Scott Kinney, Vice President at Discovery Education, at a hearing regarding the Future of Learning: How Technology is Transforming Public Schools on June 16, 2009.

Yeah, you can say I’m a stickler about some things.  It’s genetic, I think.  Just try ending a sentence with a preposition when my sister’s around.

I’m critical about this because one of the things we teach in school (according to our curriculum, at least) is how to communicate well.  People who speak “properly” are more likely to do well in interviews and score higher paying and/or better quality careers.

But it’s not the only way people speak.  I dare you to turn on a radio and count how many times the word “ain’t” is used in one hour’s worth of song lyrics.  There, it’s acceptable.  In school, it’s not.

It gets worse when you head online, where sentences like “LOL school is teh suxxorz I hav a gud job even wit low gradez.” are easily understood and not criticized for grammar or spelling … in some circles.

“In some circles” is apparently the key phrase here.  In art we need to know our target audience, and we use our works, whether they’re visual, auditory, or something else, to communicate something.  I’m not likely to use Modernism to illustrate a children’s story about a young boy’s first week at school.

But online we have a wide variety of audiences with which we can participate, and the language norms can be incredibly different in each tab of our browser.  Several people I follow on Plurk and Twitter are fans of some strangely talking cats, but you still won’t see us posting things like “I can has Summer vacation!” or “Invisible budget” in our Professional Learning Networks.

So, if you remember how I started this post it’s safe to say I’m not in favor of students handing in essays written in 1337 or LoLspeak, even though I’m capable of communicating in both.  But I’m not so quick to dismiss these offshoots of the English language.  They were created by a generation that found themselves understanding the new technology far better than most of their teachers, so they built their own rules around it.

And if you look at it that way, it kinda roxxorz.

Having survived my 4th consecutive year presenting at MICCA & a few other places, I think it’s safe for me to say I know one or two things about it.  At least, I’ve yet to have a session that ended emptier than when it started, so I’ve got that going for me.

So here’s a list of 10 things that, if done correctly, will help your audience stay engaged and secure in the fact that you know what you’re talking about.  (Or at the very least, they’ll help you fake it.)

They’re numbered, but the order could be changed.  I’m not giving much thought to that part.

10. Market yourself. Don’t spend too much time on this, but your audience should know why you’re worth listening to on this subject.  Are you a DEN Star?  Google Certified?  Do you have 20 years experience working with Web 2.0 technology?  (OK, maybe in dog years…)  Spend 30 seconds telling them why you’re special.  Letting them know how to contact you if they have more questions later is good, too.

9. Don’t sit down. Some people can get away with it, but most of us can’t.  An enthusiastic presenter is more likely to capture an audience, and you can show your enthusiasm better while up and moving.

8. Podiums are walls. Even if they aren’t the big, bulky, “This could stop a truck and still be usable” podiums, they create a barrier between you and your audience.  Don’t hide behind one unless you audience scares you.  (In fact, don’t use one then, either.  Audiences can smell fear.)

7. PowerPoint is there to back you up. Not the other way around.  Substitute “PowerPoint” for “Keynote,” “Prezi,” “Google Presentation,” or whatever you intend to use.  If all you’re doing is reading your slides, you’re wasting space, time, and potentially oxygen.

6. Limit yourself. Just because a product or service can do 53,781 different things does not mean you have to cover all of them.  Tying in with #7: Just because PowerPoint has a plethora of transitions does not mean you should try to use all of them in a single session.  “Random” is the worst possible transition choice ever.  In both cases, you should pick your favorites and stick with those.

5. Ask questions. Your audience is full of intelligent people.  (Granted they’re listening to you, but there’s no reason to let them know that’s a strike against them!)  The questions you ask could be ones that just check to see if they’re paying attention or ones that change the course of your discussion topic, but they should have some way of knowing that you’re acknowledging their presence.

4. Don’t print your PowerPoint. I’m not just saying that because as I type this it’s Earth Day.  I’m saying this because paper is made of matter.  The science geeks out there (including me) will be happy to tell you that means it has mass and volume, and that means 2 reasons why your audience will resent your 10 page printout once it’s added to all the other printouts they’ve collected at that conference.  It adds up and shoulder pain is serious business.  Do them and yourself a favor and make a wiki with all the useful information on it.  Share the link at the beginning and end of your presentation and everyone will be happier for it.

