Tue, Dec 2 2014 Discussion!

Please read the following article once, twice, even three times!
We'll be talking about it in class. I hope you find it interesting.

Mattew

7 ways to quickly become a master at anything

There's a right way to learn: Want to be more successful? Actually that's not ambitious enough — want to be the best? I do. So I called my friend Daniel Coyle, author of the best books on getting better at anything: The Talent Code and The Little Book of Talent. Dan knows that the "10,000 hour rule" is nice, but you need to align your effort with the way your brain was designed to learn. Hours are vital but you can get to mastery faster — much faster — by practicing the right way. So how can you and I do that? Here are seven steps experts use:

1) Be uncomfortable - You learn best when you're reaching. "Flow" is great. But flow is not the best way to learn. You want to be stretched to the edge of your ability. It needs to be hard. That's how your brain grows.

Here's Dan: We learn when we're in our discomfort zone. When you're struggling, that's when you're getting smarter. The more time you spend there, the faster you learn. It's better to spend a very, very high quality ten minutes, or even ten seconds, than it is to spend a mediocre hour. You want to practice where you are on the edge of your ability, reaching over and over again, making mistakes, failing, realizing those mistakes and reaching again.

2) Stop reading. Start doing. - Keep the "Rule of Two-Thirds" in mind. Spend only one third of your time studying. The other two-thirds of your time you want to be doing the activity. Practicing. Testing yourself. Get your nose out of that book. Avoid the classroom. Whatever it is you want to be the best at, be doing it. The closer your practice is to the real thing, the faster you learn.

Here's Dan: Our brains evolved to learn by doing things, not by hearing about them. This is one of the reasons that, for a lot of skills, it's much better to spend about two thirds of your time testing yourself on it rather than absorbing it. There's a rule of two thirds. If you want to, say, memorize a passage, it's better to spend 30 percent of your time reading it, and the other 70 percent of your time testing yourself on that knowledge.

3) The sweet spot - You want to be successful 60 to 80 percent of the time when training. That's the sweet spot for improvement. When learning is too hard, we quit. When it's too easy… well, we quit then too. Always be upping the challenge to stay in that 60 to 80 percent zone.

Here's Dan: You don't want to be succeeding 40 percent of the time. That's flailing around. You don't want to be succeeding 95 percent of the time. That's too easy. You want to constantly be toggling, adjusting the environment so that you're succeeding 60 to 80 percent of the time.

4) Commit to the long term - Asking someone "How long are you going to be doing this?" was the best predictor of how skilled that person would end up being. Merely committing to the long haul had huge effects.

Here's Dan: The question that ended up being the most predictive of skill was "How long are you going to be doing this?" Commitment was the difference maker. The people who combined commitment with a little bit of practice, their skills went off the charts. Commit to the long haul. Don't give up. Even works for mice:

5) Find a role model - Watching the best people work is one of the most powerful things you can do. It's motivating, inspiring and it's how you were built to learn. Study the best to be the best.

Here's Dan: When we stare at someone we want to become and we have a really clear idea of where we want to be, it unlocks a tremendous amount of energy. We're social creatures, and when we get the idea that we want to join some enchanted circle up above us, that is what really lights up motivation. "Look, they did it. I can do it." It sounds very basic, but spending time staring at the best can be one of the most powerful things you do.

6) Naps are steroids for your brain - Napping isn't for the lazy. It's one of the habits of the most successful people in any field. Sleep is essential to learning. Naps are a tool that will make you the best.

Here's Dan: Napping is a high performance activity. If you looked into the habits of highly successful people you would see a lot of naps, a lot of recovery. It's sort of our brains' janitorial service. It helps us clean out the stuff we don't want. It also helps us work on ideas while we're asleep. Top performers use sleep as a tool.

7) Keep a notebook - Eminem keeps a journal. Peyton Manning keeps a journal. Top performers track their progress, set goals, reflect, and learn from their mistakes.

Here's Dan: Most people who are taking an ownership role in their talent development use this magical tool called a notebook. Keep a performance journal. If you want to get better, you need a map, and that journal is that map. You can write down what you did today, what you tried to do, where you made mistakes. It's a place to reflect. It's a place to capture information. It's a place to be able to track your progress. It's one of the most underused yet powerful tools that I could imagine anybody using.

If you only remember two words from this…

Dan says the two key words are "Reach" and "Stare."

Reach: Always push yourself to the edge of your ability.

Stare: Look at those better than you and emulate them.

Here's Dan: I would say, "Reach. Get out on the edge of your ability. Get into your discomfort zone and reach past that." And I would say, "Stare. Find somebody you want to be in two years, three years, five years, and stare at that person. See what they're doing. See exactly what they're doing, and steal that. Steal from them."

