tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4660565010495915832024-03-04T22:52:00.223-08:00Boe-Choe! Eh,doe!...because there are many things about education in the world!
(DAILY POSTING)
by Penjawab Soal M. HakimUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger65125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-466056501049591583.post-1604897206371291232009-07-12T22:37:00.000-07:002009-07-12T22:48:50.060-07:00How to Prepare Yourself Mentally for College<strong><span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">There you are, an incoming freshman and a neophyte in college. You still do not have any idea of what college would be like. Relax, there are thousands like you all over the city, who will be setting foot for the first time in a college classroom.</span><span class="fullpost" style="font-family:arial;"> </span></span></strong><br /><span class="fullpost" style="font-family:arial;"><br /><span style="color:#000000;">How could you prepare yourself for college?<br /><br />The following are pointers on how to meet the challenges that your first days in college would offer:<br /><br />1.<br /><br />Psyche yourself positively<br /><br />This should be done several days before the opening of classes.<br /><br />Every morning, look at yourself in the mirror and tell yourself positive things:<br /><br />"I will have a pleasant experience in college."<br /><br />"I will make good friends in college."<br /><br />"My first day will be a pleasant one."<br /><br />"My professors will like me."<br /><br />This is to create in you an innate positive outlook of college life. Think yourself as a winner. Good things could only happen to those who expect them and who would act to make that good perception happen.<br /><br />By psyching yourself to be positive, you would be attracting positive vibes as well. As the cliché' goes, "Everybody loves a winner."<br /><br />2.<br /><br />During the first day in class, impress your instructor.<br /><br />"First impressions last," may not always be true, but almost always, instructors would remember the first students who had answered their question correctly.<br /><br />This means that you should do your research work. Read about the subject matter before attending your class. Don't hesitate to use the library or to purchase books so you could start reading.<br /><br />The first lesson usually deals with the definition and scope of the subject/course. It would not harm you if you proceed to read more than the definition. Your apparent interest will create an indelible good image in the mind of your instructor.<br /><br />3.<br /><br />Be amiable and approachable<br /><br />Almost all of you, freshman students, would be nervous and tense. Smile and try to engage your seatmate in a friendly conversation. (Never do this, while the lecture is on-going.)<br /><br /><br /></span><a href="http://www.associatedcontent.com/user/302296/virginia_gaces.html">http://www.associatedcontent.com/user/302296/virginia_gaces.html</a></span><br /><p><span class="fullpost" style="font-family:arial;"></span> </p><p><span class="fullpost" style="font-family:arial;"> </p><br /><br /></span><span class="fullpost" style="font-family:arial;"></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-466056501049591583.post-21600146494235772552009-06-18T02:37:00.000-07:002009-07-12T22:46:56.680-07:00Are Schools Ready for Children?<span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"><strong>While much of the research on school readiness has focused on children, a group of researchers in North Carolina is looking at the issue from the opposite perspective: Are schools ready for the diversity of young children who walk through their doors?</strong> </span><br /></span></span><span class="fullpost"><br /><span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Richard Clifford, a senior scientist at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill’s FPG Child Development Institute, says that closing early learning gaps depends in large part on addressing the mismatch between what today’s children need and what schools currently provide.<br /><br />A U.S. Census report released in May 2006 found that nearly half of all children under 5 in the United States are from racial or ethnic minority groups. The fastest-growing segment is Hispanic children, many of whom are from families where Spanish is spoken at home.<br /><br />“We have very large numbers of children coming to school from backgrounds that are associated with their being at risk for school failure,” Clifford says. “Yet schools are struggling to have staff that have facility in a language other than English or are reflective of the population of children who are here.”<br /><br />The FPG Child Development Institute, which conducts research and helps schools around the country design effective programs for children in preK through grade 3, has formed a committee at the institute that will specifically examine how prekindergarten through early elementary schools can support diverse learners in four areas:<br /><br />practices that address the specific learning needs of English-language learners<br />“early intervening” to address the needs of young children who may be eligible for special services<br />“culturally responsive practices” that take into account the diversity of children’s ethnic and racial backgrounds<br />early childhood inclusion programs to support more widespread education of young children with special needs in mainstream classrooms<br />“These are the areas where teachers are really struggling,” says committee cochair Virginia Buysse, also a senior scientist at UNC’s FPG Child Development Institute. “Most teachers just don’t have the training or experience to meet the needs of these children.”<br /><br />For Further Information<br /><br />FPG Child Development Institute, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, CB #8180, Chapel Hill, NC 27599; tel.: (919) 966-2622. </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /></span><span style="font-family:arial;"><a href="http://www.fpg.unc.edu/"><span style="color:#000000;">http://www.fpg.unc.edu/</span></a><span style="color:#000000;"><br /><br /></span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:arial;"></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-466056501049591583.post-74547738918264917902009-06-16T09:51:00.000-07:002009-07-12T22:47:32.992-07:00From Literacy to Learning<span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="color:#000000;"><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Catherine Snow on vocabulary, comprehension, and the achievement gap</span></strong><br /><br />Catherine Snow, the Henry Lee Shattuck Professor of Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, is an expert on language and literacy development in children. Her research focuses on how youngsters acquire oral language and how those skills determine educational outcomes. Her current research includes a 15-year longitudinal study of language and literacy skills among low-income children. Here, she discusses with HEL contributor Darcia Harris Bowman and editor Michael Sadowski the importance of high-quality language instruction in preschool and early elementary school, particularly for the most disadvantaged children.<br /></span><br /></span><span class="fullpost"><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="color:#000000;"><strong>What is literacy, and how does its development determine a child’s readiness to learn and succeed academically?</strong><br /><br />I define literacy rather narrowly, as the capacity to construct and express meaning through reading, writing, and talking about texts. Clearly, literacy defined this way has to be seen as developmental. Literacy is a prerequisite to the acquisition of new information and the formulation of new ideas. Almost everything kids learn from the fourth grade on they have to learn by reading and writing. Kids who struggle with the task of reading or writing—through which they must convey what they’ve learned—are unable to show their teachers that they understand.<br /><br /></span><span style="color:#000000;"><strong>Before fourth grade, what kinds of literacy and language development are important to provide those building blocks for learning?<br /></strong><br />All of the comprehension skills that we hope fourth graders and older children will use when confronted with texts can be practiced or learned starting as soon as children are learning to talk. However, some of those oral conversations don’t provide much grist for the mill of comprehension. For example, perhaps the most frequently repeated advice to parents and early childhood educators is “Read to kids.” The reason I think that’s very good advice is because the kind of talk one engages in when reading to young children and discussing books with them offers many of the comprehension challenges that children will face in reading texts for themselves when they’re older: connecting ideas across paragraphs; understanding realms of knowledge through language; encountering and learning to use more complex vocabulary than you do in normal, spontaneous conversation; and familiarity with some of the conventions that are used in written language but not used in spoken language.