Using the same learning experience you reflected on last week, did each activity explicitly map to a goal? Implicitly? Did this impact your learning during the activities?
As far as the learning experience was mapped, not every activity mapped to a goal. There was a goal explicitly stated, however, there was a large amount of empty steps for reaching the goal. This makes me believe (and understand) that there are multiple ways to reach a goal. What I see in my teaching is that when I allow students the opportunity to select the "how" rather than give explicit directions, I am far more pleased with the outcome.
As a tangent, my students were learning about animal adaptations and they took an animal and were asked to (goal) change the environment of the animal... hence adapting them to their new environment. For example, a polar bear in the desert or a fish in the sky. As silly as the goal was, the students were extremely interested and creative.
Getting back to MicroWorlds and my own learning experience, I believe the mapping of the project was mapped implicitly, given the amount of tutorials and purpose of the learning activity. I believe the expectation was to work together, hence sharing our ideas to create a "how to" base. In the end, I was surprised with the amount of diversity, but impressed with the knowledge I gained mostly from others in the process.
This absolutely impacted my learning. Given a specific tutorial, I believe our voices would be one in the same as would our products. I am often pleased and hope to share these same kinds of experiences with my students as I am open and allow for the implicit side of goal setting and mapping.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Presenting Data - Florida trip
Our group finished presenting our data on the google groups document we created for Action Research. Here are the steps we took:
1. Compare and analyze the data collected through Survey Monkey.
2. Select and divide cadres to group members.
3. Meet and discuss options for presentation.
4. Research education trends based on popular information per cadre.
5. Create graphs and clean up document.
Here are some things we learned from this presentation:
1. Create a basis for the words we analyze in the data.
2. Multiple people should be able to interpret the data in the same way given the words used, etc.
3. Since we focused on self/learner/mutual benefits in the definition of action research, we should be able to easy mark self/learner/mutual... in some way.
4. Use the same research materials throughout to make the research "controlled."
5. Give the information for each graph explicitly (n=). Make sure the numbers are defined. If only two questions were used and one of the two were answered "yes", the graph would show 50% answered yes... clearly the data should not be shown in this manner without addressing the number.
Overall, I learned some great things. Most importantly, www.aera.net seems like a great resource for further AR needs.
1. Compare and analyze the data collected through Survey Monkey.
2. Select and divide cadres to group members.
3. Meet and discuss options for presentation.
4. Research education trends based on popular information per cadre.
5. Create graphs and clean up document.
Here are some things we learned from this presentation:
1. Create a basis for the words we analyze in the data.
2. Multiple people should be able to interpret the data in the same way given the words used, etc.
3. Since we focused on self/learner/mutual benefits in the definition of action research, we should be able to easy mark self/learner/mutual... in some way.
4. Use the same research materials throughout to make the research "controlled."
5. Give the information for each graph explicitly (n=). Make sure the numbers are defined. If only two questions were used and one of the two were answered "yes", the graph would show 50% answered yes... clearly the data should not be shown in this manner without addressing the number.
Overall, I learned some great things. Most importantly, www.aera.net seems like a great resource for further AR needs.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Zeros are heros
My OCD continues to kick in with this program. Former students comment about their "withdrawals" from the constant feedback the OMET program brings after their graduation and I have a confession to make: I love seeing zeros in Blackboard. I know this may come back to haunt me, but I have to say, I love to see accomplishments. I know that is not the point at all with the medium, but I have a sense of freedom when numbers turn to zero.
Most people want more in the form of numbers; more money, more of everything really... but I like the zeros.
Zeros are heroes.
Most people want more in the form of numbers; more money, more of everything really... but I like the zeros.
Zeros are heroes.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Sub plan torture, my OCD nature, FETC 2008
I just spent the majority of today synchronizing my sub plans for when I'm gone in Florida for the FETC. Let's just say that my OCD nature does not work well in these situations as I must leave everything in the utmost perfect condition. If you want to know just how OCD I really am, try 16 pages of sub plans for 4 days. Am I crazy?!? I guess... but I really like things to go smoothly and I really like my kids taken care of. Subs love my class because of the organization madness. Haha.
I am a bit behind on my reading too and pretty bummed about that. I plan to be a good reader on my 5 hour flight to the east coast.
This is hectic... but I am excited to see my OMET friends, and even more excited to get through January and onto a new month.
I'm ever-so-anxious about my wedding... 7 months down, 6 months to go! I just can't believe that in less than 6 months we will be done with OMET. Seriously!!!
