TASK: Reflect on the process (of creating curriculum) and describe how you’d like to see your lessons used both locally and at a larger scale.

Our ‘curriculum’ was not like everyone else’s. We don’t have lesson plans that we created that will be linked to the Kenan webpage for others to access. (http://kenanfellows.org/curriculum-project-list). Instead we have resources that are tagged, aligned to NC standards and sortable by keywords and stored in Home Base. Well, few daily users call it ‘Home Base’. Some say ‘Power Teacher. Others say ‘Power School’.  A few even call it ‘Grade Book’.

Our Home Base task last summer was to work on the computer and find free, online resources that meet the criteria of the NC Summary Rubric and tag them. Once tagged for publisher, grade level, duration, type of resource and other key words, the online resources we found were entered into Home Base. We talked resources, sought resources, read resources, rejected and accepted resources.

We looked forward to being the ambassadors for this new online platform. Sadly, my November goals of going from school to school to show teachers how to access Schoolnet’s Instructional Materials had to be postponed. My goal had been to explain the search feature and to begin the process of recommending resources to a school bank and subsequently to a county bank. The thought of working across the county to designate particular online resources to support world language instruction was invigorating but would have to wait..

We Home Base fellows were anxious to see our “resources in Home Base” and to share them with our fellow teachers, schools and districts. That said, teachers I work with never talked about ‘Home Base’. They all referred to ‘Power School’ or ‘Power Teacher’. By the time I made my first formal presentation about these tagged resources at the Foreign Language Association of North Carolina fall ‘state conference in October 2014, the mention of ‘Power School’ brought painful memories to most. The initial difficulties with getting in to ‘Power School’, entering grades and printing report cards were the focus of the day.

Little known to most was that by clicking on the ‘Schoolnet’ link to the left of where you take your daily attendance, one could search for and view the resources that had been tagged by so many.

From the Home Base webinars in fall and spring, the number of ‘Instructional Materials’, as I learned to correctly say, kept rising and rising.

Our district must have experienced more difficulties than most. Through March, the Schoolnet link kept disappearing from district account users. Tickets would be placed and the link would return to disappear again. Come April, I was able to go to the various high schools and meet with world language teachers to show them how to find Schoolnet and how to search for resources, save them, upload your own resources or link, etc.

NC state superintendent Dr. June Atkinson told the conference attendees at the NCTIES conference in March that like past transitions to new grading systems, people complained about the old one until the new one came along. Then, they wanted to return to the comfort of the old one they knew. She assured us that this learning curve will also soon pass.

Long story short, the Home Base platform has great potential. It comes at an appropriate time in our technological evolution. It has the potential to support many valuable cross-platform uses. Like the TESLA electric car or the SpaceX rocket, they too had some issues leaving the design studio. Let’s hope the stock in Home Base also rises and that the few bugs with the system are worked out swiftly.

One can see that the number of Instructional Materials in Schoolnet is increasing regularly. With the plans for the Governor’s Teachers’ Network to add instructional units with lesson plans and professional development modules, there is a serious opportunity for North Carolina educators to bond together to impact education in the state. I look forward to many people accessing Schoolnet AND contributing more instructional materials. This has been an opportunity to be involved with the launch of a massive, multi-faceted technology tool. Let’s hope it serves as a firm foundation, or base, from which to create a strong statewide digital bank with many useful resources and powerful digital tools,

Did I grow as I had hoped? Sitting at the computer more and more each day I am expanding. Each day I seem to cover more and more of the seat cushion. I doubt you are referring to that type of growth but my computer and I have certainly created a more sedentary lifestyle together.

Professional and personal growth is impossible. Is it not? Or am I just optimistic that all people are continually growing and improving with age?

I didn’t have a clear idea of how this internship would impact me. That said, as time goes on, the experiences and learnings gleaned stand out more and more. It is like a nice luster that has begun to shine with use and time. It is hard to appreciate the value of many things at first. When I hear myself tell others on more than one occasion about the awesome classroom activities some of my Kenan peers have shared, I see how the internship has impacted me. How many people have I told about the amazing Christie Wilson who teaches engineering to her kindergartners!  Then she teaches them writing and reading based on these shared experiences. I was so impressed with Kalyani Tawade’s insightful comments on what it takes to create the best competitive team for Odyssey of the Mind-type competitions. In the long run, it is the people who make the difference, that you remember.

