Sunday, September 11, 2011

The Art of Possibilities Chapters 1-4 Week 2




What is defined as reality and how do we view the world?  In the book, The Art of Possibility by Zander & Zander, it addresses the questions of how individuals perceive the world and its realities.  The book is broken into chapters defining different practices from the female point of view and the male perspective. 
In chapters 1-4, practices 1-4 are discussed.  These chapters also give a clear point of view on the question, how do we view the world.  Practice one explains how we perceive things are based on our own inventions.  My understanding of practice one is that we tend to create the world we want from our past, present experiences as well as our traditions, morals and values that have been passed down.  If these inventions or perceptions are bad than we see the world as something bad and need to be changed, on the other hand if our experiences are good, then we feel the world is in a great state and no changes or minor changes are necessary.  Practice two breaks down the understanding that the world has several possibilities.  I see this practice as telling our self that if we invent the world then we create our own opportunities or possibilities.  This means that everyone has a fair chance at doing and creating whatever he or she want out of life in this world.  For example, if your perceptions or inventions are positive than you can gain great things because that’s your creation or belief but it your perceptions are negative than you decrease your chances of being as successful as you would like because your inventions are flawed by what needs to change rather than what I can accomplish.  Practice three discuss how we view our self determines how we view others.  It also discussed the point of giving yourself a grade A so that opportunities can increase for you.  I feel that this practice is saying, if we were not negatively critical of our self, then we would not judge others negatively.  Which means that everyone would have a fair chance at life in this world.  Practice four discussed how we should be a contributor.  I feel that those who contribute to the world have the label as an inventor.  Which means that their views and perspectives open the door for others. 
Once I got into this book and the chapters 1-4, I began to truly understand the concepts the authors were discussing.  I truly like the way they introduced their practice.  I love how it is also told from the female and male perspective.  I am going to use the quote from these chapters about grading yourself as an A in my class to help motivate my students to view the world as an invention and create the best opportunities for themselves and always see themselves as greatness and not be judgmental but positive contributors to others.  Great book choice for this class.

3 comments:

  1. I wanted to comment that I liked that the others alternated their opinions of a certain topic. I'm not sure that I saw a as much of a male/female point of view, but there were definitely two different professional voices. The creative and psychological components made if very easy to relate to the topic in both emotional and logical ways. Good point.

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  2. Chanda,

    I think that utilizing some of the practices from this weeks reading, in your classroom, is a great idea. For so many students they gage their success based on the measurement of a grade. If that is taken off the table and they can start out knowing they already have an A, it will give them the push to do what it takes to keep that grade. Education has so many psychological aspects to it and it is exciting to see there is another way to help our students appreciate the work they accomplish. I have seen to many kids become discouraged because they don't think they are good enough. They get lost in thinking that they are a grade, when in reality every student is already great!

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  3. good summary of the reading, i'm glad that you can see how the reading might work with your students. Awesome.

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