free new web site -- http://www.makebeliefscomix.com
-- where students can create their own comic strips. The site offers fun
animal and human characters with different moods, thought and talk balloons
to fill in with words, and story prompts.
Gr 9 and up.
John Francis is the founder and director of Planetwalk, a nonprofit environmental education organization. This book is about his quest to walk across the country, and taking a vow of silence after seeing the terrible effects of a 1971 oil spill in San Francisco Bay. The cover was the first thing about the book that drew me in.
When the struggle to save oil-soaked birds and restore blackened beaches left him feeling frustrated and helpless, John Francis decided to take a more fundamental and personal stand—he stopped using all forms of motorized transportation. Soon after embarking on this quest that would span two decades and two continents, the young man took a vow of silence that endured for 17 years. It began as a silent environmental protest, but as a young African-American man, walking across the country in the early 1970s, his idea of "the environment" expanded beyond concern about pollution and loss of habitat to include how we humans treat each other and how we can better communicate and work together to benefit the earth.
Through his silence and walking, he learned to listen, and along the way, earned college and graduate degrees in science and environmental studies. The United Nations appointed him goodwill ambassador to the world’s grassroots communities and the U.S. government recruited him to help address the Exxon Valdez disaster.
Was he crazy? How did he live and earn all those degrees without talking? An amazing human-interest story, with a vital message, Planetwalker is also a deeply personal and engaging coming-of-age odyssey—the positive experiences, the challenging times, the characters encountered, and the learning gained along the way.
Before you open your mouth to say the first word of your speech, you are communicating with the audience. Your stance, facial expression and body language are a picture that paints a thousand words. Make it calm, confident and pleasant, and you start "on the right foot"! So plant both of your feet, stand up straight and smile at them. You'll feel confident, sincere and professional and the audience will know. Than you can play with them.
These are such simple and quick questions. But, by taking the short time to answer them provides you with clarity, understanding, and allows your mind to see solutions to move you forward rather than getting stuck in the emotional aspects of the situation.
What is it that excites you, makes you smile and fuels your dreams? This is the question author Kevin Carroll urges children to contemplate in his new inspirational workbook, What's Your Red Rubber Ball?!: Discover Your Inspiration and Chase It for a Lifetime, co-published by Disney Press and ESPN Books. The book, which contains fold-outs, journal pages and self-discovery activities and features red rubber texturing on its cover, lands this month with a 100,000-copy first printing.
The genesis of the title is an actual ball that Carroll played with as a boy, which helped him discover his athletic ability and a passion for sports. That ball fueled Carroll's personal and professional dreams and, he insists, "it saved my life." Born in a Philadelphia suburb in 1958, he, along with his two brothers, moved in with their grandparents after their parents abandoned them. The local playground became what he calls "my sanctuary—a magical environment where my worries, shame and low self-esteem disappeared."
During 10 years of active duty in the Air Force, Carroll spent a good deal of time playing soccer. He went on to study sports medicine and worked as an athletic trainer for high school and college athletic teams, eventually becoming the head trainer for the Philadelphia 76ers. He then went to work for Nike, where he was responsible for inspiring employees. "It was my job to push their creativity and potential to the limit," he says.
Two composers have collaborated on a work which captures their response to a picture book story about a little girl's bad day, writes Clare Morgan.
EVERYONE knows the feeling. You wake up with the nameless dreads, as if a dark cloud is hanging over you and nobody understands why you feel so low or can penetrate that sense of being alone.
The Australian author and artist Shaun Tan captured such emotions exquisitely in his children's picture book The Red Tree, the deceptively simple story of a little girl struggling through a bad day, confused and afraid, until a final, glorious blossoming of hope.
Malcolm Gladwell on the challenge of hiring in the modern world.
From Mobile Entertainment: A Japanese printing company has debuted the first picture book on a cell phone, and hopes to have 50 titles available by September.
The first step to self Improvement and achieving any goal is to decide exactly what we want. If we are not totally clear about what we actually want it is impossible to make plans and take action to achieve it.It is also vital to know WHY we want whatever it is we want, because it’s our ‘why’s’ that determine the strength of our desire, and our ultimate success in achieving our goals.
(more ...)
by Andy Lopata , Peter Roper
From the reviews:
It has often been said that the two key skills for any business in the 21st Century are an ability to communicate a message - and a hungry market to communicate that message to. Now, for those outside of the corporate world, the best way to achieve these two objectives is through networking and speaking to groups.
Andy Lopata and Peter Roper have written a really handy book on how to achieve this. But the book is more than just a guide to the shy and anxious. In a very simple way Andy and Peter have explained how anyone can improve the way they are perceived in the market place through networking and public speaking.
