…no, you can’t use your computer now…no, you can’t listen to your music…sit up straight…don’t talk with your neighbor…pay attention…” I wanted to raise these questions that have troubled me this year: “When students are forced to take a class for their own good, can they participate willingly, with enthusiasm? When they are forced to learn for THE TEST, perform for their teachers, and not talk to each other, what happens to their spirits?” I tell my students, “Teaching is listening, learning is talking,” yet what can I do when the students put their heads down and refuse to participate….refuse to discuss ideas…..refuse to “play the game” to get good grades? In Goodman’s 2004 article about filmmaking and research, he says, ““Having the ability to state a question that excites people and captures their attention is a gift. Finding the right question to ask is more of a challenge. The
process of finding the right question also is common to filmmaking and research.”
I love watching thought-provoking documentaries because of the questions that I start to ask when I learn more about a new subject. I hope that it was effective to insert my own questions instead of just relying on the viewer asking his or her own questions. I played with asking questions as a “voice over” or through the “ticker tape” methods, but I was annoyed by both of these methods. I felt that breaking the scene and inserting a black screen with a question worked best. Another goal of presenting questions to the viewer was to evoke the feeling of being in a classroom where a teacher is asking open-ended questions (definitely biased questions, but still open-ended) and inviting you to reflect on these educational issues.
This short movie is still very rough around the edges. Next time, I'll use a tripod for all of the shots, since the shaky quality of the classroom scenes is distracting. Clearly, I need to learn how to use the zoom feature in a smooth way so that mechanical issues don’t get in the way of the story I want to tell. I was surprised to get the black/white image of the desk silhouetted against the window when I zoomed into the source of light (and escape) from the sterile classroom. There were multiple time constraints—the one-minute limit and the amount of available time in my very busy schedule. The interview with Paul Hirsch by G. Oldham made me think about the mind-boggling amount of time that is involved with editing films. I enjoyed reading about his attention to musical scores especially in the context of the movie, “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”, since the score is such an integral part of this classic comedy. My preferred movie genre is comedy, and I have great respect for the screenwriters and directors who can make us laugh by surprising us and finding the playful, ridiculous moments in everyday life. I wish that I could have dreamed up a one-minute comedy for this film assignment, but my brain has been occupied by some heavy thoughts about education. Of course, my best days in the classroom are the days in which I joke around with the students and find ways to break through their apathy with intelligent humor. Perhaps I’ll try to film a comedy next time….
“It was becoming clear to me that as teachers, we rely too much on text and talk. We do not create rich multimedia experiences that enhance learning processes.”
This quote is from Goodman’s 2004 article, “Filmmaking and Research: An Intersection.” In this one-minute movie, I wanted to play with the contrasts between my personal life as a 6th year student of Tae Kwan Do as compared to my professional life as a teacher of a required Sophomore English class. I hoped that my opening sequence of “Tae Kwan Snow” would be visually interesting and intriguing, with a view of the “Valdez Arm” of Prince William Sound. I wanted people to ask questions as they watched this sequence. How much is this action speeded up? Why is this student practicing her “form” (palgwe 7) on a snowy trail? Is it difficult to execute those moves with heavy winter boots?
I wanted to use an extended shot to capture the focus and flow that we practice in our Tae Kwan Do school. I was on my own for the filming, so I set up the camera on a tripod and let it record the action. Due to the time constraint of a minute for the entire movie, I speeded up the “form” to 150% of normal speed. Typically, the form takes slightly less than a minute to complete. I considered doing a “voice over” for the information about the core values of our Tae Kwan Do school, then decided to use the “ticker tape” feature instead so that I wouldn’t interrupt the Native flute music. The musician, Evren Ozan, is a friend of mine—an amazing teenager who composed and performed this piece, “The Climb” when he was 15 years old. He produced 3 CDs before his 15th birthday: Images of Winter (2001), As Things Could Be (2003), and Alluvia (2006). (see http://ozanmusic.com/ for more details on Evren’s musical career.) I admire Evren’s dedication and whole-hearted immersion to his musical studies. When I was a coordinator for home school program in Prince William Sound, I wrote grants in 2005 and 2008 to allow Evren to share his music with students in Valdez and Anchorage, Alaska.
The Tae Kwan Do practice and Evren’s music speak to the core values of our TKD school: courtesy, integrity, respect, self-control, indominable spirit, and perseverance. In contrast, my sophomore English classroom has been a challenge for many reasons, including the fact that our high school does not have a school-wide sense of core values and respect for learning. I have been teaching for 15 years, yet this is my first year in this role as a teacher of a required English class. In my teaching experiences up to this point, I have worked mostly with motivated, enthusiastic students, ranging from kindergarteners, gifted/talented students and home schooling families. I feel like I have hit a brick wall with this group of mostly apathetic, cynical students.
