RJ Stangherlin

Keystone Technology Integrator and STAR Discovery Educator

This site is for Mrs. Stangherlin's classes at Salisbury High School.

Teaching in High Definition

They drove into the snowstorm, father and son, so that Dan Lebo could present at PETE&C in the Student Showcase on Tuesday.  Dan’s project was a German film he made with a team of students in Frau Clauser’s German 4 class. Recently, Dan began working with high definition, and that’s what he taught for 2 hours.  Active word: taught.  As always, he was engaging, intelligent, fascinating, and way over my head with technology knowledge.  So, I took a crash course in high definition filming.  Although the weather thinned the crowd, those who stayed were totally engaged, and almost everyone watched the entire video.  One student actually filmed Dan’s film. 

For me, an experience like this one is why I teach.  It’s about social networking one-to-one, but I am not discussing laptop initiatives.  It’s about face-to-face networking with some of the best people in the business..  Scott Kinney spoke to Dan about using his team’s Integrated Project on Lincoln as an example of digital storytelling.  Since the project was featured in the Discovery Education Resource Guide in the January 2007 issue, the Discovery group was familiar with the project.  Dan is sending Scott a DVD of the project, and the German video is already in Scott’s hands, ready for use in his next Digital Storytelling presentation.  Dan also got to meet Hall Davidson, who gave him some sound advice about a career in film making.  Does it get any better, networking students to their future. 

As the morning came to a close, I must admit I was counting the snowflakes, worried about getting home.  As luck would have it, Mr. Lebo grew up in Palmyra, exactly one town away from Hershey, so I followed him through back roads to my turn off for home [bypassing the 16-hour jam on I-78].  It was a wonderful two days, watching students at their best, actually making all the buzzwords of 21st century learning visible.  The power of Discovery: it was being inside of the story.

Being Inside of the Story

In Christian Long’s The Future of Learning Manifesto and Scott McLeod’s mashup, both state that when it comes to technology, it’s really “about being inside of the story.” The meaning, the interconnectedness, not the tool.  Or so I interpret.  Today’s keynote speaker, John Caruso, also spoke about being inside the story.  He said, “We are the stories we tell ourselves we are.” We define ourselves in many ways, and our stories, like what we buy, define us.  A story is really a mental connection, a mind’s search for meaning, driven by our contexts and our need for meaning.  Think of it this way.  I overhear a conversation.  He says, “I saw a deer in the woods today.” The other guy says, “It was an eight pointer.” I think, that guy’s a hunter.  You’re thinking, what does this have to do with a technology conference.  Very much, actually.

Tuesday I felt very much like I was inside the story.  Or at least close.  Students from last year’s IP Stock Market came to PETE&C to present in the Keystone Poster session.  They delivered, despite technical difficulties with the movies in their PowerPoint, and were interviewed [twice], They got to show and tell their stories, and it really wasn’t about the technology.  More about the learning curve of who they were then, who they are now, and who they will become, shaped by their search for meaning in their contexts.

The New Permanent Record

Nothing beats a DEN PETE&C Pre-Conference Day.  What else could draw 130 educators to Hershey for a full-day venue on a Sunday.  Our keynote speaker, Will Richardson, gave an encore of an earlier DEN webinar: A Web of Connections: Why the Read / Write Web Changes Everything.  His answer: reams and reams of digital paper that is writeable 24/7.  Long story short: students engage in global connectivism and social networking, making learning transparent and classrooms virtual.  But it was Richardson’s three questions that kept me engaged: how do teachers learn, how do teachers make their learning transparent, and who models transparent learning for your students?  I actually have answer for these questions, but that will come later.

