I THOUGHT THIS ARTICLE IS INTERESTING BECAUSE BEING SMART BECOMES "UNCOOL" STARTING IN MIDDLE SCHOOL. I WILL HAVE GIRLS START STRONG IN MY CLASS AND THEN BY SECOND QUARTER THEIR GRADES START TO DROP AND THEIR ATTITUDES CHANGE (THEY SUDDENLY DON'T KNOW THE ANSWERS IN CLASS) AS THEY FOCUS ON BOYS AND THEIR SOCIAL LIFE. WHEN I HAVE CONVERSATIONS WITH THEM, SOME OF THEM EXPRESS HOW IT IS NOT COOL TO BE PERCEIVED AS SMART. THIS STIGMA HAS ALSO AFFECTED BOYS IN MY CLASSROOM AS WELL WHEN THEY WANT TO BE PART OF THE "POPULAR" GROUP.
Smart Is Cool: My Change Nation Interview with Ana Henao
Intelligence is not just about book smarts. It's about using all your tools—all your skills, all your smarts and anything you learn along the way—to help you reach your goals. That's according to Ana Henao, one of three co-founders of "Smart is Cool," a movement that seeks to redefine smart and set a new standard for cool at college campuses across the U.S. "The most fashionable thing you wear is your intelligence," says Henao, quoting the community's motto.
Why don't girls see smart as cool? Henao blames the media, pointing out that many of the stars they look up to don't make the smartest choices. "There may be the Lindsays and the Britanys," she says, "but [girls need to see that] there are also all of these women who have accomplished such great things by being smart." Stories of inspirational women will appear on the Smart Is Cool web site and are being compiled for an upcoming book, which I am honored to be a part of.
© 2010 The First Thirty Days, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Monday, January 11, 2010
Friday, January 1, 2010
This Year I Will...
Here is a collection of ideas I've collected on making New Year's Resolutions
Ever wonder why fewer than 10% of us make New Year's resolutions that stick? According to M.J. Ryan, author of This Year I Will…: How to Finally Change a Habit, Keep a Resolution or Make a Dream Come True, we don't know how to get our brains on our side. She offers some basics about brain science.
- Your brain tends to want to do the same thing over and over, so lasting change takes lots of practice. It's not about getting rid of bad habits—pathways to current behaviors are there for life—but about building new, more positive ones. This process can take six to nine months.
- Your emotional brain—the part that seeks pleasure and avoids pain—tends to override the thinking part. To create lasting change, you need to get the emotions on your side and keep them there. One man who wanted to live long enough to retire to Hawaii quit smoking by hanging posters of Hawaiian beaches everywhere.
If you wish to make significant change in your life, add space wherever you can in your surroundings and in your mind. That's according to Kathi Burns, author of How to Master Your Muck—Get Organized. Add Space To Your Life. Live Your Purpose! "It could be as simple as cleaning out your desk drawer or spending a few moments each day in a state of non-thinking in prayer or meditation," suggests Burns. "When you do this regularly, you will have more space to think more clearly which will help you discover your purpose in life."
Burns advises getting rid of anything that does not serve who you are right now. "Muck is a powerful saboteur of creative expression and can become a roadblock to your success," she says, adding that it's not just about clearing clutter. "Spend time each morning clearing away the muck in your head with meditation or prayer. Then plan what you wish to accomplish that day before you begin working or checking emails," she advises. "Set your path before it sets you off your path of greatest fulfillment."
One of the biggest mistakes people make when making a New Year's resolution is actually making it a New Year's resolution in the first place. Did you know that over 80% of people who start something on January 1 fail? Don't be a part of this statistic.
Avoid setting resolutions during the first two weeks of the year. Not only are you fighting with the memory of previously failed resolutions, but it's right after the holidays. You're probably still eating unhealthy food, the weather is bad and you have to go back to the daily routine of work. Who wouldn't fail under these conditions?
Wait until you want to make a change. The energy of wanting to change is much stronger and more effective than the feeling that you should change because everyone else is doing it. You'll know when the time is right for you. Try it mid-January, when everyone else has already given up and you've settled back into your daily routine. Don't even call it a New Year's resolution. Just call it an intention.
We get what we focus on. As the end of the year approaches, instead of blaming ourselves for what went wrong in 2009—the weight we put on, the dreams we didn't pursue, the debt we racked up and so on—let's take a very different look back at the past year.
Here are 10 questions to ask yourself that will radically change your view of 2009:
1) Whom did I meet this year who is now in my life?
2) What emotion really caused me to grow? Courage? Faith?
3) What emotion was I unafraid to feel? Fear? Sadness?
4) What am I most proud of?
5) In what area of my life did I really make some progress?
6) What did I do that completely surprised me and was unexpected to me?
7) Whom did I really help?
8) What is the biggest lesson I really faced?
9) What am I most grateful for?
10) What were the most fun times I had?
Be gentle on yourself and light on life.
How Really To Succeed at Your Resolution
Most of us fail at our resolutions because there's no cost or long-term pain or penalty if we don't. If you really want things to be different this time around, attach a penalty to not succeeding. Decide on a consequence that will "hurt" a little financially or emotionally, and be sure to let at least one other person in on your plan. (Accountability is a great motivator.) You can even put it in writing and sign a "contract."
Suppose you're determined to lose 20 pounds this year. Commit to giving $100 to the charity of your choice for each pound you don't lose. Or, promise to give away a month's paycheck if you don't leave the job you've spent years complaining about. Work with an amount that will have a significant financial impact without making you go bankrupt.
If you can't afford the financial risk, or if money doesn't motivate you, try something else. Maybe you dread the idea of joining a weight-loss organization or some other support group. Commit to signing up if you don't meet your goal. Only you know what works for you.
Family vs Change Team
Don't necessarily look to the people closest to you for support in making a decision about a major life change. Chances are good, they don't want you to change anyway. Take my family, for instance. As I joked during my keynote speech at Villanova University's 2009 Women in Business Conference, their attitude towards my changes—specifically, leaving a high-level corporate position to pursue my dreams—was far from supportive:
Dad: "You don't think there are enough books in the world?"
