TEL.A.VISION | It's Your Story

Digital Story Telling with Homeless Students

Posted on 02. Jan, 2010 by Ringmaster in All Posts, Power of Vision, TEL.A.VISION Stories

Lanise Block enjoyed using TEL.A.VISION in her classroom and decided to use it in a “Digital Story Telling” project with the homeless. She was surprised by how well the project was accepted by her students.

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.“

Native American Alaskans Make Transitions With TEL.A.VISION

Posted on 28. Dec, 2009 by Ringmaster in All Posts

Dustin Madden is a teacher at Bartlett High School in Alaska where he strives to teach Alaska Native students in a culturally responsive way. Dustin is excited to learn new ways to help students. One new way became apparent when he learned how to use TEL.A.VISION, web-based software that is designed to help students clarify their personal goals.

Dustin states, “I decided on this project for myself because I felt that the students in my Transitions class would really benefit by doing a project that encouraged them to reflect on how they want to live their lives.” This Transitions class is designed to help the Alaska Native / American Indian students that are currently going through a “transition” in their lives. From class discussions it seemed that many of these students felt uprooted.

Dustin believed that “by helping them to clarify their goals, it would help to think about the life they personally wanted to live, and to start working towards that ideal.” Using this Tel.A.Vision website, students used media tools included text, music/audio, video, and special effects to create a vision of their future, writing down their goals as if they have already happened.

“The benefit of the Tel-A-Vision software is that it the basics can be learned relatively quickly,” says Madden, “Using excellent built-in tutorials, a large number of stock photos, music, and video effects. This allows students to focus more on the “meat” of the project- their vision for their future. The projects turned out so well that Dustin took his class to the Alaska Native Charter School across the bridge from Bartlett and had them present to elementary students.“

TEL.A.VISION Launches New Curriculum and New Site License Program To Include At-Risk and Special Education Programs

Posted on 15. Dec, 2009 by Ringmaster in All Posts, TEL.A.VISION News

Students Demonstrate Deeper Engagement with School Because of TEL.A.VISION

MINNEAPOLIS (December 15, 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 the launch of their new curriculum and new site license program.
Realizing that the greatest benefit of TEL.A.VISION is with our most vulnerable students, TEL.A.VISION has relaunched its curriculum with a focus on Special Ed and At Risk students.

The United States dropout rate is 30% per year. Many of these students are not engaged in thinking about their future, they drop out because they feel no hope. With TEL.A.VISION they feel more optimistic about their future, more hopeful, more engaged and have more reason to stay in school.

TEL.A.VISION’s new Site License Program is designed to be purchased for Special Education students. Schools purchase a yearly subscription for each Special Education student and that also includes group accounts for all other classrooms at no additional charge. This New Site License Program was designed to help schools and districts decrease the dropout rate for these vulnerable students while also promoting academic achievement in every classroom. This convenient, low-cost, license purchase covers all student, teacher and administrator use at a school. The site license includes a curriculum guide, lesson plans, and on-line media so each lesson can be taught with a computer and projector or/and an interactive whiteboard.

The extensive curriculum for Special Education and At Risk students was created under the direction of Dr. Christy Chambers, past president of CASE (Council of Administrators of Special Education) and past superintendent of Special Education District of McHenry County, Woodstock, IL. This new curriculum will decrease the number of Special Education and At Risk dropouts by providing that students  tools to create a new way of thinking positively about their futures by giving them more hope and more social and emotional support.

“We are seeing increased use of TEL.A.VISION in several of our schools, elementary and secondary and an interest in using it by other schools in our district,” stated Mike Dronen District Technology Coordinator at Stillwater Area Public Schools. “When one firsts look at TEL.A.VISION, it may not seem particularly significant, but once you see students working with it and showing their TEL.A.VISION videos, the possibilities for impacting students are amazing.”

“TEL.A.VISION wants to ensure that all students, including our most vulnerable students, have the opportunity to feel valued and to stay in school. I believe that we have a vision deficit in the world and that everything starts with vision. Our students need to envision graduating from high school,” stated George Johnson of TEL.A.VISION. “TEL.A.VISION is a cost effective way to keep students engaged in school. Our thoughts matter. And students using TEL.A.VISION are focusing their thoughts on their desired future. We have found that hope breeds success and TEL.A.VISION definitely offers hope to our students.”

