I teach art, and I use technology to do it. I want my kids to be able to think creatively about a problem and then choose the most appropriate tech to solve it.
I have been working very hard to try to get some of my students -- any of my students -- to go to art school, without much success. Most want, understandably, to go to college to learn what most people would consider more practical skills, but that doesn't really make it if you are an artist at heart. I believe what one of my professors at Pepperdine University, Farzin Madjidi, told me once. He said, "Be practically unreasonable."
In another post [1], I mentioned two students, Fredy and Catelyn, who were on the verge of dropping out when we (they and I) discovered that they were filmmakers hiding in the bodies of high school students.
Well, recently, these two amazing kids were accepted into the Inner City Filmmakers [2] program in Los Angeles. According to the ICF site, "Our mission is to open doors to possibilities for low-income, yet capable, high school seniors by providing free year-round professional- and business-skills training, mentors, and paid work opportunities in the motion picture and television industries."
This is the payoff for all the hard work, and validation for bringing technology and kids together! It's practically unreasonable!
Links:
[1] http://www.edutopia.org/node/3575
[2] http://www.innercityfilmmakers.com