MAC Wk_3 Blog: My response to Meghan Bassett

Meghan's post:
In the first chapter Leading From Any Chair, I couldn’t help think about my mother. She works in a school as the secretary to the principal. The principal received an email last week that a report needed to be ran. He never told my mother or the person that was supposed to run the report, but my mom found out from another school. When she brought it up that he may have missed an email, he said he never received it. A few hours later, after going back to him again, he forwarded the email and said he had just gotten it (which we all know, emails are time stamped). Instead of admitting his own mistake, he, like the conductors, tried to let it slide and hoped no one noticed.
The mere act of kindness and acknowledging that other people help you do a job is severely under-used. If you give ANY kind of praise to people who are helping you, or even say thank you to them, it brings up esteem and also encourages people to continue to work hard for you. I guess we could all work on this in different ways. I personally could work on always encouraging my students in ways that they are doing well. I can be sarcastic, which doesn’t work well with all of my students.
The next Chapter, the Rule number 6, took a more person attack on a way I’ve been feeling for a week now. I was very betrayed by someone I thought I could trust. A friend of mine told another friend of mine something very personal, and very atomic. I knew that the word had spread, and I wasn’t sure of where it had started. I found out and instead of confronting the issue, I recoiled and hid from everyone. Here, I need to follow Rule number 6, and stop taking myself so seriously. People talk, and say things that aren’t theirs to say, and sometimes there are things that get said that we don’t want said. It’s a part of human nature, and if I really didn’t want anyone to know, I wouldn’t have said it in the first place. I’m still hurt, but I’m letting it go in my own time.
The Way Things Are…I’ve always tried to see the cloud with a silver lining, and look on the bright side of things. A much easier said than done thing to accomplish. I’m one of those people, once I start feeling negative, everything that’s negative seems to find me. I’m sure that has everything to do with the way I am looking at things, rather than the world being out to get me. If we can laugh and play with the bad things that happen to us, a much more light hearted attitude would be had by everyone around us!
I would love to give way to passion more. Sometimes we are so stuck in living life day to day we forget to give in to the natural flow of life an energy. I try to recognize the energy around me, but I’ll be honest…the only real times I feel a surge of energy run through me are when I’m by the ocean watching the waves, or listening to music and painting. Then I can truly let passion run through me and I feel at one with everything around me.

My response:
Meghan,
Unfortunately things like what happened to your mom happen way too often by those who only care about looking out for themselves.
I hope that you are able to keep the positive outlook that you have started about the application of rule #6. While you will surely be hurt for some time by your friend betraying you, hopefully things will work themselves out for you and your friend.
I hope that you will find some of the energy you described to start flowing through you as you work with your students.

MAC Wk_3 Reading: The Art of Possibility Chapters 5-8

This weeks reading represent how I often think and react in my life. My wife and those close to me often say that I live in a world of denial. Yet I keep saying I refuse to believe that things won't turn around and get better.

I really enjoyed reading chapter 7 as it fits in with everything at school right now. The staff have lowered their expectations because of being beat down by the administration time and time again. Too many people have fallen into the rut of just maintain status quo and not try to change things as they are hoping after the current administration retires it will get better. My issue with this type of thinking and acting is that who are we hurting; ourselves - maybe, the students - definitely. This is what everyone needs to remember.

MAC Wk_2 Blog: Free Choice

Based partially on our one discussion, I thought I would share some of the podcasts I posted along with a few others that I listen to.

Podcasts to share:

Ecogeeks: Untamed Science - http://www.untamedscience.com/
A great science video podcast. Their goal is help explain science in a fun and exciting way.

Teaching with Smartboard - http://teachingwithsmartboard.com/
A video podcast that explores using the Smarboard for 6-12 Math teachers.

Sesame Street Podcast - http://www.sesamestreet.org/podcasts/
A video podcast of Sesame Street shorts.

CNN Student News - http://www.cnn.com/studentnews/
10 minutes of the top news stories for middle and high school students.

TEDTalks - http://www.ted.com/talks/browse
Video (or audio) podcast of some of the world's most fascinating people speaking from that year's TED stage.

ScreenCastsOnline - http://www.screencastsonline.com/
Weekly video podcast showing a new tutorial on getting the most from your Mac, iPhone, or iPad.

