Week 4 - Response 2

ORIGINAL POST: Brett Wilson

Wk 4: Reading - The Art of Possibility

I must admit that the lighting of the spark was a step up to responsibility for me. Zander could not have painted a greater picture than when he shared some history from the Middle Ages. People, during this time, would often carry a metal box with a small flame so that if they needed a fire they wouldn’t have to go through the laborious process every time. The beauty of this is that individuals would willingly and easily share their spark with others so they could find their way. This selfless, passion-filled kind of living is alert to others and is willing to partner with them. Zander writes, “It is about playing together as partners in a field of light.” What a beautiful image!

Passion and possibility are contagious. It seems that the reverse is also true (negativity and apathy) and many times dominates our living. We must remember though that it is not about us, but about others and that we have a lot to offer others. We are gifted. We are talented. We have a spark to share. We must live to pursue passion and dismiss fear and encourage others to do the same. What a challenge for all of us!

MY RESPONSE:

The idea of sharing your own spark with others is pretty cool. I loved how the authors were able to paint such vivid pictures of the stories they told and give real solutions and suggestions for the difficult situations they encountered. While it was hard for me to get into this book during the first two chapters, I definitely feel like my mind was opened during the last ten. To have a mindset that we ARE talented and have something to share really makes you look at situations differently. I come across more and more teachings about that as I study the Bible and I hope to remember those things when difficult or unknown situations arise.

Week 4 - Response 1

ORIGINAL POST: Leland Kreigh

I loved this book. In fact, I purchased the audio version so that I could hear the authors tell the story. The final chapters continued the theme of the book. The most important theme of this book was to get rid of your ego. By doing so, we are able to overcome our selfishness and calculating selves. When we open ourselves to the world, we are able to see how wonderful it can be.

Every chapter, every story from this book could have been read from the pulpit at my Episcopalian church. They could have also been spoken by a Buddhist monk. The authors are Jewish. The ideas the authors outlined core ideas that almost all world religions strive to promote. It is the human experience versus reptilian tendencies. What is great about this book is that we often feel off balance and upset. We don't always have ideas on how to change things. This book gives a fine illustration.

I love the idea of defining yourself as the board. This opens one up to seeing how we all interact. I know we can play the roles of victim, prosecutor, fixer, etc. By defining ourselves as the board, we open ourselves up to seeing a much bigger picture and how we interact. As curious beings, we love possibility. Unfortunately, our ego and/or our role as a player blinds us from seeing possibility when we inevitably encounter another human being.

MY RESPONSE:

Very insightful comments. I, too, agree that many of the ideas here could have been read from various religious agencies around the globe. While there are some obvious differences, we all seem to share the same ideas of how to live with decency towards each other.

Using this book's ideas as a way to help us find balance in our oft-unbalanced lives is also some great insight. I took a lot from the readings for that purpose alone. The illustrations were by far the most powerful to me and showed real, tangible ways for me to handle difficult situations differently.

I hope to be able to look at situations slightly different now after reading from this book and believe I already am.

Week 4 - Reading: New Ideas

I am truly amazed at the gift of working with people that Benjamin Zander has. His story in chapter nine was amazing. Knowing how tough students can be on performances, especially classical music concerts it’s truly a testament to his ability to engage a crowd, no matter who they are comprised of. I must say that I was inspired by this chapter to really try to create a spark in my classroom next year with the endless possibilities of learning.

I appreciated the apology story about Cora the violinist. I think it was a great reminder of many of the other points in the book but most importantly to remain humble, appreciative, and understanding of other people’s situations and circumstances before forming an opinion or casting any form of judgment.

The story about the teenage orchestra in Sao Paolo was just great. I can recall chaperoning situations that I had challenging students and issues and also recall responding to them aggressively early in my career. However, I learned that dealing with the person and the cause for the action is much more effective and sensitive. I really liked this story because it gave me another great strategy for overcoming those challenging chaperoning situations.

