Pearls & Perfection Pending

As a teacher (and now professor...what?!), the idea of constantly encouraging higher-level thinking is always at the front of my mind.  We read about, think about, and talk about Bloom's taxonomy until it is sprouting out our ears.  We stress the need to create critical thinkers.  I constantly find myself saying things to students such as, "Dig a little deeper than that..." or "Let's put our problem-solving caps on..." or "Think of five different ways to answer this question with your group..." Yet... I feel like we are failing as a society to actually produce such thinkers.  Yes, there are those who examine nearly everything, and most of us question the rare, novel, or shocking.  But going about our daily lives, I feel that it is too common for people to read something, learn something (whatever the situation might be), and we accept our initial reaction to said information, make a quick evaluation of some kind, and move on. I've exper...

I spend two nights each week in a class on one of these bad boys. During tonight's class, my mind was wandering from one mental tangent to another.  I was thinking about the events of the day, the people I had met, the articles and blogs I had read.  I was focused and working hard physically, but my mind was free to roam at will.  As I looked around at the other people in the class, I saw determination, fear, awkward ambition, insecurity, pride, energy, desperation, focus, and many other emotions.  Most nights I tend to compare myself to the two class members on either side of me.  I watch their RPMs sneakily out of the corner of my eye, and try to always stay a few higher.  I peek at the miles they have traveled and try to beat them.  Hopefully you're not one of my spin bike stalk-ees. :)      Toward the end of the workout, our instructor has us do intervals.  We start with a 3 minute interval giving it all we've ...

I've been thinking about life lately.  And people.  Life is about people.  Good ones, bad ones, dumb ones, favorite ones.  People are the best and worst part of everything.  Whenever something goes terribly wrong, or you get really, deeply hurt, it usually has to do with something someone said or did to you (or didn't say or do).  The most memorable, treasured moments in our lives involve those we love best.  Our saddest and happiest times generally revolve around relationships and experiences with (or with a lack of) other people.   President Monson teaches that people are most important, "Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved." I remember reading a 7 habits book by Sean Covey (son of Stephen Covey) when I was younger, which talked about relationship bank accounts (RBA).  Every single interaction we have with any person, known or unknown, is a deposit or  withdrawal  in that relations...