WK4 Free Choice - Where do I go from here?

I’m at the crossroads and where do I go from here? I had to ask myself again why I chose Full Sail University, why this was the school I wanted to get my masters from, and why I even wanted a Masters in Education Media Design and Technology in the first place. I wanted to make a life changing decision, one that could offer up many possibilities. I was unhappy with teaching. I was unhappy in a stagnant job that I thought would not lead me anywhere I wanted to be. When looking at my school emails about getting an online masters at Full Sail, it seemed to be my answer.

Well not only have I met some pretty incredible people, but my mindset has completely changed from the day I opened the box with a brand new MacBook Pro. The Zanders’ book, The Art of Possibility, could not have been more perfect for this month. The growth I have gained from Full Sail is immeasurable and I am no longer succumbing to that thread of teachers who hate their jobs. What I was looking for in Full Sail actually changed. I went in thinking this would just lead me to a better job opportunity. I know it will definitely do that granted I look into it. But more importantly, where I go from here is not complete without having an understanding that my life is full of happiness and opportunity even if it happened to be in the place I am right now.

Image: Creative Commons

WK4 Publishing/Leadership Project part 3 of 3: Art Journal

Image from: http://www.collegeart.org/artjournal/

I have finally decided to publish to the Art Journal http://www.collegeart.org/artjournal/. Art Journal is a unique voice in the field as a peer-reviewed, professionally mediated forum for the arts. It seemed to fit what I wanted and I have updated and posted this decision to my AR site as well http://web.me.com/ashleyburch/Biography/Publishing_Leadership_Project.html.

A few problems I have are listed in the submissions and guidelines at http://www.collegeart.org/artjournal/guidelines.html and they are that I need to change my article to the Chicago Manual of Style and they require many images. I do agree that my article would be better with more images. It is going to take some changes, but I think I am up for the challenge. I’ve come this far. No time to quit now.

WK4 Response to Grace Blue - Free Post

Week 3 Free Post

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

WEEK 3 FREE POST

Simulations in Learning

Simulations and the Future of Learning

If indeed, Education would be in a better state if e learning was used in its fullest capacity, then what is stopping us from going full speed ahead. To have access to education via elearning based upon each one’s learning style would revolutionize education to the point that students would truly be engaged. But unfortunately elearning has become a cookie cutter system that if not revamped to be what the students need is destined to be no better than the traditional cookie cutter classroom. Students just doing enough to complete it but not truly engaged and participating in their own learning. I teach an online class at one of the community colleges and it isn’t much different from a traditional classroom except that students do have the flexibility in deciding when they get online to complete assignments. I am a proponent of computer simulations. We must instruct differently and I believe that using computer simulations in instruction is one of the ways for students to become engaged in learning.

1 Comment

ASHLEY BURCH

Grace,

I see what you mean. I don’t know what your admin expects of you or if there is a set curriculum that they want you to follow that may tend to create a traditional learning style even if you have technology in the classroom. I think students will always come to the point when they just want to do enough to get by and it may up to us, as teachers, to inspire more of them. Computer simulations does sound like a great way to break away from the mold. It’s different and engaging. It’s also hands-on in a virtual world. I think this is a very innovative way of teaching and you have found a way to break away from the boring traditional learning style.

SUNDAY, MAY 30, 2010 - 09:10 PM

WK4 Response to Nick La Fountain - Publishing/Leadership project part 3 of 3

sunday, may 30, 2010

Publishing/Leadership project part 3 of 3 - A decision has been made

Image from: http://www.springerlink.com/content/119978/cover-medium.jpg

Today I can finally breathe a sigh of relief. First off, I have finally finished my article and after much debate and research, I have chosen to submit my article to Tech Trends, a peer reviewed journal focusing on technology integration in education and training. In the beginning I was looking into larger publications like Edutopia, but ultimately I felt that my article needed to be submitted to a journal for proper review. While Edutopia is popular, it just didn't seem fitting to an article so deep in research.

With that said, I still have some areas that I have marked down to focus on within my article. First, I have to create an abstract at the beginning of the article. I have never written one before and am looking into examples of how to write an affective abstract. The next area that I want to review is my results and conclusion section. Right now both of these seem a little weak and need more focus on future development. Finally, I also need to figure out what images I should include in my article submission. Since I did not have a ton of people respond to my survey, the charts and data appear weak. While the images of the students working on their projects are great, I don't know if they fit. I am hoping that my wimba session with my peers will help answer some of these questions and help me create a final article that has a chance of publication.

