Well, week 3 and it is chapters 5-8. There were many tidbits that I picked up from this reading of "The Art of Possibility". I will share my favorites with you. The first major ah ha moment for me came when the author told about getting in the taxi and the passenger tells the driver to hurry! They need me everywhere!!!! This is so true in life. As a mother or father, you are needed everywhere all of the time! You wish you could grow 8 arms and 8 legs. As a teacher it seems that every student needs help at the same time on a different problem. The next one that struck me was that power is the ability to make other people powerful. This thought we have heard before, but maybe not in this way. We may have heard it as give a man something to eat and he eats right then, teach him to grow his own food and he will be forever full. Here is another: grab what you love and give it everything. So often we tend to meander through life, giving what we feel comfortable giving, but to give it everything possible leaves the possibilities completely open! As I continued to move through the reading I came to a spot where the author asks us to think about putting Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" before every remark we make. Can you imagine? The last chapter was all about letting go. That is where this week's picture came from. We have to jump without worrying about every little thing to reach the highest and furthest that we can. I think of the movie "The Great Outdoors". We often forget that very simple command to let go. John Candy is water skiing and after giving his son lessons on safety and letting go of the rope if you get into a situation, he totally forgets this himself and his son is screaming for him to let go of the rope but he doesn't. I hope all of of us this week can let go of our ropes and travel further and accomplish more than we or anyone else could ever expect! Have a great week! Cheryl
Great blog, you are right there are so many tidbits it is hard to pick just one. I love how you talk about teaching in reference to the taxi quote “ I need to be everywhere”. Teachers and parents need to be everywhere at the same time. My class and my boys are constantly making requests and my wife and I sometimes respond with “ I am not an octopus,” or “ patience is a virtue,” only to follow-up with my favorite kindergarten quote “ you get what you get and you don’t regret.”
ReplyDeleteI have not heard the grow food quote before, however it does work. I have always heard the saying “ give a man a fish he will eat for a day, teach a man to fish and he will eat for life.” I liked the idea about adding “I have a dream” before every remark we make however that part of the book sounded a little fortune cookie-ish to me. Let me elaborate, in college when you opened it fortune cookie you would always add the phrase “in bed” after the fortune to make it sound more interesting.
I love the movie The Great Outdoors, and I wholeheartedly agree, I cannot wait to let go of the rope. I hope we could all meet at graduation, good luck.
I enjoy your insight to the reading. I agree there are many ah-ha moments throughout the book and how you relate them to life is similar to how the authors do the same in the book as well.
ReplyDeleteI would like to hear more about your thoughts about putting "I have a dream" in front of everything we do. Would we all work with more passion or would the saying feel diluted similar to the words like or cute?
I like how you end your blog as it is a challenge for all of us to break free of what challenges us.
Cheryl,
ReplyDeleteIt's funny that the first thing that you blogged about was about the taxi story. While I was reading this section I totally thought about how I felt like that in the classroom. How every student needed me for their own reason and how on a daily basis we are pulled in many directions throughout the day...but I must say...I LOVE it. It is a part of our job and I wouldn't have it any other way :). Another part of your blog that struck me strongly was the part when you talked about letting go. We really do...I know that it is human nature to want to hold on but we need to also know when to let go and let things be. I think that as adults and also being educators we need to give others the chance to prove themselves which then in turn allows us to let go and let things be.
Thanks for your sharing Cheryl, I always enjoy reading what you have to share with the class.
I also have to agree with Richard and your post on how great the move "The Great Outdoors" is...soooo funny!!
Cheryl great post on this week's readings. I too was engrossed in the anecdotes that this book is offering. To me I feel that this book of possibilities has created a monster in me. I am planning to present many of these to my learners this year by placing posters and banners with the practices that Zander has offered in this book. I applaud your ability to come up with ah ha moments and take them and make them your own.
ReplyDeletegreat summary of the parts that stuck out to you.
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