Recap: Mr. Groff Spends the Night on the Roof!

Any good initiative starts from the top and moves its way down through an organization. This is definitely the truth when it comes to Cedar Valley principal, Matt Groff, and the use of technology for educational experiences. In response to the challenge of raising $5000 to grant a wish through Make-A-Wish foundation, Mr. Groff promised to spend the night on the roof of Cedar Valley. The Make-A-Wish Foundation and the counselor team at Cedar Valley did a great PR job and made sure that the local media and higher-level district officials were aware of what was happening at Cedar Valley on the night of December 5, 2012. But Mr. Groff wanted a way to "get students on the roof with him...." When he asked if there were a way to stream live video feed from the roof, I knew we had to make it happen.

As part of his night on the roof, Mr. Groff wanted a way to communicate with directly with students (mostly--but parents, teachers, community members were all present too!) digitally. Using Google Hangouts on Air and YouTube, we were able to stream live video for extended periods of time and then archive those live broadcasts to our YouTube channel 

Mr. Groff and KXAN anchor Ignacio Garcia setting up for the first live news report and the night on the roof.

Observers were able to communicate with him by making comments on the YouTube links. Then, Mr. Groff would address the questions or comments in his video broadcast. The conversation ranged from "How many times did [Mr. Groff] have to go to the restroom?" to what Mr. Groff thought about "printing food off the internet" to whether or not Mr. Groff believed that Johnny Manziel would win the Heisman trophy as a freshman (--his prediction was incorrect, by-the-way!) to promos for the upcoming "Adopt-a-Trail Project" and what Mr. Groff's favorite movie and song are. 

Even Nataly, the WishKid whose wish was granted by Cedar Valley Students, chimed in on the discussion:

"Hi this this is nataly i just wanted to say thank you so much for what your doing and thank you to all the student at cedar valley middle school i am so grateful for what everyone did for me and making my wish come true! Again thank you to everyone from me and my whole family ,god bless everyone! Thank you to all the teachers, faculty, and students,! I cant stop thanking everyone hope everyone has a really great christmas and lots of gifts yall really do deserve it! Thank you!"

In the earlier videos, Mr. Groff petitioned listeners to bring him goodies to see how many people were actually following along. It turned out that many people heard his petitions and showed up during the 8 o'clock hour to pay him a visit, making that broadcast the shortest of the night. 

Making sure the broadcast was running properly.

My favorite comment of the night was "Look, a man on the roof....talking to a laptop!" Although that may have been what it looked like from the ground, many friends of Cedar Valley realize that the man on the roof talking to the laptop was actually connecting on a real level with students in the place where they are comfortable--online.


Some take-aways from this event:

1. Wouldn't it be cool to broadcast your class one day? Teach multiple rooms at the same time to allow for individualized instruction simultaneously? Not lose an instructional day with a sub? Flip your instructional time outside of the classroom?
2. Even principals need to be reminded to help students maintain a safe online identity. Remind students that it's never safe to post your real name, location or email addresses on public forums such as YouTube Comments. Even if an authority figure asks you to do so...tsk, tsk.
3. Once a broadcast has been made, it's in cyberspace and can be manipulated. So, be careful what you post.

Check out some of the other press this event has received:

The KXAN news report:

Round Rock kids make a wish come true

Round Rock Leader Article

Video captured by Cedar Valley parent, Joe Doran

Arial image captured by J. Doran's remote control helicopter.