Worst Enemy Best Teacher

Worst Enemy, Best Teacher presents a powerful system to identify and learn how to best approach the person or problem that plagues us most — whether it’s a neighbor, a brother-in-law, a new boss, or the factory’s fiercest competitor — Combs breaks down problems and threats into more easily understood categories, such as conflicts that threaten physical harm, emotional pain, constriction of one’s ability to be unique, and intellectual threats and how they affect one’s world view and beliefs. Hands-on exercises, parables, and real-life stories show readers how to apply the wisdom gained from studying the opponent to any challenge, whether within one’s self, with friends or family, or between companies or nations, Worst Enemy, Best Teacher offers ingenious tips and techniques for learning from the enemy and converting conflict into resolution.

Friends broaden our children’s horizons, share their joys and secrets, and accompany them on their journeys into ever wider worlds. But friends can also gossip and betray, tease and exclude. Children can cause untold suffering, not only for their peers but for parents as well. In this wise and insightful book, psychologist Michael Thompson, Ph.D., and children’s book author Catherine O’Neill Grace, illuminate the crucial and often hidden role that friendship plays in the lives of children from birth through adolescence. Drawing on fascinating new research as well as their own extensive experience in schools, Thompson and Grace demonstrate that children’s friendships begin early–in infancy–and run exceptionally deep in intensity and loyalty. As children grow, their friendships become more complex and layered but also more emotionally fraught, marked by both extraordinary intimacy and bewildering cruelty. As parents, we watch, and often live through vicariously, the tumult that our children experience as they encounter the “cool” crowd, shifting alliances, bullies, and disloyal best friends. Best Friends, Worst Enemies brings to life the drama of childhood relationships, guiding parents to a deeper understanding of the motives and meanings of social behavior. Here you will find penetrating discussions of the difference between friendship and popularity, how boys and girls deal in unique ways with intimacy and commitment, whether all kids need a best friend, why cliques form and what you can do about them. Filled with anecdotes that ring amazingly true to life, Best Friends, Worst Enemies probes the magic and the heartbreak that all children experience with their friends. Parents, teachers, counselors–indeed anyone who cares about children–will find this an eye-opening and wonderfully affirming book.

Aida is planning to go to university and study science to get a practical in-demand job. However, there is a catch: Aida is a talented actress. When a famous theatre school invites her to audition for a spot, Aida's friends and relatives are excited about the opportunity. Everyone has advice for her, but Aida must make her own decision about her future. Her Own Worst Enemy is part of the Integrated Skills Through Drama series that teaches speaking and communication skills through the performance of a one-act play. This flexible curriculum is perfect for a class project, elective course, or drama club. As students prepare to perform the play, they study intonation and pronunciation skills such as sentence and word stress for meaning. They learn about body language and gesture as ways to communicate. They analyze the script as a work of literature and also mine it for language and rhetorical strategies to encourage someone, give advice, tease a friend and respond to teasing and talking through an issue. And they learn to apply those strategies to their performance and to real-life situations. A variety of performance options are featured, including Reader’s Theater. Background readings discussing the benefits of the Liberal Arts and STEM majors, as well as profiles of a computer programmer and an opera director round out the curriculum. A number of creative writing projects to rewrite the script, adapt the play, or even write a sequel allow you to extend the learning further. Your students will look forward to class with this innovative resource that utilizes drama in language teaching!

For fans of Andrew Smith and Frank Portman and the movies Election and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off comes a hilarious and satirical novel about the highs and (very low) lows of the electoral process, proving that the popular vote is the one that matters most. Stacey Wynn was the clear front-runner for Lincoln High student council president. But then French-Canadian transfer student Julia Romero entered the race…and put the moves on Stacey’s best friend/campaign adviser, Brian. Stacey also didn’t count on Tony Guo, resident stoner, whose sole focus is on removing the school’s ban of his favorite chocolate milk, becoming the voice of the little guy, thanks to a freshman political “mastermind” with a blue Mohawk. Three candidates, three platforms, and a whirlwind of social media, gaffes, high school drama, and protests make for a ridiculously hilarious political circus that just may hold some poignant truth somewhere in the mix.

Yikes! As if being the new girl isn't bad enough, Charlotte just made the biggest cafeteria blunder in the history of Abigail Adams Junior High. There's no way that Katani, Avery, and Maeve will want anything to do with her now. Can a mysterious landlady, a romantic evening gone wrong, and a cryptic key to nowhere help four very different girls become the best of friends? Or will they remain worst enemies forever?

The Way of Conflict teaches strategies for using ancient wisdom and modern techniques to confidently engage in any dispute and reach a balanced resolution. This groundbreaking book integrates the wealth of conflict skills found throughout the world’s major religious and indigenous traditions with the latest scientific systems and conflict resolution theory. It uses the cross-cultural metaphor of the four natural elements — earth, water, fire, and air — to identify the innate conflict personality types and propose a productive path through the chaos of conflict. Combining her extensive experience as a licensed mediator and corporate trainer with wisdom gained from years of spiritual study, Combs uses assessment tests, anecdotes from indigenous and religious traditions, and illustrative folktales to show how to quickly assess a conflict and implement an appropriate resolution strategy.

