It's OK to See a Movie Published 2009-01-19 under creativity, culture

How can you tell me that going to a movie will make me a better educator?

© 2009 mikemontesa

I have been a fan of the Sundance Film Festival for a long time but never could attend. January was a very busy time for me - my classes were finishing the semester and preparing for exams, the soccer program was in full swing with league play underway, and I was meeting with my department members going over their reviews.

When I left the classroom, I vowed to keep January open so I could attend Sundance. My expectations were certainly met and even surpassed. Every year (since 2001), I have been going to Sundance except those years when my two children were born. This year, however, I could have gone, but due to several factors - mainly upcoming commitments - I am not attend the festival.

Instead, my friend and I have created the Bill/Rob Film Festival where we are spending the week going to one, two or even three movies each afternoon. At first, I felt the need to justify this: "I am working extra hard in the mornings and at night so I can go to the movies". But why? Isn't it OK for me to see a movie?

Yes, you are correct. This is more than just one movie. But it does reflect on a condition that we as Americans especially suffer from. We feel that unless we are busy, working hard all the time, we are not being successful or "contributing". This summer, I read Tim Ferriss' book "The 4-Hour Workweek". In it, the author relates a time when he worked at a job that required him to make sales calls to executives. He found that if he spent an half-hour in the early morning and an hour in the evening making calls, he was more productive (and overall more successful) than his counterparts who spent eight hours calling. The reason: he called either before the the executives' personal assistants got to work or after they had left. These personal assistants were screening the calls and protecting their bosses from the likes of the author.

The obvious take-away from this is: "Work Smart, not Hard". But I really focused on the author's other message, namely that even though he was bringing in the business, he was seen as a slacker since he did not make any calls during those other hours. His bosses were short sighted, as many of us are. We tend to encourage those who work hard without really looking at what they are doing and if they are really just spending those hours being busy or are they really doing something.

Well, back to the Bill/Rob Film Festival. Certainly, if we can get our work done before the films, we should be OK. But I would say that going to these movies will help us work better.

A big part of my passion involves creativity and as Frans Johansson explains in the "Medici Effect: What Elephants and Epidemics Can Teach Us About Innovation", we need to surround ourselves with new ideas and novel ways of expressing these ideas. Movies help in this end.

Finally, going to a movie is fun and setting up our own film festival promises to be a blast. Isn't it OK to have some fun?

Followup - We are still working on the schedule for the week and I will update this post with what we saw and how we like / dislike each. But if you have not seen "Slumdog Millionaire", I would certainly recommend it. Also, Sean Penn is fantastic as Harvey Milk in "Milk".

Wish for a Successful Year Published 2008-08-20 under creativity, culture

With the start of school around the corner, what are some of your hopes for this new school year?

I was astonished to learn that my nephew will be starting school tomorrow! It just seems so early; summer has really whizzed by. But it was not my nephew's return to the classroom that got me thinking about the coming school year.

Monday, I was taking my early morning walk with my little boy and happened upon the wishing tree project here in Pasadena. It is part of Yoko Ono's Imagine Peace project and includes about 20 trees planted in barrels and hundreds of little tags tied to the branches with wishes. Anyone can come by and write his/her wish and attached it to a tree.

There are thousands of wishes and while many are what you expect (world peace, money, etc.) there are some that really caught my eye. Here are a few:

On Monday, one particular wish captured my attention but I did not have my camera. I returned today and spent over an hour reading the wishes. You can see a slideshow of my favorites at http://tinyurl.com/pasadena-wishing-tree.

Unfortunately, I never found the tag that originally caught my attention. It read: "I wish I do well in calculus this year." I had forgotten how the end of summer and the looming start of a new school year brings out anxieties. Whether it is a particularly scary course or teacher, the start at a new school, the return of the bully, or just the book(s) you did not read over the summer, the end of August can be a time of worry.

So here is wishing all of you a wonderful and scary-free school year.

Tech Tags: digiwalks art wish pasadena wishing+tree yoko+ono imagine+peace

Do teachers need to be technologically proficient? Published 2008-08-11 under leadership, professional+development

Is there some minimum level of proficiency that all teachers need to reach with respect to technology?

