Period 2 Blog #23

*Your comment post should be at least 400 words this week due Thursday by 11:59 pm (worth 70 points) and you will be responsible for responding (respectfully) to one of your classmates in at least a one paragraph reply entries by Sunday at 11:59 pm (worth 30 points).*

Live & Learn and Pass It On: "I Have Learned. . . "

As the year come to a close, I would like to share one last piece of literature with you.  Below you will find The Dash Poem by Linda Ellis- one of my favorites.  Read and consider the poem carefully- the simple message is definitely thought provoking. .  . after you’ve finished reading, respond to the prompt below.

I read of a man who stood to speak

at the funeral of a friend.

He referred to the dates on her tombstone

from the beginning...to the end.

-

He noted that first came the date of her birth

and spoke of the following date with tears,

but he said what mattered most of all

was the dash between those years.

-

For that dash represents all the time

that she spent alive on earth...

and now only those who loved her

know what that little line is worth.

-

For it matters not, how much we own;

the cars....the house...the cash.

What matters is how we live and love

and how we spend our dash.

-

So think about this long and hard...

are there things you'd like to change?

For you never know how much time is left.

(You could be at "dash midrange.")

-

If we could just slow down enough

to consider what's true and real,

and always try to understand

the way other people feel.

-

And be less quick to anger,

and show appreciation more

and love the people in our lives

like we've never loved before.

-

If we treat each other with respect,

and more often wear a smile...

remembering that this special dash

might only last a little while.

-

So, when your eulogy's being read

with your life's actions to rehash...

would you be proud of the things they

say about how you spend your dash?

Writing Prompt- Consider the title of this blog post “Live & Learn and Pass It On”.  Write about the most valuable lesson you have learned over the course of your life and share it in your response.  Explain how you came to learn this lesson and how it has changed your life.  Most importantly, think and write about this lesson will help you move foreword and do the most with your "dash".

Period 3 Blog #23

*Your comment post should be at least 400 words this week due Thursday by 11:59 pm (worth 70 points) and you will be responsible for responding (respectfully) to one of your classmates in at least a one paragraph reply entries by Sunday at 11:59 pm (worth 30 points).*

Live & Learn and Pass It On: "I Have Learned. . . "

As the year come to a close, I would like to share one last piece of literature with you.  Below you will find The Dash Poem by Linda Ellis- one of my favorites.  Read and consider the poem carefully- the simple message is definitely thought provoking. .  . after you’ve finished reading, respond to the prompt below.

I read of a man who stood to speak

at the funeral of a friend.

He referred to the dates on her tombstone

from the beginning...to the end.

-

He noted that first came the date of her birth

and spoke of the following date with tears,

but he said what mattered most of all

was the dash between those years.

-

For that dash represents all the time

that she spent alive on earth...

and now only those who loved her

know what that little line is worth.

-

For it matters not, how much we own;

the cars....the house...the cash.

What matters is how we live and love

and how we spend our dash.

-

So think about this long and hard...

are there things you'd like to change?

For you never know how much time is left.

(You could be at "dash midrange.")

-

If we could just slow down enough

to consider what's true and real,

and always try to understand

the way other people feel.

-

And be less quick to anger,

and show appreciation more

and love the people in our lives

like we've never loved before.

-

If we treat each other with respect,

and more often wear a smile...

remembering that this special dash

might only last a little while.

-

So, when your eulogy's being read

with your life's actions to rehash...

would you be proud of the things they

say about how you spend your dash?

Writing Prompt- Consider the title of this blog post “Live & Learn and Pass It On”.  Write about the most valuable lesson you have learned over the course of your life and share it in your response.  Explain how you came to learn this lesson and how it has changed your life.  Most importantly, think and write about this lesson will help you move foreword and do the most with your "dash".

Period 9/10 Blog #23

*Your comment post should be at least 400 words this week due Thursday by 11:59 pm (worth 70 points) and you will be responsible for responding (respectfully) to one of your classmates in at least a one paragraph reply entries by Sunday at 11:59 pm (worth 30 points).*

Live & Learn and Pass It On: "I Have Learned. . . "

As the year come to a close, I would like to share one last piece of literature with you.  Below you will find The Dash Poem by Linda Ellis- one of my favorites.  Read and consider the poem carefully- the simple message is definitely thought provoking. .  . after you’ve finished reading, respond to the prompt below.

