7th Graders realize ” I Can Make A Difference in the World”
Posted on 28. Dec, 2009 by Ringmaster in All Posts, Power of Vision
Mr Amaral, a Global Concepts teacher, is beginning his third year of bringing TEL.A.VISION to every 7th grader at Oakland Junior High. Here is what he had to say about TEL.A.VISION. “TEL.A.VISION makes my students think about themselves in the world. It helps them think about what they could be. It is an opportunity for them to take control of their lives and realize they can make a difference in the world.”
“I see past students in the hallways almost every day who tell me how cool the vision video assignment was and how they still watch it. One 9th grader told me she watched her video the other day and has decided not to be a lawyer but instead wants to become a teacher.”
Here are what some of Mr. Amaral’s students said in their blog posts:
“I learned I have the capability to do whatever I hope and dream for my life.”
“I was so proud of my telavision!! I encourage others to do this to, it is a great experience.”
“My mom and dad were very proud of me when I did my tel.a.vison project. My Mom’s eyes got a little teary.”
“This was our best homework assignment we did all year.”
“Now that I put it out there for everyone to see my goals and dreams there are more people who are believing me and cheering me on.”
And finally there was the girl who had not completed an assignment all year who completed her TEL.A.VISION. She wrote in her blog,”It’s about time that someone asked us what we think.“
TEL.A.VISION Forms Partnership with Minnesota TIES
Posted on 01. Dec, 2009 by Ringmaster in All Posts, Supporters, TEL.A.VISION News
Alliance Will Benefit TEL.A.VISION, TIES and Their Affiliates
MINNEAPOLIS (December 1, 2009) – TEL.A.VISION, the proven Web 2.0 online curriculum that inspires youth to create and share visions of hope and possibility through personal “vision videos” announced today their partnership with TIES, the Minnesota Education Technology Collaborative that brings together technology and education to create comprehensive, cutting-edge solutions for school administrators, educators and students.
TEL.A.VISION will support TIES’s growth and development by offering preferred services and discounts to TIES members. TIES will promote the benefits and savings of TEL.A.VISION’S curriculum that combines compelling words, images and music to create a vision video of their desired future.
TEL.A.VISION has proven to be successful with all students, but especially those at risk and those receiving special educations services. The program engages students in a meaningful way, allows their voices to be heard, has improved AYP and helps to decrease the dropout rate.
“We have seen what TEL.A.VISION has done for students in Minnesota. We know firsthand that this partnership holds great potential for the districts that we serve,” said Marla Davenport, Co-Director of Learning and Technology. “The TIES and TEL.A.VISION missions speak to increasing the availability of technology and improving learning outcomes for students. Together we can leverage our strengths to further these outcomes.”
“TIES is a leader in providing cutting edge technology and software solutions to schools in Minnesota. Both organizations know that if there ever was a time in history where we quickly need to plant and cultivate seeds of hope, imagination and vision, the time is now,” stated George Johnson of TEL.A.VISION. “We know that TIES is the right partner for us to reach more students that crave the opportunity to build connections to their communities and engage in academics.”
About TIES
TIES was created as Technology Information Education Services in 1967 to provide technology and information resources to school administrators, educators and students. It is now known solely by the acronym TIES. For more information go to: www.ties.k12.mn.us
Vision Videos Empower Students – District Administration
Posted on 12. Jul, 2009 by Ringmaster in All Posts, Media, Power of Vision, TEL.A.VISION News
A new Web-based tool, Tel.A.Vision, inspires young people to dream the possible dream.
By Mary Johnson Patt June 2009
District Administration Magazine, the magazine of School district Management, completed a three page article on TEL.A.VISION in its June/ July NECC issue. Here is an excerpt: 
In early March, as he addressed the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C., President Obama spoke at great length of the reforms he believes will give Americans “a complete and competitive education, from the cradle up through a career.” The proposals he laid out for improving early childhood education, K12 standards and assessments, graduation rates, teacher quality and college funding will be debated for months to come by thousands of school administrators, teachers, parents and politicians. It was the voice of a single teenager, however, that helped drive the president’s messages home that day.
At the end of his speech, Obama quoted Yvonne Boroquez, a California student whose high school class recently made a video exploring the impact of the economic crisis on their dreams of higher education and professional employment.
