The Giver Skits

This morning Marcellus Middle School students are sharing skits and vignettes in response to reading the book, The Giver. They also shared posters and other visual representations that captured the essence of the book and the issues within it.

These students prepared this presentation for Read Around the Planet, but had put so much work into the skits they wanted to share them with more classes who had read the book. So we ended up with 6 classes in Michgian, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. The students made their presentation.

Then they asked all the sites some questions about the book:

  • Can you see yourself living in a town like Jonas with no color?
  • What are some benefits to living in a community like Jonas?

Then, again in round robin fashion, each site had a chance to ask questions or give a comment on the presentation.

  • How long did you practice the skits?
  • How long did it take to make the props?
  • Did you come up with the skits all by yourself?
  • Did you read the book yourselves or as a class?

We did have a few classes who hadn’t read the book, so Marcellus posed a few questions specifically to those who had. Questions such as, “What do you think happened to Gabe and Jonas at the end of the book?”

I’m so proud of Marcellus Middle School, one of the RUS grant buildings that received equipment this past summer. The use of camera presets, good strong audio from the students, visuals, good questions and interaction. They’ve put their learning to work and this videoconference was a great example of how they’ve become pros at videoconferencing!

Seven Qualities of a Leader

Here’s an interesting blog entry about leadership.

First a note about blog memes. A blog “meme” is like some kind of activity or assignment that bloggers hit each other with and then you’re expected to respond.

Doug Johnson writes The Blue Skunk Blog, one of the blogs I read regularly. Doug is the Director of Media and Technology in Mankato, MN, is a librarian at heart, and writes a sometimes sarcastic and often thoughtful review on the experiences of supporting and using technology in curriculum and learning appropriate ways.

So now, with that background info, read The Accidental Leader. I don’t feel ready yet to continue the meme, so for now, I’ll keep learning from others.

Why the Andrews Leadership Program?

So, why, you ask, did you choose the Andrews University Leadership program out of so many other choices?

First, for the faith component. Andrews University professors are Seventh-day Adventist Christians and I know that my own faith will be challenged and will grow in my learning at Andrews. I crave the prayerful environment and look forward to learning with other Christians.

Second, for the self-directed learning. Ever since I learned about this program in the ’90s when I taught some email workshops for the participants, I’ve known that if I ever pursued a Ph.D. it would be the AU Leadership program. I’m intrigued by the competency based format, attracted to the portfolio defense process, and entrenched in on-the-job learning. Therefore I believe this program fits my learning needs & style.

Finally, the Leadership goals match my own.

Leadership prepares leaders for service in their professional forums. I want to serve better.

Leadership is based on the demonstration of key competencies and is individually customized, reflecting the practical skills acquired in the workplace. I want practical learning embedded in my work.

Leadership is a community of learners dedicated to the principles of Christian service. I want to be part of a learning community of others committed to Christian service.

For these reasons, plus a few personal reasons, I have chosen the AU Leadership Program to pursue a PhD.

Learning in the Age of Videoconferencing

Here’s a nice intro article to videoconferencing from AT&T: Learning in the Age of Videoconferencing [PDF]. Filled with great examples, it’s a thoughtful overview of the possibilities of videoconferencing, with references to some of our favorite VC friends too!

Author Janie Panagopoulos

Here are the updates from this week to our VC Program Database linked on TWICE and Polycom.

New Provider: Janie. L. Panagopoulos

I’m especially excited about having Janie (an author!!) on this list! I worked with her over the past summer getting her set up at home with a webcam and Polycom PVX. She’s really animated and very comfortable with VC, both point to point and multi-point. She can facilitate her own ASK programs, and can tailor any of her sessions for exactly what you need. And her sessions are very affordable too!

Getting Attached to H.264

Last year I muttered about H.261, H.263 and H.264 la la land. This year, not only have some of these odd problems settled down, but I’ve also begun to appreciate the quality that H.264 brings to the videoconference.

But first, a quick little lesson from my admittedly educational and not-so-techie perspective.

A Little Background
H.261, H.263 and H.264 are video protocols within the H.323/H.320 videoconferencing standards. It’s also partly the algorithms used in compressing the video to send to the far site. H.261 is the oldest videoconference standard. H.263 is still very commonly used. H.264 has been the latest until HD came along. But in K12 videoconferencing, we’re still operating basically on H.261, H.263 and H.264.

If you’re like me, you haven’t really thought about these protocols at all. You just connect and if it works you’re happy! You see a wide variety of quality, but you chalk it up to whatever is happening on the network between you and the far site. Or like a true VC pro, you blame it on the other guy’s unit.

Seeing the Difference
But now, you can know what’s really making the difference. I’ve started to notice the difference. Having lived in H.261 land for so long, I didn’t know what I was missing. And I admit I’ve been slightly annoyed with people off my network who wanted to see higher quality. Since we are always bandwidth strapped, I figure if you can make a connection and have a conversation, it’s good enough for learning to happen. And shall we judge the quality of partners for educational projects based on their bandwidth? It just seems wrong to me.

But now I must admit I understand a bit better. My new VC schools are noticing a great difference when connecting directly to my endpoint and connecting to multipoint activities on my bridge with many different kinds of sites connecting. When they connect to my Polycom VSX 7000, it almost always connects at H.264. But when they connect to an multipoint ASK or MysteryQuest program, all types of video qualities are represented.

So How Do You Know?
On the Polycom VSX 7000 series (which I use mainly now), when you are in a call, you can press the yellow help button the remote to see the call statistics. On this first screen you can see how it connected, the IP address of the far site, the protocols it’s using, and the packet loss. All very useful information once you know what it means.