I read of a man who stood to speak

at the funeral of a friend.

He referred to the dates on her tombstone

from the beginning...to the end.

-

He noted that first came the date of her birth

and spoke of the following date with tears,

but he said what mattered most of all

was the dash between those years.

-

For that dash represents all the time

that she spent alive on earth...

and now only those who loved her

know what that little line is worth.

-

For it matters not, how much we own;

the cars....the house...the cash.

What matters is how we live and love

and how we spend our dash.

-

So think about this long and hard...

are there things you'd like to change?

For you never know how much time is left.

(You could be at "dash midrange.")

-

If we could just slow down enough

to consider what's true and real,

and always try to understand

the way other people feel.

-

And be less quick to anger,

and show appreciation more

and love the people in our lives

like we've never loved before.

-

If we treat each other with respect,

and more often wear a smile...

remembering that this special dash

might only last a little while.

-

So, when your eulogy's being read

with your life's actions to rehash...

would you be proud of the things they

say about how you spend your dash?

Writing Prompt- Consider the title of this blog post “Live & Learn and Pass It On”.  Write about the most valuable lesson you have learned over the course of your life and share it in your response.  Explain how you came to learn this lesson and how it has changed your life.  Most importantly, think and write about this lesson will help you move foreword and do the most with your "dash".

Period 2 Blog #22

Your comment post should be at least 400 words this week due Thursday by 11:59 pm (worth 70 points) and you will be responsible for responding (respectfully) to one of your classmates in at least a one paragraph reply entries by Sunday at 11:59 pm (worth 30 points).

Student Question | What Are Your Earliest Memories of Music?

By SHANNON DOYNE

MAY 9, 2016 5:02 AM May 9, 2016 5:02 am 4

What does that statement mean to you?

David Gonzalez interweaves a story about what music meant to his father as he tells about his own first memory of listening to those songs in the section of the article called “A Bolero Between Father and Son”:

My earliest memory of being alive comes with its own soundtrack. My father, Pedro, used to sit with his battered guitar by the window of our first-floor apartment in the Bronx and slowly pluck out the songs he had learned decades earlier in Puerto Rico.

They were romantic boleros, filled with melancholy and heartbreak, or traditional aguinaldos from his own rural childhood in Caguas.

God, I hated those songs.

During the 1960s, when Puerto Ricans were depicted as knife-wielding know-nothings who would be the downfall of the South Bronx, the last thing I wanted to hear was some corny music that reminded me of where my parents were from. Besides, by the end of that decade I was too enamored of Jimi Hendrix, Creedence and The Guess Who to even give a second thought to papi’s music. So while he tried once to teach me guitar, all I ever learned to play were records.

A few weeks ago, I was driving by Van Cortlandt Park on a sunny morning when one of those old songs popped up randomly. I only had to hear a few notes from the lead guitar to know it was “Noche de Ronda” by Dúo Pérez Rodríguez, one of papi’s favorite groups. With flowery, poetic lyrics, they declared loyalty to a vanished lover, vowing to wait until death.

Waiting. Maybe that was also a theme of papi’s life. He had come here as a teenager to work in factories where, in time, he would lose most of two fingers on his playing hand. No longer able to play leads, he switched to rhythm. He didn’t really talk about that. Nor did he talk much about Puerto Rico, having only gone back to visit once in the mid-1940s after he married my mother.

Music was the link to the island he left behind. Along with his brother Eusebio, and Luis Reyes, a family friend, they would break out the guitars to perform the music of their youth.

Students: Read the entire article, then tell us:

— To what degree do you identify with Mr. Gonzalez’s story of listening to his father’s favorite music from his own childhood?

— Is being a fan of a certain style of music or artists connected to how you see yourself? What about how you view other people? Explain.

— What are your first memories of music? What is the setting for those memories?

— Have your parents, grandparents, other older family members or teachers introduced you to music that they loved when they were younger?

— If so, what artists or musical styles have you “inherited” from them?

— Have you likewise brought new music to older family members? If so, what?