Mom: "Please give me grandchildren immediately and stop working."
Brothers: "Good, maybe she'll finally fail at something."
When it comes right down to it, the decisions are yours to make, alone.
The time to look for support, or what I call a "change team," is after you’ve made a decision. Then ask for help from the right people—those who want you to change, who believe you can change and who won't focus on how your change affects them. The real sources of help aren't the people who crawl in the hole with you and tell you that you're right, but those who see you in a hole, hand you a ladder and offer to coach you up.
© 2009 The First Thirty Days, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Ever wonder why fewer than 10% of us make New Year's resolutions that stick? According to M.J. Ryan, author of This Year I Will…: How to Finally Change a Habit, Keep a Resolution or Make a Dream Come True, we don't know how to get our brains on our side. She offers some basics about brain science.
- Your brain tends to want to do the same thing over and over, so lasting change takes lots of practice. It's not about getting rid of bad habits—pathways to current behaviors are there for life—but about building new, more positive ones. This process can take six to nine months.
- Your emotional brain—the part that seeks pleasure and avoids pain—tends to override the thinking part. To create lasting change, you need to get the emotions on your side and keep them there. One man who wanted to live long enough to retire to Hawaii quit smoking by hanging posters of Hawaiian beaches everywhere.
If you wish to make significant change in your life, add space wherever you can in your surroundings and in your mind. That's according to Kathi Burns, author of How to Master Your Muck—Get Organized. Add Space To Your Life. Live Your Purpose! "It could be as simple as cleaning out your desk drawer or spending a few moments each day in a state of non-thinking in prayer or meditation," suggests Burns. "When you do this regularly, you will have more space to think more clearly which will help you discover your purpose in life."
Burns advises getting rid of anything that does not serve who you are right now. "Muck is a powerful saboteur of creative expression and can become a roadblock to your success," she says, adding that it's not just about clearing clutter. "Spend time each morning clearing away the muck in your head with meditation or prayer. Then plan what you wish to accomplish that day before you begin working or checking emails," she advises. "Set your path before it sets you off your path of greatest fulfillment."
One of the biggest mistakes people make when making a New Year's resolution is actually making it a New Year's resolution in the first place. Did you know that over 80% of people who start something on January 1 fail? Don't be a part of this statistic.
Avoid setting resolutions during the first two weeks of the year. Not only are you fighting with the memory of previously failed resolutions, but it's right after the holidays. You're probably still eating unhealthy food, the weather is bad and you have to go back to the daily routine of work. Who wouldn't fail under these conditions?
Wait until you want to make a change. The energy of wanting to change is much stronger and more effective than the feeling that you should change because everyone else is doing it. You'll know when the time is right for you. Try it mid-January, when everyone else has already given up and you've settled back into your daily routine. Don't even call it a New Year's resolution. Just call it an intention.
We get what we focus on. As the end of the year approaches, instead of blaming ourselves for what went wrong in 2009—the weight we put on, the dreams we didn't pursue, the debt we racked up and so on—let's take a very different look back at the past year.
Here are 10 questions to ask yourself that will radically change your view of 2009:
1) Whom did I meet this year who is now in my life?
2) What emotion really caused me to grow? Courage? Faith?
3) What emotion was I unafraid to feel? Fear? Sadness?
4) What am I most proud of?
5) In what area of my life did I really make some progress?
6) What did I do that completely surprised me and was unexpected to me?
7) Whom did I really help?
8) What is the biggest lesson I really faced?
9) What am I most grateful for?
10) What were the most fun times I had?
Be gentle on yourself and light on life.
How Really To Succeed at Your Resolution
Most of us fail at our resolutions because there's no cost or long-term pain or penalty if we don't. If you really want things to be different this time around, attach a penalty to not succeeding. Decide on a consequence that will "hurt" a little financially or emotionally, and be sure to let at least one other person in on your plan. (Accountability is a great motivator.) You can even put it in writing and sign a "contract."
Suppose you're determined to lose 20 pounds this year. Commit to giving $100 to the charity of your choice for each pound you don't lose. Or, promise to give away a month's paycheck if you don't leave the job you've spent years complaining about. Work with an amount that will have a significant financial impact without making you go bankrupt.
If you can't afford the financial risk, or if money doesn't motivate you, try something else. Maybe you dread the idea of joining a weight-loss organization or some other support group. Commit to signing up if you don't meet your goal. Only you know what works for you.
Family vs Change Team
Don't necessarily look to the people closest to you for support in making a decision about a major life change. Chances are good, they don't want you to change anyway. Take my family, for instance. As I joked during my keynote speech at Villanova University's 2009 Women in Business Conference, their attitude towards my changes—specifically, leaving a high-level corporate position to pursue my dreams—was far from supportive:
Dad: "You don't think there are enough books in the world?"
Mom: "Please give me grandchildren immediately and stop working."
Brothers: "Good, maybe she'll finally fail at something."
When it comes right down to it, the decisions are yours to make, alone.
The time to look for support, or what I call a "change team," is after you’ve made a decision. Then ask for help from the right people—those who want you to change, who believe you can change and who won't focus on how your change affects them. The real sources of help aren't the people who crawl in the hole with you and tell you that you're right, but those who see you in a hole, hand you a ladder and offer to coach you up.
© 2009 The First Thirty Days, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Cookbooks I Use or Have Heard Great Things About
I thought I compile a list of cookbooks for other quasi cooks (like me) with little time, money, and/or children running around their home.
Cookbooks I own & use:
"The Sneaky Chef to the Rescue" by Missy Chase Lapine
This book has taught me to be creative with all my cooking as far as adding pureed foods. I love the pancake recipes and the tater tots. I now put purees in mac n cheese and spaghetti and other recipes to make it that more healthier.
"Kraft Kitchens Dinner on Hand"
I love how this book has a chart where you can choose different meat or veggie ideas for each recipe depending on what you have in the cupboard. "Man n Cheese Pizza is delicious- your kids will love it!"
