I've been inspired by Seth Godin's book, Poke the Box. I am also enjoying much of what I'm finding in The Icarus Deception. (I won a copy from Jeremy Statton's blog, Living Better Stories.)
In both books Godin repeatedly challenges the reader to get started, to make things and to keep getting better at making them. I've been encouraged by the results as I try to put it into practice. I share the ideas with teachers in the district where I work and I try to incorporate it into the lessons and presentations when I get a chance to teach or speak in the classroom.
I was thinking today of a Lifelong Learner Challenge based on some of the principles of the books. I'd like to do this as a personal goal and to encourage (or require!) my students to do it is well.
The Lifelong Learner Challenge
Each week I will make at least one thing that is:
New - It must be new to me and to the world--original.
Good - It must be measured against a realistic, high standard. (For students, this includes appropriate content standards.)
Personal - Those who know me can see me--my style, unique preferences or personal experiences--in the work in some way.
Helpful - It must be presented or published in some way so others can find it and benefit from it.
This challenge is currently a draft. Once I am happy with it and practicing it I will put it on my Passion and Vision page.
If you do something similar or have suggestions I would love to hear them.
My list is inspired from Seth Godin's very challenging list in The Icarus Deception:
Six Daily Habits for Artists
Sit alone; sit quietly.
Learn something new without any apparent practical benefit.
Ask individuals for bold feedback; ignore what you hear from the crowd.
I'm working with a group of middle school students and I told them the final project for the class will be an educational music video. They were not so sure they liked the idea of singing or being in a video. In an effort to encourage them, I took the plunge and finished an idea I had been working on. So here goes.
It's not easy for me to play something like this for the students, but I wanted to take the step and encourage them to do something better.
I'm not sure if it looks like it, but the video itself took a long time to create. We won't have time for something that complex in class, but I think they can do better at making a complete song as opposed to a short chorus like I wrote.
For anyone interested in the process, here's a rough outline of what I did and the software I used.
I knew I wanted to make a song about the quadratic formula. I obviously didn't write any lyrics. The formula was the chorus.
I used VoiceBand on my iPad to improvise a melody over a click track. If it's not apparent, I don't sing that well and the pitch correction in VoiceBand helps me end up with something workable.
From there, I put it in UJam. I was going to create the whole song in UJam and I might still do that. When I saw some of the simple chords that came out of one version, though, I realized I could play that on guitar. I changed what UJam gave me for chords. I also played around with the melody and rhythm quite a bit after that initial idea.
I programmed the bass, drums and a simple guitar part in the GarageBand app on my iPad. I recorded my actual guitar using the iRig guitar adapter. I recorded the vocals (including the spoken part) with the iRig Mic Cast.
To polish the vocals a little more I used GSnap in Audacity for pitch correction.
The song was not done at this point, but I had an idea of how I wanted it to flow. I started gathering video. Almost all of the video was created or captured with my iPad. For the stop motion segment in the middle I used Stop Animator. For the other animated sequences I used DoodleCast Pro. There's also a short segment of a screen capture where I grabbed the Daum Equation Editor using Screencast-o-matic.com.
I couldn't get a good mix of the audio on the iPad, so I exported each track and converted them to .wav format using Zamzar.com. I brought them into my very old version of Music Creator. I'm sure an updated version would do a lot more, but I just use my old version because it lets me split, copy and paste right on the beats of the song. I could do this on the iPad or the MacBook with GarageBand, but I'm used to years of playing around with Music Creator.
I'm not a sound engineer by any stretch, but after getting a mix I could live with, it was time to tackle the video editing.
I used iMovie on my daughters MacBook to add a few effects to the clips of me playing the guitar. Other than those, all the video was done in Corel VideoStudio. As I wrote previously, I was unhappy with Corel's customer service awhile back, but I do still love that video editing software. I am always amazed at the level of control and effects that I can achieve for relatively little cost and effort.
When it's all said and done, it took way longer than I hoped (easily over 20 hours, but I lost count) and it's far from perfect. I am happy with it as a first effort and I look forward to seeing how it encourages my students.
