Musings: for all of those who strive for the ivory tower and beyond ... and sometimes wonder how to get there.
December 29, 2013
December 15, 2013
This really happened
http://news.discovery.com/human/psychology/is-affluenza-a-real-condition-131213.htm
December 13, 2013
University of Iowa
Cheers,
Brady
Tell your friends about
www.findabetterU.com
collegecounseling101.blogspot.com
December 2, 2013
PLEASE READ, PARENTS
--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113
November 26, 2013
And the apocalypse breaks the horizon
--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113
November 24, 2013
November 23, 2013
Success
http://www.npr.org/2013/10/25/240777690/success
--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113
Cool Places to Study and Easy to Live
http://livability.com/top-10/top-10-college-towns-2013/boulder/co
November 20, 2013
Thank goodness
http://www.slate.com/articles/life/education/2013/11/sebastian_thrun_and_udacity_distance_learning_is_unsuccessful_for_most_students.html
--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113
November 12, 2013
They're here!
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113
November 10, 2013
Are colleges searching you online?
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/10/business/they-loved-your-gpa-then-they-saw-your-tweets.html?_r=0
--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113
November 8, 2013
Love these 8
--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113
November 3, 2013
I love this
--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113
Young women and drinking in college
http://www.slate.com/blogs/behold/2013/11/03/amanda_berg_photographs_college_women_binge_drinking_in_her_series_keg_stand.html
--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113
October 30, 2013
College Values
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/28/education/lists-that-rank-colleges-value-are-on-the-rise.html?_r=1&
October 18, 2013
Article for the week
--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113
October 14, 2013
October 11, 2013
October 6, 2013
Gladwell Strikes Again
--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113
October 4, 2013
It's well worth the watch
http://www.fastcocreate.com/3017108/you-need-to-see-this-17-minute-film-set-entirely-on-a-teens-computer-screen
--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113
September 29, 2013
Big changes are ahead
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/29/nyregion/didnt-ace-sat-just-design-microbe-transplant-research.html?ref=education
--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113
Oh no!
http://www.artandeducation.net/paper/emory-university-eradicates-its-visual-arts-department-portending-an-ominous-trend-in-university-education/
--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113
September 28, 2013
Louis C.K.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2013/09/20/louis_c_k_on_smartphones_kids_shouldn_t_have_them_and_life_is_sad_video.html
--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113
August 7, 2013
What a job
Cheers,
Brady
Tell your friends about
www.findabetterU.com
collegecounseling101.blogspot.com
August 3, 2013
The U.C. Process
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/04/education/edlife/lifting-the-veil-on-the-holistic-process-at-the-university-of-california-berkeley.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113
July 29, 2013
There's a key to education in this:
--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113
July 1, 2013
Some professors really DO transform their students
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/21/opinion/brooks-the-humanist-vocation.html?src=recg
--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113
June 8, 2013
Article
Within the first five minutes of talking with any teenager, I will undoubtedly ask some question related to reading. Do they like it or not? Or, perhaps, I ask for names of a few books they've read for pleasure in the past year(s). I ask because I think the answer reveals a lot about the student to me, and also about me to the student. As an aside, I do realize that in educated families very few young people read as regularly as their parents would like. This is typically why I ask the question when the parents are not present- or make clear that the discussion is between just me and the student at the moment. So why do I ask? I ask for the reason stated within the question: do you read? It's an important one as there must be learning going on outside of the traditional classroom and reading is the easiest and most accessible way to do this. If a student tells me that they don't read a lot of books, but they do read Scientific American or National Geographic, for instance, they have offered very insightful information into who they are as an individual and also where their interests lie. At the same time, the students learn from me that I care about their minds and I'm not only interested in the outcome of what will most certainly feel like a very arduous process: the transition from high school to university. At some point I almost always tell teenagers that whether or not they can do math will not define them in their college/university pursuits, but if they don't (like to) read, write or discuss ideas, they'll find themselves fairly hard-pressed to thrive in any classroom.
