RSA Animate - 21st Century Enlightenment

WATCH A WORK OF ART UNFOLD WHILE LEARNING ABOUT 21st CENTURY ENLIGHTENMENT!

THE LECTURE IS DEAD. LONG LIVE THE LECTURE! A Workshop by Patrick Higgins (8/20/10)

THE LECTURE IS DEAD. LONG LIVE THE LECTURE!
 A Workshop by Patrick Higgins (8/20/10)

AGENDA

9:00-9:45am What WE can do

9:50-10:30am Group Breakout

10:40-11:20am Dog and Pony Show

11:20-12:00pm What THEY can do

12:10-12:40pm Presentation Redesign

12:40-1:00pm Sharing and Feedback

DEPENDENCY ON TECHNOLOGY - Are you or your students stuck on the escalator? video
 We need digital rehab. People should use technology, not abuse technology. If used appropriately, the technology available to teachers and students should broaden and enhance learning opportunities. However, developing a dependency on the technology will only result in limited creativity in the classroom and ultimately handicapped learning environments. What happens when the system goes down? Does the learning turn off as well? Our students must crawl before they walk, walk before they run, and know how to walk up stairs before they take the escalator.


CONTENT AND VIGOR
 Students will remember your content and the information that you present to them if you deliver the content with a level of passion and enthusiasm for the topic that truly sticks and resonates with them.


THE RIGHT FAMILY LEFT FOR A VACATION <--- This was a fun activity with markers and a cool way of testing listening skills!


THE STUFF BEHIND YOU

Takahashi Method - Takahashi uses basic symbols in huge fonts; black text on white background OR white text on black background to make the big ideas stand out and stick with the audience. Check out some videos to learn more about Takahashi! Videos: 1 2 3
Purpose of the Method: Make the presentation simple for students to disseminate main points and important information.

Seth Godin Method - Godin uses sarcasm, irony, and shock value to stir up thinking in his audience, thus, making the information presented more memorable. Check out Seth's Blog!
Purpose of the Method: Make the presentation interesting so that the main themes and essential information sticks.

Lawrence Lessig - "Think Takahashi, but in English"; succinct, clean, and well-rehearsed. Check out Lawrence Lessig on TEDxNYED!
Purpose of the Method: Make the presentation comical and intriguing to maintain interest and generate understanding.


"I AM A HUGE SUCKER FOR MAPS...MAPS TELL STORIES."  -Patrick Higgins

 Patrick told us all about Google Lit Trips, which I found extremely fascinating and useful. I definitely plan on using this free web program during the course of this school year, and I think you should too! You'll have to become familiar with Google Earth, but if you play with it for a few hours you'll gain a pretty good grasp on how to use it. Google Lit Trips is one of the coolest web programs that I have ever seen and it will make your lessons much more lively and geographically


THE BRAIN RULES! By John Medina

Explore each rule through illustrations, charts and video. These tutorials are designed to reinforce the concepts in the book; we recommend reading the corresponding chapter first.

EXERCISE
Rule #1: Exercise boosts brain power.

SURVIVAL
Rule #2: The human brain evolved, too.

WIRING
Rule #3: Every brain is wired differently.

ATTENTION
Rule #4: We don't pay attention to boring things.

SHORT-TERM MEMORY
Rule #5: Repeat to remember.

LONG-TERM MEMORY
Rule #6: Remember to repeat.

SLEEP
Rule #7: Sleep well, think well.

STRESS
Rule #8: Stressed brains don't learn the same way.

SENSORY INTEGRATION
Rule #9: Stimulate more of the senses.

VISION
Rule #10: Vision trumps all other senses.

GENDER
Rule #11: Male and female brains are different.

EXPLORATION
Rule #12: We are powerful and natural explorers.


"THE USUAL SUSPECT" - GREAT WEB PRESENTATION TOOL!
PREZI - CREATE ASTONISHING PRESENTATIONS LIVE AND ON THE WEB!


