MAC Week 4 - Comment 2

Photo by Paul Devoto

Original post from Paul:

As many of you know, there was a lunar eclipse several months ago. I was fortunate enough to be in an area of Northern California where the skies cleared up just an hour or so before the eclipse was set to commence. To make the experience more exciting, the complex I currently live in has a gorgeous open-air walkable roof atop the 6th floor. So I planned for the post-midnight event in the following way.

I did a basic google search for photographing a lunar eclipse. As you would expect, there were thousands of hits, and from the first ten results alone, many of them were incredibly useful. I then modified the search for the specific camera body and lens I was going to use and I found this article. I then jotted down some of the settings suggestions, grabbed my camera, a tripod, and of course a jacket and headed to the roof.

After some practice shots using primarily a method of trial and error, I ended up with several hundred photos. In iPhoto, I picked the ones that turned out the sharpest for the various stages and dragged them onto a Keynote slide. I adjusted the parameters of the Keynote slide to be 3000 pixels wide, and used the shape button to add circles which were then used to crop the moons. Finally, I add a diagonal line (which was later removed) to guide the uppermost tip of each moon in a smooth line.

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My response:

Paul,

This turned out amazing.  I wanted to see the eclipse, but it was cloudy in Ohio that night.

While I was on your Flickr page, I check out some of your other stuff.  I love photos of the fire dancers, the colors are amazing in the one of the poppies, and how did you get that picture of the owl?!

The only problem is that you use Nikon.

MAC Week 4 - Comment 1

Screen capture of Mark Dohn's Blog

Original post by Mark Dohn:

The last month. Wow. In a few short weeks I’ll be a graduate of Full Sail! In a few short weeks I’ll be in Israel! Whoa. What? Yes! Israel! My son is turning 13 next month and we’ll be having his Bar Mitzvah in Israel. There are a lot of reasons that go into a choice like this, but suffice to say everything is worth it.

3 years ago, it was my daughter’s 13th and we were celebrating. EVERYONE decided to come to Israel for the Bat Mitzvah....including my mom.

     Yeah. “Dangerous Jan”. My mom has never travelled really. She had never needed a passport, or flown for more than a few hours from our home in Ohio. Now she was packing up for the 14 hour flight halfway around the world. These two pictures from that trip sum up this month and our reading.

     The picture of my mom was the first time she had seen the Sea of Galilee. She is a very religious and spiritual individual, and I snapped this photo as she stood there ABSORBING her surroundings. This was her field trip of a lifetime. She had waited for so long, and now she was THERE. Living, breathing, feeling every bit of the experience.

     Several days later we were in Jerusalem at the Western Wall. This was my son’s first trip and as we got to the wall, he urgently requested a pen and paper. Using the worn edge of one of those massive stones, he wrote something. It is a tradition to write a prayer and place it in between the stones. I have no idea what he wrote - I wasn’t allowed near him - but the intensity from this 10-year-old boy was incredible. What is in these photos is two very powerful experiences. They are tangible and real. Neither of them has forgotten one moment of what is in these images (and I asked them both). And I ask myself, why we don’t teach like this?

Maybe is time to replace

Reading,

Writing and

Arithmetic

With

Exploration,

Expression and

Relationship

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My Response:

Mark,

These are amazingly powerful memories for you and your family.  I agree that if we could get more experiences like these into education, everyone would benefit.  I want my students to approach school like this. 

My most powerful experience as a teacher happened a month ago when I taught "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night" by Dylan Thomas.  The poem was written to the poet's dying father, and it discourages him from giving up.  In the two days we studied the poem, it made 3 people cry, all because the poem expressed the experience they had when family members close to them died.  The combination of their past experience, the expression in the poem, and the relationships made the experience in class those days more powerful.  They understood the poem.  

I felt horrible when it happened, but when I talked to them about it later, they said that they really appreciated reading something that they could relate to in class.  You're right, we need more of this.

MAC Week 3 - Comment 2

Screen capture of Paul Devoto's blog.

