More Math Clues

Another MysteryQuest USA session today. We had some rough technology problems at the beginning, but they smoothed out and the kids settled into taking notes.

One school presented a news show! I love those. They also included visual clues at the end to make sure everyone got the notes. That’s always important with news shows because often the name of a tourist attraction gets buried in the news story.

We also had a jeopardy game that worked very well.

But my favorite clues today came from St. Thomas Aquinas School in Wisconsin. These are great examples of a very clear document camera clue. The exact notes that need to be written down are on the page. A large visual plus large text. The clue is given in a sentence with more information around it, but the important part to record is very obvious.

They also included a couple of math clues. Seems to be a new trend this year! I really like the incorporation of math with the geography clues!

All of the classes did a great job today!

Why Projects Failed This Year

I’m beginning to get into “end of the year” reflection and planning mode. One of the things that’s been simmering in my brain for a while now is why projects failed this year. Yes, I figured you might want to read about what didn’t work, as well as our success stories.

Snow Days
In February this year we had several snow days. This made it very difficult to reschedule; and often teachers felt that they now had less time to cover the required curriculum. So in a few instances, we just never rescheduled. Unfortunate, but if we want teachers to keep using VC, we have to be flexible and understanding of the constraints they work under.

Emails
For one of our project ideas this year, both schools were blocking the emails of the other school. What’s the chance of that? The project planning started in November with sporadic emails back and forth through March until we finally gave up. Email filters have been especially annoying this year. At the slightest doubt of whether they received the note, you should pick up the phone!

Follow-Up
Some of the great ideas that my teachers had this year never came to fruition due to a lack of follow-up. With more pressing active projects moving along, I didn’t have time to email and call teachers who weren’t responding. I have a Filemaker Pro registration system to keep track of ideas, requests, and program registrations, but there are always those project ideas that didn’t ever happen. Ideally, at least once a week I should be checking up on the progress of project ideas. But the busyness of RAP this year derailed several other project ideas. (On the other hand, we had 80 RAP connections, so that’s nothing to sniff at!)

To really make follow-up work, a coordinator needs a system for keeping track of ideas, a method to consistently check in with teachers, and time set aside regularly (weekly?) to work on it. Do you have any other follow-up strategies or ideas? Please comment and share!

Building Coordinators
This year I’ve invested a lot of time, training, and mentoring into my local building coordinators, especially those involved in our RUS grant. This has heightened my sense that building coordinators are crucial to the success of videoconferencing. It’s not enough to have a district level person, or a regional level person promoting and supporting videoconferencing. The building level coordinator, whether they are a teacher, media specialist, media parapro, or even a secretary, help so much in the facilitation of VCs in their building. The teachers already know & trust them!

So because I’ve been noticing this more in my own area, I have come to the belief that one factor that affects our projects with others is whether or not THEY have a building coordinator. I worked with a regional coordinator for 3 or 4 projects this year and none of them came to fruition. This organization doesn’t have a building level coordinators. I could never get teacher email addresses from my contact so I could email everyone with what needed to be done to get the project off the ground. Without someone local to help make it happen, it’s very difficult to make the project actually happen.

Project Definition
I’ve thought for quite a while that the fastest way to make a project happen is to have it clearly defined. If you describe clearly exactly what you want to do, what you want the other class to do, and be very specific on the dates & times, you can make a project happen fairly quickly. That’s why I make everyone in my online classes write up their project! And why I recommend very specific ads for projects.

When you say, let’s do something on x topic and find a partner, then you have a lot of negotiating to do. More often than not, the project falls apart. Times don’t work out. Topics don’t work out. It takes so long to negotiate that the teachers are past that curriculum by the time the idea is defined.

Roxanne Glaser, wrote an interesting post on her blog last week about the difference between collaborations and projects. I think this idea should be explored more. As we can define recommended procedures around these activities, it will be easier for newbies to jump in and participated effectively. I think that Read Around the Planet is more of a project because the teachers sign up for dates & times and because there are teacher materials etc. for it. Sometimes the teachers negotiate what they are going to do, but more often they prepare a presentation and show up & do it. Maybe it’s more of a continuum with strict structure on one end, and open negotiation and shared planning on the other end. I know I’ve spent most of my time and energy trying to help teachers define their projects with fairly good structure. More time could be spend on planning tools for the collaboration/negotiation end of the continuum.

How ’bout you?
So what was your experience this year? What made your projects fail? And what lessons can we all learn from that?

