Here are the TEDxGrossePointeSouthHS videos. There was a problem uploading one of them, but that should be corrected soon. I did place all of them in a Playlist if you want to save all of them for later. I will never be able to fully express how proud I am of these students and all of the students that made this event possible. Please leave a comment on the videos if you have a minute. It would mean so much to the students. Thanks for all of your support. I wouldn't have been able to do all of this without it.
Showing posts with label #TEDxGrossePointeSouthHS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #TEDxGrossePointeSouthHS. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 17, 2014
Tuesday, June 10, 2014
An Open Letter to My HAL Students #MRPHAL
Dear students,
I tried to sum up the year in the last few minutes of the exam and I sounded like a moron. I had everything so well thought out and I just rambled and bumbled my way thorough an incoherent sting of sentences. So, I thought I would do what I do best and write a few thoughts.
Above everything else, I want to make sure you know that I am so very proud of everything you have accomplished this year. I'm not just talking about 20 Time or TEDx, I'm talking about everything you have done this year. You have grown as writers and thinkers in an educational setting, but you have also grown as individuals. One of the best parts of this job is watching young adults mature and take the next step in their lives. While you may have stumbled along the way, all of you picked yourself up, dusted yourself off, and were ready to take the next step. No matter what life threw at you, you were ready for the challenge. Never think you cannot do anything you want. All of you have the capacity for greatness, you just have to be willing to step up and show the world.
I also want to thank you for following me in this crazy adventure this year. I'm always trying something new and I am terrible at hiding my excitement for new things. You rolled with the punches, let me fall flat on my face, and made sure I stood back up. There were days when I didn't bring my "A" game and you were more understanding of that than I probably was when you did not have yours. For those that did not take to projects and some of my others lessons, thank you for playing along. You could have made the class difficult and fought me tooth and nail, but you tried and I hope you walked away with something from those projects. I also want to thank you for your honesty. I can only get better when I get honest feedback from you. I want class to be better for the next group of students that sit in your seats and you are the best people to help me do that. I want to thank you for your sassiness. I think a class without a little push back and sass is a boring class. You always brought that and those were my favorite times. Lastly, thank you for the memories. The long conversations, the squirrel shaped student declaration of independence, the struggle for "Dream Team" status, the lib dub battle, the ginger jokes, Jane Gallagher, symbols everywhere or nowhere, "not guilty" verdicts, Utopian societies, blog posts, and so much more will be remembered long after you leave this classroom and this school.
Finally, I want to say good luck. You are all so very talented in your own special ways. Some of you are still looking for those talents, but when you find them, you are going to blow people away with your awesomeness. My door is always open to you for anything you need to talk about and, most importantly, my charging station is always available when your batteries are low. Have a great Summer and I'll see you in the Fall. Until then...Allons-y!
Mr P
I tried to sum up the year in the last few minutes of the exam and I sounded like a moron. I had everything so well thought out and I just rambled and bumbled my way thorough an incoherent sting of sentences. So, I thought I would do what I do best and write a few thoughts.
Above everything else, I want to make sure you know that I am so very proud of everything you have accomplished this year. I'm not just talking about 20 Time or TEDx, I'm talking about everything you have done this year. You have grown as writers and thinkers in an educational setting, but you have also grown as individuals. One of the best parts of this job is watching young adults mature and take the next step in their lives. While you may have stumbled along the way, all of you picked yourself up, dusted yourself off, and were ready to take the next step. No matter what life threw at you, you were ready for the challenge. Never think you cannot do anything you want. All of you have the capacity for greatness, you just have to be willing to step up and show the world.
I also want to thank you for following me in this crazy adventure this year. I'm always trying something new and I am terrible at hiding my excitement for new things. You rolled with the punches, let me fall flat on my face, and made sure I stood back up. There were days when I didn't bring my "A" game and you were more understanding of that than I probably was when you did not have yours. For those that did not take to projects and some of my others lessons, thank you for playing along. You could have made the class difficult and fought me tooth and nail, but you tried and I hope you walked away with something from those projects. I also want to thank you for your honesty. I can only get better when I get honest feedback from you. I want class to be better for the next group of students that sit in your seats and you are the best people to help me do that. I want to thank you for your sassiness. I think a class without a little push back and sass is a boring class. You always brought that and those were my favorite times. Lastly, thank you for the memories. The long conversations, the squirrel shaped student declaration of independence, the struggle for "Dream Team" status, the lib dub battle, the ginger jokes, Jane Gallagher, symbols everywhere or nowhere, "not guilty" verdicts, Utopian societies, blog posts, and so much more will be remembered long after you leave this classroom and this school.
