Wake up, educators!

Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover

New book to buy: Intelligence and How to Get It by Richard Nisbett, a professor of psychology at the University of Michigan. This book offers advice on how to address poverty and inequality in our educational system. He proffers that intellectual ability is not fixed at birth, but is expandable, something we can shape.
Students exposed to that idea work harder and get better grades.
“Some of the things that work are very cheap,” Professor Nisbett noted. “Convincing junior-high kids that intelligence is under their control — you could argue that that should be in the junior-high curriculum right now.”
Some of his suggestions include
-praising effort more than achievement
-teaching delayed gratification
-limiting reprimands and use praise to stimulate curiosity

Interview question I was once asked: Can all children learn?

What a no-brainer.

I've been accepted to UTSA's doctoral program for Interdisciplinary Learning and Teaching! I had to opt for part-time status since I sort of need my current salary. Life will be frenetic next year, but I'm excited about being a student again.

Since April's National Poetry Month, here's a haiku of celebration:

Aahh..pedagogy,
Understanding by Design...
The doctor is in

:)

I tried to buy FLOW, but Borders didn't have the version I sought. I'll try again during this luxurious three-day weekend. I did read, however, The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. Wo! I highly recommend this memoir. Sadly, though, as much as I sympathized for Jeannette, the artist that has been stifled in me understood her mother's flair and unorthodox reasoning. My artist, not a graphic one by any means, does not give a flip about societal norms and appearances. I want to stay up into all hours of the night, sleep late, eat when I'm hungry, not when it's scheduled, write and read poetry, paint, travel. I guess it all goes back to the concept of flow.
Then, because of past turbulence, I seek order and peace. This is not all bad, though. How else would I pay the bills?