Luminstruct
  • Home
  • Programs
    • Ice Breakers
    • Team Builders >
      • Diversity Activities
      • Reflection Activities
      • Teamwork Activites
    • Educational Programs
    • Social Programs
    • Advertisements
  • Bulletin Boards
    • All Ideas
    • Filter by Theme >
      • Animal Boards
      • Clothing Boards
      • Entertainment Boards
      • Holiday Boards
      • Meal Boards
      • Nature Boards
      • School Boards
    • Filter by Lesson >
      • Self Boards >
        • Alcohol Education Boards
        • Communication Boards
        • Cyber Safety Boards
        • Goal Setting Boards
        • Life Skill Boards
        • Mental Health Boards
        • Physical Wellness Boards
        • Professional Development Boards
        • Self Love Boards
        • Sexual Education Boards
        • Uplifting Quotes Boards
      • School Boards >
        • Academic Success Boards
        • History Boards
        • Motivation Boards
        • Success Tip Boards
      • Community Boards >
        • Community Development Boards
        • Diversity Boards
        • Entertainment Boards
        • National Holiday Boards
        • Politics Boards
        • Recognition Boards
        • Student Involvement Boards
        • Sustainability Boards
      • Res Life Topic Boards >
        • Closing Boards
        • Policy Boards
        • Spring Break Boards
        • Staff Boards
        • Winter Driving Boards
        • Welcome to College Boards
    • Guidebook
  • Door Decs
    • All Ideas
    • Filter by theme >
      • Animal Door Decs >
        • Bird Door Decs
        • Insect Door Decs
        • Mammal Door Decs
        • Marine Door Decs
        • Mystical Creature Door Decs
        • Reptile Door Decs
      • Clothing Door Decs >
        • Accessory Door Decs
        • Shirt Door Decs
        • Pants Door Decs
      • Entertainment Door Decs >
        • Art Door Decs
        • Cinema Door Decs
        • Game Door Decs
        • Music Door Decs
        • Performance Door Decs
        • Reading Door Decs
        • Sport Door Decs
      • Holiday Door Decs >
        • Christmas Door Decs
        • Dia de los Muertos Door Decs
        • Easter Door Decs
        • Graduation Door Decs
        • Halloween Door Decs
        • New Year Door Decs
        • St. Patrick's Day Door Decs
        • Thanksgiving Door Decs
        • Valentine's Day Door Decs
      • Meal Door Decs >
        • Food Door Decs
        • Drink Door Decs
      • Nature Door Decs >
        • Beach Door Decs
        • Cactus Door Decs
        • Camping Door Decs
        • Flower Door Decs
        • Mountain Door Decs
        • Outer Space Door Decs
        • Travel Door Decs
        • Tree Door Decs
        • Weather Door Decs
      • School Door Decs >
        • School Subject Door Decs
        • School Supplies Door Decs
        • Technology Door Decs
    • Door Decor DIY
  • Spotlight
    • Spotlight Pin of the Week
    • Lead On!
  • Resources
    • Book Club
    • Roommate Agreement
    • Live In/On Report
    • BCD Training
  • Contact Us
    • Contact Us
    • Newsletter

Blog 

Smart

9/18/2014

0 Comments

 
Working hard and working smart sometimes can be two different things." -Byron Dorgan
Picture
Hello world! For those of you who are new, welcome to the Luminstruct blog! I am currently working on a "365 Word Project" where everyday I will be posting a reflection on a word and today's word is "smart".

I started writing this topic later than usual because I really wasn't sure what direction to take the topic. On a normal occurrence, my students ask me what I got my degree in. Like a stuck up snob, I respond "which one?". Most of the students assume because I am young, I am still in school getting my masters degree and they don't realize I'm a full-time professional. It's not their fault, the director position at Piedmont is new and they don't understand the difference between a resident director and a director of residential living. They sound the same, thus they are easily mixed up. 

It always amazes me, however, that when I tell them that I've gotten a masters degree in College Student Personnel and a bachelor's degree in Biology, nine times out of ten, they say something like, "Wow! Biology, you must be very smart!" I appreciate the compliment, but it fascinates me to think that they aren't impressed by the masters degree. I really think it is because it is something they don't understand. Most students have taken Biology, most students understand the concept of "science", ever since a young age, we have been taking science classes that continue to build upon themselves with other types of math, theoretical thinking, and problem solving. By no means am I saying my math classes were easy, far from it, I'm just saying by definition a masters program should be more difficult (and it was in many aspects). 

