What's Next?

Somewhere in the middle of my graduate program in counseling psychology I grasped the developmental point of view. Suddenly, Erik Erikson's eight stages of life provided a framework through which I could view my life and the lives of others in a way that made absolute sense to me and offered a logical way of getting through life more easily. In the years since the lightbulb went on, I have been grateful for developmental theory as a way to explain personal growth and change; lately, as I consider the difficult times the United States is facing, I've been trying to adapt Erikson's stages to our nation. I crave a reason for why we are in the mess we are in, and I crave hope for the way out of it. Developmental theory just might be the answer. Stage I is Infancy: Birth to 18 Months Ego Development Outcome: Trust vs. Mistrust Basic strength: Drive and Hope Drive and hope were certainly apparent at our nation's birth, and our early relationships with other nations were fraug...

I try to watch the ABC Evening News each night, and tonight I succeeded. Reporting from across America, Charlie Gibson intoned a phrase I liked: "the economy trumps all." But after a week of steady discussion about the economy, I am filled with concern about America--and Americans. Back in elementary, middle, and high school, and later in college, I learned a lot about the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and Great Depression that followed. The economic crisis that sunk Americans into a decade of poverty followed years of irresponsible speculative investment in the late 1920s. Hundreds of thousands of Americans put their money into stocks, with a significant number even borrowing money to purchase shares. By August 1929, brokers were routinely lending small investors more than 2/3 of the face value of the stocks they were buying--a neat opportunity called "buying on the margin." In light of rising sales, the stock prices rose far above their potential earnings, creating...

I went to the 2008 Georgia Conference on Information Literacy last weekend unsure of what to expect. I came away with fascinating topical information that will not only help me become more diverse in the classroom, but also give me a new perspective on my personal writing. I am so glad I went. One of the most useful sessions was the Friday session on the unfamiliar-genre research project. I know how I define genre, but it was helpful to see how my colleagues define it and how they implement the concept in their classrooms. While I was accustomed to the narrow focus of literary genre, they expanded my view to writing genre, which is much broad and more important for students. They demonstrated how students can implement a research project in an unfamiliar writing genre and carry it out in various steps over a semester. Now that I'm updated, students, watch out! Another concept I brought back from the conference is The Big6 model for teaching information literacy skills. Go to http:/...