MAC Week 4: Comment for Karen

Karen,

Partnership for 21st Century is the site I based most of my action research on. I love this organization, they keeps things simple and applicable to the classroom. It is amazing that it has take this long for such practical skills to be promoted by an organization.

A lot of teachers apply practices that promote these skills in their classroom without even realizing. Standardized testing is such a dominating factor, the skills that allow our students to be successful in the 21st century workforce are at times pushed aside. It is so sad that these priorities are so mixed up.

MAC Week 4: Art of Possibility

"I am the framework for everything that happens in my life". What a powerful message Zander sends with his tenth practice of possibility. It seems so easy to sit back and place blame on others to make ourselves feel less guilty. The true test is our ability to see how challenges and situations fit into our game of life. What have we done to bring different situations into our own lives? If we actually spend some time looking into the situation it is humbling to think about all of the different ways in which we welcome things into our lives without even realizing.

Owning up to everything that happens to us and choosing the being on board approach opens one to the possibility of a much more graceful journey. Taking responsibility for everything in our lives allows us to quickly get back on the track we were on before a challenging situation or event that may have occurred in our lives. When you grace yourself in this manner it leaves you free to choose again and move on.

Of all messages I have read from Zander I feel this is by far the most meaningful message! This is a great strategy to teach our young students. So many times students have an excuse for why their work doesn't get done and never does it include any choices of their own. They do not seem to see how they have brought certain situations upon themselves. What a powerful lesson to teach, being the board.

MAC Week 4: Comment for Scott

Scott,

I am a country girl through and through, the thought of public transportation gives me a panic attack. I think it is amazing that you have taken your journey each morning and turned it into a positive and even reflective time for yourself.

I agree that the reactionary powers we have adapted contribute to how we react to situations and events in our lives. This book has been a powerful teaching tool and I agree it's lessons would greatly benefit our students outlook on the complicated world that surrounds them. They have so much more to experience and to offer them the ability to come upon it with an open mind and positive attitude is one of the greatest gifts we could offer.

MAC Week 3: Optional Post

Check it Out!

I discovered a few new applications for my classroom this week that I had not heard about until this week. So I thought I would share some of them with you incase you haven’t had the chance to use them yet.

This application is similar to Wordle and allows you to make tag clouds. The cool thing about this program is that you can create interactive words as well as host your Tagul to a URL link.

Prezi is an application that allows you to create interactive eye popping presentations live and on the web. I have not had a chance to create one yet, but I have heard good things about it.

Animoto allows you to take photos and create unique videos from them. It is similar to Photo Story and is free for videos up to 30-second. This would be a fun and easy assignment for student to create a short video about what they have learned in class or to cover certain concepts without having to learn all about video editing.

MAC Week 3: Art of Poosibility

I found myself yet again analyzing my own thoughts and abilities surrounding this weeks reading. It really is difficult to set aside assumptions and feelings to sort through the facts of a situation. Most times when we are faced with struggles in life, feelings are what drive our reactions. It has always amazed me how some people have such great coping skills and tend to be able to sort through the facts, seemingly unfazed and move down a new pathway, while others wallow in negativity and lose their ability to function.

Two years ago my husband and I were faced with some serious "rain" when he resigned from his teaching job after 10 years due to false accusations from a student. When faced with this I choose to leave the struggle behind and move forward because it was out of my control and I knew that. I came to terms with what was in front of us and chose to move on and accept it for what it was, a bump in the road. But for him he couldn't let go of the struggle and fought it for well over a year even after choosing to resign. He had lost so much he couldn't see past the negative of the situation. Like is says in the reading "when we dislike a situation, we tend to put all of our attention on how things should be rather than how they are" and when this happens we lose our power to act effectively. He lost his power to act effectively and it took a long time for him to discover that when one door closes another opens, but sometime we focus so hard on that closed door we fail to see the other that has opened for us.

For me the reading this week reinforces the importance of accepting things the way they are!

MAC Week 4 Publishing/Leadership Project

For the pushing project I have submitted my action research article to Tech Directions magazine. Tech Directions is a magazine that links education to careers. Since the focus of my action research was to create a project that helped students to practice skills needed in the 21st century workforce this magazine seemed like the perfect fit. I teach health education but this project was a cross curricular project with a technology class and the technological applications used in this project are a perfect fit for this magazine. The article has already been submitted and approved for publishing in the magazine. This is not a research journal but a magazine for educators looking for new ideas and technology activities they can use in their own classrooms which I feel is best suited for our project.

MAC Week 3 Comments for Sharon

Sharon,

I completely agree with you. Going into this program it never occurred to me that we would be getting into our major courses and really needing to use our students not only for our Action Research but for assignments/activities as well. It definitely has been a struggle to keep on track with no students all summer, but I feel for you and the situation with your school. That is too bad that everything is getting changed up on you at such a critical time in our program. I wish you the best in completing your Action Research!

MAC Week 3 Comment for John

John,

People to People is an amazing program. I have been a leader with People to People Student Ambassador Programs for the past 5 years. I have traveled around the world with them and am on my way to Australia this coming summer. It has been one of the most amazing programs and opportunities I have ever been involved with! I also signed my classroom up for People to People International this school year and am excited to find ways to incorporate it into my curriculum!

