Week 1 - Reading - Art of Possibility

Chapter 3 - "Giving an A"

This weeks reading was absolutely mind blowing! Have you ever approached any event, never mind education, any event and say "you know what I have an "A", I can not fail"? This was the overall vision of chapter three and attempted to get the reader to imagine a classroom where failure was not an option.

The author, Benjamin Zander, shared his personal experience in the classroom in which he employed this model. During the beginning of each term, Zander tells all of his students "Each student in this class will get an A for the course," "However there is one requirement that you must fullfil to earn this grade. Sometime during the next two weeks, you must write me a letter dated next May, which begins with the words, Dear Mr. Zander, I got an A because...". WOW! Could you imagine the respect and responsibility you would get from students once they knew the outcome of the class. I imagine that most educators would argue that this would never work. That students would simply put what we would want to hear and then do the opposite. This is expected, us educators are bread to fail. We are lead to believe that a class with all A's is a failure. I remember my first year teaching, I was in meetings listening to discussions about the bell shaped curve and its role in teaching. The idea was that we want a nice curve from A's to F's where the majority of grades fall in the middle. I was shocked that we were even discussing such a thing. What if our kids heard this talk, why would the even try? What motivation would they have in knowing that our administration valued average more than excellent.

It's not surprising to Zander who understands that we attempt to reward based on accomplishment and giving an unearned A can be difficult. However, he does suggest that students can help establish the range of knowledge they must master to achieve this goal. As Zander states "The practice of giving the A allows the teacher to line up with her students in their effort to produce the outcome, rather than lining up with standards against these students."

In the end, this chapter discussed more than just the role of this theory in the classroom. I learned that I personally need to take this same theory and use it in my day to day life. I tend to hold back trying things because of my fear of failure. However, I have now taken on a new M.O. and that is, I already have an A, failure is not an option.

Reference:

Zander, R. & Zander, B. (2000). The art of possibility: Transforming professional and personal life. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Pres