When I remember or use a tech tool that was taught in that overwhelming barrage of incredible tech PD at Cullowhee, I am reminded of the importance of what I have been exposed to.  When I can use Socrative with ease, I remember Joni. When I spout the importance of coding skills for young children, I remember…. ??? I think of Paul Cansellari when I think of Evernote. He even helped me out months later when I had a question. I can’t forget Jason Lineberger who taught us Aris, etc. Gaming in Education is certainly a new avenue under exploration. His ‘office hours’ gave me the change to ask questions that only I was interested in. Very nice to be so spoiled. Nate Vance taught us about infograms and then I began seeing them everywhere. 

At the July PD in Raleigh we were inspired to apply for grants and more grants. Best of all, we heard from Kenan alum Amy Bradley who admitted she didn’t make all the deadlines (and she was invited back to speak to us!). My hero. I think of her as each month’s deadlines come near. Maybe you don’t have to be perfect to grow, improve and prosper.

The October PD in Raleigh was so impressive. The Hunt Library! It is a new buzz word and we got to experience it personally and more than once. I saw 3-D printing there for the first time. Kelly Hines told us all about Discovery Ed. It was so cool to run into her at NCTIES because she is so active in DEN that she knows all sorts of peeps in my county. Meeting with Eric Guckian from the governor’s office, with Einstein fellows, with a writer of what has become the NCEES put us in contact with people who have and will shape education and public policy. Was that amazing! And René Herrick was chosen to join the governor’s teacher advisory group. Bravo. How impressive is that!

Of course, I will never take another rafting trip without smiling. It was great having the nerve to jump off the rock in the river with Sue DePerno. When Kimberly Forbes, Lisa and a the literal ‘boatload’ of people feel from their rafts it gave us all something to talk about. That said, there must be something profound to be said about coming up soaking wet from a river dipping, drying off and moving on.

How did the fellowship impact me? It was the shot in the arm I needed. It was the repositioning on the career GPS. It was the back brace to stand taller and aim higher. I am glad that last May we heard the history of the Kenan family’s charitable works and belief in education. In the current political situation in North Carolina, it is inspiring to know that an organization exists to improve teaching and to retain teachers. We fellows are fortunate to have the current Kenan Fellows Program staff working to improve educators and education.

I give a special shout out to my Home Base buddies who unequivocally supported and inspired me in this journey. The world is a large, impersonal place. It was good to feel welcome at Home Base.

Thank you Kenan supporters. Thank you Kenan staff. Thank you Kenan fellows.  Thank you DPI mentors. Thank you Home Base buddies. You have all inspired me. You have been great role models. Thank you for walking with me, for leading me, for pushing me and for sharing many new experiences together.

Kimberly Sanderling wrote in her blog, “The best way a mentor can prepare another leader is to expose him or her to other great people.” John  C. Maxwell You have all been my mentors.

I was very impressed to receive a Lenovo tablet for our Kenan fellowship. I appreciate being exposed to tablet technology as I don’t have a Kindle or an ipad. I also enjoyed being exposed to touch technology. I wonder if all laptops will be touch in the future.

I struggled with the online webinars we had at first and did not advance a lot in my understanding at the beginning. I assume that these posts will be shared with Lenovo as feedback on their product. That being the case, I will share what I can hoping the details are not too boring for the average Kenan blog reader.

Look and Feel – The size and weight are great pluses and one thing I like about the Lenovo tablet. The size and weight make it very portable and easy to put in a purse or small briefcase / messenger bag. At two recent all-day workshops that took place in my county where I had to use my work computer, I felt like I was using too much space at a shared table where others had tablets and smaller laptops.

Case – The handsome black and red case we received nicely stores and protects the tablet and the keyboard but is not the type of protective case one might like if one wants to quickly access the screen or move around and use. For example, many people I know use an ipad to walk around using their ipad off and on… either in the classroom as one circulates, while moving around the school building checking on things, for quick access to pull it out and use it, etc.. I haven’t figured out the quick way to keep the tablet protected and easily accessible without buying a case as I did. I bought a protective case that has a cover that converts into a stand. That makes the device very portable but of course the case needs to be taken off to charge the tablet or if one does not want to use the touch keyboard.

