MAC Week 2: Blog Post 3 Peer Reading

Holly Loganbill's Week 2 Reading Blog Post


“This A is not an expectation to live up to, but a possibility to live into.”

When I walk into school tomorrow, I have no idea how I will be able to look at my students the same way. Can I give them all an “A”? Can I think of myself as a contribution? In no way was I prepared for this book. Somehow it is easier to consider after all the willing failure, anxiety, stress, and achievement of the past year.

“Yet it is only when we make mistakes in performance that we can really begin to notice what needs attention. “

This program has been such a humbling experience. Accepting help from others, admitting what I don’t know, opening myself to activities I’ve intentionally avoided my entire life, being willing to appear foolish (going underwater in Second Life and feeling like I’m really going to drown), all has contributed to such incredible growth and accomplishment that I almost don’t recognize myself.

“You can’t play great music unless your heart’s been broken.” Gaspar Cassado

Growing up wasn’t easy, particularly in my family. I always used music, whether playing it , singing it, or listening to it, as a way to express or work through my emotions and disappointments and to feel some joy.

“Since the teacher’s job is to help her students chip away at the barriers that block their abilities and expression, she aligns herself with the students to whom she has given an A, and lets the standards maintain themselves.”

This certainly changes the way one perceives students. As I’ve heard so often in church, we’re all special children of God with unique abilities and strengths. This feels like the same philosophy; it’s about finding that specialness and giving students the opportunity to feel confident and valuable enough to be willing to fail and learn.

“The lesson I learned is that the player who looks least engaged may be the most committed member of the group. A cynic, after all, is a passionate person who does not want to be disappointed again.”

It may be a matter of watching for that disruptive behavior or detachment and to engage it for the benefit of the student and oneself as the teacher.

“…remember that you are an A student. An A student is a leading player in any class, an integral voice, and the class cannot make its music without that voice.”

The possibility of making students aware of that and helping them experience the sense of being necessary and contributing is exciting and challenging. Those are not skills that I’ve really consciously considered.

“Giving yourself an A is not about boasting or raising your self-esteem. It has nothing to do with reciting your accomplishments. The freely granted ‘A’ lifts you off the success/failure ladder and spirits you away from the world of measurement into the universe of possibility.”

Those possibilities are limitless and liberating. They open the door for any student to truly engage their own abilities and potential areas of growth.

“We keep looking so hard in life for the “specific message,” and yet we are blinded to the fact that the message is all around us, and within us all the time. We just have to stop demanding that it be on OUR terms or conditions, and instead open ourselves to the possibility that what we seek may be in front of us all the time.” John Imhof

As someone who has a decided “my way” manner, I’ve missed many golden opportunities by not just letting things unfold and trusting that everything is happening for the best. It’s so hard to let go of control from fear of failure or a lack of self esteem.

“How often do we stand convinced of the truth of our early memories, forgetting that they are but assessments made by a child?”

There is so much more that came up during the reading, but that statement stopped me in my tracks. I’ve really hung onto all of my perceptions of people and events from childhood and pointed to them as the reasons for many poor choices or damaged relationships.

This book is so unexpected and so very important. I just thought I had already done all the growing I was going to do this year. It’s so easy to forget that this isn’t the end but just the beginning.

Sources:

Zander, R. S. & Zander, B. (2000). The art of possibility: Transforming professional and personal life. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.

Image from personal collection


My comments to Holly's Post

Holly you are so right when sometimes people think that they have learned it all and you never really do.  Once you accomplish your task it is just like now what?  I can continue to better myself.  I have always been an advocate that you can never stop learning and that was why I am in the Education Media Design and Technology Program and like you said the analogy applies here as well, once we graduate it is only the beginning.