I wouldn't've read chp.16 unless I was assigned to.
but that was a great chapter to think of my life.
I found lots of questions in this chapter, most of which I cannot answer.
work
relationship
renewal
physical health
purpose
for personal vitality and thriving
out of these five, I think I have to think of "renewal" and "purpose" more.
(I need a bit more exercise though)
"Are there times when you can forget the needs of others and lose yourself in nonwork activities that are absorbing and renewing?"
No.
I feel like I'm always chased by something. I have to do this and that and... always like this.
one of my bad habits is that when I'm done a work in an early time, I think of the next one that can be put off for that time, always thinking "I have to do this by that time..." though I often eventually don't finish it until I need to hurry to finish.
I have to allow myself to liberate from pressure for some time.
I think I'm really pressured until 6/22, when my final exam for this term ends, but I will try to have time of renewal.
I keep sleeping early even if I have lots of work to do though :)
This made me able to do work a lot more efficiently than last year.
I'm gonna have hard time next week (since I have about 1.5 time more units than this term), but I will try finding time for liberty.
"What are the deeper values that guide your work?"
People, especially who are important to me.
I often value my work by determining if it gives a positive influence to others.
If I can imagine someone who gets happier for my work, then I can work hard.
This value really works, at least much better than working for happiness of myself.
I don't basically like to study, but I try to motivate myself to think that this will help my education to children.
But as I've written several times, I still wonder if this is the best.
Because I know this is "good" in many ways, that means I am "good" and doing things that are "good." I'm not quite sure of the difference between working for others and self-satisfaction now.
And I know the answer for this.
Christian view does not make such a confusion I have now.
Because with that view, I'm not good but God lets me to do good.
Though I am a Christian, I don't have such a view and motivation.
and also I believe that just knowing that doesn't mean anything.
To be able to think that way, I need to be spiritually faithful.
there involves lots of religious things and contradiction(?), so it's difficult to think of it, especially in English ><
But for now, just let me say I like people :)
I feel like I have a duty to influence others somehow positively since my existence itself involves lots of damage and energy consuming to the world.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Reflection of Final Presentation
First of all, I wanna say final presentation was fun!:)
I wanted to and should have researched more, but I'm happy if many of my section mates knew that it's good to smile.
To say only one thing I could complain about some presentations, I didn't feel good to hear Japanese :(
Mr. Kitashiro did this too, but I think there were many situations that the speaker didn't need to use Japanese.
That's too easy.
Although my English vocabulary is really poor, I can explain a word to let people understand its basic idea.
I tried not to use Japanese, and that's not really difficult if I don't cling to be perfect:)
I only emphasized that smile is contagious and effective to be infectious, to make my presentation somehow related to leadership, but smile is really good to ourselves.
It makes ourselves healthy mentally and even physically.
I only prepared about 10 slides of powerpoint for my presentation (probably other than intro and ref, that was only 7 or 8), but I felt that 10 min.s were too short.
I must have prepared more, since I got nervous easily especially when speaking English.
This is some reflection to others' presentation...
Above all, I liked SakaJun's presentation the most!
because that was a really good encouragement to me and really a concrete topic.
I'm really bad at imagination, so I can't really understand a presentation when its content is vague ( so as Shackelton's one. I often say "So what should I do then?")
That's one reason why I chose such a narrow topic "smile" though Ken advised me to give a presentation about optimism.
Also, I often compare myself to others.
As I wrote in the beginning of my blog, I experienced a leader many times.
But each time, I tried to imitate the former leader, just focusing on not destroying the traditions built in the past.
I didn't have much problems, but that was just tiring (to borrow SakaJun's word, I deceived myself.)
So that was a topic of such a strong message, "DISCOVER YOUR AUTHENTIC LEADERSHIP."
自分らしく:) (authentic)
Also, I was happy to hear from several people, that when teaching juniors, it's important to MOTIVATE them, letting them do things voluntarily.
I'm considering to become a teacher (probably of junior-high or high school), and I was basically thinking of how I can apply to education as I listened to this class.
and I believe that it's really important to let students do things voluntarily, not because teachers force to.
Now I'm quite sure that it's true.
I wanted to and should have researched more, but I'm happy if many of my section mates knew that it's good to smile.
To say only one thing I could complain about some presentations, I didn't feel good to hear Japanese :(
Mr. Kitashiro did this too, but I think there were many situations that the speaker didn't need to use Japanese.
That's too easy.
Although my English vocabulary is really poor, I can explain a word to let people understand its basic idea.
I tried not to use Japanese, and that's not really difficult if I don't cling to be perfect:)
I only emphasized that smile is contagious and effective to be infectious, to make my presentation somehow related to leadership, but smile is really good to ourselves.
It makes ourselves healthy mentally and even physically.
I only prepared about 10 slides of powerpoint for my presentation (probably other than intro and ref, that was only 7 or 8), but I felt that 10 min.s were too short.
I must have prepared more, since I got nervous easily especially when speaking English.
This is some reflection to others' presentation...
Above all, I liked SakaJun's presentation the most!
because that was a really good encouragement to me and really a concrete topic.
I'm really bad at imagination, so I can't really understand a presentation when its content is vague ( so as Shackelton's one. I often say "So what should I do then?")
That's one reason why I chose such a narrow topic "smile" though Ken advised me to give a presentation about optimism.
Also, I often compare myself to others.
As I wrote in the beginning of my blog, I experienced a leader many times.