In the classroom scenes, I zeroed in on 2 posters that were hung by my colleague who teaches afternoon English classes in this classroom. The “YOU” is meant to remind students to refrain from using “you” in their essays, yet it speaks to me about the students’ sense of alienation and resentment in this classroom. The “Cell Phones OFF, Brains ON, Any Questions?” is a school-wide poster that disturbs me due to the sarcasm implied in that rhetorical question. Although my colleague and I TRY to teach in a way that fosters curiosity and trust, so that students will ask interesting questions, this poster seems to be heading in the opposite direction. Clearly, students should follow the black/white rules and not even need to ask WHY they can’t use their favorite form of communication—their cell phones.
Although I have progressive ideas about education and the uses of technology in the classroom, the stress of teaching this English class for the first time has resulted in a regression to “old school” teaching: “Pay attention…don’t talk to your neighbor…sit up straight…focus….pay attention…you’ll need to know this for the test…no, you can’t use your computer now…no, you can’t listen to your music…sit up straight…don’t talk with your neighbor…pay attention…” I wanted to raise these questions that have troubled me this year: “When students are forced to take a class for their own good, can they participate willingly, with enthusiasm? When they are forced to learn for THE TEST, perform for their teachers, and not talk to each other, what happens to their spirits?” I tell my students, “Teaching is listening, learning is talking,” yet what can I do when the students put their heads down and refuse to participate….refuse to discuss ideas…..refuse to “play the game” to get good grades? In Goodman’s 2004 article about filmmaking and research, he says, ““Having the ability to state a question that excites people and captures their attention is a gift. Finding the right question to ask is more of a challenge. The
process of finding the right question also is common to filmmaking and research.”
I love watching thought-provoking documentaries because of the questions that I start to ask when I learn more about a new subject. I hope that it was effective to insert my own questions instead of just relying on the viewer asking his or her own questions. I played with asking questions as a “voice over” or through the “ticker tape” methods, but I was annoyed by both of these methods. I felt that breaking the scene and inserting a black screen with a question worked best. Another goal of presenting questions to the viewer was to evoke the feeling of being in a classroom where a teacher is asking open-ended questions (definitely biased questions, but still open-ended) and inviting you to reflect on these educational issues.
This short movie is still very rough around the edges. Next time, I'll use a tripod for all of the shots, since the shaky quality of the classroom scenes is distracting. Clearly, I need to learn how to use the zoom feature in a smooth way so that mechanical issues don’t get in the way of the story I want to tell. I was surprised to get the black/white image of the desk silhouetted against the window when I zoomed into the source of light (and escape) from the sterile classroom. There were multiple time constraints—the one-minute limit and the amount of available time in my very busy schedule. The interview with Paul Hirsch by G. Oldham made me think about the mind-boggling amount of time that is involved with editing films. I enjoyed reading about his attention to musical scores especially in the context of the movie, “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”, since the score is such an integral part of this classic comedy. My preferred movie genre is comedy, and I have great respect for the screenwriters and directors who can make us laugh by surprising us and finding the playful, ridiculous moments in everyday life. I wish that I could have dreamed up a one-minute comedy for this film assignment, but my brain has been occupied by some heavy thoughts about education. Of course, my best days in the classroom are the days in which I joke around with the students and find ways to break through their apathy with intelligent humor. Perhaps I’ll try to film a comedy next time….
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Reasons to study short videos with high school students
The format of the short, creative, surprising video allows students to study the 6 principals discussed in one of my favorite "idea" books: Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath. By discussing a short video such as the creative "Break Ton Neck" by Alex Yde from VIMEO (embedded below), the students can see how these 6 principals come into play to create a compelling experience: simple, unexpected, concrete, credible, emotional, and story elements. Three other VIMEO experiences that I highly recommend are the one-minute, incredibly edited films entitled "MOVE", "LEARN" and "EAT" posted by Rick Mereki. Absolutely amazing...
Break ton Neck from Alex Yde on Vimeo.
The JOY of sharing short videos with high school students
Most high school students respond to videos....especially short, intense, surprising videos. The students can learn how to communicate their ideas, even in written form, by studying the effective format of these short videos. I will post 2 of the creative short videos from VIMEO and one from You Tube that my high school English students enjoyed. This You Tube video (from the ONION NEWS network) provoked the best discussion and writing assignment!
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