Week 2 Peer Comment 2

  Mitch Canter wrote in his blog:

As a teacher, it seems that I spend an inordinate amount of time living in the world of measurement.  One of the things I’ve done to release myself from the constant desire of students to know how they’re “measuring up” is to post grades online for all of my courses.  This allows the students to check on their progress without making me constantly reference grades for them.  That releases me a bit, but not them.  So I have to ask myself, is there more I can do to make my students see the world of possibility?

Both Chapters 3 and 4 made an impact on me so I have to comment on both.  There were many moving stories in Giving An A, but I was struck by Roz’s story about the teacher that was disappointed that Roz achieved an ‘A’ even after her procrastination.  As a teacher that tries to engage and support students, it would never even occur to me to express to a student that I would wish them to do poorly to “teach them a lesson.” That said, I can’t be sure that I would see the circumstance as an opportunity to challenge the student to do even better next time.  That is truly living with a vision of possibility.

Finally, I’m a big believer in being a contribution.  I’ve offered up my expertise for charitable causes in the past and continue to do so.  I know that I have skills that I can bring forward to help in some small way to a larger contribution that can raise funds for terminally ill children, help the fight against birth defects, and I give my time willingly to such things; but chapter 4 of this book opened up this vision and narrowed it at the same time.  It helped me understand that being a contribution isn’t something that I should be just for special events, but a way to look at myself everyday.  How can I be a contribution to each of my students, to the people I live with, to my kids?  Starting today I will try to keep this in the forefront of my mind as I deal with people on a daily basis.

My response was:

Mitch,
When I read "Be a Contribution", I thought the same about being okay since I "step up" pretty well for the special occasions. I also was struck by the need to step up for everyday events. Thank you for sharing.