Marco+Torres

Marco Torres - Envisioning learning- empowering learners
Marco working with students, May 2008

Marco Torres is an Apple Distinguished Educator, a powerful presenter. He speaks with passion and spreads his compassion. You can read more about him [|**here**]. If you don’t want to read my notes listen to this [|podcast].

Session notes: Marco Torres is from San Fernando in Los Angeles, a primarily Latino area. There are about 5000 students in the school with 56% turnover rate with students and about 36% of teacher turnover.

Does Australia want to lead or want to support? What we do in a classroom has to be meaningful. If you are a subject area teacher can your students Google what you teach? How much can you value add to your sbject area? Is an expert someone who just knows facts?

Medium Vs. Message | Technology Vs. Communication

Traditional communication Traditional Now text see hear We can now use simulation software, we can bring experts to the classroom. It used to be one students presenting to the group, no discussion – now they can make links to the world. Do you provide a third world, third grade education or a first world, first grade education? Is it **Relevant? Meaningful? Applicable?** What is the key to survival? Adaptability, diversity and change. If you don’t the options are: 1- Quit 2- Complain 3- Innovate Language Creativity, Self Esteem & Multimedia. Marco Torres is a social studies teacher not a media or film-making teacher. He tries to teach kids the language of media. School made everyone assign a 15 page paper. He assigned a movie - deliver the importance of voting. Power of 1 The makers got hired by MTV. A very powerful piece about how many world events were decided by one vote. See it here [|**http://www.sfett.com/ican4/one.html**] Can that project live outside the classroom? Yes. For the first time we all have that power. Students today don’t want to be just the recipients of information, we need them to be producers and publishers of information, Also policymakers. What can kids do? They need to collect information first hand, then share it, receive it and broadcast it. Compare to 1973 when 48 year old principals were students (Average age of today’s principals is 48)

Changing information - Use: lean back - Do: lean forward Tech plans really reflect big differences in how kids and adults see technology - adults see technology as a tool for RETRIEVING information - kids see technology very differently than adults do one uses technology, one does technology Kids see technology as a studio, stage, and a community Schools see it as a productivity tool Kids are using it in ways to personalize and individualize learning

In America attendance is the determiner of success. Work day by day. Get them interested to come the next day and then the next..

Be distinct or be extinct! Edna Mole (the Incredibles)

Being Creative: Learning to solve problems

Connect to the community/family

Communicate with family - a lot of projects where they interview family members. Capturing stories. Our stories are just as important as formal history. When showing at the film festival - a lot of affirmation for the students. Connecting student to the immediate community.

Embrace your obstacles (Be a snowboarder) Make it relevant Make it meanignful Make it applicable

Innovate Infect Others with Curiosity

Do important work, valuable work, liberating work

[|**http://homepage.mac.com/torres21/**]

Afternoon Reflections A group of his students went to college and thought they would get even better education than what they got at high school. Being digital in an analog world (hard to pay attention - lectures for visual people - teaching today using yesterday's tools. Here was another amazing video. This was done by his former students in different universities who planned the whole movie using iChat, planned the kinds of shots they needed, edited, etc. without meeting face-to-face. See it here [|**http://homepage.mac.com/dvchelo/page1/page3/files/page3-1003-pop.html**]

If you want further info for Marco Antonio Torres [|**http://homepage.mac.com/torres21/**] [|**www.sfett.com**] [|**www.flickschool.com**] [|**http://www.speedofcreativity.org/2006/05/03/podcast56-marco-torres-on-engaging-students-through-digital-media/**] Thanks to Anthony Miller for locating this video of teachers: Some of you have had difficulties locating one of the videos from the Marco Torres presentation (including myself). Unfortunately I haven’t been able to get the video from its own location (link). You will need to scroll down the page until you come across the ‘Teachers (New)’ video. http://homepage.mac.com/torres21/page0/page3/page3.html