#NewMusicMonday • March, 2024 • Failing Forward

Embrace adversity and make failure a regular part of your life. If you're not failing, you're probably not really moving forward. –John C. Maxwell

Hey, make this t-shirt, I know a gal!

This past week I was in Palm Springs at the annual CUE (Computing Using Educators) Conference. I have been going to this conference, well... before the invention of the Internet. Back in the 1980's through early 2000's, we as computing using educator's could only dream about every student having a laptop in their backpack. 

At some point in the 2010's, the tipping point was happening. From teachers having one desktop computer in their class, it evolved into teachers having a whole locking cart of classroom laptops, to each individual student having their own laptop assigned to them like a textbook, that they could take home.

As teachers, we keep pushing forward, stumbling and falling with slow-moving leaders, but always advocating for the integration of technology across the K-12 curriculum. Attending the conference this year, I realized many of the teacher's present were actually the school children growing up in a digital world where "digital access" became well... expected.

Fomcore - Rock'n Roller @ CUE

I was at the conference this year working with my colleagues at
D&D Learning Spaces to push that same envelope with mobile and modular furniture (and technology) for the classroom. As a reader, you may be unaware that the same furniture that young students used in the 80's and 90's, are now grown tax paying adults, and their own children are still using that same crappy furniture. So today, we have 21st technology in classrooms with school furniture purchased when Ronald Reagan was President. A bit of a disconnect from the world of work, and the concept of project-based learning. And, that tipping point in public school classrooms is probably another good 5 -10 years out. Hey, but teachers can dream, and they can act.

So, I'm in my exhibitor space, talking with teachers who say, "I guess I could dream about getting this cool furniture in my class someday." Then, I see a teacher in his 30's walk by with a black t-shirt with the phrase, "Failing Forward" in white letters on the front. I just smile. Here's a teacher coming to this conference to learn new things, make mistakes, and change young people's lives for the better. 

My motto in life is a line taken from The Beatles song, Hey Jude,
"Take a sad song and make it better."

Now think of yourself. How will you fail this month and year to ultimately achieve a series of steps to success? 

As JD Souther says in his wonderful song, Little Victories,
I know it hurt sometimes to look around
The sameness of it beats you down
And the best seems all behind
Before you start

Little victories
I know you need one
Little victories

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Now the playlist this week has nothing to do with my post above, and that's kind of my way in life these days. I bounce around with different passions and often conflate things like school furniture and rock 'n' roll together. 

Whistle while you work my friends. Enjoy the playlist.

References 

Failing Forward: Turning Mistakes Into Stepping Stones for Success: Maxwell, John C.: 9780785288572: Amazon.com: Books