“It was heartbreaking that a girl so full of promise was so full of worry that she and her class titled their video ‘Is Anybody Listening?’” Obama said. “I am listening. We are listening. America is listening,” the president assured Boroquez and her classmates.
“We have a huge vision deficit in this country,” Johnson explains. “There is so much fear and negativity, especially in the media. I decided to start a movement about bringing more hope and possibility into the world, and to do it by helping kids create little three-minute visions of what they want their life to become.”
Enter Tel.A.Vision. Johnson’s free Web tool gives today’s tech-savvy youth everything they need to create and share “vision videos.” A Tel.A.Vision is essentially a highly personal montage combining a student’s written hopes and dreams with still photographs, music and computer animation—created with tools available online at www.telavision.tv.
Survey: Too many children fear end of Earth
Posted on 24. Apr, 2009 by Ringmaster in All Posts, Power of Vision
One out of three children, ages 6-11 years old, fear that the planet won’t exist when they grow up and more than half believe that the Earth will not be as good a place to live.
That’s according to a new telephone survey of 500 pre-teens commissioned by Habitat Heroes, the first global, social networking web site for young people, and conducted by CARAVAN Opinion Research Corporation.
The survey, conducted April 3-7, comprised 250 males and 250 females 6 to 11 years of age, living in private households in the continental United States.
Minority children worried the most with 75 percent of black children and 65 percent of Hispanic children fearing the planet was going to deteriorate before they grew up.
This is more evidence that TEL.A.VISION is needed to turn our children’s attention to hope vs. fear.
TEL.A.VISION and Minneapolis Public School Graduation Requirements
Posted on 08. Apr, 2009 by Ringmaster in All Posts, Media, TEL.A.VISION News
In a feature story in today’s Southwest Journal, TEL.A.VISION’s new relationship with the Minneapolis Public Schools is explained.
Tel.A.Vision will be incorporated into Minneapolis Public Schools My Life Plan, a post-college planning activity that is required for graduation beginning next school year. Creating a vision video will be one option for seniors to complete the My Life Plan requirements.
For Minneapolis Public School students, the vision videos they create using Tel.A.Vision will focus on post-high school college and career aspirations.
Southwest’s Jastrow said high school seniors would have the option of creating a vision video for their capstone project, the final step in completing My Life Plan. For their capstone project, seniors must produce something — such as an essay or art project — that both reflects on their high school career and also looks ahead to life after high school.
Jastrow said the district’s AchieveMpls coordinators and licensed school counselors recently were trained in using Tel.A.Vision. Several of the adults created their own videos within an hour or so of being introduced to the program, which means Tel.A.Vision should be a snap for today’s tech-savvy kids, she said.
Jastrow said students are drawn to interactive media. And like generations of teens long before the Internet Age, they crave control.
That’s exactly what Tel.A.Vision gives them, she said.
“They’re able to combine music and pictures [with] their thoughts and personality,” Jastrow said. “They can put their stamp on what it will be.
Educators Tout TEL.A.VISION in Today’s StarTribune
Posted on 20. Mar, 2009 by Ringmaster in All Posts, Media, TEL.A.VISION News
“It has had a profound effect on how they [students] treat each other in the hallway,” said Lake Elmo Elementary School principal Andy Fields during an interview with the Minneapolis Star Tribune this week. Fields’ positive feedback is communicated throughout the TEL.A.VISION feature story in today’s Metro section. Additionally, Minneapolis Public Schools counselor Shelly Landry communicates her excitement about the fact that her students will have the opportunity to create TEL.A.VISION videos next fall.
While the story as a whole captures the progress TEL.A.VISION is making across the State of Minnesota, it’s the feedback from those in the field, those who’ve successfully incorporated TEL.A.VISION into their curriculum, that is especially rewarding to read.
Vision and Neuroplasticity
Posted on 06. Mar, 2009 by Steve Borsch in All Posts, Power of Vision
Facing a six hour adventure to get home to Minnesota from New York last year, I stopped in the LaGuardia airport bookstore to see if something caught my fancy and would be an immersive read. The book I chose was Norman Doidge’s The Brain That Changes Itself, and I can’t think of any recent book I’ve read that illustrates the power of TEL.A.VISION better than this one.
