by Richard L. Weaver II, Ph.D.
It was never a dream of mine, and it was never even on my radar screen at all—at any point in my life. The possibility of writing a college textbook came to me without asking for it, soliciting it, or even thinking about it. And yet I feel fortunate and, indeed, lucky.
To have the privilege of writing a tenth edition of a college textbook is not completely under an author’s control. That is, it is a choice made for authors. First, it must be adopted by a sufficient number of professional colleagues. Second, for them to make the decision to adopt, it has to be liked by student readers of the book. Third, the number of adoptions must be ample enough to make it worthwhile for the publishing company—in this case McGraw-Hill—to invest its resources in a new edition. Of course, the author must agree to write it; however, if an author were to say no, many contracts allow publishing companies to carry on without them—adding another author to the mast head.
The only reason I began writing college textbooks is because my co-author, Saundra Hybels, whom I had met in a college course at the University of Michigan, asked me to co-author one with her. She knew the president of a small publishing company—D. Van Nostrand (which has since gone out of business)—and her connection permitted us (maybe even encouraged her!) to write a book entitled Speech/Communication. Its popularity and success led to a second edition, and when Random House bought out the Van Nostrand list, we became Random House authors, and at that time we changed the name of the textbook—even though it was exactly the same book—to Communicating Effectively.
That was in 1984. (Our first edition of Communicating Effectively carried a copyright date of 1986.) Saundra died in 1999, and I finished the 1998 edition and then wrote the last five editions (including the 10th) as a sole author. Previously we had divided the task with Saundra writing the first half of the book, and with me writing the second half including all the chapters on public speaking.
Who knew (or could accurately predict) that the book would continue through a tenth edition? When I mentioned that I had been asked to write a tenth edition, my father-in-law, also a college textbook author, said to me, “Do you know how many people in the world have ever been asked to write a tenth edition?” (The answer, of course, is very, very few.)
The first thing I did when asked to write the new edition was to request from my editor at McGraw-Hill, Nicole Bridge, reviews of the ninth edition. I suggested some of the areas that needed to be covered, and she proceeded to get 20 reviews using an online form reviewers filled out and sent to her. It is those 20 reviews that shaped and guided my work. I took those reviews on a long summer vacation in our fifth wheel, and I worked on them diligently for well over a month—organizing the ideas and suggestions by chapter, highlighting those that demanded my attention, noting those on which a future decision (whether to make the change or not) would have to be made, and listing all those that would affect the book as a whole rather than individual chapters throughout.
With the organization of the reviewers’ comments complete, I created a chapter-by-chapter revision plan which incorporated (prior to my doing anything about the comments) all the reviewers’ ideas. This revision plan became my precise and exacting blueprint for the ninth-edition changes. It governed how I proceeded, which chapters needed the most attention, and where additional research and investigation was necessary. The revision plan grew as the actual changes were inserted with page and paragraph numbers and whether permission would be necessary to use the information.
Now I must pause and explain a couple of items. First, I always anticipate writing a new edition. This is important because I begin collecting new and relevant information immediately after completing the last edition. You cannot wait simply because important information may be overlooked; thus, the search for information is an ongoing and unrelenting task. Books, newspapers, magazines, scholarly journals, other textbooks, and any other available resources (like the Internet) must be carefully and thoroughly canvassed along the way.
The second item that needs explanation at this point is a new adventure I began with this edition. Because I blog, and because my five-day-a-week blog entries are posted on Facebook as well as on my web site http://www.andthensomeworks.com, I decided to chronicle the process of writing the tenth edition in blogs, and the Facebook entries that include the steps could be viewed there — but are likely to be deleted now because of time. This was an enjoyable exercise, and for those who have never written a textbook, I hope it offered interesting, informative insights.
Once the revision plan was complete—using the reviewers’ comments organized by chapter—I began my work by following the blueprint. This is a tedious, time-consuming, and challenging job that requires patience, extraordinary insight, and close attention to detail.
Another job I performed immediately when asked to write a tenth edition was to write an “active open-mindedness” (or AOM) box for each of the 16 chapters. Most of the previous editions offered adopters a new and unique “selling point.” These included, “Consider This” boxes, “Another Point of View” boxes, as well as “Working Together,” “Reality Check,” and “Strategic Flexibility” boxes. The AOM boxes were a new selling point for the tenth edition.
Just as an aside here, every one of the AOM boxes I wrote at this early stage appears in the completed tenth edition, and all appear without a single change from when originally written.
There was another important discovery, however, based on the reviews. Several reviewers noted the short attention spans of students and offered suggestions for breaking up large bodies of text material. It is precisely for that reason that I added over 75 new marginal boxes designed to offer specific instructions regarding text material, provide examples of text information, or furnish a quick summary. Many appear simply to break up long sections of textbook material.
Reviewer comments suggested, too, that I combine my two chapters on group communication into one, pull out all my sections on dealing with conflict in the three chapters where they occurred and make a single new one entitled, “Conflict and Conflict Management,” and reorder the contents in a more meaningful and logical manner. These are major changes in a new edition because you don’t want to lose adopters; however, to make such changes requires great thought, careful organization, and much justification (to self and others).
Many changes follow when the main text is changed. There are organizational changes in the instructor’s manual, new activities that must be organized for instructors, new review and quiz questions, new items to support instructor lectures, and creative web site and web work. The tenth edition is a lot of work—especially when I began with a goal of increased usefulness, improved structure, and more supporting information and material.
------
Writing and Developing Your College Textbook by Mary Ellen Lepionka is a valuable resource. Anthony Haynes of the UK, wrote this review of Lepionka’s book at Amazon.com: “There aren't many books about textbooks and the ones that do exist tend to be rather theoretical. This one is very practical. You can tell it isn't written by a hack: the book is full of concrete details based on experience. As a textbook publisher myself, I feel confident in saying that no prospective textbook authors could read this without profit - and I doubt any experienced authors could either.”
The other six reviews were favorable as well. Another said, Mary Ellen Lepionka’s (a veteran development editor in higher education publishing for more than twenty years) publication, “is a straightforward guide to creating an easy-to-understand, comprehensive, well-thought-out, accessibly organized textbook for college-level courses. Individual chapters cover how to publish the text manuscript, as well as the importance of structure, ways to make drafting and revising easier, the right way to acquire permissions when needed, and much, much more. Writing And Developing Your College Textbook is very highly recommended for aspiring textbook writers regardless of the subject matter of the book itself.”
Jennifer Burns has a delightful and insightful essay, “Key to Successful Writing,” at the web site Cheap College Textbooks. If you are interested in getting started as a writer, this essay offers a useful starting point.
-----
Copyright March 2012 by And Then Some Publishing, LLC.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Help! I’ve been outsourced
I was aware of the problems of outsourcing in general, and I had used call centers in Mumbai regarding computer problems. I had never had any problems with the contacts I made; in all cases, the assistants there solved the problems I had accurately and quickly. They were well-informed, cordial, respectful, and incredibly efficient. In general, however, the problems that have been discussed in articles on outsourcing had to do with the reliability and quality of the information.
When you read articles on outsourcing, you get an idea about some of the problems that occur. At the web site Outsource2India, for example, the unknown author of the essay, “10 Biggest Concerns of a Customer While Outsourcing,” makes the problem clear in the opening paragraph: “The key is to choose a service provider with integrity, honesty, efficiency and great communication skills.”
In my case, there was no choice. The selection of an outsourcing service was determined for me by my publishing company, McGraw-Hill. The reason for McGraw-Hill outsourcing book production to India are simple. According to Prisca Rollins in an essay at eHow titled, “India Outsourcing Problems,” Rollins says, “Businesses in America began heavily outsourcing work to India in the 1990's. It was a way to save on overhead and production cost.”
Satish Jacob, in an essay titled, “India's Outsourcing Boom Runs Into Trouble ” located at the web site ABC News /International makes the problem about outsourcing to India very clear. Why should anyone be concerned? “India employs about 350,000 people in the outsourcing industry and adds 150,000 new jobs each year,” writes Jacob, “But filling those vacancies is proving to be a nightmare. At this moment [December 24, 2005], the industry needs to hire around 9,000 people but can't find them.” Think about it, the outsourcing industry needs high-quality, well-educated, English-speaking workers. In India that is a bigger problem than it is (or would be) in the U.S., and in the U.S. it is a problem as well.
Let me explain my experience with outsourcing. With the exception of my computer questions/problems and dealing with assistants in Mumbai, this was certainly my first experience, and it lasted about 11 weeks.
In the previous 9 editions of my textbook, Communicating Effectively 9th ed. (McGraw-Hill, 2009), all of the production was handled in the U.S.. Not only that, with the exception of the 9th edition, the process of manuscript development included reading galleys in hard-copy first, having those developed into hard-copy pages, and then the production, from page proofs, into the final textbook.
With the tenth edition, it was not only an adjustment to outsourcing, but also not having hard copy at all, skipping the entire galley stage, and working entirely with electronic copy. For me, this was not just a surprise but a giant step into the technological age. I thought giant steps were only supposed to take place when stepping on the moon for the first time!
Full service for the tenth edition, once my developmental editor completed her work with me in preparing the manuscript for publication (raw new material, new footnotes, changes within chapters, new chapters added, rearrangement of existing chapters, etc.) was turned over to a company in New Delhi, India, called Aptara Corporation, and I was introduced to my new project manager, Antima Gupta, who I thought all along during the development of the manuscript was a male. This makes no difference whatsoever, but I was shocked to see her picture when I Googled her name in January, 2011, after work on the manuscript was complete.
Incidentally, as an aside here, all of the editors with whom I have dealt over my 36 years of work on this book have been female. Why should I have even thought that my new editor would be male? Yes, it makes no difference whatever; however, when you are working with someone (as a colleague) intensely for 11 weeks — even if it is over the Internet — you form a picture of the person, and my picture was not accurate.
It was October 20, 2010, when I received my first message from Gupta: “McGraw-Hill has outsourced the project management of your book to Aptara Corp., and I am the project manager at Aptara who will be your contact for all production-related issues. You will be working directly with me on this project, so please feel free to email me if you have any questions or concerns about the production process."
