Month: December 2012

I was going to write this earlier in the week, but decided to wait and see if the world was going to end…that kind of thing could really hurt my hit count

We are now in the final run up to Christmas. I remember thinking that Thanksgiving was early, so we had lots of time before Christmas this year. There would be plenty of time to do everything and do it well. No rush, no cut corners, no regrets…

Four lovely Advent candles yet to be lit.

So what happened? Why am I running around like crazy to complete some semblance of an organized celebration? The doors of my Advent calendar have been ripped off their hinges as if hit by a time tornado. Three Advent candles are burning, and from the looks of Church decorations already, the fourth is just an afterthought to be lit and pushed to the side by the Christmas monster.

So my wish today is for one more week of Advent. That's all it would take, one more week. I could get everything done. How do we go about making this happen? Do I DM @pontifex with a request? Do we need to reshape the Advent wreath to accommodate an extra candle? Rewrite old songs

O come O come, Emmanuel!

Just one week later, that would be just swell.

Of course I know that this wouldn't solve things. Parkinson's law states that a task fills up the amount of time that we have to complete this task, and I know that a week from now I would be in the same position. The illusion that there is a perfect path to a perfect Christmas celebration is one of the most maddening holiday myths, right up there with Santa Claus and good-tasting egg nog. The Christmas story starts with the Holy Family arriving to Bethlehem unprepared and without a reservation (clearly no one took the time to go to hotels.com), and in this they provided a model for the many years to come.

In this yearly failure of will over time, there are larger lessons, because we never have enough time to make it perfect, to get it just right. Whether it be a lesson or a school program or a life itself, there is always a sense that more could have been done if we just had a little more time. We always arrive at Christmas or anything with no reservations for the inn.

So my real wish for today is that I learn to accept incompletion and imperfection in my holiday celebration and in my life.

As always, I welcome your comments.

Image: 'Candelabra' http://www.flickr.com/photos/27550543@N02/3192361637 Found on flickrcc.net

 

I have a half-written post responding to a discussion I read about the flipped classroom, but somehow it doesn't seem right to talk about the flipped classroom today.

Nothing seems right today.

I am no poet or philosopher, or counselor, or theologian who can say words that will help anybody or help the conversation move further. Within the horrific events at Sandy Hook Elementary School we witnessed evil and innocence, terror and heroism, excruciating loss and consolation. For those of us who work daily in education, the murders hit even closer to home in the halls we walk and to the faces we see. The numbness and shock waiver between our recognition that this could have happened anywhere and our anguished remembering that it did happen there.

Yesterday was the third Sunday of Advent, a Sunday always called “Gaudete” or “rejoice” in which we recognize the joy of the Lord's coming.

Joy?

Has there ever been a Christmas season more antithetical to joy? Can one have a “holly, jolly” Christmas after this modern slaughter of innocents? Do we “jingle all the way” in the face of devastated families? It seems the most callous of joviality to celebrate while others mourn. In addition how do we celebrate while our own hearts feel like breaking?

However,one finds wisdom in the most unexpected places. I was listening to Tracey Thorn's song “Joy” from her new Christmas Album Tinsel and Lights. Here is the video of the song:

Though not a traditionally sacred song, the lyrics framed this moment better than anything else. Joy in this song is not as much a reaction to a perfect world as it is positive defiance of the world we face daily:

So light the winter fire, and watch as the flames grow higher

We'll gather up our fears, and face down all the coming years

…all that they destroy

And in their face we'll throw out

Joy

Joy

Joy

Joy

I've been lucky in my life to have met several defiantly joyful people, people whose circumstances would seem to call for resentment or regret but who instead “throw out joy.” This is not a sappy Pollyanna approach to life but a boldly defiant spark in the darkness, a hopeful choice in full recognition of all the doubts and fears.

So my wish for all of us today as we mourn is that we might also embrace the defiant joy that sustains us through our pain and helps us to reach out to others in need.

As always, I welcome your comments.

Image: 'Licht / Light' http://www.flickr.com/photos/48801602@N07/5264174408 Found on flickrcc.net

 

I could be easily accused of technology ingratitude. Hardware and software developers make amazing products for me, and consistently they are just short of what I want them to be. I have a technology utopian, and every step brings me closer, but makes me more frustrated with the narrowing gap between myself and paradise.

My current unreasonable expectation relates to group presentations. Presentation apps on the iPad (Slideshark for PowerPoint and the Prezi Viewer) have made it possible for me to leave my laptop alone. With these apps I am able to show presentations completely without any major concessions to the device (both still have some trouble with embedded video, but that isn't my concern…today). Combining this ability with the ability to edit my presentations (Cloud-on for PPT and Prezi Viewer for Prezi) and I have completely cut the cord (and cut about 6 pounds from my luggage). What more could I want?

What I want is the ability to walk around the room while presenting a Prezi. When I used a laptop, I could carry a remote and hook the machine up to the projector. Now I have to hook my iPad to the projector, and run up to the projector any time I want to forward the presentation. When I use Slideshark for a PowerPoint, I have an app on my phone that works like a bluetooth remote, but with Prezi there is no app for this. Unfortunately, most of my presentations any more, you guessed it, are Prezis. So unless and until the Prezi company develops a remote app, I'm tethered to the projector.

I talked to my (very nice and very patient) Apple reps about this today. There is a way around my problem, and that is through Apple TV. An Apple TV can hook up to the projector and then through AirPlay technology I could mirror my iPad or iPhone to the projector and voila, “I got no strings on me…”

OK, but there are two drawbacks to this solution. First, I'd need to buy an Apple TV, not a huge investment at $99 (though I would also need to buy an adapter to the projector for another $50). Secret, I did buy an Apple TV for this use earlier this fall; however, I made the mistake of hooking it up to my home TV and now I never want to take it away. The other more substantial issue is that this would mean one more device and one more set of cables on every trip (and one more thing that might be forgotten or left behind). I keep moving toward device freedom, but minor complications keep getting in my way. Like Moses I stand on Mt Nebo, viewing the promised land but certain I will never arrive (a bit much?).

So my wish today has two options. Either Prezi needs to put a Bluetooth remote function in their iPhone app, or Apple needs to make it possible to mirror my iPhone to my iPad (or vice versa). Once I get that, I'll be satisfied, except…

As always, I welcome your comments.

Image: 'Mirror, mirror ;)' http://www.flickr.com/photos/21404006@N00/118207084 Found on flickrcc.net

 

OK, took a week off after the 30 Blogposts of Summer slogfest, but I’m ready now to push on to the end of the year. Since I enjoy having an overarching theme, I’ll call these December posts my Christmas list. The (as of yet indeterminate number) posts will talk about something I would like to see in the year (or years) ahead.

I’ve said it before here, but I love The Innovative Educator blog. Lisa Nielsen, who writes the blog is one of the most revolutionary thinkers in the area of education, particularly at the nexus of education and technology. What I like most about her blog and related Twitter posts is her ability to shout out what others a afraid to say. Her scalding criticism of the intransigence of the education establishment at the cost of authentic learning often shakes me (as deep within the belly of the beast of an education establishment) to the core. I often don’t agree with her, and we have had more than one Twitterspat about an issue, but I am always better for having read her articles.

However, it is not her, but another story related in her blog last week. Under the title, “Microsoft big says stop doing 1:1 technology programs.” I encourage you to read the entire article here, but the opening paragraph is as follows:

Continue reading My (Not So Grownup) Christmas List #1: Tidings of Comfort and Joy