Day 70 - Social Distancing

Social Distancing Hacks shared by Terri Eicholz

• Pool noodle hats in Minnesota
• Song Dynasty headwear in China
• “Here Comes the Sun” picnic blanket
• Quarantine Hugs in Indiana
• Collapsible Rings by Michael Jantzen
• Bumper Tables in Maryland
• Mannequins, Panda Bears, and all Kinds of Unique Architectural Changes in restaurants all over the world

My favorite social distancing "hack?" Stay away from other people. We did just so today.

We got out to Illinois State Beach...  Storms decimated the walking/biking path along the beach, and flooded the streets of the campground.

It was calm, not tons of people, and we enjoyed the quiet, listening to and looking for birds... If you know what that middle bird it (small blue heron?), please let me know. I can't find it in my book. The first two are egrets, there's a kildeer, a warbler of some sort, and a chickadee (they kept going into that hole and coming out with wood!

Is staying at home making me look older???

We needed the time "away." I'm exhausted, yet ready to work on school work tomorrow while it rains. Working from home does provide flexibility for me, which I relish.

Oh, and I finished one of this week's weekly challenges my teacher/friend Karen and I are doing:

"Kirrs" - letters found outside

Easy & Effective Parent Communication

First, check out our two-week class updates on our Weebly. 

I hear your thoughts...
     It's just too much work.
     I don't have time to do that on top of everything else.
     No one else at my school does it, so why should I?

And yet...
     Parents have no clue what happens in the classroom.
     You know you'd appreciate it if you were the parents.
     We should model what we preach.

You know the reasons WHY you should...
     If parents share these videos/posts with their children, students may be more involved in class.
     Parents want to know what's going on in your class.
     Once you start share what you're doing with parents, you'll plan for even more effective lessons!

Here's the How-To:
     1. Get an Animoto account. The basic account should be free for educators. I have purchased the yearly subscription so I can get videos up to 10 minutes. Yes, I believe it's that important and that easy to use.
     2. Set up one device at school that one student will use throughout the day (or class period) for taking pictures. Give guidelines on these photos - horizontal works best, only 5-6 per period (I have three classes - more than this is too many for one Animoto video), and if you're recording, only up to 9 second videos (again, because I use Animoto).
     3. Every two weeks, quickly edit and download student-chosen photos. Put them in an Animoto (or other) video / slide show. Choose your music from their huge selection. (I choose based on length of the video and songs.) Post on your blog. Email parents in a mass email.

Want to go a step further?
     1. Write an actual blog post to go along with the movie / slide show. Yes - explain what you did the past two weeks. I've noticed this keeps me on task - we don't have a lot of "fluff" in our days, because we're working towards goals I write about in these posts.
     2. Next step - have students write the blog posts!! (I'm not there - yet. With three classes and kids doing so many things outside of school, I haven't had any takers...)

Parents DO appreciate it. Sometimes I get emails thanking me for the updates, and just recently I received a comment on the last two-week blog post:

It's worth it.
Try it.
Parents will appreciate it!

Many thanks to Jen Smith, who inspired me to try this at an AHSD25 Tech Academy session in 2013! Think like a parent, and you'll be jumping on board...

Update: Thank you to Amy Cody Clancy for your comment! Here is the email I send parents the #1st5days of school to ask for parent permission to create these videos. Technically, our district can post any photos of students unless parents opt-out, but I like to cover my bases. :)

Pictures ARE Worth a Thousand Words

I wanted to share with you one more thing I learned in Boston at the BLC12 conference...

I had so many theoretical ideas swirling around my brain, I needed to take a step back. I had introduced myself face to face with Sylvia Rosenthal Tolisano (@Langwitches) the night before, and I decided to head to her session entitled "Presentation 21 Makeover." She'd told me she'd talk more about the impact pictures can have on an audience (or class) than the words projected.  Off I went. (See her slides from the presentation here.)

The biggest lesson I learned - Forget bullet points. The photograph is the most important part. The photograph is what the audience will remember. You have to figure out - what is your message?

Sylvia had some stunning photographs - some she'd taken from other sites (and given credit, of course!), and others she had taken herself.  One question everyone was thinking was raised - where do you get your photographs? Sylvia had a slide with sites to search, but what my brain heard, from all she was describing... "I've been taking my own." When I got home, I went to the library to check out a book, and found this...

I love my camera, but I only had the iPad with me with my list of books to check out. Also, I had to take the pictures from up above, or else I'd get the frame from the painting that was behind this cute pair in my picture. (It was right above her head - I've named her Emma...)

I posted one of my many pics on our Flickr T365Project group, and Sylvia responded, "The bronze book screams to have a quote on it!" Yes. I noticed that as well when I got home and uploaded them. I looked through my pictures, and noticed this one might be more conducive to "writing" on the book...

Alas. I knew I had to go back to the library, use my Canon Rebel XTi, and get a different perspective. (Is my passion for photography one of my geniuses?) I suddenly absolutely needed this picture for my parent night slides. I'd reviewed them after Sylvia's presentation, and knew I didn't have a ton of bullet points, but knew I still had too many. I wanted ONE idea on each picture. And I needed my own pictures, not pictures I had Googled! For shame! (I really was astounded at all the pictures I'd just plopped right into the Keynote! I did have the resources on each page, but were they really available for my use??? See Bloggers Beware!)

So I went back today, and captured this shot:

Now, you've seen the other two pictures, and you know that it's a boy and girl on a bench reading a book. But without the previous pictures to aid you, can you still figure it out from this picture? And just WHAT could I write on that book?

Here's where you could help - please join this conversation and put your thoughts on the comments. Do you think this picture could work? What quote would YOU put on the book? I won't write back, as I just want to know what you think, but I thank you ahead of time for your two cents!