Development of Your Whole Mind

I am an educator, but I wanted to be a minister as a child. I am unsure why I thought being a minister was a good idea because I was not religious. However, something about being in front of a room telling stories to an appreciative audience was beautiful. In my early twenties, this desire moved me towards becoming a college professor. I pursued that goal as a graduate student in mathematics at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Reluctantly, I left the graduate program prematurely with a Master's degree to find work. I intended to complete my Ph.D. at night while working during the day at IBM because IBM would pay for my education. However, working all day and going to school at night is easier said than done since I also wanted a healthy social life. At the time, I lived in Rockland County, worked in Westchester County, and attended New York University in lower Manhattan. My improbable schedule failed because I tried to do too much. I wanted to dance to Reggae music a couple of nights a week, pursue an advanced degree in computer science instead of mathematics, and perform well at IBM simultaneously. 

 

After some years as a programmer and systems analyst at IBM, I found my way back to the front of the room. I became a seminar director at Erhart Seminar Training Forum in New York City. My seminar director training prepared me to become an Executive Instructor at IBM's Executive Conference Center in Palisades, New York. I lived for the opportunity to speak to IBM's customer executives from companies like American Airlines, AT&T, Lockheed Martin, and Hartford. This lifestyle was a dream come true. I was a Keynote Speaker at IBM Palisades, an Award-winning speaker at IBM User Group Conferences, and an instructor of IBM customer executives around the United States, Hong Kong, Indonesia, and Canada. One of my special memories of this particular time in my life was when Lockheed Martin invited me to speak to some of their employees at Cape Kennedy a day before the launch of a Space Shuttle. This speaking engagement was a treat, not because of the speech but for what happened afterward. I toured Cape Kennedy with one of the Lockheed executives, where I had a chance to touch all the shuttles and talk with the technicians working on them. And, the following day, deep in the Florida swamp, my two sons, my wife, my mother-in-law, and I watched a shuttle roar off its launching pad as it blasted its way into space. 

 

After I retired from IBM, I became a facilitator for the University of Pheonix (UoP), where I taught mathematics primarily to working adults both on-campus and online. Teaching at the UoP was not as glamorous as my days at IBM, but gratifying. I discovered the value of online education and learned that many adults feared mathematics because of the painful experience they endured while studying mathematics during their formative years. I decided then I wanted to be a math therapist. I wanted to be a teacher who would transform the experience of learning mathematics for young children from pain and suffering to pleasure and satisfaction. I promised to inquire into how to teach mathematics and science to young children so that they enjoy both the content and the learning process. 

 

During my research, I discovered that one of the critical ingredients to developing happy young learners is to prepare their young minds for learning. I learned how to improve memory, maintain attention, encourage flexibility mentally, and increase the brain's processing speed. Add logic to the mix, and children are more able to recognize patterns, which is critical to being a good mathematician. They also become more effective problem solvers and tend to think more critically when faced with complexity. This preparation builds a more competent child ready to learn mathematics, science, languages, or any other subject. The best way I  know to stimulate the brain is to play games. So, I have become a games consultant, where I recommend games that help children build their whole minds. There are many platforms and websites that parents and teachers can use to accomplish this goal, with Lumosity and Mindgames.com being just a few.

 

Next, the foundations of mathematics must be understood for children to thrive in the world of mathematics. An essential ingredient is the processes central to understanding mathematics - Counting, Adding, Subtracting, Multiplying, and Dividing for beginners. We use the methods every day, but can we explain to 5-year old the process of Counting, Adding, or Multiplying? I have been studying how to effectively communicate how these processes work to children because I believe that if they understand the process, they will feel more joy than doing things they don't understand.

I have decided to use this website to encourage anyone who would like to develop their mind. Watch videos and play some games to learn exciting mathematics and science topics. Also, please ask questions and comment so we can all know together.