Yesterday afternoon my mom texted me (which is pretty unusual) to let me know that my little brother had received his mission call. While this is very exciting news it made for a bit of an anticlimactic story when I got home, since he hadn't opened it yet.
Today, I had lunch with a close friend and she told me a story about when she had gotten her mission call. She was very excited to tell everyone that her call had come, but she didn't want to tell them where she was serving. Se wanted to focus on the fact that she was going to do the Lord's work, and not so much on where she would be doing that work. Few people accepted that. Everyone wants to know where you're going, and that is exciting, but that's not really the point.
While it's very cool to know where my little brother will be serving his mission what is more important is that he chose to dedicate two years of his life to the Lord. For that I am very proud of him.
Showing posts with label Culture of Character. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Culture of Character. Show all posts
21 February 2013
12 February 2013
Articles in the Atlantic
Before you think that I'm going to talk today about the debris people leave in the oceans...
I was reading a blog today and it mentioned this article that appeared in The Atlantic a few days ago and then this response from Susan Cain that appeared today.
The first is an interesting article written by a teacher about the difficulties of teaching introverted and shy students. Most teachers factor participation into their grading and so it becomes something of a quandary when trying to figure out how to help introverted students participate more. She said (and Susan Cain agreed) that introverted students need to participate in class just like extroverted ones do. But the challenge is how to effect that. Susan Cain in her article provided a few good suggestions, like waiting a little longer after asking a question to give time for introverted students to ruminate or trying a method called "think, pair, share"--where you ask students to answer some question on their own first, then to pair up and share with one other person and then to share as a larger group or a whole class. This is supposed to make sharing a little less daunting.
Susan Cain also mentioned an idea that one education professor at Montclair State University came up with, and that was to divide participation grades from grades based on subject knowledge. So you'd get a grade for knowing math or history or reading and you'd get a grade based on character qualities like listening skills, persistence, behavior, participation, etc. I think that sounds like an interesting idea. In some ways it kind of reminds me of Susan Cain's "culture of character," which I think is sadly lacking in our society today. I wonder too if something like this could be used to help close the gender gap in academia.
These two articles are interesting ones, definitely worth taking a few minutes to glance over.
I was reading a blog today and it mentioned this article that appeared in The Atlantic a few days ago and then this response from Susan Cain that appeared today.
The first is an interesting article written by a teacher about the difficulties of teaching introverted and shy students. Most teachers factor participation into their grading and so it becomes something of a quandary when trying to figure out how to help introverted students participate more. She said (and Susan Cain agreed) that introverted students need to participate in class just like extroverted ones do. But the challenge is how to effect that. Susan Cain in her article provided a few good suggestions, like waiting a little longer after asking a question to give time for introverted students to ruminate or trying a method called "think, pair, share"--where you ask students to answer some question on their own first, then to pair up and share with one other person and then to share as a larger group or a whole class. This is supposed to make sharing a little less daunting.
Susan Cain also mentioned an idea that one education professor at Montclair State University came up with, and that was to divide participation grades from grades based on subject knowledge. So you'd get a grade for knowing math or history or reading and you'd get a grade based on character qualities like listening skills, persistence, behavior, participation, etc. I think that sounds like an interesting idea. In some ways it kind of reminds me of Susan Cain's "culture of character," which I think is sadly lacking in our society today. I wonder too if something like this could be used to help close the gender gap in academia.
These two articles are interesting ones, definitely worth taking a few minutes to glance over.
10 October 2012
On being grateful
Writing about waiting made me think about the wonderful things that I have in my life. Here are a few of the many things that I am grateful for (in no particular order):
As an aside. I bought more Muller Yogurt today--that's another thing I'm thankful for. Delicious yogurt.
- my wonderful and supportive family
- my awesome job
- the fact that I have a roof over my head and food in my cupboard
- the Gospel in my life
- my three fantastic roommates
- my friends spread throughout the world
- the opportunities I've had to travel in my life
- the opportunity to watch General Conference last weekend and listen to the words of living apostles and prophets.
- the opportunity to be educated
- my bike
- and about a gazillion other things.
As an aside. I bought more Muller Yogurt today--that's another thing I'm thankful for. Delicious yogurt.
04 October 2012
Presidential Debate
Because the internet in my apartment has something of a mind of its own I missed watching the presidential debate last night. Luckily, I had some extra time today and so I watched while I got ready for the day and while I folded laundry. I was pleased with the debate. I'll admit that I'm no closer to knowing who I'll vote for than I was before, but I was pleased with the way the candidates comported themselves, and most especially by the fact that they didn't really bicker or mud-sling. I wish more politicians behaved in a civilized manner. For anyone who missed the debate I would recommend it as a worthwhile hour and a half. I feel like I am a more informed citizen, though at the same time I feel even more uninformed than before--I have a lot of work to do before the election next month. I'm hoping that the internet in my apartment will cooperate so that I can watch the rest of the debates. They are fascinating.