Sum up

Sadly, you weren't born an expert.

But you can become one with practice and time. Start now. You'll be amazed at what you can achieve:

By Eric Barker, Barking Up The Wrong Tree – THE WEEK - 15 April 15, 2014

Read more at:   http://theweek.com/article/index/259363/7-ways-to-quickly-become-a-master-at-anything

Blog discussion Nov 27 2014

Please visit the following link and read the article. It is to be discussed on Thursday.

I hope you're all having a great evening!

Matthew

http://www.studio360.org/story/drinking-and-smoking-do-they-make-you-more-creative/

Student chosen disscussion: Nov 26 2014

How shovelling snow can 'shock' your heart

http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/how-shovelling-snow-can-shock-your-heart-1.2841919

・Have you ever heard of cases like this before?

・What should be done about this? Should anything be done?

・One person commented that the eight people who died shoveling snow probably would have died anyway due to underlying poor health? Do you think this is an insensitive comment? Do you think it is true?

・Do you prepare for winter season? How?

・Do you think that these deaths say something very negative about the general health of people in North America? What? 

・Should this be news? Is this how stereotypes form? I mean, when the news covers something relatively small like this, does it have a positive or negative effect on society? Why do you think what you think?

・How is your overall health? Do you feel ready to shovel snow?

I heard about winter life in Canada, a lot of people suffer from depression. And this year, it's gonna be colder than last year. We need to protect our condition to escape from like this

Tue, Nov 25 2014 Discussion Topic

In the United States, when someone gets burned with hot coffee, they want lots of money from the business (eg. McDonald's).

http://www.businessinsider.com/mcdonalds-hot-coffee-lawsuit-2014-1

In Canada, when this happens, the person want the laws about coffee temperature to change (eg. Tim Horton's). 

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/woman-scalded-by-tea-wants-regulation-of-hot-drinks-1.1702212

1) Which one of these do you think will help to solve the problem? 

2) Which one would you choose personally? 

3) Which one would people in your home country choose (if they would choose any one of them)?

4) Do you think that a 'compensation culture' is eroding a sense of personal responsibility?

    - ie. Are people learning to blame others for their own mistakes?

5) Why do you think that Canadians try to change the laws, and Americans try to get money?

Nov 20 2014 Discussion

Please watch this video.
If you do not know who the KKK are or who Anonymous is, please google them to learn a little bit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wx5nT5Lq57o

This video is a message to the KKK from Anonymous. It states that Anonymous supports the freedom of speech, but will block any attempt at hate speech or hateful/violent actions.

See you in class!

Matthew

Nov 19 2014 Discussion

Snack Tax: Navajo Lawmakers OK Price Hike on Junk Food

WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. — The Navajo Nation Council approved a tax on junk food sold on the country's largest reservation, tribal officials announced Friday. Lawmakers voted 10-4 to impose a 2 percent sales tax on items such as cookies, chips and sodas. If signed into law by President Ben Shelly, the "Healthy Dine Nation Act of 2014" would remain in effect until 2020.

The Tribal Council previously failed to pass the legislation in April and Shelly vetoed the measure earlier this year. In the past, Shelly said he supports the proposal's intent but questioned how the higher tax on snacks high in fat, sugar and salt would be enacted and regulated. Supporters say the tax is another tool in their fight for the health of the people.

American Indians and Alaska Natives as a whole have the highest age-adjusted prevalence of diabetes among U.S. racial and ethnic groups, according to the American Diabetes Association. The proposed tax wouldn't add significantly to the price of junk food, but buying food on the reservation presents obstacles that don't exist in most of urban America. The reservation is a sprawling 27,000 square miles with few grocery stores and a population with an unemployment rate of around 50 percent.

Question

１）Do you like snacks and junk food?  How often do you eat?

２）Are snacks and junk food are bad for health?

３）Do you think is this idea good? Why?

４）If you were government, how do you control health of your country people?

Nov 18 2014 Blog Discussion and Reading

Howdy!

Here is the topic for today. Please read the article (it's a bit tough, but you can do it!). Remember that it's supposed to be funny.

Come prepared to discuss the topic please!

See you in class.

Matthew

New Girlfriend Tests Poorly With Peer Focus Group

  RALEIGH, NC–Preliminary data collected Monday from a focus group of friends indicates that new girlfriend Christine Carr is an unsuitable mate for Evan Lindblad.

