Professional life planning means taking a self-directed, systematic approach to professional renewal. To engage in professional life planning (or self-directed professional development) is to take greater control of one's life. Four major actions comprise the essence of professional life planning; they are self-assessment of professional strengths…

A preventive program in the area of identity formation, offered in the form of two-credit academic courses, is presented. A theoretical framework, based on the work of Marcia and his collaborators, delineates four identity "statuses" based on whether the individual has considered various alternatives and then made a commitment to a particular…

The integration of religious and educational perspectives on "career" in a life work/career planning process would enable persons to exercise their talents, skills, and spirit through meaningful jobs. If career is understood to mean a course of continuing progress, then vocation becomes those meanings which a person makes or discovers throughout a…

This is a manual for the Professional Development Seminar (PDS), a required course for all freshmen and transfer students in the College of Education at the University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh. The manual states the PDS provides a way for beginning students in education to come into academic and social contact with a faculty member in the College of…

The proceedings of a two-day conference on individualization in Canadian high schools are summarized. Addresses from four general sessions are included in their entirety, along with 20 unedited transcripts from oral presentations at simultaneous workshops. Written comments and biographical notes from speakers precede each presentation. Topics…

Designed to consolidate information about adult educational activities in colonial America, the publication covers self-directed learning, public lectures, apprenticeships and evening schools, education of women and girls, and leisure education. Advertisements and announcements from colonial newspapers published from 1765-1776 constituted the…

A group of 24 seventh-grade students was involved in a meditation (zen) experience as a means of assessing the relationship of meditation to learning. Using a simple rote memory task as both a pre-test and a post-test the experimental group (N=16) showed a significant increase (.01) in the number of objects recalled, whereas with the control group…

Many college communication courses are now focused more on self-expression and interpersonal relationships than on traditional public speaking. However, by using the interpersonal communication approach, can classroom activities be developed that can result in measurable changes in a student's self-concept? In answering this question, several…

The focus in this working paper is on the process of mediation through which occupational facts/data become part of a personal educational process. Numerous points are covered: (1) the relationship between media and mediation; (2) vocational development as a goal of occupational information mediation; (3) personal responsibility for goal…

The control of technology over the physical environment is investigated in this seminar paper. Technological control creates a psychological paradox for man, making him feel helpless and incompetent. The dilemma of helplessness is emphasized because man's main environment is social and/or interpersonal rather than physical. Individual competence…

Indicates that women experiencing a midlife crisis pass through five recognizable stages: (1) feeling trapped, (2) the first change, (3) multiple changes, (4) rational planning, and (5) implementing the plan. (NKA)

The Gifted Self-Understanding Assessment Battery (GSAB) was given to 34 (27 females, 7 males) music students (aged 15-17) at Bonita Vista High School in Chula Vista (California). Biofeedback training and assessment were followed by individual counseling for Autogenic Feedback Training (AFT) to achieve improvement of the individual's own well…

Reviews and discusses the debate between the traditional psychoanalytic perspective on separation-individuation and the newer "rational" view of self-development. Finds each have equal importance both for understanding psychopathology and for providing effective and empathically-attuned psychotherapy. Provides clinical vignettes derived…

States that making time for reflection and renewal is essential to a teacher's ability to give more to others. Highlights suggestions from the research literature that can help faculty manage their personal and professional lives, such as rewarding one's self, finding balance, and managing time. (NB)

Offers specific rules for using humanities studies in Montessori schools to guide personality formation and social interest during adolescence, focusing on biography. Presents biography as a portrayal of mind connected with action, the success of individual struggle, self-awareness, balancing creativity with service, the importance of inner life,…