RJ Stangherlin

Keystone Technology Integrator and STAR Discovery Educator

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

Virtually Yours

Nothing beats attending a performance live, but is time, space, and conflicts create issues for you, then attending virtually is a great option.  For our IP presentations, my colleague, friend, fellow STAR DEN, and now Instructional Coach (next year’s dream job) and IP partner for over a decade, Jen Brinson and I decided to run a backchannel for the presentations.  I had run backchannels before at conferences, presentations, and most recently in my classroom for students who were absent and for review purposes.  My go-to platform of choice has always been Ustream.tv, although I hold similar accounts in other Web 2.0 offerings as well.  The idea was the easy part; executing two-camera channels was an llama of a different color.  So, I went to my go-to student, William Kennington, a great example of Tapscott’s Grown Up Digital Net Generation.  Kennington was convinced that Ustream.tv could handle multiple channels; I knew Mogulus (now Livestream, but more about that later) could, but had my doubts about the former.  Trust William; Ustream could and did handle the two-channel set up, and he also found a way to use CFF Macs to pull in the individual teams’ home laptop videos.  We were glad to go with Ustream, because the streaming resolution and end-output quality when archived have always been superior.

On May 27, 2009, when this year’s IP debuted, two students, Megan Heverly and Mark Attilio ran the backchannels, starting, ending, saving, and archiving each team’s two-channel streams for posterity.  They were my link to the streams, since I was, as always, mutitasking.  Brinson anchored the streaming the whole day, since she had formulated her defense questions for the teams in advance, and was our connection with our guest viewers, which included her family in NC and her Canadian colleagues in her online course with Discovery Education/Wilkes University, Salisbury Middle School history classes, and Mrs. Meholic’s math classes.  At one point, Brinson said we had 21 site guests.  Not bad at all for IPs maiden voyage into virtual productions.

The question that Brinson and I continue to be bombarded with is when will the presentation be posted.  Here’s the timetable.  William is giving the teams their stage footage to mix and edit with videos/slides tomorrow.  Thursday is binder due date, and that includes a mixed final video.  At that point, I will compress each video, render it, and upload it.  Each video takes about a half a day from start to finish for embeddable code for online posting.  At that point we will post to our blogs: Changing Connections, RJ Stangherlin SHS, Learning Curve, PA DEN, Education, Technology, and Fun blogs.  I am guessing that a week from this Thursday you can start checking our blogs.  If you are part of our social networks (Brinson’s and mine overlap to a point), you can follow our tweets.  We’ll keep you posted for when the students amazing presentations can be virtually yours.
IP
Multimedia
Stage Presentation
Education
Technology
Integrated Project
Turbo Tagger

SGA-Style Hawaiian Day

If a picture’s worth a thousand words, imagine the economy of a video.

The Towel Walk

Hawaiian Day: Towel Walk from RJ Stangherlin on Vimeo.

Spirit Awards

Hawaiian Day Spirit Awards from RJ Stangherlin on Vimeo.

IP Showtime: Attend Live or Virtually

A year’s work, a team’s countless hours, a group’s research, monumental collaboration, an individual’s presentations on film footage and live on stage.  It’s showtime for 23 students, and no matter how you spell it, IP is a multimedia educational in-house field trip worth taking.  Join us on Wednesday, May 27, 2009 at Salisbury High School’s auditorium, or if you cannot attend in person, you can participate virtually in real time by joining our backchannels on ustream.tv.  You can attend by clicking this link, and you can participate in a chat format as well.

If you are new to the Integrated Project, this year’s venue, which explores factual and counterfactual history, asks and answers this essential question: What if there was no news?  What’s news? So, why not join us as students rewrite the history of an era as it was, and as it might have been.  All times are ET.

8:51-9:51 An Era on Air: 1920-1933--Brandon Aversano, Chloe Frick, Olga Karounos, Erin Lobach, Dennis Peterson, Meagan Walsh

9:55-11:00 The Nixon Era: Uncovering Coverups--Nadia Daher, Hayley Joseph, Laudi El-Kareh, Kelsey Molseed, Andrew Samy

12:23-1:30 Generation X--Peter Cialkowski, Skye McCarty, My Phan, Fatema Rajmohammed, Hannah Rucker, Courtney Weiss
1:34-2:40
9-11: Broadcasting Terror--Matt Eherts, Sarah Gracely, Joshua Gregory, William Kennington III, Brandon Lansing, Shannon Safi. 

