Slideshow Karaoke

This was the funniest lesson I've ever done.

I'm not sure that qualifies me for Teacher of the Year status or anything, but today I had an entire class of students engaged, participating, speaking, and begging to be in on the fun. It didn't take long to set up, it practiced a ton of skills, and my room was raucous with mirth.

I didn't come up with Slideshow Karaoke, I'm not sure it has a direct parent. I learned about it this summer from Darren Massa. I filed it away in whatever part of my brain is now full time dedicated to remembering possible lesson ideas, to be accessed as needed. As organized as my external filing system is, my internal one probably has that next to the names of everyone who ever played in Metallica and next to the plot of all the Star Trek movies* College** is in there somewhere too, Mom.

I was inspired to pull Slideshow Karaoke out of the filing cabinet because we've been doing a lot of presenting lately. My kids in front of the room speaking is happening frequently and while they are getting better at it they aren't getting better as quickly as I'd like. Lots of constructive criticism, lots of advice, lots of time to practice. We needed a little extra push so they could internalize some of the things I've been saying about not hanging onto the slide for dear life, about using the slide as a starting point and then speaking extemporaneously from it.

Slideshow Karaoke.

Here's the basic drill (how I did it, you change it, it's your world)- I broke my kids up into eight groups. Why eight? Because I have six Chromebooks and two MacBooks. I told each group to create a five-to-six slide slide deck, plus a title slide. Don't put your name on it. Your slide deck needs to follow one topic. Each slide needs to have an image and a short piece of text on it. That's all. Every deck goes into a shared Drive folder. Not much time was given to create these decks. They don't need to be detailed.

Then I call groups up and randomly choose a deck from the folder. Not the one they choose. The group must present the slide deck as through it were their own presentation. Do your best to fill in the blanks in your knowledge of the topic. Improvise. Think on your feet, stay calm, and do your best. I'm not expecting accuracy, I'm expecting creativity and effort.

Dear readers- my kids are hilarious. Hi-lar-i-ous. Some of my quietest kids came out of their shells and Back to the Future. Turns out none of them had seen Back to the Future. Try to imagine how confusing the plot of that series is if all you know about it is some pictures in a slideshow. They totally faked their way through it, getting a bunch quote unquote wrong about the movie but completely right in the context of what they were given.
made up the best stuff. I had a group who had to present about

We learned about slideshows, we learned about public speaking, we learned about improvisation, we learned about making clean, understandable slides, we learned how funny and quick some of our friends are, and we had a great time. Everyone. The shy ones, the one's who would be terrified of speaking in public, got to be supported by their peers. It didn't kill anyone, no one cried or stressed out. The class made it a safe place because everyone was in the same boat- totally unprepared.

There are other forms of Slideshow Karaoke I've heard of. One is create a completely random deck. Random image, random text unrelated to image. Put five of those together. Then give the speaking group a random topic. "You have to talk about why the character in this books is a hero." The speaking groups need to take these random slides and try to fit them into the narrative they have been given. I think this is what I'll do next.

The other is take all the presentations currently in your Drive, choose a slide from each and create a new deck. Give the speaking group an unrelated topic and make them relate it. Same idea, but making use of slides that have a specific purpose adds another level to it.

I'm so amused by the decks my kids created that I'm even linking to them right here. Use them in your class or use them as a jumping off point. This has so many possibilities.

*except Into Darkness, suck it JJ and Orci.

**all the WWE I watched in...

#WeirdEd Week 82- M*A*S*H

A few things to start-

First, I'm shocked I've never written a M*A*S*H chat before. I could have sworn I had. I must have started one and then thrown it away for a better idea. I have a memory of doing this before.

Second, yesterday I live tweeted the finale of M*A*S*H under the hashtag #GoodbyeFarewellAmen, a shortened version of the title of the episode. I omitted the "and" and I'm enough of a nerd that I have to tell you I know it's wrong. I somehow didn't loose a thousand followers over those two hours. The finale is the best last episode of television except maybe for the Breaking Bad ending. The level of difficulty in wrapping up 11 seasons cannot be overstated. How do you tell a strong story, and give characters we've come to love a goodbye that is satisfying and moving? Under Alan Alda's direction they managed to do it. It's not a perfect episode, but it's so damn close that you can't argue. It was moving to me because I just spent the last however long working my way through it, starting from 1.01, on Netflix. It was my "putting the baby to sleep on my chest" show.

