Learn about readings by Neil Postman, Lois Hetland, Howard Gardner, Dennis Yuzenas, Abe Fischler, Dan Pink, Thomas Friedman, John Corlette, Will Sutherland, Tom vander Ark, Marshall Thurber and other innovative educators.
These posters are expected to inspire students to stop, think and get inspired. <<<
I'm going to use this poster to remind students to look at their journals and reflect on something that they wrote two months ago...
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I've started an after-school center for the community around Lawrence Academy in Florida City, Floirda. If you are in the area, you are invited to come to the school between 4 and 8 pm and get free services. Let's explore the Internet together, Monday through Thursday Call (954) 646 8246 if you want to be sure that the After School Skills Center has enough capacity. RESERVE YOUR PLACE (and check to make sure Steve does not have a course in Broward College tonight). Here is the link to the posters and the description of the After School Skills Center Get the posters here! Here is the link to the Four-Page Survey about Interests....
One of the recurring themes of this blog is "How do we encourage Initiative and Entrepreneuring, two of the cornerstones of the Survival Skills identified by TonyWagner?" A headline in the Miami Herald gives some direction to us. Step 1. Ask students to read the article. Step 2. Ask students to create a product or service. Step 3. Ask students to create a small company. Step 4. Ask students to pursue contracts in the Americas.
Teachers: after you complete this project, send the results to the reporter and let the reporter know that the article made students sit up and do something...
"As you get good at a skill in the video game, we adapt and make it more difficult." Here is the key idea (only 2 minutes). It's worth a look. This is an interesting extension of the "Flow between Boredom and Anxiety" chart that was made famous by the author of the book "Flow." "Chick Sent Me High E" the psychologist
A student can earn money from blogging and from posting videos on a YouTube account. The student who wants to earn "passive income" from blogging or posting videos needs an AdSense account.
Here are the steps to getting an AdSense account. 1. SIGN UP
GoogleAdSense is a flexible, hassle-free way to earn revenue
If you prefer a video to explain the steps, here is a video:
Anyone can post this sort of video: (1) Explain how to do something. (2) Post the video on a youtube account. (3) Put a title that is easy for people to find. Look at the name of this video:
How To Set Up a Google Adsense Account and Receive Payment From Google ... That is a brilliant name for a video.
These steps are straightforward. Now, what do you do with the AdSense account number?
You'll "monetize" the blog and the YouTube accounts that you set up. I like Blogger.com for making a blog because it allows me to post 100 photos at a time.
You will see options. You can read about the options (by click on the grey "?" marks) or you can click and see the items in action.
Remember to add the key words: "labels" in Blogger and "Tags" in YouTube.
Safety
(1) The student should not post items that can be tracked to the student's family.
(2) If the student lives in Miami, then post photos only of places that s/he does not visit often. Perhaps "tour of Palm Beach" or "a visit to Key Largo."
(3) In general, don't post photos of daily life. Instead, post photos and videos when you travel. (4) If you post an item from your neighborhood, create a persona who lives in another part of the country. "Here are photos that my cousin sent me" or "Here are photos from a recent trip to Miami."
(5) Keep your parents informed. Let them see the blog.
(6) Show your blog and youtube channel to other adults. Ask for hits.
(7) When making a video, use steady hands or a tripod. Think about how the video will look from the other person's perspective.
Tips about writing blogs and posting videos
(a) To earn bigger rewards, think about topics that are close to your heart and that you are passionate about.
(b) Give a clear title that is easy to find.
(c) Click on OTHER PEOPLE's channels and hope that they will subscribe and click "LIKE" on your channel and blog.
(d) Ask your friends on Facebook to visit your blog and youtube channel. Each hit is helpful in raising your rank on the Internet. Higher rank = more money per click or view on AdSense (at least that is what appears to be the case).
(e) Check your spelling. It's helpful. You have one chance to make a good first impression. Spelling is part of the package.
Topics The blog could be about an internship.
A student who has an internship at a vet's office could post a daily journal about what he saw or learned that day. Without exposing the privacy of the patients, he could write about the cases that were analyzed and report how the doctor responded. "I really admired how calm the doctor was. I would have been annoyed by the situation, but the doctor smiled and showed no animosity. I'm really impressed by his people skills."
The blog could be about a skill.
I know nothing about rugby. I went to Youtube and typed "Teenager explains rugby rules." I found this link: http://www.youtube.com/user/bethhalldorson. It turns out that this person posted videos made by a rugby association. She didn't create the video. (No value to me as a teacher. I'm looking for a personal view and explanation of the game.)
Here is an amateur coach's blog. This is clearly written by an adult. But why couldn't a teenager who wants to explain the game write a blog?
That's what a college admission officer might look for: Look at this clear explanation of a difficult sport. This blog / youtube channel clearly gets into my head and helps me understand the challenges of the game. What could this person bring to our campus?
The blog could be about a sickness and the recovery. For example, Heidi, a student in Miami, wrote about the trauma she felt when she learned her mother was dying from leukemia. Only after a bone marrow transplant was done (a match was made with a distant relative) was the worry removed. Heidi's journal could hav been placed on the Internet with the personal bits (which could be linked to her) removed from the blog.
Why not write about what it's like to learn a new skill? My students are between the ages of 14 and 18 and they are preparing for university by taking a college prep test called SAT or ACT or PERT. These students need to hear from a peer or near-peer that "life is not about getting a better test score. It's about learning to deal with failure and finding out how to pick up and move ahead" or "Even with the high score, I needed to show that I was special. That's why I started keeping this blog: I wanted to show that I could communicate about something."
First of all, I want to apologize. I haven't posted in months and I don't really have a good excuse. I am a busy college student and all, but I've also just been lazy and I waste a lot of time doing other random crap on the Internet.
Secondly, I want to thank everyone who follows this blog for reading my posts and putting up with my craziness for ... how long as it been? Four years or something?
Unfortunately, I will no longer be posting on My Life as a Teenage Novelist. A quick explanation as to why:
A. Quite simply, I am no longer a teenager. I'm 20 now, so the title of this blog doesn't really apply to me anymore. I've thought about changing the title, but it just didn't feel right to me.
B. I think this blog is kind of a mess. It was my first experience blogging and I didn't really have any idea what I was doing. I was writing my first posts on here when I was 16 or so and I just wasn't that great at organizing my thoughts/advice or posting frequently enough. So, in other words, I feel like this blog is a bit outdated.
If you want to continue following me, my writing, and my advice, I will now be posting about writing on a Tumblr blog called Brigid Writes Things. (I decided to keep it simple, haha.) So, don't think of this as goodbye. Think of it as a new beginning. *Cue the corny music*
Once again, I'm sorry for taking so long to post this. And I'm sorry that I'm shutting this blog down. But it's been fun, and I hope to see you all on Tumblr! Thank you, wonderful followers! I love you all!
So, in addition to studying the techniques that I advocate on my SAT test prep site FloridaTestPrep.com, perhaps students can also create blogs and youtube accounts... and earn some money.
This post is fueled by a crack in one of my core beliefs. The crack was created by reading Dan Pink's book.
Core Belief: Selling is for people who are tough skinned.
I'm not tough-skinned.
I don't need to learn how to sell.
SUMMARY
Pink begins the book by defining "sales" in the traditional way, that 1 in 9 of us makes a living by pushing products and services.
It has always been clear to me that ABC (always be closing) is the ideal and that I could never sustain the effort to pursue a client so passionately and so persistently. Now I see that I'm part of the 8/9 that is not the "obvious" sales person, but rather I'm in the "persuader class" -- so we teachers are all persuaders and we are always trying to find new ways to ask people to part with resources (time, attention and effort) to achieve something else.
If you want to see details, then read on. Otherwise, just buy Pink's book. It's worth $20 to get a lesson plan for our students.
The idea of a global community connected on the web is clearly a "haves and have nots" situation. The hotel wants to charge $28 U.S. for a 24-hour use and there's an outside contractor that offers in-hotel machines at $9.60 for an hour.
IMBALANCE between sellers and buyers...
