The End of Molasses Classes by Ron Clark

Ron Clark provides an entertaining and helpful book describing some of the best practices at the Ron Clark Academy school in Georgia.  The book is broken up into sections

1. RCA Core principles and Values
2. The Role of a Parent in the Success of a Child
3. Creating the Right Culture and Climate
4. Reaching Out Beyond the Classroom

Ron describes successes and failures with students.  He describes a misunderstanding with one of his students at the Japanese memorial for Hiroshima.  One of the students didn't smile in a group photo and Ron took him to task for checking out.  Ron later learned from the student that he was empathizing with the people's suffering and did not feel like smiling in the photo. 

Ron worked personally with one student who kept refusing to read in the classroom.  Ron read with the student and found he could not pronounce the words.  Ron then spent extra time outside normal class hours helping the student to pronounce the words and then understand the meaning of the words by using colors that the student felt represented the feeling or meanings of the words.  The student also drew pictures of some words to improve comprehension.  Ron then called on the student in class when they came upon the paragraph a few days later.  The student was able to read it with confidence and his classmates were impressed with his ability. The student worked to continue to improve his skills.

Ron asks students to answer a question and will wait in silence for an answer.  The other members of the class are not allowed to raise their hands but can offer encouragement.  If the student struggles after a 10 seconds then hints are offered or the whole class works the problem together with the student to get the answer.  Ron does not allow his students to check out. 

Ron offers parents some great advice interacting with students, teachers and parents.  Don't rescue your kid.  They need to learn from failure and take responsibility for their actions.  Some people will be rewarded for excellent work.  Do not use this as an excuse to check out.  Use this as motivation to do better. 

Ron also describes the Hogwarts style initiation into four groups in the school.  The groups are not limited by grade.  It helps promote a family style support network in the school.

I appreciate Ron's enthusiasm for teaching and doing what it takes to get excellent performance out of students even if it means standing on top of his desk and teaching about the Inca civilization.  Classroom time is precious.  Don't waste it.  Keep moving and keep the students engaged.

I noted that several variations of the ideas in the book were used at the SAMS school attended by my daughter.  Teachers pop into other classes to observe techniques and then work to apply them to improve their own teaching.  The teachers use songs that help students learn techniques to solve problems. Applying these techniques improves the educational experience for students, parents, teachers and administrators.

Raise the level of expectations - 13 minutes



Using Chants to facilitate learning - 5 minutes

Brotherhood of the Revolution by Joseph Ellis

This audio book is an excellent companion to the Founding Brothers book. Each 25 - 30 minute lecture introduces the listener to a new member of the brotherhood. Many of members of the brotherhood knew they were making history and their saved correspondence were often written for the benefit of future generations.

Professor Ellis attempts to offer a clear eyed view from the perspective of the people directly involved in the revolution. He provides information about the process used to produce both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. He noted that one of the reasons the US won the revolutionary war was George Washington's insistence that the Continental Army be vaccinated against smallpox. The lecture series provides a solid introduction to this period in American history.

Joseph Ellis - Can the US Export Democracy - 3 min. 

Do One Thing Different by Bill O'Hanlon

Bill O'Hanlon offers solution oriented approaches to dealing with life's problems.   He is a prolific author and provides help on writing nonfiction books in the videos below.   The author focus not so much on the why something occurred but on what can be done to change the situation and how a different approach may make things better.  Focusing on why something happens often involves paralysis by analysis.  Recognize what happened in the past but focus attention and action on the present and the future. 

The author provides a toolkit for breaking cycles of failed behavior.  This often involves doing things that change perspective or the environment.  For example he advised one couple with arguments that went out of control to have their next argument in the bathroom with the man sitting in the bathtub.  The absurd location allowed the couple to break the pattern of prolonged arguments. 

He specifically suggests altering the focus from the problem to actions that result in a solution.  When requesting a change from a partner don't waste time with character descriptions.  For example: you are a slob.  Instead state: Pick your clothes and pizza boxes off the floor in the living room. 

He also focuses on the importance of ritual in two circumstances.  The first involves a symbolic break from a painful chapter in a person's life.  One woman painted a picture of the pain an abusive man caused her family.  She then burned the painting in a ritual ceremony.  Other rituals involve a family meal or doing other things together such as attending church, celebrating birthdays or family events.  My daily lunch date with my wife is something I look forward to each week.

Breaking the patterns of a bad relationship has helped many of his patients save their marriages and allowed them to live better lives and shift their focus from: "why does this keep happening to me?" to "how can I change this to make it better?"

 

Bill O'Hanlon (author 29+ books) Write the proposal before writing the whole  non fiction book.

 

 

 

Science of Happiness - 7 minutes

 

 

 

How to prepare a book proposal - 6 min.