MAC Wk_2 Blog: My response to Tess Crawford

Tess's post:
I'm not sure what I think about what I've read so far. I mean, the Zanders do make sense to me. I once considered using the catch phrase, "I don't smoke," as a way to help myself quit smoking. I thought that changing the language I use to represent a reality could reprogram my brain to ultimately change my behavior. I think it would work, which is probably why I didn't try it.

Something else that made sense to me was the idea of renaming ourselves and restructuring circumstances in a way that would ultimately lead to better than we ever thought possible. I've thought about leaving the school for which I've taught six years. It was my very first teaching job, and I've come a long, long way in 6 years. But the idea that I could re-invent myself as a teacher somewhere else appeals to me. Maybe I need to do it, in order for me to grow as a teacher.

I watched Zander on TED, and he's good. He likes being in front of a crowd--or so I'm guessing. I don't know him personally. I'll post the link if anyone wants a look. Benjamin Zander on TED

Later . . .


My response:
@Tess,
I like your analogy of don't smoke. This fits in well with the reading. Hopefully you have or can still find a way to quit. Also, I can understand your thinking about moving on in order grow and better yourself. Right now I find myself in a similar situation where I am being placed back in the classroom. I have decided that due to finances at school I cannot fight it, I will go willingly as a return the classroom will hopefully help me gain more insight into helping teachers in the future.

If you do move on, I wish you the best of luck.

MAC Wk_2 Reading: The Art of Possibility Chapters 1 - 4

After reading The Art of Possibility first few chapters I started thinking about some of my own experiences. One of the parts that really rang out to me was with the analogy by Michelangelo. When I was in the classroom, this analogy was one of the beliefs that I always tried to remind myself when working with my students. As a teacher, we often only see 1 side of a student's life. We often have no idea what else they go through on a daily basis. This is why I felt it was up to me to "chip away" at the outside to get to the positive, energetic student inside.

Now that I find myself being placed back in the classroom next year, I want to focus on the idea of "Giving an A." While this is truly a change in thinking over how we are taught/told, I do see what a benefit it can be and hope to find myself successful.

MAC Wk_2 Blog: My response to Peter Binskin

Peter's post:
The Art of Possibility by Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander (2000) is a great book to read! I think that having us watch the TED video of Benjamin Zander first was a great idea because it puts much of the book in perspective and gives the book a voice (I couldn’t get that joyful British voice out of my head as I read it). It really is a book of stories on changing perspectives and finding the joy of living in everything. It also asks us to look at a broader world of opportunities, not for what we can gain personally, but what we can gain by giving ourselves to those in our field of influence.
As a teacher the Michelangelo analogy was very strong for me. Do I see my students as infinite potential or am I just there to deliver the curriculum and compare them to other students? It’s a hard thing to rejoice in an individual’s abilities when the parents too are asking how are they doing compared to the rest of the class or the state. This measurement world is very strong and is continually being used as justification and blame on those who do not measure up and those who are charged with the job of raising people up to those invented standards. I have to admit that I myself have been focusing on measurements throughout this course and get stressed at each activity, wondering if I have done what is required to satisfy the course requirements rather than being a contribution to those around me in my academic community, both inside and outside the course.
One thing I can say is that I am quite energized by this book and I hope I can find a way to let myself give up my measurement driven way of thinking to something more uplifting. I’m enjoying this book so much that I am recommending my wife read it to give her tools to help with managing people at her work.

My Post:
@Peter,
I agree that the TED video was a very good setup to reading the book. Now that you mention hearing his voice, I too hear the same as I go back to reference, thanks :). I really like your comments comparing the measurement of your students. In today's world, it seems like we place too much emphasis on who is doing better. I think this is a great book to help open all of our eyes up to what might be better to do with our students to help them reach their full potential.

Wk1_Blog: Free Choice

Using and keeping technology working in the classroom is one of those never ending jobs. However, with all the budget cuts coming, it appears it will be less of a job. While I understand that cuts will have to made in most areas, I have an issue with eliminating such an ever needed position in a time of such a technology rich society. With no one help maintain and demonstrate how to use the technology, many teachers will abandon using the technology as it quickly becomes outdated and unreliable. But, the real loss is the injustice the leaders are doing to the students. In a time where the students are craving for the use of technology in the classroom over just listening to their teacher talk, we are going to go back to "the good old days," because that worked for the administration so it must still be good.
The good news is that the creative students and teachers will not let this stifle them and will find new and creative ways to still incorporate technology.