The statement which Benjamin Zander states at the beginning of The Art of Possibility
he talks about two salesmen going off to sell shoes in Africa, this is a
fantastic example of how teachers should think of their teaching opportunities.
You see, in his story he states that one of the salesmen sent word back home
that the idea of shoes is hopeless because no one there wears shoes, but the
other salesman sent a more optimistic letter back full of hope stating that he
has the opportunity to get people to start wearing shoes. In the classroom we
have to think the same way about our students. We should not focus on the fact
that we have a large group of students who do not want to learn; rather we
should focus on the possibility of finding new ways to get the students more
excited about learning. This is what the EMDT program has taught me over the
past 11 months. We have been given the tools to sell shoes to the shoeless, an
amazing opportunity to teach those who have not yet discovered the joy of
learning.
In the book a statement is made eluding to the idea that it’s (everything is)
all invented. This idea details how humans perceive thoughts and ideas and relate them
to the world in which they know around them. Some people take the world for
what it is and say that everything is invented so let's just make what we know
better. Others see the world differently and use new facts and ideas to build
new and exciting constructs in the world around us. We should be reminded that humanity
is continuously working to become greater than the previous generation, and
that no human in the history of the world has thought that everything that can
be invented has already been invented. It has evidently come to our attention
that the quote most commonly used to test our willingness to invent comes from
(but actually never did come from) the 1899 patent office clerk Charles H. Duell stating that "Everything
that can be invented has been invented." It has been proven that this
is one of those myths that’s gets passed around as fact from generation to
generation, eventually being passed off as truth along the way. It can be clearly seen that all aspect of the
world can be improved upon by thinking outside the normal realm of logic and
incorporating the new and exciting truths learned in your generation. By
exploring the new and exciting ideas brought about by the EMDT program I know I
create a classroom environment full of new and exciting ideas and learning
styles.
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| Mechanix Illustrated, December 1958, Pg82 |
What a great way to take the shoe example and turn it into something about education. You should take those few sentences and print them out on paper and post them in your teach lunch area for everyone to read every day. It’s so true, we hear so many teachers talking about everything they don’t have well why not change the outlook and focus on what you do have and how you can use it to engage!
ReplyDeleteI think Steve Job is a great example of the mindset showcasing that we have the ability to invent things. Steve jobs saw an invention and said to himself “ I can make that better” and that’s exactly what he did. He never lived inside of a box and was constantly inventing new things, and look at the difference it made on the world. It sounds like your trying to be a Steve Jobs in your classroom and I bet your doing a great job!
Wow, what a great quote: We have been given the tools to sell shoes to the shoeless, an amazing opportunity to teach those who have not yet discovered the joy of learning. Excellent application of the reading to your EMDT experience.
ReplyDeleteJoe,
ReplyDeleteI did not have a chance to complete this weeks reading due to a bad link that was sent to me by the publishing company. After reading your post I feel like I have a good understanding of what I have missed. The story about the two shoe salesmen and how you related it back to education was great. I know several teachers that never see the positive opportunities right in front of them. Thanks for giviing me an idea of what the reading this week was about.