One last bridge to cross

I imagine this how someone feels who after running their first marathon. Along the way there were many points where I felt that I could not go on. That one more project, just might make colapse. But preserverance and patience, has brought me to the point where I can this is my last blog entry.As difficult and demanding as the assignments were, I did enjoy creating with them and reviewing the work of my class mates. It was always interesting to see what people would create. As look back on this journey, I won't say that I transformed, but I can say that if I had to run this marathon again, I wouldn't breath so hard. To clarify the metaphor a little more, I was creatively out of shape. Prior to the class, I was feeling stuck in a cycle of meetings, obligations, long days, and short nights. Hence, I had no time for creativity. While I am still stuck in that cycle, I do feel that this class forced me to stop, think, and question.

While I think a good amount of pressure is good, I think that less would have been more in this class. I would have enjoyed interacting more with my classmates, which may have resulted in more organic interaction. Additionally, I felt that there was a lot of focus on saying on what you learned, however I feel that learning occurs in the doing, and our projects, blogs, and discussions can best demonstrate what we have learned. Then the role of the professor becomes the role of the guide, who keeps us on "the path". Lastly, I think it would be good to utilize one tool for our group disucssion, blogs, and posts. My group seemed to gravitate towards the use of facebook.

That being said I really enjoyed the class, the discussions, and I learned a lot.

Rashad has left the building

Work of Art: A moment in rhyme

Well interestingly enough, the day I was supposed to record the interview my subject has to leave out for a week. So upon his arrival, I was playing catchup to complete the assignment.The goal of the task was to demonstrate the process of creating compelling art. To do this I solicited the help of friend, Lawyer, CEO, and poet; Andre Dandridgeor MSC (My Struggle Continues). Hip Hop, is an art form that more than any music is expected to reflect your life experiences.In the interview I tried to demonstrate how Andre upbringing in Detroit plays a role in the music he creates.The interview focused on two songs that I can flow with the best of them and Ghetto Family. Both these songs did a good job of capturing the two extremes of the same experience.MSC explains in the video that he uses the music as inspiration for his subject matter. From there he uses the subject matter as the framework that he uses to attach lyrics. After creating a sketch of the rhyme he edits and revisits it until he is done. The compelling nature of MSCs rhymes come from his content, delivery, and music. MSC chooses inspirational themes that address the common struggles of everyday people.He uses ad libs on separate vocal tracks to integrate different perspectives in the music.

Imaginative Bridges in Fashion

Impact of fashion on our lives is everywhere. Our ipads, ipods, laptops, school bags, shoes, have become symbols of style, access, status, and individuality. Fashion is about taping into peoples dreams and aspirations, but teaching can be the same. In the past education has not been held in this regard. Largely because the approach of educators has been to assume the role of the knowledge giver, and students have been forced to have a seat and listen. The crossroads between technology and education presents new opportunities to appeal to students in a new way. The availability of blogs, social media, and collaborative tools allow students to play a more active role in the learning than ever before. Society is becoming less and less dependent on traditional gatekeepers like academia, print, and broadcast news to the set agenda for how things should be. Students can choose their voices through blogs, tweets, and online communities. The new gatekeepers are the knowledge contributors themselves who rank and promote validity of the content they consume. The nexus between fashion and technology is relevancy. Using the right tool for the right time. A quote from our reading stated that fashion is in one year, and out the next. Likewise, technology has type of shelf life. Less that 10 years ago people were just catching on to the use of email. Today, email is the status quo, and is viewed an inferior form of communication in comparison to Twitter, Text Messaging, and Facebook.

Instructors can also apply lessons from fashion in the way they teach. For me my sense of humor has always been an asset that I use in the classroom. Other trainers have watched me teach, and commented to me that they wish they were able to be more humorous in the classroom. My advice to my colleagues is to identify their own strengths and play to them. If you are nice guy, you should wow your audience with your attention to their needs and follow-up. If you are a great storyteller, your analogies to bring simplicity to complex ideas. Teaching is just as much about style as any other profession.

Module 4: Music Project

Last weeks analysis of the John Mayer song had me craving some Curtis Mayfield. So when it came time to do the music project, he was an obvious choice. I chose Give me your love, off the Superfly soundtrack. The video I created had images that felt describe the feel of the music. I divided the journey or analysis into three parts. 1 The Seduction 2. The Acceptance 3. The Act. I love this song, and this project gave the opportunity to discover why. The song starts smooth, but steady grove that continues to intensify after every hook. The groove remains the same, but new elements are added that contribute to the song's sense of urgency.

Class instruction should follow a similar groove or progression. I find it good to begin with simpler concepts that users can wrap their minds around and find some success early on. Gradually, you can introduce more complex subjects that should build on the concepts that were covered earlier on ib the lesson.