There's a lot of conversation happening lately around student reading stamina. Rose Horowitch's Atlantic article, "The Elite College Students who Can't Read Books," helped stir the pot. I'm sure you've seen evidence of the same issues she brings up - that students are struggling to stay focused through books, and often come to you having read a lot of excerpts and short pieces rather than full novels. Test-prep, phone culture, COVID - there are all kinds of reasons, but the bottom line for you as a teacher is, what can you do about it? Today's request for our new "Plan My Lesson" series comes from a teacher looking for ways to help her students build their reading stamina. She's wondering how she can help her students work toward longer reads and more of 'em. Perhaps you're wondering the same? This is a big question, and we're just planning one lesson. But let's zoom in on a snapshot of a class that could help students move toward longer, more-engaged reading sessions. We'll start, like The Odyssey, in medias res. Related Links: Episode 196: How Caitlin's Verse Novel Book Clubs Engaged Seniors 'Til the End: https://nowsparkcreativity.com/2023/06/how-caitlins-verse-novel-book-clubs-engaged-seniors-til-the-end.html How to Host a Book Tasting: https://nowsparkcreativity.com/2019/03/how-to-host-book-tasting-free-resource.html  Episode 204: Students Need Diverse Texts and Choice, with Dr. Claudia Rodriguez-Mojica and Dr. Allison Briceño: https://nowsparkcreativity.com/2023/07/students-need-diverse-texts-and-choice-heres-help.html  The Dos and Don'ts of Donors Choose: https://nowsparkcreativity.com/2019/01/the-dos-and-donts-of-donors-choose-for.html  Go Further:  Explore alllll the Episodes of The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast. Launch your choice reading program with all my favorite tools and recs, and grab the free toolkit. Join our community, Creative High School English, on Facebook. Come hang out on Instagram.  Enjoying the podcast? Please consider sharing it with a friend, snagging a screenshot to share on the ‘gram, or tapping those ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ to help others discover the show. Thank you! 

Hey friends, Chase here. Ever feel like you’re working your ass off but not really getting anywhere? You’re putting in the hours. Practicing. Grinding. But the needle isn’t moving. Here’s the truth: The best in the world aren’t just clocking more time—they’re practicing differently. They’re ruthless about the basics. They’ve fallen in love with the process. And most importantly? They’ve built their identity around their craft. In this episode, I break down the 3 pillars of practice that separate masters from the rest of us—and how you can use them to level up. We’ll cover: The 3 pillars every top performer lives by Why mastering the fundamentals beats chasing flashy skills How to make practice something you crave, not dread The secret link between identity and growth most people miss Enjoy!

