MAC Week 4 - Response to Stacey Kramer's Blog

Stacey's Original Post


http://www.kvtechnosnake.blogspot.com/2012/06/mac-wk-4-future-of-possiblilties.html


I enjoyed wrapping up this book, but will definitely not put it away. It will be a go to book when I need some encouragement. In regard to the last chapters, a couple of points stuck out.

Being the board helps me to see the big picture. This chapter empowered me to take control of my life and my experiences. Eleanore Roosevelt once said “In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.”

The other point that stuck out was regarding vision and needing a vision. I really never thought about having a vision for my classroom, which is funny because in the the weight loss program I am a member of, we have to do monthly vision boards. In Proverbs 29:18, it simply states that "without vision, people will parish..." Well, I certainly don't want my students to parish so I have put it on my summer to do list to start off my school year.


My Response


Stacey, I sincerely hope we stay in contact.  Regarding this blog, I am interested in how having a vision for your classroom will impact your instruction. I look forward to hearing your story about this.  How do you plant to implement this new perspective?  So far, what ideas do you have for the vision?  Will the vision be a theme that unites each of your class periods or blocks?  I'm just thinking out loud.  What is an all encompassing theme or value that you desire for your students to embody?  Please, please let me know  what you discover!  (By the way, Proverbs 29:18 is one of my favorite scriptures.)  Also, I think you have always had a vision for your classroom.  I'm inclined to say that you may not have identified or verbalized it specifically.  For example, you see your students as literate and competent users of educational technology. :)

MAC Week 4 - Response to Tamarah Costen's Blog

Tamarah's Original Post


http://www.tamarahcosten.blogspot.com/2012/06/mac-week-4-reading.html

Chapters 9 -12 "Art of Possibility"

The closing of this book was Empowering and Inspirational! This book has been an eye opener to me on so many levels.

The principles: Lighting a spark, Being the board, Frameworks for Possibility, and Telling the We story. All of the Chapters listed above were well written and they definitely served its purpose in my life.

When you allow yourself to "be the board", you are creating your own destiny.  You are not feeling pity for circumstances.  You are the driver, the pilot of your own life, but what happens positive or negative can be justified by owning up to success and failures.  The objective is not to blame others of mishaps and praise only yourself for success.  Take ownership of both the praises and the failures.

Frameworks and Possibility

How you frame or outline your life, business, career, relationships is determined by how clear your goals and vision is spelled out.  Your vision and mission statement should be a visual expression and statement of how your business will be run.  The drivers and participants should be able to fill in the gaps to make everything possible.

Dr. Martin Luther King III had a dream and vision to bring everyone together of all races, kindreds, and beliefs.  He created his dream, vision, and had people and tools in place to make it happen.  It was a visual account for what was going to happen in the future.

WE

The We concept was very powerful! It was simple and not complex, but it made perfect sense.  In a business partnership, relationship, customer service transaction, etc you can apply the We" principle.

If you take the "I' out of a problem and add "We".  If their is a problem in a relationship and one of the individuals in the relationship wants to break up or file for divorce.  Instead of saying , "I'm out and I have to do this for me".  Try to adopt, "We are going to have to work out our problems. What are WE going to do."  This concept really changes the energy and frequency and allows both parties to see the bigger picture!

My Response

Tamarah, I also gleaned a lot from not accepting "no" as an answer.  The authors really gave good advice and insight into the possibilities in receiving a "no" answer.  "No" is not synonymous with "stop."  This concept really paralleled with the idea of  "being the board." As you stated, "being the board" keeps us in the captain's seat of our destiny.  As long as we know and keep the perspective that we are in the driver's seat in our lives, we can avoid relinquishing power and authority to others. As we complete EMDT, it is important for us to know that we are in the driver's seat to use all we have learned. I encourage you to think of all the possibilities that await you and of all the people you will reach - educators and students. As Dr. King dreamed, I'm sure you have a dream for your life and for your family. I am confident that you will utilize your skills and abilities -driven by your passion- to assemble a team of professionals who will work in concert to achieve your collective goals.

MAC - Week 4 Reading

"This was by no means a rational or practical decision for Slava; it came from his passion." This quote from Chapter 9 has to be one of my favorite quotes in this book! I seem to spend a lot of tine in this irrational and impractical realm. As with EMDT, I did not tell many people that I was enrolling in another Master's program. It was totally irrational and impractical. I didn't want to hear the negative comments and doubts. I just wanted to freely pursue my passion.


