Think Again (Adam Grant))

This book was really good. Adam Grant always is really good. Rethinking what you think you know is a key to lifelong learning.

Goodreads says:
Think Again is a book about the benefit of doubt, and about how we can get better at embracing the unknown and the joy of being wrong. Evidence has shown that creative geniuses are not attached to one identity, but constantly willing to rethink their stances and that leaders who admit they don't know something and seek critical feedback lead more productive and innovative teams.

New evidence shows us that as a mindset and a skilllset, rethinking can be taught and Grant explains how to develop the necessary qualities to do it. Section 1 explores why we struggle to think again and how we can learn to do it as individuals, arguing that 'grit' alone can actually be counterproductive. Section 2 discusses how we can help others think again through learning about 'argument literacy'. And the final section 3 looks at how schools, businesses and governments fall short in building cultures that encourage rethinking.

In the end, learning to rethink may be the secret skill to give you the edge in a world changing faster than ever.
 

Notes:

p. 19 Stephen Greenspan and his sister made the choice to invest with Bernie Madoff....Greenspan says that he should've known better, though, because he happens to be an expert on gullibility. When he decided to go ahead with the investment, he had almost finished writing a book on why we get duped.

p. 65 The Yoda Effect: "You Must Unlearn What You Have Learned
Interesting person to research and follow: Jean-Pierre Beugoms as well as his associates at GoodJudgment.com

p. 73 If we're insecure, we make fun of others. If we're comfortable being wrong, we're not afraid to poke fun at ourselves. Laughing at ourselves reminds us that although we might take our decisions seriously, we don't have to  take ourselves too seriously. Research suggests that the more frequently we make fun of ourselves, the happier we tend to be. Instead of beating ourselves up about our mistakes, we can turn some of our past misconceptions into sources of present amusement.

If you choose to make fun of yourself out loud, there's evidence that how people react depends on your gender. When men make self-deprecating jokes, they're seen as more capable leaders, but when women do it, they're judged as less capable. Apparently, many people have missed the memo that if a woman pokes fun at herself, it's not a reflection of incompetence or inadequacy. It's a symbol of confident humility and wit.

p. 73 Jean-Pierre Beaugoms has a favorite trick for catching himself when he's wrong. When he makes a forecast, he also makes a list of the conditions in which it should true - as well as the conditions under which he would change his mind. He explains that this keeps him honest, preventing him from getting attached to a bad prediction.

p. 260 Top 30 Practical Takeaways:

I. Individual Rethinking

A. Develop the Habit of Thinking Again

1. Think like a scientist. When you start forming an option, resist the temptation to preach, prosecute, or politick. Treat your emerging view as a hunch or a hypothesis and test it with data. Like the entrepreneurs who learned to approach their business strategies as experiments, you'll main the ability to pivot.

2. Define your identify in terms of values, not opinions.  It's easier to avoid getting stuck to your past beliefs if you don't become attached to them as part of your present self-concept. See yourself as someone who values curiosity, learning, mental flexibility, and searching for knowledge. As you form opinions, keep a list of facts that would change your mind.

3. Seek out information that goes against your views. You can fight confirmation bias, burst filter bubbles, and escape echo chambers by actively engaging with ideas that challenge your assumptions. An easy place to start is to follow people who make you think - even if you usually disagree with what they think.

B. Calibrate Your Confidence

4. Beware of getting stranded at the summit of Mount Stupid. Don't confuse confidence with competence. The Dunning-Kruger effect is a good reminder that the better you think you are, the greater the risk that you're overestimating yourself-and the greater the odds that you'll stop improving. To prevent overconfidence in your knowledge, reflect on how well you can explain a given subject.

5. Harness the benefits of doubt. When you find yourself doubting your ability, reframe the situation as an opportunity for growth. You can have confidence in your capacity to learn while questioning your current solution to a problem. Knowing what you don't know is often the first step toward developing expertise.

6. Embrace the joy of being wrong. When you find out you've made a mistake, take it as a sign that you've just discovered something new. Don't be afraid to laugh at yourself. It helps you focus less on proving yourself - and more on improving yourself.

C. Invite Others to Question Your Thinking

7. Learn something new from each person you meet. Everyone knows more than you about something. Ask people what they've been rethinking lately, or start a conversation about times you've changed your mind in the past year.

