MAC Week 4 Comments for Scott Legere

"I now ride the bus. Every day, I walk 7 blocks to the Downtown Minneapolis 5th Street Station. From there, I catch the 94Express and ride into downtown St. Paul. If I'm a little early (a rare feat), I'm able to grab a seat by the window and sit relatively distraction free from the chaos that can be indicative of public transportation in a major metropolitan area."

Scott, I love that you have embraced the opportunity your commute has given you. Instead of fidgeting and complaining about the necessity of the commute, you have transformed your ride into a time for introspection and a spot of reading. I almost envy you the bus ride. How wonderful to be able to enter the classroom energized and enthusiastic, ready to share something you have just read. Once we begin to see the possibilities for ourselves as contributors, our whole focus turns toward looking for possibilities for our students.

MAC Week 4 Reading: Chapters 10-12

I have loved every part of this book, such a simple, joyful, uplifting message delivered in such an engaging fashion. The ultimate tale of The Art of Possibility occurs when we stop the downward spiral that inevitably occurs when we focus upon ourselves. The Zanders bring their message home with the "WE story." As I was reading, I kept thinking the sports mantra "there is no I in team." At first I was a bit distracted by the capitalization of WE throughout the final chapter. In the world of online etiquette, capitals generally mean shouting, but then I realized that maybe WE should be shouting for joy at the possibilities that WE collectively can enjoy. The capitalized "WE" is all inclusive. This proved to be the case as the authors discussed "we," meaning you and I, and referred to the sense of compromise that viewpoint implies.

MAC Week 4 Publishing_Leadership post # 2

The first two options I have been considering for publication of my project are Catholic Library World (Click on the picture above for more information), and N.A.I.S., the National Association of Independent Schools. Working in a parochial environment, I have chosen to focus on publications that are most likely to meet similar demographics.

I contacted Catholic Library World first, enclosing my abstract. I heard back immediately from Sigrid E. Kelsey that CLW would be interested in reading my manuscript and considering it for publication.

A copy of the manuscript can be downloaded from:

https://public.me.com/sharonbjones

MAC Week 4 Publish/Leadership post # 1

I admit, I am in a quandary trying to decide which route to take for the Publish/Leadership portion of this program. I have two very different paths I wish to take. Our school participates in the Georgia Independent School Association (GISA) conference every year. I would love to present there. This year GISA is on October 1st. Obviously, this years presenters have already been selected. The submission form for 2011 will not be available until August 2011. Obviously this wont "make the cut" for having a venue accepted by the end of month 12. On the other hand, I would very much like to complete my article for publication, but trying to complete both a publication and presentation at the same time is quite daunting, even if it does include the same research information. My current thinking is to complete and publish the article this year, then prepare a presentation next year for GISA.

MAC Week 3 Open topic -- Ouch!

I've been so careful. I have an external portable drive just for backups. I am sure I have everything covered.

I had just finished restructuring my iWeb pages to include the prompts. Everything was saved, I just had to press publish.

"Unknown error. Your site did not publish."

Try again. Same response. Try a third time (yes, I do know that one definition of insanity is doing the same thing again and again expecting a different outcome, but desperate times require desperate measures) all to no avail.

Ok. It's time to pick up the phone and call tech support. They give me the Apple care number to try. Apple is very nice and very helpful. We go through a number of steps, but ultimately the decision is made that we will have to go backward through Time Machine to get rid of the glitch. No problem. Everything is backed up.

So we go back to the last backup. Nope. Still wont publish, even though it had worked the day I did the backup. Let's go back one more. Nope. Still nothing. One week before that. Ahh. Here we go. Now iWeb will behave and I can publish my changes -- except this takes me back prior to last Sunday's AR Status post -- and I typed and stored those pages at school, where they are happily and comfortably resting on the server. We are unable to access the server off site. I am unable to enter the school after hours. As I rebuild my pages, I can't help having a sneaking suspicion that my original posts were better. Sigh.

MAC Week 3 Comment for Scott LeGere

In many ways, I found the Zanders's observations to be in line with those of Sir Ken Robinson and other contemporary thinkers. In his now famous TED Talk entitled, "Do Schools Kill Creativity", Robinson reminds us that if anyone is ever afraid of being wrong, it is quite likely that they will never try anything original out of fear of failure or rejection.

Scott,

I, too, thought of Sir Ken Richardson as we were reading this week's assignment. I even went back and re-watched the video after watching the film of Ben Zander.

You are so right about the media setting up unrealistic expectations for performance. That is one of the things music educators must overcome on a daily basis. So many students are afraid to try, for fear they wont be perfect.

MAC Week 3 Comments for Dana Kohls

"It was difficult for me to choose between chapter 7 and chapter 9 of this weeks readings. Ultimately, I chose chapter 9 to write about: Lighting a Spark. The quote in the opening story struck a cord with me; "Certain things are better done in person." When conveying passion for a subject it is always better to do it in person, that way the audience has a feel for your expression, tone, excitement, interest and these elements draw them in. This is especially true of technology leaders. Often times we feel that we are not heard and that we are swimming upstream, so the subject and the change we are trying to implement deserves our attention. When we display our knowledge and passion in person we have a greater chance of being heard and understood. This is why I don't have serious conversations via text or email. The tone is so difficult to tell and the affect is non-existant, so it has such great potential to be misunderstood, not taken seriously or even ignored."

Dana, I was also torn between chapters 7 and 9, however I chose to write about chapter 7. I am glad I did. You have expressed beautifully the "spark" that is best conveyed in person.

Just this week we have had an incident in our school, where a staff member sent out an email with suggestions for improvements to the school website. I'm sure her intent was to be helpful, but unfortunately the tone was misconstrued. Ruffled feathers all around! You are definitely correct that tone and intent can easily be misinterpreted when relegated strictly to print.