To show you how much of the production process was outsourced, Gupta writes, “During production we will copyedit your manuscript, prepare the artwork, and arrange for typesetting and printing.”
Besides her name, there were several indicators in her initial email to me that she was not a Westerner nor did she have a Western education (at least, as it appeared in her letter). At one point she said: “A request! If you deem okay, could you please forward me your contact number . . . ,” and at another point, she was explaining the use of Adobe Acrobat Reader and said: “It is a simple process and I can walk you though [sic] steps over phone.” Also, at still another point, she said, “I shall look forward to hear from you.” Otherwise, her English was perfect.
At the end of October, 2010, Gupta established the schedule for reviewing the page proofs: 3 chapters per week with my responses due one week after receiving each set.
In response to a message from my editor at McGraw-Hill Higher Education in New York, which read: “We are very close to finishing up the production for Communicating Effectively, 10e. I hope you have been pleased with the production. Please know that your feedback concerning the full service project: management communication, the quality of the copyediting,
proofreading, & paging, & the schedule are beneficial and welcome for future editions.”
My response to her request for information read: “Things have proceeded smoothly and on schedule. I have, indeed, been pleased with the production process --- copyediting, proofreading, and paging.” The formatting, pictures, charts, graphs, marginal boxes, front matter, and back matter all looked superb. Indeed, Aptara Corporation and Antima Gupta should be commended for producing a high-quality, attractive, competitive textbook.
- - - - - - - - -
At TechRepublic, Anthony Tardugno has a great essay, “Ten keys to successful outsourcing,” in which he says toward the beginning, “If your company is contemplating or pursuing outsourcing, these 10 keys can help you develop a successful outsource partnership.”
Johanna Rothman has a wonderful essay, “11 steps to successful outsourcing: A contrarian’s view” (September 15, 2003), at the web site computerworld. She begins her essay saying: “During the past few years, we've been bombarded with news of outsourced call centers, help desks, testing, development, projects and entire IT infrastructures. It sure looks as if outsourcing is the way to go. Before you jump on the outsourcing bandwagon, ask yourself this question: What's the value of the knowledge your staffers learn in the work you're planning to outsource? That's the value you give up when you outsource”
In his short Ezine essay, “Dealing with outsourcing issues,” Ben Thurman begins by saying, “Outsourcing sounds great in theory but you may find it a bit frustrating. When you run into less than stellar performances when you're expecting to get excellent value for your dollars, you begin to question whether inferior quality is the price to pay for paying less and expecting more. Quality assurance is perhaps the biggest of the outsourcing issues you will encounter in the global outsourcing arena.”
- - - - - - - - -
Copyright February, 2012, by And Then Some Publishing, L.L.C.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Men Should Not Marry
by Richard L. Weaver II, Ph.D.
It may not make much sense to you at first, but hear me out. Allow me to make the argument, and then you be the judge. The point of this essay is simply that for men, marriage goes against every natural and learned trait they possess and, thus, marriage is (and should be, considering everything) a foreign, unnatural, and improper act, and anyone who expects a marriage between a man and woman to work is dreaming, fantasizing, idealizing, romanticizing, or simply stupid!
Let’s begin with the basics — the natural (congenital or inherited) traits men possess. You can consult the studies, read the books, or simply base your judgment on observation, but the conclusion will likely be the same. Men are, by nature, unemotional, active, rugged, strong, dominant, leaders, crude, bigger, spontaneous, independent, unwilling to share (uncooperative), adverse to communicating, and have a need to be right. Women, on the other hand, tend to be emotional, loving, empathic, accepting, positive, quiet, nurturing, loving, attached, respectful, listeners, who are smaller and weaker than men.
Now, answer the question: how would you expect those who are naturally strong, dominant, crude, independent, uncommunicative, unwilling to share (uncooperative), and with a need to be right, to be the kind of people who would or even could make a marriage work? Marriage, for it to work, demands cooperation and communication. It could even be said to be a sharing existence. Further, marriage is like a showcase for women’s traits: positivity, empathy, commitment, acceptance, love, and respect.
For men, without making major changes or offering significant concessions (“selling out”) or simply learning and demonstrating new traits (it won’t happen!), marriage, for men, cannot work.
Turning now from the discussion of “natural traits,” the romantic notion of marriage, of husband and wife sharing ideas, talking out problems, doing things together, and getting along seamlessly, is just that: a romantic notion. It is fantasy, a delusion. Let’s take this romantic idea of marriage to a practical, applied level. It is, I am certain, a romantic notion to have a beautiful wife, smart, attractive, active, healthy children, a home that fulfills every possible dream (or fantasy), and a job that brings in more than enough money (as well as happiness and fulfillment) to satisfy every need, accommodate every desire, cover any emergency, and provide a life free of difficulty and distress of any kind. I’m right, aren’t I? That is truly a romantic notion.
And yet, as romantic as that notion is, it is insufficient to make some who possess it happy enough to remain married. Can you believe it? Men, basically, are unfit to be married!
There are other reasons, too, why men should not marry. Let’s look at marriage from a very practical, down-to-earth point of view. It’s an old, tired, well-worn cliche that when driving men never want to stop and ask for directions. The underlying cause for this behavior is, 1) a need to be right, 2) a need to do it by themselves (independence), and 3) a need to avoid dependence on others. All of these underlying causes, when extended to relationship behavior, argue — at their base — against everything a marriage stands for or should be:
1. How can you solve problems mutually when men always need to be right?
2. How can you make mutual decisions when men always want to do it (make decisions) by themselves (independence)?
3. How can you operate on a daily basis with men who have no interest in being dependent on others (any others!)?
There are, too, other reasons why men should not marry. Men are control freaks! No marriage can last long if the man controls everything. Unless women are willing to give up total control, unless women are willing to be doormats for all of men’s wants, desires, and needs, and unless women are willing to be totally submissive, marriages cannot work. Does that sound like any kind of marriage you would want to be part of? Does that sound like any kind of marriage at all?
It is, too, a cliche that men do not like to communicate — especially when it requires a show of emotion or when it is about a relationship. If you closely observe male-female relationships in informal settings, you will discover females do most of the talking. At the PBS (Public Broadcasting) home page, a quotation from the book, Language Myths (Penguin Press), states, studies reviewed by Deborah James and Janice Drakich, conclude that, “Women, it seems, are willing to talk more [than men] in relaxed social contexts, especially where the talk functions to develop and maintain social relationships.”
Women’s talk treats subjects that draw people together, promote relationship harmony, and enhance and encourage communication. Men tend to talk about matters that are not relationship oriented: events, objects, and things. Just from their conversations alone, it should be clear that men are not naturally oriented to having close relationships with others, becoming emotionally involved, or communicating their feelings. There is nothing here that would suggest that men are marriage material. They want partners for sex, but the desire for sex alone is insufficient to sustain a marriage and, too, does not even require marriage.
In addition to everything else discussed in this essay, in relationships men are weak and insecure. If women are unwilling to massage and stroke men’s egos, relationships are unlikely to last. Can you imagine marriages in which women must spend their time involved in and dealing with men’s feelings: whether they are depressed or hurt, whether they are getting the respect they think they deserve, whether their partner really loves, trusts, needs (you fill in the word here) them? Such behavior is immature, unnecessary, petty pampering, and yet, men (with their insecurity) require this sort of “affection.” It is like dealing with babies unable to stand on their own two feet, dependent on silly nurturing, and requiring childish coddling. Men are not fit to be married.
Whether you look at it from the side of male traits, or whether you look at it from the female side and what is necessary on their part to make marriages work (because you cannot depend on men to participate in a marriage!), marriages make no sense for men. There is nothing that make men compatible with or well suited for the true concept of what marriages are and should be!
- - - - - - - - - -
“Stephen Baskerville, Ph.D., is assistant professor of government at Patrick Henry College and President of the American Coalition for Fathers and Children. His book, Taken Into Custody: The War Against Fathers, Marriage, and the Family, has just been published by Cumberland House Publishing.” Baskerville has written an essay, “Advice to young men: Do not marry, do not have children” in which he offers another reason men should not marry: divorce (and the divorce laws).
“Top Ten Reasons Not to Get Married” offers these reasons: 1) Marriage is forever, 2) Marriage is the end of taking risks, 3) Marriage often fails, 4) Marriage is the end of sex, 5) Marriage is constant compromise, 6) Marriage is the end of spontaneity, 7) Marriage is just paperwork, 8) Marriage is expensive, 9) Marriage is the end of options, and 10) Marriage will make her let herself go.
My essay, "Women have superior leadership traits" (December 2, 1010) reinforces much of what I have said in this essay with respect to men and women traits. The very characteristics that make women better leaders than men are similar to (if not the same as) those that make them better at relationship maintenance and sustenance. (When you get to the andthensomeworks.com website, click on the "Blog" icon in the top navigation bar.)
- - - - - - - - - - -
Copyright February, 2012, by And Then Some Publishing, L.L.C.
It may not make much sense to you at first, but hear me out. Allow me to make the argument, and then you be the judge. The point of this essay is simply that for men, marriage goes against every natural and learned trait they possess and, thus, marriage is (and should be, considering everything) a foreign, unnatural, and improper act, and anyone who expects a marriage between a man and woman to work is dreaming, fantasizing, idealizing, romanticizing, or simply stupid!
Let’s begin with the basics — the natural (congenital or inherited) traits men possess. You can consult the studies, read the books, or simply base your judgment on observation, but the conclusion will likely be the same. Men are, by nature, unemotional, active, rugged, strong, dominant, leaders, crude, bigger, spontaneous, independent, unwilling to share (uncooperative), adverse to communicating, and have a need to be right. Women, on the other hand, tend to be emotional, loving, empathic, accepting, positive, quiet, nurturing, loving, attached, respectful, listeners, who are smaller and weaker than men.
