Category Archives: Memorial

The books purchased from a donation to ACU Brown Library

When You Play the Game of Thrones, You Win or You Die!

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As J.K. Rowling said at the last premiere of Harry Potter, “Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home.” Well, I’m not sure which home in Game of Thrones will be there to welcome you, but hopefully, it’s one that doesn’t murder you as soon as you step on to their lands. Probably, the best outcome you can expect from such a bloody and violent series.

Even though the show is over, there are still two more books we are left waiting for (and waiting and waiting)!

Gif from Tenor “It’s been 84 years” from Titanic

 

A touch dramatic, maybe, but as George R.R. Martin keeps putting off these last two books, fans are left to speculate and analyse the current source material before they become rabid.

Bruce Craven does so in his book Win or Die: Leadership Secrets from Game of Thrones. As stated in the front flap, “One of the great joys of Game of Thrones is strategizing, from the comfort of our sofas, about the bold moves we would make to succeed in the bloody, volatile, epic world of empire-building. As we watch the characters battle for survival, it hits us that even if we don’t face the dire fate of Ned Stark, our real-world leadership challenges can be brutal—and our offices bring little comfort. Every day in our professional lives we are presented with opportunities and challenges. We must decide which roads to follow, which risks to confront, and when to pursue the call to adventure.”

Craven analyzes the journeys of the best and worst leaders in Essos and Westeros, offering the skills and guidance needed to fight his or her own game of thrones. He considers beloved characters such as Arya, Bran, and Sansa Stark, along with Jon Snow, Daenerys Targaryen, and Tyrion Lannister, as they make difficult decisions, weigh the horrible options in front of them, stumble quite a few times, and fight for success, learning and growing along the way.

Craven has used the book series, A Song of Ice and Fire, along with HBO’s adaptation, Game of Thrones, in his MBA and Executive MBA elective Leadership Through Fiction at Columbia Business School. We are fascinated by the stories these characters lead, but we can also learn from these fictional stories and worlds. Each chapter of the book provides challenges faced by the characters, offering frameworks to use in solving the challenges, and in turn, will offer real-world examples that use the frameworks. He goes on to offer exercises to help readers apply the leadership ideas from the characters in their own lives.

Whether your “game of thrones” journey involves leading with adaptability or real live dragons, I’m sure you’ll find the resources needed to become a better leader along the way.

Zelda, one of Social Media’s Favorite Cats

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‘Curiosity is more than a desire to discover. It’s a lifestyle, and a purrvilege. It’s hours of observing a fly on the wall. It’s entering the sock drawer just before it closes. It’s sniffing the lampshade one more time . . .’

Such is the wisdom of Curious Zelda: social media star, agony aunt, yoga teacher, cat. In The Adventures of a Curious Cat, she gives insight into her view of the world and dispenses unparalleled wisdom. Zelda explains, in her unique voice, how to handle humans, how to communicate with furniture, and most importantly how to live a life curiously. It’s the ultimate self-help guide for any cat, or indeed, their human.

Learning and Growth of Students Themselves

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Teacher research is an extension of good teaching, observing students closely, analyzing their needs, and adjusting the curriculum to fit the needs of all. In this completely updated second edition of their definitive work, Ruth Shagoury and Brenda Miller Power present a framework for teacher research along with an extensive collection of narratives from teachers engaged in the process of designing and carrying out research projects to inform their instruction.

This edition includes a greater variety of short contributions from a wide range of teacher-researchers—novices and veterans from all backgrounds and parts of the country—who speak to the growing diversity in today’s classrooms. Threaded throughout the chapters and narratives is a discussion of the emergence of digital tools and their effect on both teaching and the research process, along with an expanded number of reacher designs.

Living the Questions: A Guide for Teacher-Researchers will take you step-by-step through the process of designing, implementing, and publishing your research. Along the way, it will introduce you to dozens of kindred spirits who are finding a new passion for teaching by “living the questions” every day in their classrooms. You will be reminded of why you became a teacher yourself.

Academic Literacy in the Social Sciences

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Academic Literacy in the Social Sciences is an indispensable resource designed to help students succeed in academic contexts. Highly engaging and brimming with practical tools, this comprehensive how-to guide uses evidence-based studying and research strategies to help students better understand and critically evaluate social science research in a world of mass media and misinformation. Vital discussions on issues such as evaluating junk science and fake news help students further navigate the contemporary academic classroom. Taking a multi-disciplinary approach to the social sciences, the complete introduction to academic literacy includes the following features:

APA Guide and Examples – how to cite research and understand (and avoid) plagiarism

Study Tips – how to save time and develop more effective studying strategies based on the latest research

Practical Advice – how to develop a topic for a research paper, conduct a thorough literature search, effectively summarize information, and successfully present findings

Big Brother is Watching

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With little notice or fanfare, our online experience is changing dramatically as the web sites we visit are increasingly tailoring themselves to us. The race to collect as much as personal data as possible is not the defining battle for today’s  Internet giants like Google, Facebook, Apple, and Mircosoft. The Filter Bubble reveals how personalization could undermine the internet’s original purpose as an open platform for the spread of ideas, and leave us all in an isolated, echoing world. Pariser lays out a new vision for the web, one that embraces the benefits of technology without turning a blind eye to its negative consequences, and will ensure that the Internet lives up to its transformative promise for creativity, innovation, and the democratic exchange of ideas.