The Significance of Emotional Intelligence In the Life of Jimmy Carter

According to recent studies, the most important predictor of success is not knowledge or technical aptitude. Rather, Emotional Intelligence , a concept developed by author and former Harvard professor Daniel Goleman in the 1990s, is the foundation for success. Goleman describes emotional intelligence as the ability to monitor one\u27s own feelings and the feelings of others, and to use this information to guide actions and decisions. This paper examines the theory of emotional intelligence and its significance in the life of Jimmy Carter, the 39th President of the United States. Known as the most ineffectual president of his time, he has since come to be revered internationally as a brilliant diplomat and influential humanitarian. What is it about Carter that has propelled him to champion incredible achievements and endure intense public humiliation, emerging stronger, happier and more fulfilled? The key to his success is emotional intelligence. Passionate and caring, yet driven and decisive, Jimmy Carter seems to epitomize the emotionally intelligent leader

Critical thinking: A voyage of the imagination

In this dissertation I contend that there is a strong connection between critical thinking and the imagination, a connection which increases the dynamism and vitality of critical thinking. By acknowledging a role for the imagination, we are able to form a more coherent and complete critical thinking conception, which leads to the positing of a new theory of critical thinking. This new conception has pedagogical implications demanding that we alter or augment current approaches to critical thinking instruction. Employing a conceptual analysis, I first focus on critical thinking conceptions found on a continuum from traditional conceptions, which focus on logic and argument analysis, to expanded conceptions, which are more eclectic and admit a role for the affective as well as the cognitive. In order to focus on the nature of the imagination, which I argue plays an important role especially in expanded conceptions of critical thinking, I examine first the philosophical and then the literary conceptions of the imagination, specifically considering the arguments by the philosophers Edward Casey and Mary Warnock and the writers William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and Wallace Stevens. These philosophers and writers reveal an imagination characterized by a connection to creativity, the capacity to construct meaning, the generation of potentially unending possibilities, the capacity to enable the emotions to emerge and coexist with rationality. Other writers and literary theorists like Samuel Johnson, Toni Morrison, and Deanne Bogdan alert us to the epistemological and moral dangers of the imagination, dangers which need to be acknowledged and addressed in order to allow for the imagination to fully enrich and enhance critical thinking. The new conception of critical thinking, which I call integrative critical thinking, fully employs the imagination to generate a variety of possible avenues for our thinking and our conclusions, evokes emotions held in creative tension with reason, envisages a conclusion (or conclusions) to one\u27s thought process and the means to reach those conclusions, and allows for creativity during the critical thinking process. Integrative critical thinking incorporates criticism and judgment, but also recognizes that critical thinking occurs in and is affected by a social context. This conception integrates the three enduring approaches (knowledge, skills, and dispositions) to critical thinking and opens up the critical thinker not only to envision a liberated state of mind and being but also to act on that vision

Euthanasia: Understanding Ethical Issues through Role-Play

Having transformed traditional ethics, people have empowered themselves and put ethics under their control. An individual\u27s value has become the center of all decision making. where has ethics gone? Why has ethics been fossilized? when an individual desperately needs a litmus test to check his stance, why cannot he re-visit ethics and apply its insights to solving his problems? I wish to believe that there might be a legacy of conventional ethics in the form of universal rules, regardless of time, culture, and context, to be passed on to the next generation. Has God given us life, death, and choice of life? Has God also given us the ability to understand another person\u27s pain? If so, we need to be conscientious about what is an appropriate way to resolve problems along with multi-disciplinary approaches in the postmodern world. How much has ethics tried to adapt current science/technology? Has ethics offered us any appropriate way of dealing with what\u27s right and/or wrong or with alternatives, whenever we are in the midst of complicated problems? when did we begin to omit ethics in our decision making process? Ethics seems not to be the sole value, but it has to compete with other contemporary values. The presently burning issue called euthanasia is everyone\u27s business, one we all have to face. I wonder if death is part of God\u27s purpose for lives or a divine appointment. The conundrum intertwined with euthanasia relates to how to reach a satisfactory end of life backed up by ethics. Critical and Creative Thinking could help us go through the crux of the issue and mold an individual\u27s ethical decision, while maintaining a balance with social justice. My goal in this synthesis paper is two fold: to provide a theoretical description of euthanasia and to prepare English teaching materials for Japanese college students on reading comprehension, by garnering the latest news/research from leading newspapers, periodicals, and the internet, and role play to help exchange views, to share empathy and I hope to create a climate of mutual trust among participants by the time role-play reaches its debriefing session

