A Work in Progress

Reality, for any one individual, is defined by that individual's perception. Therefore, everyone's individual reality will be slightly different based upon the viewpoint he or she has, which is determined by the accumulation of experiences we call life. Life is a different experience for each of us, and, for each individual reality is constantly changing and evolving based on the experiences we have at any given moment.

If I haven't lost you yet, please stay with me...

My point is that life is a work in progress. As people, we are very goal oriented. We tend to want to set goals and work to achieve them. However, imagine if you went through life just trying to reach the end. Consider everything you would miss out on along the way. In life, it's the little things that matter. The people you meet, the unexpected friendships, the tough struggles and the small victories. It is the loss of a loved one and, it is the comfort found in the beauty of nature. It is sharing spontaneous laughter with a group of friends, or maybe even complete strangers. It is all this and more! In life, it comes very natural to appreciate the work in progress...that is all we can do until our time on Earth is up. Then it is up to others to carry our legacy in their memories and in the stories they tell.

Why is it then, that in many project based settings, we tend to be afraid to show our work in progress? I think for many of us, it goes back to the old saying "You never get a second chance to make a first impression". As a Band Director, I often feel the pressure of performance. And many times my band and I are thrust into a position where we must perform whether we are ready to or not. I know that I personally want to make the absolute best first impression possible, but sometimes you just have to take the leap and say "it is what it is today - a work in progress" The best way to make that great first impression is to do what you know, the best you can, and hold your head high in the process. Appreciate the journey, because, just as in life, the end always comes too abruptly to truly enjoy.

For students and educators involved in Globaloria, it is important for us to remember the work in progress philosophy. Our journey will be filled with excitement. We will have frustrating struggles and taste tid-bits of success, we will make friends, and sometimes find ourselves in fierce competition. We will share "ah-ha" moments after being baffled over a seemingly unsolvable problem.

As we take this journey, all of us should be encouraged to cherish these moments. Celebrate the small victories. Share them with others in our school and extended communities through posts on the wikis. Reflect on them and savor them by posting on our blogs and commenting on our peers' and colleagues' blogs. Enjoy this adventure we will share together....In the end it will be over all to quickly.

Getting Practice with the Flip Cams!!!

With any skill you want to use proficiently, practice is the key to success. Practice not only helps us decide what works best, but it also establishes healthy patterns of actions, leading to good habits.

Over the course of the last few days, I have been working at the WV State Fair supervising GEHS Band and Choir students as they man the Free Parking Lot. This has also given me time to start establishing a pattern of using my new Flip Cam as a class resource. Each day, I have taken time to interview students and get to know them better. The potential benefits for Globaloria, especially when it comes to building a sense of community and responsibility are obvious.

One thing that has helped keep up morale is the "Random Question of the Day". This is usually an off beat question that gets a humorous answer. I have found that students really look forward to the question of the day as something that helps pass the time more quickly.

Here is an Example:



Perhaps the funniest thing that has occurred while practicing with my Flip Cam was running into someone else who was also practicing the same skill:



I hope everyone is having as much productive practice (read - fun) with this as I am!

Raising the Bar

I once told a group of students "This year guys, I'd really like to raise the bar!" One student responded with complete sincerity: "What's the bar?" TRUE STORY

In all seriousness, the bar is definitely being raised for Globaloria this year. And it is being raised by all of us. The presentations of the games were fantastic - Particularly those done by the new educators.

"Newbies" - You guys are doing an awesome job. You are catching on and running with the program much quicker than I ever did last summer. And from talking with other veterans from year one and two, this seems to be the consensus.

Globaloria Staff - THANK YOU!!! This is one of the few organizations I have been affiliated with in which the input from the veterans is actually considered and used to improve the program for the future. Lot's of people in management positions say they plan to do this, and few ever really do. YOU DO AND IT SHOWS!!! I truly believe that the secret to the success we are seeing right now (besides the fact that the new educators are AWESOME), is that you have listened and adapted the program based on what you have gathered from the year one & two educators. KUDOS TO YOU!!

So....Two guys walked into a bar, then year three Globaloria folks came along and raised the bar so the third guy didn't have to duck....

"I love it when a plan comes together!"