8. Build a challenge network, not just a support network. It's helpful to have cheerleaders encouraging you, but you also need critics to challenge you. Who are your most thoughtful critics? Once you've identified them, invite them to question your thinking. To make sure they know you're open to dissenting views, tell them why you respect their pushback - and where they usually add the most value.

9. Don't why away from constructive conflict. Disagreements don't have to be disagreeable. Although relationship conflict is usually counterproductive, task conflict can help you think again. Try framing disagreement as a debate: people are more likely to approach it intellectually and less likely to take it personally. 

II. Interpersonal Rethinking

A. Ask Better Questions

10. Practice the art of persuasive listening. When we're trying to open other people's minds, we can frequently accomplish more by listening than by talking. How can you show an interest in helping people crystallize their own views and uncover their own reasons for change? A good way to start is to increase your quesetion-to-statement ratio.

11. Question how rather than why. When people describe why they hold extreme views, they often intensify their commitment and double down. When they try to explain how they would make their views a reality, they often realize the limits of their understanding and start to temper some of their opinions.

12, Ask "What evidence would change your mind?" You can't bully someone into agreeing with you. It's often more effective to inquire about what would open their minds, and then see if you can convince them on their own terms.

13. Ask how people originally formed an opinion. Many of our opinions, like our stereotypes, are arbitrary; we've developed them without rigorous data or deep reflection To help people reevaluate, prompt them to consider how they'd believe different things if they'd been born at a different time or in a different place.

B. Approach DIsagreements as Dances, Not Battles

14. Acknowledge common ground. A debate is like a dance, not a war. Admitting points of convergence doesn't make you weaker - it shows that you're willing to negotiate about what's true, and it motivates the other side to consider your point of view.

15. Remember that less is often more. If you pile on too many different reasons to support your case, it can make your audience defensive - and cause them to reject your entire argument based on its least compelling points. Instead of diluting your argument, lead with a few of your strongest points.

16, Reinfrce freedom of choice. Sometimes people resist not because they're dismissing the argument but because they're rejecting the feeling of their behavior being controlled. It helps to respect their autonomy by reminding them that it's up to them to choose what they believe.

17. Have a conversation about the conversation. If emotions are running hot, try redirecting the discussion to the process. Like the expert negogiators who comment on their feelings and test their understanding of the other side's feelings, you can sometimes make progress by expressing your disappointment or frustration and asking people if they share it.

III. COLLECTIVE RETHINKING

A. Have More Nuanced Conversations

18. Complexity contentious topics. There are more than two sides of every story. Insteadd of treating polarizing issues like two sides of a coin, look at them through the many lenses of a prism. Seeing the shades of gray can make us more open.

19. Don't shy away from caveats and contingencies. Acknowledging competing claims and conflicting results doesn't sacrifice interest or credibility. It's an effective way to engage audiences while encouraging them to stay curious.

20. Expand your emotional range. You don't have to eliminate frustration or even indignation to have a productive conversation. You just need to mix in a broader set of emotions along with them - you might try showing some curiosity or even admitting confusion or ambivalence.

B. Teach Kids to Think Again

21. Have a weekly myth-busting discussion at dinner. It's easier to debunk false beliefs at an early age, and its' a great way to teach kids to become comfortable with rethinking. Pick a different topic each week - one day it might be dinosaurs, the next it could be outer space - and rotate responsibility around the family for bringing a myth for discussion.

22. Invite kids to do multiple drafts and seek feedback from others. Creating different versions of a drawing or story can encourage kids to learn the value of revising their ideas. Getting input from others can also help them to continue evolving their standards. They might learn to embrace confusion - and to stop expecting perfection on the first try.

23. Stop asking kids what they want to be when they grow up. They don't have to define themselves in terms of a career. A single identity can close the door to alternatives. Instead of trying to narrow their options, help them broaden their possibilities. They don't have to be one thing - they can do many things.

C. Create Learning Organizations

24. Abandon best practices. Best practices suggest that the ideal routines are already in place. If we want people to keep rethinking the way they work we might be better off adopting process accountability and continually striving for better practices.

