Moving at the Speed of Creativity by Wesley Fryer

We’ve Only Just Begun (to share our voices with media in Yukon Schools)

On February 15, 2012, the Yukon Review newspaper shared the following photograph and article about my work this semester as an “innovative instructional coach” for Yukon Public Schools in Oklahoma. I am focused primarily on helping a group of fifteen teachers integrate multimedia into their curriculum as required by the new Common Core State Standards. Among other things, I am using a set of “media map storyboards” (still under construction) to help teachers “map media to their curriculum” following the Common Core standards. Part of our focus is helping students create and safely share media products online in safe, interactive environments.

iPad Video Recording

YPS Embraces 'Common Core' standards

I’m working four days per week with teachers and students in Yukon on a five month contract, funded by federal grant dollars. I am absolutely LOVING the opportunity to work on a sustained basis with fantastic teachers, students, and administrators in Yukon Schools. There are MANY, MANY positive things going on in the district and it’s a great blessing to be able to join their team as an “instructional coach.” One of the projects I’m helping with is a district “learning showcase” website (showcase.yukonps.com) where outstanding examples of student learning are amplified. This website is linked from the “media” option in the Yukon Public Schools’ new iPhone and Android app which was released in January.

The Yukon PS Common Core Aligned Lessons website (lessons.yukonps.com) includes links to resources and tools related to my CCSS integration work in the district. A growing number of teachers are using interactive websites to showcase student work as well as provide moderated, public platforms for students to practice safe digital citizenship. Some teachers in the district are using MyBigCampus (a closed, free educational networking platform provided by Lightspeed Systems) or Edmodo as classroom learning management systems. While both those platforms are wonderful (as well as free) they do not permit the kind of public, INTERACTIVE sharing of student work which sites like Kidblog do.

See the Google Doc of links and notes (Google sign-in required) from today’s REAC3H regional meeting in Yukon (posted on Oklahoma EduShare) for more resources related to CCSS. Links I shared at the end of our meeting are listed at bottom of the document.

Also check out the podcast of the presentation, “Bringing the Community into the Classroom,” shared on the free Fuel for Educational Change Agents podcast channel. I co-presented that breakout session with Ben Grey at TechForum Chicago in May 2011, and many of Ben’s ideas have been inspirational to me in shaping my work this semester in Yukon.

If I had to select a song to summarize where we are with empowering students and teachers to “share their voices with media” this semester in Yukon, it would have to be “We’ve Only Just Begun.” To storychase, that is. 🙂

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