Original Post - Michael Brosnan
The Art of Possibility
This is an interesting book stocked with stories and commentary surrounding attitudes towards productivity and contribution. In the first couple chapters I felt more as if it were a self-help book than one that would actually apply to the EMDT program, but nevertheless, I read on. By the time I completed chapter four, I didn't want to stop reading! Although the book thus far is more about mindsets and attitudes than implementing technology or lesson designs, there is poignant commentary for not only educators, but all professionals.
"In the realm of possibility, we gain our knowledge by invention."(20) Of all the sentences in the first four chapters, this one resonated strongly with me. I'm going to make a poster of it for my classroom! I have always strived to make my classroom one of possibility, but in the past several years I've tried to really teach history slightly differently. History can be a little dry, so I restructured almost all of my units in sort of a "choose your own adventure" sort of way so that students can discover and consider various possibilities. We do a lot of hypothesizing and predicting now. Students have learned to consider a particular option and predict the ramifications of their decisions. One example in particular that comes to mind is the Reconstruction Period after the Civil War. Students had to compile a thorough reconstruction plan for the nation that included rebuilding the South, educating the freed men and women, creating jobs, reassuring the North of rebuilt southern allegiance, etc. The students were initially concerned that "they'd guess wrong" - that wasn't the point. Once they got over it, they realized that anything was possible in their plan if they could defend its purpose.
In what could have been a few day lecture of the actual reconstruction plans, students were allowed to invent their own solutions. At the conclusion of the unit, they were merely informed of what was actually done - many of their invented plans contained attributes of the actual reconstruction plans. Students gained a thorough knowledge of not only the historical reconstruction plans, but a deeper knowledge of what reconstruction of a broken nation might entail. I realized their depth of understanding when we later critiqued the Fourteen Points at the end of WWI.I think it is important for educators to create an environment of possibility for students to invent and explore. It is a decidedly American trait to innovate and create and that's what students should always have the opportunity to do. (Of course they need to copyright it though...)
My Response:
Hey Michael,
I would say that the Zander's book is a self-help book, and I too have found the book hard to put down. What really intrigues me about your blog post is the description of how you have chosen to teach your students about the post-Civil War Reconstruction Period. What a brilliant idea to have your students come up with their own reconstruction plan before showing them the actual Reconstruction plan. History as taught by so many traditional teachers can be such a dry and boring subject. It's so hard to get students to find the meaning of past historical events as they apply to the student's limited vision of the world at such a young age. Surely one of the goals of learning History is to hopefully prevent past mistakes from re-occurring in modern times. Of course, History is usually taught in such a boring manner, that the human race rarely learns the lessons of the past, and we sometimes seem doomed to repeat our mistakes forever and ever. How many "wars to end all wars" have been waged in the past few hundred years? Having your students invent their own reconstruction plans connects them to their past in an engaging way that helps them realize the significance of historical events. When they realized that they did not need to come up with the original Reconstruction plan (guessing wrong was "OK") the students were able to take ownership of the assignment and start thinking for themselves. You have really come up with an excellent way to teach any subject.
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