A Hermeneutics Study: The Spirituality of Adults with a Terminal Illness in a Hospice Program

Despite the increasing literature on the significance of spirituality to individuals with a terminal illness, specific research focused on the spirituality of individuals in hospice is limited to several quantitative studies, only one with a qualitative component. This qualitative study expands understanding or experience through hermeneutic analysis of in-depth interviews with three individuals with a terminal illness. The individual\u27s narratives revealed believing as the way they found meaning in the present moment. Always believing and adamantly believing in a Supreme Being gave their daily lives meaning and direction. They were steadfast in leaving all to God for this life and life after death. Implications for social work practice and policy are discussed

Perspectives in Gifted Education: Complexities of Emotional Development, Spirituality and Hope

This is the third in a series of monographs funded by the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation through the Institute for the Development of Gifted Education at the University of Denver. The first monograph contained different perspectives on the growth and development of young gifted children. The second monograph addressed the characteristics and needs of the twice-exceptional: those who are gifted and have some type of disabling condition. This monograph is focused on the personality, spiritual and character development of gifted children, including the process of instilling hope and resilience in this special population. The authors explore the development of personality, spirituality and character of gifted children that advances our current understanding of this population. Strategies are presented to support and nurture the needs of this unique group of children.https://digitalcommons.du.edu/perspectivesingifteded/1002/thumbnail.jp

Thinking and Learning through Creative Movement in the Classroom

In the past decade, the American school system has come under scrutiny. American children are scoring lower than children from other countries on standardized tests. What can be done to ensure that American students are able to compete in the technological world of today? Many educators believe that in order for children to fulfill their potential, they must be given more than information and knowledge. They must be taught how to think, how to use the knowledge they learn in school. Researchers such as Robert H. Ennis (1987, 1993) and Matthew Lipman (1995) believe thinking must be advanced in the schools. It must be practiced. Teachers must challenge their students and provide them with opportunities to make decisions, solve problems and be creative. Other researchers such as Harvard University\u27s Howard Gardner believe students will learn better if all of their intelligences are nurtured. This theory advances the belief that there is more to intelligence than an inborn general intelligence factor. The Multiple Intelligence (MI) theory believes that human cognitive competence is better described in terms of a set of abilities, talents, or mental skills, which we call \u27intelligences (Gardner, 1993 p. 15). The seven identified are the musical, bodily-kinesthetic, logical-mathematical, linguistic, spatial, interpersonal and intrapersonal. Gardner and his colleagues hold that students will benefit from instruction incorporating more than the verbal and logical intelligences. This thesis examines the aforementioned trends of teaching thinking skills and utilizing a multiple intelligence approach in the classroom. It then presents creative movement as a classroom activity which stimulates intelligences often overlooked in the classroom while also promoting critical and creative thinking skills in children. It has been shown in studies that movement can stimulate a child\u27s interest in school (Fowler, 1994). Creative movement stimulates decision making, problem solving and communication skills as well as the creative affinity needed to produce excellent thinkers. All of this research culminates in the development of a workshop for elementary school teachers. The workshop is designed to introduce teachers to creative movement so they have the knowledge and confidence to utilize creative movement as an educational tool within their own classrooms

Perspectives in Gifted Education: Creativity

This is the fifth in a series of monographs published through the Institute for the Development of Gifted Education at the University of Denver, and it has been graciously funded by the Lynde and Harry Bradley foundation. The first monograph contained different perspectives on the growth and development of young gifted children while the second addressed the characteristics and needs of the twice-exceptional - those who are gifted and also have some type of disabling condition. The third monograph focused on the personality and spiritual and character development of gifted children; the fourth explored giftedness in a variety of diverse, under-represented populations of learners. It is a pleasure to welcome Dr. Bonnie Cramond as guest editor for this issue. which is focused on aspects of creativity and the gifted learner. Dr. Cramond is currently a Professor in the Department of Educational Psychology and Instructional Technology at the University of Georgia and has formerly been director at the Torrance Center for Creativity and Talent Development. During her career she has worked as a classroom teacher and university professor and researcher, and she has assumed many leadership roles through membership on national boards, editorship of journals, presentations at conferences, and contributions to books, articles and monographs. Her efforts and leadership have furthered professional understanding of creative learners.https://digitalcommons.du.edu/perspectivesingifteded/1004/thumbnail.jp