Finally, I want to say good luck. You are all so very talented in your own special ways. Some of you are still looking for those talents, but when you find them, you are going to blow people away with your awesomeness. My door is always open to you for anything you need to talk about and, most importantly, my charging station is always available when your batteries are low. Have a great Summer and I'll see you in the Fall. Until then...Allons-y!
Mr P
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| TEDxGrossePointeSouthHS Crew |
Thursday, February 27, 2014
This is why you should do #20Time in your school #edchat
I have the best job in the world when I get to read the blogs of my students on how their 20 Time projects are going. I never know what I'm going to get when I open a student blog. It might be something on their project, it might be something about how they are feeling at the moment and other times, it's just a little update on their lives. I wanted to share a few blog posts from the past few weeks that have really stood out to me and show why every school should have some form of 20 Time.
Alexis M - Project: Documentary on 5 Different People
"I am just so fortunate that I have been able to meet with so many new faces and I just can't believe it! I probably have met more people than I have my middle school years and freshman year combined. But the one thing that is so amazing is how everyone comes up to me and says, "thank you so much for filming me, or him/her, or us".To me I had been seeing filming them as kind of something that might get in the way of their work, or take up valuable time, but instead I hope I have been able to spotlight them in a comfortable way. It feels good to have put a smile on their face and helped them share their story, and I'm just lucky for this experience."
I love this attitude that Alexis has for this project. She feels lucky to have had the experience of meeting new people and hearing their stories. In a world that seems, at times, to be focused on "me me me", it is so great to see someone appreciate other people and the lives they are leading. She has dedicated her time to exploring the lives of other people and hopes to learn something about herself in the process. That is a huge win for the idea behind 20 Time in the classroom.
Gennie G - Project: Learning ASL
"Every winter my family and I go up north to Traverse City and the same with this year for a week. The first day after making the trip up north, my family and I went out on the Grand Traverse Bay which for once in a long time was frozen over. My dad and brother started shoveling a certain area that they believed was smooth so they could skate. But when I went down and grabbed a shovel, instead of joining my dad and brother,I took my shovel and just went. I shoveled my own path. I went on my own way. By shoveling snow in this way I was able to find a perfect patch of ice out on the lake. My dad eventually came over to me with a confused look and demanded that I shovel in the main area instead of "goofing off" and randomly shoveling around. Yeah I looked silly and maybe a little strange, but if I hadn't have done that, i would never had found that perfect patch. Instead of conforming,I tried something new,and it worked. But it's not always going to work. It's not always going to happen exactly theway you want. What if I had not found that perfect patch? Would I have failed? No. I would look funny randomly shoveling the ice out on the bay, but I would not have failed. I would still be adventurous and keep trying new things. carpe diem. Try something new. Stop doing the things you do everyday like a pattern. Seize the day and do something new."
Gennie has been working hard on her project and has encountered many roadblocks along the way. I love this idea from her because it shows the power of what 20 Time can do for students. By allowing Gennie to explore her ideas and pursue her passion, she has had a chance to think about her actions and how it is sometimes ok to be different and explore the world in a different way. These are the ideas educators should want to foster in students and I'm excited to be part of her journey.
Leonie L - Project: Biology and Disease
"Since a young age, I have always been interested in biology and medicine. After taking Honors Biology freshman year, I began to understand in detail how my body functions every day. When ever I get sick, I now know what my body is doing to fight off the illness. I find it very fascinating! About six years ago, my dad was diagnosed with Ménière's disease. According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, "It is a disorder of the inner ear that causes severe dizziness (vertigo), ringing in the ears (tinnitus), hearing loss, and a feeling of fullness or congestion in the ear." After having multiple surgeries and taking many medications, my dad still can not hear out of his one ear. Doctors still do not know why people get this disease or what causes the disease to happen. It also does not have a cure yet. Through my 20 time project and biology class, I have developed a passion to solving the unanswered questions about this disease. I know this will be extremely challenging, but I am up for it!"
