Category Archives: Identity

Be Sparks

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“You can’t go into work like that. It is not professional. That is not a teacher’s haircut.”

Those were the first three sentences out of my wife’s mouth as soon as soon as I got home from my haircut this last week. I shrugged off her professional prudery as paranoia, thinking to myself, I can do whatever the hell I want, but deep down I was a bit worried. Was the mohawk a bit much? Was I pushing too hard?

After a week, I am convinced that not only is the mohawk good for me, but I am here to say that it is good for our school. Hear me out:

Everywhere I go, all week, people smile, pump their fists, and light up when they see me.

“Man, I love that haircut.”

“Really suits you”

“That is just awesome!”

Teachers, principals, students- it doesn’t matter. It is as if everyone is tapping into the sense of freedom one can only feel when one shuns the shroud of conformity and tip-toes along the edge of the preverbal box. You know, the one everyone tells you to think outside of, but choose to sit in comfortably themselves. Schools like all institutions can become stuffy dens of routine. How can they not? With so many procedures, programs, time-tables, curricula, it is almost as if they are designed to bore people to death. Is it any wonder that students and teachers sleepwalk their way through lessons and grumble because they have to write essays, lab reports or report card comments. I can only imagine hospitals, banks, and prisons as places that are more dreary.

But not this week at our school, not for me. Walking through campus with a mohawk seems to have awaken people. It has reminded them that schools were never met to be factories of the status quo. The hair-do is screaming to us all that schools are meant to challenge and excite. There have been times this week that I have been talking seriously about character development with my grade tens and they start cracking up. I mean how absurd right? A 37 year old man with a mohawk spouting off intensely about some ancient novel.

I love the lightness that comes from not taking oneself too seriously. I thrive on the silliness of authenticity and vulnerability. So often we ask students to take risks and express themselves, while we teachers sit behind our walls of adulthood professionalism. If I wanted to be a suit I would have been a banker. I am in the teaching business to be myself, in hopes that kids will see that being yourself, in the face of societal pressure is not that hard to do. We can all be sparks when we are not afraid to get burned. Tell a kid to take a risk…well try it yourself first.

I want my students to realize that adulthood is not some mono-chromatic path to death and professionalism. We are not all mind-numb zombies stressed and chasing bills. We are alive and filled with creativity and passion. I want them to understand that adults come in all shapes and sizes, and our diversity is what makes us such great role models. The way we look, the way we dress, the ink on our arms, the hair on our head is not the only indication of who we are or what we believe. I want my students as well as other teachers, administrators and parents to understand there is no one way teachers should look or act.

It has been a great week. I never thought a haircut would give me such a sense of empowerment. A Swagger. A purpose. Every institution needs a mohawk to remind it not to take itself too seriously. To remind it that life is fun and exciting and that sometimes we need to stand tall and be noticed. I have a challenge for you- what can you do to help ignite a little fire at your school? What can you do to rock the boat a bit; shake things up? Share your ideas below, better yet take some pics of you doing whatever it is you think will enliven your school and add links to the comments below.

Sunday Night Ramblings

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Technology need not be some abstract construct. It need not be some terrifying futuristic robotic dystopia. Technology and the tools it enables: Internet, digital media, social networks can be and should be reflections. Not mere reflections of what we do, but who we are. The sooner we begin to understand that technology is a bridge that links minds-to-minds, thoughts-to-thoughts dreams-to-dreams the sooner we can stop being so afraid of it and begin to harness the power it affords us to be collectively human.

For so long humanity has demanded voices for us all, and not withstanding the digital divide, we now (at least those of us living in the first world)  all have that voice. Perhaps the understanding that we can now connect our fears and insecurities as well as our passions and talents to others is what is so frightening for people. Perhaps the realization that students can now voice their disinterest in what we do, is why so many people are fearful of jumping into the digital age.

I feel like a broken record, a blogger who simply writes the same posts over and over. I don’t know what more to say than what I feel to be true. I get this sense of excitement every time I open the ole WordPress editor, or Youtube upload page, or send a photo out to Instagram. Every time I participate in this upload culture, I feel lighter and more free than I did before I shared a piece of my brain, my soul with some vague fluctuating audience that may or may not be there.

