This past weekend I went away to a technology conference in
London.
I thought nothing of going to it. It was just
another conference in something that I am interested in. And yet, going
back to Barcelona I feel like I've been on Jupiter and had this somewhat life
altering experience.
I have mixed feelings about the whole experience. Leaving your
comfort zone isn't what I would call fun. I mean there are moments when
you learn or do something you couldn't dream possible or when you are
intoxicated by cold, fresh air like you would be from taking a shot of tequila
or 3, but the word fun isn't what comes to mind. I think challenged would
be the positive side of it but confused would be the opposite side of things.
I guess that was what was scary, how lost and confused I felt after,
after feeling confident and secure before I arrived. Now, I don't know where to
go or what to do with my life, with my career as an educator. I feel a
little bit more sad about the world and really just unsure of what's the next
step, when in the back of my mind I know that I need to be stimulated and
inspired by my work which must on some level involve a good deal of
intellectual research and discourse, but also involve working with people of
varying levels of education, class, race, etc.
That being said, everything that I have seen in the last
2 days awakened me to a few clarities:
A) Even though our school doesn't have tons of resources it is a
supportive environment for giving its staff the opportunity to develop
professionally. I feel I am on the right track and my independent motivation
combined with a pretty supportive community has allowed me to personally
advance in my understanding of technology, and 75% of what we have finished
have aided in students understanding of themselves as individuals and
collaborators
B) The bells and the whistles of all these technological ipad/
android apps in the world are beginning to overlap and finding the ones that
help push critical thinking skills, and which also have a real and forward set
of real world application and lastly, produce something which shows a
comprehension of content and ability to understand and explain, are far and few
between
C) Asb has to start honing in on one implementation strategy or
all of them are going to implode
D) Kids are losing out on some core understandings of basic
economics in the world due to all these gadgets and gizmos and all this
incessant consumerism largely influenced by the extreme increase of
technological devices over the last ten years
E) I have to solve some issues of the world, whether that
happens by actually going out into underdeveloped countries and teaching OR by
starting to design some projects in school with technology that actually
help people in developing countries gain access to some of the basic human
resources we have; something has got to change and quickly.
When we don't know, we are free, but when we know, we inherit
chains limiting our freedom. And the knowledge brings a whole different
set of powers, because we have the privilege to choose what we do with this
knowledge, do we break free from the chains and try to pretend like we don´t
know, or do we summon up all the courage we have and do something.
Sometimes, especially when I think of my time in Senegal or
Southern Venezuela or in the mountains of Chiang Mai, I feel like not knowing
is power. The smiles on those faces in those places stemmed from smoking corn
cigarettes and playing 3, 6, 9 in a variety of languages; or how about a
foreign couple entering the local bar located in the living room of another
foreigner; or laughing at the four foreigners sleeping together in solidarity
to avoid the danger of a single rat, all of these generate energy you can´t get
from an Ipad.
Often I feel as if our Westernized worries and fears only bring
laughter to the poorest people in the world and when we think about them, they
can bring laughter to even us and the ridiculousness of our reactions.
On the contrary our westernized wealthier cultures often bring
worry and stress as people travel or immigrate to our countries and sadly this
repeats twice as much on our side. We aim to accommodate but cultural
norms sometimes close down communication ending commonly in misunderstanding.
In the end I come back to the Macy Gray lyrics and aim to be
bigger, better and bolder in the days to come.
Get up, get out
And do somethin'
Don't let the days of your life
pass you by
You got to
Get up, get out
And do somethin'
How will you make it if you never
even try
Get up, get out
And do somethin'
Can't spend your whole life tryin'
to get high
You got to get up, get out
And do somethin'
'Cause you and I have to do
For you and I
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