"Jurassic Janet"

At one point in my young life, I wanted to be a paleontologist. Seriously. Actually, I wanted to be a dinosaur; specifically, a Brontosaurus. Tyrannosaurus Rex was just too mean, and the Stegosaurus was too spiky (also, the first to drop in that Stravinsky scene in "Fantasia"). I thought the Brontosaurus had it all, moving through the jungle at an easy pace, munching on leaves (I always liked salad), taking in the big picture...  being a dinosaur sounded pretty good.  But back to Stravinsky - maybe not so good.

I seem to hear the word "dinosaur" a lot lately, and thought about it last week while immersed in 21st Century music/technology coursework. It's easy to get left behind in this fast-changing world of technology, especially in an educational setting. Some teachers choose to learn about and utilize what is available, and others are required to use it for instruction and/or communication. Some try but get stuck in the mud, others dig their feet in and refuse to budge. Thankfully, I was surrounded by a bunch of Velociraptors ("swift-seizers") who set a pretty quick (but achievable) pace in our classes and conversations.

No machine can take the place of a human being when facilitating the education of a child, but our students are living in this high-tech climate that is still changing, and we've got to keep up with that climate change or we'll be stuck in that mud and left behind. I just can't get Stravinsky out of my mind, and think that maybe I don't want to be a Brontosaurus after all. No "Jurassic Janet" here. In a 5 hour Garage Band session today, I definitely had my moments of plodding along, but ultimately made steady progress toward the future. It's pretty hot.