"At the heart of a company is the quality of its decisions. And it's rare that leadership programs teach you how to be a better decision maker." — SDP Conference AttendeeWhether you're a CEO making strategic decisions, a data scientist analyzing choices, or someone navigating personal decisions, the field of decision-making offers structured approaches that can be scaled up or down for any situation.S5E5 | What is SDP?This episode takes listeners inside the world of professional decision-making through Michelle's firsthand exploration of the Society of Decision Professionals conference. Through interviews with members, Michelle uncovers how this diverse community approaches decision quality and why structured decision-making frameworks matter across all contexts.Table of ContentsIntroduction What is SDP? Types of Programming and Engagement The Diverse SDP Community Decision Quality in PracticeCross-Industry Learning The Future of Decision ProfessionalsWho Should Join SDP ConclusionIntroduction Michelle introduces this special episode recorded at the Society of Decision Professionals annual conference, explaining her curiosity about this unique community of decision-makers. She sets the stage for exploring how professionals from vastly different industries come together around the common goal of improving decision quality.What is SDP? Lindsay Oyola, SDP's President-Elect traveling from Rio de Janeiro, explains that SDP brings together people from all different industries—consultants, vendors, corporate employees, government workers, and wildlife societies—united by their focus on helping make better decisions."What brings it all together is that they're all helping practice how we make better decisions in all of the big decisions that we need to make," Lindsay explains. The society serves as a place where members can discuss decision-making techniques and share approaches across diverse contexts.Types of Programming and Engagement Lindsay outlines SDP's various offerings:Annual Conference: Three days of sessions ranging from deep mathematical approaches to behavioral and emotional aspects of decision-making, featuring true experts and practitioners.Monthly Webinars: Global learning opportunities about new ideas and developments in the field.Mentoring Programs: Past offerings that connected experienced practitioners with newcomers.Global Chapters: Local meetings (monthly, bi-monthly, or quarterly) with speakers and activities that build community.The Diverse SDP Community The SDP community spans a remarkable range of expertise and experience levels. Members include:Advanced practitioners with 40+ years of experienceProfessors who also consultGame theory specialists working with governments and companiesCorporate decision-makers handling investment and capital decisionsNatural resource managers working with fish and wildlifeData scientists and analysts (even those whose titles don't reflect decision work)Lindsay emphasizes that whether you're a decision-maker or someone helping organizations use information to make decisions, SDP offers valuable learning opportunities.Decision Quality in Practice A conference attendee shares insights about decision quality as a structured yet flexible approach. "It's a structured way, but you can actually downsize it or upsize it whichever way you want," they explain, noting how the same principles apply whether counseling a daughter on course selection or facilitating strategic business decisions.The approach exposes practitioners to diverse concepts including psychology (Kahneman and Tversky's work), mathematics, uncertainty analysis, and emerging technologies like AI. This interdisciplinary nature makes it difficult to box the field into any single category.Cross-Industry Learning Members highlight the unique networking opportunities that extend far beyond typical industry conferences. The community includes professionals from:Pharmaceutical companies dealing with uncertaintyGovernment agenciesEnergy sector (a major contributor to decision quality practices)Water management and natural resourcesAcademia and software developmentLeadership and coaching"You get to meet like deep thinkers, professors from different universities that are either teaching decision quality or have had applications of it into software," one member notes. This cross-pollination of ideas makes attendees valuable contributors in their own work contexts.The Future of Decision Professionals An SDP leader expresses gratitude for the community's passion toward improving decision quality and excitement about expanding the field. Recent years have seen SDP broaden its umbrella to include more disciplines that support decision-making, integrating methods across fields with the goal of improving both quality and efficiency.The integration of data science and AI into conferences, talks, and workshops represents a significant opportunity to reach more audiences and help more decisions be made with high quality. This expansion recognizes that achieving the field's potential requires more than just traditional decision professionals.Who Should Join SDPMultiple members emphasize that SDP welcomes anyone interested in decision-making, particularly those who:Feel their current choices aren't getting them where they need to goExperience anxiety about decisionsWant to stop second-guessing themselvesDesire greater control over their futureThe society offers standards and structured approaches that can be freeing for anyone wanting to step up to leading their own lives. As one member shares through an artist's story, learning decision-making principles can be transformative for people in any field.Conclusion Michelle wraps up by reflecting on the diverse and welcoming nature of the SDP community, highlighting how decision-making serves as a universal skill that transcends industry boundaries. The episode demonstrates how structured approaches to decision-making can benefit anyone, from corporate executives to artists seeking greater control over their creative and personal choices.Key TakeawaysUniversal Application: Decision-making frameworks can be scaled for any situation, from personal choices to strategic business decisionsCross-Industry Value: Learning from practitioners in different fields expands thinking beyond traditional boundariesCommunity Support: SDP provides both deep learning opportunities and meaningful professional relationshipsStructured Freedom: Having frameworks for decision-making can be liberating rather than constrainingInterdisciplinary Approach: The field draws from psychology, mathematics, technology, and other disciplinesFuture-Focused: Integration with AI and data science is expanding the field's reach and impactMentioned in the PodcastSociety of Decision Professionals (SDP)Decision Quality frameworkKahneman and Tversky's work in psychologyAI and generative AI applications in decision-making About Michelle FlorendoMichelle Florendo is a Stanford-trained decision engineer and executive coach who is on a mission to teach people how to make decisions with less stress and more clarity. Over the past decade, she has coached and taught hundreds of leaders across tech, healthcare, and financial services, in organizations ranging from pre-IPO startups to major tech companies like Amazon, Google, and Salesforce.  She's been an adjunct lecturer at Stanford, helps train coaches as a faculty coach for Berkeley Executive Coaching Institute, and hosts the podcast, Ask A Decision Engineer. She earned her engineering degree from Stanford and her MBA from UC Berkeley.For those interested in exploring Michelle's coaching and speaking services further, additional information can be found on her professional website at poweredbydecisions.com.

