One of the beauties of collaborating with other distance learning coordinators is that you learn new things to improve your practice! This year we’ve had several VCs with Roxanne’s schools in ESC Region 12. Roxanne works hard to have her schools display a sign showing their location. Here’s an example from our ASK: The Wall sessions today. It sure makes it easy to facilitate. I definitely want to work with my schools on this next year.
Tag Archives: ASK Programs
ASK: The Wall
Today we are doing our first day of ASK sessions on the book The Wall. Middle school students are interviewing a panel of our local Vietnam veterans. Here is a sampling of their questions from today.
- How did you adjust to the different climate and culture in Vietnam?
- What was a typical day like for you?
- What encouraged you to be in the military?
- What did you excel in?
- Would you rather fight in Iraq today or back then in Vietnam?
- How and where did you sleep when you were in battle?
- What did you eat while you were there?
Some of the classes started their questions with, “Thank you for your service to our country. My question is….” The panel of veterans very much appreciated this little gesture from the students. You should have seen them beam as students started asking their questions. Even at lunch they were still talking about those respectful, well-prepared students!
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A Day in the Life of a Distance Learning Coordinator
Inspired by Arnie, Roxanne and Sandy, I thought I would write about a day of videoconferencing. So I picked a pretty busy day to record. If you are blogging too, pick a day yet this school year and tell us what it’s really like!
7:30 a.m. River Valley participates in the first ever Literature Quest. I came in early and sat by my phone waiting for a call in case they had trouble. No phone call so they did great on their own!
8:00 a.m. Patrick Hamilton connects to the Buffalo Museum of Science. This connection didn’t go well and after a few minutes of struggling, I had the school dial directly to Buffalo and then I didn’t hear from them so they were fine!
8:30 a.m. River Valley’s second Literature Quest starts. Again they were doing it on their own. At about 8:40 I called the media specialist to see how it was going. Very well. We’ll probably modify the materials to include three presentations from each school. At the high school level it seems, based on this pilot, that a full MysteryQuest with six presentations can be done between two schools in an hour long class period. Good to know and we’ll continue to use this model to develop more programs.
9:00 a.m. Pat Ham finishes with the Buffalo Museum and Washington Elementary connects to them. With Washington El it worked fine on the bridge. I scramble to set up the distance learning room for an ASK program. Presets, tables, logo. Welcome panel participants.
9:30 a.m. Sam Adams and Marcellus Middle School participate in ASK: Monkey Island with our panel of experts. We rescheduled to today so that Marcellus could participate. So now I’m facilitating and making sure the Buffalo Museum program is still going at the same time!
10:00 a.m. Washington El finishes with Buffalo Museum and Patrick Hamilton is back for another session with a different class. While facilitating the ASK program, I keep checking my bridge to see when Washington is done. Then I disconnect so Pat Ham can dial directly. Note: Later today I received an email from Washington Elementary with this feedback on their program with the Buffalo Museum of Science: “The vc went wonderfully. The kids really enjoyed it, and I liked that the kids were making good observations and deductions. It’s definitely one that I’ll recommend to our teachers.”
10:30 a.m. ASK Monkey Island finishes and I thank our panel members and walk them out of the building.
11:00 a.m. Brandywine and St. Joseph High Schools connect to Global Nomads Group for their Pulse program on Muslim-Western relations. St. Joe’s camera was acting up so we had to reboot. Brandywine was connecting at 128K and we tried to resolved that but finally gave up. This program is led by David MacGuirt and is a facilitated dialogue with David posing questions and the students responding to the question, and then commenting on each others’ responses.
12:00 noon. Whew. Time for lunch.
12:30 p.m. River Valley’s last LiteratureQuest starts. On their own again. They did fine!
1:00 p.m. Catching up on email and phone calls. Arranging two more videoconferences. Helping a teacher in my online class. Answering a district tech coordinator’s questions about a grant.
2:30 p.m. Ottawa Elementary goes to the Bronx Zoo. For some reason in today’s connection I couldn’t call the Bronx Zoo, so I had to have them call me. But that was quickly resolved and we had a great program on Animal Colors.
3:40 p.m. Quick test call for Where in Michigan tomorrow.
4:00 p.m. Final videoconference reflection for the Kid2Kid Videoconference Class. We talked about what went well with their projects this year, talked about challenges – mostly related to technology and communication and talked about what other VC projects we have going on. It was a great debrief!
In between VCs today I worked on automating my final report for this year. It’s almost done!
So tell us about one of your days!
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Being Patient with Teachers
One of the challenges of coordinating videoconferencing is what to do when teachers cancel or change their minds on doing a videoconference. While it can be very frustrating for those who have put in time scheduling, doing test calls, and all the preparation necessary, I think we have to step back and look at it from the teacher’s perspective.
Cancellation Reasons
They may not always tell us why they are canceling, but almost always it’s a very good reason. Family issues, health issues, school scheduling issues that they didn’t know about before, curriculum pressures…. these are all reasons why teachers cancel. They sign up thinking that it will work out, but when it comes right down to it, they can’t make it happen.
Sometimes, with a little patience and encouragement in discussion with the teacher, you can resolve the issue satisfactorily to salvage the program. But other times it honestly has to be canceled.
