Better Communication - Focus your Communication
Focus your communication on the needs of the audience
Schools and libraries routinely prepare summer reading lists. Many kids, however, greet these lists with as much enthusiasm as they would a plate of brussel sprouts, as they view literary classics and...more » » »
Zodiac
by Neal Stephenson
Sangamon Taylor's a New Age Sam Spade who sports a wet suit instead of a trench coat and prefers Jolt from the can to Scotch on the rocks. He knows about chemical sludge the way he knows about evil -- all too intimately. And the toxic trail he follows leads to some high and foul places. Before long Taylor's house is bombed, his every move followed, he's adopted by reservation Indians, moves onto the FBI's most wanted list, makes up with his girlfriend, and plays a starring role in the near-assassination of a presidential candidate. Closing the case with the aid of his burnout roomate, his tofu-eating comrades, three major networks, and a range of unconventional weaponry, Sangamon Taylor pulls off the most startling caper in Boston Harbor since the Tea Party. As he navigates this ecological thriller with hardboiled wit and the biggest outboard motor he can get his hands on, Taylor reveals himself as one of the last of the white-hatted good guys in a very toxic world.
In the first two articles of this series, we learned how using the rule of three can improve your speeches by [1] writing triads of words, phrases, and sentences and [2] by applying three-part speech outlines.
In this article, you will learn how adding an unexpected twist to the third element can add power or humor to your speech.
Rule of Three + Unexpected Twist = Speech Gold >>>
Author Kate DiCamillo’s first book, the Newbery Honor-winning Because of Winn-Dixie, is heading to Broadway as a musical. A creative team is not yet in place, but the show will feature a live dog playing the role of Winn-Dixie, trained by Bill Berloni (who trained the dog Sandy, for the musical Annie). “The opportunity to surround Kate’s story with top Broadway artists lends itself to creating an exciting new Broadway musical,” producer Gerarld Goehring said. more » » »
The term blended learning is a term used to describe an educational course in which a mixture of face to face student/teacher instruction and online instruction are used together for any given class. The most exciting part of this process is to decide how to transform the teaching and learning experience into one, so that the student's creativity and thinking skills are enhanced to a higher degree.
Blended Learning Describes a Wide Variety of Teaching Approaches
The term Blended Learning has been used to describe a wide variety of approaches. The term blended learning is also be used to describe arrangements in which conventional, offline and non-electronic based instruction happens to include online tutoring and/or mentoring services. One such course that would be enhanced with blended learning would be a science experiment, where students access their instruction on a computer, and then walk over to a lab table to conduct and experiment.
E-Learning and Traditional School
In most cases blended learning, e-learning is used in a traditional brick and mortal school, to help enhance the student's educational experience and to make the teaching of courses more efficient.
Why Dabble In Blended Learning?
It's about getting students to learn. It's also about saving on cost of textbooks. After decades of teaching students using textbooks, current students are accustomed to reading off a computer screen. Ink on paper is boring to them. They need interaction, instant gratification, multiple actions and movement. Blending face-to-face instruction with a computer screen gets today's student to learn.
There are more significant reasons: At risk students and exceptional students tend to excel with computer instruction. Rather than being lost among a group of 24 students in a classroom, an at-risk student will often surprisingly excel when offered computer instruction. With a system that offers tracking, a teacher can track progress of each student and pinpoint students who need special assistance in certain areas.
Exceptional students enjoy computerized instruction because they can proceed at their own pace and are not "tied down" by students in a classroom who need extra help.
How to Get Started in Blended Learning
The smartest first step in blending classroom instruction with technology is to use a Learning Management System. There are several different learning management systems on the market. Capterra.com offers a list of Learning management systems along with a breakdown of each system's features and cost. Some cater to businesses that wish to train their employees. Others, such as Blackboard, are used in the college market.
Blended Learning Describes a Wide Variety of Teaching Approaches
The term Blended Learning has been used to describe a wide variety of approaches. The term blended learning is also be used to describe arrangements in which conventional, offline and non-electronic based instruction happens to include online tutoring and/or mentoring services. One such course that would be enhanced with blended learning would be a science experiment, where students access their instruction on a computer, and then walk over to a lab table to conduct and experiment.
E-Learning and Traditional School
In most cases blended learning, e-learning is used in a traditional brick and mortal school, to help enhance the student's educational experience and to make the teaching of courses more efficient.
Why Dabble In Blended Learning?
It's about getting students to learn. It's also about saving on cost of textbooks. After decades of teaching students using textbooks, current students are accustomed to reading off a computer screen. Ink on paper is boring to them. They need interaction, instant gratification, multiple actions and movement. Blending face-to-face instruction with a computer screen gets today's student to learn.
There are more significant reasons: At risk students and exceptional students tend to excel with computer instruction. Rather than being lost among a group of 24 students in a classroom, an at-risk student will often surprisingly excel when offered computer instruction. With a system that offers tracking, a teacher can track progress of each student and pinpoint students who need special assistance in certain areas.
Exceptional students enjoy computerized instruction because they can proceed at their own pace and are not "tied down" by students in a classroom who need extra help.
How to Get Started in Blended Learning
The smartest first step in blending classroom instruction with technology is to use a Learning Management System. There are several different learning management systems on the market. Capterra.com offers a list of Learning management systems along with a breakdown of each system's features and cost. Some cater to businesses that wish to train their employees. Others, such as Blackboard, are used in the college market.
Susan Bond is a part of IQity - a comprehensive, online educational system that includes IQity Reactor, a learning object repository that allows educators to create and share custom curriculum, organized by state educational standards. Reactor is integrated with a learning management system that allows traditional bricks-and-mortar schools to create an environment that enables students to learn whenever, wherever, and however is most effective for them.
Print is dead, nobody reads anymore, the web rules, blah, blah, blah…. The throngs packing the aisles at the recent BookExpo America prove that the book is not an endangered species and that, in fact, online tools and digital formats bring readers and writers together as never before. » » »
Researchers say a wandering mind may be important to setting goals, making discoveries, and living a balanced life.
iStockphoto
I am going to do my best to hold your attention until the very last word of this column. Actually, I know it’s futile. Along the way, your mind will wander off, then return, then drift away again. But I can console myself with some recent research on the subject of mind wandering. Mind wandering is not necessarily the sign of a boring column. It’s just one of the things that make us human.
Everybody knows what it is like for our minds to wander, and yet, for a long time psychologists shied away from examining the experience. It seemed too elusive and subjective to study scientifically. Only in the past decade have they even measured just how common mind wandering is. The answer is very. >>>
Award-winning author/illustrator Shaun Tan was already a star in his native Australia before he first gained nationwide attention in the U.S. with his brilliant wordless graphic novel, The Arrival (2007). Tan follows up with 15 extraordinary illustrated stories in Tales from Outer Suburbia (2009, both Scholastic/Arthur A. Levine Bks.).
Were you surprised that The Arrival was such a hit in this country?
I was surprised that people reacted so positively to it because I was expecting it would be a disadvantage, in some ways, with a wordless book. I always worry that my work will seem obscure and that people will not know where to shelve it. But I’ve learned that the key to illustrated books is to let the reader do the work. more » » »
"Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least."
-- Goethe
