Link to this blog: http://slechttr.blogspot.com/
"What an amazing read! I want to share this book with the world! The following quote captured my attention, "that inside every block of stone of marble dwells a beautiful statue; one need only remove the excess material to reveal the work of art within." Up until this quote I was in the zombie zone where I was reading the words but they were just not making an impression, then I read this quote. I easily could see how this quote could apply to students. As educators we really do need to look at our students as individuals each one a beautiful statue. These words are beautiful and contain a wonderful sentiment but then you walk into the classroom and all those beautiful statues are covered in pigeon poo and you realize you are tired, burned out and there are to many demands made on you to chisel down to those beautiful statues. I brought this quote up to a room full of teachers and the comments I received were; give me one to one student ratio and I can definitely appreciate their inner beauty, Yeah right who has time to differentiate that much, If there were more hours in the day etc. you get the drift.
So next I brought up my other favorite quote of the reading, “The practice of giving the A allows the teacher to line up with her students in their efforts to produce the outcome, rather than lining up with the standards against these students.” The response I received from my teacher friends regarding this quote was, standards we have to meet standards! We can’t just give students an A! Therein lies the problem with this book and what it is saying. I am all about the Art of Possibility, I see myself as the person that would go to Africa and see all the barefoot citizens and think, wow what a great market (actually I would probably go back to the U.S. raise money and donate shoes) but I could see how it could be a great market. Unfortunately in our education system we have too many people who would say, forget it, they are not wearing shoes at all there is not a market here. That is why it would take a HUGE paradigm shift for teachers to give all students an A when they walk into the classroom. They can’t they have to line up with the standards against the students and the market is leaning more and more toward standards so how can there be an Art of Possibility?" by Tricia Slechta
MAC Week 2 Response 1
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| Produced with permission from : http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1385040 |
MAC wk 2 Response 1:
I enjoy that phenomenon, where you can be going along in life, and then something strikes you with meaning. I am observing, at least in my local schools where I thought nothing would ever change, that everything has its time. That the reality is, that it wasn't their moment. They were not ready for the idea to strike them. Sometimes people need to wade in to the idea, they can't just dive into a new reality. Sometimes people need to hear about the information several times before they take process the idea. I think the important thing is that the idea, the genius, struck you. What are you going to do about it?
"Chapter 1 It's all invented. Wow, this book is amazing! Chapter one was about how we invent things about situations in our lives that are automatically fulfilled because we believe them. However, if we change our view to a positive one, we begin to see the situation in a whole new perspective. This chapter really caused me to pause and think about the things that I may have invented about my situation at work and the students in my room. I found that I have been inventing things for the past two years that were not as bad as I made them out to be. Chapter 2 Stepping into a Universe of Possibility. This chapter is hard to sum up. It prepares you to step into the world of possibilities. We create measurements in our own world that we aren't even aware of. The chapter asked you to ask yourself, " how are my thoughts and actions...a reflection of the measurement world." When you can ask yourself this question honestly, you have stepped into the world of possibilities. Chapter 3 Giving an A. I absolutely love this chapter. So many students put soo much emphasis on their grade that they loose track of what is important. The authors seem to both be music instructors of some type, so it was a little difficult to relate their stories to something that would actually happen to me. I love the idea of giving the grade and then the student telling/ describing why they deserve that grade. This gives them ownership of their grade and it takes their mind off their grade so that real learning and creativity can happen. I have been searching my brain for a way to incorporate this into my fourth grade classroom. Maybe a project? Let me know if you think of something. However, what I did think of is how to give them an A in my head and what them live up to my expectations. Chapter 4 Being A Contribution. When you begin thinking that you are a contribution, you see the world in a whole new way. I realized that I was putting too much pressure on myself at work. Now that I have begun to see what I do as simply a contribution, I have been much more content with my situation. I also tried looking at each one of my students as a contribution and found that together we can do great things. When you begin to see yourself as a contribution, more than just your own life will be affected! I am really loving this book! I think that this book should be a requirement for all teachers to read. It has opened my eyes to the way that I sometimes view the world. I am beginning to see life as an endless sea of possibilities!!!" By Rosa Santana
MAC wk2 Response 2
We are all a bunch of valuable commodities waiting to be noticed, a bunch of genius ideas awaiting discovery. The whole process is simple but not easy. As far as grades are concerned, here is something I wrote about eleven months ago.
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| Used with permission from: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/875413 |
The challenge lies, I believe,
in the interpretation of the grade. I believe that you “earn” a grade and
then you “get” one from your teacher. How lovely it is when the two
match! When it does not match, and you understand why then you can grow
and move on. Yet, if you can’t understand why and the grade seems untrue,
then you should be able to converse and debate about that with the teacher who
provided that to you. Just like students, teachers can be mistaken.
The grading process is not truly about the number at all, but it is a
comparison study between student and teacher which challenges you into learning
competence. No one asks you about grades after graduation, yet I would
only benefit to work for each point.
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