Posts Tagged ‘school’

How Much I Enjoy Writing Since I Was Little

Saturday, October 16th, 2010

Since I was a little kid I’ve wanted to be a writer. I started writing in grammar school. I would write skits and have my friends perform them.

After childhood I went through a phase where I didn’t write much though. I was an English major in college, but I only took a couple of writing classes. Then I went to law school and really put writing on the back burner. But I realized after two years in law school – I really missed the writing.

I decided to do something about this. I signed up for some classes in creative writing, and I also joined an online writing workshop. It turns out that joining the workshop was the most important decision of my writing life.

The group worked this way: members would upload their writing to the online page. This way we could read each others’ work. Then we would meet twice a month in person in a local restaurant, and we would critique the work.

During this period, I started on a novel. I was nervous about sharing it but uploaded some of it for the group to read. At the next meeting, they provided their critique – what a nervewracking experience! Plus, I found out my writing needed some real work.

This could have been very discouraging, but oddly it wasn’t. Instead, I found it very constructive, and I was newly encouraged. The group members were positive about the work, thought it showed promise, and gave me direction for how to develop as a writer. Then I wrote a short story for critique and the group loved it. In a short span of time, with their help, I had grown greatly as a writer.

I love this group, and still belong two years later. I’ve had such a positive experience, in fact, that I’ve joined two more groups. I love sharing my interests with others who share my passions.

My writing is much better now than when I started out. Even better, I’ve met friends who share my interest in writing. That, to me, is icing on the cake.

Aside from interests, this writer additionally regularly shares knowledge about Human Touch massage chair and Panasonic chair massage.

Should Cell Phones Be Allowed In Schools?

Thursday, September 9th, 2010

It was inevitable that technological increases will clash with the rules of the traditional classroom, and no example is more pertinent than whether cell phones should be permitted in schools. Without historical precedent to determine a course or action, the only recourse is to weigh the pros and cons against each other and logically determine a reasonable conclusion.

A damning consideration against cell phone use in schools is the fact that, with smart phones, students can cheat during tests. It’s not hard to access Wikipedia or text message someone in the class for assistance. However, there is really nothing new here, even if the medium is different. It’s not really harder to glance at a screen than it is a well prepared cheat note. Besides, it’s easy for teachers to collect cell phones on test days, and vigilantly keeping guard against cheating is something teachers have to do anyway.

The strongest and most obvious case against cell phone possession in class is their distracting nature. Even if the ringer is turned off (something students frequently forget to do), text messaging is so ubiquitous and subtle that it’s hard for teachers to control. But teachers have contended against inventive distractions for decades, and even if smart phones are more advanced than passing notes it isn’t fundamentally very different. From the students perspective, they’re motivated by the same urge.

On the positive side, every school has a lockdown procedure in the event of an emergency. While it’s true that varying messages can cause confusion and worry amongst parents and outsiders concern for students, the ability to contact police immediately outweighs this concern. In the tragic event of a school shooting, warnings can be sent from classroom to classroom and a line can be established warning police. Yes, it’s possible for students to give false alarms and mischievously cause delay in the classrooms, but the real possibility of saving lives must be given more prominence than the disadvantages of student nuisance (something they don’t need cell phones to cause anyway).

Cell phones have provided benefits that a couple decades ago would have been considered unimaginable to attain on a wide scale. For years, schools were looking for ways to fund computers in the classroom and people protested the gap between the public and private schools’ ability to do this. Even in inner city schools, it’s not uncommon to have a student in each classroom with the ability to use the internet as a resource on behalf of the class. Even where this isn’t the case, smart phones are going to get cheaper and cheaper.

Cell phones have the ability to amplify historic problems of distraction, nuisance, and cheating. These problems create the need for modified solutions for the old problems. But the positive aspects they can deliver are new and groundbreaking. It would be a shame to allow fear and reservation to prevent us from enjoying such obvious benefits. We need visionaries uninhibited by reactionary attachments to tradition to guide policy concerning the implementation of technical advances in the classroom.

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Soccer Is The Best Suggestion For After School Intramurals

Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010

Endorphins are the key to happiness and exercise is the key to releasing those endorphins.

Children who are more physically active will inevitably be happier children as they will have released higher amounts of endorphins through exercise.