A detailed guide to overcoming the most frequently encountered psychological pitfalls of investing Bias, emotion, and overconfidence are just three of the many behavioral traits that can lead investors to lose money or achieve lower returns. Behavioral finance, which recognizes that there is a psychological element to all investor decision-making, can help you overcome this obstacle. In The Little Book of Behavioral Investing, expert James Montier takes you through some of the most important behavioral challenges faced by investors. Montier reveals the most common psychological barriers, clearly showing how emotion, overconfidence, and a multitude of other behavioral traits, can affect investment decision-making. Offers time-tested ways to identify and avoid the pitfalls of investor bias Author James Montier is one of the world's foremost behavioral analysts Discusses how to learn from our investment mistakes instead of repeating them Explores the behavioral principles that will allow you to maintain a successful investment portfolio Written in a straightforward and accessible style, The Little Book of Behavioral Investing will enable you to identify and eliminate behavioral traits that can hinder your investment endeavors and show you how to go about achieving superior returns in the process. Praise for The Little Book Of Behavioral Investing "The Little Book of Behavioral Investing is an important book for anyone who is interested in understanding the ways that human nature and financial markets interact." —Dan Ariely, James B. Duke Professor of Behavioral Economics, Duke University, and author of Predictably Irrational "In investing, success means¿being on the right side of most trades. No book provides a better starting point toward that goal than this one." —Bruce Greenwald, Robert Heilbrunn Professor of Finance and Asset Management, Columbia Business School "'Know thyself.' Overcoming human instinct is key to becoming a better investor.¿ You would be irrational if you did not read this book." —Edward Bonham-Carter, Chief Executive and Chief Investment Officer, Jupiter Asset Management "There is not an investor anywhere who wouldn't profit from reading this book." —Jeff Hochman, Director of Technical Strategy, Fidelity Investment Services Limited "James Montier gives us a very accessible version of why we as investors are so predictably irrational, and a guide to help us channel our 'Inner Spock' to make better investment decisions. Bravo!" —John Mauldin, President, Millennium Wave Investments

Babblings of a Burned Out Teacher, Book Description There are many “experts” in our country that know what is exactly wrong with education, and they have the ideas to make it right. The sad thing is that many of these “experts” have spent very little time, if any in a school. It’s like having an operation with your surgeon only have seen a 15 to 20 second clip on how to complete the operation, if they have seen that much. It’s very easy to sit on the sidelines or in the stands and tell someone what to do and how to do it. That’s today’s society, it’s easier to complain about the situation rather than do something about it. There are plenty of items and people that are wrong with education who are working some how in education. This book discusses many of these people. You have people in every group dealing with education that have their own agenda and will do anything to get their ideas and agenda through. People need to be able to recognize those people who have the “hidden agenda” and get them out of the educational process. Education needs to be the quest for being self-sufficient. The educated person will be able to provide for themselves and their family. Education should provide people with skills to be able to solve problems they encounter. Today’s school systems are more interested in having their students become game show contestants rather than problem solvers. Schools are more interested on making sure students can answer questions on standardized tests, instead of teaching them skills they will be able to use later in life. The short term often is more important that long term, not just in education, but for many facets of life. Education should not be a means to learn how to beat or play the system. I have written several stories that can make you laugh or cry. When you are working with children, you experience many valleys and mountain tops. That’s just the nature of education. I have been in education for the past 25 years in some capacity or another. During this time I’ve been a teacher’s aide to principal in public schools. I have taught students from pre-school students to seniors. The students ranged from severe and profound to students who are quite gifted and talented. I can’t count the number of Individual Education Plans that I have attended. Some of my students could look at a book and get a 100% on a test over the contents of the book without reading it. In education, you teach students who run the spectrum of ability. Reading this book, you need to realize the students are talented in different areas. A student who likes science might not be the best at physical education. Students are just like everyone else in society, they have their own unique skills, talents and abilities. As Americans, we can use these to our advantage. We can find a career that best fits the skills, talents, and abilities we possess. Coaching offered me another aspect of education. Being a coach, you need to be aware of the politics involved. The best part of coaching is working with the student/athlete and other coaches. Practices and games are a blast! You get to get to see and interact with student/athletes in an atmosphere outside of the classroom. A high school coach should not be judged on their win/loss record. Not every team will be a state champion. It’s how the players perform and act on the playing field and in the class room. Most parents think their child is going to be a professional or college athlete in the sport they are doing. It’s the coach’s fault that their child is not getting the scholarship offers they deserve. The school administration could end up being the worst enemy of the coaches. Sometimes they have their personal agenda which they impose on their staff, which includes coaches and other staff members. My post-secondary experience includes being an adjunct instructor, tutor to being English as a Second Language instructor. While teaching at th