* UPDATE
Last night I had my wimba session with my peers and instructors. They provided some very insightful information that I believe may help my article get published. One of the best bits of information they provided was that of including my future/cycle 3 work. In talking about what will happen beyond Full Sail, many of my peers felt I should add this to my paper and I think it has made a huge difference. Our instructor also gave me some really good advice on how to write an affective abstract and I even had a few comments on grammer issues to fix. The area that I still need some work on are the images to be included in the article. I have added three thus far and know of at least one more that will be added but is at school on my work computer. I believe the images I have added show some of the experiences the students and teachers have gone through, but unfortunately, I did not take any images from the training portion of my cycles. However, I am considering taking some screen shoots from the videos created by the teachers in one of my cycles and adding that as well.

WK4 Reading - Creating Frameworks for Possibility

I read that “as a species we are not always ready to reap the benefits of harmony, peace, and plenty” (Zander & Zander, 2000, p. 162). I did not know that seeing this kind of world involves a leader or being a leader within myself.

I read the way Zander addressed his musicians in Brazil, how scolding them was not the answer. Instead it was praising their wonderful music, then asking how they would like to be seen by the Brazilian people. I still would have yelled and screamed at my kids for pulling stunts like this, but if they are expecting it, I have seen no realization actually sets in and it does no good. Kids are kids.

I remember Morgan Freeman’s words in The Shawshank Redemption. It is one of my favorite movies of all time. The Marriage of Figaro is beautiful. That was the first time I had ever heard it and the vision of the world just stopping and listening comes to mind. It is very liberating to just listen to this song. I love how Zander explains how a vision can take you away from local problems and in an instant change the frame of mind, allow you to create goals even.

These are very powerful words of Marianne Williamson.

We were born to Manifest the Glory of God within us. It is not just in some of us: it is in everyone

Again Zander has used life experiences of others and himself to conclude this chapter. As I am coming to the end of this book, I only hope that my vision stays strong and true. The feeling and motivation to see things a different way is apparent while reading, but the practice of doing so after the book is closed is another story. Like Zander says, it does take practice.

Reference:

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

Image: Creative Commons

WK3 Free Choice - Jessica's "Daily Affirmation"

Little Jessica was just so inspiring, I had to blog about it. I feel like she relates well to The Art of Possibility. In my case, I look in the mirror sometimes and say: I miss my life, I miss my family, I miss my sanity, I miss my pets, I miss my art, I miss my hobbies. I feel like I have been in another world just struggling to get by each month. I can’t wait to get where this little girl is at, where the freedom of joy of life is at hand. I’ve learned so much at Full Sail and can’t wait to apply it in and out of the classroom.

Reference:

Dmchatster (Prod.). (June 16, 2009). Jessica’s “Daily Affirmation” [video]. Retrieved May 22, 2010 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qR3rK0kZFkg

WK3 Publishing/Leadership Project part 2 of 3: Making a Decision

Well I have started to get myself somewhat together. It is time to start making those hard decisions. I emailed Edutopia about submission. I looked at the guidelines for submission at http://www.edutopia.org/pdfs/GLEF_SubmissionRelease.pdf. I was still foggy in this area and went to the contact page at http://www.edutopia.org/contact. From here, I have emailed both edit@edutopia.org and feedback@edutopia.org.

Upon completion of my article, I have posted it to the Publishing/Leadership page of my website at http://web.me.com/ashleyburch/Biography/Publishing_Leadership_Project.html

Edutopia did get back to me with a generalized email just stating that they received my email. I have not heard any word otherwise. I have also decided to look into other options. One option I am considering is Art Journal. http://www.collegeart.org/artjournal/. I am still looking at this journal and deciding on the requirements and if it is a better fit for me than Edutopia.

Image: Creative Commons

WK3 Response to Eric Anderson - Life after Full Sail

Throughout the EMDT program I’ve found myself thinking a lot about how the post-Full Sail me will be different from the pre-Full Sail me. Though most of these thoughts relate to me the teacher, some things aren’t specific to my teaching career. I hope that I can have a better appreciation of time, friends, and family. As they say, you never know how much you appreciate something until it’s gone, and these three things have been pretty much absent from my life over the past 10.5 months.