Technology continues to become more and more ubiquitous in our lives. Cell phones keep us connected at all times. TiVo has changed the way we watch television. And the Internet has revolutionize the way we communicate. But we are not all the same when it comes to technology. There are vast differences in the adoption of technology into people's lives. Reasons for this "Digital Divide" are numerous and include:

• access the technology is not available in your area.
• money the technology is available but you cannot afford it.
• ability the technology is both available and you can afford it, but you are not (or do not perceive yourself as being) able to understand how to use it.
• relevance you understand how to use the technology but don't see how it will benefit you.
• lifestyle you not only understand how to use the technology but also see how it can be used to benefit lives, but you have made a lifestyle decision not to use the technology.

Given the prevalence of technology in the world today, should teachers be expected to be able to use some of this technology in their classroom and/or in managing their teaching? What forms of technology can be considered "basic" and all teachers be expected to not only know how to use but to be actually using?

Tech Tags: digiwalks professional+development proficiency edtech+forum

Keeping Up in a Digital World Published 2008-07-28 under projects digital+world

As parents and educators, it is important for us to stay abreast of the digital world in which our kids live. I recently found another reason for us to keep up.

I have been immersed in several projects recently, one of which involves exploring the human development aspects of growing up in a digital world. This project has me searching for resources that explore various ways our digital world is affecting the development of our kids.

My research took me to a report titled The Appropriation of New Media by Youth. It is an interesting look at use of new media from a European perspective. The report looks at several countries offering a profile and recommendations for each. For example, one of the general recommendations for the United Kingdom was:

"We recommend that the current emphasis placed on the regulation and prohibition of online media within schools and colleges is substituted by pedagogical interventions aimed at developing children and young people’s critical literacy skills and competencies."

But what really caught my attention I found in the report conclusions:

The survey also shows that whereas young people are appropriating user skills thanks to their peers and to their own experiences, they are finding few adult partners to rationalise and systematise the spontaneous learning channels they are developing. Instructional independence is a quality, to be sure, but many young people feel (and sometimes express) the need of finding a heedful ear among adults and at times a dialogue that the family and school develop to a very limited extent about using the Internet, games and mobile telephones. The Appropriation of New Media by Youth - page 56

Excellent! Absolutely! We need to keep up with our kids so we can be there to help them as they navigate adolescence in a digital world. How can a child talk to us about cyberbullying when we don't get social networking? Most of us can relate to being embarrassed on the school playground, but how many can relate to a child who has just been flamed in a Internet chat room? So to say up with my daughter, I am off to explore the world of Pinky Dinky Doo.

BTW... If you have any resources that you would like to recommend, add them to the comments. I am looking for articles or sources that address issues relating to the digital world and human (child) development. While issues involving how the educational system needs to be changed to reflect the digital world are important, this project is more about the emotional, social, moral, ethical development of kids that takes place both in school and out of school. I am really excited to see what you might recommend.

Tech Tags: digiwalks digital+world human+development child+development

NECC: So Connected Published 2008-07-03 under conferences

NECC succeeds at providing wireless connectivity despite the large number of participants.

One of the most impressive parts of NECC this year may have been lost or at least not recognized by many of the attendees. It did not have to do with the quality of the sessions, the nice environ offered by the City of San Antonio, nor even the fun yellow ISTE beach balls given away the first day. It was about WiFi. Every time I tried to connect whether in a session, the hallway, or even at lunch, my system found the "isteconnect" and I was on the internet. I was sitting at the Blogger Cafe with at least 30 others, most of whom had their laptops open - presumably connected too. Even with these numbers, I was able to connect. I have been to a number of conferences and the ubiquity of access to the Internet this past few days has really made this conference standout.

Of course, it took a contrast for me to really notice it. At my hotel, the Internet (via wifi) was very slow. I am currently at a Starbucks writing this offline because I am too cheap to fork out the money for a iMoble connection. Writing offline is difficult. I am so used to being connected that I can't help but to jump over to my browser to check a fact, look up a word, or search for supporting (contrasting) arguments. I am not even that big of an email/twitter/IM/rss junky. I don't have the fear of missing something that many folks have. But I do need access to get any work done, whether it be writing, programming, or even designing. The Internet has become a ubiquitous part of my work process.

Thus, I am writing this blind. I have no idea if others have been equally impressed with NECC wireless connectivity or if some found it to be very lacking. It is kind of exciting...

Tech Tags: digiwalks necc necc08 connectivity