25. Establish psychological safety. In learning cultures, people feel confident that they can question and challenge the stats quo without being punished. Psychological safety often starts with leaders role-modeling humility. 

26. Keep a rethink scorecard. Don't evaluate decisions base only on the results, track how thoroughly different options are considered in the process. A bad process with a good outcome is luck. A good process with a bad outcome might be a smart experiment.

D. Stay Open to Rethinking Your Future

27. Throw out the ten-year plan.  What interested you last year might bore you this year  - and what confused you yesterday might become exciting tomorrow. Passions are developed, not just discovered. Planning just one step ahead can keep our open to rethinking.

28. Rethink your actions, not just your surroundings. Chasing happiness can chase it away. Trading one set of circumstances for another isn't always enough. oy can wax and wane, but meaning is more likely to last. Building a sense of purpose often starts with taking actions to enhance your learning or your contribution to others.

29. Schedule a life checkup. it's easy to get caught in escalation of commitment to an unfulfilling path. Just as you schedule health checkups with your doctor, it's worth having a life checkup on your calendar once or twice a year. it's a way to assess how much you're learning, how your beliefs and goals are evolving, and whether your next steps warrant some rethinking.

30. Make time to think again. When I look at my calendar, I noticed that it was mostly full of doing. I set a goal of spending an hour a day thinking and learning. Now I've decided to go further. I'm scheduling a weekly time to rethinking and unlearning. I reach out to my challenge network and ask what ideas and opinions they think I should be reconsidering. recently, my wife, Allison, told me that I need to rethink the way I pronounce the word mayonnaise. 

The Girl Who Drank The Moon (Kelly Barnhill)

 

It took me a while to get into this book. After about 100 pages, I was entranced It took me a while to get into this book. After about 100 pages, I was entranced by the writing and by the story. There's something really special about it! It made for a great Children's Lit book club discussion as well.. There's something really special about it! It made for a great Children's Lit book club discussion as well.

Goodreads says:

Every year, the people of the Protectorate leave a baby as an offering to the witch who lives in the forest. They hope this sacrifice will keep her from terrorizing their town. But the witch in the forest, Xan, is kind and gentle. She shares her home with a wise Swamp Monster named Glerk and a Perfectly Tiny Dragon, Fyrian. Xan rescues the abandoned children and deliver them to welcoming families on the other side of the forest, nourishing the babies with starlight on the journey. 

One year, Xan accidentally feeds a baby moonlight instead of starlight, filling the ordinary child with extraordinary magic. Xan decides she must raise this enmagicked girl, whom she calls Luna, as her own. To keep young Luna safe from her own unwieldy power, Xan locks her magic deep inside her. When Luna approaches her thirteenth birthday, her magic begins to emerge on schedule--but Xan is far away. Meanwhile, a young man from the Protectorate is determined to free his people by killing the witch. Soon, it is up to Luna to protect those who have protected her--even if it means the end of the loving, safe world she’s always known.

The Boy Who Cried Ninja (Alex Latimer)

This is one of those books where kids get together and roll their eyes at the adults in their lives. Adults just don't get it!

This is a twist on the boy who cried wolf. Time has a great fantasy life. Well, everyone assumes it is fantasy. One of my students was able to summarize the story before we read this one. I should have asked at the end if they really were similar stories. It could be a good compare and contrast exercise. Definitely a great discussion starter for imagination.

This book would be a great way to start into a discussion about telling the truth.

Goodreads says:

In this quirky twist on The Boy Who Cried Wolf, a boys excuses turn out to have an unexpected element of truth.

The Whopper (Rebecca Ashdown)

In my class, we have been talking about how you feel when you do what you know you should versus how you feel when you don't do what you know you should. This book was a great connection to that story. In this story, adults can't see The Whopper but it slowly becomes a big monster that takes over Percy's life.

Goodreads says:

This humorous, quirky story is about a little boy who tells a lie, only to be followed around by his guilt in the form of the Whopper, a hungry and persistent monster. As Percy's guilt grows, so does the Whopper, until finally the Whopper EATS Percy! Percy at last realizes that he must tell the truth in order to keep the Whopper from growing any bigger. An appealing and warmhearted story about how a little lie can quickly grow out of control.

