CEP 800 Storytelling Project

The Story of the Origins of Learning
(Daniel and the Tuba)

This was an interesting experience working with my son, experimenting more with technology and considering deep thoughts about the origins of learning. I never imagined that I would be taking sides with Plato! After finding Emily Bear and then listening to my son describe his learning process, I knew that was my angle. Yes, indeed, in some cases, knowledge is truly innate. Suzanne McKee

Click Here: CEP 800 Podcast Project MCKEE

Suzanne McKee's Podcast Project is complete! This was an interesting and challenging project. I struggled with Audacity, downloading it, using it and exporting it. In the end, I accomplished all that I was trying to do and more. I have been curious about using podcasts in some of my courses but have been hesitant to give it a try. This project has immersed me in Audacity and given me a wonderful introduction into creating podcasts.

Technology Steps:
Download Audacity (make sure it’s the right version for the operating system used)
Work in Audacity in WAV format
Download converter to be able to use WMA audio and convert to WAV
Save as WAV in Audacity
Download LAME
Export from Audacity to MP3 using LAME
Create a webpage account at box.net
Load the MP3 file to box.net
Link the webpage at box.net to the blog
Post the blog to the class in Angel

Bridge to Mosaic

So much of my life has been spent feeling pulled in different directions. This winter was a defining experience illustrating this internal push and pull. My teaching job had me pulled in two very different directions serving my department as chair and teaching a full load. My MSU course had me pulled in personal and intellectual directions that felt even more sub defined and different. I would like to take a moment to reflect and think about the various art topics and modules I worked on during CEP 882 to get a better idea of what I have learned in this journey.

Photography

There is some kind of artist deep within me that longs to get out and play. I have never tried to take good pictures before and found the process intriguing. Whether the subject is a landscape, a person or an event, the process is both thoughtful and intuitive. I can say the exact same thing about my better moments in the classroom. I need to be prepared and ready for class, just as to take good pictures, I need to have my camera charged and with me ready for action. Yet, in the moment, I may need to improvise and follow something other than the plan to really reach my students and have a great class session. Similarly, great photography is improvisational depending on the light that day and the flow of activity and all of the many variables that come into play. I see many similarities between taking great pictures and pulling off a great class session. Be thoughtful and intuitive.

Movie Making

For a variety of reasons, I would have never in a million years considered putting together little movies. Now, I am having inspirations on a regular basis for personal and professional applications for the program Windows Movie Maker. While the storytelling and artistic is of utmost important, the piece of this that was so critical for me was simply being exposed to and learning how to sue the technology. It would seem that there is no limit to the creativity that can be unleashed when planning and producing a mini movie project. There is the thesis, the music, the files, the text, the narration and on and on. My lesson here was to be creative and techy. I have been teaching accounting online for many years now. Accounting is probably not the best subject for the online world, but students are depending online occupational programs, and so I give it my best shot from one year to the next. Windows Movie Maker opens up a whole new world of online teaching possibilities for me. This is a tool that will greatly and very positively impact my teaching. Be creative and embrace technology.

Interior Design

I have considered interior design before, but I have never studied it in a serious manner. I am still fired up from this module. I have checked out interior design books from the library and started an idea book on my home. It is a sort of sketch book for ideas on everything from moving walls and making major transformational changes to ideas on paint colors and furniture rearrangement ideas that can be quickly and immediately implemented. Some of the big ideas that really stuck with me in this module are that silence can be powerful and complexity is not necessarily better than simplicity. I can really relate to the author’s point of view that as Americans our motto that “Bigger is Better” has gotten quite out of hand. We are spending and borrowing ourselves into oblivion. We live in huge houses and spend nearly all of our time away from each other. When I consider my teaching, it is not the physical space that matters. In my circumstance in teaching at a community college, it is not possible for me to design and decorate my own classroom. I rotate and teach in a variety of room assignments, which constantly change from one semester to the next. What inspires me about interior design concepts is the idea of space and simplicity. Keep it simple. Allow time for silence and pauses. Encourage students to have their own precious moments to think and analyze and develop their own thoughts unspoiled by a know-it-all, talks-a-lot student or even by an instructor that just won’t shut up. I have been playing with this idea in my morning Principles of Accounting I class. I set up short periods of time when the students think individually in silence to process and take us to the next level. I was afraid of silence. I was afraid that they would shut down. My experience has been quite to the contrary. This group is progressing at a faster and deeper rate than other similar groups. They are also quite talkative and engaged. These short bits of time for thinking have not dampened their engagement at all. Use silence and be simple.