HERE ARE SOME WAYS TO KEEP STUDENTS ACTIVELY INVOLVED IN LECTURE!

THINK-PAIR-SHARE

3 MINUTE REVIEW

NUMBERED HEADS TOGETHER

TRUE OR FALSE SURVEY

DIAGRAMMED SLIDE SETS

SUMMARY IN HAIKU

TWIDUCATE - 140 CHARACTER SUMMARY


CHRIS LEHMANN IS AN EDUROCKSTAR!



This was an awesome workshop, but don't believe me, check it out for yourself using the links provided:

http://camdenpresents.wikispaces.com/

CHECK OUT THE PRESENTATION!

The lecture is dead

View more presentations from Patrick HIggins.

THANK YOU FOR A GREAT WORKSHOP, PATRICK (@pjhiggins)!

Is there a better price than FREE when it comes to music?

FIND ALL THE ROYALTY FREE MUSIC YOU OR YOUR STUDENTS WILL EVER NEED - IT'S FREE! THAT'S MUSIC TO MY EARS!

The Best Tools For Cutting-Out & Saving Portions Of Online Videos (Or Annotating Them) - Courtesy of Larry Ferlazzo

The Best Tools For Cutting-Out &#038; Saving Portions Of Online Videos (Or Annotating Them)

Beyond the Three ‘R’s! The 21st century school is a caring learning community.

I think it is important, if not essential, that all educators read this list prior to entering their classroom at the start of the school year. Then, review it as many times as necessary to remember its creed. The 21st century learning environment does not reflect the design or ideals of traditional education. It's necessary that we understand the new model and how to use it effectively within our own classroom. This is a checklist to keep you focused on what is truly important in 21st century education.

Patrick Higgins Workshop - Thinking Behind the Writing 8/6/2010

 Today, I had the great opportunity of exploring the world of 21st century education with Patrick Higgins (@pjhiggins). His workshop, Thinking Behind the Writing, was very powerful and provided for a great professional development opportunity for all involved. I wish there were more leaders in education like Patrick, possessing great enthusiasm for technology, knowledge of content, and the ability to communicate the essential nature of our goals as teachers. I FEEL INSPIRED! He is a great presenter and I encourage all of you to look into any workshop dates at which he is presenting, subscribe to his blog (Chalkdust101), and follow him on Twitter (@pjhiggins).



HERE I HAVE LISTED MY TWEETS DURING THE WORKSHOP (all of which contain links to valuable tools and resources):

I'm at a Patrick Higgins (@pjhiggins) workshop learning about the Culture of Availability by Renny Gleeson via @tedtalk http://bit.ly/... #camdenwriting1




"I think we're in the midst of a literacy revolution..." -A.Lunsford ---> Clive Thompson on the New Literacy  http://bit.ly/9j3XV0  @pjhiggins #camdenwriting1




@pjhigginsis showing us how Shelly Blake-Plock (@teachpaperless) provides feedback on writing An Example of Jing Used to Comment On Student Work Online #camdenwriting1



Live Writing for Real Audiences via @pjhiggins http://bit.ly/9YY6lx...  #camdenwriting1



Patrick Higgins shared an article with us on Mt Olive and their elimination of the D letter grade. Then, he had us create a Google Doc expressing our views on it. Check out my Google Doc!

Mt. Olive and The End of D's

I created this survey using Google Forms while we were in session at Patrick Higgins' Thinking Behind the Writing Workshop today. I encourage all of you to take the survey. Your responses are greatly appreciated!

21st CENTURY EDUCATION - TEACHER SURVEY


Patrick used TodaysMeet to facillitate and record our conversation at the workshop. You can access the full transcript of what was said by clicking the link provided.

