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.
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.
1 COMMENTS:
What a great learning moment. It is amazing how much students can teach us! To surrender and let go of our preconceptions of what "perfect" is. How truly incredible that you were conscious enough to really let go and listen to the needs of your students. As an art teacher in a NYC public high school, I too have many humbling moments and often times have to re-evaluate my approach and attitude depending on the class. I would have been eaten alive long ago if I took myself too seriously! Learning should be fun, and students can feel it when the educator is experiencing it as well.