Week 3-Comment to Julie Jerue

Hi Julie,

I understand how you feel. As a single mother of two young sons, working full time and juggling this degree is a challenge to say the least. It’s tough trying to stay “present”. I also struggle with very real feelings inadequacy as a parent trying to further my career. It’s hard not to feel bitter when you have to skip your child’s football games to catch up on graduate work. However, the end is in sight! It will all be distant memory soon enough. I guess we need to be present to our feeling of frustration, guilt and being completely overwhelmed for another month and week!

Week3-Comment to Elizabeth Klauer

Hi Elizabeth,

I agree with you completely. The Zanders’ insights are powerful ones. The Rabbi’s perspective is also great. If we clear our internal judge, we gain clarity that allows for gratitude and a deeper understanding of circumstance.

Week 3-Reading Response

Chapter 7, The Way Things Are

Letting the “storm sweep its course”, is a valuable lesson. I feel we have been so conditioned to believe life is always supposed to be pleasant and comfortable and resist the very valuable and real feelings of frustration, anger and sadness. To embrace and be present when things are bumpy and roll with them; that’s also part of the ride. I often see “storms” brewing in my six-year-old son. It begins with a tantrum or two, or a fight with his older brother and finally ends in a trip to his room for a time out. I have come to realize that time is valuable for him. The storm rages, for a few minutes while he usually explodes in tears, yet he emerges from it minutes later new and completely refreshed kid. Sometimes we all need a good cry or scream. It is release.

In chapter 7, Mr. Zander also discusses “exits” as a way people often time deal with very unpleasant feelings or circumstances. Turning our backs on things that make us very uncomfortable always seems to resurface in the long run. I had a friend whom lost his mother to cancer 10 years back. He still has yet to visit his mother’s grave since despite the fact that she is buried only minutes away from his home. He’s also developed in these years since her passing, a drinking habit that wasn’t there before her death. Being “present” to life’s realities, comes more naturally for some than for others. The teachings of Zen Buddhism, and yoga which incorporate those very beliefs of being “present” and “in the moment” into a spiritual practice, and

is a skill that some people acquire after years of practice and training.

Week 3-Four Links to Educational/Inspirational Videos

1.

http://www.mylearningtube.com/media/1167/In_The_Mix_What_Makes_a_School_Worth_Going_To_Excerpt/

A great story to reinforce the importance of arts education in schools. About a young man growing up in an impoverished New Mexico where dropout rates are some of the highest in the nation. He finds his passion and voice in arts and digital video and claims that is what keeps him in school. The above story was posted on my learning tube http://www.mylearningtube.com/ an amazing resource for educators.

2.

http://www.pbs.org/pov/differentcolorblue/differentcolorblue.php

Inspiring and true short story about an artist who is nearly blind, who continues to create his paintings despite the odds. Beautiful soundtrack and art created by a man who nearly lost all of his vision in a horrible accident. He sees that the accident allowed him to dig deeper into his art despite the odds. Found on http://www.pbs.org/pov/educators/ many amazing resources for educators including documentary, short stories and full-length feature films.

3.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1732754907698549493#

Dr. Martin Luther King, I Have a Dream speech. I never grow tired of this clip, and show it every year around his birthday. This is a great one too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkRdj9L3wyE&feature=player_embedded

4.

http://www.dove.us/#/features/videos/default.aspx[cp-documentid=7049579]

I’ve shown most of these films to my advisory girls. Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty has focused on the beauty industries distortion of beauty and how it affects young women and girls. Powerful short films to be viewed by all young women and parents of girls. Find it in the videos section of the website.

Week 3-Discussion Board Topic #2

I’ve recently introduced IMovie and Screenflow into my classes. I’ve set up a series of demonstrations on how the programs work, and have told the students to take notes during the demonstrations. The students seem to have a second nature in how these programs work, however, the problem lies in the availability of only one computer in the classroom. I received a grant for a 17-inch Mac pro, and am having students work in small groups of 4 to produce movie reviews, capturing scenes via screen flow, and creating narrative explanations of film elements. Because I am an art teacher, I’ve created this as sub lesson within a studio art lesson. Every week on Friday, one group of four works on the film review while the rest of the class works on a studio art lesson. It’s been a balancing act, but the only way to get students to explore the technology until I can get more computers in my classroom.

week 2-Podcast Suggestions

Robert Bergman a photographer, and Toni Morrison introduces his book of photographs, A Kind of Rapture. Two incredible artists, Toni Morrison (my favorite author) reads her introduction.

http://dl.luxmedia.com/nationalgallery/audio/121409bs02.mp3

Education Podcast Network, a library of podcasts made mainly by educators and students wnting to share their stories, experiences and knowledge.

http://epnweb.org/index.php?openpod=13#16

Art History podcasts. All of the hallmarks of western masterpieces http://www.learnoutloud.com/Catalog/Arts-and-Entertainment/Painting_-Architecture_-and-Sculpture/Art-History-Podcast/24148#plink

Incredible resource for educators, many different subjects and disciplines; history, kids, languages, self development, travel, ect.

http://www.learnoutloud.com/

Wimba Wk-2

Attended the Wimba 2 session and the session hashed out the expectations for month 11. I’m still honestly a bit lost about the publishing and leadership project. Hopefully I will also be able to attend one of the sessions in week four.

