Zoe:
It is so refreshing to read books that demonstrate personal accounts of higher order thinking skills from educators. I also found the content quite interesting and was enthralled myself. It seems as though the interdisciplinary nature of ‘the arts’ allows for such creative approaches to education, while other subjects tend to follow a more guided structure as mentioned in the reading. I think being a musician and teaching music helped to draw a connection for me in this case. As I was reading, I found myself attempting to think of an avant garde technique for my students. Perhaps the concept of giving all students an “A” initially is the technique we should use as a model for allowing us to be more innovative and creative in our teaching methods.
I tried an unusual and spontaneous method with one of my students and I was completely surprised by the result. I noticed he was totally fascinated when he saw me working in Photoshop CS5, so I let him borrow one of my laptops to experiment with. My instructions for him were quite simple because I really wanted to see what extent he would take it. He returned two days later and voluntarily gave me a full 30-minute presentation on everything he had discovered and created. He actually taught me a few new features within Photoshop CS5. What was so interesting about the experience was that presentation skills were a huge part of our music education lesson plans this past semester. Throughout the school semester, the faculty put all of the focus on students presenting musical content and they became so concerned if the students had the information correct that they completely ignored the purpose of the activity – PRESENTATION! I felt so bad as I watched the students struggle to remember the material while their presentation techniques suffered. It just goes to show that if presentation skills are what the students need to improve, it does not have to necessarily be musical content even if it is music education. If Photoshop can improve a students presentation skills, then Photoshop it is!
Original Blog Post from Zoe:
Ben and Roz Zander’s book “The Art of Possibility” is one of the best books of its kind I have ever read. It is a complete ‘page turner’ for me anyway. I absolutely love it and could not close my e-book reader until nearly 2:00 a.m. I should mention here that I am not a very engaged, excited or avid reader of non-fiction, textbook-types of reading materials, with one exception of course, I do love Adobe Creative Suite instructional books. This ‘textbook’ is so different. I really did not feel like I was reading a textbook or a ‘how-to’ book for our course. Roz and Ben’s stories are all true, from their own life experiences, so I feel very ‘connected’ to them right away. While each chapter is a sort of ‘technique’ description, such as “Giving an A” and “Be a Contribution,” they are also a testament as to why these individuals are so successful in their lives. I can’t personally see how anyone reading this book could not improve something about their own life, no matter how small.
Zander’s concept of giving an A is really interesting to me. Because he is a teacher of a group of musical students, who play orchestral instruments, it seemed to me that they would be a really receptive ‘audience’ for that type of grading. I can also see it working in other artistic courses such as drawing, painting, graphic design, etc. However, I think it would be difficult to teach say a high school English course and start the semester giving all the students an A to begin with, and somehow expect them to ‘earn’ that A as the time goes on. I suppose every case of this is different, and I really did like the idea, it sounded like his class really took it to heart from some of the wonderful letters the students wrote to him which he published in the book. I really enjoyed the heartfelt letters very much.
On being a ‘contribution’ in your life to others around you, that makes perfect sense. No matter how busy I am, I try to be there for people who need me or need something. I am up to my ears in my AR project as well as these courses at the moment, plus I have other obligations to take care of. However, I am making time this week to help a long time friend of mine who is out of work. I have offered to create a new resume for him and to shoot some photos of him ready for his job search efforts. He is not as computer savvy as I am, and he needs the help. I am glad to do this because he is going to make the effort to look for work in an economically crippled town in this poor economic time our country is going through. I think it’s the least I can do to contribute to someone else’s luck.
I love the book, I think everyone should read it regardless of what their profession or schooling is.
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