I am a bit behind on my reading too and pretty bummed about that. I plan to be a good reader on my 5 hour flight to the east coast.
This is hectic... but I am excited to see my OMET friends, and even more excited to get through January and onto a new month.
I'm ever-so-anxious about my wedding... 7 months down, 6 months to go! I just can't believe that in less than 6 months we will be done with OMET. Seriously!!!
EDC 665 - Week 3 Blog
Think back now to a learning experience you have recently had- were the goals explicitly stated? If not, were they still clear? Were you aware of them as a learner during the learning experience?
Thinking back to last semester with Gary Stager, as MicroWorlds comes to mind, I had a learning experience trying to learn commands to move my virtual "turtle." In the beginning of our 4th learning adventure, I was excited to create a quilt piece of which I would later learn to attach as a quilt to others' pieces.
The goals of this project were explicitly stated. Gary told us to use MicroWorlds commands to create a quilt piece. We could do anything we wanted, as long as the piece was the same size as all the rest would be. While the goals were explicit, I did not, at times, feel like the "directions" were. Then I think, "do explicit goals always need directions from point A to point B? Or is the goal enough to supply a learning activity with its purpose?"
I grew beyond creating the quilt piece, an enjoyable activity, onto creating the quilt itself and had real difficulty. I hated the process as I struggled and realized there was no tutorial or "direction" to take that would end in my desired result.
I was completely aware of the goal the entire time, so much that I wanted to stop at nothing until it was achieved. While my quilt was sub par to a couple other cadre mates, I achieved my goal of having a symmetrical quilt piece.
Going back to my original internal reflections, I believe that goals can be stated and yet directions can be excluded from the equation. It is not entirely necessary, if the goal achieved is not the exact same for everyone, to have directions. Otherwise, the goal would look identical for all.
Gary never gave us explicit directions, yet supplied us with a clear goal in mind. Looking back, no two formulas were identical (although some alike) and no two quilts turned out to be the same either. It was a matter of the creator-- which is what I love about open-ended learning. It's also the most challenging of all learning... because without directions that are certain, there in lies the risk of failure.
Thinking back to last semester with Gary Stager, as MicroWorlds comes to mind, I had a learning experience trying to learn commands to move my virtual "turtle." In the beginning of our 4th learning adventure, I was excited to create a quilt piece of which I would later learn to attach as a quilt to others' pieces.
The goals of this project were explicitly stated. Gary told us to use MicroWorlds commands to create a quilt piece. We could do anything we wanted, as long as the piece was the same size as all the rest would be. While the goals were explicit, I did not, at times, feel like the "directions" were. Then I think, "do explicit goals always need directions from point A to point B? Or is the goal enough to supply a learning activity with its purpose?"
I grew beyond creating the quilt piece, an enjoyable activity, onto creating the quilt itself and had real difficulty. I hated the process as I struggled and realized there was no tutorial or "direction" to take that would end in my desired result.
I was completely aware of the goal the entire time, so much that I wanted to stop at nothing until it was achieved. While my quilt was sub par to a couple other cadre mates, I achieved my goal of having a symmetrical quilt piece.
Going back to my original internal reflections, I believe that goals can be stated and yet directions can be excluded from the equation. It is not entirely necessary, if the goal achieved is not the exact same for everyone, to have directions. Otherwise, the goal would look identical for all.
Gary never gave us explicit directions, yet supplied us with a clear goal in mind. Looking back, no two formulas were identical (although some alike) and no two quilts turned out to be the same either. It was a matter of the creator-- which is what I love about open-ended learning. It's also the most challenging of all learning... because without directions that are certain, there in lies the risk of failure.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Mentoring, Mentor Letter, UbD - Differentiated Instruction
One of the assignments in my 639 Mentoring and Leadership class was to write a letter to a mentor I've had in my life that has positively affected me. I selected my principal, Joyce because of her support and encouragement throughout my first two years of teaching. Because of her, I still have a job... who knows what the future will hold for me next year... although I have been dreaming middle school. :)
Anyhow, I wrote the letter... but found it really hard to release it to my cadre of OMET students. There is a part of me that faces difficulty sharing my feelings with others as in my brain, I feel a sense of weakness. I didn't, however, have any problem with handing the letter over to my mentor. She was grateful and expressed her gratitude with a few words-- me being a light, sunshine to the staff and coming with confidence and fresh ideas-- something of which I also pride myself with and hope that I will remain for the duration of my teaching professional years.