01 August 2012
Cotillion
Here in Boston we enjoy dancing. And we enjoy dancing English country dances (you know Pride and Prejudice style). Normally we have two "cotillions" a year where we dress up and have a dance. But this year the gentleman and lady in charge of this event decided to host a mini-series. So about every other week for the last couple months we've had a mini dance where we've learned one or two slightly more complicated dances than we normally do at the big balls (and we've focused on a different region of the British Isles each week). At our dance a couple weeks ago we learned a Scottish dance. We videotaped it and put it on YouTube. I'd say that for having learned the dance in less than 2 hours we look pretty good.
26 April 2012
Signatures
So in my spare time (heh. what's spare time?) I moonlight as a cashier at a local retail establishment (and by local I mean in the next town over?).
Side note: Because of the nature of the word I have always associated moonlighting with night jobs, but I checked the OED--there are no time of day restrictions on the use of the word. Which is good because my "regular" job is my night job, and my "moonlighting" job is my day job (I know, it makes no sense--but such is life)
Back to my story. A customer came up to my register one day this week and after giving me a nice compliment (it's always nice to be appreciated) we chatted for a minute about signatures while he signed for his purchase. He mentioned how a signature is kind of like the way you make your mark on the world. (A symbol of yourself if you will). Our conversation was fairly short, not much more than him making that statement and me agreeing because it seemed reasonable. But I've been thinking about it since then and thinking how really our signature is a reflection of who we are (as well as the society that we are from). I think it would be an interesting study to study the ways that people sign their name in different cultures to see what it tells about that culture. For example I think that a collection of signatures from people in the US would tell a lot about the fast paced environment we live in. I mean how often do you see people with truly beautiful signatures anymore? (Incidentally, this customer's signature was very beautiful--he was from China, I think.) Today so many people when they have to sign their name sign nothing more than a scribble, not a single identifiable letter present. But when you see signatures from bygone eras you can really tell that they put some time and effort into it. Look at the signatures of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Nearly every one of them is identifiable, and if it's not its more because they're too close together than because of any neglect on the signer's part.
I am proud to say that when I sign my name it is 98% legible (sometimes I put in too many o's or too many humps on the m...). Unfortunately, I don't think that my signature reflects who I am in the way that I wish it did, I have some work ahead of me to improve it. I really believe that our signature is a reflection of who we are (whether in this digital age we realize it or not) and I think that it would behoove humanity to take a moment to reflect on not only who we are, but who the persona is that we present to the world. I think that someone who takes the time to sign their name properly on even the most meaningless slip of paper is probably someone who takes pride in who they are and is probably making the effort to keep their life in good order.
I think this shift between caring about our signatures and barely even taking enough time to scribble on a page may have something to do with the shift between the "culture of character" and the "culture of personality" talked about in Susan Cain's book Quiet. This just occurred to me, so I think I'm going to have to ruminate on this some more and come back to it another time.
If you signature is a symbol of yourself, what does yours day about you?
Side note: Because of the nature of the word I have always associated moonlighting with night jobs, but I checked the OED--there are no time of day restrictions on the use of the word. Which is good because my "regular" job is my night job, and my "moonlighting" job is my day job (I know, it makes no sense--but such is life)
Back to my story. A customer came up to my register one day this week and after giving me a nice compliment (it's always nice to be appreciated) we chatted for a minute about signatures while he signed for his purchase. He mentioned how a signature is kind of like the way you make your mark on the world. (A symbol of yourself if you will). Our conversation was fairly short, not much more than him making that statement and me agreeing because it seemed reasonable. But I've been thinking about it since then and thinking how really our signature is a reflection of who we are (as well as the society that we are from). I think it would be an interesting study to study the ways that people sign their name in different cultures to see what it tells about that culture. For example I think that a collection of signatures from people in the US would tell a lot about the fast paced environment we live in. I mean how often do you see people with truly beautiful signatures anymore? (Incidentally, this customer's signature was very beautiful--he was from China, I think.) Today so many people when they have to sign their name sign nothing more than a scribble, not a single identifiable letter present. But when you see signatures from bygone eras you can really tell that they put some time and effort into it. Look at the signatures of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Nearly every one of them is identifiable, and if it's not its more because they're too close together than because of any neglect on the signer's part.
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| Imagine trying to forge Benjamin Franklin's signature... |
I think this shift between caring about our signatures and barely even taking enough time to scribble on a page may have something to do with the shift between the "culture of character" and the "culture of personality" talked about in Susan Cain's book Quiet. This just occurred to me, so I think I'm going to have to ruminate on this some more and come back to it another time.
If you signature is a symbol of yourself, what does yours day about you?
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