Period 3 Blog #22

Your comment post should be at least 400 words this week due Thursday by 11:59 pm (worth 70 points) and you will be responsible for responding (respectfully) to one of your classmates in at least a one paragraph reply entries by Sunday at 11:59 pm (worth 30 points).

Student Question | What Are Your Earliest Memories of Music?

By SHANNON DOYNE

MAY 9, 2016 5:02 AM May 9, 2016 5:02 am 4

What does that statement mean to you?

David Gonzalez interweaves a story about what music meant to his father as he tells about his own first memory of listening to those songs in the section of the article called “A Bolero Between Father and Son”:

My earliest memory of being alive comes with its own soundtrack. My father, Pedro, used to sit with his battered guitar by the window of our first-floor apartment in the Bronx and slowly pluck out the songs he had learned decades earlier in Puerto Rico.

They were romantic boleros, filled with melancholy and heartbreak, or traditional aguinaldos from his own rural childhood in Caguas.

God, I hated those songs.

During the 1960s, when Puerto Ricans were depicted as knife-wielding know-nothings who would be the downfall of the South Bronx, the last thing I wanted to hear was some corny music that reminded me of where my parents were from. Besides, by the end of that decade I was too enamored of Jimi Hendrix, Creedence and The Guess Who to even give a second thought to papi’s music. So while he tried once to teach me guitar, all I ever learned to play were records.

A few weeks ago, I was driving by Van Cortlandt Park on a sunny morning when one of those old songs popped up randomly. I only had to hear a few notes from the lead guitar to know it was “Noche de Ronda” by Dúo Pérez Rodríguez, one of papi’s favorite groups. With flowery, poetic lyrics, they declared loyalty to a vanished lover, vowing to wait until death.

Waiting. Maybe that was also a theme of papi’s life. He had come here as a teenager to work in factories where, in time, he would lose most of two fingers on his playing hand. No longer able to play leads, he switched to rhythm. He didn’t really talk about that. Nor did he talk much about Puerto Rico, having only gone back to visit once in the mid-1940s after he married my mother.

Music was the link to the island he left behind. Along with his brother Eusebio, and Luis Reyes, a family friend, they would break out the guitars to perform the music of their youth.

Students: Read the entire article, then tell us:

— To what degree do you identify with Mr. Gonzalez’s story of listening to his father’s favorite music from his own childhood?

— Is being a fan of a certain style of music or artists connected to how you see yourself? What about how you view other people? Explain.

— What are your first memories of music? What is the setting for those memories?

— Have your parents, grandparents, other older family members or teachers introduced you to music that they loved when they were younger?

— If so, what artists or musical styles have you “inherited” from them?

— Have you likewise brought new music to older family members? If so, what?

Period 9/10 Blog #22

Your comment post should be at least 400 words this week due Thursday by 11:59 pm (worth 70 points) and you will be responsible for responding (respectfully) to one of your classmates in at least a one paragraph reply entries by Sunday at 11:59 pm (worth 30 points).

Student Question | What Are Your Earliest Memories of Music?

By SHANNON DOYNE

MAY 9, 2016 5:02 AM May 9, 2016 5:02 am 4

What does that statement mean to you?

David Gonzalez interweaves a story about what music meant to his father as he tells about his own first memory of listening to those songs in the section of the article called “A Bolero Between Father and Son”:

My earliest memory of being alive comes with its own soundtrack. My father, Pedro, used to sit with his battered guitar by the window of our first-floor apartment in the Bronx and slowly pluck out the songs he had learned decades earlier in Puerto Rico.

They were romantic boleros, filled with melancholy and heartbreak, or traditional aguinaldos from his own rural childhood in Caguas.

God, I hated those songs.

During the 1960s, when Puerto Ricans were depicted as knife-wielding know-nothings who would be the downfall of the South Bronx, the last thing I wanted to hear was some corny music that reminded me of where my parents were from. Besides, by the end of that decade I was too enamored of Jimi Hendrix, Creedence and The Guess Who to even give a second thought to papi’s music. So while he tried once to teach me guitar, all I ever learned to play were records.

