Wk 4 Reading Response

Response 2

Inquiries by Ishia

FRIDAY, JUNE 24, 2011

Week 4 Reading Post: Chapters 9-12

The Zanders have a very common sense approach to life that obviously isn’t common among us. The anecdotes and connections to music are particularly insightful as I embark on new and uncharted choices in my life and career. As I have mentioned in previous posts, the practices discussed in the The Art of Possibility are biblical and it makes sense, as the author’s father was a student of the Bible and history.

The idea of enrolling others in our dreams is eye opening. Often when we make requests, we operate on the presumption of being turned down. I have heard myself say on many occasions, “The worst he/she can say is no.” I did this to make myself feel better, but did I really? Of course not.

In “being the board” I saw similarities between this new idea of responsibility and blame and being in God’s Will. Like being the board, being in God’s Will makes it possible to accept the circumstances of life knowing that those circumstances will yield positive results in the end. “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28.

What I enjoyed about the frameworks chapter was the whole idea of creating a vision and not division. In all honesty, mission statements do create a competitive spirit and while they may be designed to inspire, it typically is ignored. Now a vision is something that can be seen even if it does not exist at the present. To me, the vision resembles a five-letter word: F-A-I-T-H.

The Zander's story of their father's passionate recount of the Arab and Jewish peoples’ history and arrival in Palestine was interesting. Even more moving was the student’s response, “What a wonderful opportunity! What a privilege for both those peoples to share that land and that history!” What is that saying? Out of the mouth of babes come words of wisdom? Well, that young person definitely has it [wisdom]. What is ironic about division is that the multiple parties are often so similar. The “We” story recognizes the sameness that so often divides.

Wk 4 Reading Response

Response 1

The Sharon Clay Chronicles

Thursday, June 23, 2011

MAC Week 4: "The Art of Possibility"

Lighting a Spark: Since my universe of possibility includes reaching the lives of others by igniting a spark I must remember to enroll myself as much as possible into the lives of those seeking passion and engagement. Sometimes I find myself unwilling to participate because of past fears or my inability to see pass personal limitations. My most valuable contribution can be to relinquish my judgments and accept those who may be reaching out to light a spark inside of me.

Being the Board: Living my life as the board puts me in control of all of the things, which come into my playing field.  I decide what happens when things get moved around. My response determines what possibilities are available to me.

Creating Frameworks for Possibility: Climbing out of the downward spiral is the key to taking full advantage of the possibilities available to me. Recognizing that division feeds the spiral will help me change how people respond to me.  I want to that teacher who makes the abnormal the status quo.  Like the second grade teacher who shaved her head I want to take a flash of insight and change it into a possibility.

Chapter 12. I would like to think that I have been able to tap into my inner power and use it to make a substantial difference in someone’s life. I just do know for sure if that is the case.  I have played many roles including mentor, teacher, mother, and friend.  I would like to believe that I have had a role in helping some of the people I have known realize their dreams.

MAC Wk 4 Reading

The thing that caught my attention was the explanation of enrollment. According to the text, enrollment is the art and practice of generating a spark of possibility for others tho share. This could mean that in order to get someone to participate in something they would have to want to participate in it. In order to accomplish this I would have to get more creative every time I asked someone if they wanted to participate in something. A way that I could make this easier is by taking advantage of a passion that the person has.

MAC Week 4 Publishing/Leadership Project

The two conferences that I am considering are the E-LEARN 2010-World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government Healthcare and Higher Education and the Georgia Educational Technology Conference. The world conference is in in the middle of October. The most important reason why I am considering this conference is because it is a world conference. This means that my information has a better chance of reaching the farthest places on the planet.

World Conference in Hawaii

The second choice is being held in Atlanta in the beginning of November. The thing that attracted me to this conference is the Bring Your Own Technology session. In this session, attendees bring their own technology and visit with others to discover new ideas.