Doidge takes us on a journey into the latest developments in brain science which has led to what’s being termed “a revolution” in our understanding that the brain is truly “plastic” which can be molded, shaped, and rewired, “For years the doctrine of neuroscientists has been that the brain is a machine: break a part and you lose that function permanently. But more and more evidence is turning up to show that the brain can rewire itself, even in the face of catastrophic trauma: essentially, the functions of the brain can be strengthened just like a weak muscle.“
There were many aspects of this book that leapt out at me but one key point — specifically within the context of TEL.A.VISION — is that permanently imprinting and creating new neural pathways in the brain (i.e., permanent behavior changes, knowledge permanence, automatic responses and deep, intuitive understandings) only happen when a person is focused, paying close attention and directing ones thoughts.
The discovery of “neuroplasticity,” that our thoughts can change the structure and function of our brains — even in old age — is the most important breakthrough in neuroscience in four centuries.
That’s right. Thought. TEL.A.VISION is a movement that directs, focuses and ensures students are thinking positive thoughts and paying close attention to their dreams as they craft their story and a vision of a future all their own.
Parents React to TEL.A.VISION
Posted on 18. Feb, 2009 by Colleen Matschi in All Posts, Vision Videos
Amidst the excitement of creating their TEL.A.VISION videos, there is also an anticipation to see the work and vision of other students. As part of the program students are required to share their video with their teacher to ensure completion. We suggest that teachers set aside some time for students to share their videos with the class, if they choose to. While many students may be tentative to share at first, by the end of the session, most students are found hoping there is enough time to share their video.
The most common response from students as they watch their peer’s videos is, “Now that I’ve seen other videos I realize I have many more dreams I want to add to my life/video.” By seeing what others see as possible, it becomes possible for them as well.
In addition to sharing with their teacher and class, students are asked to share their TEL.A.VISION videos with their family and friends. Via the website, students are able to send their videos via email, download them to an iPod and share them in multiple other formats. Here are just some of the reactions to the TEL.A.VISION videos we heard:
- “My parents liked seeing my hopes and dreams and my Grandma started to bawl”
- “My mom told me that she never knew some of the dreams that I had”
- “After I showed my dad my video, I felt like a movie producer and I wanted to show everyone”
- “My family was amazed at how much thought I had given to my future”
- “I hope everyone shows their parents their video so parents can get to know their kids better.”
Upon completion of the first class to participate in TEL.A.VISION, we celebrated by putting on a “Movie Night,” where every student and their parents were invited to watch each student’s TEL.A.VISION video, while enjoying popcorn, of course. See the video below for the parents’, teachers and kids responses to TEL.A.VISION.
Does TEL.A.VISION make a difference?
Posted on 17. Feb, 2009 by Colleen Matschi in All Posts, Power of Vision, Vision Videos
A fifth-grade teacher looks at TEL.A.VISION and sees a fantastic tool that kids will enjoy using, but will ask themselves, “will this tool make a difference?” A teacher is looking for tools and methods that will improve performance outcomes, accelerate academic achievement and instill student success. These are some of the key factors that school districts measure as part of their success in educating our children.
As TEL.A.VISION works with students, we ask them, “What have you learned from the TEL.A.VISION curriculum, program and process?” Here’s a small snapshot of what they’ve told us. So – decide for yourself…Does TEL.A.VISION make a difference?
- “I have the capability and can be anything I want to be and do anything I want to do in my future.”
- “I realized that I care more about global issues in life than I thought I did.”
- “TEL.A.VISION helped me set real goals for my life & everyday helps me reach my goals.”
- “I didn’t know what my dreams were until I did this assignment, now I know what I really want to do when I grow up!!”
- “TEL.A.VISION gives me the courage to say it & do it!”
- “Watching my video, to me, brings me one step closer to who I want to be. By showing people my goals & dreams, there are more people who believe in me & will cheer me on.”
- “Everyone has a vision and their vision is special to them. It’s ok to be different!”
- “I’ll definitely look back at this assignment and see all of the goals I’ve accomplished during my life.”
If you ask a teacher and a student how you know when a program has been successful, you might get different words, but with TEL.A.VISION, you will get the same answer. Yes, definitely yes!
Watch and witness: strong character, self knowledge and a vision of her future – foundations for success!!
A Positive Vision and Its Impact
Posted on 09. Jan, 2009 by Steve Borsch in All Posts, Power of Vision
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