MAC Week 4 - Post 3 Response to Jamie Steele's Blog post.

Below you will find a copy of Jamie Steele’s Week 4 reading blog post, followed my response to it. The his original post can be found at http://jamiejsteele.blogspot.com/2011/05/week-4-reading-lighting-spark.html

 Every time I think I have reached the pinnacle in this book, I am again amazed by the words that I read and seem to enlighten me. “Lighting a Spark” really spoke to me this week. The story itself is something I will revisit right after Spring Break every year from this point on. Why? It’s inspirational core. How it speaks to the idea of enrollment and “having no doubt that others are eager to catch the spark” (pg. 126). The faith that Zander put in his audience and the musicians he conducted to capture said audience, is not the norm. This behavior gives us a glimpse of what is possible when we have a passion for something and invite others to share in this emotion.

It also brings up another interesting point. I personally don’t believe that anyone can create such a transformative experience as we read about in this chapter. Everyone has gifts and Zander seems to have a gift of creating these types of experiences in those around him thanks to the experiences, he himself has taken part in. Thankfully, he is gracious enough to share his ideas with the rest of us so we can try and learn some of the techniques to enhance our own learning environments, whatever they may be.

@Jamie,

I agree, this is one of those books that once you read you/me/us/we should reread annually if not twice annually, there is just so much in it that you want to keep it fresh in your mind always. I also suspect that it is one of those books that one might come away with deeper meaning from the second and possibly third time through. I am finding that some of these ideas I need a daily reminder of. To the point where I am toying with the idea of getting WE tattooed on my wrist of just how important it is to keep that basic concept in mind.