Perspective (Today Was a Good Day)

I was coming off an entire week of being out of the office and feeling like I was falling way behind. That week was spent doing some amazing things. First, we held A Day of Math Practice with Ed Campos Jr. at the University of La Verne in Oxnard. Then we had a 3-day training on Bootstrap, a math and coding program with several of our math teachers, a science teacher, and a couple of our new friends from outside districts. It was an amazing four days.

Bootstrap trainer Ed Campos Jr. provides support while other OUHSD teachers work on their coding. 

The following week I tried to play catch-up as best I could while still taking care of the business at hand. I then had to leave Tuesday afternoon to head up to Salinas for a CUE Rock Star Black Label event. It was another great day of fun sessions doing the QFT with elementary teachers. I always love getting to spread the magic that is the QFT. So the Black Label had me out half of Tuesday and all day Wednesday not to mention about 10 hours on the road.

Salinas teachers working together on the QFT at the CUE Black Label. 

This brings me to Thursday. I was driving home and my Bluetooth wouldn’t connect for some reason. I couldn’t play my podcast or listen to some Wu (shoutouts to the #CueTangClan). So I was forced to think and reflect. I felt stressed from the days of emails piling up. Sticky note after sticky note of lists of things that I need to take care of. All of the upcoming events that need to be thought through and logistics to be planned. But then I thought back to today.

I had spent the better part of the morning working with an incredible group of adult learners in an Oxnard Adult School class held at the Camarillo Public Library. I had met this group once before just because I wanted to better understand what adult school classes were like. In speaking with the teacher, I knew that these were a group of diverse adult learners who were there by choice but were apprehensive when it comes to technology. They include men and women from China, Iran, Japan, Mexico, and other parts of the world. They were of all ages, several 70+. They were also all learning to speak English.

Oxnard Adult School students start their Thin Slides project. 

So we thought that a low floor, high ceiling digital activity like Thin Slides would be perfect. The assignment was to select one image and one word or short phrase that describes their year in English class.

This abstract thinking isn’t easy in a second language. I did a brief description of what they were going to do and then let them go. Some struggled more than others, but the entire class completed the activity. When they went to present their slides, the magic began. They shared how the class made them comfortable when they sometimes get frustrated and want to cry. They shared how it reminded them of when they flew fighter jets which were fast and fantastic, just like the class. Probably my favorite moment was when I helped a gentleman (I didn't ask his age but I would say 80s or so) to insert an image of a sports car into his slide. When he saw it show up his face lit up. Priceless.

Oxnard Adult student shares her reflection on her year of learning English. 

Later in the afternoon, I had a phone call scheduled with Dr. Sonny Magana, author of Disruptive Classroom Technologies, and the new T3 Leadership Team. We discussed all kinds of exciting things that are on the horizon and I really look forward to getting that work started and meeting most of the team in person at ISTE in Chicago.

The T3 Framework from Magana's Disruptive Classroom Technologies. 

My day ended with a meeting with my director, Reina Bejerano, to go over a reflection on the California Professional Standards for Education Leaders (CPSEL). Some of it is busy work but some of it is good self-reflection and helps to refocus for the upcoming year. We shared some good ideas and she helped me excited about new things next year. She shared that I had received some props in our Twitter chat the previous night. I usually co-moderate the #VCHSchat along with Cori Orlando but we were on the road heading back from Salinas. We had two OUHSD teachers filling in which was awesome in itself (shoutout to Allison Holicky and Lucy Nakamoto).

So I jumped back into the chat that I had missed to look at some of the tweets that my director had referred to. Wow! I was floored. These are the things that you want to hear...that keep you going. Much like when you have a special moment with a student, it’s a reminder of why you do what you do.













So...despite all of the stress and anxiety over this and that, when you put things in perspective, in the end...today was a good day.

Update: Tomorrow (the next day) This all put me in a much better (and more productive) mood.
I think I'm going to try to roll with this positivity more often.

QFT Next Steps

I’ve had the pleasure of presenting and demonstrating the Question Formulation Technique (QFT) at district trainings, conferences, EdCamps, and in

classrooms.  It is always a fun session to do and is well received. The number one question that always comes up with teachers after we’ve gone

through the process of the QFT is “So then what?”  That is a great question. Here is what I usually suggest as an answer to the “Then what?” question.

First of all, I am a big fan of Trevor Mackenzie’s book Dive into Inquiry.  I love the swimming pool metaphor and I use it when discussing inquiry with

teachers.  I think it it is a great framework to help visualize the progressive build up from a highly structured inquiry process to free inquiry where

students are coming up with their own questions that they are then seeking answers to. I mention this because it fits how I view the Next Steps of the

QFT.

