Feet on the Boards, Head in the Cloud

Education Reform: Who’s Listening?

lukerushly — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 20:31:53 +0000

Since jumping into the world of Twitter about a year ago, I have been exposed to many articles, blogs, and tweets about the need for education reform. Today I came across another compelling article from Forbes entitled “The Single Best Idea for Reforming K-12 Education”. The article discusses the need to shift from a factory-style model of education to one that inspires “lifelong learning in students”. It makes a good point, one that I’ve heard and read many times before. I’ve read many other articles/blogs about reforming the very structure of American education. I am personally inspired and motivated by utilizing technology in schools and am often frustrated by the resistance of districts and administrators to embrace what is clearly the future of education, not to mention society in general. There are thousands of teachers, administrators and consultants pushing for educators to jump into the web and mobile learning with both feet. There is so much (legitimate) screaming about the failure of high-stakes testing, No Child Left Behind, and Race to the Top. It seems overwhelmingly obvious to anyone who cares to look into the issue that there are major failings in our system of public education. It is also fairly obvious that major change is needed, not just another “incentive” program but a complete re-evaluation and overhaul of the entire system. But this isn’t happening. It’s not on the verge of happening. It’s not even being considered as a possibility by those who make such decisions.

I know that anyone reading this blog (most likely linking to it from Twitter) is well aware of all of this. I am not trying to pose any new ideas here. What I AM trying to do is ask: with all the discussion and even shouting going on out there, who’s listening? Day after day I read about the need to change education from a variety of sources and all of them boil down to the need to overhaul. So why is nothing actually being considered? Where are the policy makers that we need to make these changes happen? Who out there, in a position to actually make some changes, is fighting to even consider true education reform? Who can we rally behind? How can we motivate legislators? How can we show them the possibilities? How can we get more people on-board to fight for the cause?

Before you say it, I know I can start in my classroom. And I do, as much as possible within the limits of the outmoded system. But the truth is everyone could do the same and it would have some benefits but without change from the top it would eventually come to nothing. We need politicians (ugh) to start fighting the battle with us. We need more high-profile advocates that can convince the masses with pure star power. We need parents and students to start pushing school boards, state legislators, and national legislators with such force that they have no choice but to start listening. While we should always continue to refine the final picture of what reform looks like, maybe it’s time to start devoting just as much if not more energy to actually getting someone to listen, because the best ideas will remain mere ideas unless someone in power puts them into practice. Let’s rally the troops, organize, and make them hear us. Or let’s shut up about it, because if we’re unwilling to actually stand up we’re just whining, and too much whining gives me a headache.

Theatre Education: There’s An App For That

lukerushly — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 05:41:22 +0000

A quick Google search of “theatre apps” led me to these top apps. There are many more technical theatre apps out there that I didn’t include, most of which are tied to specific brands and almost all at a cost. And there are also many other apps out there for specific theatres or for theatre reviews. Please feel free to add any of your favorites to the comments section to help create a more comprehensive list!

Free

myGobo: Rosco Gobo Catalogue

iGobo: Apollo Gobo Catalogue

Light Calc Lite: Calculates diameter of light based on angle and distance

Shakespeare: The complete works!!!

Paid

Gel Swatch Library: $9.99, gel swatchbooks for Lee, Rosco, GAM, and Apollo

At The Booth: $.99, guide to 1/2 price tickets for Broadway shows. For iPhone, Blackberry, and Android

Rehearsal 2: $19.99, upload sides, record lines, great for memorization

Scene Partner: $4.99, record lines for memorization assistance.

ETC Remote Focus: $49.99, use any iDevice as a remote focus controller

The Wonderful Wiki of Oz

lukerushly — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 04:40:11 +0000

This semester we are producing The Wizard of Oz. Now, we don’t actually have a wonderful wiki yet, but I have used them in class for both design projects and history projects with much success.

A wiki (click for a video summary) is basically a website with multiple authors. The most well-known wiki is Wikipedia, which allows users to edit their pages to come up with extensive (and hopefully accurate) explanations of a seemingly limitless number of topics. For classroom use you probably don’t want the whole world to have editing access, but depending on the host you use you can limit the number of editors, and even who can view the content.

For my projects I generally break the research into parts and then assign smaller groups to find information about different topics. For example, one of my classes researched Greek theatre, and I assigned groups to study geography, fashion, architecture, art, playwrights, festivals, and government. Each group created a page within the wiki about their specific topic integrating text and images, and when they were done we had created a comprehensive overview of Greek theatre. For my design wikis, student groups research setting, costume/make-up, past productions, reviews, and mood images. We have even done dramaturgy projects using a wiki.
For teachers, a wiki is a great way to assign group work because each action is recorded. So you can see how much Johnny added to the page in comparison to Suzy. And for those trouble-makers who like to mess with other people’s work, you can also see who exactly did the damage, depending on how you have set up the usernames.