There was no point to this post other than to say- it is not the quest for perfection in some finite permanent cypespace that should guide how we act online but rather the ephemeral, fleeting, sharing of random tidbits of who we are into the impermanent flux of of the Internet. If even one person connects to, relates to and/or understanding the essence of what I have said here, something magical has happened. Something organically and authentically human. The technology has become moot and the only thing left is you and me.

 

Conduit to Reality

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I noticed that my last post is dated September 10th. To say I had a busy September would be a gross understatement. I traveled three out of four weeks, first to lead a cohort, deliver workshops and present a keynote in Shanghai at Learning 2.011. The following week, I was back to Shanghai for Category 2 Language A MYP training, and finally off to Bukit Lawang for a school trip in which I took 45 kids into the Sumatran jungle to see, amongst other thing, semi-wild Orangutans in their natural habitat.

Upon my return, I organized and participated in our school’s, mini-conference called Learning 2.011.1. A successful event in which 65 members of staff voluntarily came in on a Friday between 4-6pm to learn about technology. Saturday after that, I received some training on how to present an IB workshop for a conference coming up in Jakarta. Oh, yeah, I have been having a blast teaching my classes. I could go on and on, but I am sure you are busy too and do not want to waste your time reading about how busy I am. I wanted to write about a Facebook status a friend of mine posted a few days ago and its connection to my recent thoughts upon returning from Sumatra.

Take a look:


I had planned to go to Sumatra completely disconnected. After my hyper-connected month of September, I needed a break to detangle the wires both literally and figuratively. I agree with Kenny in saying that, “ We have a need for mental, social, physical, spiritual,  and emotional fulfillment.” I will comment later on how many of those needs my laptop fulfills, but for now I will agree that we need time away. We need time in the mud. We need time connected to the earth and the sky.

Unfortunately, (careful what you wish for) blog fever is strong at our school, and our AP asked that I create a Week Without Walls blog to help document each of our trips. I was against the live blogging of these trips, but relented and said that I would add limited content while I was away and decompressing. The blog has actually been a great organic place to document the trips.  We are now working on a syndication system that will agrregate all the reflective blog posts written by staff and students. We hope it will act as a great resource of personal testimonials and photos for students going on trips next year.

I guess the point I am trying to make is why does it have to be so black and white? Why do we always create these false dichotomies between technology and the real world? Why do techies insist that things must be tech all the time, while luddites wax-poetic about features of an analogue past that is quickly fading? We can have natural experiences. We can use technology to help connect us to others who share our love of life. I argue that we can have the best of both worlds. I remember the warm feeling of absolute mental, social, physical, spiritual, and emotional fulfillment, as I sat on the edge of a river; the sun was setting as I watched a community of children come to life. I had many such experiences during my time in the jungle; the value of these experiences is incalculable. There is no doubt that we need to engage the world from out behind the screen.

As an adult, I am able to wrestle with my need to experience reality and my need to document and record it. It is a struggle no doubt, but I enjoy the challenge of finding a balance to my desires and needs. Kenny asks if we need more tech in schools and if that is what students need.

I say that we need to help students understand how to find that balance. We need to guide them in learning how to use tech to feel comfortable in their own skins and how to express what they find. Demonizing or glorifying technology will not help our students. We must help them use it to meet their needs. So often these digital natives use tech only to alleviate boredom, and to be fair many of the students I work with have very little experience in an non-urban, disconnected environment. While I agree with Kenny, that perhaps more tech is not the answer, I would argue that we need to expose kids to nature and see how they choose to use tech to document experience. Take’em to the woods. Get’em dirty. Sing around fires. Then come home and use tech to create, connect, and communicate experiences to others. Technology is not a substitute for reality it is a conduit to it.

I think it is shortsighted to forcibly separate the tangible and the virtual. You are right Kenny! Technology will not substitute our biological needs, but I disagree that it cannot help us connected to social groups. Online relationship are as valid as “real” ones- for me often times they are more rewarding.

The people I have met online help complete me. They are becoming my closets friends. You can read more here, and I suggest you watch the presentation about the power of online communities, but before you begin to say that we need face-to-face interactions as well, let me stop you. Yes! Of course we do. Again it is about the balance.

I understand your frustration Kenny. After all, you and I have spent lots of quality time in the jungle, fishing, and playing music together. We get the value of the organic. It may appear that schools are chasing a technological dream in hopes that it will make them more relevant, but we know that is not the case. More computers and an emphasis on technology will not make a better school.

