Who's your Yoda

The other day I was lucky enough to get a back door invitation to listen to a session for teachers by Marco Torres. I have heard a lot of positive comments about Marco and and so was really keen to see him in action and listen to what he had to say.

One of the things he covered in the session I attended was about having mentors or people that you can look too for support, guidance, even feedback. The term that Marco used was "who is your Yoda", being a play on the StarWars character Yoda; a jedi master who tutors Luke  in the way of the force. Recently I had not payed a lot of attention to this part of my life and personal growth. During the session I got too thinking about who I actually had as my mentors and funnily enough I realised that the mentors I have are both human and abstract in a sense. Since my work and life has moved into the online world so much I  would actually class podcasts and blogs as a form of mentor where I draw inspiration, ideas and feedback. Whilst these tools help me with this role, I am missing having a mentor that I can chat and communicate with IRL around my ideas and actions and thoughts.

Marco also talked about having people in your "nowNetwork" where you can get support and guidance quickly and easily - your Yoda and nowNetwork are vital for various parts of your life. So who are yours:

* Professional
* Personally – Friends
* Personally – Family
* Technology

One of the other little gems I picked up from the session with Marco was a new item from funtwo - the young man that posted his guitar solo of 'pachelbel canon'. He has a new video, well new to me. I have embedded it here for your pleasure.

Thanks Don.

Comments

[Camilla Elliott]

I caught the Maro Torres presentation on Elluminate via global classroom. In participating the day after I'd returned from Will Richardson at SLAV in Melbourne, I couldn't help but consider their similarities. Both very generous with their knowledge and ideas, and both setting up structures outside the taditional k-12 framework to provide opportunities for students. All the best Camilla

[Tony]

Thanks Camilla - both were very generous with their ideas and knowledge and I think that is the type of educator we need to see more in our systems. I certainly think it is the type of ICT specialist or technical specialist we need to see more of.

Thanks for the comment.