My district has its own wiki server, so that is what I have used in class. But there are several other sites with varying degrees of privacy and administrative control (and cost) that can be used. Some examples are Wetpaint and Wikispaces. Wiki’s are a great way to group-think and collaborate, skills which are essential in any theatre classroom.

Backchannels

lukerushly — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 03:09:58 +0000

In trying to find technologies that are actually useful and meaningful in a theatre classroom, I had to ask myself what are some things that we do with great frequency in my class that could be enhanced by the use of technology. In my class, what we do most often is view and critique scenes/monologues/plays. In the past, I have toyed with having the students write notes during each performance (given to me to grade), write notes during each performance (given to the performers to guide), having students give oral critiques at the end of performances, or some complicated combination of these. A technological solution to this is a backchannel (click for a full explanation).

In a nutshell, a backchannel allows users to post comments and questions during a presentation. My favorite backchannel site is TodaysMeet. The beauty of this site is that it lets you create your own room and usernames without any sign-up providing the privacy often desired for student internet use. You also have control of how long the room will stay in existence. So if you want students to have access to it for a while, you can set it to save for two weeks, or if you want it erased immediately after you are finished, you can set it for one hour. You can also create a transcript of the entire event, which can be printed or saved for reference offline.

Of course a backchannel can be used in other ways as well. In many college classrooms students backchannel with questions and comments during a lecture and the professor can address the questions at his/her leisure. Students could record thoughts during a class movie and converse about it, silently.

Feel free to comment on other uses for backchannels in the classroom, the theatre classroom specifically, or other sites that you like to use.

Below is a screenshot of a backchannel conversation (that I fabricated for illustrative purposes).

The Skype’s the Limit

lukerushly — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 02:37:03 +0000

When I was in 4th grade, my teacher had us write letters to well-known professionals in fields that were interesting to us. I don’t remember who I wrote to, but I remember one of my classmates wrote to Jim Henson. And he got a reply, complete with an autographed picture of JH with Kermit the Frog. It was awesome. At that time, this was one of the only ways to connect with professionals, and it was a long-shot. I never received a reply. Today, technology allows us to connect with professionals without ever having to buy a stamp, or even leave our campus.

In the world of professional theatre, it’s all about who you know. Connections, connections, connections. Through use of tools like Skype we can have meaningful conversations with people all around the world and start allowing our students to build those connections and also gain valuable knowledge from those working in the thick of things. Now, is it likely that you are going to somehow convince Kevin Spacey to Skype with your class? Probably not. But, as I said, theatre is all about connections. And you’ve got them.

I went to college with a woman who is now working on an Off-Broadway musical in New York. Last spring we Skyped with her about her playwrighting process and she gave us feedback on a writing project that we were working on. The kids (and I) learned a ton from her and it was a connection. Many of my students now follow her on Facebook and she has agreed to answer questions for them on topics from playwrighting to acting to living in New York.

Now let’s start playing Six Degrees of Separation. She is married to a man who has been featured in several motion pictures. And he has said he is willing to talk with us about his experience as well. That’s another connection. And he probably knows some people as well and on and on and on. Thanks to one person I know, we have the opportunity to connect with a bunch of other professionals. And that’s just from one contact person. You probably know several people, and each of them knows several other people.

So if you have a webcam and have downloaded and set up a Skype account, your students can have access to a multitude of useful connections. And if it takes 6 or fewer connections to link you with anyone in the world, who knows…you may be able to Skype with Kevin Spacey.

“Say As You Think and Tweet It From Your Souls”

lukerushly — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 02:05:40 +0000

In the realm of tech nerds, Twitter is king. It is also the most useful of the major social media platforms for use in education. For teachers, it is highly useful as a resource for connecting with other educators, as well as theatre professionals, theatre companies, and arts organizations.

Twitter is a microblog (click for full explanation). It is a blog in 144 characters or less. While there are plenty of users that post tweets akin to Facebook updates, there are also a vast number of users that post links to useful and interesting blogs and articles. If you can encourage students to follow you on Twitter, you can share interesting web finds that may enhance their educational experience.