Music

I adore music and have studied and performed for years. I was really looking forward to this module. Looking at music this time from a different perspective helped me to see that practice and variety are so important. Effective, powerful, inspired teaching requires many years of practice, preparation, study and improvisation. There is no one formula for becoming a great teacher. It takes a lot of time and willingness to experiment. The same could be said of becoming a great musician. It takes a lot of practice! Compelling music and compelling teaching include lots of variety. There are big moments and small moments, individual applications and group applications, and all sorts of flavors and moods and colors. In summary: practice and mix it up.

Fashion

Now this was a concept I had never given any thought to at all. After allowing this to sink in a bit and settle, I have more ideas on the subject than I did while going through the module. Most folks develop a wardrobe of clothes over the years. It is an accumulation of practical items, items on sale, special items and gifted items. This collection of clothes becomes our face to the world. Similarly in teaching, we pick up a certain way to work a lesson plan, a certain way to start a class, and end a class, and certain ways of doing things. It is our teaching wardrobe and how we present ourselves officially and outwardly to the world in our profession. The trouble is…it doesn’t take any time at all for our clothes and our ideas to become outdated. We regularly need to let go and take on the new, and this is a very hard thing to do. Be open to change and growth.

My mosaic is the composite of what I have learned in CEP 882 about how to live life well, create good art, and become a great teacher. My mosaic includes these key concepts:
 Be thoughtful and intuitive.
 Be creative and embrace technology.
 Use silence and be simple.
 Practice well and mix it up.
 Be open to change and growth.
 Never stop learning & growing!

What does it feel like when art is compelling?

Let me take a moment to focus on what it feels like for me when I experience compelling art. It is a deeply emotional, interior feeling. It is overwhelming and even embarrassing to feel that much. Sometimes I wonder if others feel what I feel. It could be compared to a deep religious experience. It takes over all aspects of my being.

Having studied yoga and the chakra system, it is a similar, complete mind-body experience. It effects all of my chakras at once. From my root chakra up through the sacral, naval, heart, throat, third eye, up and out through my crown chakra. The most recent compelling experience I had with an art form was my attendance at a rehearsal of the african drum ensemble, which is the focus of my WOA project for CEP 882. I was sitting cross-legged on the floor observing the rehearsal and letting myself go and be in the moment. As the drumming crescendoed, I felt the music throughout all of my being. The room was literally shaking from all of the movement and action, my root chakra was engaged and stirred up. There is a sensuality about drumming. The drum is secured between the players legs and becomes an extension of the person. Seeing this intimacy between player and drum engaged my sacral chakra. The players are thinking and playing and singing and chanting and playing. They are breathing and really sweating up a storm. Feeling this heat in the room from this exercise engaged my naval, deep breathing chakra. My heart was full. I felt alive and grateful and full of joy. My heart chakra may have been the most engaged of all. Throughout the drumming is lots of chanting and calling and singing back and forth from leader to players and back again. My throat chakra was also engaged sensing this communication. I had a lump in my throat as if I might cry at any moment. I was so full of emotion, I was ready to burst. I started having moments of insights into my life. My thoughts wandered from the meaning of life, to the goals of education, to how this particular leader was teaching and guiding without teaching, to what I really want to do with life, and on and on and around and around. My third eye was engaged and inspired to high levels of thought. My spirit was also stirred. Like a top note of a fine perfume, my thoughts wafted to ideas of sacred significance in this music. Surely there must be a god in this inspiring, captivating music. These thoughts and thankfulness about God indicate that even my crown chakra was in play.

