Pockets of Excellence

I was totally inspired by this video clip last night:

What really moved me in this video was not just the enthusiasm displayed by the students but how amazing it was that when the school ALL pulled together, they made an amazing piece of work. Now I know that not everyone in the school did this, but it was a large amount of the students and it must have taken a tremendous amount of time and organization to pull this together.

Put this same video together with only one class and it would not be as impressive. Their is a real feeling of teamwork and camaraderie that this video exudes. This is not just a “gifted teacher” containing their strengths inside a “pocket of excellence”. This is collaboration at its finest and surely has many stepping up to be leaders and sharing their gifts; that was the only way this could have been done so well.

We need to see more of this in schools. We need to see schools coming together, dependent upon each others strengths, while recognizing the individual contributions that we all make. This creates an extreme bond and sense of community within the school. I am extremely proud to see how my own school community pull together to build our own portfolio project and develop Identity Day (amongst other things). The power of these “whole school” initiatives in extremely powerful , yet take an extreme amount of work and dedication by the entire school. It takes “school teachers” to work with all students to pull these things off successfully, not “classroom” teachers.

These school wide celebrations are just another reason we need to rid our schools of the traditional “award” ceremonies that have happened in the past. We continuously talk about school wide collaboration yet only recognize individual students at the end of the year. Should we not be recognizing everyone for their contributions everyday and maybe sharing the great accomplishments of the entire school at the end of the year?

My questions regarding these school initiatives. How do we make these projects happen more in school? How do we respect the individual gifts and autonomy of teachers while bringing the entire school together in activities such as the one in the video?

http://weemooseus.edublogs.org// Carl

Great video and I agree with the questions that you have raised about the community of learners in schools.
http://www.zecool.com Jacques Cool

Thanks for sharing. Even 2-3 years after the first lipdubs were created (mostly in schools and universities all over), they're still a pleasure to watch, exactly because of the sense of pride that each one displays. As you wrote: "This creates an extreme bond and sense of community within the school". I particularly liked their scenario of welcoming (big time, in this case) a new student to the school.

These students are having a great time, one they will cherish always. Somewhere, some school admin and teachers have made it possible for this project to become real. They also are proud of their learning establishment.

A few of my francophone Twitter colleagues and I were just in fact tweeting today about the role of passion, charisma and savoir-faire in learning. Emotions play a vital part in motivation, thus, better enabling (enables, not garantees) learning. Our reptilian brain is there for that. This asset can be used many original ways in learning environments, in order to generate interest and motivation towards the task/subject/project.

BTW, here's another lipdub from down East, in Moncton NB. Notice at the end of the clip, the original signing artist (George Belliveau) is there on stage with them.
http://zecool.com/2010/12/10/lessentiel-est-quelq…

Enjoy!
- George
  
  Thanks for sharing!
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http://www.stumpteacher.blogspot.com Josh Stumpenhorst

George,

Great post about a great video. Who knew that inspiration would come in the form of a Katy Perry song! My first reaction to that video was, "Man, how did they pull that off…and I want to do it too!" Not only is it a great collaborative effort, but it something that will bond those kids together and they will remember for many years to come.

Thanks!

Josh
Mary Beth

This post came at exactly the right time! I just volunteered to take over March is Reading Month, and I was thinking what it's been missing in the past is a unifying activity or event. It totally has inspired me to work with my committee to create something memorable and brings the school community together.
- George
  
  I am glad it could help!
http://avivadunsiger.wikispaces.com Aviva (@grade1)

Wow George! This is amazing. I was actually just thinking about our Identity Day tonight because we'll be presenting about it at next week's Staff Meeting, and that's when I stumbled upon this blog post of yours. Now I feel even more energized about the Identity Day. I can't wait for all of the students to have this "special feeling" that the new student in this video had too. Thanks for inspiring our school to try an Identity Day of our own!

Aviva
http://ilearntechnology.com ktenkely

Love the idea of breaking free from the pockets of excellence and instead giving each student/teacher/person in a school the opportunity to shine. What if instead of award ceremonies, we gave every student the chance to showcase their talent and passion in a way that brings the whole school together…much like your identity day does and much like this video showcases. That would truly be something to celebrate and remember! Who knows where those awards end up anyway?
caroline

awesome. reminds me of http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zcOFN_VBVo&fe… (I am sure you have seen this from Montreal) which was shown to me in a communication management workshop.
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skypingreadingtutor

This video rocks!!! What a wonderful way to inspire kids to be who they are and to accept the things that are happening to them as amazing opportunities for everything to come.
http://www.tlc007.blogspot.com Tim Johnson

I showed this video at our teacher's convention in front of 1200 teachers and received great comments. I threw out a challenge for schools to do their own lip dubs to show at next year's convention. Already received responses. If anything lip dubs bring a school community together and shows pride. I am excited in seeing products by our Southern Alberta schools. Ross Glen teachers in Medicine Hat created a lip dub using "yackity yackity". It was great.
blairpeterson

Kind of makes our new student transition program look traditional and lifeless. Also makes me want to rethink our annual activities fair that we have for students to learn more about our clubs and activities. Thanks for sharing.
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Adrienne r

This was truly amazing!
nesticos

So, as I am sitting here working on grad work for my ED leadership course and scouring your blog for your original post about Identity Day (which is so difficult to find because there are so many about it), I came across this. Of course, the visual tendency in me didn't read the post until after I watched the video, but I had much the same reaction as you. That. Was. Awesome. Thanks for sharing it, here.

This is obviously a US high school and as I sit here, crunching data, pondering the future of our sad state of public education, I watch this and know in my heart that no test can measure this type of collaboration and community. THIS is what school is about. Now, onto to find that original post about Identity Day and whether or not there were any particular events at your school prior that led up to it.
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