Raising Questions

New for 2014: Follow the continuing Teaching Like an Artist series on TeachingLikeanArtist.com.

Art is life shining through and the artist is someone who gets good at letting it. When life shines through, it catches attention. 

People wonder at it. 

They wonder about it.

Artists raise questions. From where they stand, they see what others don’t. They express thoughts and emotions in surprising, new ways.

And if they don’t ask the questions themselves, they lead us to a place where we must do the asking.

What does that mean?
How did she do that?
Why didn’t I think of that?
You too?

He did what?
What's next?

To learn is to realize there is more to learn - that there is much to wonder about. Deep curiosity oozes interesting questions.

What questions did I raise for my students today? What questions did I inspire them to ask me, themselves and others?

Smart Jams: Simple Music Creation Projects for Any Class

Smart Jams is the grant funded music video project I completed with fifth graders in our district. In many ways it represents the best (and most rewarding) work I've done in my 20 years in education. 

Here is the page I'm developing for session handouts. It is the starting point for anything you want to learn about the project.

I'm really enthusiastic about the power of a music video PBL activity such as this and in just over a week I will be speaking about it at the MACUL ed-tech conference in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Technology has made it possible for anyone to enjoy and benefit from the process of music creation. I've been able to help elementary students through adults create simple songs and perform them in videos.

Crystal Owen, the music teacher I worked with, will be presenting with me. Besides talking about what we learned from the experience, we will keep it entertaining with live music and sample videos from our project. 

Our main points are that we, as teachers, must:

• let students experience the joy and learning that results from songwriting and recording.
• amaze students with what they can create.
• find space in our schedules and curriculum to introduce extremely creative projects.
• find ways to stay inspired so we can inspire.

Educators who join us will get a list of practical tips and necessary apps, programs and equipment for running anything from extremely simple projects to complex productions. Before we leave everyone will have a chance to start a song and we will make a video or two.

Please check us out on page 44 of the MACUL Program. You can download it from this page. We will be presenting on Friday morning (March 14) at 8:30 in the Riverview Room in the Amway Grand Plaza.

If you want to read more about the project, I documented the work extensively on my Music Creation in the Classroom page.

Smart Jams math songs playlist on SoundCloud

Here's the playlist of all of our Smart Jams math songs. If you download or share them, please include a link to this page or my Music Creation in the Classroom page.

Degrees of Tech Use in Education

I've been working on this thought for awhile, but the missing piece came from a simply stated insight from Terry Heick in this short interview. He said his advice to teachers regarding tech integration would be:

"Think of it as a learning tool, not a teaching tool."

It's my job to help teachers infuse more technology into their instruction and that is too often hindered by a misunderstanding of terms. It is easy for some teachers to say they integrate technology because they use their interactive whiteboards and students play on Study Island in the lab.

But technology use in education has to be seen as a spectrum, not a yes-no question as to whether a computer is on in the classroom.  I'm sure some of the distinctions I make below would not matter in all schools, but here is the image and terminology I will begin using as I teach teachers.



Of course, my goal is to help every teacher to take the next step toward the innovation end of the spectrum. First, I want them to identify where their instruction would fall on the scale most days using this criteria:

• Teacher use - The technology is in the teacher's hands and it is essential for her to do her job. Examples - Lesson in PowerPoint projected in front of the room, lesson plans done in a calendar shared with the principal, grading program
• Student use - Students need to use technology to complete the lesson. Examples - Watch Khan Academy videos at home, find the assignment in Edmodo, read the article in Newsela
• Integration - This is the important distinction for me because I am working toward integration of content objectives and technology skills. Here students can't complete the lesson without learning a new technology skill. Examples of this could look like student use above, but the difference is the teacher designed the learning so most or all students will use a new tool in a new way to learn a new skill. The step in tech skills has to be small enough that it enhances rather than distracts from the learning of the content.
• Innovation - Here the teacher is using the technology to design learning experiences no one else has used before. This is exciting, but difficult work. It stems from a high degree of digital literacy in which the teacher thinks creatively with the technology, expressing herself through the blend of her unique personality and broad range of personal experiences.

Two thoughts:

• Each level is a spectrum as well. There are levels of tech integration and levels of innovation. The idea of what counts as "new" can relate more or less to the teachers and students themselves, the district as a whole or possibly the world.
• I will be thrilled to have all teachers at the Integration stage. Innovation is vital and I believe passionate teachers will automatically move in that direction. We need innovators leading the way, both in the world at large and within our districts. However, students acquiring appropriate tech skills within the context of content are a lessons is exciting.

If this becomes an effective tool in our district I will follow up with some examples.

Digital Storytelling for Middle School with WeVideo

I created a digital story assignment to introduce WeVideo and we tried it out this week.

It confirmed for me that WeVideo is a great tool for the classroom. This assignment results in a digital slideshow, so we were only uploading photos. I'm not sure how well it will work with video, especially long clips, but I hope to try that out soon.

For now, it is my recommended editor when teachers ask me for a resource to create narrated slideshows.

For our assignment, I took 10 pictures of students in various poses. The students had to arrange at least six of these pictures into some short story in WeVideo. They were required to add a title and end clip as well as captions and some panning and zooming.

Here are the resources for the assignment:

• The assignment sheet - This includes directions, requirements and links to the tutorials.
• A shared folder on Google Drive with the pictures - These 10 photos were taken ahead of time.
• Video Tutorial 1 - This shows how to get started in WeVideo. It shows the basics of the interface, how to upload, arrange, add captions and titles and also how to pan and zoom.  Note:  The tutorial refers to uploading the photos because in our class we didn't store photos in Google Drive. You can upload from Drive or you could save those photos above in a different folder.
• Video Tutorial 2 - This tutorial shows how to add music and how to publish and share the final video.

