Week 4 – The Art of Possibility
•June 27, 2010 • 2 Comments
This week’s reading was the last three chapters of The Art of Possibility.
Chapter 10 – Being the Board
I gotta say, when Ben started out by saying that the driver of the stopped car must assume some of the blame in the collision he outlined at the beginning of the chapter, he nearly lost me. But I soon came around to the idea that blame does not really do anything for anyone. Once you have established who is responsible for the bad thing that they are responsible for and they have received their lumps then all must move on. That can be a hard pill to swallow. Allow me to jump to a personal story that is a little off the path of the book. When I was about 8 years old I watched a talk show about people who had tragically, although accidentally, affected someones life. The person who had done the wrong would come on and explain the situation and how that situation had affected the other person, then the host would welcome the other person. First, this show is the reason I never got into a fight. I could accidentally impact someones life in a horrible way and I couldn’t bear the thought of that. Second, I was struck with how gracious the other side had been. One story sticks with me still. This woman and her sister were 10 and 8 and arguing over a Popsicle and the 8 year old pushed the 10 year old and she fell down a couple of stairs breaking her leg. Because of this break the 10 year old’s right leg never grew after that day causing some pretty crazy circumstances. Immediately obvious was the way she walked and because of that she had some difficulty getting a job and talked about difficulty dating but she held no ill will towards her sister. She had come to grips with her circumstances and had grown to see things from the perspective of being the board. I need to do far more reframing in this way, especially when my teaching isn’t seeming to go my way.
Chapter 11 – Creating Frameworks for Possibility
This is, in my opinion, the hardest practice to put into place. You must be fully aware to put this into place. What often gets me in trouble are my emotions. I can get so emotional when things aren’t going as they should and because of this I tighten up and only see what is wrong. To put this practice into practice one must always be in control, be able to step out of the situation to find those frameworks for possiblity.
Chapter 12 – Telling the We story
This is the practice I should most use in my classroom. When my students come into my classroom they may hear me talk about my plans for them. They may even have some plans of their own. But I need to do more fostering of the ‘We’ story. This opens up the opportunity for true creation, which is what theatre is all about.
Posted in MAC, The Art of Possiblity, Week 4
My response is that first of all, Brandon, I have cousins in the business in Austin, and ex-law cousins who run Banner Sign Media in Austin, and do a lot of work for Movie productions in Austin. But I don't know your last name, so I can't tell them to look you up. Please get your last name on your blog, in your link, or somewhere for those of us who aren't in the thesis track, because you never know who might be able to help. I may see one of my cousins this week and will tell her to look for you at Wallace Jr High, which I'm sure she will know, since she works for Pearson publishing, and used to teach Math in Austin ISD.
Now to the response to your post about the art of possibility. We who are passionate and artistic, tend to be emotional. This is not a bad thing, but my nephew has some words of wisdom for us when we feel the emotions rise. "Lower and slower" which means, speak softly, which automatically calms my own emotions when I do it, and speak more slowly, which has a similar effect. Give it a try, because I agree with you that emotions can get in the way of good sense and especially of good teaching. The less I can say, the more my artists can be free to create. Their responses to my stepping back and trusting their abilities and their "sparks" has led to some delightful new depth in relationships which have made continuing to mentor them after they leave my school, and now I do also, a possibility.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Wk 4 Response
Google docs is down tonight for the MAC blog addresses, to see others, so I did one in response to a critical friend from last month and will try to get another one to do for tomorrow.
Wk 4 Publishing Leadership Porject 3 of 3
After much consideration, I have narrowed my Publishing Leadership Project submission choices to the eTech Ohio conference which begins accepting entries August 1st, so I will have to wait for that, but will also submit to the National Art Education Association Studies in Art Education.
Wk 4_Response to Donita Massing
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
FSO_MAC_W4_AR publishing 2 of 3
In 2006, I worked with a group of educators at Ohio State University to author a learning unit on Challenge Based Learning for the Ohio Department of Education's CTE website.
I was asked to branch off on my own and I came up with a learning module for the arts and communications career cluster with the guidance of OSU faculty leaders. Learning to apply my thinking to challenge based learning was the most difficult part.
As a result of this venture, my unit, Design & Attract, was published on the CTE website for other educators.
A staff member from the Buck Institute for Education saw my CBL project and wrote to OSU and myself to ask for permission to publish it in their book "PBL Starter Kit."
John Larmer was the staff member that I worked with on the publishing of my project. He sent me a copy of the book after its printing.
After watching a classmate's presentation on his action research on challenge based learning, I remembered my contact at BIE.
I will contact Mr. Larmer with my article and see if he is interested in publishing how I used Ning in my career-tech program.
Posted by Dee M at 5:56 PM
1 comments:
Lynne Koles said...
Donita, you are my hero. You have the drive and the contacts to be a superstar teacher and I am so excited to be getting mentored by someone so wise in the things I am new, but willing to learn. Keep working with these wonderful ideas and the contacts will continue to benefit your students in ways that those wonderful ripples may never stop. By the way, I just got a week of instruction for my new PBL New Tech High from a former BIE staffer, now with NEw TEch network.org who was fantastic. Blessings my Friend. Keep in touch and email me the ning site again, Loosing stuff is legend these days. Congrats on being done, too!
June 27, 2010 7:05 PM
FSO_MAC_W4_AR publishing 2 of 3
In 2006, I worked with a group of educators at Ohio State University to author a learning unit on Challenge Based Learning for the Ohio Department of Education's CTE website.
I was asked to branch off on my own and I came up with a learning module for the arts and communications career cluster with the guidance of OSU faculty leaders. Learning to apply my thinking to challenge based learning was the most difficult part.
