Week 2 Taylor-Roman comments

wk2 reading – Initial response
Ok. So this was a great read: The Art of Possibility by Benjamin Zander and Rosamund Stone Zander.

I was so inspired that I made this visual collage from pictures that I have taken over the years. Take a look at it!
I was touched in so many levels by the first four chapters of this book. And, I feel like sharing this personal anecdote.

In 1996, my whole family moved to the U.S. from Mexico because my dad was getting his master's degree. My sister and I did not know any English and this was the day before school. Our parents called us to the living room and told us something that went like this: we want you to know that to us you are the most beautiful, intelligent, funny, and amazing daughters in the whole world and nothing or no one will make us think differently of you. We know that you don't know any English. We know that you will struggle, and when you get a failing grade, we want you to know that we will see an A because we see the effort you put in, because we see you growing, because we see you becoming women of outstanding character. Don't worry about grades, go live and enjoy our two years here. Make the most of it and if in the way, your grades happen to be A's, so be it... That evening, a huge weight was lifted from my shoulders, I was no longer scared, I was ready to take over the world!

Needless to say, my sister and I did extremely well. Due to language immersion, we were proficient in English within 4 months. I went on to tutor in Spanish, French, and Chemistry after school and took some extra courses to graduate a year early. My parents believed in me and that made the difference. I was given an A and the rest was history.
Posted by Saray Taylor-Roman at 5:56 PM

My comments:

Scottie Dog said...
Saray,
Very nice photo collage. Your story of your family's move to the US is inspiring. Eliminating the pressure for good grades by your parents was obviously an important milestone in your family's life. By removing that "artificial" metric within the current school system, they helped you and your sister create a learning environment truly condusive to "real" learning of all the possibilities. I hope to make a small contribution to this "lack of grades" mentality by currently working with my local school district. We will be re-designing several courses to bring game theory and eliminate the need for traditional grades. Once again, the metrics must be questioned and possibilities, without traditional boundaries need to be presented.
February 10, 2011 2:20 PM
Scottie Dog said...
Saray,
Enjoyed your photo collage very much. Thank you for sharing your family's move story. I was amazed at the thoughtfulness and far-reaching implications your parent's decision had on your life. I am beginning to work with my local school district to re-construct several of their courses in a similar fashion. Combining game theory, an engaging story and no grade point average to be concerned with, we are hopefully bringing a similar story to other students. We hope to eliminate the pressure of traditional grades, provide an engaging learning environment and simply "teach" our kids. Thank you for a very important story!
February 10, 2011 2:34 PM