On the Tandberg codecs, you can find these same details under the Call Status menu area. Thanks Arnie for help with that!

Getting Attached to H.264
H.264 is designed for low-bandwidth situations and uses a lot of processing power, so you really notice the difference with 384K and lower connections. I’m starting to really like the high quality. I’ve also noticed with both Polycom and Tandberg that when you connect the same vendor unit together, you often get higher quality (but that can vary based on the network too). Must be some magic in there somewhere.

It’s funny how we adapt to what we see most often. I’m starting to really like the looks of H.264!

ASK Author: Harry Sue

Today several classes are talking to author Sue Stauffacher about her book Harry Sue. For more details on this book, check out the Amazon.com reviews of it. This is yet another TWICE ASK session with Sue. Yesterday’s sessions featured the book Donuthead. This picture is of the paperback cover coming out in April. Sue showed several versions of the cover and how that process happens in publishing.

In addition, Sue talked about visiting moms in prison and talking to them about writing letters to their kids. She helped moms in prison write letters to be published online. Your students can read these letters online too.

Here are some of the questions the students asked in the sessions today.

  • Why did you choose to make the granny racist?
  • Did Harry Sue want to save Violet or did she save her because she caused it?
  • Why is Red Riding Hood so mean in the story she’s telling to the crumb-snatchers?
  • How did you think of the character Harry Sue?
  • How does your work with prison children affect you personally?
  • What emotions did you have while writing the story?
  • You said on page 284 that Harry Sue is a composite of several girls. Are you one of them and which part?
  • Why does Harry Sue want to go to prison in the beginning of the book?
  • What personal experiences helped you write this book?
  • How did you choose the names of the characters?
  • One of the schools participating today was very interested in Homer, the quadriplegic in the story. Their class has been raising money to help the family of a local quadriplegic build a house to meet his needs. They asked what modifications were made for Homer in the story.
  • Why does Harry Sue’s grandma take her anger out on the kids?

This book covers several tough issues including Sudan’s “lost boys,” child neglect, foster care, and parental incarceration. Students engaged in a conversation with Sue about the writing process, the issues in the book, the editorial process, relating to kids like Harry Sue, and the author’s life. Sue is great with the students and addresses serious issues in funny and touching ways. These are amazing programs! Participate next year if you can!

ASK Author: Wireman Comics

This morning a 5th grade class from Brown Elementary is participating in a special TWICE ASK session with Sue Stauffacher about her comic books called Wireman. This particular series is designed for students who are struggling with reading; common sight words are carefully sprinkled through the comic to increase student’s reading skills. In the picture, Sue is showing the difference between writing a comic book script and writing a novel. Students learned in this program the long process it takes to get from idea to finished product.

Here are some of the questions the students asked:

  • Do you like writing comics or books more and why?
  • What is your favorite issue of Wireman and why?
  • Why did you decide to write a comic on Wireman instead of another book?
  • Are you going to write another story line with the same characters?
  • Are you planning on adding any new characters? (There’s a Navaho code-talker in one of the pictures and he’ll be coming back in future issues.)

Lucky for the students in this class, Sue is sending them the script and the draft comic strip for volume 3. They’ll be the first class to see it!

Because we didn’t fill this session, this class got to be one-on-one with Sue. The students had written their own sequels for volume three and they shared them with Sue.

Sue also read her new book, Nothing But Trouble: The Story of Althea Gibson, which is coming out in October. This book is a feast of words and pictures! We’ll have to schedule an ASK program on this book for sure. Check the TWICE ASK website in the fall for next year’s sessions with Sue Stauffacher.

New NETS & VC

Did you know that ISTE is updating the NETS for Students? Now is the time to give feedback before the deadline of March 31.

I thought I’d share with you a quick little comparison I did. I wanted to see where videoconferencing fits into the new NETS for Students and if it seems appropriately represented.

The current standards potentially address videoconferencing in the 4th standard: Technology Communication Tools.

  • Students use telecommunications to collaborate, publish, and interact with peers, experts, and other audiences.
  • Students use a variety of media and formats to communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences.

Have you noticed or thought about the fact that these standards are focused more on students interacting, communicating and collaborating than on “receiving” content? There’s definitely a basis here for collaborative projects and highly interactive programs, don’t you think?

The draft of the new standards move the communication standard to number II with the new heading of Communication and Collaboration. Higher importance? Don’t you love the word Collaboration in there?!!!

  • Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others. Students:
    A. collaborate, publish, and interact with peers, experts, and others employing a variety of digital media and formats.
    B. communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences utilizing a variety of media and formats.
    C. develop cultural understanding and global awareness by engaging with learners of other cultures.
    D. contribute to project teams to produce original works.

Emphasis mine. Note how the wording in B is very similar to the previous standard, but the focus is on the learning task at the beginning of the sentence instead of the technology used. Excellent!

Isn’t C. awesome!! I love that line! Succinctly expressing the need and value of international connections. Can anyone say Read Around the Planet or Megaconference Jr.?
D. sure gives food for thought. I’ve had simmerings of ideas before on projects that could happen via VC. Time to dig up those ideas again and see how they could be implemented. Science MysteryQuest, Global Business Uses of VC, VC in the Real World, Dream Factory. How could we have students collaborate at a distance to produce original work on some “big problems“?

I am pleased that the new standards make a stronger case for videoconferencing and other forms of communication technologies. Wouldn’t you agree? Then give feedback before the deadline of March 31!