psychology dector

This has been a summer for taking stock, for deep reflection about the direction of my life and what I hope to accomplish while living it. Change is the only constant in this universe. Everything must change or die. I mistakenly thought that one reaches a certain age and the self is clearly defined, a finished product. Not true. The day we stop growing is the day we die. I realized that I needed to make some changes, that the dissatisfaction and restlessness I have been feeling were the result of my desire to move forward, to discover, to learn more. I needed new challenges. I became a teacher because I love to learn, and I want to give back to others what my teachers so graciously gave me. It is a most important vocation, one I feel blessed to have been given more than two decades ago. This summer has been about reaffirming what I am looking for in my work. I need creative challenges and the chance to discover something more about this life. I want to continue to work with students w

Comfortable With Uncertainty: 108 Teachings on Cultivating Fearlessness and Compassion By Pema Chodron Shambhala, $12.95 paper ISBN: 978-1-59030-078-7 When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times By Pema Chodron Shambhala Classics, $12.95 cloth ISBN: 978-1-57062-344-8 There is a story Pema Chodron cites in the middle of her book, Comfortable With Uncertainty , that sums up perfectly the notion that we should live in the moment. “A woman is running from tigers,” she writes. There is no escape but to go over a cliff via a hanging vine. The woman swings out over empty space, free from the pursuing tigers now above her, only to see another group below her, seemingly waiting for her to fall. She sees a small mouse begin to gnaw at the vine, and in the moment, realizes that her life is in grave danger. Her attention is distracted by a cluster of wild strawberries growing on the cliff face next to her. “She looks up, she looks down, and she looks at the mouse,” Chodron writes. “T

Don’t look now, but the Los Angeles Times may have found its way back to relevance. This past weekend, writers Jason Felch, Jason Song, and Doug Smith woke the sleeping bear by going after teachers in the Los Angeles Unified School District. In an article entitled, “Who’s Teaching L.A.’s Kids?” the reporters “obtained seven years of math and English test scores” from the district and using a system called “value-added analysis,” compiled a startling picture of who is effective in the classroom and who falls miserably short. A.J. Duffy, president of United Teachers Los Angeles, the local teachers’ union, was quick to condemn the article and ask his members to boycott the paper. (I don’t think this should worry the management at the paper; most subscribers have already left.) First, let’s talk about the article and the information contained therein. Value-added analysis “rates teachers based on their students’ progress on standardized tests from year to year,” according to the writers.