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Dear Jennifer,
Welcome back!
January is such an exciting time – a time for new beginnings. And
we have alot of new beginnings at MindOH! – one is a new book where
MindOH! is highlighted by Dr. Thomas Lickona and Mathew Davidson,
two leaders in the character education movement. Not only do they
address how to integrate excellence and ethics in schools but also
at work and beyond. Be sure to check out the "Smart and Good High
Schools" article below.
While January is a time for new beginnings, we also know there
are many people still recovering from the effects of Hurricanes Rita
and Katrina. The MindOH! Foundation would like to help in the
process by giving students a voice to their stories. To learn more
about this special project, please see the link on the right hand
side.
Last but not least, we are honored to have two wonderful guest
authors this month. Dan Valdez and Dwight Edwards are both parents
and entrepreneurs who provide significant perspectives into life
experiences, lessons and resources. We encourage you to read their
insightful articles and hope you are impacted by their thoughts and
advice.
As always, we'd love to hear from you – ideas for content you'd
like to see, things you like about this issue, as well as things you
don't. By taking the time to give us your perspective, we can make
this newsletter better for everyone.
Wishing all of you the most prosperous of New Years!
Sincerely,
The MindOH! Team
| Smart & Good High Schools Features
MindOH! |
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In the new book "Smart & Good High Schools:
Integrating Excellence and Ethics for Success in School, Work
and Beyond," authors Thomas Lickona and Mathew Davidson
highlight MindOH! as a resource that links character
education, technology and student learning. In Chapter 5,
which focuses on fostering the 8 strengths of character,
MindOH! is recommended as a tool to help students with
perseverance.
To learn more about the book by Lickona and Davidson,
researchers at the Center for the 4th and 5th R’s (Respect and
Responsibility) at the State University of New York College at
Cortland, read the following article where it was recently
featured in Education
Week.
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| Guest Article: Do You Think You are A Creative
Person? |
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By Dan Valdez, CEO, OrBetter Performance Group
While teaching a class at the University on
Entrepreneurship, I asked my class of 300 students just how
many of them thought they were creative. Only about 25 people
raised their hands.
On that day, I discovered I had a subject of great
importance on my hands. So we decided to explore the
possibilities since these “entrepreneurs” were supposed to
have creative ideas for starting businesses and yet they did
not think they were creative. Quite surprising and serious.
I refuse to search the causes like, “my mom never
encouraged me”, or “I got turned down for an essay I wrote and
sent to a publisher so I guess I am not a writer” and any
other such ways that society has diminished our abilities and
ruined us forever! I would rather concentrate on how we can
overcome all this and BE creative. I am thoroughly convinced
that we all have the ability to be creative. No one is exempt.
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| Guest Article: Pinball Living |
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By Dwight Edwards, author, speaker, and the High
Performance Coach at River Oaks Country Club
Up at 6:30 – to school by 8 – to work by 8:30 – first
meeting at 9 – two morning appointments – a working lunch –
pick up the kids from school – tennis lessons at 5 – dinner at
7 – homework – bing ... boing ... bing.
Ever feel like your life is a never-ending pinball game;
continually bouncing back and forth from activity to activity,
deadline to deadline, meeting to meeting, crisis to crisis?
When was the last time you took a couple of hours off to
simply rest, recharge, and reflect? Or is that even a category
these days?
Perhaps the word that best describes many of our lives is
frenetic. Fast moving, hard charging, rest challenged ... was
life really meant to be lived at such a dizzying pace? And
what is the cost of this mad frenzy? Or, in the words of T.S.
Eliot, “Where is the Life we have lost in living?”
Interestingly, the word frenetic comes from a Greek word
(phrenitikos) which means “inflammation of the mind” or
“delirious”. And therein lies the great danger of our
warp-speed lifestyles. In the midst of the madness of our
daily routines it becomes desperately easy to lose touch with
reality – i.e. the reality of what matters most in life. We
become delirious from the feverish, frantic pace we keep; and
thus our sensitivity to matters of supreme importance is
greatly and tragically diminished.
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