Now, answer the question: how would you expect those who are naturally strong, dominant, crude, independent, uncommunicative, unwilling to share (uncooperative), and with a need to be right, to be the kind of people who would or even could make a marriage work? Marriage, for it to work, demands cooperation and communication. It could even be said to be a sharing existence. Further, marriage is like a showcase for women’s traits: positivity, empathy, commitment, acceptance, love, and respect.
For men, without making major changes or offering significant concessions (“selling out”) or simply learning and demonstrating new traits (it won’t happen!), marriage, for men, cannot work.
Turning now from the discussion of “natural traits,” the romantic notion of marriage, of husband and wife sharing ideas, talking out problems, doing things together, and getting along seamlessly, is just that: a romantic notion. It is fantasy, a delusion. Let’s take this romantic idea of marriage to a practical, applied level. It is, I am certain, a romantic notion to have a beautiful wife, smart, attractive, active, healthy children, a home that fulfills every possible dream (or fantasy), and a job that brings in more than enough money (as well as happiness and fulfillment) to satisfy every need, accommodate every desire, cover any emergency, and provide a life free of difficulty and distress of any kind. I’m right, aren’t I? That is truly a romantic notion.
And yet, as romantic as that notion is, it is insufficient to make some who possess it happy enough to remain married. Can you believe it? Men, basically, are unfit to be married!
There are other reasons, too, why men should not marry. Let’s look at marriage from a very practical, down-to-earth point of view. It’s an old, tired, well-worn cliche that when driving men never want to stop and ask for directions. The underlying cause for this behavior is, 1) a need to be right, 2) a need to do it by themselves (independence), and 3) a need to avoid dependence on others. All of these underlying causes, when extended to relationship behavior, argue — at their base — against everything a marriage stands for or should be:
1. How can you solve problems mutually when men always need to be right?
2. How can you make mutual decisions when men always want to do it (make decisions) by themselves (independence)?
3. How can you operate on a daily basis with men who have no interest in being dependent on others (any others!)?
There are, too, other reasons why men should not marry. Men are control freaks! No marriage can last long if the man controls everything. Unless women are willing to give up total control, unless women are willing to be doormats for all of men’s wants, desires, and needs, and unless women are willing to be totally submissive, marriages cannot work. Does that sound like any kind of marriage you would want to be part of? Does that sound like any kind of marriage at all?
It is, too, a cliche that men do not like to communicate — especially when it requires a show of emotion or when it is about a relationship. If you closely observe male-female relationships in informal settings, you will discover females do most of the talking. At the PBS (Public Broadcasting) home page, a quotation from the book, Language Myths (Penguin Press), states, studies reviewed by Deborah James and Janice Drakich, conclude that, “Women, it seems, are willing to talk more [than men] in relaxed social contexts, especially where the talk functions to develop and maintain social relationships.”
Women’s talk treats subjects that draw people together, promote relationship harmony, and enhance and encourage communication. Men tend to talk about matters that are not relationship oriented: events, objects, and things. Just from their conversations alone, it should be clear that men are not naturally oriented to having close relationships with others, becoming emotionally involved, or communicating their feelings. There is nothing here that would suggest that men are marriage material. They want partners for sex, but the desire for sex alone is insufficient to sustain a marriage and, too, does not even require marriage.
In addition to everything else discussed in this essay, in relationships men are weak and insecure. If women are unwilling to massage and stroke men’s egos, relationships are unlikely to last. Can you imagine marriages in which women must spend their time involved in and dealing with men’s feelings: whether they are depressed or hurt, whether they are getting the respect they think they deserve, whether their partner really loves, trusts, needs (you fill in the word here) them? Such behavior is immature, unnecessary, petty pampering, and yet, men (with their insecurity) require this sort of “affection.” It is like dealing with babies unable to stand on their own two feet, dependent on silly nurturing, and requiring childish coddling. Men are not fit to be married.
Whether you look at it from the side of male traits, or whether you look at it from the female side and what is necessary on their part to make marriages work (because you cannot depend on men to participate in a marriage!), marriages make no sense for men. There is nothing that make men compatible with or well suited for the true concept of what marriages are and should be!
- - - - - - - - - -
“Stephen Baskerville, Ph.D., is assistant professor of government at Patrick Henry College and President of the American Coalition for Fathers and Children. His book, Taken Into Custody: The War Against Fathers, Marriage, and the Family, has just been published by Cumberland House Publishing.” Baskerville has written an essay, “Advice to young men: Do not marry, do not have children” in which he offers another reason men should not marry: divorce (and the divorce laws).
“Top Ten Reasons Not to Get Married” offers these reasons: 1) Marriage is forever, 2) Marriage is the end of taking risks, 3) Marriage often fails, 4) Marriage is the end of sex, 5) Marriage is constant compromise, 6) Marriage is the end of spontaneity, 7) Marriage is just paperwork, 8) Marriage is expensive, 9) Marriage is the end of options, and 10) Marriage will make her let herself go.
My essay, "Women have superior leadership traits" (December 2, 1010) reinforces much of what I have said in this essay with respect to men and women traits. The very characteristics that make women better leaders than men are similar to (if not the same as) those that make them better at relationship maintenance and sustenance. (When you get to the andthensomeworks.com website, click on the "Blog" icon in the top navigation bar.)
- - - - - - - - - - -
Copyright February, 2012, by And Then Some Publishing, L.L.C.
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Motivate your life
I am often asked, “how do you write so much? Or “how do you come up with so many ideas?” or “what is it that keeps you going all the time?” My answer is one that I tell fifth graders when I give my talk to them on the topic “Writing.” As much as you can, whenever you can, you move as fast as you can, to capture the emotion of the moment. We are all filled with emotions (they are omnipresent in our lives), and they often occur rapidly and sometimes intensely. To go with the flow (the existence of the emotion) makes sense for that is the key to motivation — that is the stimulus, the inducement, and the inspiration that creates the enthusiasm and determination to do something. It is, basically, what moves us to action.
For me as a writer, I simply try to capture in words the feelings I have. Often, that is why I must write essays soon after (or even when) having the actual experience. For example, I try to write my travel essays while on-the-go — traveling. Not only in that moment do the words flow more rapidly, but the intensity of the feelings produce more and better adjectives to describe and explain the actual experience. In other words, intense feelings produce a larger number of language choices which not only makes writing easier, but it makes my writing more vivid as well.
Now, I realize that most people are not writers. And it may be, too, that most people do not have the wide range of experiences I have. Nonetheless, most people do have an interest in motivating their lives — that is, they have a need to get their lives off dead center.
One of the keys to self-motivation is a change in attitude. I often talked to my students about being the teacher. That is, instead of taking the position that learning occurred to them as a result of an outside stimulus such as a teacher or a textbook, they should adopt a new attitude that learning occurred as a result of self-pursuit, self-stimulation, self-determination, and self-discovery. The teacher, indeed, was inside of them not outside of them. This simply means that the teacher is within them, and it puts the responsibility on their shoulders for the learning that takes place. What they received from any experience was totally up to them!
There are many writers who offer suggestions for motivating your life; however, if the key just discussed (putting the teacher in yourself) is not adopted, it doesn’t matter what the suggestion is, it won’t work. This can be an incredibly important awareness because it opens up the doors of knowledge, education, enlightenment, understanding, and even wisdom. It makes you a student of life and a student of this world and everything in it as well.
At the web site Motivation and Money, the essay, “What Motivates Your Life,” (September 19, 2009), lists the five most common of life’s motivators: 1) Guilt: “[People] live their entire lives running from regrets and hiding their shame.” 2) Hatred and anger: “[People] hold on to hurts and never get over them.” 3) Peer pressure: “[People are] always being disturbed by what others might think.” 4) Materialism: “[People’s] desire to acquire becomes the only motivation of their lives.” 5) Fear: “[People’s] fear may be a result of a traumatic experience, unrealistic expectations, growing up with extraordinary strict parents, or even genetic predisposition.”
Fortunately, there are important positive motivators as well. Certainly one of the ways to help erase or overcome guilt, hatred, anger, peer pressure, materialism, and fear, is through positive action and behavior. For example, for me, I always focus on the end of a project. Much of what takes place during the production of a college textbook can only be characterized as tedious, dull, and boring. But, knowing the influence that my ideas can have on students, knowing what a beautiful and useful product McGraw-Hill delivers, and knowing how satisfied instructors are after using my textbooks, I focus on that result to keep me going.
When I don’t have an ongoing project, another way I have to motivate myself is to choose a goal. For me, any goal works.. I recognize my own needs, limits, and aspirations. The point is simply that I want a goal to focus on now. Many of these are lifted directly from my “to do list” (or my “honey-do” list!). Maybe it’s cleaning my study or organizing the garage. It could just as easily be losing ten pounds in a month, avoiding junk food, working through a new activity added to my regular exercise routine, or anything else I have a need or desire to attain.
Once I have selected a goal, I break it into steps. When I taught this process to my students, I would break the process of developing a speech (the final goal) into steps for them. For example, as the first step, I had them select the topic. They would choose three, and I would then select the best one. Their next job was to frame their topic as a proposition. Next, they had to collect evidence to support their proposition. Following their research effort, they had to organize and outline their speech. The final step was to present me a complete, fully-written-out manuscript for the speech as they came before the class to deliver it.
Someone choosing to lose weight, would break their exercise routine into daily units and even map out their healthy eating habits.
At the end of every successful project, I invent an appropriate reward. Often, it is time off for good behavior, engaging in another likable project, going to the library, reading (and reviewing) another book, taking a short vacation, or having an extra beer at the end of a long day. Everyone has his or her own desires that can be used for rewards.
I have always found that one of the joys of keeping a “to-do” list is checking things off that I’ve accomplished. Often, that check mark alone is sufficient reward.
Nobody on earth has the same interest in your success as you do. Motivating your life is a result of habit. Bad habits such as procrastination and laziness stand in your way, but the best way to break bad habits is by replacing them with clear goals and careful planning. Every reasonable thing you want in life is possible if you change your attitude. Capitalize on your positive emotions. You will gain confidence from small victories, and small victories lead to larger ones. Remember that the most successful people in the world are not always the brightest, or the best looking. It will be your success over both small and large tasks that will motivate your life, give you confidence, and allow you to move forward with perseverance, strength, determination, and conviction.
