What I’ve learned about ITLL from the Star Wars prequels

by Jonny Liewicki, Isaac Newton School

I’ve been really intrigued at the prospect of “shaking” things up in my classroom for quite some time now, so for me to say that our last session with George Couros was an eye opener for me would be an understatement – my eyes were already wide open, Mr. Couros simply provided me with the super glue I needed to make sure my eyes stayed open forever.

I left the building that day ready to throw out everything I had worked so hard to achieve in my 7 years of teaching. All the worksheets I worked so hard to create from scratch (I’m dynamite at creating work sheets), all the carefully laid out unit plans – GONE!!! I was excited for a new beginning to a journey that was already so familiar.

Quite simply, I was becoming George Lucas circa 1994, when he began work on a script for a movie that would eventually be known as Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace.

For those familiar with the world of Star Wars and Lucas’ highly scrutinized “Prequel Trilogy”, you may have an idea of where I’m headed… my most recent obsession with new technology was set to ruin childhoods where my own ego and desire to “shake things up” was a dark force more powerful than Vader, Palpatine and Dooku combined.

I finally had a moment of enlightenment as I was watched the newest episode of Star Wars on blu-ray. It is a movie I adore. I saw it three times in theatres and have already watched it twice at home, including most of the bonus features. But it wasn’t until my second viewing where I was able to make the connection between the newest Star Wars, why I loved it so much and how I should be using ITLL in my classroom.

A main reason people hate the prequels so much is due to Lucas’ over reliance on technology – CGI, green screens, you name it… Lucas embraced it. The abundance of technology made the film feel less authentic and strayed quite a bit from the world we became accustomed to in Lucas’ original trilogy from the 1970s and ‘80s. The newest Star Wars film chose to use more practical effects, similar to the ones used in the first three films. This resulted in an overwhelming response from critics and fans alike that echoed the heartwarming response of a returning Han Solo in The Force Awakens…”Chewie, we’re home”.

This was now the Star Wars we grew up with. The Star Wars we loved. The Star Wars we were comfortable with.

Certainly my students deserved similar treatment. A balance between the more practical methods teachers have used for decades mixed in with some of new technological advances that would not only benefit student learning but make their learning feel more authentic. That is the journey I want to take.

As wonderful as technology is and as much as it can help teachers teach and students learn, I don’t think that it should be something we rely on just because it is new or might be cool. It has to be authentic or just like The Phantom Menace, will be universally panned by the world’s greatest critics – students.