"5 ingredients or less - most in under 20 minutes. Over 300 recipes from home" economic teachers
Easy and yummy recipes. I love "Carol's Chicken" & "Easy Tuna Noodle Casserole." There is also a "Holidays & Parties," book which is use for special occasions. I used a St. Patrick's punch for my baby shower, since one of my baby colors was green.
"Meals in Minutes" by Gooseberry Patch
I love the "Beefy Mushroom Soup" and "Easy Potato Casserole. Many of the recipes are easy and yummy, but sometimes I have to adjust the time on the oven or the amount of certain ingredients."
"The Busy Family Cookbook" by Taste of Home
I love the variety of yummy and easy meals. Haven't made anything yet that doesn't work. Recommend Spicy Flank Steak. I also like the St. Patty "Quicker Bioled Dinner."
"5 ingredient, 15 minute cookbook" by Cooking Light
Very simple and yummy recipes with meat and fish. My husband loves "Pork Chops with Peach Mustard Sauce."
"Hungry Girl" by Lisa Lillien (the jury is still out on this book, but she has great alternatives for ingredients to make very healthy meals).
The Spinach & Artichoke Dip was a success on a vacation trip.
Cookbooks that are on my wishlist/looking into:
Family Feasts for $75 a Week: A Penny-wise Mom Shares Her Recipe for Cutting Hundreds from Your Monthly Food Bill
The Food Allergy Mama's Baking Book by Kelli Rudnicki
Dozens of delicious dairy-, egg-, and nut free recipes. "Those ingredients aren't as critical to moist, delicious oatmeal and chocolate chip cookies as we thought." (
Parenting.com, March 2010)
Websites
The Pioneer Woman Cooks: She came out with a a recipe book (featured on Good Morning America): Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl (check out her blog as well)
Cookus Interruptus
Haven't tried the recipes yet but they look simple, easy, and healthy. The site is devoted to environmentally friendly cooking.
Cookbooks I own & use:
"The Sneaky Chef to the Rescue" by Missy Chase Lapine
This book has taught me to be creative with all my cooking as far as adding pureed foods. I love the pancake recipes and the tater tots. I now put purees in mac n cheese and spaghetti and other recipes to make it that more healthier.
"Kraft Kitchens Dinner on Hand"
I love how this book has a chart where you can choose different meat or veggie ideas for each recipe depending on what you have in the cupboard. "Man n Cheese Pizza is delicious- your kids will love it!"
"5 ingredients or less - most in under 20 minutes. Over 300 recipes from home" economic teachers
Easy and yummy recipes. I love "Carol's Chicken" & "Easy Tuna Noodle Casserole." There is also a "Holidays & Parties," book which is use for special occasions. I used a St. Patrick's punch for my baby shower, since one of my baby colors was green.
"Meals in Minutes" by Gooseberry Patch
I love the "Beefy Mushroom Soup" and "Easy Potato Casserole. Many of the recipes are easy and yummy, but sometimes I have to adjust the time on the oven or the amount of certain ingredients."
"The Busy Family Cookbook" by Taste of Home
I love the variety of yummy and easy meals. Haven't made anything yet that doesn't work. Recommend Spicy Flank Steak. I also like the St. Patty "Quicker Bioled Dinner."
"5 ingredient, 15 minute cookbook" by Cooking Light
Very simple and yummy recipes with meat and fish. My husband loves "Pork Chops with Peach Mustard Sauce."
"Hungry Girl" by Lisa Lillien (the jury is still out on this book, but she has great alternatives for ingredients to make very healthy meals).
The Spinach & Artichoke Dip was a success on a vacation trip.
Cookbooks that are on my wishlist/looking into:
Family Feasts for $75 a Week: A Penny-wise Mom Shares Her Recipe for Cutting Hundreds from Your Monthly Food Bill
The Food Allergy Mama's Baking Book by Kelli Rudnicki
Dozens of delicious dairy-, egg-, and nut free recipes. "Those ingredients aren't as critical to moist, delicious oatmeal and chocolate chip cookies as we thought." (
Parenting.com, March 2010)
Websites
The Pioneer Woman Cooks: She came out with a a recipe book (featured on Good Morning America): Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl (check out her blog as well)
Cookus Interruptus
Haven't tried the recipes yet but they look simple, easy, and healthy. The site is devoted to environmentally friendly cooking.
Finding The Silver Lining | Parade.com
Finding The Silver Lining | Parade.com
Author Mitch Albom with Pastor Henry Covington in Detroit.
Editor's Note: Find out how you can help faith groups make repairs at a Hole in the Roof Foundation.
Rain falls on the church roof. It pours through a gaping hole and splashes onto the pews. Against the plop, plop, plop of gathering water, a pastor urges nearly 100 weary men to believe in the future. They wear old jackets or sweatshirts. They line up for chili and cornbread. They sleep on the floor, atop vinyl mattresses.
“Enjoy the meal,” the pastor tells them as they line up. “There’s a place for you here. See that man for a blanket…”
I HAVEN'T FORGOTTEN THIS STORY SINCE I READ IT. TODAY, GMA DID A SPECIAL FOLLOW UP AND THE CHURCH GOT A NEW ROOF FROM THE COMMUNITY. READ ON FOR MORE INFO
Just as the first major winter storm bears down on Detroit, acts of faith -- and author Mitch Albom's newest best seller, Have a Little Faith -- have added up to put a new roof on a crumbling downtown church that serves and shelters the homeless.
The $85,000 repair is set to be unveiled today, snow or no snow. The plan is for a joyful ceremonial removal of a great blue tarp placed where there was once a huge hole that left the church so cold people routinely prayed with their coats on. The funds came from "A Hole in the Roof Foundation" established by Albom to support churches that serve cities' poorest people can't use government money for capital repairs.
Albom, who has devoted the proceeds of earlier books such as Tuesdays with Morrie, to fund programs in the recession-shattered city, launched Have a Little Faith, a little book describing the commitment to good works of two clergyman. One was his childhood rabbi, the late Albert Lewis. The other was Henry Covington, spiritual leader of Pilgrim Church and a ministry to the homeless. A portion of the funds from book launch events went to kick off the foundation.