This was the famous line of Hannibal from the A-Team (as opposed to Hannibal the cannibal Lector). However, sometimes the plan just doesn't come together. And that, my friends is when you must make the most of the situation. As a member of Team Mountain Dew, I admitted that my time between training sessions was limited with band camp and rehearsals occupying almost every moment. Therefore, I decided to limit my "game-improvement" involvement to the soundtrack development for "The Ultimate Lunch Tray". All seemed to be on track until at the last moment, I found that I could not open the .fla files that my other team members had posted on the wiki. Duh-duh-DUH!

So to make a long story short, I have soundtrack files and my team mates have published some great changes to the game - check them out on the wiki! - But, the plan didn't come together.

Now, every situation presents a learning experience that we as teachers can process and then use to help our students as they experience similar situations. So what have I learned from this situation?

Well, first of all, I must admit that procrastination played a part on my behalf (see the next post down). I have all sorts of reasons for not checking out these files earlier, but as the saying goes "In life you can have reasons or results. Reasons don't count." If I would have tried opening the .fla files a few days ago when they were posted, I would have discovered the problem earlier and had a better chance of solving the problem.

I think that my second pitfall was the fact that I missed my team conference session last week. (For anyone who is counting reasons, my wife got called into work an emergency case at the hospital at the last minute and I was alone watching my 4 year old son and 5 year old daughter). Good reason, but I still missed the session and the opportunity to possible catch my problem early enough to solve it.

So what can I take from this as I work with students this coming school year? I think I can sum it up in the following way: Stuff happens, and the "plan" doesn't always come together. However, by taking an account of your progress on a regular basis, and building in time for the unexpected, success can still be achieved.

Come to think of it, this is a great moment for teaching about the importance of blogging. By keeping a regular blog, we (teachers as well as students) can reflect on where we stand within a given process. Through this reflection, we can see how far we've come, how much work still remains, and maybe, just maybe, we can catch life's little pitfalls before they get out of control. This way, instead of writing a ridiculously guilt filled blog post about their failure to meet their goals, our students can be sitting back with a smile on their faces saying "I love it when a plan comes together!"

The Procrastination Vortex of DOOM!!!

So, for a while now, I have been wanting to write a blog post on procrastination. My reasons were sincere in the beginning. I have felt that I, more often than not, end up finishing projects at work and at home at the last possible minute. To be truthful, I am still in the midst of an internal dilemma regarding whether or not this is true procrastination, or just a result of my jam-packed schedule. Alas, I will put this philosophical discussion off for another time. (Yes, I know....)

The irony is, after wanting to write this post for weeks now, I am just now getting to it. Even more ironic is the fact that as I started researching for the post, I found myself reading theories about procrastination, then getting distracted by them and following link after link to more and more information about procrastination. I was putting off blogging about the topic which I was researching because I was performing the act which I intended to blog about. If your mind has just exploded, I sympathize. I think mine may have as well.

So, as I write this, I am finding myself continuously looking for ways to make the post better, and usually deciding that the options I consider are not really what I want to use. Like for example, some procrastination theorists argue that procrastinators are really perfectionists. Blahhh...!!! what kind of nonsense is that!

I found this really cool procrastination flow chart. By embedding it here, I can put off ending this post at least a little longer.

I guess my current image of procrastination is that of a swirling vortex of doom. Like when you connect the video out from a digital camera to a tv and then point the camera at said tv. You will see on the screen the viewfinder showing the real time picture of the viewfinder showing the real time picture of the viewfinder showing the real time picture of the viewfinder showing the real time picture of the viewfinder showing the real time picture of the viewfinder showing the real time picture of the viewfinder showing the real time picture of the viewfinder showing the real time picture of the viewfinder showing the real time picture of the viewfinder showing the real time picture of the viewfinder.....well, you get the idea. I was getting tired of copying and pasting or else I could have put off the next example a little longer.

I am also reminded of a scene from a warped movie from my childhood. I will refer to the scene as "the last visible dog". It is from the animated film "The Mouse and his Child". Go to the 52:30 mark to see what I'm talking about.

Procrastination is the act of putting things off until the last minute. Often procrastinators will find some other activity to occupy themselves when they could be completing the task at hand. I will leave it up to the reader to determine whether I have successfully written a post on the topic, or if I've just been procrastinating this entire time.