Life-Long-Learners

I must admit that I look forward to reading the regular Saturday’s “Random Acts of Kindness” page in our local Winnipeg Free Press newspaper. With all the drama and sensationalism, that is often dispensed through our news media, it is so refreshing to read about individuals who do good deeds for others without any thought of thanks in return.

For this month’s “Teacher Feature” remix or mashup, I thought that I’d attempt to accomplish two tasks – one to inspire and one to remind:

Teacher Feature #28 – Aesop – April, 2013

Following the inspiring pattern that I have established in my previous 27 “Teacher Feature” remixes, I blended a powerful message with a complementary Creative Commons licensed photo, together with its Flickr address. However, I also took the liberty of including a reminder for teachers and students that, each year, the last Thursday in April is reserved as “Pay It Forward Day”. Unfortunately, due to family commitments, I have not recently been blogging as regularly as I would like. As such, I missed giving adequate warning this year of the very powerful teaching opportunity of the “Pay It Forward Day”. It is hoped that teachers will print out this image reminder, or at least mark their calendars well in advance, to take advantage of this teaching opportunity in future years. Perhaps, Aristotle said it best … “Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.”

Take care & keep smiling

Larger Image: Brian Metcalfe’s Teacher Feature “photostream”
http://www.flickr.com/photos/life-long-learners/

As a classroom teacher, are you looking for an activity which will engage your students? If so, I recommend that you and your students investigate the “Pay It Forward Day” resource. Although the official day is tomorrow, the last Thursday in April, I still feel that this idea has merit and can be implemented on any day or during any week, and still have amazing, positive results.

I was inspired by the “Pay It Forward Day” founder, Charley Johnson’s TED Talk “Simplicity in a Complex World” in which he states that a world-wide universal truth is that “we all want this world to be better”. As a teacher, I encourage you to start by reviewing the “Pay It Forward Day” video trailer or Charley Johnson’s, “Pay It Forward 2013″ message.

To help your students understand the important ripple effect in paying a good deed forward, I recommend the YouTube “Kindness Boomerang” video. I’d recommend exploring the on-line school resources and downloading and printing the applicable grade level “Pay It Forward Day” card as shown below:

If you are unable to act on this opportunity in a timely manner, I encourage you to begin sharing the “Pay It Forward” concept and ideas with your students throughout the remainder of this year. However, make certain that you mark, the last Thursday in April next year (April 24, 2014), as a reminder of the important teaching opportunity that awaits you and your students.

Take care & keep smiling

Eight $900.00 educational grants are available to help fund innovative students and teachers in Manitoba’s K-12 schools. The Manitoba Association for Computing Educators (ManACE) has allocated $7200.00 to be awarded to Manitoba K-12 teachers and school-based projects during 2013. However, the March 15, 2013 deadline is fast approaching.

I encourage educators to visit the ManACE web site at www.manace.ca to view the 2013 SEED Grant Brochure and complete the three step application process. So why not give some serious thought on how you and your students can demonstrate the creative use of technology? Perhaps your passionate digital story will be the innovative spark that illustrates how technology can be creatively used in your school. Imagine how your teaching might change if you were awarded one of these $900.00 grants!

Take care & keep smiling

The Educational Technology and Media #ETMOOC, that I recently joined, suggested that participants introduce themselves in a unique manner. Following in the creative steps of Jess McCulloch, I decided to try my hand at writing and narrating a poem to help others better understand my learning journey.

Once my poem was created, I thought that I would read it and share it as an audio file through SoundCloud. Readers should be able to hear my narration by clicking on the “Play” button below. Should the orange “Play” symbol not display, readers may have to click on the hyperlink to transfer and play my narration from the SoundCloud web site. I have also included the text of my poem so that one may more easily follow along.

[https://soundcloud.com/brian-metcalfe/brian-metcalfe-life-long]

Brian Metcalfe: A Life-Long-Learner

Here’s an audio introduction
to a Metcalfe, named Brian
who keeps on learning each day,
without really tryin’.

My educational career
spanned 40 great years!
I shared resources and ideas
with any, and all my peers.

I taught grades 7-12 students
Computer Science & Math,
and for my last 25 years
took on a new, career path.

Towards Educational Technology
in a consultant’s new role,
To help K-12 teachers
use technology was my goal.

I created a monthly newsletter
which was called “Bits and Bytes”.
For 23 years I shared resources
and worked on it many long nights!

Some say I’m somewhat anal
with a perfectionistic passion.
I believe in … a “job well done!”.
I trust it’s still “in fashion”.

I really value family and friends
and am truly lucky as well,
that my “best friend” is my wife
with a family … that is swell!

My teacher-wife & I retired together
and are no longer wage earners.
So I created an educational blog
which is called “Life-Long-Learners”.