21st Century Performing Arts Summer Theatre Program 2010

 As a teacher, I am not afraid to say that I look forward to the summer. Everyone needs a break, right? Everyone needs to get away. I love to get away, not just away from school, but away from it all. I love to travel. My heart yearns for new lands and new people. I am passionate about freedom and discovery.

 Yet, what I have discovered about myself over the past few years is that I do not look forward to the summer because of any form of vacation or break. I keep busy all summer long. In fact, my work during the summer months, particularly July, rivals that of the 10-month school year.

 I have been blessed by the good graces of Tony DePrince, project coordinator for Camden County Technical Schools, and the 21st Century Program (we're the only high school in the state with this amazing grant) with the opportunity to share my love for the craft of acting and performance with students through Drama Club. Drama Club serves as an extension of the Performing Arts Academy, which is headed by Terry Bles, a spectacular teacher and enthusiast for acting, singing, dancing, and overall performance. Ryan Hewitt is the music teacher in the Performing Arts Academy, whom is extremely gifted and teaches his students with great fervor and passion how to use various instruments, including vocals, and it is predicted that sometime in the near future he might have his own program to head up; perhaps a Music Academy? One can only hope. Both have brought new life to the arts at Camden County Technical School. Of course, the extraordinary efforts of Tony DePrince have made much of this possible. He is truly the backbone of the arts at our school and in our district. Without him, I doubt much of what we do would be possible. One might even venture to say that without him, CCTS would be without the arts. He has meant that much to the growth and development of the arts.

 During the school year, the Performing Arts Academy along with Drama Club engage in various productions. This year we explored World War II, highlighted through 2 very different plays. Our first major production of the 2009-2010 was our fall play, THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK. For the spring musical, we returned to the battlefield with a much different play in our production of CABARET. We like to maintain a thematic approach to our selection of shows. Both productions were sell-outs and people actually submitted complaints about not being able to purchase tickets. Hopefully this will not be a problem in the future, since DePrince has waved his magic wand once again and magically afforded us the construction of our very own black box theatre. Next year's first show is a murder mystery and it will open the black box as the new venue for CCTS theatrical productions.

 We heart the arts! Thus, our productions are not limited to the 10-month school calendar. We have the 21st Century Performing Arts Summer Theatre Program to keep us engulfed in creative endeavors. During the month of July, I was deeply entrenched in the 21st Century Summer Theatre Program with Terry Bles, Ryan Hewitt, and Tony DePrince. For this year's summer production we selected to follow the yellow brick road and try our stage hand with the beloved classic, THE WIZARD OF OZ. The show performances were this past weekend and the kids did an excellent job, so the efforts of all involved were rewarded.

 This musical is perhaps one of the most popular of all time, so we knew that expectations would be high. When we initially decided to set our sights on OZ as the sophomore production of the 21^st Century Summer Theatre Program and opt to “follow the yellow brick road” with a group of about 40 CCTS high school students from both Gloucester Township and Pennsauken campuses, we had a good understanding of the task that lie before us. THE WIZARD OF OZ is a big show. We didn’t have to worry about any witches, but there were certainly obstacles that we had to look out for. We might have been missing some parts essential to the production of the show, but luckily we had the nerve, the brains, and the heart to follow through with it. The end result was something just as magical and breathtaking as the Emerald City. We had a blast working with the students this summer. Watching the students grow and develop as performers is always truly awe-inspiring. The students are the ones that make it all worthwhile, and this production was a reflection of their talent and a credit to their hard work and dedication to the performing arts.

 As with any theatrical production, there were many people whom lent a helping hand to support the arts. These good people, consisting of parents, siblings, and loved ones of the cast and crew, made themselves available to do work on set, serve as customer service representatives during performances, and simply aid and assist in such a variety of ways during production. Without their help and support, we would have never made it to OZ.

 I guess, like Dorothy, most teachers want to get away because they believe that the summer grass is greener (and some of it is!), but at the end of August, we remember where our home is and our brain, our heart, and our courage lead us right back to the classroom.