Who guided you to teach?

Who is responsible for encouraging you to be a teacher?  Who helped you discover that teaching is where you should be? Where you belong?  Jean Lethcoe is the woman responsible for me being in the education field.  When I didn't know what direction to take my life while in college, Jean is the woman that arranged for me to observe a second grade classroom.

I was at a crossroads in my life. Confused. Frustrated. Lost.  Placing me in a second grade classroom was a science experiment that I thought would be all sorts of wrong.  She said, "Just try it. You might like it."  I thought this woman lost her marbles placing ME in an elementary classroom just to see if it would be a good idea. I was thinking I should transfer to a Chicago school for Interior Design.  She saw something in me that I didn't.  After one day in a second grade classroom I fell in love with elementary school and teaching.  My idea for Chicago flew out the window.

Jean helped guide me to the life I lead today.  For that I am eternally grateful. I can not imagine my life any other way.  She was a smart and amazing woman with such ambition. Even after I started my classes towards my undergraduate degree she always had her office door open and was always available to listen.  Perhaps it was the comfy chair in her office that called me in...or the bowl of M&M's she always kept filled...she was an asset to my development as an educator.  You may be wondering why I am writing about this influential woman.  Unfortunately, she passed away last Thursday, April 3, 2014.  If you would like to read more about her you can click right here.

Jean, you hold a special place in my heart...and know that you have touched so many lives.  There are so many people out there in this world that have been influenced by your contributions...thank you! Thank you, Jean, from the bottom of my heart.

Stop Motion Animation

Recently, I had a tweet from a colleague of mine to share some student examples of the Stop Motion Animation videos we have made in my technology class.  The eighth graders create this project with a partner and have to follow a general guideline.  We are very lucky to have access to an iPad cart that we used to create these videos. We used the iStopMotion app.  It is SO much easier and faster to use than taking a million pictures, uploading them, and arranging them into iMovie. This app seriously saved a week of work for my students (I was able to create another project to do in a week because of this app).  I only get to see each 8th grade group for something like thirty days, so every day is valued!

When explaining the project to my students I try not to create a daunting list of things students can and can not do just because I feel it can restrict creativity.  I like to see them get funky, silly, and creative while following a general guideline.

Below are links to the documents I share with my students and two student examples of excellent stop motion videos.  You may be wondering why I don't have the instructions and the rubric on the same document.  This is to prevent my students from altering the rubric.  You'll see that in the instructions document is where students update me on a daily basis to let me know where they are filming in case I need to find them.  Enjoy!

Still Motion Movie Instructions

Still Motion Movie Rubric

Still Motion Movie Student Example by Chris and Elijah

Still Motion Movie Student Example by Amanda and Nora