Stand Tall! A Book About Integrity (Cheri J Meiners)

This was a great book to read and discuss as we read. The “Ways to Reinforce the Ideas in Stand Tall!” was really great too. I've had trouble finding books directly about integrity.


Goodreads says:

Integrity is an important trait for children to develop—especially as they grow, learn, and have more opportunities to make choices for themselves. With this encouraging book, support children in knowing right from wrong, making positive decisions, keeping promises, and staying true to themselves. Back matter includes advice for teaching integrity at home, at school, and in childcare.

Being the Best Me Series:
From the author of the popular Learning to Get Along® books comes a one-of-a-kind character-development series. Each of the first six books in the Being the Best Me! series helps children learn, understand, and develop attitudes and positive character traits that strengthen self-confidence and a sense of purpose. Each book focuses on a specific attitude or character trait—optimism, self-esteem, assertiveness, resilience, integrity, and forgiveness. Also included are discussion questions, games, activities, and additional information for adults. Filled with diversity, these social story books will be welcome in school, home, and childcare settings. 

The Storyteller (Jodi Picoult)

It took me a while to get into this book. Actually, I started it, then left it for a while, which caused me to not make some connections - but luckily this was a book club book so my book club friends cleared that up for me!

I seem to read a Jodi Picoult book every summer. This was a lot like the other ones I've read - some big topic (this one was forgiveness), multiple narratives and a twist at the end.

Last year, I read Small Great Things, which is about a white supremacist and a black nurse in a hospital. I was reading it at the same time as the stuff was happening in the USA in Charlottesville. It was surreal. There's a story in the news right now about a holocaust denier. The holocaust was terrible and this book has some incredibly descriptive accounts of it. You can't make that stuff up.

Goodreads says:

Some stories live forever . . .

Sage Singer is a baker. She works through the night, preparing the day’s breads and pastries, trying to escape a reality of loneliness, bad memories, and the shadow of her mother’s death. When Josef Weber, an elderly man in Sage’s grief support group, begins stopping by the bakery, they strike up an unlikely friendship. Despite their differences, they see in each other the hidden scars that others can’t, and they become companions.

Everything changes on the day that Josef confesses a long-buried and shameful secret—one that nobody else in town would ever suspect—and asks Sage for an extraordinary favor. If she says yes, she faces not only moral repercussions, but potentially legal ones as well. With her own identity suddenly challenged, and the integrity of the closest friend she’s ever had clouded, Sage begins to question the assumptions and expectations she’s made about her life and her family. When does a moral choice become a moral imperative? And where does one draw the line between punishment and justice, forgiveness and mercy?

In this searingly honest novel, Jodi Picoult gracefully explores the lengths we will go in order to protect our families and to keep the past from dictating the future

Shiloh (Phyllis Reynolds Naylor)

I started listening to this book with the audio book. I loved Marty's voice. I continued on without the audio and his voice continued to ring in my head. I'm not surprised they made this into a movie. It's heart warming and has plenty of exciting moments where I imagined dramatic music beating in the background. Sometimes I'm amazed at how J fiction can draw me in. This book is one of those.

There are some great topics that you could discuss from this book. Doing what's right, animal protection, determination and honesty would be great places to start. Honesty is a big one since Marty has plenty of times he "skims the truth"...all for the good of the dog. I like dogs, but I'm not one that people would say has a big soft spot. I moved a little further to a total dog sell out while reading this book.

This is one well written book. There are no wasted words or long dull descriptive narratives. The balance is perfect and it I think it would easily draw in a reluctant reader. I was visiting with family this past weekend and talked with my six year old niece about books she had been reading. She loves animals and plans to be a vet one day. I told her about Shiloh and she quickly jumped in that it reminded her of The Black Stallion and then went on to describe that story. I love discussing books with kids!

Goodreads summary:

When Marty Preston comes across a young beagle in the hills behind his home, it's love at first sight9 and also big trouble. It turns out the dog, which Marty names Shiloh belongs to Judd Travers who drinks too much and has a gun9 and abuses his dogs. So when Shiloh runs away from Judd to Marty, Marty just has to hide him and protect him from Judd. But Marty's secret becomes too big for him to keep to himself, and it exposes his entire family to Judd's anger. How far will Marty have to go to make Shiloh his? 

