Sing Street-Watch it…

It is an amazing feeling when you sit down to watch a movie and you really don’t know what you are getting yourself into.  I loved the movie, “Once” and “Begin Again” and when I saw the trailer to “Sing Street,” and saw that it was the same director, I was excited but I didn’t think that I would give it a chance because it was based in Dublin, Ireland. I usually don’t give movies not based in America a chance.  I’m glad I gave this one a chance.  There was a lot that I connected with.

• His parents are getting divorced and fighting all the time. (not this one…love you mom and dad!)
• He falls for the pretty girl.
• He is getting bullied
• Renews a relationship with his brother
• Starts a band
• Falls for the girl again
• Sings at school
• AND A WHOLE LOT MORE….

Where to start, when the movie ended, I actually cried.  There is something to be said about having a brother and listening to him and relying on him for help.  What a nice ending to a wonderfully made movie.  Sing Street took me back to my childhood and beginning teenage years, where MTV actually showed videos, everybody’s hair was so big and there were no cell phones.

The characters had to knock on doors to talk to each other and had to spend time in a room together to get work done, the band had to write songs together.

The characters in this movie were unique, with their own stories and their own worlds that they were living.  It was a fabulous mix for the band and as they got the band together, I was really wondering how this group was going to put together a tune, boy they did.

It reminded me of the times where I would spend time with my brother and sister and just talk.  It reminded me of the times that I would hang out with my friends and watch the Steelers.

This is my sister, Jamie, Me and my brother, Jason.

It also made me realize what I didn’t do as a kid!  That one girl I would not talk to, I didn’t try to talk them and how I didn’t try out for those teams that I wanted to in high school.

As a teacher, I want my own kids and students to know that they have to try their best.  They have to do their best.  They need to talk to people.  Live life, smile, sing, be there in this wonderful world that we are living.  What an amazing experience and I’m so happy that I bought this movie.

“For our art, Cosmo, you can never do anything by half!” This was a quote in the movie when the band was filming a music video and the female lead, Ann, needed to look as if she was jumping in the water, but they wanted to pretend.   When they shot the scene, she jumped into the water and had the lead singer, Conor, jump in after her.  He asked her why, and she said the above quote.  Then he kissed her.  Great scene!

This is the attitude that I want for my kids in class.  They need to realize that the things they do, the work they complete, the teams they try out for need to be completed or tried out for completing things in LIFE.

Keeping Tech Class Current and Fresh

I teach a technology class for middle school and from everything that I am reading in blogs and on twitter is that we have to keep up with the times in technology:

• Have the students create the content
• Anaylze the content
• Have fun while learning
• Be motivated by the work and not the grades
• Lead them in class
• Model for them
• Guide them
• Should they have homework?  How much?
• Let them see what tools they need to create the product they are trying to create.
• Create, create, create
• Collaborate with each other and students
• Use Twitter and social networks to share, share, share
• ePortfolios are important for a student’s future.
• BLOG and share
• No excuse for not being creative
• Technology is a tool that is so important to be integrated into all classes.
• and lots more…..

 

I teach 6th grade Discovering Computers, 7th grade computer programming and then 8th grade “Eagle News,” which is a media production, web creation, digital production class. My classes have been different and generally change every year a little bit. Every July, I sit with my computer and try to figure out what I want to do differently in each of my classes and what I want to keep the same.

In 6th grade I usually cover networks and how they work and then cover how to use Google Drive or Office 365 (New this year) and then make a presenation, but not GOOGLE SLIDES OR POWERPOINT.  What do I need to change for my 6th grade students.  I only see each student for 6 weeks.  I always want to do more with the 6th grade students, but I struggle with this because I always catch myself using so much time with VERY basic skills in Google Docs/Mircosoft Word.  What should I do differently?

I like what I am doing in 7th grade.  We do basic javascript computer programming and then collaborative, creative, imaginative work in Minecraft.  The first 3 weeks we cover coding with code.org and codehs.com and then the students as a class have to recreate some space in a blank world.  Last year we created OSU, Easton and a local neighborhood.  That was fun!  I’m sure we will come up with a couple of different spaces to recreate and I am pumped for that!

