Room 319 Happenings Jan. - Feb. 2017

Going the Extra Mile

Written by Kaitlin T.

It’s been a busy six weeks, as we’ve been learning new things and helping the whole school. Both Media A and B have been going the extra mile with their work.

In January, Media B was introduced to the Texas Public Schools Rock Contest. Students were challenged with creating a video to enter for the entire school. Using the prompt, “What makes your school special?,” We collaborated to come up with a creative idea. Thanvi, Kaitlin, Jessica, and Carly took the lead on this project.

For the month of January, Show 3 was successfully produced. The show had a big idea of “self-control”, as that was our character trait of the month. Some of our main highlights included, Post Christmas Depression, Flipped Fridays, Unorthodox Addictions, and the Texas Public Schools contest video. Watch the 3rd installment of WESTV here.

Media A started a new unit on Stop Motion animation. After two weeks spent understanding the animation process, all of the students experimented with creating their own. View some of their creations in the Padlet below.

Currently, Media B is tackling a challenging project as well. They started their big Challenge-Based Learning project for the year with the big idea of “Inform”. Our challenge is to inform all stakeholders of our school's CBL initiative. Watch this trailer to learn more.

It’s been a great six weeks in all, learning new things and polishing old skills. Stay tuned to what else these multimedia classes will accomplish and more about our Math department's "Impact" CBL project.

Room 319 Happenings Nov. - Dec. 2016

Rewind

Written by Thanvi K.

As we began 2017 by diving right into productivity, we wanted to rewind a little and give a quick recap of some of our major achievements and projects during the last marking period.

To start off, as a Multimedia team, we were able to create and release the 1st and 2nd installment of WESTV. Using the new idea of CBL introduced by our school administration, our classes incorporated the character trait of each month into each episode to exemplify a new challenge when it comes to creating our show. Our theme for the first show was the character trait of “Cooperation" and the character trait for the second show was “Caring”. Our show included interesting segments such as Take Care of Texas, National Handwashing Week, Derek Holland, Great Barrier Reef, Shoe Drive, and more. Watch our shows here:

While creating our WESTV shows, all students in Media also created a digital portfolio as their semester exam. In the beginning of the year, we started this as a CBL project with a big idea of "reflection". We challenged ourselves to "Create and maintain a digital portfolio that monitors progress, shows progression, demonstrates knowledge, and includes reflection."

We decide the detailed guidelines and requirements that should be included in the rubric. After that was set and done, all students had the rest of the semester to find the information and images they needed for the assignment. The information included in the portfolio for this semester was mostly about the past and present of the learner while next semester, it will be mostly about the future. You can view a few of the webpages from the links below: 

Shayla

Lin

Matthew

Ernest

Rush

Another challenged proposed to the media learners was the internationally known movement called the “Hour of Code”. This initiative reaches leaners in over 180 countries to try to encourage and show them that anyone can be involved in the evolving sciences of technology.  Our media classes participated by doing a variety of things such as programming robots, coding online, and creating products from coding.

Currently in Media, all kids are hard at work on projects including new WESTV installments, podcasts, and video competitions. Be sure to stay tuned for more information on current projects and new occurrences in the media classroom!

Proud Teaching Moments

One of my former, amazing principals used to say this to us all of the time.  He was master at recognizing even the small contributions of his staff.  I have also been blessed with several co-workers that are masters at the skill of recognizing not just major successes, but the small contributions to the greater good.  My current principal starts every faculty meeting with "Celebrations," a time for educators to recognize other educators. It has been a long time since I have worked in a corporate job, but I don't remember experiencing the kind of "lifting others up" as I have in education.

When I reflect on my proudest teaching moments, a theme of recognition emerges. The thank yous from former and current learners that tell me how I or my class inspired them and how they still use the skills learned in my class years later fills my heart and motivates me to try even harder to reach every learner in my classroom. Seeing my learners win awards or be recognized for projects they completed under my supervision makes me ridiculously giddy and encourages me to seek out more competition experiences for my them. From having grants approved and being nominated for Teacher of the Year and Great Educators Matter awards to the simple compliments from a colleague praising my leadership, a lesson, or my ability to connect with learners, it is surprising how these things have given me the confidence to grow and take risks.