Detroit author Mitch Albom's newest book,
CAPTION
By Santa Fabio, for USA TODAY
Albom says people nationwide responded with donations from $7 -- enough to buy a roof shingle through a Twitter campaign called "Shinglebells" -- to $10,000 from a church in California.
Ten days ago, we had 100 volunteers, including the homeless people who sleep at the church, out here forming a big human line when the trucks pulled up with the supplies.
We unloaded the shingles and nails and handed the supplies up to the ladder to the professionals on the roof. Then, on the count of three, they pulled off the tarps.
Today, on the count of three, they'll do it again. They'll also unveil a plaque inside the church, replastered and repainted where the biggest hole once let rain fall in. It lists about 400 names.
The ceremony will include the church choir, singer Anita Baker and the Detroit mayor all there to celebrate the faith of strangers in a city church. Albom says there's still money coming into the Hole in the Roof fund and soon they'll pick a new church to repair.
This is my hometown, Detroit, in a devastated economy, in a crumbling church, on a cold, hard floor at the bottom of the world.
And still, there is hope.
If there is any advantage to living at the epicenter of the economic crisis, where our main industry—the auto business—has imploded, where abandoned houses seem to dot every corner, where the unemployment rate is a staggering 25%, it is this: You get to see what man is made of.
What I have seen is that man is made of tough stuff. Man can rise to the occasion. One such man is the pastor of this church. His name is Henry Covington. Thirty years ago, he was in prison. He’d been a drug dealer, a drug abuser, a thief, and an armed robber. He had every excuse to see the world as hopeless.
But on a night when he truly hit bottom, hiding behind trash cans, certain he would be murdered by angry drug dealers, he promised his life to God if he lived to the morning.
He lived.
He kept his promise.
These days, Pastor Covington, 52, runs the I Am My Brother’s Keeper Ministries in downtown Detroit. His huge brick building was once—more than a century ago—the largest Presbyterian church in the upper Midwest. Now, like much of Detroit, it’s been overgrown with poverty, and there are broken windows and a hole in the sanctuary roof through which the rainwater collects in buckets. Several times, this ministry has been close to folding. Local drug lords even offered the pastor money to let them use the church for their dealings.
But Henry Covington was done with that life.
Instead, he dug in. He found a way. Today, he conducts services through the cold, through the snow, even under a giant plastic tent when the gas company shuts the heat off due to unpaid bills. He takes little salary and lives with his family in a tiny, nearby home.
And yet, he says, “I’m where I’m supposed to be.”
What he means is that he is where he can make a difference. In that way, Covington is typical of many people in this economy who find new meaning in their lives despite losing jobs, homes, or status: They find it by giving to others and reconnecting with their faith.
In Detroit, we call it fighting back.
A few years ago, I spent a night at a local homeless shelter to write about the experience. As I stood in line for food, a man tapped me on the shoulder and asked if I was who he thought I was. I told him yes.
“So,” he said, nodding sympathetically, “what happened to you?”
I never forgot that. I realized hard times can hit anyone. Now, all around our country, it is being proven true. With the mortgage crisis and the recession, even rural states like Wyoming and Montana have seen jumps in their unemployed and homeless populations. In Detroit, nearly half of the homeless are families, and more than half of those are on the streets for the first time.
Author Mitch Albom with Pastor Henry Covington in Detroit.
Editor's Note: Find out how you can help faith groups make repairs at a Hole in the Roof Foundation.
Rain falls on the church roof. It pours through a gaping hole and splashes onto the pews. Against the plop, plop, plop of gathering water, a pastor urges nearly 100 weary men to believe in the future. They wear old jackets or sweatshirts. They line up for chili and cornbread. They sleep on the floor, atop vinyl mattresses.
“Enjoy the meal,” the pastor tells them as they line up. “There’s a place for you here. See that man for a blanket…”
I HAVEN'T FORGOTTEN THIS STORY SINCE I READ IT. TODAY, GMA DID A SPECIAL FOLLOW UP AND THE CHURCH GOT A NEW ROOF FROM THE COMMUNITY. READ ON FOR MORE INFO
Just as the first major winter storm bears down on Detroit, acts of faith -- and author Mitch Albom's newest best seller, Have a Little Faith -- have added up to put a new roof on a crumbling downtown church that serves and shelters the homeless.
The $85,000 repair is set to be unveiled today, snow or no snow. The plan is for a joyful ceremonial removal of a great blue tarp placed where there was once a huge hole that left the church so cold people routinely prayed with their coats on. The funds came from "A Hole in the Roof Foundation" established by Albom to support churches that serve cities' poorest people can't use government money for capital repairs.
Albom, who has devoted the proceeds of earlier books such as Tuesdays with Morrie, to fund programs in the recession-shattered city, launched Have a Little Faith, a little book describing the commitment to good works of two clergyman. One was his childhood rabbi, the late Albert Lewis. The other was Henry Covington, spiritual leader of Pilgrim Church and a ministry to the homeless. A portion of the funds from book launch events went to kick off the foundation.
Detroit author Mitch Albom's newest book,
CAPTION
By Santa Fabio, for USA TODAY
Albom says people nationwide responded with donations from $7 -- enough to buy a roof shingle through a Twitter campaign called "Shinglebells" -- to $10,000 from a church in California.
Ten days ago, we had 100 volunteers, including the homeless people who sleep at the church, out here forming a big human line when the trucks pulled up with the supplies.
We unloaded the shingles and nails and handed the supplies up to the ladder to the professionals on the roof. Then, on the count of three, they pulled off the tarps.
Today, on the count of three, they'll do it again. They'll also unveil a plaque inside the church, replastered and repainted where the biggest hole once let rain fall in. It lists about 400 names.
The ceremony will include the church choir, singer Anita Baker and the Detroit mayor all there to celebrate the faith of strangers in a city church. Albom says there's still money coming into the Hole in the Roof fund and soon they'll pick a new church to repair.
This is my hometown, Detroit, in a devastated economy, in a crumbling church, on a cold, hard floor at the bottom of the world.
And still, there is hope.
