I went to my first day of classes completely unsure if I'd graduate or not this semester, not knowing if I'd be attending a class I'd eventually drop. Frankly, I was flying by the seat of my pants.
But I went to Comm 250: Intro to Organization Communication.
It seemed nice, not too intimidating, and my friend Michael was in the class. It was bearable. But dependent on so many things.
And I came out a winner.
In class, our professor told us how easy it was to be proactive, how easy it would be to do the assignments. He even said, "You are adults. All assignments are negotiable!"
I started cheering inside.
And then he shared with us the most important thing of all: this assignment.
He said, "I want you to 'continue the conversation' outside of class." It seemed easy enough. He continued. "I want you to find ways to use the new forms of media to share what you think and feel. And I want you to post your thoughts on other students' blogs, tweet your thoughts on Twitter..." The sky is the limit, and I knew this would be fun.
But the thing that stuck out to me was something Elder Scott taught him in a stake conference address last year. He said:
Is ti better to be a pipe or a jug?
What do you think? Think philosophically. Why?
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Well, Elder Scott said: "A jug is good. But a pipe is better."
In essence, a pipe allows information to be transmitted from one source to another. While a jug can carry things (and yes, I know it can be used to transport stuff), he said it is better to be a pipe that connects to others and shares what we learn.
He promised, as an Apostle : "If you commit to the Lord each day to share the insights you receive, you will learn more."
I've heard it before, but suddenly my desire to share became more intense. More real.
For some time I've been thinking about turning my blog into a sharing post. And I will. But for now, I'm using this blog for my class and as a place to post my thoughts--until I get around to changing my personal blog.
So share your thoughts. What do you think? How have you seen this promise fulfilled in your life? And why do you think it is true? Does it change the way you think, act or feel?
Post your thoughts. Really. Even if you don't know me. I want to learn from you. Besides (and let's be honest), if you're blog stalking me, chances are I've blog-stalked you. Right? So let's just open up that communication and be honest and start sharing with each other. Deal?
Until then...I'll be thinking about what to share on my next post...like what we learned today. I promise, it is going to be good!
Well, Jared, I totally agree. I love to feel like I can share information I have learned. It is exciting to help someone else learn from something I have learned. My most memorable job so far has been as a teacher (at the MTC) because I felt like I could make a difference not by creating experiences for my class, but by helping them learn to create their own experiences based on my learning to do so.
ReplyDeleteAlso, now that I'm in med school, one of the things I get most excited about is being able to educate my patients about their bodies and their illnesses. I think it is important that we share knowledge and experience with others so they can grow vicariously through us. They can't have every experience that we have, so we need to share that with them. If we don't, we are being selfish in a way. But, by opening up and being selfless and wanting to help others grow from our growth, we give some of ourselves to another and that not only strengthens them but also strengthens our relationship/bond with them.
Pretty cool...
That was fun to philosophize(sp?) for a bit. I don't think I do that enough...
Vaughn
In response to the jug or pipe question I was reminded of a demonstration I heard about the learning model. Teaching is like writing a song on the piano, the teacher being middle 'c.' The students all get different keys after that-high 'c', 'f', 'g#.' If you just have the teacher talk, one student respond, and then the teacher, then student your song will be very boring. But if you have the teacher start it off, then go to a student, with another student commenting, and even more students commenting you will get a very interesting, and beautiful song!
ReplyDelete