Paul's original post:
I would like to focus this blog entry on the idea of admitting your mistakes. This is referenced in Chapter 5 of the Art of Possibility when they described the typical behavior of those in positions of power who rarely admit to their mistakes. I learned how important this skill was in college when I was in charge of a group of 50+ peers who relied on my to make good decisions on behalf of the group at large. The person who led the group before me was very confident in his management and had a hawkish, boss-like personality. I never recall him ever admitting fault.

When I took over, I tried to be as humble as possible while still making well-reasoned executive decisions when needed. Whenever I made a mistake, I made it a priority to admit it publicly and share what I learned in the process. This helped the members to feel respected and also made my actions more transparent.

As a teacher, I make sure that my students understand this way of carrying themselves. I model it myself, never exaggerating that "I never make a mistake" or dismiss the mistake as trivial. Instead, I calmly and inquisitively analyze how I mistakenly came to the wrong conclusion and explain how I will do it differently in the future based on this mistake. I find that this makes kids more comfortable when they make mistakes and even encourages them to feel safe when participating in class.

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My comment:

Paul,
It's important to let our students know that we make mistakes. I make a point of letting my kids know that I make mistakes all the time. They get a kick out of the fact that I'm an English teacher and I still make misspell words when I'm writing on the board. I don't hide it because I want them to know that it's common to make mistakes, but you have to correct them and learn from them.
The other aspect I teach them is how to respectfully point out a mistake. I don't care if they let me know that I've made a mistake, as long as they are polite going about it. No one wants to be criticized for making a mistake, but they want the opportunity to correct it.

MAC Week 3 - Comment 1

Screen capture of Dena Whipple's Blog

Dena's original post:

I love Zander’s intrinsic nature about his power over the orchestra. His approach in this matter is the key to his success. For me as a reader, hearing how he continually analyzes his effectiveness, energizes me about my teaching and learning process. I enjoyed reading about his “white sheet” process and think that would be a great idea in education as well as many other fields. Perhaps we should all consider ourselves as conductors or our orchestras (students) and focus solely on trying to find their spark.
One of my favorite chapters was Six and the discussion of rule number six. I want to photocopy this onto a page and place it in the mailbox of everyone I work with. Some need it more than others but it’s something for everyone to keep in the back of their mind (including me). What I thought was a really interesting statement in this chapter was “A child comes to think of himself as the personality he gets recognition for….”(pg 82). It makes me think of kids that grow up only getting noticed when their behavior is less than perfect, rather than being acknowledged for any of the positive actions they take. So they continue on that pattern because at least they’re getting SOME attention. This behavior leads into the calculating self as an adult. It’s fascinating for me to read about his theory for why we continually try to make progress and position ourselves higher and higher, almost to the point of not being content in our current situation. But that, in fact, it is the central self that is more in tune with what we really need on a personal and professional level. I know I keep saying it but the timing this book could not be more perfect and I hope my classmates are getting as much from this reading as I am. I am continually inspired by Zander, especially the last few pages of chapter 8 where he discusses the glass being half full or half empty and the importance of seeing “the way things are” (page 110). I like the way this makes me feel because I have always considered myself an optimist. It’s further support in my dealings with the calculating selves of others!

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My comment:


Dena,
I was also struck by Zander's comment about how students identify with what ever behaviors cause them to receive attention (I discussed it in my blog, too).

I've been thinking about how to apply some of his practices, like the white sheet.  This week I had two girls in my Intro to Journalism class who wanted to drop the class because they thought is was boring and hard.  They assured me that it had nothing to do with me.  They were shocked when I asked them to take the weekend to think up some recommendations on how I could make the class more engaging and get back with me on Monday.

I'm not sure if they know that I'm serious, but if they have suggestions tomorrow, I'm going to take them into consideration.

And I don't just want to give my colleagues a copy of Rule #6; I think they need to read the whole book!

MAC Week 2 - Comment 2

Screen capture from Danielle Miles' post, "Leadership Project Continued"

Danielle's original post:

As I try to wrap my head further around the idea of presenting at a conference, I have been doing a bit of surfing and searching of the web.  My goal was to get a feel for what types of conferences are available, what sort of timeline I am working with in terms of applying and scheduling of details, and to see who these types of conferences are geared toward.  I came across some pretty valuable information and thought that I might share. 

