Go Seahawks!!

Science proved it, I DO have Jedi powers!

By just thinking, I change the behavior of others. I can actually change how they act. In fact, you can, too. No, it doesn't require a weekend retreat with Yoda trying to move boxes or lift your star-fighter out of a bog (Attn: Star Wars fans, I'm sure it's not really called a star-fighter, please don't send hate mail.)

Researcher Bob Rosenthal scientifically demonstrated this, first with rats. He labeled some as smart and some as dumb without telling anyone. When they were put in a Skinner Box, the "smart" ones completed the task twice as fast as the "dumb" ones. Problem is, they were the exact same ordinary white lab rats. 

So, the question then is: Why did they perform better?

Answer: because of the perceptions of the people handling the rats. Researchers touched the "smart" rats more, treated them more warmly, even talked to them differently. The Pygmalion Effect: A type of self-fulfilling prophecy where if you think something will happen, you may unconsciously make it happen through your actions or inaction. 

Carol Dweck, (psychology researcher at Stanford, Author, Growth Mindset), in this recent podcast said when we have negative expectations or perceptions we usually stand further away from people, we touch them less, make less eye contact. And we are COMPLETELY UNAWARE of how our expectations impact the way we engage people.

Our perceptions and expectations (our thoughts) literally move people.

• Teacher expectations can increase student IQ scores.
• Mothers' expectations can impact drinking levels of middle school students
• Military leaders expectations can impact how fast soldiers run
• Don't you think the success of the Seahawks may have something to do with how Pete Carroll sees the potential of every one of his players?

There are many studies showing the impact of how people perform in relation to how they are expected to perform. Even the very labels placed on them impact their performance. Read about "Brown Eyes vs. Blue Eyes" experiment or watch this documentary. This obviously takes the thinking concept and brings it to a whole new level, but it still applies to my Jedi-way of thinking. Read this article/watch videos (Warning: 2nd video has a swear word) on how thoughts impacted rice in water. 

Rosenthal did an experiment similar to the rats but with teachers. They were told they could expect X from this group of students and Y from the other. Rosenthal found that "teachers appear to teach more and to teach it more warmly to students for whom they have more favorable expectations." 

-How are you using your powers? 

-Are your students performing better because you

 have positive perceptions and expectations for them? 

-Or are you, without even knowing it, 

actually causing them to perform worse?

-DO YOUR STUDENTS BELIEVE 

THAT YOU BELIEVE IN THEM??

Technology, Blogging, Digitally Connected...why?!

I often hear people say they are concerned about technology. They feel that technology is making us more and more impersonal. "They are always staring at their devices and missing the world around them." Granted, some may be a bit too connected. But I wonder...

...how did people react to the invention of the newspaper?

Since the dawn of time people have been avoiding eye contact, staring off at the stars, 

voyaging across oceans, digging in the dirt. But they weren't trying to avoid people. 

They were searching for information. 

They were self-educating.

Our role as educators is to educate, to provide information.

Technology allows us to do that even while 

comfortably tucked in for the night in our favorite jammies.

If your students and families are not able to look to you for 

education and information, even in their jammies,

they will look elsewhere. 

Elsewhere might not be 100% accurate.

 

Take 4 minutes and watch this video...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uaquGZKx_0&feature=youtu.be

“If we’re afraid to take these great big risks, we stop inspiring people. We stop achieving things. And the biggest nightmare scenario is that we won’t have what it takes to solve the really big challenges.”

How often do we automatically reject an idea or way of thinking because it's so different than what we're use to, what we are currently doing, or the way we've always done things. The problem with what we're used to, what we're currently doing, or the way we've always done things is: we will get the exact results we've always got, maybe slightly better at times. 

The only way we can make a noticeable difference is to do things noticeably different. 

What is your moonshot?