If there is any advantage to living at the epicenter of the economic crisis, where our main industry—the auto business—has imploded, where abandoned houses seem to dot every corner, where the unemployment rate is a staggering 25%, it is this: You get to see what man is made of.
What I have seen is that man is made of tough stuff. Man can rise to the occasion. One such man is the pastor of this church. His name is Henry Covington. Thirty years ago, he was in prison. He’d been a drug dealer, a drug abuser, a thief, and an armed robber. He had every excuse to see the world as hopeless.
But on a night when he truly hit bottom, hiding behind trash cans, certain he would be murdered by angry drug dealers, he promised his life to God if he lived to the morning.
He lived.
He kept his promise.
These days, Pastor Covington, 52, runs the I Am My Brother’s Keeper Ministries in downtown Detroit. His huge brick building was once—more than a century ago—the largest Presbyterian church in the upper Midwest. Now, like much of Detroit, it’s been overgrown with poverty, and there are broken windows and a hole in the sanctuary roof through which the rainwater collects in buckets. Several times, this ministry has been close to folding. Local drug lords even offered the pastor money to let them use the church for their dealings.
But Henry Covington was done with that life.
Instead, he dug in. He found a way. Today, he conducts services through the cold, through the snow, even under a giant plastic tent when the gas company shuts the heat off due to unpaid bills. He takes little salary and lives with his family in a tiny, nearby home.
And yet, he says, “I’m where I’m supposed to be.”
What he means is that he is where he can make a difference. In that way, Covington is typical of many people in this economy who find new meaning in their lives despite losing jobs, homes, or status: They find it by giving to others and reconnecting with their faith.
In Detroit, we call it fighting back.
A few years ago, I spent a night at a local homeless shelter to write about the experience. As I stood in line for food, a man tapped me on the shoulder and asked if I was who he thought I was. I told him yes.
“So,” he said, nodding sympathetically, “what happened to you?”
I never forgot that. I realized hard times can hit anyone. Now, all around our country, it is being proven true. With the mortgage crisis and the recession, even rural states like Wyoming and Montana have seen jumps in their unemployed and homeless populations. In Detroit, nearly half of the homeless are families, and more than half of those are on the streets for the first time.
Can Video Games Teach Kids | Parade.com
Can Video Games Teach Kids | Parade.com
On a fall morning at a public school in New York City, sixth-graders are called to sit down at their desks. At first glance, it looks like any other middle-school science classroom. There’s an aquarium full of tiny turtles and a harried teacher fumbling with a projector.
But then the instructor boots up the day’s lesson: a video game. The students watch as the tiny dolls in PlayStation 3’s LittleBigPlanet (pictured) hop through a maze of contraptions onscreen. The game is being used to introduce them to Newtonian physics, and as part of their coursework, the kids will be required to build devices similar to the ones they’ve just seen.
This is the inaugural class of Quest to Learn (Q2L), the first-ever school in the U.S. built on the innovative approach of games-based learning. While many American schools use computers and games, Q2L is the first to follow a curriculum entirely focused on video games. Its 72 sixth-grade students—guided by six teachers—study and explore subjects through role-playing activities and computer-driven interactive quests instead of textbooks and lectures. They work together on gamelike “missions,” solving puzzles and completing challenges as teams. Their courses have been combined into multidisciplinary “domains” like Codesworlds, a blend of math and English, and Sports for the Mind, a mix of art and physical education. At semester’s end, the pupils won’t take finals; they’ll reach the next level, like at the end of a game.
Katie Salen, Q2L’s executive director of design and a self-described “game geek,” thinks this approach is necessary to engage a generation of wired young people and reduce dropout rates. In New York City, a dismal 39% of students leave high school without earning a diploma.
“These are digital kids,” she says. “They’ve already transformed society. Why not education?” Experts view Q2L as a model for other schools. “We’re starting to see agreement that video games are the new liberal arts,” says Kurt Squire, a professor in education communications and technology at the University of Wisconsin. “This school is the first implementation.”
In September, Edward O. Wilson, a respected professor emeritus of biology at Harvard University, caused a stir when he said, “Games are the future in education. I envision visits to different ecosystems that the student could actually enter...with an instructor. They could be a rain forest, a tundra, or a Jurassic forest.” His vision resembles the kind of teaching that goes on at Q2L. For example, in one class, students are studying design through Gamestar Mechanic, an online game. In another class, they are learning geography by role-playing as location scouts for a mock reality-TV show. They will research different climate zones around the world, create digital maps, and eventually submit their multimedia pitches to an actual TV producer.
Instructors were recruited not for their gaming skills but for their willingness to rethink education. “Students now live to play games and are immersed in technology,” teacher Ginger Stevens says. “It makes sense to tap into that enthusiasm. Instead of forcing an old model of education on them, we’re looking at where students are coming from and building a program around that.”
Q2L is the result of a collaboration among the Parsons School for Design, New Visions for Public Schools (an education-reform group), and the Institute of Play (a nonprofit devoted to game-based education). Q2L is a non-charter public school funded by the Department of Education. It will add another grade every year until it reaches the 12th grade.
Its students have ended up there after applying and being chosen by lottery. “I have quite a few friends who are jealous,” 11-year-old Beauchamp Baker says. His mother, Lesli, reports that the school has benefited him in more significant ways. Beauchamp, who has been diagnosed with attention-deficit disorder, had some difficulty at previous schools. Now he is more engaged in his schoolwork than ever before. “It’s a great match for him. He’s really enthused about learning,” his mother says. But she admits that, as a parent, “you have to take a leap of faith.”
Some educators think the leap is too big and unnecessary. “I’m not hostile to the idea of kids learning with technology, but there’s not much deep thinking behind the hype about gaming,” says Gary Stager, an educational technology expert at Pepperdine University. “Great teachers have reached kids for generations through interesting subject matter and meaningful work.”
But what seizes the interest of today’s sixth-graders may be entirely different from what engaged earlier generations. These young people have only ever known a world with the hands-on, immediate interactivity of the Internet and video games. When asked what his favorite part of school is, Q2L student Liam Smith says, “I like doing stuff instead of just learning about it.”