But on to me as a teacher. One of the frustrations of this program is that I’ve learned so many cool things that I want to try with my students, but I haven’t had the time to do that. As we start to plan for next school year, I’m already thinking about how I can use the things I’ve learned with my students. I’ll be teaching a new class next year that I’ve never taught before, and it’s a perfect opportunity to design the course essentially from the ground up using a blended mode of content delivery.

As stressful as this month has been so far, it is a great relief to have most of our work in MAC devoted to our action research projects. In previous months, AR was always the thing that kept getting bumped lower on the priority list as all the other projects and assignments were due. It’s refreshing to be able to spend the limited time I have in my schedule to take everything I’ve collected and work on compiling it and planning how to present it.

Several summers ago I participated in a conducting workshop at Northwestern University taught by two of the most legendary Wind Band conductors alive today, Mallory Thompson and H, Robert Reynolds. It was a grueling week, and they were very upfront with their approach of “break you down, then build you back up again”. Though I don’t necessarily advocate that approach to teaching, it was a week that I’ll never forget and a week that taught me a lot about what it is to be a conductor.

In many ways, I feel like this year of EMDT has been the same way, and that this month is truly the start of the process of building us back up. I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel, see the forest for the trees, and all the other cliche expressions. Reading the next chapters in The Art of Possibility has become the highlight of my week -- an oasis of inspiration in a desert of stress and exhaustion. Reading Benjamin Zander’s thoughts on conducting and teaching have made me eager to be able to devote all of my time to teaching again, but with the new tools, knowledge, and experience I’ve gained this past year.

I still consider myself a runner, even though I haven’t had much time for running this year. It’s one of the other things I’m looking forward to having more time for after July 2nd. I’ve run two marathons (Portland in 2005 and Chicago in 2008) and this sure feels like about mile 23!

Sunday, May 23, 2010 - 04:04 PM

Ashley Burch

Eric, having run some marathons myself, this feels like mile 25 to me. It’s that last haul to the finish when you are dead tired, can’t believe you have actually made it this far, and know it is still going to take your last ounce of energy to finish. I believe this will be a memorable race. Yes there is a finish line and it’s approaching quickly. It will all be worth it in the end.

WK3 Response to Kelly Jankowski - Free Choice

WEEK # 3 FREE CHOICE RESPONSE

I have chosen to write about the Publishing/Leadership Project because I wrote about the Summary Project in the other post. I would like to publish to either Learning & Leading, Tech Trends, School Library Monthly or School Librarian's Workshop. I have read a little about the process and so far the best thing to do right now is to read the articles in the magazines to get an understanding about the format they would be looking for. I am not familiar with Learning & Leading and Tech Trends so I am in the process of reading some articles from the magazines. Now it's on to the writing of the AR page for the project.

WK3 Reading - The Way Things Are

I love the quote above. This chapter reminded me of this saying, “everything happens for a reason.” I believe things happen in life that are uncontrollable such as natural disasters, loss, and happiness. I don’t know when they come and go, but looking at the situation in a positive light or accepting that it will turn out ok in the end is just the way things are.

As I read the scenario about the vacation in Florida about the weather taking a misfortunate stormy turn, which gave the possibility of acceptance or complaint, I looked at the acceptance role in a whole other way. Sunny skies and a beach would be a wonderful vacation, but if it happens to change, there are still other possibilities to enjoy yourself. They just aren’t what you expect them to be and it may still be what you need.

“Nature makes no judgment. Humans do” (Zander & Zander, 2000, p. 105). The story of the rabbi saying to always thank the Lord just to be on the safe side shows it is difficult to know which good thing is a bad thing in another’s eyes or which bad thing is a good thing to someone else.

Then there was the story of the man who said he had no communication with his son and built up a wall. It was evident that he did not see the possibility of opening himself up to his son.

The story how Jane Goodall just explained what is and had no blame for anything bad that had happened to the animals showed real integrity in character. I do admire someone who fights for a cause with the knowledge of facts. I’m not saying she didn’t have feelings, but to blame someone would be wrong.

My feelings about this chapter were still a little vague mostly because I am one to dwell on the past and ask the question “what if.” Having to accept the way things isn’t something I regularly think about. There are circumstances where that have made me accept the way things are, but not without questioning why first. I guess what I am trying to say that this chapter has taught me is that when I can let things go and accept, more possibilities actually arise. No longer is the questioning holding me back.

