The Big "Wind-Down"

Here it is, just three weeks from graduation, in essence.  I am just upside down in my final presentation at the moment, while scrambling to get the necessary edits and changes done to my AR website, as well as get the final videos scripted and filmed.  These are great times and the most stressful of all at the same time. I was talking to friend and teammate Pat tonight on Skype, as usual, she, Holly, and I usually bump into each other on the chat programs during the evening.  We were both extremely concerned about this month's final project really, because it is such an undertaking.  It is something to look forward to, the presenting of our year of research and analysis, but also something we are looking at very seriously and not without some trepidation, as it is a HUGE project, and there are so much data to discuss.  Well, we will muddle our ways through all this with each other's help and support.  We have been supporting each other since month one, and we have all become great friends and like sisters (and brothers, Thomas) during this year.  I'm just amazed that we all got through the program as positively and gracefully as we did.  There were some tense moments like when we had to refine our lit reviews and get our AR projects straightened out!  I like to think of our journey as just beginning now that one part of it is about to end.  I feel the big 'let-down' already happening to me as I wrap up my year-long processes and experiences.  I don't know if I could do this again, but you never know!  I may be back for another adventure at Full Sail after my 'big adventure' this summer abroad...I'm going to miss all the excitement, not the stress, but definitely the fun, and of course, the people!

Week 4 - Comment to Holly Loganbill’s Post on Zander

Hi Holly,

I like how you framed your post this week with different quotations from the book and your comments beneath that in response.  I’ll respond to your paragraph which hit me the most that you wrote:

You wrote:

I wish I had been ready to read this book years ago. Had I taken it in and used it, I think my life would be very different. So many self help books stress the idea that the only person you can control is yourself. The Zander’s give this an entirely new perspective. We aren’t free to pick and choose what parts of ourselves to accept or reject. If we try, we end up in fragments. If we ask, “How did this become part of the ‘me’ who is the board of my life?” We have to take responsibility for where we are or what’s happening, and then we can move forward.

My response:

Holly, your operative statement here is ‘I wish I had been “ready” to read this book years ago.’  Amen to that.  If a person isn’t ready, how can they understand, absorb, or even ‘look’ at something?  I used to get so mad at one of my friends who was always trying to ‘tell me’ to do something because it was the ‘right thing’ to do.  But I always said to her “Let me make this mistake myself and then when I’m ready to do it the ‘right way’ I will do it myself.”  In other words, I always understood the concept that this was my time to ‘screw something up’ or not.  It’s the same concept with Zander’s book in a way, you can read it cover to cover, but if you’re not ready to, its message will probably fall on blind eyes.  I felt incredibly ‘ready’ to read the book.  In fact, it was a break from all the other things we had to do for our course this month.  I felt like I was on a little ‘mini vacation’ when I was reading it.  I just got so much out of it like you did, wasn’t it great to just read and absorb all this stuff and know that we got it?  We really ‘got it’ didn’t we?  Thanks for your insight as usual, Holly!

Week 4 - Comment to Patricia Ort's Post on Zander

My comment to Pat:

Hi Pat!

I loved your picture you shot, by the way, it’s awesome Pat! Amen to that about the blame game.  I agree, it is challenging because it is so easy to ‘assign’ blame when everything goes ‘tango uniform’ on you.  I know, I blame Skype constantly for the bad connections and dropped skype calls!  But then, it probably IS Skype’s fault in that case!  No, but seriously, being the board instead of the piece is akin to removing yourself from the problem or going outside yourself for a minute.  That is really hard to do isn’t it?  I have tried this actually, and it was not something that came easily like say, shooting a picture or listening to a song on iTunes…

Actually, the story Zander tells about Cora the violinist was interesting, I liked his “A letter” he wrote her, it was really concise like he is.  I like that he admitted his own faults and found it interesting he didn’t actually apologize for his outburst in so many words.  I felt he did apologize in a sense by admitting culpability.  What mystified me a little was that he didn’t mention ‘how’ she came back to the orchestra, only that she ‘did’ come back.  I would have loved to have been a fly on that rehearsal room wall the day she did come back wouldn’t you?  Great post as usual Pat!

