Whether you are a parent, a co-worker or a teacher, the holidays are an opportunity time to think of some of the neediest cases in our society and take action.  Last Friday, the LifeBound team had their client holiday party. Afterwards, we took the ham and several days worth of food to one of our families at Kepner Middle School  who lost their home to a fire two weeks ago.  As a family of seven with five children living now at their neighbors, the family was very grateful for the food.  As a company, we are now thinking about how we might involve Habitat for Humanity to rebuild their home and provide other ways to network to support the family with people we know.

There are many ways to help this holiday season and below are some ideas to get you started:

1.       Instead or in addition to a holiday party, make sandwiches and bag lunches for the homeless.  Spread out around town and deliver these lunches with a gift.

2.       Schedule a day to work at the soup kitchen.  Take your family or your office department to do this work and consider making time to volunteer on a regular basis.

3.       Call your local Hospice or nursing home and ask if you can come in to sing holiday songs.  Bring song sheets and provide them to the guests.

4.       Find out how you can make a difference at your local Children’s Hospital by learning what’s on their wish list and making a donation.

5.       Participate in a Toys for Tots campaign and collect gifts for children in foster families or poor families.

6.       If you have a group of school children, have them make cards for people in the public health hospital. Often these people have no or few family members.

7.       Gather blankets and coats for your local homeless shelter and ask all of your friends and neighbors to do the same.

8.       Have your family write out wishes and intentions for the community and the world—share this with families in the housing projects.

9.       Plan visits to the elderly in your community—neighbors who have lost their spouses and others who have no family.

10.   Call up a homeless youth shelter or a sober living community and offer to bring over a tree and other holiday decorations to brighten their spirits.

There are so many ways to help others this season.   The holidays this year will be especially difficult for many people and if you can look out, see the need and recruit your family and friends to make a difference the holidays will be much more meaningful than just going to the mall to buy gifts for others.   If you have that spirit, your class, your family and/or your company will bond in the most important way possible by reaching out to those in need.

After completing the first semester of freshman year, many college students find themselves wrestling with basic questions including: Who am I? Why am I in college? and What am I meant to do for the rest of my life? Not being able to answer these questions at the end of freshman year puts students at risk of being among the 40% who drop-out after the first year, or others who might stay in school but become students who take six years to graduate, or party disproportionately or feel aimless about what they want to do with their lives..

The revision of the best-selling book,  Majoring in the Rest of Your Life: Career Secrets for College Students is the perfect read for college freshmen over winter break.  “I remember well the scary feeling of being in college for the first year, ” said Peter Olsen, a college graduate. “This book helps to explain what makes college so overwhelming at times and how to successfully overcome these challenges.” High schoolers need to be given tools such as problem solving strategies to answer questions about their future while also learning about “real world” expectations so they can work toward career goals. Written in conversational style, Majoring is filled with interviews of people ranging from college aged interns to seasoned professionals, sharing advice on crucial issues including:

• Developing a savings plan
• Getting and staying out of debt
• Setting healthy boundaries with technology
• Exploring internships
• Discovering who you are
• Managing your time and study habits

Freshmen year and throughout college is the time for students to learn more about themselves, their interests and abilities, how their passions can lead to careers, and how to seek out experiences that will enhance learning in the classroom and open doors for their futures. “Majoring in the Rest of Your Life is your guide to connect students with what you want out of their lives. In simple, straightforward language, Carol Carter takes the guesswork out of pursuing, reaching and achieving your goals both in and out of college,” said national motivational speaker, Dr. Joe Martin.

To learn more about LifeBound’s library or purchasing information, visit us at LifeBound.com or Amazon.com

Michelle Rhee has just announced that she will begin a new organization called, Studentsfirst.org to give a voice to students and the many people in this country who believe that reform in education is, in Arne Duncan’s words, the civil rights of our day. Working ahead to bring about the change we need for all students, especially those in the Title 1 Schools, will not be easy, fun or without challenge.  But it is arguably the most important work we have to do for the rights and the future of all students and for the chance to have an economy going forward which is worthy of our past.

Appointed under Adrian Fenty who was mayor of D.C., and lost the most recent election, Rhee worked quickly to overhaul the system for evaluation, adopted new reading programs, reversed flagging attendance and made D.C schools the schools of choice for the first time in 41 years.   She herself says that she is likely the reason for Fenty’s loss of the election, but she sees the strides she has made in D.C.  as part of larger, scalable change model which will reflect favorably in the end on Fenty’s legacy.

Rhee is not against teachers, but rather she is not for keeping poor performing teachers in their positions at the expense of effective teachers who are able to motivate and inspire the most difficult students.   If there were tenure for doctors, would you want to be operated on by someone who had a poor record of surgery success and was paid the very same as someone who had an outstanding record?   It is perhaps time that we look carefully at systems and ways of thinking which can be reworked or replaced with more modern models.

