depression

Bliss of Solitude

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Pitcher doodle

 

Nature teaches us how to be quiet and calm.

 

*from William Wordsworth’s poem, “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”

My favorite lines are the last three:

Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

 

Risk Factors in Learning

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Day 27 of 31 Daily Painting Challenge (Creativebug.com)

How Children Succeed by Paul Tough

[a summary of pages 1 – 20]

ACE Score (Adverse Childhood Experiences) – A risk factor assessment for identifying childhood traumatic incidences. This score provides a probability factor for academic success/failure (as well as life success). You can take the quiz here.  

There is evidence that scoring high on ACE can prove detrimental for life, even if the “victim” does not engage in any self-destructive behavior. 

One shocking statistic: “ACE scores of 6 were 30x more likely to attempt suicide than ACE scores of 0.”

Funneling hundreds of thousands of dollars and replacing teaching and administrative staff are not successful strategies for improving schools. Take Fenger High School in Chicago, for example. They tried every possible strategy from replacing staff to creating a technology program. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation even financed them with a $21 million grant. Two years later, little to no results. 

What works? Well, stay tuned.  I will post summaries of my research every Sunday afternoon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

…Yoda Would Not Approve

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Day 21 of 31 Day Painting Challenge (Lisa Congdon – Creativebug.com)

Too often, we confuse “anger” with power. Anger is fear-based. It is never necessary.

Intelligent, creative action can only arise from calmness.

Whenever I give a knee-jerk reaction, I almost always regret it. Yet I’ve never regretted deleting the impassioned email or biting my tongue until I can address the issue calmly.

Try this: Next time you are offended (which is just your perception of offensive behavior, by the way), do not react. Think about the action or words. Decide if they are true or not. And react calmly (e.g., “Interesting. No, I do not agree.” Or, “I think you might be right!“)

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