Children need something to release their energy into and any type of physical sport can be a great way to let off some of their energy. Personally, I think that getting your kids into soccer from a young age is a perfect way to get them active.

Kids love to play soccer and it has a whole host of benefits for the child physically and mentally, which I intend to cover a little in this article.

A good ability to run and balance well is what will develop from playing soccer since it is a game that focuses on the legs more than anything else. It involves so much running around, moving in different ways that your child will grow and develop healthier muscles in their legs, stomach, and back areas. Soccer also helps to attain good hand eye coordination.

Leg strength is another obvious benefit. Through running around and kicking a ball across the field, their leg strength will build very quickly relative to other sports, not to mention the fact that the constant moving around the field does the same.

Playing soccer is all about the team and as your child learns to play well they will also be learning useful social skills that will be in constant use throughout their lives. Learning to work in a team and build on team spirit will contribute massively to building their character.

Having said that, I would definitely recommend choosing soccer as a sport for your young ones if you’re in the process of deciding. There’s a very good chance that you’ll be glad you did.

See more of this author’s articles regarding things like pickup tires and commercial tires.

Double Reading Speed in 11 Minutes – Cost $20

Tuesday, December 29th, 2009

Twenty bucks, and 11 minutes of your time will change your life in ways you never imagined.

Yes you read this right. In just 11 minutes, you will hear my story, and learn 3 secrets to improving your life through …. Reading. I am sure you know how to read, after all you are reading this article. But just how long will it take you to read this short article. 2 minutes, 5 minutes, longer.

Smart people already know what I am talking about – learning how to use your brain properly so that what you read becomes usable data, and knowledge to help you create greater success in life.

Recently a story came out on Mexico’s national television, of a woman who was imprisoned for shooting her husband because he beat her, and repeatedly sold her to her friends for sexual use and beat her if she refused. Well, she just killed him and went to prison.

In penitentiary, for the first time in her life – she was exposed to books of all kinds. She knew she did wrong but she had years to pay for her mistake and her repayment was to ready and study and enter university through the prison system to study to become a lawyer.

So — the more you read of a similar subject, the faster you read that subject. The faster you read the subject that you are familiar with, the more that it becomes a part of your long-term memory. That’s why when you first study basic primary school math, and you follow it and study smart, and go all the way through college – math is a thing that you become accustomed to. If you’ve studied really smart, it’s really easy, and you can do some of it in your head without calculator or paper and pen.

It’s also the same with reading, yet different. Imagine it this way – we teach you in 11 minutes how to read all kinds of materials more rapidly with greater comprehension than before, and get what you need out of it. Of course, it a beginners course, but in 11 minutes your increased your reading speed say 60-80% and as you use the techniques over the next few days the speed increase, and so does your understanding and comprehension.

Once you’ve spent $20 and studied for 11 minutes you will accomplish a great deal. But, what if you learned also, how to read a book for ultimate understanding and comprehension for test-taking or pleasure, and what if you also learn to write a paper for school, or grad school – without stress in 10 days or less, would that make your life easier.

Change your life in 11 minutes for 20 bucks, you really can’t lose. Remember also, the more you read, the better you read, the more you remember – that’s how the brain works.

Read Faster in 11 minutes. Guaranteed! Read Faster in 11 minutes33 years experience teaching students in every continent to DOUBLE READING SPEED! A known expert teacher offers you his secrets to Read Faster in 11 minutes.Read Faster in 11 minutesYou’ll know the difference when you use it!

Italian: Learning A New Language

Monday, December 7th, 2009

Spoken by over 60 million people, Italian is a romance language that hosts a large number of cultural works known worldwide. Considered to be the closest living language to Latin, Italian’s grammar is considerably simpler than its ancestor’s.

Many people learn Italian today for many different reasons. Getting an edge in the job market by learning Italian or learning simply because one has Italian ancestry are two of many reasons. Many people learn Italian for an upcoming vacation or intend to retire to Italy. In any of these cases, learning the Italian language can be a great experience.

Knowing another Romance language already can greatly speed up your Italian studies. The grammar between Italian and other romance languages like Spanish and French is very similar and almost exactly the same in many cases. If you studied a romance language even in high school, you will find many similarities to help you.