For me, a truly compelling experience with the arts is a complete mind-body experience that moves my soul to higher places not at all a part of my common everyday experience. These moments affirm my humanity and thankfulness for being alive.

http://www.vnyoga.com/_/rsrc/1239121658927/about-chakras/chakras.jpg

Feeling Quite Poorly

Fashion is for skinny people with money. I am neither. It is profoundly discouraging to think and consider how I should be dressing when I have no available income for such purchases and when I do go out to purchase something simple like a dinner dress or a pair of jeans, I can't find anything that suits my shape and size. I am acutely aware of my appearance and clothing. I do the best that I can with what I have knowing that it really isn't all that great. There are only so many affordable jeans and dresses at Kohls and Penneys and they don't do it for me.

I find the hosts of the show "What Not To Wear" rude, condescending and arrogant. If I was the subject being humiliated and taunted by them for the purposes of cable entertainment, I would be devastated. My reaction to seeing this show was strong, emotional and enduring. I find myself still processing negative feelings a day later.

How then could fashion and education somehow be linked? Deep breath. Well, impressions are important. There is something to dressing the part and portraying a certain image in the classroom. Some female teachers look like "the mommy", others look like "the boss", others try to look like "the cool guy" but they really look like slobs or ridiculous or both, etc. For my particular teaching area with community college accounting students, I think it is important for me to look professional but also approachable. The whole point of the community college environment is to focus on teaching and reach students.

Looks and image are very important and do play a part in establishing tone in the classroom. I do the best I can with that.

Improvisation

I love music and I love teaching. What is it about these two processes that clicks for me? First off, let me clarify: I am not a music teacher. I teach college accounting. Upon reflection, I suppose I like playing the notes and not playing the notes. I like to go with the plan and go off of the plan. In teaching, the lesson plan guides the way. Call it a lesson plan or whatever kind of plan, I plan and think through the course and the semster and the chapter and the topic and put toether a plan. Most of the time, I work from my plan, sometimes adding a little here, sometimes taking a little there. Sometimes, I work completely off of my plan. I improvise in the classroom. Those are some my best classroom experiences with students. Improvisational teaching for me would not be possible without the plan. It would not be veering off track if we weren't on track most of the time. It is being completely in the moment and following where the conversation is going, where the questions are going, where the moment is taking us. It is always a little bit scary. In music, there is playing the notes written on the page, and then there is improvisation. I like them both and use them both in my teaching. I tend to stick to the plan, but when I do improvise in the classroom, it is a wonderful thing.

From reality to somewhere else

When considering what makes great music great, I think it all boils down to this: great music takes a person from reality to somewhere else. I have been analyzing Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue as a likely finalist for my Music module project. What an incredible piece of music. If you really engage and listen, Rhapsody takes you away to another place and perhaps even another time. For me, it conjures up thoughts of expansiveness and energy. It makes me think of large projects and initiatives, as if I could take on the world and accomplish anything. It also makes me think of New York City, or any large city for that matter. I see and feel the hustle and bustle and energy in the music. You are really some place special in the thick of it and in the moment. It also makes me think of a great romantic love. This is a love with no bounds that means everything and transforms everything in a person's life. Rhapsody takes me out of the present moment and takes my mind to all sorts of wonderful, limitless places. And, I don't mean to suggest in any way that only classical music is capable of doing this. I think when considering what makes something compelling, it is that sense of "it". For some reason, thinking about what makes music compelling reminds me of what makes a design space compelling. It's that feeling of being somewhere cool, somewhere really on, somewhere beyond special. Music can do this. One of our assigned songs for the week was Christina Aguilera's "Ain't No Other Man". Just as with Gershwin, if I really engage and get lost in the music, I end up somewhere else. I end up at a club, dancing and spinning and being someone else. I feel cool, I feel in, I feel sublime. That transformative feeling is a rush. There is a somewhat recent commercial that typifies exactly what I'm trying to say about what makes music great, or what makes music compelling, or what makes music take you to another place. I think it is an i-pod commercial. It shows a young guy jamming out to his music. We can see the ear bugs dangling and swaying as the guy is moving and dancing and all over the place. He is truly free and totally engaged in his music. It's a youngish man, perhaps in his 20's, stylishly dressed in a rough kind of hip way. The ad shows him moving from place to place to place until he ends up at work behind a desk and then morphs back into his real self, which is a middle aged business man behind a desk. Music transformed the man into the free spirited boy, loving his music and loving life. I will do my best to try to find a link to that commercial, because that is it! Great music takes us from where we really are to somewhere else!