Third, think about this like our Veteran's Day chat. Yes, I'm counting an anti-war show as a Veteran's Day chat. Welcome to #WeirdEd, how are you surprised?

I came to M*A*S*H in reruns, obviously. The final episode originally aired when I was two. M*A*S*H  was on in the afternoons between classes in college and I would kick back and watch the two-in-a-row that whatever network it was on would show every day. It became part of my routine twenty years after it ended. I don't know why I started watching it. Maybe it was on before Rosanne, another college favorite? Either way, I fell in love with the show. It's mix of humor and heart, madcap and message, was and still is exactly the kind of thing that appeals to me. If you stop and think about this chat for instance, or my first book, you can see M*A*S*H all over. I want to be the teaching version of Hawkeye Pierce on one of his less lecherous days. Amazingly talented and disrespectful of authority at the same time, but so good at his job that they can't do anything about it. I've learned the hard way that no matter how good you are a district can wreck you all they want, but the fantasy stands.

I want to work in a school with those people. I ought to clarify I mean those people from the later seasons. I love the early show, but it got better as it got older, with probably seasons 6-9 as the high points. Charles is better than Frank. Potter is better than Henry. BJ is better than Trapper. Klinger becomes more interesting than Radar, though Radar was really strong for a while. In fact everyone was strong, even Frank, who was the most cartoon-like of the bunch. Larry Linville deserves a lot of credit for keeping Burns from being an utter clown when he easily could have been.

But a principal like Col Potter would be the bee's knees. A teaching team made up of Margret, Charles, BJ, and Hawk, with Klinger or Radar as your admin assistant? You're talking big time lessons and learning. Margret's class would be the most organized, wham bam with procedures. Charles would have that class of kids that sit properly and pronounce everything well and are snooty but you understand because their teacher has them doing next level work. BJ's class would love him. Adore him. He'd be the favorite teacher. And Hawkeye's class would be orderly chaos. He'd storm into the principal's office monthly on some crusade. Everyone on staff would like BJ (except Charles who isn't impressed with anyone) but Hawkeye would be one of those teachers that would be divisive in the lounge. "You like him? His class is always so noisy. I'm not sure how he keeps grades in there."

 When M*A*S*H wasn't about the horrors of war it was a weekly Catch-22, highlighting blind leadership, mocking authority, and fighting for what is right in even the darkest situations. The show did things no other show had tried before, including following a dead soldier around the camp, using an on-screen ticking clock to show how long a patient had to live, and doing an entire episode from the first-person perspective of a wounded soldier. That's three episodes that tried harder than any episode of Friends or The Big Bang Theory, both of which are technically in the same genre as M*A*S*H was.

The show tackled racism, sexism, and gay rights. It was progressive before its time, sometimes delving into being preachy but that was almost always motivated by character. Hawkeye was Alda's avatar after a while, and Hawk evolved to speak for things Alda wanted to say. Was the character also regressive when it came to being a womanizer? Yes (something that drove the author of the original book, Richard Hooker, up the wall), but even that wasn't rewarded. Many plots revolved around Pierce trying and failing to hook up or hooking up and learning something. Did that make women often a plot point more than a character? Yes. It was a show made in the 1970s. And not to pick on Big Bang Theory, but that show is just as bad about women (the name of the show is a damn sex joke) and it doesn't have a Margret to be strong and speak up.

I realize this is less an essay about what we're going to talk about tonight in the chat and more me going on and on about my favorite TV show and well, it's my space. To be honest what you're reading is probably one of the rare times a blog post is a rough draft for a chapter in another book.

Tonight we're going to talk about M*A*S*H. My favorite show. A show about friendship and war. About how insanity can keep you sane and how you can find joy in even the most hellish places. About a team of people becoming a family, losing family members, and growing stronger. A show that was often flawed, sometimes incredible, and inhumanly consistently good, funny, and original for eleven long seasons.

And damn that writing was clever when it was on.