David Robertson is a rare conductor who unites avant-garde complexity with accessibility. After serving as music director of the Ensemble Intercontemporain, Pierre Boulez’s storied contemporary-music ensemble, he went on to rejuvenate the St. Louis Symphony. Robertson combines a fearless approach to challenging scores with a deep empathy for audiences. Tyler and David explore Pierre Boulez's centenary and the emotional depths beneath his reputation for severity, whether Boulez is better understood as a surrealist or a serialist composer, the influence of non-Western music like gamelan on Boulez's compositions, the challenge of memorizing contemporary scores, whether Boulez's music still sounds contemporary after decades, where skeptics should start with Boulez, how conductors connect with players during a performance, the management lessons of conducting, which orchestra sections posed Robertson the greatest challenges, how he and other conductors achieve clarity of sound, what conductors should read beyond music books, what Robertson enjoys in popular music, how national audiences differ from others, how Robertson first discovered classical music, why he insists on conducting the 1911 version of Stravinsky's Petrushka rather than the 1947 revision, and more. Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links, or watch the full video on the new dedicated Conversations with Tyler channel. Recorded March 12th, 2025. Help keep the show ad free by donating today! Other ways to connect Follow us on X and Instagram Follow Tyler on X Sign up for our newsletter Join our Discord Email us: cowenconvos@mercatus.gmu.edu Learn more about Conversations with Tyler and other Mercatus Center podcasts here. Photo Credit: Chris Lee

🚙 Get the free Ramsey Car Guide. In this special episode, The Car Mom’s Kelly Stumpe shares the biggest mistake you can make when buying a car, tips on finding the right “mom car,” plus how to do it all with confidence.   Next Steps: 🎥 Watch my video What America’s #1 Wealth Killer Is Actually Costing You. 🚘 Learn more about The Car Mom. 📈 Are you on track with the Baby Steps? Get a free personalized plan. 💵 The simplest way to budget. Download the EveryDollar app for free!   Connect With Our Sponsors: Learn more about Christian Healthcare Ministries. Get 20% off when you join DeleteMe.   Explore More From Ramsey Network: 🍸 Smart Money Happy Hour 🎙️ The Ramsey Show   💸 The Ramsey Show Highlights 🧠 The Dr. John Delony Show 💰 George Kamel 🪑 Front Row Seat with Ken Coleman  📈 EntreLeadership   Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ralph Stefan Weir and Ben Watkins debate whether there is a sound argument from mental causation to materialism. Is the interaction problem for substance dualism fake or fatal?  My interview with Dr. Weir on substance dualism:   • You Are A Soul — w/ Ralph Stefan Weir   Dr. Ralph Stefan Weir is the author of The Mind-Body Problem and Metaphysics: An Argument from Consciousness to Mental Substance. He teaches philosophy at the University of Lincoln and is an Associate Member of the Faculty of Theology and Religion at the University of Oxford.  Ben Watkins is the co-host of the excellent philosophy of religion podcast, Real Atheology   / @realatheology   Linktree

