Wk 2, Comment 2 Keith Lay . Rule # 6

 The Art of Possibility - Contribution - Leadership - Rule #6

To contribute is human; whatever we do affects the communities to which we belong - whether consciously or not. Even a smile is a contribution. When we deliberately contribute to a chosen community in a positive way: that is, to give time, energy and attention to it - it is a valuable gift. However, this only works if the contribution is done out of pure generosity  - or as Zander puts it - from the 'central self'. This part of us has many other names: Heart, Soul, Inner-Fire, Spirit, Small Clear Voice, God Self. No outcome is desired by our central self so we are not hurt if the gift is rejected, damaged or unnoticed. Teachers have a large capacity for this kind of contribution. 

The calculating self, on the other hand, has an agenda when it comes to giving: there is always something it desires in return.  When we contribute to be recognized as a more enlightened person we are doing it in order to improve our standing. The assumptions such a gift is made with is an 'it's all made up anyways'  purely calculated construction to create or support a belief in ourselves. When this kind of contribution is rejected our calculating self is hurt. What a challenge this brings to living! Our corporate, social life in the US requires our calculating self to effectively navigate. We naturally fall to this mode of thinking in order to get our work done. This in turn defines our social status and/or income. This in turn can repudiate our calculating self-esteem. If we are doing something for a job other than what we believe in, we have dis-integrated and stress between the two kinds of living creates confusion and ill health. What a challenge it is to live true to one's central self in today's world because you have to be willing to surrender everything you own or have achieved.

Coming from a poor family from a poor area, I had always been mystified how smart and capable 'lower class' folks could be content with their financial scarcity and lack of social status. I spent much of my life climbing ladders and proving myself to the world. I wanted to make a mark! I wanted better. I learned most about myself when my work was rejected, my reputation damaged, my career sabotaged by another. My calculating self was hurt - and my world teetered. Leading from every chair, low or high, by contributing with the central self is the answer to the mystery of how 'poor people' can live in contentment. Those folks knew what I didn't all along.

This challenge of living is so much easier to do if I JUST FOLLOW RULE NUMBER SIX !!

Posted on Saturday, July 17, 2010

 

Keith, You did it again.  I like to read what you write.  I was poor growing up and not much better now.  There was a real neat thing about mine growing up and that was somehow my parents made it all seem just right that we were growing up the way we did.  My Dad was a Sgt. in the Army.  Of course, Sgts. just don't make the money that officers make.  When you move, you can't even take the same amount of weight, unless you pay for the extra, and how can the people who make less pay for more?  Also, you live on post and the officers live in the nicer apartments or houses.  

I remember in 3rd grade, in Fort Hood, TX, one thing my mom did was make Doozies for us to drink.  We lived in an apartment complex of 8 apartments in each group.  They seem big because each one had upstairs and a basement, 3 bedrooms and 1 bathroom.  All the kids would play in the big backyard and there were at least 8 or 9 in a big circle with a big grassy area in the back circle that was everyone's back yard.  There were always lots of kids out playing and all the moms would bring drinks out for us on hot summer days.  Mostly water.  But my Mom made doozies with the magic spoon and my Daddy's dirty socks.  She made  a big pot of drink and when you stirred it fast and let go, the wooden spoon turned and turned all alone!  Hence, the Magic Spoon.  Kids couldn't wait to see the magic spoon work.

Also, she told us why Doozies tasted so good, and it was because she put my Daddy's dirty socks in.  We all squealed and moaned and groaned, but she pulled out all the little tupperware cups and we all got some of the best drink we ever had!  Kids went home talking about Doozies!

I later learned that lightweight wooden spoons turn in circles when you spin them fast.  As for the dirty socks, my Mom put various types of koolaid with frozen orange juice.  It made all the difference in the world.  My daddy had the most famous dirty socks in the neighborhood. 

To think my Mom's fun and imagination made Koolaid and frozen orange juice with all the water added for the Koolaid and frozen OJ, made a nice, cheap, but good for you drink.   I never felt poor.  Afterall, kids came from far and wide to drink doozies. 

My Mom and Dad must have known the Rule already.

Wk 2, Comment 1 Travis Franklin Rosetta Stone

http://web.me.com/mrfranklin17/MAC_Blog/Welcome.html

 Rosetta Stone Project for ELL Students - Travis Franklin

I am very excited about this optional blog post because I have some exciting news from my class to share. It is interesting that we are reading this book for this program because I have felt the frustrations and self-imposed disappointments that are mentioned early on in this book with my school staff and administration over the past few years that I have been there.

I teach in a low-income school, which I love, and we are so blessed to have such rich personalities among the kids. However, there are a majority of our teachers who view these kids as hopeless or unteachable so they choose to do activities with them that wouldn’t challenge another student 2 grade levels below so the kids can feel a false sense of success. This is until they take our state and district testing and score poorly because they aren’t prepared. The give these kids an F to begin with it feels like.