I found a site http://www.theconferencecalendar.com/  that offered the following information:

Media Literacy, Greening the Classroom & Designing the 21^st C. Classroom

San Antonio Texas

June 20^th-24^th

http://www.21stcenturyschools.com/Workshop_Schedule_Location.htm

The San Antonio Summer Institute is a five day event that combines our Media Literacy, Greening the Classroom and Designing the 21st Century Classroom workshops into a seamless, relevant and comprehensive learning experience.

Summer 2011 Teaching with Technology Workshops

Cambridge Massachusetts

June 23^rd-August 5

http://www.edtechteacher.org/workshops

Inspiring Technology Integration Ideas with Acclaimed Education Technology Leaders

Breakthrough Strategies to Teach and Counsel Troubled Youth

Lake Oswego, Oregon

October 13^th-14^th

http://www.youthchg.com

Learn how to involve troubled and challenged youth in learning. This class explains the challenges

that children can face, and how to effectively teach and assist those youngsters. Participants will discover how to best integrate challenged youth.

33^rd National Media Market

Las Vegas, Nevada

October 16^th- 20^th

http://www.nmm.net

The National Media Market (NMM) is a non-profit organization that brings together 
content providers and professionals involved in the use of media in teaching and 
learning. From K12, to public libraries, to colleges and universities, NMM and the 
participating companies support the development of all types of libraries as 
learning communities of the 21st Century.

So all in all I am off to a good start.  I am still a bit nervous about the process particularly with the actual proposal.  But as always, when I let go and let our very capable and informed professors guide us through the process, I do just fine.


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My comment to Danielle:

Okay, Danielle, looking at your "Free Choice" blogs for the past two weeks makes me feel very, very behind on the Publishing/Leadership project.  But, thanks to your posts, especially this one, I now have some resources to start working with.

Thanks for sharing!

MAC Week 2 - Comment 1

Screen capture of Mark Dohn's blog post, "I Can't Drink the Punch."

Mark Dohn's original post:

It started today: Test Prep.

   On Monday, I received this monstrous, convoluted table of where I need to be and who’s class I need to cover while teachers work with groups of students. So today, at the appropriate time, I arrived at the gymnasium with 200 eighth graders. They were ushered in and sat down on the hardwood floor.

   For the next thirty minutes they were verbally assaulted by the chair of our Science Department about astronomy. They were told how he helped to write the test, and that they would do better if they listened to his endless list of astronomy facts. We don’t teach to the test...we just cram for it!

   A year ago I would have been positive. A team player telling the students how this was a necessary evil in education today. Twelve months later and one month from finishing my degree here at Full Sail, and I cannot stomach it any more.

I cannot live with it. I cannot condone it. Standardized testing is simply wrong. Judging kids according to their performance with a Number 2 pencil is a disservice, and it needs to end.


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My comment to Mark:

Oh, Mark, you're singin' my song. Tomorrow, my sophomore students will begin taking the Ohio Graduation Test (OGT) with the reading portion, and the other four core subject will follow one a day for the rest of the week.
I finished my previous unit on March 4th, so this past week we took some time to make-up tests and quizzes from that unit and then had a few days where I talked to them about the test.  I don't cram, I try to spread everything out over the first three quarters so that it's not a rush or a frenzy in the few weeks before the test, but I'm tired of even focusing on it. 
In the past three years, the kids are always nervous because of how little I talk about it, but I tell them at the beginning of the year that if they pay attention in class and do what I ask of them, they will do well on the test, and they generally do.  But in the end, I don't believe that standardized tests are the answer. 
When I was reading chapter 3 in  THE ART OF POSSIBILITY this week, I found myself wanting what the authors were describing.  And the more I thought about it, the more I realized the only thing standing in the way in students apathy towards learning, which I believe is a result of the false learning that is generated by standardized testing. If we are failing our students, it's not a result of a lack of collecting data, but rather, I think the way we are collecting data is getting in the way of true, substantial and meaningful teaching and learning.

MAC_Week1_Comment2

Screen capture of Paul DeVoto's Blog Post

Paul's Text:

After watching the myriad of videos on copyright, I still have questions, and that’s just not right, man!

As an educator in today’s digital age, I want my students to engage in digital content in a way that inspires them to bring their best to the world. I want them to able to reuse, remix, and add onto inspiring media that they connect with without having to worry about legal trouble.