About TEL.A.VISION

TEL.A.VISION was created by former Special Education teacher turned entrepreneur, George Johnson. TEL.A.VISION is a Web 2.0 online curriculum that inspires youth to create and share visions of hope and possibility through personal “vision videos”.  The TEL.A.VISION technology platform was designed for all youth, but the focus is the Special Education and At Risk student.
For more information, or to create and share a vision for a better world, visit www.telavision.tv

Summer Update From TEL.A.VISION

Posted on 26. Sep, 2009 by Ringmaster in All Posts, How to Help!, Supporters

Dear Friends,

This past three weeks, with the start of school, we had a record number of new accounts and over a 1000 new TEL.A.VISION  videos created. We have had a very busy summer preparing for the new school year. We will shortly be introducing new school pricing that will allow schools to buy TEL.A.VISION for a classroom, school or district without using a credit card.

We have realized one of the best uses for TEL.A.VISION is in Special Education. We are just finishing a new Special Education Curriculum, written by Special Education teachers from McHenry County, Illinois under the direction of Dr. Christy Chambers. The curriculum will show Special Education teachers many ways to use TEL.A. VISION in the classroom including using it as part of a student’s Individual Education Plan (IEP). We have been accepted to speak at next years Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) conference.

We are just finishing an agreement with Best Buy for a contest on their @15 web site, www.at15.com. The contest will start in January and build on their research on empowering youth. There will be winners for an individual video and classroom project. The winners will show their work at the ISTE/NECC Conference in Denver in June 2010.

We have been accepted to give a presentation at the TIES Conference and will be working with TIES to offer special pricing to their member schools.

We have received a donation that will allow us to take TEL.A.VISION to the 155 students at the Dunwoody Academy in Minneapolis. We had planned to introduce TEL.A.VISION into all Minneapolis Schools this fall but because of budget cuts are now looking for donations to help make this happen.

We are in the process hiring a telemarketer to call on School Principals and Special Education staff. The position would be working from home and include salary and bonus. If you know of anyone with sales experience that you think might be interested please have them contact me, george@telavision.tv.

If you have any questions or comments please feel free to contact me.

TEL.A.VISION Featured on B2E News Alert

Posted on 12. Jul, 2009 by Ringmaster in All Posts, Media, Power of Vision, TEL.A.VISION News

We visited with Anne Wujcik at the National Educational Computer Conference in Washington DC. Anne is, among other things, the Editor of B2E News Alert, Business Education Intelligence from QED and the Heller Report.

Anne Wujcik —Friday, July 10, 2009

George Johnson, founder and CEO of TEL·A·VISION, is a man on a mission. TEL·A·VISION ‘s mission is to inspire youth to identify and express their unique gifts in service of a better world for all. It does this by providing tools that make it very easy for anyone to create a Vision Video.

The technology is powered by One True Media, a TEL·A·VISION partner and maker of online software that allows people to easily create and share video montages. The vision comes from the hearts and souls of students who use their videos to share their passion, explores the possibilities or frame their dreams.

The TEL·A·VISION web site features six tutorials that walk the user through the process of creating a Vision Video. There is a complete Curriculum Guide to help teachers or adult mentors lead students through the Vision process from start to finish, supported by video tutorials that explain the process of each unit. As George shared some of the Vision Videos with me and talked about the students who had created them, I could see how powerful this tool could be, not only for goal setting and developing communication and technology skills, but for helping educators learn more about their students.

TEL·A·VISION is a technology platform for everyone (I could see myself using this tool, though I have resisted manipulating video and even photos, to date), but its focus is the special ed and at-risk student. George talks about special education teachers who use their students’ videos to help regular classroom teachers see beyond the students’ particular problems to their potential. TEL·A·VISION offers teachers new insights into students’ goals, values and dreams, opening the door to enhanced communication and a better understanding of their needs and how to help them succeed. Check out a few student example videos at http://telavision.tv/student-examples

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.

Read the entire District Administration article here

Big News From TEL.A.VISION

Posted on 05. Jun, 2009 by Ringmaster in All Posts, Media, Social Media and Vision, Supporters, TEL.A.VISION Stories, Web 2.0

5th Graders at Clear Springs Elementary on Parents Night

The BIG news is that TEL.A.VISION  is becoming a non profit. Actually, it has always been a not for profit but we are just making it official. This will allow us to seek funds from foundations and individuals. I know that we will probably be rejected 10 times before we find someone willing to help fund us so if you know any organization or individual willing to be one of the first to talk to us let us know.

