Back in the Spring of 2009 the administration came to me and asked me if I would be willing to take on a class of students and teach them about media production, emerging technology and so on. You might recall I asked for your help in determining what I should teach them.

First and foremost, our goal has been to produce a morning news show, which they named Cougar KidKast.

As we finished up production of the eight episodes for which this class was responsible we found ourselves with a few extra class periods. The kids asked if we could make a movie.

I set them to start talking about it. Together, they determined that they wanted to make a video that would have a positive impact. As we talked further, my kids began to reveal to me the unpleasant underbelly of school culture. My kids feel pressured to conform to societal norms in a manner that seems to me different from when I was a student. Perhaps it is pure distance (having not say where they sit in 20 years) or my own ignorance, I was unaware that the social pressures are as tough as they are.

They wanted to flip the script.

I asked them to talk further about who would play what role and what shape this would take. During our time together, we have explored different types of video. We’ve talked about documentaries, interviews, B roll, and more. My kids decided out of all of them, they wanted to create a performance piece.

As they began the storyboarding process, I noticed that one student had misspelled the genre. Instead of performance piece, he had written:

Performance Peace

An accidental misspelling turned out to be the cornerstone of their idea. As they began to allow the title to dance in their minds, ideas turned into action. One student in particular took a keen interest in writing lyrics for the piece.  Shy-Kyra’s lyrics are posted below. I should note that they are unedited. I have made no changes to them and they remain in their original, pure form.

I am thoroughly impressed with my students. I am impressed not only with their effort, but their hearts. Please remember these students are 11 and 12 years old. I feel the work they have created is far beyond their ages.

They ask only that you consider sharing their work. Enjoy.

Here is the video. Click through to see it or click here to watch it in HD on YouTube. Lyrics follow the video.

Lyrics by Shy-Kyra:

PERFORMANCE PEACE

popularity comes and destroys our mind …
sometimes we can’t find that trend, that friend, that life
in life we can always lose our confidence or self-esteem because of what people tend to say behind your back
then our come back is violence or the old saying “sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me”
when the words hurt as much as the sticks and stones;
deep down this world has lost its mind with the trend of the year or should we say week
the schools has lost its mind with the trend setters or popularity we have started a DEMOCRACY and we
fought this war for months
played this game for years

IT’S TIME TO FLIP THE SCRIPT!!!

this is my life, my turn,
you’re not in my clothes
you don’t know my story
you haven’t taken the time to look me in my eyes
taken the time to see my pain
you’re not going to throw me around anymore
i’m going to stand on my two feet i’m going to hit a homerun
IT’S TIME TO MAKE A CHANGE ……
I’M GOING TO PAINT MY LIFE COLORFUL

BY: SHY-KYRA

See the interview embedded below or click through to the WLTX site to see it there.

The text story (written like a transcript) is here. Want to leave a comment?

Recently, however, I decided I might like to try a little green screen fun. I do have a copy of Final Cut Express which I suspect does chroma keying, but I was already familiar with how to do it in Pinnacle Studio 10, which I have installed on my Windows XP machine at work. I also have Adobe Premiere 1.5 that I could use for the same purpose.

The trouble came when I tried to import the .mp4 files directly into either program, as the programs did not support the file format, or so they said.

Now bear in mind that yes, I did install the 3ivx codec on this machine. I even reinstalled it, to no avail. After a series of tweets looking for help, most folks responded thinking I had the regular Flip camera, which saves videos as .AVI files. The high definition Flip Mino does not, it saves files as .mp4.

Well, finally, I have figured out a system to convert these files to a format friendly to the two programs I have on this machine (Pinnacle Studio 10 and Adobe Premiere 1.5). And it’s using freeware software, which is even better.

Some time ago, I had downloaded the Quick Media Converter program that Lifehacker mentioned. I didn’t realize it was as good as it is.

First, go download it and install it. I am using version 3.6.5.

Then, export a clip using the FlipShare software.

Then, drag and drop your exported clip onto the Quick Media Converter screen.

Then, choose AVI DivX Custom Resize from the top menu.

Change the dimensions of the file to 1280×720, which are the same dimensions the Flip Mino HD records in.

Press the convert button.

After conversion, the file appears on your desktop with an appended file name.

I hope this helps. I haven’t seen this answered to this degree anywhere else, so I am hoping this serves the larger community well.

When I exported the video from Pinnacle Studio 10, I used the following settings.

Size: 1280×720

30 FPS

I figured out that the native settings when recording with the Flip Mino HD records audio as 64kbps AAC/AAC+. I didn’t know that. It does sample at 44100, though.

Good luck, and enjoy your HD video editing on a Windows machine!

I’ve only tried this on XP, so keep that in mind.

]]> http://www.crucialthought.com/2009/05/01/converting-flip-mino-hd-video-files-to-edit-them-on-a-pc/feed/ 19 http://www.crucialthought.com/2009/03/25/finalist-leaders-in-learning-awards/ http://www.crucialthought.com/2009/03/25/finalist-leaders-in-learning-awards/#comments Wed, 25 Mar 2009 14:22:09 +0000 Chris http://www.crucialthought.com/?p=538 I found out recently that I was selected as a Finalist for the Cable in the Classroom Leaders in Learning Awards. See the full list here.

The full text of the press release is here, and is available for download below.
For Immediate Release        Contact:
March 24, 2009      Tiffany Reedy (703) 276-2772 ext. 14
Pam Ford (202) 222-2356
Mary Anne Jacobs (803) 251-5394

Local Teacher Honored for Innovative Education Program

Christopher Craft is National Finalist for Cable’s Leaders in Learning Awards

Washington, D.C. — Christopher Craft, a teacher at CrossRoads Middle School in Columbia, is
being honored by the cable industry for his demonstrated commitment to improving education in
his community.

Time Warner Cable and Cable in the Classroom, the cable industry’s education foundation,
announced today that Craft has been chosen as a finalist for the 2009 Cable’s Leaders in
Learning Awards. The annual awards program, now in its fifth year, recognizes outstanding
educators, administrators and other community leaders at the forefront of innovation in
education.

Finalists are eligible for a national Cable’s Leaders in Learning Award, which includes a $3,000
prize, an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C., and a June awards ceremony and luncheon
in honor of the winners. The winners will be announced in May.

Applications were received from across the country for the 2009 Cable’s Leaders in Learning
Awards. Craft’s is one of just 47 finalist applications selected from classroom educators,
administrators, college faculty and community leaders nationwide. Craft is being recognized in
the General Excellence category for founding “Life ’Round Here,” a global digital storytelling
project designed to record the voices of students telling stories of what life is like where they are.
Each student writes their script and then records their story. The top six stories selected are
published on a Web site for public viewing. Participating students come from classrooms all over
the world.

“In an era where 21st century learning skills are crucial to young people becoming highly
productive and responsible citizens, we are pleased to recognize individuals who have
innovatively and creatively figured out ways to move closer to this goal,” said Frank Gallagher,
director of education and media literacy at Cable in the Classroom. “Craft’s efforts are a prime
example of the sorts of educational leadership and vision the cable industry is proud to honor.”

Craft has had great success with his program. “In our world of globalization, students need to be
familiar with other cultures and people,” he said. “This project gives a voice to children around
the world.”

Mary Anne Jacobs, Senior Director, Public Relations, Communications for the Carolina Region,
said “We congratulate Craft for being named a Cable’s Leaders in Learning Award finalist. He
demonstrates a great passion and excitement in finding ways to educate and prepare young
students for the future. This sort of commitment is one that Time Warner Cable shares and
applauds.”

Winners will be chosen to receive a Cable’s Leaders in Learning Award in one of the following
categories:
- General Excellence — for leaders who have demonstrated excellence in
expanding and enhancing learning opportunities by employing a diversity of
traditional and non-traditional approaches to produce measurable improvements
in education outcomes in formal or informal settings.
-  Media Literacy Education — awarded in partnership with the National PTA to a
leader who has advanced the teaching and learning of media literacy concepts and
skills to children and youth. Media literacy is defined as the ability to access,
understand, analyze, evaluate and create media messages on television, the
Internet and other outlets.
- Cable Partnerships for Learning — for leaders who are working in partnership
with the cable industry to expand and enhance learning opportunities for children
and youth in or out of the classroom.

For more information on the awards and the 2009 finalists, please visit
www.LeadersInLearningAwards.org.

Since 2005, Cable’s Leaders in Learning Awards, administered by Cable in the Classroom, have
recognized administrators, educators and community leaders who demonstrate vision,
innovation, action and transformation in education in and out of the classroom. The objective of
the awards is to promote and encourage innovative learning practices affecting children from
preschool through high school across communities nationwide.

Cable in the Classroom, the cable industry’s education foundation, works to expand and enhance
learning for children and youth. Created in 1989 to help schools take advantage of educational
cable programming and technology, CIC has become a leading national advocate for media
literacy education and for the use of technology and media for learning, as well as a valuable
resource of educational cable content and services for policy makers, educators and industry
leaders.

www.thinkingaboutteaching.com/files/craft_christopher_press_release.pdf

http://bit.ly/zce77

I’m curious about something.

