Karlene Young Wk 4 Reading The Finale Chapters

Zander’s The Art of Possibility has been a wonderful, breath of fresh air in our long, arduous year of studies. I have already recommended it to several people and am inspired by it again and again. In Chapter 10 he states:
“If I cannot be present without resistance to the way things are and act effectively, if I feel myself to be wronged, a loser, or a victim, I will tell myself that some assumption I have made is the source of my difficulty” (p. 143).
I am reminded that life is not fair, it’s the way things are. If I find myself in conflict and feel put out, or like a victim, I just need to turn the tables and say, “OK, what am I assuming? Is that the problem?” If I am assuming that every teacher in my school has as much passion and desire to have their students learn the arts as I do, I’m sure that’s false, no matter how much I wish it. I have to back up and see the whole board, and enjoy my dealings with all of the teachers and their classes. They aren’t all as supportive as I wish, but I can deal with that and enjoy those classes in a different way.
I loved the words about us living up to our potential, and having vision to take any downward spiral thinking into the arena of possibility. Marianne Williamson’s words ring true to my soul:
“You are a child of God. You’re playing small doesn’t serve the world….We were born to make manifest the Glory of God within us. It is not just in some of us, it is in everyone, and as we let our light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same” (p. 178-9).

One of my favorite children’s songs is taught to every child in our religion from the time they are tiny. Liz has a great video of a small child singing this song. Post it here for me, Liz!

I am a Child of God
I am a Child of God, and He has sent me here,
Has given me an earthly home, with parents kind and dear.
Lead me, guide me, walk beside me, help me find the way.
Teach me all that I must do, to live with him someday.

I am a Child of God, and so my needs are great.
Help me to understand His words, before it grows too late.
Lead me, guide me, walk beside me, help me find the way.
Teach me all that I must do, to live with him someday.

I am a Child of God, rich blessings are in store.
If I but learn to do His will, I’ll live with Him once more.
Lead me, guide me, walk beside me, help me find the way.
Teach me all that I must do, to live with him someday.

The truth can set us free. Free to be all that we can be. I have found harmony and peace reading this book. It has shown me a beautiful melody of life that is free to soar. I want to read and reread this book forever more! Thanks, Joe, for including this in our course.

References
Randall, N. & Pettit, M. (1957). I am a Child of God. Children’s songbook. (1989). Corporation of the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. p.2.

Williamson, M. (2002). A return to love. New York: Harper Collins.

Zander, B., & Zander, R. S. (2000). The art of possibility: Transforming professional and personal life. New York: Penguin Books.

Karlene Young Wk 3 Project frustrations – Long windedness

I have a problem with being a little too prolific. I had all the ins and outs of my summary completed then I realized I hadn’t checked the word count. I had over 1300 words and it’s supposed to be 500-700 words. Yikes! Now the opposite problem faces me. I found a site I would like to send an article to for publication. It can only be 500-700 words, but Full Sail’s requirements say 2000 words for the publication project. ARGG!!! Help, my edit button is on overload. Any suggestions fellow students?

Karlene Young Wk 3 response to Andrew Barras – 100%!

Andrew’s post:
Week 3 Free Topic - Both sides of the coin.
One of the most fascinating things about people is how they can ignore things when they don't fit their beliefs. I think everyone does this to a certain extent. I still do. With the dawn of the Internet, it is easy now to find information that completely reinforces our own world view.

From this myopia comes the Law of Unintended Consequences, or as I like to call it, The Other Side of the Coin. No choice in life is a certain thing but some people think it is because they choose not to see the other side of the coin. For example:

No Child Left Behind. When it was written I at first liked the idea. Let's put down some standards for students to measure up to. Encourage success, and punish failure. Sounds good.

Of course there are many problems with this. Just the name itself is loaded with problems. No Child Left Behind indicates that all children will do equally well and nobody will fail (aka be left behind). The problem is when you look at the other side of the coin. If you want all children to do equally well then you have to hold back the high achievers too. Enforcing this standardization on everyone is a left over from the factory model education system. Teachers are handcuffed to Teaching to the Test.