We need teachers, guides, and mentors dedicated to understanding what it means to be human being in the 21st century. We need to be open to exploring ideas and technologies that make us uncomfortable and challenge our very humanity. We need to help our students gain a diverse range of experiences, equip them with the skills and wisdom to know how to find a balance. There is value in mud, in the sun, in the clouds, but there is also value in the “cloud,” online communities, and the power of connectivity afforded us by technology.
I didn’t need technology to appreciate these moments, but the tech is helping me share them with you and others.

What do you guys think? How do you find a balance in your lives? How do approach the  people who force you to choose between nature and technology?

Learning 2.011 Presentation

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Originally, I had wanted to write a brief blurb to accompany the presentation I gave at Learning 2.011, but time and crazy preparations have made that difficult. For now, I have included the slides and the brief write up I asked each participant to write, below in this post.

I hope to write more about the basic philosophical ideas that drive the presentation, but for no, the gist of my talk is that when you open yourself up, honestly and passionately, you will be amazed at the opportunities made available to you, but more importantly I wanted to highlight the relationships one can build with amazing people across the world. There is so much talk about Personal Learning Networks (PLNs) but I wanted to show that it does not happen overnight, there is no one way to do it, and that it takes time and hard work to build relationships. Trust takes time and is most often aided by honest reflective vulnerability.

It is a simple Pecha Kucha style presentation, which means that there are 20 slides each for 20 seconds. I hope that I conveyed my story as a learner through the people that support, challenge and teach me everyday. A big thank you to everyone who helped. I know it was a creative stretch and big risk taking task for some.

Here are the slides including the blurbs I asked each person to write. All the photographs were taken by the person in the picture themselves. I just asked that they take a well thought out portrait that somehow included me in the frame.

I also hope to reflect on the process of creating the presentation, the fact that 20 seconds goes by really quickly, and the reaction from the audience soon, but I am late for breakfast and we have another full day starting now!

Thanks again for all the support from the audience, #ds106, and of course the people in the slides. There are so many more of you that should have been included. You are all very important to me. Thank you.

The Art of Creation

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I have written several post lately about how happy I am, and how the events of my life are fluidly flowing in some strange spiral direction, but for the last few days I have been weighed down by a nagging angst brought about Google +. I am pretty sure it is not this new social network that is causing me anxiety– that my apprehension is caused by this new digital social arena where we sometimes find ourselves battling for existence as unwilling gladiators.

Who am I? Where am I? What am I sharing? Likeablity versus authenticity. My brain has been buzzing for the last forty eight hours; I just need to shut it down and focus on what matters. For me the main thing has always been creating content I can be proud of. Writing post, creating videos, singing songs, taking photographs that touch people and make them think. Feel. I have only ever wanted to explore my sense of self; if a group of people find what I do, who I am, worthwhile than that is a plus. I cannot concern myself too much, however, with the splintering of this body of work. This self. I am who I am everywhere, all the time. The internet is just a reflection of that.

Networks will come and go, ebbing and flowing within various tools and online spaces. This is our modern consciousness. The trick is to learn how to construct a viable self within the flux. I know the connections that matter to me, and they will find me when I need to be found, the rest is grandstanding. I am trying not to concern myself with circles or groups or lists. I have set roots in these blogs. I have stretched my branches as far as my constitutions allows. I will now focus my energies on keeping my leaves as green as possible and producing fruits that others enjoy.  If nothing else fruits that will help me regenerate.

I find value in the act of sharing. The art of giving with no expectation for value returned is a holy act. In an age where commerce rules, I see sharing as an act of transgression, one I have to which I have committed my life. Even as I write this post, I see the paradox of my point: I want to share, but cannot be bothered with worrying about the avenues with which to do so.

One can advertise and use competing networks to connect with as wide an audience as possible, but at some point you have to have faith in your content. You have to believe that what you put out into the world will attract the necessary attention. In the past, artists simply created– unconcerned with feedback or connection; we have lost that somehow. So concern are we with statistics and comments that the art of creation has been replaced with likes, +1s and Re-Tweets.

There is no anxiety about sitting quietly and smearing your thoughts into the blank void. The fear is that no one is listening. No one cares. You don’t exist. I am here to say that I do exist. In the body of my work. In my ideas. In my art. In my body. In my life. If you are seeing this right now, than somehow what I am saying has worked. Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or some other nameless avenue has brought you here. For that I am thankful, but what has rid me of my unease is the very act of creation itself.