Do VCs raise students' self-esteem?

Over lunch today I read an article on Overcoming Underachievement in Edutopia. In a nutshell, the study showed that a simple 15 minute writing exercise where minority students wrote about attributes “they value, such as relationships with friends or being good at art” (p.58). This little activity increased the students’ achievement, startling the researchers with the impact on their learning.

So I wonder, do videoconferences raise students’ self-esteem? I’ve seen some students get really excited when they are called on, get to talk, or are able to be on camera. If they share their work (poetry, writing, art, etc.) with another person, school, expert, author, other students… does that raise their self-esteem? And in doing so, does it make them more confident and motivated to do their other work?

Isn’t that a great research question? I’ve added a new category to my blog for research so I can record these “wonderments”. Maybe some graduate student looking for a research topic will take it on….

If I Had All the Time….

If I had all the time in the world, I would make all these dreams for next year happen. As it is, I’ll probably have to pick & choose. But here’s my dream list right now.

Literature Circle Matching
Two of my local teachers borrowed ASK kits for The Breadwinner this year and did a literature circle project together. They met several times via videoconference. I would like to take what they did, ideas from this project I learned about at NECC last year, and materials from our language arts consultant to make a teacher packet. Then use some kind of a matching system to match my teachers together and/or find partners for them elsewhere.

8th Grade HistoryQuest
We’ve talked about doing a HistoryQuest or MysteryQuest U.S. History for 8th grade for a few years now. Maybe this is the year to make the materials and get the project going!

LiteratureQuest Expansion
One of my local teachers wrote LiteratureQuest last year, and I’d like to expand this project widely so all my local high school English teachers who might want to do this can find a partner and can do the session during their class period(s).

Invasive Species
One of my local teachers wrote this project two years ago. The first year we ran it, we turned away so many classes interested. This year that building had bandwidth issues, so we didn’t get it off the ground. But I’d like to make this one happen for all my local classes that want it.

I Spy with Google Earth
This idea from Paul Hieronymous has been on my todo list for a while. I like to see our in house Google Earth expert, Kevin Clark, run this for our students. Kevin and I have talked about it before, just haven’t made it happen yet.

Mrs. Claus Reading to Students
The couple of classes who participated in the Mrs. Claus sessions with CESA 7 last December loved it. One of our staff members came in during one of the sessions and said she’d love to do that for our kids. So of course I’m going to take her up on it! Our K-2 buildings with videoconferencing equipment will definitely enjoy these sessions and I need to offer more content for them!

Partner Buildings
So many of my buildings tried to dial into my office unit this year and got a busy signal. Our usage has doubled since last year, and last year doubled from the year before. The growth is phenomenal! So one idea I have to help my buildings is to partner them together for mentoring, testing, doing projects together etc. This idea is still very new in my brain, so I haven’t thought about the details of how I would do it yet. But the few buildings who have already done several connections with each other gives preliminary evidence of the power of this idea.

Friendly Letters
One of my new building coordinators has an idea to partner all the teachers in the building next year with another class to do their Friendly Letters lessons. Imagine pen pals plus VC! This of course has lots of potential and I want to make sure that their idea comes to fruition and that it’s documented in a way that can be replicated by other teachers/buildings.

Online Experience
The Michigan high school graduation requirements now include a required Online Experience (see also the Companion Document). I would like to see one or two videoconference + online experience activities developed to help our schools meet this requirement in an engaging way. I’m thinking of the ASK Deluxe programs we’ve done with Jim Stovall (ASK plus blogging). There may be other ways to tie high school curriculum to online experiences to interactive videoconferencing. Some brainstorming needs to happen!

Videoconferencing Club
When we connected with Taiwan for Read Around the Planet, we found out that their class is actually a Videoconferencing Club. I would love to get a club like this started for our high schools. I think it would increase exposure and understanding of videoconferencing at the high school level.

Canada ASK
I really want to get some help from a Canadian media specialist/librarian on a good book for our 6th grade students who are studying Canada and one that we could talk to the author or a specialist related to Canada studies. This idea has been on my list for a while and I still have hope that someday we’ll make it happen.

Constitution Day comes so quickly after the start of the school year. Last year we thought we’d pull something together but it happened so quickly. Planning will have to start this summer. I’m thinking maybe interviews with local legislators might be a place to start. It needs to be an activity that doesn’t take much preparation since it’s so soon after the school year starts.

So many ideas, so little time. What’s on YOUR wish list for next year?

