Sunday is a workday for us. When we do a live YouTube show, it's on Sunday at 2pm. We've been doing this for over 6 years and it's become quite a routine. It has become a blueprint my creative process.
- I think about the lesson plan throughout the week, usually I have an idea of what topic I want to teach by Wednesday.
- On Friday or Saturday Jim creates the YouTube show and I get serious about it.
- I start creating the slides, I learn the details about the topic and start playing with it, coming up with demonstrations.
- Often I write the review questions first. I think of the specific people who are learning from us and I think, "what do I want them to learn this week?" I write the questions that I want them to answer then I back up and create the lessons and the demonstrations that will help them answer those questions. "Begin with the end in mind" is my methodology.
- Learn more about the topic myself - watching lots of YouTube, and reading help articles
- Have an outline by Saturday night
- Use Sunday morning to put finishing touches on.
- HandWrite my "script" with timing notes as 2pm is coming close and piling on the pressure
- Ready at 2
In the process I learn so much, which is really the main goal. I love to teach, but the underlying passion is learning. The best and most thorough way to learn is to teach someone else.
This week's topic had been decided at our last show - Episode 188: 3/29/20. In that episode we taught about how to get old 35mm slides into Google Photos and at the end of the show I promised that our next episode would be how to get pictures from old family photo albums into Google Photos. In the time in between, during this #StayHome time, I was noticing how much I enjoyed having our pictures showing on the big screen TV. We have it set up like a screen saver. So the TV is never off. When we're not watching some show on TV, it is playing our photos. It brings us so much joy. In addition to the living room TV, photos are displayed on the kitchen TV and several smart screens throughout the house as well.
Memories of our travels permeate the house.
That's what I want people to know about! So, I decided on teaching a double topic this week. Getting old family photo albums into Google Photos, AND displaying them on big screen TV with Chromecast. Yes!
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| Our living room TV is always playing our photos. A picture from 3 years ago when our RV broke down - not all memories are good. |
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| This picture of the Grand Canyon was taken just 2 days after the breakdown. One of our favorite memories! |
So, I started getting out my own old albums and going thru the process. I rewatched episode 134 of our show where we taught Google PhotoScan for the first time, so I could remember the finer points. I also rewatched episode 108 where we taught Chromecast a couple years ago. I had to reacquaint myself with how that is set up, because you only do that once, and Jim set it up several years ago. But, really, what I wanted people to know is just that - you only set it up once. From then on all you do is turn the TV on, leave it on the HDMI port and there are your pictures, playing all day long.
By Saturday night I try to have the outline and the review questions done. Then, it's in my brain and I "finish" the plan in my sleep. Honest, I do. It's so important to have the pressure of that LIVE show on Sunday at 2, for me to get it done. This Saturday night, I didn't have the questions done - but I woke up in the middle of the night with the questions in my head and wrote them down using my phone and Google Keep note-taker. Then, if I get up about 8, I still have about 5 hours to put the lesson plan together. The combination of the pressure, and the timing works so well. We may not do a show every week now, but when we do, it's on Sunday at 2. I'm wired for it!
Episode 189 - Review Questions
T/F To take pictures of pictures in albums, you need expensive lights.
The PhotoScan app improves upon a snapshot of an old photo how?
A. Eliminating Glare B. Straightening tilt C. Cropping to the edge of photo D. All of the aboveWith PhotoScan, eliminating glare requires extra steps, you can turn off anti-glare feature by tapping the _________ icon.
When your TV or smart screen is displaying random photos from selected Google Photos albums, that’s called:
⬜ Photo Frames ⬜Screensavers ⬜Ambient mode ⬜SlideshowWhen your TV or smart screen is displaying random photos you control which albums show by using what app?
⬜Chromecast ⬜Google Home ⬜ Google Photos Android appYour smart TV may already have Chromecast built in. If not, you can buy a $35 Chromecast device and plug it in to an _________ port.
Same thing for Jim. He plays with the technology all week - the sound mixing and the different video streams. This week, I wanted a camera focused on the TV in the living room and to bring that into the show, so that, after I show which buttons to press on your phone, our audience can see the effect on the TV. It's Jim's job to make that happen. So, he practices on Friday and Saturday, then freaks out on Sunday. (Sunday morning is not a good time to visit us - we're both in freak-out mode) He's added another tool to his toolbox, called Voicemeter for mixing sound. It's getting really complicated, like he's a juggler with 6 or 7 balls in the air.
I think the show came out pretty good, except for one spot where Jim dropped a ball on sound for a minute, but at least it was at a point where we were just chatting, nothing important. He was able to edit it out after the fact without losing any content.
Bad news
Covid-19 cases in the US: 560,402 Deaths: 22,105
Good news
The emergency of this pandemic is obliterating the competitive barriers that normally exist in the scientific and technology worlds. Scientists don't care who gets the credit, as long as they find a vaccine/cure, and Apple and Google are working together!?!?!?
Science collaboration: Scientists around the world are pooling their knowledge and resources to determine whether gene variations make people more susceptible to serious Covid-19 infection, hoping to learn why some patients’ coronavirus symptoms are quite mild while others’ are severe.
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