<br /><br /><strong>Why is it important for younger children to develop their vocabularies beyond what they would learn in normal everyday interactions?</strong><br /><br />There are all kinds of reasons teaching vocabulary is important. For one, we want kids to know 80,000 words by the time they graduate from high school. If you’re missing a year, if you’re allowing some kids to learn words at a rate that’s only 75 percent as fast as other kids, you accumulate huge differences. Because vocabulary is such a big domain, the accumulation of deficit is a big problem. That’s not at all the case for learning letters or learning sounds or learning spelling rules. So you miss some in first grade? You can get them in second grade. You can’t do that with vocabulary.<br /><br />By the time middle-class kids with well-educated parents are in the third grade, they probably know 12,000 words. But we don’t have a curriculum in kindergarten for teaching vocabulary, and we don’t have a curriculum in preschool for teaching vocabulary. It’s just something we assume kids are going to do on their own. Meanwhile, kids of undereducated parents who don’t talk to them very much probably have vocabularies of 4,000 words by the time they’re in third grade—a third as many words as their middle-class peers.<br /><br />That’s why it’s important to start early on with vocabulary development, because you bring disadvantaged children—kids from non-English-speaking families, or kids from families that don’t talk very much—much closer to the developmental trajectory of the students from highly educated, middle-class families. That is the mechanism for shrinking the achievement gap.<br /><br /></span><span style="color:#000000;"><strong>Are there ways to improve equity in terms of children’s language development and skills when they start kindergarten?<br /></strong><br />At the moment, the kids with the best home environments are also in the best preschool classes from a strictly language point of view. Clearly, if we were being sensible about this, we’d put kids from families where there are fewer language resources into preschools where there are more language resources and not worry about the kids from language-rich families. This is the way that Sweden organizes early childhood education. It gives priority for the free, very high-quality early childhood settings to the people that they define as most at risk: single-parent families, non-Swedish-speaking families, immigrant families, families living below the poverty line. We do just the opposite. Half of those at-risk kids in this country are in the care of relatives or informal family day care—settings where there isn’t a professional educator present, let alone books and curricula.<br /><br /><strong>What do you see getting in the way of the kinds of early literacy instruction that would be the most effective and reach the most children?</strong><br /><br />Well, the obstacles for preschools versus elementary schools are probably different. For preschools, there are different versions of the problem. Some have a commitment to natural development and not interfering at all as long as the kids are having a good time. That’s fine as long as those children are having a lot of rich language and literacy experience in other contexts. But it’s not fine for the kids we’re most worried about, such as kids from low-income families and English-language learners.<br /><br />On the other hand, in Head Start there’s this focus on, “They’ve got to learn the letters, they’ve got to learn their numbers, they’ve got to learn their colors, because those are the things kindergartners are supposed to know.” I don’t disagree, but people are not saying in kindergarten that students have to learn words, they have to learn the language, they have to learn to talk, they have to learn to tell stories, they have to learn to comprehend. That’s harder to test. And it’s harder to take ill-prepared early childhood educators and give them the resources that would enable them to support that kind of learning.<br /><br />At the K–3 stage, it is really the accountability demands at play. The assessments that are used in first and second grade are heavily focused on phonological awareness, fluency. There’s purely token acknowledgement of the importance of vocabulary instruction in early elementary curricula, and that gets reflected in what the publishers provide. Even in third grade, students are not being tested on vocabulary. They’re tested on something called comprehension, but it’s very literal comprehension. Until you get discussion and vocabulary into curriculum and assessment, they’re not going to happen in early childhood classrooms.<br /><br /><br /><strong>For Further Information</strong><br /><br />M.S. Burns, P. Griffin, and C.E. Snow. Starting Out Right: A Guide to Promoting Children’s Reading Success. Washington, DC: National Academies Press, 1999.<br /><br />B. Hart and T.R. Risley. Meaningful Differences in the Everyday Experience of Young American Children. Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes, 1995.<br /><br />D.K. Dickinson and P.O. Tabors. Beginning Literacy with Language: Young Children Learning at Home and School. Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes, 1995.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></span></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-466056501049591583.post-58700831649411356542009-06-15T02:42:00.000-07:002009-07-12T22:52:47.195-07:0010 Dimensions of Good Teaching<span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"><strong>The CLASS approach provides a common metric and language for the discussion of quality across grades, thereby addressing problems with grade-to-grade transition and the need for coherence. There are 10 dimensions of interaction that reflect three broad domains of interactional supports—emotional support, organizational support, and instructional support.</strong> </span><br /></span></span><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span><span class="fullpost"><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="color:#000000;">The dimensions included under emotional support on CLASS are:<br /><br />• Positive Climate: the enjoyment and emotional connection that teachers have with students, as well as the nature of peer interactions<br /><br />• Negative Climate: the level of expressed negativity such as anger, hostility or aggression exhibited by teachers and/or students in the classroom<br /><br />• Teacher Sensitivity: teachers’ responsiveness to students’ academic and emotional needs<br /><br />• Regard for Student Perspectives: the degree to which teachers’ interactions with students and classroom activities place an emphasis on students’ interests, motivations, and points of view<br /><br />The dimensions under organizational support are:<br /><br />• Behavior Management: how well teachers monitor, prevent, and redirect behavior<br /><br />• Productivity: how well the classroom runs with respect to routines, how well students understand the routine, and the degree to which teachers provide activities and directions so that maximum time can be spent in learning activities<br /><br />• Instructional Learning Formats: how teachers engage students in activities and facilitate activities so that learning opportunities are maximized<br /><br />The dimensions under instructional support are:<br /><br />• Concept Development: how teachers use instructional discussions and activities to promote students’ higher-order thinking skills and cognition in contrast to a focus on rote instruction<br /><br />• Quality of Feedback: how teachers extend students’ learning through their responses and participation in activities<br /><br />• Language Modeling: the extent to which teachers facilitate and encourage students’ language<br /><br /><br /></span><a href="http://www.edletter.org/insights/goodteaching.shtml"><span style="color:#000000;">http://www.edletter.org/insights/goodteaching.shtml</span></a><span style="color:#000000;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></span></span></span><span class="fullpost"><span style="font-family:arial;"></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-466056501049591583.post-63836861989793138832009-06-13T09:45:00.000-07:002009-07-12T22:53:26.823-07:00Raising Adults; the Importance of Character and Employable Skills<span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="color:#3333ff;"><span style="font-size:130%;color:#000000;"><strong>It is critical to ensure that children are receiving an entire education- not only the 3 R's but also the abilities necessary to become a productive and successful adult.