As a result of this venture, my unit, Design & Attract, was published on the CTE website for other educators.
A staff member from the Buck Institute for Education saw my CBL project and wrote to OSU and myself to ask for permission to publish it in their book "PBL Starter Kit."
John Larmer was the staff member that I worked with on the publishing of my project. He sent me a copy of the book after its printing.
After watching a classmate's presentation on his action research on challenge based learning, I remembered my contact at BIE.
I will contact Mr. Larmer with my article and see if he is interested in publishing how I used Ning in my career-tech program.
Posted by Dee M at 5:56 PM
1 comments:
Lynne Koles said...
Donita, you are my hero. You have the drive and the contacts to be a superstar teacher and I am so excited to be getting mentored by someone so wise in the things I am new, but willing to learn. Keep working with these wonderful ideas and the contacts will continue to benefit your students in ways that those wonderful ripples may never stop. By the way, I just got a week of instruction for my new PBL New Tech High from a former BIE staffer, now with NEw TEch network.org who was fantastic. Blessings my Friend. Keep in touch and email me the ning site again, Loosing stuff is legend these days. Congrats on being done, too!
June 27, 2010 7:05 PM
Koles_Lynne_Week 4 Reading_TheTimingofReadingThisBook
Zander discusses the need for possibility thinking throughout this book, and these concluding chapters have pounded home a very significant change in thinking to make this happen. Imagining the world as a collective of equals in order to consider all of us as the WE, gives new meaning to possibilities. From the training I received in sales, "make them want what you have," is the antithesis of being about what is best for the collective "We." Yet in education, autonomous authoritarian models of teaching have given way to empowering, guiding, facilitators. This paradigm shift fits perfectly with Zander's point that we must consider the others within our realm as equal and even greater than ourselves. this book should be required reading for all who strive to teach our next generation, because it is what dries them to excellence, to be valued and encouraged to participate in directing and creating their learning.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
wk 3_Response_to_Aimee_Holcombe
Topic #1: Briefly share any experiences you’ve had when you’ve had a part in introducing a new program or a new way to do things at your job site. Please share any triumphs or frustrations you’ve had trying to improve the system or when you’ve pioneered or piloted some outside the norm.
There are several new programs that I have wanted to implement, such as Quest Atlantis and student film production, but have not yet been given the opportunity in my school system. However, I am hopeful for the future and will not give up on the tools I know are useful. I have been a bit of an outsider though in my use of ‘new’ technologies on my job site.
With working in a school system where technology is not the priority yet, I have had a few instances worth discussing here. The first would be that my website is used for everything I do in the classroom for as much as I can do with it. Most teachers where I am only use their site for posting their syllabus and random homework, or they don’t utilize it at all. Another thing that I do is email parents... a lot. I send out classroom newsletters, as well as email individuals the moment a kid is out of hand (usually I have the kid read it first and be the one to press send). My colleges have not appreciated both of these all that much. Sometimes they are seen as over-communication and team members are upset that parents are asking why they do not keep up their website or email them as much (or at all); while other times my methods return negatively (mostly in behavior situations) because parents don’t understand the tone or the care I have for their child as a person instead of just a student. I have learned that you always should be personable, which doesn’t always come through well in text.
Another large technology element that I have tried and tried to implement is Twitter in the classroom. Last year, with it set as my original ARP/ Thesis topic, I created a page and started from day 1 of the school year trying to get parent and students to “follow” me. After explaining it at open house, sending home a letter and an email, discussing it in class, and showing the students what Twitter was- I only got 1 student and 1 parent our of over 100 to join me! It was very disappointing to know that 1) every student in there had a cell phone that they were texting in class already with, 2) that the Twitter tool was so powerful to classroom instruction, and 3) that parents were unable to relate what they were using their phones for to what students could use theirs for. They could not see beyond their child’s “toy” being a tool for educational use. I guess it is a venture for another year in the future, but for this year I had to pack up my ideas for instantaneous assessment and brief communication reminders and move on tweetless.
(See my AR Blog’s initial entries from the fall of 2009 for more information on this topic.)
Wk 3 Discussion Board: My New Program Experience
Friday, June 18, 2010
1 Comment Manage Comments for this Entry
Monday, June 21, 2010 - 01:58 AM
Lynne Koles
Aimee, I really admire your determination to communicate with parents and especially like the concept of having the student read the tweet sent to the parent, then sending it him or her self. I think we have to keep trying to communicate with parents, w=even when met with little or no positive feedback, both because you never know when the parent will wake up to the importance of teachers' concern for their child's future, and because it is the thing that will ultimately make a difference to the student. How many teachers in your school care enough to even try to engage parents in dialogue about their children? In so many cases, parents have thanked me for calling about their children the moment a "good" child gives me the first problem. I also make sure to send positive information home about the specific children when I can. It is a part of our job that is sorely lacking on the part of teachers who have become complacent. Keep it up! You make a difference, one child at a time, and one parent at a time.
There are several new programs that I have wanted to implement, such as Quest Atlantis and student film production, but have not yet been given the opportunity in my school system. However, I am hopeful for the future and will not give up on the tools I know are useful. I have been a bit of an outsider though in my use of ‘new’ technologies on my job site.
With working in a school system where technology is not the priority yet, I have had a few instances worth discussing here. The first would be that my website is used for everything I do in the classroom for as much as I can do with it. Most teachers where I am only use their site for posting their syllabus and random homework, or they don’t utilize it at all. Another thing that I do is email parents... a lot. I send out classroom newsletters, as well as email individuals the moment a kid is out of hand (usually I have the kid read it first and be the one to press send). My colleges have not appreciated both of these all that much. Sometimes they are seen as over-communication and team members are upset that parents are asking why they do not keep up their website or email them as much (or at all); while other times my methods return negatively (mostly in behavior situations) because parents don’t understand the tone or the care I have for their child as a person instead of just a student. I have learned that you always should be personable, which doesn’t always come through well in text.
