Teaching Students about Piracy

Student Assembly: 500 students, Grades 6-8, 50 groups using Socrative

This was an eye opening assembly, for both the students and myself.  I started using Socrative this year during assemblies to try to keep the students engaged and to also tailor the talk to their responses.  It is working great!  The students love being part of the process, they love seeing the responses to questions update LIVE on the screen, they love... Did I mention that they love it?

So Piracy.  Not their favorite topic.  Starting off the assembly with a couple of warm-up questions was great.  It set the tone.  I asked if they have ever given a friend a copy of digital media (music, movies, or games) and if they had ever used a torrent or download site like megadownload.  The responses were overwhelmingly on the side of excess sharing and downloading.  70% of groups responded that they do use peer-to-peer or download sites for free media.  

So the topic was relevant that was for sure!   These kids need to know what they're doing, maybe they do, and they need to know the potential consequences.  

I had a couple of video PSA's from YouTube and used a clincher at the end of the piracy talk.  I happened across an article that mentioned "confessions of convicted software pirates".  It was part of a series of videos known as BSA faces.  I found a great little 1-minute clip of a late 20-something guy who talked about the great life he had: the Hummer, the house, the boat and now it is all gone.  It was great!  Not only did the Socrative responses start to show that the students were "getting the message", I could see it in their faces that they were surprised by the confession of a real "pirate".  Throughout the day I have overheard conversations and answered random questions about what "is" pirated or "not" pirated.  The fact that they are talking about it means it struck a cord.

The part I wonder about now is how do I follow up?  How do I keep this conversation going?

I have sent an email home to families describing this event.  Hoping that will start the conversation at home.  Next will have to be the teachers and see if they feel inclined to bring it up within their classroom environments.  Something to keep the momentum going.

BlendSpace: A great interactive presentation tool

Blendspace, formerly Educanvas, is one of my new favorite presentation platforms.  Next to Prezi, which I can embed in the Blendspace, this makes presentations incrementally more engaging!

Participants will need to login to participate in a presentation, but fear not!  You can use your Google Account to login which is perfect for all the GAfE Schools out there!

The interface is beautiful!  You can choose varied layouts, be colorful and sequence your presentation the way you want it!  Here's what's awesome about the layout:  Not only can the participant play the slideshow in the order you sequence, they can also from the layout view, choose their own order!  Perfect for blended or flipped classes.  You can Share the link, Collaborate on a presentation, Embed it and even create a QR Code!

It's FREE for Educators!  This is always a plus, right?  There is an upgraded version that has a cost associated and it is not a prohibitive cost even for a tight budget. 

I recently started using it and pictured in this post is a Student Assembly where I used Socrative to collect LIVE feedback during a Digital Citzenship Assembly.  The Blendspace layout had everything I needed within it.  I could jump from a Blendspace slide to a YouTube video to a short Prezi and back to Blendspace without changing screens.  The only time I had to toggle to a new window was to view the Socrative feedback!  Now, if only Blendspace had a question feature like Socrative...

Oh Wait!  They do!  I had reasons for using both applications in the assembly and could just as easily have built in a Quiz slide sequentially throughout the presentation and reviewed LIVE results!

It's a lot of information about a presentation tool and I haven't even covered it all.  There's even more functionality built in to Blendspace to make it a versatile interactive presentation tool for all kinds of instructional scenarios.

Check it out!  www.blendspace.com

The Teacher's Desire to Learn?

These are just some of the explanations that I receive when I ask teachers to try something new.

"I don't have time during the school year."

"I can't take a sub day, it is too much effort to try to catch up."

"I have already put a lot of effort into this lesson and I have used it for years, I don't want to recreate it with something new when I think it already works fine."

Where did the desire to learn go?  Isn't that what teaching is all about?

It seems to me that "we" as educators have a responsibility to our students that requires us to help them learn.  In that responsibility we need to recognize that the same way we have done things for years, might not be the best way for our students.

Much of what I try to do with my teachers is show them new ways to engage the class, involved the students in the learning process and ultimately, in my hopes, make teaching easier and more enjoyable for everyone.

The movement in education today is to become more "student-centered".  This does require a little bit of an ego check on the teacher's part.  Let the students demonstrate understanding beyond the worksheet or multiple choice test.  Let the students create their own assessment or allow them to work collaboratively on a lesson they teach to everyone else.  Release that death grip on the reigns for control of the front of class.

When you release some of the control, you will start to see real learning.