This basic assignment lends itself to a lot of modification for different needs. Here are some suggestions:

• Have the students take their own photos.
• Have another class take the photos.
• Instead of using actors in the photos, students could set up action figures or maybe even objects.
• They could draw the pictures digitally or on paper.
• Require editing of the photos. For example, speech bubbles could be added.
• Narrate the story and have students read the dialogue.

If you use this assignment or you have suggestions for other changes I'd love to hear from you!

A Note to Teachers: Consider the quality of your PLN

This is an article I wrote for my district tech newsletter in hopes of getting more teachers to develop their PLN. It could be of value to others, so I posted it here. If you already have a PLN, I'd love to hear your input on this matter so I can help the teachers I work with to see the importance of growing a PLN.

Maybe you've heard teachers talk about their "PLN". Some will suggest everyone needs one. I'd say we all have one already, though PLNs vary in quality. It's important to recognize this, because in all cases they can help or hinder us in doing our best work.

A PLN is a personal learning network. I hear it most often in reference to social networks like Twitter, where professionals follow and contribute their own thoughts among peers and leaders in their fields.

I say everyone has a PLN because we all have a group of people we learn from. Some will talk about "connected educators", but we are all connected to some degree. Whether it's to authors we've read, speakers we listen to at conferences or the other teachers in our buildings, we have a network that shapes how we see our work.

But not all PLNs are equal. For the sake of our students and the profession, we all should evaluate the quality of our PLN. We can do that by asking three simple questions:

• How does my PLN impacted my professional growth?
• How many teachers am I regularly connecting with?
• How often do we connect? 

When measured in those ways, the advantage of technology becomes obvious. In fact, that's why PLN commonly refers to a large tech enabled social network. The most effective tools for the job are obvious.

Those who regularly stay in contact through large social networks will confirm this. The anytime, anyplace nature a dedicated PLN is a lot like hanging out with teachers at a conference whenever you have a spare minute. It grants immediate access to timely answers, a source of collective wisdom, best practices and a perspective of education on a global scale.

If you already use Twitter, Edmodo or some other network as a PLN, I'd encourage you to share contact information with others in your building or across the district.

If you aren't yet a part of a larger network, I suggest taking the time to get started with Twitter. It only takes seconds to sign up.

This Teacher's Guide to Twitter is a good place to start for basic information. Here are two other good posts to start with if you are looking for other teachers to follow:

• 10 Teachers to Follow on Twitter
• 10 Educators on Twitter You Should Follow (But Probably Don't)

This is a note to the teachers I work with, but feel free to follow if you care to contribute!

Also, I set up a Twitter account for our district's technology tips or other related communication. Right now the only followers are me and Kevin Honeycutt (and he could split at any minute). So if you've got an account, join in and you'll make a very significant contribution to the number of followers. The account is the same as the title of the newsletter: @lv_tech_connect

Quotes and thoughts for teachers and leaders

At some point I started turning the things I say regularly at school and my more popular tweets into the little word posters we see plastered all over the internet and social media.  I compiled most of them here, each with a brief thought. 

Please feel free to share or use them as slides or images for presentations. A link to my blog or my profile on Twitter is appreciated. 

One variation on my "play or make something" routine...

Here are a few that sum up everything I'm learning from all my "teaching like an artist" thinking. 

Share on Twitter.

Artists dream big and do what it takes to make the dream real. They are motivated by letting their ideas spread and they love to share the ideas with others. School needs more of these people!

Too often we forget that technology allows us to connect and to do something big now. I know students don't think of it much. They are bombarded with free entertainment instead. The chance to do something big now is why I'm not big on talking about career planning or getting a high paying job someday. 

Share on Twitter.

Change happens a heart at a time and for school, those hearts will mostly be those of the teachers. Let them see us learning.

This picture that came to mind when I discovered the power of creativity in school. It has received a lot of attention in the years since.

Technology integration doesn't mean there's a computer on in the room or even that a student is engaged in an activity at a computer. 

We don't often grade on the creativity and it's not on the list of learning objectives. That's fine, but that doesn't mean it's not important in all grades and subjects.

This is the key to success I always taught my students. 

Share on Twitter.

It's no wonder the students get bored with school. We all are wired to learn so we can do. Focus on the doing and design it so learning happens. 

This was my most tweeted thought ever. It would be displayed before a learning activity. I designed it for a session for teachers, but any secondary class might benefit from it. I wrote a lot more about it here. 

The only question that matters when working for success. 

Don't forget it's not about the tools. Let students be amazed with what they can accomplish. 

Share on Twitter.

Book Review: Learning Stencyl 3.x Game Development - Beginner's Guide

I was given a review copy of Learning Stencyl 3.x Game Development: Beginner’s Guide. Before jumping into the details of my review, I’ll say I found the book to be an enjoyable read. I learned a lot and I can safely say this will be my go-to resource for my students when they are learning to make games with Stencyl.

Right away I was glad to see Joe Dolivo’s name in the list of reviewers for the book’s content. When I started programming with Stencyl almost two years ago, I contacted the Stencyl team to ask about classroom resources. I liked the promise of Stencyl, but I was having difficulty learning to create some simple classroom games. They directed me to Joe as someone who knows the program and knows education. He pointed out a few online resources and also told me this book was in the works. With Jonathan Chung, Stencyl’s creator, writing the forward and Joe Dolivo as part of the writing process, I knew the book’s author was writing with authority.

The book provides a great overview of Stencyl, leaving the reader with an excellent idea of what to expect from this game creation tool. Beyond that, most of the ten chapters are a step by step walk-through of creating a platform game called Monkey Run. Instead of progressing through the menus, tools or other features, it takes us through the stages of game development. Anyone who works through those chapters will have created a playable computer game. What more could a beginning game designer ask for?

Now, as I mentioned above, I had trouble getting started with Stencyl and I didn’t have much luck with the online tutorials. (I wrote about my early experiences and conclusions in this post.) I can say without question Learning Stencyl 3.x Game Development is a vast improvement over those resources. The writing is very clear. I really like how each stage starts with a brief overview of what we’ll accomplish with the game, then it goes right into a step by step explanation of how to actually make it happen using Stencyl’s tools such as actors, behaviors and blocks.

I was very pleased with these explanations, but I think the best sections are the “What just happened?” segments that follow them. As an educator, I know students want to jump right into the doing. They’re not big on reading paragraph after paragraph of the overall concept and plan.

So instead of trying to explain the why and all the terms upfront, the book elaborates on what we did and why after we’ve gone through the steps. It’s a great way to teach. By the time the learner gets to these sections, he or she has become somewhat familiar with the tools and probably already has some questions that the sections will address.

One last positive I’ll mention is I appreciated the care taken to credit the creators of the graphics and audio used in the game. The attention given to copyright and creative commons licenses, both explicitly in the appendix and by example throughout the chapters, will be very helpful as I teach these practices to students.

With all the praise I have offered, I do have to add I haven’t yet worked through any of the actual programming. I read over the first half of the book carefully and skimmed through the later chapters. I hope to return to it, preferably with students, actually going through all the programming in Stencyl as I do. At this time I can only say it all makes sense with the things I have created on my own previously.

I did download the sample code that came with the book and I tried out one of the advanced sections. (The sample code can be downloaded from the publisher's site. It is provided in sections that match each step of the book. This is a nice touch because learners can jump in at any point of the book or development process they need and have just enough of the code prepared for them in advance.)

And definitely worth mentioning, the book refers to Stencyl 3.x, but that hasn’t been released yet. The Stencyl site does say 3.0 is available through a closed beta program to paying customers.  I can only assume the authors expected that version to come out the same time the book did, but for whatever reason it hasn’t. As I mentioned, I didn’t notice anything in the steps that looked different than my initial experience with Stencyl. Also, the code section I tested out in my current version of Stencyl seemed to work fine. If there are features of 3.0 that would be significantly different, they aren’t immediately apparent.

All things considered, I am very happy to have this book for myself and my students. It has answered some questions I had about this very promising game design tool and I think it can help many more young learners to find success in game creation. I’m not currently teaching a game design or programming class, but the next time I have the opportunity, I will use Stencyl and I will provide this book to the students.

Examples from the Smart Jams Math Music Video Project

Here are five samples from our first time through the Smart Jams music video project. I highlighted our work in detail on my Music in the Classroom page. I also included video tutorials for the entire process so teachers or students could do similar work.

Due to privacy concerns, we did not get permission to post the full videos online. The versions here will give you a great idea of the quality of the songs. The videos have been modified (mostly with panning and zooming) so that students cannot be identified.

These are a few of the songs I'm most proud of for reasons noted below.

Best singing performance - Multiplying Fractions - Most students opted for a rap when they performed. It is a lot more work for all involved when they choose to sing as these girls did, but the performance turned out very well.

Best rap performance - Rounding Like a Hero (Rounding to the Tens Place) - This is a great example of how a short, simple rap can focus on the content and give students a chance to let their talents shine through.

Best songwriting - Truckin' Like a Tractor (Reducing Fractions) - I liked the similes and rhymes in this short song a lot. The quiet girl who did the rap really came to life when I started recording!



Example created using just the iPad - This is remix of the first song. After I got the chords from UJam, I created the music using Smart Instruments in GarageBand for iPad. I also played a guitar track using the iRig adapter. Next, I created the video using only still pictures and iMovie. It's a good example of what can be accomplished relatively quickly with all content creation on this amazing device.


Example of WeVideo - Long Division - These students were a joy to work with and they put a lot into their song. It's one of our best, but I also share it here because I finalized this version in WeVideo. All other videos were done with iMovie, but I wanted to see if WeVideo could be used as a simple, free alternative on a PC. My conclusion is yes, but I had to publish this twice before the published version matched the sync of the edited version I worked on. I can't say how common that is, but it was somewhat frustrating.

I'll be glad to hear any comments you have on this project and the final products!

The Big Question Before the Learning Starts

Last week I was planning for teacher professional development and something like the picture below came to mind. I sent it out on Twitter asking if it had value. There was no response at first, but I sent it again a few days later and it received a lot of attention. Now I want to elaborate on the underlying idea and consider how to develop it. 

First, I see this being used before a learning activity for adults on down to younger teens. I know the wording and presentation can be improved, but I believe it captures the most important question regardless of the topic and technique that awaits the learner. 

I think the main point of the question is clear, that the desire to learn is a perquisite for learning. The scale from 1 - 10 implies we rarely will find ourselves 100% at one extreme or the other. 

My problem with this is that the question has value when I answer it for myself, but when I have to answer it to someone else or because someone else raised it, I'm not likely to think about it in a meaningful way. The "right" answer will be quickly given or maybe in resentment or defense, I won't think deeply about where my attitude toward learning actually falls. 

But can the question be answered in a useful way only in self-reflection?  Is discussion necessary, at least in some settings or with some topics? If so, how can that be done without making this come off as accusatory?

I'm drawn to this activity because it requires the teacher and learner to narrow the focus on the purpose of the learning to come. It draws the learner to consider that purpose and his or her relation to it. 