If you want to improve your life, you have to be accountable to somebody. This week, John Maxwell is sharing a lesson on the importance of accountability — because it’s the key to improvement!  After his lesson, Mark Cole and Traci Morrow sit down to have a conversation on accountability and what John has shared, as well as offer you practical ways to apply it to your personal life and leadership.  Key takeaways:  Accountability provides the bridge to get you from good intentions to actual accomplishments. When accountability makes us better, everything else gets better.   People that are accountable have a real passion to develop and grow themselves.   Our BONUS resource for this episode is the Accountability Makes You Better Worksheet, which includes fill-in-the-blank notes from John’s teaching. You can download the worksheet by visiting MaxwellPodcast.com/Accountable and clicking “Download the Bonus Resource.”  Take the next step in your growth journey and become a Maxwell Leadership Certified Team Member. Click here to speak with a Program Advisor today!   References:  Watch this episode on YouTube!  Enroll in the 15 Laws of Growth online course for $99 (reg. $499)  Become a Leader-Communicator Podcast Episode  A Leader's Greatest Enemy Podcast Episode  Are you a young leader? Take our Next Generation Leader survey and receive The Mentor’s Guide to Everyday Challenges for FREE!  Learn more about the 5 Levels of Leadership Workshop for your teams!  Join the Maxwell Leadership Certified Team  Shop the Maxwell Leadership Online Store 

What if we told you there’s a way to get people practically begging to buy from you, without you having to be pushy, salesy, or awkward? What if you could flip a switch and suddenly, people want what you’ve got so badly, they chase you?Sounds like magic, right?It’s not.This one simple idea changes everything. And once you know it, you’ll never struggle to sell online again. It’s all about letting people experience what it’s like to work with you. And it works even if your audience is super skeptical and doesn’t trust anyone.Let’s dive in.Useful Episode ResourcesFREE list of the top 10 books to improve your email marketingIf you want to write better emails, come up with better content, and move your readers to click and buy, here's how. We put together this list of our Top 10 most highly recommended books that will improve all areas of your email marketing (including some underground treasures that we happened upon, which have been game-changing for us). Grab your FREE list here. Join our FREE Facebook groupIf you want to chat about how you can maximise the value of your email list and make more money from every subscriber, we can help! We know your business is different, so come and hang out in our FREE Facebook group, the Email Marketing Show Community for Course Creators and Coaches. We share a lot of training and resources, and you can talk about what you're up to.Try ResponseSuite for $1This week's episode is sponsored by ResponseSuite.com, the survey quiz and application form tool that we created specifically for small businesses like you to integrate with your marketing systems to segment your subscribers and make more sales. Try it out for 14 days for just $1.Join The Email Hero BlueprintWant more? Let's say you're a course creator, membership site owner, coach, author, or expert and want to learn about the ethical psychology-based email marketing that turns 60-80% more of your newsletter subscribers into customers (within 60 days). If that's you, then The Email Hero Blueprint is for you.This is hands down the most predictable, plug-and-play way to double your earnings per email subscriber. It allows you to generate a consistent sales flow without launching another product, service, or offer. Best news yet? You won't have to rely on copywriting, slimy persuasion, NLP, or ‘better' subject lines.Subscribe and review The Email Marketing Show podcastThanks so much for tuning into the podcast! If you enjoyed this episode (all about the psychology of marketing and the 9 things we use in all our email campaigns) and love the show, we'd really appreciate you subscribing and leaving us a review of the show on your favourite podcast player.Not only does it let us know you're out there listening, but your feedback helps us to keep creating the most useful episodes so more awesome people like you can discover the podcast. And please do tell us! If you don't spend time on email marketing, what do you really fill your working days with? We'd love to know! 

In part 2 of our You Are Here sermon series, we turn our attention to the 21st Century social stage called Dating. What does Scripture teach us about dating? Well, the best approach to dating and relationships in this cultural environment can be found through the lens of Ephesians 5. Listen to our latest sermon, Dating and the Gospel, as Pastor Rob Bentz helps us three important questions that every person should be asking in this stage of life. 

Most DEI metrics are just a pantomime.They’re not tracking things that matter. Key Topics Covered in This Episode: Why most DEI efforts fail before any work has begun Why “quick wins” often become long-term liabilities How to test your inclusion project before investing in delivery Play the Episode for More Key Takeaways from This Episode: … The Real Reason Your DEI Metrics Don’t Matter Read More » The post The Real Reason Your DEI Metrics Don’t Matter appeared first on Element of Inclusion.