The fact is most curriculums for literature are outdated and not as relatable as we'd like to think. Why all kids read about Gatsby and Holden Caulfield still, I'm not sure, since there are so many amazing contemporary writer/thinkers, Franzen, Gladwell, Brooks, Levitt, etc … and many others who have created characters much more relevant to the teenagers of today. I insist on getting to know a student well enough so I can refer books which he/she will enjoy. My solution is not to eliminate Catcher in the Rye from mandated curriculum, but rather supplement it with reading that is more relevant to teenagers of the 21st century. So YES! I encourage reading. I basically insist on it. But this is not the only purpose of my question. The response I get tells me a lot about the level of anxiety that the particular student feels (and to be sure, every teenager has anxieties and insecurities which has to do with a growing sense of self-awareness, a defining characteristic of adolescence). More often than not the reply I get is sheepish and embarrassed. This is the beginning of my "diagnosis" (this does not necessarily carry a negative connotation) into issues ranging from lack of confidence to poor time management and all kinds of possibilities along the spectrum in-between. This is when the relationship really begins.
I love to work with teenagers because- though it may surprise most people- they have a fairly accurate understanding of their own intellectual strengths and weaknesses and are open to improving themselves, so long as judgment does not enter the conversation. This makes the relationship a very valuable and rewarding one, especially because these skills, this insight and optimism about intellectual growth, are not taught in schools.
This is the building block of how I work with teenagers and why it's so important for young people to have mentors. I don't claim that every 16, 17 and 18 year old I come across will always have something to learn from me. In fact, too many of my former students seem to be studying and working in fields that are as foreign to me as snow to Miami, but that's not the point. The point is that they are excited to tell me about their academic and professional journeys and explain what I don't understand. They have not only become interested readers (in most, but not all cases) but they appreciate the opportunity to be a teacher and mentor, themselves. If our goal is to create a world that is better connected than the one we currently have (not FB connections but real, human connections) then mentoring and a level of intellectual honesty and openness must be a priority.
June 6, 2013
Too good, please read:
--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113
May 26, 2013
Standardizing stupid
--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113
May 14, 2013
Another ranking ...
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-Issues/2013/0510/The-world-s-top-universities-in-2012/10.-California-Institute-of-Technology-Caltech?cmpid=editorpicks&google_editors_picks=true
--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113
May 13, 2013
Et tu, Brute?
--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113
May 8, 2013
I've heard of crazier things ...
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-08/colleges-soak-poor-u-s-students-while-funneling-aid-to-rich.html?cmpid=yhoo
--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113
May 6, 2013
Emory ...
Cheers,
Brady
Tell your friends about
www.findabetterU.com
collegecounseling101.blogspot.com
May 3, 2013
Reality Check
--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113
May 2, 2013
More MOOCs
Philosophy? Language? History? Music!? Dance? There is value to discussion and human interaction. Why do we choose to move away from the model that has made our higher ed system the strongest and most admired?
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/30/education/colleges-adapt-online-courses-to-ease-burden.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113
April 24, 2013
Amazing insights
I want to code.
--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113
April 23, 2013
more for the MOOC
--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113
April 22, 2013
More on the future of higher ed.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/21/opinion/sunday/bruni-questioning-the-missionof-college.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113
April 19, 2013
Cost vs Value
--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113
April 13, 2013
I want to know this kid
--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113
April 11, 2013
The melt
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/got-now-please-come-232500824.html
--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113
April 9, 2013
Things are changing in higher education
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/04/the-jobs-crisis-at-our-best-law-schools-is-much-much-worse-than-you-think/274795/?google_editors_picks=true
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Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113
April 7, 2013
This is what's happening
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/31/opinion/sunday/friedman-need-a-job-invent-it.html?_r=2&
--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113
April 6, 2013
This makes more sense
Thank you for always making sense, Mr. Brooks!
--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113
What?!
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/05/science/new-test-for-computers-grading-essays-at-college-level.html?smid=fb-share&_r=0
--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113
March 14, 2013
Writing Advice
--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113
February 23, 2013
Reading ...
--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113
February 21, 2013
School System
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/02/09/a-warning-to-college-profs-from-a-high-school-teacher/
--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113
February 19, 2013
Job after college? It helps.
--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113
January 23, 2013
Diversity Graph
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/01/how-americas-top-colleges-reflect-and-massively-distort-the-countrys-racial-evolution/267415/?google_editors_picks=true
--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113