Wk 4 Response to Stephanie Layne

Stephanie wrote:

Though many people have been feeling very stressed and nervous about this Publishing Project, I found it quite lethargic! I was able to take my AR summary and simply go crazy. It gave me time to really reflect on my experience and put all of my thoughts, whether happy or sad, onto paper. It made me sad about my current job situation and about the current state of obesity in our society, but excited about the affect this project has had on some of my students and our entire school environment.

I am excited to send my paper off to some periodicals to see what they think of my project and about this topic in general. Some of the educational journals I want to send them to are The Journal of Family and Consumer Sciences, The Journal of Nutrition Education & Behavior and The Journal of Adolescent Health. I would also like to send my paper of to the NEA (National Education Association) magazine they send off to their members every month. For fun I would like to send it off the O Magazine, since Oprah has been talking about the problems with obesity for years and even Seventeen magazine just to get the word out to teens. I am excited to see what happens with this project next month!

If you would like to read my Publishing Project paper click HERE.

I responded: 

I think your AR project is very well done and very timely too.  I really hope we as a country get a handle on this nutrition problem.   Part of the problem perhaps is that we tend not to see things in the long term.  Yes I can eat a burger now, but I will pay for it later.  Many people have trouble seeing the consequences of their actions.  I wish you luck with your submission.  Make sure you let us all know if it gets published!!

Wk 4 Reponse to Jen Kubeczko's Post

Jen Posted:

Benjamin Zander’s Art of Possibility has filled me with enthusiasm and new vision for being a quality leader. He has this to say in Chapter 10: “We often use reward and punishment to regulate accountability – the carrot and the stick… Apportioning blame works well enough to keep order in a relatively homogeneous society that boasts commonly accepted values and where everyone is enrolled in playing his part. It appeals to our instinctive sense of fairness. However, its effectiveness is likely to be circumscribed in communities of divergent cultures and widely varied resources.”
Wow. WOW. So that’s perhaps why I loved living in Japan so much. It was ordered. I knew my role, and we all worked together, “enrolled” in our efforts to support the community and the country by succeeding in our places. America is not homogeneous. Not even close. Were we ever? That’s a good research topic. But, I have strayed. Back to the reading: Instead of being a piece of a game such as chess, Zander says to be the board itself, the “framework for the game of life around you.” (p. 146) Yes! Now being the board gives you the “power to transform your experience of any unwanted condition into one with which you care to live.” Keep in mind he says “your experience and not the condition itself.”
The action of the game, the point is that you now make room for “all the possible moves.”
Think on THAT people.

I replied:

Hey Jen great post! Something that occurred to me as I read your post is the term “rat race”. This is used to describe the quest in society to try to make it to the top of your field. While I have no problems with achievement, and think it is a normal and healthy thing to try to better ones self, ponder the other implication of the “rat race”. Rats race in a maze. A path that you must follow. Only the right choices will lead you out, an you have to do them faster than everyone else.
Well, what if you choose not to race? What if you decide there is another way and don’t want to play that game. I think this is what Chapter 10 is all about.
I like this book.

Week 4 - Publication/Leadership Post

As I have been preparing my AR project for publication, I have had a few interesting thoughts I wanted to explore.

First, I find it amazing how much I have learned about research in the last year.  There is a method to it that the structured person in me finds quite understandable.  As I noted with APA formatting, it's kind of a language that people have evolved over time. Once things are formatted and processed in this way, it becomes easy to take somebodies work and evaluate it. You don't have to mess with figuring out where things are, it just all kind of fits.

Second, I am inspired to contribute to the educational field.  I think I have a great deal to offer and now feel like I have the tools and credentials to begin. I started my real blog in mid January and it just passed 3000 visits.  This is pretty cool.  I am making friends and connections on the Internet of like minded people.  Knowing I am not alone and there are other people willing to improve education is a good feeling.

So, onward to month 12!  Before I know it, the training wheels will be off and it will be up to me to continue my learning and research.

Week 4 Free Topic - Playing my own game

After reading the Art of Possibility I realize I am already doing one of the things they talk about.  I am playing my own game.  I tend to look at situations and try to find all the possible solutions to the problem.  Then I take another look and see if there are ones that are outside the box.  I like those the most.  In my job there are lines of resistance to my goals.  That is natural.  What other people don't understand about me, is I am playing a different game now.  I started playing it last year and so far so good.  I don't think many others are playing it, which is also good.  You can always win a game if the other people don't show up.

One of the things about the Internet that a lot of people don't get is that the game has changed in a lot of industries.  Music, film, games, publishing.  All are different.  I see things now as in a state of transition.  Old powers are crumbling, and new ones are rising.  The hungry will defeat the fat and complacent.  I am one of the hungry.  I will bend like a reed in the wind.  Agile of mind.  Go with the flow. 

Oh and of course, Rule #6.  I am so ready for graduation.

Week 4 Art of Possiblity - Thoughts

This book is like patting your head and rubbing your stomach at the same time.  As each chapter unrolls, I can see myself doing exactly the opposite of what the authors are trying to say.  I am a stubborn person.  I have an ego sometimes and feel pretty sure of myself often.  My dad was like that.  I am however, not a finished work.  There is still more road to go.  My day is not yet over.  Each day is a gift given to us and if we mess one up, then we should do our best to make the next better.  I have been married now for 3 years and my wife has been a great help to me on all of this.  This book has also been helpful. 

As for the reading material, I keep finding exceptions to everything the authors are saying.  They give a lesson, and I say to myself "yes but what about...".  It was nice in Chapter 10 to find out that Ben wasn't perfect either. 
Like all philosophy we can never attain perfection, but must work at it every day.  I find lots of faults in myself, but I am working on them.  This book is helping me open my horizons a bit to see what is possible for me.  I will be a better person for having read it.