The Iowa Hawkeye football team is heading to the Rose Bowl, but their journey to get there was captured by a budding ESPN blogger/reporter.
Here’s the story....
I spent the days prior to the Big 10 Championship game with a colleague, Gina Rogers, at a national conference (so we couldn’t make it to Indianapolis). There was a lot of great learning occurring at the conference, but the story of Gina’s 7 year old, Jack, while we were there got me reflecting the most!
Jack, at the beginning of this year’s Iowa football season, started a blog, Black and Gold Fire. An undefeated season was his prediction and he blogged about it. I remember, in August, Gina sharing with our digital learning team his blog and how excited he was to write about something he was passionate about Hawkeye Football and I also remember a few chuckles with this kid’s undefeated prediction. I was just hoping for a winning record in the Big 10.
With his parents’ support he got this blog started and was writing, but also did a mid-season video breakdown video with his dad, Jonathan. This was fun to follow, but then when we boarded our plane to the conference, Gina shared with me that Jack had landed an interview with Steve Ferenz, player and head coach’s son. So, that night Jack was going to be busy writing his questions and getting ready for the interview about the big game. What an awesome experience for this second grader! The elementary teacher in me started to think about all of the writing standards that were going into this experience and the sports fan in me was just pretty impressed.
Here’s the story....
I spent the days prior to the Big 10 Championship game with a colleague, Gina Rogers, at a national conference (so we couldn’t make it to Indianapolis). There was a lot of great learning occurring at the conference, but the story of Gina’s 7 year old, Jack, while we were there got me reflecting the most!
Jack, at the beginning of this year’s Iowa football season, started a blog, Black and Gold Fire. An undefeated season was his prediction and he blogged about it. I remember, in August, Gina sharing with our digital learning team his blog and how excited he was to write about something he was passionate about Hawkeye Football and I also remember a few chuckles with this kid’s undefeated prediction. I was just hoping for a winning record in the Big 10.
With his parents’ support he got this blog started and was writing, but also did a mid-season video breakdown video with his dad, Jonathan. This was fun to follow, but then when we boarded our plane to the conference, Gina shared with me that Jack had landed an interview with Steve Ferenz, player and head coach’s son. So, that night Jack was going to be busy writing his questions and getting ready for the interview about the big game. What an awesome experience for this second grader! The elementary teacher in me started to think about all of the writing standards that were going into this experience and the sports fan in me was just pretty impressed.
Jack’s interview got shared via social media and it also got picked up by the Cedar Rapids Gazette in Marc Morehouse’s weekly series 3 and Out prior to the championship game. Real people are reading Jack’s writing and watching his interview, not just his teacher or others in his class. When we talk about personalized learning, here is an example. Granted, it does help to have two pretty tech savvy educator parents, but they encouraged him to try something new that he was interested in and learn along the way. That can be done without technology!
5 Things to Think About After Reading Jack’s Story
I challenge educators to tend to the ROSEs of learning (Rich, Open to student choice, Standards addressed, Engaging) and weed out the crap (trees). #GoHawks #Hawkeyes
Thank you to the Jonathan, Gina and Jack for letting me share their story!
~Stacy Behmer, Coordinator of Digital Learning - @sbehmer +StacyBehmer
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5 Things to Think About After Reading Jack’s Story
- What a great way to build a positive digital footprint (with the supervision of an adult).
- Kids don’t just have to have these opportunities in school, but it is nice when they do.
- The learning for Jack was meaningful and applied to something he was interested in and took ownership of, so he probably went deeper and gained more than if it were a cookie cutter assignment.
- Talk about publishing for a real world audience...
- There is a lot of power in social media that can share the what kids are learning and make those connections (even with Iowa football players).
I challenge educators to tend to the ROSEs of learning (Rich, Open to student choice, Standards addressed, Engaging) and weed out the crap (trees). #GoHawks #Hawkeyes
Thank you to the Jonathan, Gina and Jack for letting me share their story!
~Stacy Behmer, Coordinator of Digital Learning - @sbehmer +StacyBehmer
For more posts like this, please subscribe to our blog! You can also connect with us on social media if you Like us on Facebook, Follow us on Twitter or add us to your circles on Google+.
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