March 2023 Newsletter
A Merry March to you! We have multiple winners of our Creative Storm contest, and are excited to share them with you. There’s more, including a new contest, some very good reads on ChatGPT, a giveaway, great videos, and sessions this week at CUE in Palm Springs. Grab your favorite drink to sip, and enjoy!
Contest Winners
Our judges from near and far voted, and for the first time ever, we have three winners for the Creative Storm ’22 contest! Here they are:
The Incredible Power Of Inferring
Virginia, USA
topic: Literature and Writing
The Wildfire Triangle
California, USA
topic: Inspiration and Creativity
How To Make Music
Taipei, Taiwan
topic: Performing Arts
We’re also launching our new contest, Creative Spark ’23, and would love to get you involved. The (not detailed enough) summary is that in 90 seconds or less, creatively explain something one might encounter in school. As the videos above show, there are a lot of cool ways to share an idea in a video, and we’d love to highlight what you and your students create. Visit the contest pages, or contact us for help avoiding the little challenges that come up preparing students for a video contest.
Questions Answered
Richard Byrne of Free Tech 4 Teachers and I have put out another episode of Two EdTech Guys Take Questions (and Share Cool Stuff). In this one, we answer questions about creating images from slides (that look good) and things to think about when students look up teachers’ social media accounts.
In the cool shares, Richard describes video game editor Construct 3, and Rushton shows a writing/discussion prompt resource related to a story about helping those with challenges go surfing and skateboarding. Have a tissue close by for that one.
You can watch the new episode by clicking here or on the link below.
Good Gigs
This week I’ll be in Palm Springs for the annual CUE conference, sharing messages about ChatGPT, telling the stories of your school, cool and easy ways to get better as a teacher, and using grants to make learning more dynamic.
If you won’t be at the conference and are curious about any of those, just contact me to let me know!
If you will be at the conference, please drop by to say hello. A search for “Rushton” in the program will get you to all my sessions. Quite the help, it can be, to have an unusual name.
Powerful Prompts
The most recent post for the Next Vista Inspiring Video series is called Kickstarting a Business, and is about a young woman who started her own business around karate, which she’s really passionate about.
Like all the posts, it’s more than a pointer to a great video. There are ideas and prompts you can have your students grapple with for their discussions and writing.
You might also take a look at Doughing Good, about a middle schooler making life better for others through baking bread; The Stories of Heroes, about Bessie Coleman, the first Black American woman to earn a pilot’s license; or Symbols and Walking, a piece about the power of a 500-mile walk. We love sharing these!
Super Sips
Would you like to win a $5 Starbucks card? If that sounds good to you, then click on one of the top four links to posts on the NVIV page, watch the featured video, and tell us what you think of the prompts. We welcome your feedback, and hope to give you a little treat as a thanks!
image by Nathan Dumlao from Unsplash (license)
Wildfire Education Grant
We’ve added new prompts for our project Educational Videos for the Science and Prevention of Wildfires, and would love to have your students help others learn about wildfires by interpreting the prompts by sharing cool videos they make. Get the details by reaching out on our Contact Us page. If you’re not in California but curious, just let us know and we’ll find a way to get you involved, too.
image by Tengyart from Unsplash (license)
First Finish
In my part of the world, spring is beginning to suggest itself, and I, for one, am ready for it. Just as spring is about new life, this may be a great time to help your students see new possibilities, either through cool contests and projects like the ones we offer, or by simply letting a struggling student know that you still believe he or she can put something great together, and will keep believing in them. Sometimes, it’s that extra encouragement that helps a kiddo turn a corner.
May you inspire, and be inspired, each and every day.
In service,
Rushton and the Next Vista team
Muchas Freebies
We love sharing cool free stuff, and invite you to help us out. You can find the best of what we’ve gathered over the years on the Next Vista Resources pages, but if there is something free and powerful you love that you don’t find there, let us know about it using our resources submission form.
Images in the freebies section are screenshots from videos or web pages unless otherwise noted.
Worth the Watch
* Maya Angelou’s book, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, is both a celebrated novel for addressing violence and one of the most-banned books in American history. In this TED-Ed animated video, learn why the book was and is controversial. And if you are surprised by how the reader pronounces, “Angelou,” give a listen to this 90-second snippet of the author herself talking about her name in 2014. (5:06)
* Imagine transferring a painting to paper from the water it was painted on, and you are in the realm of ebru, a Turkish style that is as fascinating in its process as it is beautiful in its completion. This Great Big Story piece is told from the point of view of ebru artist Garip Ey. (3:27)
* Achieving excellence is a lot of work, no matter what your focus is. If your focus happens to be archery, and you have no arms, and you’re really, really good, you might be Matt Stutzman. This Iowan’s story is a cool one, and will make you think about the world in new ways. (2:52)
* We at Next Vista have a special affection for innovative thinking. In this video, you’ll hear from visionary designer John Hardy, who is one of the minds behind the deservedly famous Green School in Bali. Hardy’s pitch is about locals, land, and entrepreneurial possibilities. (2:44) (If you haven’t heard of the Green School, take a look here. (7:20))
* When we think of what robots do, we likely assume that they do what they do because they’re programmed to do those things. Question: what if you program a robot to do things by watching a person do those things? Meet the fascinating and possibly frightening work of DLR Robotics. (1:08)
* From mind-bending engineering to mind-bending art, we go. This video uses several quotes from the Greek philosopher Heraclitus as it gets us thinking about the components of images in stunning ways. A thanks to my friend Shags, who suggested this video, titled Out of all things one, and out of one all things. (7:22)
* We’ll finish our watches with a challenge: what do you think the loudest sound ever recorded was? In this piece from Great Big Story, you’ll find out, but try discussing it first. You’ll learn some cool physics about decibel levels on your way to the answer. (2:02)
Worth the Read
* Psychology professor Daniel Willingham is interviewed in this Edutopia piece on the topic of Why Studying Is So Hard, and What Teachers Can Do to Help. You’ll get some solid ideas on exactly what the title says.
In another Edutopia post, Geoff Richman shares ideas on using ChatGPT with secondary students. A thanks to my friend Tom Sullivan for suggesting this article.
We’ll stay with the subject of ChatGPT, and I’ll recommend two high-level reads for your professional discussions about the changed world brought about by generative AI. The first is a summary editorial of where we are at the moment with the challenges and opportunities of ChatGPT. It’s an excellent paper by Torrey Trust, Jeromie Whalen, and Chrystalla Mouza in the CITE Journal, and includes thoughts on ChatGPT and teacher education.
The second is a passionate and intellectually excellent dismissal of GPTZero and other tools that purport to identify whether a given passage was written by an AI. The author, Whitney Gegg-Harrison of the University of Rochester, covers the profound weakness of applying these tools to our work, and the harm they can do to some students.
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Last Bit
Decades ago in Ms Sherman’s senior English class, we were tasked with writing a research paper and learned what seemed to be every last detail of how to write such a thing. Well before ChatGPT, this was. My paper was on the Great Pyramid of Giza, and in honor of both Ms Sherman and this particular item from my bucket list for travel, I share this gem from 2H Media.
photo by 2H Media
from Unsplash
(license)
See you next month!
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