I have taken it upon myself this year to change, in my class at least, the atmosphere of how we view learning. I have gone out of my way to apply for and receive as many grants as I could this school year to enhance the learning experience and engagement level of my students.

Besides the iPod touch grant that I received which is the focus of my Action Research project, I have just received news that I have been funded for another major project to begin this fall. I applied for and received a Pepsi Refresh Your Neighborhood grant for $5000. My project is to bring the Rosetta Stone language learning software into our schools to use with our growing ELL population. The amazing thing about this is that these kids will have access to professional and authentic learning experiences that I am just not trained to provide. I initially thought that I would take the money and buy the CDs for my classroom, but I found out that with my money I can purchase their Manager software and put it on the school server so all of our kids can access it. We can create as many user accounts as we would like and track and monitor the progress of all of the students using the software.

I am extremely excited about this opportunity and will be blogging more about how this is goin. This will be my own mini Action Research project next year, for no credit other of course outside the fact that these kids will finally be receiving the teaching that they need and deserve.

Wow Travis!

 I don't think I've visited your web site before.  The first thing that impressed me was you have the same order of importance in your life that I do.  My Lord and Savior, Jesus, My Husband and family, My job, My other things in life.  About 20 years ago, I had a principal who didn't like that order.  She informed me that I had my priorities mixed up.  My job should always be first.  I explained to her that my job is very important, BUT, if she wanted me to be the best Music Specialist around, and she did think I was a very good teacher, then my priorities HAD to be in that order, or I wouldn't be a great teacher.  When she didn't respond, I softened my voice, because I had gotten a bit higher in frequency, and I said that Jesus is my Lord and Savior and He is the one who made my husband my best friend through college, leading us to marriage.  I then told her that she hired me based on the fact that she had watched me teaching in Grand  Ridge ( in our county), as Band Director and Elementary Music teacher (it's a country K-12 school) and that she thought enough of my teaching skills to want me at her school.  I then said that she saw me with Jesus  first, family second and my job was third.  If she was that impressed with the job I did in Grand Ridge those 10 years, birthing 3 babies during that time, then she wouldn't want me any other way.  I asked her was there anything I did wrong?  She said to make sure my next on site concert at a grocery store (business partner) needed to be Christmas songs, because she remembered that I didn't do any Christmas songs at all the last time we sang there.  (she said it very Uppity), so I said that of course we were singing Christmas songs (it would be the second week of December) and if I had known she wanted Christmas songs last time, I would have done them, but it probably would have sounded funny being we sang there in March.  She never said another word about my priorities or what we sing when we do programs. 

So, that aside, I'm excited about your grants.  I don't know what ELL is.  I'm sure it's like ESOL or ESL (English as a Second Language).  My middle son, 26, and his wife have  just moved from Malawi (Chichewa language) to Uganda (Swahili), so while in USA for a couple of months to work at Teen Missions and pick up USA teens coming to work this summer, they purchased the Rosetta Stone for Swahili.  They are also taking back my 3rd grandbaby they have carried.  We are praying for a healthy baby.  

Baby number one ended up being a tubal pregnancy and she fainted in a store at 3 months, while I was in Nepal.. Hannah was born a year ago, May 26th and lived an hour.  Both sets of grandparents were driving but didn't get there in time.  Their local friends decorated the labor room and had a birthday party and the photographers association, Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep, had a photographer waiting and he took a family portrait of them, and both happened in the hour that Hannah lived.  'She and the other baby are in heaven.  They have not been given good chances, but the Dr put her on 8,000 mg of Folic Acid ever since Hannah died and that gives them a 2% chance of a healthy baby.  Last week, she spotted some, but the dr said the baby appears healthy and they found a wheel chair to take back to Africa.  They even had 2 nights in hotels and one airline, from Washington DC to Ethiopia gave them first class seats so she can recline.  We don't know, but we know it's in God's hands and he is the only one who has control over this baby.  We are praying for a healthy birth and life, but we have put them in God's hands.  

    I came back from Haiti in time to get to see them for the Commissioning Service and they even got to go eat lunch with us, while the assistant leaders watched the team, before they left the country. 

     So, I am excited about your program.  God loves my grandbabies in heaven and he loves your and my kids we teach.  I am at the only elem. school in my town, except for a Christian school with about 200 students K-8.   I teach over 850 k-2 students.  

    One year, a Kindergarten student told me I was saying her name wrong.  It was after Christmas.  Her class pronounced her name wrong and so did her teacher.  When the child pronounced it for me and I got it right, I wrote it phonetically, as it was not pronounced the way you would think it was.  When her teacher came to get the class, I told her she and I had made a big mistake in the pronunciation of her name.  The teachers' response (and most of our teachers NOW are not like this), said "What does She know?  Their names are so weird now, how is anyone to know how to pronounce these names?"  She never learned to say it right, but I got the kids to learn to say it right. 