Lighting the Stage: Behind the IP Scene

So many people who often remain invisible help make IP a success.  Parents are the largest support group; I often wish I could be that proverbial fly on the wall and see what a parent sees, or even a student.  The “clickers” can make or break a presentation; if their timing is off, or if the people on stage don’t hit their “tag line,” even lighting is off.  And that’s my segue for today’s post.  Getting lights right involves more that which series of le.vers to raise and lower, or when to use the spots; it requires setting the lights so they are where they are needed.  Our lighting issues are driven by the technology in our presentations--we need light on actors and off of the big screen.  Today, when they had a long list of to-do things when school was closed, our custodians rigged our lights.  We cannot thank them enough; now our audience will not have to cope with ambient light on the right and left side of the big screen.

Equally important is running lights and sound.  Doing these jobs has been a Yorgey family tradition at SHS, and this year is no exception, except that Jeff, as a graduating senior, just made our job harder next year because he’s the last of his siblings.  Since we are toggling between video and stage presentation venues, lights are more complicated than past years, all 12 of them.  So, a special thanks to the men on lights, and to Tom Smith, who hates having his images captured, who keep the behind-the-scene problems from becoming crises.  Bravo for a job well done, and for sending into a long holiday weekend stress free!  Amen.

Countdown to Show Time!

It’s that time of year when students (and teachers) are counting days to the end of the school year.  If you are in IP, you are counting down to May 27, Showtime!  Taken this weekend at dress rehearsals, teams have hit their mark and almost good to go.  Join us (here comes my shameless commercial) on May 27 live or virtually.  We’ll be running a back channel via ustream.tv and letting you know how to find us closer to the actual day.  Stay tuned.

Walsh and Lobach Win Editors’ Pick BrainyFlix SAT Contest

Meagan Walsh and Erin Lobach were the first two students to jump at the extra credit offered for entering the BrainyFlix SAT Contest.  The goal was to make studying SAT vocabulary fun by creating a short video that defines and explains the word.  Walsh and Lobach made and entered 2 films, and their carouse video won Editor’s Pick.  They won a monetary prize and award certificates.  Inside was a note to them from the Editors who wished them good luck on their final, something they talked about in their video.

Enjoy watching Harry Potter surface in Erin and Meagan’s carousing winning video.

Meagan Walsh
Erin Lobach
SAT BrainyFlix Contest
Salisbury High School PA
Turbo Tagger

Tech-Savvy Students Teach Teachers

Salisbury High School might be a small school , but it is big on star power.  Mark Attilio and Megan Heverly made us especially proud of them on April 17, 2009, when Carbon-Lehigh Intermediate Unit 21 held their first annual CFF Showcase.  Megan and Mark joined a large group of teachers from IU 21 to showcase two years of project-based learning in their English classroom. To Salisbury’s credit, many participants at the conference commented that since Megan and Mark were such knowledgeable presenters, they mistook them for teachers. Any who knows this team understands their professionalism in approaching a task. One of Mark and Megan’s favorite recollections of the day occurred when a teacher said to them, “You have no idea how much I learn from my students.” Their response: “We know what you mean.” That tells you how really good this team is: they are humble with their abilitity and knowledge, but so willing to share it.  Once again, they proved that Salisbury Students Are Tech Savvy, and consummate professionals as well. Students like Attilio and Heverly lead the way in true 21st century learning, creating partnerships in education that are dynamic, ground-breaking, worthwhile, and overdue.

Presentation resources are available on Megan Heverly’s Edublog.  The video they made uses SnagIt to screen capture their digital footprint.

IU Video(low quality) from megan heverly on Vimeo.

SHS J8 Team GUIDEs Their Way Into Top Ten in Nation

Guest Bloggers Brandon Aversano and Fatema Rajmohamed

It was an experience that the four of us would surely never forget. It all began when Jennifer Brinson, our Advanced Placement United States History Teacher, informed of us a contest titled J8. The J8 coincides with the global summit held by the G8 countries (United States, Canada, France, Italy, Germany, Japan, Russia, and the United Kingdom) in July, in which the eight leaders of the most powerful countries in the world discuss key issues facing the world today. J8 is a national competition in which teams of four (ages 13-17) create and submit an application to the United States branch of UNICEF. The winning team would spend a preparatory weekend in New York during the month of May, and then travel to Italy in July to join other youth teams from the G8 countries. The J8 conference occurs during the G8 summit, allowing the youths participating in the conference to interact with the most influential and powerful political leaders of our time.

With our ears wide open as Ms. Brinson explained the components of the intense competition, we decided there was no possible way we were going to allow an opportunity such as this one to pass through our fingers. The four of us (Brandon Aversano, Olga Karounos, Fatema Rajmohamed, Melinda Lehman), set to work on an application that would take over a month to complete successfully. We began by downloading the United States application form on the J8 website. With numerous aspects of the application form, each requiring its own special time and attention, we decided to each research and create our own ideas for each category.