Leonie has taken an interesting path with her project. She started out looking to design a better cover for cameras to take pictures in the rain. After the first part of the school year, she came up with a version that was pretty effective, but she realized that it wasn't something she was as passionate about as she thought. She has now changed her project to something very challenging. I think about 20 Time and I see students taking on personal challenges to accomplish tasks or learning something new and I think about the great experiences they are going to have. I look at Leonie and see someone who could make a difference in the world. Her project could lead to something amazing. Sometimes, all it takes is a different set of eyes looking at a problem to come up with an amazing breakthrough. Giving her the time to explore what really matters to her has inspired her and no bubble test could ever duplicate that.
These are just three of many of the amazing things that are going on in my classroom. I have 90 students participating in my 20 Time experiment. Imagine if my entire high school (1,700) were working on projects that mattered to them. What would 1,700 students come up with if they were allowed to explore their passions? The possibility alone should push you to looking into starting 20 Time in your school.
Feel free to leave me a comment or send me a message if you have more questions about 20 Time in the classroom.
@TheNerdyTeacher
Alexis M - Project: Documentary on 5 Different People
"I am just so fortunate that I have been able to meet with so many new faces and I just can't believe it! I probably have met more people than I have my middle school years and freshman year combined. But the one thing that is so amazing is how everyone comes up to me and says, "thank you so much for filming me, or him/her, or us".To me I had been seeing filming them as kind of something that might get in the way of their work, or take up valuable time, but instead I hope I have been able to spotlight them in a comfortable way. It feels good to have put a smile on their face and helped them share their story, and I'm just lucky for this experience."
I love this attitude that Alexis has for this project. She feels lucky to have had the experience of meeting new people and hearing their stories. In a world that seems, at times, to be focused on "me me me", it is so great to see someone appreciate other people and the lives they are leading. She has dedicated her time to exploring the lives of other people and hopes to learn something about herself in the process. That is a huge win for the idea behind 20 Time in the classroom.
Gennie G - Project: Learning ASL
"Every winter my family and I go up north to Traverse City and the same with this year for a week. The first day after making the trip up north, my family and I went out on the Grand Traverse Bay which for once in a long time was frozen over. My dad and brother started shoveling a certain area that they believed was smooth so they could skate. But when I went down and grabbed a shovel, instead of joining my dad and brother,I took my shovel and just went. I shoveled my own path. I went on my own way. By shoveling snow in this way I was able to find a perfect patch of ice out on the lake. My dad eventually came over to me with a confused look and demanded that I shovel in the main area instead of "goofing off" and randomly shoveling around. Yeah I looked silly and maybe a little strange, but if I hadn't have done that, i would never had found that perfect patch. Instead of conforming,I tried something new,and it worked. But it's not always going to work. It's not always going to happen exactly theway you want. What if I had not found that perfect patch? Would I have failed? No. I would look funny randomly shoveling the ice out on the bay, but I would not have failed. I would still be adventurous and keep trying new things. carpe diem. Try something new. Stop doing the things you do everyday like a pattern. Seize the day and do something new."
Gennie has been working hard on her project and has encountered many roadblocks along the way. I love this idea from her because it shows the power of what 20 Time can do for students. By allowing Gennie to explore her ideas and pursue her passion, she has had a chance to think about her actions and how it is sometimes ok to be different and explore the world in a different way. These are the ideas educators should want to foster in students and I'm excited to be part of her journey.
Leonie L - Project: Biology and Disease
"Since a young age, I have always been interested in biology and medicine. After taking Honors Biology freshman year, I began to understand in detail how my body functions every day. When ever I get sick, I now know what my body is doing to fight off the illness. I find it very fascinating! About six years ago, my dad was diagnosed with Ménière's disease. According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, "It is a disorder of the inner ear that causes severe dizziness (vertigo), ringing in the ears (tinnitus), hearing loss, and a feeling of fullness or congestion in the ear." After having multiple surgeries and taking many medications, my dad still can not hear out of his one ear. Doctors still do not know why people get this disease or what causes the disease to happen. It also does not have a cure yet. Through my 20 time project and biology class, I have developed a passion to solving the unanswered questions about this disease. I know this will be extremely challenging, but I am up for it!"