Reference:

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

Image: Creative Commons

WK2 Publishing/Leadership Project part 1 of 3: Organization

Time to start looking at where to post. Still foggy on what to do for the Publishing/Leadership project. I hope to know what I'm doing by the end of the week. One resource I would love to publish to would be Edutopia. I have gotten most of my information and references from the magazine and two Edutopia groups I joined called Middle School, and Arts/Music/Drama. I don't know what I would do without Edutopia.

The farthest I've gotten in acquiring a submission for publishing is downloading the submission release form. I cannot submit without one. Along with that, I just need to once again, organize, organize, organize!

I want to submit into the section for the Arts, possibly in a feature section. I'll work on it.

Image from Edutopia.org

WK2 Project - AR Summary

I don't mean to keep complaining about AR and I know it's almost over, but this is killing me!

Ok got that out of my system. Now for the AR summary, it has taken some time to organize myself as usual. Dr. Ludgate's video on the summary was encouraging. Glad to be almost there.

As for my findings in AR, I have concluded that the middle school art student reacts well to peer critique when done online such as using a social network like Facebook, Flikr, or Ning. This also helps when students are then forced to speak to others about personal artwork. I have found that my students don't always listen to what I have to say about their artwork because they have to listen to me, just one person's view, all year long. Having multiple views and comments can really challenge the student to see what it is he or she can improve on.

My lit review focused on student personal interest in relation to art, how this would create more interest in their projects. In the end, this personal reflection helped choose an original idea for their art piece in the Junior Visual Arts Scholastic Event. It combined the 1st idea I had with AR in proposing a project on student personal interests with that of the actual research, which happened to become an online critiquing process aiding in judging for a competition.

Overall, students were more involved and happy with the results.

Photograph by Ashley Burch - Students with medals and artwork at the Jr. VASE competition

WK2 Response to Kimberly Coast - Chapters 4-6

One of my favorite things that I read was from chapter 4. I love to think of my life in context of how I can be a blessing to others and create something special for the people that I love and interact with each day. So this line, “…you wake up each day and bask in the notion that you are a gift to others (page 58).” Really makes me happy. It is in harmony with my life’s song. In many ways it is self-satisfying to know that you are special and capable of making a difference in someone’s life. I get the most pleasure from giving someone a gift. It is even more fun for me when the gift is secret or unexpected. I loved his description of his father and his father’s awesome drive and sense of humor. I think of the movie “Life is Beautiful” and am reminded of how the father works so hard to redefine the concentration camp into a game for his son to preserve his life. This is the ultimate demonstration of redefining the rules of the game and changing the world to make the impossible possible. There are days that I wake up and don’t want to face the day or all the things that I can’t possibly finish. Interestingly, somehow I get it all done and surprise myself. I think it is a good focus to perceive our world as one of possibilities and potential instead of a world of no can do’s, failures, and impossibilities.

Leading from any chair hit resonance with my goals as a teacher to lead my students to great success. I love the idea of the “silent conductor” because I can be the one that leads my students to be “lively and engaged (page 68).” I think the story I loved the most is about Mr. Lehner. It is really a two-part story and it made me think of how many times I let the students be the conductors. It is interesting that when I assign projects the normal response is excitement about the project and fear about presenting it to the class. My students long for the same opportunity to lead the orchestra in my class and make things more interesting or fun. When I involve them in games and activities I see the fun factor at work as well as the leadership factor winning over their enthusiasm. When people ask me why teaching and not something more lucrative or more personally challenging it is not a hard question to answer. I live for those moments when I see kids stepping up and taking the controls of their education and putting their best efforts into it. The second part of the story where the young man fills in for the older Mr. Lehner when he forgets his part brings to mind that we are all on the same team and that is what life is all about. We must work closely with each other and lend that helping hand when we realize that it is needed. That particular helping hand was so very perceptive and gentle so as not to reproach, but to support that individual. So nice!

