Wk3-Response to Blog#1-Tina DeLuca

Tina said:

The chapters I got the most out of were 6 and 7. Chapter 6 discusses not taking yourself so seriously. If you lighten up some more possibilities present themselves. This is contagious I have seen it happen. I had been up for several nights in a row late working on a class. I got up one morning and my youngest daughter had written me a note that said, “Mommy I am sorry that you are cranky, but I still love you.” That got my attention immediately. I started thinking about how I was acting through my day. More people started smiling around me and even my girls noticed a difference.

The Way Things Are also got my attention, over spring break my Mom and I took the girls to Lancaster, PA. The weather was raining and thunderstorms the whole time. When we arrived I said to everyone, “okay we are going to have a great time this weekend, everyone will get to choose one thing to do.” From that point on we had a great time.

I love to read a book that gives you such insight into your life. You can change how you are doing things and see an immediate difference.

Tina, I have enjoyed reading this book as well and continue to get a lot out of it.  I was really impacted by Chapter 6 as well.  I can take myself way to serious and I start getting frustrated.  It takes someone, like a child, to bring us back to reality about who we become when we take ourselves to serious.  I appreciate you sharing that. 

Wk3-Response to reading

Leading from the chair, chapter 5, was an incredible chapter with regards to humility and allowing others to be in a leadership position.  He even asks a thought provoking question of,"Can I see it in their eyes, posture, demeanor, are they engaged?"  I have to continue to ask myself that question and not take my position as authority, but one of looking at the other chairs in the classroom and see how they can contribute to what I am trying to do.  My plan is to make a box where my students can leave their suggestions and do project surveys for each project they do.

Wk2-Response to reading-Meagan Sample

Week 2_Reading_Everyone deserves an A

I really enjoyed the chapter titled It’s All Invented. Really it is all invented and I have been trying to explain this to others for years, but it is a difficult thing to get people to understand and accept because we have always played by the rules. Thinking outside of the box we live in can be done daily. We must constantly ask ourselves what assumptions we are making. This will help us see that we are creating rules to think and live within even if we do not realize it. We make assumptions all the time. Here I will give you an example. I have a friend who does not have a car and lives next door to me. She often asks me for a ride. I usually assume that if I say no, then I must give a reason. If I have no reason she might no longer consider me a friend. I then make my decision on whether to give her a ride on these assumptions. Just the other day I decided to look at the situation without those assumptions and I just told her no I would not give her a ride and offered no explanation. She said ok and got off the phone to find another ride. She did not ask for a reason and she certainly did not stop being my friend. I was playing by the rules I had invented. What I had invented to change the situation was the rules that maybe she just needed a ride and that I was just another person with a choice in the matter and that the choice was not going to be the end-all of our friendship. Now putting this into writing I feel really silly by living under such assumptions.

Megan stated:

We definitely live in a world full of measurements. I could easily relate to this chapter. I had a professor in college who told us “It isn’t about the grade. It is about what you learn and how you apply yourself. So these two things and you will have an A.” All semester I wanted to know my grade and he just kept reminding me that it was more about the learning experience. In the end I learned a lot and I got an A in the class, but because I am so used to living in such a measureable society it was a really painful semester because I didn’t know how I was measuring up as we went along.

Giving yourself an A. Well to be honest I have done that all my life and it is a great way to live. I love it. Yet I had not thought about giving others an A as well. I really liked what the author had to say here. I think that by giving others an A my relationships will have a positive growth and light on them.

Meagan,
the one thing I know about you is that you like finish your work early!  It seems like you finished all the reading, you must be on break.  I am like to finish early as well, and I can always count on you to have something posted before hand. I am assuming that you are an "A" type of student by the diligence to get your work done.  I like the experiment you did with your friend.   You assumed something about the friendship and it turned out to be incorrect, but it did reveal something to you that we shouldn't assume.  I assume about a lot of things, and sometimes I am dead wrong.  I assume to the point where I get anxious about happenings in my life and I can't sleep.  This chapter helped me also to think about the way I assume things, even with my students.  I liked the statement in the book that said, "We assume the students who pay the least attention, are the one's that are least committed", which is not true by the author's discovery and mine. 

Wk2-Response to reading-Tria Hong

http://tria0072.blogspot.com/

My first impression of the reading assignment for the book "The Art of Possibility" was "really?" I mean I am very happy that we are given the opportunity to read a book that is not at all like the traditional textbooks or assignment readings that I have experienced in the past for my collegiate experiences. But I am shocked that I get the opportunity to learn about myself in relation to my experiences in college - a self help book sort of genre. Nevertheless, the first three chapters were very enlightening.

Photo excerpt by Mike Grenville

After getting over my initial shock, I valued the use of storytelling to help me become aware of the themes or ideas the authors were presenting. Hearing the story about the water rapids and reading (but feeling like your listening) to the story she shared about hearing the mantra about "nose to toes..." and then finally being placed into a position where it all clicked was refreshing to hear from an adult stand point. I liked learning that even small instruction can be vital and helpful for adults. And that essentially my students might not have to live a full life to find value in what I teach them and those lessons can be used literally of figuratively in life.

