Making Tough Digital Choices - CADA Area E Student Leadership Conference

We had a great "Tough Digital Choices" session today at the CADA Area E Student Leadership Conference!  All of today's presentation notes are here:



For even more resources, please visit my "For teens and parents" page here:

http://upsmart.blogspot.com/p/for-parents.html

If you have any questions, or would like to bring this presentation to your school, contact:

http://www.facebook.com/rippolito

@rippolito on Twitter

rippolito@gmail.com

Area E and F Advisor Conference

INSTRUCTIONS FOR SETTING UP TWITTER FAST FOLLOW AT YOUR SCHOOL

1. Setup a twitter account.  Go to twitter.com and follow the prompts.  When it asks you for your name, you can use your real first and last name or the name of your school.  Type in your e-mail address and create a password.
   
2. In the next step, it will ask you to select a username.  This is what you will give to your kids.  Choose a username that will be easy enough and short enough for kids to remember and type in.  LasColinasMiddleSchoolASB might be a little excessive.  Maybe try for just LasColinasASB or LCASB or LCMSASB.  Something like that.  As you progress through the sign-up process, it's going to ask you to find your interests, look for your friends, find people to follow.  You can skip all that nonsense since this account is going to be used for school and not for your personal interests.
   
3. Figure out how you are going to tweet.  If this is going to be the only twitter account you use, you can connect your cell phone to your twitter account by going into the mobile settings (after you have your account all set up).  Follow the prompts to connect your cell phone text messaging to your twitter account.  Once connected, you can send out your tweets (which then, of course, will become your text message blasts) directly from your phone.  This works from ANY phone (not just iPhone or Blackberry).  Any phone, that is, that has text messaging.  If you have a smartphone, there are twitter apps available for free to download.  The reason I mention tweeting from your phone is because most school districts block direct access to twitter from a school computer.
   
4. Get your kids to start following you.  Guide your kids through this process in class.  That way, kids who catch on faster can help those who may need a little extra assistance.  Plus it's cool to demonstrate it in class so all the kids' phones light up and buzz at the same time.  Also helps to make sure everyone's phones are working properly.  Have them send a text message to phone number 40404 (this is the universal twitter text messaging number) with TWO words (it's always just two words).  The first word is FOLLOW and the second word is whatever your username is.  For example, if you want to get updates from the ASB at my high school you would text the words FOLLOW WESTRANCHASB to 40404.  Upper case or lower case doesn't matter.  What DOES matter is they need to make sure it's only those two words, and they can't have subject lines or signatures in their text messages (you may not understand what this means, but they do).  Again, emphasize to them that they do not need a smartphone, but they do need text messaging and standard text messaging rates apply.  Most families nowadays have unlimited texting, but not all, so be aware of that.
   
5. Start tweeting!

Hope that helps.  Give me a holler if you have any questions at rippolito@gmail.com.

Should Schools Be Teaching Social Media?

The National Education Association (NEA) recently posted some great articles on technology in the classroom.  One of the articles posted was a link on the NEA website to Business2Community, a business leadership organization.    They're all worth a read.


Should Schools Be Teaching Social Media
http://www.business2community.com/social-media/should-schools-be-teaching-social-media-051782

Why Can't We Be Friends?
http://neatoday.org/2011/04/28/why-cant-we-be-friends-social-media-boundaries-between-teachers-and-students/

Can Tweeting Help Your Teaching?
http://www.nea.org/home/32641.htm

Enjoy!

Ron

Grading and Selections

Using Technology for ASB

Thanks for coming to my technology session!  Here are the links I shared with you today:

J.MP (A URL SHORTENER) - So let's say you are voting online, and the link for your students to vote is https://www.studentonlinevoting.com/westranchwildcats/vote.html (just a made-up link, by the way).  Let's say you don't want to have to put that big long link on your website or on your flyers/posters advertising your elections.  Instead, you can use a URL shortener like j.mp.  With j.mp (part of the bitly.com family of URLs), you can go from a really long and hard-to-remember URL to something like http://j.mp/wildcatsvote.  By using this "jump" (j.mp) URL for all of your links, and by using consistent names for your shortened links (wildcatsvote (for your voting link), wildcatstalent (for talent show sign-ups), wildcatschoir (choir audition sign-ups), etc., you develop a culture at your school  where these shortened links are easy to remember.  http://www.bitly.com

ANIMOTO - This is the site I use to make cool slideshows.  Check into getting a FREE educator account.  Web-quality videos are always free.  DVD-quality downloads are $3 each.  HD-quality is $6 for each download.  You can check out one of the slideshows we created for CADA Camp here http://animoto.com/play/s1i5lFFWpOQi3gLrX10YSg.  To start your own account, go to:
http://www.animoto.com

POSTEROUS - This is the way you can update Facebook, Blogger, Twitter, YouTube and more all with one e-mail.
http://www.posterous.com

JING - I use this program to make screencasts--instructional videos using my voice and exactly what is going on on my screen.  Here's an example I created for the teachers at my school: http://ichelp.posterous.com/how-to-create-a-grade-print-out-for-a-student
http://www.techsmith.com/jing

GOOGLE DOCS - This "cloud" technology allows you to create and save documents, spreadsheets, PowerPoint-style spreadsheets, and forms and share read and/or write access with anyone else on the web.
http://docs.google.com

TWITTER FAST FOLLOW - You can send mass text messages to your entire school (parents, teachers, students, EVERYONE!) and it's absolutely free.  Have a teacher or administrator at your school setup an account at http://www.twitter.com.  Once you have your Twitter account created, simply have everyone at your school text follow nameofyourtwitteraccount to 40404.  If they want to stop, they simply text unfollow nameofyourtwitteraccount to 40404.

