Three questions to give to a professional: "Tell me how you came to become a ___________? When did you know that this was your talent? What did you do to develop your talent?"

I met a musician recently.  I asked her how she found herself part of three bands.   She admitted that she had just quit one of the bands be

So I quoted to her the tenth principle from Austin Kleon's "Steal Like an Artist":  Creativity is Subtraction.   She agreed.

Here's what she told me:

My path

by Radha Windham

LifeSoFarMusic.com

I've been asked by one of my fans to trace my development as a musician.   

When I was twelve i took piano lessons.  Then I got interested in other instruments

By the time I was 15 I hadn't played piano for two years and when I tried the piano again, I found I still remembered a lot of what I had learned.

I started learning really complicated pieces on the piano.

I also taught myself a lot of guitar after taking a few lessons from teachers.

After learning to play by myself, I wanted to get more instruments to produce the sound that I wanted to hear.  I wanted to play with people to get that sound.

I wanted to learn drums and the teacher asked me if I had ever played before, he said I was a natural.

we rehearsed 

I found an Elvis impersonator and he wanted to create  a cover band.  He plays a guitar and so I play the drums in that cover band.

I went on to make a teen band (with some local teens).

Then I saw an ad on Craigslist:  

they were looking for a female 23 to 30 and I'm 17.  

the bank leader sent me six songs.  I memorized them and then I did the audition, all in about two days.   I was really nervous.... but they told me, "you have the part!"

Radha is under the "o"

so suddenly i was in three bands.     ... So when it became obvious that I had to actually travel for gigs (we're being booked by a national company), I realized that I had to get out of one of the bands.   

That's my story so far...

Radha Windham  

You can find her band at LifeSoFarMusic.com.  

What questions can we teachers ask to spark the generation of a testimonial?

What can we ask to empower a person to share their path to "how I find my bliss"?

What do we teachers do best?  "Tell me how you came to become a ___________? When did you know that this was your talent?  What did you do to develop your talent?"


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Your Net Impact -- Invite friends to a cafe with Internet access and suggest places to visit on the web: LetsClickCommunity.com

YourNetImpact.com

Your Net Impact 
...
Invite friends to a cafe with Internet access and suggest places to visit on the web:  LetsClickCommunity.com

The next gathering is 21 June 2013
7 to 9 pm
638 N. Federal Highway
Fort Lauderdale FL 33304

http://yournetimpact.blogspot.com/2013/05/here-are-five-things-to-click-on-your.html

Click Here

Matt Blazek shared several new sites

Some of us played Backgammon... 

Go here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTT6j805fvI

Let's encourage students to get back in contact with former teachers. Teachers get some attention (for work done years before) and the students get the joy of saying, "Thank you." What procedures do schools need to adopt to support "finding the teacher"?

Many schools have a policy of not keeping track of former employees.  "That person no longer works here."  That's somewhat impersonal.  Is that a way to treat a person?  Is that how alumni should be treated? "Sorry, we have no information about that employee."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2N8ng1fP6Ec

Littky's Big Picture Schools keep track of alumni and send them surveys.  Alumni are encouraged to visit the campus years later and give feedback and become a resource for current students.  Interaction with former teachers is encouraged.   See more  www.BigPicture.org


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2N8ng1fP6Ec


I witnessed the value of interactions between a former student and my favorite mentor, Dennis Yuzenas.  Sean S. McGraw is studying art education (see his BLOG).  I benefited because Sean has agreed to collaborate on a book to make posters.   I'm going to figure out how to get the poster book translated into Chinese and then he hopes to be invited to lecture about arts education and posters in China (and elsewhere).

LOOK AT THIS VIDEO

Ah, good things happen when a teacher visits his mentor's school.   Thanks to Dennis Yuzenas, my education expands and continues.

How did art get introduced to the curriculum?
When did art get infused in the public school curriculum?
Who proposed the introduction of art in public education?

Visit http://ssmcgraw.com/ to learn more.

How to Promote Lifelong Learning and Random "Teaching Moments": (1) Connect with your students on Facebook, YouTube and other social media, (2) Post only items that are favorable to the education of students and (3) Set your settings at "Public."

Why should a teacher make his website and Facebook account public?  Why should a teacher connect with students?  Why should a teacher set photos on "public"?

Here's the "Sad Songs Say So Much" video

Here's a short clip from a workshop that I gave in April 2013.  This clip appeared on my Facebook activity.  My students (who are connected to my Facebook account) can see what I'm doing.   

Why is it important for students to see an adult's activity on the Internet?  Because my Facebook work shows that teachers really do useful things outside the classroom.  Youtube uploads, Scribd.com documents, tweets can all help students see that there are productive things that adults do with social media.

When a Youtube account is connected to a Facebook account,
the activities are captured

Some of my mentors include Ryan Cohn of WhatsNextMarketing and Bob Finch from ifinch.net.  Both Bob and Ryan have demonstrated the use of social media in business settings and their work shows me how to act responsibly with various accounts.   Some of their tips:  (1) connect your accounts so when you post on Scribd.com, your contacts on Facebook learn about the update.  (2) connect widely.  Take time to create an account on the following:  twitter, facebook, scribd.com, youtube.com, tumbler, stumbleupon, and consider the advantages of Sites Google, Vimeo,  (3) take the time to clic on other people's projects and ask them to click on your projects.  This shared clicking will increase the traffic that is counted by Klout.com.    I recently saw this post on Facebook by Ryan:  

Had a great time speaking at the Social Fresh East Conference in Tampa. Big thanks to Jason, Corey, Nick and many others. Check out the slides from my presentation, "What Doesn't My CEO Get About Social Media?" here:http://bit.ly/Social_CEO (2 photos)    [ post by Ryan Cohn ]

This is an example of the "activity log" that
a Facebook account maintains.  Look at these
multiple postings of videos to my YouTube account.

So I reposted this link and added the following: Ryan Cohn will be seen 20 years from now as one of the quiet advocates of social media for business. I hope he creates a "social media handbook" for teens so my students can practice today building skills for use in their careers. If you are a teacher, link with Ryan and learn about the future. They say that our students are preparing for jobs that haven't been invented yet. Learn more about Ryan's work and you'll join me in staring at the future.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHNBaxBdgWc

Here's a student who lives on a long island in the Caribbean who would like to interact with my students.  We talked about her favorite song, "Beautiful Goodbye" by Maroon Five.  

These moments are available to my students.  My teenaged students can get a glimpse of the world that they will enter soon and they can ask me about these experiences.

So, mentors, show us your best side.  Share your special traits and strengths.  Send me your highlights and show us your workspace.   See what BoxOfCrayons did with a 9-minute office tour.

This is a valuable exercise.  Help my students tour an office.  Let students see what is real in the "real world."  ... and do the tour on Facebook, where my students live.   That's why I have seen that teachers (and mentors) can have impact on students' lives through social media.

People might object to a teacher who "exposes" students to the adult world.  My aim is to show my students things that are true, pure, honest, lovely, just, of good report, ... let's think on these things.