I left a Vice President job in corporate America ten years ago to begin LifeBound because I could see first-hand in my work with college freshmen that we were not preparing students for college success or their own career and life success.  The first two years of this company, I was a volunteer teacher at the Federal Prison.  We also taught GED, ESL and computer skills for the Denver Housing projects.  By observing these two arenas, I learned volumes about how we are failing the most vulnerable people in our society. The books and programs I’ve published with LifeBound are designed to be the support and perspective that all students need, but often only those in the wealthiest families are able to receive.   We have worked with several inner city schools like Lincoln and Martin Luther King in Denver Public Schools, conducted parent sessions, trained teachers in coaching skills and next month we’ll be training the after school members of groups like the Boys and Girls Club.  We also have a close relationship with the district as well as the teachers and counselors on the ground.   Working with each of these groups who play a role with children at all  points of the day or the week influences the chances of the child’s success, as opposed to the old model of everyone in their own silo.

I applaud Michelle Rhee, who announced her new program earlier this week on Oprah and in Newsweek, and anyone else in any profession who is willing to step out and challenge how we’ve always done things.  What would have happened if someone as courageous as Rhee had been able to call attention to the SEC’s inability to govern financial practices that sent this economy and others around the world plummeting? What would have happened if someone in Countrywide Financial or one of the other agencies had questioned why poor people were being given loans that they couldn’t afford if they lost their jobs or had an unexpected illness?  On the other hand, what would have happened if Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yumus hadn’t discovered microfinancing and hadn’t been courageous enough to share his innovation and give  financial opportunity to countless women and citizens of the developing world? What if innovation was supported instead of feared?  If anyone had had the influence—public and political—we may not be in the financial hole we are in right now.    By encouraging people to fight for change, leave the cushiness of their world in order to make this world better—whether it is for eliminating the sex trade, setting up microfinance models, taking a stand within a company when there is clearly wrong doing — we are asking people to be active participants in ensuring our survival on a global level.   Confronting the issues of our day whether it is education reform, a cure for cancer, equal rights for all people, or global warming will take courage, tenacity and follow-through.  The times we live in right now are not for the meek.  Indeed, they are challenging enough to help us all find our own place of strength to help make our lives, our families, our communities and the world a better place.

Carol’s Summary:

How can teachers achieve a balance in the classroom between compliant students and those who are inactive, or too active, in the class? Teachers have the difficult task of taking the energies from a slew of different kids and making an atmosphere that harnesses learning for each student. Can a teacher take the chaotic energy from a rambunctious student and help an under-spoken student come out of his shell? Every student naturally brings their gifts, whether it be creativity, problem-solving, a positive attitude, or peacekeeping abilities to the classroom. How can these skills be assets instead of liabilities?

An outgoing student may need to learn how to channel her energy, while the quiet student needs to find how to express himself. A classroom is a great atmosphere for the student to be challenged, to take risks, get creative, and think outside of the box. School doesn’t always have to be about following rules and standards. School can be a place which encourages unique strengths, provides safety for introverts to expand and interact and creates boundaries for the overly energetic and talkative to calm down and focus.

At Ellis High School in Austin Minnesota, the whole school is thinking outside the box — in a different direction. Teachers no longer have parent-teacher conferences to discuss how a student turned their homework in late, was tardy to class, or didn’t raise their hand. Rather, teachers can only discuss specific skills the student isn’t grasping, changing the emphasis from having mastered their social skills to the emphasis that they need to master a subject. This mirrors the performance review process in the world of work. What did you accomplish?  What was the quality?  What was the contribution?  Could social problems be erased when the emphasis shifts to academic success and a quality track record? Would students be better prepared in the short run in school and in the long run in the world of work?

New Book Gives Teenagers 21^st Century Skills for Personal, Academic and Career Success

Denver, CO – December 1, 2010 – LifeBound, the company dedicated to student success, announced the release of Critical and Creative Thinking for Teenagers, available on Amazon.com and Lifebound.com.

Tony Wagner, Harvard-based education expert, cites critical thinking and problem-solving as two leading skills U.S. students must master to close the global achievement gap. LifeBound’s new book helps students develop these higher level thinking skills by using cross disciplinary examples and hands-on activities to illustrate the critical thinking and problem-solving involved in compelling science innovations, engineering feats, and humanitarian advocacy.

“Recent headlines report teen suicides triggered by social media blunders, high student credit card debt, and binge drinking in epic proportions—all pointing to teenagers’ need for greater critical thinking skills,” says LifeBound president, Carol Carter. “And in a challenging economy, the students armed with creative thinking skills will be better able to launch innovations and new companies that will drive the 21^st century economy.”

However, lessons for slowing down, thinking through options, imagining solutions, weighing consequences, and evaluating actions are often neglected in current resources. In response, Critical and Creative Thinking for Teenagers gives teens easy-to-use strategies for:

• Improving observation skills.
• Developing question asking abilities.
• Analyzing information by comparing, contrasting and connecting ideas.
• Piquing curiosity and stimulating the imagination.
• Evaluating options, decisions and outcomes.

This interactive book includes skill building activities that both challenge students’ thinking, while calling on them to contemplate some of the world’s greatest problems. Classroom curriculum that accompanies the book is also available. “Your materials are right on target…and truly captivate the students,” says high school teacher, Rebecca Mendoza.

About LifeBound

LifeBound was founded in 2000 by Carol Carter, a student success expert who’s written over 20 books on college and career success. LifeBound works nationally and internationally with students, teachers, administrators and parents to help students transition throughout their academic years and to succeed in school, career and  life.