But each time, I tried to imitate the former leader, just focusing on not destroying the traditions built in the past.
I didn't have much problems, but that was just tiring (to borrow SakaJun's word, I deceived myself.)
So that was a topic of such a strong message, "DISCOVER YOUR AUTHENTIC LEADERSHIP."
自分らしく:) (authentic)
Also, I was happy to hear from several people, that when teaching juniors, it's important to MOTIVATE them, letting them do things voluntarily.
I'm considering to become a teacher (probably of junior-high or high school), and I was basically thinking of how I can apply to education as I listened to this class.
and I believe that it's really important to let students do things voluntarily, not because teachers force to.
Now I'm quite sure that it's true.
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Personal Narrative
This is a really small, trivial episode when I was 2nd year junior-high student, that greatly changed my philosophy. I'm still wondering if it was good or not, but at least, I'm really happy to have changed previous myself.
I was such a insolent, childish kid before that. I was basically good at studying and taught my friends English and mathematics which many weren't good at, so I was a "good boy" in a way and I had many friends. However, I was really spoiled and self-centered, probably because I'm the youngest in my family. I don't remember any win-win quarrels because of my selfishness. I wonder how I could live in a dormitory from junior-high life, since it required a lot of collaboration.
The big trigger of ending my selfishness happened in one week. We had a special class called "life-guidance class" every week and we did variable things such as cleaning restrooms, our own rooms, having discussion of our class, etc. On that week, we were given one assignment, that is, "to do something that would make someone happy by next week." For the assignment, what I did was to line up the slippers in the bathroom in the dorm neatly. That was everything I did, but I kept that everyday throughout the whole week. I sometimes did that in order of Japanese syllabary.
Next week, we shared what we've done. I completely remember the situation although I'm bad at memory and don't remember almost everything of my junior-high life. I said what I did, and then all the teacher and classmates in the room were surprised and showed some respect to me. I could say "I knew the good feeling of being respected", but rather I want to say "I found the happiness to make someone happy."
I think this was the first time of making someone happy spontaneously. Even after that, though really trivial, I kept doing these things such as lining up slippers as well as before, picking up garbages, and so forth.
I was changed from self-centered to allocentric, and often think of what others would feel. I started to wonder what is the best way to live with other people, because I also have some skeptical view of living life with everything allocentric. I started to think of what is the best motive to do a certain thing. I started to seek what is the ideal ethical education for children. I started to be stumped about what I really want. All of these changes wouldn't have happened if I didn't have the experience. Above all, this event was the introduction for me to philosophical way of thinking.
I still wonder when I can say a particular action is allocentric, and how I can educate children to be so, and if it is good to be allocentric in the first place. When allocentric one does something, it is often good and he/she receives some rewards. Then it's difficult to say what his/her purpose was. Educating children allocentric is close to educating them to do good things, and the latter is dangerous because it can easily turn to educating them to do things in order to make a good situation for themselves, which is self-centered way of thinking. But I think of these things based on the belief "doing something that is good to others is good," which was given to me on the week. I really thank the event and the teacher who programmed it for ending my small and selfish view and opened new approach to education and my way of life-living.
I was such a insolent, childish kid before that. I was basically good at studying and taught my friends English and mathematics which many weren't good at, so I was a "good boy" in a way and I had many friends. However, I was really spoiled and self-centered, probably because I'm the youngest in my family. I don't remember any win-win quarrels because of my selfishness. I wonder how I could live in a dormitory from junior-high life, since it required a lot of collaboration.
The big trigger of ending my selfishness happened in one week. We had a special class called "life-guidance class" every week and we did variable things such as cleaning restrooms, our own rooms, having discussion of our class, etc. On that week, we were given one assignment, that is, "to do something that would make someone happy by next week." For the assignment, what I did was to line up the slippers in the bathroom in the dorm neatly. That was everything I did, but I kept that everyday throughout the whole week. I sometimes did that in order of Japanese syllabary.
Next week, we shared what we've done. I completely remember the situation although I'm bad at memory and don't remember almost everything of my junior-high life. I said what I did, and then all the teacher and classmates in the room were surprised and showed some respect to me. I could say "I knew the good feeling of being respected", but rather I want to say "I found the happiness to make someone happy."
I think this was the first time of making someone happy spontaneously. Even after that, though really trivial, I kept doing these things such as lining up slippers as well as before, picking up garbages, and so forth.
I was changed from self-centered to allocentric, and often think of what others would feel. I started to wonder what is the best way to live with other people, because I also have some skeptical view of living life with everything allocentric. I started to think of what is the best motive to do a certain thing. I started to seek what is the ideal ethical education for children. I started to be stumped about what I really want. All of these changes wouldn't have happened if I didn't have the experience. Above all, this event was the introduction for me to philosophical way of thinking.
I still wonder when I can say a particular action is allocentric, and how I can educate children to be so, and if it is good to be allocentric in the first place. When allocentric one does something, it is often good and he/she receives some rewards. Then it's difficult to say what his/her purpose was. Educating children allocentric is close to educating them to do good things, and the latter is dangerous because it can easily turn to educating them to do things in order to make a good situation for themselves, which is self-centered way of thinking. But I think of these things based on the belief "doing something that is good to others is good," which was given to me on the week. I really thank the event and the teacher who programmed it for ending my small and selfish view and opened new approach to education and my way of life-living.
Duchenne Smile
The skin above and below the eye is pulled in towards the eyeball, and this makes for the following changes in appearance:
the cheeks are pulled up;
the skin below the eye may bag or bulge;
the lower eyelid moves up;
crows feet wrinkles may appear at the outer corner of the eye socket;
the skin above the eye is pulled slightly down and inwards;
and the eyebrows move down very slightly
Are you smiling now? :)
the cheeks are pulled up;
the skin below the eye may bag or bulge;
the lower eyelid moves up;
crows feet wrinkles may appear at the outer corner of the eye socket;
the skin above the eye is pulled slightly down and inwards;
and the eyebrows move down very slightly
Are you smiling now? :)
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Case Study reflection
this isn't about the content of case study, but what needs to be done in presenting.
I'm now sophomore, who survived Fr. ELP, but I felt that I still have a lot of problems in presenting in English.
I first thought 10 mins were too long and 5 is enough, but I was totally wrong. (I was the last speaker and had only 5 mins, but I could barely finish by speaking very fast)
To be honest, It was hard to catch what others of my group was speaking.
It was good to know, in advance, what is important to be understood.
In a worst case, I couldn't catch the whole situation (I should have stopped and asked), then I could only have really vague idea of the whole case study.
What kind of company is this case study about?
Who is the main character and what status is he/she in?
What happened?
I tried to emphasize and repeat these things as premises of understanding the whole case study.
Also, the thing I must be serious about is that I'm forgetting to use pure English.
That is, I haven't spoken to non-Japanese who cannot speak Japanese, so I'm starting to have a bad habit to use English and Japanese at the same time, like
e-tto....
ano-..
a-...nani
all of which mean "like...", so I need to be sensible not to speak any Japanese when I speak in English class.
I'll try that on the final presentation :)
by the way......
I wonder why nobody questioned Ken's suggestion, to make "case study reflection" and "final presentation reflection" optional...
If they weren't optional but one choice of requirements, we didn't have to read chp.16 but just listen to final presentation and reflect to some that were interesting to us.
but now we have no choice but to read chp.16 ^^;
I wanted to FINISH the book and need to be pushed, so that was good for me though.
(but I found chp.17...)
I'm now sophomore, who survived Fr. ELP, but I felt that I still have a lot of problems in presenting in English.
I first thought 10 mins were too long and 5 is enough, but I was totally wrong. (I was the last speaker and had only 5 mins, but I could barely finish by speaking very fast)
To be honest, It was hard to catch what others of my group was speaking.
It was good to know, in advance, what is important to be understood.
In a worst case, I couldn't catch the whole situation (I should have stopped and asked), then I could only have really vague idea of the whole case study.
What kind of company is this case study about?
Who is the main character and what status is he/she in?
What happened?
I tried to emphasize and repeat these things as premises of understanding the whole case study.
Also, the thing I must be serious about is that I'm forgetting to use pure English.
That is, I haven't spoken to non-Japanese who cannot speak Japanese, so I'm starting to have a bad habit to use English and Japanese at the same time, like
e-tto....
ano-..
a-...nani
all of which mean "like...", so I need to be sensible not to speak any Japanese when I speak in English class.
I'll try that on the final presentation :)
by the way......
I wonder why nobody questioned Ken's suggestion, to make "case study reflection" and "final presentation reflection" optional...
If they weren't optional but one choice of requirements, we didn't have to read chp.16 but just listen to final presentation and reflect to some that were interesting to us.
but now we have no choice but to read chp.16 ^^;
I wanted to FINISH the book and need to be pushed, so that was good for me though.
(but I found chp.17...)
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Class flag activitity
I've seen my typical character in this activity.
As soon as I received the SECRET instruction "do whatever you can so that you will be chosen as the leader," I was was convinced that everybody had the same one, so that everyone would think of how to be chosen as a leader, with active discussion.
well, that was my big misunderstanding though lol
what I did as I knew (actually not) it was to compromise.
I predicted conflict and avoided it.
and happily, because there were only two who got the same instruction to be chosen as a leader, we could choose Ayaka as a leader kind of peacefully.
but I think I underrated leadership and solution of conflicts and a competitions.
contradictory opinions, disrupters, ... that group activity was more realistic than I expected.
but as I think of the case I kept insisting to be a leader, what was the "constructive persuasion" to her since she was also instructed to be insistent.
As soon as I received the SECRET instruction "do whatever you can so that you will be chosen as the leader," I was was convinced that everybody had the same one, so that everyone would think of how to be chosen as a leader, with active discussion.
well, that was my big misunderstanding though lol
what I did as I knew (actually not) it was to compromise.
I predicted conflict and avoided it.
and happily, because there were only two who got the same instruction to be chosen as a leader, we could choose Ayaka as a leader kind of peacefully.
but I think I underrated leadership and solution of conflicts and a competitions.
contradictory opinions, disrupters, ... that group activity was more realistic than I expected.
but as I think of the case I kept insisting to be a leader, what was the "constructive persuasion" to her since she was also instructed to be insistent.
Week 7 Writing Assignment
As I read risk, I thought that it wasn't clear if I should take risk or not and knew that "risk" is not and easy word to immediately determine to take or not.
