30 Day Blogging Challenge from Te@chThought: Day 9

In response to the recent challenge from te@chthought, I'm participating in a 30 day blogging mission, starting September 1st!

Day 9
Write about one of your biggest accomplishments in your teaching that no one knows about (or may not care).

I was just working with a new group of 8th grade Media Arts students this morning, and a student asked me if he would need to submit his finished work to a film festival at the end of the term.  I looked up at the spot on the wall displaying the modest awards that my students have received for their work, and I noticed the Honorable Mention award for "The Page".

When I moved back to Seattle in 2002 from my film school days in LA, I lived in a house where the rent was less than $300 and the basement was a practice space for bands.  I made a friend named Adam whose music and album art were like nothing else I'd ever seen.  I was soooo not together back then, but Adam was a focused artist.

Flash forward 10 years, and I'm an art teacher in Portland, OR.  I see that Adam's band, Chromatics, which claims to be from Portland but spends all its time in Montreal, was playing a show.  I wondered if I'd get a chance to catch up with Adam, who I hadn't seen in a decade.  When I walk into the Crystal Ballroom, I see stacks of a brand new album from the band, and Adam turns around.  What a great reunion.  What a great show.  What a great album.  Adam was excited about offering my Media Arts students a chance to make a music video for one of his new songs.

My students were thrilled.  One particularly driven group of female students chose the song "The Page" and made a music video after school, on the weekends, at each others' houess, and starring them and their parents, in conflict (of course).  It's clearly made by teens.  It's pure 8th grade ebullience.  There's also undeniably a magic to the film.

When I texted Adam what he thought of the video, he replied ecstatically that he and the band loved it.  They agreed to make the video "Official" on YouTube.  The girls got to enjoy the views climbing from 300 to 1,000 to 2,000... 2 years later and it's about to reach 6,000 views.  Not bad for an 8th grade project!

Here's the link to the video on YouTube.

Nobody cares about this story.  To anyone reading this far, thank you for letting me indulge in reflecting on a moment that brought my old friendships and young adult life into a beautiful collaboration with the present day, the result of which being that some middle school students got the assignment of a lifetime.