I have been reading some of the books on our agenda and have been getting a bit out of each one. The information in UbD and the Differentiated Instruction book is not necessarily new information to me (I would struggle a great deal without being an educator) being recently trained in a teaching program and seeing the "new wave" design of curriculum that our education system is morphing into, but I do pick up a few pieces of encouragement for what I do read: On page 22 of Integrating Differentiated Instruction-UbD, I loved this quote:
"Learning happens within students, not to them."
This quote remains an eye-opener of sorts for me, being so new to the profession and observing so many teachers I don't want to emulate in the way of teaching. There are others, however, who remain to be a light for me (unfortunately lesser in number).
One final story: A friend of mine, Jen, of whose personal blog is posted as a favorite on this blog site to your right... is a high school math department chair and teacher for an inner-city school just a couple miles from the ritzy, pretentious schools in our beach city area. She has been driven to want to quit multiple times within her 6 years of teaching and has quickly worked her way up the ladder. She has gone through 3 principals and 2 superintendents of her school district that is in utmost turmoil--in addition to the gang shootings and lock downs which are commonly in the news. It is also the school in which students from Lennox, a city with the highest murder rate per capita in So. California, attend. So, as you might guess, teaching and learning isn't much of a focus for these students. Surviving is. Jen has recently had it on her heart to investigate other options in areas of Redondo Beach because of the difficulty of teaching in her school... apparently attendance is a joke as kids simply don't come to school. She has been looking into RUHS - the high school in which I attended in a pretty nice area. By no means is it a Beverly Hills type of school, but it certainly sits in a nice part of town. She has good rapport with the principal and sat in during a math meeting and observed some math teachers to get a feel for the team and job she may be entering. As she left, she expressed to the principal that there was a lot of "untapped potential" within the staff and overall, her experience was "boring" -- which brings me to think that learning should always be fun. I really truly believe that there are ways to help students see the passion that YOU have in teaching what you love. IT IS CONTAGIOUS. Anyhow, I encouraged Jen that although she may feel like teaching there would be a difference, there is an obvious need for teachers to spice things up a bit. It requires someone to take a leap of faith.
Finally, my fiance was also in this conversation with Jen and he talked of his pretentious high school in Middletown Maryland of whose AP Calculus scores were through the roof... but having "smart" kids who can teach themselves does not necessarily mean that the teacher is the root cause of success. As he put it, "the teacher was boring, but with the textbook, we taught ourselves" -- and then test scores go up, no one complains and teaching is just the same as always, boring.
Anyhow, I wrote the letter... but found it really hard to release it to my cadre of OMET students. There is a part of me that faces difficulty sharing my feelings with others as in my brain, I feel a sense of weakness. I didn't, however, have any problem with handing the letter over to my mentor. She was grateful and expressed her gratitude with a few words-- me being a light, sunshine to the staff and coming with confidence and fresh ideas-- something of which I also pride myself with and hope that I will remain for the duration of my teaching professional years.
I have been reading some of the books on our agenda and have been getting a bit out of each one. The information in UbD and the Differentiated Instruction book is not necessarily new information to me (I would struggle a great deal without being an educator) being recently trained in a teaching program and seeing the "new wave" design of curriculum that our education system is morphing into, but I do pick up a few pieces of encouragement for what I do read: On page 22 of Integrating Differentiated Instruction-UbD, I loved this quote:
"Learning happens within students, not to them."
This quote remains an eye-opener of sorts for me, being so new to the profession and observing so many teachers I don't want to emulate in the way of teaching. There are others, however, who remain to be a light for me (unfortunately lesser in number).
