(Photo credit: The most beautiful rose possibly ever by Joy Coffman on Flickr)
Dear Daughter in law to Mrs. Sunshine and Roses,
Your post is hilarious. I appreciate your candidness. I think your perspective is an interesting. I too am a skeptic of much of this kind of writing, but I read it anyway. The reason being is because it does give me insight in looking at things in different way. I don't necessarily believe what is being said, but I do take away a different perspective, which I think in and of itself is valuable. I am glad you did take a practical thing from the reading..that being not assuming the worst. I find myself automatically doing the same thing you mentioned sometimes. Your P.S. was indeed timely and something I mentioned in my post as well. I'm happy to see you thinking as many of our classmates do about what is really going on in education today. Thanks for your post.
Wk2_reading- Am I open to this?
I spent quite a lot of time resisting the ideas in the book. I mean, c'mon! Everything is invented anyway so just imagine something better? Isn't that what crazy people do? Or my mother in law??? [Seriously, I refer to her as Mrs. Sunshine and Roses because she MAKES UP stories and then wholeheartedly believes in them! You cannot persuade her with facts about ANYTHING. Ever. She's lovely and kills everyone with kindness and is basically annoyingly nice. Well, she does have a racist and sexist side (in general, never to anyone she knows of course, as if that makes any sense), again, not to be dissuaded with facts or other examples. She believes what she believes. (She seriously thinks Tylenol makes her woozy and that capers packed in oil can be good to eat indefinitely) C-R-A-Z-Y!
It also has me remembering the fundamentalist Christian religious fad from my childhood my dad referred to as "Name it and claim it!" as if you just tell God what you have faith He will provide or allow to happen, it will be so. Or what about the movie, Field of Dreams: "If you build it, they will come..." Come on! If you believe in that silliness, I have a bridge to give you...
I am such a doubting Thomas, I have also avoided The Secret and other power-of-positive-thinking type books and videos. I just don't/ didn't see how the belief in something could open my eyes to a "new" perception. But the story Roz told about her dad and reframing her perception of him eventually led her to rediscover the letter he sent. He must have sent it. There it is physically in her possession and -- I'm a doubter of miracles for the most part-- therefore he must have sent it. So how can she not remember??? Her perception of him as an uncaring heel of a father led her conscious memory to forget that letter!
So I'm a little more open to this and I'm going to try to live into it starting with my husband. I already know that when I fight with him, I assume the worst. Really. I assume he's being a jerk, when really, he didn't realize what I would have wanted him to. So, I shared this with him and told him I'm going to look at a card with reminders written on it like, "Rob is not your enemy; he loves you and is trying to contribute. Give him an A." So things are still going to happen, not according to my little precious plan or whatnot but my disappointment in him will be gone/ lessened. I will treat him as my partner (or try to because I am less than perfect!)
I also need to think more about using this in my classroom. I need to read on, to see how this really works with students. I don't want asinine or lazy behavior because everyone has an A now. I need to work on my semantics of delivery of the message. How can I lead them to see that getting the A means working hard and even taking some risks is what gets an A. I can see I am starting to sound like the measurement world again. I stopped myself short of pondering a contract: "behavior for an A." But I am trying still not not be too fantasy-minded! Can ninth graders (who I hear are a handful from the teachers in the previous grade) respond to this and live into the A?!?
PS Is anyone else giggling like a lunatic over the irony of these ideas juxtaposed over the very popular and very dangerous world of measurement in teaching right now??? "Of course I'm a failure as a teacher if my students are not all passing the state test!!! Even one child left behind is unthinkable! Fire me!!!" compared to, "What are you measuring anyway? How can you reliably measure engagement and bright eyes?!?"
It also has me remembering the fundamentalist Christian religious fad from my childhood my dad referred to as "Name it and claim it!" as if you just tell God what you have faith He will provide or allow to happen, it will be so. Or what about the movie, Field of Dreams: "If you build it, they will come..." Come on! If you believe in that silliness, I have a bridge to give you...
I am such a doubting Thomas, I have also avoided The Secret and other power-of-positive-thinking type books and videos. I just don't/ didn't see how the belief in something could open my eyes to a "new" perception. But the story Roz told about her dad and reframing her perception of him eventually led her to rediscover the letter he sent. He must have sent it. There it is physically in her possession and -- I'm a doubter of miracles for the most part-- therefore he must have sent it. So how can she not remember??? Her perception of him as an uncaring heel of a father led her conscious memory to forget that letter!
So I'm a little more open to this and I'm going to try to live into it starting with my husband. I already know that when I fight with him, I assume the worst. Really. I assume he's being a jerk, when really, he didn't realize what I would have wanted him to. So, I shared this with him and told him I'm going to look at a card with reminders written on it like, "Rob is not your enemy; he loves you and is trying to contribute. Give him an A." So things are still going to happen, not according to my little precious plan or whatnot but my disappointment in him will be gone/ lessened. I will treat him as my partner (or try to because I am less than perfect!)
I also need to think more about using this in my classroom. I need to read on, to see how this really works with students. I don't want asinine or lazy behavior because everyone has an A now. I need to work on my semantics of delivery of the message. How can I lead them to see that getting the A means working hard and even taking some risks is what gets an A. I can see I am starting to sound like the measurement world again. I stopped myself short of pondering a contract: "behavior for an A." But I am trying still not not be too fantasy-minded! Can ninth graders (who I hear are a handful from the teachers in the previous grade) respond to this and live into the A?!?
PS Is anyone else giggling like a lunatic over the irony of these ideas juxtaposed over the very popular and very dangerous world of measurement in teaching right now??? "Of course I'm a failure as a teacher if my students are not all passing the state test!!! Even one child left behind is unthinkable! Fire me!!!" compared to, "What are you measuring anyway? How can you reliably measure engagement and bright eyes?!?"
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