 

Detective Fiction a lecture by M. Lee Alexander

Many women I know are fans of detective fiction and I wanted to learn more about the genre.  Professor Alexander provides a separate 30 minute lecture for each detective category discussing the first authors to develop the sub category of fiction.

I appreciated the evolution of women's roles over time.  Starting out as a domestic or the victim and evolving through the femme fatale in the hard boiled detective to becoming a hard boiled regional sleuth in the Janet Evanovich series.  The methods they use to solve crimes also evolved from relying on relationship knowledge and intuition to doing a cold methodical analysis of the facts and piecing together the puzzle.

Most of the successful authors had a separate careers that gave them special knowledge to write accurately about the subject.  Agatha Christie worked extensively with pharmaceuticals, John Grisham was a lawyer, Ian Fleming was a spy.  The day job allowed these people to create much more realistic fiction. 

A trip to the local library allowed me to listen to this book.  For a fee you can also listen to an online audio download of Detective Fiction a Modern Scholar Lecture by M. Lee Alexander.  M. Lee Alexander is a professor of English literature at the college of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia.



 

Give and Take by Adam Grant

Adam Grant categorizes people into three categories, givers, takers and matchers.  In the short term, takers usually are the most successful.  In the long term according to his researcher givers who can move beyond being doormats are the most successful.  In this highly connected world it is also much more difficult to be successful as a taker as a person's past history is much more transparent.

Medical students who are givers are much less successful in the highly competitive first few years of medical school as they help others to succeed.  They are much more successful during the later part of their schooling where cooperation and ability to empathize with patients is very important.

He gives examples of some fakers attempting to appear like givers. Kenneth Lay of Enron is an example.  His outward charitable donations masked his taking behavior in the company.  He treated the corporate jet like personal property.  On the annual corporate report he had a full page photo of himself.  Most executives have no photo or a small wallet sized photo on the report. 

When a giver is attempting to bargain for a raise it helps to adopt an otherish attitude.  Consider that you are not just bargaining for yourself but on behalf of your family.  If a giver is interacting with a taker it is useful to switch to a matching attitude to avoid being taken to the cleaners. 

Adam Grant 7 minutes

Adam Grant - Authors at Google 54 minutes

A Tramp Abroad by Mark Twain

Mark Twain describes his 1878 trip to Europe with Joseph H. Twichell (referred to as Harris) in a style similar to his travel adventure Roughing it.  He travels through Germany, Switzerland and France.    The book blends fact and fiction to good effect.  

He describes the German club duels with no bloody details omitted.  Participants duel for 15 minutes and have their wounds attended to on site.  They wear eye protection but no face shields and wear their facial scars as badges of honor.   He later describes a fictitious French duel with very humorous results.  His offer of a Gatling gun as a weapon of choice is immediately rejected.

He describes the scenery, local customs and local legends.  Upon noticing that the size of a manure pile on a farm is roughly correlated to the wealth of the owner he offers a melodrama about a daughter who is  forced to marry for a man's ill gotten manure.  There is the usual twist at the end where the formerly manure deficient hero discovers a vast undiscovered chamber of hidden manure and secures the woman's hand in marriage.

The beauty and danger of the alps are described in great detail.  Locations where people die are noted and the discovery of the well preserved bodies of people trapped in glaciers are predicted by knowledge of the movement of glaciers.  Mr. Twain also embarks on a less than dangerous journey to locations on the alps employing excessive safety precautions to humorous effect.

The book succeeds as a humorous travelogue and an interesting glimpse into the late 18th century Europe. 

 

Mark Twain on Ants from A Tramp Abroad 4 min.

Lucerne Switzerland - Area visited by Mark Twain

Full audio book 900+ minutes

How to Retire Happy, Wild and Free by Ernie J. Zelinski

 

 

Canadian Ernie J. Zelinski provides an excellent book on planning for primarily the non-financial aspects of retirement.  I'd recommend it to anyone getting their first AARP card at age 50.   The advice is relevant for anyone out of college but the target audience is a bit older. 

He focuses on several aspects that affect the quality of retirement - Health, Creativity, Social Connections, Age of retirement, Mental Fitness, Travel and relocation.

Of interest to me was the graphic on health.  After the age of 50 the probability that someone will have very good to excellent health declines proportionally with age.  At 50 the chance is 50% with the formula (100 - age).  At age 70 you have a 30% chance of optimal health.  Health is a primary determinant of how well a person enjoys retirement. 

Having a passion or strong interest in continually improving yourself strongly determines success in retirement.  Continually working on improving a skill or working on learning new things at the edge of our comfort zone allows us to be fully alive. 

 

Ernie J. Zelinski - transition from work to retirement - 3 minutes