As the strategy says, to "be willing" to take a risk is really important. that's my take-away from this chapter.
really, "will" changes our actions, not only mentally but physically.
this is a bit different example, but I have some to show that will changes our motivations, even abilities.
when I had short short sprint (50m or 100m run) , I was often told "that (50m line)'s not the goal, run to the further line", that was lined 5m further.
also as a similar example, in school choir (chorus group), there were songs that required a looooong breath, and I was also told not to finish on the actual finishing timing, but to "will" to keep my voice longer than that.
this is not only about "risk", but I'm convinced that "will" has the power to change situations.
it's a dangerous choice to take the risk or not, but however the result appears, I think the fact that "we changed the situation" is a great profit from the risky situation.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Money does not necessarily work as a reward for better work
I really agree to this.
moreover, I wanna say
nothing from other people work as a reward better than the interest of own.
One source for this is the 20% rule of google.
One more, there exists "discounting principals"（割引原理）, which I learnt in Educational Psychology.
when there are two purposes to do a certain job and when one is focused, the other get less important.
For example, let's say we give students a puzzle and let them solve it.
It's fun for them and they enjoy it to solve the puzzle.
For next time, we give them one rule, that is, we give them some money if they solve the puzzle.
Then, surprisingly, the puzzle is not fun for them anymore.
For another example, the main reasons of getting a good grade in school are said to be "ability" and "effort".
When you say "I really worked hard for the test and got full max!", then many people would think "you weren't talented for study, so you needed to work hard."
I mean, if you emphasize "effort", your "ability" is regarded less.
and this is the main reason why many students turn defiant before test, otherwise, in case they couldn't get good grade regardless of their effort, then it shows that they don't have the ability.
Actually, even though I believe Ken introduces us great books and I wanna read all of them, once I regard it as a "reading assignment", I feel like I don't wanna read them.
So it's really helpful for me that Ken says that we just share ideas in the final project.
I wanna ENJOY the final project without any pressure :)
moreover, I wanna say
nothing from other people work as a reward better than the interest of own.
One source for this is the 20% rule of google.
One more, there exists "discounting principals"（割引原理）, which I learnt in Educational Psychology.
when there are two purposes to do a certain job and when one is focused, the other get less important.
For example, let's say we give students a puzzle and let them solve it.
It's fun for them and they enjoy it to solve the puzzle.
For next time, we give them one rule, that is, we give them some money if they solve the puzzle.
Then, surprisingly, the puzzle is not fun for them anymore.
For another example, the main reasons of getting a good grade in school are said to be "ability" and "effort".
When you say "I really worked hard for the test and got full max!", then many people would think "you weren't talented for study, so you needed to work hard."
I mean, if you emphasize "effort", your "ability" is regarded less.
and this is the main reason why many students turn defiant before test, otherwise, in case they couldn't get good grade regardless of their effort, then it shows that they don't have the ability.
Actually, even though I believe Ken introduces us great books and I wanna read all of them, once I regard it as a "reading assignment", I feel like I don't wanna read them.
So it's really helpful for me that Ken says that we just share ideas in the final project.
I wanna ENJOY the final project without any pressure :)
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Week 6 Writing Assignment
I don't have an experience of a big conflict, since I am a "teddybear". :(
so I can only write about general things with small examples.
As I read and though about how to solve a conflict, this seemed to be like NEGOTIATION skills.
I mean, in a conflict, there are (at least) two opinions that do not (seem to ) match.
then we need to stop clinging to one side, thinking objectively "what's my interest?"
otherwise the consequence is likely to be "win-lose", that is, somebody need to be a sacrifice of a certain group.
by the way, as I read the part "avoid needless power struggles," I wondered, "Are there any needed power struggles?"
when we have power struggles, we are often emotional.
because I believe so, if a conflict seemed to be about to occur, I "[give] him time to come to hsi senses" as the author says.
(I don't get violent when I'm emotional, but just get silent)
I was often a teddybear, so I haven't experienced big conflicts, but I believe that the first action I always took was right: to understand.
As I've written to the previous blog, nothing starts before understanding if we're doing something with people.
hmmmmm I don't have much write about conflict><
so I can only write about general things with small examples.
As I read and though about how to solve a conflict, this seemed to be like NEGOTIATION skills.
I mean, in a conflict, there are (at least) two opinions that do not (seem to ) match.
then we need to stop clinging to one side, thinking objectively "what's my interest?"
otherwise the consequence is likely to be "win-lose", that is, somebody need to be a sacrifice of a certain group.
by the way, as I read the part "avoid needless power struggles," I wondered, "Are there any needed power struggles?"
when we have power struggles, we are often emotional.
because I believe so, if a conflict seemed to be about to occur, I "[give] him time to come to hsi senses" as the author says.
(I don't get violent when I'm emotional, but just get silent)
I was often a teddybear, so I haven't experienced big conflicts, but I believe that the first action I always took was right: to understand.
As I've written to the previous blog, nothing starts before understanding if we're doing something with people.
hmmmmm I don't have much write about conflict><
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Seek first to understand
wooow I got a great take-away!
before hearing this from Ken and even finding this quotation, I thought of the same thing when thinking about the Expedition Log 2. of chp. 7 (pg.112):
What changes can you make that will allow anger to be dealt with productively and in small doses?
I recalled here when seeing this Q:
"the first step in promoting health conflict is to understand..."(pg. 104, 11th line from the bottom)
I totally agree to this idea.
Understanding and agreeing are different.
Even if I can't totally agree to an idea at all, I must show understanding first.
I think this approach is close to what we've learnt in negotiation.
by the way, the bible says something similar too.
"be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry" (James 1:19)
I don't wanna force any spiritual stuff or whatever like that to nonchristians (I don't really understand those stuff well in the first place lol), but I think this is a good "proverb" for all people :)
before hearing this from Ken and even finding this quotation, I thought of the same thing when thinking about the Expedition Log 2. of chp. 7 (pg.112):
What changes can you make that will allow anger to be dealt with productively and in small doses?