And to me, the beauty of this is an honest answer of 1 or 2 on the scale is of great value. Teacher and learner can gain so much from admitting it or realizing that's how the learner feels. It's like we can all start on level ground, open to each other and the reality of the job we face together. 

Teachers, or administrators running professional development, need to encourage the learners to express this honestly and in appropriate ways. How much real learning is prevented because we all forge ahead without meeting here first? Is it because we assume everyone wants to learn or we don't know how to respond if they don't?

There is a reality that in every learning situation the learner must give something in order to learn. For those of us teaching teens or older, how often have we said, "You will only get out as much as you put into it"? Certainly the teacher must carry some of the weight, probably most of it for any planned learning situation, but as learners mature they need to recognize their own responsibility in the matter. This attitude check reminds everyone of this.

Some questions that I still have as I consider using this:

• What should I do as a learner if my honest answer to the question is a low number? Do I leave? Do I just do the bare minimum required? What would it take to make real learning more important to me?
• Should learners discuss their answers among themselves? Or is this a reflective writing warm-up activity? 
• Should I as the teacher see the responses of the learners?
• As the teacher or leader in this activity, what is a good response when I find some learners in the group are honestly saying they just want to get it over with? Do I try to move them further up the scale by convincing them of the importance, or do I give less myself?
• What research exists that relates to this?
• How can I improve the wording or presentation? What changes will be necessary for specific learning situations?

Smart Jams Music Video Project - Outline and Video Tutorials

These are my video tutorials and outline for the Smart Jams Music Video Project. If you have any questions about this process, don't hesitate to contact me by email. I want to improve this page so many teachers and students can create a similar project.

All information about the project and our pilot can be found on my Music Creation in the Classroom page on this blog.

It will help to see and hear some examples first:

• Some examples of videos from the Smart Jams project
• Audio for all 24 songs we created

The process can vary depending on complexity, but the heart of the project involves songwriting, recording the song and then creating a full arrangement using UJam.com and GarageBand.

Step 1:  Write the lyrics

The first step is to write a short song. When we do these, they are really just choruses of about four to eight lines.

Step 2:  Record vocals

Next, make a recording of someone singing or rapping the song. We do those by playing a beat in headphones for the performer and just his or her voice is recorded. For the beat, I use Smart Drums in GarageBand for iPad. You could also use Easy Beats LE for a free option. On a computer you could use DrumBot.

To record, we use Audacity on a computer and export the track to mp3.

Tip:  Name the file with the song's tempo in it.  For example, if the beat the performer sang to was 90 beats per minute, save the file as mathsong90.mp3.  This will help greatly in later steps.

Step 3:  Adjust timing of audio recording (if necessary)

If the recording is perfect, you can probably skip these first two tutorials and go right to the UJam step below, but I have found most student recordings need some cleaning up to adjust timing.

This short tutorial shows how to transfer the file to your iPad so you can adjust timing using GarageBand for iPad.


Then this next tutorial shows how I would split the tracks into segments (sometimes as small as a syllable) and move them to adjust the timing. You can do this with GarageBand on a Mac, or any other program that allows for easy trimming and moving of audio tracks. I prefer GarageBand for iPad because I can work on the audio files whenever I get the chance.

In case you're wondering about the time it takes to fix up a file, it depends how rough it was. For short songs that were performed well, this would be done in less than two minutes, if it was necessary at all. In other cases I would work for an hour or more over a series of sessions to polish them up.

As a general rule, have students practice ahead of time as much as possible and get a good recording. Short songs are better than long ones! This process will not be able to do much to fix a really bad recording.

Step 4:  Export to mp3

Next you need to export the file in mp3 format. This will be easy if you're using most programs that work with files on a computer, since they usually export to mp3. On the iPad, I exported from GarageBand to Voice Record Pro. From there I could convert to mp3 format and email the file to myself for the next step. (Note: If your program will not export to mp3 you can also use wav format.)

Step 5:  Get two or more arrangements from UJam

This next tutorial is about what makes the project truly impressive. It shows the steps I would usually do to create at least two different background tracks with full instrumentation using UJam.com. This is an amazing online resource and with some practice I could usually put together two background tracks in about 10 minutes. The trick is to not get distracted by all the options!


One suggestion when letting the students do this part of the process: Share the audio file(s) on Google Drive and let them work on the song outside of class. That should allow them to stick to a deadline in class, knowing they can always explore other options at home.

Alternate approach:
As another option rather than UJam, just download one of our Smart Jams Song Starters from SoundCloud and improvise a melody over it. Import the Song Starter into Audacity and record your vocal track separately. Let me know if you like the Song Starter idea, but need more styles and variations.

Step 6:  Mix tracks and arrange

The final tutorial shows how I combined the background tracks from UJam with the vocal performance using GarageBand. I did this on a Mac, but you could easily do the same thing with GarageBand for iPad. Audacity would also work, though it's not as easy to adjust right to the measures and loops aren't as readily available.

Step 7: Make the video

At this point you will have a good audio version of the song.  If you want to move on to video, you can tackle that in a number of ways. Here are some general tips.

Quick videos using Video Star:
The Video Star app for iPad is a fun (and free) tool that allows you to play a song while you record video. None of the sound you make while recording will be in the video. Only the song will be heard. It's ideal if you want to lip sync, but the many effects can make an entertaining music video even if you're not singing along with every line.

To use this method, once you export the song from GarageBand, send it to iPad (even if it's already on the iPad) by email. Check your email with the iPad app. Tap and hold the attachment link for the file in the message and you should get an Open With... options. One of those should be the Video Star app. The song will open in Video Star and you can begin recording right away.

Video slideshows using the iPad or computer:
Students can make great videos combining pictures. These styles of videos usually play the pictures in different ways over background music, which in this case would be the song the students created.

iMovie is a great option on the iPad. If you don't want to buy it, Splice and Loopster are good options that will accomplish the same thing.

