Video Contest Evaluation Day

I spent the day with 7 other members of the Area Nine Cable Council's Education Committee (colleagues from Weston, Wilton, New Canaan, Greenwich and Redding). We evaluated this year's entries in the Cable Contest at the Cablevision offices in Norwalk. Each video was scored using a rubric (click on the image for a larger view).

All entries had to be shown on Cablevision's Local Access channel. Westport had 32 videos entered in the contest in four categories: News (high school only), Open Entry, Community/School Story and PSA (Public Service Announcements). After the first round of judging, 21 of the videos remained to be judged with all of the other entries.

The following schools submitted videos in the contest and ALL schools received awards -- either a first, second or third prize. [Awards will be prepared (trophies, and certificates with some equipment packages for 1st prize winners) and officially announced by the end of May!]

• GFS
• LLS
• KHS
• BMS
• CMS
• SHS
  

Our students should have the ability to compellingly communicate ideas in a video format. With this skill students will be more marketable in almost any career imaginable. Hopefully next year we will have another venue to celebrate the art and science of video creation in our schools -- the Westies!

SHS:Dan Geraghty Creates an Amazing Author Visit with Craig Mullaney

Craig Mullaney

Last Wednesday afternoon, March 22nd, Dan Geraghty, English teacher at SHS, interviewed author, Craig Mullaney, via a live Skype connection. Students from Dan Geraghty’s sophomore English 2A, B and contemporary American literature classes, with Christina Richardson’s speech class made up the audience. Craig Mullaney is the author of The Unforgiving Minute: A Soldier’s Education (Penguin Press) and a U.S. Army veteran.

Dan Geraghty originally read the book because of personal interest, specifically related to his connection to Craig's background: Craig and Dan served in the same military unit on active duty in the 10th Mountain Division. Both are Army Rangers and Infantry Captains. They both left the military after a period of service in order to pursue other interests. Dan was using the book The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien as a class text and he realized how relevant Craig's story would be as a non-fiction supplement to the text. Dan was able to connect with Craig Mullaney through Facebook, and Craig was enthusiastically willing to "visit" Dan's classes via Skype!During the 45 minute interview Dan Geraghty had prepared his own questions and selected some questions from his students. (The full video interview will be available soon and added to this blog post.) Craig Mullaney reflected on his life experiences at West Point, Oxford University and as the leader of his army platoon in Afghanistan. The interview was riveting and poignant. Craig's story is archetypal and his focus on growing up and taking responsibility for something greater than himself was inspiring.

I do not think that this interview would have been any more powerful if Craig Mullaney was actually at the school. For all intents and purposes he WAS fully present, which speaks to the power of video conferencing and Skype.

Inklings, Staples school newspaper, published an article today with more information on this amazing event.

GFS: TV10 visits McMahon Communications Center at Quinnipiac University

On Tuesday, April 21, 2009 the 5th grade members of the GFS TV10 club visited the Ed McMahon Mass Communications Center at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, CT. Kelley Auringer, LMS, arranged and managed the visit.

Quinnipiac students in the School of Communication led the TV10 crew through a tour of Quinnipiac's state of the art television studio and broadcasting program. The TV10 crew was allowed to use Quinnipiac's professional level technology and equipment to produce their own news show. The students' favorite part was working with the green chromakey wall and producing the weather. There was a lot of laughter, excitement and fun as the learning took place. By all accounts the field trip was wonderful and will be considered by many to be a highlight of the TV10 year.

KHS: Poetry Cafe

Cats, My Mother Has…, Flags, Keep a Poem in your Pocket, Behind the Eyes of Me, Alex, Blank, Summer, Black Cat, The P---l Family, Water, Snowboarding, Seasons, The Bells of London, Dream, Owl, Dreams, Self-Portrait, Darkest, I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud, Don't Trust the Fog, A Tour of the World, Crescent Moon, Leave it all on the Court, A Nightly Stroll, Paper, Life Roller Coaster, Tree, When Deaf Don Met Talkie Sue, Umbrella, and Live, Laugh, Discover.

Those were the names of the 30 poems read at the 5th annual KHS Poetry Café held in the library media center last night. It was organized and led by Aimee Anctil, LMS. Students registered in advance. Over 20 poems were written by students, and the other poems by well-known poets were selected by students to read.

The library media center was transformed into a cozy, lamp-lit, table-clothed, artsy, café environment filled with cookies, chocolate milk and other comfort foods and drinks. It was conducive to the sharing of personal, family, humorous, serious, happy, anxious, sad and foggy poetry! The standing room only crowd listened attentively to each poet's rendition of his or her poem. Café applause filled the word drenched atmosphere after each mouthing at the microphone. It was an evening to remember!

Information Literacy embodies the use of ALL kinds of information. This Poetry Café event demonstrates that writing, reading, sharing, communicating and socializing with family and the school community are all important aspects of what happens in a school library media center. The Café experience is one important part of a multi-faceted library media program at KHS.

LLS: ITL Committee Meeting

I was fortunate to attend the Long Lots School ITL Committee meeting yesterday afternoon from 3:00-4:00. Steve Cerney, ITL committee chair, and Nick Brophy, Assistant Principal, unveiled the four new ITL committee objectives to work with through the end of this school year, but more importantly, to guide the group for the 2009-2010 school year.

An overview of the current status of the 21st century skills was provided utilizing the Voicethread embedded in the ITL homepage. A discussion by group members determined that grade level teams would decide which 21st century skill to focus on in each unit of study. Strategies for teaching the listed 21st century skills would be documented during the 2009-2010 school year.

CES: Trash and Treasure

Sarah Spencer, LMS at CES, has been working with 2nd grade students on several sessions using the Big6 Trash and Treasure method of note taking. First she showed a Powerpoint presentation to introduce the concept of how you need a question in order to know how to find the treasure! Today's lesson involved reading a variety of fiction and non-fiction books (some wordless alphabet books) in search of treasures to answer the question, "Why is this community an urban community?"

In the lesson I observed today with Karen Nelson and her class, students were asked to use the special note taking sheet to record their treasure words and the pages on which they were found. Each pair worked with a different book with several adults supporting their efforts. They were asked to find at least 10 treasure words before time was called and they shared their treasures.

All 2nd grade classes are also working with Pam Syndercombe, technology teacher, on trash and treasure activities. Having the same terminology used by the classroom teacher, technology teacher and library media specialist is helping students understand and practice the art of selecting information that is related to the research question.

Blackboard Clinics

Today was my second Blackboard Clinic. I am spending a full day at each school to provide Blackboard assistance for interested teachers -- from setting up the basic menu (Teacher Info, Class Overview, Announcements and Assignments), to a wide variety of additional features, including (but not limited to) adding videos, images and html code. There are many new video tutorials on specific Blackboard features made by Natalie Carrignan, Director of Instructional Technology. These tutorials can be found under the BB tab after logging in.

The Blackboard Clinic Schedule:

• BMS - April 8th
• SHS - April 20th
• CES - April 29th
• GFS - May 6th
• KHS - May 7th
• CMS - May 13th
• SES - May 14th
• LLS - May 19th

To Schedule time: Click on this link
(E-mails are sent out approximately two weeks before the Clinic dates!)