The Big Year- Birds of a Feather

I finally had the chance to watch The Big Year.  So, Rotten Tomatoes only gave it 39%, but I found it enjoyable.  I can't pass up a Jack Black movie.  Although my husband and I have varying tastes on movies... we can't pass up an evening of dinner and a movie.  So, we watched.  I enjoyed and my husband made a very interesting observation. Quick overview-Every year there is a competition to see who can see the most birds in the United States. The winner has the ability to say that he/she saw the most birds, meet other people that enjoy watching/looking for birds, sometimes they work together to find more birds, had to give up things at home to travel to see more birds... and sometimes they were conspirators against those that had already found to many birds.  In the end there was no money involved, but more of the journey that was taken to find the most birds. Have I said bird enough times? As we are sitting on the couch, my husband looks over and said this Big Year of hunting birds is like you and your conferences. WOW! Pretty deep for a movie that had low ratings on rotten tomatoes!   What is even more interesting.. is that I agreed with him!  I was very lucky to be able to attend some amazing conferences this year.  Of course I had Podstock where my PLN is the "flock" that I hang with!  This is my favorite conference to meet up with those educators/friends that have the same ideals as I do.  I also had a chance to attend DENSI this year, which had the same feel.  I attended both of these conferences for the connections I could make, my friends I was able to see again, and the learning that I knew would take place.  I also had a chance to attend ISTE2012.  It was pretty amazing, but it was also a chance for me to watch thousands of people learn and watch different kinds of "birds"  There were the ones that embraced newcomers welcoming them into the fold.  These were the ones that understood the importance of collaboration on every level and also the importance of feeling loved and accepted.  There were those that were watching the "birds" as a way to attend required professional development.  There were many different people that were watching many different "birds" Just like in the movie, each of us is on a path to follow their dreams or ambitions.

I think that my husband compared it to my conferences because it took me away from home for almost 4 weeks this summer.  He also compared it because in the end I didn't win anything to prove that I had traveled to all of these conferences.

Isn't it amazing how you can watch a silly movie and it have such a profound idea come from it.  My journey that I was able to take this summer was pretty amazing.  I wouldn't trade it for the world.  I will continue to work on finding my balance in "bird watching"