Announcement:
You guys know that this is probably one of my most favorite things to do; writing this blog. However, every year, twice a year, I take a sabbatical from my writing in order to spend more time with my family. That time is almost here! I get excited because it is kind of recalibrating my mind to get ready for a whole new year of experience and hope. So, next week will definitely be my last Motivation for Monday until around January 20th, 2019. I do the same thing in the summer from June 15th to July 15th.
Wait there is more!
I have been working on somethings. . . My website:
artteacher4purpose.com is up and running with the book store started (but still being modified). I will be concentrating on that for 2019. I will also provide more of my books and art work for purchase on that site. Check me out!
You all probably are aware at this point that I have a passion for education and I am disappointed in the neo-liberal capitalistic system that treats our children like robots and disposable workers. I'm fighting against it and I can only do that with what I know how to do: I write, and I create. Check out my e-book available on Amazon. I am just trying to raise money so that I can reinvest it into programs, ideas, and causes that will bring awareness to our failing education system in America. I am just starting off small, this is all I know how to do . . .
The word says not to despise small beginnings . . . Our purpose is to grow . . . so just start!!
Your motivation for Today:
Just start Growing!
You can do it! It is programmed in your DNA. You have everything inside of you to help you grow into the person you are supposed to be. Let God show you the correct perspective in viewing this world. . .
I don't know if I had shared this with you before, but the following excerpt about M. Night Shyamalan's book "I Got Schooled" was in one of my drafts. Recently in school we were talking about how different outrageous theories would be applied in our post-modern society. Post modernism is understanding and respecting everyone's view as their individual perspective. Therefore nothing is considered absolute truth or totally real. It all depends on how a person sees things. . . The more I think about it the more I think that the majority of people are absolutely delusional and crazy. I feel like our culture is moving into a atmosphere of excuses and escape as people compromise their morals to do what ever they want to do. This world will soon be split up into so many cliques and everyone will feel justified in their findings because they only see what they choose to see. Instead of post modernistic ideals uniting people, they will ultimately destroy the world. But that is just my opinion and I have no solution to offer for this problem.
The Lord said that this would happen. We live in a time where right is considered to be wrong and wrong considered to be right. I chose not to go that way. I respect everyone's opinion. I will listen to you in what ever your ideas are, but I will not fall away from the ultimate truth and that is the word of God.
Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6
This is my perspective and I am sticking with it. I will keep growing with the Holy Spirit and not with the world culture.
Perspective is a powerful tool that can allow a person to create a vision in the mind and reproduce it to the world in a creative way. As an artist I always try to respect a person’s perspective. It is by his view that he communicates his creation to the audience. Just like an artist, each person’s views, ideas, beliefs, and interpretations of the world around him is communicated through his experiences. It is a person’s view that opens communication in a language that has not been heard before. Why is this? It is because every person’s perspective is unique. Each of us has a different set of experiences that mold us into who we are. One’s world view is always valuable to offer insight and solution.
I remember sitting in a professional development session as a teacher in the Camden City School district while our principal introduced a book to the staff entitled “I Got Schooled,” written by well known filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan. I thought to myself, “What does a multi-million dollar filmmaker know about closing the achievement gap in education?” My heart burned with discusts as our young and inexperienced principal tried to explain that research showed, as collected for this book, that student achievement had nothing to do with smaller class sizes, parent involvement, or poverty level. Instead, this filmmaker conceived of five key components that would strengthen student performance and therefore close the achievement gap.
I don't remember what those 5 component findings were, but I do remember all the angry faces in that place. . .
There was not one veteran teacher that agreed with these findings but there was a room filled with contempt for this book. The situation was that we were teachers who taught children in a low income school district. We were teachers who worked tirelessly to help our students become better students, better thinkers, and therefore productive citizens to their community. We saw first hand, the importance of parent involvement and the challenges that poverty presented to the overall educational experience of the child. Hence, most of the teachers of this school would agree that we disagreed with the findings of the book. However, there was a problem.
The problem was that the findings of the study was presented by a gentleman, our principal, that was displaced and unaware of the veteran experience present in the room that day. He offered only his perspective of the book and expected for teachers to accept it as truth. We did not understand his language of communication.
There was a second problem. The teachers did not read the book for themselves. If we had read the book for ourselves we would have been offered a different perspective of what the film-maker was trying to convey to his audience. Out of respect for the artist, I wanted to understand Shyamalan’s worldview.
In an interview with Shyamalan, Goral (2014) asked Shyamalan directly what the data presented as the main problem with inner city schools, and what were his conclusions about the findings. Shyamalan responds by concluding that the problem is not the schools themselves, nor the teachers, nor the students. Instead, the problem was the message that this country sends to the students during their normal course of living. Shamaylon notes that 98% of the inner city student population, being hispanic and African American, receive the message that they do not belong in this country. Additionally, inner city students are constantly being told that they are “powerless,” and “Not meant to succeed.”
As a teacher of ten years in a district labeled as a low performing school district, I can agree with these findings. Although I didn’t agree at first, I see the power of world view at play. The data collected by the research team of Shyamalan allowed the issue of education to be opened up to a whole new audience. His approach to the problem allowed for a new method of interpretation. When this happens, new avenues to finding solutions can be explored and later paved.
I can see this beneficial to me as a Christian while conducting research in my area of study. A Christian worldview can expand an otherwise narrow subject to a wider audience. A Christian worldview built on the foundation of faith can introduce a concern to a brand new audience which overall can be beneficial to raising awareness of a specific issue. It allows for bridges to be made and therefore ideas to cross and communicate with each other. This type of communication fosters new solutions to be discovered that may not have been otherwise; especially if a new perspective did not allow it.
We all have different backgrounds, different perspectives, and different revelations of what is real. Reading and researching just gives us a glimpse of someone else's insights. It is possible to remain unbiased if one keeps an open mind about what someone else is trying to communicate. Sometimes, regardless of religious background, race, creed, color, social status or any other status, someone might be trying to convey the same points and ideas as you. We just have to grow in learning each other’s language. We must be aware enough to realize and recognize a different language due to a different world view.
Goral, T. (2014) The secret to closing the Achievement Gap: How an ‘outsider’ looked at the big picture in education to see what others don’t, 14.
Live your Life on Purpose
until next time
Tamorra
Proximity Perspective Persuasion is the idea that you see things the way that you see them based on how close or how far you are from it. It is a concept of what you convince yourself to observe is based on how you are interpreting your visual perspective. Are you really aware of what is going on in this world.? Is what you see the absolute truth or must we start depending on a higher intelligence that can see things from all angles, from all lines of time, from infinite space and beyond. I no longer trust my self, I only trust the Lord.
