Wk 4 Virtual Class Session: The New Art of Possibility

The book the “The Art of Possibility” I would have to say was the best book that I have read in years. As I was sitting in class reflecting on Professor Bustillos comments on why he chose this book for the class, I couldn’t help but to be grateful. I feel that if I would have read this book years ago I would have accomplished more. I know that I would of have had more ammunition to think out of the box.There are time when you feel that nothing is going to happen for you when you have a goal in mind. In my mind I knew that there was a reason why this class was necessary. In my opinion I feel that every student should be required to read this book. I know that I am a better person because of this class and I look forward to taking the knowledge that I received in this great class to empower other that you can write the story of your life and open the box of possibilities.

Picture made in Microsoft Word

Wk 4: Leadership Without Sight

Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.                     ~ Helen Keller

Helen Keller at a very young age knew that it would take her pushing through opposition in order to achieve something great. As the first deaf and blind person to achieve a Bachelor of Arts Degree she knew in order to do great things in the world she would have to step out and be herself. As an American author, political activist, and lecturer, she pushed the boundaries to help those with disabilities.

Helen Keller knew that she would have to go up against objections because she was deaf and blind. She made a decision to push through those objections and build herself so that she could help others. There are so many people that look at objections and they quit before they start. Since I was a little girl one of my first books was about Helen Keller. I was so amazed that a little girl that was deaf and blind could grow up to be someone that would change the world. I wanted to be that leader. I wanted to help those that needed help. I wanted to help others to have a voice. I knew that there would be obstacles that I would have to say this is just another stepping stone to get to where I need to go to become me. Sometimes as leaders we do not always have physical sight of the vision but we must push onward toward that which is within us. As I finish another chapter in my life, I know that I will be able to get closer to the leader that I want to be. Pushing to become a great leader like Helen Keller.

I shall become!

Reference:

Helen Keller US blind & deaf educator (1880 – 1968) Retrieved from http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/30186.html

Ketsana’s Post and comment

Kestana’s Post: Reading-Vision

Vision: 

A vivid mental image, the ability to form mental images of thing or events, an event as apprehended, the ability to see; the visual faculty, the perceptual experience of seeing

According to The Art of Possibility, a vision articulates a possibility. It’s not about looking back and making corrections, but looking towards the future and making a dream become a reality.

As I am finishing up EMDT, I am really fired up about sharing my passion with others. Of course, I have encountered some resistance, but that is okay with me. I’m a not easily deterred when I firm in my beliefs and ideas. I learned this lesson from my many teachers, professors, and my father.

My father was a man with a vision. In 1977, during the war in Laos, he was on the list of those to be terminated because he was on the “enemy” side. The Communist army was overtaking Laos and my father was a solider fighting in the war on the American side. He fled the country when I was eight years old. My mother and I did not think that we would ever see him again. Months later, he came in the night to rescue us; we traveled on foot for several days and night (walking only in the night time to keep safe from those on the hunt for us). When we arrived in Thailand, we settles in the Thailand refugee camp for two and a half years.

My father’s vision was for my family to not just survive, but also to thrive. He sought out a new homeland for us. In his mind, he envisioned my brothers and me going to an American school and being free from threats of harm. I can remember how scared I was thinking of living in a far off place where people had electricity right in the homes and bathing themselves indoors, not down at the river. But my father always comforted us by being strong. We followed his example. He was willing to go to a country where he knew not a soul, did not speak the language, and had no clue about what the future held. He had told me, “Ketsana, America, is just over the horizon. That is our where we are going.”

I am thankful that my dear old father (he died in 1998) had a vision. It took one man to change many lives. Because of my father, I am able to live in America and be a teacher. Every day I affect young children’s lives. Every day I bring my love for learning, books, and other fun stuff to share with my students. Yes, I still tell the story of my escape from Laos.

In the educational environment it only takes one person to change so much. As a teacher, I hope to help my students pursue  their own vision for the future. Whatever it is they are seeking, I hope to say, “It’s just over the horizon. Go for it.”

Van Halen: Right now

Sources:

http://www.visualthesaurus.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMV-fenGP1g&feature=youtu.be

 

Comment:

Ketsana, your story touched on so many different things that made me reflect on great leaders. As a great leader yourself, you have embarked into the next level on your journey. The knowledge that you looked for through Full Sail University was the knowledge needed to expand your mind and to see what it really means to make a difference in a student’s life. Knowledge is power the more that you know the more that you can empower others with your knowledge and experience.

The story about your father was amazing. Your father saw a vision of a better life for your family and he did what he needed to do in order for your lives to be better. It is not always an easy journey to follow vision. I actually do not know anyone that made a great impact on the world that did not have issues to overcome. I call the issues walls because if you can see what it should look like on the other side you know that you can knock down that wall. That is what you have been doing in your school. You have been knocking down walls everyday. As you continue in your journey I know that your great leadership will impact more students and others that surround you. Thank you for sharing.

