Recently I had the opportunity to be introduced to the World of Warcraft during a class on Gaming Strategies and Motivation. My guides for the excursion into this alternate reality were my two youngest sons, Stephen and Andrew. We had some interesting adventures and I spent way more time than I thought I would in this strange land. Many of the quests would take hours and I would go to bed dreaming that I was running through a field, trying to find my corpse so I could bring my lifeless body back to life. I would leave my house in the morning and I started thinking of everything in my life as part of the game. Following the same road, noting landmarks along the way, entering the building where I work, walking down the corridor, opening doors like I was on some quest. As I read the book, "The Art of Possibility" by Rosamund and Benjamin Zander and came to the first chapter, it didn't take much to convince this reader that it is all created.
Who makes the rules anyway and what were they thinking? Seriously, if we never colored outside the lines, where would we be? If we define ourselves by our perceptions of what our administrators, legislators, students or their parents think of us; where would we be? Given the current state of affairs in education, I'd much rather step into a "universe of possibilities" where I can have some control over my perception of the reality. If teachers are going to inspire their students, they need to have some inspiration. Budget cuts, meetings, more reports, standardized testing, learning gains and AYP, do not count as inspiration. If we are going introduce our students to the world of possibilities, we need to make sure that we are acquainted with the terrain.
I would love to give my students an A and differentiate my instruction to better meet the needs of my students, but the system that I work in doesn't support that goal. It is wrong to tell a student to seize the universe of possibilities and invent his own path to success, when there is a big bad test at the end of the year that is going to determine whether he passes or fails. We simply need more options in our system to allow students more control over their future and the opportunity to experience the universe of possibility. We need to re-think the rules and create some new possibilities.
Anne, I struggle with the same thing. As a teacher we are given measurement tools and required to measure students success/failure. I can honestly say that I am doing my very best to encourage the “Universe of Possibility” with my own children. I don’t put very much emphasis on test and I try to encourage the actual learning. As a teacher, of young children, I am not sure that the students need to know they are starting with an A, but rather that I believe that they are.
ReplyDeleteAnne,
ReplyDeleteI could not agree more. Our high school is beginning the process of moving towards standards-based grading, where students must be assessed using the standard. Many teachers are in an uproar because it is very difficult to assign a letter grade to demonstrating a standard. I think about it in my classroom. Can the student multiply multi-digit numbers? Yes. Do they get an A? Sure. Our system needs to get away from assigning grades and into giving every student educational opportunities to succeed.
Hi Anne!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your analogy of the “universe of possibility” to the World of Warcraft. It’s so true that when you play that game a lot you start to think normal thoughts in game-mode! What a neat way to think of the possible scenarios, choices, and outcomes of our everyday lives. It also helps with the fear of risk-taking and assessment if you think of it like a game, with more chances. I feel the same way as you do though, that although we would love to partake in the “giving the A” philosophy, sometimes the system just does not allow for it: at least in the sense he describes. Although parts of the educational structure are constructs, many elements are very concrete and simply required. We have to make our kids understand the information by the time of the standardized tests. We have to have an organized environment in our rooms. We have to follow the rules of discipline in our schools. Without these constraints, even if we don’t agree with them, our job would be compromised. So, there must be a balance between supporting our students’ free-expression and intellectual development, and actually imparting the knowledge. I think we are already doing a version of the “giving the A” mindset, just in subtle, content & location specific ways. If we just challenge the kids to be themselves and understand the need for bettering themselves for the future, we will have won as teachers.
Oh, and I agree that inspiration is vicarious. All these extra requirements of teaching that don’t actually improve our skills, but bog us down and overwhelm us…and it most certainly gets transferred to the students! Until people that aren’t actually teaching stop making poor decisions regarding the structure of our education system, we have to suffice with the small changes we have control over.
Anne,
ReplyDeleteI have to put this in again: “If we are going introduce our students to the world of possibilities, we need to make sure that we are acquainted with the terrain.”
I remember the professor of the first class I took when I went back to school a decade after my bachelors. The class was “Writing for Teachers,” and this lady, who would later become my student teaching supervisor, told me that what concerned her most about my becoming a teacher was that I’d bury myself in it, to the detriment of my writing… and everything else in my life.
“O,” she would say if she could see me now, “my prophetic soul!”*
I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your lovely compliments—and sometimes I actually feel like I “have moved beyond survival thinking and into abundant thinking.” But I also get to see some of my shortcomings—some of the “control issues” that aren’t about my class operating smoothly but rather about my fear of failing or my anxiety over things not going the way I want them to. And I see that this survival thinking has at least in part resulted from the parching of my soul due to allowing—maybe even encouraging—the exigencies of my profession to strangle the possibilities of possibility in my life.
That’s my part of the dynamic. But the “exigencies of my profession”—well, you described all those perfectly. And they have a part too.
Isn’t there some way we can find balance? Hold ourselves and our students to a high standard of accountability that nurtures our humanity and our creativity instead of our Bradburian “pressing buttons, pulling switches, fitting nuts and bolts”? (Dang—now I have to do a citation.) It’d be pretty easy, actually: all we’d have to do is have 12 or 15 students (and Macs) in every classroom. Barring that, we need people with both vision and the media expertise to implement it to rise to leadership in our educational system.