Pat Wrote:

Of all of the Zander's ideas, I think the concept of not blaming others, or yourself, for things that don't go the way you'd like is probably the most challenging.  I don't know if it is a cultural thing or just a human thing to assign blame, however, we seem to start doing it pretty young.  The fine difference in thinking that Ben Zander speaks of when he says we should be the board, not the chess piece, takes some practice.

As always, the Zanders made me really think about how a person could change their mindset in this way. When Ben Zander speaks of apologizing, he does it in a completely different way than I, at least, am used to.  I think it is a good idea to apologize to others when we've offended or hurt them.  But Ben's approach also includes not blaming himself. In the letter he wrote where he gave himself an A, he admitted his faults but didn't really say he was sorry to the violinist directly.  He also didn't ask her to come back to the orchestra, although she did.

As usual, I spent some time thinking about how this might apply to working with the at-risk teens in our program. If, as Zander says, this approach allows you to turn relationships into effective partnerships, how might that work at our alternative high school?  Right now, we are planning a totally different concept for next year. Rather than teaching in our own little boxes, the English teacher, the math/science teacher, and I (social studies/computers teacher), are going to team teach using a project based learning model.  We are especially interested in building relationships with the teens who enroll in our program.  Reading Zander's thoughts about "being the board" really fits the conversation about how to build good relationships with our new students.

I'm a creative person, so I really liked the thrust of Chapter 11.  I think most people are happiest when they are creating. There is a special energy that fills you up when you are working in synergy with others, making something new and different and exciting.  I think my colleagues and I feel that way, when we are not being distracted by things that seem to have gone wrong at school or are trying to find someone to blame for the situation. Hmmmm.  I am glad we are reading this book at school.  I think a shift in a positive direction would be very good right about now.

Week 4 - On A Personal Note...

Contemplating in L.A.

Month 11 journey nearly over…

Month 11 was really a crazy one for me, so stressful on so many levels and frontiers.  I am in a constant scramble to get rid of things I don’t need ready for my big “Overseas Adventure” or my “World Tour” as I call it, which starts the day after I walk up onto the stage with my friends and teammates at Full Sail University graduation.  I couldn’t be more excited, mainly to meet the people of my Team Digital Horizon…what an honor that will be, to meet the people I’ve been talking to on Skype, MSN, iChat, iGoogle, gmail, yahoo mail, FSO mail, you name it.  We have communicated and gotten to know each other like a family.  We made a movie together, we commented on each other’s blogs and assignments, we have become friends for a lifetime beyond Full Sail.  I can’t imagine when I step up on that stage with them and the other great people I’ve been communicating with all this time.  I can’t imagine us posing for those ‘after graduation’ pictures with my team, although I can.  It will be the end of a great journey we were all on, all newbies together at the same time on, and all totally immersed in technology with, after-the-fact.

All I can say is, what I said to one of my dear friends recently as we sat in a posh LA eatery while I was on a sort of ‘working vacation’ this last week away from the Vegas heat.  “It was really a huge accomplishment to do this Master’s degree in a year.” And my next comment after the nod I received, was “I may have to do it again, and try my hand at film production.”  To which my friend quipped “Yes, then you can move to LA and hang out with all your friends here!”  Okay, so maybe I won’t be doing that anytime soon, but I will be going on an overseas adventure that will take me halfway across the world, for what looks like it could be a very, very long time...  I will shoot film and photos there, its’ what I do.  As far as Full Sail again? Maybe.  I’d like to think that I could go back and try something else if I want to.  I love the experience I received and the great friends I made.  I will miss it, terribly.  Luckily, I will have PLENTY to keep me busy after I flip my tassel and throw my cap into the air with my dear friends on graduation day, 2011…

Okay, let’s get on with Month 12 please…

Week 4 Leadership/Publication Post:

I chose to put my three-part blog post about Leadership/Publications all on this post which gives you the links to each component.  It was fun to do the Wimba and hear everyone's different talks about their AR projects.  I realized what a diverse group of students we have in our program, and how fortunate I am to be in a program with such innovative and committed people.  My talk on Nature Deficit Disorder was a little disorganized, but after some thought, I have managed to create a much better presentation, which I think would serve me fairly nicely in a real conference.  Of course, I would add a lot more data and probably a few more slides showing greater detail.