3. Don’t admit mistakes that don’t mater, but admit the ones that do. So you wanted to cover 21 different Web 2.0 sites and skipped #17?  Forget about it.  If you have a wiki (you read #5, right?) they’ll be able to find ay small points you missed on there.  But remember that with the exception of my 2nd grade teacher, we’re all human.  Breathe deep, correct it if you can, acknowledge it if you can’t, and move on.  Your audience will respect you more or it, trust me.

2. Have a backup. PowerPoint will crash.  The network will go down.  Something will go horribly wrong if you don’t have a plan B.  When I’m talking about websites I’ll usually have screen captures of all the features I want to showcase, just in case.  I learned this lesson the hard way.  I will not share that story.

1. Your presentation will never be finished. I’ve seen keynote speakers changing slides shortly before they presented.  I myself have redone a presentation several times, then scrapped the whole thing to start over again because I wasn’t satisfied.  Leonardo da Vinci reportedly said “Art is never finished, only abandoned.”  That you want to keep making it better is admirable, but don’t stress out that you’re not “done.”

For the 4th year in a row, I will be presenting at MICCA.

For the 1st time (for this conference, at least…), I will be presenting twice.

And as usual, I’m opening my handouts up to everyone who wants to add in their two cents.  I feel they’re ready to go as-is, but that doesn’t mean I’m the only person who knows what he’s talking about!  (I’m hoping for supplementary information, not for someone to do the work for me.)

My presentations are as follows.  Click the links to see, edit, and/or add to my wikis:

Art 2.0

…how art lessons in the computer lab can reinforce other subjects.

Paper, pencils, and paints are good, but there are also plenty of free art projects that reinforce other subjects and can be taught using just computers. This session will showcase some tools, tips, and tricks that any teacher can use.

Personal Learning Networks

…how microblogs and more can make you a better teacher.

Personal learning networks (also called professional learning networks) are a quick, easy, and free way to continue your professional growth as an educator using web 2.0. This session will explain PLNs in more detail and show a variety of free sites that can be used to build your own.

Of course I had no idea what to do with them, so I snapped a quick picture with my BlackBerry and used Flickr to post the photo and my description/question to this blog.  The whole process took less than 5 minutes, but the responses were nice enough that I ended up using the same post as a warm-up for my Art Club.

Part 2 was a similar situation, except that the source was waste scrap paper that was just too small for most of the projects I’ve done with my students.  Again, 5 minutes of work yielded some awesome responses from both the followers of this blog and my Art Club.

So … I think I’m going to keep this up.  As I find new, unusual, unorthodox, or just plain industrial waste materials, I’ll post a picture and brief description and ask for your insights.

Creativity can be an awesome thing.  It can be even more awesome in a group setting.

Garbage never looked so good.

I handed colored pencils to my 1st graders today.

This was not too surprizing, as I did the same thing last week.  What I have noticed, however, is that most of my teachers with younger students don’t let them sharpen their own pencils whenever they need to.

I, however, do.  I would much rather see a student raise their hand because they’re having difficulty with a portion of their composition  than because their colored stick isn’t pointy enough.  As a result I usually announce in the beginning of the lesson that if the pencil needs sharpening, they can just get up and sharpen it.  I even go so far as to explain when a pencil needs sharpening and how to sharpen it so that it doesn’t disappear forever in a pile of shavings.  (Colored pencils are much softer than the 2B kind.)

You know what happens next…

Stampeeeeeede!

That’s right, any student who found a colored pencil that was not ready to vanquish a vampire was at the sharpener ready to go! This included those who had white colored pencils.  Did I mention this was a lesson where they used white paper?  Well it was.

This is the point when the classroom teacher looks at me with a patronizing expression that says “That’s why I don’t let them do that.”

And I look at them with a nervous smile that says “Eheheheh … I’ll be right back.”

The next minute or so is spent turning kinds away that don’t really need to sharpen pencils, as well as enforcing the “Turn it 3 times then check” rule of sharpening.

And you know what?  That’s it.

Occasionally a student will have a relapse, but for the most part they know my rules and what’s expected of them.  They’re fine with that because they’re getting a cool reward in the process – an awesome art project.

In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if the initial stampede was in fact because they wanted to revel in the idea that they could go and sharpen any pencil that needed it.

So how does this relate to technology integration?

You have to ask?

A new tool is a new tool, and new freedoms are promptly exercised.  There will be chaos, but if you stay alert it will at least be organized chaos and learning will still be accomplished.  Eventually, the chaos will be replaced with something better – a class full of students who are able to learn without raising their hands to ask permission for each step.