Now, it is interesting to lay this exact idea over the concept of education. Let's change "great music" to "great teaching". And so we have, great teaching takes us from reality to somewhere else. Yes, indeed! When I reflect back over the years and consider the best of the best teaching moments in my own life, it definitely has a ring of this element to it. I remember taking piano lessons with a certain piano teacher when I was in high school. At some point, he deemed that I was ready to begin playing Mozart sonatas, which was a big deal. I had to complete years of preparatory work before he would allow me to attempt Mozart sonatas. I still remember that day clear as a bell. His office was consumed by two enormous Steinway grand pianos placed side by side. He played, and I played. He played more and talked and danced Mozart. He described the times that Mozart lived in and what music meant to their culture. He emphasized the prevalence of dance in the music. So much music in Mozart's time has a physical element. It was not to be listened to solemnly in a concert hall. It was music for dance, movement, acting and performance. We were no longer in Indiana in a professor's crowded office. We were in Venice and Salzburg; and we were dancing and singing and playing. We were transformed to Mozart's time. To this day, I still enjoy playing Mozart, and I still remember that usually subdued piano teacher dancing and carrying on during my piano lesson. Great teaching does take us from reality to somewhere else.

...still looking for that music commercial...

Two Worlds

That Eisner article jarred me a bit on the inside. It made me very aware of my two worlds. I have gotten very good at ignoring this fact. I mostly live in one of the worlds and rationalize the other's existence.

I am a CPA, an accountant, a bean counter. Yes, it's true. However, I have never quite fit into the accounting world. My CPA days were difficult ones. I did not fit in, or so it seemed to me. I felt like a round peg in a square (very square) environment. I didn't want to work 60-70 hours a week and not have time for anything else. Anything else is everything that I really like. I was very capable and strong in accounting but it wasn't my joy. Teaching is a way to blur and blend accounting into something else. Many days at JCC, I feel more like a counselor or advisor and less a teacher. And in my teaching, I am just as interested in technology and current event as I am in debits and credits. The best part of my day is always working with students.

I am also a creative person, a lover of the arts and a natural musician. This course has been a delight to my intellect and senses and heart. Music finds me. This year is case in point. I had not played the piano much for the past few years, and then word got out in my son's school district that I could play. I've been rehearsing and performing regularly ever since. Within the next month, I will accompany 9 kids at middle school solo and ensemble, 3 kids at state high school finals and play another concert with the middle school jazz band. I wasn't looking for any of this, it found me. And I love it. I love playing, I love encouraging the kids and working with them, and I love being a part of the music. Other that that, virtually all art forms attract me in one way or another. This class has made me a little ADD in that regard. Now I want to redecorate my house, start taking better pictures all the time and go see all of the best films.

Bottom line: I am hungry for artistic things, and my regular world is not feeding me.

Back to Eisner: Is there a way to celebrate both worlds and bring them together?

The Crappy Classroom and The Fabulous Classroom

What does space have to do with a good learning environment? What does space have to do with compelling experiences? How do these things collide into good space for a good learning environment which is compelling? I'm thinking about physical space and teaching, classrooms in particular. I have been teaching college accounting since 1994 in a variety of settings, most recently at a community college. At my school there are a variety of classroom types that range from a state of the art building that just went up and has won awards for its interior design to the old building where my office resides containing the worst "Calcutta of JCC" classroom. I have taught in all of these types of classrooms on campus. I would like to examine what it is that makes for a good learning environment in terms of physical space.

Let me start with the worst classroom space I have encountered yet. It is a smallish classroom but is required to contain 30 seats. So, the arrangement of tables and chairs is quite limited by the actual square footage of the room. Everything about the room is tired and old and used up from the beat up tile floor to the faded bleak walls to the lights that flicker in and out. My favorite feature of this particular room is a collection of pull down maps that would suit a geography type of class. These maps are worn and frayed and ripped and just awful. It is a dreary space indeed. How does this affect learning? Do the students know that they are in the Calcutta of JCC? Does it make the subject matter seem less interesting? Does the professor seem less engaging? Do the minutes seems ever so long? My experience is no. The space is not helping but it does not break the experience either. Meaningful discussion and engagement can occur no matter what the environment. I think of severely disadvantaged children around the world learning on dirt floors in partial shade with questionable textbooks and materials. In my zeal and enthusiasm for education, I do not believe for a minute that anything can stop learning. Not even a crappy classroom. Especially not that.