Georgia Educational Technology Conference

Think Out Loud Blog Post 1

Think Out Loud Blog Post 2

Publishing/Leadership Project Presentation

MAC Wk4 Publishing/Leadership Project part 2 of 2: The Pick-Up Note

MAC Week 3 Publishing/ Leadership Project part 1 of 2: The Pick-Up Note

MAC Week 3 Peer Response

Response 2

bravo bucket

Lauren Schneck's MAC Blog

Monday, June 13, 2011

Reflection on the reading wk3: chapters 5-8

I must say the notion that "the eyes never lie" really is true. There is a lot I can learn from my co-workers, my bosses, and the teachers I am helping, by really looking at their eyes when I speak to them. Looking in their eyes can tell me wether or not they are really into what I am saying and wether or not I am connecting with them. I can remember being half way through a seminar on technology and making eye contact with some teachers and instantly realizing I never had their attention. I need to remember that concept as I go on with my work.

Rule number 6 is something I feel I am grasping. I really don't take myself too seriously, and I don't think I am in danger of doing so any time soon. I do know though that people in my department do take themselves way too seriously, and I can see that it hinders a lot of things in their work life and becomes a stumbling block to success. I know that personally I have a hard time respecting leaders that are unnecessarily serious about themselves. I know it's not right to disrespect leaders and I would never do anything outright against them, but internally I loose a little bit of admiration when I see a leader being very serious about themselves all the time.

The concept of leading from your chair so to speak is something that I don't give enough credit. I know that there is truth to the concept that if you do the best with the position and resources you are given you will be successful. Sometimes it is hard to believe that when you don't feel that things could possibly get better. I know that I have to remind myself of that concept often even though I feel that what I have right now doesn't add up to very much.

2 comments:

Ali Weinreb said...

Your thoughts are so true with looking at people. I myself am very aware of this and can tell just by looking at people if they are really listening and getting what I am saying. Just because someone might be looking at you when you speak doesn’t mean they are really hearing what you are saying.

June 14, 2011 6:14 PM

Tremeris Sanders said...

Making eye contact with someone you are conversing with is vital in letting them know that you are fully engaged in the conversation. While in undergrad I liked to sit in the middle of the classroom. Not because I didn't want to be easily noticed but because I noticed that most of my teachers tended to focus on this section of the class while lecturing. I felt that if I sat there while they swept the room with their eyes they would notice the eye contact from me an feel reassured that somebody was paying attention.

June 14, 2011 7:54 PM

MAC Week 3 Peer Response

Response 1
 Allison Weinreb wrote:

Week 3 - Art of Possibility Chapters 5 - 8

I love Rule number 6! I try to add humor to my everyday life because sometimes life does get too serious and routine. People do have to lighten up sometimes so if I can crack a joke or a “one liner” at work with co-workers or outside of work with friends, I do. I think it’s important to break the tension or stress of everyday life.

I think educators should do this as often as possible as well. It will keep students engaged and motivated while in their classroom. It will make the teacher stand out to other teachers who are boring or just lecture etc. If you can make a class laugh or relate to you, the odds of them listening to you and keeping their attention become greater.

Accepting things for what they are is a huge thing to do in one’s life. I say this all the time accept it and move on. People waste so much time and energy thinking about what they can’t control or “what ifs.” If people spent all that energy on accepting it and moving on I think people would be a happier.

I believe without passion you have nothing. I love how the author defines the two steps of giving way to passion.

1. The first step is to notice where you are holding back, and let go. Release those barriers of self that keep you separate and in control, and let the vital energy of passion surge through you, connecting you to all beyond.

I can’t agree more. I think fear is the number one factor that holds people back from really being their true self. Once that fear is gone you can focus on what makes you happy the passion everyone seeks.

2. The second step is to participate wholly. Allow yourself to be a channel to shape the stream of passion into a new expression for the world.

Once you let everything go and do what it is you love the world will benefit from it no matter what is it might be.

1 comments:

Tremeris Sanders said...

Humor is very important to living a healthy life, I believe. I try to make it my business to laugh at least once an hour. Whether I'm laughing at something a student did, laughing with a colleague, or sitting around thinking of fun times that made me laugh. Laughing and humor is what keeps us sane when things are going crazy.