A few weeks ago, I was driving by Van Cortlandt Park on a sunny morning when one of those old songs popped up randomly. I only had to hear a few notes from the lead guitar to know it was “Noche de Ronda” by Dúo Pérez Rodríguez, one of papi’s favorite groups. With flowery, poetic lyrics, they declared loyalty to a vanished lover, vowing to wait until death.

Waiting. Maybe that was also a theme of papi’s life. He had come here as a teenager to work in factories where, in time, he would lose most of two fingers on his playing hand. No longer able to play leads, he switched to rhythm. He didn’t really talk about that. Nor did he talk much about Puerto Rico, having only gone back to visit once in the mid-1940s after he married my mother.

Music was the link to the island he left behind. Along with his brother Eusebio, and Luis Reyes, a family friend, they would break out the guitars to perform the music of their youth.

Students: Read the entire article, then tell us:

— To what degree do you identify with Mr. Gonzalez’s story of listening to his father’s favorite music from his own childhood?

— Is being a fan of a certain style of music or artists connected to how you see yourself? What about how you view other people? Explain.

— What are your first memories of music? What is the setting for those memories?

— Have your parents, grandparents, other older family members or teachers introduced you to music that they loved when they were younger?

— If so, what artists or musical styles have you “inherited” from them?

— Have you likewise brought new music to older family members? If so, what?

Period 2 Blog #21

Your comment post should be at least 400 words this week due Thursday by 11:59 pm (worth 70 points) and you will be responsible for responding (respectfully) to one of your classmates in at least a one paragraph reply entries by Sunday at 11:59 pm (worth 30 points).

Please respond to the following quote:

*Explain what you believe the meaning to be behind this quote. What is the message Hemingway is trying to get across to the reader?

*Explain how this quote relates to a character we have read about this year. Use examples from the book whichever character you chose is from in order to support your opinion.

Period 3 Blog #21

Your comment post should be at least 400 words this week due Thursday by 11:59 pm (worth 70 points) and you will be responsible for responding (respectfully) to one of your classmates in at least a one paragraph reply entries by Sunday at 11:59 pm (worth 30 points).

Please respond to the following quote:

*Explain what you believe the meaning to be behind this quote. What is the message Hemingway is trying to get across to the reader?

*Explain how this quote relates to a character we have read about this year. Use examples from the book whichever character you chose is from in order to support your opinion.

Period 9/10 Blog #21

Your comment post should be at least 400 words this week due Thursday by 11:59 pm (worth 70 points) and you will be responsible for responding (respectfully) to one of your classmates in at least a one paragraph reply entries by Sunday at 11:59 pm (worth 30 points).

Please respond to the following quote:

*Explain what you believe the meaning to be behind this quote. What is the message Hemingway is trying to get across to the reader?

*Explain how this quote relates to a character we have read about this year. Use examples from the book whichever character you chose is from in order to support your opinion.

Period 2 Blog #20

Your comment post should be at least 400 words this week due Thursday by 11:59 pm (worth 70 points) and you will be responsible for responding (respectfully) to one of your classmates in at least a one paragraph reply entries by Sunday at 11:59 pm (worth 30 points). 

Student Question | Should We Be Privy to the Lives of Celebrities’ Children?

By 

SHANNON DOYNE

 APRIL 18, 2016 5:02 AM April 18, 2016 5:02 am

Blue Ivy, North West, Max Zuckerberg — the children of celebrities are often in the public eye, to the delight of their parents’ fans.

What do you think about this trend? Do you like knowing about — and seeing photographs of — the children of the famous? Is it fair to the children?

In “The Right to Privacy for Children Online,” Teddy Wayne expresses his opinion on celebrities who write about, share photographs or videos of or otherwise incorporate their children into offerings for their fans — and potential customers:

If I had a friend who told me he was starting a business named after his young child, I might find it cute, perhaps even touching. If he were using his son’s or daughter’s likeness as the logo (à la the Wendy’s franchise), I could understand how that might be fine, though I’d wonder how his offspring might react later to seeing his cartoon image plastered ubiquitously.

But if he also cast his child in commercials, and that was on top of a web campaign in which the little boy or girl was otherwise a prominent fixture, and if my friend already inhaled the rarefied air of the ultrarich and I suspected the deployment of the adorable tyke was a strategic showcase for his own relatability as a normal parent and a measure to downplay the crass commercialism of the enterprise — well, then I might be concerned.

