Wednesday, December 6, 2017
Thursday, November 30, 2017
Within Each Human, Hides a Monster
Whether a Christian, Buddhist, or atheist, what lies within or is seen at the surface are horrific character traits that can be described by looking at the dark side of the zodiac. Some people use a daily little pill to suppress the darkness from creeping up and out, affecting innocent bystanders. Others use the power of prayer, scriptures, and meditation to keep the monsters at bay and strive to experience a positive, uplifting life.
Looking at the stars and the dark side of the zodiac, each horoscope will reveal scary characteristics not many people are aware of. According to an article written by Indian Tribe, there are 12 signs that reveal devilish tendencies found in each human based on their birthdate.
Spring babies born between March 21st and June 20th have these characteristics in common: anger, selfishness, stubbornness, manipulation, and deception.
Summer babies born between June 21st and September 22nd, need to look for characteristics that involve spite, viciousness, self-centeredness, and judgemental hatred.
Autumn babies born between September 23rd and December 21st, must open their eyes to being fake, revengeful, destroying of others, and having constant denial.
Lastly, winter babies who are born between December 22nd and March 20th have these horrific traits: torturous minds, narcissistic, compassionless, and creative manipulation.
After decades of living with family members and working with coworkers, I've discovered that horoscopes are real and your positive and negative qualities stem from the time of the year you are born. As a Libra, I can attest to both sides of the horoscope coin. We are open and extroverted, willing to keep the peace, using spontaneity to provide a fun experience for those inside of our circle. On the flip-side, we are impulsive with our choices becoming naive and unreliable.
Whether you're an Aries or Pisces and whether you are a loner or must rely on working with others to survive life, stay well-versed in both the positive and negative characteristics of your horoscope as well as the signs of those around you so you can be successful with your time on this Earth.
Wednesday, November 29, 2017
Commercial Law Firm
Have you ever thought of starting up a business? If you answer "yes" to this question, then you might want to look into hiring a commercial lawyer or better yet, a dream team of commercial lawyers who will make sure you're set up for a successful, headache-free experience.
According to Investopedia, the five biggest challenges you may encounter when starting up your company will be:
- Client Dependence--make sure your clients pay you for your services and/or products so you and your employees can get paid.
- Money Management--running out of cash makes growing a business difficult.
- Fatigue--your overall health may be adversely affected because of the long hours of overworking yourself so your company can begin to grow or stay afloat.
- Founder Dependence--the financial health of the company depends on that of its owner. No owner = No company.
- The Bottom Line--planning for challenges ahead and having a plan in place to protect you, your employees, and your company.
Protecting the ultimate success of your company will be the overall cleaning agent for the majority of the challenges business owners. Having access to people who have the expertise and know-how of ironing out commercial wrinkles, will make sure your bottom line is covered allowing for you to increase profit and provide benefits for your employees.
Who can assist you in making sure nothing falls through your bottom line? Commercial law firms should be able well-versed in all aspects of commercial and business law, to include property law and dispute resolution. With the 21st century dependency on technology and having an online presence, the commercial lawyers you hire must be experts in startup and intellectual property law.
If you live in the Melbourne area, there is an Australian law firm specialized in commercial law. Although I live thousands of miles away, I've discovered the world of having a need for legal help when dealing with customers. For legal solutions for business in Melbourne, Allied Legal will work together using their transparent and honest method of taking care of you and your company.
Monday, November 27, 2017
The Power of Salt and Vinegar
Salt and vinegar flavored chips are probably one of the most lip-smacking flavors out there, but did you know individually the properties of each are so powerful? Today, there are so many diagnoses of cancer. Cancer doesn't care if you're poor or rich. All humans are susceptible to its plight. Many scientists and doctors try to figure out if this sickness stems from the produce we eat. When I go to the farmer's market or to the grocery store, I always bring my produce home and pull out two main ingredients-- salt and vinegar.
SALT
I've discovered this little trick from one of my third graders whom I taught over a decade ago. When it was time to eat a snack, about three hours after the start of the school day, my student pulled out his bag of apple slices. Not only was it peeled and cut into thin pieces by his mother, but each slice was absolutely white and perfect. What was not visible was the disgusting brown spots normally found on apples that have been forming hours after it's been opened to the air. Later at that student's parent-teacher conference, I decided to ask the mother what was her secret to sending her son with the perfect healthy snack, free of flaws. After she told me the simplicity of just using salt and water, I decided to use it as a way to open up the scientific method to my classes in science at the beginning of the school year. What is the best way to keep apples from turning brown?
Using a glass or metal bowl, pour cool water (3/4 bowl) and sprinkle about two pinches of table salt. Peel and slice your apples and place them in the solution. Make sure to mix the apple slices throughout the water and ensure the salt is well mixed with the cold water. Rinse a couple of times and place apple slices in sealable bags. The salt also brings out the sweetness from the apple. You'll find out that the apple is grab-ready and kid-friendly. Try it!