Hahahahahaha! Rule number 6 rocks! I actually have this rule in my Spanish classes!!! Don’t take yourself too seriously and laugh at your own mistakes is an awesome way to approach foreign language acquisition. When I first started to speak Spanish I made some whopping mistakes. I recount these mistakes to my students and they love to laugh at them with me. They make some great mistakes as well and we all get a chance to laugh just about every class time. I think that to really be able to relax you have to know how to laugh at mistakes and move on. The more outgoing you are the easier it is to practice a new skill or language, as that is my area. I know that when we are really stressed it is harder for us to remember what we need to know; so laughing is a good release of stress and way to refocus ourselves.

This chapter really caught me off guard though when I got to the part where the author presented the challenge to “have the best sex ever (pages 85-87).” However, I felt like the whole argument was about the idea of perception and not taking yourself too seriously. Interesting. I think that it was a good build up for the next part. I was so intrigued by the section on young Jeffrey and learning “Spring Dream” from Schubert’s Die Winterreise that I had to go search it on Youtube to find out what in the world kind of song deserved such a wonderful description. Wow! It really does deserve that emotional description.

Reading through the rest of the chapter I kept thinking about each of the experiences and compared it back to the young man Jeffrey learning to be vulnerable and to experience the music as life. Love is an important factor to life. I don't think a person can really live without love and the attachments to the people around them. We all have various relationships with people, but those closest to us are in that special inner circle of trust, honesty, hope, and vulnerability. When I think about love, teaching and learning what they all have in common is that vulnerability. To be in true love with someone you have to be open, honest and yes very vulnerable. To be a great teacher you have to lead by example and open up to students that you are not the end all answer, but just a part of the great picture of learning and guiding experiences. A great teacher can laugh at her mistakes and admit that she is human and vulnerable. To learn you have to become vulnerable and admit that you need to learn or that you don’t already possess those skills or knowledge that you are asking to be taught. I have to say that the best quote is “angels can fly there because… they take themselves lightly (page 97).” We can all enable our students to be the angels in the world to also lift up other learners and help collaborate in this great educational possibility. I’m loving this book!!

Posted by Maestra Coast at 9:37 PM

1 comments:

Ashley said...

Kimberly, I love how you started off quoting your favorite line from the reading. That is a great way of looking at life, waking up knowing you are gift to others. It puts a smile on my face too. It is interesting that you say you sometimes think you can’t possibly finish all you have to do in one day and then surprise yourself by getting it all done. I wonder how that happens. I can’t even believe we are here in the 11th month or how I’m managing to survive, but things are getting done. For me, it’s the act of getting starting that scares me, but once I begin, everything somehow gets done.

You mention that people ask you why teaching and why not something more lucrative or personally challenging. I believe teaching to be the most challenging job there is. There are tons of surprises every day, millions of possibilities and challenges awaiting each and every second of the day.

I think it’s easier said than done to be vulnerable in front of my students. I want to always be the one in charge, but knowing that they can grow and become more independent learners by trying things out themselves is worth me taking a step back and admitting I can’t handle everything on my own. Laughter is wonderful medicine. Chapter 6 made so much sense. A weight is lifted of my shoulders already. I’m so glad to be reading this book right now. Loving it too!

May 16, 2010 7:11 PM

WK2 Response to Elizabeth Bennert - Chapter 6

As Ben Zanders stated on page 80: "Humor can bring us together around our inescapable foibles, confusions, and miscommunications..." He then goes into talking about how humor also prevents us from picking at each other, back stabbing, and attacking each other.

As a teacher I see the need to lighten up in many different ways.
The calculating self, the one Ben says wants to be noticed and appreciated really needs to take a back seat in education. This is not a job full of bonuses and thank yous every day. Many days are spent trying to get students to work, parents to understand, colleagues to listen and doing what you are told by admin. There are not many days where the stand up and notice how awesome I am self gets its acknowledgments. Instead of getting in a temper about it, laugh, sigh and sing some Jimmy Buffett for "if we didn't laugh we would all go insane"

The story about June leaving her husband, only to realize eventually that had she let that guard down, relax and just take the world as it is, she realized that she was part of the problem in her marriage and one she figured that out, things were better for her. I realized that when I was stressing out about things in life and getting all worked up, the people around me (husband, kids, students, co-workers) would feed on that down emotion. I understood that though stuff happens, if you let everything get you down, you will always be down. So I just keep telling myself: it is, what it is, and there is not point festering over it. So laugh and be goofy...it spreads and everyone around you will have a lighter mood as well.

