The story behind the story…
Where to even begin? This assignment was one of the toughest for me to date. We’ll begin with the fact that it is Spring Break and I am off my normal routine. My children and I went to visit my folks on the front half of the break to check on Mom’s recovery from her kidney cancer removal and Dad’s stroke recovery. Then the kids and I traveled to my hubby’s family on the backside of Spring Break. This week, homework had to be completely mobile. Now, this is an advantage of an online masters program, but I am also now aware of how my “creature of habit” lifestyle because not being on my home computer doing this work it driving me crazy. I have a zone where I work and that zone simply doesn’t exist in other people’s guest rooms. My family doesn’t own a mobile computer, so I am using my work device which means the ability to purchase and install software is limited. Couple that with my frugality that says I should be able to do my work with the free tools I have. So, without further ado, here is my video call to action (the WHAT) that I created to encourage the Curriculum and Instruction folks in my district to embrace creating blended learning professional development courses.
WHY on Earth is this so important to me? My innovation plan targets blended learning with the IPET students at our area high school. I’ve begun to meet with the teacher of the IPET courses and we’re working on some plans to get the students acquainted with the district support staff that are in place to help teachers learn. Even if we don’t get to implement any of my innovation plan this semester (it is looking like it will be fall), we will at least forge some relationships and identify existing support structures so the IPET students will be better prepared to ask questions of their future employers about the supports that are in place once they start working.
If my personal goal is help the IPET students understand blended learning and impact their mentor teachers as well, we have to set the example at a district level. We cannot sit by and say “hey teachers, here’s some information about blended learning, you should try it” and then say we are done. We must provide resources about blended learning in a blended model with the teachers as our students so they can experience the learning. We must be creative in the ways we structure online and in person activities so as to actively engage our teachers as students. When teachers see that a blended option offers the opportunity for more personalized and targeted learning for themselves on a whole district level, they might be more option to considering how they can implement some of the same tools and strategies in their classes.
Recently, a colleague of mine and I had the opportunity to work with about 1/4 of the staff at one of our campuses. We were modeling how the staff could use a tool like Flipgrid for formative assessment and collaboration. Instead of presentation all about “this is Flipgrid and this is how it works, push the green plus sign” we engaged them in a Fliphunt around the library. Our time with them was very short (45 minutes) and we were aware that we had a group of teachers who were already using the tool, a group of teachers who used as little technology as humanly possible, and everything in between. It was awesome to see and hear the conversation that were happening as the staff embarked on their Fliphunt. People were sharing their tech know how when their neighbors got stuck, ideas on how they could expand on use and ideas about how they might consider trying it the first time. They got a feel for their colleagues who could help them with setting up a grid, integrating it with our LMS and getting started. Based on a conversation with one of the music teachers and remembering a post from a peer from graduate school, I even connected the two so they could share ideas about music specific implementation.
All the resources we could think to provide were included in a module in their campus LMS course (oooohhh...the beginnings of really going blended!). A teacher reached out to me the next day because even with all the resources, she was anxious and overwhelmed to even know how to begin. We have met up and worked together several times as we set up her integration, set up her grid, did some practice runs and I was in the room with her the first time she used Flipgrid with her live students. This was just prior to Spring Break so I am looking forward to reflecting with her once we all return to school.
Our exposure activity brought about new ideas and resulted in organic groups of teachers working together at the pace and level that was right for them. Imagine scaling this up! This is why I believe blended professional learning could be the ticket to shifting from “I have to go to PD” to “I get to participate in this professional learning.” In a system like this, there might be a few curmudgeons who try to get away with doing nothing, but I imagine a shift in campus culture regarding professional learning would ultimately get them on board (the power of influence) or perhaps end with them finding a different campus more suited to their established and traditional ways.
HOW did this video come about? I mentioned I have a frugality streak, so I was pretty determined to complete the task at hand without spending any money. I mapped out a rough storyboard on paper and then got to work creating my slides. After watching videos by Nancy Duarte, David Phillips and Simon Sinek’s on effective presentations, I realized just how hard it is to design one. I know for certain I am guilty to too much text on the screen and too many decorations. I have really struggled with this assignment because I keep second guessing myself. Was I going back and forth between what is and what could be enough? Was my message getting lost in the presentation? Did I even tell a story? Did my free pictures convey the thought being shared. Then, with my borrowed laptop, Google slides, subscription to Screen-cast-o-matic (wait...I said I’m not spending any money, but I did use my work subscription) and iMovie, I made a video. And then put that video in the recycle bin.
I’ve struggled with making a screencast of my presentation because I worried that a stand alone video was missing the true connection with an audience that a live presentation might have. I spent hours upon hours figuring out if I would do a voice over or include a web camera view? If I included a web camera view, where and how do I hold my script so that I actually look like I am making eye contact with the web camera? I’m out of town, so the things I might have concocted in my house to help out with this weren’t readily available. I even redesigned the slides so the web camera wouldn’t cover up an important part of the presentation. I re-recorded a video and then dumped that one in the recycle bin too.
Should I add music? How to I get free music? Is the music long enough? Ok, no web-camera, so time to redesign slides again. Record. Recycle, because now that I am looking at this, I don’t like anything I have designed, so let’s go find new photos. Record again. Yikes, there is a strange hiccup of extra time and a view on my screen I don’t want in my video. Thanks iMovie for the tools to cut that part right out! Whew! Oh no, I need 20 more seconds of music.
When I gave up on the webcam and focused on a screencast with voice over only, I still had to figure out how to control my presentation and my screencast tools and talk without a lot of delays and fumbling with keys. Remote for slides and my cell phone to the rescue! I was able to read and control my presentation from my phone while the screen cast was recording. My regular headset did the trick, but I absolutely wish I had my better headset from work. I’m also realizing that getting all the words out in one take is physically exhausting. I actually had to pause the recording at one point to catch my breath. But it’s done now and catching my breath meant taking a break and enjoying the last moments of Spring Break with my family.
References
Duarte, Inc. (2009, Dec. 16). Duarte design’s five rules for presentations by Nancy Duarte [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hT9GGmunda
Gulamhussein, A. (2013). Teaching the teachers: Effective professional development in an era of high stakes accountability. Center for Public Education. Retrieved from http://www.centerforpubliceducation.org/system/files/Professional%20Development.pdf
Horn, M. B. & Staker, H. (2015). Blended: Using disruptive innovation to improve schools. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Skillshare. (2015, May 5). How to begin your presentation with Simon Sinek [Video file]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/e80BbX05D7Y
Stanford Graduate School of Business. (2013, Mar. 21). Nancy Duarte: How to tell a story [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JrRQ1oQWQk
Tedx Talks. (2014, Apr. 14). How to avoid death by PowerPoint | David JP Phillips | TEDxStockholmSalon [Video file]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/Iwpi1Lm6dFo
Tedx Talks. (2010, Dec. 10). Tedxeast- Nancy Duarte uncovers common structure of greatest communicators 11/11/2010 [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nYFpuc2Umk&feature=youtu.be
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