</strong></span> </span></span><span class="fullpost"><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="color:#000000;">As homeschoolers, we value the freedom that we enjoy to teach what we judge to be the most important. In Texas, we are technically only required to teach reading, writing, arithmetic, and Civics. However, I think that most of us teach far more than is technically required as the lowest minimum standard.<br /><br />Today, when I say 'life skills' I don't refer to laundry, grocery shopping, and measuring ingredients. I think more along the lines of<br /><br />-independent problem solving<br />-managing tasks<br />-respect for authority<br />-eliminating the unnecessary info<br />-working alone productively<br />-managing deadlines<br />-finding solutions<br /><br />When I have had job interviews, talked to managers about their employees, or read articles about 'what employers want' etc, I find common threads. The young people that we as a nation are launching into the workforce are unprepared. Even if we completely disregard their academic abilities (such as making change, writing decent memos, and other education-derived tasks) they are terribly unfit for almost any employment. They are unable to work independently, moving from task to task without lolling about on the internet or at the proverbial water cooler. If they run into an obstacle, they don't problem-solve to continue with their task. They cannot sift through extra information to find an answer, they have a short attention span when confronted with a challenge, in short they are without the training necessary to work productively.<br /><br />We must be vigilant to ensure that the associated tasks of an entire education are being met (such as the list above). We must invest the time at the kitchen table going over work, doing flashcards, demanding rewrites, and raising the bar of requirements for each child's education. We are raising future adults, not children.This will ensure educational goals are met, so it becomes a lifestyle to write and meet goals, to break up tasks into manageable chunks, to pay attention, to respect authority, to solve problems.<br /><br />This is what is needed today! Whether you homeschool or supplement a public education, you must own and be responsible for the shape of your child's abilities. Your child has complete freewill after he leaves the house. But before that day, you must demand that your child learns the other set of skills that makes a productive and capable worker.<br /><br /><br /></span><a href="http://highereducation-mama4x.blogspot.com/"><span style="color:#000000;">http://highereducation-mama4x.blogspot.com/</span></a></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-466056501049591583.post-71295879745453832082009-06-12T09:40:00.000-07:002009-07-12T22:54:06.672-07:00MBAs: Online vs. On-Campus<span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong>While the world of academia is sometimes regarded as slow to adapt to the quickly changing world of technology, this view has proven to be somewhat misguided. The large number of respected institutions that are now offering online MBA programs is evidence that traditional schools are embracing alternative and flexible learning methods. Today, students can choose to undertake their MBA education on campus, online, full-time, part-time or independently. Which method is best? That's partially up to you.</strong> </span></span></span><span class="fullpost"><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="color:#000000;">For some students, there is no substitute for face-to-face interaction. The structuring and time scheduling of traditional coursework proves conducive to students who prefer to avoid at-home distractions and regularity. Those resistant to online study point to the lack of peer interaction as a detriment to distance learning programs. However, because of new technologies and online implementations, many distance learning programs prove to be even more collaborative than sitting passively in a vast lecture hall. Students in online courses often enjoy direct access to teachers via email, message boards, chat rooms and other electronic means. Still, some students prefer working with their peers and professors in person - it's simply a matter of learning style preference.<br /><br />Meanwhile, students who wish to pursue careers often enjoy the flexibility that asynchronous learning affords them. Careers in business are particularly demanding of time, with work hours that sometimes extend beyond typical business hours, which can prove troublesome for some students taking night classes. Online study allows them to go at their own pace while still giving them the resources and support that on-campus students are afforded.<br /><br />Work experience is an especially valuable asset for business students and MBA candidates. When deciding between a student who entered graduate school immediately after earning his or her bachelor's degree and a candidate who with demonstrated work experience and an MBA, the latter is often a shoe-in. The organizational behavior and time management skills needed to pursue a distance learning or part-time MBA program are highly valued in the fast-paced business world, and earning an MBA while holding down a steady job proves that your ability.<br /><br />Another concern regarding online education is the amount of recognition and respect it garners on a resume. This particular issue is becoming less relevant, however, as more and more traditional schools are realizing the value of offering online programs. Today, students can earn business degrees and MBAs from the very same schools that traditionally only offered on-campus education. In fact, some Ivy League schools are even offering courses online with transferable credit.<br /><br />The key to earning a degree that holds distinction in the job market is to carefully review the institutions accreditation and reputation. A site like mbas.com greatly aids in your research. For example, mbas.com allows students to search a database of schools offering online, part-time and distance learning programs for easy comparison. Students can narrow their searches based on their criteria and request exclusive information directly from the school. Visiting sites like mbas.com has become standard practice for students seeking high quality MBA education.<br /><br /></span><a href="http://www.mbas.com/"><span style="color:#000000;">http://www.mbas.com/</span></a><span style="color:#000000;"><br /><br /><br /></span></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-466056501049591583.post-66566102626016353512009-06-11T09:37:00.000-07:002009-06-22T21:21:26.394-07:00The Benefits of a College Education<span style="font-family:arial;"><strong><span style="color:#000000;">When it comes to college, many young people feel as though they do not need it in order to make a good living. As the young people grow and become adults, it is soon realized that not having a college education was not such a great idea.</span></strong> </span><br /><span class="fullpost"><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="color:#000000;">Those with a college degree are far likely to be hired for any position out there, before someone without a degree.<br /><br />In fact, someone without a degree but ten years of hands oo experience is often times passed up on for someone with no hands on experience but a college degree under their belt.<br /><br />Because of that fact alone it is vital to make sure that you obtain a college degree. Whether you are seventeen years old or forty years old now is the time in your life to begin thinking about improving your education.<br /><br />You are never too young or too old to think about college as you have a lot of life to live and you want to be able to make the most of it. But besides the money aspect of the whole college issue, there are other reasons to earn a college education.<br /><br />Those with a college degree under their belt, no matter what it was that they specialized in, are treated with more respect in the community. While that is a sad thing to say and some people are not likely to believe it, it is true.<br /><br />People will take what you have to say more seriously if you are college educated. Even though there are incredibly smart and talented people all over the place without a college education, they are not given the opportunities that someone with a degree gets. Fair or unfair, this is the way that the world works.<br /><br />You will also gain a lot of life experience by attending college. Besides all of the stuff that you will learn from the books, you will learn a lot during your years in college.