Watching the videos about copyright, it is clear that there needs to be a balance between remix-freedom and copyright violation. A personal example I can relate to has to do with music. My friend's band, Alma Desnuda, has music for sale through iTunes, Amazon, and other online sites. If somebody were to put one of their songs online, it would take away from valuable revenue that they need to make it. So where is the balance?

That's hard to determine, especially since some unwarranted usage can actually increase exposure and therefore awareness of your brand. An example that comes to mind is the Chris Brown song that was played for this wedding video. The wedding video actually generated a lot of buzz for that song! So by having his copy-righted music used in this way, he actually benefitted.

As many of my peers have said, it's a fascinating debate and I'm interested in seeing where it goes.

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You're right, Paul.  This week has provided me with the most comprehensive overview of issues related to copyright, and I'm still not completely comfortable. But, I think everyone needs to be in search of the sweet spot that lies between the extremes.  This year our school newspaper staff chose to begin using images with Creative Commons licenses in the publication because we don't have the man power to get all the diverse images we need. It's been a great solution.

It's interesting that you posted that wedding march video.  Based on our "reading" this week, I think that the music in that video could be defended as fair use because it might qualify as incidental music and, more importantly, without the song, the video could not have the same effect.  The music is integral to the purpose of the video.  But, the fact is we'll never know for sure unless someone takes the video creature to court.  Until then, we'll sit in the grey area and wait it out.

MAC_Week1_Comment1

Screen Cap of Mike Padilla's blog post

Mike's Text:

As a teacher of video production in a High School, my students always like using copyrighted material in their work. Whether they add music, clips from movies, or pictures into their work, a good majority of it is copyrighted. Since it's all for educational purposes and it doesn't leave the classroom, it's never been much of an issue, but all of the videos certainly opened my eyes to the issues with copyright materials.

The film Good Copy/Bad Copy was quite informative and entertaining. I'm glad it featured DJ Danger Mouse because I remember listening to his remix album of Jay Z rapping of mashed up Beatles beats. I remember thinking it was such a great album and I was interested in how the legal issues all panned out. I also had no idea that Nigerian cinema was so huge! That segment was particularly interesting because of the amount of bootlegging that goes on in Nigeria and also how they feel that releasing movies straight to video helps to combat piracy.

Though I thought some of the editing in the film was a bit odd, I really liked how they showed the issue of piracy and copyright from all parts of the world and both between music and movies. I also liked some of the comments in the movie, such as how "freedom drives a more vibrant economy" rather than control. As a huge fan of music and movies, I thought the issues brought up were both relevant and informative and it will certainly be interesting to see how this is handled down the road. As one of the interviewee's in the film said, if they close down piracy in Europe, it'll start up in China. If they close up in China, it'll open up in Russia, and on and on.

Lastly, the videos on Copyright, Fair Use, and Creative Commons were also very informative. I especially liked the video A Fair(y) Use Tail. I thought this was so innovative and brilliant from an editing standpoint and I wonder how long it took them to do this!

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My journalism students seem to share the same thoughts as your video production students.  I think the main difference is that in a journalism class, the "educational purpose" defense has not held up because copyright infringement is legally recognized as one of the nine forms of unprotected free speech, even if you give attribution.  Also, the journalism industry doesn't have a sector that capitalizes on the use of second hand media, such as the documentarians in the movie industry featured in the fair use videos.

This is not to say that you should change your practice. I'm not here passing judgement.  When I have my English students create videos, I'm more lenient in regards to the use of copyrighted material when it is not going to leave the room, but I do require students to give credit to the original copyright holder.

I enjoyed Good Copy/Bad Copy, also.  I hadn't heard of The Grey Album, but I've since downloaded it. I have listened to Girl Talk, and I enjoy how he adds new nuance to the music when he remixes all of the songs over top of each other.  It's quite impressive, if you haven't heard it

BP6_Comment on Mike Padilla's Blog

Follow this link to my comment on Mike Padilla's blog post in which he made a commercial for the Web 2.0 tool Creaza.

BP5_Comment on Barry Roth's Blog

Follow this link to my comment on Barry Roth's blog post on the Web 2.0 tool BookRix.