GOOGLE CALENDAR - A great way to keep yourself organized, and to publish school events.
http://calendar.google.com

GOOGLE VOICE - Free phone number, free texting, it's amazing!
http://voice.google.com

POLLEVERYWHERE.COM - This enables you to conduct free text message polling in a rally or assembly.  Great for the classroom, too!
http://www.polleverywhere.com

SCHOOLTUBE.COM - If YouTube is blocked at school, use SchoolTube to post school videos that you can see on your school's network.
http://www.schooltube.com

GODADDY.COM - I use this site to register custom domain names (about $10-15 a year).  Makes remembering websites easier, like the one we use for our elections (www.rionortevote.com)
http://www.godaddy.com

EDUBALLOT - I use this service to do secure, online elections.  You can run ASB officer elections, class officer elections, honor society officers, yearbook "senior bests," dance court elections, and more!
https://eduballot.votenet.com/index2.cfm

VIDEOS TO SHARE WITH ADMINISTRATION THE VALUE OF TECHNOLOGY IN EDUCATION
http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2010/07/seven-videos-every-teacher-principal.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+freetech4teachers/cGEY+(Free+Technology+for+Teachers)&utm_content=Google+Reader

PREZI - Finally, one of the students in my UCSB I Session on July 7, 2011, mentioned Prezi.  Prezi is online presentation software with tons of bells and whistles (think PowerPoint on steroids).  You can find it at http://www.prezi.com.

Enjoy!
Ron

Starting a Flash Mob/LipDub at Your School

Step 1 - Discuss with your admin.  You and your kids could think this is the best idea in the world, but without admin support, your idea will go nowhere.  Discuss with admin the positives of creating a flash mob/lipdub, and most importantly how it can help increase school involvement and school spirit on your campus.

Step 2 - Establish parameters.  Ideally you want your KIDS to be doing all the "heavy lifting" when it comes to coming up with a song, a location, the dance moves, etc.  "People tend to support that which they help to create."  Rather than coming up with everything for them, give them the parameters within which they can work.  For example:

1.  This must involve every student/staff member at the school.
2.  The song must not only be "school-appropriate," but positive, life-affirming, upbeat, uplifiting.
3.  All dance moves must be school-appropriate.
4.  If you include any kind of signs or graphics, they should be easy-to-read.
5.  Let's take the time to do this right and create a product our students, staff, and community can be proud of.

Step 3 - Look at examples.  Go online and see what other schools have done.  There's no need to reinvent the wheel, especially if it's your first time doing this.  Here is the flash mob that we did at my school back in 2010.



And then there are the Lip Dubs we started doing at CADA Leadership Camp.



Step 4 - Let the kids do it.  No, really, let the kids do it.  Assuming you have established all the parameters (tell your kids there may be a safety, access, or other "adult" issue we haven't yet thought of), then let the kids do the planning and implementation.  You will be amazed with what they can create.






Step 5 - Use the right equipment to document the event.  I use the Kodak Zi8 camera (image below).  It's lightweight, easy to use, and shoots HD-quality video.  You can find it on Amazon.com HERE.




Kodak is no longer making the Zi8, and its newest camera is now the PlayTouch, which you can check out HERE.

The advantage to using these cameras over traditional "camcorders" is that they have a wider-angle lens which is helpful, especially when shooting up close in a lipdub-type video.  Be careful which camera you choose, because ultimately you need for it to be compatible with the computer on which you will be doing your video editing.  The last thing you want to do is get a Sony camcorder whose video format is incompatible with your iMac (the best type of computer, I think, for editing video.
Talk to a video production teacher in your school or district if you are unsure about the compatibility.  Or, better still, talk to your video production teacher about having his/her kids do the shooting of the video, so you and your students can focus on the "flashmob/lipdub" side of things.

Finally, camcorders shake, especially when in the hands of a walking, excited teenager.  That's why you need a steadicam (if you're going to be walking and filming at the same time).  You can pay $3,800 for this model (at left), or you can buy the materials at Home Depot and make one for less than $25.

Here are a few different resources for building your own here:
http://diycamera.com/stabiliser/index.html

Or here (this is the one we used for CADA Camp 2011):
http://littlegreatideas.com/stabilizer/diy/

Or just do a Google search for "do it yourself steadicam" or "pvc steadicam."  Here are the two that we made for CADA Camp:

 

And by "we," I really mean Verne Johnson at Bret Harte High School in Angels Camp, CA.  You can e-mail him at vjohnson@bhuhsd.k12.ca.us.  He built his own outdoor kitchen in his backyard, among other things.  He's a genius.

Step 6 - Share.  The whole world (or at least your campus community) will be excited to see what you've done!  Edit that video ASAP (ideally a true flashmob/lipdub is all in one take anyway, so editing should be a breeze) and post it to Facebook, YouTube, SchoolTube, TeacherTube, your school blog, whatever.  If you post it to just ONE video hosting site, and then put links to or embed that same one video on all your websites and social media, then it makes it easier to track how many views you've gotten.  SchoolTube is a great alternative to YouTube because everyone can see it, at home or at school.  By posting to a school Facebook page, you also allow students and parents to re-post to their Facebook pages, and the video could even go viral.  As Google "Educational Evangelist" Jaime Casap said at the CADA Convention back in March 2011:

"We don't ban cars.  We teach kids how to cross the street safely."

Instead of turning a blind eye to social media, it's time for us in education to harness its power and teach kids how to use it responsibly.  Social media is where they are.  Let's teach them how to be there safely.