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Sherri Fisher

 

Member profile details

First name
Sherri
Last name
Fisher
 

My Story

The Change I Want to See in the World
from my blog post, "Beyond the Single Learning Story"

When she was a child, MacArthur prize-winning best-selling novelist Chimamanda Adichie’s writing imitated the dominant culture that was offered in the literature at her school. Though Adichie is Nigerian and black, the characters in her first stories were light-skinned and lived in Western countries. In her 2009 TED Talk which has been viewed nearly 33 million times, Adichie recalls how despite the early limits on her imagination, she eventually found her authentic cultural writing voice, the one that has led to nearly 20 honorary degrees, numerous major literary prizes, and a genius grant.

In her talk, Adichie explains that people tell what she calls the “Single Story” like she did as a child in her early writing. Instead of understanding that all stories are nuanced, we may leave out important things, retell things that are false, and fail to notice that there are other truths and interpretations. A single story simplifies things. That neighborhood is unsafe. Fatty food is bad for you. But even reliable stories are not always fully true. What’s worse and potentially dangerous, Adichie warns, is that we often believe and accept the single story without questioning it.

Consider this single story about gravity, for example. It is very dependable, that is if you are on Earth. On the moon it is only 1/6 as powerful as on Earth. In space it’s a downright slacker, showing little apparent effort at pulling things together at all. If we did not know better, or were not curious to know more, we could assume this was somehow gravity’s own failure to work from a distance, its dislike of small satellites, or its need for a certain atmosphere. Silly examples like this one can remind you that it’s easy to come up with a single story. Sticking with a single story that you came up with yourself can be easy, too.

In my best-selling book The Effort Myth, I also write about stories, particularly the ones we tell about students who seem to have the ability to do well yet are struggling. The effort myth is one of those single stories. It oversimplifies a person’s struggles and perpetuates the belief that trying harder is the route to success. Of course, effort is necessary for work to be done successfully. However, trying harder is not sufficient by itself. Often, focusing on effort can make motivation problems worse, minimize a person’s real needs, wear away at belief in their own abilities, and decrease their general curiosity and love of learning..."

Read the rest of the post here, along with my suggestions for the change I want to see in the world.

https://www.learnandflourish.com/beyond-the-single-learning-story/
Books That Greatly Influenced My Life
Their Eyes Were Watching God; Fahrenheit-451; The Handmaid's Tale; Co-Active Coaching; To Kill a Mockingbird; Charlotte's Web
Fun Facts About Me
I'd love to be on your podcast.

This may be the most important thing I have learned from decades of work with smart, creative, capable people:

"It's not how hard you try that leads to success. It's HOW you try harder that matters most."

--My work with clients has helped launch thousands of successful college and graduate students, professionals, and solopreneurs who are equipped with the tools they need to function at their best.
--More than half of the people I help return at a different stage in their life. Clients refer their friends and family. They encourage colleagues to work with me.
--“Rules” about learning and working are meant to be personalized. I help people who naturally do things differently be successful in their own way. If I don’t yet have the strategies you need, I can create ones just for you.
 

Personal information

Bio
Sherri Fisher, Director of Learn and Flourish LLC, works with smart people of all ages internationally who have learning, attention, and executive function challenges. She uses the POS-EDGE® Model, a unique evidence-based approach merging her expertise in strengths, well-being, motivation, and applied neuropsychology. Sherri collaborates on Positive Psychology projects that bring new awareness, refreshed beliefs, and revitalized partnership to parent, teacher and community groups.

A deeply insightful coach, best-selling author, workshop facilitator, and speaker, Sherri attended UPenn MAPP where she studied with the founders of the field of Positive Psychology. She’s an early adopter and graduated with the very first class. Sherri has taught in schools and universities, coached thousands of professionals, parents, and adolescents, and has founded programs to support neurodiverse learners across the age span. She is multi-published. Her book The Effort Myth: How to Give Your Child the Three Gifts of Motivation (2021) launched as an Amazon bestseller.
Photo
 

Professional Information

Employer
Sherri W Fisher LLC
Job title
Coach. Author. Speaker. Collaborator.
Logo
Primary Focus
I'm the founder and director of LEARN & FLOURISH: The art and science of helping you learn and live BETTER, with learning, attention, or executive function challenges

The very strengths that make you YOU may go unrecognized. Workplaces, colleges, and schools simply don’t measure, leverage or develop them. Uncovering and developing those strengths with you is not only my specialty, it’s my passion.