His classmates seem to agree. In math class, when the teacher unfolds a checkered mat on the floor, the children’s excitement is apparent. One kid shouts, “It looks like Tetris!” Yells another, “It looks like Connect Four!”
“Those are good observations,” he says, “but this is actually a game I’ve made.” Then, when he asks for volunteers, an amazing thing happens—everyone raises a hand.
How Games Are Used in Schools
Here’s a look at how teachers are firing up their students.
• Mother of Mercy High School, Westwood, Ohio
Students are learning about subjects like business ethics, hiring, and the environment by playing SPILL!, a game in which teams work to clean up an oil spill in a simulated city. The game was also used in 500 other U.S. schools this fall.
• Oak Grove Elementary School, Paragould, Ark.
In addition to using standard gym-class equipment, kids break a sweat with the video games Dance Dance Revolution and ATV Off Road Fury 2.
• Southwest High School, Jacksonville, N.C.
Through a program calledProject K-Nect, students are given smartphones equipped with math games and problem sets to help improve test scores.
On a fall morning at a public school in New York City, sixth-graders are called to sit down at their desks. At first glance, it looks like any other middle-school science classroom. There’s an aquarium full of tiny turtles and a harried teacher fumbling with a projector.
But then the instructor boots up the day’s lesson: a video game. The students watch as the tiny dolls in PlayStation 3’s LittleBigPlanet (pictured) hop through a maze of contraptions onscreen. The game is being used to introduce them to Newtonian physics, and as part of their coursework, the kids will be required to build devices similar to the ones they’ve just seen.
This is the inaugural class of Quest to Learn (Q2L), the first-ever school in the U.S. built on the innovative approach of games-based learning. While many American schools use computers and games, Q2L is the first to follow a curriculum entirely focused on video games. Its 72 sixth-grade students—guided by six teachers—study and explore subjects through role-playing activities and computer-driven interactive quests instead of textbooks and lectures. They work together on gamelike “missions,” solving puzzles and completing challenges as teams. Their courses have been combined into multidisciplinary “domains” like Codesworlds, a blend of math and English, and Sports for the Mind, a mix of art and physical education. At semester’s end, the pupils won’t take finals; they’ll reach the next level, like at the end of a game.
Katie Salen, Q2L’s executive director of design and a self-described “game geek,” thinks this approach is necessary to engage a generation of wired young people and reduce dropout rates. In New York City, a dismal 39% of students leave high school without earning a diploma.
“These are digital kids,” she says. “They’ve already transformed society. Why not education?” Experts view Q2L as a model for other schools. “We’re starting to see agreement that video games are the new liberal arts,” says Kurt Squire, a professor in education communications and technology at the University of Wisconsin. “This school is the first implementation.”
In September, Edward O. Wilson, a respected professor emeritus of biology at Harvard University, caused a stir when he said, “Games are the future in education. I envision visits to different ecosystems that the student could actually enter...with an instructor. They could be a rain forest, a tundra, or a Jurassic forest.” His vision resembles the kind of teaching that goes on at Q2L. For example, in one class, students are studying design through Gamestar Mechanic, an online game. In another class, they are learning geography by role-playing as location scouts for a mock reality-TV show. They will research different climate zones around the world, create digital maps, and eventually submit their multimedia pitches to an actual TV producer.
Instructors were recruited not for their gaming skills but for their willingness to rethink education. “Students now live to play games and are immersed in technology,” teacher Ginger Stevens says. “It makes sense to tap into that enthusiasm. Instead of forcing an old model of education on them, we’re looking at where students are coming from and building a program around that.”
Q2L is the result of a collaboration among the Parsons School for Design, New Visions for Public Schools (an education-reform group), and the Institute of Play (a nonprofit devoted to game-based education). Q2L is a non-charter public school funded by the Department of Education. It will add another grade every year until it reaches the 12th grade.
Its students have ended up there after applying and being chosen by lottery. “I have quite a few friends who are jealous,” 11-year-old Beauchamp Baker says. His mother, Lesli, reports that the school has benefited him in more significant ways. Beauchamp, who has been diagnosed with attention-deficit disorder, had some difficulty at previous schools. Now he is more engaged in his schoolwork than ever before. “It’s a great match for him. He’s really enthused about learning,” his mother says. But she admits that, as a parent, “you have to take a leap of faith.”
Some educators think the leap is too big and unnecessary. “I’m not hostile to the idea of kids learning with technology, but there’s not much deep thinking behind the hype about gaming,” says Gary Stager, an educational technology expert at Pepperdine University. “Great teachers have reached kids for generations through interesting subject matter and meaningful work.”
But what seizes the interest of today’s sixth-graders may be entirely different from what engaged earlier generations. These young people have only ever known a world with the hands-on, immediate interactivity of the Internet and video games. When asked what his favorite part of school is, Q2L student Liam Smith says, “I like doing stuff instead of just learning about it.”
His classmates seem to agree. In math class, when the teacher unfolds a checkered mat on the floor, the children’s excitement is apparent. One kid shouts, “It looks like Tetris!” Yells another, “It looks like Connect Four!”
“Those are good observations,” he says, “but this is actually a game I’ve made.” Then, when he asks for volunteers, an amazing thing happens—everyone raises a hand.
How Games Are Used in Schools
Here’s a look at how teachers are firing up their students.
• Mother of Mercy High School, Westwood, Ohio
Students are learning about subjects like business ethics, hiring, and the environment by playing SPILL!, a game in which teams work to clean up an oil spill in a simulated city. The game was also used in 500 other U.S. schools this fall.
• Oak Grove Elementary School, Paragould, Ark.
In addition to using standard gym-class equipment, kids break a sweat with the video games Dance Dance Revolution and ATV Off Road Fury 2.
• Southwest High School, Jacksonville, N.C.
Through a program calledProject K-Nect, students are given smartphones equipped with math games and problem sets to help improve test scores.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Savvy educators offer advice for keeping kids honest.
What goes on in the mind of a cheating student? Most educators would love to peek inside those young brains to see what motivates the eye wandering or cell-phone sneaking, in an attempt to prevent it.