- - - - - -
Erin Falconer, has a great essay, “How To Motivate Yourself – Self Motivation,” at the Pickyourbrain web site, in which she says that the primary reasons we lose motivation is lack of confidence, focus, and direction. She claims: “There is no simple solution for a lack of motivation. Even after beating it, the problem reappears at the first sign of failure. The key is understanding your thoughts and how they drive your emotions. By learning how to nurture motivating thoughts, neutralize negative ones, and focus on the task at hand, you can pull yourself out of a slump before it gains momentum.” I loved her emphasis on emotions; hers is a terrific essay.
At Lifeorganizer, Donald Latumahina has a great essay, “Self-motivation: How to motivate yourself,” says, “If you want to excel in life, self motivation is essential. You must know how to motivate yourself. You must be able to keep your spirit high no matter how discouraging a situation is. That’s the only way to get the power you need to overcome difficulties. Those who are discouraged in difficult times are certain to lose even before the battle is over.” He offers six methods: 1) Have a cause. 2) Have a dream. A big dream. 3) Be hungry. 4) Run your own race. 5) Take one more step. 6) Let go of the past.
- - - - - - - -
Copyright February, 2012, by And Then Some Publishing, L.L.C.
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Life is a game
The first thing I think of when a game (any game) is mentioned, is “fun.” Games are fun. And to think that a game (any game) can be an accurate metaphor for life is mistaken. There are times, it is true, when life is pure fun, but much of life is not — more of life is not fun. It is serious business and not to take it seriously can sometimes be disastrous. It was Thomas L. Holdcroft who said, “Life is a grindstone. Whether it grinds us down or polishes us up depends on us.”
At the Counseling Resource web site <>, Gordon Shippey has an essay titled “Life is Not a Game (But Maybe It Should Be),” in which he says: “My point is not to say that everything in life needs to be as fun and engaging as a game. Rather, that we have choices of how to structure our schools and our workplaces to make important work easier or harder. Remembering how important feedback is to the gaming experience, could we not make more regular feedback a part of our work and school life? When we realize that high-risk situations work against creativity and challenging ourselves to go further, would it make sense to reevaluate the high-stakes testing in our schools? Knowing that narrative flow fosters engagement, what are we to make of a disjointed school day or a job riddled with interruptions and requiring high levels of multi-tasking? If being able to control the pace of an experience is important, why do we walk students lock-step through their lessons when self-paced alternatives like the Kahn Academy exist? In the long run, harnessing the engaging properties of games may become a serious productivity driver.”
There is a book by Cherie Carter-Scott, If Life is a Game, These Are the Rules. Blaine Greenfield, from Belle Mead, New Jersey, reviewed the book at Amazon, and since I have not read the book, I cite Greenfield’s distillation of Carter-Scott’s rules (condensed even further here): 1) You will receive a body. You may love it or hate it, but it will be yours for the duration of your life on Earth. 2) You will be presented with lessons. You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called "life." Each day in this school you will have the opportunity to learn lessons. You may like the lessons or hate them, but you have designed them as part of your curriculum. 3) There are no mistakes, only lessons. Growth is a process of experimentation, a series of trials, errors, and occasional victories. The failed experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiments that work. 4) A lesson is repeated until learned.
Lessons will repeated to you in various forms until you have learned them. When you have learned them, you can then go on to the next lesson.
There are five additional rules. 5) Learning does not end. There is no part of life that does not contain lessons. If you are alive, there are lessons to be learned. 6) "There" is no better than "here." When you’re "there" has become a "here," you will simply obtain a "there" that will look better to you than your present "here." 7) Others are only mirrors of you.
You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects something you love or hate about yourself. 8) What you make of your life is up to you. You have all the tools and resources you need. What you do with them is up to you. 9) Your answers lie inside of you.
All you need to do is look, listen, and trust. 10) You will forget all of this at birth. You can remember it if you want by unraveling the double helix of inner knowing.
Now, here’s the point. Those are, indeed, basic rules, but they don’t come close to proving, establishing, or in any way suggesting that life is a game. There is far more to any game than rules alone. An effective game includes competition, alternative choices, problem-solving, risk-taking, built-in surprises, rewards, winning and losing, and a final goal — among other things. If anyone thinks that life is a game, just think about how many characteristics exist in most games. So much of life does not involve any of this. More often than not, life is composed of typical, common, ordinary routine. I would suggest that for many people in the world, it is more about merely surviving — finding enough to eat and seeking the finances to support themselves. For others who have enough to eat and finances enough to support themselves, they just want to exist — quality of life is what they have and nothing more.
There is no question that there are parts of our lives that mimic games in some cases, like job seeking, project completion, and, perhaps, dating. But I would contend that much like Abraham Maslow’s “hierarchy of needs," when life truly becomes a game, you have raised yourself much higher on “the hierarchy” — whatever the hierarchy is. Although Cherie Carter-Scott’s book (mentioned above) is a basic (some reviewers said “elementary”), interesting read, the “rules” she writes about are close to the bottom of the hierarchy.
What I have discovered throughout my life has been to consider the comment “life is a game” as a cliche — a trite expression that has little meaning. There is no doubt that when I was a university professor, I felt intense competition — for tenure, promotion, and merit. The “publish or perish” impetus necessary to further my academic career supplied the motivation; however, more than anything else the motivation was internal since it was well honed throughout graduate school. Even though there was competition, alternative choices, problem-solving, risk-taking, built-in surprises, rewards, winning and losing, and a final goal, I considered all of this an extension of my graduate training. Yes, it could have been considered “a game,’ and there are many who do; however, for me, it didn’t change anything. The elements were the same, and the needs wouldn’t change either.
Do you consider life a game? That’s perfectly fine. Remember what Gordon Shippey said near the beginning of this essay: “In the long run, harnessing the engaging properties of games may become a serious productivity driver.” The real determiner of success for your life is in the quotation by Abraham Lincoln: “In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.”
- - - - - - - -
At Scott H. Young’s web site, “Get More From Life,” Young has an excellent essay, “Life as a Game,” and his last paragraph explains how important the “life as a game” metaphor can be: “The metaphors we use to describe life will decide how we behave and feel within it. Viewing life as a game can be incredibly freeing in seeing all our obstacles and problems as adding to the experience. By understanding that the game of life operates from a common sense set of rules we can understand these rules then utilize them to our effectiveness. Finally, by understanding that the game of life is about experiencing the journey with a purpose we can be successful and happy. Viewing life as a game isn’t without its fallacies, but you may want to try this perspective to see if it improves your own quality of experience.”
At the “Freedom from the Known,” ivan campuzano web site, Campuzano has an essay, “Life is a Game: How Are You Playing It?” (April 27, 2011). He gives readers of his blog instructions for how to create their own game. He ends his essay saying, “I am assuming you will choose to play a game that will be full of joy and balance. This is your life, learn to play with it. Thank you for reading my post, be well. Your friend Ivan Campuzano.”
- - - - - - - - - -,
Copyright February, 2012, by And Then Some Publishing, L.L. C.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Boosting brain power
by Richard L. Weaver II
For me it hasn’t been about “boosting brain power,” it is more about “sustaining brain power.” That is, I don’t like the thought of losing anything I have, and if I gain a little by doing things that will sustain what I have, then that is icing on the cake, or a positive byproduct that is greatly appreciated. I try to do more than what it takes to keep my brain active just as I do more than what it takes to keep my body in shape.
My 98-year-old father-in-law gives credence to the comment by Elizabeth Zelinski, Ph.D., a professor at the University of Southern California, who said, “the research now suggests you have a good chance of keeping your brain sharp if you commit to the right kind of concentrated effort.” This is a paraphrase by the unknown author of “Build a Better Brain,” an article in The Hartford’s Extra Mile bulletin (Winter, 2011, pp. 6-8). Although my father-in-law engages in a limited amount of physical exercise (walking), a limited amount of contact with other people (mainly at mealtimes), he is a voracious reader of newspapers, magazines, and books. His mind and memory are sharp as a tack.
Asking the question, “Can you build a better brain?” Sharon Begley, in a Newsweek essay of the same name (January 10 & 17, pp. 40-45), claims that “The quest for effective ways to boost cognitive capacity is not hopeless . . . The explosion in neuroscience is slowly revealing the mechanisms of cognition” (p. 42). And here is a sentence most hardworking people will greatly appreciate: “. . . in people who excel at particular tasks, Stern’s neuroimaging studies show, brain circuits tend to be more efficient (using less energy even as cognitive demand increases), higher capacity, and more flexible” (p. 43).
Now, Begley reports one finding that should prompt everyone to vary what they do in life: “ . . . skills we’re already good at don’t make us much smarter; we don’t pay much attention to them. In contrast, taking up a new cognitively demanding activity — ballroom dancing, a foreign language — is more likely to boost processing speed, strengthen synapses, and expand or create functional networks” (p. 43). That is why the suggestions offered in The Hartford’s Extra Mile bulletin, cited above, make good sense. The essay, as its first of seven “Tips to Enhance Brain Fitness,” suggests that we “Learn to play a new instrument” (p. 7). It states that the reason is that “You’ll exercise several brain functions, related to sight, hearing, and movement.” That’s true, but it is just as true that it will boost processing speed, strengthen synapses, and expand or create functional networks — which is likely to result in even greater rewards.
The Hartford’s Extra Mile bulletin also offers other tips besides learning to play a new instrument that may yield the same benefits. These include making your hobbies harder, using your other hand, and walking on a rocky road.
In an online article (03-20-09), “Building a Better Brain,” at the web site, Isthmus, The Daily Page, Jennifer A. Smith, reports on a speech given by Richard J. Davidson, Ph.D., a professor of psychology and psychiatry and director of University of Wisconsin’s Laboratory for Affective Neuroscience. He “was speaking on neuroplasticity — the ability of the brain to remain flexible, adaptable and trainable,” she writes. “It’s one of the foundations of his work.”
