The Big Fresh from Choice Literacy March 6, 2010 Uncommon Video Ground


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The Big Fresh from Choice Literacy
March 6, 2010
Uncommon Video Ground

When things get turned upside down, when something other than the ordinary steps into our paths and we allow ourselves to see things in uncommon ways, we can gather in the immediacy of uncommon ground.
Shirley McPhillips

I remember when a friend of mine bought one of the first iPods nearly a decade ago. My initial thought was "Geez, what an odd name for a music player." It wasn't till I held it in my hands that I realized it was something truly uncommon. Within a few months, the iPod upended the music industry by not only changing the way many of us access music on the go, but upping our expectations for how we might personalize our music libraries.

I can't remember the first time I heard about the Flip video recorder when it came out a couple years ago, because its release was buried in the avalanche of new/fun/interesting/useful little gadgets that seem to appear every month. Yet after a winter of using this gadget, I now see it as the video breakthrough for schools that the iPods were for music lovers. Quite simply, this recorder is so small, inexpensive, and easy to use that it's revolutionizing the way many teachers and literacy coaches use video to improve instruction. You can now personalize your use of video in teaching, coaching, and conferring - in uncommon ways that deepen reflection and conversations about literacy learning.

Before the iPod, portable music for most of us was a CD player, which meant you were limited by carrying a cumbersome device as well as whatever CD you had in it. The iPod gave anyone access to their own eclectic mix of hundreds or thousands of songs. There were MP3 players on the market before the iPod, but it was the small size as well the ease of downloading, accessing, and arranging the music on the device that changed the industry.

For many of us in schools, video recording has involved getting out the bulky and expensive recorder, making sure there is room on the storage device or putting in a tape before using it, fiddling with the controls to get the settings right, charging the batteries or finding an extension cord, figuring out where to stand it on a tripod or designating someone to hold it for recording. . . In other words, video recording is either a major hassle or special event. And that's only the recording - there are additional issues if you're not a techie when you tackle editing video and learning how to encode and upload it. So, those $2000 video cameras mostly gathered dust, except when they were pulled out to record assemblies or other one-time events.
Everything changes when you are carrying an inexpensive video recorder in your pocket with decent sound and picture quality, as well as zero set-up or maintenance time. Suddenly, many of the problems you face in teaching or coaching have video solutions. Consider a few of the uses Choice Literacy contributors have found for their pocket video cameras just this month:

In Boston, a teacher recorded a ten-minute clip of a discussion from a Professional Learning Community meeting that was missed by colleagues who had to attend a statewide event. The video was posted so they could view it at their leisure before the next meeting.

In Olympia, Washington, a teacher recorded a demonstration lesson by a literacy coach in her classroom, and then they looked at student engagement together by viewing one-minute chunks of the video during their debrief.

In Massachusetts, a literacy coach and teacher were working with 3rd graders who were having problems with taking turns and other conversation skills during literature circles. They recorded snippets of the groups for the children to analyze with adult help, and then left the student groups with Flip cameras to use during literature circles over the week to continue the reflection on their own.

In Chicago, teachers record snippets of parents reading with their children as keepsakes, and gentle catalysts for guiding family members to the best strategies for read alouds. Literacy coaches also record small excerpts of their conferences with teachers to share in coaching support meetings with colleagues.

In Missouri, a university faculty member and a teacher record two-minute videos to coach educators on working with English language learners. These videos are then sent right in email messages to staff members, and posted as an alternative to paper handouts and professional development sessions.

The last example of "digital handouts" is the topic of our feature article this week. It's one thing to pull a video camera out of your pocket, push one button, and start recording. What educators are finding is that these new, low-cost video recorders are a cinch for editing and uploading clips. They plug right into your computer with no special cords, hardware, or software - it's only minutes from recording to posting whatever you select for colleagues and kids to view.

This week we've linked to a slew of literary resources for St. Patrick's Day. Plus more as always - enjoy!

Brenda Power
Editor, Choice Literacy

Free for All

What a wonderful idea - who can resist a two-minute video embedded in an email? Jill Ostrow and her colleague find success with this new method of delivering professional development focused on English language learners. Even if you have no interest in developing videos of your own, you'll probably have a colleague or two who will enjoy and learn from these micro-video examples:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/1106.cfm

WebTools4U2Use is a fabulous wiki with suggestions and tutorials on easy to use and free web tools. Developed for media specialists, it's become a favorite destination for teachers of all grade levels too. This is a site you'll want to bookmark and explore when you have a few free hours:

http://webtools4u2use.wikispaces.com/

From the Big Fresh Archives, here are some favorite read alouds and literacy-related activities for St. Patrick's Day compiled at KidsReads:

http://www.kidsreads.com/features/020306-st-pats.asp#past

The St. Patrick's Day website has an extensive collection of quotes, proverbs, and anecdotes:

http://stpatricksday.com/paddyzone/wisdom/

Join us this summer for the popular Delight in Words one-day workshop featuring Franki Sibberson. Integrating word study, vocabulary, and children's literature is the focus, and the workshop will be offered in San Antonio, Texas; Tacoma, Washington; and Wrentham, Massachusetts:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/860.cfm

For Members Only

Are your students in the doldrums with their writers' and readers' notebooks? We've posted a new cluster this week on The Authentic Use of Notebooks with contributions from Aimee Buckner, Jennifer Jones, Clare Landrigan and Tammy Mulligan:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/1101.cfm

If you're in the doldrums about. . .well, just about anything, a new poem and reflection from Shirley McPhillips may be the cure. In An Common Place, a winter blast of snow and wind destroys the backyard view Shirley has enjoyed for years. This leads to a reflection on the wisdom and power of adaptation:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/1103.cfm

Tests as a reading and writing "genre" is the buzz in many schools. In this week's video from a third-grade team meeting, literacy coaches Gail Boushey and Janet Scott help teachers think through what's going well with test preparation, and what might be improved:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/1107.cfm

Finally, Tony Keefer realized there too much one time only use of technology in his intermediate classroom, with little additional practice. In Web 2.0 Tools for the Classroom, he shares how he moved to using fewer tools more consistently, and how powerfully this change has affected his students:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/1102.cfm

That's all for this week!