Our first challenge was deriving a team name that encompassed our mission and purpose in the competition, as well as the individuality of our members. Spending a good deal of time creating a name, we decided to ask Ms. Brinson for some advice. The team recognized how global the J8 competition truly was, and therefore wanted to emphasize this in the team name. Taking ideas from the categories in the application, we finally arrived at our team name, G.U.I.D.E. The pneumonic device stands for, Globally Unified Individuals for Diplomacy and Ecology. R.J. Stangherlin served as our coach throughout the entire process. Helping us synthesize our information, create a platform with depth and understanding, and allowing us to realize our potentioal, Mrs. Stangherlin was a crucial part to the entire competition. However, as integral as Mrs. Stangherlin was, she allowed the members of GUIDE to complete the project on their own terms, because after all, the J8 was looking for youth voices.

J8 wanted us to create solutions on three pressing issues facing the world today including Climate Change, HIV/Aids and Infectious diseases, and a third topic of our choosing. Each of us researched the topics extensively on our own, and following this, we held morning meetings to compile our information and form conclusions on the best possible route for tackling the momentous problems at hand. Our solution for Climate Change consisted of limiting the amount of deforestation and promoting agroforestry business. Additionally, GUIDE suggested using alternative energy sources to curb the amount of CO2 released into the atmosphere. Gathering inspiration from conferences we have attended and even our own personal experience (Lehman’s time in Africa), we had a couple solutions for curbing HIV/AIDS in developing countries. Recognizing the importance and efficiency of microfinancing/microcrediting, we conveyed the very real possibility of implementing such a system in these developing countries to break the cycle of poverty, and therefore reduce the necessity to use prostitution as a means of obtaining monetary relief. The spread of HIV/AIDS would surely decline along with the decline of prostitution. For our third topic, we chose to tackle the problem of insufficient education in developing countries. GUIDE encouraged G8 nations to remove financial barriers (cost of notebooks, textbooks, pencils, pens, calculators) to disenfranchised families in developing countries. The adoption of a mandatory student teaching in developing countries, for students studying education in G8 nations, was also recommended by GUIDE.

UNICEF stressed their requirement for diversity in the application, and our team absolutely fulfilled this requirement! Aversano (17 year old male) brought his Ashekanzi Jewish background and his lingustic endeavors in a second language (Spanish) to the diversity of the team. Karounos (16 year old female) has a strong Greek heritage with comfort in the Greek language as well as Spanish. Rajmohamed (17 year old female) has a practicing Shia Muslim, speaking Gujariti (and Indian language), she brought another sect of language and culture to the table. Lehman (17 year old female), spent many years in Tanzania, Africa, assimilating to the customs and cultures of her surrounding; not only fluent in English and Kiswahili, she has experience with the French language as well. The team clearly embodied diversity, with strong ethnic backgrounds, and linguistic abilities in a myriad of languages.

Stressing our social commitment and love for community, we included the various activities and events the members of the team have completed. Each member brought unique benefits and individuality to the group, creating a diverse and interesting makeup. All the members have participated in different forms of community service, whether it be domestic or abroad, and each member had experience with political and governmental bodies. Encompassing a broad range of skills and talents, GUIDE was easily able to strengthen the overall reliability of the application.

Utilizing technology with the purpose of reaching a larger demographic of people, UNICEF required a piece of writing detailing our experience and ability with various forms of technology, and how we, as a team, would utilized this background to gain a broader audience. Working with modern 2.0 tools such as Google docs and Facebook, our team was able to successfully communicate numerous ways to reach more people. Proposing the creation of a 2 day LCIU course on global technology integration, the team showed how we could reach our community; and therefore our community could reach the world. GUIDE went above and beyond the requirements of the J8 and created supplemental material to submit along with the application. An animoto further emphasizing the points of our application, along with an xtranormal video, created the diverse application that led to an impressive placement in the competition.

After submitting on March 30th 2009, all GUIDE could do was wait in ernest. Receiving a confirmation of reception from UNICEF, we learned we would be informed of our status around April 30th 2009. The morning of the 30th each member anxiously arrived at school waiting to see the outcome of our hard work and anticipation. Unfortunately, the notification did not come. Dejected and tired, GUIDE lost some of the enthusiasm we had possessed from the start. Finally, on May 5th 2009, GUIDE received an email from UNICEF with the results! Excitedly, we opened the email. Inside we learned we had not come out on top, however, we had made the top 10! GUIDE WAS ECSTATIC! Our application had placed us in the top 10 for the entire nation. Feeling successfully and as if the entire process was worth it, GUIDE rejoiced in the outcome. Learning so much, debating world issues, collaborating on a team, utilizing technology, embodying diversity, and realizing the potential of four teens in suburbia, GUIDE felt the entire J8 experience was one to remember!

J8 Summit
Melinda Lehman
Olga Karounos
Brandon Aversano
Fatema Rajmohamed
Top Ten
Turbo Tagger