Thank You Michael - a Video Response

Way back in January, my fellow nerdy friend Rushton Hurley shared with me a fabulous video posted on his NextVista.org site called "My Name is Michael" and I subsequently shared it here on this blog.

The video is by a California middle schooler who has Autism and with the help of his teacher, Michael shares his daily struggles and desire to be included by his peers. It is powerfully honest and as I began to show it my upper elementary students I could tell they really "got" his message. The response on this site was great too and Michael's mom actually took time to leave a little thank you in the comments.

To harness some of the energy generated from our discussions in the classroom, the kids and I began to brainstorm what we might be able to do in order to let Michael know we appreciate the courage it took to make his video and that we all deepened our awareness of Autism from his work. What follows is a student-created video response.

This one is for you Michael!

Thank You Michael from Andy Losik on Vimeo.

 

Autism really speaks in student-made video

"Autism Speaks" is a slogan used by those working hard to raise awareness for the genetic disorder. Their efforts must be applauded but nothing I have seen about life with autism has struck me like the student-made video below.

Rushton Hurley, the undisputed nicest guy in educational technology shared this link from his NextVista.org website with me a couple of weeks ago. What struck me was that this young man, Michael, was sharing his deepest feelings. People with autism struggle mightily understanding emotions and have an even harder time communicating them. In the footnotes, Rushton shares that this 3 and a half minute video took more than seven months for Michael and his teacher Mr. Lozano to produce. This truly is autism speaking.

I have shown this video to a number of third and fourth grade classes. Each time their is pin-drop silence and very thoughtful reflections on Michael's words. One student stated, "You don't have to have autism to feel like Michael." No buddy, you don't.

Take a few minutes to listen to Michael and please share his great message.