Taking A Risk And Starting Over Is Worth It Sometimes

My latest assignment for the Certificate in Educational Technologies was a one-to-two minute presentation to my class. A pitch that would ‘sell’ my idea and my focus for the upcoming action research component of the course. An assignment that filled me with dread. Two reasons. One, I HATE presenting to adults. I could stand and talk to thousands of students, but fellow educators? I want to run. Obviously this is an area I need to push myself on – working on it! Two, I wasn’t entirely happy with my idea/research area.

After watching the first round of pitches last week, I felt even worse. My colleagues were full of passion for their subjects and it shone through. I was certain that I did not feel the same way about my chosen area and would not emit that kind of energy. So, that evening I went home and decided to scrap everything and start from zero. And try not to think about all the reading I had already done around my chosen area.

I got out my good art paper, the thick stuff, and decent quality marker pens and just started throwing down ideas on the paper. I think better in colour. I had three criteria:

1. The idea had to improve my own practice in some way – so it had to be relevant to what I teach (performing arts to three-to-six year olds).

2. The idea also had to have value beyond me. For example, have benefit to the school, or the wider education community.

3. It absolutely HAD to be something that I was passionate about.

What was I interested in? What am I passionate about? Ideas were flying around in my head. I also thought about some comments that I had heard recently and suddenly everything clicked into place and I knew the direction I needed to be heading in. Albeit a very general direction!

The next morning I went to talk to my tutor about changing my focus. All good. He also gave me some great ideas of how I could pursue my new direction too. I was already feeling so much better about the whole idea. Passion reignited!

Now I had my idea. But I still had the hurdle of presenting it to the class. Gulp.

I really do NOT enjoy standing up and talking to adults. But… I do rather enjoy singing. Could I really present my ideas through song? Would it be possible to maintain the ‘intellectualness’ and ‘seriousness’ of the presentation without it seeming just a wee bit…. naff? I like thinking OUT of the box. I enjoy exploring creativity and trying out new ideas. I was determined to give it my best shot. 

One thing I absolutely LOVE to do is write lyrics. I’m no good at creating my own melodies or chord sequences, but what I REALLY enjoy doing is taking a song and changing the lyrics. I love finding words that rhyme, or almost rhyme, and working around a melody so that the words all fit together and maintain the flow of the music. So that’s what I did. I took all my notes and the ideas buzzing away in my head and put them down to a song. Thanks to Green Day’s “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” for the inspiration.

I took a risk. I saw the opportunity for a leap of faith that I could take and I took it. Here’s my final presentation, filmed yesterday:

I was pleased with how it all went and I think I managed to get my main message across. For me, taking a risk and starting over was definitely worth it.

#Learning #Thinking #SUNY #Play #messy #EducationalTechnology