VINEGAR
I place a large silver bowl on my countertop and place the strawberries or grapes inside getting ready to be bathed in a pool of cool water (2/3 bowl), white vinegar (1/3 bowl), and a microscopic dot of dish detergent. I use Dawn liquid dish detergent. I gently place my hands on the fruit and move it around dislodging any type of dirt or chemicals that may be hiding. After I feel like I've done a thorough job washing my kids' favorite produce, I give it a good rinse with cool water about three times. Using the vinegar not only cleans the delectable fruit, but it also gives it a prolonged shelf life in the refrigerator.
There are many more uses for salt and vinegar, but for now, try these out first. You'll be surprised to find out how cheap and easy these home remedies are that you'll want to share it with all of your family and friends.
Search Engine Optimization
Search Engine Optimization VIA Xugar
There's nothing sweeter in life than being able to find a website that you're looking for with a click of the button. What if you had your company website landing on the first page of a Google search? The best way to achieve this is through an SEO (Search Engine Optimization).
Check out this SEO company from Melbourne. Xugar will help get your website to the top search landing page for Internet surfers to find amongst the thousands of results. This Australian company will help you appear on the first page of a Google search resulting in qualified leads to increase your revenue for your business.
You truly will be on top of the world by having your social media vehicle or email marketing SEO completed by Xugar.
Thursday, November 16, 2017
The Best Communication Tools for the Classroom Teacher
RemindText
Send whole class texts regarding homework, school events, class parties, field trips, upcoming tests, picture day, etc. A great function is that you can access your account online or on your smartphone via an app. You can leave voice messages, upload pictures, and
even have the option of texting your students' parents individually.
Google Forms
You must have a Gmail account in order to access Google Forms. This is a great tool that allows you to get answers from your students/parents and automatically inputs it to a Google Sheet. You can use this to collect data, survey your students and their families, and even create assessments. I've used it to gather beginning-of-the-year information from the parents and to narrow down my superlative awards at the end of the year.
Google Docs
I use this to create my one-page weekly recap where I include a link to the week's Storify that shows the past week's class tweets from Twitter. I quickly recap or look ahead to what they'll be doing in class. You can download it as a PDF and email to your parents or include it in the RemindText.
Shutterfly
This may take some time to set up at the beginning of the year, but this is a great resource for your room parent. You and your parents can also safely add pictures of class parties and school events on this closed website. Only members who are added by the administrator may log in.
SeeSaw
A portfolio-type website for students to add and tag their work, pictures, writing, etc. Parents are able to join and comment. This is a very student-friendly website that provides collaboration and sharing of student work.
SignUp Genius
Do you want to save your money and time from going to the grocery store to pick up items for your upcoming STE(A)M activity, class party, math or science lesson? Create a sign-up with specific items and share the link with your parents via RemindText and/or group email. I even used this to have classes sign up to come visit our living history museum.
YOUR Phone Number
Repeat after me...IT IS NOT TABOO TO GIVE MY STUDENTS' PARENTS MY CELL PHONE NUMBER. The reason why I started doing this was that I didn't have a telephone in my classroom to call during my planning time. Even if I did have a phone in my classroom, I never would have time because of my limited planning. If I call someone's mom or dad, I would have to trek down to the main office and find an empty workroom to call. This was very inconvenient for so many reasons.
At the beginning of the year, I just input their names, cell phone numbers, and house address. This way, I can quickly get a hold of them if I need to. It became very handy to call from my cell phone because I always had that on me. Since parents respected my time outside of school hours I never had a problem with parents calling during outrageous hours. Also, they always texted if they had to reach me. Anything regarding behavior or their grades, just call them and quickly answer their questions.
Teacher Tips for the Frazzled Teacher
Once upon a time...
I was once a classroom teacher. I started teaching first graders back before iPads existed. After my 11 years of teaching, I resigned from teaching. Why? How? What for? What happened? So many of these are questions my friends and family have thought and have even actually asked out loud. I've found out that whenever things get tough, I just give up. "When things get tough, the tough get going." For sure I'm a big wimp. I've seen this in my life and wish I was a strong individual. Being a teacher today in the 21st-century, you must have thick skin. Something I never could develop.
If I was tough, then I probably wouldn't feel frazzled at all the expectations teachers are faced with today. I was at a place in my teaching career where I couldn't be the teacher that I wanted to be. "You're still doing it wrong...you need to teach it like this...these kids are too young to be on the computer longer than 20 minutes a day...this demographic is not like your old school...you're a first-year teacher since this is your first time teaching in an inner-city school."
I am a worksheet-hating teacher. I have no love for the copy machine, hence the reason why I absolutely love technology and have a passion to find ways to use it whenever I can. Like a puzzle, I enjoyed thinking about fun, interesting ways to personalize learning for each of my students. Figure out the means and ways to reach the most hesitant learner and have them fully absorb what they're supposed to learn from those Standards of Learning.
