@TedDiepster

I’m exposed to fascinating guest through common interactions on Twitter. Ted Diepenbrock is one such person. We bantered back and forth about what to discuss in this interview. We settled on bonding with students, while at the same time, empowering them by giving them choices in learning. This is a fine topic and we discuss it thoroughly. But one message came through strongest as I edited our convo:

To bond with kids you have to be authentic.

Ted is authentic. He’s a calm and kind presence in his student’s lives. His commitment to bonding with students and his commitment to giving kids choice shines through, but I kept thinking as we spoke about the Myers-Briggs Personality Profile. This measurement determines what gives one energy. For those familiar, I am an ENFP. I’m Extroverted, I’m Intuitive, I’m Feeling, and I’m Perceiving. If you’re interested in taking an online version of the Myers-Briggs, head to this link.

Ted and I are different. I have the personality of a game show host. This might seem conducive to teaching high school students, but that’s a generalization. I’ve had kids in class that just flat didn’t care for me. There haven’t been many such youngsters, but I can think of a few. My lack of rapport with these kids bothered me. One brave dissenter finally told me that it was my personality they found off-putting. “You’re just so hyper”, she informed. This didn’t make me feel good, but it definitely altered the way I tried to interact with this kid and the way I tried to interact with standoffish kids moving forward. This somewhat painful episode demonstrated that it takes all kinds to teach. While Steady Teddy might score very different on the Myers-Briggs than me, he might of been a better fit for my students who struggle with my over-the-top personality.

As you listen to Ted, understand that you are what you are. You don’t need to try to be something different.

Oh…and finally, here’s that promised image of yours truly sweeping the floor at lunch:

Episode Template

The Problem:

It’s tough to bond with kids.

The Solution:

Be yourself, be approachable, and strive to personalize instruction.

What you can do Tomorrow:

• Take the Myers-Briggs online assessment
• Strive for authenticity
• Greet your kids at the door
• Personalize instruction

Please never try to be anything but exactly what you are.

Listen to “103-Authenticity is how Steady Teddy Bonds with Kids…Starring Ted Diepenbrock” on Spreaker.

The Blog and Shrapnel

Brennan Daugstrup (The Blog) and Shawn Sherburn (Shrapnel) make me feel great in this episode. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then classify me as flattered to the hilt. These wonderful young guys are highly complimentary of my flipped lectures. Here’s a brief example. But what really frosted my educational gourd, was being informed by my two young friends that when prompted to make videos, they use mine as a template. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I treasure their endorsement of my teaching style. Additionally, they teach me about some cool platforms, one of which I’m determined to utilize. Their ingenuity and creativity are why I labeled them technocrats.

Before I delve into specific directives about student video production, here’s their fascinating video. The platform the Blog and Shrapnel employed was Adobe Premier. They had access to this pay-platform because it was part of their Multi-Media class. Wonderful student video production, however, can be done with free platforms such as Apple Keynote, which is my favorite, or Google Slides paired with Screencastify. My young men also mentioned utilizing Discord which is like Skype for gamers. Apparently, players can talk to one another inside a game. And finally, they promote Incompetech. This is a resource where kids can get free background music, something I highly suggest.

The Blog and Shrapnel were also highly complimentary of Edpuzzle. I featured this cool interactive platform in Episode 42 of the Hacking Engagment Podcast. Please go back and give a listen if you’re interested. Perhaps, kids could embed some interactive and provacative prompts in their video creations and assign them to classmates.

Episode Template

The Problem:

Students who are gifted technocrats need more creative freedom.

The Solution:

Prompt your kids to produce short videos and challenge them to explore and perhaps utilize different platforms.

What you can do Tomorrow:

• Assign a video prompt and limit students to productions between 1 and 2 minutes in length.
• Assign roughly 4 or 5 topics. If you have a class of 25, that means 5 students will be doing the same topic. That’s okay because perhaps they could help one another. Regardless, they’ll only be presenting to small groups, so students won’t be overwhelmed with reruns.
• Demand that your student’s videos be image or action-rich and text poor.
• Challenge kids to include background music
• Discourage students from pedestrian humor, such as comic violence. Instructive humor, however, is highly encouraged.
• Regardless of the platform, once kids have a video file, they should upload it to YouTube.
• Investigate challenging students to embed prompts and then assign their videos to classmates via Edpuzzle.
• Create small presentation groups via a class landing pad, which will be a Google Doc in CAN EDIT MODE. Place all of your student’s names on this doc and organize them into their small presentation groups. Once kids have their YouTube link, they should copy the URL and then apply it to their names on the landing pad. That way, if a student is missing on presentation day, they may have already applied their link and students in their group could watch anyway. Or, if a student did not do the assignment, members of their group can watch another student’s video in a different group.

Don’t box-in tech-savvy kids. Permitting more creative freedom just might unleash your own classroom technocracy.

Listen to “James Sturtevant Hacking Engagement” on Spreaker.

It’s tough to get students to participate in class discussions. It’s tough to keep track of all the tech tools I toss out in this podcast. Well in this episode, I’m determined to alleviate both of these frustrations. I’ll provide an engaging and fun class discussion tactic, which will only require great sources, provocative prompts, a stopwatch, 1 sheet of paper, and a pen or pencil.

The Agora was the square in an ancient Greek city-state. The Greeks took democracy seriously. Participation was mandatory, juries were massive, being informed was a must. The Greeks accomplished what we try to do in all of our Social Studies classes daily…foster citizenship.

I became exposed to the appointment book method of discussing at a PD session many moons ago. I was impressed, but perhaps not that impressed because I totally forgot about it. I did not invent this tactic, but like most teachers, I beg, borrow, and steal, morphing as I go. This past month, I needed a new tactic to employ in an upcoming class discussion. For some odd and welcomed reason, I remembered the PD appointment activity. Eureka…I had my idea and I called it Meet me in the Agora! It went so well that I shared it with my friend, colleague, and neighbor Mel Eckelbarger. Mel utilized my Meet me in the Agora tactic the next day and was most pleased with the results. We’ll discuss the particulars of this tactic…how to set it up, execute it, and we’ll even troubleshoot Meet me in the Agora.

Mel and I meet in the Agora

Episode Template

The Problem:

It’s difficult to secure high levels of student participation in class discussion.

The Solution:

Utilize the Meet me in the Agora tactic.

What you can do Tomorrow:

• Review the Sneetches Doc that Mel I referenced in the episode.
• Review this Google Doc which you’re free to utilize. It’ll give structure to the appointment securing free-for-all. This example was from our discussion on the Rape of Nanking.
• Assign compelling sources.
• Compose provocative prompts.
• Clear the desks out of the center of your room creating an Agora
• Indicate to students that they are not to discuss prompts in the appointment phase.
• On your signal, have students meet in the Agora and discuss the assigned prompt. Time this event and when the time is up, direct kids to return to their seats and prep for next prompt.

The Meet me in the Agora tactic is a fun, engaging, zero-tech, and highly structured method of dramatically enhancing class participation.

Listen to “101-Meet me in the Agora, the Zero Tech Road to an Epic Class Discussion…Starring Mel Eckelbarger” on Spreaker.