Connecting the Dots...

Recently I presented my students with a simple but challenging problem: to try to connect all nine dots in a square box using four continuous straight lines only. That is, you cannot lift your pencil or retrace your lines to complete the task. Sounds simple enough, but, for most, it isn't. Usually most fail by trying to complete the task by remaining within the box of nine dots, and these efforts are futile -- it cannot be done that way. The only solution is to extend a line beyond the box in order to connect two of the dots on a diagonal. The quaint words of wisdom "Think outside the box!" ring true here. And the sentiment of this message is to look at and try things in a unique and different way. So it's no surprise that this task came to mind as I delved into the Synectics theory these past two weeks.
Steve Jobs, the great innovator and founder of Apple, whose achievements in his shortened life far surpass those who live long, full ones, offered a few words of wisdom in his commencement speech to students graduating from Stanford, and one of his points including reflecting back on one's life to "connect the dots." He added that you cannot do so looking forward -- you just have to "trust your instinct that it will all work out."
Years ago (too many, in fact), when I was taking education courses, we were asked to share how we study and prepare for tests. Many of my classmates offered that they review their notes and so forth; however, I told used an analogy of what I learned of nomadic Indians who migrate during the year, and how they travel a certain distance, remembering to turn and look back. Why? It's all too simple: so that they would know what the return trip would look like. I added that I always try to "fit" whatever is new with my learning into what I already know, and certainly this is reflected in several of the learning theories we are presently considering, including cognitivism, connectivism, and constructvism. Doing so helps to add to the schema I have already constructed, perhaps even strengthening the concepts and ideas I have learned already.
One year into working toward my masters in instructional technology, as I stare at the daunting road ahead of new learning and the attending work it entai.s, it seems appropriate now to glance back to see where I was and how far I have come. One year ago I did not know what a Web 2.0 tool was (LOL) and couldn't perform even the simplest of tasks, such as adding links. Today, this morning, at my brother's kitchen table, I am drafting a new post on my blog some 100 miles away from home. After Amy's last class, where I had to step out of my comfort zone by creating a 50-point contract of my own projects -- something like opening the door of an animal who has spent a lifetime in a cage and now doesn't know what to do (please note the Synectics connection here!)-- as Jobs says in his speech, it all somehow worked out. Now I am presented with new challenges and obstacles to surmount -- preparing presentations and delivering a lesson with a remote partner, finding and sharing work and theories with a global parter, and so on. And all this while teaching my 7th graders English and working a second job on the weekend seems quite daunting. I suppose it's time to end here, so I'll do so with a few word of Steve Job's: "stay hungry, stay foolish" and believe "it will all work out somehow."