I’m now enrolled in a MOOC -
a massive, open, online course;
where one gets to choose assignments
where engagement is the force!

When you start to chart your own path
MOCCs make learning fun!
Supported by a creative community,
Your learning’s never done!

So I ask … what do you value?
What can you share
with educators world-wide
to show that you care?

So I’m passionate about sharing
and learning for me is beguiling.
So I’ll sign off, as always, with
Take care & keep smiling

***

Credit: The “Learning is about the journey …” image was created by Krissy Venosdale and is available from her {Free} Posters web site.

An old adage states that “a picture is worth 1000 words”. Based on this premise, what teacher would not want access to an innovative resource of educational posters worth 207,000 words?

Recently, I serendipitously chanced upon Krissy Venosdale’s amazing resource of free, motivational posters. To help my readers appreciate her talents, I have included a sample of nine of Krissy’s 207 posters. Readers are encouraged to click on each thumbnail to view a larger version of the following posters:

Teacher’s wishing to peruse Krissy’s wealth of posters, should check out her “Free on Flickr!” Classroom Posters site. Here she advises readers of an efficient way to browse through her collection and offers how to download free posters in a variety of sizes for school use. I recommend readers also view Krissy’s “{Free}Posters” post to gain some important tips on the “crop ratio” when printing poster enlargements. Furthermore, I’d strongly recommend that you take poster images, on a memory thumb-drive/stick, to Costco, Staples, or your local camera shops printing and/or enlargement. Realize that many of the posters have a solid black or coloured background. If you choose to print such posters on a school printer, be prepared to spend your year’s allotment for toner or colour cartridge(s) in one poster “run”. Furthermore, you don’t want your administer referring to you as the school’s “poster boy/girl”

Krissy has not placed any stipulations on the free download of her posters or images that she has created and shared through her blog. However, as a professionals, I think educators who download images created by Krissy should consider adapting the Freemium model. Wikipedia defines Freemium as:

Freemium is a business model by which a product or service (typically a digital offering such as software, media, games or web services) is provided free of charge, but a premium is charged for advanced features, functionality, or virtual goods. The word “freemium” is a portmanteau combining the two aspects of the business model: “free” and “premium”.

Certainly Krissy’s poster downloads are “free” (with no strings attached). However, I’d like to suggest that if we download a poster, we consider that our “premium” obligation is to send her a tweet to:[(at)ktvee] or email to: [Krissy(dot)Venosdale(at)gmail.com]
thanking her for creating and sharing these posters. To me this is a very small, optional “fee” to gain such a wealth of educational posters. However, as a recipient of comments to various blog posts, I know how motivating it can be to know that you have helped out a fellow teacher. I  feel confident that Krissy would appreciate receiving such feedback as to how her poster(s) will be used in your school or classroom.

In closing, I want to thank Krissy on behalf of my readers for her inspirational poster resources. When I found Krissy’s descriptive “venspired” image (shown above) and read her mission statement, I was so impressed with her passion for teaching and learning. Not only does this lady have engaged students; this lady has class!

Thanks Krissy for caring and sharing.

Take care & keep smiling

Want to be inspired by practical classroom pedagogy over a supper of pizza this Thursday? If so, make certain to register below for the Technology Information Night (TIN) hosted by the Manitoba Association for Computing Educators (ManACE). This opportunity is being held in Winnipeg on November 8, 2012 at St. John’s-Ravenscourt, 400 South Drive, from 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm. While it is free to register for this learning and sharing opportunity, $5.00 will be collected per person at the door to offset the food costs.

Innovative educators will share their ideas and resources through the following three presentations:

Window to the World
Facilitated by Erin Malkoske & Leslie Dent Scarcello
This presentation will provide an overview of blogging with early years students.  Whether you’re considering a classroom blog or individual student blogs, Erin & Leslie will show you how easy it can be for you and your students to break down the barriers imposed by classroom walls by using your blog as a window to the world.

Creativity & Collaboration – Making Video Mashups
Facilitated by Christin Mackay
Bring a little joy to your classroom by enabling your students to demonstrate their creativity when it comes to producing collaborative video projects.  In this presentation, Christin will demonstrate how she and her Grade 4/5 students recorded and produced a short video that was inspired by viral video techniques.

Rocking the Airwaves
Facilitated by Matt Henderson
As recipients of a ManACE SEED Grant last year, Matt and his students will highlight the ways they’ve taken to the airwaves to amplify student voice.  Whether you’ve caught a CSJR broadcast or you’re looking to broadcast the learning that’s taking place in your own classroom, you’ll want to tune into this presentation.

To register please visit: http://manace-nov8tin.eventbrite.ca

Come out to learn and network with some very dedicated and creative Manitoba educators.

