Wednesday, October 3, 2007

All Work and No Play; Ed. blog

All Work and No Play
From The Fischbowl

http://www.google.com/reader/view/#search/All%20work%20and%20no%20play/2/user%2F07599697684700909569%2Flabel%2FEducation

I was looking through all the blogs and articles that Mr. Fisch posted, and I came across one that was posted a while ago, but it caught my interest. Mr. Fisch posted this blog from Dan Maas’s blog (school districts CIO), and Mr. Maas talked about how he incorporated play in his work. One experience he told was of his running career and how he took his work as play by taking the work given to him and constantly working at it and experimenting with it.

"I embraced the running I had long played at while they rejected the work."

As I read this, I began to uncover the real meaning of what Mr. Maas was saying. I’ve been given work by a teacher and/or a parent and didn’t want to do it because of the fact that it was WORK. How lazy of me, I know. But what Dan Maas was saying, to me, was that he took that work that was given to him and used that to challenge himself. This had a very inspirational impact on me. I realize that my attitude towards work is key. If I’m not willing to do the work, it will never be done right, if done at all. But if I have the attitude that Mr. Maas displays, my work will not only get done, but I could find myself having fun while doing it. I know that sounds incredibly cheesy, but to be honest, I love the feeling of challenging myself and being able to comprehend what I learn at school.
Another thing I loved about what I read in this blog was Mr. Maas’s enthusiastic dedication towards his work. I’ve heard of "making learning fun", but I think that Maas refreshes the idea. As a student, I have tried my best to be on top of my work and be on time with assignments, but as any other kid, I get so tired of constant, work, work, work. I’ve begun to have the attitude of "What about my time?", and as I think about that, I think of how terrible that is. Of course having down time is important, but being so consumed with the need to hang out with friends or sit on the couch makes me think of how selfish I am. My learning and studying time IS my time. So if that’s true for me, I can at least give it the effort it deserves by challenging myself by fully applying my mind and heart to my work.

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