MAC Week 2 Wimba Notes

I have to admit the more I sit and listen to the requirements for our Action Research Project the more nervous I get about not being able to graduate in October. I just pray what I have done is enough to get me through this program with a passing grade! You said that Full Sail wants the project to be of a high quality but my biggest question is, what if we meet the requirements but do so at a lower quality of work, can we still just accept a low grade and leave it at that. I have maintained almost all A's straight through this program so can I accept a D or C on my action research and leave it at that to graduate?

I only ask this because I am in the middle of my first pregnancy, working 2 jobs, trying to finish this program as well as get everything in my own classroom set up for my maternity leave. When it comes down to the wire I am scared that by turning in lower quality work due to the lack of time I have to work on it, it may come back to haunt me.

MAC Week 2 Optional: No Arms No Legs No Worries

My brother-in-law showed me the video of Nick Vujicic's life the other day and it really made me put things into perspective. This video reminded me a little about the reading for this week. We tend to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of life that we don't slow down and make contributions to life. We don't slow down and take ourselves less seriously. We don't appreciate the things we have until they are gone. I wanted to share this video with everyone, because I feel it is so powerful and sends such a strong message about accepting who we are for what we are and trying to give what we do have to others.

MAC Week 2 The Art of Possibility

Wow this weeks reading has made me put on the brakes and take a good look at myself and my contributions in life. I have grown up a very competitive person and even now find myself terrified of failure due to an overwhelming drive to be successful. Zander explains that unlike success and failure, contribution has no other side.

Zander has his students do an activity where they have to write down their contributions for the week. I sat here and tried to come up with a list of contributions I have made thus far this week and embarrassingly I could not come up with many. It seems right now in life I am so caught up in getting my own stuff done and surviving life, that I have not made much of a contribution to life at all. I am so focused on accomplishing that I have lost track of contributing.

After reading this chapter I really found myself in need of switching from survival mode to growth mode. My goal this week is to work towards making more contributions. I am also going to work on creating an activity for students to focus more on how to contribute to life and make the ripples necessary for positive change.

The Rule of 6 is also an area I need a ton of work in. I find that I can really get caught up in my calculating self and definitely need to work on lightening up. We make the day what it is and if we get caught up in the measurement world we can loose focus on what is really important in life. I would like to sit here and say all of the ways I can work on incorporating these concepts into my classroom, but the truth is I need a lot of work on myself before I feel I can truly teach there concepts to my students.

Lesson learned: humor and laughter are possibly the best ways we can get over ourself!

MAC Week 2 Comments for Scott

Scott,

Great post! It really is amazing how much a grade can limit a students ability to push themselves to think outside the box and to put their creative skills to work. Some student are so scared of not making the grade they limit themselves to only meeting the requirements instead of challenging themselves to create something out of the ordinary.

I have to admit I was the same way growing up and even think that way now from time to time. I have learned to simply meet the requirements so I get the A I want. I find that there are times I have received an A for an assignment because I just went down the list to make sure I followed the requirements, but really didn't spend the time to learn anything along the way.

The Art of Possibility has got me thinking a lot about the everyday challenges I deal with. I really have enjoyed this book and the insight it is bringing into my life.

MAC Week 2 Comment for Sharon

Sharon,

You nailed it! I agree that if we choose to be in a good mood we will be but if we wake up and choose the other side, it is amazing how bad we can make our own day. Being pregnant I have found that my moods seems to get the best of me at times. I walked into school the other day and like you said my students were just being horrible. But it wasn't anything out of the ordinary, it is just that my perception of their behavior was much more negative than when I am in a more laid back mood.

I love the idea of letting go of accomplishing and spending more time contributing to life!

MAC Week 1: Art Of Possibility

The Art of Possibility

The power of positive thinking is truly a powerful tool! Zander’s experience with music is a perfect way to set the “tone” for explaining his views on possibility. I agree that we all seem to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of everyday life. I find myself making judgments and assumptions on a daily basis that are limiting my view on the world and things that are indeed possible. What we can achieve is limitless, but our ability to create a mind set that is open and judgment free is incredibly difficult due to the underlying information we learn growing up in our society. I find it amazing how often I hear my students saying they can’t do something before they have even tried it. It seems people are so terrified of failing that they are scared to even attempt something they may be great at. Zander uses his musical teaching metaphors to explain this view of limitless possibility, as a teacher I feel it is critical for us to embrace this mindset and try to instill it in our students, so their future is full of possibility.

MAC Week 1: Comments for Chuck

I find it amazing how all of those concepts and memories we store away seem to always be underlying in our choices and beliefs. When learning about things and making personal judgements it seems that I always have a preconceived notion of how I feel about it when I may not "really" know what is underneath the picture. It is not an easy to let go of these notions we have learned our entire life and look at them with a set of fresh eyes.

MAC Week 1: Comments for Denise

Wow, what an amazing story. I enjoyed this reading but seem to be having a hard time really grasping the true meaning and applying it to my own life. Your story has put the pieces together for me that I wasn't quite grasping. Thank you for sharing this!