(picture credit: Ana Wilson)
This morning I had high expectations! Our district has gone GAFE! Yay! I have been a fan of Google for a long time, and was ready to gain access for our students because of the endless possibilities.
My principal approached me about trying a Google OnAir Hangout to broadcast our morning announcements. I have used OnAir Hangouts many times before when I've worked with authors "in" the library virtually, so this idea didn't scare me. I was really excited. I did a test run with the instructional techs for our district and it ran smoothly. I created the event and sent out the link for teachers to be able to watch it live in their classrooms.
The kiddos and I headed to the office to do something that had never been done before. I'm not afraid to try new things, but get that "butterflies in the stomach" feeling before I do something for the first time. I had done an early morning training, so one of our tech's was still in the building to provide support if needed. The kiddos had their notecards, and were ready to begin.
I started the event and all seemed to be going along fine...until it wasn't. At about 1:33 in to the announcements, my Chrome Book went to sleep. I was so proud of the kiddos. They noticed something was wrong, but continued on like real troopers. I also didn't burst into tears because this morning didn't go quite as I had planned for it to go. When the event ended, staff reported that they couldn't view it live because they couldn't turn off "safe mode" in YouTube.
Was it perfect? Nope. Would I do it again? Yup, we are scheduled to do it again next Friday. :) Between now and then we will come up with a plan to make it go a lot smoother.
We live in a culture of error. It is OK to fail. In a way I’m glad it wasn’t PERFECT the first time through. We keep telling kids IT IS OK TO MAKE MISTAKES, but what are we really telling them if we never make a mistake in front of them? Kids need to see adults fall down and GET BACK UP. This will not be a “one an done” experience for Tibbott School. We are going to learn from what didn’t go right today, and make it better. Someday other schools in the district are going to be asking me “how did you do that?” and I will be able to provide a “how to” guide for them. A few years ago, I heard Kevin Honeycutt speak (such an inspirational speaker-- if you aren't following him on Twitter, you should be!!!). I have taken something he said to heart, “Don’t wait for perfect, PERFECT destroys more dreams than failure ever will.” I will continue to dream and TRY new things.
I loved that our college bound word of the day was COURAGE. I was courageous today, and I will be courageous next Friday when we try it again. There will be bumps on the road, but each time we head out on that highway, it will get a lot smoother.
If you would like to see my F.A.I.L (first attempt in learning) using OnAir Hangouts to broadcast morning announcements, click on the link below:
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