It is on this page that we will share our "less than spectacular" attempts to Innovate Wildly
FaceTime Falls Flat On It's Face
After my success with PowToons, I was ready to conquer the tech world, or at least the tiny piece I understand. I was traveling to North Carolina to visit my daughter and would miss a day of school. Instead of leaving the teaching in the hands of my very able sub, I was determined to teach "on location" from East Carolina University. Ski and I met, brainstormed, developed action plans and I tested the system with Nick Brouwer, my sub. I was so excited to "broadcast live" from the football stadium.
The day before, my husband and I took our devices to campus and tried to FaceTime. Started at the athletic complex . . .no signal. O.K. time to move on to the main campus . . .try again . . .calls failed. Well, there's always the WIFI in the hotel. I will not be deterred from teaching remotely.
Monday morning rolled around, I went through my lesson as I ran on the hotel treadmill. I was ready. I found a scenic location in the courtyard of the hotel and invited Nick for our "Google Hangout". SUCCESS . . . we confirm my call in time and I'm ready. Then, the rain drops start . . .this will not deter me. 8:10 a.m. - it's showtime. The call is placed, the connect made, the computer monitor is turned, I see my students. SUCCESS I'm ready to teach. Until, the call fails, and my face is frozen on the screen in rm. 5 at JJHS. After repeated attempts, I concede that technology has won and this innovate wildly attempt has failed. And my poor students all have the frozen image of my face embedded in their minds forever. Poor Kids.
Submitted by Judy Williams, Counselor and Teacher at Jenison Junior High, October 1, 2014
Our 1st Epic Failure Submission
Graduation night and I believe myself to be ready. I have practiced, prepared, failed, and succeeded flying the DJI phantom quadcopter capturing unbelievable video and photos for yearbook use. For example: Dr. Graham going in the dunk tank...on video and screen captured; JJHS 'Be Nice' campaign, they had a much cooler helicopter take their pictures, yet my confidence in my footage was building; PE tennis doubles matches...video so close you could see nose hairs. I was ready. So as the JHS faculty funneled through the tree lined path leading to our football stadium I went through my checks, turned on and activated the camera, and hovered. I hovered for minutes, actually 12 minutes, but with 3 batteries, I knew I had great footage of the staff and plenty of power for the now proceeding graduation class. I plopped in a fresh battery, activated the camera again, and up the copter went. Hovering again for minutes. A raucous group in the middle brought a smile to my face. "This is going to be perfect." Smiles, students engaging and having fun with the copter, and loud excitement bellowed from the group as they made their way onto the track.
Up early. Really couldn't sleep because I wanted to see the footage and begin sharing those photos and videos with the class of 2014 and their parents. 5:30am, computer is turned on and the memory card placed. "Really? Really. Are you kidding me?" (not accurate or my real words) With 64GB of space to use, my memory card only contained 8 pictures, no video. 8 still images of the grass. 8 images the camera sees before the copter takes off. Unbelievable, and yes an epic failure - some knucklehead accidentally change the camera setting to single shot- me. Not one piece of useable footage. Not one face. Just a great picture of a well manicured practice football field and its many blades of grass and thatch.
Submitted by Chris Formsma, Senior High Language Arts Teacher, August 28, 2014