Out of the Box Success

Last year two sixth grade students from Flaherty Elementary, now seventh graders at Stuart Pepper Middle School, made a presentation at the Student Technology Leadership Program Competition on how having access to videoconferencing equipment would benefit their school. They won! And the prize was videoconferencing equipment donated and installed by AT&T.

On December 5, 2008, Flaherty Elementary used videoconferencing for the first time. They decided to join an event put on by Magpi called "Masks and Movement" which fit into the Kentucky Core Content for Arts and Humanities for grade 5 very well. In addition, Arts and Humanities is an area of accountability in state testing for Kentucky fifth graders.

The forty-four (44) fifth graders, eleven (11) from four (4) homerooms piled into the distance learning room and joined the event with students from three (3) other schools across the nation. They learned how color and lines in a mask have universal symbolism, created their own masks, and then shared them with the students at the other participating sites. When our students returned to their homerooms, they explained what they learned to their classmates and helped those who were not in the event to create their own masks.

An Interview with Amy Berry, District Technology Resource Teacher
What were the teachers’ responses to their first videoconference?
"I think we all experienced a little bit of anxiety. It was hard for the teachers to visualize what the experience would be like. I think they found it difficult to prepare the students when they didn’t know quite what to expect themselves.

The principal spoke with the students just before the conference and challenged them by explaining that they were the first students in our district to participate in a video conference. She told them they were our pioneers in this venture."

What Challenges, if any, did you incur?
"There were a lot of materials (crayons, pencils, markers, yarn, feathers, etc.) to pass out and manage because students were actually creating the masks during the conference. We weren’t exactly sure how the best way to handle this would be. But in the end all of that worked out fine.

The district technology coordinator and I were a little nervous that the technology would work correctly. We did a couple of test calls to make sure that we understood how the equipment worked, but you know how technology can be sometimes! In the end it worked great and we were thrilled with the experience."

What kind of response did you get from the students?
"The children seemed to really enjoy the experience. One particular child that I will call Tommy, who is normally timid to speak out in the regular classroom, went up to the microphone twice to share his work with the large audience of students. I guess this was an ‘aha’ moment for us as we discovered that this type of experience seemed less intimidating for some students, when we found it to be more intimidating that our classrooms."

You mentioned that this event addressed Kentucky Core Content. I’m assuming that means state standards. Can you elaborate on that?
"The event addressed the following three standards well:

• AH-05-1.4.2
  Students will identify or describe how an artist uses various media and processes (DOK2)
• AH-05-2.3.1
  Students will describe or explain how drama has been a part of cultures and time periods throughout history (DOK2)
• AH-05-3.3.1
  Students will describe or explain how drama/theatre fulfills a variety of purposes (DOK2)
  

"Anytime we can incorporate experiential learning and communicating with an expert in the field of drama into our students’ academic work, I think we are giving the students high quality instruction. When they learn by doing, they will remember much more than just reading or discussing. These memorable experiences create a strong learning experience, and help students make connections that they will remember as they take their test in May."

As the resource teacher, what impact did this event have on you?
"I was so proud watching the students in our rural district using state-of-the-art equipment to communicate with other students all over the United States. I don’t think this is an experience that they will soon forget.

Also, after having such a positive experience, I feel more confident in using the equipment for other videoconferences and will encourage other teachers to participate in conferences offered by Magpi or look into video conference "field trips" to places we would be unable to physically take our children. There are lots of free and inexpensive videoconferencing resources out there that we need to take advantage of in the future!"

Is there anything else you’d like to share?
"Yes, we plan to invite the two students who won the equipment back to Flaherty Elementary to participate in a videoconference sometime this spring!"

Thank You
CILC thanks Amy for her willingness to share their first step Out of the Box with videoconferencing.

Contact Information
Amy Berry
District Technology Resource Teacher
270-422-7500
Meade County, Kentucky

Masks and Movement Program Description
Students will create and work with masks as part of this exciting workshop, brought to you by ArcheDream! Participants will be shown a series of painted masks in various emotions and asked to pick the mask that attracts their attention. Each is given the opportunity to manifest the emotion that the mask embodies, which becomes a revelation of invisible feelings. The communication as each participant reveals their issue of feeling bonds the group into a new relationship. The exercise teaches how to objectify a subjective emotion and attain an art form and communication with peers. Participants’ differences are brought into harmonious relativity. This workshop focuses on African Masks.