MAC Week 2 Reading - Response to Tamarah Costen’s Blog

URL:  http://tamarahcosten.blogspot.com/2012/06/mac-week-2-reading.html?showComment=1339577065390#c8277882908511761985 


Original Post

" The Art of Possibilities" What a great read! I really enjoyed the first four chapters of this book. I look forward to reading the rest of this book! What I like about the choice is the wide range of subject matter. It was not a book about EDMT or LMO's or filmmaking techniques. It was a self discovery and a motivational story. I also enjoyed Ted's inspirational video. I'm always informed with his presentations.

Chapter 1 & 2 " Stepping into the possibilities "and " Inventing what was there"

I gained a lot of nuggets from this chapter. This is when the book introduced the metaphor, "out the box". I also liked how the author described then frog and their way of seeing things. This idea brought a lot home to me about perceptions, half pictures , and whole pictures. Everything is created in and for its purpose. How we view things is based off of our culture, upbringing, and perception. If you see a square with dots, do you see a shape, or a lot of dots? Everything and everyone has its own unique purpose. Positive thinking about a job, relationship, assignment, or task can change the entire outcome. If you think you are in a bad circumstance, you are, but if you take that circumstance and create a positive outlook about it. According to the reading, Society plays a huge role in our perceptions as a while. If you feel like life is a struggle, as a society, and its only about making money and paying bills, then struggle, then society will allow that belief to become a reality. I can relate to the author throughout the 4 chapters. If you look at situations and tasks with an attitude of victory, then your results will be victorious, regardless of what appears on the surface.

Chapter 3 "Give an A" This is my favorite chapter so far. I've never heard of the give an A to everyone concept before. This was empowering on so many levels. I loved the stories, the testimonials, the revelations, and the triumphs. This concept was implemented well in the instructor's music class. The class was all given an A, but it was not the point to just give the students an A, just because. The purpose was to allow the students to explore their passion, and not to focus on only the grade or competition. The art was able to be ignited and not compromised. I related to this "A" concept because, I have assignments, tasks, duties that come about, whether during EDMT, work, or social. Sometimes I over think the task and overwhelm myself, rather than explore and have abundance with my imagination. I feel like this can be a handicap to me or anyone who does this. I am at a point of my life, where passion, love, and happiness about my profession and purpose is what I'm striving for. Reading this book is confirmation to me.

Chapter 4 - Contributions I appreciated this chapter as well. I took away gratitude and giving back from this chapter. The smallest thing to the largest thing can be considered a part of contribution. Assisting a friend with moving from their old residence to a newer one is considered a contribution. I like the activity the author mentioned in this chapter. He asked his students. He asked them to write on the board every contribution made during the week. The students were initially thinking music or orchestra related, but the idea was to express anything that they might have contributed to. The reading was very beneficial to me! I took a lot of nuggets from it!

My Comments

Tamarah, I am glad you appreciated the “Give an A” concept.  I agree that is it very empowering.  From the reading, I must say the “Give an A” concept was probably my favorite part.  I think it is a wonderful strategy to help the students focus on learning, instead of focusing on the grade. A couple of weeks ago, I had a very frustrating conversation with a student. He was concerned because of his interim grade. When he came to inquire about his low grade, I explained why his grade was low.  (By the way, I set the grading up, to communicate to the students how important it is to stay on task in a workplace setting. So, I was attempting to make a point.)  As we were speaking, I kept thinking, “These poor students.” This student was a senior in high school. He was days away from graduating and was so blinded by his grade, that he wasn’t even concerned about learning the concept.  I wondered just how many good grades –he had – that weren’t supported by a substantial amount of learning.  "Give an A" really has me thinking about ways to tailor the concept for my practice.