Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Developing Bounce

When I teach juggling, I have noticed consistently that students are afraid to drop the balls. I have improvised balls with crumpled paper, although with plastic balls my students are just as hesitant to release them from their grasp.

One portion of the first ball practice is: Toss the ball across to the other hand however let the ball fall to the floor. Focus on throwing the ball across!

Why are my students concerned about dropping the ball? Their response: it is a mistake. Or, that was my failure. Actually, I want them to aim for accuracy, yet they assume the worst based on their experiences and impaired assumptions. This includes: Perfect practice makes perfect. Wrong practice becomes permanent!

In actuality, jugglers use silicon balls. These bounce! And they bounce back to the same height they were dropped. There is a pattern in juggling where we deliberately drop the ball, and then it bounces back into our hand, and we continue the juggling.

How well do you bounce back after making a mistake? How well do you recover from disappointment? How long do you grief over a loss? How long do you commit to denial and resistance? How well do you take receiving constructive feedback?

Bounce – that is the quality of elastic material. Human resilience is about ‘bounce’. How do you spring back into shape quickly? How well do you stretch under pressure? How malleable are your opinions and thoughts?

Note to students: My friend, Matthew illustrates this very well in his insightful reflection. This is a fine example of writing an honest journal of a prolonged learning experience. Enjoy it.

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