The only skill the students will really have after they graduate is a skill of taking standardized tests.

So here is my radical idea. Disband the Department of Education entirely. Let states try 50 different approaches to education and see what happens. Let kids excel and provide guidance to help them get there. Over time the best approaches will become clear and will then be passed around to other schools. What makes this country great is American Ingenuity, not government.

Most critically, make sure from an early age young kid's native gifts are recognized and nurtured before the factory school beats it out of them. So who's with me?

My Response:
ME!! I am with you 100% I too was for no child left behind when I got my degree about 15 years ago. I went into education because I could see that teachers had no idea how to handle my kids that all had ADD or ADHD. But, now that I see how testing and making the AYP wrings the fun out of school, it just makes me sad. I think that's why I love teaching drama so much. It's a lot of fun.

Wk 3 - Response to Mark Benn-21st Century Learning- Alignment to Real Life

Mark’s blog and video:
"Week 3-blog 2 21st century learning"
They are always showing videos from students and how they connect and want 21st century tools to learn. In this video they come from the teachers point of view, and it makes some very good points.


My response:
Mark- I loved this video. I am a visual learner, and it was so nice to find a video to watch and comment on! So, how come I haven’t found one to put on my blog? HMMM…. The concept I liked the most was that the teachers are aligning their teaching to the student’s real lives. That’s what is most important about 21st Century teaching. Thanks for the inspiration.
Karlene

Karlene Young Wk 3 – Publishing/Leadership project part 2 of 3 - Response to Laura Rebecca’s Post

Laura’s Post:
Week 3: this week's assignment--Leadership Project
This week (and last week) I have been focusing most of my mental energy to the final Leadership Project. I decided to go with the PowerPoint option, only because I am a visual person in terms of my learning style and my communication strengths, and conveying information in a visual medium has always been more comfortable for me. However, I am struggling with getting all of the necessary information on just a handful of slides (I recall the logistics of this were discussed in the Wimba, and I get it, but...) because, from an aesthetic perspective, I find a hard time getting all the information that I feel is valuable and relevant on five or six slides without clutter or just visual chaos.
To illustrate my conundrum: so far, I have my project down to a mere 19 slides (really, 17 if you remove my title slide and my closing slide) and I don't know what to cut next. When I teach my Film classes, I always tell my students to film as much as they can, because they'll never know what they may need in the editing room; on the other hand, the hardest part of post-production is not what to include, but what to edit out. I find myself in that very same situation. I wonder if some of it is emotional, this inability to "let go" of that which I have consumed myself with over the last ten months. Hopefully, in the next few days (as I don't have the luxury of time) I will be in a place where I can let some of the slides go, and aspire to succinctness rather than verbosity.

My response:
Laura-I feel your pain! I also went to take a look at your presentation so far. It actually inspired me! You have a good start, but you are so strong in video, have you thought about putting the info-especially from the lit review-into a video instead? I think I’ll just write mine as a paper, even though I feel like the visual is much more appealing. I think the final video project we are to do should in some way be tied to this presentation project. AHH! I’m in a quandary also.
Karlene

Karlene Young Wk 3 Reading – It is possible!

Benjamen Zander is a true inspiration and awesome motivational writer. I wrote down two gems this week from chapters 7-9.
Page 119: Performance is not getting your act together, but about opening up to the energy of the audience and of the music, and letting it sing in your unique voice.
For our Celebration of the Arts last week, the 1st graders were darling. I tried to get them to see they just needed to get up and have fun and feel the music for their dance and accompaniment with instruments. I was out there trying to pair up students whose partner wasn’t there, and I got to dance with several students that were alone. The energy of the audience was electric, and we truly had a lot of fun.
Page 126: The Practice of Enrollment
1. Imagine that people are an invitation for enrollment.
2. Stand ready to participate, willing to be moved and inspired.
3. Offer that which lights you up.
4. Have no doubt that others are eager to catch the spark.
The arts are what truly lights me up, and I am always throwing sparks out hoping to inspire students to love the arts. Children truly are “eager to catch the spark.”