Screen Display – I like the brightness of the background that makes reading off the tablet very easy. The brightness control button is very easy to access and to change brightness if desired. The light on the screen seems to go to sleep very quickly when the tablet is not being used. I wonder if there is a setting for that.

Battery – I frequently would return to my Lenovo Tablet and find it dead. On a number of occasions, I thought it was not functioning as I could not get it to boot up again easily. I would consistently have to plug the tablet in and wait a good long time to be able to use the tablet again. I wonder if those problems aren’t because I did not turn it off properly.

Recording Apps – I spent a lot of time trying the various recording apps for which there are many. AudioBoo is a recording / podcast site and app I really like and have used with a laptop. It records easily and plays podcasts easily and clearly on the ThinkPad tablet. I could not add photos easily nor the location that are nice features that improve the looks and information about a Boo recording https://audioboo.fm/boos/1944489-audioboo-test-on-lenovo-thinkpad . Not sure if those are Thinkpad limitations or my lack of understanding.

In looking for recording apps for world language students, I found a lot, but they don’t seem to be accessible in lots of devices so didn’t seem useful for student use.

Search Engine – Internet explorer is preinstalled but I was able to install Google Chrome, the browser I have come to prefer. I tried the Lenovo support site but couldn’t find anything saying whether Google Chrome can be installed on Lenovo Thinkpad tablets or not. http://www.lenovo.com/us/en/ I just went to Google Chrome online where I was asked if I wanted to install the Chrome browser and that worked fine. I could also import my Google Chrome bookmarks for various Google email accounts I have. Very cool! Our district is a Google Apps for Education district so it was great that I could easily access all my folders in Google drive when I wanted / needed to. Likewise, I could easily get to my Google sites when signed in to my Google account. Sadly, the tabs are too small for my fingers to easily open another tab while in Google Chrome. I had to use the stylus to open another tab.

Screenshots – I used screenshots a lot but could not figure it out on the Lenovo Thinkpad tablet. I tried Power + Volume keys simultaneously but didn’t seem to learn anything from the Lenovo Community.  http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/ThinkPad-slate-tablets/How-to-take-a-screenshot-in-ICS/m-p/782091#M16221

The screenshot answer will be found in time.

Keyboards – As a world language speaker and teacher, I need the ability to write alternate keyboards so that I can write Spaniosh (á, é, í, ó, ú, ¿, ¡, ñ and ü), French (è, etc.), German and even Chinese characters. Usually, I go to Keyboards and choose to ADD a language. I usually go to variants of English and find “English – US International but I could not find that setting under English. Instead, I had to click on “Add an input method”. Then, I chose “United States – International”. There is something easier about using the international keyboard with this keyboard given the way this keyboard switches from lower case to upper case. When choosing shift + AltGr, one can easily find a number of shortcuts that are not available on screens without the touch keyboard.

YouTube – I don’t know if is the novelty of a tablet or what but I enjoy watching YouTube tutorials, etc. on the tablet while I double task on my laptop, perhaps following the instructions and not having to switch back and forth to various tabs… just like people in busy offices that work with 2 -3 computers and their monitors at once. The speakers provide clear audio and work nicely with ear buds.

Video – It seems very easy and lightweight but I have not perfected this yet.

I am appreciative that we have received this nice, modern, up-to-date tool to use this year and to learn more about as time goes on.

I look forward to reading what my fellow Kenan Fellows have learned.

I am guessing that this month’s posts will be shared with Lenovo as feedback to continually improve their product. Good luck to you, Lenovo.

The Kenan Fellow / Mentor partnership has permitted me, and the other Kenan fellows working with Home Base, the opportunity to interact with the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. This has permitted us a unique view and a unique opportunity to interact with a very large, multidimensional organization.

As teachers and district employees, we usually work within our local environment reacting to local efforts, initiatives, pressures and visions. It is very hard to have a bird’s eye view of how an organization as large as DPI functions. We did not reach a true bird’s eye view of that large organization but we did have access to one window for brief periods. It would be totally false and exaggerated to say that I now totally understand an organization as large as DPI. That said, this partnership has offered me a wider view of how educational divisions interact. In the case of Home Base, this fellow / mentor partnership has offered me a broader view of how an organization rolls out a new product.