Eleven and Holding (Mary Penney)

This is the same author that wrote Counting by 7s. This is a thoughtful and beautiful book, like that one.  

I love the main character, Macy. Books like this always make me wonder if I don't give kids enough credit. They watch and make sense of things they're not told.

P. 43 I took a big, unladylike bite into my cupcake. My taste buds nearly exploded with happiness. 

Her grandmother has passed away and her business was sold to Chuck, who is friends with her mom. In the story we find out he is also mourning the loss of his partner, Phillip. Then there is Ginger, Phillip's mother, who is in and out of senility  and not quite able to process loss. 

P. 226 I guess Ginger knew that somewhere in her head, but her heart wouldn't really let her know it.  So, she kept pretending he was alive if only she could find him. 

Macy's father is away on what she is told is a secret mission in the military and her mother is a probation officer. Macy is facing moving on to middle school without her best friend, who is a year younger. 

P. 227 Sometimes when we're not ready to hear something painful, we have to keep ourselves busy not hearing it. It can look crazy, but it's not. It's just coping. We all do it differently. 

It is called Eleven and Holding because she doesn't want to turn 12 without her dad being there. She teams up with a runaway boy who is actually a client of her mother's, unbeknownst to her. What they find out changes pretty much everything. 

Goodreads summary: 

Like The Thing About Jellyfish and Counting by 7s, this sweet, heartfelt middle grade novel illustrates for readers what it’s like to tackle loss, confront hard truths, and find the courage to begin again.

Macy Hollinquest is eleven years old, and don’t count on her to change that anytime soon.

Her birthday is just days away, but she has no intention of turning twelve without her dad by her side. He’d promised to be there for her big day—and yet he’s been gone for months, away doing some kind of secret “important work” after being discharged from the Marines. So she’s staying eleven, no matter what—that is, until she meets Ginger, a nice older lady who is searching for her missing dog. Could Ginger be the perfect cover for attempting to locate her dad?

Macy’s search puts her on a path to a head-on collision with the truth, where she discovers that knowing can sometimes be a heavy burden. And that change, when finally accepted, comes with an unexpected kind of grace.

Mary Penney’s earnest, heartfelt story of change, loss, and new beginnings will resonate with readers on the cusp of new beginnings, and stay in their hearts long after it’s done. 

A Telling Time (Irene Watts)

Sometimes you pull a book off the library's shelf and it's a win. Sometimes it's not. This one wasn't so great for our class. The story is quite deep and requires a lot of background knowledge of the story of Purim, Queen Esther and more. My kids were totally lost.

Our read a book a day goal is a real benefit to when we have Reading Buddies with the grade ones. They have many books that have been read to them and they're familiar with and as a result, they do a little better job reading with their  buddies. I don't think I'll put this one on the shelf for that. Just won't work for Reading Buddies.

Quite a beautiful story if you are familiar with those topics though!

Goodreads Summary:

This tale is told in three time-frames. On the eve of the Festival of Purim, a grandmother tells her granddaughter how, as a little girl, she heard the story of Queen Esther from her family rabbi. This was in 1939, in Nazi-occupied Vienna, on the eve of WWII. Soon after the rabbi begins the story of the brave queen, soldiers come to arrest him. The young girl begs for the rabbi to finish his story, and the soldiers allow him to do so. When the tale is over, the soldiers permit him to send the children home. But when the children turn to wave goodbye, the rabbi had vanished in the snowflakes, safe from harm, saved by the miracle of a story from long ago. The illustrations by Kathryn Shoemaker perfectly highlight the story's message of hope. 

The Wife, The Maid and The Mistress (Ariel Lowhon)

I learned about this book from one of my favourite podcasts, Books on the Nightstand: https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/books-on-the-nightstand/id278076085?mt=2&i=347675868

In the podcast, the author tells a great follow up story to the book. 

I really loved this book. I had trouble, at first, keeping all the characters straight. I am glad I stuck with it though. There were a number of times I responded out loud with gasps or laughter to things happened in the story. This is a great mystery. It is based on a real life account, still unsolved, of someone who went missing in the 1930's.

Goodreads summary:

One summer night in 1930, Judge Joseph Crater steps into a New York City cab and is never heard from again. Behind this great man are three women, each with her own tale to tell: Stella, his fashionable wife, the picture of propriety; Maria, their steadfast maid, indebted to the judge; and Ritzi, his showgirl mistress, willing to seize any chance to break out of the chorus line.

As the twisted truth emerges, Ariel Lawhon’s wickedly entertaining debut mystery transports us into the smoky jazz clubs, the seedy backstage dressing rooms, and the shadowy streets beneath the Art Deco skyline.(less)

Pinduli (Janell Cannon)

Oops..my picture has the paper strip I put on all library books in my classroom. 

Oh well!

What a beautiful story! The illustrations are amazing. There is a little bit of challenging vocabulary interspersed. I read it to my class while they were eating and everyone, even my 'I really am not interested in stories' kids were glued to it. Good lessons on character....sometimes people do mean things because something has happened to them. We have had a few conversations in class lately about context and how the context can help you understand a difficult word (or a tricky situation). This is a great example of that concept.

Good Reads summary: 

Pinduli's mama has always told her that she's the most beautiful hyena ever. But Dog, Lion, and Zebra don't think so. Why else would they make her feel so rotten about her big ears, her fuzzy mane, and her wiggly stripes? Poor Pinduli just wants to disappear--and she tries everything she can think of to make that happen. Yet nothing goes her way. Nothing, that is, until a case of mistaken identity lets her show the creatures of the African savanna how a few tiny words--bad or good--can create something enormous.

Janell Cannon, the creator of the bestselling Stellaluna, introduces yet another endearing character in this triumphant story about self-image, self-acceptance, and treating others with respect.

The Princess in Black (Shannon and Dean Hale)

This book is perfect for those girls stuck inbetween wanting to be a princess and wanting to be a rough and tumble tomboy. You CAN have it all! I love the Goodreads Summary:

Who says princesses don’t wear black? When trouble raises its blue monster head, Princess Magnolia ditches her flouncy dresses and becomes the Princess in Black!

Princess Magnolia is having hot chocolate and scones with Duchess Wigtower when . . . Brring! Brring! The monster alarm! A big blue monster is threatening the goats! Stopping monsters is no job for dainty Princess Magnolia. But luckily Princess Magnolia has a secret —she’s also the Princess in Black, and stopping monsters is the perfect job for her! Can the princess sneak away, transform into her alter ego, and defeat the monster before the nosy duchess discovers her secret? From award-winning writing team of Shannon and Dean Hale and illustrator LeUyen Pham, here is the first in a humorous and action-packed chapter book series for young readers who like their princesses ot only prim and perfect, but also dressed in black.
 

There are even monsters in this book - but they're pretty cute. It does eat plates of toe nail clippings though!

However, in this story there is a snoopy Duchess around who believes everyone has secrets. She is determined to find the princesses' black secret.

Great blog post on Jen Robinson's book blog: 

http://jkrbooks.typepad.com/blog/2015/06/the-princess-in-black-shannon-hale-dean-hale-and-leuyen-pham.html

Hank Zipzer: I Got a D in Salami (Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver)

Who knew Henry Winkler was an author? This is a story full of his humor. This book is actually the second book in the series (I couldn't get the first one at my public library) and I was excited to read it to my class. Sadly, it wasn't a big hit. I think, perhaps, the story didn't happen fast enough for a read-aloud. We decided to abandon it as a class - but I had to finish it. A friend had recommended the series to me and she said her son could often be found giggling away as he read those books.

Here's the summary from Wikipedia:

The story is about Hank, a boy in 4th grade, and it starts off with him getting his first report card - which is not good news. He goes to his mom's deli to show her. While this is going on, his mom is making a special salami to give to a leader of a supermarket chain. Hank decides to get rid of his report card before his parents see it. He gives it to Robert to destroy. Robert puts it in a batch of salami. Once his mom is done making many batches of the salami, she picks the one with the report card in it. Hank and his friends try to put a stop to the delivery but they don't stop the deliveryman in time. While this is going on Hank figures out he has learning problems. In the end Hank begins eating his sandwich while visiting the Press for the large Supermarket chain and gets a business deal for his mom's deli.

Even though it was not a hit as a read aloud, I think I will still try to get a bunch of these books for my library corner. Someone's going to catch on to these, I'm sure!