Researcher and expert on cheating Eric Andermann, director of Ohio State University’s School of Education Policy and Leadership, has found that the goal that students are encouraged to work toward significantly affects whether they cheat or not.
“If the test is seen by students as the most important part of schooling, then cheating will be more likely to occur,” says Andermann. “The research is quite clear about this.” While testing will always be a necessity in schools, there are ways for teachers to mitigate cheating. If they “really stress the value of the content, the importance of the content, understanding the content, and don't emphasize social comparison (i.e., don't point out who knows more or less than others), cheating will be less likely to occur,” he says.
Some students don’t even realize they’re cheating. More than 23 percent of teens admitted in a Common Sense Media poll that they don’t think it’s cheating to look at notes on a cell phone during a test.
But you can help them understand that it is, says Andermann, by teaching students about proper and improper use of the Internet and technology, as well as plagiarism from online sources. “Students are so used to gathering information via the Internet that they often don't know that it may be wrong,” he says.
Of course, there are some students who will still cheat. Fortunately, educators have strategies for keeping them honest. We asked your colleagues for their best advice in an online discussion. Read on for their tips or add your own here.
An Ounce of Prevention
Review Expectations
The first assignment of the semester is a plagiarism Webquest I found on the Internet (Google “PAMS Plagiarism WebQuest”). Students complete a paper answer sheet for 100 quiz points. If a parent signs the completed sheet, the score increases by 15 points. I keep the sheet on file. If I can prove plagiarism on a later assignment, the student receives a zero and detention. Parents tend to stop fussing when I pull out the answer sheet with their signature.
Stephanie L., Jasper, Tennessee
Mess with the Tests
Make multiple versions of the test so kids cannot copy from one another’s papers during the test.
Carol S., Belgrade, Minnesota
When you make multiple versions, always use different colored paper. That way, if you ever don’t have time to create multiple versions, you can use different colored paper and students will not know whether there is only one version of the test.
David T., San Jose, California
I punch holes on the sides of my tests. When I wander around the room as tests are being taken, I look to see the surface of the desk through the holes. If I see a paper instead of the desk, I know the study guide is hidden underneath.
Spencer H., Brentwood, California
Try a Cheat-Proof Assessment Model
Use performance-based assessment. Students may work cooperatively during the planning process but each person receives an individual presentation and/or written grade. It’s usually easy to determine the amount of learning and effort the student has as I work with him or her on projects and listen to presentations.
Elle G., Louisville, Kentucky
Give Them the Crib Sheet
Nearly all of my tests are open note and open book as my questions are usually essay questions asking students to apply what they should know, evaluate what they have read, and synthesize material. For example, they might have to compose a paragraph that contains at least three quotes that point out a personality trait of a character I choose. On the rare occasions that part of the tests are simple recall, I allow students to bring a 3×5 note card with any notes they can squeeze on it. The effort to go over material and decide what might be important means they are actually studying! I always tell students I do not expect them to memorize material but I expect them to know HOW and WHERE to find an answer quickly.
Elaine F., Defiance, Ohio
Choose Your Position Carefully
I monitor test-takers from the back of the classroom to get a “bird’s eye” view of the whole class and catch the stray eyeball or suspicious hand movements.
Ed G., Mountain Top, Pennsylvania
Never leave your desk during a test. Last year, when I went to a student’s desk to answer a question, it became “open season” for all students who were at my back.
Connie C., Louisville, Kentucky
Cut It Off at the Source
I make my students responsible for keeping their papers covered. Whenever I see answers uncovered, I quietly place a small, red square of construction paper on the student’s desk as a warning and reminder. If a second square is placed on the same student’s desk, a point is deducted.
Susan R., Olive Branch, Mississippi.
Fight Copying with Technology
My eighth-grade students would copy work before school and at morning break. So I began using my blog to post questions related to readings (Click here for an example). Replies are time-stamped and can be easily compared. Soon the copying was almost eliminated.
Chris M., Lakewood, California
Trick ’Em
I made copies of students’ test papers, recorded the grades, and then handed them back saying, "I did not have time to grade this set of papers so this will be a test of honesty for you." Those who self-corrected and came up with the same grade earned on the copies, got an A regardless of what had been earned. Those who cheated, earned a zero. The graded papers were then handed back. Since they never knew if this would be done again, cheating was diminished. I made phone calls to every parent and let them know the results and asked them to praise their honesty or talk about cheating. There are lots of ways to try and eliminate cheating, but talking about character and learning for life was stressed.
Cecelia S., Greensboro, Georgia
When Cheating Happens
Make a Statement
When I discovered cheating, usually on a homework assignment, I divided the grade among the number of children whose assignments were identical. I told them that if they were willing to share the work, they should be willing to share the grade. Word got around.
Christine S., Buffalo, New York
Give them a Second Chance
Take the student out into the hall and say, “Charles, I don’t think you are ready to take this test today, are you? I’m going to have you take a makeup test in a day or two. This time, I want you to study and be prepared. I need your honest answers so I can give you a fair grade.” This establishes trust as a caring teacher, one who can be approached for help.
Robert E., San Francisco, California
I grade the work. Then I put a zero on the paper and ask them to get a parent to sign it and to write a page explaining what they intend to do to correct the problem. When I get both, I reinstate the grade. This way, the parents have no reason to complain about a zero, they just have to sign the paper, and the student is empowered to choose his or her own consequences.
Joseph C., Covington, Virginia
When in Doubt, Let it Go...
If you are not absolutely certain that cheating occurred, let it go. There is nothing worse than a dispute about whether a student cheated or not. Make a mental note to watch the suspect more closely in the future.
http://www.nea.org/home/36759.htm?utm_medium=email&utm_source=nea_today_express&utm_campaign=20091111howshouldyoubepaidv1&utm_content=cheat&utm_term=howshouldyoubepaidv1
Other ideas:
1. Move student seats or seating arrangement just for the test
2. backpacks and other paraphernalia are moved to the side of the room-students can have books but no paper at their desks
3. When answering questions during the test, always position yourself so you can still see the majority of students (called "cheating out" in theater)
Researcher and expert on cheating Eric Andermann, director of Ohio State University’s School of Education Policy and Leadership, has found that the goal that students are encouraged to work toward significantly affects whether they cheat or not.