<br /><br />Interaction with authority and your peers is a big part of it. It is a nice way to taste the "real world" without having to pay the mortgages that go along with it. Of course, if you are an adult returning to school you will still have that mortgage but there is still a lot to be learned in terms of life experiences.<br /><br />College is without a doubt a time in your life that you will not regret or soon forget. Even though it may be a little stressful and maybe even a little scary, your future, your happiness, and your over all well being depend on you making the right decisions about your education.<br /><br />It is time to act now. The sooner you get up and get started the sooner it will all be done and over with. Once you are finished you can put all of that knowledge to good use and start earning the wages that your time is truly worth.<br /><br /><br /></span><a href="http://www.schoolthemes.org/"><span style="color:#000000;">http://www.schoolthemes.org/</span></a><span style="color:#000000;"><br /><br /></span></span><br /></span><span class="fullpost"></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-466056501049591583.post-67328262274103161752009-05-18T15:18:00.000-07:002009-07-12T22:41:30.151-07:00The Diaries of Facebook's Founder<span style="font-family:arial;"><strong><span style="color:#3333ff;">Mark Zuckerberg, the 23-year-old founder and chief executive of Facebook, launched the phenomenally successful social-networking site while he was a sophomore at Harvard. Facebook's forerunner was the somewhat more risqué Facemash, a Harvard version of Hot or Not. Facemash paired random pictures of Harvard undergraduates and invited users to vote on who was more attractive. Setting up Facemash required Zuckerberg to hack into protected areas of Harvard's computer network so he could copy and incorporate dormitory ID images from Harvard's Kirkland, Eliot, and Lowell houses. In response, Harvard's disciplinary administrative board placed Zuckerberg on academic probation.</span></strong><span class="fullpost"> </span></span><br /><span class="fullpost"><br /><span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:arial;">While he was assembling Facemash, Zuckerberg kept an online journal, and like most college students, he didn't think very hard about who might end up reading it. Now a full-fledged tycoon, Zuckerberg has long since taken his journal offline. But a choice excerpt has been repatriated to the Web by 02138, a magazine directed at Harvard alumni. In the journal (see below and Page 2), Zuckerberg calls one fellow student (name redacted by Slate) a "bitch," admits he's "a little intoxicated," and ponders whether he should pair certain photographs from the Kirkland House facebook with "pictures of farm animals." Then he gets to work procuring online copies of student photos: "Let the hacking begin."<br /><br />This and other documents potentially embarrassing to Zuckerberg that 02138 has also posted online form the basis of an article by Luke O'Brien titled "Poking Facebook" in 02138's November/December issue. Facebook has filed two court motions to compel 02138 to remove the documents from its Web site. "If you're interested," advises executive editor Richard Bradley, "read these things now."<br /><br />O'Brien's piece focuses on a lawsuit filed against Zuckerberg by founders of the rival site ConnectU. In the lawsuit, ConnectU's three founders allege that Zuckerberg stole programming codes from their site to create Facebook. The ConnectU founders were seniors at Harvard when Zuckerberg was a sophomore, and they approached him to work on the project with them. Zuckerberg spent some time on it but never completed the work. Instead, he launched Facebook. In a petition to Harvard's administrative board, the three upperclassmen alleged that Zuckerberg stalled them while he incorporated their ideas into Facebook. Zuckerberg replied to this accusation with indignation (Pages 3-5), stating at one point, "I don't have much time to spend fending off peoples' claims to work which is clearly my own." The "ad" board ruled in Zuckerberg's favor. In a deposition for the ConnectU lawsuit (Page 6), Zuckerberg credits an editorial in the Harvard Crimson with inspiring him to develop Facebook's privacy controls.<br /></span><br /></span><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000000;">See below for the moments some time before the launching...<br /></span><a href="http://linkbee.com/ABM49"><span style="color:#000000;">http://linkbee.com/ABM49</span></a><span style="color:#000000;"><br /></span><a href="http://linkbee.com/ABNH3"><span style="color:#000000;">http://linkbee.com/ABNH3</span></a><span style="color:#000000;"><br /></span><a href="http://linkbee.com/ABN12"><span style="color:#000000;">http://linkbee.com/ABN12</span></a><span style="color:#000000;"><br /></span><a href="http://linkbee.com/ABN25"><span style="color:#000000;">http://linkbee.com/ABN25</span></a><span style="color:#000000;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-466056501049591583.post-41073386189476947342009-05-17T22:01:00.000-07:002009-06-15T04:30:46.258-07:00Characteristics of High School Learners<span style="font-family:arial;color:#3333ff;"><strong>High school learners are qualitatively different than younger learners. You certainly can “teach an old dog new tricks” by understanding the cognitive and social characteristics of high school learners. Using the right instructional strategies to maximize the learning advantages and address the learning challenges of high school learners can make all the difference in their success.</strong></span><span class="fullpost" style="font-family:arial;"> </span><br /><span class="fullpost" style="font-family:arial;"><br /><span style="color:#000000;"><strong>High School Cognitive Development<br /></strong><br />Most high school students have achieved the formal operational stage, as described by Piaget. These students can think abstractly and need fewer concrete examples to understand complex thought patterns. Generally speaking, most students share the following characteristics:<br /><br />1. Need to understand the purpose and relevance of instructional activities<br />2. Are both internally and externally motivated<br />3. Have self-imposed cognitive barriers due to years of academic failure and lack self-confidence<br />4. May have “shut down” in certain cognitive areas and will need to learn how to learn and overcome these barriers to learning<br />5. Want to establish immediate and long-term personal goals<br />6. Want to assume individual responsibility for learning and progress toward goals<br /><br /><strong>High School Social Development</strong><br /><br />High school students are experimenting with adult-like relationships. Generally speaking, most students share the following characteristics:<br /><br />1. Interested in co-educational activities<br /><br />2. Desire adult leadership roles and autonomy in planning<br /><br />3. Want adults to assume a chiefly support role in their education<br /><br />4. Developing a community consciousness<br /><br />5. Need opportunities for self-expression<br /><br /><strong>High School Instructional Strategies </strong><br /><br />High school students are still concerned about the labeling that takes place, when one is identified as a remedial reader. Labels and stereotypes are both externally imposed (by other students and, sometimes their parents), but are primarily internally imposed (by the students themselves). Years of academic failure, due to lack of reading proficiency, have damaged students’ self-esteem. Many students have lost confidence in their ability to learn. Students have developed coping mechanisms, such as reading survival skills e.g., audio books or peer/parent readers, or behavioral problems, or the “Whatever… I don’t care attitudes” to avoid the tough work of learning how to read well. High school teachers need to be extremely mindful of student self-perceptions. A few talking points may be helpful:<br />“Unfortunately, some of your past reading instruction was poor; it’s not your fault that you have some skills to work on.” a.k.a. “blame someone else”<br />“You can learn in this class. If you come to class willing to try everyday, you will significantly improve your reading, I promise.”<br />“I know you have tried before, but this time is different.”<br />“You will be able to chart your own progress and see what you are learning in this class.”<br />“Some of my past students were like some of you. For example, ___________ and he passed the high school exit exam after finishing this class. For example, ___________ got caught up to grade level reading and is college right now.” Personal anecdotes provide role models and hope for high school remedial readers. Any former students who have been successful will provide “street credibility” to the teacher and the class.<br />“You aren’t in this class forever. As soon as you master your missing skills, you are out.”