And we have a winnah!

Wow. I am so happy that one of our videos was voted to win in the 1st annual School Library Journal "Trailee" awards. As you may know, I believe in using video as a learning tool and it's alwys nice to see this process recognized by others. Our kids work hard when they get their "moment in the sun" and our student that won for her "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus" video is very deserving of the recognition. I love that so many of our kids are succeeding. It's not just the same ones or the most talented all the time. We give as many kids as possible the chance to shine and you know what? The great majority of the time they do! SLJ WINNERS

Success breeds success...

Wow. After starting a daily news broadcast last year I wondered how this year was going to go. We only have K-4th at our school so the 4th graders are the leaders on campus and make up the News Crew. Last year I had 3 crews with 5 in each crew. They rotated weekly since they had to come in early each morning to tape the news. So anyway, we put out the audition notice this year. 66 applications came in. 66! There are only 110 kids in the grade level! So I have to decide through audition and application which kids to take. I'm no stranger to this but it's always difficult to make these decisions. I don't always make my decisions based on talent alone, sometimes I base them on need. Who would really benefit from this activity? Not only that but I also have to cast our musical this week. My wife and I are directing "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown" with our intermediate school so some of our former students can continue performing. We have 30 kids signed up for that. We are going to try to give them all an opportunity. Success is great but it sure leads to hard decisions down the line. Wish me luck!

Amazon Commercial

Last summer Amazon has a "contest" for Amazon users to come up with a commercial for their company. Although they advertised it as a amateur competition, of course it wasn't. The winners (you've seen the stop motion Kindle commercials)were professional producers. Oh well...Amazon got some great talent for a bargain and it doesn't stop me from buying there. Here is the commercial I entered. It's a homage to 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Amazon .com entry. The Dawn of Shopping from Doug Valentine on Vimeo.

eInstruction $30,000 makeover winner!

My wife and I collaborated with her 3rd graders to create a video for the eInstruction video makeover contest. We found out this week that we are the winners of the grand prize. Besides the new technology we will get $1,000 to spend on supplies and a party for our entire school!
WE USE TECHNOLOGY

New Video contest

This is a movie poster I created for a new video contest i'm entering. It's a real different contest for me because it requires a "horror" movie. Mine is more along the lines of light Sci-fi but it has been a great learning experience. The plot involves a man who has problems and then receives the power to get rid of them. Unfortunately the power doesn't change what he is inside.. I'll post a link as soon as it is done.