  "I was really excited for everyone to meet Christine," said Lindblad, 25, a graduate student in clinical psychology at North Carolina State University. "I was sure everyone would like her. But now that the numbers are in, I guess I really dropped the ball on this one."

  After three weeks of dating, Lindblad held a small party at his home to introduce Carr to a random sampling of his closest friends, ages 22 to 27. Over the course of the evening, Lindblad presented the focus group with a variety of Carr-related queries, ranging from "What do you think of Christine?" to "Is she or isn't she everything I said?"

Lindblad also silently observed focus-group members, making careful note of their spontaneous reactions to Carr.

"At first, everyone was a little shy about speaking up," Lindblad said. "But sometime around 10:45 p.m., when a majority of the focus group was in the kitchen getting beer and Christine was in the other room, everyone really started voicing their opinions. I was right there with the clipboard, taking it all down."

  According to Lindblad, Carr scored highest with his five friends from college, with 60 percent of them saying that they "strongly agreed" or "somewhat agreed" with the statement that "Christine seems pretty nice." Carr also fared better with male constituents of the focus group, who were three times less likely to respond disparagingly to the question, "Did you see what she's wearing?"

  After tallying Carr's score in the areas of likability, originality, and believability, Lindblad found that his new girlfriend had garnered a meager 23 percent overall approval rating from the group. "It was clear that they simply were not enamored with Christine," Lindblad said. "I'm definitely pulling the brakes on bringing her to Eric Barrowman's Christmas party until I can fully assess this data."

  In addition to the low approval rating, 11 focus-group members reported feeling "disinterested" or "bored" when speaking to Carr. Further, while in the kitchen, members compiled a list of her negative qualities they would like to see addressed. "I did not respond well to that laugh," Lindblad friend and co-worker Toni Evers said. "It was way too high. And I would've liked to have seen a little more knowledge about Evan's field of work."

  Carr even scored poorly in areas in which Lindblad expected her to fare well. "Christine is beautiful, no one can deny that. But feedback indicated that the group wanted to see someone with a 'more mature look,'" Lindblad said. "The midriff-baring shirt actually worked against her in there. Who would have guessed? Well, that's why we do these tests." By evening's end, a full 84 percent of Lindblad's friends said they agreed with the statement, "Evan can do a lot better." "I've been close with Evan for several years, and I respect him very much," Evers said. "But if he goes ahead with this relationship, my approval rating of him could drop significantly."

  Surprised by Carr's poor showing, Lindblad turned to best friend Jake Hadler for his take on the results. Hadler told Lindblad that his pre-party hyping of Carr, in which he described her as "really funny and incredibly smart," may have backfired. "I'd heard so many times from Evan how funny Christine was," Hadler said. "It was all, 'Christine said this,' and, 'Christine did that.' Well, at the party, I had a six-minute exchange with her to ascertain her wit quotient, and during that entire time, she didn't make one joke." Had expectations not been so high, Carr may have fared better, focus-group participants conceded. "After the huge build-up, we went in there expecting not merely to be pleased, but blown away," said Lindblad's co-worker Glen Delk. "Had Lindblad simply billed Christine as 'great' or 'a really cool girl,' we'd have approached it differently. But he kept saying, 'This girl may be the one,' forcing us to evaluate her potential as a major love interest instead of a minor fling."

  Despite the negative reviews, Lindblad is not yet ready to end the relationship. "I'd hate to kill this so quickly after just one focus group," Lindblad said. "Maybe she can learn a little more about what I'm studying in school. And work on the laugh. That could get the numbers up."

http://www.theonion.com/articles/new-girlfriend-tests-poorly-with-peer-focus-group,194/    

Nov 12 2014 Discussion

The Real Generation Gap: How Adults and Teens Use Social Media Differently

There is no magic bullet when it comes to connecting with your customers online, but understanding their social media habits is a good place to start. According to a recent study from the Pew Research Center, 81 percent of teens and 72 percent of adults are active on social media. While that's a sizeable audience, the two age groups use each network differently.

Their research found that both groups use Facebook the most -- 94 percent of teens and 67 percent of adults. However, adults are Pinning and Instagramming more while teens are more active on Twitter.

Questions;

1. Which social media do people use the most in your country? Are there any differences between adults and teens?

2. Do you think adults and teens are using the same social media in the same way? If No, what's the difference?

3. When you get a job, if your boss or your customers ask for your social media address, can you tell it to them?

4. Is the social media necessary for adults or teens?

5. What do you think about adults or teens communicate with their friends or coworkers through a social media?

6. How often do you use social media? Do you ever feel guilty for wasting time?

7. Have you quit using or reduced the time you use any social media?

8. Have you ever experienced any trouble because of social media?