John Hughes and I were very close. He never knew that and I didn’t find that out until half way through our lives. We were born in the same year, he went to high school in the district next to the one I taught in (he even used our then recently closed campus as a set for “Sixteen Candles”), and we were both fascinated with the teenage years and their growing pains. Until I started reading his obituaries, I hadn’t known that he started out as an ad copywriter. That’s another thing we shared - an appreciation for a well written (usually humorous) advertisement. A good TV commercial, even a print ad, can be a wonderful vehicle for a quick story. And commercials are just the right length for school projects.
I’m headed back to his alma mater, Glenbrook North H.S., next week to see Tony Wagner speak. And though John and I wouldn’t have known each other if we were in line at the local Starbucks or if I bumped into him while he was scouting the Chicago area for locations, I’ll be thinking of him and all the fun we had together vicariously reliving our teenage years and family vacations through his characters.
P.S. And here are some classic John Hughes’ character movie quotes & clips thanks to the New York Times.
Just got a press release from the American Film Institute announcing a major upgrade for the ScreenNation site. There doesn’t seem to be a hard date yet, so I’m guessing by the end of summer at the latest. Join me in posting some of your favorite moivemaking how-to’s and/or encourage your students to share their work with the world.
Dear Educators:
This summer, the American Film Institute will launch a complete redesign of AFI ScreenNation - AFI’s Web site dedicated to featuring the best teen filmmakers on the Web.
The big difference is that AFI ScreenNation has been re-tooled to fully integrate YouTube into its framework.
In fact, AFI ScreenNation is part of an ambitious overhaul of AFI.com to include AFI’s Digital Archive. This means that teen filmmakers will have an opportunity to be featured next to videos that include AFI Life Achievement Award winners, AFI television programming and featured films from AFI Fellows and Alumni.
Furthermore, AFI ScreenNation will still include helpful tips and tutorial videos, as well as the complete instructional series LIGHTS, CAMERA, EDUCATION!
Now is your chance to recommend teen filmmakers to AFI ScreenNation. If you or a teen filmmaker that you know has a YouTube link to submit, please send it in an e-mail to screennation@afi.com.
Reflecting on this last school, it has become quite obvious to me that schools are moving away from mini-DV tape camcorders and towards less expensive, flash memory cameras like the Flip and Kodak’s Zi6 or Zx1. I think there may have been some brief flirting with DVD and hard drive camcorders, but they have their own management problems and don’t represent any significant cost savings. I had been planning to write a comparison of the two right at the end of school. What stopped me was importing video into Windows computers. (I am holding my Mac-biased tongue here, all my Apple video editing programs seem to be just fine importing video from either camera.) MovieMaker can handle the Flip’s video files after installing the right codec and Adobe Premiere Elements is happy with the Zi6. However, the converse is not true and I haven’t been able to find any online solutions. So, one of my main goals at NECC week after next will be to try and get some face time with the camera and software people to see what they know. I would also like to hear from you. Do you use one of these cameras or another flash memory brand with PC software? Would you please share your story here via comment or email me at jbtv(at)mac.com?
Our own Scott Kinney testified before a House committee today. Here’s a cross-post from the DEN national blog.
Today, the House Education and Labor Committee held a hearing to examine how technology, innovative education tools, and digital content are transforming and improving education in America. The DEN’s very own Scott Kinney, Vice President of Outreach and Professional Development for Discovery Education, served as one of seven panelists who testified as to how technology and digital content can improve American education in the future.
Citing recent research, Scott illustrated that students use technology profusely at home, while most are unable to use that same technology in the classroom. Today’s tech-savvy students function by consuming, processing, and learning from media, in many forms simultaneously. Scott asked the committee to envision an educational system that supported the use of technology in the classroom, therefore, supporting how students learn naturally.
What do you think? If you were asked to testify in front of the House Education and Labor Committee on the Future of Learning, what would you share with them?
No, not for your taxes - there are still over two weeks for that. Last chance to contribute a video to the Net Gen Education Challenge. “A crisis is emerging in our schools and universities. The Internet is a new medium for human communications, knowledge sharing and learning and a new generation of youth who have “grown up digital” learning best through collaboration and discovery. But our schools and universities teach students using approaches dating back centuries. Foremost is the lecture- the teacher focused, one way, one size fits all model where the student is isolated in the learning process. How can we change the learning experience, to create a student focused, multi-way, customized approach where the learners collaborate, are excited about learning, and learn how to think, solve problems and learn lifelong? How can we reinvent education for relevance and effectiveness for the 21st century?”
Got thoughts? Submit a video by 11:59pm on March 31st. I think some alumni from SFETT had an answer for this a few years ago with their “Digital Students @ Analog Schools.”
Flying up to Anchorage last Friday, I had plenty of time to flip through the Northwest Airlines magazine. I found myself drawn to the article on the fact based HBO movie “Taking Chance.” Northwest has a special interest in the program since so many of their employees’ actions and reactions to the Marine Corps officer escorting Private Chance Phelps’ casket significantly contributed to the story. I was lucky to catch the movie as I flipped channels during my last night in Alaska. It is just a great story, masterfully told. There is so little dialogue! They let the images do most of the talking: eyes, a bike in the front yard, hands, Chance’s few personal effects, car headlights, and the ever so slow casket salute that is a regular refrain throughout the movie.