As an executive coach and learning specialist, I uncover client motivation and focus for improving competence, choices, and self-direction. I have decades of experience working with students, parents, and professionals who face learning, attention, and executive function challenges at school, home, and work.
Primary Focus Details
In my international private practice, I create personalized success strategies with high-potential clients of all ages, especially ones challenged by organization and procrastination, especially at times of life transition at school, college, and work. They underperform despite their capabilities and may struggle to launch. Together we uncover their strengths and repurpose them for success.
~~~~~
I spent five years as the coach of a partnerships leader who spearheaded a community-wide project in Australia. It brought an award-winning positive education program to 27 schools throughout a small city.

I've had education clients based in Europe, East Asia, the Middle East, the US, Canada, Mexico, and Australia.

For K-12 in the US, I've designed strategies for navigating the complex world of learning and special education for parents and students, by blending Positive Psychology research and education best practices into context-friendly curriculum and interventions.

My current collaborative passion project is about creating communities that can shift the narrative around schools from negative "needs fixing" and "permanently broken" to stories that can build on strengths of all stakeholders. By changing beliefs and communication, and building connection, we envision enormous opportunities for growth.

I am multi-published.
Professional Area
  • Business
  • Education
Active Professional Interests
  • Business
  • Coaching
  • Consulting
  • Family/Parents
  • Post-secondary / higher education
  • Secondary Education
  • Therapy
Professional Skills
  • Career Development
  • Consulting
  • Facilitating groups
  • Leadership development
  • Speaking
  • Teaching resilience
  • Writing
Fluent in Languages
  • English
 

Education

Degrees Before MAPP
M.Ed., BA
 

Social Media

 

Speaking Experience

Interested in Speaking Referrals
Yes
Speaking Topics
-The Effort Myth: How to Give the Three Gifts of Motivation
-Stop. Switch. Start: How to Move from Procrastinator to Producer
-Creating Soft Landings: How to Build Psychological Safety
-Gen-Z: How to Lead the Next Generation
-From Research Base to Research-based: How to Design Effective Interventions
-Managing Relationships: How to Cultivate Allies and Mentors
-Ask Don’t Tell: How to Be a Coaching Parent
-Three Rules for Adulting™: Managing the Shift to Effective Adulthood
Experience speaking to large audiences
Yes
Video Clips and Recommendations
https://www.learnandflourish.com/speaking
 

Publications

Blog logo
Book 1 Cover
Book 1 Title
The Effort Myth: How to Give Your Child the Three Gifts of Motivation
Book 2 Cover
Book 2 Title
Unleash Your Epic Self: 35 Practices for Busting the Effort Myth
Book 3 Cover
Book 3 Title
Smart Strengths
Additional Books
Included chapters or resources in:
*Character Strengths Matter
*Resilience
*Gratitude
*The Educators’ Guide To Whole-School Wellbeing: A Practical Guide To Getting Started, Best-Practice Process And Effective Implementation
Media: Radio, TV, or podcasts
https://www.learnandflourish.com/speaking
Capstone title and abstract
Building a Foundation for Positive Psychology in Schools --Sherri Fisher and Dave Shearon

Abstract: Teachers in a large, non-urban school system completed one or more positive psychology questionnaires assessing strengths of character; happiness; orientation toward pleasure, engagement, and meaning as three different paths to happiness; explanatory style; orientation toward teaching as a job, a career, or a calling; and job satisfaction. These results of these 170 participants are compared with those obtained from an Internet sample of 2,538 teachers on four of the same instruments. Correlations between the results for each of the two samples are examined. The resulting profiles of the two samples are compared, and suggestions are made as to possible uses of such data to guide improvement in large school systems.
Dissertation Title and Link
Building a Foundation for Positive Psychology in Schools: https://repository.upenn.edu/mapp_capstone/18/
 

Contact data

Province/State
MA
Country
USA
MAPP Geography
  • USA - New England
 

MAPP Information

MAPP Graduation Year
2006
Board sort key
2006
Class Rep
No
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