Herbert Midgley's Blog

Wednesday, May 29, 2019

Why THE RISE OF THE ROBOTS is the greatest film ever made in East Texas?

Why is THE RISE OF THE ROBOTS the greatest film ever made in East Texas? In the summer of 2012, a band of filmmakers got together to set out to make a little film and didn't know it would change the world. There were four main actors, about twenty crew members, the writer/director and hundreds of extras. The plot of the film is that Robots take over humanity by using the technology everybody had, cell phones. The motley crew of misfits that didn't use technology make their final stand against the robots to save the Earth.

Today is 2019, seven years after this groundbreaking sci-fi film was filmed, cell phones are even bigger parts of everyone's lives. How was this film so prophetic? The population of the world has always enjoyed the fruits of labor-saving devices. Go back to the wheel, farming machines, then finally the computer.

Once the internet came along, that technology changed everything. Computers made our lives faster, however, the internet meant that we could have access to all the information of the world in a device that could fit into our shirt pockets. The genie is out of the bottle and humanity is never going back to a time without it. We use that device for communication, entertainment, education, and many other uses.

So now, we see drones of people walking around staring into their 'tippy tappy devices' without being able to talk to a real person without looking at their phone every other second. For a time it was only young people, now it is everyone. To me, it looks like the world is just lonely.

I want to challenge you to put down your cell phones from time to time. Talk to another person face to face. Smile at each other. Help others when you can. Do everything you can to make this world a better place. This way, the robots won't win. Computed.

Herbert Midgley "The Internet Legend"

If you want to see this groundbreaking sci-fi film for free, it is the first film shot in East Texas to get on Amazon Prime. www.TheRobotFilm.com
Also, this film is now a play if your group would like to make a production of THE RISE OF THE ROBOTS.

Tuesday, April 30, 2019

Twenty years flew by, What I have learned after two decades of teaching.

The last twenty years of teaching flew by, it seems like yesterday when I walked into my first classroom. This was while I was in graduate school, I was teaching music fundamentals. It would be great to say that I was a perfect teacher from the start, well that was not true.

That first day I stammered so much I was shocked to see the class come back to the next class. I knew the material like the back of my hand, music theory was as simple as breathing for me, I just needed to breathe and slow down. I slowed down, and the class learned music fundamentals.

That is my biggest tip for a young teacher, the less you teach, the more your students learn. As a teacher, I bet you know what you are teaching, and you want to share that with your students as fast as you can. Remember, it took you years to learn the subject you are teaching. Give your class time to absorb that information. Short lessons that make your class ponder over a topic are stronger than giving a ton of material and thinking you did well because you covered so much in such a short period of time. Less is more.

Also, remember you are human, you can make mistakes and learn from them. Our failures are the most profound lessons any of us can learn. Do not be afraid of failure. If you have a bad day of teaching, go home, reflect what you did and what you could do to improve the next time you teach that subject. Just knowing your material does not mean you know how to explain or teach it. When you see confused looks, do something about it.

Finally, as a teacher, you are a lifetime learner. I take classes all of the time. It gives me empathy when I take a course of something that is foreign to me. Not every student learns in the same manner as you, students learn in many different styles. Learn ways to convey your subject using different methods. Time moves on, just because you have been teaching the same subject, in the same manner, year after year, does not mean it will work forever. When I first started to teach, I did not have a laptop, data projector, the Internet, or any of the Learning Management Systems (LMS) that we have now. As they entered the vernacular, I added them in my lectures and teaching styles.

Think twenty years ago, no one had cell phones. Now all of your students have them! Back then, I was still on dialup internet! Times change, so should your teaching. Use what works for you, disregard the rest.

Every day I am thankful that I get to teach. I love teaching! Twenty years flew by, here's to another twenty years of teaching!!

Computed!

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Thanks!

Sunday, March 31, 2019

Words To Live By

Here are a few words to live by:

No one cares about your creative output, unless you're famous, and only then, a little, so don't let others keep you from creating your art.
The new lead singer of Journey sings better than all of us put together.

There is never any reason to get kicked out of a Burger King.

I could write more, however these three will get you by in life. Most of the time. Well, a lot of the time.

When you think of words to live by, many would roll their eyes. "Who are you to give me words to live by", they would say. "I don't need your advice", they would answer back with a look of distain in their eyes.

As you get older, you learn stuff. You know more by experience, and your mistakes. Mainly your mistakes. If you have a good life, it is full of mistakes. Your mistakes makes you the person that you are. More so than your successes. Failure makes your better, if you are able to learn from them.

I hope that you life long enough to share words to live by in the future. I hope that you have so many failures in life that you have can share with others. I hope that you make so many mistakes that your words of wisdom will be so profound that it will change the world!

So go out there and make as many mistakes as you can humanly possible do!

Computed