June 14, 2011 7:12 PM

MAC Week 3 Reading Chapters 5-8

The conductor that was discussed in the reading experienced a transformation that I feel is necessary to become a world-renowned maestro. Instead of focusing on bettering himself, he focused on ways to make the orchestra better. By teaching them to play different musical phrases as best as they could, he focused on the ENTIRE picture. Although the conductor is leading the orchestra the audience, the critics, etc. are only listening to what comes from the musicians instruments. In relation to the business aspect, a leader instills in his/her workers his/her way of thinking and encourages them to replicate that to their best ability. This is a system that works quite well because like the orchestra, the finished product isn't displayed by the conductor or the leader of the workforce, it is displayed by the workers and the members of the orchestra playing the instruments.

MAC Week 2 Free Choice Blog

Abstract

After watching the abstract video for the millionth time that Joe put up I believe that I finally have the concept of the abstract down. I do however, believe that it will be extremely hard to put it in 120 words or less though. But I will keep it short and straight to the point and hopefully it comes out well.

MAC Week 2 Peer Response

Response 2

MAC Week 2 Blog Post - Discussion Board Responses / Replies

(photo from personal collection: parent granted permission to use)

Topic #1: Music in your personal life

Personally, I am not a person that likes silence. No matter what I am doing, whether it is driving, homework, or walking, I need to listen to music. Most of the time I download music from the iTunes or I borrow CD’s from my friends’ collections. Having worked at Best Buy, I fortunately have a lot of friends with great music collections! Recently, I became a huge fan of listening to Pandora radio on my phone. It is a great feature that has saved me from many silent walks around the school track when I have forgotten my iPod. I am currently deciding on whether to start a subscription or not to Pandora to have access to the full account features.

Topic #2: Pick one topic to respond to:

a. Do you remember the first song/artist that touched you on an emotional level, not just a catchy tune, but something that sank in under the skin?

A. While I was growing up, I would always love to listen to the Moody Blues. At 27 years old, I can probably sing every one of their songs word for word. The reason why I loved the Moody Blues is because it was the band my father loved. Whenever we would go in the car, it would either be a Moody Blues tape or Sports Radio on in the car. It was always comforting to hear them and it still brings back such happy memories of when I was younger. To this day, if the weather is hot and my dad has his car windows open, we will hear the Moody Blues blasting in his car as he pulls up the driveway. To me, that was my first experience with music on an emotional level.

If I had to pick a band or artist from my ‘generation’, it would be 3 Doors Down. The lyrics to their songs definitely hit home with me and I have been following them since I heard their first single ‘Kryptonite’ on the radio many years ago. As a faithful follower, I have seen them about 6 times in concert, most recently last month.

Both bands definitely connect with me on an emotional level. Not just the happy emotions either. I can relate their songs to just about every mood or feeling on any particular day.

Posted by elizabeth ashley at 5:37 PM 0 comments

Reactions:

1 comments: Tremeris Sanders said... Oh wow. I would love to get to know a couple of your friends that work at Best Buy LOL. Maybe we could share some of the songs that we have so that I could become a little more eclectic. Someone said that great minds think alike and Pandora is almost the next best thing next to sliced bread!! June 8, 2011 3:49 PM

MAC Week 2 Peer Response

Response 1

Monday, June 6, 2011

Monday, June 6, 2011

Posted by Megan Sample

I really enjoyed the chapter titled It’s All Invented. Really it is all invented and I have been trying to explain this to others for years, but it is a difficult thing to get people to understand and accept because we have always played by the rules. Thinking outside of the box we live in can be done daily. We must constantly ask ourselves what assumptions we are making. This will help us see that we are creating rules to think and live within even if we do not realize it. We make assumptions all the time. Here I will give you an example. I have a friend who does not have a car and lives next door to me. She often asks me for a ride. I usually assume that if I say no, then I must give a reason. If I have no reason she might no longer consider me a friend. I then make my decision on whether to give her a ride on these assumptions. Just the other day I decided to look at the situation without those assumptions and I just told her no I would not give her a ride and offered no explanation. She said ok and got off the phone to find another ride. She did not ask for a reason and she certainly did not stop being my friend. I was playing by the rules I had invented. What I had invented to change the situation was the rules that maybe she just needed a ride and that I was just another person with a choice in the matter and that the choice was not going to be the end-all of our friendship. Now putting this into writing I feel really silly by living under such assumptions.