We were directly responsible to two DPI mentors but we interfaced with a core of other workers within DPI Learning Systems, within the Center for Urban Affairs at NCSU, within Pearson’s School Systems (Power School, Power Source, Schoolnet) and even with the North Carolina Community College System.

There are many wheels that turn education. Working at the district level, I frequently see what accomplishments occur because of teacher and principal initiatives. Geographical references come into play when schools refer to what ‘downtown’ or ‘the county’ requires, expects or has accomplished. Our LEA makes similar references to the external forces of ‘DPI’, ‘the state’ or ‘Raleigh’.

I have been to the city of Raleigh off and on for DPI training and for state conventions for my profession. Nonetheless, I used to always get lost getting into or out of the city of Raleigh. Now, both figuratively and literally I feel less lost and more able to get around ‘Raleigh’. It has been highly educational to add new viewpoints to my understanding.

Images from:

123rf.com

jamienotter.com

Having completed all three KFP Professional Development Institutes, what does this experience mean to you?

What does the “Kenan Experience” mean to me?

It means a shot in the arm. The shot includes inspiration, fresh air, excitement and energy. 

It means a push to stay on top of your game. It comes from the coach who won’t let you stop running whether it is half-time, pre-game or post-game.

It means a grandfather’s support; the kind of grandfather who is proud of who you are but who wants you to be better; the kind of grandfather who can bankroll a trip overseas for you to learn more about the world because your family could never provide you with such; the kind of grandfather who stands up for you and your profession when legislators in our state don’t seem to believe in us.

It means a candy store of goodies where you really can’t eat just one; where the candy is professional development and new trends; where the candy is a free and given just because someone believes in us.

It means fresh air.

It means new people that are kind and wise that I can look up to and learn from. 

What have the Kenan Professional Development Institutes meant to me?

The world.

A shinier, newer teacher toolbox.

A window to new dimensions.

An adrenaline rush when new thoughts, ideas, perspectives and approaches hit you all at once. 

It is not a surprise that some will place their vote on teaching digital citizenry while others will stand up to ‘protect’ children from harm and school districts from law suits. Passing notes in the back of the classroom while the teacher turns his or her back to write on the chalkboard has become far more powerful with the ability to tweet, to text or to vine.  Teachers are humanly incapable of supervising all computer and device screens and keystrokes in every corner of the classroom. Educators who might want to be socially liberal on device use may take more conservative roles when they are the final decision maker on open internet access and the freedom for children, tweens and teenagers to hitchhike through cyber space.

A teacher may encourage online social interaction among his or her 30 students but a chief technology officer may be less trusting when making decision about the thousands under his or her supervision. While the teacher knows the students well in his or her classroom, the chief technology officer rarely knows those in his or her charge personally. People tend to trust those they know and be wary of those they don’t know. Students tend to behave for those that have high expectations of them but might behave by different standards when they are less familiar with those in charge.

Some say there is a 80 / 20 rule that proposes that 80 percent will always behave but that we make rules for the 20 percent who might not.  Sociologists, behavior psychologists and criminologists certainly know more about social behavior and misbehavior than I do.

Personally, I would like to think that teachers who keep children engaged online will keep children on task and away from danger. I suppose that follows an old adage about ‘the devil makes work of idle hands’. Likewise, one might hope that with more open access to the potential evil that one could find online that the novelty might wear off and leave people uninterested in exploring the seedy side of life, cyber bullying and malicious online behavior. That could be a bit naive when one remembers that adolescent curiosity, ‘mean girls’ and bullies have always existed. Supervising adolescent behavior seems to have become more complicated than ever for educators and parents alike.

When all we have to fall back on as we enter a new era is our own ‘common sense’ and ‘inclination’, caution is recommendable when beginning this journey. Protected educational environments like a closed Google Environment, a closed Edmodo environment, a closed Home Base environment, or a closed Moodle environment seem like the safest environments for students as we take our classes outside of the brick and mortar homes.  Like the person who moves to the big city from the country, it is wise to be cautious when learning the rules of the new environment. At the same time, one needs to be proactive and learn the new rules and recognize, ‘we are not in Kansas anymore’.

Know the Net – Manners Matter Infogram

Aside from  knowing that KF refers to Kenan Fellowship and not KFC, Kentucky Fried Chicken, the Kenan Fellowship has made a difference in my role as an educator.