Perhaps the nicest, slickest, fanciest classroom on campus is in the new building. It is a perfectly square room with completely movable furniture and laptops for every student. Each wall contains a projection screen which can be lowered. In the center of the ceiling are four projection units. It is therefore possible to project 4 different things at the same time. So, let me try to come up with a reason why I would want to project four different things at the same time. Let's say it's Principles of Accounting II, and we are analyzing financial statements. I could have Excel up on one screen and be working financial ratios in Excel. I could have the Balance Sheet on another screen for our company, let's say Ford Motor Company. I could have the Income Statement up on another screen. And, on the fourth screen...I could have current news articles from the web. Whew.

Not only is the technology in the room superb, but the design in lovely. From the paint colors to the artwork to the lighting to the symmetry of the space, it's just fabulous. Here's the thing. The students in the fancy room do not whine any less that the students in the yukky room. They all struggle, and they all find their way (well, most do) and they all work and process in the same manner. The pretty room casts a certain pleasant light on the experience, but it is not the room that makes anything happen. It is the spirit of the students and the instructor that does. In the same way that the unpleasant room cannot stifle learning, the pleasant room cannot create learning on its own.

If I were king for a day, how would I design classroom space at my school? Ahhh, what a lovely thought. First of all, I would accept financial constraints and students demands. We need classroom space at my school. We are overextended with extremely high enrollments and have completely run out of classroom space. We have a very small collection of these new ultra tech classrooms and not enough regular classrooms. I would favor creating more classrooms with less technology over creating fewer classrooms with more technology. When building and renovating classroom space, I think each room should have projection capability at a minimum. The older rooms should be painted. A fresh coat of paint would make a world of difference. We should budget for ongoing maintenance. We seem to find millions of dollars for building projects and then have zero dollars for maintenance. Some of the initial building fund should be invested and put away for maintenance and repair. That's it. My classroom plan is: (1) enough classrooms, (2) projection capability and (3) fresh paint.

As I consider all of these things and my opinions on interior design, I realize that in my view, interior design is not the catalyst for compelling experience. It is the human element that makes an experience compelling. The space can be fabulous but without people and buzz and activity, there is nothing.

Wanted: Space

I keep thinking about the interior design concept of space. Sometimes it is what is not there that makes what is there so much more. For example, think of a typical family room in a home inhabited by a typical busy family. That room accumulates and accumulates unless someone takes care to keep it tidy and attractive and useful. Hoodies and bags and papers and laundry and stuff pile up organically. It just happens. The room effortlessly becomes chaos. Cleaning and tidying can only achieve so much. Often, there is too much furniture in the room to begin with. Removing some furniture and rearranging essential pieces may be needed to bring order and appeal to the room. Simplifying and reducing, therefore creating space where there had been none improves the aesthetics of the room. This applies to the classroom as well. As teachers, sometimes we talk and talk and talk. It's our classroom, we're in control and its our place to lead the parade. In general, I think that teachers talk too much. There is not enough listening and thinking and quiet in most classrooms. Somehow, quietness has gotten a bad name. From time to time, I deliberately devote chunks of classroom time to quiet reflection and individual thinking. It is so hard for me to do this. Shouldn't I be *doing* something? Shouldn't I be *talking*? Shouldn't there be some *action* at all times? I think back to my analogy of the cluttered family room. If I am constantly talking during a class period, that also means that there has been no space created to allow for pure individual thought, unassisted conclusions, intuitive connections, reflection and settling. If I am still yammering on, students may succeed at these things but only in competitive to my voice, my ideas and my direction. The classroom needs space!

Experiential Learning & Film Making

This past week was a good experience for me. I felt uncomfortable, overwhelmed and pushed. I felt the same way I'm sure that some on my students feel. I kept at it, I reached out to others for help, and I dug in to finish the job at hand. I learned how to make a film this week by doing it myself. I did not take a class or read in a book how to make a film. I just did it. While at times, I was frustrated and overwhelmed, in the end I felt pure elation. The links to my views on education are numerous.