I recalled here when seeing this Q:
"the first step in promoting health conflict is to understand..."(pg. 104, 11th line from the bottom)
I totally agree to this idea.
Understanding and agreeing are different.
Even if I can't totally agree to an idea at all, I must show understanding first.
I think this approach is close to what we've learnt in negotiation.
by the way, the bible says something similar too.
"be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry" (James 1:19)
I don't wanna force any spiritual stuff or whatever like that to nonchristians (I don't really understand those stuff well in the first place lol), but I think this is a good "proverb" for all people :)
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Week 5 Writing Assignment
I've been unable to write extra blogs...though I have many more thing to.
I climbed Mt. Jimba (between Tokyo and Kanagawa pref.) with 14 children and some adults, as a leader of those children, so I'm gonna write about it as I respond to chp.5.
I'm a counselor (teacher) of Pathfinder Club, a church Boy/Girl Scout, and I was a leader of the 14 children as we climbed up Mt. Jimba, for the first time.
Of course, children causes many many unpredictable problems.
So what I tried to emphasize the most was to tell them to go slowly, never walking fast.
I used to think that the team message is basically useless, just the words all of which all of the team members know such as "be careful, don't get hurt."
But as I had to select words as the leader, I realized that team messages are the extract of what the most important thing is for the whole group.
(just like when Ken introduces some books.)
Of course, the children climbed with very diverse paces.
I was stopping the boy in the lead all the time (though I let him start in the back at first lol).
Keeping having a contact with another counselor in the back with transceiver, I was struggling to stop him all the time, saying "You're not walking alone. You walk fast (and that's a great thing), so you need to think of slow people when you are in a team" over and over again.
It was lucky that he was the only boy who tried to go fast.
but I had difficulty to think of the whole team as I focused on the boy.(the counselor helped me a lot)
I had many many other lessons through the hiking yesterday. To focus on "team message", I had those lessons.
I came to know that what the leader says in front of the whole team is often obvious, but never trivial.
I climbed Mt. Jimba (between Tokyo and Kanagawa pref.) with 14 children and some adults, as a leader of those children, so I'm gonna write about it as I respond to chp.5.
I'm a counselor (teacher) of Pathfinder Club, a church Boy/Girl Scout, and I was a leader of the 14 children as we climbed up Mt. Jimba, for the first time.
Of course, children causes many many unpredictable problems.
So what I tried to emphasize the most was to tell them to go slowly, never walking fast.
I used to think that the team message is basically useless, just the words all of which all of the team members know such as "be careful, don't get hurt."
But as I had to select words as the leader, I realized that team messages are the extract of what the most important thing is for the whole group.
(just like when Ken introduces some books.)
Of course, the children climbed with very diverse paces.
I was stopping the boy in the lead all the time (though I let him start in the back at first lol).
Keeping having a contact with another counselor in the back with transceiver, I was struggling to stop him all the time, saying "You're not walking alone. You walk fast (and that's a great thing), so you need to think of slow people when you are in a team" over and over again.
It was lucky that he was the only boy who tried to go fast.
but I had difficulty to think of the whole team as I focused on the boy.(the counselor helped me a lot)
I had many many other lessons through the hiking yesterday. To focus on "team message", I had those lessons.
I came to know that what the leader says in front of the whole team is often obvious, but never trivial.
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Week 4 Writing Assignment
I'm not sure about the writing assignment for week 4, I only need to read and not necessarily write anything?
well, but again, I'm happy to know an important thing in this chapter "stamina", so I'll write some.
As Ken says in his blog, though stamina is basically a mental matter I guess, physical health really matters.
Actually, my aim for this term (and maybe this year) is
EAT WELL AND SLEEP WELL
seriously.
Last year, I spent too many time to sleep for studying and didn't really care about what to eat.
As a result, of course, I was sleepy or sleeping all the time in every lecture.
I have to always recognize what is the most important thing.
There's my favorite term in Japanese,本末転倒(Hommatsu tentou), "wag the dog."
I like this word because it's really a silly thing, it's always useful for sarcasm lol
And, I have to remember that I must not do this silly stuff.
it's written "keep a journal" as one of the solutions to deal with stamina, I really thank Ken to sort of force us to do this.
writing enables me to record my thoughts.
Also, I've been using blogger to analyze my thoughts for half a year, and that really helps me "provide relief."
Unless I write some, I often think the same thing over and over again, so at least for me, journal is a time-saving action too :)
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Week 3 Writing Assignment
Each title of the chapter in this book so far reminds me of the struggling time when I was a leader of brass band...
I'd like to react to both chapters.
I'm not good at a good speech as a leader, though I think I'm good at speaking.
I mean, I can make good, beautiful words, but they just don't sound true.
I can comfort a person with kind words, but I can't give a speech to encourage and empower some groups of people.
Also, I don't really look "a leader", which is also a big issue as a leader - how you look.
I didn't, maybe still don't know how I could be "visible", cuz I didn't wanna look good, looking like showing myself off, to others.
I just kept personal practice, which some of the members also did.
I'm sure that had a good effect like "he does act, not only words."
Could that be more effective? I was afraid to be boastful.
By seeing my blogs so far, you can easily guess I'm too far from "optimist", but pessimist.
But I know many stories that tell me that optimism is really important.
