Awesome Sauce - Josh Stock

Скачать книгу

will fail.

      At some point in your video creation you will have issues. It won’t be perfect. Things won’t go exactly as planned. Your video will disappear, you’ll stutter or mispronounce a word, or the school bell will interrupt an otherwise flawless recording.

      Video creation is messy. Embrace it. Own it. I spent years talking myself out of some awesome ideas because I was afraid they wouldn’t work. I would have an epiphany while on a walk or doing the dishes or taking a shower. Then I would sit down to plan out the next steps to make the creation a reality, and the doubt would creep in.

      My biggest failure wasn’t creating a messed-up video. It was being afraid to create anything in the first place.

      Years ago, I created my very first video for my students. I spent hours meticulously recording and rerecording every second of footage for a short three-minute video. I thought the end result was great—until I showed it to students. As I watched it, I noticed a couple of “ummms” and a mistimed transition. All that work and there were still things that weren’t perfect. That’s when I decided not to worry so much.

      Students love the mistakes. They love to see that you are human and struggle through things just like they do. I never knew the power of this connection until the time I received my first AirDropped image … of my face. I had sent out the daily announcement video on Google Classroom for students to watch before tackling the day’s assignment. Ten minutes into the activity, a student AirDropped a screenshot from the video. In it, I was making the goofiest, weirdest face imaginable. Keep in mind that this was completely unintentional (sometimes I do goofy faces on purpose). It was hilarious, so I included it on my daily agenda the next day. For the next two weeks I had students poring through my videos trying to capture the goofiest Mr. Stock face.

      In moments like this, you have two options. You can get frustrated and embarrassed that you sometimes look goofy when you make videos, or you can own it and use it to your advantage. The students didn’t realize that while they were trying to find the screenshot gems in my videos, they were actually watching and rewatching my videos, engaged in learning the material.

      You will fail. But you will bounce back from it. Continue moving forward and you will create something epic. You will create the Awesome Sauce—an epic video that keeps your students engaging with and mastering the content.

      

       Setting the Table

      Putting Together THE AWESOME SAUCE

      I just finished my tenth year of teaching. Over that time, I’ve read hundreds of articles and books about teaching. I love learning new tools and tricks for the latest apps. I love being inspired to work with the most challenging students and encouraging them to carpe diem. I love the opportunity to explore new areas to grow. Some of the things I have read have been amazing and some not quite what I was looking for. The world of educational texts is overloaded with different genres, categories, and subcategories. However, it seems to boil down to two main approaches: the why and the how-to.

      The why books are those educational books meant to inspire you to action, the books that send tingles down your spine and motivate you to be a better teacher. The why books are the keynote presentations of the educational world. They get you hyped up and ready to take on any challenge. A great why book makes you feel something and gets you ready to go and do something.

      How-to books, on the other hand, give you real-world, step-by-step instructions for implementing a strategy or technology. A great how-to guides you through all the minute details that can help make implementation a resounding success. When you are ready to dive deep and get things going in your classroom, these are the books that get you jump-started. A great how-to book is like a great session you might attend at a conference: it tells you how to do something amazing in the classroom, laying the groundwork for the nuts-and-bolts systems that enable initiatives to roll out successfully.

      Most books have some elements of both why and how-to , but ultimately they lean toward one end of the spectrum or the other. Each one has its merits and can help teachers move to the next level of awesomeness. An effective why book gets you so hyped up or emotionally invested that you want to move mountains to try to get things done—but a poor one will leave you with nothing but a scenic view. (I’ve finished the last page of many why books and had to ask myself, “Now what?”) A great how-to book can provide the fundamental elements needed to go into your classroom the next day and implement something right away. However, how-to books can sometimes come across as sterile, with nothing that drives you to complete the steps they recommend.

      Both types of books have a place in my tool box, and I find myself leaning more toward one or the other depending on my needs. Sometimes I want that reminder of why I do what I do, and other times I’m already hyped up and need a great set of action steps.

      This book is intended to be a combination of why and how-to . Each chapter begins with the story of why I use the strategy. I want you to know why I bother putting effort into these activities. It requires a lot of work to try something new. I want you to see what you’ll get out of trying the strategy. Along with each chapter is a set of how-to recipes to show you how to actually create the Awesome Sauce that your videos will become.

      I hope that offering you the why and the how-to will help you create your own epic, Awesome Sauce videos!

      Several years ago, Amber Rowland, a mentor of mine, encouraged me to share the cool things happening in my classroom with others. She brought me to my first ISTE conference as a co-presenter and encouraged me to present on my own at local conferences. When I was first starting out, she told me my videos were Awesome Sauce and that I needed to share them. I took that encouragement and started presenting about my Awesome Sauce videos at the Mid-America Association for Computers in Education conference (an ISTE affiliate).

      Awesome Sauce is such a versatile phrase. It can serve various purposes: “You really brought the Awesome Sauce to that essay.” “That was an Awesome Sauce presentation.” “Bobby D’s has the best Awesome Sauce for my BBQ sandwich.” (That last one is just a reminder that I always bring the Awesome Sauce to my dad jokes.)

      “Awesome” is a staple of my vocabulary. It is the foundation of my video catchphrase—I wrap up every video by telling my students to “Book it forward and be awesome!”—so it made sense to make it the foundation of this book, too.

      Bringing the Awesome Sauce is different for everyone. The beauty of video creation, like any other art form, is in the ability of the creator to infuse it with personality. The Awesome Sauce is that piece of YOU that you bring to the video: the creative spin, the nerdy hook that permeates your recordings. It is the reason your videos will be different from every other video created about your topic.

      Awesome Sauce is a reminder to make every idea in this book your own. You know your students. You know your personality. You know the distinct thing that makes your classroom the highlight of a kid’s day. If you can bring that into your videos, you will create something epic.

      The goal of this book is to showcase a variety of ways to create Awesome Sauce videos in the classroom, regardless of what your tech skills are. I believe anyone with a smartphone, tablet, or any other recording device can create amazing videos for students. With a little creativity, even the most basic setups can yield great results.

      The internet is littered with new technology elements that can spice up what you do, but don’t let those distract or deter you from creating something epic. As you create, you will pick up tools and tricks along the way to improve and grow as a filmmaker. Watch plenty

Скачать книгу