     I've taught long enough that kids have grown up and thanked me for respecting them, their families and their homes.  Some are now bringing me their kids to teach.  Some come to me with babies, asking how to sing some of the songs I taught them, so I've started a night class, one time only, twice a year, for parents to come with babies up to 2 and I will teach them to play with their babies musically.  

     Most kids who hear music as babies can already keep a steady beat and match pitch without being taught.  I know that anything you do to help these children will be a plus.  I know there are alot of teachers who love the kids as much as you do, but there are some who are jaded, tired and lost their memory of why we are teachers.  Some have changed careers, in FL, and can teach if they can pass a test.  They want the vacation we have.  But there is no light in their eyes, in wanting to help the poor, dirty, smelly children we teach.  They can't help the fact that no one gave them a bath, or has taught them how to bathe.  

    This past year, when I mentioned parents reading bedtime stories, he said, "do you read to your boys?"  I have pictures of my family in the room, I have pictures of all 3 boys as Kindergartners and I have a family picture as teens and pictures with their wives in wedding dresses.  He didn't think about them being grown.  When I said I read to them every night unless they were spending the night at grandma's or unless my husband read to them, he asked if he could come live with me.  He doesn't think anyone has ever read to him at home. 

     Sometimes, our hugs, our stories, our songs, our love are all they get.  Fortunately, there are alot of children in poverty homes with good parents who try hard.  Some of my poor kids are some of the richest families in my town.

      I need to learn about getting big grants.  I always apply for a mini grant for fine arts teachers, but it's only $200.  I will pray for you and your job and ministry with your kids. 

    By the way, Teen Missions could use you on summer teams.  Check it out.  http://www.teenmissions.org  

My sun is leading the upper nile team in Uganda.  I've gone on 1 team, in 1973 and led teams, 20 of them, in 1974 and 1976, plus the other 17 were in 1991 - 2008.  I've volunteered a few summers, at Boot Camp training when my husband didn't want me gone all summer.   I plan to go back next summer.  I didn't this summer because of our masters degree, so I went to Haiti for a short trip and last summer, I wasn't emotionally ready to go days after burying my granddaughter, so I went to Scotland to a place I've been befor, and led Football Camps with a Christian slant.  I'm overweight due to meds I have to take and do NOT seem like a soccer player, but I got some of the teen street kids to help me, as they remembered me from 2001 and 2002 when I was there before.  A young Christian man, a football coach in Glasgow, adopted me as a second Mom back then.  He now works with  the Paisley Pro team, St Marion, or something like that, and helped me in a tremendous way.  I spent 5.5 weeks there last summer, but I didn't start until my grandbaby's funeral was a month old. 

     So, Keep up the good work.  Try to not get discouraged about all that happens at your school.  What you do is important and makes a difference. 

Rosetta Stone image taken from Rosetta Stone Web Site

Wk 2, Post 2, The Art of Possibility 5-6, Leading from anywhere, Monkey See and Do

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  My second entry is about the other chapters.  Leading from any chair is really good and I’m glad to say I have done that before with very good results.  When I take my teens on these mission trips, I get so many different types of kids for these 8-9 weeks.  It sounds like  a long time, but it really isn’t.  During the training, we are very busy with learning, and are on such a schedule that very little can be done in this area.  When we leave, that is when we get to begin doing things like that.  We put the kids in charge of many different things.  Of course we are there to take over iuf needed, but even that needs to be done quietly.  Usually the kids just need to know we are there and can take over if needed, but that happens rarely. 

     Chapter 6 is about rule six “ Don’t take yourself so seriously”.  I love rules like that.  They make a point.  Simple. Clean. 

     I know there is a poster out in many areas, but 39 years ago I had never heard of this before and never saw the posters until the past 15 years.  My band director used it and I loved it.   If you have heard it, and you are reading this, you will have to hear it again.

There are only two rules in my band room. 

Rule # 1 – The Band Director is always right.

Rule # 2 – When the Director is wrong, refer to rule # 1.

Again, It’s simple and clean.  Here is a perfect example of it in use, the right way, not the dictatorship way. 

We went to his hometown in North Alabama to play a concert.  He had always wanted to do that.  We took up the stage, back stage and half the floor of the small auditorium of the small, old school.  The entire town turned out for the concert as Johnny Long had begun his career at Troy State University with 13 band members and it was now in it’s 20 something year of 250 +, playing at inaugural parades in Washington, 3-4 major football games halftime shows with at least 2 minutes of air time, playing for at least 1 bowl game during the holidays, etc. 

At this concert, he invited some big wig AF director to guest conduct a march.  The man totally messed up while directing, skipping repeats in some places, and adding repeats where none were written.  He didn’t do this in the rehearsal with us, but for some reason, in the performance, he messed up big time. 

