MINDSHIFT by B. Oakley
Mindshift is heady but not stuffy. The headiness won’t stumble you because it still shares practices which will help your learning. Let me show you what I mean. Look at these practices she shared: 1. Take a MOOC. 2. Add a second skill. 3. Change your career. 4. Use a concentration process like Pomodoro Method.
Because of this book I’ve began to shape my classroom based on the Pomodoro Method. See my discussion on this topic in the post How to Use the Pomodoro Method in the Classroom.
To purchase MINDSHIFT by Barbara Oakley see the links below:
Oakley shows that learning at its best moves beings beyond limits. The limits will be followed by more limits but learning will move the beyond the limits. Teachers can make great use of these ideas both for their students and for themselves 🌳🌳🌳🌳/5.
The idea of shifting goes beyond the mind. Take a look at my review of Damon John’s book POWERSHIFT for a different angle someone takes on the “shift.”
To purchase POWERSHIFT by Daymond John see the links below:
THE GAME OF LIFE AND HOW TO PLAY IT by FS Shinn
I got this book from a coworker. We were in her office, I saw it, she said I could take it and read it so I did.
In my past life I enjoyed reading books like this. Part of me still enjoys it but the other part of me dies not.
This book teaches that life and work require faith, nonresistance, and love. Without these attitudes teaching becomes meaningless. Keep meaning as an activity by living with the aforementioned ideas in mind. Faith. Openness. Love. I enjoy this kind of discussion. It’s not grounded on much research but it makes me feel good inside.
The above concepts I can live with and enjoy. But I can’t stomach when Shinn writes about sickness. She writes that sickness is the fault of the sick. Every sickness enters in due to the thoughts of the sick. This point is so offensive to me that it taints everything else I read; the rest of the book is worse off because of this idea. This was a common idea in those days. I recall reading Wallace Wattle’s THE SCIENCE OF GETTING RICH and THE SCIENCE OF BEING WELL and he shared similar notions. Hence my low rating 🌳🌳/5.
To purchase THE GAME OF LIFE AND HOW TO PLAY IT by FS Shinn see links below:
THE ONE THING by G. Keller
Keller calls us to return to one idea: Get more done by focusing on less. How much less? We must focus on one thing. He dismisses multitasking, in so many words he calls multitasking bullshit. We run around doing too much. Keller suggests we trim our work and efforts down to one thing. This type of focus brings big impact.
This book is extremely practical. For teachers our worlds are pulled in multiple directions. So many people want different things for us. We often want many different things for ourselves. Too many things. Why not narrow it down to one thing?
We must know what our one thing is do it. Often. More often than the other things. I’ve read this book multiple times; I love it 🌳🌳🌳🌳🌳/5.
This week’s books took me in many directions. But, one constant with all of the books is that I learned how to learn from each one of them. As I think through my writing pursuits, specifically writing curriculum, I will bring to the task the learnings found in these book.
To purchase THE ONE THING by Gary Keller see the links below:
We’ll chat again soon, dear reader,
@growthucator
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