Back-to-School Activity / Lesson Ideas 10 engaging high school first day of school activities (Educators Technology) 10 engaging lesson ideas for the first day of school (Educators Technology) 10 firs...

A useful way to understand an evolved organism or system is to ask what it wants. What actions does it need to evoke to survive or thrive? The flower wants bees to visit, the berries want to be eaten by birds. Obviously, they don't have conscious intent, but this desire guides their progression through the generations. When they get more of what they want, they do it more.

Each day, I have about 8 hours of tasks to do. Empty the dishwasher, bring in the paper, answer emails, queue up a blog post... it's a very long list. I'm sure you have one as well. If we're good at the chores, we'll be offered new ones. And of course, it's possible to find new ones on our own.

There are two ways to think about achievement and the idea of getting ahead: Perhaps it's a race. Getting ahead means beating the competition. But perhaps it's simply an effort to move forward. A rising tide lifts all the boats, and if you want your boat to have plenty of water under it, that's far more effective than trying to push all the other boats down.

The News Literacy Project is excited to announce our partnership with Clever, which will allow even more educators to teach vital 21st Century news literacy skills using the award-winning Checkology® ...

Human luck doesn't even out. Regression to the mean explains that in statistics, outlying events tend to be overcome by average ones. But in society, the opposite is often true. A small headstart becomes a bigger one, or a small stumble can turn into something that is hard to overcome. Individuals can work to amplify their good luck. And society is obligated to create the conditions for bad luck to fade into the background. We don't do either one as much as we could or should.

The index is the search bar, the random access to the facts we can look up. The table of contents, though, that's a point of view. It's a taxonomy of how to understand a complicated idea. It's the skeleton of the narrative and the pedagogy for learning. We're at risk of becoming all index. The world could probably benefit from your table of contents.

Sneakers are better for running a marathon, but shoes are better for a wedding reception. This is the better of utility. Finding something that does the job it sets out to do. And then there is the better of taste. Yellow mustard might be better than Dijon mustard. Not for me, perhaps, but for you. When we sacrifice utility for taste, it pays to acknowledge that we've done so. Just because you like the shape of the bridge you just designed doesn't mean it's going to support trucks that drive over it.

The #edtech podcast that explores how technology is changing the way teachers teach and the impact that technology is having in education. Whether you use it or …

Podcast Episode · Choiceology with Katy Milkman · S16 Trailer · 2m

Long Shadow Episode Guide “Through a series of riveting, complex narratives, Long Shadow makes sense of what people know — and what they thought they knew — about the most pivotal moments in U.S. hist...

When a system becomes complex and our knowledge peters out, we're tempted to assert, in the words of Gilbert Ryle, that there's a 'ghost in the machine.' "How does the stoplight work?" "Well, it knows that there's a break in the traffic so it switches from green to red." Actually, it doesn't 'know' anything. Professionals can answer questions about how. All the way down.

Of course, we make strategic errors all the time. Not enough time. Incomplete information. A fast-changing system. Sooner or later, a significant strategic error occurs. Don't beat yourself up. Now what? The real problems occur after the error is made. Don't follow a strategic error with an investment error, or an effort error or a time error. Don't follow it with an emotional one either.

A while ago, I ate in a restaurant that had no menu. The waiter simply walked over to the table and said, "what do you want?" As bold as statement as this is, it made many diners uncomfortable and often led to people ordering without much imagination. Around the same time, I found myself in an out-of-the-way diner that had an 29 page menu.

Who do you pay attention to? Do you respond or react to the feedback that's coming in? Do you seek it out or wait for it to arrive? Does vivid online feedback from anonymous trolls carry more weight than honest but more subtle feedback from actual customers? Pick your feedback, pick your future. Which sort of feedback changes your behavior or attitude?

Perhaps you're really good at the job. Hard charging. Focused on every interaction and staying in control. It's easy to justify the hard work because you refuse to settle. It turns out that your community is here and ready to contribute. When you give others the resources, trust and commitment to do the work, the work gets done. Sometimes, it even gets done better than you could have done it (if you had had the time and focus, which you don't).

People like that, like this. When we can build connections between demographics and psychographics, it's easier to surprise, delight and serve our customers. Mail order catalogs have been doing this for years out of necessity. They know something about a person's geography, income and other demographics, and they make assertions about what they dream about and seek out. Psychographics are what people choose and believe.

One way to turn a product or service into a story is to gift wrap it. Yes, you did my taxes, but did you include a two-page summary and a useful folder to keep it in? Whether you're providing a service to a casual customer or a product to a regular patron, what you're really selling is the story. The commodity part of your day leaves no room for magic.