GAFE Summit & Disney

Disney Freak & Geek

I'm a full-blown Disney fan. I get excited whenever I can make connections with what I'm learning in education and anything Disney. Last summer, I had the opportunity to visit Walt Disney Studios, Imagineering, and Jim Henson's studio and my mind was blown.

Fast forward to July 14: Imagine my surprise while attending the California GAFE (Google Apps For Education) Summit and Disney's Blue Sky  was mentioned during the Teaching Moonshot Makers keynote by Richard DeVaul on the Google X Rapid Evaluation Team.

Similar to teaching students to "shoot for the moon,"  Disney's Imagineers are encouraged to think the sky is the limit-if they can think it, they can do it.  One person's Google glass is another person's Radiator Springs Racers.

Richard DeVaul spoke about Project Loon.  Here is my tweet about it:

I do believe pictures (and videos) speak a thousand words.  Richard shared this video with us which explains the awesomeness of his project.


Absolutely amazing, right? I gleaned quite a few nuggets from his presentation.

1. Moonshot Thinking-Something audacious that we don't know how to do yet , but we are going to do anyway.
2. Constructive Failure means: Failing quickly, efficiently, repeatedly.  Failing for the right reasons. Not giving up.
3. How do we encourage our students to take intellectual risks, try things that may not work, and reward constructive failure?

Deeper Thinking

I mentioned previously my difficulty in thinking "under the surface."  I realize I need some more time to think about how to incorporate Google's "Moonshot Thinking" and Disney's "Blue Sky" concepts into my 6th grade classroom.  So for now-I'm going to ruminate and come back to this at another time.  Maybe I'll be inspired at Disneyland.

Shiny & Pretty

Two things that always grab my attention. I swear, I'd be a terrible fish-I'd see a blinged out lure in the water, and then swipe it not knowing the ramifications behind it. Good thing I'm not a fish (but if I had to be one, I'd be Dory from Finding Nemo).

Back to shiny and pretty. I have an app crush on Haiku Deck. It started when I entered a contest for the aforementioned Techlandia cast (I did win a Haiku Deck upgrade-yeah for me). I started playing around with the app a little more.

Haiku Deck

For the sake of time I will limit my praises for Haiku Deck (which is FREE). I love the limited amount of text because it keeps me focused on the content. I've created two for fun decks and one deck for my 6th grade class on ancient Rome. While creating the decks I realized that I had to concentrate on the theme or main idea that I wanted to convey. Some may say that the reduced text is limiting but I say it's liberating. I hate presentations that are all text or even worse, read to you...boring!

As the saying goes," a picture is 1,000 words." This is especially true with Haiku Deck. Since the text is limited, the images chosen need to add to the message and tell the rest of the story. Fortunately, there are a multitude of images to choose from for your deck.

My students began experimenting with the app towards the end of the school year. These are my observations: students were more directed using this app rather than the other presenting apps with bells and whistles. Due to the limited text, plagiarizing diminished. Students thought more critically about the images they selected for their decks. Students were less likely to read slides and more likely to present information.

To be honest, it has been a month or two since I signed up, so I have forgotten the class management side of the app. These are the things that I need to doublecheck on:

1. Do students need to sign in on their own? I know you can sign in with Facebook, Twitter, or email. (My students are too young to have FB or Twitter-even though some of them do have accounts.)
2. Do I have to create a dummy account for students to use? 

I'm including the first Haiku Deck I created for my students to use.  It primarily follows the outline of History Alive Ancient World Grade 6.  The purpose was to allow students to review key information, but still fill-in-the-blanks using the images.  The title page refers to something that was mentioned in class-there is more to Rome than the food, right?

Created with Haiku Deck, the free presentation app for iPad

Testing the Waters

Starting a blog is a scary thing. Will I be able to post often enough to make a difference?  Am I going to neglect my family just to write my reflections of learning?  And more importantly, what if I miss my favorite summer TV show, Big Brother? Kidding aside, it is my hope that I will deepen my learning as I begin this blogging journey.

Truthfully, I prefer to share the spotlight, unless I'm in a classroom.  It's a rare occasion for me to present alone in front of my peers.  Occasionally, I'll push myself OR I won't have a choice-but I do prefer to work with others on most things.  

Wondering about my blog title? It's a reference to my field of study in college.  I began working with children when I was 13-babysitting, day camps, parent's nights out, overnight camps.  My parents wanted me to be a teacher.  I didn't want to be one because "they" wanted me to be one.  So I chose to be the next best thing (in my mind) a Recreation Administration major (California State University, Chico).  

I worked for the YMCA for a few years, and then while working at one of their after-school programs, I came to the realization that I could reach more children in the classroom.  In fact, the teacher who inspired me then, is now my principal!

If you would like to know a bit more about me, I created an About Me Haiku Deck for a contest by one of my favorite podcasts, Techlandia. Enjoy!

Created with Haiku Deck, the free presentation app for iPad