WK2 Reading - Lighten Up

Well I must comment on Chapter 6 – Rule Number 6. Don’t take yourself so goddamn seriously. I was so happy to read that the topic of the chapter was to lighten up. “When we practice Rule Number 6, we coax this calculating self to lighten up, and by doing so we break its hold on us” p. 81.

When reading about the downward spiral of the calculating self, I couldn’t help seeing myself in that downward scheme to try to better myself only to always end up in the cycle again. To be completely fulfilled is difficult because what I want always changes. My goals change and intensify. It shouldn’t be so hard to just be happy. I think it is natural to blame others for failure as in the case of June and Mark. I usually blame myself for everything though. That has been a difficult pattern to break.

That was an amazing story about the older and younger business partners and the central self. Been thinking about life situations a lot lately. It’s been a rough year. All I can do is smile and know that it is what I make it, so don’t stress. I’ll just keep reminding myself of Rule Number 6.

Reference:

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

Image:

Creative Commons

WK2 Wimba Session 2 - AR Status/Summary and Publishing/Leadership Project

I was unable to attend the Wimba this past Tuesday largely in part because I had so much work to catch up on, there was just no time. My lit review was in shambles and I desperately needed to edit, revise, and email it in. I had a lot of trouble formatting the document in word. The headers were not numbering correctly. It has been very frustrating.

As I watched and listened to the archive, I was relieved to see that I wasn't the only one struggling with the lit review. I do appreciate having a form to fill out checking on what I’m doing. At times I felt alone when working on AR. I need structure or at least know someone is checking up on me. This is helping me get the AR site organized, something I struggle with (organization). So I am feeling much better about the site now.

As for the AR summary page, I don't think it is as daunting now that I have more of a grasp on all the pages of the site.

What I really needed was some clarification on the Publishing/Leadership Project. I'm still a little hesitant on starting a keynote because I'm not sure what to do just yet. That and writing a scripted speech will be a bit difficult. I usually never teach by a scripted speech as was mentioned of most teachers during wimba. Well, first step is figuring out where I want to publish, so that's on the agenda now, publishing on the web.

Web Publishing Image: Creative Commons

WK1 Project - AR Status

Well EMDT has gone by very fast. I can’t believe there is less than two months before graduation. The one thing that has been foreboding thus far is the Action Research Project. I have been so nervous about putting everything together. It’s all there, just not organized. I lack some very pertinent organizational skills. It’s the art teacher curse, right brain thinkers. Ok, it’s mostly just me. The literature review has taken more time than I anticipated. I originally wanted to explore student motivation with student personal interests. It wasn’t successful due to the middle school age group. It’s an age group that is full of wonder and excitement, yet they don’t know who they are. They are at the exploring phase, finding out what they like and don’t like, what’s cool and not cool. It’s a difficult time for this age group.

That being said, I changed the focus to a regional event art competition that prepares students for high school and the state level art competition. The competition is called the Junior Visual Arts Scholastic Event.

Cycle 1 just gave me a basis as to what their final art piece should be. It wasn’t intended to do so, but I used that information to get them to the place they needed to be by May 1, 2010. Then, by cycle 2, they had an idea of what original art meant. They were prepared for the Junior Visual Arts Scholastic Event by creating original artwork and posting comments on flickr. This made students more conscious of peer to peer feedback for critiques.

The AR Status Report is keeping me in check as I have to get everything organized by tomorrow. The pages on the AR page are placeholders, and it has been a challenge to get it all filled in with detailed analysis. The work is done and I can’t wait til the final presentation!

Image: Creative Commons

WK1 Free Choice - Edutopia Interview

This video from Edutopia is Principal Dereck Pierce talking about Casco Bay High School as a school that builds relationships with it’s students to develop them as people ready for real world experiences. The teachers coincide to build curriculum together though a week of staff development.

Principal Dereck Pierce says his school is curriculum driven by learning expeditions. There are two a year, one in math and science, the other in humanities. The school has exceeded in every area as far as testing is concerned yet this school does not teach to the test. They use real world experience to teach. He also talked about not using text books, instead using laptops,very non-traditional.

I think this is a great view of education today in the world of possibilities. This is a principal who has accepted the change of times and wants more for his staff and students. A leader or administrator that sees this can make a huge difference for the community. I’m not saying a teacher cannot do the same, but getting another authority’s support can really help make that change faster.