Photo by ~jacky~
Find the boat. My take from this statement is that in situations where you feel that you can't find your way out of the bubbling, drowning feeling that trying to be an instrumental part of life can sometimes make you feel; there is a way out ...find the boat. I only wish I knew how to tell when I am drowning or just floating beneath the surface. And when I find the boat, will I be to shallow and want to hold out for the yacht to save me?

Another chapter introduced a term or practice that was quite interesting as well by discussing all the different possibilities that we have in the world as "Its all invented." I came away with the sense that if I believe it it will come true. Even as hooky as that sounds there has been instance after instance that proves that mind usually triumphs over matter. So far this practice, even though very daunting, is the most beneficial one that I need to try to implement in my life immediately.

Photo by Susan Byars

Giving an A was mind boggling concept for me in that we see ourselves in the reflection of others. I always thought that it was a choice. Maybe some people can see beyond those labels while most cannot. One of the better quotes from Rosamund and Benjamin Zander in the giving chapter is, When you give an A, you find yourself speaking to people not from a place of measuring how they stack up against your standards, but form a place of respect that give them room to realize themselves. Your eye is on the statue within the roughness of the uncut stone. This A is not an expectation to live up to, but a possibility to live into.
And the letters that was written in response to why the student received an A for the course was amazing. I would love to be able to try this concept in my school, but unfortunately I don't think it would go over well. But maybe for a unit or assignment ...baby steps would work. The true goal of learning is ascertaining the skill. Your optimal grade doesn't truly show how smart you are but how well you knew what the teacher wanted. I like to reach my students and make them see infinite possibilities in themselves and this would definitely help bridge that gap. We invent who we are and I want to give them the idea that we are who we make ourselves to be ...it's all invented.


@ Tria Hong


I appreciate your insights and what you said about learning about yourself.  I agree, this book has been like that for myself.  I keep thinking, ok, how is this going to relate the course Media Asset Design?  I am still trying to find that out.  I was thinking about implementing, Giving an A, also for my classes and I think I may try this at the new school I'll be teaching at this year in Cairo, but probably just for my senior class. 


That is a great quote to take away Tria, "One can not live a full life if they live the shadow of bitterness".  We are often so angry, unforgiving, unloving and bitter that we will continue to be burdened.  This quote from the book is very biblical where Jesus said in Luke 7:47, " ....He who loves little has been forgiven of little."  We are unable to love others because we have the bitterness, unforgiving attitude. 

Wk2-Response to reading

How many times have we heard, "The person who is least committed is the person least engaged in the program?"  I have heard this said a number of times.  I even have that mentality, but the author goes against by stating,"The least engaged may actually be the most committed person." 

Chapter 4, titled Being a Contribution was thought provoking and mind changing.  The example of the woman going to her mother to borrow money every year because her and her husband didn't manage their finances correctly allows a person to see, once the disposition and frame of thinking is changed, great things can happen.  It has been said, "Attitude is everything."  In the case of this chapter it is true.  Once a persons view of their worth is changed, it is shown in the way they carry themselves. 

Wk2-Wimba Session Blog Post

The basics of copyrights are pretty easy to understand, but when combined with Trademarks, Patents can be a bit confusing.  But like the wimba session stated,"Do I have a permission to use it?" I never knew about education fair use: If I can't teach the unit without it, it is probably fair use.  I think teachers can say that about a lot of their lessons.  Each lesson is unique.  Creative Commons is a great way to share and give specific permissions to work.

Wk1-Response to blog post #2

Wk1 Fair Use: When, where, how????

Alex Eller stated:

As a teacher in the CATE area of Graphic Design and Illustration and Print Imaging, Fair Use is a subject I've always wanted clarification on. And the summary of "Fair Use, if you are teaching a unit, can you teach the unit without the copyrighted material" was an eye opener.

One of my student's favorite projects is an introduction to Adobe CS5 Photoshop and delving in to possible career paths within the visual arts industry. For this unit, I take a head shot of the student. The student has to find a picture of someone doing what he/she would like to do within the industry and find another picture where they would like to do this career. They have to combine all three images in to one single seamless image. One that the viewer would look at and not be able to tell that someone didn't just happen along and take the picture. At first glance, a copyright advocate may look at this unit and say that the two pictures the student finds on the Internet are infringement. In my mind, I think that I can not send the student on a scavenger hunt to find a person doing what they would like to do when they graduate. Nor can I send a student to wherever they would like to do this career. So, am I safe? The student is using a partial of two different pictures plus one that I took. AND it is for a teaching assignment where the student is not going to make money off of it.

One of the resource videos that we watched really made me sad. It also brought home the point that some Fair Use, specially in the preservation of historical events is necessary!

I said:

Alex, you ask a tough question. I couldn't say whether you were safe or not. If I had to guess, I would say you would be ok because the pictures were used for educational purposes as Joe had outlined in his video overview of fairuse and there is no commercial use of the product. That sounds like a really cool project.