Week 2- Natalie Hill Blog Response

I should have been informed about this phrase when I began this program. The phrase is “ Rule #6, don’t take yourself so seriously”, I have been guilty of this since I started this program. I have been so uptight about each subject because I didn’t know what to expect. My blood pressure have gone up tremendously.

Normally, I am the person who is telling people around me to smile everything is going to be ok but, lately that my caculating self has taken over. My mom asked me the other day why I get upset about things so quickly and I said stress. She replied, that’s not you and I said “I know”. Once again I let myself get wrapped up in the measurement world, scared of failure.

I’ve always been told admitting the problem is the first step to solving the problem. Now that I have admitted to being stressed I am going to follow “Rule #6” to the fulliest and finish this program to the end. Enjoy life and don’t let life take control of me.

Sources: Book entitled The Art of Possibility

Hi Natalie,

I'm glad I'm not alone in feeling like I've have been pushed to my limit during this course. It has been challenging, painful, yet rewarding I've gained skills that weren't there before EMDT. Relaxation is key. One of the coping mechanisms I've learned throughout the year is how to meditate. If I didn't learn that valuable skill, I'm not sure I would have made it to month 11. Breathe, we are almost there!

week 2- Reading Response

I can honestly say there isn't a day that goes by that I'm not appreciative about what I do. I have the incredible job of piercing through the 'calculating self ' of my students and helping them find their 'center self '. As an art teacher, I get to see my students rediscover the joy in creativity and I witness that on a daily basis. Many of my NYC public high school students haven't had an art class since elementary school and come into the class tough and hard, however, almost all of them at one time or other reach a childlike and joyful state. The process of making art is usually rewarding, and fun for many of them, as we we work with paint, plaster, and get our hands dirty. Yet, I see first hand how the scrutiny of the ‘calculating self’ sucks the joy right out them after the final product has been made. Their 'calculating' self makes comments like, “that sucks” or, “Miss, I don’t like it” or, " I'm bad at art" permeate the airwaves of the classroom all too often. Much of my day is spent reassuring them their work and visions are important, and that their voices and ideas need to be heard, that they are special.

We all need to take a look at how we take the joy out of ourselves. Will we scrutinize, judge and reprimand ourselves to death? Or can we step back into the innate joy we all have in that 'center' self. Stepping into the center self might be messy, but sure worth the while.

Week 2-Blog Response to Kathryn Nemelka

Media Asset Creation - Week 2 - Entry 1 - Book Reading

My thoughts about reading The Art of Possibility Chapters 4 - 6:
Wow! I am sure thousands of people can relate to the feeling of being a “success” or being a failure to ‘society’. I like how Ben changed the ‘being a success’ to “how will I be a contribution today?” I am a queen of figuring out if I am a success/failure. I LOAD myself up with a zillion things to do so that I can be a ‘success’ where in reality I am just setting myself up for failure due to lack of time. Everybody wants approval from others. If we could train our minds to just focus on what we do contribute on a day to day basis we would be so much happier. We all do need to remember we are leaders. Many of us who are teachers can be HUGE leaders in our students lives for motivating them into positive passions instead of negative things such as gangs and poor school performance.
I am in love with “rule number 6 – Don’t take yourself too seriously”. I have a perfect example in my own life about ‘don’t take yourself too seriously. This year my kindergarten class is a very ‘tricky’ class. Usually I have the ‘perfect’ classroom with a quiet working environment. This year I have a class with many different ADHD problems, challenged learners, and many broken homes. I was getting so frustrated with myself that I wasn’t making as much progress with MY students as I had in past years. And MY class wasn’t the perfect class to look at and watch. I took a step back and decided to ‘lighten up’ (even before I read this book) and decided to go with the flow. I am now FALLING in love with this group of kids. I kicked back and now I can focus on the STUDENTS instead of MY ‘perfect’ classroom. We have fun and I am now getting to them. We still have a lot of academic progress to make, but we are making progress!
I also enjoy the way this author writes this book with stories. It makes the book more personal and it touches me emotionally as I read them. It motivates me to want to change.