Another large technology element that I have tried and tried to implement is Twitter in the classroom. Last year, with it set as my original ARP/ Thesis topic, I created a page and started from day 1 of the school year trying to get parent and students to “follow” me. After explaining it at open house, sending home a letter and an email, discussing it in class, and showing the students what Twitter was- I only got 1 student and 1 parent our of over 100 to join me! It was very disappointing to know that 1) every student in there had a cell phone that they were texting in class already with, 2) that the Twitter tool was so powerful to classroom instruction, and 3) that parents were unable to relate what they were using their phones for to what students could use theirs for. They could not see beyond their child’s “toy” being a tool for educational use. I guess it is a venture for another year in the future, but for this year I had to pack up my ideas for instantaneous assessment and brief communication reminders and move on tweetless.
(See my AR Blog’s initial entries from the fall of 2009 for more information on this topic.)
Wk 3 Discussion Board: My New Program Experience
Friday, June 18, 2010
1 Comment Manage Comments for this Entry
Monday, June 21, 2010 - 01:58 AM
Lynne Koles
Aimee, I really admire your determination to communicate with parents and especially like the concept of having the student read the tweet sent to the parent, then sending it him or her self. I think we have to keep trying to communicate with parents, w=even when met with little or no positive feedback, both because you never know when the parent will wake up to the importance of teachers' concern for their child's future, and because it is the thing that will ultimately make a difference to the student. How many teachers in your school care enough to even try to engage parents in dialogue about their children? In so many cases, parents have thanked me for calling about their children the moment a "good" child gives me the first problem. I also make sure to send positive information home about the specific children when I can. It is a part of our job that is sorely lacking on the part of teachers who have become complacent. Keep it up! You make a difference, one child at a time, and one parent at a time.
Wk3_ Response to Marianne Lingman
Textbooks anyone? - week 3
I have long marveled at how heavy the student's bookbags have become, especially if the book bags contain every book that the student will need during the course of a day. I cannot seem to understand why this has not prompted our school district to strive further to acquire e-books for use in the classroom instead. What the students could do is the classroom can keep a classroom set of books in the school and the students would only have to sign out a copy of the textbook on cd. It is quite evident that when the weight of a book bag exceeds the weight of the student, someone is going to get hurt, if not now, then down the road several years. It is hard to understand why the school board has not moved towards some form of relief for the students in the high school where I work... It is not for lack of our input.
Posted by MarianneLingmanMaria at 7:46 PM
1 comments:
Lynne Koles said...
Marianne, I have also been excited at the possibilities for student use of digital textbooks. Wouldn't it be great if our students could have iPads instead of textbooks? From what my colleagues here at the New Tech conference are saying, the iPad would be ideal for student use because it is touch screen, graphics are excellent and hundreds of apps are already out for use on it. We could be engaging our students with an inexpensive tool that would meet most of their school work needs! I'm thinking grant writing time is here! What do you think?
I have long marveled at how heavy the student's bookbags have become, especially if the book bags contain every book that the student will need during the course of a day. I cannot seem to understand why this has not prompted our school district to strive further to acquire e-books for use in the classroom instead. What the students could do is the classroom can keep a classroom set of books in the school and the students would only have to sign out a copy of the textbook on cd. It is quite evident that when the weight of a book bag exceeds the weight of the student, someone is going to get hurt, if not now, then down the road several years. It is hard to understand why the school board has not moved towards some form of relief for the students in the high school where I work... It is not for lack of our input.
Posted by MarianneLingmanMaria at 7:46 PM
1 comments:
Lynne Koles said...
Marianne, I have also been excited at the possibilities for student use of digital textbooks. Wouldn't it be great if our students could have iPads instead of textbooks? From what my colleagues here at the New Tech conference are saying, the iPad would be ideal for student use because it is touch screen, graphics are excellent and hundreds of apps are already out for use on it. We could be engaging our students with an inexpensive tool that would meet most of their school work needs! I'm thinking grant writing time is here! What do you think?
wk3_PublishingLeadershipProject_2of3
I have looked at the publication requirements of several options from the resource list and like both the Tech Trends and the Journal of Digital Learning and Teacher Education.
Though I would like to publish in an arts oriented publication, Acts and Activities might be a better source for what I actually was able to do with my students in the Art room. After more consideration of the type of writing that is published in the National Art Education Association’s Journal of Research in Art Education, I feel unworthy of getting anything published there. This is especially true since my action research was so insignificant in the number of participants. I feel discouraged at how little I accomplished, and frustrated that school ended before I really ever regained control of my classes after they expanded so dramatically in the last semester of the school year. Because I will be in another environment completely, next year, a cycle 3 to redeem the project is not an option.
Though I would like to publish in an arts oriented publication, Acts and Activities might be a better source for what I actually was able to do with my students in the Art room. After more consideration of the type of writing that is published in the National Art Education Association’s Journal of Research in Art Education, I feel unworthy of getting anything published there. This is especially true since my action research was so insignificant in the number of participants. I feel discouraged at how little I accomplished, and frustrated that school ended before I really ever regained control of my classes after they expanded so dramatically in the last semester of the school year. Because I will be in another environment completely, next year, a cycle 3 to redeem the project is not an option.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Wk 3 Reading _Passion
Week 3 reading
What are you doing these days to express your passion?
