StoryChasers

This video is a 73 second interview with Laquita Semmler, principal of Mustang Elementary in Mustang, Oklahoma. Mrs. Semmler won a $2000 technology grant from the Oklahoma Association of Elementary School Principals (OAESP) at the mid-winter conference on January 20, 2012, in Oklahoma City. She is planning to use the funds from the grant to purchase a new iMac computer and mobile cameras to provide students with tools to be videographers and journalists for their school website.

Instead of Flip cameras, which have been discontinued by Cisco and do not import video in a Mac-friendly format, Storychasers recommends student videography teams use iPod Touches or iPads for quick-edit videography. In addition, an external microphone is a MUST to improve audio quality. (A $60 iRig mic, available via the Apple Store, was used in the video above.)

Congrats to Mustang Elementary students and staff, and kudos to Mrs. Seemler for applying for and winning this student technology grant!

In advance of next week’s “Teaching Creativity and Innovation to Inventive Minds” workshop on the campus of Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, it seems appropriate to share several videos on our Celebrate Oklahoma Voices (COV) learning community which are science-focused. These were created by teachers attending past COV workshops.

Forensic Science by Anita Cosby (An introduction to forensic science class)

Find more videos like this on Celebrate Oklahoma Voices!

Starbase 2011 by Pamela Sue Gilder (Video about a fifth grade class during their six week adventure through Strarbase)

Find more videos like this on Celebrate Oklahoma Voices!

Ben Franklin Science Academy’s Friendship Garden “The Green Patch” by Sandra Marie Riley (A story about the “Green Patch” that touched a community)

Find more videos like this on Celebrate Oklahoma Voices!

It will be great to see the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) related videos our workshop participants create next week at OSU! More information about hosting and requesting a Storychasers workshop is available on the frequently asked questions (FAQ) page of our website.

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science, stem, video, videos, workshop

Are you an Oklahoma K-12 teacher interested in:

1. Helping your students become more creative?
2. Learning more about STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) careers for your students?
3. Obtaining “digital backpack” equipment (including a new digital camera, digital audio recorder, headset with microphone, and more) you and your students can use to create videos for class assignments?
4. Learning how to successfully facilitate student video projects for class?
5. Learning how digital fabrication labs (FabLabs) can energize your students about STEM career fields?
6. Joining an educational community of digital storytellers in Oklahoma?
7. Obtaining a $500 scholarship to attend a three day workshop FOR FREE focused on these activities?

If so, you need to apply for the “Teaching Creativity and Innovation to Inventive Minds” workshop scheduled for Wednesday, August 3rd through Friday, August 5th on the campus of Oklahoma State University in Stillwater. The application deadline is Friday, July 29th. This workshop is co-sponsored by the College of Education at OSU and Storychasers. Day one of the workshop will focus on ideas for student creativity, STEM careers, and “digital fabrication” labs which students use to design and create originally designed materials using special computer software and hardware. No prior experience with digital fabrication is required. Days 2 and 3 of the workshop are the “phase 1″ digital storytelling workshop offered by Storychasers for the Celebrate Oklahoma Voices oral history project. You will learn how to create a short, 3 to 5 minute video focusing on some aspect of creativity, STEM careers, or STEM themes discussed in our workshop and share it on the third day.

Please complete our online registration Google form to register and apply for a full scholarship to attend this workshop, or apply to pay with available professional development funds from your school district. Slots are limited, and a total of ten scholarships are available. A maximum of 25 participants will be selected for this workshop. Those interested in attending but NOT selected for a scholarship can participate for $499 or $249, depending if participants want to keep “digital backpack” equipment following the workshop. Selected participants are required to attend all three days of the workshop training, which will be held from 8:30 am to 5:00 pm. Participants will also be expected to facilitate at least one student-created digital storytelling project in the six months following the workshop.

The online registration form link is:

https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?hl=en_US&formkey=dHQxSlowZnhlSHBaQVItb1VuX1lIZmc6MA#gid=0
or
http://tinyurl.com/storychasers11

This workshop will be led by Dawn Danker, a certified Storychasers lead facilitator and the CIO of Yukon Public Schools, and Dr. Susan Stansberry of Oklahoma State University’s College of Education. If you have questions about the workshop, please contact Wesley Fryer, Executive Director of Storychasers by phone, email or Twitter.

(888) 384-5953
wesfryer@pobox.com
@wfryer

A 1 page PDF flyer about this workshop opportunity is also available. Please forward and share this information with other Oklahoma educators. Past participants in Celebrate Oklahoma Voices (COV) workshops are NOT eligible to attend this special workshop on scholarship, but may pay to attend. Anyone is welcome to join our Celebrate Oklahoma Voices online learning community, which now has over 900 videos created by Oklahoma teachers and students:
http://lc.celebrateoklahoma.us/video

Videos and membership on our learning community websites are moderated by Storychaser project facilitators. More information is also available about hosting a Storychasers digital storytelling workshop for your school or in your area, in Oklahoma or other locations:
http://storychasers.org/faq/