Gut Check: Do You Have a Great Job?

Reposted from U.S. New & World Report:

This time of year may get you thinking and talking with family and friends about 2015, resolutions and future plans, both related and unrelated to work. It’s a good time to really explore how you feel about your job. Perhaps there’s one person you don’t particularly like. Or maybe your manager isn’t giving you the opportunities or salary you think you deserve.

It is very rare to get all the things you want in a job. There are some perks you have to let go and compromise on, just like in a relationship with a significant other. What’s important is to figure out what combination of circumstances you can put up with and what you really cannot. What is it you really dislike about work, and what is it you like? Write it down in two columns: “like” and “dislike.” You need to know yourself well to understand what makes you tick.

Or you may want to add a one-to-10 scale to your list. “One” would mean intolerable – makes you shake with rage – and “10” would mean completely satisfied. Then you can add up the points you’ve given to each thing on your list and see if the “likes” or “dislikes” win. The result will depend on how you view, react to and deal with people and situations. If you come across any of the circumstances listed below in your “like” column, you may not need the change you’ve been thinking about so soon…

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8 Strategies That Nurture the Innovator Mindset

Reposted from Edutopia:

One thing that we always come up against, and I’m guessing it will sound familiar, is that students are often reluctant to engage in creative work because they fear making mistakes and are overwhelmed by open-ended design challenges. They can also be quick to give up when they experience a setback.

Dozens of practices and rituals come together to make our culture of creativity and innovation real for students. We find that, after just a few weeks in this setting, students are willing to imagine new possibilities, take risks, build off each other’s ideas, and keep going until they reach their goals.

The first step is to place the five elements of the mindset (or your own version) prominently on your classroom wall. Simply naming these attributes and teaching your students what they mean will emphasize that your goal is bigger than imparting knowledge. You’re making a statement that you see your students as people who have the power to chart their own course, rather than being victims of circumstance. Then, make it real by adopting practices and rituals that reinforce the Innovator’s Mindset…

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The Resegregation of America’s Schools

Reposted from ProPublica:

As ProPublica has documented in a series of stories on the resegregation of America’s schools, hundreds of school districts across the nation have been released from court-enforced integration over the past 15 years. Over that same time period, the number of so-called apartheid schools — schools whose white population is 1 percent or less — has shot up. The achievement gap, greatly narrowed during the height of school desegregation, has widened.

“American schools are disturbingly racially segregated, period,” Catherine Lhamon, head of the U.S. Education Department’s civil rights office, said in an October speech. “We are reserving our expectations for our highest rigor level of courses, the courses we know our kids need to be able to be full and productive members of society, but we are reserving them for a class of kids who are white and who are wealthier.”

According to data compiled by the Education Department, black and Latino children are the least likely to be taught by a qualified, experienced teacher, to get access to courses such as chemistry and calculus, and to have access to technology. The inequalities along racial lines are so profound nationally that in October the department’s Office for Civil Rights issued a 37-page letter to school district superintendents warning that the disparities may be unconstitutional.

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The Power of Yet [VIDEO 10:25]

Carol Dweck researches “growth mindset” — the idea that we can grow our brain’s capacity to learn and to solve problems. In this talk, she describes two ways to think about a problem that’s slightly too hard for you to solve. Are you not smart enough to solve it … or have you just not solved it yet? A great introduction to this influential field.

What It Takes To Grow Past Tough Times

Reposted from PsychCentral:

For those in the world of psychology the idea is new. Yet for those on the other side — people simply wanting to feel better — the idea is groundbreaking. Post-traumatic growth simply defies everything we have been told about trauma, setbacks, hardship, and adversity.

And the truth is this: studies on post-traumatic growth show that after major life traumas more people show post-traumatic growth than PTSD (Morris, Finch, Scott, 2007). This is worth restating. It’s hard to believe for sure. And naturally the question becomes, just what does is take to grow from tough times?

Willingness. Willingness to accept that the way things are going is not working. Willingness to say that change is needed. And more than anything, we need a willingness to learn a new way. From this place, we can then begin to look at some of the things that people who report post-traumatic growth do. And they are…

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10 Ways School Leaders Successfully Support Ed Tech [INFOGRAPHIC]

In this infographic, Teachers Plus explores a number of key factors school and district instructional leaders should deliberately implement in supporting technology implementation and the teacher professional development necessary to ensure its success. Among these factors are the importance of a social learning environment, strong leadership, flipped classroom, and gradual change.

View the original posting here.

Free Growth Mindset High School Transition Program [VIDEO 2:45]

This program teaches students that the brain is like a muscle and can become stronger by taking on new challenges and putting in effort. When students learn this, they try harder and do better in school. Past research shows that programs that teach students that intelligence can be developed, known as “growth mindset programs,” improve students’ grades and course pass rates.

This program is:

• Scientifically Validated: Similar PERTS programs have increased GPAs and course pass rates, especially for students struggling academically.

• Developed by Experts: Designed by leading education and motivation researchers.

• Engaging: Program includes brief passages of reading, writing exercises, personal stories from other students, audio, and survey questions.

• Simple: No training required.

• Brief: 90 minutes total.

• Free: As a part of improvement research.

• Has No Control Group: All students will receive a version of a growth mindset treatment program.

Read more about the program and register here.

The Evolution of Social: 2004-2014 [INFOGRAPHIC]

Check the visual below for a timeline of social media from 2004 to 2014, which includes some recent usage stats, and comes courtesy of MediaVision. While the roots of social media can be found in Friendster and Myspace, it’s probably fair to say that social didn’t really start to change the world until Facebook launched in 2004. YouTube (2005) and Twitter (2006) debuted shortly thereafter, and from here we never looked back. Within a decade of Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, Google+, Instagram and Snapchat all made grand entrances onto the scene. Today, using social media as a business marketing tool has become essential for brands of all shapes and sizes, in almost every industry across the world.

View the original post here.

How Beacons Track Your Phone While You’re Shopping

Reposted from Business Insider:

Much has been written about the rise and rise of beacons, the tiny little devices placed inside stores and even phone boxes that transmit Bluetooth Low Energy signals in order to send ad messages to consumers’ mobile phones.

But to anyone who suddenly sees a message from a brand pop-up when they are looking at their mobiles inside that same brand’s store, it can be confusing as to how the store knows you’re in there.

We asked inMarket, a mobile marketing agency, exactly how much planning goes into a beacon campaign and how the technology works. They gave us a step-by-step insight into a holiday beacon campaign currently running for the agency’s client Sun Pacific.

Here’s BI Intelligence’s full beacon FAQ if you want to know more.

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Sir Ken Robinson: Can Creativity Be Taught? [VIDEO 6:56]

Sir Ken Robinson remarks on the observation that “the problem with creativity is that it cannot be defined.” You’re making judgments all the time; it’s not some freewheeling process. But in his mind, anything that involves human intelligence can achieve something creative. Can creativity be taught? Not through direct instruction, but though enabling, mentoring, encouragement and opportunity, gifted teachers help students all over the world to be creative. Creativity is simply ideas that have value. Follow along as Robinson explores his thoughts on learning to be creative.