Eclectic Technology

What character traits help people lead more satisfied lives? It turns out that neuroscience has determined that mindset makes a difference (think of growth mindset) and that there are 24 character traits that you may have (some stronger than others) that can be strengthened. The video that accompanies this post is about 8 minutes long and one that you may want to share in a faculty meeting or with students (and parents).

The organization that made this film also provides a list of resources. These resources are available at http://www.letitripple.org/character.

What if we taught our students that failure is mandatory, a part of our lives, that we can learn from our failures and move forward? This post states "We understand that failure is crucially instructive and necessary on the road to success and learning." We might ask ourselves (as teachers) if we embrace failure or if we are fearful of the possible outcomes. 

The post provides some foundational material, such as a graphic that looks at a "cycle of experiment and experience" as well as suggesting four strategies:

* Remove the fear of failure

* Create skunkworks

* Promote success

* Align IT and curriculum

And last but not least, that our schools should be cultures of innovation. Additional material is provided on each of the four strategies in the post.

Angela Duckworth left the classroom to study grit..." the relentless work ethic of sustaining your commitments toward a long-term goal — impact success." This post not only provides some background to her work it has a short (under 4 minutes) video where she discusses why she chose to research self-control and grit.

Duckworth began by studying a group of 8th graders and found " students’ self-discipline scores were far better predictors of their academic performance than their IQ scores." Over time she and a colleague developed a Grit Test. Learn more about her work and find a link to the Grit Test by clicking through to the post (last paragraph).

How much do you know about your brain? This post will help you learn more about it and how understanding the brain will help you with your students. There is a short introduction and the a list of the main ideas is below. Additional information is available in the post as well as a visual image that links to the nine ideas. Links to additional materials are also available.

* The brain is a social organism.

* We have two brains.

* Early learning is powerful.

* Conscious awareness and unconscious processing occur at different speeds, often simultaneously.

* The mind, brain, and body are interwoven.

* The brain has a short attention span and needs repetition and multiple-channel processing for deeper learning to occur.

* Fear and stress impair learning.

* We analyze others but not ourselves: the primacy of projection.

* Learning is enhanced by emphasizing the big picture—and then allowing students to discover the details for themselves.