“The adult brain, scientists now realize,” Smith reports, “continues to make about 5,000 new cells per day. It is ever changing, or ‘plastic,’ throughout life.” Now, citing Davidson, she quotes him as saying, "Traits formerly considered to be fixed are really not. They’re characteristics that can be changed through training. In other words, human beings have more control over [their] minds than previously thought. . . . We’re carrying our own laboratory between our ears, and we just need to use it," Davidson told the crowd.
At the Stanford Medical Magazine web site, (Fall 2005) Amy Adams has written an essay, “Building a better brain
It's never too late for renovation,” in which she cites the work of Eric Knudsen, PhD, a professor of neurobiology. Knudsen said there is more to it than simply playing a new instrument, learning a foreign language, or beginning ballroom dancing. It is all about laying the groundwork for growth. He claims that, “. . . building the best possible brain is all about preparation. True, a child can’t learn algebra until the brain is ready. But how well the child picks up that new skill can be altered by early experiences that prime those neurons and their connections for action.”
Adams offers this conclusion to her online article: “What all this research adds up to is good news for those who had rich and rewarding early experiences. Their brains are primed for learning new skills throughout life. As for adults hoping to make late-term modifications to their brains’ wiring, all hope isn’t lost. Knudsen’s work shows that older [people] can still learn, if somewhat more slowly than juveniles. As with any remodel, it’s less efficient than starting from scratch, but with patience even fully mature brains can squeeze out some new connections.”
There is an almost contradictory finding in Begley’s Newsweek article which explains why my father-in-law has maintained his sharp mind and memory throughout his 97 years. It has nothing to do with learning new skills or developing new abilities. Begley writes that building brain power “requires tapping into one of the best-established phenomena in neuroscience — namely, that the more you use a circuit, the stronger it gets. As a result, a skill you focus and train on improves, and even commandeers more neuronal real estate, with corresponding improvements in performance” (p. 44).
That is precisely what I have discovered as well. That is, although I enjoy learning new skills (special ballroom dancing steps), having new experiences (cruising to Southeast Asia), and stretching the skills I already have (reading new books or writing new essays such as this one), I have discovered that the more I use the circuits I possess, the stronger they get. That is why I said at the outset of this essay, “ it hasn’t been about ‘boosting brain power,’ it is more about ‘sustaining brain power.’” To me, that is the essential issue, and if I can boost brain power while sustaining brain power, all the more brain power to me!
- - - - - - - - -
From the Stanford School of Medicine
comes the Stanford Medicine Magazine (referred to in my essay), and the article by Amy Adams, “Building a better brain: It's never too late for renovation” (Fall, 2005). This is really a very well-written, well-explained essay that is both thorough and comprehensive. It is well worth a read.
At eMedExpert, the essay, “14 Research-Proven Ways To Boost Brain Power,” is excellent. Not only are the suggestions right on target, but at the end of the essay each of the 47 “Sources and References” that support the essay are not just listed in their correct entirety, but in each case there is a link so that you can go to the research and read it for yourself. This is an absolutely terrific essay.
- - - - - - - - - -
Copyright January, 2012, by And Then Then Some Publishing, L.L.C.
For me it hasn’t been about “boosting brain power,” it is more about “sustaining brain power.” That is, I don’t like the thought of losing anything I have, and if I gain a little by doing things that will sustain what I have, then that is icing on the cake, or a positive byproduct that is greatly appreciated. I try to do more than what it takes to keep my brain active just as I do more than what it takes to keep my body in shape.
My 98-year-old father-in-law gives credence to the comment by Elizabeth Zelinski, Ph.D., a professor at the University of Southern California, who said, “the research now suggests you have a good chance of keeping your brain sharp if you commit to the right kind of concentrated effort.” This is a paraphrase by the unknown author of “Build a Better Brain,” an article in The Hartford’s Extra Mile bulletin (Winter, 2011, pp. 6-8). Although my father-in-law engages in a limited amount of physical exercise (walking), a limited amount of contact with other people (mainly at mealtimes), he is a voracious reader of newspapers, magazines, and books. His mind and memory are sharp as a tack.
Asking the question, “Can you build a better brain?” Sharon Begley, in a Newsweek essay of the same name (January 10 & 17, pp. 40-45), claims that “The quest for effective ways to boost cognitive capacity is not hopeless . . . The explosion in neuroscience is slowly revealing the mechanisms of cognition” (p. 42). And here is a sentence most hardworking people will greatly appreciate: “. . . in people who excel at particular tasks, Stern’s neuroimaging studies show, brain circuits tend to be more efficient (using less energy even as cognitive demand increases), higher capacity, and more flexible” (p. 43).
Now, Begley reports one finding that should prompt everyone to vary what they do in life: “ . . . skills we’re already good at don’t make us much smarter; we don’t pay much attention to them. In contrast, taking up a new cognitively demanding activity — ballroom dancing, a foreign language — is more likely to boost processing speed, strengthen synapses, and expand or create functional networks” (p. 43). That is why the suggestions offered in The Hartford’s Extra Mile bulletin, cited above, make good sense. The essay, as its first of seven “Tips to Enhance Brain Fitness,” suggests that we “Learn to play a new instrument” (p. 7). It states that the reason is that “You’ll exercise several brain functions, related to sight, hearing, and movement.” That’s true, but it is just as true that it will boost processing speed, strengthen synapses, and expand or create functional networks — which is likely to result in even greater rewards.
The Hartford’s Extra Mile bulletin also offers other tips besides learning to play a new instrument that may yield the same benefits. These include making your hobbies harder, using your other hand, and walking on a rocky road.
In an online article (03-20-09), “Building a Better Brain,” at the web site, Isthmus, The Daily Page
“The adult brain, scientists now realize,” Smith reports, “continues to make about 5,000 new cells per day. It is ever changing, or ‘plastic,’ throughout life.” Now, citing Davidson, she quotes him as saying, "Traits formerly considered to be fixed are really not. They’re characteristics that can be changed through training. In other words, human beings have more control over [their] minds than previously thought. . . . We’re carrying our own laboratory between our ears, and we just need to use it," Davidson told the crowd.
At the Stanford Medical Magazine web site
It's never too late for renovation,” in which she cites the work of Eric Knudsen, PhD, a professor of neurobiology. Knudsen said there is more to it than simply playing a new instrument, learning a foreign language, or beginning ballroom dancing. It is all about laying the groundwork for growth. He claims that, “. . . building the best possible brain is all about preparation. True, a child can’t learn algebra until the brain is ready. But how well the child picks up that new skill can be altered by early experiences that prime those neurons and their connections for action.”
Adams offers this conclusion to her online article: “What all this research adds up to is good news for those who had rich and rewarding early experiences. Their brains are primed for learning new skills throughout life. As for adults hoping to make late-term modifications to their brains’ wiring, all hope isn’t lost. Knudsen’s work shows that older [people] can still learn, if somewhat more slowly than juveniles. As with any remodel, it’s less efficient than starting from scratch, but with patience even fully mature brains can squeeze out some new connections.”
There is an almost contradictory finding in Begley’s Newsweek article which explains why my father-in-law has maintained his sharp mind and memory throughout his 97 years. It has nothing to do with learning new skills or developing new abilities. Begley writes that building brain power “requires tapping into one of the best-established phenomena in neuroscience — namely, that the more you use a circuit, the stronger it gets. As a result, a skill you focus and train on improves, and even commandeers more neuronal real estate, with corresponding improvements in performance” (p. 44).
That is precisely what I have discovered as well. That is, although I enjoy learning new skills (special ballroom dancing steps), having new experiences (cruising to Southeast Asia), and stretching the skills I already have (reading new books or writing new essays such as this one), I have discovered that the more I use the circuits I possess, the stronger they get. That is why I said at the outset of this essay, “ it hasn’t been about ‘boosting brain power,’ it is more about ‘sustaining brain power.’” To me, that is the essential issue, and if I can boost brain power while sustaining brain power, all the more brain power to me!
- - - - - - - - -
From the Stanford School of Medicine
comes the Stanford Medicine Magazine (referred to in my essay), and the article by Amy Adams, “Building a better brain: It's never too late for renovation” (Fall, 2005). This is really a very well-written, well-explained essay that is both thorough and comprehensive. It is well worth a read.
At eMedExpert
- - - - - - - - - -
Copyright January, 2012, by And Then Then Some Publishing, L.L.C.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Dealing with excuses
by Richard L. Weaver II, Ph.D.
“Two university students had a week of exams coming up. However, they decided to party instead. So, when they went to the exam, they decided to tell the professor that their car had broken down the night before due to a very flat tire and they needed a bit more time to study.
“The professor told them that they could have another day to study. That evening, both of the boys crammed all night until they were sure that they knew just about everything.
“Arriving to class the next morning, each boy was told to go to separate classrooms to take the exam. Each shrugged and went to two different parts of the building. As each sat down, they read the first question.
"’For 5 points, explain the contents of an atom.’
At this point, they both thought that this was going to be a piece of cake, and answered the question with ease.
Then, the test continued . . . ‘For 95 points, tell me which tire it was.’”
When I first read this joke I identified with it immediately. What a terrific joke! As a college professor for 30 years, I heard many excuses; however, I found a number of successful ways to deal with them.
I have a perspective on all of this, and it certainly colors my overall point of view. In all of the classes I took as a student (about 20 years of classes), and in all of the classes I taught as an instructor or professor (close to 30 years of teaching) — even my time as a “practice teacher” in high school — I never missed a single class; thus, I have never used nor had to use an excuse. Now, I have to admit that I loved being a student, and I had the same identification with being a teacher and large-group lecturer. I always did my homework, submitted my papers and reports on time, and appeared on time for all examinations. (In all of the college textbooks I have written and in all of the additional textbooks editions as well (well over 30), I have never missed a deadline. I consider deadlines just as sacred or inviolable now as I considered class and lecture meetings when I was a student.)