Flagg was the second best reoccurring character after Syndey Freedman

Someday I'll find a reason to use this line on someone

#WeirdEd Week 81- Back to the Future

BEFORE READING CLICK HERE

"Doug, Back to the Future Day was the 21st. You missed it."

No I didn't, loyal reader. I skipped it on purpose knowing that I could go back any time I wanted. There's a storm tonight, I know when the lightning strike will happen, and we can go back, Marty! And then...

Back to the Future gets a lot of love, and most of it is well deserved. Like most pop culture iconography it's importance has been somewhat inflated and skewed by my generation and the one slightly ahead of mine who are clinging desperately to our own past to avoid aging. But it's a pretty great movie, a lot of fun, and has some interesting things to say about who the adults in our lives are, where we've come from, and where we're going. 

We'll be dealing mostly with the first one but it's hard to ignore the second and third since they mostly tie so well together and the date the internet celebrated actually took place during Pt II (completely unplanned at the end of Pt. 1, sequel culture was not what it is today). These movies are pretty easy to tie into school and a surface level. I mean the first one happens predominantly in a high school. It's about who your parents were when they were in high school. It's also about a boy's mom trying to score with him, but everyone's already made that joke so let's move on before someone has to stab their own eyes out with sharp rocks. 

But #WeirdEd is rarely about the surface level so let's try to dig a little deeper, shall we? Let's talk about Mayor Goldie Wilson and almanacs and being called a chicken and making like a tree and crashing into manure. Let's see if Marty and Doc really did learn anything. (How did they become friends anyway?) 

We're going to have to crank this chat up and get it moving fast though. How fast? About 88mph. Why? I'll hand that over to Doc Brown-

#WeirdEd Week 80- Trick or Treat

The last #WeirdEd of October and again I repeat myself. The last #WeirdEd of October and again I repeat myself. Tonight we're going to play a little game, something to make the chat even more more interactive than it normally is.

To celebrate Halloween we're going Trick or Treating. Here's how it's going to work- I've written two versions of every question, a Trick version and a Treat version. Trick is a little more education-centric, Treat is a little more silly-er...than normal #WeirdEd.

Before each question I'll call on someone in the chat and tweet, "Trick or treat?" If you get your doorbell rung you need to answer me with one or the other. I'll then ask the group the question that goes along with your response.

Happy haunting.

#WeirdEd Week 79- Ghosts

Yes, I know today is the day Marty McFly travels to in BACK TO THE FUTURE PART II. I also know that I'm already exhausted hearing about it on social media and as of the writing of this it's not even the 21st yet. I promise to do a Back to the Future chat soon. But today is not that day. Besides, October is all about Halloween.

Tonight's #WeirdEd is about ghosts. There's two reasons for this. First, it's October and #WeirdEd in October means Halloween-centric chats. Second, I'm an irresponsible adult and I'm going to the Ghost concert tonight at the Roseland Theater in Portland. See how nicely all of that ties together? It's almost like I planned it that way.

Ghosts are reminders of our past. Why are they still around? Unfinished business? Haunting the chapel? Lost on the way to the exit? Ghosts are nearly transparent, and yet somehow still affect things around them. Ghosts get busted by wise cracking New Yorkers.

Everyone has ghosts. There are things watching over education's shoulder, hard to shake and harder still to see. Not always evil, though rarely benevolent, the non-corporeal have a unique sense of being totally undefined. They can be anything and often are. Ghost stories are scary, but not all ghosts have to be. How terrifying can something be if you can dress up as it by cutting two eye holes in a sheet? How terrifying is something that you can barely see, can't touch, and yet still feel?

Education is haunted. Let's gather around the campfire and talk about it.

Druthers For Sale

Frazz, 12/5/09

Choice and student freedom are swiftly becoming as buzzwordy as any buzzword in education today, but this is one bandwagon I'm happy to jump on. I've always felt like giving kids their druthers was something more teachers should do. I remember when I was first given my druthers. They weren't really mine, we couldn't afford original druthers so mine came from Goodwill. But those druthers were the start of a brand new world for me. So on my teacher supply list, and this is something I recommend for all teachers, I requested a class set of druthers. Some kids will come in with their own but you want to be sure you have enough so each child can be given her or his druthers.