God had blessed me so much. I also live in this sweet spit with my students. I have it bad for seeing my students lives transform before my eyes. I love seeing them grow and develop in confidence and skill set. I love hearing their realizations and reflections, as a result if attending conferences and working in special projects in class. As a result, I really do too much. But I see myself as a door to opportunities. As teachers, we has access to so many opportunities. Often these opportunities require my wiling participation. What if I block a door that one of my students needs to enter, in order to connect with their purpose or a better future?


Certainly, I take no glory for this passion. It is a gift from God. It is part of may calling. It is part of what i was created to do. That is why it is my passion.

From Chapter 10, the concept of "being the board" is very interesting and useful.  I like the instruction on how being the board is not assuming the blame for situations that are out of our control.  It is about seeing situations from a solutions oriented perspective where benefit can be gained from situations that would otherwise be negative. In the final analysis, it's all about not accepting defeat or selling ourselves on the inevitability of defeat. It's all about maintaining a mindset that is open to possibilities that will bring victory, instead of victimization.




Chapter 11 "goes there!"  Goes where?  The authors explain vision.  In the Holy Scriptures, Proverbs 29:18 reads, "Where there is no vision, the people perish."  While the Bible does bring some distinction between vision and dreams, the two are so closely related. Both require the ability to see.  In the beginning of Chapter 11, the author speaks of Dr. Martin Luther Kings, Jr. and the historic "I Have a Dream Speech."  The author made a profound comment regrading Dr. King.  He said, "[Dr. King] demonstrated with body and soul that dreaming can make a difference."  Isn't that powerful?  Undoubtedly, dreamers have vision. They have vast imaginations and abilities to see how "things" have the potential to be.  It is definitely possibility thinkings. Dreamers -and I will add visionaries - have the ability to imagine the world or a place or people reaching their potential.  These images reach beyond limitations and inadequacies to see the very best in people and the very best in situations - in spite of any opposing messages.


One of the communities where I am a citizen is in dire need of leadership.  Managers abound. Their competence is to be applauded.  They should stay in place to help the community move forward.  However, we need a leader at the helm.  We need a visionary who had the ability to communicate a vision for improvement that can be shared by all stakeholders. We need someone who can see and believe and carry the community back to a place of seeing the possibilities.  It has been a dry and thirsty land without a leader. By the way, vision is organic to leadership.  To say we have a leader is to say we have someone with vision.

In conclusion, in Chapter 12, I really like the WE perspective. Because so much faith and is belief is invested in idea of scarcity, many believing there is a shortage of opportunities. In every situation, for someone to win, someone else has to lose. People are conditioned to thinking that there can't be a favorable solution for all parties involves. Someone must lose. It is really powerful for the authors to present this bountiful perspective that provides coaching on how to communicate interest and investment of both or all parties.

MAC - Week 4 Wimba

I read the Power of Positive Thinking about 15 years ago.  At the time, I was fresh out of college, self-employed, and running into a lot of the challenges that new business owners face. The book really helped me to think positively about the issues I was facing.  It gave me a perspective of how to train my thoughts in the right direction.


The Art of Possibility is an interesting book.  My first blog post about the book detailed my thoughts about the essence and true source of the information.


I am not opposed to self help books, I just have to be honest and say that my primary self help book is the Bible. The human mind is an interesting mass.  It is a mass that is capable of complex functions and operations; however, that is not enough for me.  Regardless of intelligence level, the human brain is a finite machine. In the Book of Romans, Chapter 12, the Bible says to be transformed by the renewing of you mind.  Typical self help books are great, but there are limitations.  I prefer to receive God's promise that I have the mind of Christ.  I don't have to work to focus on positive things.  I can educate myself on who I am in Christ and simply receive that nature.  What nature?  The nature that II Corinthians 5:17 promises:   Anyone who is in Christ is a new creature and old things are passed away.  I'm sure this sounds crazy to some.  But, that's how I survive and overcome in life. When challenges or situations seem insurmountable, I realize that my mind needs to be renewed to the truth of who I really am:  more than a conqueror in Christ Jesus.  When I feel defeated, overwhelmed, or experience emotional challenges, the only materials that really help me are those that remind me of who I am because of Christ Jesus.  That is where I find victory and the foundation, vision and perspective to set goals for the future.

