MAC Week 2 - Post 2 response to Kris Newton

This is a response to Kris Newton's week two reading blog post, which can be found at http://krisnewton.blogspot.com/2011/05/mac-week-2-reading-art-of-possibility.html.

Here is a copy of Kris's post and my response.

For this week of MAC, we were tasked to read the first four chapters of the book, Art of Possibility by Rosamund and Benjamin Zander. At first, I really could not get into the book as I was trying to figure out the point of what the authors were trying to convey through the use of all the stories they told such as the conductor not feeling the tempo for the cello player to really get into it. In my own way, I guess I was actually looking at the book through the Measurement aspect that the book mentioned. Once it clicked, I started to notice just how true the book was in showing just how ingrained our perceptions are by this rule. When I came to this realization, I went back and re-read the chapters with this new thinking and the book and its stories made much more sense to me now.  As with the story of the kid playing the instrument for 3 minutes and being frustrated, that example is a prime one that is affecting all students and people today. They are looking for the instant gratification and are not wanting to put forth the effort or practice into their work to succeed and we, as instructors should really be encouraging them to practice without having to fixate about the grade, allowing them to take risks, which will help them learn.

I remember back when I was in 4th grade and I saw that 9 dots puzzle where you had to use 4 lines to connect them all. The teacher put those dots up on the board and then turned to all of us and offered a challenge, if one of us could solve it, we would not get homework for the week. The others were all excited about not having homework, that they stared intently at their papers drawing lines and the quick sighs of frustration that would come form them as they tried to solve it. I looked at the dots on the board and instantly raised my hand, letting the teacher know I wanted to do it. I walked up to the board and you could hear my classmates whispering that they are all going to end up having to do homework for the week.  Highly nervous, I placed the chalk to the first dot and drew my line. Instead of stopping at the last dot in the row, I continued on past that last dot until I could draw a diagonal line back through the diagram. I worked along solving the puzzle as the kids behind me groaned and snickered as I finished it. I put the chalk down and stepped back showing my work; all the dots were connected with only 4 lines. The teacher looked at me, smiled and complimented me on solving the puzzle correctly, to the gasps of all the other students.

Since that time, I have remembered so many different instructors use that to get their students to think outside of that box, but I was always the one who could go up and solve it.  This shows just how much we, as a society cannot think outside of that enclosed box, we are so focused on what we were brought up with that we forgot to really how to 'see'. When staring at the FedEx logo, what do many of you really see? Just words? Or can you see what the words hold inside of them? Can you see the arrow that the E and the X form? Most would never even notice that as we have been taught to only see what society wants us to see. This is how it is for many schools, they grade the students on their performance versus other students, like a competition, not letting them truly show creativity and that desire to think outside the box. We push them to perceive in that survival way, as the book made reference to a bit. We need to 'give them an A' so they cannot worry about their grades, allow them to learn from mistakes and take pride in pushing themselves to think differently. To do this, though, we need to learn to 'give ourselves an A' too, this way we can better focus on the student's abilities and let them flourish.  If we don't we are just keeping in times with old, outdated thinking and perception and we, nor our students can truly grow as individuals.

@Kris

I particularly like the observation that you make or more point out in your last paragraph with regards to the arrow in the FedEX logo, and how many people really think outside the box enough to actually take notice of it. There are similar examples in a great many corporate logos that go unnoticed, but only take just a little thinking outside the box to become quite apparent. I am glad to read that you overcame your early struggles with this reading and were able to grasp the point of it.