I know the last thing you want to think about now is more schooling, but maybe you should consider getting your administrative credential!
*(Sorry—yeah, it’s Hamlet again…)
Bradbury, R. Fahrenheit 451. (1953). New York: Ballantine Books.
MAC_Wk2_BP#3_PeerComments_Anne_Alsup
ReplyDelete“Who makes the rules anyway and what were they thinking? Seriously, if we never colored outside the lines, where would we be? If we define ourselves by our perceptions of what our administrators, legislators, students or their parents think of us; where would we be? Given the current state of affairs in education, I'd much rather step into a "universe of possibilities" where I can have some control over my perception of the reality. If teachers are going to inspire their students, they need to have some inspiration.”
Dear Anne,
and Tricia and Jess and Debra...
You’re right Anne, who made the rules INDEED! And yet, in the reading, if we really examine the depths of our souls we will realize truly, we did. Likewise, it is in that understanding, that moment of hard cold reality that the Universe of Possibilities begins to truly open! It is in that moment that you begin to realize that in even the constraints of job requirements, testing, paperwork and attacks on teachers, you see that it doesn’t matter what any of them think. It only matters what YOU think and that YOU CAN CHANGE THE RULES.
No, it won’t be easy. Change that is worth it never is, change that is required to set us free, and our students free. It will require great effort, work and patience. It will require that we face disappointment, and struggle. It may not even happen in our teaching careers or lifetime. We may not reach every student or colleague, or administrator. But we can and will reach some. We do make a difference-to someone. Our existence has a ripple effect, and it lasts FOREVER because it is passed on to the one in whom our difference had helped. Then they in turn will pass it on. Think of the teachers that inspired you the most; did they not, unwittingly (having not read this tremendous book), do that very thing? For those we “reach” will they not do as we have done?
Jess talked about standards based assessment in classes. I’ve been doing that for years in my district. Now the state is changing the rules again. You know what, so what! Standards of competency are not to be ignored (Zander & Zander p. 33). I think it is more of an approach of how we approach the challenge, how we show meaning to our students of that which they are learning, how we encourage ourselves and then our students to think “outside of the box” and create new paradigms and new rules for themselves. It will be difficult; I have first to learn to navigate through this new universe. Will I be perfect? No, of course not. Will I reach every student, teacher, administrator? No, of course not. But I can try. Ask yourself, which is worse, to have a glimmer of hope that can grow into a great light of change, or to see that glimmer of hope and let it die because I was too selfish to try?
I have been afraid of failure all of my life. I’ve never felt good enough, never felt loved, always striving, always working, always...ENOUGH! My own rules have been my own downfall. New universe, new rules, new game. Who’s in?
Tricia has a point. There are simply rules of society and culture of school. We need agreement about how we will act towards each other. They are the forced rules of survival. But we are the factors of change in our locations. Have we not learned that throughout our studies this year? We are the pioneers in education; we are the ones to begin to effect change. If the rules are invented, make up our own! Isn’t that the whole point of this book? If the universe of possibility is there then truly ANYTHING can happen! But we can’t look at the restraints. That is survival thinking. Step up, and look into that new universe. It is there for the taking and sharing!
Oh no! Did the Zanders create a monster?
Anne,
ReplyDeleteI wholeheartedly agree that we need a new system in place that allows the children of our future to be exposed to the universe of possibility. To feeling like they really can make a difference and be part of their own destiny rather being told this is the path they have to follow and the rules they have to abide by in order to get there. I agree that the current educational system needs to change in order for us to create those new possibilities for our students and the future of a better education. I take it as a challenge to try to be a part of this change and feel that somewhat leads into the discussion in chapter four on being a contribution. What better what to be a contribution than to be part of the struggle to make a difference and a change in our current educational system? I for one know that there are educators out there who are making these contributions to making it better and I would love to be a part of that goal. Do I feel that students deserve to be given an A? YES!!! I think that simple change in their perception and the perception of those around them can and would make a huge difference in how they react and perform. They deserve to be given the opportunity to create without the fear of failure, to complete a challenging assignment as many times as it takes in order for them to "get it" so that they can move on, and to feel as though their thoughts and ideas do matter. Where would we be as a society if all we heard day in and day out that we were a failure and couldn't ever do anything right... It would be a very sad society indeed!
Anne, great post. I too have thought about the sections in our reading where the A is given and the emphasis is on the accomplishment and goals met along the way. As you said what a great concept that would greatly help our students’ education however I would be willing to bet there is no school system in our country that would support this revolutionary idea. Society has become too dependent on the results produced by national standardized tests and curriculum with scripted pacing guides. What would happen if teacher were allowed to do what they are good at…teaching? The possibilities are endless.
ReplyDeleteAnn,
ReplyDeleteYour insight on these issues for the school system was right on target! I have had such a struggle with how one functions around a system that does not have the same goals in allowing students to take hold of new tools to better educate themselves. You have a great point on inspiration! Kids feed off the energy of the instructors in front of them. Thanks for the reminder of possibilities!
What a wonderful way at looking how we work in the world and recognizing the "overlay" of perception than to have spent a few hours in WoW, then quest in one's sleep, then step out into the "real' world. Great way to see this world.
ReplyDelete