One final story: A friend of mine, Jen, of whose personal blog is posted as a favorite on this blog site to your right... is a high school math department chair and teacher for an inner-city school just a couple miles from the ritzy, pretentious schools in our beach city area. She has been driven to want to quit multiple times within her 6 years of teaching and has quickly worked her way up the ladder. She has gone through 3 principals and 2 superintendents of her school district that is in utmost turmoil--in addition to the gang shootings and lock downs which are commonly in the news. It is also the school in which students from Lennox, a city with the highest murder rate per capita in So. California, attend. So, as you might guess, teaching and learning isn't much of a focus for these students. Surviving is. Jen has recently had it on her heart to investigate other options in areas of Redondo Beach because of the difficulty of teaching in her school... apparently attendance is a joke as kids simply don't come to school. She has been looking into RUHS - the high school in which I attended in a pretty nice area. By no means is it a Beverly Hills type of school, but it certainly sits in a nice part of town. She has good rapport with the principal and sat in during a math meeting and observed some math teachers to get a feel for the team and job she may be entering. As she left, she expressed to the principal that there was a lot of "untapped potential" within the staff and overall, her experience was "boring" -- which brings me to think that learning should always be fun. I really truly believe that there are ways to help students see the passion that YOU have in teaching what you love. IT IS CONTAGIOUS. Anyhow, I encouraged Jen that although she may feel like teaching there would be a difference, there is an obvious need for teachers to spice things up a bit. It requires someone to take a leap of faith.
Finally, my fiance was also in this conversation with Jen and he talked of his pretentious high school in Middletown Maryland of whose AP Calculus scores were through the roof... but having "smart" kids who can teach themselves does not necessarily mean that the teacher is the root cause of success. As he put it, "the teacher was boring, but with the textbook, we taught ourselves" -- and then test scores go up, no one complains and teaching is just the same as always, boring.
Monday, January 14, 2008
Putting Dreamweaver to Good Use
Over the weekend, my fiance and I decided to create a website for my mother. She's a notary public on Long Beach, CA who has recently experienced a decline in business because the banks she was a long time (10 years) contractor with had recently trained in-house and no longer needed her services. Now, she is relying on her people skills... being awesome... to drive her business. We also thought that posting her on a webpage would also be a good market for her. Even better, she lives in Long Beach, CA. Given this, we searched godaddy and found out the domain name: http://www.longbeachnotarypublic.com/ was available. We quickly snatched that up.
The importance of posting this on my blog is two-fold. One, to tell all my friends my mom travels for notaries if they ever need one... and two, because in order to start showing up on google searches, posting a website domain on other websites that already show up in google searches will create a road for discovery. I'm learning.
I will admit to my fiance having the skill to read the code and change the site as needed. I am just the idea collector, etc.
I love putting my $300 program to good use... at least I am getting more than one website worth out of it!
http://www.longbeachnotarypublic.com/
The importance of posting this on my blog is two-fold. One, to tell all my friends my mom travels for notaries if they ever need one... and two, because in order to start showing up on google searches, posting a website domain on other websites that already show up in google searches will create a road for discovery. I'm learning.
I will admit to my fiance having the skill to read the code and change the site as needed. I am just the idea collector, etc.
I love putting my $300 program to good use... at least I am getting more than one website worth out of it!
http://www.longbeachnotarypublic.com/
EDC 665 - Week 2 Blog
Using the same learning experience, what were your desired results? Why did you choose these results?
My desired result of the colonial newspaper project was for students to understand the aspects of colonial life and gain a taste of the ammenities that the first 13 colonies had at that time in history. I also desired for students to learn how to research using books for information in which they wanted to include, work together by dividing tasks, and enjoy the process of living through the history of our nation.
Given my new knowledge of understanding and knowledge, I not only wanted my students to be knowledgeable, but to carry on their knowledge into understanding that would trigger whenever they come across another colonial life piece in their own lives. Students would understand timeline of events as they continue through the history of our nation and world and see how these growth patterns affect one another. I want their understanding to be so great that when studying world history the following year in sixth grade, they piece together the timeline and factor the relationships between what was occuring in Europe to what was occuring in the 13 colonies at the time.
I chose all of these results (great appreciation and understanding of colonial life, research abilities, working together in groups, enjoying the history of our nation) for the same reason I chose to begin teaching: I have a passion for learning and I want to share this same passion with my students. I believe that learning about our ancestors and the rich, but new history of our nation shapes decisions that are made today given our constitution, due process of law, etc. I believe it is valuable for students to learn how to find the answers they seek as this world in which they live is about questions. Having the resources to answer those will help each one of us grow. Finally, working together occurs all hours of our (awake) lives.
From the feedback given by my students and their proud faces when their project was unveiled to their parents, families, and friends during Open House, they did in fact learn something. Given their conversations and their watching their faces light up really showed their learning.
My desired result of the colonial newspaper project was for students to understand the aspects of colonial life and gain a taste of the ammenities that the first 13 colonies had at that time in history. I also desired for students to learn how to research using books for information in which they wanted to include, work together by dividing tasks, and enjoy the process of living through the history of our nation.