It often happens that nothing changes, but everything look different.
I'm sure Shackleton wouldn't have said "So now we well go home" if he wasn't optimistic and thought "it's all over!"
Right after I took over the role of leader, many members quit the brass band, which happened every year.
For most people, they had reasons that I couldn't help, like for studying or physical problems.
But I was just shocked to the reality that many people quit the brass band.
I really need to know to quit being pessimistic, this is not escaping from reality.
Rather, it is better to know the reality more accurately cuz pessimistic view often make me think even worse than the reality itself.
I must learn to be optimistic, and this is not acquiring during taking leadership, but just through daily lives.
I'd like to react to both chapters.
I'm not good at a good speech as a leader, though I think I'm good at speaking.
I mean, I can make good, beautiful words, but they just don't sound true.
I can comfort a person with kind words, but I can't give a speech to encourage and empower some groups of people.
Also, I don't really look "a leader", which is also a big issue as a leader - how you look.
I didn't, maybe still don't know how I could be "visible", cuz I didn't wanna look good, looking like showing myself off, to others.
I just kept personal practice, which some of the members also did.
I'm sure that had a good effect like "he does act, not only words."
Could that be more effective? I was afraid to be boastful.
By seeing my blogs so far, you can easily guess I'm too far from "optimist", but pessimist.
But I know many stories that tell me that optimism is really important.
It often happens that nothing changes, but everything look different.
I'm sure Shackleton wouldn't have said "So now we well go home" if he wasn't optimistic and thought "it's all over!"
Right after I took over the role of leader, many members quit the brass band, which happened every year.
For most people, they had reasons that I couldn't help, like for studying or physical problems.
But I was just shocked to the reality that many people quit the brass band.
I really need to know to quit being pessimistic, this is not escaping from reality.
Rather, it is better to know the reality more accurately cuz pessimistic view often make me think even worse than the reality itself.
I must learn to be optimistic, and this is not acquiring during taking leadership, but just through daily lives.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
25 Mon.
another tricky negotiation situation...
I was exactly caught in the tricky trap, I kept the negotiation from win-win consequence by two actions.
I said "I can pay $125,000 for five, I need five, and hopefully ten."
this caused a conflict with the other buyer, who had only $100,000.
By hearing my words, the other buyer would never had thought of buying 10 together, which probably is the win-win consequence.
Another thing.
I only asked the other buyer "Do you need the whole egg? I only need the inside."
I didn't say I only need the YOLK, not explaining in detail.
So, both of us had same understanding that "we both need THE INSIDE of the eggs, so we can't avoid a conflict"
Until we noticed the (probable) win-win consequence, we kept arguing about the price to buy lol
by the way, after I knew that I had a solution to pay together, I first hid my limit price.
and confirmed "won't you really sell these eggs below $300,000?"
so that if that was possible, I didn't have to pay $200,000 because the other buyer had said they were willing to pay $100,000. I could have hid my limit price and hopefully pay less than $200,000
... is this going too far? lol
What's my sentence?
I loved Ken's idea that we record a video just like the movie on Ken's blog.
now I must think about it seriously... hmmmm
I was exactly caught in the tricky trap, I kept the negotiation from win-win consequence by two actions.
I said "I can pay $125,000 for five, I need five, and hopefully ten."
this caused a conflict with the other buyer, who had only $100,000.
By hearing my words, the other buyer would never had thought of buying 10 together, which probably is the win-win consequence.
Another thing.
I only asked the other buyer "Do you need the whole egg? I only need the inside."
I didn't say I only need the YOLK, not explaining in detail.
So, both of us had same understanding that "we both need THE INSIDE of the eggs, so we can't avoid a conflict"
Until we noticed the (probable) win-win consequence, we kept arguing about the price to buy lol
by the way, after I knew that I had a solution to pay together, I first hid my limit price.
and confirmed "won't you really sell these eggs below $300,000?"
so that if that was possible, I didn't have to pay $200,000 because the other buyer had said they were willing to pay $100,000. I could have hid my limit price and hopefully pay less than $200,000
... is this going too far? lol
What's my sentence?
I loved Ken's idea that we record a video just like the movie on Ken's blog.
now I must think about it seriously... hmmmm
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Week 2 Writing Assignment
long-term and short-term vision
another my weak point, future vision
I can't really think of my future, but I'm sort of interested in becoming a teacher, so let's say I am a teacher of mathematics and in charge of one class of a junior-high school. and I will post my ideal class here.
the long-term vision of my class is that a class with students self-motivated.
humans basically act along their interests.
and they can do well if they like it (好きこそものの上手なれ, a japanese proverb).
at the same time, I learned in educational psychology that by receiving something good for their work, their self-motivation goes down, which means the teacher can make them unmotivated to their favorites.
this is really difficult because I cannot force students to like something, but just let them do so.
there will be many small steps for this vision.
first of all I have to become a teacher. lol
I don't mean a person who has a certificate for it, but who keeps seeking what students need.
before that ....
I need to know what children at the students' age like to know.
I need to catch students' interest since there are things that they HAVE TO learn.
That's teacher's job to let those be enjoyable.
at the same time, I need to FOLLOW them in a way.