I have always lived life with passion, and when I felt my passion for the activity I did for a living wane, I changed careers…4 times in 56 years. Now I am about to enter number 5, since I will be moving from the Visual Art Teacher of elementary and middle school students, into High School Digital Design Instructor. This is my first leap into the unknown, without a parachute. Literally, I got a job doing something I barely do. Let me rephrase that… I got a job teaching something I barely know!! Now those of us in education know that is really a leap of faith.
To make that leap I have begun two additional courses while still completing this Master’s with Full Sail. I am also taking (auditing) Photoshop and Illustrator courses! Love the community college for having what you need when you need it. My passion is to remain an educator who is working at the cutting edge of technology, and learning CS5 just before I begin to teach it only seems crazy to other people. I have learned to trust my ability to do what needs to be done, with God’s help, when I am in His will. I would not have presumed to try to teach something I don’t know without clearly seeing His hand in it. And as our state motto says, With God, all things are possible! So really, I suppose my passion is truly for God, and I just do what comes my way, as I try to walk in His will. His passion for me is something I feel, and that passion lights my life in service to others. Our urban students will benefit tremendously from the light I can bring them via this new tech program, and the Adobe programs I have been fighting to get into our tech arts programs for a couple years. I am blessed to be the beneficiary of the vision of others and the potential to change lives is a daily reality because of these blessings.
How could I be anything less than passionate with such a great calling?
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Wk 2_Response to Kim Heumann
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Rule number 6, don’t take yourself so seriously, is something that I need to remember all of the time. As a teacher of young children, there is a time and place for seriousness, and a time to let yourself go.
Summer school is in full swing, and I’m teaching a class of ELL kindergartners. I have always had ELL students in my class, but never an entire class of them. Before school began, we were given an inservice on how to teach them. (like I said, I have always had ELL kids in my class). We were told to focus on Language, and to do anything we can to immerse them in it. Once suggestion was teaching them nursery rhymes. That seemed simple enough. I put together a journal of nursery rhymes, to use in class and set out to teach Jack and Jill.
Can you say crash and burn? A pail of water, a broken crown and tumbling are not phrases one finds being used in an ELL household. I had to get creative. I rolled around on the floor, I held my head in my hands and I exaggerated my movements going up the hill. It made the difference to them. They laughed at me, and I laughed at myself.
In my mind, as a teacher of young children, the number one rule is “Rule Number 6”, you can’t take yourself too seriously. You must do what you can to reach your students!
@Kim,
As a former PreK-8th grade art teacher in a bi-Lingual school, I know your experience, and laughed a lot at the images of what you did to get through to the children. God bless both you and Lorri, being young enough to do all of that. Since the doctor still wants to fuse 4 vertebrae in my neck, my rolling on the floor days are over, thus I am going to teach high school with English speakers, next year.
But it is so important to lighten up, as a teacher, and admit when we are wrong, when we aren't getting through to our students, and for me---when they know what I do not. I have learned so much about not taking myself too seriously as I try to use technology in our classrooms this school year, in a new building. When nothing works as it is sold to work, all you can do is ask students for help. Often they can fix things, and teach me how to do it, next time. I'm so thankful that my students are willing to teach me. WE can learn together, when we are both open to that.
Rule number 6, don’t take yourself so seriously, is something that I need to remember all of the time. As a teacher of young children, there is a time and place for seriousness, and a time to let yourself go.
Summer school is in full swing, and I’m teaching a class of ELL kindergartners. I have always had ELL students in my class, but never an entire class of them. Before school began, we were given an inservice on how to teach them. (like I said, I have always had ELL kids in my class). We were told to focus on Language, and to do anything we can to immerse them in it. Once suggestion was teaching them nursery rhymes. That seemed simple enough. I put together a journal of nursery rhymes, to use in class and set out to teach Jack and Jill.
Can you say crash and burn? A pail of water, a broken crown and tumbling are not phrases one finds being used in an ELL household. I had to get creative. I rolled around on the floor, I held my head in my hands and I exaggerated my movements going up the hill. It made the difference to them. They laughed at me, and I laughed at myself.
In my mind, as a teacher of young children, the number one rule is “Rule Number 6”, you can’t take yourself too seriously. You must do what you can to reach your students!
@Kim,
As a former PreK-8th grade art teacher in a bi-Lingual school, I know your experience, and laughed a lot at the images of what you did to get through to the children. God bless both you and Lorri, being young enough to do all of that. Since the doctor still wants to fuse 4 vertebrae in my neck, my rolling on the floor days are over, thus I am going to teach high school with English speakers, next year.
But it is so important to lighten up, as a teacher, and admit when we are wrong, when we aren't getting through to our students, and for me---when they know what I do not. I have learned so much about not taking myself too seriously as I try to use technology in our classrooms this school year, in a new building. When nothing works as it is sold to work, all you can do is ask students for help. Often they can fix things, and teach me how to do it, next time. I'm so thankful that my students are willing to teach me. WE can learn together, when we are both open to that.
Wk 2_Response to Michael Melvin
Per Michael:
I have finally, put together my AR website. I’m happy with it and currently working on my AR Abstract. I wish the layout and time to get it together was given to us earlier in the program. The AR can seem overwhelming at times. The concept is great. It think it would be great for teachers to do an AR every other year. However, I decided to add to my AR for next year. I want to examine what I can add to in education and share with other teachers. I decided to focus on presenting. It’s my desire to be an advocate for educational change, to focus on how we teach, what we teach and connecting with the learner. My school is moving to PBL (Project Based Learning). I’m excited, because now my fellow teachers will understand how much of an improvement and benefit PBL is. We want our students to be successful, why not teach them to be. So, In my AR revamp I will incorporate interviews from teachers.
@Michael, I thoroughly agree with you that this AR website production layout would have been beneficial to be done earlier. I tend to be disorganized, and having this structure would have kept me focused far better than I have been.