If you are using a Mac, use iMovie to combine the pictures. For a PC, try Movie Maker or WeVideo. In all of these cases, you can easily add text and effects to the pictures as well.

If you want to edit the pictures ahead of time, I can't say enough good about Pixlr. It has a website (use the Express version), iPad app and Android app.

Another option is to create a full video made up of video clips, pictures, effects and text. This can become very time consuming and the details are well beyond the scope of this outline. I may add some more tips or another post about this process. For now, I will just suggest using iMovie on a Mac (which is what I used for almost all the Smart Jams examples) or Corel VideoStudio (which I used for The Area and Perimeter Song and The Quadratic Formula Song).

If you have questions or comments about the process, please include them below so I can improve this series of tutorials.

Results from the Smart Jams Math Music Video Project

Through November and December I worked with our upper elementary music teacher on a math music video project with fifth graders. Our goals were to integrate math in the music class, to encourage some creativity and to make products that might help other students learn the math skills and concepts. You can find all related posts about this project here.

It was a grant funded project from MACUL and part of my proposal included some pre- and post-tests as well as opinion surveys from students. Here are some results and observations.

To measure the effectiveness of the math integration, I gave pre-tests to half of the students before we started writing the songs. Each quiz was given to the group responsible for a video on that topic. When we finished recording video and capturing pictures I gave those same students the same quiz. Here are the average scores by math topic:

• Reducing Fractions: Pre-test:  25%   Post-test:  37.5%
• Shapes: Pre-test:  57.1% to Post-test:  67.1%
• Multiplying Fractions: Pre-test:  55% to Post-test:  57.5%
• Adding Fractions:  Pre-test:  48.4% to Post-test:  59.3%
• Place Value:  Pre-test:  69.5% to Post-test:  82.9%
• Long Division: Pre-test:  66.7% to Post-test:  70.8%
• Rounding: Pre-test:  40.5% to Post-test:  38.9%

I would have liked to see higher averages at the end in all areas, but scores did improve at least slightly in all areas other than rounding. While even some of that improvement is so slight that I can't say it was a success for all involved, I was encouraged by the opportunity this gave us to talk about math in music class. I had good conversations with some students about concepts as I helped them plan and write their songs. This focus on content simply would not have happened if we hadn't done the project and I know with future attempts we can improve this focus.

Some other observations are worth noting here: 

• Once I saw the scores on the pre-tests I knew I had misjudged the skill level of students from the start. Because of this and the requirements of the project I narrowed the scope of a topic when it came to the songwriting. For example, for the topic of rounding I had them round to many different places, with all possible cases covered, but the songs I asked them to write only focused on rounding to the 10ths or 10s. Then when it came time to do the post-test, I still felt I should give students the same test. Consequently there were questions on the tests that we never did talk about.
• The pre-test and post-test for reducing fractions were slightly different for half of the students tested in that group due to a last minute change in topics.
• We only met with students two times a week for 45 minutes each time, so it took us five weeks to complete our work. It is possible that time in their regular math contributed to some improvement we saw.
• Fractions need a lot of attention. My initial thoughts after seeing their mistakes is that we should focus more attention there next time and also on songs about multiplying and dividing skills and concepts.

After recording the pictures and videos, but before students saw completed videos, I gave an opinion survey to just over one-third of them. Here are some results that I found interesting:

• When asked which part of the process they liked best, the most popular parts were writing the song (30%) and making the signs they held in the video (27%).
• When asked about their least favorite part, 30% again said the songwriting! I guess we can't please everyone. Another 30% said working with others in their group was what they liked least. We created the groups based largely on math skills and the resulting mix led to some disagreements between group members throughout the creative process. This has a lot of potential for learning, but it needs some more attention from us as teachers to make this a more positive learning experience.
• I asked them to rate how much they liked the project on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being best. Sixty percent of them chose a 4 or 5. Only 13% picked a 1 or 2. 
• Looking at our goal of having them practice creativity skills, a full 83% of them agreed this helped them practice creativity skills. 
• Only 49% said it introduced them to new technology skills. In looking over the project, I realized the students didn't end up using the technology much themselves this time around. We showed them what we were doing with UJam.com and they obviously were a part of the recording process, but now that we have improved the process I expect we will have the students be much more involved in the recording and editing.
• Fifty percent of the students surveyed agreed they would consider writing a song now that they have worked through the process. As one who has always loved songwriting as a rewarding hobby, I consider that to be an important success.

I haven't yet measured how well we accomplished the third goal of helping others with the videos. I plan to do that over the next month while I complete the other parts of our presentation for the MACUL conference in March.

Stick Around App - puzzles for learning

Image from Tony Vincent's website: http://learninginhand.com/

I was glad to receive a promo code for Stick Around from Tony Vincent, the app's inventor. I had heard positive things about it from others on Twitter. I also was excited to see it because it was developed by the same team that made Explain Everything, one of my favorite apps creating tutorials. I installed it right away and tried out a few of the sample puzzles that came with it.

The educational value of the puzzles is immediately evident. Each puzzle requires the user to move the "stickers" to the correct place on the background image. As an example, a sticker in the one sample has the term "cell membrane" on it. The goal is to move it, as well as the other 10 stickers in that puzzle, so all parts of the pictured cell are labeled. Some stickers have an arrow so you can easily point to the correct area of the background image.

The action of positioning stickers also allows for "sort in order" questions and for arranging items in Venn diagrams.

When a user thinks the stickers are in the right place, he or she can press the Check button. The app indicates whether or not it is correct. If so, a badge is displayed and the user can save a picture of the completed puzzle to the Camera Roll. From there it would be easy to send to the teacher or share in other ways.

