Expectations Above the Line…

One week into my 8th grade Eagle News and I can say with all sincerity that I am so pumped for this school year!  I realized a couple of years ago that taking a media production course and committing to it for an entire year in 8th grade wasn’t for everyone.  I realized while being in charge of the Washington D.C. trip for the entire 8th grade that more than half of the students in 8th grade didn’t want to take Eagle News for 6 weeks (1 grading cycle for Unified Arts classes).

So as the years passed, the class became this machine that was run by a specific smaller number of students.  Eagle News “all year” is a term out there amongst students as taking Eagle News all year-long, not only to be able to put your stamp on the newscast in the morning, but to also do some of the newer things out there in technology and media.

Two years ago, our students created Aurasmas that allowed the use of an iPhone or iPad to scan an image and a video played over top of that image.  It was brand new and our students did a bunch of these all over the building.  But no one watched it because nobody knew anything about Augmented Reality and now we have Pokemon Go.  I want to revisit Aurasma this year and I am excited about that.

Two years ago, Eagle News started an instagram page and we were the first to do it.  It was exciting to share all the great things that happens at Hyatts.  This year we will do Snapchat stories and we are hoping to do a couple more activities outside the morning broadcast to get the students using the new technology as the proper tool to share the phenomenal things that happen in our building each and every day!

I wonder, why do the students choose to take Eagle News all year-long?  There are favorite projects that kids say that want to be a part of, like our annual Lip Dub or the Hyatts Film Festival, but what else pushes kids to want to be a part of, what I consider “the Program” and then I think of it as “the Family” as we grow as together in Eagle News.

Video Production is not easy.  A simple slide show takes 90 minutes to make and make it well.  A two-minute video(which is what I expect for most projects) takes a couple of days to a week to make.  I also ask the students to update the teleprompter every night, take 5-10 Instagram pics, tweet to keep our twitter feed fresh, organize the equipment, use your free time to cover an event, film, edit, research, download music, create, imagine, tell a story all in such a short time in class and so on and these students do this without question.

Why do they do this?  A teacher at Olentangy High School that I met this summer wrote this fabulous blog post about “The Week of Why?” and what I took from that article is that I am doing what motivates some kids and engages them to their technical side or their creative side or their stardom side of who they really are.  I can see that already in a lot of students in class after 8 class periods. 

Do students like to act, share, edit, write, sing, collaborate, report, interview, create and love? It’s evident that I have a group of dedicated kiddos already ands hat they accomplished in a short amount of time is amazing. 

One week of Eagle News is in the books. What about the kids taking the class now, but they only want to be here for six weeks?  They want to try other classes and experience the other offerings that Hyatts has.  I respect that!  I understand and encourage them to make the most of their 8th grade year.  If they need my help and it’s a skill that is beyond what they get out of their six weeks with me, then I will help them.  I look forward to those challenges.

My job for them and all students is to share as much as I can about the skills presented in our class.  How can they use the speech skills, the presenter skills, the editing skills and the research skills that I will show them and transfer it to other classes or other life opportunities and be GREAT!

That’s my goal for my 8th grade students.  Some are so determined they are working with all the equipment and motivated to share and some are waiting for me to guide.  When I guide them, the Hyatts community and the world can see what all kids have to offer and I am determined to encourage the best out of all of them.

Thoughts the night before the first day of School! (Year 20)

Hey everybody, school starts with students tomorrow and this year has been a little different from the other nineteen in my career.  I had hernia surgery last Thursday so I have been recovering at home since then and was excused from the first two days of work. My colleagues at Hyatts have started the school year on Monday and Tuesday with time in their rooms, participating in meetings and mentally preparing for the 900 students that will start the tenth year on Wednesday.  I am preparing on the couch or in bed and I’m not a fan of it.  My friends at Hyatts told me to stay away, that I would set back my recovery for the surgery if I came in to school, so I listened to them.

I am ready for Wednesday.  I cannot wait!  I love my job!  I have loved all 19 first days of school and I will love tomorrow!  There is nothing like have a first day of your job, over and over again every August in preparation for a new crop of students!  What other job gives you that kind of feeling at the same time every year?  It’s a new beginning, a fresh start, a new hope for a better school year or a continuation of the great success from last year.

For me, the thoughts I have for the first day are similar every year.  First, I look forward to meeting the new 6th grade students.  They are so scared, most of them, to be in this big, brand new, shiny new school.  Hyatts is such an inviting, welcoming place to go to middle school but that doesn’t take away the nervousness that comes with being a 6th grader.  I look forward to helping them out as much as I can as they “learn the ropes” around Hyatts.

I think about what my new crop of Eagle News students will involve.  Will I have a group of students who want to produce and direct the news in the AM?  Will I have the stars that want to present the program live on camera?  Will I have the commitment to the program that I have had the past six years?  This makes me nervous, almost scared a little.  What will happen to the program if we do not have the commitment?

My first 3 sections of Eagle News has about 100 kids in it altogether.  I am sure that I will find 30 kids that want to commit to putting together a program that we all will be proud of!  That is the challenge with the 8th grade and I look forward to it, albeit with some nerves! I believe in what I teach, what I present to these students to not only help them this year, but prepare them for a little bit of what they might encounter moving on towards high school and college!

I think about my own children, Adam and EmmeClaire, getting a year older.  Adam starting 3rd grade, the grade I taught the first 9 years of my career.  Will he do the work assigned to him? Can he participate in class like he should?  We he be the model student?  Is EmmeClaire ready for preschool in the PM?  How tired will she be?  Will this spark a seizure?  Will she like having a new teacher?  Each new school year brings on new questions about what they will deal with, with new grade levels! I think of my wife, starting her 20th year teaching as well.  I hope that she has a successful year in the library continuing to do the great things that she started last year!

Adam and EmmeClaire at the Salty Dog Cafe.

I think about my former and current and retired colleagues.  I am blessed to work with the best staff in the country.  The atmosphere at Hyatts could not be better, being able to work with such great people who care so much about each other!  Our leadership is second to none.  To work in a place where the leaders know that family is first, is a big relief, especially with all the appointments that EmmeClaire has and all the things that we need to do for her!  If I were to ever become a principal, which I don’t want to, I would run my building the way that our leaders do!

Mrs. Miller and I on last day of DC trip.

Mr. Nicolosi guest starring on Eagle News!

The first day of school makes me think of scared students, new students, new friendships, which way is lunch, can I check out a library book, is there Eagle News tomorrow, tight schedules at home, what is for dinner, what is the lip dub theme this year, etc!!!???  I think of lockers stuck, combinations forgotten, rooms unknown, no money on the lunch card, see the lunch ladies again, the clap in for the 6th grade is AWESOME and then the 1st day slide show that I make for the first day at Hyatts.

The last thing that I think about tomorrow are my old Eagle News veterans! How is their first day in the big shiny Liberty High School going? I worry about them, but all I think about as the new Eagle News students come in is that I hope that what I was able to share with them throughout last year guides them to making the right choices in school and life.  They will be ok, some will come back and visit, some will keep in touch but some will not and that’s ok.  We will meet again!  Good luck in ninth grade Patriots!

Last Year’s Eagle News Group

It is always a fun, tiring and excitement filled day, that first day of school(work) again!  I look forward to seeing everyone at Hyatts!  I will be at school 7:30 sharp!!  Wait, what time does school start again for teachers?  Ha Ha!