Freshly druthered students will be more motivated. They will try harder and take more risks. In theory, at least. Some of them might continue to laze about, after all you did give them the freedom to do what they want. "But with guidance!" you say. And I agree. This always circles back to one of my Tenets of  Education- Never Be Hardline About Anything, Except Not Being Hardline About Anything. Flexibility is the key to all things. Why put your foot down hard when a little creativity will allow you to reach an even more interesting answer?

My favorite part about student freedom is being surprised. I'm constantly surprised by why my kids can do. Not that I don't think they can accomplish a lot, but the jump between what I think they can accomplish and what they actually do is sometimes very big, much to my satisfaction. As a teacher the only credit I can take for this is the giving of space and opportunity. Everything else comes from the kid.

To illustrate my point and brag on a few of my students, we do small group reading at my school. Some kids are pulled for Resource, some for Small Group in other rooms, and I'm left with about eleven. I set out a selection of six books for those eleven to choose from. I tell them the title, give a summary, and that's it. They choose one at a time and not in groups, not planned partnerships. Groups form naturally by title interest. As of now their instructions are as follows- "Read and discuss your book. You will need to make a Thing which tells us a summary of your book and anything you found interesting. Go." If they need I'll clarify as to specifics, but as you can see there are no specific specifics to speak of.

Some of my groups presented Things that were less than inspired. Good, but not great. A nice first effort. But two in particular really blew me away with their creativity and depth of effort.

First, a play inspired by the book which summarizes every main point in the book succinctly and clearly. I watched them rehearse this and was impressed with the scripting and blocking work that was done. I should also point out that only the tall boy and the boy with the broken arm are actually in this group. The other two jumped in to help and so did more work than I required.


The second blew me away. His book was about The Water Around Us. He asked to take it home and work on his Thing there. Sure, why not? The Next Day he brought this in. "Dude! How long did you work on this? You know I didn't assign...well, I didn't expect this." "Eh, it only took like four hours. It was fun."


I'm going to keep giving these children more and more druthers because I have to know how much learning they can do on their own. There are others that will get a more guided leash because they aren't here yet, but look at what students will do on their own if given the freedom.

#WeirdEd Week 78- Fear

I rarely repeat topics on #WeirdEd because frankly enough edchats do that for me and one of the things I pride this chat on is being original. But every once in a while there's a topic and a time that needs to be hit more than once. And as long as we can keep it fresh it's got value. Add to that the family of #WeirdEd has grown and deepened, and we're due for another chat about Fear.

Fear is something that humans live with every day but in teaching it's a unique and special thing. We have all kinds of fears. Smaller fears about lessons crashing, personal fears about being the best teacher we can possibly be, student fears about what a kid goes home to, and bigger real world fears like will it be my class when America finally decides to do something about guns (that last answer is no, because America cares more about guns than children).

We don't like talking about fear. It's, well, scary. And personal. And twitter isn't the place for scary, personal stuff. Twitter is the place for bad jokes and memes and light conversations defining a term for the sixty-seventh time that month. But we don't like in regular twitter here, do we? And we've never been a chat to shy away from tough topics. Tough topics mean better conversation. So, much like last year at this time, I want to to have an open conversation about our fears. By shining a light on them, by forcing them into the open, we can steal some of their power. Together we are stronger than any one fear.

I have this idea, and I'm sure it's not an original idea though I honestly don't know where the seed came from- Most of our fears are the same fear. And piggy-backing on every fear is the fear that we're alone in it. That not only do you fear this thing, but you're the only one who feels like that. These fears coupled together make a monster. Fear of the thing, plus fear of being alone, that's a perfect storm. Then you're silly at best and insane at worst. Fear of being the only one stops so many good things and allows so many more bad things to continue.

You are not alone at #WeirdEd. We're in this together, and though we might not all share the same fear, we do share empathy and understanding, and fear can't stand those.

This #WeirdEd might be a little harder than normal. But things might look a little brighter afterward.

Don't forget that along with #WeirdEd at 7pst we've added #WeirdEdC at 7cst for our differently time-zoned friends. #WeirdEdC is moderated by Shawna Briseno, Lauren Taylor, and Ashey Gravelle.