Tim+Bailey


 * My challenge**: I set myself the challenge of using my new Kodak minicamcorder and iMovie to create a little film entitled How Not To Behave.


 * Description of the challenge and link**: This is a silly film I made for a Web 2.0 project and some iMovie experience. I suppose you could call it "How not to Teach" as well, but my best defense is to claim it's an indictment of standardized testing's pitfalls and is clearly ironic and satirical. Right? The bigger idea is to give some of my incoming students the link and have them respond about the common troublesome behaviors that stop the business of learning. By approaching the issue of decorum in this funny/creative way, I hope that the students can comment on why the behaviors exist and propose ways to reduce counterproductive classroom atmospheres. With comments and maybe even video replies, we can look at ALL the causes of distraction, and establish a forum for discussion of self-respect, appropriate time/place behaviors, and good teaching practice.

YouTube Link: []
 * Personal reflection on the process of developing the challenge, learning and implementing the new technology**: I found out quickly that shooting a script, in small cobbled-together moments of end-of-class time, is extremely difficult. A lot of that has to do with the fact that the participating students were helping me shoot a script called How Not to Behave, and they needed guidance to realize that we needed to behave //correctly// to shoot quickly and effectively. They all thought that shooting this script meant simply acting like a fool. That doesn't work! We need to all coordinate to be successful! Sticking to the script I wrote was a problem for many of the students, but at least they finally figured out that I needed them to misbehave ON MY MARK. Whew!

While I would not consider myself an expert in iMovie just yet, I'm definitely getting a better handle on the tools available to me. My film is hardly an epic--it's barely over one minute, but it took a few hours to edit together. Sound editing is a goal for my next project. Whenever I encountered a computer/technology issue, I was able to go to Apple.com and find a tutorial to help me out.

As far as implementation, I thought I'd turn my colleagues into guinea pigs today and ask them to list the unaceptable classroom behaviors seen in the film. Also, they could comment on why those behaviors are common. Furthermore, some discussion of the teacher's lesson (or lack thereof) would be welcome. What can the teacher do to alleviate issues such as these? What can the students do? What might be appropriate responses to these behaviors?


 * Impact on student learning**: This really has more of a tone-setting objective than a standards-based objective, but of course establishing expectations for behavior, both from the teacher and the students, does impact learning in a major way. In fact, classroom management is a huge business, if I'm to believe all the professional development emails and flyers I receive!

I'm hoping to figure out some way to have my incoming students view the video and begin making comments even before the school year begins at the end of August. Of course, at this point I don't know who those students will be yet, so that has yet to come to fruition. Down the line, I want to be able to use this video as an example of satire, irony, and especially HYPERBOLE, since that is the major comedic device that I use in this piece is hyperbole. Not performing on the MCAS could not possibly lead to a lifetime of unemployment in the parents' basement and a lonely death, could it? Not with MCAS, but those Iowa tests......