Have you had to deal with much resistance to your planned project? Mine has been frustrating at every turn, from permissions all through the attempts to get sites unblocked, until the final crazy thing when the survey monkey site got blocked! Just wild! I hope the high school level will be more sane.
I also like the concept of doing AR every other year. I too, will continue my research, in the hope of gaining more insight to the students I will be teaching next year, as I move up to high school. Things fell apart in our district once they announced that everyone had to re-interview for our jobs in my building, and 19 others, 18 were closing and 566 were getting laid off. We have been in chaos since January! Getting settled will benefit everyone.
I have finally, put together my AR website. I’m happy with it and currently working on my AR Abstract. I wish the layout and time to get it together was given to us earlier in the program. The AR can seem overwhelming at times. The concept is great. It think it would be great for teachers to do an AR every other year. However, I decided to add to my AR for next year. I want to examine what I can add to in education and share with other teachers. I decided to focus on presenting. It’s my desire to be an advocate for educational change, to focus on how we teach, what we teach and connecting with the learner. My school is moving to PBL (Project Based Learning). I’m excited, because now my fellow teachers will understand how much of an improvement and benefit PBL is. We want our students to be successful, why not teach them to be. So, In my AR revamp I will incorporate interviews from teachers.
@Michael, I thoroughly agree with you that this AR website production layout would have been beneficial to be done earlier. I tend to be disorganized, and having this structure would have kept me focused far better than I have been.
Have you had to deal with much resistance to your planned project? Mine has been frustrating at every turn, from permissions all through the attempts to get sites unblocked, until the final crazy thing when the survey monkey site got blocked! Just wild! I hope the high school level will be more sane.
I also like the concept of doing AR every other year. I too, will continue my research, in the hope of gaining more insight to the students I will be teaching next year, as I move up to high school. Things fell apart in our district once they announced that everyone had to re-interview for our jobs in my building, and 19 others, 18 were closing and 566 were getting laid off. We have been in chaos since January! Getting settled will benefit everyone.
Wk2 Publishing/Leadership project part 1 of 3:
There are several publications I am considering for submission of my Publishing Leadership Project. The first is the eTech Ohio Conference and Division of the State of Ohio Department of Education. They have several conferences each year for technology leaders in the various school districts throughout the state, and one of my peers from another Cleveland School presented at one of the conferences we went to last year.
Another source for publication, is my National Art Education Association. As a member of the Association, I am eligible to submit an article for publication to several venues, including the national convention, to be a presenter of professional development, Studies in Art Education: the Journal of Issues and Research in Art Education, or Art Education Magazine from the NAEA. Art Lines, from the Ohio Art Educators Association is another option.
A third venue for presentation, where my study might do the most good for the most students immediately, would be the Cleveland Metropolitan School District School Board meetings. Because so much of my research was stymied by the blocking of internet resources that have purely educational purposes, this knowledge could present the community with ammunition for making significant changes to the way our students are prohibited from using materials and being educated about the things they access outside of the school, daily.
Another source for publication, is my National Art Education Association. As a member of the Association, I am eligible to submit an article for publication to several venues, including the national convention, to be a presenter of professional development, Studies in Art Education: the Journal of Issues and Research in Art Education, or Art Education Magazine from the NAEA. Art Lines, from the Ohio Art Educators Association is another option.
A third venue for presentation, where my study might do the most good for the most students immediately, would be the Cleveland Metropolitan School District School Board meetings. Because so much of my research was stymied by the blocking of internet resources that have purely educational purposes, this knowledge could present the community with ammunition for making significant changes to the way our students are prohibited from using materials and being educated about the things they access outside of the school, daily.
MAC_Week_2_Reading_Service as Sufficiency
“If we were to design a new voyage to carry us …into the bright realm of possibility, we might want to …aim for the openness and reciprocity of a level playing field—away from a mind-set of scarcity and deficiency and toward an attitude of wholeness and sufficiency”(Zander and Zander, 2000, p 90).
As a kid who grew up with security and comfort, in a small suburban town, with both parents who had graduated from an excellent local college and expectations for the same, I was not at all ready for the dire circumstances my young family faced when I became disabled and my husband lost his job after a near fatal car accident. From 1000.00/wk to zero was a major shock in 1990. Yet it began the turning from material to eternal things in my life.
The Zanders’ concepts of possibilities and openness strike a chord of familiarity as I remember the sense of awe with which I looked back upon that time of testing when we learned what REALLY mattered. Food, freedom to pray, a roof over our heads, and the love for each other got us through some very difficult days. Where we had once ignored those in need around us, I walked in their shoes, and no longer claimed to be untouched by poverty and want. It was good for me. And God used me in a powerful way, to bring healing and wholeness to others who became victims of what we went through in the years ahead.
The level playing field of having nothing is probably not what the Zanders had in mind, but that is what it took for me to recognize that my life was not my own. All I can do and all that I have comes from God. I am whole because of my understanding of Him. He is my sufficiency. And His way is one of loving my neighbors and humbling myself to serve them. This is the better way, contributing and offering to serve others. Today, as an educator focused upon the good of my students and their future, the possibilities for sharing an attitude of wholeness and sufficiency abound. At 56 years old, I am one of the youngest old ladies my students know. I get to bridge the generations thanks to all that we are learning at Full Sail.
