What you are getting at when you question whether Ben Zander’s practice of starting everyone off with an A being applied to a high school English class has to do with the characteristics of the groups he does that with. Ben Zander is working with high-level achievers (like the people in our EMDT program). It is fair to ask if that would work in a traditional high school English class, which would include students not especially interested in studying English.
There is a lot to be said for high expectations. Over and over again it has been shown that having high expectations of students results in better student achievement. For Zander’s students, the benefit may be removing stress and letting students move on without fear. Perhaps for high school students, the effect would be to change their perceptions of themselves. The revelation that their teacher considers them capable of excellent work can motivate students to see themselves that way. It becomes a very positive self-fulfilling prophecy.
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Zoe wrote:
Ben and Roz Zander’s book “The Art of Possibility” is one of the best books of its kind I have ever read. It is a complete ‘page turner’ for me anyway. I absolutely love it and could not close my e-book reader until nearly 2:00 a.m. I should mention here that I am not a very engaged, excited or avid reader of non-fiction, textbook-types of reading materials, with one exception of course, I do love Adobe Creative Suite instructional books. This ‘textbook’ is so different. I really did not feel like I was reading a textbook or a ‘how-to’ book for our course. Roz and Ben’s stories are all true, from their own life experiences, so I feel very ‘connected’ to them right away. While each chapter is a sort of ‘technique’ description, such as “Giving an A” and “Be a Contribution,” they are also a testament as to why these individuals are so successful in their lives. I can’t personally see how anyone reading this book could not improve something about their own life, no matter how small.
Zander’s concept of giving an A is really interesting to me. Because he is a teacher of a group of musical students, who play orchestral instruments, it seemed to me that they would be a really receptive ‘audience’ for that type of grading. I can also see it working in other artistic courses such as drawing, painting, graphic design, etc. However, I think it would be difficult to teach say a high school English course and start the semester giving all the students an A to begin with, and somehow expect them to ‘earn’ that A as the time goes on. I suppose every case of this is different, and I really did like the idea, it sounded like his class really took it to heart from some of the wonderful letters the students wrote to him which he published in the book. I really enjoyed the heartfelt letters very much.
On being a ‘contribution’ in your life to others around you, that makes perfect sense. No matter how busy I am, I try to be there for people who need me or need something. I am up to my ears in my AR project as well as these courses at the moment, plus I have other obligations to take care of. However, I am making time this week to help a long time friend of mine who is out of work. I have offered to create a new resume for him and to shoot some photos of him ready for his job search efforts. He is not as computer savvy as I am, and he needs the help. I am glad to do this because he is going to make the effort to look for work in an economically crippled town in this poor economic time our country is going through. I think it’s the least I can do to contribute to someone else’s luck.
I love the book, I think everyone should read it regardless of what their profession or schooling is.
Zander’s concept of giving an A is really interesting to me. Because he is a teacher of a group of musical students, who play orchestral instruments, it seemed to me that they would be a really receptive ‘audience’ for that type of grading. I can also see it working in other artistic courses such as drawing, painting, graphic design, etc. However, I think it would be difficult to teach say a high school English course and start the semester giving all the students an A to begin with, and somehow expect them to ‘earn’ that A as the time goes on. I suppose every case of this is different, and I really did like the idea, it sounded like his class really took it to heart from some of the wonderful letters the students wrote to him which he published in the book. I really enjoyed the heartfelt letters very much.
On being a ‘contribution’ in your life to others around you, that makes perfect sense. No matter how busy I am, I try to be there for people who need me or need something. I am up to my ears in my AR project as well as these courses at the moment, plus I have other obligations to take care of. However, I am making time this week to help a long time friend of mine who is out of work. I have offered to create a new resume for him and to shoot some photos of him ready for his job search efforts. He is not as computer savvy as I am, and he needs the help. I am glad to do this because he is going to make the effort to look for work in an economically crippled town in this poor economic time our country is going through. I think it’s the least I can do to contribute to someone else’s luck.
I love the book, I think everyone should read it regardless of what their profession or schooling is.
Hi Pat…
ReplyDeleteI had a very similar reaction to the book and have also shared this book with others already. For years I was a devotee of many self-help programs and trends with an enormous library of books. None of them were as intensely personal as this one. I agree about the act of “Giving Students an A”; what would it really do? So often our middle school students are approached negatively and then the person wonders why they are so difficult to work with. Writing the one-year-later letter intrigued me as well. I wondered what I would have written at the beginning of this program or perhaps at the beginning of a teaching year. The idea of being, “…generous and inclusive and engage people in your passion for life,” came to mind today. I’m finding that the more I share what I’m doing and the things that get me excited with my students, the richer and more pleasant our class time becomes. So I’m with you; staying positive and pressing forward is definitely the approach most likely to create the best results. You also talked about the opportunities that may present themselves with such a change in attitude. Your job search may become very interesting by adding these realizations in to the mix. Thank you so much for sharing your reflections.