I have an iPod Touch and it is driving me crazy. It may be the reason I do not get an iPhone. Here’s my issue…

How do you keep the darned screen clean?

It’s more than cosmetic, it keeps me from typing. There are times I want to type a letter t and cannot because I have been navigating, playing, or what have you, and there are enough built up fingerprints there that it blocks the letter. I can roll right over it and it never registers. I rub it on my jeans, shirt, hot breath cleaning technique and nothing. I power it down, all the way, and still nothing.

I end up having to use some sort of cleaner (approved for the device, thank you) and let it sit a while.

How in the world do you prevent this from happening? It would be detrimental if I wanted to send an email and could not. It’s kept me from twittering many times, and I’m not sure that’s all bad.

Ok so help me out here, eh?

Thanks…

Chris

I’m going to be getting a new Mac soon, and now that the Stevenote is done and no new computer products were announced, I feel it’s a pretty good time to buy. Here are my two options.

Right now I have an early summer 2006 20 inch iMac. I have a 19″ Dell 1905FPS Monitor next to it providing extra screen real estate. Since the Dell monitor has two inputs, it also serves as a monitor for my Ubuntu server which is running some scripts for me in perpetuitity.

My dad will be getting a new machine so that means I’ll inherit another Dell monitor. Twins!

My thinking is that having two 19″ LCD Screens next to each other both hooked up to a brand new Mac Pro (2 processors) would be the ideal thing. It would fit nicely on my desk and I’d have room to spare.

However, the 3.06Ghz 24″ iMac is also tempting. That means I’d have to move the Dell monitor and make some space and maybe take the other Dell monitor to school.

So, which is it?

Option 1: Two 19″ LCD Screens with dual inputs side by side displaying 2 x 2.8Ghz Mac Pro goodness, or?

Option 2: a 24″ iMac clocking in at 3.06 Ghz with an awkwardly placed Dell monitor off to the side?

It seems the way I’ve written that that my decision is made, but I figure there’s some perspective I’m not seeing, any thoughts?

Chris

Either way, I got this email and I have a bit of an ethical problem with it. I recognize that the publishers want to get their books out there, but this seems sketchy. My inclination is to politely decline, but I wondered if you didn’t have an alternate viewpoint? Is there something I’m missing? Am I making a mountain out of a molehill?

Here’s the email in its entirety, published with explicit permission from the publishing company and the author of the email.

Dear Chris,

I noticed that you are presenting on Moodle at the upcoming NECC in San Antonio.  I am with FTC Publishing and we publish the book Moodle Magic: Make it Happen, by Laurie Korte.  If you are not familiar with this book, it is a great resource for educators looking to begin using Moodle or educators who are looking for tips and tricks for using Moodle in the classroom.  I was wondering if you would be interested in receiving a few of these books to use as giveaways during your session.

We would supply you a copy of the book for your own personal use as well as the giveaways.  We would also include a few coupons and catalogs for attendees of your session that are interested in learning more about the books.

If you are interested in receiving these materials please email me back with the number of people you are expecting to attend your session as well as the address of the location you would like for us to ship the items.

Thanks for your time and I look forward to hearing from you.

I think part of my issue is that I’ve not read the book. If I were a fan of the book to begin with, this would be easy, since it would be a genuine, voluntary endorsement. I haven’t read it, though, so it makes me feel like a bit of a puppet if I were to give these out.

Once before, PbWiki gave me some premium wikis to give out but I was ok with that since I was already a bit of a PbWiki evangelist. I use that software regularly and like it a bunch, so there’s my difference there.

Also, I approached PbWiki. They have a presenter pack (or did, it’s been a few years) that I emailed to get. They did not approach me.

The publisher probably searched for Moodle in the NECC planner and found me. Is that bad? Not necessarily.

I’m just not sure how to respond. What do you think?

Chris

One is tough to see, but it’s of Long Island Beach, NY and the second os from Manhattan.

As some of you know, I’ll have my first ever visit to NY in March for AERA. I’ve flown into JFK but that doesn’t count.

Thanks, South Paris Collaborative!

This one came from the incomparable Brian Grenier in El Paso, Texas!

and this one came all the way from Mt. Vernon, Washington and the wonderul Martha Thornburgh!

Woo hoo! Lots of postcards! Thanks, you all!

Chris

Here are scans, the front of one and the front and back of the second two (the first one had teacher’s names on it and I didn’t want to publically broadcast it without permission…)

Aren’t they awesome! Thanks so much!!