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February 15 - March 25, 2021
Seek constant, critical feedback.
Focus ruthlessly on where you need help.
Prepare for the process to be mentally and physically exhausting.
autonomy do you have over your tasks at work—
autonomy do you have over your time at work—
autonomy do you have over your team at work—
autonomy do you have over your technique at work—
Involve people in goal-setting. Would you rather set your own goals or have them foisted upon you? Thought so. Why should those working with you be any different?
Internal fairness means paying people commensurate with their colleagues. External fairness means paying people in line with others doing similar work in similar organizations.
Paying great people a little more than the market demands, Akerlof and Yellen found, could attract better talent, reduce turnover, and boost productivity and morale.
Am I offering students any autonomy over how and when to do this work? Does this assignment promote mastery
Do my students understand the purpose of this assignment?
Praise effort and strategy, not intelligence.
Make praise specific.
Praise in private.
Offer praise only when there’s a good reason for it. Don’t kid a kid. He can see through fake praise in a nanosecond.
Big Picture kids get the basics. But they also use those basics and acquire other skills by doing real work in the community—all under the guidance of an experienced adult tutor. And instead of easily gamed Motivation 2.0 measurements, Big Picture kids are assessed the way adults are—on work performance, individual presentations, effort, attitude, and behavior on the job.
Working from the assumption that all human beings are naturally curious and that the best kind of learning happens when it’s initiated and pursued by the one doing the learning, Sudbury Valley School gives its students total control over the task, time, and technique of their learning.
Tulley’s tinkerers have built: working zip-lines, motorcycles, toothbrush robots, roller coasters, and plastic bag bridges strong enough to hold people. Most of us aren’t able to ship our kids out to California for a week of tinkering, but we can all learn the “Five Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Children Do.”
Each student has an adviser who acts as her personal coach, helping her come up with her own learning goals. “School” consists of a mixture of class time and self-created independent study projects, along with community service devised by the students. Since youngsters are often away from campus, they gain a clear sense that their learning has a real-world purpose. And rather than chase after grades, they receive frequent, informal feedback from advisers, teachers, and peers.
Even if unschooling is not for you or your kids, you can learn a thing or two from these educational innovators. Start by reading John Taylor Gatto’s extraordinary book, Dumbing Us Down.
Finite and Infinite Games: A Vision of Life as Play and Possibility BY JAMES P. CARSE In his elegant little book, religious scholar Carse describes two types of games. A “finite game” has a winner and an end; the goal is to triumph. An “infinite game” has no winner and no end;
Type I Insight: “Contrary to what we usually believe … the best moments in our lives are not the passive, receptive, relaxing times—although such experiences can also be enjoyable, if we have worked hard to attain them. The best moments usually occur when a person’s body or mind is stretched to the limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile.”
Good Work: When Excellence and Ethics Meet BY HOWARD GARDNER, MIHALY CSIKSZENTMIHALYI, AND WILLIAM DAMON
Type I Insight: “What do you do if you wake up in the morning and dread going to work, because the daily routine no longer satisfies your standards?”
Take a stand. It can be risky, sure, but leaving a job for ethical reasons need not involve abandoning your professional goals.
Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln BY DORIS KEARNS GOODWIN
The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization BY PETER M. SENGE
“Lead with questions, not answers.” “Engage in dialogue and debate, not coercion.” “Conduct autopsies, without blame.” “Build ‘red flag’ mechanisms.”
Set your own goals. Don’t accept some standardized, cookie-cutter exercise plan. Create one that’s tailored to your needs and fitness level.
Meanwhile, people who pursue more intrinsic goals—to get fit in order to feel good or to stay healthy for their family—make slower progress at first, but achieve significantly better results in the long term.
