5 Great Books About The Science Behind Growth Mindset General by Joel Wagner - August 3, 2016August 5, 20163 Rigor Grit The "10,000 Hour Rule" Growth Mindset We hear these buzzwords thrown around a lot in educational circles these days. Why? Because they're catchy! But what do they mean? The concepts are interrelated, and they stem from a series of recent research projects. Today we'll look at a few new books about the science behind growth mindsets. Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise by Anders Ericsson and Robert Pool This is the book that initially resparked my interest in this subject. Anders Ericsson was the researcher who studied "deliberate practice" back in the 80s and early 90s. Some of the those studies centered on violin students in a German music conservatory. The analysis concluded that the students who performed the best at the University level, and who would eventually
From Burnout Into Ignited Passion: How Blogging, Information Overload, and Running Made Me A Better Teacher Inspiration by Joel Wagner - May 28, 2013July 6, 20161 I don't care if it's your teaching job or your personal habits or your social life or what it is, we all face burnout at one time or another. Or another or another or another. At times, I can feel like we are in a dark tunnel with no escape and we don't have the energy to escape. Ummm, not that I have ever experienced that, of course. ANYWAY, you may or may not be struggling with this now. I would guess at this point in the school year, none of us in the United States are wanting to ever teach another school year. It happens. So I present to you an autobiographical short story that addresses this concept. Once upon a
Happy Blog-iversary to Angela Blogging & Technology by Joel Wagner - August 31, 2009June 30, 20101 If you haven't visited Angela Maiers' blog before, you're missing out. Her blog turned two years old today. She has been blogging for almost as long as I have, and was one of the early commenters on my site who really inspired me to continue pressing on. One of the things I most respect about Angela is her obvious patience with children and her desire for them to be educated as well as they possibly can be. Thanks for everything you are doing for 21st Century Educators, Angela!
20 Blogs I Wish Were Around When I Started Teaching Blogging & Technology by Joel Wagner - April 5, 2009June 30, 201040 When I first started out, I was living by myself far away from home. I didn't have any friends in the community outside of the school. And those were either other band directors or band parents. I didn't do anything to really try to keep in contact with college friends, I sort of had the Lone Ranger type approach. That was way back in 2002. My how things have changed! Now, education prep programs all over seem to be requiring students to read and comment on blogs as part of their education. With that being said, I have seen quite a rise in the number of educational blogs out there since I started blogging two years ago. I have seen