Zander, B., & Zander, R. S. (2000). The art of possibility:
Transforming professional and personal life. New York: Penguin
Books.

Karlene Young Wk 3 Free Choice - A Celebration of the Arts!

On April 16th, Coral Canyon Elementary had a Celebration of the Arts after regular school hours on a Friday afternoon. It was 90 minutes long, and was an amazing day. A big majority of the student body of 620 came back with their parents to participate. We estimated probably 400 students and another 300 parents and family members attended. We had the teachers display a large amount of the student’s artwork. Some were from class projects, and some from Mrs. Dodge’s Art class. They do amazing work. The district brought us eight art display boards that we filled as well. The student body had all made butterflies as a tribute to one of our first grade teachers that just passed away with cancer. We called it our “Butterfly Garden.” It filled our lobby and went down the halls. We had many strung on fishing line across the ceiling as well. It was beautiful.
I made some nice frames from mat board, and printed about 40 photos from my Film Techies’ work. I had 4x6, 5x7, and 8x10 prints. The display also had a poster explaining the different shots we learned in shot composition, with examples of each. It looked very professional. I had each print labeled with who took the photo and tried to include each student that was in the classes.
The choir (not under my direction) performed to start off, and later fifth grade performed a waltz and then had their parents come out and waltz with them. I taught all of fourth grade the Virginia Reel, our state dance. We only had about 15 of the 100 fourth grade students not show up and dance. For an after school program, that was outstanding! They were totally wonderful! It seems no matter how rough the rehearsals go, they always seem to pull it off with flying colors when they have an audience to perform for. We also had six of our school storytelling winners retell their stories in the library where people could come in and listen.
Third and second grades have done two rounds of Reader’s Theatre in my drama classes. The teachers chose two groups that they wanted to perform, and they performed in their own classrooms for their parents. They did a great job. They are very expressive and love to perform. I make sure they all have some sort of mask or hat or other small costume piece, and they feel like a movie star.
Then first grade did a whole grade reenactment in the gym of a book entitled “Giraffes Can’t Dance,” by Giles Andreae. I have enough costumes from past plays that I was able to get costumes or masks on all 115 students. We had learned it as separate classes, and then the teachers let them choose which animal they wanted to be, and each group of animals came out to do a dance. The jungle dance at the first featured a jungle band with African drums and other rhythm instruments. The whole grade got out there and boogied. Then the Warthogs waltzed, the Rhinos Rock and Rolled, the Lions tangoed, etc. We did easy little instructions for each separate dance and they mainly just acted! It’s a great book; I would recommend it to any teacher looking for a fun story to act out. They were very cute, and the parents loved the performance.
The afternoon ended with a screening of this semester’s Film Techies films and stop-motion. Everyone seemed to love them. We also aired them on the news again this week. It was an enormous amount of work, but well worth it. The parents love to see their children perform. It is a requirement of the BTS grant program I teach under, and I look forward to an even better celebration in the future.

Karlene Young Wk 2 Publishing/Leadership project part 1 of 3 -Possibility for Publishing

I have finally found a place that I could realistically submit a brief paper to. (The submission proposal length is a 1-3 page paper, 625-1875 words.) It is SITE, the Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education. There is a sub-group called SIG, Digital Storytelling Committee, which also includes Digital Video. Their next conference is about eleven months away in Nashville, Tennessee. The guidelines for the paper are very detailed and succinct, so I will have to work hard to get it done in the next two weeks, but I think it’s doable.
As I was going to register for AACE, which is the parent company, I discovered that I had an account already. Too much water under the bridge, I’ve totally lost track of all the sites I’ve joined, how about the rest of you?
There is a new topic from this year that is Teaching with Technology: Engaging Students through 21st Century Learning. They want to discuss the latest and most effective ways to engage today’s students. I think this is a great place for many of us to submit our papers to. I hope this may be beneficial to many of you as a viable alternative.

