About Me
- Sue Parler
- New Jersey, United States
- I'm currently in my 32nd year teaching at DePaul Catholic HS in Wayne, NJ. I teach Game Design, Cryptology, and Spanish -- yes, it's an odd mix -- even I admit it. I am the IT Coordinator at DePaul Catholic as well, which means I manage the network, the student information system, the website, and the 900+ computers in the building. Yep, keeps me busy.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
MAC Week 2: Response to Classmates' Blogs
Bruce Neubauer: Week 2--Blog Number 1: The Art of Possibility by Rosamund Zander, Chapter 1-4
“A cynic is a passionate person who does not want to be disappointed again.”
That quote was worth the entire price of admission. For this is what The Art of Possibility is all about: Protecting my heart from becoming such a stone-cold realist that I possibly miss being something better, or making others better.
At first glance The Art of Possibility reads like quasi-secularized-Buddhist theory. Unfortunately, the universe does not operate on subjective feelings or perceptions. Newtonian or Einsteinian, both still describe a physical universe that operates with mathematical precision. Which leads me to believe Zander is either a confused cosmic humanist, or an apostate secularist. Evolution (which is referenced a couple of times) is all about measurement. That’s how less vigorous organisms (or less desirable traits) get marginalized in biology’s great game (to use Zander’s analogy) of elimination
Which is why I disagreed with the perception that school grades are gamed to compare one student with another. The students at USC were not graded against their actual accomplishment, but with a random, arbitrary system. Math is not arbitrary. Grammar is not arbitrary. So I’m not sure about the accuracy of connecting these particular dots. Real skill is…real skill. Would Zander allow The Art of Possibility’s final draft to be overseen by a person with second rate editorial or proofreading skills? He wouldn’t. No matter how many conservatory musicians are encouraged to feel good about their A, no orchestra is going to keep them on the payroll if they can’t play the notes. Feeling special is not the same thing as being excellent.
I liked the metaphor of chipping away at a child’s exterior to help them achieve their natural bent. Absolutely correct. I also liked the future tense A grade. It places the student in the position to step up and take the responsibility for their success and growth. And the monk’s story touched me. I need to shift some ideas in my head about people in general. The monks were looking for the Messiah in one another. Not everyone is a Messiah, but everyone is worthy of such honorable respect.
Zander's ideas spoke to me. He is proposing a friendlier, more organic approach with ourselves and with others.
***My Response***
That quote struck a chord in me as well. As did the anecdote about the passionate musician who appeared disinterested because she so disagreed with the bowlines. I would tend to agree that sometimes that passion is stepped on, trampled, or blatantly disregarded. And that is what I took away as a change that I could make in terms of how I manage my perceptions.
I understand the dichotomy of the grades argument. I’m on both sides – I’m a Gemini, so this is completely acceptable ;-) On one hand we measure the level of mastery of material with a grade – we do not measure the level of deficit (which is exactly why I NEVER put a negative score on my student’s papers. I always measure how much they know.) When we present them with tangible evidence as to their level of mastery, we also challenge them to do better. Yes, I understand, that sometimes backfires. I also wish I could conduct a class where grades were not in the picture at all – learn for learning’s sake. I think Zander’s impetus in “Giving an “A”” was a good one – don’t let the fear of not achieving stand on the way of self-actualizing. I can’t imagine doing that with my kids – again, I understand the theory – I simply question the reality.
I, too, enjoyed the Monks’ story. We have a tendency to play it more like the game “The Mole” – where we have a natural distrust for each other, rather than a natural reverence. Having read the first four chapters about two weeks ago, I remember going into school and attempting to treat each person mindful of his/her divine dignity. It didn’t last long, sadly. But I went in the next day trying again. It didn’t last long that day either. It’s a journey. A very long journey.
Suzy O'Day: Week2 Reading - Art of Possibility - Ch. 1-4
When I first skimmed through the book when I downloaded it at the beginning of the month, I couldn't help but think that it was very similar to those self-help books you would find in the wellness section of Borders. When I sat down to actually read the chapters so much of what was said made sense. The author may have used his experience as a musician to set the backdrop for many of his concepts, but those concepts can be applied to the classroom very easily.
It makes sense that what we only perceive what our minds have been programmed to. I would think that this pre-programming would make affecting change very difficult. How do you think outside the box when your mind has been programmed not to? This is probably why change in society takes so long to come into effect. Every person has their own "programming" and getting all of those programs to work together as a cohesive unit seems like an insurmountable task. Encouraging students to "color outside the lines" may open their minds up to even more possibilities in their education. Then maybe in the future these students could affect change more quickly.
I agree with the author when he stated that our views of the world are limited by outside factors that limit our world of possibility. Every teacher has had to cut a lesson plan short or cut out a cool project because of a lack of time and resources. This leads directly to the author's belief that our view of the world is limited by competition and the struggle to survive. Rather than focusing of the needs of the individual child, we assign grades and force students to compete for their successes in our classrooms. I think that it is important for our students to be successful, but sometimes the best lessons come from failure. How does a teacher strike a balance between students' successes and failures in the classroom? The fear of failure can either make a student work harder or make them shut down. My goal as a teacher is to make my students want to work as hard as possible. I'm constantly telling my students to do the best that they can and I'll be proud. I can tell them this to try to make them relax and enjoy the work in my class, but that is only in my classroom. I cannot change what they hear at home.
I agree with the author when he stated that our views of the world are limited by outside factors that limit our world of possibility. Every teacher has had to cut a lesson plan short or cut out a cool project because of a lack of time and resources. This leads directly to the author's belief that our view of the world is limited by competition and the struggle to survive. Rather than focusing of the needs of the individual child, we assign grades and force students to compete for their successes in our classrooms. I think that it is important for our students to be successful, but sometimes the best lessons come from failure. How does a teacher strike a balance between students' successes and failures in the classroom? The fear of failure can either make a student work harder or make them shut down. My goal as a teacher is to make my students want to work as hard as possible. I'm constantly telling my students to do the best that they can and I'll be proud. I can tell them this to try to make them relax and enjoy the work in my class, but that is only in my classroom. I cannot change what they hear at home.
I think that a teacher sets the tone for their classroom with every assignment that they give. In order to do this effectively, the teacher needs to understand at what level and how the students learn. This also means that grading will have to be skewed to accommodate the differences among all of the students in the classroom. Despite all of this, I still think that there needs to be some sort of benchmarks for the students to meet. If there is not at least some form of standards then public education would be impossible because there would be no effective system for making sure the students and teachers are doing their job. I also think that participation or contribution needs to be an important component of a student's final grade. Hard work needs to be rewarded even if it is not always successful.
***My Response***
And… how do we prepare our educators for the artistic scribblers? I have suggested in the past to several close colleagues that I would prefer to teach without grades to encourage learning for learning’s sake. I won’t even repeat some of what they retort but “Rose-colored Glasses” and “Pollyanna” are among the kindest phrases uttered. They ask questions like how would colleges know whom to accept. Clearly there are ripple effects – actually it’s more of tidal wave proportion.
I wholeheartedly agree that the teacher sets the tone. However I’m not 100% sold on your concluding line about having participation and contribution rewarded – certainly if the assessment opportunity calls for collaboration as a part of the rubric, then yes. But it reminds me of a question posed in one of our previous classes – should the grade be based on effort or productivity. I have a tendency to lean towards the tangible product. If one student can do in ten minutes, what it takes another student an hour to do half as well, are they to be rewarded equally? If he’s building my car – I’ll take the perfect product every time.
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