US Represented

Jerome Parent

One thing I know about happiness is that it comes from the narrative of our life. The story we tell ourselves. But too often, we let others write that story for us. Unhappiness and discontent inevitably follow. The only person who can write the story of your life properly is you. In order to change our narrative to an authentic one, one we write ourselves, we must change our perspective, and thus our perceptions of our world. This is not a new idea. Plato explained it in “Allegory of the Cave” over 2,300 years ago. A small change in perception can mean a huge change in what we see. And changing how we see lets us write a new narrative. The Dalai Lama also explores this idea of the relationship between perception and a good life in his book The Art of Happiness (99¢ in the remainder bin . . . maybe you can buy happiness after all!).

#1%

The rich really are different from the rest of us. Exhibit A is the woman who asked an advice columnist if it was alright to not give Halloween candy to the poor kids who carpooled into her wealthy neighborhood. Studies support this difference as noted by Fitzgerald. The rich give much less to charity. They […]

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AP History, Part III: It’s No Secret, Victoria

←AP History, Part II: Teaching a Real Historical Narrative In my final episode of narrative development in teaching history, I am turning my attention to underwear. Of course, I don’t mean underwear as it is understood today. Today’s underwear, and ladies’ in particular, is used for marketing, as outer wear, and other things. I want

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AP History, Part II: Teaching a Real Historical Narrative

←AP History, Part I: Amateur Hour Narratives, or stories, are very important for successful teachers. While we are still researching exactly how the brain works, we do know that learning consists of making connections between what needs to be learned and existing knowledge already stored in the brain. Therefore, telling stories, whose elements are already

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AP History, Part I: Amateur Hour

There is a saying at the military academies that is applicable to the kerfuffle in the Jefferson County School District: “Amateur military analysts argue about weapons and tactics. Professional military argue about logistics.” When adapting the saying to education, we come up with, “Amateur educators argue about books and curriculum. Professional educators argue about instruction.”

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