In some cases, some students learn best by doing. This is known to me as experiential learning or kinesthetic learning. Going through the experience can be disconcerting. Having gone through this again myself, I feel a better connection to my own students. Some of them are experiential learners by their nature. I try my best to present my courses in a variety of ways to hit a variety of learning styles including experiential learners. I teach college accounting, which has a bad reputation for being a tough subject matter. It is the kind of class that requires practice, lots of practice. To some degree, all of my students are forced to be experiential learners. The practice of accounting involves translating business transactions into an accounting format which culminates into financial reports. All of this requires the act of doing accounting. It is not enough to think about and write about accounting. To master accounting, one must do accounting. It is good for me to re-learn what it is to feel lost in the midst of the experiential learning process.

Another major insight this week has been the recognition of learning new skills to support professional growth. To become a better person, a better teacher, a better partner, etc.; it is sometimes necessary to acquire a new skill to get to where you really want to go. To become a better person, perhaps I need to learn time management skills. To become a better partner, perhaps I need to learn better listening skills. To become a better teacher, perhaps I need to learn better technology skills. The technology skills I am learning in CEP 882 are sometimes dramatic to me. All the while I am using Facebook and even now typing up a new post for my blog, there is a part of me deep inside that is surprised and impressed. Before this class, I had a 3 month old Facebook account that I did not use and had no interest in pursuing. I had never blogged and wasn't exactly sure why the term actually meant. I had used my digital camera for occasion snapshots, but my kids were the ones who really understood its capabilities and possibilities. I had never used anything like Camtasia or Windows Movie Maker prior to this week. I get cranky when I am forced to learn new technology. Overall, I tend to be a quick learner, but it also tends to be a somewhat unpleasant experience. After a little bit of use, the new technology seems like second nature and quickly I can't imagine ever not using it. Yet the process of introduction and assimilation is a bit scary for me. I am glad to have learned how to make a simple movie and am accumulating lots of ideas on how to incorporate simple bits of film into my classes. I am inspired and ready to do more with this new skill.

Thinking about Film and Avatar

I love movies. I really, really, really love movies. If I have time and no motivation, there is nothing better than sitting around and watching movies. If I do have time, motivation and money, then there’s nothing better than going out to see a new release movie in the theatre. Like countless others, the most recent movie I have seen which captivated and moved me is Avatar. This film represents no small endeavor. I am hearing that Avatar may be the most expensive film ever made, which goes hand in hand with the statistics coming in now that Avatar is fast becoming the number one box office leader in sales. What is it about Avatar that appealed so strongly to me?
· The story telling aspect of Avatar is strong and powerful. Within moments, I was drawn in to the story and trying to sort who this young Marine brother is and what he is doing.
· The imagery and artistry is thoroughly engaging. It is almost too much. You know the saying that there can be too much of a good thing. Delicious birthday cake stops being delicious at some point in consumption. The visual design and art in Avatar is almost too much to bear. I think it pushes the extremes of animation and the limits of human visual pleasure. There are certain claims out there that people have died after viewing Avatar.
· The characters were strong and complex. As in real life, the lead characters in Avatar are from all walks of life and represent a wide array of personality type. The “good guys” and “bad guys” do emerge but not from the onset.
· The world of Pandora is limitless and expansive. We get a sense that there is so much more we have not seen of Pandora. Other lands and peoples are hinted and shown only briefly. Everything is large and rich and deep.
· The emotional storyline is at first subtle and later ever present. This movie begins in the head and ends in the heart. Broad character themes such as Love, Hope, Loyalty, Prejudice and Faith are played out in vivid color.

Linking The Art of Photography to The Art of Education

I have been studying and practicing the art of photogaphy. I feel pulled in two different directions. One the one hand, this feels indulgent and excessive. Do I really have time to run around examinging the light, observing life, studying composition, considering effective framing and snapping away? On the other hand, what could be better and more important? There are so many good and beautiful things in my life (uh-oh flashback from ED 800, the good, the true, the beautiful, Gardner) that what could be more important than learning how to properly take pictures. This is a skill that I can use throughout my life. And, it taps right into my artistic side. My ego evens rears up a bit as I take pride in the things I am seeing this week and at how much I like some of the pictures I have taken. If I can figure out how to do it, I will post some of my piano series and some of my winter scene series here in the blog. So, yes, I am learning about how to create good photography.

