"Launching Learning"

I recently did just as I was told--I leaned back, stopped thinking, and just watched Kevin Honeycutt's Pre-Conference Keynote address, "Launching Learning."  http://k12onlineconference.org/?p=1129

Upon learning of his childhood space passion, as well as his students' project, the first thing I thought of was my childhood love/obsession with the movie Space Camp.  A real cinematic gem!  A group of scrappy teens get accidentally launched into space during a simulation activity at their summer space camp.  What's not to love?

At first, I just thought of Space Camp because maybe I wanted to reminisce about my former crush on Joaquin Phoenix, who plays the obnoxious kid in the flick.  But really my memories of Space Camp directly connected to what Honeycutt spoke so passionately about.  Just that one movie made me want to go into space, or at least learn more about it and feel the adventure of those squirrelly kids being launched into the orbit.  But also, those kids in the movie were doing exactly what Honeycutt said--learning to love to learn through hands on, direct applications of their interests. 

In listening to Honeycutt talk about the nay-sayers of learning pioneers like himself, I had to admit that some of their thoughts echoed in my own head.  Who has the time? The money? The resources? The kids with drive? The energy?  And all of those are valid issues to address when planning a major project like his, but with the right group of kids or the right unifying project, anything is possible, right?  We need to be teaching students to think, learn, love, and live real true education.  And one thing he said really hit home--"If we don't role model this, how are they gonna get it?"  How dare I be a nay-sayer.  If learning from me, then my students would be nay-sayers, too. 

I can't say that I could throw myself into an Apollo 13 project with as much gusto as Honeycutt and his students, but maybe my students could.  And I can't say that I have a strong idea of what I could/would do in place of that genre of study.  But that's the beauty of what Honeycutt is saying: it doesn't matter what I'd want to learn about.  It matters what students would find interesting. 

And with the internet at their fingers, anything is available and possible.