Wk 4 Reading: ” Pushing Through the Tides”

As time goes on we will have to make a choice, a choice that will either make or break you. We will have to decide if we are going to allow a situation to lift us up or break us down. The first thing that many people need to realize is that we are all destined to do great things. There is no one else like you or me. Just like there is no one else like Martin Luther King. He saw a dream and he went after the dream regardless of the boulders in the way. There is a strong need to build up the morale of so many people because they saw a dream and then it was buried.

I remember telling a close friend everyday that the world really needs her. She laughed every time and said Jamie you are always putting a smile on my face. Well I told her that the day she realizes how important that she is the higher she will go in life. Then one day it happened. The light came on and she knew how important she is to the world. Now she doing things that she could never dream about. Why? It is because her possibilities box opened up and she saw the true her. Martin Luther King and Gandhi saw beyond the tides and said I am going to take the waves because on the other side is what they call “Greatness.” How often do we sit down and say I am going to get out of the normal day routine and do something great? Many may say never or many may say well greatness is different to everyone. My question is directed to those that want to make a true impact in their life and the life of others. We need to push towards the mountain of “Greatness” and overcome the tides of disappointment. There is something great in everyone it is time to “Push” for possibilities.

Wk 3 Virtual Class Session

This weeks class was amazing. It was very helpful in regards to what was needed to be done for this week. I feel that the presentations were very good. After each presentation I felt that there was more that I needed to put within my own presentation. When I started my presentation I felt that I had included the details needed to present a great leadership session. Then I realized that it was missing some very basic information like “Who I am”.  I enjoyed the different colors seen in the presentation especially Niki’s who grabbed me with my favorite color and it did keep me engage like Ketsana had stated. After looking over the Wimba I knew that there was more for me to do. After making the different changes I felt comfortable to present my presentation.  I did my presentation with Ketsana and my husband. I think that it turned out better than I expected. Ketsana said that I had a lot of graphics and that it did have all of the important elements needed based on what the professor and others stated in class. She went further in stating that many students can benefit from what I am presenting. My husband stated that he felt that I could cut down some of the wording in the slides but other than that the presentation was great.

Leadership Project

Wk 3 Niki post and comment

Week 3 Reading: Art of Possibilities

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It’s amazing but the quote, “When the student is ready the teacher will appear” still holds true. This book is really speaking to me. Chapter 5 had the most impact on me. I was reminded of my own situation when Georgina explains in the letter to Zander about the seating arrangements. Her negative situation was turned into a positive one. It is so hard to see anything positive when going through a storm.  I know that’s how I felt last year when the changes occurred in my workplace. I had to choose between training and management. I had run the program for several years and trained users from all over the world. Even though I’d received awards and praises for the training program, the project manager decided to create a different model. I felt hurt and conflicted. I was totally taken by surprise and became angry and resentful. My students and the relationships that I’d built with them was my only joy. The situation confirmed my love for training. It was clear to me that I wanted to teach more than manage. Once that decision was firm in my soul I decided enroll in the EMDT program. I wanted to make an investment in myself. I was not my job and didn’t want it to define me as a person. I do miss having a voice in my current position on matters that are important to me. It has be an awesome journey reinventing myself to have a different voice. I’ve created a dream or goal book with ideas I’d like to pursue after graduation. I came to realize, just like Georgina did about her position in the orchestra that I have a voice that can make a difference. I am excited and can’t wait to use it to continue me journey. I am open to all the possibilities the world has to offer me and all I can give back.

Comment

As I was reading your post I started to think about how amazing this book is. I have reached many doorways that were hard for me to walk through and with the information in this class I feel a greater appreciation for some of those doorways. I was just thinking would you have come to Full Sail if that situation in your life didn’t happen. I feel everything in life can be taken as the opening of a new pathway or a place. It is up to us if it is going to be a positive one or a negative one. I really enjoyed your post.

Wk 3 Ketsana’s post and comment

Life is a journey. Live, laugh, and love.

In this week’s reading of The Art of Possibility, I am left thinking about my young learners. This year, I am happy to spend time teaching and learning with my sixth graders. These students are young enough to still enjoy school and learning. When I see their eyes and ears perk up, I know that they are still in the stage of “I like school.”

Then I wondered about the older students and what happened to them to make them hate school. Last year I taught eight graders and it was a challenging nine months for me. The students did not care about learning, some had terrible records, including police records, failing grades, and had no intention of attending college.

What I have seen in the past years and some this year is the negative attitudes from the students towards learning something new. If the answer is not visible and right in their faces, they automatically say,” I don’t get, ” or, “I can’t do it.” Whatever happened to thinking and pondering the possibilities? Why can’t they try to seek out answers, even if it leads to more questions? Is thinking too much effort? Sometimes I become very frustrated with my learners, but I am determined to continue encouraging better thinking skills and enjoyment of learning.