(image from: Ken's Oven, "Gift Box", March 26, 2009, Creative Commons License)

Week 4 - Publishing_Leadership Project

I've chosen to copy and paste my final publication into Google Docs to allow for comments and suggestions right in the document. A note is left on right margin of the document as a reminder for how to leave comments. Here is the link for my final publication: https://docs.google.com/document/d/184jUimewF4xdDtkSOZUdCbp2PNFgc6i9WUWgn3nzw00/edit?hl=en_US&authkey=CJ2ntrQI#

The link for my two think-alouds are as follows:

http://briankatiethomas.blogspot.com/2011/05/week-3-my-choice-blog-post.html

http://briankatiethomas.blogspot.com/2011/05/week-2-ar-presentation-choice.html

Looking ahead, I noticed that we are supposed to hear back from the publications before we finish month 12 so I'm going to start looking for more publications to submit to. As of now, my first choice is Ministry Today, but I've also found a couple other places that would be relevant. Youth Ministry magazine would be a great option for publication as it would reach a target audience that is most closely related to my research. I'll also probably submit to The Christian Journal but it seems that their articles need to be related to the monthly topic so it may not work out there. Now that my publication is drafted out, I'm going to keep looking for more options and try to get some submissions sent out early as I will have to finish my month 12 class a week early due to a mission trip I'm taking with our church youth group to El Salvador.

Week 3 - Response 2

ORIGINAL POST: Bruce Neubauer

I learned many years ago there is a great difference between disloyalty and disagreement. Reading the description of the conductor’s relationship to the musicians brought this lesson back to me again. It reminded me of a situation I was in many years ago.

I was on staff in a fairly large organization. The owner believed he was always right, regardless of how many poorly rendered decisions he made or how bad the consequences were from those decisions. He was convinced no one was as wise as he. The most tragic part of the story was that providence, fate, (or what have you), brought together the most talented staff I’ve ever been part of. These seven people were all passionate, all gifted, all creative, and all quite brilliant. But instead of seeing this group as the powerhouse of intelligent creativity and problem-solving that it was, the owner was threatened by it. If one of us contradicted or questioned one of his schemes, his response would be negative and personal. No one questioned he was a true visionary. He had an eye for outstanding ideas. He was brilliant, but lacked execution skills. All of us bought into this vision. So when we addressed looming decision or dissected a new program, we spoke from a unity with, and care for, that vision. But he confused disagreement with disloyalty. He disempowered the people he hired to bring his vision to life.

Not one of those people remain in that organization today. All are scattered, working in different fields or other organizations. All reached a moment when they had to make a decision: Do I remain in a state of constant disempowerment, where my creative and intellectual dignity are constantly diminished, or do I pack up my skills and look elsewhere? And slowly, over time, this owner lost a very talented group of people. Every single one of them. To this day, whenever life causes any of our paths to cross, we mourn the time when great potential was squandered away by a brilliant man’s insecurities.

There is a world of difference between disloyalty and disagreement.

I completely agreed with the idea of Rule Number 6 and the “calculating self”. In particular, I liked the quote, ”A child comes to think of himself as the personality he gets recognition for or, in other words, as the set of patterns of action and habits of thought that get him out of childhood in one piece. That set, raised to adulthood, is what we call the calculating self. The prolonged nature of human childhood may contribute to the persistence of these habits long after their usefulness has passed.”

This can mutate into a constant need to “displace others”. At our school we have a junior class that is captured by their “calculating selves” that they will do everything and anything to outdistance one another in their class rank. No amount of counsel seems able to redirect these efforts. It is clearly out of control, almost reaching a state of obsession.

I am going to teach them about Rule Number 6.

Completely agreed with the idea of the half empty, half full discussion. The optimist is measuring what is actually there, the negative person is only measuring their perception. As a matter of fact I used this in class today.

But this is also what drives me crazy about this book. On one hand he tells me to trust a new, very individualized, very subjective view (what is in my head), but then switches around and tells me I must pay attention to the objective amount of water in the glass (what is actually there). Which keeps the book feeling like a remix of Stephen Covey and semi-religious cosmic New Age idealism. Which means he waivers back and forth between being a pure naturalist and being a wishful spiritualist. You can’t have it both ways (just ask Dawkins and Hitchens). Still, I’m reminded of an Asian proverb, “Be where you are at.” So the overall message is fairly legitimate.