Sitting in the student’s seat for hours on end has taught me what it is like to receive professional development. I have recognized how different all of us are in our interests and ability to grasp new material, especially tech tools. I have revamped the delivery of PD to teachers I support this year.

As a result of my Kenan Fellowship, I am using Edmodo with teachers in our district to provide a platform for sending announcements and for teachers to share what they discover and want to share with their peers at other schools. I have since added the AudioBoo recording app within Edmodo  to see how world language teachers and students can record speaking projects. I have created student and teacher accounts to better understand how it works. At the June Professional Development at NCCAT, Jason Lineburger encouraged me to use Edmodo as a platform for teachers to share resources and to archive my digital newsletter. If teachers become comfortable with Edmodo, they can organize notices, assignments and even student recordings within Edmodo. If world language teachers regularly use a recording device in their classrooms for students to practice speaking and record speaking for oral assignments, this will drastically change world language teaching and learning.

As a result of my externship, I know more about Home Base. I am aware of what resources are there for world language teachers. I am aware of the rubric North Carolina used in rating resources to be placed in Home Base. I have tried to stay abreast of changes in Home Base and look for ways to use some of the features I learned about in Home Base: searching for resources, saving resources to my own account, saving resources so that my school can access them, creating assessments, attaching resources to assignments and my teacher calendar.

I look forward to becoming more savvy as the resources that have been tagged are populated into Home Base. As of this writing, the majority of the resources tagged for world languages have yet to be populated into the database. I look forward to becoming more aware of how to work within Power School. I received my password ten days ago and am just beginning to discover the steps to go from Power School to Schoolnet.

One benefit of my externship has been the discovery of many excellent resources online. This would be expected if one is assigned to research those resources. Nonetheless, it is shocking how many incredible resources are online that one never really finds, unless someone leads you there, unless some website mentions them and unless you just stumble upon them. I will additionally link some of the home pages for some of these resources to the new Google site for the World Language teachers in our district in the hopes that they too will find them useful.

I am trying not to overwhelm teachers with too many tech tools. I have a calendar of what tech tools or what methodology to embrace in a year-long professional development plan. That calendar is much richer due to the tech tool training with Kenan PD.

There is also something intangible about the difference a Kenan Fellowship makes. When someone treats you with such respect, puts you in contact with other educators who are curious and have a desire to continually improve, you are transformed. In this year’s political environment, it is especially rewarding to believe that there is a group called Kenan Fellows Programs that believes in teachers, that believes in supporting teachers and that believes in the importance of ongoing professional development.

This Kenan externship has occurred at  the perfect time to support instructional changes in the classroom.

When every student that walks through the classroom door has internet access, it is time to shift teaching methods. When every world language student can listen to the target language on their own computer, they need something to listen to. The teacher needs resources of comprehensible language samples. When every world language student can now record their thoughts, ideas, stories, experiences, etc. in audio rather than with paper and pencil, the teacher needs to know how to let students record themselves speaking. When every student can now access language practice and receive immediate feedback on the grammatical and lexical correctness, the teacher needs to throw away the worksheets and find online interactive activities. As a curriculum coordinator, it is my role to support teachers in this transition. It is my role to create a community where they can share with each other.

This year, our district is beginning a one-to-one initiative for all students in grades 6 – 12. It will be a major shift for the high school teachers who haven’t yet faced a classroom full of students ‘armed with laptops’. Teachers will need to engage students in online activities that are meaningful, relevant and valuable. I don’t think it will be hard to keep students ‘busy’ online but using time wisely will be a learning process. Surely five years from now we will have learned a lot. Currently, we don’t yet know how many minutes online is optimal, how much face-to-face interactions students need or crave, which online activities are best, etc. My challenge as a curriculum coordinator is to support the teachers with sound instructional tools, methods and resources to transition into this new classroom.

The opportunity to spend so much time online exploring resources for world language students and teachers has been very valuable. Given the vastness of the internet, it is impossible to get one’s arms around all that is available. Nonetheless, time dedicated to pinpointing SOME of those valuable resources is very helpful. I have certainly enjoyed the time to explore and find useful resources that I did not know existed. My hopes are that they prove valuable.

World language students need to be able to access comprehensible chunks of language that they can understand, that are relevant to their units of study, that are authentic and that are useful for communicating with others. They will find the audio recordings, like those at LangMedia and COERLL useful chunks to grapple with and understand. These real life videoclips will be useful.

