Jul 28 2007
George Lucas Foundation Videos
Go to http://www.edutopia.org/video. These are a good way to experience some success stories selected by the George Lucas Foundation as interactive uses of technology and real world connections to ideas that expand the ways we ask kids to demonstrate learning. Search for videos that would be applicable to your teaching setting and view 3 of them. Write a response that includes a link to the video and a few thoughts about how you might incorporate something similar into your teaching and learning.
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Video #1:www.edutopia.org/reading-film-story-movies
This video reviews a free program from Martin Scorcese analyzing film making and filming techniques as a form of literacy. The goal is to teach students to analyze and be able to determine fact from fantasy. I have to luxury of showing several feature films having to do with psychology and mental health in my psychology class. This approach will be quite useful to my students and then I would use this information in discussions on advertisement and the manipulation of human behavior.
Video #2:http://www.edutopia.org/high-expectations
This video showcases a school in California having success with lower income students. I would use this for professional development with our faculty. It highlights the hall marks of our own school and I would use it, and I think will use it, as a point of discussion for the lower school faculty.
Video #3: http://www.edutopia.org/assessment-overview-video
“High quality local assessment” and “performance assessment” are the key words from this video which reviews what real assessment can be. This type of performance assessment is what I hope to provide in my psych class over the next year.
I watched the following 3 videos:
http://www.edutopia.org/pursuing-passions-after-school
http://www.edutopia.org/around-clock-learning-spry-community-school
http://www.edutopia.org/new-day-learning
We’ve been fortunate to have an after school program available at Reiche. Each year most of my students enroll in the program for homework help and enrichment.
The videos I watched all profiled programs that had an after school component. The topic of different school calendars and schedules was also addressed.
Here ’s a short list of ideas I thought were intriguing —
An alternative high school that meets 2PM-9PM so that students can work.
A K-12 school that has the high school students mentoring elementary students
adult ed for parents happening right in their children’s school
a school building that stays open 7AM – 9PM for lots of extracurricular programs for both students and community members
what seemed to be lots of funding and lots of community support for after school programs and community education
a stat that claimed 40% of middle class kids were disengaged from school because it is so boring (where is this from?)
service learning and project based learning along with utilizing technology as best practices
The videos I chose captured my attention due to my interest in the idea of developing a cohesive and respectful school community. The first video, “Michael Pritchard’s Lesson’s from the Heart”, spoke about the need for emotional safety in a school environment and the heavy impact of bullying, teasing, and violence. It was interesting to see student’s taking a risk in speaking out on these topics, particularly at the high school level. In “Ten Big Ideas for a Better Classroom”, teachers spoke of strategies for learning success. Topics addressed included project based learning, technology integration, cooperative learning, and emotional intelligence to name a few. This video was helpful in helping me formulate my own thoughts around what makes learning stick. I also really identify with the idea of having children invest themselves in their learning and become passionately involved in a topic that motivates and interests them. I feel that both of these videos have powerful messages and I will definitely share this information with my learning community.
The interview with Martin Scorsese caught my attention because of the idea of visual literacy, a term I have not to date encountered. While divergent from my interest in school community, I related to this interview on a more personal level and will probably never again watch a movie without thinking of the “grammar” of it’s direction.
The first video I watched from the Parent Involvement area was “Starting Over in Oakland”. It focused on how a middle school in Oakland radically changed the way learning was done to improve the school. It was interesting to hear what they did, but I was disappointed that it showed very little parent involvement in the process. It also did not relate to my situation.
I liked the other two, found in the assessment file, much more. “High Expectations” showed a school that had many features I wish we had in my school, including time for grade level teachers to meet each week for two hours to make plans together. “The Key Learning Community” in Indianapolis is a school that is based on multiple intelligences. They have a very complicated report card which rates the children in each area with an unusual rubric. I’m going to go back to these videos to learn more about their programs.
Edutopia is a wonderful website for educators. I tried to find videos from different topics. They are well done and just long enough to grasp your attention and interest. I also liked the fact that each video has a “more to this story” link to give added details.
Video 1 – Around the Clock Learning – http://www.edutopia.org/around-clock-learning-spry-community-school In Scarborough we are fortunate to have our elementary, middle, and high schools in close proximity to one another. This video talked about the high school students tutoring the elementary students, among other ideas. There have been many occasions when my class has been invited to do a project with a middle school or high school class. Being able to walk to the other schools has allowed us the luxury of working together without having to schedule a bus. I find that everyone gains from this interaction. This video also mentions that the high school students do not attend school until 11:00 each day and go until 7:00 in the evening something that has been mentioned in different districts around Maine.