To me, the big benefit of Stick Around is the ability to create your own puzzles and share them with others. While this obviously will let a teacher make puzzles that fit her students' needs perfectly and quality puzzles will be easily shared among all users, it also makes for a great project option. Students can create puzzles as a final stage of a PBL activity. One of my favorite types of assignments in technology classes is to have older students create content for younger students. This app will be perfect for that and I hope to try it with some students in the near future.

I took some time to explore the puzzle creation features. Most tools are intuitive and anyone who has used Explain Everything will recognize similarities in the interfaces. Whether you've got the app or you're still considering it, be sure to check out Tony Vincent's tutorials. They are well done and I learned some things about setting up stickers that I might have missed at first glance.

Here are my favorite features so far:

• Imported pictures can be used as backgrounds or as stickers and you can trim them to any shape. Having your picture or photos of the classroom in the puzzle adds to the fun for students. You (and they) can make the learning relate to their world and their personal interests.
• Stickers can include additional text notes or hyperlinks to web pages so students can find related information. 
• You can even record audio on a sticker. Stickers with recordings have a small Play button that users can tap to hear what you recorded. This makes it easy to add short comments to a sticker that might be helpful for completing the puzzle or maybe for additional information.

And here are a few things I noticed that were negatives or possible obstacles. I'm sure all of these can be easily addressed in an update if enough users also find them worth mentioning.

• Answer regions (where the stickers have to be for correct placement) cannot be touching. That makes sense, but I found in my custom puzzle they actually had to be spaced apart more than I expected. Since my puzzle was based on an photo, I didn't have a lot of choice as to where two of my regions were. I had to move them apart more and more until the app would finally accept them. This is not a big deal, but you need to keep it in mind before spending a lot of time on a puzzle only to find your regions will be too close. In the future, I'll make and test any regions that might be close, then finish the rest of my puzzle once I know those work.
• I'm normally not into the bells and whistles of educational apps, but I was surprised there weren't more sound effects for actions while a puzzle is completed. Sounds of picking up and placing stickers would have been a nice touch, though obviously not essential. Also, when a puzzle is checked, there's no sound for correct or incorrect submissions. In fact, the message for an incorrect attempt looks like a system dialogue box, simply indicating the puzzle was not solved correctly. There is an image of a medal for correct solutions, but compared to most interactive learning experiences the students are used to, these features didn't seem to get much attention from the developer.
• I want to work with this more to see how much of a problem it is, but the one sticker I made from a photo did not seem to work right when I added an arrow to it. It was fine at first, but when I came back to it later, the arrow was missing. When the app checked for a correct solution, it didn't seem to matter any longer where I placed that sticker in the puzzle. When I edited the puzzle and added the arrow again, it then showed up behind the information/edit box, so I couldn't even tap or drag it to stretch or position it. I need to experiment with that more to see if it happens frequently with image stickers or if something else caused it.

All things considered, I'm very happy to have Stick Around as another learning tool for my students. I plan to share this information with all teachers in my district, since I'm sure the app can be useful in all grades and subject areas.

I will be working with a high school Digital Media class next week and I look forward to having students create puzzles and share them. I will update this post as I see the app in action, both for solving and creating puzzles.

Games, Tips, Insights and Music in the Classroom - My top 10 posts from 2013

Crystal Owen and me introducing our math music video project

2014 will mark three years since I started this blog. My early posts focused mostly on some games I created for Promethean boards and response systems.

Three more years of putting the theories of my studies into practice have led to a much wider spectrum of topics. Most recently they highlight the creative work and insights that have made this year the best of my career.

I now can write about better games, tech tips for many applications and deeper insights into what's really going on in school. Most exciting for me personally has been the increase in work with music.

My role in education is like oil in the machine. Most of what I do isn't the main point, but it's vital to keep things running. 

I was happy to find my list of top 10 posts (in terms of views) written this year reveals this. It includes a good mix of all of these topics and many came from the past four months. Here they are in order, starting with the most popular.

6 Ways to Teach Like an Artist - I'm so grateful to find this was my most viewed new post. The thoughts behind this one sum up not just a year, but my career of 20 years in education (and maybe 40 years of going to school). I like this original post, but the ideas that emerged from it have led to a theme and series of posts that reveal my journey. It has been my gift and message this school year.

Coming Soon - The Creativity Game of Movie Trailers - This final creativity game marked a turn in my attention from classroom games. It stems from a dream project, far more significant than just a game, and I'm glad to see it got attention over the months since I created it.

10 Tips for Recording Video in the Classroom - A lifetime of loving video creation came together in this list of practical tips I repeat constantly whenever we do such projects in class.

What's It to Ya? Randomizer for Class Presentation Games - I don't know why it took me so long to think of this, but it's probably the best way to play the game that I have written about the most. This Flash app selects five cards from my game of values and opinions. Free and very accessible, it allows groups or a class to take advantage of all the critical thinking games and activities based on the simple game.

My Attempt to Encourage Creativity - I'm a little hesitant to include this one, but I am glad people found it useful. When a group of students were afraid to make their own music video, I decided I better take the plunge first. I'm not a vocalist and my video is one of the few I made that has a thumbs-down on YouTube, but it made my point and kicked off my favorite project of my career.

Creativity Exercise for Creative Writing - This is the low tech, party game version of the movie trailer game from the number two slot. Cards can be printed and the game played in small groups.

8 Things I Emphasize When Teaching About Game Design - I love making games and I get excited when I can teach about the process. Here's how I address it in class, and most of this has nothing to do with the how-to of making a game.

