Imagine and Teach

Tonight we have the meeting of the entire cast and a read through of the script as we begin the production of our Spring 2010 show Godspell., We have a tremendous cast of students who are eager to begin. I will be posting occasional updates with pics on the blog as we make our way to opening night.

One of the many things love about theatre as a learning experience is the collaborative experience that our students get from each show. Playing their role, growing as a performer, working and supporting each other. And the assessment can’t be beat. The reaction of a live audience once the show opens is immediate evaluation of the work that has been done.

And so it begins.

I just noticed that my RSS  feed was not working!  Sorry if anyone was trying to subscribe. I have disabled feedburner and i think it is working now.

As I am enjoying this Christmas break, I pondered a blog post. If you have been kind enough to read this blog, you may know that in addition to my Assistant Principal position, I happily teach a class of vocal music. (I reference teaching admins here)

So as the voice instructor at our school and the long time director of our theatre program, I thought I might do a mild holiday rant on a topic that drives me insane.

The common, overused, and blindly accepted use of pitch correction on both recorded and live music is the topic at hand. I am going to hazard a guess that many people don’t even know that the singer they are listening to has had their voice completely altered electronically to make it perfectly on pitch. But most of what we hear today is pitch corrected.

It is so easy to do.  It is not expensive. It is easy to use and overuse.

Take the hit show Glee. The show has a cast of very talented singers. My students love it. I like the show as well. But listen carefully. The producers have chosen to make the pitch perfect. On certain notes, you hear the warbly robotic sound caused by pitch correction

Here is an example of some artists using autotune. Listen closely.

Examples of autotune

And now the cast of glee uncorrected live at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia duting the World Series. Sound great, don’t they?

Cast of Glee Sings The National Anthem in Philadelphia

Most producers use a product called autotune. It makes life easy in the studio. All you need is for the singer to do one take, and then leave. The engineer then can correct all of the flaws and there you have it, perfectly in tune vocals!  But isn’t that what we want?

Think of the Beatles, Motown, live theatre, good old cover bands, and all of the acts that have done it without being altered.  Think about it, if Bob Dylan was autotuned, would he be special?  No he would not.  His different tonality and imperfection makes the music real.

If the producer only asks the singer for one take, is that their best? Is that the one with the most passion? Not likely. And we teach kids to sing. We guide them on the path to good technique. We have them sing in groups and solo. We celebrate the unique sounds of their voices.  We want them to sing in tune. We want them to harmonize well.  And you know what? They can do it!  All on their own. They audition, perform, take on roles perform in front of audiences.

But if we, as a listening society, accept the use of pitch correction as a positive use of technology, then what are we saying about the craft of singing?  Will our students be measured against altered voices?  I hope not.

A talented singer should be a talented singer. Not someone who has been packaged and processed into one. And when I read of performers using autotune in live concerts, well that is simply cheating. You either can sing your songs or you can’t. Pitch correction needs to be rejected. We need to demand true performances. Perfectly tuned singing does not mean it is better. Those who believe that accepting a bit of a robotic sound is acceptable because there will be no “off; notes doesn’t understand the power and passion of an unaltered voice, flaws and all.

To my students, keep singing! Really singing.

Happy New Year!

I have not blogged in awhile.  I have not spent as much time as I would like with my Personal Learning network on Twitter. . But not because I haven’t wanted to.  What I have been doing has been so rewarding, challenging and fun.

One of the things I do at my school is to serve as the director of our theatre program.  We produce 2 musicals a year and involve hundreds of students in the shows. We just finished a two weekend run of our production of LES MISERABLES SCHOOL EDITION. The show was a huge success. And the journey to that success was a tremendous experience.

There are so many great examples of students doing incredible things, but in the interest of brevity, (I will try) I will highlight one.

The show requires the construction of a barricade. It is one of the key elements. It has to be huge, structurally sound, and be able to spin on a turntable.

So we began.  I explained to the stage crew members how to construct the supporting structure of the barricade.  I was very specific as to how we would support the whole thing from the ground to 8 feet in the air on the 20 foot width of the structure. Then I emailed parents asking for any old furniture that they would be willing to part with. Wow, they were generous!

So, once the supporting structure was finished the learning fun began. My student leaders asked, “OK, what do you want us to do with all of this?” I thought for a minute, and then said: “Make this thing look like a pile of junk in the street, but it needs to be structurally sound and climbable. Oh, and you need some hidden doors so that the crew can get in and out of the barricade. (It was hollow inside)

They looked at me for more instructions, but I told them that I had to work on another project on the stage and suggested that they use their imagination and skill to create something great. I expressed my confidence in them to complete the job successfully.

