If I’ve learned one thing in 25 years of workshop facilitation, it’s the importance of experiential exercises. You almost have to wonder whether John Dewey, an American philosopher whose ideas still shape education, had been to a boring, lecture-only type…
It happens all the time. People learn a little about something new, think they understand, and make changes based on half-truths. That's how you get problems such as those reported in the Atlantic article, Why Introverted Teachers are Burning Out. Those with…
I've been using the new Brain Energy/Bandwidth quiz that I created with Ann Holm with teams and individuals, during workshops and coaching sessions, while networking over coffee--in other words, every chance I get. Just click on the quiz name to try the basic version yourself.…
I used to facilitate the MBTI ® Certification Program, and over the years started hundreds of consultants and counselors and OD specialists and educators—and more—on the path to effective use of psychological type theory. Note that I said started them on the…
If you aren’t part of a team with regular meetings, it’s easy to put off making time for networking--especially if, like me, you’re more introverted than extraverted. Yet all of us benefit from hearing others’ perspectives, having our thinking challenged,…
By chance….Have you noticed that right now, intelligent people are polarized on issues? They’re holding polar opposite viewpoints? We all do. We think we’ve carefully vetted our positions and are in the right. So how much should we trust our own wisely-thought-through views?
Not much, actually, if one considers the research on how we form our viewpoints. A recent slew of books asks us to ponder this and perhaps change how we interact with those who hold opposing views.
Jonathan Haidt, in The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion, guides us through the neuroscience and psychology research on how we form our opinions. And it’s humbling. Or should be. Not only do we consistently pay attention to information that reinforces what we believe, but the more intelligent we are, the better we are at spinning one-sided arguments.
In Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error, Katheryn Schulz uses both research and humor to help us understand just how wrong we can have the facts and thus how flimsy our arguments can be.
Po Bronson's new book Top Dog takes on the how's, why's and who's of competition. If you're an advocate of competition, whether in sports or in business or in education, it's an interesting read on why some people tense up under…
Today, Nerdy Book Club bloggers everywhere are listing their Top 10 Picture Books for classroom use. I use lots of these books in classrooms with students--but frequently, adult workshops benefit from picture books for the same reasons that students do:…
Have you in the past six weeks
A. Complained about “so much to do, so little time…”
B. Thought, “We should be spending more time on this…”
C. Realized you rushed through a book, article, conversation, or ___, and aren’t sure what it was about…
D. Felt a strong desire to sit still. Very still. Very far from that always-buzzing smart phone…
E. All of the above?
While you probably don’t have full control of your life, you are constantly making choices. And those choices may be rushing you as well as those you teach or lead. Here are three good resources for slowing down just a little.
“Beware the Either/Ors” is as important a consideration for school reform as “What will best help students learn?”
Last week, Annie Murphy Paul’s blog Why Kids Should Learn Cursive (and Math Facts, and Word Roots) got a lot of attention. She cites some excellent reasons and points to
…a raft of recent studies supporting the effectiveness of “old school” methods like memorizing math facts, reading aloud, practicing handwriting, and teaching argumentation (activities that once went by the names drill, recitation, penmanship and rhetoric). While the education world is all abuzz about so-called “21st-century skills” like collaboration, problem solving, and critical thinking, this research suggests that we might do well to add a strong dose of the 19th-century to our children’s schooling.
Note she says Add these old methods rather than use Only the old methods.