Week 3: Classmate Blog Entry #2

Lania's post: “Get over your bad self”…this is a quote I would hear randomly from the office next to my cubicle. I used to sit near a fellow teacher who was a real character. She would use this line with anyone and everyone! She may have been a bit rough around the edges, but she had a totally lovable personality. I can remember various times when I heard her use this line to wake people up to “Rule number 6”. Funny how this chapter made me think of various co-workers. Another guy used to always say “Have you laughed at yourself today? Because if you haven't you're missing a pretty good joke.” Both of these co-workers are very caring, thoughtful people. They’re also blessed with a sense of humor…and when you deal with technology 24-7, you HAVE to have a sense of humor, or you’ll end up cryin’. Chapter 7 – “Things Are” talks about embracing the here and now, with all of it’s hurdles and impossible mountains to climb. I enjoyed reading the anecdotes about Stravinsky and Mahler’s work. They didn’t intend a glossy, refined performance. Some of the instrumental parts were written to make the player stressed, to better convey the emotion of the work. Zander points out how difficult it is to embrace our mistakes and frailties in a competitive culture. He says that music-making is the perfect playing ground for this kind of risk taking. This is something I try to communicate to my students. Performing for your peers or another audience requires a bit of daring. You’re not going to do it perfectly, so don’t get caught up in the minor blunders that are bound to happen. Performing means carrying through and expressing the song; not halting everything because of one missed note. My close friend, the art teacher at our school recently wrote this quote on her whiteboard: “Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.” ~Scott Adams So true! It applies to all art forms, and to the life well-lived for that matter. My Comments: Lania, not only is a sense of humor necessary for working with technology, but also for working with 24 Kindergartners everyday. I have to have a sense of humor or I will go crazy by the end of the day. Humor distresses peoples lives....with that being said, we should all find time to laugh and make others laugh every day. Remember laughing can be contagious, so pass it on!