Book Review- The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell

Good book. I think I liked Outliers so much that I have a hard time calling this one great. It's certainly worth reading by anyone. His main thesis is there remains a 'point' at which things, movements, trends, fads, plagues, 'tip'. They all-of-the-sudden grow or decline at incredible rates. What fascinated me was his first point about spreading a message. He designates three groups: Connectors, Mavens, and Salesmen. Connectors are important because they obviously connect people and things. Gladwell defines Mavens are experts in their field. They are important because they ultimately decide how "well" something works and what changes need to occur before it can become marketable. Salesmen obviously sell the item in question and market it to the right people. Sorry for the Cliff Notes version, but one of my biggest qualms with book reviews is too much review and not enough dialogue. So here's the dialogue portion......

I was thinking about what this means for education, and I have come up with the following:

1. Schools need people who realize that students have a "tipping point".
This is why we (educators) work so hard. Eventually, even the most difficult situations can be improved and once success has increased everything to a certain point, things will grow considerably. I guess this is what people meant with, "stay the course."

2. Faculties need Salesmen, Connectors, and Mavens.
I consider myself a Maven-Salesmen mutant. All three can be powerful forces in schools, and the good news is they don't have to all come from the faculty. Administrators are crucial here. They are often in charge of selling messages, concepts, and ideas to faculty, students, and parents. This can be difficult. Consider the faculty member who is an expert in their subject area as they enter administration. You would hope they understand their "salesmen" role. Also, consider the faculty member who can communicate well with anyone yet has a hard time with subject matter (good knowledge, poor pedagogy). They might be better administrators. Enter the argument: the best teachers don't always make the best administration and vise versa.

3. Knowing yourself and playing to your strengths is important.
I often walk into schools that have weak arts programs. When I learn more, the tendency seems to be trying to accomplish too much. If your a band director and you're not good at marching band, it would be a good idea to NOT put too much into it. Focus on your strengths. If you WANT to be good, great, find some marching band Mavens and get after it! Kids need to experience excellent. I think we've stretched kids so much in schools that they struggle to understand what sacrifice and hard work to a few groups is all about. Think about this, we have increased extra-curricular sports but participation hasn't increased at the same rate. Yes, it is better to offer more, but many kids play three sports locking out others. Obviously this is a gross generalization. Many students do quite well in multiple activities. I'm more focused on the arts programs that do too much. How many schools have excellent arts programs? (I'm sure at least one of you has said, well, define excellent.) They do exist and there are many excellent arts teachers and many great examples of student work, but as I think of the local schools in Chicago, only a few jump out as excellent. What will it take for the other schools to tip?

Movie Review- Terminator: Salvation

I loved this movie. Christian Bale is good but the Terminator 1000 is great. The story is effective, the screen play works (although Bale is a little over the top when he talks on the radio), and the action is incredible. The only thing I was a little disappointed in was the music. (Are you surprised?) Danny Elfman wrote the score and it's.........................boring. The 6/4 leitmoif is great, but something melodic to counter would be great. That's the reason John Williams is so good. He understood the strength of melody and theme. We don't get that in Terminator.

I hope they make a sequel. The action alone is enough. The machine design work and I hope they can make Skynet more intellectual next time. If the machine's evolve, how can the resistance continue to fight?

5 out of 5 drumsticks

Movie Review- Star Trek

All I can say is WOW. This movie kicked butt from beginning to end. I'm a Next Generation fan and haven't watched much of the original series. Maybe I'm not the best judge of Star Trek quality. Whatever, the movie rocked. The action was great, the screen play was good and I actually enjoyed the acting. I appreciated the fact that the background story didn't take long to lead to the present story. Sometimes this happens with prequels. They fall in love with the story and at the end, they have to make a movie happen in twenty minutes.

For instance, The Hobbit, coming out in 2011 I believe, has been cut into two movies. THANK YOU!!! 1. I think they'll be great, Jackson is an executive producer. 2. They can take time for the story and time to develop the plot enough for the movies. I think DaVinci Code and Angels and Demons were much too short for the amount of material they could have covered. But, honestly, they were boring movies to me.

5 out of 5 drumsticks for Star Trek.

Terminator: Salvation will be up either prior to Memorial Day or just after it.

Movie Review-Angels and Demons

I saw this Friday. OK, but why did they change so much stuff?

Out of 5 drumsticks. I give it 1.5. There is a 1 drumstick penalty for not being on IMAX.

Full Court Press

On ESPN.com, Malcolm Gladwell, the author of Tipping Point, Outliers, and Blink, argues for the use of the full court press for underdogs.

Check it out here. Gladwell puts up some more info on his blog here.

When thinking about education and how this relates to schools, I couldn't help but think that a full court press is just what some kids need. They need a completely different model than that currently available. They need change. Major change. So what does that look like?

Book Review- The Power of Music by Daniel Barenboim

I just finished this wonderful book while enjoying a nice Seattle's best cookie and cream shake at Borders (one of my favorites).

If you don't know, Barenboim is the former musical director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. His musical advocacy is well documented, but this work really brings everything to a head.

Why do we need music? Barenboim ventures into the interconnectedness of the subject through his experiences. He speaks about how morality and music are related. Music has a certain life span. It's existential existence is finite. Through our own ways of keeping music present in time, we in turn learn to increase our own life. Barenboim also speaks about a subject dear to him; the Israle-Palestein conflict in the mideast. Barenboim imigrated to Israel from Argentina and was invited to perform in Germany in 1954 on piano. He declined because the Holocaust was too much in the minds of Jews at that time. He has become a strong advocate of a two-state solution and equal rights for Palestinians. His work in the region has drawn much praise and he maintains that through music, the conflict can be studied and some form of resolution can be made.

I highly recommend this book.

Check out this dude let Tchaikovsky 4 rip!!