We followed the rule, though, the director is always right and somehow, the entire band followed him through his mistakes, so the audience never knew there had been a mistake.  So, in the end, no one was embarrassed, we sounded great, he saved face and all turned out well. 

I’ve shared this with my students, telling them that when one of us make a mistake, we all do OR, we all don’t.  It’s up to us to anticipate the mistakes and try to all go the same  way.  Which way is that?  The right way or the way the director is going?  Follow the director and do you best to stay together.  In the end, no pointing fingers as you only followed the 2 rules and you did the right thing.

My small children can hardly do that.  They sing almost programmed.  If I make a mistake, it doesn’t matter, as they are going to sing it the way I taught them to, and if I mess up, I can find my way back to the right place. 

BUT, once we sang at the state capital.  We were the youngest group chosen to sing at Florida Music Educators Associations:  Music Education Day at the Capital.  We sang in the rotunda.  Upstairs, on the 3^rd floor, a deaf  group was there asking for a new law for the deaf and saw my kids signing a song.  They made it to the ground floor before the song was over and when it ended, indicated they loved the song.  I signed thank you and began interpreting all the songs for them while directing.  I’ve done sign language with my kids so much, they just began copying me, through every song we sang.  They were real troopers.  They never acted like it was different than what we practiced.  They just thought I was signing with them, just like in the classroom.  At the end, the deaf contingency was so impressed these hearing kids could sign an entire concert.  Even they didn’t realize the kids were just copying me, for the first time, on all songs but the first one they saw. 

That was such a great experience of kids just doing what I do, needing no explanation.  They did it because I did. 

    

Now, back to rule number 6.  Does that mean I am the best teacher ever?  I trained these kids to be so great, I taught them sign language so wonderful they could copy me?  Oh yes, Rule number 6.  Don’t take myself seriously.  No, kids love to copy.  They are little mirrors and tape recorders.  This is how they learn.  They just did the way the Good Lord made them.  I just happened to have a great group of little monkeys who knew how to do: Monkey see, Monkey Do, Monkey does the same as You.  In other words, Rule # 6.

Thanks for introducing this book.  I am really enjoying it so far.

Zander, The Art of Possibility
Graphic found in Google under:  Rule Number 6, from Zander's Art of Possibility

Wk 2, Post 1.The Art of Possibility 4-6 "We did it THAT way in our old group"

I was struck with various things in each of the chapters,  as I read them,  The Chapter, Being A Contribution, struck me in one small sentence, but in a big way.  It was in the Dinner Table Game, where it is talking about each person, in the game of contribution,  He had this remark to make:
                 When I began playing this, I found there was no better orchestra than the one I play in now,
                                         no better person to be with than the one I'm with. 
     I take teens on mission trips in the summers (usually, this summer is the exception due to our classes!).  We have some teens who raise support and do this for 2-6 summers.  It is hard work, but very rewarding.  Some kids get to our training we have for 2 weeks, before we leave the USA.  During that time, we have classes in blocklaying, digging, hammering, tying wire, etc.
     They also have classes on washing clothes and us in a bucket, etc. and we introduce several NOT WANTED characters.  People like Love Sick Lil, Dirty Donnie.  BUT our worst NOT WANTED character is always Last Year Larry who always begins sentences saying, "Well, Last year, we did this....., or Last year, we sang these songs...., Last year, we built the orphanage this way....., Last year our leaders let us go buy candy every day, etc.".
       People who always look back at the other group they learned to love, can't ever find time to learn to love the new group, the new leaders, the new country, the new customs, etc.
      If Last year Larry would instead, come to Teen Missions with the contribution idea, he would come saying, " Last year my South Africa team was wonderful and I loved it.  But that was Last year, and now, I'm on the Peru team.  There is no better team than my Peru team.  No better leaders than my Peru leaders, No better team mates than the Peru team mates."
     What a fresh beginning.  Of course last years team to South Africa was great.  You worked hard to build a school for a village and you helped the AIDS orphans with a house for the 2 helpers to work with the 500 orphans in the 2.5 miles circle. Last year Larry, you can say, " I was on the best 2009 team ever".
     But NOW, you are here and should say, "I'm here on the Best Peru team ever!  I'm on the best 2010 team ever.  We are going to do a great job.  we have the best leaders, the best team, the best work ethics, the best children to play with, the best trinkets to buy.  We will even take the best pictures and have the best stories to tell.  Why?  Because this is NOW AND WE HAVE THE BEST TEAM.
        That one sentence was such a revelation to me.  Our kids need to see it more as Contribution. according to The Art of Possibility.

Zander, The Art of Possibility, Penguin Books, Pages 57-58.
Bland, Director. Teen Missions International, Inc. http://www.teenmissions.org
Teen Missions Icon from their web site. 




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