Link to Part 1: (Where I talk about why I wanted to do a presentation)

Blog Post 1

Link to Part 2: (I discuss the conference I found to present at!)

Blog Post 2

Link to my Final Presentation - Part 3: (My final revision after the presentation Wimba the other night - Note:  This final iteration contains video, so it is now a much larger file so please be patient with the download.)

Link to Presentation

Blog Post Week 4 Reading: Starting with the Spark and Ending with "We" not "Me"

"We" not "Me"

Aah, the amazing Zander book again…my thoughts on this week:

Chapter 9 - Lighting a spark – Ben’s story of how he used a sort of ‘tactic’ he remembered from his father to woo Slava Rostropovich to come and play cello at a concert was really heartwarming. I liked his description of what he defines as “Enrollment” which is the art of generating a spark of possibility for others to share.” Ben’s four steps he outlines for us to use in the practice of enrollment are easy to imagine and very possible to use effectively.

I liked Zander’s description of ‘downward spiral’ such as when the Guardian newspaper in London flew a headline “Education Action Zone May Fail” when discussing the nationwide program for so-called ‘failing’ schools. His trip to Eastlea School was a success, and a BBC producer mentioned how exciting it was that Ben just conducted 1,100 children singing Ode to Joy in German. It was quite a smashing success actually. Ben shared the poems the children had written about his visit there, and he realized that in an underachieving school, education was so important to everyone. The letters he printed in the book were very heartwarming and lovely. Later when the orchestra arrived, Ben allowed Anthony, a hyper active student conduct, and it was a brilliant moment for everyone there. That story was so amazing…

Chapter 10 – Being the board – Zander maintains in this chapter that when ‘the way things are’ offers no possibility, especially if you are angry and blocked, renaming yourself as ‘the board on which the whole game is being played’ can be done. This way you move the problematic circumstances that are going on away from the outside world to inside your own boundaries. He says with this practice you can transform the world. Interesting.

I liked Ben’s example of blame, and how blaming someone takes away your ability to steer a situation into another direction, or to learn from the situation, or even help the relationship. I think declaring “I am the framework for everything that happens in my life” is quite a sound idea actually. I know that I am responsible for all my decisions for the most part anyway. So what is wrong with acknowledging that before embarking on some huge decision-making process. I equate this with my decision to attend Full Sail University, really, because I wasn’t sure this was a ‘right path’ for me at first, as I am not a teacher like most of the other Master’s students I am learning with. However, into my final month in another few days shows me that I did make this decision, I did take responsibility for all my coursework, and for my team when we had projects, and I was responsible for the positive endings to each course and pretty much everything that went on with my own education process. If I had failed at this program, I would have been responsible for that as well, and I would have had to take the blame for it, because we are self-directed to get our coursework done here. I feel I owned the risks I took by choosing to attend this program, and I feel a lot of Grace now that I have had so much success with my program as well. And, as Zander mentions it, I do feel free to choose something else now that it’s nearly over. I chose to fly off to parts known and unknown in the world around me for a while to see ‘what’s out there.’ It is scary, but I own my decision to go on my trip. Who knows what will materialize out of that, if anything? Maybe nothing but a great vacation, but then, there are also thousands of other possibilities waiting for me there as well…and I will be free to choose again…. I liked Zander’s example of taking responsibility for everything that goes on in his orchestra, even the mistakes players make occasionally.