I'm really excited about this project. Here's a draft of the rules and components for a creativity exercise in the style of other games I have posted. In this one players develop short movie trailers as they explore what makes a powerful story.
Right now the game is low tech. Three to five players will play in a social/party game format. We have had a lot of fun with it in testing and I will be glad to hear any feedback on the rules or how the game plays.
In this game, a story is summed up as a character who wants something and overcomes obstacles to get it. Players create each element of that simple definition and then they make a title and tagline for their movie. Since it develops a step at a time and it's only a rough outline, it plays out with the fun and hints of action or drama like a great movie trailer ending with the movie title and tagline.
As an example, here's how Star Wars might look in the game:
Luke works on a farm on a desert planet.
He longs for adventure and a part in the galactic battle for freedom.
His uncle wants him home, he’s untrained and his dream seems like a boy’s fantasy.
Star Wars - May the force be with you
Because of how the story is created by the players during the game, the movies usually end up being humorous in nature. It's makes for a very fun exercise that reinforces the key elements of all great stories.
I came across a couple blog posts this morning that got me thinking about the upcoming semester. It starts tomorrow. What will I do differently from day one?
The first blog (posted on the Des Moines Register Staff Blog) raised the question of whether our students' lack of creativity is a problem. It cites some test results that indicate creativity has been in a steady decline since 1990.
As I have written previously, the focus on standardized tests and a right answer has sucked a lot of creativity out of the classroom. While a lack of creativity in our youth is an obvious problem for them and us in the future, I believe much of the lack of engagement we see in students now can also be attributed to this. Yes, less creative workforce ten years from now is bad, but when it comes to learning now, creativity is the oil in the machine. Without it, the system grinds to a boring halt.
Can I take this opportunity post that picture I put up last spring? I think it fits:
I am tired of the credit machine. Do this assignment and get credit. Get enough right answers on this quiz, then this test and then this exam and you get credit. Get enough credit and you get out of here. It is a boring game and it's no wonder that at an earlier and earlier age we see them refusing to play.
So what will I do differently this semester?
I am going to focus on creating things. I want students to remember they can create. It is rewarding to create.
I am going to remind them that we need them to create. The joy they find in it now is a hint that they were made for it. They can make something that can meet a need for someone else. What they create matters.
I will continue to model creativity and learning. What important things have I learned that I'm excited about? What have I created that makes a contribution? I will share those things with my students.
I will present the learning objectives in a way that their value is obvious.
That last point deviates from my focus on creativity, but it brings me to the second blog post I read today. It was from David Warlick-- the Essence of Authentic Learning. He states that when authentic learning takes place the value of what is learned is obvious to the learner.
So that's my focus this semester: Valuable learning objectives and lots of opportunity for creativity
I can't remember how I came across this, but I saw a post recently that pointed out the Google Drive iPad app will take photos and video directly from the camera. I didn't notice that before, but it makes for some quick, easy video capture from the iPad and transfer to a computer.
To go directly to Drive, it's this easy from the + symbol in the Drive app...
Then on a computer, work with the WeVideo Chrome app to edit. It's going to be best with short clips or just still pictures since it can take some time to upload to Drive. And WeVideo can be a little slow on uploads and previews too, but it's so easy to pull the clips and photos directly from Drive. It's great to have all these tools integrated so there's no need for cables or SD cards.
The themes in WeVideo are fun and I like the tone they give a video, much like Instagram or Aviary will give a photo.
Here's an example I made after just taking some quick clips and pictures of my game collection. The music and old film effects are all part of the theme. I imagine this as a great classroom project where a student reads her poetry or reflective writing over some appropriate images. (And I just learned the embed code from a video shared from Drive can be found in the File menu when you open the video.)
(Click here if the embedded video from Drive isn't working on your device.)
And since WeVideo is working from Drive the project can be shared in the editing process. It's a good time to be alive!
I've got some classes starting next week where I will give this a try with students.
