About this time of year, a curious affliction can take hold of the current high school Senior class; its often known as, “Senioritis”. With no known cure, yet for most, a temporary condition, Senioritis can strike at any time, for no apparent reason, and without warning. The symptoms can include:
Tag: Learning
New Year’s Resolutions: Willpower is Not Enough
Many of us, myself included, make New Year’s resolutions, then promptly forget them – only to find myself at the end of the year, shocked again that I hadn’t accomplished my goal. After decades of this annual ritual, I decided to investigate why the hopes from the beginning of the year often go unfulfilled.
The Inventors Dilemma
A fun excerpt: dedicated to all the curious and hands-on students who tend to create certain “stress” for their parents, and generally, the adult population around them. Did you know? As a child, [Thomas] Edison’s home laboratory often produced explosions that shook the house and upset his father. The hard work it took to make…
Embrace, Don’t Shun Worry and Stress; a Normal Part of Living
We spend our lives–first, learning and then, embracing–the idea that stress and worry should be avoided, denied, and minimized, but seldom understood. Art shares his view on worry and stress with a high school junior client and their family, as well as how one can work with stress and worry to become stronger, not weaker…
The Classroom Transition from Anonymity to Known
The dictionary defines teaching as, “showing or explaining”, and explain in its simplest terms is “to make clear, make plain.” Making plain takes time and a dialogue to be sure each person within the exchange is in agreement, so with a class of 35 students and one teacher, one can come up with creative ways…
The Human Element of Learning
In the relationship between the student and the teacher, when the personalities are in sync, then you know it. A conflict–temporary or more on-going–can skew learning and create longer lasting consequences than just the school year. Understanding any conflict, objectively, takes some effort on the teenager’s, parent’s and teacher’s parts. What’s a general complaint?…
Scantron Tests: A Jedi Mind Trick?
Ever marked three of the same letter answers in a row and seriously start questioning the correctness of your thinking on a Scantron answer sheet? Double checking and triple checking your work–as the minutes tick by and you become more frantic to finish the test before the period is up? And, you know in the…
Halloween is More Than Pay Day for the Dentist
“Trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat!” (You know you read that in your best sing-song, childhood voice…) How many of us think about why Halloween is a holiday? Why do we give out candy? Why do we spend hours, if not months, planning an elaborate costume to wear for…
Math May Not Be as Solid As You Think
Math problems may have one answer–yet not only one solution.
The Benefits of “Frenemies”?
Reading about Helen Gurley Brown’s death today inspired the following post. (No matter your opinion of Ms. Brown and her positions on social issues–she was the editor of Cosmopolitan magazine for 32 years and wore mini-skirts into her 80’s, according to the New York Times–she stirred discussion.) A discussion does not happen when everyone agrees…
Back To School…More Complex Than Buying New Notebooks
BACK TO SCHOOL: Three words that can send excited nerves through a student’s, parent’s and teacher’s bodies. Students may lament, yet their friends are waiting on campus, after all. At the same time, there’s a frenzy of last minute summer reading and assignment completion while parents buzz in the background, brimming with “I told you…
Plagiarizing Doesn’t Happen Only in School
Original thought that contributes to common knowledge and greater understanding is demanded of students across the country. New software that scans students’ work and rates the percentage of the document that is potentially plagiarized are being used in high school and college classrooms. One high school junior told us that her teacher returned her history…
Fail to Succeed?
Steve Jobs on Failure: I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter into one…
Eventually…May Be the Key Lesson to Learn
Learning is a combination of asking questions for clarification, quiet reflection to understand the meaning of the words spoken and action to test the lessons of what was heard. A possible re-examination may be needed to review the lessons and revise its application. Sometimes, this cycle repeats multiple times over many years. (Or as I…
Make Money from Doing Your Homework
“Hands on learning”–somehow these eduspeak words have invaded Seniors’ vocabulary to describe the classroom environment they desire in college. (Incidentally, their next sentence usually includes something to the effect, “You know, the opposite of high school.”) Well, how about taking “hands on learning” to another level and actually making money with the knowledge one gains…