Video 2 – Effective Technology – http://www.edutopia.org/effective-technology This K-4 school demonstrates the ease of integrating technology into the day to day workings of a school, both with students and as a staff development tool. The principal uses e-mail as a means to interact with staff instead of saving all the information for staff meetings. Scarborough uses the S-web (Scarborough internal web) for many of the same interactions. The S-web is set up both by individual schools and as a school wide web. I would agree that using technology effectively is a time saver. You can post information to ensure that everyone gets the same message and then use staff meetings and staff development time for the bigger issues. This principal of the school and also staff members spoke about the positive aspects of integrating technology into their daily lives.
Video 3 – Leading with Laptops – http://www.edutopia.org/leading-laptops I found this site interesting as it is on the Maine laptop initiative. This site could certainly be shared with parents who are not aware of what the middle schools are doing. It certainly gives testimony about the successes of the program. I would like to share this video with the 5th graders at my school and their families before they leave the elementary school and go on the middle school.
Video 1: Beginning the Journey
Kindergarten students engage in authentic life-long learning experiences through PBL projects. The students initially establish the theme and the teachers direct their learning through multiple curriculum disciplines. This method motivates and engages the students and doesn’t become an arbitrary learning experience.
http://www.edutopia.org/online-learning-video
Video 2: Online Learning
This video describes how the internet opens up a new world to high school students. Schools are offering students the ability to participate in a virtual classroom 24/7. The teachers are able to interact with them over the phone, online, or face-to-face. This method provides a solution for those schools that do not have enough qualified teachers to be able to teacher a wide range of offerings or for student that engages in activities that sets them outside of the traditional school environment.
http://www.edutopia.org/online-learning-video
Video 3: A New Day for Learning
Schools are using a fresh approach for student learning by offering before and after school programs taught by community businesses and volunteers. Community members are becoming more active in helping students learn through an alternative instruction rather than traditional classroom instruction by involving students in various interests.
http://www.edutopia.org/new-day-learning
In General:
Education is moving toward authentic learning opportunities for students, which ultimately prepares them for real world interactions. With a clear vision, schools are able to offer creative instructional learning initiatives and design a new learning system for all students.
http://www.edutopia.org/pursuing-passions-after-school
http://www.edutopia.org/thekeylearningscommunity
http://www.edutopiaorg/maryscroggselementaryschool
The first two articles I read were closely related in ideas.
“The Key Learning Community” was about a school in Indianapolis that emphases teaching through exploration and deep understanding over rote learning. Their school is designed to follow Howard Gardner’s thoreoy and teach each child in their multi intelligence strength. The K-12 classes spend equal time in all academic subjects. Each student is expected to produce a project with a presentation which is videoed starting in kindergarten and develop a digital portfolio for their college applications. These students also are required to take standardized test, and they perform as well as other students in their system do. But after the testing everyone goes back to teaching and learning the way they believe is best.
“Pursuing Passions After School” described another way that a school system is meeting the needs of the students who are disengaged in learning during the regular school day. This program started as a summer arts program and has extended to an after school program. Students can participate in activities to pursue their passions. Some receive a modest stipend and all are getting a real world experience in an area of their choice whether it is visual arts, performing arts or culinary. These are the intelligences that get missed in our school day providing a real “purpose” for some students’ education.
“Mary Scroggs Elementary School” was about a school in Oakland, CA that meshes tech tools to facilitate everything they do beginning with the whole school morning news broadcast. Every classroom has 4-5 computers and every child is able to log on from any place in the building. There is a high expectation that all students will be online every night to do their assignments and communicate with the class/teacher. Parents are thrilled with the close connection they have with their child’s teacher through emails. This educational environment was very positive and everyone was computer literate. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all schools were like Mary Scroggs
These are some thoughtful responses to the videos. You all wrote more than I expected or required, but I enjoyed reading them and I appreciate what you chose to share.
If you find the videos inspirational I would be curious if any of them trigger an, “Aha!” about something you see that you could do in your own setting.
If you were to work on translating a practice you see or admire into something you could plan to do that would be a worthy project for this course.
Cathy