Italian is considered to be a very beautiful language. English speakers know that Italian has much emphasis on vowels including the fact that many, many Italian words end in vowels.

Some differences in Italian from English include the fact that there are two genders for nouns: masculine and feminine. It will be necessary to learn which gender a noun is everytime you learn a new noun. You will also find that Italian verbs conjugate quite differently based on the subject.

However, comforting points include the fact that Italian word order is very similar to word order in English. Italian is also a subject-verb-object language like English so English speakers will find it very easy to begin creating new sentences in Italian.

Due to the large number of Italian speakers and Italian’s popularity as a foreign language, there is a wide variety of language textbooks and programs for learners to choose from. Depending on your ultimate language goals for Italian, you may want to choose from a quick audio program before your vacation or a textbook series to take you to fluency.

If you decide to learn the beautiful Italian language, remember to make a serious commitment. Learning any foreign language can be a tough process but if you stick with it and make a consistent effort over a long period of time, you will continually improve your Italian abilities. That being said, don’t forget to relax and enjoy the language, as well! You can read a good Italian novel or listen to Italian music among many other fun activities. These practices will not only improve your Italian but can be some of the most fun and rewarding experiences for you in your Italian language pursuit.

Author Robertson Kunz has a language learning guide: learn a foreign language fast. Italian learners: Italian fluency.

Learn Spanish Today

Sunday, November 8th, 2009

Spanish is a language that has in recent years interested many in its study. Spanish is a common choice to learn for foreign speakers. In high schools today, Spanish is quickly becoming the language of choice to learn for students.

In the United States in particular, Spanish communities have grown greatly in recent years leading to an even greater demand for Spanish speaking skills.

You might be interested in learning Spanish because your co-workers already speak it or because you want better job opportunities at your current employment or at a job in the future.

Whatever the case may be, learning a new language can be a rewarding endeavor. This is not to say that it is an easy one, it can be very difficult to learn a foreign language. However, there are a few tips you can be aware of in order to improve upon the process.

A foreign language, including Spanish, is best studied a little bit every day instead of once a week or once in every great while.

Why it is more powerful to study a little bit each day is because it will reduce the time you need to spend reviewing the material that you learned before. If you study each day, then you will be able to remember what it was that you had studied the day before and continue along nicely in your studies.

This process of a little bit of study each day also increases your ability to adapt to the new language and so you are better able to get a handle on it than if you were to study it every once in a while.

For whatever reason you may be learning Spanish, I wish you the best of luck and a speedy process in learning it! Remember to study a little bit each day and you should continue to improve. Just keep at it and you will experience the many rewards that foreign language study can bring.

Robertson B. Kunz is the author of a language learning guide to help you get fluent in a foreign language faster. Visit his website to get more great information on learning languages. Also, find more great information on learn Spanish articles.

Japanese vs. European Languages

Monday, November 2nd, 2009

There are many reason that one might want to learn Japanese. Some people are interested in Japanese because of the cultural phenomenon that many products from Japan have become… from video games to anime.

Japan is also liked by many people because it has a strong traditional culture and a very strong business culture which has promoted Japan to being the second largest economy in the world.

For whatever your reason may be for learning a language like Japanese, you must remember a few things that learning a foreign language successfully means.

Japanese is more difficult to learn than a European language because Japanese uses kanji which are characters far different from the letters that make up our alphabet.

A language like Spanish, for example, shares many root words with English simply because the two languages have been in greater contact for longer and because English has borrowed a great many amount of words from Latin which is the basis for the Spanish language.

This does not mean that learning Japanese is impossible, but rather that it is a bit more difficult to learn.

What this truly means is that you must have a strong desire to learn that Japanese language if you are going to be successful in becoming proficient in it.

If you really want to learn Japanese to a high level, then make sure that your reasons for studying it are strong.

So, whether you want to become better at business and open up new opportunities or if you want to better understand that next anime episode you watch, make sure you keep that desire strong in your mind and heart.

This will mean that your journey of studying Japanese will be kept well even though it is a strong one. So, keep studying and every time you feel that you are growing weak in your resolve to learn Japanese, remember the reason you want to learn it and keep that pushing you forward. Good luck!

Author Robertson Kunz has a language learning guide: learn a foreign language quickly. Japanese learners: learn fluent Japanese.