StoryCorps - America Telling Their Story

Thanks to Michael Zimmer for passing this site along on his blog. 

The one thing I really wish I had was some of the stories my grandparents told about growing up in Italy. I hear some of the stories from relatives that remember bits and pieces of them and I remember some of those stories, but we all know what happens when you play the telephone game. Now there is a way for our generation to save these important stories for our future generations.

StoryCorp is a site that offers to store your stories for free. Here is a snippet from their About Us page;

"StoryCorps is an independent nonprofit whose mission is to provide Americans of all backgrounds and beliefs with the opportunity to record, share, and preserve the stories of our lives. Since 2003, over 50,000 everyday people have interviewed family and friends through StoryCorps. Each conversation is recorded on a free CD to share, and is preserved at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. StoryCorps is one of the largest oral history projects of its kind, and millions listen to our weekly broadcasts on NPR’s Morning Edition and on our Listen pages."

They have places set up all around the country for people to make an appointment and tell their story. Over time, these stories will help define who we are as a people and it can be an invaluable resource in teaching history. History is often viewed as old men doing things that happened a long time ago. History texts are just filled with names and dates and students find it hard to engage in learning that information. I feel that StoryCorps offers the chance for History teachers to bring stories of people who lived history to the classroom. There is an educators toolkit that will help teachers considering using StoryCorps in the classroom. 

One example of how this site might be utilized in the classroom is the September 11th section. There is a full collection of stories told by various individuals about how the events of September 11th have impacted their lives. Watching news stories and researching information on the internet is one thing, but hearing people talk about the event is important as students learn the importance of Primary Sources. Listening to these stories could reach some students in a very important way that a text book might never accomplish. 

Take some time and check out the site. You might find it helpful for your class or you might even decide to make an appointment and telling your story to America.

edcamp Detroit is a Go!

After a few days of sending out Tweets, DMing people from around the state and having great friends spread the edcamp Detroit idea around, I feel like there are enough people interested to get this thing off the ground. For starters, check out http://edcamp.wikispaces.com/edcamp+Detroit to join the wiki and add your thoughts, ideas, information to the edcamp Detroit page. The more that want to help, the better.

I'm excited and scared to move forward now. I have never run a conference. I'm just a nerdy teacher, what do I know about conferences, especially "unconferences"? However, I know that I'm surrounded by amazing people and that together we can pull off a heck of an unconference and edcamp Detroit will be the envy of the edutech community.

Please stop by the wiki and offer any ideas or thoughts that you might have. You don't have to volunteer for anything or even live in the area to help out. Let's make edcamp Detroit an event to remember!

- @TheNerdyTeacher

#Edcamp Detroit?

- Update - I had a hard time getting enough Michigan Tweeps, so I decided to open it up to anyone in the MidWest that is interested in putting on an unconference together in our neck of the woods. If you want to help, check out the wiki and sign up. Ignore the Michigan Title as I will change that in the future. I would love to do something like EdcampPhilly. Spread the word and we could create something amazing in our neighborhood.


First, I want to say I'm sorry to @jenniferpro, my wife, for starting a new project when there are so many other things on the burner. I promise this will not get in the way of my chores. :-)

I was watching the Twitter feed the last two days and was more and more bummed that I was not able to attend #edcamp Philly. My schedule was jammed packed and it was not feasible to get down there. I really want to meet some of these great people I've formed friendships with and maybe even present my Nerdiness to the group. I watched as another group of teachers started talking about an #edcamp in KC. Another great idea that is too far away from me. Ugghhhhhhh. I joked about an #edcamp Detroit and there was some positive feedback. However, this is not something that one man can do alone.

I started to think about the Whats and the Wheres of an #edcamp Detroit. Seems like a feasible deal. Then I started to think of the Whos and I realized that I do not Tweet with very many Michigan educators. I'm not sure why, but most of my Tweeps are all over the world and not in my backyard. I tried to rally the Michigan troops back in February, but I had little luck. I think it would be great to create a network of Michigan Teachers who blog, tweet, wiki and use other tech in the classroom. We can share this with other teachers from all over and maybe this could be the foundation for an #edcamp in the future. Sometimes it is nice to talk and connect with local educators because they are dealing with the same local problems.

I've created an open Wiki that allows people to put their name, Twitter ID, etc in one place. Please add to the list and pass it along to others. Feel free to add to the wiki in any way. If you have an idea to improve the wiki, go for it. I want everyone from Michigan to have ownership of this as we move forward. Don't hesitate to contact me with ideas or questions.

#MissionMonday 5/24 - Focus on the Yes

In education, I am always looking neat and interesting lessons to bring to my students. Different approached to long used themes might help a different group of students. As I sit and think about new ideas and cruise my Google Reader to see what amazing things other teachers are doing, I find myself thinking of more reasons why something will not work or be allowed than reasons why this new idea will work. Why is that?

I wonder if that is a result of my district, state or something all together different. My district has switched to common assessments for all mid term and final exams. I'm not a fan of this because it doesn't allow me to differentiate for my individual classes come assessment time. Also, getting two departments at two very different high schools to agree on one test has been slow and painful. Multiple tests have been created and nothing seems to stick for more than a year in the past 5. Have I been beaten down by this concept of being like everyone else? Am I starting to worry about being different?

In my first year of teaching, I did something totally different for final exam time for my American Literature classes. I created an Olympic style set of events and broke up each of the three classes into 3 colors. Each class competed in events on the football field that mixed questions and physicals challenges. There was a water balloon toss that forced students to take steps back if they answered questions incorrectly. There was a relay race where students had to construct responses to essay questions to advance in the relay. The assessment lasted 90 minutes and it was a blast. The students I still run into remember that event fondly. Layoffs, subject changes and the new common assessment prevent me from even considering do that again. I should say, it did.

I've decided to stop looking at all of the reasons not to do something and focus on the positives. Now, I'm not going to knowingly do something that will break school policy, but I think that more good can be done if I start to focus on the yes instead of the no.

Your #MissionMonday, if you choose to accept it, is to focus on the yes. Stop looking at the reasons why something will not work and focus on the reasons it will work. Do something new and see if it works. If it doesn't, so what. See if the lesson can be fixed and try it again. If it can't be fixed, try a new idea. I'm going to focus on the yes and see where that takes me. You should try it too.

- @TheNerdyTeacher