<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-466056501049591583.post-85159536902449167372009-05-15T09:47:00.000-07:002009-06-15T04:31:44.227-07:00Money may not be the best motivator -Especially if you're family<span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="color:#000099;"><strong>As parents, we've been told that punishments are ineffective as teaching tools. But what about reinforcers? Psychological research also tells us to be very careful in how we use reinforcers. They can damage the intrinsic motivation of our children.</strong></span><span class="fullpost"> </span></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><span class="fullpost"><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="color:#000000;">But are all reinforcers bad? Can some be used more safely than others? It sounds like great theory that all children should be intrinsically motivated to do good, obey their elders, and respect parents and teachers. But the reality is that sometimes children need a little help to move in the right direction. Many of us choose to use reinforcers for help. Used sparingly and carefully, reinforcers can be a great aid to parents and teachers alike. However, money should probably never be used as a reinforcer, particularly by parents. Money may not actually even be a reinforcer. And if it is, it is a very complicated one.<br /><br />Sound funny that money may not be a reinforcer? At first glance most of us would say of course money is a motivator and a reinforcer. Why, just look at the adult world. Most of us work for money. If they quit paying you for what you do, how many of you would continue to work? Certainly at the school where I teach, I dare say few teachers would remain if the salaries were removed. So at first glance, it appears we are motivated by money. But we need to look further.<br /><br />Are we truly working for the money or does the money allow us to work? Most of us enjoy our work. I very much enjoy teaching. I teach for the love of it. If I was paid more, I wouldn't teach any harder. The fact is I teach as best I can now, regardless of the money. So why is it that I would not continue to teach if the money were removed? Not because the money was gone, but because I would now need to go find something else to do to replace the missing money. Money is required for me to live. I need to eat, feed and clothe my children and put a reasonable roof over our heads. That's the bottom line. So by providing that (in the form of a paycheck) I can continue to do what I enjoy doing and that is to teach. Therefore I teach because I enjoy it. The suggestion that I'd teach better if I was paid more is insulting. I am the very best teacher I can be because I love teaching and care for children and their future. I appreciate the fact that a salary is provided so that I can take care of the needs of my family which allows me to continue to teach.<br /><br />Most of us would be insulted by being paid for something we do for the sheer joy of it or love for another. If I spent the day preparing a delightful candlelight dinner for two for my husband and myself, I do that out of the love I have for him. He would degrade that act, if at the end of the dinner, he thanked my with a 20 dollar tip.<br /><br />After a big snow storm, I often shovel the walkway around my house and my neighbor's house. She has a brand new baby and I understand the inconvenience of having to juggle that responsibility and shovel snow. So I feel better about our close and caring neighborhood by shoveling her walk along with my own so that she doesn't have to. I don't expect a thank you from her. As a mother of four, I remember the tough days of having a newborn. That's part of belonging to a human community -doing things out of care and love for others. What would be the effect if my neighbor gave me cash as a thanks. How would I feel. Degraded? Insulted? Misunderstood? All of the above.<br /><br />Money is important. Most all of us certainly enjoy it. A lot. It buys us necessities and luxuries. We like to feel like there is a relationship between our efforts and labor and the lifestyle we can afford. But money as a reinforcer is usually inappropriate. It can even be dangerous in that it may unintentionally insult the person we are giving it to. When acts are done out of kindness, concern and love, the rewards are intrinsic. We enjoy the feeling we get from doing for others. Money reduces that feeling and often changes it from a positive feeling to a negative one.<br /><br />So what's a parent to do? If you have established a trend of money for grades or money for following rules, you may want to reexamine the act. You may try acknowledging the hard work and effort with an in-kind act of your own, such as a trip to a favorite restaurant. Or try a mini-vacation, just the two of you to spend some special one-on-one time together. Maybe concert tickets to share or surprise them by hand-washing their car or cleaning their room for a change. Human acts of love can be thanked with other acts of love and maintain their integrity. Even a hug, a kiss and a kind word can enrich the relationship. Money may say you misread the intent.<br /><br /></span><a href="http://help4teachers.com/"><span style="color:#000000;">http://help4teachers.com/</span></a><span style="color:#000000;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></span></span><br /><br /></span></span><span style="font-family:arial;"><span class="fullpost"></span><span style="font-family:arial;"></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-466056501049591583.post-30352840853914105752009-05-10T13:40:00.000-07:002009-06-15T04:32:35.526-07:00How the Adolescent Brain Challenges the Adult Brain<span style="font-family:arial;"><strong><span style="color:#000099;">What makes the adolescent brain so challenging to the adult brain? Anyone who has ever tried to parent, teach or mentor the adolescent brain knows it can create some frustrating moments. A lot of this frustration can be blamed on some of the biology unique to the adolescent brain.</span></strong><br /></span><span class="fullpost"><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="color:#000000;">In any aged brain, the region responsible for basic survival needs (eat, flight/fight, sex) are handled by a region known as the hypothalamus. For obvious reason, the hypothalamus is powerful, influential and ready to function right from birth. Biologically speaking, if this area was not given top priority, the animal may not survive for long.<br /><br />One of the frustrations with adolescents is due to the fact that hormones, environment, and learning, make this survival region of the brain a "hot area" in adolescent brains.<br /><br />In addition, the basic survival drives of the hypothalamus don't always agree with the social structure, morals and safety of society. For the more "civilized" human behaviors we need to involve higher regions of the brain. Higher brain regions, in the cortex, can over-ride the hypothalamus. Although these regions are not given biological priority, they are the "logical" parts of the brain and are responsible for deciding when basic hypothalamus drives may not be in our best long-term interest.<br /><br />A region called the prefrontal cortex plays the role of arbitrator in making these critical decisions. It quickly sizes up the situation and makes a determination which then drives our behavior. It is the prefrontal cortex then that tells us when to act on our anger, or curtail it, eat that second piece of dessert, or go without, seek immediate gratification or hold off for the long term.<br /><br />Unfortunately some people have a poorly developed or poorly functioning prefrontal cortex. These people have a hard time controlling impulsive behaviors. Head trauma, alcohol and drug abuse as well as possible genetic predispositions can all lead to a dysfunctional prefrontal cortex. Maturity also plays a big role as this area takes about 20 years to fully develop. Hence, adolescents may have problems quickly sizing up risks and making good ong-term decisions.<br /><br />Other biological factors make adolescent brains even more hypothalamus driven. Children learn what to do with anger by watching other people in their sphere of influence and what they do when they are angry. Peer-influence peaks during the teen-age years which means that key role models for an adolescent are other adolescents.<br /><br />The hormone, oxytocin, found in the brain during romantic relationships, tends to settle and stimulate the hypothalamus during the beginning stages of the relationship. Anyone working with adolescents knows that they are always in the midst of "new love", which only further hampers logical decision making.