I learned early in my teaching that one of the ways I had to try to avoid having to listen to student excuses was simply to make all of my classroom policies clear at the outset in my syllabus and attached handouts. Depending on how often during a week my class met, I would make that number (usually one or two) the number of excused absences permitted during a term. After that, I would simply lower a student’s grade by one-third for each additional absence beyond that. This policy was a powerful one, and it severely limited having to deal with student excuses.
Regarding missed papers, I stated at the outset of the course that the grade on any late paper — no matter the excuse — would lose one full grade for every day it was late. No matter how late, however, it was still a required part of the course. I seldom had to use this policy. I found that if students knew the policy up front, they found ways to deal with it.
In one class where the final paper for the class counted for much of a student’s final grade in the course, I structured the paper in such a way that students had to begin work on it early — like choosing their topic, doing their research, outlining their approach — and in this way, I helped students organize their time. Every student had the paper submitted on time.
To help students in the basic course which enrolled a thousand students per term, I had students choose their speech topics early. They selected three topics, their graduate assistants would number them in the order they thought best for class presentation, and students would have to stick to these choices as they prepared their final speech. This was a technique for helping to limit the amount of plagiarism as well.
Just as an aside here, I taught an interpersonal-communication class of over 300 students per term. I created a seating chart so I could call on students by name, and I used a daily half-sheet response that allowed me to take roll, receive feedback, and quiz my students at every class meeting. I remember the attrition that occurred between the first class meeting when I would hand out the syllabus and all of my expectations and the second class meeting when those students who wanted a “freebie” lecture course that they did not have to attend, left the course. Amazing!
I had a teaching philosophy that may appear a bit egocentric; however, I can’t deny its existence. If I was going to be paid to teach a course, and if I was going to prepare in the best way I could to teach it, I had no intention of allowing my students — the students who chose to take the course from me — to wander in and out of class, decide when to come to class and when not to, and to make their own decisions (during the duration of the class) as to whether they thought the material was important or relevant or meaningful. If you (talking to the student) choose me as your instructor, you must make the same commitment to this class as I will — no exceptions and no excuses.
One of my goals throughout my teaching career was to appear to be a fair, flexible, and tolerant teacher. At times, I found, some students loved to push the limits to determine just how far a person (me!) was willing to go. Most of the time this occurred early in the course, and when a student discovered I had very clear and well articulated expectations and regulations, often they would either drop out or tow the line. I found, too, that it was always better to accept an untrue excuse than reject a legitimate one and be seen as unfair. In a couple of cases, but few more than that, I would check my record-keeping book on the student’s performance in the course thus far, and if I could tell that the goals of the course were being met, I tried in the best way I could, to help students deal with their emergencies and complete class assignments as well.
You may wonder why the issue of dealing with excuses is even a concern for teachers. I agree with Sandra Goss Lucas and Douglas A. Bernstein, in their book, Teaching Psychology: A Step by Step Guide (Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2005) when they talk about dealing with excuses. They point out: “The way you handle excuses conveys a message to your students about your teaching philosophy, and most particularly about whether you view students as partners or adversaries, the degree to which you trust them, and how you care about them” (p. 137). It can set the tone for an entire term, determine how effective you will be, and, most important of all, govern (or at least influence) how much students are likely to learn.
- - - - - - - -
On the web site Faculty Focus, there is a short essay by Maryellen Weimer, “A Smart Way to Handle Student Excuses” (October 2009), excerpted from the book Effective Classroom Management, where a “stuff happens” card is discussed: “Professor Daniela A. Feenstra, who teaches a variety of business classes at Central Pennsylvania College, has developed an interesting way through this dilemma. On the first day of class she gives each student a ‘Stuff Happens’ card. It’s about the size of a business card and also includes the semester date and a place for the student’s name. In the syllabus (and in class) she explains that this is a student’s ‘one time only’ forgiveness card.
“If a student is late for class or might need a one-day extension on a paper, the student may trade the “Stuff Happens” card for this exception. Students don’t have to get her approval or permission to use the card. Use of it is entirely at their discretion. However, each student gets only one card, which is not transferable and won’t be replaced if lost.
“If no “stuff happens” during a given a semester and a student follows all classroom policies and procedures, the “Stuff Happens” card may be traded in the last week of class for 20 bonus points.”
At StateUniversity.com, there is a great little essay at the College and University blog, “The Cultural Phenomenon of the Lying College Student” by Tara, where she begins her essay saying: “It is easy for me to believe that college and all it entails can cultivate an unwitting liar. I can understand how the pressures of deadlines, parents, activities, etc., can instigate scads of little fabrications to ease the load of college life. However, I have seen time and time again how those little white lies become habit, and habits are very hard to break.” The useful part of the essay is where she cites “many studies [that] have been done on what psychologists call ‘the use of fraudulent excuses.’”
- - - - - - - - -
Copyright January, 2012, by And Then Some Publishing, L.L.C.
Read more: The Cultural Phenomenon of the Lying College Student - StateUniversity.com Blog
“Two university students had a week of exams coming up. However, they decided to party instead. So, when they went to the exam, they decided to tell the professor that their car had broken down the night before due to a very flat tire and they needed a bit more time to study.
“The professor told them that they could have another day to study. That evening, both of the boys crammed all night until they were sure that they knew just about everything.
“Arriving to class the next morning, each boy was told to go to separate classrooms to take the exam. Each shrugged and went to two different parts of the building. As each sat down, they read the first question.
"’For 5 points, explain the contents of an atom.’
At this point, they both thought that this was going to be a piece of cake, and answered the question with ease.
Then, the test continued . . . ‘For 95 points, tell me which tire it was.’”
When I first read this joke I identified with it immediately. What a terrific joke! As a college professor for 30 years, I heard many excuses; however, I found a number of successful ways to deal with them.
I have a perspective on all of this, and it certainly colors my overall point of view. In all of the classes I took as a student (about 20 years of classes), and in all of the classes I taught as an instructor or professor (close to 30 years of teaching) — even my time as a “practice teacher” in high school — I never missed a single class; thus, I have never used nor had to use an excuse. Now, I have to admit that I loved being a student, and I had the same identification with being a teacher and large-group lecturer. I always did my homework, submitted my papers and reports on time, and appeared on time for all examinations. (In all of the college textbooks I have written and in all of the additional textbooks editions as well (well over 30), I have never missed a deadline. I consider deadlines just as sacred or inviolable now as I considered class and lecture meetings when I was a student.)
I learned early in my teaching that one of the ways I had to try to avoid having to listen to student excuses was simply to make all of my classroom policies clear at the outset in my syllabus and attached handouts. Depending on how often during a week my class met, I would make that number (usually one or two) the number of excused absences permitted during a term. After that, I would simply lower a student’s grade by one-third for each additional absence beyond that. This policy was a powerful one, and it severely limited having to deal with student excuses.
Regarding missed papers, I stated at the outset of the course that the grade on any late paper — no matter the excuse — would lose one full grade for every day it was late. No matter how late, however, it was still a required part of the course. I seldom had to use this policy. I found that if students knew the policy up front, they found ways to deal with it.
In one class where the final paper for the class counted for much of a student’s final grade in the course, I structured the paper in such a way that students had to begin work on it early — like choosing their topic, doing their research, outlining their approach — and in this way, I helped students organize their time. Every student had the paper submitted on time.
To help students in the basic course which enrolled a thousand students per term, I had students choose their speech topics early. They selected three topics, their graduate assistants would number them in the order they thought best for class presentation, and students would have to stick to these choices as they prepared their final speech. This was a technique for helping to limit the amount of plagiarism as well.
Just as an aside here, I taught an interpersonal-communication class of over 300 students per term. I created a seating chart so I could call on students by name, and I used a daily half-sheet response that allowed me to take roll, receive feedback, and quiz my students at every class meeting. I remember the attrition that occurred between the first class meeting when I would hand out the syllabus and all of my expectations and the second class meeting when those students who wanted a “freebie” lecture course that they did not have to attend, left the course. Amazing!
I had a teaching philosophy that may appear a bit egocentric; however, I can’t deny its existence. If I was going to be paid to teach a course, and if I was going to prepare in the best way I could to teach it, I had no intention of allowing my students — the students who chose to take the course from me — to wander in and out of class, decide when to come to class and when not to, and to make their own decisions (during the duration of the class) as to whether they thought the material was important or relevant or meaningful. If you (talking to the student) choose me as your instructor, you must make the same commitment to this class as I will — no exceptions and no excuses.
One of my goals throughout my teaching career was to appear to be a fair, flexible, and tolerant teacher. At times, I found, some students loved to push the limits to determine just how far a person (me!) was willing to go. Most of the time this occurred early in the course, and when a student discovered I had very clear and well articulated expectations and regulations, often they would either drop out or tow the line. I found, too, that it was always better to accept an untrue excuse than reject a legitimate one and be seen as unfair. In a couple of cases, but few more than that, I would check my record-keeping book on the student’s performance in the course thus far, and if I could tell that the goals of the course were being met, I tried in the best way I could, to help students deal with their emergencies and complete class assignments as well.
You may wonder why the issue of dealing with excuses is even a concern for teachers. I agree with Sandra Goss Lucas and Douglas A. Bernstein, in their book, Teaching Psychology: A Step by Step Guide (Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2005) when they talk about dealing with excuses. They point out: “The way you handle excuses conveys a message to your students about your teaching philosophy, and most particularly about whether you view students as partners or adversaries, the degree to which you trust them, and how you care about them” (p. 137). It can set the tone for an entire term, determine how effective you will be, and, most important of all, govern (or at least influence) how much students are likely to learn.
- - - - - - - -
On the web site Faculty Focus, there is a short essay by Maryellen Weimer, “A Smart Way to Handle Student Excuses” (October 2009), excerpted from the book Effective Classroom Management, where a “stuff happens” card is discussed: “Professor Daniela A. Feenstra, who teaches a variety of business classes at Central Pennsylvania College, has developed an interesting way through this dilemma. On the first day of class she gives each student a ‘Stuff Happens’ card. It’s about the size of a business card and also includes the semester date and a place for the student’s name. In the syllabus (and in class) she explains that this is a student’s ‘one time only’ forgiveness card.