How to Inspire Creativity and Teach Content - This is a very practical post about a process I use to create music videos in under 3 hours. I have had a lot more practice with it since I wrote this in April, so my regularly updated page about Music Creation in the Classroom is the go-to place for updates.

6 Reasons Your Students Need to See Your Mediocre Art - Back to my artist theme, this one comes from my personal experience of sharing my less than amazing talents. It meant a lot to me that Kevin Honeycutt tweeted about this one. He is directly responsible for the thoughts behind it and his attention to it helped it make this list.

Middle School Music Video Project - At the end of March I finally completed my first music video project with a class. Everything else was in theory, but this first attempt brought it altogether and the results made my year the best yet as a teacher. Two things worth mentioning:  

• I showed this video to Kevin Honeycutt and it led to our grant funded project on my Music Creation page.  
• The story I tell in this post was the bridge from music video projects to the Teaching Like an Artist theme that wrapped up the year.

Editing videos for the Smart Jams project

When the songwriting and recording for the Smart Jams math music video project was all wrapped up I ended up with audio files, pictures and video for 23 projects. That means I spent a lot of time editing over Christmas break!

As of today (1-5-2014) I have completed 14 videos and eight more of the songs are mixed down. Over the next few days I'll finish the rest. I haven't had much time for blogging through all this, but here are a few things I learned:

• I wish we would have piloted this with only one or two classes! I really enjoy the entire process, but managing all the files is quite a task.
• I am editing the videos this time around because I need to see the whole process and the project took enough class time already. The overall goal was to identify a simple process and have the students compile the audio, pictures and video themselves in the future. I learned a lot about this and I'll post the information in the weeks ahead.
• I originally planned on having each video play through the song three times. Previous materials I posted referred to that. Now that I look at what I have recorded and how much editing is before me, though, I see it's far more realistic to just repeat the song twice.
• I need more structure to the picture and video recording portion. Some of the factors (creativity, attendance, timing, availability of devices...) caught me off guard and what I have to work with is making editing take longer. I'm sure that by the time I finish all of these I'll have a much better list of guidelines for that phase of the process.

For now, here's a compilation of a few videos I have completed. I blurred the faces because we haven't had a chance to get signed release forms from parents. Also, I wanted to see how that feature works on YouTube.

Comments are welcome!

Steps or The Big Picture? How we approach teaching and learning

Did you ever notice this sentence at the end of any list of directions from Google Maps?

"These directions are for planning purposes only. You may find that construction projects, traffic, weather, or other events may cause conditions to differ from the map results, and you should plan your route accordingly."

I have relied on Google Maps for years to help me plan my travel. The steps are invaluable. I love that short disclaimer at the end, though, because it reminds me that steps alone are not enough in the real world.

Besides real life throwing us an unexpected obstacle, another problem with steps is that if you get off track for any reason it can be really hard to find where you're going.

When traveling somewhere for the first time, nothing beats looking at the map first and getting the route and the area in your head. Even a GPS, while it is so helpful when turned around in busy traffic, is a short sighted aid that will only take you to your final destination. A map, studied and remembered, offers a few advantages.

First, connections between other close destinations can be made. Looking at the map, we can see the cities passed on the trip and roads that remind us of other places we know or might want to visit. This aids in planning future travel or maybe opens the door for someplace fun to check out on the way home.

When lost in an unfamiliar area, a map in the mind compared to having a list of steps makes it so much more likely we can still get where we want to go. Having a mental picture of our general position relative to our destination, and knowing most of the roads are going north, south, east or west, is usually enough to get us where we need to be. It's not magic that makes some people better than others at finding their way in unfamiliar areas.

And lastly, I'd argue that having that mental map makes the whole trip easier to remember. Each site I pass that I might want to return to at another time can be effortlessly stored away in the already existing picture in my mind. I might forget it was between the first and second light on the short road going south, but at least I know the general area. 

In short, not having to think of every step makes it easier to pay attention. Everything I pass along the way, whether I need it right away when turned around or years later when thinking of another trip, a mental map helps organize it.

I trust it's clear this isn't about how to plan trips. The parallels to teaching and learning are obvious. The steps to a process are important, but I'd argue that every time steps are not enough if we want the learner to do something with the learning.

Steps get you from point A to point B if you can remember them or have them available whenever you need them.  They are effective as long as nothing changes in between. They do not require deep thought from the person relying on them.

In a constantly changing world, we need to give our students a big picture. With it they can form new connections and use the learning in new ways, taking them to places they have never been before.

Here are some related thoughts:

• A map for creative problem solving
• The value of reflection in learning
• From another blog:  Beginner's Guide to the Use of Mind Maps in Elementary Schools

Free game for holiday fun - The Game of Christmas Cheer

Here's a print and play version of a game I made with my wife and kids a few years ago. It is a very simple "push your luck" family game filled with some of the best and the most stressful moments of the holiday season.

This will be fun for families, but it could also be used in Sunday school classes or in schools. (It has one card about "the true meaning of Christmas" that some won't want to use in a classroom setting. This was important to our family and our original project.)

More than just as a game to play in school, though, it could also be a great exercise for older students design their own cards or possibly add a completely different theme to it.  Rule changes can also be introduced to make a very different game.

To play, you need to print 10 cards, preferably on cardstock, and cut them out. The game also requires a die, a pawn and 10 chips (pennies or other counters will work) per player. If six players are playing you only need 8 chips per player.

Wrapping Up Smart Jams in the Classroom

This was probably my last week in the classroom for the Smart Jams project. (Check my Music in the Classroom page for the full outline of this math and music video project for elementary grades.)

While it has been five weeks, I really only met with most classes about nine times for 45 minutes each. That comes out to around six to seven hours of class time. It's more than I wanted, but I have learned some ways to save time. I will write all of that up in a later post.