What sets Twitter apart from Facebook is hashtags. Hashtags, like tags on a blog, link your tweets to others that also use the same hashtag. There are scores of well-known hashtags that are commonly used, such as #tweater (a hashtag for theatre education), but you have the ability to create any hashtag you’d like. Twitter users were actually at the forefront of creating backchanneling through the use of hashtags at tech conferences. And in a BYOD school environment, Twitter may be the best platform for backchanneling as almost every mobile device has a Twitter app.

Help! I’m a Technology Newbie!

lukerushly — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 06:59:29 +0000

I am making a concentrated effort to get connected. I want to positively impact my students by integrating technology into my classroom experience. The trouble is, there is SO MUCH INFORMATION OUT THERE!

I have been attending technology workshops, mostly within my district, for the past 3 years. Much to my frustration, I have found that as a theatre teacher, much of what they discuss is not really applicable to my content area. There are plenty of resources out there for the “traditional” classroom teacher that is trying to be less traditional. What about resources for the non-traditional classroom? I am not really interested in the 1000 different ways to make a PowerPoint presentation more “exciting”. My students don’t really create all that many slide shows. My students also don’t spend a great deal of time writing essays, so the majority of the brainstorming resources aren’t all that applicable either. I might be able to use them when collaborating on production ideas and character work, but I really prefer actual discussion for these types of tasks as opposed to utilizing technology just for the sake of using it.

My current line of thinking and analysis of cultural trends leads me to believe that the future of technology in education is the Personal Learning Environment (PLE), which is “a digital toolbox which covers activities such as Generating, Organising and Sharing Content Online” (for an article about PLEs that was very informative to me, and the source of the previous quote, click here). Added to this is the PLN, or Personal Learning Network, which is the human resources that one connects with to assist with the PLE (or something like that…the debate over defining the PLN is still going strong. Click here for a discussion on the topic). So, in my view, integrating technology should really be about utilizing both online tools and collaborating with others to enhance the educational experience. With that aim in mind, here are the tools that I am using:

A class website. To read my previous post on that subject, click here.
Wikis. I have used wikis in nearly all my classes to compile group research on various topics, from Shakespeare’s life and works to production concepts and design research for specific productions.
Skype. I will be using this for the first time in the next few weeks to video conference with a playwright who will chat with my students about…playwrighting, a task that they are about to perform.

So, where do I go from here? Are there any quality resources that you can recommend that would assist me in this journey? I’m sure that there are a plethora of ways that I could be integrating technology, but finding the starting point is a challenge. Any help that the wide world of educators and technology-minded folks would like to offer would be greatly appreciated! Thanks my developing PLN!

Note: Please share this post with others. I’m not asking as a shameless plug to generate traffic, but rather as a way to get the most feedback from the most people! Thanks!

Phase I: Creating a Class Website

lukerushly — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 05:17:10 +0000

Let’s get down to business. The first step of integrating technology into the theatre classroom is creating a class website. I’m not referring to a publicity site with the purpose of advertising your productions (though that is a good idea), but rather an instructional site that serves as a home base for your classroom instruction. Read this article from Edutopia for an explanation of the necessity of creating a site and some basic elements that you should include:

The Classroom Web Page: A Must-Have in 2008 | Edutopia

As this was written in 2008, clearly I am a little behind the times. But, in my limited opinion, the article is still relevant. Note: Google Pages and Homepage Startup no longer exist.

Personally, I created my website using Google Sites. I did this for two reasons: 1) my campus technology specialist recommended it, and 2) my district is going Google next year with a host of educational resources, and I figured I’d get in early. Google Sites is sort of a mashup between a basic free website (such as Angelfire of yore) and a wiki. Both my co-teacher and I have access to moderate the site. Another added perk is that Google has their hand in everything which makes it easy to add a lot of content with very little effort. For example, I use Google Calendars to share upcoming lessons, deadlines, and events; Blogger to post links and other relevant info that applies to the units we are studying; and Google Docs to give students access to handouts and other forms from home and to eliminate the need for paper with online forms. I am still tweaking the site and haven’t fully explored all of my options yet, but there are certainly many to choose from. I also use this site for my extracurricular productions, posting rehearsal notes, field trip forms, and (after closing) show photos.

Besides the convenience of having an info hub, I think the most important reason for having a class website is to teach students about how to use the internet for something other than Facebook, YouTube, and Wikipedia. They are learning to collaborate and interact with a medium that will continue to drive many aspects of life for quite some time. Plus, doing so keeps my administrators and technology specialists happy, which makes me look good.

I’m sure that there are other great site creators out there, but I have yet to be enlightened about what they are! Please comment about what you use (or don’t use) and I will create a list here for the benefit of anyone considering embarking on this endeavor.