And yet many parents on social media are doing much the same thing, albeit in less conspicuous fashion, and usually with a goal of praise, not profits.

We, too, are using our children on the Internet to burnish our personal brands, from the C.E.O. who wants to let everyone know she still takes the time to attend her child’s piano recital to the stay-at-home caregiver wanting recognition for his exhausting work.

… Less pettily, there are serious questions to be asked here about privacy and consent. For most children raised in analog eras, embarrassing Polaroids and stories were small-scale mortifications at worst. But now the possibility of mass exposure looms, and while most conscientious parents know better than to circulate, say, a photo of a child bathing, they do distribute other data that the young subject may someday wish had been kept confidential.

“It’s hard enough to get through puberty,” Amy Webb wrote, in a widely read 2013 essay on Slate, about a friend’s unfettered Facebook pictures of her 5-year-old daughter. “Why make hundreds of embarrassing, searchable photos freely available to her prospective homecoming dates?”

The 5-year-old clearly cannot approve with full understanding the uploading of these images, just as the only way Blue Ivy can refuse to endorse her mother’s marketing campaign is by throwing a temper tantrum. We have strict child labor laws, and I am certain that any applicable ones were upheld during Blue Ivy’s cameo. (I also imagine that she had fun.)

---

Students: Read the entire article, then tell us:

— Do you think celebrities use their children to “burnish their personal brands”?

— Do noncelebrity parents do the same thing, albeit on a smaller scale? Explain.

— Are you interested in what celebrities broadcast about their children? Why or why not?

— Do your parents use social media, and if so, do they share things about you and your siblings?

— If so, how do you feel about the way they portray you or the things they publicize about you?

Period 3 Blog #20

Your comment post should be at least 400 words this week due Thursday by 11:59 pm (worth 70 points) and you will be responsible for responding (respectfully) to one of your classmates in at least a one paragraph reply entries by Sunday at 11:59 pm (worth 30 points). 

Student Question | Should We Be Privy to the Lives of Celebrities’ Children?

By 

SHANNON DOYNE

 APRIL 18, 2016 5:02 AM April 18, 2016 5:02 am

Blue Ivy, North West, Max Zuckerberg — the children of celebrities are often in the public eye, to the delight of their parents’ fans.

What do you think about this trend? Do you like knowing about — and seeing photographs of — the children of the famous? Is it fair to the children?

In “The Right to Privacy for Children Online,” Teddy Wayne expresses his opinion on celebrities who write about, share photographs or videos of or otherwise incorporate their children into offerings for their fans — and potential customers:

If I had a friend who told me he was starting a business named after his young child, I might find it cute, perhaps even touching. If he were using his son’s or daughter’s likeness as the logo (à la the Wendy’s franchise), I could understand how that might be fine, though I’d wonder how his offspring might react later to seeing his cartoon image plastered ubiquitously.

But if he also cast his child in commercials, and that was on top of a web campaign in which the little boy or girl was otherwise a prominent fixture, and if my friend already inhaled the rarefied air of the ultrarich and I suspected the deployment of the adorable tyke was a strategic showcase for his own relatability as a normal parent and a measure to downplay the crass commercialism of the enterprise — well, then I might be concerned.

And yet many parents on social media are doing much the same thing, albeit in less conspicuous fashion, and usually with a goal of praise, not profits.

We, too, are using our children on the Internet to burnish our personal brands, from the C.E.O. who wants to let everyone know she still takes the time to attend her child’s piano recital to the stay-at-home caregiver wanting recognition for his exhausting work.

… Less pettily, there are serious questions to be asked here about privacy and consent. For most children raised in analog eras, embarrassing Polaroids and stories were small-scale mortifications at worst. But now the possibility of mass exposure looms, and while most conscientious parents know better than to circulate, say, a photo of a child bathing, they do distribute other data that the young subject may someday wish had been kept confidential.

“It’s hard enough to get through puberty,” Amy Webb wrote, in a widely read 2013 essay on Slate, about a friend’s unfettered Facebook pictures of her 5-year-old daughter. “Why make hundreds of embarrassing, searchable photos freely available to her prospective homecoming dates?”