And the story of the story is an interesting story in itself. The cubicle bound Lieutenant Colonel who volunteered for this particular escort duty emailed his 20 page trip log to 8 friends. It spread virally through the Internet and he soon had HBO and Kevin Bacon knocking at his door. I heartily recommend this movie as a great exercise in visual storytelling and a fitting tribute to those who have fallen in combat.
…if you and some of your students get to go on one of 8 amazing trips to the Arctic, Australia, China, Costa Rica, Ecuador/Galapagos Islands, Italy/Greece, New Zealand/Fiji, or South Africa in 2010. And to prepare for that, in 2009 Discovery will be sending 9 DEN STARs to one of the 3 locations (Australia, China, and South Africa) along with 4 of their students at NO COST! That’s right, DEN STARs… these trips are free for you and your students!
I remember when I turned 30. It struck me that I was learning to drive the year that the current freshmen were born. I couldn’t dunk a basketball at will anymore (though I like to think I had the good sense not to). We had started a family and number two was on his way. And with the old 60’s mantra, “Never trust anyone over 30!” somewhere deep in the back of my mind, I realized there was a lot to celebrate and that the best was yet to come.
This year we find the International Society for Technology in Education at the same point in its life and you are invited to celebrate the past and look towards the future through digital storytelling. Bernajean Porter is kicking off the project with a free ISTE webinar on Friday Jan. 30th at 2 p.m. EST. Join us then and/or join in the ongoing conversation about the project on ISTE’s Storytelling Corps wiki. Here is the official description of tomorrow’s webinar:
NECC 2009 in Washington D.C. will mark thirty years of ISTE and ed tech history. Join ISTE and our new Digital Storytelling SIG for this free webinar that will introduce you to basic digital storytelling concepts and ISTE’s current storytelling project.
This project aims to collect the many stories detailing the journey of successes, challenges, lessons learned and celebrations of education technology making a difference for our kids. Participants will explore local, national and global benefits for gathering these stories; the difference between digital stories and storytelling; resources, ideas and strategies for getting started; and reflect on some examples of exemplar storytelling that leaves an enduring impact on viewers of all ages.
Even if you’re not old enough to remember John Denver singing “Calypso,” that single surname in my title probably conjures up an image of the oceans along with awareness and sensitivity to their ecosystems. So I wasn’t very sure who I was going to encounter this morning when I helped Steve Dembo ustream Philippe (petit-fils* of Jacques) Cousteau’s pre-opening keynote Q&A with the media and selected educators. I thought it might be a stretch to post about him here just because I was on the video camera for the session. No problem! Not only did he actually mention the power of storytelling several times without any prompting from me, he is also investigating a project with the American Film Institute that does more than challenge students to take action - it also makes sure that that action is shared and quantified. I’m surprised we weren’t quick enough to give him a standing ovation when he said that it’s not that we can make a difference, but that everything we do does make a difference: “Action leads to awareness and awareness leads to learning.”
He was no less inspiring during his hour long keynote and then another two hours posing for pictures and signing autographs in the Discovery room. He laid the secret of his success squarely at the feet of both his family and a very special Jr. Hi teacher. They gave him the foundation and the confidence to become a storyteller/teacher who advocates for the care and study of what makes up almost 70% of the surface of our planet. He grew up with stories. And since his father died six months before he was born, it was through stories that he came to know his dad.
A tip of the hat to Scott Kinney for his fine keynote introduction. For the second year in a row, Scott did a great job mixing facts and humor to inform and warm up the several thousand educators in attendance.
*That’s grandson for the French challenged. And the language guy in me always did think it fortuitous that the family name ends in the French word for water.
We interrupt this regularly scheduled webinar to bring you the first in a series of three webinars offered twice each day to help you keep that New Year’s resolution to get fit. We’ve bumped my originally slated presentation on sharing students’ videos on January 13th for “Checking Your Digital Pulse” offered at both 4pm and 7pm EST. I can use the prep time this week to polish up my FETC presentation a bit more and I can fill you in on the sharing/publishing sites in future blog posts. You, on the other hand, get a life improving opportunity to learn, be inspired and share over the next four weeks.
And if it’s Digital Storytelling that you want, we have one of the best examples of empowering students and letting their voices be heard in Dr. Tim Tyson. Hall was on a webcast panel, “Students as Producers,” with Tim 2 years ago during NECC Atlanta. Then Hall, Steve and I sat together on the last day of the conference and were energized by his closing keynote. You can register for Tim’s 7pm EST January 21st webinar “Taking a Look at the Classroom of Tomorrow Today: What Will It Look Like?” here.
Pulse picture photo credit - Finding a Pulse & Mouth-to-Mouth. Churchill Media. 1990. Discovery Education. 12 January 2009 <http://streaming.discoveryeducation.com/>
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