How can I tell this story effectively?
Up at 1am the last few days, I thought jet lag would give me some quiet work time in the early hours of the morning, but my young son tends to be wide awake by 3am. But he eats and falls back to sleep. Meanwhile, I continue to brew the coffee and prepare for my poster session at NECC 2008.
During the two-hour exhibit-style presentation, I will join 34 colleagues from different parts of the world in highlighting the global collaborations of students and best practices of Texas teachers. My poster session, GIN ‘n Water, will highlight how our project connects students with real-world problems, curriculum requirements, and four of the standards found in NETS•S. For those of you who can’t attend the session, I’ll feature some of it along with my reflections here.
Currently, I am working out how to tell our story. Here it is in a nutshell.
Service
The students in our Changmu Water Project never set out to solve an access to water issue. This Creativity, Action, Service (CAS – one of the core requirements of our IB Diploma Program) project started out as a community service project for our sister school in Gui’ de. We started out by giving the kind of service that we thought would be most helpful. We taught English classes, built sleeping bunks, and replaced mud walking paths with brick sidewalks. The community leaders thanked us and then asked us if we really wanted to help. We listened and learned what they thought would be most helpful — access to water. We walked out of that meeting with the plans for what we know today as our Changmu Water Project.
GIN Water Project Video from Tod Baker on Vimeo.
Collaboration
To learn about the kind of service that really made a difference, our students learned to listen to the community leaders. They were the people who said that our teaching of English, building beds, and creating sidewalks helped students to learn more, but if we really wanted to make a difference then we should focus on one of the greatest obstacles to effective teaching and learning — access to water. Collaboration with the community leaders elevated our CAS project from a school requirement to a meaningful real-world project. Once we had that relationship established, we extended it by participating in the EARCOS Global Issues Network Conference held earlier this year in Beijing. Here we collaborated with other students throughout the region to learn how to develop meaningful and sustainable service projects.
Four students continue to work on this project that has the potential to directly improve the quality of life for the residents of an entire village. We can only imagine the indirect effects that will extend beyond the village.
NETS•S
This project meets the following standards.
1. Creativity and Innovation
2. Communication and Collaboration
3. Research and Information Fluency
4. Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making
Technology
Collaborative technologies have helped us to move this project forward. Skype has reduced the distance between collaborators in this project to an insignificant factor. We are building a wiki to document our process. Ning has provided a social network for us to store and share ideas. We explored fundraising online. Facebook and Flickr keep participants in touch as well.
How can I tell this story effectively?
This is a new medium for me. I am struggling with how to use the 8′ x 4′ bulletin board, table, and my computer to tell my story effectively. What does my audience expect and want? Unsure, I posted this question on the NECC Ning Network. I received a handful of helpful tips. Link
Now it’s time to gather all the pieces of the story and put them together in way that works with this medium. I am thinking of calling on Comic Life Magiq to get the job done. We’ll see. I’ll play around with it for a few days and see what I can come up with. Has anyone seen Comic Life used this way?
Have you postered at NECC? What was it like?
Jeff, Given the nature of the project could the poster session incorporate an opportunity for the attendees to realise what life without readily available water would be like? A tap (faucet) that does not work? Perhaps even the opportunity to carry two buckets of water on their shoulders?
Cheers, John
You are right, John. Just like we see in the video title shot, the students invited attendees of their GIN Conference presentation to carry two buckets of water over their shoulders. First, we told them our story. Then we invited them to lift the water and carry it a short distance. Finally, we shared with them our proposed solution. As a result of that lifting and carrying, the sore shoulders made that presentation one to remember for a few days at least. I’ll see if I can pull it off at my poster session as well.
Cheers,
Tod
Hi Jeff,
I know what NOT to do after seeing some really bad poster sessions recently. Don’t print out your text filled powerpoint and staple 20 pages on the bulletin board behind you! I like your idea of using Comic Life Magiq. Make your visuals BIG enough to avoid eye strain from a distance…you want them to be eye catching!
John had some great “hands on” activity ideas. You can also add a Buddha Board to your area for creative expression and to get the “flow of ideas” going. It might make people linger to then take in the content of your presentation. You use a bamboo brush with water to paint, which disappears shortly. http://www.buddhaboard.com/bbmain__content.html
Best, Beth
Beth, you reaffirm my notion that people don’t want to stand at a poster session and read about a project. They do want to get the main idea quickly from visuals and key words. If people want the details, then we can talk.
I hadn’t seen the Buddha Board before. I would like to have one.
Thanks Beth.
Tod
Hi Todd
I agree with Beth…make your board very visual and don’t put up A4 pages of text…well not too many anyway. i have done 2 posters at NECC. I do like to feature student work, either in print or digital, but people do not have time to take in too much. have a good handout (always popular!) and great pictures with key words (use your CAS/IBO words for learner profile etc) and be prepared to say the same thing about 200 times.
See you at NECC!
Julie, how many handouts should I prepare?
I should display the CAS/IBO words. Hadn’t thought of that. I don’t want it to be IB specific, but I think many of those words and labels can work in any setting. Good idea.
Thanks and see you in San Antonio.
Tod
Hi Tod
We had 200 handouts last year, and ran out. DON’T get them printed there….$60 for 200 is a bit much!
Julie
New blog post: How can I tell this story effectively? http://www.utechtips.com/?p=760Quote
How can I tell this story effectively? /U Tech Tips/ – Up at 1am the last few days, I thought jet lag would … http://tinyurl.com/6yb8h9Quote
@helenotway i think it doesn’t get much better than Tod Baker’s story that he’s sharing at NECC http://tinyurl.com/6yb8h9Quote
@catspyjamasnz Thanks for the link. Very powerful. http://tinyurl.com/6yb8h9Quote