Moving on, my first session, Director’s Cut, featured the irrepressible, ever-enlightening, and always entertaining Hall Davidson.  Using Adobe Premiere Elements and a green screen, he showed us some of the coolest cool tools for putting anyone inside a video with some clever special effects.  This session alone could motivate me for the rest of the year with endless ideas for engaging students in self-directed learning through film making.  And for those of you students who ask if you can trust anyone over thirty to get you where you need to go--well--Hall is one of my answers--he is the definitive poster adult to show you how.  Second session: Podcasting with Jannita Demian, my favorite west coast girlfriend.  Proving that learning can be fun and laughter is conducive to learning, Jannita took me to the next level of podcasting with her out-of-the-box ideas for podcasting in education.  Lunch and then session three with an all-time favorite presenter, Steve Dembo.  He’s an awesome blogger, which is actually how he got his job at Discovery: he created an online resume with his blog, teach42.  His session featured the 10 best FREE Web 2.0 sites.  Definitely worth the visit.  I use Steve to gauge my digital IQ; I knew and had used 9 of his sites, so I am improving my digital immigrant status for sure.  My favorite new find: picnik, online photo editing made fun and fast.  Session 4: back to Hall and Megamedia in Your Pocket.  Last year, Hall was the keynote for PETE&C, and he spoke with passion about the need to teach students with the tools they carry in their pockets.  This year, Hall did the best show-and-tell ever about the iPod video.  After this presentation, I knew that every teacher and students should have one.  Gigantic flash drive, movie player, photo album, PowerPoint player--I’m glad I made a wiki for this conference because the uses were infinite.  If anyone can invent new uses for an already cool tool, it’s Hall. 

When it comes to bookending a conference, no one does it better than Lance Rougeux.  Putting Steve Dembo as the closing keynote brought more than closure to the Discovery day; it made important connections.  Steve’s presentation, The New Permanent Record, carried an important message for STUDENTS.  His three points about internet use: NOTHING is private, EVERYONE can see EVERYTHING, and DELETE does NOT MEAN GONE.  There, I’ve said it.  Be careful what you post.  Steve said that through ethers, you can find residual traces of anything.  Then there are programs that can recover material deleted years ago.  Deleted does not mean gone.  It should be a mantra.  But more importantly, Steve stressed that teachers must teach online appropriate use of social networking tools.  Myspace could be your online resume, if constructed properly.  He also thought that all teachers should have a myspace account and their students should be their friends.  He noted that myspace is the generic like kleenex = tissues, so he is not a commercial for myspace.  I know that, because he has a facebook and he is my friend.  I have a facebook, and yes, some of my students are my friends.  I’d like more of my students to be my facebook friends.  Why?  Because they can only learn.  I get RSS feeds to my facebook from some of the best writers in the blogosphere.  As my friend, you access their wall posts, notes, social networks.  And that fact begins to answer the three questions Will asked as the keynote speaker this morning.  So does this blog [and my DEN blog and my postings on Salisbury21].  And my wiki. And my new website, which happens to be a blog.  Thanks to Randy Ziegenfuss and countless hours of his expertise, I finally have a website that reflects transparent teaching and learning.

So, how does your teacher learn?  If you click this link, then click “View in Google Earth,” you will find yet another answer to how I learn.  I’m on the map, and I am clickable.  I learn by collaborating with my students, commenting on your blogs and working on your wikis Through 4 videoconferences and Megaconference, Jr.  Podcasting with you.  Next question: How do you make your teaching transparent?  All of the above, and more.  By presenting at conferences with your students.  By teaching your students to be teachers.  By publishing and posting.  I really believe you lead by doing.  Next question: Who models for your students?  Loaded question, many answers.  Global connectivism models, and that is good and bad, which makes the answer loaded.  If the models are good, then students learn ethical and appropriate use.  If the models are bad, students learn that too.  Steve Dembo’s point that spoke to me big time was about blocking sites.  What does that teach students when wireless is everywhere--Starbucks, strip malls, everywhere.  He felt that if districts write policies, they should not be about restricting but enabling, about modeling what is positive rather than saying what may not be.  Our job is to mke students cognizant of what they do online, so they can take control of their new permanent record.  He makes so much sense, and I guess that’s why I respect him so much, read him every day, and trust him as someone over thirty [though not much over] to get me where I have to go for my future.  Next question...

Getting on the Map

Ever hear of a meme? I looked at this word and thought, a new technology: “me me.” Works for me.  A meme [rhymes with theme] is a unit of transferrable cultural information.  Old technology actually, derived from scientific investigation.  I just discovered it a week ago when Randy Ziegenfuss tagged me, so I could “get on the map.” You can too.  Lucy Gray made a meme with a twist: she used Google Earth [use headphones for Google Earth link] and her project is the fourth most popular outgoing link in the world.  So, do you want to get on the map?  Just follow the directions listed in this link.  If you click this link, then click “View in Google Earth,” you will see who’s on the map.  Post a comment to this blog when you “get on the map.”