My goal as a teacher is to share my knowledge and, more importantly, my deep passion for knowledge with my students. May they realize that life is a journey. Live, laugh, and love.

SOURCE: http://www.tagxedo.com/app.html

 

Comment

 

jnanderson2day

November 11, 2012 at 7:12 pm ∞

Ketsana it is funny that you talked about possibilities. I was thinking about my capstone project and I thought about why I constantly talk about vision. I talk about vision so much because when I was a child I constantly thought about different possibilities for my life. I was able to do this because I had parents are dreamers. My mother would take me for drives up to Vermont and she would take me to museums. At theses different museums she would talk to me about what was going on during the different times. That expanded my mind. Many parents don’t invest time in their children anymore. Many kids hear “you can’t do that.” They drill negativity into their children and wonder why their kids go in the wrong direction. We need to open the door of “wonders” to students so that they can see how amazing life can be.

Wk 3 Leadership Project Hub

The purpose of my action research is to help motivate high school students to start thinking about what they will do after they graduate high school. I began by asking what would happen if more students started college with a clear idea of what they wanted to do? What if students researched different career ideas before graduating high school? I hope to demonstrate how I am improving my practice, as well as how I can contribute to the body of literature by motivating and engaging students to think beyond today’s gratifications and to get more involved in thinking about their future. I decided to share my research at GaeTC next November 2013 because I like the their vision. GaeTc has conferences for all levels of educators. There is growth there for me to be able to show different educators more about Ziggs and the benefits that it can give students.

Week 1 Leadership Blog

Week 2 Leadership Blog

Presentation Speaker Notes

Presentation

Literature Review

Wk 3 Reading “Finding the True Leader”

A true leader is a leader that knows how to serve. A person that wants to bring the best out of those that follows them.  A leader can see the full picture and help others to build the vision that a leader has been envisioning. Each person has a different talent that can either be suppressed or encouraged to become a masterpiece.  When I was a child I can honestly say that most teachers stood at the podium. Their concern was to get through the year and regardless of how pretty it was or the result they would just keep going. That went for all of the leaders that I saw growing up. They would direct but they would not have a full concern about if their staff were passionately into what they were doing. Today leaders are seeing that if they can build the morale of their staff production would be a lot better. In many ways leaders paralyze themselves by standing high above those that follow them. Those that follow them will never fully put passion within what they do because they do not have a full respect for those that they follow.

 

As a Resident Assistant (RA) at my college, I remember the training was horrible. We cleaned and raked a summer camp, which was over 3 acres. We cleaned all of the cottages from top to bottom. We even went water tubing on some rapids. By the way every single leader got out of the water bleeding. The rocks and whatever else hit our bodies while we were sitting on a tire made sure of that.  We all hated the training. We said how are we going to use these experiences to lead the students. Then at the point of quitting they told us why we went through such a horrendous process. They stated “that as leaders we need to know how to lead our students by serving them. Allowing the students to express passion in whatever area they do best. Sometimes that might be the easiest process but in the end the result will be worth it all.” We were leaders sitting down but making sure that everything ran smoothly. When students had an issue with another student, we were there to help moderate the situation. We helped lead the students to follow their dreams with encouragement and in essence helped us as leaders to see a safe, comfortable, worry-free campus. We were not the police or the judge. We didn’t lock them in their rooms or bang the gavel and tell them that they would not do well in life.

 

As leaders we need to give those that follow us room to grow and even make mistakes. In my opinion there is a lesson in every mistake.  We need to listen to those that are following us. The truth is they see more from the advantage point that they are at than where we are. They can make the difference in what is seen and heard. When we give those that follow us room they will learn how to work with each other so that in the end they will work together for the leaders goal.

Wk 2 Leadership: Where I Want to Share My Project

When I first started this month I said that I was going to publish  After looking at the different places to publish I thought about how amazing it would be to present my research. I looked through different places that I could publish but I think that I would be more affective if I would go and present. I want to present somewhere that they will discuss vision and careers. I know that there are different places in the county that I live in that is very interested in helping students with careers. I have chosen to look the following places to present:

GaETC (Georgia Educational Technology Conference)

In making a decision I looked over this conference and since it is local I know that I would be able to discuss the different ideas on how to get students excited about their future by using technology. What I like the most about presenting at this conference is the fact that I will be talking to people that will understand the demographics that I will be talking about.

ACTE (Association for Career and Technical Education)

What caught my attention about this conference was the fact that they talk about careers and vision. Since vision is my passion I know that I will excel in presenting a message about vision and getting students excited about their careers. I know exactly how I would present my material in an atmosphere such as this one. From what I read they are   very excited about getting students engaged in the future ideas.