Reacting to Cancellations
In our early days of videoconferencing, I sent some strongly worded letters to teachers about canceling programs. Guess what? They’ve never done a videoconference since. What was I thinking?!! We don’t do that anymore. We can’t take it personally! We have to consider their point of view and be gracious and understanding!
Of course we want teachers to realize that scheduling is challenging, but teachers are really stressed and under a lot of pressure. If we add to that stress, we are teaching them that videoconferencing isn’t worth the trouble. We have to cut them some slack and work with them to resolve whatever challenges arise so that they will continue to participate and use videoconferencing.
What About You?
So how do you handle cancellations? Any advice? What tips do you have to help teachers work through challenges with a videoconference?
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Author Janie Panagopoulos VCs from Home!
Today we have four sessions of ASK: Train to Midnight with Janie Panagopoulos, sponsored by TWICE. Fourth grade students from around Michigan have prepared questions based on their reading of Janie’s books. Tomorrow we have four sessions on the book Journey Back to Lumberjack Camp. I’ve written about ASK programs with Janie before if you want to read about what those are like.
The sessions this spring are unique in that Janie is connecting from her home in Illinois using her computer, Polycom PVX, and the Polycom Communicator. You can see in the picture that she has a poster of the book behind her and the picture comes through very well. It’s been a bit of a journey getting the cable access to work properly with videoconferencing at her house, but now we’re reaping the results of those efforts.
We now have Janie listed as a content provider, and one of my schools is planning a professional development session with her on the topic of writing. So if you were wanting to try connecting to an author, here’s another possibility!
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ASK: Lest We Forget: World War II
Today we had another session of our ASK: Lest We Forget sessions. Students interviewed a panel of five local World War II veterans. I’ve written about it before: December 7 and The Greatest Generation. So you can read those to get more information about it. My favorite question from today was, “What items did you keep with you to keep you motivated?” One of our local veterans was married just before he shipped out, and now he is celebrating his 65th year of marriage!
I recorded today’s session on the RSS 2000 we have on loan from Polycom for special events. You can watch it here. Because one of the schools didn’t have permission for the students to be online, I forced the video to the veterans only. So you won’t see the students, but you’ll hear their questions.
We also have room in the session with our Vietnam Veterans coming up on May 23, if you want to participate with us. Check the website for the latest availability.
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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!
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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.
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Changing My Mind on View Only Sessions
In the first few years of our distance learning program, I thought that view only sessions were a waste of time and energy. In those days, classes had to travel to the high school to get access to videoconferencing. VC is an interactive medium, so I didn’t want anyone to waste their time, energy and funding just to do a view only session. I’ve felt strongly for the past several years that VC isn’t worth doing if you can’t interact with the people on the other side.
However, I’m beginning to change my mind. Now most of our teachers have access to VC in their building. They don’t have to travel.
In addition, they are still very nervous about the possibility of videoconferencing. They want to know what to expect. They want to see how it works. They don’t want to commit to involving their students until they know it’s worth their time and meets the goals of the curriculum.
Enter view only sessions.
View only sessions allow teachers to experience the possibilities with students in a low-key environment. Everyone can watch how the event occurs. They don’t have to say anything or be on camera, but they can see what happens in a typical videoconference. While watching how others behave in a videoconference, they can learn how to teach their own students how to behave in a videoconference.
A view only session is a stepping stone to a full videoconference.
Do you agree?
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The Ultimate Gift Movie Interview
Today we have a special videoconference on the book and movie The Ultimate Gift, organized and sponsored by Polycom. Students from California, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Texas interviewed the author, Jim Stovall; the screen writer Cheryl McKay; and the lead actor, Drew Fuller. Macomb ISD provided the bridging and facilitation. Thank you for Jim Wenzloff, Macomb ISD, and Elaine Shuck, Polycom for the behind the scenes work that made this event possible.
The program started with introductions from the panel, and then students took turns asking questions. Here are some of them.
- For Drew: Did you find it difficult to play the part of Jason in the movie?
- For Jim: What impact has this movie had on your life?
- For Jim: What was it like for you to be in the movie?
- For Cheryl: Did you change any parts of the story and why?
- For Cheryl: Did you find that you emphasized some gifts more than others?
- For Jim: Did you get to have any say over which actors would be in the movie?
- For Drew: Which was the most difficult scene to act?
- For Cheryl: Was it hard to transition from the book to the movie?
- For Jim: Are any of the scenes in the book things that happened to you in your life?
- For Cheryl: What made you want to add characters that weren’t in the book?
- For Drew: What inspired you to be an actor at such a young age?
- For Jim: Since you are blind, do you find it hard to not be able to see the movie?
- For Jim & Cheryl: Which parts do you wish you could have changed in the movie and which parts do you think changed for the best?
- For Drew: What was it like playing Jason and how do you relate to the character?
- For Jim: Did they use any actual quotes from the book in the movie?
- For Drew: If you were actually in Jason’s position, what would you do with the inheritance?
- For Drew: Do you think you’ve been impacted by the 12 gifts and changed in any way?
Students learned about the process of writing a book, writing a script based on the book, and then making it into a movie. They learned about how the book impacted the lives of each panelist. One interesting note is that in the credits at the end of the movie, there are little clips that show all 12 of the gifts from the book and how they were woven into the movie.
This event was live streamed and is now archived on the Polycom RSS 2000 we have on loan for these events. You can access it at streaming.bcisd.org; login (polycom) and password (special).