Reference:

Edutopia. (Producer). (2010). Principle dereck pierce on building relationships between students and teachers [video]. Retrieved May, 9, 2010 from The George Lucas Educational Foundation. http://www.edutopia.org/maine-project-learning-relationships-derek-pierce-video

WK1 Response to Jill Davis - Free Choice: Reading, Giving

WK 1 – Free Choice: Reading, Giving

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Wow! What a wonderful chapter! And how ironic, I gave the first chapter an A, and the third chapter gave me an A! Now I can work at giving myself an A as well. For me, it is much easier to give others an A than myself an A. This was a powerful chapter for me on a personal level.

In my classroom, I do give each student an A. This only began several years back when I noticed how much one struggling child hated kindergarten. She was my weakest student in regards to working with content. She was always the last one finished and often needed help. I, as well as her peers, regarded her as behind. Our speech therapist reminded me that all students bloom at their own time. No matter how much we fertilize them or water them, they will not bloom until they are ready.

The next year, my lowest content student happened to be really wonderful at art. I made sure to point out to the class his abilities. It was amazing how the class and I regarded him as talented and how it helped him to bloom. By being perceived as an A, he shined as an A.

From that time on, I made it a point to really focus on each individual child's special talents. Like Michelangelo once said, “Inside every block of stone or marble dwells a beautiful stone.” And as Zander found, in the universe of possibility, we can help each child to be viewed as gifted in _____.

Also, in regards to mistakes, I often tell my students we all make mistakes; that is how we learn and grow. But I am most excited to add lifting our arms in the air and saying, “How fascinating!” when we make a mistake.

Sources:

Zandler R., & Zandler B. (2000). The art of possibility. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.

Photo taken by Jill Davis.

Sunday, May 9, 2010

1 Comment

Ashley Burch

Oh give yourself an A already! Jill, you have come so far and you are doing great! I love the picture by the way. It is the cutest, arms up and wide-eyed.

It must be so challenging to teach kinder because each child is at a different developmental level. I wouldn’t know the first thing of what to teach or how to motivate them. You have a tough job and you are a wonderful teacher. I love how you talked about your artistic student and highlighted his talents to the other students. “By being perceived as an A, he shined as an A.” Amazing. I bet he is so proud to have a teacher who sees him for who he is and is proud of that. And yes, it is wonderful to make mistakes!

WK1 Response to Micheline Guerriero - Breaking out of your mold

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Week1 Reading Response: Breaking out of your mold

The fear of failure blocks the mind and spirit from growing. There is nothing more sincere than when a student looks up at me and says, “I know I didn’t do this right” or “this is horrible.” These are the moments when a simple pleasant response, a helpful tip, or words of encouragement can change a student’s life and outlook towards trial and error. Passion, drive, and originality are fragile qualities that a person possesses.

I love the “give an A policy” One complaint I always had about art school was the subjective grading. There were always rubrics that described the requirements but none factored in the professor’s opinion or hidden expectations. It is hard to place a grade value on something like a painting or performance. While I am sure most teachers would never intentionally grade based on their opinion I think the teacher’s preference for style and technique are always reflected.

Additionally I’d like to share this quote from the book, The art of Possibilities, page 18.

“On our path to achieving a goal we inevitably encounter obstacles. Some of the more familiar ones, aside from other people, are scarcities to time, money, power, love, resources, and inner strength.”

I think this passage speak for itself… Ain’t that the truth

The following video is a close up 3-D examination of the David by Michaelangelo. The video reflect the vision and dreams of Stanford University students as well as the extraordinary talent of the original artist.

Ashley said...

First of all, that was an amazing video on 3D rendering of David. I remember during my study abroad in Italy going to Academia to see the magnificent statue and nothing compared to seeing it up close in real life. The detail in the veins and muscles was incredible.

I do agree that as an art teacher, it is difficult to hear the uninspired words of our students. It is difficult to hear them struggle and think they can’t do anything right. Often, I hear the words. “Is this right..how about now, does it look good now?” They are so concerned with doing it right that they ask about every line, every brush stroke. It’s exhausting for me and them, yet I am subjectively grading them. And now I know the expectation of creating a perfect piece of art is very hard on a student. I do love the giving an A concept. It allows for much more freedom of expression.

Image: Creative Commons