Friday Feature: Raising Kids

I'm not a businesswoman, but I find some of my favorite articles (and Friday features) in business magazines. Quick reads that are well-sourced and cut to the chase, they offer bite-sized takeaways that are useful beyond the business world. And, they always manage to have headlines that pull me in as well.

This week's article from Inc. is no exception. "Want to Raise Successful Kids? Make Sure to do This" shares advice from Grit author Angela Duckworth. Duckworth's advice?

Show them what you want them to become.

Or, as I've said often this semester, common sense and psychology meet. And they agree.

So simple, and yet so difficult. Duckworth,  a professor at University of Pennsylvania and a leading voice in the field of positive psychology, shares a few other insights in the article as well, mostly from the perspective of a mom.

In other news, because I found this funny, but it didn't quite rise to the level of a Friday Feature, here's something every household with folks over 50 should have.

Happy Friday.

A, B, C, D...Can't I Just Pick an Answer?

Most of my general psychology students are freshmen, not yet versed in the complexities of college writing. And yet, I persist in assigning them short papers. I believe that it's important for them to learn how to formulate an opinion and back it up, and to do so in writing.

Today, this blog is late, in part, because I was grading those papers. My class is small, and we've reached the lovely point in the semester where they've figured out what I want, they can put it on the page and earn a grade that makes both of us happy. From there, I hope we move to the point where they're actually getting something out of the assignment, and today, I had several sparkling glimmers of hope that we are, indeed, headed there. Today, I remembered why I assign those papers.

College classes are supposed to be challenging. Not everyone is supposed to get an A. But I depart from the conventional wisdom of the bell curve; I believe that if I'm doing my job well and my students are showing up and putting in the work, they should succeed. For some, that success will come in the form of an A; for others, in a grade higher than the one they began the semester with.

There are a lot of "ifs" in the previous paragraph. If they show up. If they do the work. If the myriad distractions that accompany college life don't win out over the mundane: doing the reading, going to class, doing the work. Earning a grade. Learning how to write a paper.

I assign papers to my freshmen because I believe they have something to say. Because I want them to integrate the class material with the real world and with their lives, because only then will they own the material, rather than merely renting it long enough to spit it back on a quiz.

Sometimes, there are jewels in those papers. A turn of phrase. A private revelation. Voice that makes me laugh out loud as a student dares to tell me what he really thinks about the topic at hand. Often, especially at the beginning of the semester, these diamonds are very much in the rough, but inevitably, as the semester goes on, they begin to sparkle.

There are times when my to-do list is long and I'm tired and grouchy and I wonder why I thought this was a good idea. Tests can be graded in half the time.

But tests don't always show me what my students know. True insight can't be measured by a multiple choice response; a real grasp of the material and a bit of self-expression can unfold only on a sheet of blank paper.

Whoever I am, I bring into the classroom -- teacher, writer, mother, counselor, wife.

And if I'm lucky, by the end of the semester, my students will trust me with whomever they are. With each paper, they put a little more of themselves on the page, intermingling bits of themselves with the material, staking a claim, making a connection.

Fearing writing a little less each time.

Little Books with Big Ideas

A week or so ago, I stopped in at my local independent Christian bookstore (Hearts and Minds, for those of you who live nearby) to see if they'd been able to get my book in stock. They had and it had sold, so they promised to order another copy. Business complete, I moved on to my next serious order of business: browsing.

I'm not being sarcastic. If you've ever been to Hearts and Minds, you know that browsing there is serious business. I have never seen a "first-run" bookstore so completely full of books. Single copies of eclectic titles abound, and you're likely to find something there you've never run across before. A few minutes of your time will barely make a dent in all the store has to offer, which makes it a wonderful place to just browse and soak up all the store has to offer.

thevintagevillage.com

And so I had a dilemma. As an author, I want to support independent book stores, especially when they are kind enough to support me. As a resident of the area, I want to support local businesses. But as a lover of books, I'm already overrun. I have stacks of to-be read books and magazines in various places throughout my house, not to mention on my Kindle and iPad. So while I didn't want to leave empty-handed, I needed to find something that I truly had a chance of reading before my daughter graduates from college.

No problem.

Since the semester was starting, and I had psychology on the brain, I began in the psychology section. Even when my house is overrun with reading material, I can always justify books that qualify -- no matter how loosely -- as teaching resources.

I wasn't disappointed. I found not just one book, but a whole series of books that are interesting, easy reads and can be perused in small chunks of time (this was almost a Friday Freebie post :-) Oh, and one other book just for fun.

The books are part of a series with the subtitle, "A Very Short Introduction." Written by various authors who are experts in a particular area, each small, thin paperback covers a big subject in small segments. Though the books are petite, they're of good quality with a substantial dust jacket-type cover that mimics those found on hard cover books. In addition, and (once again) despite their size, the print is clear and of a decent size on bright, white paper. I rarely pick up anything smaller than a trade book any more because reading tiny, easily smudged print in what we used to call "drugstore paperbacks" is just too much work.

The first book I chose was Psychology: A Very Short Introduction, and I've been reading the chapters that correspond to the topics I'm teaching as I plan each unit. Impressively comprehensive, the short chapters really help me to focus, shaping vast amounts of information into key ideas and concepts, expanding and contracting the ideas in the textbook.

The second book, part of the same series, was also psychology- related (during the semester, 90% of what I read is). Happiness: A Short Introduction promises to be an optimistic and informative read, particularly as I zero in on the topics of stress and, well, happiness with my freshmen.

Inside the cover is a five page list all of the books available in the series -- topics ranging from African History to Fashion. These petite volumes, likely to get lost among the multiple copies of mammoth best-sellers in a more traditional bookstore, were little gems that sparkled on the shelves of a store that has a little bit of everything. Not only were they just what I was looking for, but I can't wait to go back and find a few more.

Oh, and the book that was just for fun? A small, hardcover book by John Perry called The Art of Procrastination.

But more about that later.