1. LangMedia http://langmedia.fivecolleges.edu/
2. Spanish Proficiency Exercises from COERLL (The Center for Open Educational Resources for Language Learning at the University of Texas)  http://www.laits.utexas.edu/spe/
3. COERLL (The Center for Open Educational Resources for Language Learning at the University of Texas) http://coerll.utexas.edu/coerll/

There are current event news items from Spain to read with comprehension questions, synonym practice and grammar points from Practice Español. http://www.practicaespanol.com/

Some resources will first impact teachers in providing frameworks for units and activities that are focused on language competency. These models of what integrated performance activities are will showcase quality activities that teachers could implement on the specific topic they are teaching.  As a profession that has focused on grammatical and lexical correctness it is helpful to have models of how one can teach with communicative competency as a goal. For example:

1. CARLA (Center for Applied Research on Language Acquisition at the University of Minnesota) resources at http://www.carla.umn.edu/articulation/polia_tasks.html
2. The World Languages Assessment Tasks from Central Jersey World Languages Professional Development Institute 2000 http://www.globalteachinglearning.com/cjwlpdi/assessment/assess.shtml

There are some sites for pure interactive practice. Such sites give immediate feedback and are a digital replacement for worksheets that  a teacher may have used in the past but that only the teacher knew the answers for.

1. Crossword puzzles that are self-correcting and interactive and include audio hints. http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/spanish/news/crossword/flash/
2. Conjuguemos might be a site that students could practice with for quick feedback
3. Quizlet links are few because so many are textbook specific but there are some broad, useful Quizlets like http://quizlet.com/5739095/flashcards

There are few YouTube links given their public nature and the potentially offensive comments that can be added.

For teachers who want to learn how to shift to focus on proficiency-based instruction, it was wonderful to encounter the free step-by-step Foreign Language Teaching Methods course http://coerll.utexas.edu/methods/

In closing, this has been a wonderful opportunity to search the web. The timing has been perfect for our district, our students and hopefully, many NC world language students. Let’s see what the impact will be for ‘the times they are a changin”.

This summer has been like no other… with various pushes and pulls in many directions. I have interacted with many entities this summer. There has been PD from Kenan-lead sessions, many on technology, all lead by excited educators who are going places and pushing us off our previous paths and pulling us on-board. Those sessions pulled me in many new directions and pushed me to up my game and to be mindful of many new educational forces. There are the connections to DPI that have introduced us more closely to this newest tool in town: Home Base. There has been the participation in the Summer Institute in which we explored the value of the NC version of the Open Educational Resources rubric to guide vetting resources for Home Base as well as future locally shared resources. We also interact with CUACS (Center for Urban Affairs and Community Service), a group of professionals who are highly invested in the input and the quality of the Home Base resources who check and double check our work and redirect us when off task. Like I said, there has been push and pull in many directions.

There is the computer screen I face daily and Ms. Google who spins me off into so many different directions. Then, there is “LOR and I” – my closest companion on this journey. LOR is the Learning Object Repository where I take the gold I find on the internet to market. I have spent MANY hours looking at LOR and typing, clicking, copying, pasting… If my gold is found worthy, it will be transferred to the “Bank” of Home Base.

Externship AHAs

• when I discovered a website with many good resources for Home Base.
• when I marvel at how savvy my mentor is.
• when hearing my Kenan Home Base fellows share how they analyzed the OER resources rubric.
• AHA when I heard Kenan Home Base fellow Jayne Stevens comment on the A for ART in STEAM resource thus connecting art to the sciences. Genius.
• When I note how my HomeBase Kenan fellows are so supportive and insightful.

Kenan Fellowship AHAs:

• when I saw the great tablet cases some of the Kenan Fellows have purchased.
• when Joni Allison taught me more about how to use my iphone.
• when Lisa Bolton explained how she is considering using the tech tool Classdojo with her elementary Spanish students to reward them for using Spanish in class.
• when I saw that my sail was not going anywhere on Jason O’s styrofoam boat.

AHA – there is still serious work to do… back to the keyboard, the internet searches and LOR.

AHA – when I tried to make a video on WeVideo about my LOR and I… with no success.

Crank Drive Belt Image from www.freepatentsonline.com 

Aha moment image from www.dreamstime.com