Please help spread the word about our upcoming ManACE TIN within your school/division.

Take care & keep smiling

My son sent me this thought-provoking illustration:

It seems like only yesterday that I envied friends who had new car stereos similar to the top image. True, they could now play their favourite CD album while cruising in the car. More importantly, in my mind, was the fact that the car stereo hardware could now play music in mp3 formats. Those, who were somewhat technologically savvy, could create “compilation” CDs containing favourite individual mp3 music tracks from a wide variety of entertainers. I still remember friends who had big binders of “compilation” CDs under the driver’s seat and, when you got into their car, their first question was “Do you have a favourite band?” or “Is there a music genre that you particularly like?”.

Today as Steve Jobs stated … “Your entire music library fits in your pocket”. Whether it be on any portable media player or smart phone, today’s youth just want to know where’s the cable to plug in their personal device into the car’s speaker system.

In fact, even this sought-after cable may be soon disappear with the following technological modification:

I conclude this post with a question to my teaching colleagues. With the rapid development of technology and with so many of our youth “connected” to music, shouldn’t we, as educators, explore how we too can become better connected?

Take care & keep smiling

The Executive of the Manitoba Association for Computing Educators (ManACE) are to be congratulated. They have arranged for Dean Shareski and Alec Couros to present “Learning in Public” at their AGM. As outstanding educators, this “dynamic duo” from Saskatchewan plan to “look at creating & sharing digital content & online collaboration”.

Don’t miss this opportunity to learn and connect in Winnipeg with other technology-using educators on May 29th at 7:00 pm at the King’s Head Pub at 120 King Street. Additional information can be found on the ManACE Memos blog.

All our welcome to this free educational experience. All that is requested is that you please REGISTER ONLINE to help the planning committee better organize this event.

Please view and/or print this ManACE AGM Poster and share it with your staff and other educators so that all that may be interested can attend.

Take care & keep smiling

Teachers of History or Social Studies may find the following “Famous People Painting” to be a unique way of engaging students. If one clicks on the hyper-link or the image below, one will be presented with a much larger picture painted by the Chinese artists Dai Dudu, Li Tiezi, and Zhang An. However, when one mouses over an individual on this web site, a tag identifies the person by name, whereas clicking automatically transfers one to an appropriate Wikipedia resource.

(Click the above image to transfer to the interactive site)

I encourage educators to share this resource with their students. Who knows, such interaction may engage students and help them appreciate how these individuals impacted society.

Take care & keep smiling

All educators need to belong to a Personal Learning Network (or PLN). I am so much richer because I am able to connect, either in person or online, with like-minded colleagues who so willingly share and/or provide constructive feedback.

The power of the PLN was reinforced again last week. Although I am retired, I still enjoy attending regular meetings of the Manitoba Association of Educational Technology Leaders (MAETL). I was attending a meeting last Thursday when I took advantage of the collective knowledge of this professional group.

Knowing that I was in the process of writing a blog post about the upcoming “Pay It Forward Day” on April 26th, I needed to find a video that demonstrated the power of the pay it forward process. Six months ago, someone had sent me a link to a YouTube video suggesting that I might enjoy its message. I recall that it started with a young boy who falls off a skateboard onto the sidewalk. A construction worker takes the time to see if the young lad is injured before continuing on his way. The boy appreciates the caring gesture and pays it forward by helping carry groceries across the street for an elderly woman. This woman passes alongside someone who is looking for change to put into a parking meter and she provides the coins, and this “good deed” process continues throughout the video. Each recipient of these small acts of kindness pays it forward in turn. Unfortunately at the time, I did not bookmark the video or save this YouTube URL for later use.

As I started writing the former blog post, I remembered that I had seen a YouTube video that would be a great resource to stimulate class discussion on the pay it forward process. However, no matter what search terms I used to try to retrieve this video, I was unsuccessful.

However, at the end of our formal MAETL meeting, we have a “Short Snappers” agenda item, where anyone can share quick tips or web site resources that might benefit others in the group.

During “Short Snappers”, I used a process call “crowd sourcing” when I described the video that I was hoping to find to members in my professional learning network.

Some of my colleagues had seen the video and thought that it might have been part of a commercial.

However, within three minutes Joan Badger, a Curriculum Coordinator with St. James-Assiniboia School Division, had searched YouTube and had located the following powerful “pay it forward” video. I urge readers to follow this link to see how they might incorporate this powerful YouTube video into their “Pay It Forward” activities:

Watch this….
You will definitely share this……mp4

Take care & keep smiling

Credits: Thanks to Justin Tarte for granting me permission to use the above Professional Learning Network image from his June 27, 2011 blog post entitled “The value of a PLN …“