Week Two Reading Post - The Art of Possibility

Chapter 1. It's All Invented: How can we think outside the box we live in? What assumptions are we making that we're not aware that we are making? What might we invent that would give us other choices?

The connection I’m able to make from the information here is the practice that I use frequently in my classroom.  I ask students to think, to dissect, to analyze, to interpret, and to question.  I ask them to not immediately assume that they know the answer, just because they’ve read it on the Internet or heard their parents or peers verbalize it.  I ask them to question, to pick things apart, to be curious, and to try to see things from many different angles before they form their own opinions.  As you might guess, this is a challenge for many adults, not to mention eighth graders! 

Chapter 2. How are your thoughts and actions a reflection of the measurement world?

Because we live in the “measurement world”, it is sometimes difficult to step away and view things in a different light. Personally, I struggle to view things in the black or white, the right or wrong, or inside or outside of the boundaries. I think the thing that saves me is my mantra:  I don’t have to have an opinion about things that don’t concern me.  That doesn’t mean I don’t have an opinion about important things – it just means that I don’t have to get overly excited about things that don’t directly impact me.  It makes my life much simpler!

Chapter 3. Giving an A: Giving Yourself an A.

There are many messages to be taken away from this chapter.  So many, in fact, that I’ve been struggling to decide which is the one I should record here.  Reading the stories embedded in the chapter has given me cause to reflect over some past relationships, and come upon some realizations of my own.  Without going into personal detail, suffice it to say that I could relay a similar story to nearly every one in the chapter.  I love the concept of giving yourself an A (maybe it’s recognition, maybe it’s forgiveness?) and moving forward with your life.  This is a concept I want to practice!

Chapter 4. Being a Contribution: How will I be a contribution today?

I shared this story at some point with a previous instructor, but will share it again, because I think it is a great example of touching one person, of being a contribution to the greater good. 

I used to teach at an alternative school in Seattle, grades 6-12.  Students were required each year to complete a community service project.  One eighth  grade girl, Whitney, struggled to find a passion, a project, and a placement.  We went back and forth with ideas for weeks.  After one particularly frustrating discussion with her, I was on the ferry, on my way home.  I happened to sit beside a woman who had a guide dog with her.  The dog was really a pretty playful puppy, who I tried desperately to ignore.  With permission, I petted and played, and conversed with the woman.  She told me about the guide dog program she ran, and how she was having trouble finding people to raise dogs until they were ready for guide dog training.  As we departed the ferry, I really didn’t give our conversation much more thought.

The next time I saw Whitney, I was braced for yet more “I don’t know”, and “I don’t want to do that”, and “I don’t like that” conversation.  We were sitting near a window, and a woman walking some sort of puppy happened to walk by.  Whitney immediately smiled and pointed and started talking about puppies.  The light bulb went on in my head, and I mentioned the conversation I’d had on the ferry with the woman about guide dogs.  Whitney immediately and excitedly wanted to know all about that type of program.  We looked online, found a contact number, and sent her home to talk to her mom about the possibility.

In the weeks that followed, Whitney and her family attended informational meetings about raising guide dogs.  “Laurence” was delivered to them about a month later, and became a permanent fixture in our classroom.  He attended school daily, and Whitney could not have been more proud and pleased to have found this service project.  In the years that followed, the family raised and delivered Laurence and multiple other dogs to be trained for guide dog service. 

Whitney wrote me an email a year or so ago, and thanked me for “turning her on” to guide dog raising.  She recounted how difficult it had been for her to step outside of her comfort zone and actually do service for others.  She told me she loved me every time her family got a new puppy to raise, how they all secretly hoped the puppy would fail training so they could keep it, and how she hated me every time they surrendered a dog for training.

In this case, I guess my contribution is showing someone else how to make a contribution.  I love it when I reach in and grab students by the heartstrings!