Ben and Roz Zander’s book “The Art of Possibility” is one of the best books of its kind I have ever read. It is a complete ‘page turner’ for me anyway. I absolutely love it and could not close my e-book reader until nearly 2:00 a.m. I should mention here that I am not a very engaged, excited or avid reader of non-fiction, textbook-types of reading materials, with one exception of course, I do love Adobe Creative Suite instructional books. This ‘textbook’ is so different. I really did not feel like I was reading a textbook or a ‘how-to’ book for our course. Roz and Ben’s stories are all true, from their own life experiences, so I feel very ‘connected’ to them right away. While each chapter is a sort of ‘technique’ description, such as “Giving an A” and “Be a Contribution,” they are also a testament as to why these individuals are so successful in their lives. I can’t personally see how anyone reading this book could not improve something about their own life, no matter how small.
Zander’s concept of giving an A is really interesting to me. Because he is a teacher of a group of musical students, who play orchestral instruments, it seemed to me that they would be a really receptive ‘audience’ for that type of grading. I can also see it working in other artistic courses such as drawing, painting, graphic design, etc. However, I think it would be difficult to teach say a high school English course and start the semester giving all the students an A to begin with, and somehow expect them to ‘earn’ that A as the time goes on. I suppose every case of this is different, and I really did like the idea, it sounded like his class really took it to heart from some of the wonderful letters the students wrote to him which he published in the book. I really enjoyed the heartfelt letters very much.
On being a ‘contribution’ in your life to others around you, that makes perfect sense. No matter how busy I am, I try to be there for people who need me or need something. I am up to my ears in my AR project as well as these courses at the moment, plus I have other obligations to take care of. However, I am making time this week to help a long time friend of mine who is out of work. I have offered to create a new resume for him and to shoot some photos of him ready for his job search efforts. He is not as computer savvy as I am, and he needs the help. I am glad to do this because he is going to make the effort to look for work in an economically crippled town in this poor economic time our country is going through. I think it’s the least I can do to contribute to someone else’s luck.
I love the book, I think everyone should read it regardless of what their profession or schooling is.
What you are getting at when you question whether Ben Zander’s practice of starting everyone off with an A being applied to a high school English class has to do with the characteristics of the groups he does that with. Ben Zander is working with high-level achievers (like the people in our EMDT program). It is fair to ask if that would work in a traditional high school English class, which would include students not especially interested in studying English.
ReplyDeleteThere is a lot to be said for high expectations. Over and over again it has been shown that having high expectations of students results in better student achievement. For Zander’s students, the benefit may be removing stress and letting students move on without fear. Perhaps for high school students, the effect would be to change their perceptions of themselves. The revelation that their teacher considers them capable of excellent work can motivate students to see themselves that way. It becomes a very positive self-fulfilling prophecy.
Zoe, I completely agree. I love this book and all books like it. They are the only kind I read (over and over). I also love the importance put on being a contributor.
ReplyDeleteIsn’t that what it’s all about. We teach to contribute and we learn so that we can continue to contribute. I use to watch Extreme Home Makeovers and cry of course, and think that those people had the best job in the world because they got to do something so extraordinary to help people. Then I realized that contributing isn’t only about the big things we can do, but about everything we do. The importance of making a contribution of any size is definitely something I hope to instill in my students and my own children.
Hi Pat, yes I can see what you are saying and basically I was questioning it because unlike Zander, I am not sure that many teachers could 'handle' that approach with their students (probably with the exception of you and Thomas Meringolo, and a few others anyway). I think it is more about the teacher than the student. I think Zander is 'that' special really. True, students in a high school English course are probably not as overwhelmingly motivated as Zander's orchestra students were!
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ReplyDeleteI think instilling contributor attributes into children while you have them at home is how they turn out to be good grown ups, who are contributors at work and in their personal life, so the fact that you instill this into your own children means that they will most likely grow up like you and feel the same way, which is great, it puts another generation of contributors out there in the world!
Hi, Zoe –
ReplyDeleteI was just as enthralled with the Zander’s book as you were, but I actually stopped reading at midnight. I remembered I had to get up for school. It has flown to the top of the list of any and all self-help, transformative books I’ve read, and that’s a pretty long list.
The giving an A concept makes sense for the artistic realm. I stopped my music education because I just didn’t think I measured up to my classmates, and the pressure was highly competitive at Hartt. All that judging took all the joy out of music for me for a long time. I think the high school aspect is as much about thinking of the students as being A students as it is letting them know it. The minute you adopt that view of them, the way you would approach or treat them would likely be very different.
You’re always there to help, Zoe. I am certainly a living testament to that. We’ve all helped each other throughout this year, and you’ve rescued me more times than I can count. All those tutorials you made for us during ADDIE come to mind. I would agree that you see yourself as a contribution. I’m thinking this book would make great holiday gifts this year! I love it, too.
Lol! Holly, how funny we were both up 'burning the midnight' oil on that book weren't we?! I didn't realize you were originally in a music career program. I can certainly understand how the judging would take the joy out of something you loved doing. It was sometimes a little like that for me in Design school. When our portfolios got judged and some instructors liked some things better than others, or had harsh criticism for one of our pieces, it was hard not to take it personally, and thus some 'joy' as you put it was definitely removed. I appreciate your comments about my tutorials, I felt like it was something I had to do for my own sanity and to help the awesome team we have! I'm going to miss this program and the team, and everyone in it who was with us or who taught us...
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