“If a student is late for class or might need a one-day extension on a paper, the student may trade the “Stuff Happens” card for this exception. Students don’t have to get her approval or permission to use the card. Use of it is entirely at their discretion. However, each student gets only one card, which is not transferable and won’t be replaced if lost.
“If no “stuff happens” during a given a semester and a student follows all classroom policies and procedures, the “Stuff Happens” card may be traded in the last week of class for 20 bonus points.”
At StateUniversity.com, there is a great little essay at the College and University blog, “The Cultural Phenomenon of the Lying College Student” by Tara, where she begins her essay saying: “It is easy for me to believe that college and all it entails can cultivate an unwitting liar. I can understand how the pressures of deadlines, parents, activities, etc., can instigate scads of little fabrications to ease the load of college life. However, I have seen time and time again how those little white lies become habit, and habits are very hard to break.” The useful part of the essay is where she cites “many studies [that] have been done on what psychologists call ‘the use of fraudulent excuses.’”
- - - - - - - - -
Copyright January, 2012, by And Then Some Publishing, L.L.C.
Read more: The Cultural Phenomenon of the Lying College Student - StateUniversity.com Blog
Thursday, January 12, 2012
The “great” opening paragraph
by Richard L. Weaver II, Ph.D.
It was a delightful, cold, calm, Monday morning, and I had just finished showering after my 3-mile jog. Relaxing music played in the background, and I was sitting at the dining-room table reading the Monday edition of The (Toledo) Blade. Thomas Walton’s op-ed column, “In search of the Great Opening Paragraph,” caught my attention. That’s not surprising since reading the editorial pages and op-ed columns is my favorite part of the newspaper. I spend more time on that section than on any other.
In his op-ed column Walton invited readers to submit their “best opening paragraph for the novel that’s been kicking around in [their] head.” Walton continues by explaining the perameters of his request: “The rules are simple. Make sure your paragraph is truly your own unpublished work. Hold it to 50 words or so.” I love temptations like this, and being a writer this invitation was not just tempting, it was downright irresistible.
Using an advertising insert card for a subscription to USA Today which I regularly pull out of that newspaper and that was lying nearby, I quickly (without much thinking) jotted down the following:
“Her scent lingered momentarily, then she disappeared as if a lighthouse beacon had passed over me. Bathed in the flow of that beacon, I became suddenly alive and aware, then conscious of my past. With that conscious awareness, I realized I was not to have her, and I was surprisingly pleased.”
Those 50 words came to me immediately without pause, investigation, or searching. They just seemed to be there waiting for a breath of fresh air — for release from the literary prison that bound them.
When finished with breakfast and the newspapers, I sat down at the computer keyboard; however, before I stroked a single key, I remembered something my wife said to me twenty years ago — about five years after I began using a computer. She said, “You write much better when you write your thoughts out long hand. Perhaps it’s because it gives you more time to think about your ideas.” I had taken to using the computer so quickly that I had stopped writing long hand and simply composed at the computer keyboard because it is faster and more efficient. (I can write more!)
Remembering what my wife said, I stopped. Using what I had written on the USA Today advertising card as a beginning point, I re-wrote my 50-word passage on a half-sheet of paper. That iteration went as follows:
“Her scent lingered momentarily, then dispersed as if a light breeze had massaged the fibers of my being. [I had written “leaves of a tree” but crossed it out for this more vivid, less cliche-ridden version.] When fully recovered, I became alive and aware, then conscious of my past. With that mindful insight [I had written “conscious awareness,” but having just used the word “conscious” I made the change to “mindful insight.”], I realized I was not to have her, and I was surprisingly at peace.”
I have also discovered — on a regular basis — that if I write it out longhand then edit it as I type it into the computer, that re-write becomes significantly improved over the original. I am always reminded of Strunk and White’s [The Elements of Style] fifth suggestion to beginning writers who are searching for a satisfactory style: “Revise and rewrite.”
The edited 50-word piece above is what I e-mailed to Walton. I had no idea how long I would wait to see if my writing merited publication. I knew, however, that he liked my writing, because he was the editor of the Blade who initiated the column, “Saturday Essay,” and published over the course of several years, sixteen of my essays.
On January 3, 2011, Walton’s follow-up op-ed column appeared. It was titled “‘It was a dark and stormy night’ . . . or not.” He began the column, “I’ll say this for readers of One of America’s Great Newspapers. Give them a challenge and they embrace it.” He followed this opening with a second paragraph, “A month ago, I asked you to compose your best opening paragraph for the novel that you wish you had time to write. Several dozen of you responded — many with eloquence, all with earnestness and passion. For a few, it was indeed a dark and stormy night.”
After openings written by Rani Marshall, and Phillip R. King, my opening was the third one printed, followed by eight more. Then, the most surprising openings of all were included. Walton printed two written by an eighth grade creative writing class at St. Rose School in Perrysburg. Those two were absolutely outstanding, but time and space prohibits me from reproducing them here. (They can be found online.)
On the very same Monday morning when the second Walton op-ed piece was published, my daughter called me from the parking lot of Toledo Eleven Television in downtown Toledo saying she had a flat tire. Being an AAA (Automobile Association of America) member for many years, I drove to where she was parked, called AAA, and they appeared one hour later. On the way out of my driveway, however, I stopped at our mailbox and picked up both of my morning newspapers, so I had them in the car, and I was reading them as we waited for AAA to arrive.
Seeing the column, surprised by the inclusion of my submission, I read what I wrote to my daughter. Her response: “Wow! That doesn’t even sound like you.”
I have never written fiction. One of the problems with writing a best selling college textbook [Communicating Effectively, 10th ed., McGraw-Hill, 2012] is that it gives you little time for other pursuits. I have written a number of other college textbooks as well [Understanding Interpersonal Communication went through seven editions.], and with all the academic articles, chapters in books, and speeches, there was no time left over. Now, that doesn’t mean I don’t want to do it, but I have had no choice except to wait for the right time. It is true, there may be no “right time”!
In addition to all of this, when I Googled myself (See my essay on “Egosurfing.”) for the purposes of writing an essay about it, I discovered a Chinese website where Walton’s column of January 3, 2011, appeared with a date just one day in advance of when it appeared in The (Toledo) Blade, and I now realize that the whole world is waiting (breathlessly, I’m sure!) for my “great” follow-up novel to my “great opening paragraph”! I’m so excited I’m out of breath!
- - - - - - - -
At All About Manga there is a cute, short essay written May 7, 2010, titled “My Life as a (Rookie) Editor: The Joy of Being Published.” The writer of the blog essay explains: “People instantly have more respect for you. I am not kidding. Tell them you’re a published writer/editor/artist/whatever, then somehow you get street cred. Even aspiring writers and artists admire people with actually published work. It’s a big accomplishment. And when you think about it, it really is, getting ANYTHING published takes a lot of time and money from somewhere. People admire scientists and other non-writerly types with major published studies in some related journal they’ve probably never heard of. YOU have something to show for yourself. You’re not so hackjob that no one’s heard of because obviously someone published YOUR thing.”
On his blog, (March 16, 2007) David Louis Edelman, discusses the topic, “Five Things That Ddelman <o Happen When You Become a Published Author.” 1) Strangers become deferential, 2) you become “the writing expert,” 3) you get “mixed feelings about what you’ve written,” 4) “self-published authors look to you for validation,” and 5) “You’ll have accomplished something that nobody can take away from you.” I wonder if a 50-word “great opening paragraph” can accomplish the same thing?
- - - - - - - - - - -
Copyright January, 2012, by And Then Some Publishing, L.L.C.
It was a delightful, cold, calm, Monday morning, and I had just finished showering after my 3-mile jog. Relaxing music played in the background, and I was sitting at the dining-room table reading the Monday edition of The (Toledo) Blade. Thomas Walton’s op-ed column, “In search of the Great Opening Paragraph,” caught my attention. That’s not surprising since reading the editorial pages and op-ed columns is my favorite part of the newspaper. I spend more time on that section than on any other.
In his op-ed column Walton invited readers to submit their “best opening paragraph for the novel that’s been kicking around in [their] head.” Walton continues by explaining the perameters of his request: “The rules are simple. Make sure your paragraph is truly your own unpublished work. Hold it to 50 words or so.” I love temptations like this, and being a writer this invitation was not just tempting, it was downright irresistible.
Using an advertising insert card for a subscription to USA Today which I regularly pull out of that newspaper and that was lying nearby, I quickly (without much thinking) jotted down the following:
“Her scent lingered momentarily, then she disappeared as if a lighthouse beacon had passed over me. Bathed in the flow of that beacon, I became suddenly alive and aware, then conscious of my past. With that conscious awareness, I realized I was not to have her, and I was surprisingly pleased.”
Those 50 words came to me immediately without pause, investigation, or searching. They just seemed to be there waiting for a breath of fresh air — for release from the literary prison that bound them.
When finished with breakfast and the newspapers, I sat down at the computer keyboard; however, before I stroked a single key, I remembered something my wife said to me twenty years ago — about five years after I began using a computer. She said, “You write much better when you write your thoughts out long hand. Perhaps it’s because it gives you more time to think about your ideas.” I had taken to using the computer so quickly that I had stopped writing long hand and simply composed at the computer keyboard because it is faster and more efficient. (I can write more!)
Remembering what my wife said, I stopped. Using what I had written on the USA Today advertising card as a beginning point, I re-wrote my 50-word passage on a half-sheet of paper. That iteration went as follows:
“Her scent lingered momentarily, then dispersed as if a light breeze had massaged the fibers of my being. [I had written “leaves of a tree” but crossed it out for this more vivid, less cliche-ridden version.] When fully recovered, I became alive and aware, then conscious of my past. With that mindful insight [I had written “conscious awareness,” but having just used the word “conscious” I made the change to “mindful insight.”], I realized I was not to have her, and I was surprisingly at peace.”
I have also discovered — on a regular basis — that if I write it out longhand then edit it as I type it into the computer, that re-write becomes significantly improved over the original. I am always reminded of Strunk and White’s [The Elements of Style] fifth suggestion to beginning writers who are searching for a satisfactory style: “Revise and rewrite.”