Stage crew building the barricade

They went to work. They finished it, they climbed it, they tested it, they painted it, and it was THEIR barricade.

They made hidden doors from old chests of drawers.  They converted desks, tables, chairs, drawers, old lumber, and barrels into steps and standing locations for the actors. They made changes where needed. They learned from mistakes. They worked collaboratively. They worked through creative disagreements. They owned what they learned.

This is another reason why I love the arts in schools.  From the onstage performers to the musicians and stage crew, theater in schools provides such a valuable learning experience.

Anyone want to share their own learning with the arts experiences? Feel free to comment and thanks for taking the time to stop by and read.

On September 30, 2008, I began my adventure.  That day was the opening session of our Powerful Learning Practice (PLP) cohort.  At the opening session, Will Richardson and Sheryl Nussbaum Beach had us all sign up for this thing that I had not heard of….Twitter!

And so it began.  I started to learn what a personal learning network (PLN) was.  There was a lot of googling of twitter terms going on in my life.  And before I knew it, I was building a PLN.  And what an incredible resource that has been.

So what have I learned?  Well, this is by no means an exhaustive list, but here goes.

1. I am humbled by my PLN.
2. From my PLN, I have learned so much.  My delicious account is full of links I have seen on twitter.
3. Tweet and retweet often
4. Thank your followers
5. Be selective when choosing who to follow.  I pretty much keep it to teachers. Admins, and ed tech people
6. Don’t follow celebrities
7. I often check twitter before I check email
8. The amount of followers doesn’t matter.  This is not a popularity contest.  It is about quality conversation and learning.
9. There are many Phillies fans in my PLN
10. It is incredible to connect and learn with great people around the world.
11. Time zones
12. It is good to go “off the grid” every so often.  The tweets will continue and I don’t need to read them all. Balance.
13. There are some tremendous blogs attached to members of my PLN.  I read as much as I can. My Google Reader is loaded!
14. Go to Educon.
15. My PLN on twitter has brought me some of the best professional development I have ever had.
16. It is great to see and read innovative thinkers, even and especially when there are differences of opinions.
17. I can’t wait to see what’s next with my PLN.
18. I can tweet from my iPhone!
19. On occasion, I actually find that I have something of value to say. So for those of you starting out on Twitter, keep going and believe that you have something to add to the conversation. Because you do.

As I said, this is not a complete list.  I wanted to post this on September 30, but as blogging goes, that didn’t happen. So, if you are reading this, first, thanks!  And then, if you are not on Twitter, get there.  And build your PLN.

Thanks to my first 8 followers: @erikgerm, @lawdog0140, @lrphils, @antiprogress, @ncara. @shareski. @glassbead and @snbeach. You guys are still following me!  Thanks and thanks to these 8 and all of my PLN for teaching me, learning with me, and sharing.  Here’s to another year!

BY the way, my twitter ID is @horizons93

The days are busy for high school administrators. We have our daily management duties, teacher evaluations, classroom walk throughs, parent meetings, and much more.  Sure the days are busy.  But should we be so busy that we can’t teach a class?

Disclaimer:

Admittedly, I come to this discussion as an Assistant Principal who has taught a class for each of the 15 years that I have been in this job.  I also concede that there indeed may be circumstances where it is just not possible.  So what I want to talk about is what I perceive to be the benefits of an administrator teaching.  I welcome your opinion.

Each day, a teaching administrator who teaches one class has the opportunity to be what they are at heart, a teacher.  Having the class to look forward to every day keeps an administrator in a room with students.  In a room where learning needs to occur. In a room where reality meets theory.

I teach one class of vocal music.  I need to be there at the same time each day. I have students who count on me to be their teacher. I am out of the office.  I am not on the phone.  I am not checking email. I am teaching. I love it.

As administrators, we want our teachers to embrace best practices.  We want them to bravely embrace the web 2.0 world.  We want them to run their classes as learning places, not teaching places.  We want them to teach and model ethical, moral, appropriate and productive use of social networks.  The best way to do that is to lead with example and teach.

So why should administrators teach?  Because we can. Because we will want to continue to learn, which is good for our students and our teachers. Because it will make us better admins. It keeps our membership in the community of classroom teachers current.  Students will see us in a different light.  They see us as administrators, but if we teach, they will also consider us their teacher. Because the truth is, we are in our hearts, teachers.

It has been a while since I have posted.  The preparations for the New Year, final summer relaxation, the start of school and the belief that I didn’t have much to add to the conversation has kept me away.

