challenge » Carol J. Carter

Children Need Challenge at School and Home

Children need to feel challenged in order to grow. In fact, researchers have found that when children donâ€™t feel challenged in a certain activity, theyâ€™ll often change the activity to make it challenging.¹Â Young students have a natural desire to learn and to develop new skills; they want to engage in activities that allow them to improve and to excel. While itâ€™s important to keep children safe as they experiment and try out new things, parents and teachers need to be careful not to interfere with important steps in a childâ€™s learning process, even if those steps are difficult, frustrating, or even emotionally painful for the child.
Read the rest of this entry »

Share this Article with Your Friends:

The New Grad’s Economy: Preparing for Economic Challenges Ahead

Graduates in 2012 will be entering an economy with more debt and less job opportunities than they would have 20 or even 10 years ago.Â The last recession of this proportion was actually in 1984, the year I graduated from college.

But the surprise isn’t only on the new graduates. Employers are gaining new hires who have spent some of their most formidable years in a bad economy and who have responded with either apathy or a zeal to overcome obstacles in the professional world. For both kinds of young adults, and those in between, they will be up against some challenges that, although sometimes grim, are the reality of our current economy. Instead of Â being the apathetic new hire or job seeker, I encourage you to take on the following challenges with the mindset that you will keep moving forward until you can overcome.

Read the rest of this entry »

Share this Article with Your Friends:

New Grads and Hires: Stay the Course, Slow Your Pace, Focus on Long Term Contributions

The next wave of college graduates will be stepping into the world of work over the coming weeks. Some already have jobs, some are job hunting, and some have pushed aside the thought of a career until after finals week. No matter where you stand on the job front, you can all benefit by updating your vocabulary with a few words that can help you push through difficult times on the job hunt, on the job, or in all aspects of life. These wordsÂ to live byÂ are:

Read the rest of this entry »

Share this Article with Your Friends:

“Extra Credit” Mindset or “Over Delivererâ€: Who Would You Rather Hire?

Many of today’s students are familiar with the option of “extra credit” on an assignment.Â Many high school classes give this as an option. Yesterday, I spoke with a professor who works with freshmen at a major state university. He doesnâ€™t believe in â€œextra creditâ€ because he feels that students should want to do a quality job because itâ€™s important not because they get extra brownie points.Â Â Â There may be a place and time for extra credit at the college level, but with some caveats.
Read the rest of this entry »

Share this Article with Your Friends:

Competence and Confidence: You Can’t Have One Without the Other

Many parents and educators equate a student’s high self-esteem with high achievement. However, according in the article “In schools, self-esteem boosting is losing favor to rigor, finer-tuned praise,” empty praise is out, and a new vocabulary that supports challenge is in.Â So, how can we work with students to hold them accountable to high expectations while helping them to believe in themselves to risk, to try, to grow, and to deliver quality work?
Read the rest of this entry »

Share this Article with Your Friends: