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Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Food for Thought

Food for Thought @ Mt. Hope Chronicles 

I’m catching up on more than six weeks worth of interesting links! Feel free to pace yourself!

Stories

:: To Live As If I Believed: The Thin Spaces of Children's Literature @ On Being

"Art is created in kairos — an indeterminate time, unbound by the clock, where God is ever present. When art is shared and experienced, that thin place erupts open again for the mind and heart of the believer."

:: Why Fairy Tales Are Dangerous @ The Imaginative Conservative

Dear Mr. Dawkins, you’ve said lately that fairy tales are quite harmful. Your reason for thinking this is simple, and true: you told attendees at the Cheltenham Science Festival, “I think it’s rather pernicious to inculcate into a child a view of the world which includes supernaturalism…"

Education

:: How Memory, Focus and Good Teaching Can Work Together to Help Kids Learn @ Mind/Shift

[I seriously love everything about this article. Go read it!]

"Without memorizing some information, it’s harder for the brain to acquire new knowledge and skills. It takes longer for the brain to process new information, and students are less likely and slower to ask informed and perceptive questions.

“The more you know, the more you can make conclusions, even be creative,” Klemm said. “All of these things have to be done by thinking, and thinking has to be done from what’s in your working memory.”

:: 100 Things For Kids to Memorize @ Ed Snapshots

:: Why the Liberal Arts Belong in Elementary School @ U.S. News and World Report

Willingham described one study in which 11th graders were given a reading test and various other tests of "cultural literacy" – knowledge of artists, entertainers, military leaders, musicians, philosophers and scientists – as well as separate tests of factual knowledge of science, history and literature. "The researchers found robust correlations between scores on the reading tests and the various cultural literacy tests," Willingham wrote. Dozens of other studies have found similar results; for comprehension, knowledge is even more important than overall reading ability or IQ. In short, to be a good general reader, you need broad general knowledge.

:: Why Liberal Arts is Super Dumb @ The Mugdown [wink]

:: Sir Ken Robinson: Creativity Is In Everything, Especially Teaching @ Mind/Shift

"Creativity draws from many powers that we all have by virtue of being human. Creativity is possible in all areas of human life, in science, the arts, mathematics, technology, cuisine, teaching, politics, business, you name it. And like many human capacities, our creative powers can be cultivated and refined. Doing that involves an increasing mastery of skills, knowledge, and ideas."

:: Can Mathew Crawford Deliver Us from Distraction? At The Chronicle of Higher Education

His earlier book, 'Shop Class,' contrasted skill-based, craft-oriented knowledge and the satisfaction it brings with the kind of understanding he acquired studying physics ... or philosophy at Chicago. The certainties of physics might establish an intellectual foundation, and philosophical ambiguities may delight, but not much compares to the roar of a bike.

 

Parenting and Relationships

:: Is having a loving family an unfair advantage? @ The Philosopher’s Zone [The article that should have been published by The Onion, but wasn’t. The good news, though: ]

'"The evidence shows that the difference between those who get bedtime stories and those who don’t—the difference in their life chances—is bigger than the difference between those who get elite private schooling and those that don’t," he says.'

:: Have You Ever Felt Like Being a Mother Has Ruined You? @ Carrots for Michaelmas

Each night’s sleep lost for love of a child, each puddle of vomit to be cleaned up, each nursing session with cracked and bleeding nipples, each bottle scrubbed, each tray washed, each onesie laundered, each diaper changed chips away at our former selves. But what’s underneath is something better and more beautiful. That painful love washed away every facade I clinged to and revealed a truer me. But the process is brutal.  

:: If you want to win your child’s heart, don’t go by the rules @ Sally Clarkson

However, in all relationships, (parenting, friendship, marriage, work), people are designed by God to respond from their heart. If their hearts are attached and served by the people relating to them, and their felt needs are met, people will tend to respond to the one who shows them the most love.

:: Personality Matters: Understanding MBTI Typing @ Simply Convivial [Because I love personality typing!]

:: Did God Make a Mistake or Create a New Melody? @ Sally Clarkson

Life

:: The Illusions of Money, Power, and Fame: Why Fitting in Is Overrated @ Goins, Writer

"And as you move towards to your calling, that special thing you were born to do, you will find yourself accessing all the skills you once thought were weaknesses, those embarrassing quirks and personality traits you used to hate, and you will find a use for them all."

:: What You Learn in Your 40s @ The New York Times

"There are no grown-ups"

"Among my peers there’s a now-or-never mood: We still have time for a second act, but we’d better get moving on it."

"By your 40s, you don’t want to be with the cool people; you want to be with your people."

:: “You have to tell people what you’re interested in.” @ Modern Mrs. Darcy

[I had the amazing experience of being a "middle-man" this past week. An acquaintance and I were chatting for the first time. Through her willingness to be open, a series of unexpected "God" events occurred and we landed her nephew a job in five days!]

Fascinating 

:: For 40 Years, This Russian Family Was Cut Off From All Human Contact, Unaware of World War II @ Smithsonian

:: Spineless: Susan Middleton’s Mesmerizing Photographs of Marine Invertebrates @ Brain Pickings

:: 20+ Photos of Geometrical Plants @ Bored Panda

:: Free Adult Coloring Pages @ The Mad House

:: What I learned from watching every TED-Ed Lesson @ TED Blog

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