This is something you could very well expect to see in any art class that has a good teacher, since in art you will often find three or four (or more) opinions about composition, color choices, techniques, or even the definition of “art” itself.  We can’t give a single answer because there isn’t one.  We’re kind of forced into the scenario of not giving an answer at the end of the lesson that students can expect to see on the final.

Mr. Meyer, however, is a math teacher.  There are very concrete answers that can be figured out when encountering math problems.  Two plus two has an answer.  If solving for X yields more than one possibility, you can graph them to show the whole range.

Sometimes the conversation, the act of sorting things out with your peers and learning for yourselves what the right questions are is more important than coming to a specific teacher-sanctioned conclusion.

Giving an answer at the end can disguise that simple fact.  I’m glad he’s realized this so early – I know more than one teacher twice his age who’s yet to have that sink in.

I can’t remember that many names.

Oh, I’ll make valiant attempt.  There’s a handful of students whom I do know by name, but there’s just no way I can learn who everyone is when I see them so rarely.

They do know mine though … well, most of them.  To some of my students I’m “Mr. Smith.”  To others, I’m “The Art Guy.”  At the insistence of some teachers in one of my buildings some call me “Mr. Aaron,” though I’m not too keen on that.

In any case, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about my “Art Guy” moniker.  Originally it was a name given to me by a student, and it sort of stuck.  It smacks of just enough irreverence to make it amusing to me even though some classroom teachers who don’t know me try to correct their students when they hear it.

It’s a great nickname to have when you’re the only art teacher around, or failing that the only one that’s a guy.  For that very reason when I started my first forays into edublogging and podcasting to find there were no other art teachers playing with the same technology that entertained me so much (at least none that I saw…), “theartguy” seemed like a perfect screen name for me.

And it has been.  I have found countless friends and joined more Web 2.0 sites than I can remember using that screen name.  It’s how I’m identified by pretty much anyone on the internet who knows me.  My target audience has never been limited to just other art teachers – far from it in fact, because in the beginning it was such a rare occurrence to find one of us blogging.

But times change.  These days I’m far from being the only artsy person out there with a blog/podcast/vidcast/and so on., and I think that’s totally awesome.  When I got started I brought an art teacher’s perspective to these new technologies with which we were playing, because in some cases it was quite different from a [insert any other content area here] teacher’s perspective.

Now, the art teachers that are blogging have their own little corner of the internet to form their Personal Learning Networks.  Networks where they don’t have to start off by saying “As an art teacher…,” because their target audience is other art teachers.  Again, this is awesome.

But it also means I’m not the only “art guy” out there.

If I walk into a room full of 30 students ready for an awesome painting lesson, I have no problem calling myself the Art Guy.  If I walk into a room with a decent percentage of other art teachers … I hesitate.

There is more I want to say, but this post is long enough for now.  Expect another installment later.

I do the impossible. Daily.

“He won’t do any work. Just let him sit there.”

“This class will never be controllable when it’s snowing outside.”

“These special ed. students don’t have the hand-eye communication to use scissors.”

Each of these statements is something I’ve been told by a classroom teacher. Each of these statements have been proven wrong.  See that photo?  It was taken by a 2nd grader, then submitted to a juried art show.  It got in.  Don’t tell me photography can’t be taught to 2nd graders.  I could add more examples, but do I need to?

It is a personality flaw quirk of mine to, when I hear something cannot be done in the classroom, see that as a challenge.  Sometimes it turns out the chalenge issuer was right, but more often than not I get to show them what a little effort and guidance can accomplish.  They had given up on those students because they did not think they had the time and/or the energy to accomplish the aforementioned tasks and teach the prescribed curriculum.  Understandable how they got to that point – I’d be there too if I was in their position – but that doesn’t mean I’ll let it stay that way.

So…

When a classroom teacher tells me they’d love to include more art in their lessons, but they just don’t have the time / energy / creativity / inspiration to do that and cover the mandated curriculum….

Challenge issued.

Challenge accepted.

Just don’t keep saying it can’t be done after I prove you wrong.