For 8th grade, this is where I am most excited about, Eagle News!  What is this new group of students going to do that is different.  Of course I will allow them to come up with a bit of a different way to do our morning news.  What can we add, subtract or expand on?  What does the staff at Hyatts think we can do?  What do our students think about what the teachers want?  I want the kids to lead this.

The projects are always evolving.  What types of projects do I have the kids do?  Do I schedule them for the kids?  Do I allow them to fix their topics?  How should the videos look?  I like giving the kids a “Genius” or “Innovation” project.  I loved giving the students the power to teach the “audience” what they are experts of!  Eagle News needs to be “real world,” where we will include the resources/businesses around us.  This class will also include a blogging aspect and ePortfolio section as well.  This will include creating and maintaining a website where the students will blog, create content and share their work, curate content that is important to them and also teach what should be the appropriate way to maintain this portfolio.

 

I have had inspiration from Dejan Kovacevic, who has started his own Pittsburgh Sports app where he had left the big paper in town to write the Pittsburgh Sports scene on his time and his level.  His product, DKonPittsburghSports.com has exploded to where he has quite the staff and now does audio and video with all the writing.  I want the Eagle News class to run a quick live show in the hall with the kids walking by live on FaceBook.  This would include more work, planning and execution that I think dedicated students can create.

Just thought of this now….I want to PODCAST….

How do I spread out this time in Eagle News, schedule it in my 45 minutes of time with the kids each day, set up, blog, curate, etc…..it’s exciting!

Jim

Are EdCamps Worth MY Time??

Today was my first experience of an EdCamp.  Thanks to the #TwitterPressure of @zachpeterson3 and @jessicaslocum3, I decided to jump in and head on down to the EdCamp today at Clark Hall at Gahanna Lincoln High School.

I didn’t know what to expect, I walked in and I knew that there would be a big board and I knew that there would be sessions to fill in and then I would decide what I wanted to go visit and I assumed it would feel like any other conference.

It didn’t.

I walked into Clark Hall behind a gentleman and got into the elevator and realized that it was an old friend of a friend from the University of Dayton.  I didn’t know his name, but boy did I recognize him.  We reintroduced ourselves to each other, @NRHSRangers, Tom Szendrey, who I remember from UD and he and I got to talking immediately!  Instant comfort.

I didn’t know anyone personally in the room of 80 educators, but I knew 5-7 of them through my twitter engagements on chats or educator tweets.  Immediately I felt comfortable, unlike other edcamps, this one had somewhat of a keynote speaker, Lavonna Roth, @LaVonnaRoth, was speaking to a very engaged crowd about Igniting your SHINE.  Self, Heart, Inspire, Navigate, Exceptional.  It was good.  I took notes to take back to our group at Hyatts.

When that ended, the process of a regular EdCamp started.  The big schedule popped up and people started to sign up and continue to network with each other.  As this was happening, I decided to go to talk to @MrMattGallatin, Matt Gallatin, who I met at ETech Ohio 2 years ago, when Matt was working with my best friends, Lou Kramer.  At ETECH, we exchanged twitter handles and since then we have been collaborating on twitter.

I also introduced myself to Ryan McClane, @McLane_Ryan, the principal of Big Walnut Intermediate.  Ryan was another educator that I connected with on Twitter because of his work with social media and video in his school.  A big connection that we had was that we are both from Pittsburgh and from RIVAL high schools.  Instant comfort.

Then I saw Zach and Jessica, remember, the ones that “bullied” me into coming to this edcamp in the first place, and it was instant connection!  It was like I already knew these people.  In fact, when Jessica walked in and she looked at me, her expression was classic.  Like, “Yep, that’s Jim!”  Jessica and Zach along with Jason Bates, @JBatesEdLeader, all work at Olentangy High School, one of the 3 high schools that are in my district, so I really wanted to meet these people because I needed to know that there are people in my district doing the same types of learning that I am doing and that I want to do as far as professional development. Comfort.

I will say this, before 9:30 am, I felt like I had networked and gathered more connections than I had at any other conference that I have been to.  The Edcamp was working and I was really having a good time!  Now it was time to move on to a session.