Karlene Young Wk 2 Response to Tessa Smoot’s Blog

Tessa Smoot’s Blog:
Wk 2 Reading - Great Quotes from Chapter 6

When I read Chapter 6 “Rule Number 6,” I found myself writing down many quotes. When I started to think about what to write about I saw the many quotes I wrote down. For this blog, I’m posting the quotes so I look back at what could help me not to take myself so seriously. :-)

“Humor can bring us together around our inescapable foibles, confusions and miscommunications, and especially over the ways in which we find ourselves acting entitled and demanding, or putting other people down, or flying at each other’s throats.” p. 80

“When one person peels away layers of opinion, entitlement, pride, and inflated self-description, others instantly feel the connection.” p. 89

“If we were to design a new voyage to carry us from our endless childhood into the bright realm of possibility, we might want to steer away from a hierarchical environment and aim for the openness and reciprocity of a level playing field—away from a mind-set of scarcity and deficiency and toward an attitude of wholeness and sufficiency. We might even describe human development as the ongoing reconstruction of the calculating self toward the rich, free, compassionate, and expressive world of the central self.” p. 90

“Unlike the calculating self, the central self is neither a pattern of action nor a set of strategies. It does not need an identity; it is its own pure expression. It is what a person who has survived—and knows it—looks like. The central self smiles at the calculating self’s perceptions, understanding that they are relics of our ancestry, the necessary illusion of childhood.” P. 95

“It (central self) sees that human beings are social animals; we move in a dance with each other, we are all fundamentally immeasurable, we all belong.” P. 96

“From the perspective of the central self, life moves with fluidity like a constantly varying river, and so do we. Confident that it can deal with whatever comes its way, it sees itself as permeable rather than vulnerable, and stays open to influence, to the new and the unknown.” p. 96

Karlene Young Wk 2 Response to Tessa Smoot’s Blog Wk 2 Reading - Great Quotes from Chapter 6

My response:
Tessa, I have been enamored with the authors through their book and the videos we’ve viewed. I wanted to record your quotes as well! I think having a sense of humor is very important in life, and can turn the negatives to positive faster than anything else. I tried hard to “peel the layer of entitlement and pride” back this week when I met with my superior. I was amazed at how well the meeting went. It was nothing like the horrible experience I had last year. I was grateful for the insight this book gave me in going into the meeting. No, I did not get everything I would have liked as far as the scheduling and the classroom I’ll have next year is concerned, but I felt like I was listened to and understood. I tried hard to get down to my central self, and felt like my mentor that went into the meeting with me was helping me see how to get there and helping me be open and receptive to my superior’s wishes and thinking. After all, she is my boss and has the final say, no matter what I want or wish for my job. I am really grateful to be able to teach what I love.

Zander, B., & Zander, R. S. (2000). The art of possibility: Transforming professional and personal life. New York: Penguin Books.

Karlene Young Wk 2 – Response to Laura Rebecca’s Blog post

Laura Rebecca’s Blog post:
Week 2--reflection: more on The Art of Possibility

I find I'm really enjoying this book; interestingly, some of the books I've read in this program that I've enjoyed most are those written by musicians. :) Much like the "Giving an A" chapter, the fourth chapter, "Making a Contribution" spoke to me on a deep level, both personally and professionally. Many times during the chapter, I reflected on my own life--the decisions that have driven me professionally, the conversations I had with my parents when they were alive--and it became so clear to me how easily we set ourselves up for disappointment when our only goal is "achievement". Having a goal of "making a contribution" sounds so much more reasonable, so much more attainable, and ultimately, so much more valuable (not to imply that value is necessarily a goal either).

In "Leading from Any Chair", I saw some of the philosophical practices that I have always used for many years reinforced. I've often been asked by colleagues--in a tone that implies that I must be somewhat out of my mind--why I would trust my senior students in my Theater classes to direct their own plays. When we give others an opportunity to lead, it doesn't mean that we are surrendering our own power (making the students our 'peers', for example), but rather sharing it in a meaningful and purposeful way. This chapter reminded me the importance of giving others the opportunity to 'be the conductor'.