Given my new knowledge of understanding and knowledge, I not only wanted my students to be knowledgeable, but to carry on their knowledge into understanding that would trigger whenever they come across another colonial life piece in their own lives. Students would understand timeline of events as they continue through the history of our nation and world and see how these growth patterns affect one another. I want their understanding to be so great that when studying world history the following year in sixth grade, they piece together the timeline and factor the relationships between what was occuring in Europe to what was occuring in the 13 colonies at the time.
I chose all of these results (great appreciation and understanding of colonial life, research abilities, working together in groups, enjoying the history of our nation) for the same reason I chose to begin teaching: I have a passion for learning and I want to share this same passion with my students. I believe that learning about our ancestors and the rich, but new history of our nation shapes decisions that are made today given our constitution, due process of law, etc. I believe it is valuable for students to learn how to find the answers they seek as this world in which they live is about questions. Having the resources to answer those will help each one of us grow. Finally, working together occurs all hours of our (awake) lives.
From the feedback given by my students and their proud faces when their project was unveiled to their parents, families, and friends during Open House, they did in fact learn something. Given their conversations and their watching their faces light up really showed their learning.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
UbD and Teaching Math
I love teaching math... but I don't love the struggle of first helping students understand the concept of the problem in general (exactly how to carry over the numbers when regrouping, etc.) to calculate the correct answer and then helping them see when it will "transfer" over to real life. Some real life examples are easy to understand (I am careful to use this word interchangeably given the UbD design... but whether students see for themselves these examples on their own when presented with a problem in the real world could prove this method wrong.
UbD illustrates on pages 42-43 that although mant students can perform the tasks and have the knowledge to answer questions on the Pythagorean theorem, they are unable to carry over this knowledge when the question isn't formally asking to use the method to solve the problem. As a matter of fact, they said only about 33% of students knew to do so when given a problem to solve relating to the concept!
As I am baffled (sort of), I am scared to go back and teach math tomorrow... or any other subject... given this known deficit of concern. As I teach weight, capacity, and measurement and soon, fractions, I want my students to clearly see and understand why and when they would use these, outside of just answering problems 1-30 in their books. I give as many examples as I can, but I often fear their "carry over" is sub par.
Enjoying the book as it challenging the very basis of my teaching credential and training.
UbD illustrates on pages 42-43 that although mant students can perform the tasks and have the knowledge to answer questions on the Pythagorean theorem, they are unable to carry over this knowledge when the question isn't formally asking to use the method to solve the problem. As a matter of fact, they said only about 33% of students knew to do so when given a problem to solve relating to the concept!
As I am baffled (sort of), I am scared to go back and teach math tomorrow... or any other subject... given this known deficit of concern. As I teach weight, capacity, and measurement and soon, fractions, I want my students to clearly see and understand why and when they would use these, outside of just answering problems 1-30 in their books. I give as many examples as I can, but I often fear their "carry over" is sub par.
Enjoying the book as it challenging the very basis of my teaching credential and training.
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
UbD - Understanding by Design - "teaching by mentoring it"
As I read through the first chapter in UbD, I came across a passage that reflects (sadly) the very teaching I find myself stuck in often. It's called "teaching by mentoring it." In this method, according to page 21, the teacher talks, checks off topics and moves on, irrespective of whether students understand or are confused.
I am guilty of this! So often I rely on the textbook creators (let us remember, they aren't teachers) to design my curriculum for me. If I do not use the textbook, I am in fear that I won't cover everything or align myself with other members of my grade level team.
Another reason I believe I "teach by mentoring it" is because I am not as familiar with the curriculum I am currently teaching than the other members of my grade level (although I'm not sure they are either at times!). This is my first year teaching 4th grade and I am still mastering the content with the students. That makes the UbD model a little harder, because I have no prior knowledge of teaching the information or what examples I can pull from previous year's lessons.
I'm enjoying the book... but just wish it was more user-friendly in size. It's such a textbook and not a book I can lug around in my purse.
I am guilty of this! So often I rely on the textbook creators (let us remember, they aren't teachers) to design my curriculum for me. If I do not use the textbook, I am in fear that I won't cover everything or align myself with other members of my grade level team.
Another reason I believe I "teach by mentoring it" is because I am not as familiar with the curriculum I am currently teaching than the other members of my grade level (although I'm not sure they are either at times!). This is my first year teaching 4th grade and I am still mastering the content with the students. That makes the UbD model a little harder, because I have no prior knowledge of teaching the information or what examples I can pull from previous year's lessons.