Leonie has taken an interesting path with her project. She started out looking to design a better cover for cameras to take pictures in the rain. After the first part of the school year, she came up with a version that was pretty effective, but she realized that it wasn't something she was as passionate about as she thought. She has now changed her project to something very challenging. I think about 20 Time and I see students taking on personal challenges to accomplish tasks or learning something new and I think about the great experiences they are going to have. I look at Leonie and see someone who could make a difference in the world. Her project could lead to something amazing. Sometimes, all it takes is a different set of eyes looking at a problem to come up with an amazing breakthrough. Giving her the time to explore what really matters to her has inspired her and no bubble test could ever duplicate that.
These are just three of many of the amazing things that are going on in my classroom. I have 90 students participating in my 20 Time experiment. Imagine if my entire high school (1,700) were working on projects that mattered to them. What would 1,700 students come up with if they were allowed to explore their passions? The possibility alone should push you to looking into starting 20 Time in your school.
Feel free to leave me a comment or send me a message if you have more questions about 20 Time in the classroom.
@TheNerdyTeacher
Monday, January 27, 2014
#20Time Reflections #EdChat
I've reached the midway point of #20Time this year and I thought it would be a good idea to take a moment and reflect on the project.
I had no idea where this project was really going to go when I decided to do it. I really just wanted to give my students one day a week to explore something they really cared about. I felt that if that was able to happen, anything else would just be a bonus.
Overall, my students have really embraced their projects and have down some amazing work. Here are a few I want to highlight, but there are many more students doing amazing things and you can check their blogs out here. Feel free to leave a comment and encourage their work.
Brenna B started off wanting to create a fashion app. She had a great idea and started to look into making it happen. She was ready to hang it up when she realized that it was very expensive to pay someone to do coding work. I told her that she should learn to code and pointed her in the direction of some great sites that can help her learn. She is currently applying to some coding classes at Yale for the summer. She is also working on a proposal to the school board about making coding classes part of the district's curriculum. See more of what she is doing on her blog.
Griffin M has been building items with his hands for his project. He has built some amazing things from designs he finds on a website. He has built a headphone stand, a slingshot, longbow, and a computer. The last three were built over his Winter Break. I'm actually going to ask Griffin if he can build a nice wooden case for my Google Glass. I'll be traveling a bunch in the new year and I want to keep them safe while bouncing from city to city. His work is beautiful and I trust his craftsmanship to keep my Glass safe. You can see more of what he has done on his blog.
Alexis M is working on a documentary that will follow the lives of five different people. She interested in this style of film and has dedicated her time to learning everything she can about the process in filming, editing and everything else that goes with documentary work. It is a big project that I'm very excited to see when she is done. This type of project is really what 20 Time is all about when I stand back and look at it. Follow Alexis and her project on her blog.
Lucy S came to use from Australia, but is Canadian by birth. She chose to document Detroit with her camera. She spends time traveling the city with her dad and taking photos of some of the sites in Detroit. She just seems to have an eye for seeing the beauty beyond the decay. Take a look at some of her beautiful photos she has taken and share on her blog.
Connor M was one of the first students in 20 Time to really grasp the idea of failure. He came to stressed out that he was not going to complete the project he wanted. He wanted to scale it back and try something more attainable. After a conversation, the lightbulb went off and he really embraced failure as an important part of the 20 Time process. Check out Connor's blog and support his failures and cheer his success.
Ben M has dedicated his project time to salvaging furniture as he calls it. He has done some amazing work in finding older pieces of furniture that many would toss aside and reclaiming it for his house. The work is wonderful and the hard work is evident. Again, when would a student have time to explore a passion like this outside of school? Check out his work on his blog.