The 5-year-old clearly cannot approve with full understanding the uploading of these images, just as the only way Blue Ivy can refuse to endorse her mother’s marketing campaign is by throwing a temper tantrum. We have strict child labor laws, and I am certain that any applicable ones were upheld during Blue Ivy’s cameo. (I also imagine that she had fun.)

---

Students: Read the entire article, then tell us:

— Do you think celebrities use their children to “burnish their personal brands”?

— Do noncelebrity parents do the same thing, albeit on a smaller scale? Explain.

— Are you interested in what celebrities broadcast about their children? Why or why not?

— Do your parents use social media, and if so, do they share things about you and your siblings?

— If so, how do you feel about the way they portray you or the things they publicize about you?

Period 9/10 Blog #20

Your comment post should be at least 400 words this week due Thursday by 11:59 pm (worth 70 points) and you will be responsible for responding (respectfully) to one of your classmates in at least a one paragraph reply entries by Sunday at 11:59 pm (worth 30 points). 

Student Question | Should We Be Privy to the Lives of Celebrities’ Children?

By 

SHANNON DOYNE

 APRIL 18, 2016 5:02 AM April 18, 2016 5:02 am

Blue Ivy, North West, Max Zuckerberg — the children of celebrities are often in the public eye, to the delight of their parents’ fans.

What do you think about this trend? Do you like knowing about — and seeing photographs of — the children of the famous? Is it fair to the children?

In “The Right to Privacy for Children Online,” Teddy Wayne expresses his opinion on celebrities who write about, share photographs or videos of or otherwise incorporate their children into offerings for their fans — and potential customers:

If I had a friend who told me he was starting a business named after his young child, I might find it cute, perhaps even touching. If he were using his son’s or daughter’s likeness as the logo (à la the Wendy’s franchise), I could understand how that might be fine, though I’d wonder how his offspring might react later to seeing his cartoon image plastered ubiquitously.

But if he also cast his child in commercials, and that was on top of a web campaign in which the little boy or girl was otherwise a prominent fixture, and if my friend already inhaled the rarefied air of the ultrarich and I suspected the deployment of the adorable tyke was a strategic showcase for his own relatability as a normal parent and a measure to downplay the crass commercialism of the enterprise — well, then I might be concerned.

And yet many parents on social media are doing much the same thing, albeit in less conspicuous fashion, and usually with a goal of praise, not profits.

We, too, are using our children on the Internet to burnish our personal brands, from the C.E.O. who wants to let everyone know she still takes the time to attend her child’s piano recital to the stay-at-home caregiver wanting recognition for his exhausting work.

… Less pettily, there are serious questions to be asked here about privacy and consent. For most children raised in analog eras, embarrassing Polaroids and stories were small-scale mortifications at worst. But now the possibility of mass exposure looms, and while most conscientious parents know better than to circulate, say, a photo of a child bathing, they do distribute other data that the young subject may someday wish had been kept confidential.

“It’s hard enough to get through puberty,” Amy Webb wrote, in a widely read 2013 essay on Slate, about a friend’s unfettered Facebook pictures of her 5-year-old daughter. “Why make hundreds of embarrassing, searchable photos freely available to her prospective homecoming dates?”

The 5-year-old clearly cannot approve with full understanding the uploading of these images, just as the only way Blue Ivy can refuse to endorse her mother’s marketing campaign is by throwing a temper tantrum. We have strict child labor laws, and I am certain that any applicable ones were upheld during Blue Ivy’s cameo. (I also imagine that she had fun.)

---

Students: Read the entire article, then tell us:

— Do you think celebrities use their children to “burnish their personal brands”?

— Do noncelebrity parents do the same thing, albeit on a smaller scale? Explain.

— Are you interested in what celebrities broadcast about their children? Why or why not?

— Do your parents use social media, and if so, do they share things about you and your siblings?

— If so, how do you feel about the way they portray you or the things they publicize about you?

Period 2 Blog #19

Student Question | What Makes You Happy?

By Michael Gonchar

April 7, 2016 5:00 am April 7, 2016 5:00 am 

What makes you happy?

Have you figured out the things in life that truly make you happy? Have those things changed as you’ve gotten older?

