"Making Curriculum Pop" and Nailing It

Recently I discovered an amazing social network for teachers called "Making Curriculum POP". Not only do all the teachers in the network share the same desire to utilize pop culture in the classroom, but they actually respond and help one another. I say this as if I am some expert on social network sites, or interacting with teachers - neither of which is remotely true. It is simply refreshing to go to a place where so many people are gathered together, working in a united way, and answering questions in a generous and open manner.

If you haven't checked it out, I highly recommend taking a minute or two to set up a profile and start getting to know a few people on the site. Hopefully I will continue to form friendships and learn with the other educators who give valuable advice and share helpful experience. It is good for a youngster like me!

Yesterday I had the fortunate chance to visit with Peter Gutierrez who authors an excellent blog titled "Connect the Pop".  He gave me some helpful counsel about my emerging crowdsourced-movieclips-in-the-classroom concept, which it turns out he had already done a great deal of work on a few years back. In light of his feedback, and that of a faculty consultant where I work, I feel that this project faces a crucial fork in the road (and potentially multiple forks). Right now I am trying to "nail" the concept in my mind in a way that others can understand and visualize it - and perhaps after using it to help the 7th/8th grade students this semester it well flesh out a bit more. Once the concept is truly pinned down then I think that is when I really need to start figuring out whether this would be a good non-profit model, small-business model, or something along those lines. But at the same time, the counsel from my digital culture teacher is important to keep in mind. He has taught me that we don't have to always think like print culture has taught us. You don't have to have a complete and polished concept before trying to move it forward and get feedback on it. I need to round out my idea more, but I have already discovered that I don't have to have a flashy product before experts are willing to give me social proof.

What I am learning and enjoying about this whole process is that I am entering a place in my life and education that is no longer moderated by a teacher or a professional. For the first time it seems that it is completely up to me to go out and make strong connections with others, learn what I need to do, and choose to act upon the things I feel are most important. It is very exciting, and at times extremely frightening. I mean, there is no right answer. This age of information, with all of the tools to consume, create and connect, provides an abundance of opportunity I feel I am only just rubbing up against.

Making Progress

I am currently in a class titled Digital Culture in the English Department of my university, and the professor of the course advised us to make our thought process transparent as we think through things and look for social proof on our ideas. This post runs along that vein.

The semester for me is full of nodes, media, and discussions of digital technology and culture. I am taking 3 courses that directly address these issues: a film course with an emphasis on documentary, an education seminar focused on educational technology and social media, and the English class I mentioned earlier. Being immersed in these courses has fueled my desire to act on the idea for a teacher-crowdsourced database of movie clips that I had about 2 years ago. It is exciting to finally start acting on the idea in the form of this blog, my Diigo group, on Twitter, and a variety of other ways. Hopefully I can start moving the idea in a more concrete way - and I have some confidence that there may be some open doors out there as I have been receiving very positive responses from folks I consider to be experts in the field.

Here are two sketches of possible interface designs. I am heavily influenced by movieclips.com, Youtube, theteachingchannel, and a bit of Vimeo. These artifacts of modern art are probably incomprehensible.

So right now I am trying to flesh out my "database idea" (I need to find a better name for it!) as I continue learning about digital literacy, transmedia storytelling, and listen to a host of interesting podcasts about the current political situation and movements in education. I am really getting stuck on the seeming fact that everyone may have a different understanding of what the purpose of school actually is. It makes sense to me that there is so much controversy about our system - because the variety of what people think schools should be doing for kids and young adults is varied. I feel like this is a key issue.

I plan on graduating with my film and English degree in April 2013, and from there I am not sure what will become of me. Teach For America is a hopeful option right now, and I am also looking at a few instructional design programs (BYU, USU, ISU, and maybe Georgia) I could start next fall. There are so many things I care about and want to dip my toe in, but I am trying to just take deep breaths and ease into the waters of post-graduation life.