MAC_Week_2_Podcasts
http://feeds.kcrw.com/kcrw/de
KCRW’s Design and Architecture podcast is a source for Design related themes on the high school level or above. Topics recently have ranged from the making of our economy with petrochemicals and plastics to Apple Worship: Creating a Brand, about consumer loyalty and the power of the Apple brand.
http://podbean.com/
An aggregation of many podcasts with great arts and cartoons, from Classic Animated Cartoons to travel. Also, a wide variety of topics to explore with good history and travel resources.
http://itunes.apple.com/podcast/the-new-yorker-animated-cartoons/id214356260
The New Yorker Animated Cartoons are a source of excellent satire and political humor, published daily. This is a great resource for drawings and for honing skills as a humorist.
http://www.howstuffworks.com/ An intriguing collection of scientific podcasts about a variety of subjects from the world’s tallest building to myths about the brain.
John Rensten/Lifesize/Getty Images
KCRW’s Design and Architecture podcast is a source for Design related themes on the high school level or above. Topics recently have ranged from the making of our economy with petrochemicals and plastics to Apple Worship: Creating a Brand, about consumer loyalty and the power of the Apple brand.
http://podbean.com/
An aggregation of many podcasts with great arts and cartoons, from Classic Animated Cartoons to travel. Also, a wide variety of topics to explore with good history and travel resources.
http://itunes.apple.com/podcast/the-new-yorker-animated-cartoons/id214356260
The New Yorker Animated Cartoons are a source of excellent satire and political humor, published daily. This is a great resource for drawings and for honing skills as a humorist.
http://www.howstuffworks.com/ An intriguing collection of scientific podcasts about a variety of subjects from the world’s tallest building to myths about the brain.
John Rensten/Lifesize/Getty Images
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Wk 1_Response to Aimee Holcombe
I am currently reading The Art of Possibility: Transforming Professional and Personal Life by: Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander, and in only the first few chapters, I have found myself to be personally & professionally convicted, enlightened, and inspired.
The book discusses how our society universally grades/ measures/ compares people and progress, and that constant striving for an A that most anyone can relate to. The text puts it that, “virtually everybody whether living in the lap of luxury or diminished circumstances wakes up in the morning with the unseen assumption that life is about the struggle to survive and get ahead in a world of limited resources.” (Zander, p. 19) From the first test in Kindergarden or Preschool to the assessment of an account in the workplace and beyond, we all know what it is like to have to work for the approval of others and the advancement of ourselves. As discussed in the text, our world has unlimited opportunity, yet we set and follow rigorous standards labeling accomplishment. What if we saw things differently from our own eyes, regardless of the environment we are confined to? I believe that the text is challenging the reader to believe in themselves and the A+ possibilities of their mind first and foremost, then approach the standards in life as validation to what is already embraced. If we chose to live in this belief- would we be less stressed, more optimistic, and possibly even more motivated and productive workers and members of society? I believe so.
I mentioned that this text, in its short 3 chapters, has already convicted me. As I read the stories of students whose teachers/ evaluators failed to accept and applaud the creative, and sometimes irrational and nontraditional, methods of the student- I thought of all of those kids in my classroom who didn’t do things my way and also may not have gotten the grade their way may have earned. I remembered the look on the face of the boy who never did classwork yet passed all of his exams with flying colors; the single tear rolling down the face of the girl who was devastated to learn that she’d only missed an A by one point for her final average; and the eighth grader who rarely attended class and didn’t have the grades to pass, but wrote an A+ award-winning narrative memoir on the things he’d learned while living on the streets. It is these moments that a teacher must never forget!
As a teacher, I am convicted that I need to look at my students from day one as A+ students who are fully capable and have the mind to move mountains! I need to let them know from the beginning that I believe in them and will be their cheerleader as they take my course. I need to allow them the flexibility to make choices on their graded products. I have decided that I am starting the year next year with posting a 100% in for every student so that their grade that they see online reads that instead of a 0%... Therefore, the grade will only change, ebb, and flow into what the student masters. Instead of being like a tower being built with nothing from the dirt up; their grades (and also their self esteem) will have a foundation on which growth and lifelong learning can occur.
In reviewing myself as a student, I realize that I too am only an exhausting treadmill striving for 4.0 graduation status. I did not realize how much of a perfectionist I can truly be! I find myself doing all I can to perfectly match each rubric, and yet I am thinking to myself what I can do with the skill I am learning in the future after graduation. Why do I, like so many others, believe that I must always conform to the expectations in a given way when my creative juices tell me otherwise? I see that it may just be this course that will change my view. I might actually allow myself... to actually be myself...
Now, on to break the barriers I have set to find out what the application of all of that truly means...
Wk1 Reading: Reflections on The Art of Possibility, Ch 1-3
Sunday, June 6, 2010
1 Comment
Sunday, June 6, 2010 - 08:50 PM
Lynne Koles
Wow! You have had some intense experiences in the grading of your students. As an Art teacher, I am much less rigid about what they get. In fact, I have had a habit of giving every student whose work gets into our annual All-City Art Exhibition an A for the 3rd marking period, when judging is done, regardless of whether that work was from the period or an earlier one. This year, one student challenged me on that practice by doing nothing in the third marking period, after I told him his work was going into the show. I suppose I could have kept it out for that bad choice on his part, but instead, I did not give him the A, but explained that he had made me realize that when someone chooses to take advantage of my policy, they can ruin the policy for themselves and others. I really struggled with changing the rules after so many years of the tradition, but it was never something written, just my habit, so I had no regulatory problems with it.Instead I was just sad at the loss of the tradition that I thought motivated and encouraged pride of accomplishment and the desire to do more, and to learn more.
I admit readily that sometimes I wonder if I am living in the wrong generation. The complexities of the lives of our students are so heartbreaking, yet those with severe struggles seem to be as optimistic or pessimistic as any other kids. I guess what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. But it is time we teachers were the catalysts for positive, rather than the harbingers of negative as the grade oriented culture has made us.
