Author Archives: meredithnelson1@bellsouth.net

Poverty Mindset

An AHA Moment

I recently asked my husband to buy a bouquet of flowers for the dining room table. He looked at me askance and asked: “Why — we aren’t having anyone over for a while?” I was overcome by an aha moment. “That is a POVERTY MINDSET“, I replied. “Why not have beautiful flowers on the table to brighten our house and our moods?”

I think most of us are guilty of this kind of thinking from time to time. I know I am. I am naturally very shy. It is much easier for me to ignore someone on the street than to make an effort to say hello. I am very aware that this can make me seem snobby. However, I have no trouble convincing myself that so and so won’t remember me or that I am in too much of a hurry to stop.

What Does it Mean?

I first came across this concept in a feng shui book by Stephanie Roberts. Ms Roberts talks about having a poverty consciousness. Her basic concept is that regardless of how much or little you actually have, your attitude and actions are more powerful indicators of your self-worth than anything else.

I particularly love her spin on the power of positive thinking. Quite simple, happy people are not optimistic simply because they are happy. They are happy, in part, because they think and talk in a positive manner. Conversely, people who project a “woe is me” attitude are not necessarily negative because they are unhappy, but may well be unhappy in part because they habitually think and talk themselves down. Think of the difference between someone who fixates on “things would be better if I only had x” versus someone who approaches each day thinking “I am so lucky that I have y.”

Thinking about the importance of attitude and outlook, led me back to Carol S. Dweck’s book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. Ms. Dweck talks about two different mindsets: fixed and growth. Those with a fixed mindset tend to believe that things are what they are. People have certain strengths and weaknesses and need to work within those confines. In other words, you are good at some things and not so good at others. Those with a growth mindset, on the other hand, believe that skills and accomplishments are cultivated through perseverance and effort. You never know what is possible if you commit to trying your best over the long term……

Mindset and Actual Poverty

While I think mindset matters for all of us, I believe it has particularly important ramifications for those who are truly struggling. It is easy to throw around the term “poverty”. Believe me, I do not mean to be cavalier about it. Quite the opposite. I have been tutoring elementary school children since my eldest started kindergarten. I have always gravitated towards those students who are struggling, and who, with some extra help and encouragement, can grasp a concept and keep up with their class.

Many of these kids face immense challenges like hunger, instability and little parental support. These challenges are often coupled with a negative mindset. “School is hard.” “I can’t do it”. As a tutor, I am growing increasingly conscious of how I speak to my students. My role is not only to help them pass a test, but also to help shift their mindset so that they start believing that if they work hard they will start to understand and that they can do it.

This is only one small piece of the poverty puzzle, but since every piece counts, any step towards taking poverty out of one’s mindset is a step forward, in my opinion.

Fireworks at CAM Raleigh

It’s That Time Again……

Courtesy of CAM Raleigh

Arthouse is just around the corner. What is Arthouse you ask? None other than CAM Raleigh’s annual signature fundraiser, which, as always, will be an extraordinary gathering of 500 supporters. Read on, and see why you want to join us there on Friday 8 May!!

What makes this year so special?

We have been big supporters of CAM Raleigh for a long-time. I believe that the arts play an important part in education and in giving a community soul. CAM does both these things and it has been exciting to see the museum grow and entrench itself in the downtown Raleigh scene.

Contemporary art is known for its ability to challenge the mind and push boundaries. If anyone had any doubts about CAM’s commitment to doing this, the museum’s current exhibit, Wonderland, surely displaced them.

Party Boat by Sarah Anne Johnson at CAM Raleigh

Wonderland is Canadian Sarah Anne Johnson’s mid-career retrospective. Her work is an amazing hybrid between the real and the imagined. It ranges from photographs, to sculpture, to choreography. It is at the same time beautiful and disturbing. Interesting to most, but not appropriate for all. I think this article from the News and Observer sums it up well!

This exhibit is a coup on a couple of levels. First, it has generated buzz around CAM like never before. Everyone who has visited has been moved, and is curious to know what the museum will come up with next. Second, it speaks volumes about Raleigh’s own transformation from a somewhat quiet southern town to an emerging vibrant centre that a foreign artist would choose CAM for this retrospective. So much for “Turning Down Raleigh’s charm”!

Celebrate in Style

Arthouse promises to be even more fabulous than ever this year. Not only is the event following Wonderland, but Sarah Anne Johnson herself is coming. How cool is that: artist comes to town, makes big splash, comes back to help raise money for transformative museum….

Don’t wait — get your tickets today!!

Measuring What Matters

Pulling Teeth

Results-based performance measurement is a dirty word. At least it used to be. Years ago I was involved in a multitude of projects aimed at moving Canadian government departments away from counting widgets and towards measuring what matters. RESULTS!!

Many workshops went something like this:

Consultant: How do you know that your program is making a difference?

Stakeholder: Because we serve x number a given community.

Consultant: But how do you know that you are meeting their needs?

Stakeholder: We just know that what we are doing is important.

One of the hardest projects that I ever worked on was for a small program that faced losing its funding if it couldn’t develop a results-based performance model. Helping these stakeholders re-define their business in terms of results was like pulling teeth. We helped them renew their funding. I don’t believe we convinced them that the model would help them deliver their program.

A Commitment to Measuring Results

You can imagine my delight on hearing the Chief of Staff and Strategic Planning for Wake County Public Schools, Dr Marvin Connelly, present the district’s commitment to measuring its results!

Dr Connelly talked about Wake County’s determination to measure whether or not the school system is creating productive citizens. In other words, the high-school graduation rate alone tells you nothing about whether or not students learned what they needed to in school. Instead, it is much more instructive to look at how they are doing in the real world.

Dr Connelly threw out some possible measures:

do former students vote?
how many freshman within the UNC system are enrolled in remedial classes?
are WCPSS students graduating from college?

Making it Count

As a parent with three children in the public school system I am deeply invested in the district following through on this commitment to shift towards measuring results. However, I believe that until this commitment shifts down into the classroom it will be a challenge to produce the productive citizens we need our children to become.

In my perfect world, the net effect of the implementation of results-based management in schools will be a shift away from using test scores as THE metric towards a more well-rounded assessment of both how well students and their teachers are doing. A teacher at my children’s elementary school shared a wonderful article from the Boston Globe that sets-out seven things kids need to master. These skills include: reading, having a conversation and asking questions. Would I ever love to facilitate a workshop focused on developing metrics to measure these things!!

Let me tell you, you don’t need to hire a consultant to tell teachers that a simple test-score does not measure what matters most in the classroom: whether or not children are actually learning and growing. I look forward to the day we start measuring that!

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