<br /><br />So adolescents appear to have at least 3 strikes against them when it comes to using logic to weigh the risks in dangerous or sometimes even everyday types of decisions. The more primitive regions of their brains are strong and tend to drive behaviors. The immature region responsible for the logic of long-term benefits does not always override the impulsive, survival-oriented hypothalamus. Add any additional trauma to the mix such as abusive households or drug and alcohol use and the issue becomes even more severe.<br /><br />The biology of brain shows that adolescents still need strong adult guidance and help with decision making throughout the teen-age years . Time and good role models will fortunately allow the brain to eventually mature to match the body.<br /><br />Kathie F. Nunley is an educational psychologist, author, researcher and speaker living in southern New Hampshire. Developer of the Layered Curriculumâ„¢ method of instruction, Dr. Nunley has authored several books and articles on teaching in mixed-ability classrooms and other problems facing today's teachers. Full references and additional teaching and parental tips are available at: </span><a href="http://help4teachers.com/"><span style="color:#000000;">http://help4teachers.com/</span></a><span style="color:#000000;"> </span></span></span><br /><span class="fullpost"><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><br /><br /></span></span><span class="fullpost"><span style="font-family:arial;"></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-466056501049591583.post-75616771911390221252009-05-09T03:50:00.000-07:002009-06-15T04:33:45.706-07:00Child Development: 9- to 12-Year-Olds<span style="font-family:arial;"><strong>Kids in early adolescence experience tremendous intellectual, physical, social, and emotional changes. What can parents expect to see?</strong></span><span class="fullpost" style="font-family:arial;"> </span><span class="fullpost" style="font-family:arial;"><br /><br /><span style="color:#000000;">Middle adolescence is a time of blossoming development — the insecure, inwardly focused 13-year-old becomes a cheerful, charming 16-year-old looking toward the future. During this time your child's thinking skills take a decidedly adult turn, his body matures, and friends and social networks outside the family become increasingly important. Now is when you will really begin to get a glimpse of the adult your child will become. </span></span><br /><span class="fullpost" style="font-family:arial;"><br /><span style="color:#000000;"><strong>Physical Development</strong><br />Boys and girls still exhibit markedly different levels of physical maturity as they enter middle adolescence. Girls' rapid growth is generally tapering off, while many boys have yet to see the beginning of their much anticipated growth spurt. By the end of this period most girls will be near their adult height; boys may continue to grow until age 18 or 19.<br /></span><p><br /><span style="color:#000000;"><strong>Girls:</strong><br />growth in height continues, but at a slower pace than earlier; adult height is reached by age 16 or 17<br />breast development continues<br />pubic hair thickens, darkens, and takes on adult triangular pattern<br />underarm hair thickens<br />hips widen; fat deposits in buttocks, legs, and stomach increase<br />menstrual periods become regular; ovulation is established; pregnancy becomes possible </span></p><p><br /><span style="color:#000000;"><strong>Boys:<br /></strong>rapid growth in height and weight<br />muscles fill out and strength increases dramatically<br />voice deepens<br />pubic and underarm hair appears and thickens<br />body hair increases<br />penis, scrotum, and testes enlarge<br />ejaculation and nocturnal emissions occur </span></p><br /><span style="color:#000000;"><strong>Both Girls and Boys:</strong><br />always hungry; appetite is great<br />need for sleep increases; may sleep quite late on weekends<br />oily skin and acne may be problematic<br />sweating increases<br />rapid growth may cause clumsiness and lack of coordination<br />sexual desires and fantasies increase<br /><br /></span><span style="color:#000000;"><strong>Intellectual Development<br /></strong>Between 13 and 16 your child's ways of thinking about himself, others, and the world shift to a much more adult level. He enters middle adolescence with a focus on things he can experience here and now, and moves to being able to imagine the range of possibilities life holds. Expect the following changes as a progression of development rather than as age-based milestones:<br /><br /><strong>arguing skills improve (and are demonstrated often and with great passion)</strong><br /><br /><strong>reasoning skills improve:</strong><br />begins with the ability to apply concepts to specific examples<br />learns to use deductive reasoning and make educated guesses<br />learns to reason through problems even in the absence of concrete events or examples<br />becomes able to construct hypothetical solutions to a problem and evaluate which is best<br /><br /></span><span style="color:#000000;"><strong>focus on the future develops:<br /></strong>begins with a present focus, mixed with some fantasy<br />learns to recognize that current actions can have an effect on the future<br />starts to set personal goals (and may reject goals set by others)<br /><br /></span><span style="color:#000000;"><strong>decision-making skills improve:<br /></strong>begins to independently differentiate right from wrong and develops a conscience<br />learns to distinguish fact from opinion<br />learns to evaluate the credibility of various sources of information<br />becomes able to anticipate the consequences of different options<br />may challenge the assumptions and solutions presented by adults<br /><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Social & Emotional Development</span></strong><br />During this period your child will continue to be an emotional pendulum: happy and at ease one year, troubled by self doubts the next. These swings will smooth out as your teen approaches the end of high school and gains more confidence in his own independence.<br /><br /><strong>13-Year-Olds</strong><br />uncertain, unhappy, and sensitive<br />withdrawn; spends a lot of time alone; needs privacy<br />convinced that everyone else is watching and judging<br />very concerned with body image<br />self-esteem at a low ebb<br />not sociable with adults<br />friendships tend to be group-focused; more squabbling than a year ago<br /><br /><strong>14-Year-Olds</strong><br />generally happy and easy-going<br />recognizes own strengths and weaknesses<br />finds many faults with, and is embarrassed by, both parents<br />likes to be busy and involved in many extracurricular activities<br />social circle is large and varied; includes friends of both sexes<br />very anxious to be liked<br />interest in the opposite sex is strong<br /><br /><strong>15-Year-Olds</strong><br />may be quarrelsome and reluctant to communicate<br />strong desire for independence; wants to be free of family<br />relationship with siblings may be better than with parents<br />friends are very important; may have one or two "best friends"<br />dating and romantic relationships are commonplace<br /><br /><strong>16-Year-Olds</strong><br />relationship with family is easy and giving<br />feels comfortable in own skin; secure sense of self<br />starts to view parents as people, rather than rule-makers<br />friendships are very important<br />most have many friends of both sexes with shared interests<br />romantic relationships can be quite intense<br /><br /></span><span style="color:#000000;"><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">And Finally...<br /></span></strong>Remember that growth and development are influenced by many factors — including genetic, social, and cultural — and that each child is an individual who will develop at his own pace. The milestones presented here are averages; your child may progress more quickly or a little more slowly. You can help your child through this period of great change by showing support and listening to his worries and concerns. And as always, if any aspect of your child's development seems very atypical, talk to his pediatrician and encourage your teen to ask questions as well.<br /><br /><br /></span><a href="http://www.greatschools.net/"><span style="color:#000000;">By Nancy Firchow, M.L.S.<br /></span></a><br /><br /></span><span class="fullpost" style="font-family:arial;"></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-466056501049591583.post-34579541164160215532009-05-07T13:51:00.000-07:002009-06-15T05:51:19.456-07:00Educational Indicators<span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="color:#000000;"><strong>"The great tragedy of science: the slaying of a beautiful theory by an ugly fact."