Especially in the creative subjects, we can make a difference by just what you have said. If we start each child with 100%, they can choose to maintain it, or not. The possibilities are not that insurmountable to climb from 0 to 100%. I like that way of thinking and hope it makes the difference you'd like to see.
As one who was constantly told, "You can do anything you put your mind to..." I am living proof that when children are given a world of possibilities, they will make many choices to achieve beyond what is expected of them. As an ADHD, dyslexic, no one expected me to be a Valedictorian, or in National Honor Society, like my sister and brother were, and my father before them. But I am now hold the most degrees of any member of my family, simply because I learned to love learning.
The book discusses how our society universally grades/ measures/ compares people and progress, and that constant striving for an A that most anyone can relate to. The text puts it that, “virtually everybody whether living in the lap of luxury or diminished circumstances wakes up in the morning with the unseen assumption that life is about the struggle to survive and get ahead in a world of limited resources.” (Zander, p. 19) From the first test in Kindergarden or Preschool to the assessment of an account in the workplace and beyond, we all know what it is like to have to work for the approval of others and the advancement of ourselves. As discussed in the text, our world has unlimited opportunity, yet we set and follow rigorous standards labeling accomplishment. What if we saw things differently from our own eyes, regardless of the environment we are confined to? I believe that the text is challenging the reader to believe in themselves and the A+ possibilities of their mind first and foremost, then approach the standards in life as validation to what is already embraced. If we chose to live in this belief- would we be less stressed, more optimistic, and possibly even more motivated and productive workers and members of society? I believe so.
I mentioned that this text, in its short 3 chapters, has already convicted me. As I read the stories of students whose teachers/ evaluators failed to accept and applaud the creative, and sometimes irrational and nontraditional, methods of the student- I thought of all of those kids in my classroom who didn’t do things my way and also may not have gotten the grade their way may have earned. I remembered the look on the face of the boy who never did classwork yet passed all of his exams with flying colors; the single tear rolling down the face of the girl who was devastated to learn that she’d only missed an A by one point for her final average; and the eighth grader who rarely attended class and didn’t have the grades to pass, but wrote an A+ award-winning narrative memoir on the things he’d learned while living on the streets. It is these moments that a teacher must never forget!
As a teacher, I am convicted that I need to look at my students from day one as A+ students who are fully capable and have the mind to move mountains! I need to let them know from the beginning that I believe in them and will be their cheerleader as they take my course. I need to allow them the flexibility to make choices on their graded products. I have decided that I am starting the year next year with posting a 100% in for every student so that their grade that they see online reads that instead of a 0%... Therefore, the grade will only change, ebb, and flow into what the student masters. Instead of being like a tower being built with nothing from the dirt up; their grades (and also their self esteem) will have a foundation on which growth and lifelong learning can occur.
In reviewing myself as a student, I realize that I too am only an exhausting treadmill striving for 4.0 graduation status. I did not realize how much of a perfectionist I can truly be! I find myself doing all I can to perfectly match each rubric, and yet I am thinking to myself what I can do with the skill I am learning in the future after graduation. Why do I, like so many others, believe that I must always conform to the expectations in a given way when my creative juices tell me otherwise? I see that it may just be this course that will change my view. I might actually allow myself... to actually be myself...
Now, on to break the barriers I have set to find out what the application of all of that truly means...
Wk1 Reading: Reflections on The Art of Possibility, Ch 1-3
Sunday, June 6, 2010
1 Comment
Sunday, June 6, 2010 - 08:50 PM
Lynne Koles
Wow! You have had some intense experiences in the grading of your students. As an Art teacher, I am much less rigid about what they get. In fact, I have had a habit of giving every student whose work gets into our annual All-City Art Exhibition an A for the 3rd marking period, when judging is done, regardless of whether that work was from the period or an earlier one. This year, one student challenged me on that practice by doing nothing in the third marking period, after I told him his work was going into the show. I suppose I could have kept it out for that bad choice on his part, but instead, I did not give him the A, but explained that he had made me realize that when someone chooses to take advantage of my policy, they can ruin the policy for themselves and others. I really struggled with changing the rules after so many years of the tradition, but it was never something written, just my habit, so I had no regulatory problems with it.Instead I was just sad at the loss of the tradition that I thought motivated and encouraged pride of accomplishment and the desire to do more, and to learn more.
I admit readily that sometimes I wonder if I am living in the wrong generation. The complexities of the lives of our students are so heartbreaking, yet those with severe struggles seem to be as optimistic or pessimistic as any other kids. I guess what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. But it is time we teachers were the catalysts for positive, rather than the harbingers of negative as the grade oriented culture has made us.
Especially in the creative subjects, we can make a difference by just what you have said. If we start each child with 100%, they can choose to maintain it, or not. The possibilities are not that insurmountable to climb from 0 to 100%. I like that way of thinking and hope it makes the difference you'd like to see.
As one who was constantly told, "You can do anything you put your mind to..." I am living proof that when children are given a world of possibilities, they will make many choices to achieve beyond what is expected of them. As an ADHD, dyslexic, no one expected me to be a Valedictorian, or in National Honor Society, like my sister and brother were, and my father before them. But I am now hold the most degrees of any member of my family, simply because I learned to love learning.
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Wk 1 Topic 2 Technology in School
Last year I was in a 100 year old building with wiring too old to run vaccuum cleaners in the rain. This year I am in a brand new building with 1.14M in new technology, including Smartboards in every room, including portable ones in the art and music rooms, a 30 computer lab, 12 document cameras, 10 digital video and still cameras, voice amplification systems for every teacher, digital projectors, airliners, and vBricks for every teacher. We have the creme de la creme of everything, thanks to being on a campus with a hospital that the neighborhood association wants to turn into a performing arts center and condos, to clean up the urban blight of a huge hospital that has been vacant for 10 years. We have the neighborhood association and the foundation from the hospital's funds as business partners for our school. Three of us also wrote EETT grants for the last 3 years and finally got another 140K for 3 laptop carts with 30 NEO2's on each, printers, cameras, and Destination Reading and Destination Math for our students.