Dan Pink's book TO SELL IS HUMAN is becoming more and more relevant for my teaching aims. I can see that my students need Pink's viewpoint to help them navigate the older attitude toward sales (which is largely described by "the used car salesman.") "Caveat emptor" attitude reigns here in Australia. Pink describes the new environment of "caveat venditor" seller beware... because the buyer has access to just as much info as the seller.
I recommend Pink's description of the imbalance that "always be closing" generates and he offers three new ABCs: A_______(attunement), Buoyancy and Clarity.
attune students to the buyer (listen, don't constantly close)
be upbeat and positive (buoyant) in the ocean of rejection
be clear about what is important and balance the positivity with data about how they are actually performing in the market
You can find a good summary of TO SELL IS HUMAN on the Internet and Pink offers the first chapter. Perhaps in four or five years it will be generally recognized that this book is REQUIRED READING FOR EDUCATORS.
I thought that Pink had gone corporate, wanting to turn us all into marketing agents for brand X, but I misinterpreted the author's intent. He has been writing a series of connected books.
Free Agent Nation:Pink described in 2001 the rise of the independent contractor.
The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The last career guide that you'll ever need (a manga comic book). (2008) Here's the publisher's description: Meet Johnny Bunko. He's probably a lot like you. He did what everybody - parents, teachers, careers advisors - told him to do. But now, stuck in a dead-end job, he's begun to suspect that what he thought he knew is just plain wrong. One bizarre night, Johnny meets Diana, the unlikeliest career advisor he's ever seen. She reveals to Johnny the six essential lessons for thriving in the world of work. Packed with smart, counter-intuitive and potentially life-changing advice, it's the first and last career guide you'll ever need.
A Whole New Mind: Pink described the capacity that we all (especially independent contractors) need to develop in ourselves to compete with Asia. (2005)
He described the work (the niche) that automation and abundance offer us to grow into.
Drive: "How to motivate ourselves and others" is what we independent contractors need to understand... Dick Clark claims that Pink is overgeneralizing about "what motivates others" beyond money, but I like the idea that we can move people by appealing to Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose. Published in 2009
To Sell is Human: It is clear that we independent contractors can create business for our skills. (2013) We need to prepare people to persuade others to part with time, attention and effort to do something else (which is the heart of selling).
In other words, these five books are part of a curriculum. Dennis Yuzenas gets it. His focus on "building skills" at Oxbridge Academy has resulted in dozens of students who are focused on the Tony Wagner list of skills.
I have a friend who told me, "I read the Atlantic Monthly and Harper's because smart people will tell me what is important." That's how I look at Dan Pink's oeuvre. He has set up a curriculum that we all can guide our students to reach for.
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I'm writing this message in the lobby of a hotel in Sydney. Import duties cause books to cost $40 when the hard cover might be $25 in the USA. Fewer people will have access to Pink's ideas and that's why I'm leaving my copy of the book over on this side of the Equator. I recommend that people in the USA make a friend in the Southern Hemisphere and send a copy of TSIH to a teacher there.
I also need to send a copy of TSIH to Enrique's school Highland Park High School to go with the growing shelf of "cool books from Florida" (my name for the collection of books that I left in the school to attract the students who might be curious).
This somewhat disjointed email documents how disruptive Dan Pink's writing is. I have resisted reading his new book since Dec. 10. That's 70 days of resistance since I first read the free chapter in December.
It has always been clear to me that ABC (always be closing) is the ideal and that I could never sustain the effort to read so long and so persistently. Now I see that I'm part of the 8/9 that is not the "obvious" sales person, but rather I'm in the "persuader class" -- "non-selling" selling -- so we teachers are all persuaders and we are always trying to find new ways to ask people to part with resources (time, attention and effort) to achieve something else. Attention, Effort and Time is another triplet composed by Pink, to go with Asia, Automation and Abundance Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose
I am a taxpayer and I believe that teachers, students, principals and parents need descriptions of a new way of teaching. I wake up every morning with Dr. Fischler's question in my head: "How do you become a visible change agent in this environment?" and "Time is a variable" and "The Student is the Class." The words of Daniel H. Pink, Will Sutherland, John Corlette, Eliot Levine, Elliot Washor, Charles Mojkowski and Dennis Littky inform my daily work.