In any case, here’s a quick rundown on my opinions concerning Flickr’s decision to host videos:

• Flickr’s video hosting is to most online videos as Twitter is to most blog posts.
• 90 seconds is very short.
• If you edit well, 90 seconds can be enough. (Remember, most commercials are 60 seconds or less.)
• The first time I tried to cut one of my ramblings down to a minute and a half, it wasn’t easy.
• I say in the video that I cut 10 minutes of footage out to make it fit. I was exaggerating.
• It wasn’t more than 8 minutes. Honest.
• Still, editing out everything except the core points took much longer than I thought it would.
• Flickr Video ≠ YouTube
• Flickr Video = Neat little toy
• You can supposedly embed the videos as easily as the photos.
• “Supposedly,” because copy/pasting the provided HTML code did nothing but place a blank, black box in this blog entry.

This is the audio from my presentation at this year’s MICCA conference. Forgive me if I keep things brief as I’m quite wiped by the experience of these past two days.

• A pdf version of my PowerPoint, including a special bonus slide at the end, is available here.
• Yes, I really do mention David Warlick that often. It’s only because he does so much to help educators.
• As I explain in the intro, I was able to use Audacity to remove the background noise but not the slight echo. It annoyed me at first but I got used to it … I think.
• I may be wrong about the new version of Audacity having LAME built in, but like I say in the podcast I do prefer iTunes for encoding my mp3 files.
• I also over planned, and had very little time to do practical demonstrations. Perhaps next time I’ll focus on one tool? We’ll see.
• I’ve said this a lot, but the wiki is still here. Edits are still encouraged.
• I’m tired. Goodnight.

I’ll be presenting a session at MICCA called “Podcasting Tips and Tricks.” As I’ve done before (*cough* Edublogging 101 *cough*), I’ve created a wiki rather than print out a bunch of dead tree copies. I think I have it fleshed out enough for a 45 minute presentation, but it could always use more work – that’s where you come in.

If you’re someone who’s learned something while creating podcasts, or even if you just know of a good resource or how-to guide, why not go over to my wiki and add it in? Even if you do nothing more than add a link to someone else’s wiki on podcasting, it’ll still be a big help.

Technorati Tags: MICCA08

More on the inspiration later, but first two things: Yesterday on a whim (since it has nothing to do with my usual ed/tech/art ramblings) I posted a blog entry that included 20 things about myself … but one of them was a lie.  I invited readers to guess which one is false, and at the time I’m writing this 4 people have made their guesses but no one’s gotten it right, yet.  If you feel like playing along, you can go here.

Next up, I’m cross-posting this on Teachers 2.0 strictly for item three on today’s agenda.  Teachers 2.0 is a much larger community, as evidenced in more than one significant way, and I really want to hear people’s feedback.  You can comment here or there, although to be honest more people might read your response if you post it there.

-=-=-=-=-

Ok, on to the heart of today’s episode.  In the past I’ve expressed mixed feelings about high stakes standardized testing.  I feel that our goal as educators should be to prepare students to be successful in the “real world,” and that teaching to the test (which seems to be an inevitable outcome of this kind of assessment) does not do this – especially if and when the test itself is not assessing skills that will be required in the real world.

People in the U.S. reading this now may immediately think of NCLB, but I was teaching before that legislation passed I recall high stakes assessment  being disproportionately emphasized back then, too.

Now in the past every time I expressed this opinion, I added that while I dislike tests like this I feel I can’t complain too much because it’s difficult to think of another way to compare schools from year to year across a district, county, or nation without some sort of one-size-fits-all non-subjective bar with which we can measure student achievement.

But the other day, I put two and two together.  What’s our goal again?  To prepare students for the real world.  So how should we assess them?  How about by looking at how they perform in the real world, or at least in response to real world situations.

What if, instead of subjecting our students to tests that stress out everyone involved, we created some form of rubric to evaluate how they do after they stop calling themselves students? The rubric could include things like salary, job satisfaction, and any one of a number of variables that we apply to ourselves when we ask ourselves if we think we’ve been successful.

Of course if we adopted this system there would still be some problems.  True assessment would not be able to be measured until they were no longer our students, thus keeping us from correcting discrepancies that a well written standardized test may have caught.  Maybe a combination of the two?  I don’t know.

I’m not saying this is the perfect solution.  I’m not even saying I’ve thought this completely through yet, but it is something I’ve been mulling over, and I’d love to hear your opinion on the whole thing.  What have I overlooked?  Why would or wouldn’t this type of assessment be a good idea?  If it was your job to create the real life rubric, what would be the core variables worth measuring?

Inquiring minds want to know.