This week most groups were finishing their signs for their video.  Meanwhile, I met outside the room with groups to record the parts for their video.

A lot of students had big ideas of how their video would look, but I told them we had to be realistic! The project involves 23 videos altogether and we simply didn't have time for lots of effects and different settings. To keep it manageable, I told them we had about 20 minutes per group for recording. Most times we were done in 15.

Almost all the students had a lot of fun performing for their video. It was good to be a part of a project with so many smiles and much laughter.

Here's the general process I used for most groups as I recorded the content:

• Make and record a problem in Explain Everything that will be displayed on screen during the first time through their song. Ideally they created this problem on their video planning sheets. Some wanted to work the problem on paper instead.
• Get pictures of each of their signs.
• Take video of dancing, displaying the signs or, in some cases, lip synced performances of the song.  We used the Video Star app for this. (Small note: Video Star was updated this week with a feature for using multiple devices to record a performance. I haven't had a chance to try this yet, but I hope to next week. If it works as described this could be an excellent feature for multi-camera productions.)

I finished with about half the groups this week, so next week I will pull the others from their regular music class activity to finish up.

Here are other notes about this week:

• When students finished recording I told them I needed some logos and designs for my Smart Jams portion of the website and for my MACUL presentation. They created these with the same low tech approach as their signs.
• I gave half the students a post-test. Those students were given a pretest before we started, so I am curious to see how much they learned about the math in this project. I still have to check those.
• Speaking of work, I am still touching up recordings, working in UJam and processing pictures. The vocal performances varied quite a bit in quality. I had to line up audio on the beats in almost every case. Sometimes it took only a few minutes. In other cases, the students' rhythm was way off and it took me way too long to get something that's barely satisfactory. I am going to speak with Crystal about the best way to address this in the future. One thought is that with a group that struggles (often because of absences), she would perform the main parts and we would have the others just do backup vocals here and there. I will write a full report on recording and processing files along with demo videos and more notes on what I learned.
• Video editing is going to be my big job over Christmas break. While I am going to polish up a couple outstanding examples, most videos will be very simple. I am going to limit editing to 15 - 30 minutes and work exclusively on the iPad for those.

Teaching Like an Artist

New for 2014: Follow the continuing Teaching Like an Artist series on TeachingLikeanArtist.com.

I had a lot of chances to express myself creatively this past year and it has been exciting. Without a doubt it has been the best time of my 20 years as a teacher.

Through reflecting on this and through blog posts, the theme that developed is Teaching Like an Artist.  The general idea is 

Artists get a vision for something that doesn't exist, 

they work to make it real 

and they share it with others. 

As teachers we can inspire more students if we follow that same pattern.

Here's a list of those articles, beginning with a couple that I didn't even know were in the same series when I wrote it:

• My Attempt to Encourage Creativity - The risk I took that eventually became an exciting project
• Fear, Love and Coming Alive - How I learned so many of us hold back
• 6 Ways to Teach Like an Artist - The original post after a summer of thinking (and revised after getting some input)
• 5 Benefits of Teaching Like an Artist - What I learned after consciously putting these things into practice and paying attention
• 6 Reasons Your Students Need to See Your Mediocre Art - Why you should share your talents even when you're not a pro
• Raising Questions - Artists inspire wonder.
• Know Your Audience - How teachers as artists leads to a striking metaphor
• The Smart Jams Music Video Project - The creative project that developed over the course of the year

Going Low Tech This Week - week four of the Smart Jams math and music video project

(This post is part of a series highlighting work in a project funded by a MACUL grant. See my Music Creation page for complete information.)

This week groups continued taking turns practicing their songs with Crystal. When she thought they were ready, they would record with me. While waiting their turn, they made signs for the video.  We easily could have come up with ways for them to make signs digitally, but instead we went low tech.

This weekend I am putting several hours into processing the music files we recorded.  We will have over 20 videos by the time this is done.  Even though I can simplify the process greatly and finish a song and video in under a few hours, each big step that I do on my own can take a long time.  Once I finally decide on the best way to do this (I have changed the plan a few times so far with the first examples) I will post a tutorial.

For now, some thoughts on the benefits of low tech are below.

When I was finishing my master's I was inspired by something Kevin Kelly said in an interview.  He had a big impact on my thinking from that point on.  I wrote to him once to ask for advice as I was doing the project for my final class.  

His brief reply gave me nothing specific, but he said to use non-digital tools whenever possible.  Actually, I'm not paid to spend time with classes when they aren't learning new technology, so most of the time I disregard his suggestion.  Still, I see the value of putting the computers aside.

Of course, I've seen the students enjoy creating with paper, markers and colored pencils just as much as with computers. I'm not a trained art teacher, so I can't speak to the value of virtual tools compared to real world tools in terms of developing creativity and artistic ability.

I do know there are usually two or three students in each class that don't like using computers.  They need tech skills, obviously, but I appreciate the chance to let them enjoy part of the project in their own way.

From a more personal perspective, I can see how hands on creation through early years benefited my own children.  My wife was trained in early childhood development and when we had our kids she stayed home to raise them.  Under her direction they grew up on good, old fashioned crafts with loads of glue, paint and glitter.  At a time when the early elementary art teacher tells me she finds more and more students who do not know how to use scissors or how to play with clay, I am very grateful for the balance my wife brought to our young family.

In our home there was also computer time and video game time over the years.  Now that my son and daughter are older they are just as comfortable (and, yes, too comfortable at times) with their iDevices and laptops.  But they are capable makers in the real and virtual world.  The versatility they gain as well as the opportunities it offers in finding their strengths is vital.