Taken from Trevor Mackenzie's Dive into Inquiry

I am the Ed Tech Coordinator for the Oxnard Union High School District.  Although the QFT and technology don’t go hand-in-hand per se (see my
blog post on this), I see the two linked together very seamlessly.  I find inquiry to be the key to unlocking the potential that technology has to offer.  
It’s not about the information or the content or the digital tool, it’s about what we have students do with it.  Asking the right questions is key to that. I
have included some of the digital components that can be incorporated into these Next Steps.

Here is the progression of Next Steps that I suggest when starting with inquiry and the QFT:

1. Nothing.  Well, almost nothing.  I think it is great for students to go through the QFT a few times to understand how it works and learn the process.  They will get better and better at it with more reps. Their questions will get better too. I don’t want students to get frustrated, however, with not getting a chance to find answers to their questions.  So one idea is to give them a short (10 minutes or less) time to research a quick, brief answer to their question. Then provide them with a presentation template which they will work on collaboratively as a group (similar to the Iron Chef Slides activity from Jon Corippo).  Students will present their question, 3-5 bullet points of what they learned during their research, an image that matches, and provide links to the sources so that someone could look into the topic further if interested. Groups would then present their slides which help not only with presentation skills but also furthers the curiosity and understanding for the whole class.  They have approximately 3 minutes to present to be able to get through all groups within a period. Presentation Template

The second idea for a quick share is to have students an infographic or HyperDoc to show their question and research that they’ve done.  
Student Examples from Emily Guthrie's class.

2. Class Driving Question.  After completing the QFT process as a class, collect all of the priority questions from each group.  This can be done using a digital tool like Padlet or a Google Form (template). As a class, take a vote on which question(s) you want to pursue as a class.  Choose your question and have that be your driving question as your unit or project that you’re studying. Sample Padlet

3. Group Driving Question.  Again, after completing the QFT process with a Q-focus that ties in with an upcoming project or unit of study, collect the priority questions from each group in the class.  Allow the class to vote on their favorite priority questions coming up with a list of 3-5 questions. Allow students to then choose which of the questions they want to pursue as a driving question.  Students can be arranged in groups by their driving question or can be given time to collaborate and share their findings and allow for further inquiry. At the end of the unit, groups should do a presentation on their findings or create a collaborative video, website, or any other demonstration of their learning.  Sample Google Form

4. Individual Driving Question.  Here, students go through the QFT process as a group but then arrive at a driving question of their own.  They are free to choose a question that they created, one from another student, or one that was revised by the group during the QFT process.  This question would now become one that an individual student can dive into and seek answers to in passion project of some kind. This could look like a research paper,  the creation of a prototype, or any other creation from the students like a website or video. Adobe Spark Videos or Pages would also be a great and easy way for students to track and share their learning throughout the process.   Adobe Spark Student Sample 1, Sample 2

The Right Question Institute feels that the QFT can lead directly to free inquiry. Although I don't disagree, I feel that many teachers (and many students) require a bit more guidance before diving into the deep end. The scaffolded approach allows students to safely make their way into deeper waters.

Adobe Spark Class Examples- Sample 1, Sample 2

Creating Stop Motion Animation w/ Google Slides

Google Slides has many great uses other than just for presentations.  It can be used to create newsletters, for simple web pages, as a HyperDoc, etc.  One use that I've found incredibly fun and useful is to create stop motion animation videos. 

Stop motion animation is the technique of taking a still image and then manipulating the objects ever so slightly until it has an animated feel and look to it.  It can be done with three dimensional objects like Legos or or paper.  It is also often done with clay in the creation of claymation.  With Google Slides the still images are replaced with slides that are put together to give the animated feel of stop motion animation.  Here's how:
(NOTE: If you're already familiar with advanced image searching and finding backgrounds, you can skip to the Begin the Animation Process section.

Create Your Background

A majority of your time will be creating the first slide.  This is where you will choose your background, characters, and objects that will be used in your animation.  Start with a blank slide.  Then find a background that you want to use.  Whether it's under the sea, in space, at the beach, etc. you will want to find a larger image that will look clear and not pixelated.  If you go to a Google Image Search you can select the size of the image to help with that.

Copy the URL to your image either by right clicking or clicking View Image and copying the URL. 

Then go to your blank slide in Google Slides.  Select Background and then next to Image click on Choose...

Select the tab By URL and then paste your image URL in the box.  Click Select.  Your background image will be saved as a background for all of your slides and won't be interfered with when you add and move other objects. 

Your background is now set!

Choose Your Objects and Characters

When finding images for your characters or other objects that will be manipulated for your animation, you will want to make sure that you get images that don't have a white square around them or some other background.  In other words you'll want objects with a transparent background.  

Most of these would not make for good objects in a stop motion due to their backgrounds. 