For them to be able to adapt their interest to what they learn or do, it's never enough to make curriculum only among teachers.
uummm I have this view from long ago, but I can't really think of small, concrete steps. I need to think of this more...
another my weak point, future vision
I can't really think of my future, but I'm sort of interested in becoming a teacher, so let's say I am a teacher of mathematics and in charge of one class of a junior-high school. and I will post my ideal class here.
the long-term vision of my class is that a class with students self-motivated.
humans basically act along their interests.
and they can do well if they like it (好きこそものの上手なれ, a japanese proverb).
at the same time, I learned in educational psychology that by receiving something good for their work, their self-motivation goes down, which means the teacher can make them unmotivated to their favorites.
this is really difficult because I cannot force students to like something, but just let them do so.
there will be many small steps for this vision.
first of all I have to become a teacher. lol
I don't mean a person who has a certificate for it, but who keeps seeking what students need.
before that ....
I need to know what children at the students' age like to know.
I need to catch students' interest since there are things that they HAVE TO learn.
That's teacher's job to let those be enjoyable.
at the same time, I need to FOLLOW them in a way.
For them to be able to adapt their interest to what they learn or do, it's never enough to make curriculum only among teachers.
uummm I have this view from long ago, but I can't really think of small, concrete steps. I need to think of this more...
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
What is your SENTENCE?
I loved the class for today too!
I hate negotiations :(
probably because I don't have much general knowledge and often end up compromising in anything.
but it means I have to train negiation and I did enjoy the negotiation topic for today, oranges:)
I guess the most tricky part of this setting is that we had TWO oranges.
It caused me to cling to sharing them by one.
I have to use my brain more and more...
I had such a great AHA experience from Yoshika XD
WHAT IS MY SENTENCE?
probably this.
HE GAVE UP HIMSELF FOR OTHERS.
As I've written several times, I love to do something for others.
But at the same time, I often struggle with the dillema, which is "self-satisfaction".
I'm almost always thinking about this word, self satisfaction.
but I believe this sentence means I lived with contribution for other and made them happy.
I know this is terribly vague and unclear, I will probably add some more information about my thought as I think up :)
I hate negotiations :(
probably because I don't have much general knowledge and often end up compromising in anything.
but it means I have to train negiation and I did enjoy the negotiation topic for today, oranges:)
I guess the most tricky part of this setting is that we had TWO oranges.
It caused me to cling to sharing them by one.
I have to use my brain more and more...
I had such a great AHA experience from Yoshika XD
WHAT IS MY SENTENCE?
probably this.
HE GAVE UP HIMSELF FOR OTHERS.
As I've written several times, I love to do something for others.
But at the same time, I often struggle with the dillema, which is "self-satisfaction".
I'm almost always thinking about this word, self satisfaction.
but I believe this sentence means I lived with contribution for other and made them happy.
I know this is terribly vague and unclear, I will probably add some more information about my thought as I think up :)
Applying speaking skill to mathematics class
I have mathematics class on Mon, Tue, Wed, 5,6,7 XD
How can I survive this whole term?? lol
anyways, in these classes, we are always given some mathematical problems to solve, and standing in the front of the classroom, we have to explain the solution to others.
This is a great opportunity to try my speaking skill, 3 times per week! :)
and just the other day, I found one person crossing his arms while explaining, and just by that stance, I felt much bigger pressure from him, like pushing us down.
How we speak, really, influences how people listen to us.
How can I survive this whole term?? lol
anyways, in these classes, we are always given some mathematical problems to solve, and standing in the front of the classroom, we have to explain the solution to others.
This is a great opportunity to try my speaking skill, 3 times per week! :)
and just the other day, I found one person crossing his arms while explaining, and just by that stance, I felt much bigger pressure from him, like pushing us down.
How we speak, really, influences how people listen to us.
Monday, April 18, 2011
18 Mon.
I found difficulty in speaking in front of some people, which is absolutely needed for teachers.
I think I'm not really bad at just "speaking", but when it comes to speaking with SOFTEN, it got much more difficult.
the most difficult one is eye contact.
It was a great idea to let listeners put up a piece of paper until the speaker makes sufficiently long eye contact, but without that, I really have to concentrate on looking at people, because I usually don't look at people's faces when I talk (trying to break this habit, though).
and one more, I am bad at standing still.
My feet always sort of move when I speak lol.
It's gonna take time to be able to speak with SOFTEN, but I wouldn't have even noticed unless we did such a focused class to speaking.
Thanks Ken :)
I think I'm not really bad at just "speaking", but when it comes to speaking with SOFTEN, it got much more difficult.
the most difficult one is eye contact.
It was a great idea to let listeners put up a piece of paper until the speaker makes sufficiently long eye contact, but without that, I really have to concentrate on looking at people, because I usually don't look at people's faces when I talk (trying to break this habit, though).
and one more, I am bad at standing still.
My feet always sort of move when I speak lol.
It's gonna take time to be able to speak with SOFTEN, but I wouldn't have even noticed unless we did such a focused class to speaking.
Thanks Ken :)
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Expedition Log (Preface)
I have been leaders in many situations: dormitory head in junior-high dorm, tennis club leader in junior-high and high school, brass band leader in high school, and many many others in small projects.
When I recall anything about my leadership, I think of brass band, cuz I really worked hard and spent most of my time in it when I was the leader.
But I don't think I was a good leader.
Many of my effort turned fruitless.
I didn't know what to do when many quit brass band right after I became the leader.
I hope this class helps me analyze problems of my leadership :)
-What were the qualities that enabled you to succeed or persevere?
I love to work for others, and that is THE motivation of everything.