Grants also covered the professional development needed to train the entire staff on most of this hardware and software. Training was expected to be attended, but not mandatory. My principal also got the foundation to buy Study Island for our students. We have waited all year for some of the hardware, half the year for some, and already experienced theft that made one of the laptop carts useless.
Next year I will be in a New Tech High School, with 1:1 computers to students. Teaching Digital Design in project/problem-based learning, I will team with a core content teacher. We will have digital cameras, ELMOs, voice amplification systems, digital projectors, and Smartboards. Our district's vision includes, becoming a premier district in the United States of America. The new technology and innovations they are implementing will enhance the possibility of making that a reality.
Wk 1 Response to Michael Melvin
Topic #2: Tech in your workplace: How has your workplace kept up with tech or not kept up with tech? What kinds of tech things have you bought to use in your classroom/presentation?Please give examples (and have a little fun with the idea…).
As a media technology teacher (CTE), I almost have all I need; DV Cameras, computers, projectors and audio equipment. We order new computers and the district forgot to have firewire cards and DVD burners installed, I had to order the firewire cards, but I have to wait until next school year to order DVD burners. I’m also planning to order external hard drives for my class, which will make it easier for my students to save their work and raw footage. However, we are looking to join the New Tech High School network. There will be a 1:1 student computer ratio. This provides every student the opportunity to use technology as a tool for research, collaboration and creativity.
Week-1-2 Tech In The Work Place
Monday, May 31, 2010
Add a Comment
1 Comment Manage Comments for this Entry
Lynne Koles
Michael, What a joy it must be to have almost all that you need. But firewire cables and DVD burners are pretty significant things to be missing. From the things we have discussed, I would say to put your order in now for what you need next year! Those firewire cables are about 30 bucks apiece. Aren't they?
Donita was telling me her problems with storage filling up. She warned me that I should get the external hard drives for backup of student work from the start when I become the Digital Design Instructor at one of our New Tech High Schools, this summer. It seems to be a great program, with a proven track record and I bet you will love it, with all you already do. For me, it is really exciting to be able to continue to grow, by using what we have learned in this program, every day. I guess you already do that, teaching AV, but in PreK-8th grade Art, even with SmartBoards, Digital and Document Cameras, there is still so much basic skill instruction necessary at the elementary level, that CS4 has been out of the question, for now. My school tried to get it with our EETT grant. Although the grant was approved, the tech coordinator wouldn't let our school have CS4, saying it was "not geared to this level." At the High School level they expect me to use it exclusively.
Thursday, June 3, 2010 - 05:28 PM
As a media technology teacher (CTE), I almost have all I need; DV Cameras, computers, projectors and audio equipment. We order new computers and the district forgot to have firewire cards and DVD burners installed, I had to order the firewire cards, but I have to wait until next school year to order DVD burners. I’m also planning to order external hard drives for my class, which will make it easier for my students to save their work and raw footage. However, we are looking to join the New Tech High School network. There will be a 1:1 student computer ratio. This provides every student the opportunity to use technology as a tool for research, collaboration and creativity.
Week-1-2 Tech In The Work Place
Monday, May 31, 2010
Add a Comment
1 Comment Manage Comments for this Entry
Lynne Koles
Michael, What a joy it must be to have almost all that you need. But firewire cables and DVD burners are pretty significant things to be missing. From the things we have discussed, I would say to put your order in now for what you need next year! Those firewire cables are about 30 bucks apiece. Aren't they?
Donita was telling me her problems with storage filling up. She warned me that I should get the external hard drives for backup of student work from the start when I become the Digital Design Instructor at one of our New Tech High Schools, this summer. It seems to be a great program, with a proven track record and I bet you will love it, with all you already do. For me, it is really exciting to be able to continue to grow, by using what we have learned in this program, every day. I guess you already do that, teaching AV, but in PreK-8th grade Art, even with SmartBoards, Digital and Document Cameras, there is still so much basic skill instruction necessary at the elementary level, that CS4 has been out of the question, for now. My school tried to get it with our EETT grant. Although the grant was approved, the tech coordinator wouldn't let our school have CS4, saying it was "not geared to this level." At the High School level they expect me to use it exclusively.
Thursday, June 3, 2010 - 05:28 PM
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
MAC Week 1 Reading: Delightful Revolution
“The only grace you can have is the grace you can imagine. An A radiates possibility through a family, a workplace, and a community, gaining strength, bringing joy and expression and a flowering of talent and productivity. Who knows how far it will travel” (Zander & Zander, 2000)? What a delightful way to view life and to live.
I have always been an optimist, but this is revolutionary to me. I delight in giving gifts and feel this is the best gift I can give my students, as artists, to set them free. What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail? I have asked this question often, in many situations, trying to get more thought, more productivity, or more innovation from an artist and from myself. But give an A to the drivers on the road, the members of my family, and my colleagues? Yes, it is a delightfully revolutionary concept I am eager to try.
As a New Tech High School Digital Design Instructor, I will soon find out if I can use this philosophy when I team teach in project-based learning. It is exciting to imagine what students would attempt with this philosophy firmly entrenched in a new school model for the 21st century. Grading has always been my nemesis, and this might be a real solution to the problem of how to change the culture to the "I can do it" philosophy I have been striving for.
Zander, B. & Zander, R. (2000). The Art of Possibility. Boston, MA.: Harvard Business School Press.
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