We definitely live in a world full of measurements. I could easily relate to this chapter. I had a professor in college who told us “It isn’t about the grade. It is about what you learn and how you apply yourself. So these two things and you will have an A.” All semester I wanted to know my grade and he just kept reminding me that it was more about the learning experience. In the end I learned a lot and I got an A in the class, but because I am so used to living in such a measureable society it was a really painful semester because I didn’t know how I was measuring up as we went along.

Giving yourself an A. Well to be honest I have done that all my life and it is a great way to live. I love it. Yet I had not thought about giving others an A as well. I really liked what the author had to say here. I think that by giving others an A my relationships will have a positive growth and light on them.

Comment to post by Tina DeLuca

I can understand where you are coming from. Once I started FSO and the teachers gave us the freedom to do what we wanted. I was forever checking my grades. However, I think the freedom of everyone will get an A (pass/fail) let me reveal my creative side more then if I was on a strict rubric. I can remember one professor saying if you are in a Master’s program and you are getting anything except A’s or B’s then something is wrong. We all love what we are doing and I think it makes the process easier to deal with.

1 Comment

Tremeris Sanders

You are absolutely correct! We must think outside the box everyday. But sometimes thinking oustide the box is a little too much to handle. I felt this way when I first enrolled at Full Sail. But I quickly learned that if I just go ahead and do what I have to do, it becomes easier.

Wednesday, June 8, 2011 - 06:15 PM

MAC Week 2 Reading

Chapter one focused on the different perspectives that two separate minds can perceive from any situation. In relation to the reading, one mind can take risks and go ahead open the shoe business while the other mind plays it safe and says it's not worth the risk because the natives don't wear shoes anyway. But my mind would tell me to ask the natives why they don't wear shoes. Like the reading said, the mind is selective when it comes to perception. It only shows us what we think will benefit us or is easiest. Later in the reading, the author cleverly related our thinking process to the catchphrase, it's all invented. He gave us the infamous 'connect the dots' test which can't be solved unless you think outside the box, which is, ironically, what the mind perceives it to be. Maybe that's where the saying comes from?

MAC Week 1 Free Choice Blog

http://www.musictechteacher.com/musicquizzes.htm

The link that I have provided is for music teachers. This site has soooo many games and quizzes that was created by a teacher that you can use in class. It ranges from quizzes on famous composers, to lecture notes on instruments, to games in music theory. So if your music education is your thing I invite you to check out this website.

MAC Week 1 Peer Response

Response 2

WWW.CLASSTOOLS.NET

Why spend hours online searching subject related, interactive games to use in your classroom when you can create them using Classtools.net? This Web2.0 tool allows teachers to develop their own games using pre-designed templates. The basic program is free and has many features. A subscriber can create fun and interactive games students will enjoy playing. 

Once you have registered for an account select the type of game you wish to create, enter the questions and the answers into the required fields and you are done. The program will create the game and the rules for playing automatically.  I think this is a great way to differentiate instruction in your classroom because you write the types of questions you want your students to answer.

I think this will be a great tool to use for my ARP because I can create a post-reading discussion question WORDSHOOT game or vocabulary preview MATCHING game.  Classtools.net also lets you use the same questions to create different types of of games. This is a great timesaving feature.

There are advanced features available for an upgrade fee, but I think with so many free options to explore the basic package may provide more than enough resources for the novice user.

 

CHOOSE A GAME TEMPLATE

CREATE THE QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

CLASSTOOLS CREATES THE RULES

WORDSHOOT

MATCHING