As for the chapter entitled, "Rule Number 6", I think it should be required reading for anyone in management! I intend on trying the application of 'Rule Number 6' in my classes. I'll let you know how that goes!



My response:
Karlene Young Wk 2 Response to Laura Rebecca’s Week 2--reflection: more on The Art of Possibility

Laura, I too have been so impressed with Zander’s book! Over and over, my thoughts are parallel to his. I loved the statement you made when you said, “When we give others an opportunity to lead, it doesn't mean that we are surrendering our own power… but rather sharing it in a meaningful and purposeful way.”
I love to think about passing on a legacy of loving the arts! How can we purposefully teach the arts without making our students love and appreciate them? We are in the business of “creating” the arts. How could we ever teach without teaching them to create also? Every time we do a role in a play, we are creating a character, very unique, personal, and completely different from other actors, even if we do the same role in the same play. We must always share our knowledge, and not think of it as power. A director does have power over the outcome of his or her play, but it is only in inspiring those we have cast to create their own individual masterpieces. Then we help mold the characters together in the story to create the magic. I love drama!

Wk 2 Reading - Rule #6 – Can I get us to our central selves?

As I read Zander’s book about Rule #6 (Don’t take yourself so damn seriously!) I was prompted to put myself in the place of the Jr. executive who was having a problem with his superior. I am meeting with my superior and a mediator this week. I feel like I can take this lesson to heart this week, and try to get to our central selves for the discussion we need to have. I want to bring in humor and praise her for her support and guidance this past little while in our attempt to comply with the requirements of the drama program I am teaching at our school.
She has encouraged the teachers to cooperate with me in getting a survey filled out, with me present to approve of their scores. The state agency wanted to keep it real and make sure I agreed with the teachers’ appraisals of our relationship in teaching drama together. When she encouraged them over the intercom the last morning, she remarked, “Thank you for getting this done, this grant is worth $45,000 to our school, and it’s important that we do this.”
Though she has been difficult to work with in the past, I feel like I can approach her with requests and limitations I want to impose for next year. Wish me luck!

Zander, B., & Zander, R. S. (2000). The art of possibility: Transforming professional and personal life. New York: Penguin Books.

Wk 2 Reading - Just a bush in Oz

Zander again pulls me in with his goodness and charity. In chapter 4, “Being a Contribution,” he was talking about the comparisons he felt in his own family and the games that he stressfully played for so many years. This made me think about a girlfriend I had in high school. She was one year younger than me, and that was really the only thing I had on her. We both fell in love with theatre as teenagers and attended a BYU Youth Theatre Camp for a month together. That would be the first of many competitive auditions we would have. We were being considered for the part of Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz. There were three of us in the last callback; neither my friend, nor I got the part. I could sing higher than the girl that got the lead and when they didn’t want to continue transposing the score for “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” she sang the first verse solo and then I sang the lead part as a bush. That was my debut, a bush from Oz.
But I digress. My friend and I continued to compete for leading parts for the rest of our high school career. We were in three summer theatres together as well. I was chosen over her many times. I went on to BYU for college, and was never out of a play that freshman year. I had a ball. She was joining the BYU theatre department the following year and the thoughts of competing with her again for parts did not appeal to me. So, as a last minute decision, I packed up and headed for a state college in Southern Utah, Dixie. There I was given several lead parts, whereas at enormous BYU, I was pretty much a peon.
I married, and continued theatre everywhere I could. By the time my friend and I ran into each other again, I had moved back near our hometown, and she had moved back from New York to the same area. We ended up at yet another audition together at Sundance Summer Theatre! This time, she got the part, and she continued to do so. What I finally learned was that I was happy for her. I was blown away by her talent and watched her in many leading roles. We went on to work together in many capacities, and she acknowledged my talent as well. I was happy to contribute wherever I could, and was happy for her success when she was able to do great things. That is such a freeing feeling, being happy for others’ triumphs without resentment or envy. It is only in giving that we receive.

