October 31, 2015

Fixing a Broken School System

Some say our nation’s educational system is completely broken and needs a total makeover. But an expert has strategies she says can fix things fast. Then, is clutter in your home or workplace holding you back? Just about all of us deal with piles of papers and unanswered emails. A clutter-busting professional shares his secrets on cleaning things up.

Episode Segments:

Overloaded and Underprepared Students Denise Pope, co-author of Overloaded and Underprepared explained why parents and teachers should be concerned that many America’s students are stressed out or have given up. She outlined steps that schools can take to provide kids with academic, social and emotional skills needed to succeed in school now and as adults later. She talked about the Challenge Success program at Stanford and how the program is customized for each school in which it is applied.
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Clearing The Clutter Most Americans struggle with clutter and disorganization. Professional organizer Brooks Palmer, author of Clutter Busting: Letting Go of What's Holding You Back and Clutter Busting Your Life: Clearing Physical and Emotional Clutter to Reconnect with Yourself and Others talked about the emotionally suffocating effects of clutter and why people have problems letting go of items they no longer need or use. He offered suggestions for how to get started and how to look at items in a different way to assess whether they are worth keeping.
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Smartphone Data Theft Today’s smartphones hold a wealth of personal, financial and work-related data that thieves would love to get their hands on. So what happens when a phone is lost or stolen? Kevin Haley, Director of Product Management for Symantec Security Response led a research project that intentionally lost 50 phones to see what data was accessed by the finder and whether the phones would be returned to their owners. The results were disconcerting. Mr. Haley offered advice for phone owners to protect their data.
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Guest(s) Appearing on this Episode

Denise Pope Denise Pope, PhD is a senior lecturer at the Stanford University Graduate School of Education. For the past thirteen years, she has specialized in student engagement, curriculum studies, qualitative research methods, and service learning. She founded and served as director of Stressed-Out Students (SOS), the predecessor to Challenge Success. She lectures nationally on parenting techniques and pedagogical strategies to increase student health, engagement with learning, and integrity. Her book Doing School: How We are Creating a Generation of Stressed Out, Materialistic, and Miseducated Students was awarded Notable Book in Education by the American School Board Journal. Denise is a three-time recipient of the Stanford University Graduate School of Education Outstanding Teacher and Mentor Award. She has been featured on CNN, World News Tonight, the Today Show, NPR, among other television and radio programs. Before arriving at Stanford, Denise taught high school English in Fremont, California and college composition at Santa Clara University. Challenge Success.org

Brooks Palmer In his fifteen plus years of Clutter Busting, Brooks has learned first-hand about the intense emotional connection most people have with material possessions, and has consistently found that his way of working with clients allows them to see and let go of internal and external clutter without delving into the psychological reasons behind the clutter. Since 2000, Brooks has been using compassion, awareness, and humor to help thousands of clients rid their lives of clutter and develop habits to keep them clutter free. As a result, thousands of people have gained peace of mind and space in their homes, offices, and lives. Brooks and his work have since been featured in articles in, the New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, Fast Company, Time Out Chicago, Huffington Post, and the Los Angeles Business Journal, on the television shows Raising Whitely (Oprah Winfrey Network), Chicagoing with Bill Campbell, Living Live, and the CBS Channel 2 Nightly News, and on numerous radio shows including The Aware Show and Bruce Barber’s NPR show, and Real Life Survival Guide. Brooks is the best-selling author of Clutter Busting, Letting Go of What’s Holding You Back (New World Library, 2009), and Clutter Busting Your Life: Clearing Physical and Emotional Clutter to Reconnect with Yourself and Others (New World Library, 2012). They have sold over 50,000 copies and have been translated into seven languages. Clutterbusting.com