Hannah C has been working on programs for Suicide Awareness. She had done some amazing work in contacting organizations and writing letters to government officials and setting up a walk in the Spring to raise awareness. She has had ups and downs with the project, but she is dedicated to making a difference and that it what the entire 20 Time idea is all about. Follow her work on her blog.
These are just a few of the amazing projects that are going on in my classroom. It's not all rainbows and unicorns thought.
There are some students that thought they were passionate about a topic and have realized that it is not for them. They have changed their projects and are finding it hard to stay motivated. Others are not really taking the time as seriously and I would hope, but that could change in the second semester as they move closer to their final speech about learning. Not every project is going to ring try to every students. That is something I have to come to terms with and learn from as I implement this in years to come.
I'm excited to see what the second semester holds for my students. Being able to host a TEDx event to showcase the students and their ideas is a great way to end the school year and this experiment. I look forward to sharing more information on 20 Time as the year rolls on.
I had no idea where this project was really going to go when I decided to do it. I really just wanted to give my students one day a week to explore something they really cared about. I felt that if that was able to happen, anything else would just be a bonus.
Overall, my students have really embraced their projects and have down some amazing work. Here are a few I want to highlight, but there are many more students doing amazing things and you can check their blogs out here. Feel free to leave a comment and encourage their work.
Brenna B started off wanting to create a fashion app. She had a great idea and started to look into making it happen. She was ready to hang it up when she realized that it was very expensive to pay someone to do coding work. I told her that she should learn to code and pointed her in the direction of some great sites that can help her learn. She is currently applying to some coding classes at Yale for the summer. She is also working on a proposal to the school board about making coding classes part of the district's curriculum. See more of what she is doing on her blog.
Griffin M has been building items with his hands for his project. He has built some amazing things from designs he finds on a website. He has built a headphone stand, a slingshot, longbow, and a computer. The last three were built over his Winter Break. I'm actually going to ask Griffin if he can build a nice wooden case for my Google Glass. I'll be traveling a bunch in the new year and I want to keep them safe while bouncing from city to city. His work is beautiful and I trust his craftsmanship to keep my Glass safe. You can see more of what he has done on his blog.
Alexis M is working on a documentary that will follow the lives of five different people. She interested in this style of film and has dedicated her time to learning everything she can about the process in filming, editing and everything else that goes with documentary work. It is a big project that I'm very excited to see when she is done. This type of project is really what 20 Time is all about when I stand back and look at it. Follow Alexis and her project on her blog.
Lucy S came to use from Australia, but is Canadian by birth. She chose to document Detroit with her camera. She spends time traveling the city with her dad and taking photos of some of the sites in Detroit. She just seems to have an eye for seeing the beauty beyond the decay. Take a look at some of her beautiful photos she has taken and share on her blog.
Connor M was one of the first students in 20 Time to really grasp the idea of failure. He came to stressed out that he was not going to complete the project he wanted. He wanted to scale it back and try something more attainable. After a conversation, the lightbulb went off and he really embraced failure as an important part of the 20 Time process. Check out Connor's blog and support his failures and cheer his success.
Ben M has dedicated his project time to salvaging furniture as he calls it. He has done some amazing work in finding older pieces of furniture that many would toss aside and reclaiming it for his house. The work is wonderful and the hard work is evident. Again, when would a student have time to explore a passion like this outside of school? Check out his work on his blog.
Hannah C has been working on programs for Suicide Awareness. She had done some amazing work in contacting organizations and writing letters to government officials and setting up a walk in the Spring to raise awareness. She has had ups and downs with the project, but she is dedicated to making a difference and that it what the entire 20 Time idea is all about. Follow her work on her blog.
These are just a few of the amazing projects that are going on in my classroom. It's not all rainbows and unicorns thought.
There are some students that thought they were passionate about a topic and have realized that it is not for them. They have changed their projects and are finding it hard to stay motivated. Others are not really taking the time as seriously and I would hope, but that could change in the second semester as they move closer to their final speech about learning. Not every project is going to ring try to every students. That is something I have to come to terms with and learn from as I implement this in years to come.
I'm excited to see what the second semester holds for my students. Being able to host a TEDx event to showcase the students and their ideas is a great way to end the school year and this experiment. I look forward to sharing more information on 20 Time as the year rolls on.
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