In a bachelor's program, you find the answer to a question given to you, in your masters program, you also have to find what question you want to ask. Sometimes the question itself can be harder than the actual solution. Instead of asking, "why can I not see the emperor's clothes", we learn to ask, "why is the emperor strolling down main street thinking he has clothes on!" It's all about the angle in which you look at something. I think most people assume my masters program was easy because they don't know how deep the rabbit hole goes. I was meeting with a student the other day and after talking for a little while, they opened up to me and shared some really personal information and I helped them get to the point they needed to be. Throughout the entire conversation, the same question was coming up, "why am I telling you all of this?" It's because I've been trained. Student development is a remarkable field and you can work wonders, I know my school has helped me, but sometimes I wish students would realize the job isn't just about fun programs or rooming assignment, it's about the student. "Smart" is a fluid concept. "If you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will go its whole life thinking it is stupid." When people think of "smart" people, images of Einstein or similar characters come to mind. By no means am I saying they aren't smart, but if they were judged by their ability to paint a picture, they would probably fail. 

Find that aspect in your life that you love to do and master this ability! "Being smart" is just a social construct, there is no one on this planet (except for maybe babies) who aren't good at something. You might not be the best in that field, but you have knowledge about the subject and that makes you smart in it! Never have someone look down upon you because they don't understand this ability. Find your own version of quantum mechanics or theory of relativity and own it!      

Question time: What is your "smart factor"?

About the video: Just because these individuals can't do 5th grade math, I don't think they're stupid. In fact I tried the problems with them and only got about half of them correct without the help of a calculator. Are 5th graders smarter than adults? In some cases they are, but in many cases, they aren't, they might just think they are :)     


Take Away:

Tomorrow's Topic: "Sweet"

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    Author

    My name is Mark and I'm here to share my story!

    Archives

    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014

    Categories

    All
    365 Word Project
    4th Of July!
    A Date To Remember
    A Date To Remember: Old West Photoshoot
    Age
    Alive
    Amazing
    Angels
    Angry
    Ask
    Awaken
    Balance
    Be
    Beach
    Beauty
    Begin
    Believe
    Bloom
    Book
    Boredom
    Brave
    Breathe
    Charge
    Childhood
    Choose
    Clean
    Cloud
    Complete
    Connected
    Consequence
    Cry
    Cycle
    Dance
    Dare
    Darkness
    Date
    Dazzle
    Delicious
    Destiny
    Determination
    Difference
    Disaster
    Discipline
    Discovery
    Dream
    Ecstasy
    Energy
    Enormous
    Experience
    Factory
    Faith
    Fame
    Family
    Fire
    Flower
    Focus
    Forgiveness
    Found
    Fresh
    Friendship
    Future
    Game
    Garden
    Give
    Go
    Goals
    Grace
    Happiness
    Harmony
    Health
    Heart
    Help
    Home
    Honesty
    Hope
    Horizon
    Hug
    Imagination
    Independent
    Innocence
    Inside
    Intuition
    Jump
    Kindness
    Laughter
    Leadership
    Learn
    Legend
    Letters
    Light
    Listening
    Locket
    Loneliness
    Lost
    Love
    Machine
    Metamorphosis
    Mind
    Miracle
    Missing
    Mistake
    Motivation
    Mountain
    Move
    Muse
    Music
    Mystery
    New
    Nowhere
    Open
    Outside
    Parade
    Path
    Patience
    Pause
    Peace
    Possibilities
    Power
    Prescription
    Project
    Promise
    Proud
    Rainbow
    Recovery
    Rejuvenate
    Relax
    Rhythm
    Safety
    Secret
    Seek
    Self
    Shine
    Silence
    Simple
    Skip
    Sleep
    Smart
    Smile
    Soar
    Soul
    Space
    Spiral
    Stand
    Stars
    Strength
    Stress
    Success
    Sweet
    Talk
    Tear
    Thankful
    Time
    Today
    Top 5 Tips
    Top 5 Tips: First Year At College
    Top 5 Tips: Personality Tests
    Tranquility
    Unique
    Useful
    Vacation-time
    Vibrancy
    Victory
    Vintage
    Vision
    Wandering
    Wings
    Wisdom
    Work
    Yes

This website is designed for RAs and Student Affairs staff to share ideas. Ice Breakers, Programs, Bulletin Boards, Door Decorations and so much more!
Picture

Contact Us

Subscribe

Join our monthly newsletter today!
Join Now

Please Note

Luminstruct does not claim to have created nor own the pictures, ideas, or other content available on this site. Luminstruct's primary purpose is to create a community where individuals can share ideas to benefit others. All material has been obtained from social media outlets, websites, and contributions from viewers like you. Thank you :)

-Luminstruct Staff