All the while in this pursuit, my mind is toying with the idea that this is an education class, and either the professor is a genius or nuts, which makes me either a genius or nuts for choosing this class. All of a sudden it hit me today. These things that I am experiencing while observing and thinking and taking pictures are the same kinds of things that go into "good education" (if there is such a thing!) (and we all agree that there is, yah?)

Our first assignment was to consider something that holds meaning and capture it in a photograph. I kept thinking about my beloved old Steinway, so I headed into the living room. It is hard to do much with a great big rectangle, but I tried. I looked and snapped and looked and snapped some more. I really need to do some serious dusting. In the end, I was most drawn to the idea of a photograph that captures the angle when playing the piano. Throughout this process, I had an idea in my mind of where I wanted to go. It was hard to define but I kept pushing forward. Oftentimes in the classroom, I feel this way. I have this sense of where we need to go and we keep pressing on. I improvise and try one, two, three, many more differnet ways to move closer to my goal. Just as I kept thinking and trying different shots and angles, so too, in the classroom I keep trying different approaches.

In the readings on photography, the terminology and wording lines right up with education. We must study carefully the composition for our photograph. So, too, in education, we must consider our topic, the curriculum, the lesson for the day. We must carefully frame this composition in our photograph. So, too, in education, we must frame our content. A good lead in or a good warm up activity goes a long way in setting up a productive lecture and discussion session. We must remember the rule of thirds and use lines appropriately and always, always, always get the light right. Ah, the light. As light is to photography, so tone and manner is to education. How we engage our students is perhaps more important than our fancy methods and required curriculum. What is the light in the classroom? It is that spirit, that sense of goodwill and hard work that permeates the group. It is positivity, and it is goodness.

I have more work to do, but I am relieved to get some of these ideas down about education and photography. I will be thinking about light and how I am a big part of being the light in the classroom.

Compelling Experience #1 (Prophetiae Merlini)

I am beginning a new course, "The Nature and Design of Compelling Experiences". Amongst many things, I am a long time educator, and this is a graduate level education course. I am also a long time musician and art lover, so this course is interesting to me on many levels. My awareness is now raised, and I recognize that I have experienced my first truly compelling experience since beginning this course.

I just arrived home from the Michigan Music Conference in Grand Rapids. I am not a K-12 music teacher, althought this is their annual conference. My son was selected to play in the middle school all state band. This is a big honor, and we made the most of it. We stayed at the Amway Grand. He had a tremendous rehearsal and performance experience. I registered for the conference and experienced a few good seminars, my son's amazing performance and an additional remarkable performance.

The Traverse City High School Symphony Orchestra and concert choir performed at the conference. This is a big honor for them, and I was curious to check out some other schools' music groups. I chose this group, because their program included a piece from the Mozart Requiem, one of my all time favorites. I was pleasantly surprised by the quailty of the group,and they did an excellent job with the Beethoven, Rimsky-Korsakov, Grieg and Mozart listed on the program. Then, I discovered a wild card.

The final piece on the program was an unpublished work for symphony orchestra and choir titled "Prophetiae Merlini" composed by Jeffrey Cobb. Mr. Cobb strode smoohtly onstage to guest conduct the piece. The opening was full of percussive action and aggression. My interest and attention rose precipitously. My mind swirled as the music dipped and dove, soared and raced. So many colors and impressions filled my mind. Every cell in my being was engaged and at attention. My emotions locked in as well. The music was so beautiful and so powerful. My heart swelled. When the piece came to an end, I realized that my eyes were full of tears and my heart was beating quickly. Perhaps this fits the bill as a "compelling experience".

What made it so? It was new and unique and took my mind into unchartered musical territory. It was of very high quality and represented a tremendous amount of work on the part of the composer and performing ensembles. It appealed to me personally. It was full of life and emotion and story. And, so, I begin my journey into what it means for an experience to be compelling and how this concept can be applied to the educational environment.