Well, I am not sure how much I will add to the conversation, but I am promising here to post more regularly.  My goal now is once a week.

One of the brightest spots in my day is my one class. As an admin, I only teach one.  It is a vocal music class and I love it.  It keeps me in the classroom, which I think benefits any admin.  But that is going to be another post.  This year, my class room, known as the green room (as you can see) received a smart board. An excellent addition.

When we learn a new song, typically, I would print a ton of lyric sheets for the kids.  After all, they need the lyrics.  But now I have a projector and smart board.  So today I was ready.

When the students arrived, I had the lyrics to a new song on the board.  Put them in two columns so they would all be there. I said “Hey guys, is that readable?” and they said an enthusiastic “Yes!”

So I moved my keyboard slightly to one side so that I wouldn’t block their view while I was playing and we started to learn the song. And one of them said “the green room just got greener.” And so it has.  A paperless vocal class. It’s a start.

That’s right, it talks to me! Of course, by now, the word is likely out on the new iPhone 3gs and its accessibility functions. But it is a whole new world for me and many others.

I had heard about voice over coming with the new iPhone. Being someone who loves being connected, and a school admin who wants to see the newest tools, I have always been interested in a “smart” phone. But being a visually impaired person, there was little possibility of using one effectively.

But through conversations with friends, seeing online demos, listening to podcasts such as the mac-cessibility and MacCast, I figured the time might be now.

Conveniently, my wife and I were due for an upgrade on 7/11. So we went to the Apple store, and came hone with 2 iPhones! Then the fun began. Once I was shown how to access the accessibility functions, I was on my way.

Through the innovative way that this phone works, I can access all of the functions and most of the apps available to fully sighted users. I can type on it, read my mail, surf the web, use my beloved twitter, and so much more. I am learning how to do something new with this thing every day. Thank you Apple for building accessibility into your products!

So, I know this doesn’t tie in perfectly with a blog site called Imagine and Teach, but it is summer. And this is a transforming experience for me as I now have all the phone provides available in a usable way. But having this phone also reinforces my belief that cell phone bans should be a thing of the past. They can be used instructionally, and appropriate, moral, ethical, and productive use of smart phones can become part of what students learn, particularly at the secondary level. I know there are challenges when we permit students to have phones with them, but they have them any way, don’t they?

Teachers and admins, what is your school’s policy? What challenges do you think will be faced by schools if those with bans change their policy? Do you have any recommendations on successful instructional use, particularly at the secondary level?

Thanks for taking the time to read this and enjoy summer!

As we wrapped up another school year, book collection became a major process.  For the past few weeks since school ended, the steady stream of students and parents coming in to turn in books or to pay for lost ones has been the focus of much activity. And the replacement charge is always high, in the $70 range.

Well, I was thinking. With the nature of content these days, the ability to collaborate, the growing use of the cloud, iPods, iPhones, netbooks and other mobile devices, has the long-standing image of the textbook as an essential instructional tool begun to fade?

I don’t mean the format of the textbook.  Sure it could become an e-book, or a Kindle book.  I mean cease to exist.  I am just asking. We have seen the demise of the encyclopedia.  Isn’t a textbook a subject specific encyclopedia?

I know that Gov. Schwarzenegger has proposed something like this for California and has pointed out the savings that could be generated. It would be huge.  It would be a challenge. But it could be worth it.

In addition to the financial benefits, is it possible that learning would increase if we had to teach without the text and students had to learn without it?  Possible?  Imminent? Crazy idea?

Thanks for taking the time to read this.  Please feel free to comment.

With the advent of netbooks, the possibility of a 1 to 1 school has become considerably more economically feasible. Looking at my own school, a large high school, I remember how we looked at a 1 to 1 laptop program in the mid 1990’s.  The program didn’t  get off the ground due to the cost of laptops at the time and a lack of evidence as to how they could be used in school to increase achievement.

Well now here we are, focused on learning.  And the infinite array of online tools, such as Google Docs, You Tube, wikis, blogs, moodle, animoto, slideshare, and ning to name a few, combined with the ability to co-create and connect globally makes 1 to 1 make so much sense. And now netbooks are here.

Netbooks are smaller, lighter, and affordable.  If we had netbooks and could eliminate the need for calculators and consumable books such as workbooks, the cost per family might even be less!

So I am looking for schools that have gone 1 to 1.  If you have, here are some questions:

• When did you start?
• Did you start with the entire school or with a pilot group?
• Do the parents buy the computers through the school or on their own?
• What infrastructural changes did you have to implement?
• Anyone doing this with netbooks yet?

Thanks for any comments.  I could ask a ton more questions!