NASSP and NJHS National Service Project Award

Multimedia Service Learning Project

Receiving a GEM Award

Before I took the time to reflect with this post, I didn't think recognition was really an important value to me. I wanted to think of myself as a humble servant and cheerleader to others who had a mature enough self-confidence to not need the praises of others, but deep inside, I think most of us can benefit from the courage a little bit of recognition can give us. I am personally making an effort this year to recognize the greatness in others and challenge you to also find ways to lift up your colleagues and learners daily, because the world already has enough critics.

Leave a comment below with the special ways you recognize learners and colleagues. 

State Video Contest Finalist Voting

Natalie Adams' Take Care of Texas Video has been selected as one of the top six in the state and has made it to round two of voting!  Winners from this round will be chosen by public voting.  Please visit this link and cast your vote for Natalie, 8th grade.

Teacher Tech Tools in Under Two Minutes #3

A few educators have asked me what tool I used to make my Teacher Tech Tools in Under Two Minutes tutorial videos. I have used several different screencasting programs personally and with my learners. Up until very recently, QuickTime was my favorite. That was until my savvy digital learning coach, Trisha Goins, turned me on to a Google Chrome extension called OpenVid. I like the personal touch of the front facing camera. If you are interested in a simple way to screencast with or for your learners, take less than two minutes to watch my short tutorial.  When you are ready to add the OpenVid extension, please use my referral link, to help me get unlimited video access.  

Teacher Tech Tools in Under Two Minutes video series is not the only way I use screencasting.  My learners love to screencast.  We have used it to teach each other technical skills within our Multimedia classes and to create  how-to videos that are informational and entertaining for the entire school.

Please comment below with your favorite screencasting tools and how you use screencasting in your classroom learning experiences.

The Passion Project: A CBL Reflection Part 1

The Passion Project: A CBL Reflection Part 1

By Monica Champagne

“Definition of passion: a strong feeling of enthusiasm or excitement for something or about doing something”-Merriam-Webster. Isn’t that how every teacher wants their learners to feel when they walk in the classroom?

The concept goes by many names, Passion Project, Independent Study, or Genius Hour and I’ve used them all. This year, I added a new title to our Passion project, Challenge-Based Learning. I must say, when this new initiative was proposed to our staff this year, it took me a while to wrap my brain around the idea. However, I love a good challenge and trying new things in my classes in hopes to inspire greatness in my learners.

Our Passion Project assignment has looked different from year to year and subject to subject, but never have I left it as open-ended and learner-led as it will be this year. I simply proposed the Big Idea of “Passion” to my learners and really have no preconceived expectations of where they will take it from there. Let me tell you, as an educator, that can be a scary place to be. Randy Pausch said it best,  “You obviously don't know where the bar should be, and you're only going to do a disservice by putting it anywhere”. With his motivation leading the charge, so begins our adventure. You can view the lesson here. This lesson is a collaboration of many CISD educators including Sunny Richardson, Blended Learning Specialist and Science Instructional Coach, Nicky Fryman, Teen Leadership, and iExplore educators, Katrina Messer, Kim Goodman, and Lisa Pehl.

At this point, we are only about half way through with this year-long exploration journey. Keep following to see how this lesson evolves and learner solutions to the challenge they created.

In what ways has Genius Hour encouraged creativity in your classroom? Leave a comment below.

Teacher Tech Tools in Under Two Minutes #2

Making Your Updates Stand Out in Schoology

Written by: Monica Champagne

Just as I have learned so much from my colleagues, I am often asked technology questions that I can answer in just a few minutes to make life easier for other educators.  This week's Teacher Tech Tools in Under Two Minutes shows you how to make your updates stand out by pinning them to the top of your learners windows.

Here is Teacher Tech Tools in Under Two Minutes Lesson #2-  Fun Schoology Announcement Features