Teach42

Well, NECC will be over in about an hour and I’m finally sitting down to my first session! I just met Tim Tyson for the first time yesterday when we shared the stage for Podcasting for the Complete Beginner. It was nice to hear him speak yesterday, but he was restricted to 3-4 minute soundbites, and there were precious few at that. So I’m rather looking forward to seeing him do a full presentation.

Hall pointed out that they just have a solid blue background behind him. Wouldn’t take much to use that as a greenscreen and put him into a more tropical setting.

Tim’s talking today about School 2.0. Hope that he defines it for us, because I could use a good definition of it.

School 1.0 has a maniacal emphasis on rules, rituals and routines, always focusing on the right answers. School 2.0 is about engaging students and authentic activities. Students aren’t complacent, they’re self directed and engaged. The teachers and students are empowered. We’re one big learning community. The students get to teach and the principal has to learn.

His keys: Meaningfulness, significance, connectedness, and contribution.

Sharing a story about a student named Conrad who wanted to keep working on a school project throughout summer so that it would be posted on iTunes and shared with the world.

For the first time in the history of time, schools can have access to immediate global distribution. His school has had 4 million downloads on iTunes.

What do you as an 11 year old child, have to say that is so important that everybody on Earth needs to hear it? What do you have to say that everyone on a planet needs to do something because of your school work?

People from all over the world have come to their school because of their content.

THIS is authentic assessment. “I made an A on the project, but it’s not good enough for the whole world. I want to keep working.”

At what point does your life become meaningful? When you graduate from high school? Graduate college? Get a job? Settle down?

Tim says that it’s today. This minute. We need to have meaningful activities for our students today.

Now he’s sharing some of the movies that his students have done. Pretty heavy stuff. Organ donation, slave labor laws, stem cell research and so on.

“Making a movie? That’s like learning on steroids.” Quote from the video Tim is showing that students made.

I have to admit, video is SO compelling. I wish I was a better digital storyteller. My mind just doesn’t think in those ways. I’m an awful video editor IMHO. I have no problem with the technical side, it’s the storylines and the camera shots. Maybe I should attend one of our AFI film institutes. Doesn’t seem right for someone who works for a media company!

The videos are phenomenal. Another one about genetically modified foods. This is about slave labor in the chocolate industry. “When you write a report, people don’t SEE what’s going on. That’s what you need movies for.” “This really is social studies, this is much more grown up.” Great use of music to draw out a strong emotional response during this video.

So far I’ve enjoyed the presentation, but I do wonder whether he could be using better use of the time than showing so many videos. I got the idea after one and definitely after two.

A few of the students have been brought up on stage. The student is well prepared. Highlight for him was doing a video morph for the movie and meeting people from around the world because of the short.

It’s not about the technology and the connectivity. “I wish we could move beyond that discussion.” The effective educator is the teacher in the classroom that collapses the distance between children and meaningful collaborations. They want school to go beyond preparing them for next year. They want to be prepared to make a contribution today!

He can think of nothing that is meaningful that does not involve others. Children have the capacity to make the world a better place today.

He’s getting ready to wrap up. One last video, just as powerful as the rest. “Make this a reality for children, that their contribution is valued and respected and that they can make the world a better place today.”

THE END!

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