The discussion of evil and struggle was intriguing. “Good” and “bad” are only imposed perceptions? (C’mon, we all know better than that). But there is great life (and art) in pain, strain, and struggle. This is why I liked Stravinsky’s quote, “I don’t want the sound of someone playing this passage, I want the sound of someone trying to play it!” I also liked the conversation diagrams of the two starting points: “what is” and “what should be”. Simple. Elegant. I’ll be using those in class.

In the end, I’m not sure how comparisons with the creative arts helps a salesman caught in the daily grind of their routine. Creative people (painters, musicians, writers) who get to use their creativity for a living (even if they’re offended at conductor) don’t struggle with wishing they had been something else. Can you imagine a paid musician saying to themselves, “Boy, I wish I could have worked in a cubicle for an insurance company instead of doing this orchestra gig.” These metaphors and analogies work perfectly for a creative, but for the average guy stuck in a grinding occupation? I don’t know. The application seems a hard sell to me.

MY RESPONSE:

Wow, what a powerful story! You truly brought to life the distinction between disagreement and disloyalty in a way that I hadn't heard of before. That's very unfortunate that this individual wasn't able to take criticism and ideas for the betterment of his own vision.

I, too, agree that Rule Number 6 is something to be emphasized with high school students as they start to get too into themselves and their competitive nature and desire to be the best at the expense of everything. With age comes wisdom though I suppose - I've realized now that it's ok to be good (and not the best) if I'm able to enjoy the experience and bring joy to those around me rather than being the best at the expense of all that's important to me.

Week 3 - Response 1

ORIGINAL POST: Dennis Woodward

"I'd like to start off by saying that this book should be part of any teacher education program. Not that the content is limited to teachers only, but the book is excellent in letting you know that not everything we do is worth getting all worked up.

Zander explains "Rule #6" as a depiction of a story he tells when he is trying to take a lighter look at the current situation. The story goes like this:

Two prime ministers are sitting in a room discussing affairs of state. Suddenly a man bursts in, apoplectic with fury, shouting and stamping and banging his fist on the desk. The resident prime minister admonishes him: “Peter,” he says, “kindly remember Rule Number 6,” whereupon Peter is instantly restored to complete calm, apologizes, and withdraws. The politicians return to their conversation, only to be interrupted yet again twenty minutes later by a hysterical woman gesticulating wildly, her hair flying. Again the intruder is greeted with the words: “Marie, please remember Rule Number 6.” Complete calm descends once more, and she too withdraws with a bow and an apology. When the scene is repeated for a third time, the visiting prime minister addresses his colleague: “My dear friend, I’ve seen many things in my life, but never anything as remarkable as this. Would you be willing to share with me the secret of Rule Number 6?” “Very simple,” replies the resident prime minister. “Rule Number 6 is ‘Don’t take yourself so seriously.’” “Ah,” says his visitor, “that is a fine rule.” After a moment of pondering, he inquires, “And what, may I ask, are the other rules?”

“There aren’t any.”

Humor is one of the few things that can cheer up a person or break the ice when tension is high. Having read most of the "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff" books years ago, I have learned to adopt this mantra as well as the Rule #6 to my daily life.

While I am a serious worker, I do feel that serious work can be completed and even enhanced if some humor is interjected periodically. Fun is contagious and when the brain is happy, good things happen.

The light hearted stories that Zanders used as examples complemented the concept of Rule #6 while I was able to relate to several of the scenarios in my personal life. Sometimes in our self-centered thinking we forget that our experiences, dilemmas, and decisions are not unique to us."

MY RESPONSE:

I like the laid-back nature of the text as well and agree that much more of what we do needs to be taken lightly. I also agree with your stance on humor. This is my number one way of building relationships with my students and it has helped me to grow closer with them throughout my career. It also helps break down barriers and teaches students that they, too, can take themselves lightly and enjoy life. It is all too true that our experiences are often shared by others and to remember that is to help us better relate to them.

Week 3 - Publishing_Leadership Project Part 2 of 2: Where to Publish

After reviewing a number of different Christian magazines, I think the best fit for my research is the magazine called Ministry Today. I think it will probably be a real challenge to get it in as they seem to have some pretty strict guidelines but I feel like the data could be very valuable for the audience of that particular magazine. At this point, I need to start refining my data and results to get it under 2500 words (which is the restriction for the publication). Time to get busy!

(image by: Rodrigo Galindez, "Magazines", May 25, 2010, Creative Commons License)