In “The Keys to Happiness,” Victoria Shannon reports on what we know about how to achieve happiness, according to recent research and expert advice:

Make Friends and Family a Priority …
One of the longest-running studies on living well and happily emphasizes the importance of your relationships with family, friends and spouses.

… Especially on Weekends
Busy lives can get in the way of happiness. Our feeling of well-being peaks on weekends, largely because of more time spent with friends and family, this academic says.

Income Equality Helps (So Move to Scandinavia)
National unhappiness is strongly associated with a country’s social inequality, research shows. One index finds that Scandinavia, a place with a wide and broad social net, is the location of the world’s happiest countries.

Gratitude Does, Too
Pharrell Williams, the star behind the 2014 hit music video “Happy,” on the happiness phenomenon: ”If you’re grateful, you can find happiness in everything.”

The Health Factor
A correlation between happiness and good health has been evident for centuries. But which comes first? Does robust health lead to a good mood or the reverse?

It’s Really Good for Kids
Happy kids learn faster, think more creatively, tend to be more resilient in the face of failures, have stronger relationships and make friends more easily.

Well, most of them. Fifteen-year-old girls were found to be the unhappiest group in this report last month on boys and girls.

Don’t Overdo It
Happiness engineers, chief fun officers, ministers of happiness … there’s evidence that “fungineering” at work might have precisely the opposite effect: making people miserable.

And Don’t Obsess About It
Four academics discuss whether the pursuit of happiness is an unhealthy preoccupation.

If All Else Fails, Fake It
Can you fake your way to confidence and happiness? You can, if you “just say yes,” advise self-help books by Amy Cuddy and Shonda Rhimes.

Students: Read the entire article, then tell us:

— What recent moments of happiness have you experienced, whether large or small? What do you think made them so satisfying?

— Have you figured out a “magic formula” for happiness that works for you? What are the ingredients? Do you think those ingredients will change as you get older?

— Look through the list that Ms. Shannon compiled? What is your reaction? Did anything surprise you?

Period 3 Blog #19

Student Question | What Makes You Happy?

By Michael Gonchar

April 7, 2016 5:00 am April 7, 2016 5:00 am 

What makes you happy?

Have you figured out the things in life that truly make you happy? Have those things changed as you’ve gotten older?

In “The Keys to Happiness,” Victoria Shannon reports on what we know about how to achieve happiness, according to recent research and expert advice:

Make Friends and Family a Priority …
One of the longest-running studies on living well and happily emphasizes the importance of your relationships with family, friends and spouses.

… Especially on Weekends
Busy lives can get in the way of happiness. Our feeling of well-being peaks on weekends, largely because of more time spent with friends and family, this academic says.

Income Equality Helps (So Move to Scandinavia)
National unhappiness is strongly associated with a country’s social inequality, research shows. One index finds that Scandinavia, a place with a wide and broad social net, is the location of the world’s happiest countries.

Gratitude Does, Too
Pharrell Williams, the star behind the 2014 hit music video “Happy,” on the happiness phenomenon: ”If you’re grateful, you can find happiness in everything.”

The Health Factor
A correlation between happiness and good health has been evident for centuries. But which comes first? Does robust health lead to a good mood or the reverse?

It’s Really Good for Kids
Happy kids learn faster, think more creatively, tend to be more resilient in the face of failures, have stronger relationships and make friends more easily.

Well, most of them. Fifteen-year-old girls were found to be the unhappiest group in this report last month on boys and girls.

Don’t Overdo It
Happiness engineers, chief fun officers, ministers of happiness … there’s evidence that “fungineering” at work might have precisely the opposite effect: making people miserable.

And Don’t Obsess About It
Four academics discuss whether the pursuit of happiness is an unhealthy preoccupation.

If All Else Fails, Fake It
Can you fake your way to confidence and happiness? You can, if you “just say yes,” advise self-help books by Amy Cuddy and Shonda Rhimes.

Students: Read the entire article, then tell us:

— What recent moments of happiness have you experienced, whether large or small? What do you think made them so satisfying?

— Have you figured out a “magic formula” for happiness that works for you? What are the ingredients? Do you think those ingredients will change as you get older?

— Look through the list that Ms. Shannon compiled? What is your reaction? Did anything surprise you?