The two morning sessions that I was going to attend was a session on the use of movies in PD and in the classroom and then a session on how to use VOXER.  I was pumped.  The first session was the movies one and there were 6 people in the session.  It wasn’t what I was looking for but the conversations we had about youtube, movieclips, youtube downloader, appropriateness of certain movies, etc were GOOD conversations to have as an educator.

The Voxer session was led by Dwight Carter, @Dwight_Carter, the principal of New Albany High School.  This was purely a session to get to know the app, VOXER and how to use it for education.  This session was amazing.  I learned a lot and I loved how each of the 23 or so people in the session, felt comfortable to ask questions, try new things, and/or share their successes and failures using VOXER.

This Edcamp encouraged that no one goes out to lunch alone and as I waited for the “Olentangy” crew to finish with their session, Dwight Carter invited me to eat lunch with his crew, so I took him up on the offer.  I had lunch with three people that I had never met before this edcamp and I was thrilled that I could!  I felt like I won a reward challenge in Survivor and I picked these three people to eat my reward with because I am wanted to “steal” some ideas from people that I would not have eaten with because I truly didn’t know them.  I am glad that I did.  What great people.

The afternoon flew by.  I visited sessions on using Twitter in schools and then using Social Media with promoting your schools. (I’d consider Periscope soon!) What great experiences with both sessions.  Both sessions allowed us to ask great questions and learn some things from great educators.

Overall, and I told my wife this when I got home, that this was the best PD experience that I have ever had. When an edcamp is offered and you have the time, EdCamps are an amazing PD experience and opportunity to network with people that have similar interests.  I also believe that schools should use this type of PD to get the most out of teachers!

Back to the question in the title of this group, was it worth it….ABSOLUTELY!

Jim

When a Character Leaves a Beloved Show…

I am watching “Orange is the New Black, Season 4″ right now.  Thanks to Netflix, HBO Now and SHOWTIME Anytime, we can “binge watch” many of our current new shows or old shows that we forgot about and loved as our younger self.  

Not to give anything away, sometime during the current season of the show, a character leaves the show unexpectedly. This happens so many times in so many shows and now I feel sad.  The aftermath of this makes me sad.  It’s interesting how something like this happens in a women’s prison compared to the fictional hospital or a neighborhood or a school in our favorite shows.

Watching the next episode of Orange, I can remember Dr. Romano in ER and how the helicopter fell on him. It reminds me of the last episode of many of the characters in LOST and Grey’s Anatomy and I am sure if you are reading this, you are thinking of your favorite character as they die or they leave the show because he/she moves away and will no longer be in the show.

I believe that a character left without the public knowing in Game of Thrones and/or The Good Wife.  I remember reading some tweets about the Game of Thrones character and my mom cried about whomever was no longer on The Good Wife.  It is an emotional thing for a character that you have known every Thursday night for an entire year or for those 2 weeks of binge watching.

I remember when Mark Sloan and Lexie Grey died in Grey’s Anatomy.  I remember when Carrie Torres almost died and when the interns passed during the shooting in the hospital and the one that tops it all, when Derek Shepard died.  Even I didn’t want that to happen.  My 8th grade Media Production class even gave Patrick Dempsey a shout out in our annual Lip Dub music video, check it out here and go to the 8:13 mark of the video!

So before I ruin anymore (Does anyone remember how Anthony Edwards(Dr. Mark Greene) left ER, so sad, expected but sad…..there is a connection to the characters that we love on the shows that we watch.  That hour we dedicate to our shows means the world to us and when a “loved one” leaves the show or unexpectedly dies, it is emotional.

I am sad that this character in “Orange is the New Black” is gone.  She was a good character, in the messed up world that she was a part of. And now season 4 is over and I have to wait an ENTIRE year until season 5 starts!  I better go to bed, it’s 2:15 in the AM!!!

PS…I know there are tons of shows and characters that I am missing right now that I was sad they unexpectedly died in the show, what character of your favorite show were you sad when they died in the show?

PSS…Sorry if I spoiled any of the above shows for any of you.