</strong> That wry observation by the great British scientist T. H. Huxley applies equally well to educational practice. Like all professionals, educators use informal theories and assumptions to guide their actions, yet often fail to evaluate these beliefs (Donald Schon 1987). </span></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span><span class="fullpost"><br /><span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:arial;">The hectic pace of school life makes it difficult for teachers and administrators to step back and objectively assess the validity of their operating assumptions. In addition, educators tend to judge success anecdotally rather than through formal assessment. A small sign of progress from a recalcitrant student may outweigh months of low performance. Although these victories may be highly satisfying in human terms, today's accountability environment demands that educators collect and analyze objective data before making decisions.<br /><br />Schools collect a large amount of data, but much of it is simply filed and forgotten (Theodore Creighton 2001). In recent years, policymakers and school officials have begun to recognize that these numbers can be turned into "performance indicators" that not only satisfy the demands of accountability but serve as a tool for school improvement.<br /><br />This Digest examines the nature and purpose of educational-indicator systems, and it discusses the design of report cards by which schools can inform the public of their performance.<br /><br />WHAT ARE EDUCATIONAL INDICATORS?<br /><br />An indicator is any statistic that casts light on the conditions and performance of schools. The recent push for accountability has emphasized test scores, but Linda Darling-Hammond and Carol Ascher (1991) have suggested that a comprehensive indicator system should provide a wide range of information.<br /><br />Some indicators, such as teacher turnover or student mobility, can signal problems that need attention. Some indicators can provide information geared to current policy issues; for example, data on course-taking will help policymakers who want students to take more academic courses.<br /><br />Other indicators focus on context, such as student demographics, teacher workload, financial resources, and teacher qualifications. Such information can help schools interpret the sometimes ambiguous statistics that come from test scores and other outcome measures. Although contextual factors do not provide the bottom-line measure of success that policymakers seek, they do have an impact on student learning and can help explain a school's performance.<br /><br />Currently, forty-five states require schools or districts to issue "school report cards" that include a wide range of information. Twenty-seven states also provide comparative ratings of schools (Ulrich Boser 2001). Alaska, for example, plans a four-grade ranking: "distinguished," "successful," "deficient," and "in crisis."<br /><br />Given the wide range of data available, policymakers and school leaders should choose their key indicators by asking three questions: Why is this information important? How much effort is required to track the data? How will we use this information when we get it? (Larry Lashway 2001).<br /><br />HOW DO INDICATORS SUPPORT SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT?<br /><br />Indicators play a central role in today's accountability systems by focusing attention on results, especially the school's performance on standards-driven assessments. Policymakers believe that publicity has a motivational effect: Ratings raise awareness, provide focus and energize schools and communities to work to improve student achievement. At their best, ratings can provide momentum, measure schools' progress and show parents, the public and policymakers that schools can improve. (Southern Regional Education Board 2000).<br /><br />This attention-getting feature is even stronger when indicators are the trigger for incentives, giving practitioners personal as well as professional reasons to focus on the target.<br /><br />However, attention does not always lead to positive action. Educators may attempt to explain away poor results rather than act on them, while parents and community members often report that they are uncertain how to lobby for improvement. Teachers in high-need schools, struggling to educate large numbers of under prepared students with limited resources, may simply be demoralized by repeated public embarrassment (Lashway).<br /><br />The more lasting value of indicators is their role in the school-improvement process. Used thoughtfully and systematically, they allow schools to take charge of their own assessment by identifying strengths and weaknesses and pinpointing which improvement strategies are working (Karen Levesque and colleagues 1998). Ideally, a school's indicator system will not be merely a grudging reaction to state mandates but will reflect a school's commitment to "an ethic of continuous improvement" (Annenberg Institute for School Reform). Used this way, indicators are merely an extension of what thoughtful professionals always try to do.<br /><br />HOW ARE INDICATORS MISUSED?<br /><br />Although indicators hold out the promise of improved decision-making, they can easily lead schools astray.<br /><br /><br />1. One danger is to collect data indiscriminately. This not only costs effort and money, it swamps decision-makers in a sea of numbers that make it difficult to distinguish the significant from the trivial (Lashway).<br /><br /><br />2. Raw numbers never speak for themselves, but require careful interpretation (Darling-Hammond and Ascher). For example, a rise in fourth-grade scores may be due to improved instruction, or it may be due to differences in capability between last year's group and this year's group.<br /><br /><br />3. An over reliance on data may have unintended but perverse effects, particularly when those data are high-stakes test scores. Faced with the need to get the numbers up, educators may be tempted to replace curricular content with test-prep activities; may exclude special-education students from testing; or may even cheat. Recently, some school leaders have reported difficulty staffing fourth-grade classrooms because teachers don't want the pressure of the testing often done at this level (Abby Goodnough 2001).<br /><br />Darling-Hammond and Ascher note that indicators by themselves do not constitute an accountability system; they merely provide information for the system. No matter how sophisticated the data collected, they will never substitute for informed human judgment.<br /><br />HOW IS EDUCATIONAL PERFORMANCE REPORTED TO THE PUBLIC?<br /><br />In many cases, states mandate the content and form of "school report cards," often aiming at a scorecard method that permits comparisons. Some districts have chosen to go beyond these state-mandated scorecards by creating and publicizing their own local report cards, which they believe portray their work with more accuracy.<br /><br />Designing effective report cards poses a considerable challenge that goes beyond transcribing and sharing data. What parents and taxpayers want from report cards does not always match what policymakers have in mind. According to some surveys, the information most desired by parents and other citizens is data on school safety and teacher qualifications, followed by average class size, graduation rates, and dropout rates. Student-performance data are considered important, but not the highest priority (Richard Brown 1999).<br /><br />Report cards need a clear sense of purpose. Why have these indicators been chosen? How do they relate to the school's goals? Providing a context for the data is vital; the numbers alone have little meaning for the public. Instead, they should be woven into a narrative that explains what the school is trying to accomplish, what progress has been made, and what steps will be taken next (Lashway).<br /><br />Presentation and dissemination of the report are another key. Length, format, readability, and appearance will determine readership. Beyond relying on the usual dissemination through local papers and district newsletters, schools can get further mileage from the report by using it as the basis for "accountability dialogues" with stakeholders (Kate Jamentz 1998).<br /><br />HOW DO SCHOOLS BECOME DATA DRIVEN?<br /><br />Tracking and reporting selected indicators will satisfy the minimum demands of accountability, but significant improvement will come only when the data are used systematically and intelligently. For example, a Philadelphia middle school-serving students with high poverty, low academic performance, and frequent behavior problems-created a behavior database that eventually revealed many students were coming to school simply not knowing how to behave properly. After increasing supervision, the school was able to reduce inappropriate behavior by 95 percent (Lorraine Keeney 1998).