Week 2 Comment 2 Ishia's Blog

Week #2 Reading Post: Inventing Possibilities By Writing Into the Future and Being A Contribution
The compelling idea that stood out in reading The Art of Possibility by Rosamund and Benjamin Zander was the assignment of having students write letters into the future as a requirement for earning an A. This activity takes me to one that I do with my freshman students:

During the final week of school, I ask students to write a letter into the future that they will read as a graduating senior. I suggest that they speak about goals, reflect on the past year, reminisce or a combination of those. I promise not to read them. The Zander activity is similar. Students write to themselves in past tense about their future. But this is where a major break happens.

Whereas, my intentions are for students to set goals to measure themselves and to reflect on past experiences for self-improvement, the Zander method challenges students to see the selves they want to become in the present. Whereas, my students assess themselves for growth and change by reading their letters from three years ago, the Zander method works as a teacher/student assessment to determine which path will exact the growth needed to change now.

This gave me pause to consider that I am expecting my students to singlehandedly invent themselves based on a set of standards, when I should align with them on knocking down the barriers that block the infinite possibilities that are before them. My assignment, then, should occur 10 months earlier with a new intent on students “inventing” themselves based on their future self – validations.

In a few weeks I will be teaching an experimental writing course for incoming freshmen. One of the things that I will try is giving them an “A” and making their initial writing assignments the “A” letter and observations on “Being A Contribution.” One of the things that I most enjoyed about Film Making Principles and Gaming class was the release of pressure I felt. Kathy would assign AAA (Absolute “A” Assignments) and Dr. Dan would just have us play games. Even without the pressure, I ironically dug deeper and challenged myself creatively. I think that this can work for my future students.


My Comment:

I could not agree more. I think I even wrote about that in a former post. I felt such peace knowing that their were clear cut expectations from the teacher and I knew exactly what I had to do to get an "A". I teach second grade so it is kind of the same thing, if the students try and work hard they earn A's. I wish my own children in high school had more teachers like the ones I've met here at FS.