For sure, the public school teaching field has changed for the worse in many different ways and across so many school districts. Tying the hands of the teacher to not be able to choose how to teach is the driving force behind pushing high-quality teachers out of the classroom. Taking the child out of the equation and looking at them like a statistic, only worried about scores and whether or not the "on-the-fence" kids will be able to pass the SOLs at the end of the year. These were the reasons why I left. Just as a former fifth-grade teammate would say, "Ain't nobody got time for that!"
In helping any of you teachers out there who feel frazzled, here are five pieces of advice to help you survive another school year and not give up like I did. Learn from my experience.
1. POLITICS
If you don't already know what this is, learn it quick. Ain't nobody got time for honesty and sharing what's really on your mind. Bite your tongue. Nod your head. Get ready to kiss some booty because if you want a smooth school year and a possibility of increased opportunities for growth as an educator, then you MUST have a tight relationship with your administration. If you want that opportunity to lead, to present, and to be on that committee that will help beef up your resume, you will need to know people who can provide this for you. Yes, you may not like it, but if you want to survive in the public school arena you will have to make sure you have a lot of friends. It's not what you know, but WHO YOU KNOW. The word "pal" is in the word principal for a reason. You must be a chum chummy friend with your admin if you want to make and keep connections.
2. PARENTS
I'll get to the student aspect of teaching soon enough. I ensure that you are aware that as a classroom teacher, you must have the backing of all your parents. Look at them as your boss, your customer, your client. Over time a relationship of trust will build to the point that you may make close friendships with them. If they are happy and love you, then admin will love you. If admin doesn't have any parents emailing them or knocking down their office door, then you are guaranteed a stress-free school year.
Be open to having parents come in and help with filing papers into students' weekly folders. Encourage parents to sign up to send in items for various activities throughout the school year. Give your parents a sense of an open invitation to come in the classroom, join the class at recess, or eat lunch with their kid in the cafeteria. The parents are already super cool, but make sure they are treated like superheroes when they visit. It will do wonders for those "too cool for school" students who would have initially been embarrassed for their mom or dad to be there.
Make sure you show your appreciation to every parent for their help no matter how small. At the end of the school year, I would buy little items to put in a little goody bag to thank them for all of their help. For my room parents who spent more time with preparing for class parties, doing extra things for the class and for me I would, of course, make sure they felt extra love and know that our class was amazing this year because of their efforts.
3. STUDENTS
I've found my passion for teaching and that absolute desire to be in the classroom each day by doing this one thing. I embrace ALL of my students as my own. I consider them my adopted children for the school year. I will provide ways they can communicate with me if they need my help during the evenings and weekends. With the technology we have today, taking a minute to answer their question and put them at ease with a project or homework will pay dividends in the classroom when you have to be on-point with your attention on the entire class when you get back to school. Student's problem solved outside of school hours equals happy student, grateful parent.
4. COMMUNICATION
There are so many tools out there that will help you stay in constant contact with your students and their families. YOUR CELLPHONE...specifically a smartphone. It is not taboo to give your students' parents your personal number. You're not a stranger. You are their child's teacher. Hopefully, you have unlimited texting because you will find this tool to be very helpful and also break down the barrier to quickly build a relationship of trust. If you feel like your personal phone number is your binky or blankey and you don't want to give it up, there are amazing apps out there that will help you stay in constant contact with your students and their parents.
5. OPEN-MINDED
Remember, remember, remember-- shut your mouth and bite your tongue. No one likes a worry wart or negative ninny. I wish I could go back in time and have followed this advice with all of the times I complained, worried, or just plain became frazzled with the district's forced programs they were putting on our full plates.
Open your eyes, mind, and heart to your teammates, but don't share or reveal your political or religious views. It doesn't turn out well if you do. Be willing to give advice, if warranted, and to take it if you ask. Make sure you build that relationship of trust with your teammates because you will be together in professional development, staff meetings, team meetings, brainstorming meetings, meetings to just have meetings. It's endless. If you don't have a good rapport with any of your teammates then your school year will just plain suck. It's not required to eat lunch with your team, but I highly suggest it. It's a great time you can get to know them, ask how they're doing, find out their likes and passions, and to show that you value them as a teacher and as a person.
... the end
After sharing these five tidbits with you, a fellow frazzled teacher, I realize I should retitle this article to PEOPLE ARE IMPORTANT. That is the theme and the biggest lesson I have taken with me as I have inadvertently burned many bridges along the way to my ultimate decision to leave the classroom. I also have built fortresses of solitude with some of the most sincere, kind, and helpful educators out there. If you can only remember one thing from what I wrote, remember to positively build your relationships with everyone in your life. This is the foundation to keep you up during turbulent times of doubt, stress, and fear with the multitude of responsibilities put on your teacher plate. You will find that PEOPLE will help lighten your load and make you feel like you can do anything.
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