skip to main |
skip to sidebar
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.
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
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.
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 where they listed the quotation under the heading, “Quotes to Help With Sickness and Illness.”
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.