For example, I took 教育哲学概論(Intro. to Educational Philosophy) this term and it's gonna be REALLY hard, but I won't drop it because when I become a teacher, this hard experience WILL enable me to understand the children who can't understand anything in a class. (By not the content of this class, but the fact that I experienced a class I can't really understand)
I'm sure this character of mine, loving to work for others, helped me to do any work in the brass band to the end of my role.
But this also brought a problem... which is exactly the answer of the 2nd question.
-What was the nature of the teamwork that support that you were able to inspire? How did you work with others to achieve your goal?
Of course, I had many other small leaders like leader of management instrument, music score, each instrument, etc.
But I didn't really trust them, though most of them were my close friends, because it was far faster if I just do the works, not having the process to ask a specific person to do them, and also because I didn't feel bad to do a lot of work for others.
However, I'm sure that I should have trusted other leaders much more. that was far more ideal.
my work hid the teamwork and oneness of the brass band itself.
I cannot really answer the question, but I'm sure I need the team's support when I work as a leader.
well, the team needs to be trustworthy to be assumed to be able to achieve the work. and also, the leader should not ask for a really difficult thing to accomplish, for that might cause untrustworthiness. In that case, I think it's important to work TOGETHER and be interdependent :)
When I recall anything about my leadership, I think of brass band, cuz I really worked hard and spent most of my time in it when I was the leader.
But I don't think I was a good leader.
Many of my effort turned fruitless.
I didn't know what to do when many quit brass band right after I became the leader.
I hope this class helps me analyze problems of my leadership :)
-What were the qualities that enabled you to succeed or persevere?
I love to work for others, and that is THE motivation of everything.
For example, I took 教育哲学概論(Intro. to Educational Philosophy) this term and it's gonna be REALLY hard, but I won't drop it because when I become a teacher, this hard experience WILL enable me to understand the children who can't understand anything in a class. (By not the content of this class, but the fact that I experienced a class I can't really understand)
I'm sure this character of mine, loving to work for others, helped me to do any work in the brass band to the end of my role.
But this also brought a problem... which is exactly the answer of the 2nd question.
-What was the nature of the teamwork that support that you were able to inspire? How did you work with others to achieve your goal?
Of course, I had many other small leaders like leader of management instrument, music score, each instrument, etc.
But I didn't really trust them, though most of them were my close friends, because it was far faster if I just do the works, not having the process to ask a specific person to do them, and also because I didn't feel bad to do a lot of work for others.
However, I'm sure that I should have trusted other leaders much more. that was far more ideal.
my work hid the teamwork and oneness of the brass band itself.
I cannot really answer the question, but I'm sure I need the team's support when I work as a leader.
well, the team needs to be trustworthy to be assumed to be able to achieve the work. and also, the leader should not ask for a really difficult thing to accomplish, for that might cause untrustworthiness. In that case, I think it's important to work TOGETHER and be interdependent :)
13 Wed.
it's 17 Sun. lol
I must write this blog right after the class... I'm such a "now or never" person :(
But I have a memo of what was interesting in the lecture :)
I loved your two sentences, especially the latter:
HANDSHAKE IS AN AGREEMENT
SMILE IS UNIVERSAL
it's an obvious thing in a way, but as I rethink about it, it's really great that SMILE IS UNIVERSAL.
As we grow as a human in any place on the earth, I can just smile to show that I'm happy, and when I see smile, I can always recognize he/she is happy.
I also liked your suggestion to hold a pen in my mouth.
I did that several times, and I also suggested that on facebook XD
this is just a memo...I wanna read them someday.
Daniel Goleman: "Social Intelligence": the science how we can be happy just by making a fake smile
"Harvard Business Review": mirror neurons(we unconsciously "smile back")
I haven't finished the reading assignment yet...I hate TETSUYA!!
(I did start lol)
I must write this blog right after the class... I'm such a "now or never" person :(
But I have a memo of what was interesting in the lecture :)
I loved your two sentences, especially the latter:
HANDSHAKE IS AN AGREEMENT
SMILE IS UNIVERSAL
it's an obvious thing in a way, but as I rethink about it, it's really great that SMILE IS UNIVERSAL.
As we grow as a human in any place on the earth, I can just smile to show that I'm happy, and when I see smile, I can always recognize he/she is happy.
I also liked your suggestion to hold a pen in my mouth.
I did that several times, and I also suggested that on facebook XD
this is just a memo...I wanna read them someday.
Daniel Goleman: "Social Intelligence": the science how we can be happy just by making a fake smile
"Harvard Business Review": mirror neurons(we unconsciously "smile back")
I haven't finished the reading assignment yet...I hate TETSUYA!!
(I did start lol)
Sunday, April 10, 2011
11 Mon.
the very first class of sophomore!
I loved the atmosphere of the class and Ken's speaking XD
but I'm gonna spend soooo long to be able to call everybody's name :(
the class seems to be hard, which I knew before, but I want this class to be so cuz I really need to be pushed. I know I'm not a hardworking person.<-bad aspect to have a leadership lol
I was really happy to learn such a PRACTICAL skill of leadership (and many many other areas), handshake.
brief, firm, with name :)
I loved the atmosphere of the class and Ken's speaking XD
but I'm gonna spend soooo long to be able to call everybody's name :(
the class seems to be hard, which I knew before, but I want this class to be so cuz I really need to be pushed. I know I'm not a hardworking person.<-bad aspect to have a leadership lol
I was really happy to learn such a PRACTICAL skill of leadership (and many many other areas), handshake.
brief, firm, with name :)
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