The edited 50-word piece above is what I e-mailed to Walton. I had no idea how long I would wait to see if my writing merited publication. I knew, however, that he liked my writing, because he was the editor of the Blade who initiated the column, “Saturday Essay,” and published over the course of several years, sixteen of my essays.
On January 3, 2011, Walton’s follow-up op-ed column appeared. It was titled “‘It was a dark and stormy night’ . . . or not.” He began the column, “I’ll say this for readers of One of America’s Great Newspapers. Give them a challenge and they embrace it.” He followed this opening with a second paragraph, “A month ago, I asked you to compose your best opening paragraph for the novel that you wish you had time to write. Several dozen of you responded — many with eloquence, all with earnestness and passion. For a few, it was indeed a dark and stormy night.”
After openings written by Rani Marshall, and Phillip R. King, my opening was the third one printed, followed by eight more. Then, the most surprising openings of all were included. Walton printed two written by an eighth grade creative writing class at St. Rose School in Perrysburg. Those two were absolutely outstanding, but time and space prohibits me from reproducing them here. (They can be found online.)
On the very same Monday morning when the second Walton op-ed piece was published, my daughter called me from the parking lot of Toledo Eleven Television in downtown Toledo saying she had a flat tire. Being an AAA (Automobile Association of America) member for many years, I drove to where she was parked, called AAA, and they appeared one hour later. On the way out of my driveway, however, I stopped at our mailbox and picked up both of my morning newspapers, so I had them in the car, and I was reading them as we waited for AAA to arrive.
Seeing the column, surprised by the inclusion of my submission, I read what I wrote to my daughter. Her response: “Wow! That doesn’t even sound like you.”
I have never written fiction. One of the problems with writing a best selling college textbook [Communicating Effectively, 10th ed., McGraw-Hill, 2012] is that it gives you little time for other pursuits. I have written a number of other college textbooks as well [Understanding Interpersonal Communication went through seven editions.], and with all the academic articles, chapters in books, and speeches, there was no time left over. Now, that doesn’t mean I don’t want to do it, but I have had no choice except to wait for the right time. It is true, there may be no “right time”!
In addition to all of this, when I Googled myself (See my essay on “Egosurfing.”) for the purposes of writing an essay about it, I discovered a Chinese website where Walton’s column of January 3, 2011, appeared with a date just one day in advance of when it appeared in The (Toledo) Blade, and I now realize that the whole world is waiting (breathlessly, I’m sure!) for my “great” follow-up novel to my “great opening paragraph”! I’m so excited I’m out of breath!
- - - - - - - -
At All About Manga there is a cute, short essay written May 7, 2010, titled “My Life as a (Rookie) Editor: The Joy of Being Published.” The writer of the blog essay explains: “People instantly have more respect for you. I am not kidding. Tell them you’re a published writer/editor/artist/whatever, then somehow you get street cred. Even aspiring writers and artists admire people with actually published work. It’s a big accomplishment. And when you think about it, it really is, getting ANYTHING published takes a lot of time and money from somewhere. People admire scientists and other non-writerly types with major published studies in some related journal they’ve probably never heard of. YOU have something to show for yourself. You’re not so hackjob that no one’s heard of because obviously someone published YOUR thing.”
On his blog, (March 16, 2007) David Louis Edelman, discusses the topic, “Five Things That Ddelman <o Happen When You Become a Published Author.” 1) Strangers become deferential, 2) you become “the writing expert,” 3) you get “mixed feelings about what you’ve written,” 4) “self-published authors look to you for validation,” and 5) “You’ll have accomplished something that nobody can take away from you.” I wonder if a 50-word “great opening paragraph” can accomplish the same thing?
- - - - - - - - - - -
Copyright January, 2012, by And Then Some Publishing, L.L.C.
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Egosurfing (I Googled Myself!)
by Richard L. Weaver II, Ph.D.
I Googled myself recently out of curiosity, but I’m not alone according to Rachael Rettner of LiveScience.com, who wrote an essay, “Most people Google themselves now,” which begins with this paragraph: “If you've Googled yourself recently, you're not alone. The majority of American adults, 57 percent, now keep tabs on their reputations online, using search engines to track information about their Internet identities, according to a report from the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project [based on results from telephone interviews of 2,253 individuals in 2009], released today [May 26, 2010]. That's up from 47 percent in 2006" (Rettner, “Most people . . . ,” May 26, 2020). So, I’m not alone; this is what I discovered.
I used quotation marks around my name, and there were 117,000 results (January 14, 2011), but in 26 pages, only 260 web sites were displayed. That doesn’t mean I was disappointed, because Google told me that the remaining sites duplicated what was contained in those displayed, and I had already seen a great deal of duplication. It took me several hours to wade through some of the sites, and in this essay I want to report my findings.
Perhaps the largest number of sites displayed were those that sold copies of my books. Having written somewhere between 15 and 20, that isn’t surprising. Many offered used copies of the various editions of my current college textbook, Communicating Effectively. Once again, that isn’t surprising given the fact that it is in its tenth edition (March 18, 2011) and has been used extensively around the world. (Communicating Effectively was written with Saundra Hybels who died in 1999.)
Speaking of “around the world,” I found it interesting that there were sites that had to be translated from Arabic, Chinese, Indonesian, Thai, Polish, and Spanish. Some were quoting from my textbooks, using my textbooks in their footnotes and references, or citing me as a communication expert. Some years ago my Communicating Effectively textbook was translated into Chinese, but that doesn’t necessarily explain all the foreign web sites mentioning my name or my books. My textbook, Research in Speech Communication with Raymond Tucker and Cynthia Berryman-Fiink (Prentice-Hall, 1981) was mentioned frequently.
There were several web sites that occurred simply because of the use of my quotation, “One of the best things people can have up their sleeve is a funny bone.” I found it in a number of places, but one of the most interesting was John Mark Ministries
Quite a few of the web sites displayed had copies of previous academic articles published during my professional career as a teacher. For example, “Ten Specific Techniques for Developing Humor in the Classroom,” (Winter, 1987, Education, 108, No. 2, pp. 167-179) was mentioned several times. “Faculty Dynamation: Guided Empowerment” (Spring/Summer, 1990, Innovative Higher Education 14, No. 2 with co-authors Darrell G. Mullins, Howard W. Cottrell, and Thomas A. Michel) was mentioned several times as well
My YouTube videos appear on a wide variety of web sites. At the ChaCha web site, the “Stand Up, Speak Well” video appears, and at the “Types of Research Evidence,” my video titled “The Curse of Knowledge” is front and center.
When you write as much and as widely as I have, the chances for misquotations and distortions becomes greater than those who do not. At Puritan Daily Life, those who write for the site went almost as far as they could go (in distorting the information) when they stated: “The aboriginal branch of the essay, ‘Self-discipline can change your life in any way you appetite [sic] it to,’ reads as follows: During my aboriginal years, I heard from my parents bout [sic] the Puritan assignment [sic] ethic, but every time I heard the byword [sic] it was affiliated with alive [sic] heard. Never did I apperceive [sic] that it was Biblically based . . . .” And, my name was assigned to the quotation. Can you figure it out? I could not. I hope it’s never cited as an example of my best work!
Thomas Walton’s The (Toledo) Blade’s January 3, 2011, p. A-7, op-ed column titled, “‘It was a dark and stormy night’ . . . or not,” which printed readers responses to a request Walton made on December 6, 2010, in a column titled, “In search of the Great Opening Paragraph.” Walton wrote readers: “Send me your best opening paragraph for the novel that’s been kicking around in your head.” I wrote, “Her scent lingered momentarily, then dispersed as if a light breeze had massaged the fibers of my soul. When fully recovered I became alive and aware, then conscious of my past. With that mindful insight I realized I was not to have her, and I was surprisingly at peace.” What surprised me was that on January 14, 2011, just 11 days later, the quotation (and Walton’s op-ed column) appeared on a Chinese web site.
On the web site “Frankly Speaking," for Thursday, August 23, 2007, Frank Bellizzi, a college teacher and campus minister, used six paragraphs of my speech, “Sticky Ideas,” that highlighted and discussed “The Curse of Knowledge” (August, 2007, “Sticky Ideas,” Vital Speeches of the Day, p. 354), to stimulate a discussion on his web site. I never received a request to use the material nor gave permission. He thoroughly credited the source (me! —as well as the authors I cited), but normal ethical behavior would have suggested a request was in order.
One of the surprises (although it shouldn’t have been a surprise had I simply thought more about it!), was the large number of publishers and authors who used my reviews of their books to advertise and sell their books on the Internet. Many of the web sites displayed offered my reviews. Once again, having posted well over a hundred reviews on Amazon.com, this would be an expected outcome, and I am delighted that so many have found my reviews well-written, concise, and flattering enough to reprint them in other contexts. Thank you.
Source/footnote: Rettner, Rachael. (May 26, 2010). “Most people Google themselves now.” LiveScience. Retrieved January 14, 2011.
- - - - - - - - -
At Wikipedia.com, their brief explanation of “Egosurfing” and the various other terms for it is delightful: “Egosurfing (usually referred to as Googling yourself and sometimes called vanity searching, egosearching, egogoogling, autogoogling, self-googling, master-googling) is the practice of searching for one's own given name, surname, full name, pseudonym, or screen name on a popular search engine, to see what results appear.”
At the BrownNoser web site, Eric Johnson writes the following two paragraphs to open his article, “Catholic Church Condems Googling Yourself As a Sin”: “Some people do it every now and then. Some do it multiple times a day. Some are simply addicted. But regardless of how often you do it, the Catholic church wants you to stop it.
“Googling yourself, a longstanding pastime since Google's launch in 1998, is just as wrong in the Catholics' eyes as murder, adultery and wearing non-silly hats, according to Pope Benedict XVI. Speaking from his balcony in Vatican City, the Pope said Googling is a strong contributor to society's moral decay.”
- - - - - - - - -
Copyright January, 2012, by And Then Some Publishing, L.L.C.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