• The Podcasting wikis that were sent to me were great, but not quite what Ineed for my presentation. I won’t be reinventing the wheel so much as changing the circumference and tread, I think.
• Want to make a quick paper CD case? I see this as an art lesson waiting to happen.
• This story led me to this story. I think it strikes home more for me because I have been stopped by security while taking photos. I lucked out though – the security guard was also an amateur photographer.
• This Wired article has me questioning the parameters of the study they’re discussing.
• Teachers 2.0 is still looking for a few (more) good writers. Care to join us?

• The new Teachers 2.0 site is looking for a few good writers – ones willing to post somewhat regularly.
• Still looking for good wikis about podcasting, although suggestions have started to roll in…
• garageflowers suggested this wiki, which is good but not quite what I’m looking for.
• njtechteacher has a large list of podcasting links.
• That list of links includes this podcasting omnibus by Wes Fryer – great, but too much for my presentation.
• Bud the Teacher is taking a break from Twitter. So far, so good.
  

As I announced on Pownce, this will be my third consecutive year as a presenter at MICCA. In the past I’ve used wikis as my “handouts,” but I’m not sure I should create a new one from scratch if there’s already a definitive one out there that’s ready for use.

So my question to you is this: What are some of the better podcasting wikis out there, and should I use one of those for my presentation or make my own? I’m leaning away from reinventing the wheel, but I won’t mind building one from the ground up if the wikis that exist don’t meet my needs.

Let me know what you think.

Aaaaaaaaaaaanyway, today’s ‘cast shares three links, all taken from this list of del.icio.us links that include the tag “teachers20.” (The tag was created so that the links could show up automatically in the Teachers2.0 Twitter feed, which is a lot more popular than I am. My creation has usurped me! …. oh well. We also have a Ning site, if you’re into that.)

• How to add Chroma key (green screen effects) to a movie for FREE!
• The Truth About Autism: Scientists Reconsider What They Think They Know
• Liam’s Pictures from Old Books (Thanks, lindiop)
  

Photo Booth may be a fun toy, but from now on I think I’ll be using other software for my podcasting needs.

Oh, and today’s episode has me rambling on about how people are using Twitter and its clones in lieu of recording podcasts and posting blogs.  I don’t think this is a bad thing, since any message that can be summarized in 140 characters should be presented that way – short, sweet, and to the point.

However not every idea can be made so brief, as evidenced here.

I think Twitter is a good thing because  that means that we can expect blog entries to be reserved for more complex ideas, while posts that show off a new website or tell us what you had to eat can be reserved for another feed entirely.

Oh, well.

All things considered I have been quite busy. Those who follow my Twitter and Pownce accounts may have noticed I post almost nothing on the weekends – and with the exception of my planning days were I’m constantly in front of my computer to fill out all sorts of paperwork, a lack of postings means I have a lot on my plate.

But enough of that before this turns into an “Oh, I have too much to do, I shouldn’t even be recording this right now!” podcast.

What?

It’s too late for that?

Feh. Moving on, I’m really liking Pownce. For those of you not in the know, Pownce is very much like Twitter in that it’s a micro-blog format. Both are designed to share small messages, links, and so on with others. Pownce goes further in regards to media sharing and organizing your friend lists. You can actually put, say, all of your friends who are art teachers into one group, math teachers in another, science teachers in another, family in another, and so on, and send links and messages only to those groups that would be interested in that subject.

I’m sure my sister, for example, doesn’t really care about the highlights of last week’s faculty meeting. This way, she wouldn’t see it.

Now Twitter’s still in the running. The tools for embedding Twitter into web pages seem more robust than the ones for Pownce, and if you’re a text messaging fanatic Twitter will win hands down.

But for how I use it, I like Pownce a lot more. I loved it when I first got an invite to sign up, and I was reminded of how much I liked it a couple weekends ago when a huge chunk of the edublogosphere tried it out for a day at Steve Dembo’s request.

Alas, the following week most of them were all back on Twitter. A social network can have all the features in the world, but it’s still nothing without a critical mass of members. Twitter has that, and except for an all-too-brief moment, Pownce doesn’t.

There are solutions, of course. Apps and websites that post to multiple networks, services that will pull RSS feeds into Twitter, but I’m not happy with the apps and I’ve already gotten complaints about my Pounce messages being cut short when they’re cross posted to Twitter.

I’m still holding out for more people to make the switch to Pownce, but I know that, just like last time, before long I’m going to end up staying where more of my network is rather than continue talking to an (almost) empty space. Social networks are sticky that way.