It’s hard to believe we launched only 8 months ago. In that time our partner Haberman has done a great job of getting us in all of the local press as well as the Christian Science Monitor. We had a successful TEL.A.VISION Day with a 24 hour broadcast of TEL.A.VISION videos on the Internet ( Thank you Steve). In May we did our first NYC press tour and from that will be covered in a 4 page spread in District Administration (Thank you Sue), a feature in Family Circle and have been told we will be in Scholastic and Time For Kids.

We have some exciting partnerships we are  working on.

1. Having 6th, 9th and 12th graders in the Minneapolis Schools create vision videos as part of graduation requirements,
2. Working with TIES Education,
3. Partnering with Youth Services of America to create Service Learning videos,
4. Working with The Discipline of Peace and Culture of Peace Initiative to create Peace videos,
5. Discussions with SEARCH Institute and Templeton Press on creating a Vision Curriculum with Dr. Benson’s New book “Vision“
6. An invitation to visit the staff of the Fetzer Institute.

While all of this holds great potential the most rewarding work has been to see the difference TEL.A.VISION  is having on youth. Three projects stand out.

1. Working with the Divas of North Minneapolis. The Star Tribune did a nice article on them.
2. Spending a day at Angelo Patri Middle School in the Bronx with 18 young people creating a new vision for their school ( The video is below). Their Vide Principal cried when she say it.
3. Parent night at a Clear Springs Elementary in Minnetonka, where 75 people showed up to view amazing videos created by 5th graders .

We’ve started a new contest called “100 words for $100“. Tell us how you have used TEL.A.VISION and win a chance for $100.

Thank you all for your support of TEL.A.VISION. If you would like to receive regular updates on TEL.A.VISION sign up in the upper right hand corner.

Teachers Driving Web 2.0 Use in Schools Says National Research Survey

Posted on 30. May, 2009 by Ringmaster in All Posts, How to Help!, Web 2.0

While many stakeholders are involved in developing policies on the use of Web 2.0 technologies in K-12 education, new research suggests that teachers are the most important group driving adoption. This is a finding of a recent commissioned by Lightspeed Systems and Thinkronize Inc.

There is a persistent gap between how today’s “digital” kids learn in school and how they work and interact outside of school, a trend that underscores the critical need for districts to keep pace with technological advances and adapt to students’ learning needs.

“The research indicates that the movement toward Web 2.0 use to engage students and address individual learning needs is largely being driven in districts from the bottom up – starting with teachers and students,” said Dr. Jay Sivin-Kachala, vice president and lead researcher for IESD. “Furthermore, the results show that many districts are using or planning to use Web 2.0 tools in teacher professional development, which suggests that teachers will become increasingly comfortable with these technologies and better able to teach students how to use them safely and productively.”

Other key results of the survey include:

* The three most frequently cited reasons for adopting Web 2.0 technologies are: addressing students’ individual learning needs, engaging student interest, and increasing students’ options for access to teaching and learning.

* Online communications with parents and students (e.g., teacher blogs) and digital multimedia resources are the Internet technologies most widely used by teachers, and a majority of districts have plans for adopting these technologies or promoting their use.

These results reinforce what we have found with TEL.A.VISION. Teachers find that TEL.A.VISION is a technology that addresses student’s individual learning needs, engages student interest and teaches them about digital multimedia resources.

The full survey is available here.

TEL.A.VISION Video Leads to Minnesota Student Service Award

Posted on 14. May, 2009 by Ringmaster in All Posts, TEL.A.VISION Stories, Vision Videos

When Heather Palmer, a teacher at Valley View Elementary School in Edina Minnesota, wanted to do a service learning project with her sixth grade class she first turned to the curriculum developed by the 6 Billion Paths to Peace Project. 6 Billion Paths to Peace is an effort to inspire people to focus on our interconnectedness and reflect upon the individual contributions that each of us are making to a more harmonious world.

Heather teaches in a French Immersion class and wanted the students to have a way to practice their French, while considering what they will do in their lives to bring about Peace.

To bring this all together she had the students develop a TEL.A.VISION video, where each student wrote their statement in French and in English and added a photo to their words.

Here is a look at their prize winning video: