MSI Press Blog

Today's tip for parents from two talented teachers comes from 365 Teacher Secrets for Parents by Cindy McKinley Alder and Patti Trombly.                                                   #140 Be the Character   Be absolutely determined to enjoy what you do. ~Gerry Sikorski   Think about what makes the books you read most interesting. Generally when people enjoy a story they express how fascinating the characters were or how much they could relate to them. Strong characters entice the reader to keep reading. If your child truly comprehends a story she is reading, she will understand the characters and their actions. Try this discussion and writing activity that allows your child to become the character and write a diary entry from the character’s point of view. Have your child choose a main event from a story she is reading. Start a discussion about th...

  Today's meditation from Weekly Soul: Fifty-two Meditations on Meaningful, Joyful, and Peaceful Living by Dr. Frederic Craigie. -20-   The quality of one's life depends on the quality of attention. Whatever you pay attention to will grow more important in your life. Deepak Chopra   Achieving artistic and financial success by the early 1890s, Claude Monet purchased his home in Giverny, France and set to work developing a landscape that would inspire his painting in the last 30 years of his life. He received permission from local authorities to divert water from the Epte River to create a pond for cultivating water lilies. Monet spent long hours in his gardens, tending to them, and joyfully observing the constant unfolding of light, colors, and texture. He commented on his attention to his lily pond:   It took me a while to understand my water lilies. I cultivated them without thinking about painting them. A landscape doesn’t captivate you in just one day. And then, ...

  How Emotions Are Made by Lisa Feldman Barrett argues something that initially sounds almost unbelievable: Emotions are not pre-packaged reactions hidden inside us waiting to “come out.” Instead, the brain constructs emotions. That sounds strange because most of us intuitively think emotions work like reflexes: something happens the brain detects it an emotion fires automatically Barrett argues it is more complicated than that. The Brain as a Prediction Machine Her central idea is that the brain is constantly trying to predict what is happening and what the body needs next. Your brain is not passively receiving reality like a camera. It is actively: interpreting sensory input predicting meaning preparing bodily responses using past experience to make sense of present sensations So when your heart races, stomach tightens, breathing changes, and attention narrows, the brain has to answer: “What does this mean?” And the answer is not always fixed. T...