“If the test is seen by students as the most important part of schooling, then cheating will be more likely to occur,” says Andermann. “The research is quite clear about this.” While testing will always be a necessity in schools, there are ways for teachers to mitigate cheating. If they “really stress the value of the content, the importance of the content, understanding the content, and don't emphasize social comparison (i.e., don't point out who knows more or less than others), cheating will be less likely to occur,” he says.
Some students don’t even realize they’re cheating. More than 23 percent of teens admitted in a Common Sense Media poll that they don’t think it’s cheating to look at notes on a cell phone during a test.
But you can help them understand that it is, says Andermann, by teaching students about proper and improper use of the Internet and technology, as well as plagiarism from online sources. “Students are so used to gathering information via the Internet that they often don't know that it may be wrong,” he says.
Of course, there are some students who will still cheat. Fortunately, educators have strategies for keeping them honest. We asked your colleagues for their best advice in an online discussion. Read on for their tips or add your own here.
An Ounce of Prevention
Review Expectations
The first assignment of the semester is a plagiarism Webquest I found on the Internet (Google “PAMS Plagiarism WebQuest”). Students complete a paper answer sheet for 100 quiz points. If a parent signs the completed sheet, the score increases by 15 points. I keep the sheet on file. If I can prove plagiarism on a later assignment, the student receives a zero and detention. Parents tend to stop fussing when I pull out the answer sheet with their signature.
Stephanie L., Jasper, Tennessee
Mess with the Tests
Make multiple versions of the test so kids cannot copy from one another’s papers during the test.
Carol S., Belgrade, Minnesota
When you make multiple versions, always use different colored paper. That way, if you ever don’t have time to create multiple versions, you can use different colored paper and students will not know whether there is only one version of the test.
David T., San Jose, California
I punch holes on the sides of my tests. When I wander around the room as tests are being taken, I look to see the surface of the desk through the holes. If I see a paper instead of the desk, I know the study guide is hidden underneath.
Spencer H., Brentwood, California
Try a Cheat-Proof Assessment Model
Use performance-based assessment. Students may work cooperatively during the planning process but each person receives an individual presentation and/or written grade. It’s usually easy to determine the amount of learning and effort the student has as I work with him or her on projects and listen to presentations.
Elle G., Louisville, Kentucky
Give Them the Crib Sheet
Nearly all of my tests are open note and open book as my questions are usually essay questions asking students to apply what they should know, evaluate what they have read, and synthesize material. For example, they might have to compose a paragraph that contains at least three quotes that point out a personality trait of a character I choose. On the rare occasions that part of the tests are simple recall, I allow students to bring a 3×5 note card with any notes they can squeeze on it. The effort to go over material and decide what might be important means they are actually studying! I always tell students I do not expect them to memorize material but I expect them to know HOW and WHERE to find an answer quickly.
Elaine F., Defiance, Ohio
Choose Your Position Carefully
I monitor test-takers from the back of the classroom to get a “bird’s eye” view of the whole class and catch the stray eyeball or suspicious hand movements.
Ed G., Mountain Top, Pennsylvania
Never leave your desk during a test. Last year, when I went to a student’s desk to answer a question, it became “open season” for all students who were at my back.
Connie C., Louisville, Kentucky
Cut It Off at the Source
I make my students responsible for keeping their papers covered. Whenever I see answers uncovered, I quietly place a small, red square of construction paper on the student’s desk as a warning and reminder. If a second square is placed on the same student’s desk, a point is deducted.
Susan R., Olive Branch, Mississippi.
Fight Copying with Technology
My eighth-grade students would copy work before school and at morning break. So I began using my blog to post questions related to readings (Click here for an example). Replies are time-stamped and can be easily compared. Soon the copying was almost eliminated.
Chris M., Lakewood, California
Trick ’Em
I made copies of students’ test papers, recorded the grades, and then handed them back saying, "I did not have time to grade this set of papers so this will be a test of honesty for you." Those who self-corrected and came up with the same grade earned on the copies, got an A regardless of what had been earned. Those who cheated, earned a zero. The graded papers were then handed back. Since they never knew if this would be done again, cheating was diminished. I made phone calls to every parent and let them know the results and asked them to praise their honesty or talk about cheating. There are lots of ways to try and eliminate cheating, but talking about character and learning for life was stressed.
Cecelia S., Greensboro, Georgia
When Cheating Happens
Make a Statement
When I discovered cheating, usually on a homework assignment, I divided the grade among the number of children whose assignments were identical. I told them that if they were willing to share the work, they should be willing to share the grade. Word got around.
Christine S., Buffalo, New York
Give them a Second Chance
Take the student out into the hall and say, “Charles, I don’t think you are ready to take this test today, are you? I’m going to have you take a makeup test in a day or two. This time, I want you to study and be prepared. I need your honest answers so I can give you a fair grade.” This establishes trust as a caring teacher, one who can be approached for help.
Robert E., San Francisco, California
I grade the work. Then I put a zero on the paper and ask them to get a parent to sign it and to write a page explaining what they intend to do to correct the problem. When I get both, I reinstate the grade. This way, the parents have no reason to complain about a zero, they just have to sign the paper, and the student is empowered to choose his or her own consequences.
Joseph C., Covington, Virginia
When in Doubt, Let it Go...
If you are not absolutely certain that cheating occurred, let it go. There is nothing worse than a dispute about whether a student cheated or not. Make a mental note to watch the suspect more closely in the future.
http://www.nea.org/home/36759.htm?utm_medium=email&utm_source=nea_today_express&utm_campaign=20091111howshouldyoubepaidv1&utm_content=cheat&utm_term=howshouldyoubepaidv1
Other ideas:
1. Move student seats or seating arrangement just for the test
2. backpacks and other paraphernalia are moved to the side of the room-students can have books but no paper at their desks
3. When answering questions during the test, always position yourself so you can still see the majority of students (called "cheating out" in theater)
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