Not my best parenting moment

Here's a blog posting by Scott Dannemiller, "The one question every parent should stop asking."


He goes on to say, "As parents, we focus 100 percent of our energy asking the wrong question...Bottom line: we parents need to chill out and change our questions. Here are two (questions) that can help us all gain some perspective and start finding more genuine joy in our lives."

Want to know the two questions Dannemiller suggests we ask?  Follow the link.  It's a good read.

'Grit' earns MacArthur grant

Research psychologist and former math teacher Angela Duckworth has been awarded a MacArthur grant for her studies on the psychology of achievement.

Here's a teaser from this short interview:  "We discovered a somewhat surprising inverse relationship between grit and measures of talent, for example IQ test scores. Why don't people who are more able, who learn things more quickly, why don't they stick with things in the long run?"

And here's her TED talk, "Grit: the key to success."

 

Social Animal

I found the beginning of this article by David Brooks annoying, but the last ¾ was much more interesting. Implications for schooling are interesting to contemplate. Certainly the active, engaging, collaborative social environment of the Montessori classroom (as opposed to the teacher-directed seat-work environment of traditional schools) is a richer laboratory for the development of social skills.


Actually,that article amplifies the theme of Brooks' unique criticism of Tiger Mom Amy Chua -- see if this whets your appetite: "Practicing a piece of music for four hours requires focused attention, but it is nowhere near as cognitively demanding as a sleepover with 14-year-old girls."