I'm enjoying the book... but just wish it was more user-friendly in size. It's such a textbook and not a book I can lug around in my purse.
Monday, January 7, 2008
EDC 665 - Week 1 Blog
Think back to a successful learning experience you have designed - what made it successful? What was your role in creating that success?
Colonial Newspaper with 5th graders:
Last year I taught fifth grade. In California, fifth grade standards cover the American Revolution and colonial life. Rather than reading the textbook and moving on, I found a way for my students to gain a taste of colonial life while exploring, researching, and having fun.
Elementary school teaching lends itself to a lot of "down time" where a transition is occuring, students are finishing assessments, etc. Many students work at different levels and at different paces, also. I wanted to find a hands-on project that would both enhance each students' skills and interests, while still encouraging growth. I also wanted to use my skills as a teacher to develop the lesson based on my strengths.
Colonial Newspaper with 5th graders:
Last year I taught fifth grade. In California, fifth grade standards cover the American Revolution and colonial life. Rather than reading the textbook and moving on, I found a way for my students to gain a taste of colonial life while exploring, researching, and having fun.
Elementary school teaching lends itself to a lot of "down time" where a transition is occuring, students are finishing assessments, etc. Many students work at different levels and at different paces, also. I wanted to find a hands-on project that would both enhance each students' skills and interests, while still encouraging growth. I also wanted to use my skills as a teacher to develop the lesson based on my strengths.
My background is in journalism. I have an undergraduate degree in journalism and I specialize most in news writing. My students knew this about me, and they also loved reading the newspaper everyday (as is done everyday in my classroom and discussions occur--I find this a cheap, valuable, and vital learning experience). Then it hit me... tie news writing into what the students are learning in class! Colonial America became the topic and students brainstormed ideas, paired themselves into interest groups for specific pages of the paper, collaborated with each other's sections as not to duplicate and to make the paper more cohesive and of "one voice", and took charge. I had students advertising on the classified's page what the "fashion" and "arts" page was describing. Students were researching clothing from the era, prices that seemed reasonable to sell the items at, researching transportation and possible job market struggles, and digging into real-life information just to complete a fictional paper. They considered their paper to be accurate according to research.
Although I was simply the facilitator in this learning experience and merely planted the seed of an idea into their brains, they did the rest. I was there to give suggestions, advice, writing coaching, and support. I provided the materials and tools (books, Internet, etc.) and they planned, made decisions, problem-solved, researched and worked out their differences. I believe this experience was successful because it was open-ended in nature, but ultimately produced what my intial goal set out to do (in addition to providing an extra activity for that "down" time)-- to incorporate real colonial America into our supplemental projects and get their interest in writing, researching, the lives of the colonists, and working together as team members for the common good and goal of the group.
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Back in Action, The Art of Possibility
I'm back!It's been awhile since the last blog...
Just finished reading The Art of Possibility and there are a few pertinent points I'd like to make:
The authors did a great job at offering examples of their "practices." Among these practices include a few I found to be interesting and helpful:
"Giving an A" - I've heard this before when a few of my professors in my undergraduate degree used this method. I always thought it was a very positive way of teaching. Giving everyone an A and letting them be held accountable for their own learning is just another way to skip the grading process altogether. Students are more in charge and they often grade themselves more stringent than the teacher would! I've had this experience with students involved in group work. Whenever students give feedback about their peers, they are very critical!
Believing that others will do well... and they will! Having the mindset of positive thinking can produce positive results. This reminds me of the saying "you're as happy as you want to be"--it's very much a mind game. You have to want it and it will happen. You have to be positive and a believer and things will fall into place.
Be a contributor, lighten up and don't let things bother you so much, be passionate, and involve yourself with others and change your mentality from "I" to "WE."
The book was inspirational and had some great insights into how to work with others, how to mentor others to believe in themselves, their cause, and to take action of your own behavior to benefit the WE method.
My favorite story from the book (that was the best part): Ben is a conductor for an Orchestra and he was nervous about a performance with a few of his viola section players out. Then, another woman was out and to his surprise, did not tell him. He found her later and expressed his anger and in turn, she quit (it was a volunteer orchestra). He then wrote a letter to her, Cora, apologizing and expressing his interest to change his behavior.
I love it when the boss is not afraid to admit wrongdoing. It makes the team that much stronger.
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