Emotional and Credible

For the past five nights I have picked my head up from a pool of drool to stumble into bed before my husband wakes me (again) from the dinning room table with a laptop imprint on my face.   Midterm week may just kill me... why because I assigned a paper and an essay midterm to 60 students and had to have midterm grades in by midnight Wednesday.   I would like to say I had to grade 120 essays and that is why I found myself in this puddle of drool.  Which is in part true (I did not have 120 essays... It was more like 89 - where were the over 31 essays?  I have no idea.... but I know where they are now...in my email).  That is what an F will do for you... You have more papers to grade.


When I read Made to Stick last Friday I had so many ideas of websites and places I wanted to send links to and was excited about posting today.    I was frightened by the Web Video text and resolved to avoid making a web video on my own at all costs... That is not say I wouldn't mind being a part of making a video (whew - since that is our next project) but I do not want to be in charge... there are too many things to mess up.


Well back to the emotional and credible and how can this reading apply to not only my love of media but teaching.   I am attaching a movie I made out of PowerPoint from one of my students memoirs.  I thank her for providing the inspiration as well as the permission to post it.  (which I may take it down after you all have  had a chance to read this post).  


Okay - that proved to not work... need to figure out that as well.


Anyway... the reason I included this video is I think it fits in line with our Ripple of One video.   I wanted to share with the class how powerful 13 slides without any noise can be. And how credible and emotional this video is.  Our of respect for my student I did not include her log - which provides the rationale for each slide and how she develop her memoir of a significant event...This is definitely a significant event.


I read a lot of papers and excuses  (much like the one I provided at the top of the response) that I wonder if they are credible or are they playing on my emotion.   As an English instructor, I have wanted to say "where's the beef?" on so many papers... which is in essence the same thing.  Why are you turning in this poor excuse of a paper (hamburger) and where is the rest of the patty.  


As for this video - it is simple (or direct), unexpected, concrete, credible (see last slide) emotional (I get chills each time) and it tells part of a story.  Not all of her story... but enough to want to help her succeed.  If she had used statistics would her story be more powerful?  I do not think so.  Unfortunately, I have become suspicious of numbers.  


Here is an example.  The high school for our neighborhood offers the most AP courses in our county.  It has the highest average SAT score as well as the strong test scores.  It is a Palmetto Award Winning school.  On paper and with statistics it is an amazing school. Then you turn the page... and 7/10 boys who begin this particular school do not graduate.  Most of them do not complete the 9th grade and fortunately are not in the testing pool to bring down the SAT average.   3/10 girls will be pregnant or have a baby before seventeen (please note I did not say graduating) and the percentage of students graduating from high school with a high school diploma is less than 50%.   How can this be?   As a result... is there ever a statistic that can not be spun to support your cause?   


Even with the Don't Mess with Texas campaign.  While I will agree that the commercial is brilliant... how can we (or Texas) attribute the improved litter condition to the commercial alone?  Are the standing on the highway watching people dangle a bag of trash out the window and then think better of it as they see a "Don't Mess With Texas" billboard?  Are they interviewing them when they have a change of heart or tracking them down when someone does actually liter?   What if something else was happening at that time.  What if McDonalds was giving their meals in cool little boxes and so people decided to keep their trash, because it was in a neat little box?  What if people started recycling their aluminum cans for 5 cents each?  How do you know?  What do the statistics tell us?  Something changed?  But can you say because it is because of one factor or another.


I have digressed too far... Again I am sorry this is so late and hope you will read it.  If nothing else it was good to work through the reading before class today and be fresh for our interview and be ready with questions.   Now I am off to watch sad humane society videos, pitiful Hatti commercials, and the like to determine what they all have in common.   My guess... is the music... to go back to my students presentation... what kind of music would you have with it... and how would it change the message?