Wk 2 Comment: Felicia Andorko

Felicia wrote,
As I was reading this week, I became reflective of my own life, goals, and actions.  I was recently asked to fill in for someone and go down to Kentucky for a Habitat for Humanity trip.  The trip was leaving in two weeks.  I have a responsibility to camp and to my schoolwork, so I decided begrudgingly that I could not accept the offer.  As I was reading about making contributions, I was constantly thinking of that service trip and the others I have taken part in.  Every time I have gone on a service trip, I have been able to see my contributions and the contributions of others, and the impact that can have.  It feels like a retreat or a mini-vacation.  The atmosphere is clear, hopeful, and friendly.  People treat others with such kindness and respect.  Helping others with our own contributions is a magnificent feeling, which I believe can be contagious.  It reminds me of the Liberty Mutual commercials where someone witnesses a good deed done for a stranger and then pass it on.

@Felicia,
I share the same feelings about reflecting on my life goals and actions. I have always felt a great satisfaction when helping others. I have never understood how some can see others suffer while they have the power to do something but they choose to do nothing. After finishing my masters I’ll find some way to continue to make contributions to humanity.

Wk 2 Comment: Sarah Hodge

Sarah wrote:
Starfish story-I’ve always loved this story because it is not about how many but about simply making a difference. This can very easily relate to teaching. So often we get caught up in numbers that we forget the person behind each number. Every student is an actual person and not just some lifeless object categorized under a certain letter of the alphabet. Each of them are stars waiting to be discovered. In a world where there is so much negativity and an unreasonable “standard” of what one should be like according to the media, it’s no wonder that many of our own students may feel like they are stranded on the shore, far from where they belong. Our job as teachers is to put them back into the ocean to help them realize that they are needed out there; that their contributions are gladly accepted; and that they too can make a difference. Even if we feel we may have only made a difference in one student’s life, it makes all the difference. Often times we don’t even see the impact we have on students. They usually go unknown. Think of the stories you hear on the radio or from others of how their teacher made a great impact on them. That teacher was probably completely unaware of it. As we do our best to be positive and treat them as the cherished and treasured starfish they are, the rest is up to them to continue steadfast on their journey.

Carolyn wrote:
I can see you love the difference you make as an educator. You care! Yes we do make a difference! Realize there are students that you will never hear saying it but it’s there. I can think of teachers now who affected my life that are gone on but I wish I could let them know and say thank you.

Wk 2 Comment: Kate Finn’s Blog

Kate Finn wrote:
As I read chapter four I could not stop thinking this is how a teacher feels. So much of the time we teachers are judge by how our class scores look compared to other classes. What others need to realize is that not all classes are equal and though the scores may not be high in comparison I as the educator have contributed a lot to these students’ education. Not only that, but these students have also contributed to their own education. We are the ones who are with the students every day all day. I have had students come into my classroom and not be able to tell the difference between the letter “d” and the letter “b” or know any other sounds for vowels other than short vowel sounds. By the end of the year, after the student and I have worked so hard together, they are reading on grade level and have shown leaps and bounds of improvements. Where is the ‘test’ that shows those results?

Carolyn Chew wrote:
The measurement of a student should never be based on standardized test. I’m for the development of PLE’s. I have had students that have improved tremendously from where they started, but not enough to make a descent score on a standardized test.

As an educator I see too much emphasis on the test and how a school is ranked, even among teachers from other schools, they look at us as if we are the cause of the failure our school is experiencing, they proudly tell us where they teach and the rank of their school on the state test! I wonder how they would like to work in a place where most students entered school already 3 or 4 grades behind and they had to raise their test scores or lose their jobs?

Chew_Carolyn: Wk 2 Reading: The Art of Possiblity ch. 4-6

As an educator I often wonder if I really make a difference and how am I affect the lives of my students? It is my desire to make a difference, that’s why I chose this profession. Previously one of my students came back and let me know how much I made a difference in their life. Many others I’ve come across over the years have said the same.

I once read “we are the some of everyone that has effected our lives both good and bad”. I don’t remember the author but I do remember the quote. Just a smile, a hello or a kind word can make a difference. To acknowledge someone’s ideas to give him or her credit goes a long way.

I once had a principal that never gave anyone credit, when she got phrase from the central office for a job well done, she never mentioned having any assistance. Therefore teacher moral was low, she wasn’t hard to get alone with we just eventually knew we’d never get credit for any of our efforts and it got depressing working there. Staff turn over was high.

Looking back over my life, I’ve learned to appreciate life more as I’ve gotten older to enjoy and to learn from everything. It still takes practice as I learn to live, laugh and love life.

Wk 1 comment on: Chuckwduinma

Week 1 comment: Chuckwduinma

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Step into a Universe of Possibility by Chuckwduinma Nwokocha

The primary assumption we hold is that life is made of struggles we have to overcome. Contrary to this basic assumption of life for many, the universe of possibility allows setting the ‘context of lie’ and allowing life to unfold.

http://chuksonwordmyblog.wordpress.com/

@Chukwudinma,

If we could train ourselves to see our struggles as possibilities to learn and grow from them we can began to think outside the box we can become better.

Carolyn Chew

Wk 1 Comment on: Kathy Kellen

In Chapter 2 of The Art of Possibility by Benjamin and Rosamunde Zander, this quote about stepping into the universe of possibility touched me: "Often people enter this state in the presence of natural beauty...these are the moments when we forget ourselves and seem to become part of all being" (Zander, 2000, p.20).
This video, "Journey" was inspired by a photo quest day with a friend in a place that was very special to me growing up. I think I came closer to the "universe of possibility" on that day....

@ Kathy Kellen
I’m thankful for the moments we forget ourselves. It can happen in times of grief or trouble. Sometimes just listening to a song, a poem, a movie, a scripture or a book. We become apart of the universe of possibility.
Carolyn Chew

Wk 1 Reading: The Art of Possibility

I can learn to think outside the box by 1st realizing what it is that has brought me to the way I think. Examining my life to find out how I got to the place I am. I have to be honest with myself in my thinking. That is the only way I’ll able to know what assumptions of myself I am making that I’m not aware of. Once I sort through my life I can see that I am product of what someone said or thought about me.

Realizing that it’s all invented helps me shift my world and my thoughts about the world and others, it’s not as easy as just changing my thought process, it takes work daily. Some use different methods of positive thinking. However by understanding that it’s all invented and that those people who helped shape my life gave me what they had, can give me quicker results. The reason for this is; forgiving others breaks a cycle of repeating the same mess-ups.

I was raised with grades and as a teacher I have to give grades as a measurement. Grades don’t tell the whole story. Often in my career I have seen great improvement in my students from where they started to where they ended, but not enough for the system of measurements in grades.

My thoughts of career, family and myself are a reflection of the measurement world. What I drive, the house and neighborhood I live in are all apart of what I measure as good or right. The values I have for life and others are all a reflection of what I have been taught to measure as right. We live in a world of possibility and should think outside the box for new and better ways of doing things, however we should never do any thing that would infringe on the rights and safety of others.

By giving others and myself an A I won’t measure how things stack up to my standards. Like Michael Angelo’s art I am in the rough trying to become the best I can be.
I discover the beauty in myself by realizing the truth I see in myself. Answering that question, I began reinventing myself and looking at other choices.