Chapter 11 – Creating Frameworks for Possibility

An important message in this chapter is Zander’s statement about us having the courage to distinguish the downward spiral from the realm of possibility in the face of any challenge. This really makes great sense. To me it is akin to the glass half full or half empty scenario, to which I always responded ‘half full’ when asked that question by my peers.


I loved Zander’s ‘possibility’ stories of the little girl with no hair from chemotherapy and of King Christian of Denmark. The stories he uses always illustrate the point he is making quite appropriately and perfectly.

Out of Zander’s 7 different definitions he gives for ‘vision,’ my favorite one is the last one where he says “Speaking a vision transforms the speaker.” I think this does relate to all of us in one way or another. Where some of his other definitions are more standard or nebulous, that one did make me ‘think.’

I love the story of Hewlett Packard and the poster of both of them looking into the tiny garage where they began their business decades ago superimposed with the world. I think that was truly ‘vision’ being expressed and then illustrated perfectly!

Zander is so right about how the experience of a personal crisis or failure will become the basis for someone’s personal vision. I like this because it kind of is akin to a saying I once saw on a poster which said “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade” or some such thing. We have all seen some iteration of this. I loved the story he told of the artist who had been at Auschwitz concentration camp as a teenager.

What an honor that Zander’s students’ letters are now included in the NASA program. I also loved what one NASA employee wrote back as he is reminded why he is working there: “I am here today to cross the swamp, not to fight all the alligators.” What a great saying!!

Chapter 12 – Telling the WE Story

Ben Zander’s father’s positive stories about the Arabs and Jews and Palestine circa 1947, was just enlightening, and the response of the student was really amazing. How innocent and wonderful a moment that had to be. I think also practicing talking as ‘we’ instead of ‘you’ or ‘I’ is a great idea, it forces one to think of the other person rather than just of themselves. I know I get guilty of that sometimes, so just thinking of ‘we’ rather than ‘me’ sounds like something to practice for ‘us.’

Thank you Ben and Roz Zander. It’s been a fun journey through your book! Thank you to Full Sail University for giving us the opportunity to learn from this book.

Week 3 - Response to Marty Denson’s Post on Zander

Marty wrote:

While reading chapters 5 through 8 of The Art of Possibility, I was most intrigued by chapter 8, which speaks of giving way to passion. My first thought was that I felt I must share this idea with my students as way to suggest to each of them how important it is to be completely committed to the activities they choose to take on. I often remind them that participating in any activity or organization for the sake of tile, position, and/or stature is neither beneficial to them nor the activity or organization they are involved in. Reading the suggested two steps in giving way to passion are notable concepts that I will include when discussing this overall theme of passion to my students.

How gratifying it was for me when chapter 8 later used Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata as an analogy to long lines discussed in that chapter. That particular sonata, which is one of my most favorite pieces to perform, is ironically the piece that I often use to demonstrate several concepts when working with select students. I think because of the familiarity of the piece, students become more engaged, which allows me to really articulate the expressive movements within the music. The Moonlight Sonata, when misinterpreted musically, bares a strong resemblance to life itself. Just as in the Moonlight Sonata, life can produce a “dull and numbing performance” when emphasis is placed in the wrong areas.

The heart of the matter, in my opinion, and as suggested in the reading, is that knowing your passion and allowing yourself to be consciously open to discovering that energy and life force, enables you to demonstrate a positive uniqueness. That uniqueness in expression is what brings meaning that extends beyond the “meaning viewed from the ground.”

My comment to Marty:

Marty, I too was intrigued by chapter 8. I love that your ‘first thought’ was to immediately share this idea with your students in order to emphasize the importance of being totally committed to their projects and activities. It sounds to me like the commitment level you have to your students is gigantic, which is so refreshing. I know that each person here in this program with me shares the same vision to an extent, to bring the latest technology and the passion for sharing that with the young people who will be the next generation of teachers and other professionals. I also share your love of Moonlight Sonata, it being one of the pieces I taught myself to play later on in life. Your final analysis at the end of your post really sums everything Zander is trying to get across, I believe. Well done and another insightful, enjoyable post from you Marty!