Taste and see that the Lord is Good! Psalm 34:8

MAC - Week 4 Discussion - My Dream Workspace

MAC - Week 2 Wimba

Obviously, copyright is as BIG topic!  For my Action Research project, I worked with choral students.  I know how much music motivates students.  Of course, we have iMusic loops, etc. and we can produce our own music. BUT, music that the students already love and recognize have such a greater impact when you want to get their attention.  Really, what is wrong with making a video for my classroom and using a song that the students already know and love to help teach the lesson? 

During Wimba, some were commenting in the chat box on the use of movies as teaching tools.  Movies are such great teaching tools.  It’s one of those situations where I wish that companies could spend one day in a public school classroom.  By no means to I depend on media like that.  In fact, I haven’t used it all that much –comparatively speaking.  I’m just saying:  when there is a concept that I want to teacher and there is a great movie or song or movie clip that demonstrates the principle, what is really wrong with me using it to demonstrate the point?  When movies are written, isn’t the purpose of the work to communicate certain themes, etc.?  Isn’t that part of the art?  So, there’s this great message out there that is communicated by this great song or great movie that hits the nail on the head artistically because it is a near perfect representation of what the artist wanted to communicate, but it can’t be used for instruction. 

Image from Microsoft Clip Gallery

I am an avid believer and supporter of artists getting their share.  I want people to be totally and completely blessed by the work they produce – financially, emotionally, and every other way.  Consumers should do the right thing and purchase music.  I just think a lot is lost when creative expression –that is I assumed was intended to reach people does it’s job and there are such excessive limits placed on it.

During Wimba, Pete commented on how the paradigm is shifting.  He is a lot more familiar with –I will say- the industry than I am.  I look forward seeing what changes are ahead.  I am so excited that there are so many ways for artists to get their work out there.  The technologies that have brought music production to the laptop computer level are doing so much for musicians to get their work out there:  mom and pop shop musicians can bypass corporate conglomerates and have an international audience, be it large or small:  Beautiful!  As I continue to process this, for me, I think the bottom line is that I struggle with the amount of control that is exercised over human expression.  I don’t have an answer.  I don’t know if there is an answer.  From watching Good Copy, Bad Cody; it is obvious that the answers are as diverse as the cultures, customs and people who produce the creativity we consume.

MAC Week 3 - Response to Stacey Kramer's Blog

http://www.kvtechnosnake.blogspot.com/2012/06/mac-wk-3-reading-teaching-students-how.html

Chapter 6-8 in "The Art of Possibility"  all go hand in hand. You have to give up some control if you want to live life to the fullest... and you can't live your life to the fullest without passion, mistakes and being human. I love sharing stories about my life with my students - I believe you have to find a common ground - a bond. This opens the doors and they share back, but most importantly, they see that I am a real person. I am not someone who lives at school, I am not a rock star, or someone who is untouchable - I am a person who cares about their learning, more importantly I care about them as individuals. I love to hear their ideas about lessons, the classroom and life.

I used to be a control freak (still am in certain areas) - then I had kids and realized something had to go. I had to learn how to give up control over. I realized that having all the papers graded in one night or the house spotless before bed, was not as important as hangin with the family. I love learning new things, keeping up with trends, and that is why I started my EMDT journey. But, my strive for perfection kicked in and my school work and family suffered. This master's was a journey and I learned again that control had to be given up in order for all to learn. I didn't want my family to fear me when I was doing EMDT work, I wanted them to see that learning is a lifelong experience to be enjoyed.

My response

Stacey, I’m so glad I read your blog again.  Every time, I get something I need. I really appreciate how openly you shared from your EMDT journey; especially during this time when I feel as if my EMDT journey is full of potholes and congested intersections with the other parts of my life.  I thought completing the regular school year would make it easier; however, I had not fully considered the travel commitments that I have to students and the quantity of reporting due to my school.  I am so overwhelmed, and what I have mentioned is additional to my family life.  Our lives really are very fine balancing acts, aren’t they?  It’s like sweet relief to realize what we need to do to realign priorities and let go of whatever needs to go!  Isn’t it amazing how we can hold ourselves captive to certain expectations?  I appreciate your realization of EMDT as a learning experience for your family.  Your concern for the long-term effect on your family is commendable. Wise parents leave an inheritance for their children.  I honor your sensitivity to the inheritance of a love for lifelong learning that you desire to sow into your children’s lives. You have made a rich deposit, my friend…a very rich deposit!