Math Problem Clues for MysteryQuest USA

Imagine solving math problems to find out a clue you need to solve a geography puzzle! In today’s MysteryQuest USA, students from Mark Twain Elementary, Fraser, Michigan, gave some of their clues in the form of math problems.


Add the numbers at the top to get the population of the city.


Complete this division problem to find the area of the state.


Find the solution to 3 squared to find the number of states surrounding the mystery state.

Students enjoyed these and other creative clues in today’s MysteryQuest USA.

Lessons Learned from RAPping with JVCS

Here’s a post I’ve had simmering for a while. Back in March we had several Read Around the Planet connections with classes in the United Kingdom. Most of them connected through JVCS, or JANET Videoconference Services. JVCS bridges a ton of videoconferences a month (over 7000 in March 2007! – got this link from a post on the Megaconference listserv).

So I thought I’d share some things I’ve learned from working with JVCS and other bridge services. These tips will be helpful for any of you who haven’t worked with MCUs or bridges too often.

1. They need your IP address.
Most bridges need your IP address so you can get into the right conference. So make sure you give the right IP when you register for programs. This goes for Read Around the Planet, content providers, and many projects with other schools. A lot of schools are “behind” bridges and need to connect through the bridge. So know your IP address!

2. Know the confirmation number.
If you’re connecting to a bridge and they give you a confirmation number, keep it close by! If you need to call for help, the problem will get fixed much faster if you can give your name & confirmation number as soon as you call. Don’t give them the whole story of the problem until they look it up.

3. Dial direction.
Some bridging organizations prefer to dial out. Others prefer to have you dial in. Be sure you’re clear on who is dialing who. Sometimes it takes a while to get the call “turned around” if the call needs to happen the other way.

4. Be concise but give technical details.
If you’re calling a bridge operator, don’t give them the details on the topic of the program, they need the confirmation number (or if they don’t use numbers, who you’re connecting to), and the symptoms of the problem. They can usually fix it quickly.

What other tips do you have for connecting through bridges?

Cool Clues from MysteryQuest USA

Another MysteryQuest USA session today.

Check out this visual for this clue. “A park in our state is is the Long Key State Park.” This creative clue was by Brown Elementary, St. Joseph, Michcigan. See the “long key”!!

Sylvester Elementary, Berrien Springs, Michigan, presented their clues in the form of a Deal or No Deal show.


The clues were inside the cases, very carefully written out.

Classroom E, Mark Twain Elementary, Fraser, Michigan had some nicely designed posters. Each one had a bold header, a sentence with the clue, and a large drawing to represent the clue. Zooming the camera in on the poster made it easier to take notes. Their clues were so clear that none of the classes needed a clue repeated after they finished their presentation!

Yet another great MysteryQuest USA session!

Magic Bullet for High School?

Here’s an interesting thought. One of my local high school teachers won a free field trip from me at a workshop in February. Just recently her media specialist asked me if the money can be saved for next year. She commented that teachers love videoconferences when they can show up and participate, but if the videoconference requires preparation, it’s “like pulling teeth.”

So why is that?

The high school curriculum is very, very tight with so much to cover. It’s tough for teachers to find ways to integrate quality videoconference experiences. They have to choose activities that are the most efficient and time effective for covering curriculum. It’s very difficult to integrate time consuming creative constructivist lessons.

So what can we do about it? I think we need to develop more activities and projects that really tightly fit the curriculum. That cover required curriculum in an appropriate, engaging way. And whenever possible, make sure they are available to be scheduled during the class period. You can only pull kids from class so many times before the other teachers start to hate videoconferencing.

Does this vibe with your experience too?

Presenting Clear Clues

Today’s MysteryQuest USA lessons were about clear posters. Posters continue to be one of the hardest things to do well in a videoconference. Classroom D, Farrell-Emmett Elementary, in Yale, Michigan, had some great posters today.



Notice especially the first poster. There are five C’s to write down. The part that the students would need to write down is big and bold. It’s short and easy to write down. Everything is bold and large. These are great examples of good posters.


Here’s another excellent poster from one of the other classes. It emphasizes the clue that the other classes need to write down.

Today’s group was fastest and most efficient set of classes to do the Q&A section. Even with really creative questions such as, “Is your city’s newspaper called The Register?” and “Does your town have a Candlelight Ghost Tour?” We whizzed through the clarifying questions, coming back to the classes that were still looking up the answer to a creative question.

Three MysteryQuest USA sessions down, six more to go!