Zander, B., & Zander, R. S. (2000). The art of possibility:
Transforming professional and personal life. New York: Penguin
Books.

Wk 1 Comment to Liz Dalton Wk 1 Blog 3 Copyright

Liz Dalton’s Wk 1 Blog 3 Copyright
I get so excited sometimes when I am creating a media project when I find a picture, video, or music that would be perfect in conveying just the right message that I am trying to get across. Then I get frustrated because I have to worry about copyright law.
I agree with the last interview in the Good Copy/Bad Copy documentary that everyone has a different interpretation on media. It is great to have different interpretations of artistry to enjoy. I also agree that in the digital age we are in, it is going to be increasingly difficult to police copyright law. Especially since other countries have different copyright laws. I like sharing so others can enjoy or create something different from other creation. Copyright law only makes selfish people rich and stifles others creativity.
I teach foods in high school. I love when a student likes the recipe they cooked in class and that student wants the recipe. I enjoy sharing and making others happy.

Sources: Liz Dalton’s Wk 1 Blog 3 Copyright. URL: http://web.me.com/lizdalton1/Site_4/Week_1_Media_Asset_Creation_Blog/Entries/2010/4/1_Copywrite.html
Retrieved on: April 3, 2010

Wk 1 Comment to Liz Dalton - Copyright
Liz-
I know exactly what you mean and I agree fully. I have so much fun creating videos as well, but then when you stop and say, woops, I better not use that, it kind of shuts you down. I know that many videos on YouTube now just have the ad that can take someone to a place to purchase the song they are hearing. I know my son was told in his film class in college that’s basically all you have to do now. I have been waiting to hear any more on this from FullSail, but I don’t think they’ve told us anything like that. I need to watch the copyright videos the CD has for us. I watched a really good one in about month four that made a lot of sense to me, and kind of helped me understand Fair Use. It was a 40-minute lecture by a professor. I need to pull that up again as well. I agree with the comment that it’s getting harder to police it and enforce it. I think it’s headed into a new wave of free use. I hope so.

Wk 1 Comment to Lucee Tangwell- Reading Blog

Wk 1 Lucee Tangwall’s Reading Blog
Recently, I read the book A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller. As I read that book, my worldview was wrecked and challenged by some of the things he discussed. I began to look for connections to my own life as well as to my job as a middle school teacher; brainstorming led to dreaming and formulating plans of implementing Miller’s ideas into my own practices.

For years I have struggled with the apathetic approaches my students have toward Math. With reasons unbeknownst to me, the majority of my students have little desire for learning. How do I, as one teacher, lead the unwilling? How do I convince students that learning 7th grade Math matters in the great scheme of life? Miller suggested that each person is a character in a bigger story; each life has meaning and purpose, and it is in that realization that a person begins to really live (Miller, 2009). Upon reading this book, I have spent much time brainstorming ways in which I can provide a role for my students to play in a bigger story that will give them purpose and meaning to what they do.

Surprise met me as I read the chapter “Giving an A” in The Art of Possibility by Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander; the validation offered to my newfound passion was profound and encouraging.

Starting from the conviction that adolescents are looking for
an arena in which to make an authentic contribution to
the family and to the community, the first thing we would
notice is how few meaningful roles are available for young
people to fill. Then we might see how, in the absence of a
purpose greater than themselves, adolescents retreat to the
sidelines as though their existence were inconsequential.
(p. 40)

Once again, I go back to my brainstorming. How can I foster a “meaningful role” for my students within the math classroom? On a larger spectrum, how can my school foster a “meaningful role” for all students that goes beyond the classroom? I have some ideas, but details are yet to be formed.

Miller, D. (2009). A million miles in a thousand years. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson.

Zander, B., & Zander, R. S. (2000). The art of possibility:
Transforming professional and personal life. New York: Penguin
Books.