Here is the trick when doing this:  Select images that are PNG files.  This won't be 100%, but it will help with finding the right objects.  You can do this by going to Settings and Advanced Search.  Then go down to the second from the bottom item which is file type.  Select PNG files and then click Advanced Search.  You will now see only the images that are a PNG file type.  

(NOTE: you can also have students select the usage rights to help reinforce proper digital citizenship although this can sometimes limit your results a lot. You can always just have students give an attribution of where they found the image.)

They key to look for is the white and gray checkered background (like in the image below.  This indicates that what is around the object is transparent. 

You will now insert your characters and object into your slides by clicking the Image icon and going to By URL or going to Insert>>>Image>>By URL.  Go ahead and paste the URL of your image and click Insert. 

You will notice that you don't see the white square or any other background around your image.  This is important for making your stop motion look more realistic. You can click and drag on the corners to change the size of the images.  Use the corners to keep the proper ratio and to avoid the image looking too skinny or fat. 

Repeat this process until you have all of your objects and characters that you're going to use.  You can store objects and characters that will come into the scene later on in the grey margins on the side of the slide.  They won't be seen until they come onto the slide. 

Begin the Animation Process

This part can be a bit tedious.  Essentially you are going to continue to copy the previous slide and then move your characters or objects ever so slightly.  Then repeat.  Here are a few tips and tricks for making your stop motion animation:

Tips & Tricks for Animation

Use Ctrl + D This keyboard shortcut is to duplicate the previous slide. You will be doing this a lot.

Preview- You can preview what you've done so far and gauge whether or not you're moving your objects too far or too little by going into Presentation mode.  Just go to the first slide and click "Present".  Then just tap the space bar quickly to see it move. 

Master Slides- If you have more than just your background image that you want to always keep in the background (in other words another object that is part of your scene that you won't be moving) you can add it by putting it on the Master Slides.  To do this, go to View>>>Master.  Then insert your image (you could put your background in there too). 

Animation Tricks- You can add more of an animated feel by doing some little things to make it more realistic.  One is making objects bigger or smaller to show 

Moving towards/away from "camera".  Have your objects get slightly larger as they move to look like they are coming towards you or vice versa to go away.  Also, use the little blue circle on the top to rotate an object if you want 

Text- When you finish and your video is playing, each slide will be one frame of your animation.  This means that each slide will only be up for about 1/10 to 1/5 of a second.  Note this if you are putting any text onto your slide.  Depending on how much text you're including and how fast it's moving, you'll want to include it on 10-20 slides or so. 

Number of Slides- One question I often get from students is "How many slides should I do?".  Well, that all depends on how long you want it.  If you're making an animation on the water cycle, it will probably be somewhere around 75-100 slides.  If you're telling a story, it could be 200-1000 slides.  Just think that each slide is about a tenth to two tenths of a second.  That means 100 slides could only be a 10 second animation. 

Publishing Your Animation

Once you've created all of your slides and are ready to finish up your stop motion animation you will first need to publish it to the web.  This is where the true magic happens.  First go to File>>>Publish to the web...  This will open a window that has a few options.  

In the window that comes up you have a few options.  First, you can change how quickly the slides automatically advance.  The lowest is every second which wouldn't make for a very good animation.  That's OK, we'll fix that in a second (no pun intended).  Next, you can check the box so that you're animation begins as soon as the page loads.  Last, you can have your animation loop by checking the second box.  If for any reason you don't want it to automatically load or loop, feel free to leave either or both boxes unchecked. 

Go ahead and click Publish and then click OK to verify that you want this presentation published to the web.  Once you do you will be given a URL that you can copy.  Open a new tab and past the URL.  You'll notice that at the end of the URL is delayms=1000".  The "ms" stands for miliseconds.  This is the hack.  We will simply change that number from 1000 (every second) to somewhere between 100-200.  You can play with that number and decide what's best for yours. 

NOTE: You will want students to copy that URL when they've changed it BEFORE hitting enter.  You don't want them submitting the URL with the 1000 because it will be very slow.  You also don't want them to copy the URL AFTER they've hit enter because each slide then has it's own unique URL and it won't play the entire animation. 

Share

You may want to collect your animations from your class by using Google Classroom, a Google Form, Padlet, etc.  Padlet or a shared Google Sheet are nice because then you can open them for the students to be able to see each others.  Remind them to share the URL not with "1000" at the end.  Also not once the animation has started playing.  

I'd also love if you tweet them out using the hashtag #SlidesStopMotion and/or tag me @MrSorensen805.

An extension you can do to take it to the next level is to have students record a screencast over the animation.  This allows them to record their voices and add music over their animation. 

Examples

Padlet of 6th Grade Water Cycle

Google Sheet (from Google Form)

Volcano Sample

Student Sample of Me