Sources: Lucee Tangwall’s Wk 1 Reading Blog. URL: http://web.me.com/ltangwall/Media_Asset_Creation_Blog/Week_1_Blog/Entries/2010/4/3_Reading_Blog.html
Retrieved on: April 3, 2010

Wk 1 Comment to Lucee Tangwall – Reading Blog
Lucee-I enjoyed your thoughts. I am teaching elementary school Drama and love it. I taught 2 years of high school English and Drama, and went back to elementary because of the exact things you’re talking about. Younger children can find the joy in learning more than high school and especially 7th grade students. I feel like religion plays a big part in students seeing the bigger picture, but you can’t foster that. I have always felt that the arts can give children so much joy and build their self-esteem; that is what I would recommend. Get them interested in music or art or drama or dance. Let them feel the joy of creating a work with others. That’s an important and vital part of education, I feel. Of course, math is too! It’s not an easy question you pose!
Karlene

Wk 1 reading - Music is classy

I was put at peace watching Benjamin Zander talk about music and the idea that everyone can love classical music. I love to tune my car radio to a classical music station on the way to and from work. I have a 15-minute commute, which isn’t very long, but it’s amazing how listening to that music for just that short amount of time puts me into a peaceful mood. When I have a stressful day, that’s the best thing I can do. It always makes my spirit soar and puts a smile on my face.
Zander could make a believer out of everyone. He can truly communicate. He uses humor, universal truths, and gets out in to his audience to connect with them. I also enjoyed the idea that he knows when he has reached someone’s soul because of his or her shining eyes. I hope to be able to connect and communicate with my students in that way. When they know that I am always on their side and am pulling for their success, they can communicate with me through shining eyes.

Wk 1 reading – Mis steaks welcome

Wow, I am so impressed with the authors’ viewpoints in The Art of Possibility. Their concept and practice of Giving an A is powerful and inspiring. In my religion, we are taught from the time we are small children that we are a child of God. When you look at yourself with that divine spark, you have given yourself an A. Everything is possible when you know that a Supreme Being loves you, and you are in His image. We treat others with that same kind of love and respect, because we know that they too are sons and daughters of God. The powerful stories about music and the passion and depth with which it can be felt and played only strengthened my love for and appreciation of music.
I have a sign on my board that I have taught with for most of the 14 years I have been a teacher. It came from a “Games” class I took as a workshop at BYU for professional development. It reads, “If you’re making MIS STAKES, you’re doing it right!” When I introduce myself to my classes each year, we talk about that sign. I usually have to tell them that “mistakes” is spelled wrong. I feel very strongly that students need to feel safe to be able to risk and perform in a drama or music classroom. If they feel like they’re not doing it right, they often shut down. I ask those that are old enough, “How many mistakes do you think you made while you were learning to read?” They can’t even conceive of an answer to that question, but when I say, “A lot!” they definitely agree. I tell them to take care of themselves and take care of each other, and know that mistakes are a part of life and growing. I often reiterate that saying whenever a mistake is making someone feel bad.

Zander, B., & Zander, R. S. (2000). The art of possibility:
Transforming professional and personal life. New York: Penguin
Books.

Wk 1 reading – Optimism Wins!

I see the authors of The Art of Possibility seeing what I call optimism. When we are pessimistic, the world seems like a dismal place, when we are optimistic; it seems like a kind and happy place. One of their statements on page 21 said resources are going to flow abundantly to you if you are generous and inclusive.
I feel like a great example of this concept is my husband. We’ve known our whole married life that we would never be wealthy, but that’s OK. My husband has been a carpenter by trade for over 30 years. He was a general contractor for many years, and has built hundreds of homes. I would venture to say that 90-95% of his customers would give him a good referral and love to have him build for them again. That’s because he was always in this business to please people. If they didn’t like the way the closet was, he would change it for them. He never believed in change orders, he believed in pleasing people. He was their friend, and they would for the most part always love him as a builder. If we get to heaven together, it will be because he has always been a giver, always looking for ways to serve and love his neighbor.

Zander, B., & Zander, R. S. (2000). The art of possibility:
Transforming professional and personal life. New York: Penguin
Books.