<br /><br />The Annenberg Institute for School Reform has outlined a six-part "inquiry cycle" that puts indicators to work. The first step is to identify the desired outcomes, which in turn generates questions about how well students are accomplishing those objectives (step two). Step three consists of selecting and organizing data that will help answer the school's questions. The fourth step is to interpret the collected data, followed by appropriate actions (step five). Finally, assessment of those actions marks the beginning of the next inquiry cycle (Keeney).<br /><br />Similar processes are recommended by Levesque and colleagues as well as Penny Noyce and colleagues (2000). Underlying all three strategies is a willingness to face the fact that reality (as revealed in the data) falls short of the ideal (as embodied in the mission and goals). Only by confronting that reality can schools move toward their ideal.<br /><br />Source: ERIC Clearinghouse on Educational Management Eugene OR<br /><br /><br /></span><br /><br /></span><br /></span><span class="fullpost"></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-466056501049591583.post-52502535082676924212009-05-06T12:16:00.000-07:002009-06-15T05:53:32.016-07:00Education: What About the Poor?<p><br /><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000000;">(by Chris Cardiff)<br /><br /><strong>In various forms, the question "what do we do about the poor?"</strong> outstrips all others as the most frequently asked question about separating school and state. The implicit assumption, only natural after 60 years of the welfare state and 150 years of government control of education, is that government is the only entity capable of looking out for the poor and educating them.<br /></span><span class="fullpost"><br /><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000000;">Both the historical record and present conditions invalidate this assumption. There is no evidence that poor children were denied an education in the nonslave states before the government takeover of the schools in the mid-1800s. Since then, educational opportunities for the poor have declined steadily.<br /><br />While government control of education harms all families, children of low-income families are damaged most severely. Our inner-city government schools resemble prisons with their metal detectors and armed guards on patrol. Described as 'poverty mills' by critics, these institutions cannot educate; they can only warehouse children. Despite spending over 300 billion taxpayer dollars on education every year, our existing system of government schools is not meeting the needs of low-income families.<br /><br />The full separation of school and state means rescinding government-compelled attendance, curriculum, credentialing, accreditation, and financing. The issue of providing educational opportunities for the poor hinges on financing. Restated, the question becomes: how will low-income families be able to afford education for their children without government handouts?<br /><br />The Second Largest Entitlement Program in the World<br /><br />With expenditures of over $316 billion per year, education is the second-largest entitlement program in the United States (and the world), ranking behind Social Security but ahead of Medicare-Medicaid [1]. Providing educational pportunities for low-income families can be met without edu-welfare by replacing the government educational dole with a system of private scholarships (or private vouchers) funded by charitable donations.<br /><br />As part of the movement toward a free market in education, dozens of private scholarship foundations for elementary and secondary school-age children have proliferated since J. Patrick Rooney, chairman of Golden Rule Insurance, inaugurated the first one in 1991. These charity-financed programs encourage family involvement with their children's education and schools by requiring participating families to choose a school that matches their needs and to pay part of the tuition themselves.<br /><br />These programs are successfully providing the means for over 10,000 children to attend independent schools today. Is it realistic to expect them to replace our gigantic edu-welfare system? How much money would these programs need to help all low-income families? The answer is comparatively very little.<br /><br />Running the Numbers<br /><br />A simplified static analysis of educational funding requires two numbers: how many children (or families) will need financial assistance to attend independent schools, and how much will it cost them? As a rough estimate, one-third of families -- 16 million children -- will need financial assistance. Half of these, eight<br /><br />million, are classified as 'poor' by the U.S. Census Bureau, while the other half could be considered lower middle-class.<br /><br />According to the National Center for Educational Statistics, private school tuition averages between $2,500 and $3,000 per year. A typical private scholarship program provides up to half (some pay more than half, most have ceiling amounts). For this simplified static analysis, assume $1,500 scholarships-half the cost of the upper end of the range. (It's easy to improve on this model by developing a sliding scale of scholarships based on financial need, ranging, for example, from $750 to $2,250 but averaging $1,500).<br /><br />If all 16 million poor and lower-middle-class children were provided a $1,500 scholarship, educational opportunities in today's independent schools could be opened for all low-income families for only $24 billion. To put that amount in perspective, it is 25 percent less than the state of California alone spends and less than 8 percent of the $316 billion spent on education today by all levels of government nationwide.<br /><br />Where Will the Money Come From?<br /><br />We have a long history of charitable giving in this country. While many charities have been co-opted and crowded out by government, Americans still give generously of their time and money. Consider these statistics:<br /><br />In 1993, Americans donated $126.2 billion to charities [2].<br />89 million Americans donated four or more hours a week to charitable efforts in 1993 [3].<br />Individuals, corporations, foundations, and other organizations donated $12.4 billion directly to colleges and universities in 1994-1995 [4].<br />Private-sector sources donated $24.9 billion in private scholarships and fellowships for higher education in 1994 [5].<br />'Partnerships' between businesses and schools, in which firms donated goods and services, money, or all three, grew from 40,000 to 140,000 between 1983 and 1988 [6].<br />All this is on top of an average tax burden of over 40 percent. Clearly, we are a generous nation, a giving people-and much of our largess is directed toward providing educational opportunities for others. With donors already contributing $37.3 billion for higher education, how difficult would it be to raise the $24 billion needed for private scholarships for elementary and secondary school-age children?<br /><br />A recent example illustrates the credibility of this scenario. Last August, a local judge shut down much of Milwaukee's school-choice program (based on government vouchers) after thousands of children had already begun classes. A generous outpouring by Milwaukee's citizens resulted in raising $1.6 million in ten days (and eventually more than $2 million) so that the children could remain in the schools they chose and not be forced to return to government schools [7].<br /><br />It's not a question of whether Americans will support private scholarships for elementary and secondary school children -- obviously, they already do.<br /><br />The Dynamics of a Free Market and a $316 Billion Tax Cut<br /><br />Eliminating government's role in education eliminates the need to tax citizens to fund the government schools. That even suggests a natural course of action to begin separating school and state. Taxes could be phased out, allowing the private sector to grow over time. Families could pay tuition bills with funds previously taken as taxes. Others have called for an immediate repeal of all taxes that fund schools.<br /><br />Imagine the possibilities of returning $316 billion to taxpayers as part of separating school and state! Currently only 12 percent of America's school-aged children attend independent, parochial, or home schools [8]. Making this market eight times larger would spur educational innovation as entrepreneurs chased those dollars. Educational opportunities would expand tremendously for everyone-especially the poor. The quantity and quality of educational opportunities would increase dramatically.<br /><br />Finally, consider the possibilities for raising $24 billion for private scholarships from taxpayers who have just had $316 billion returned to them. If only eight percent of that money found its way to private scholarship funds, money would be available for all children of lower-income families to attend better schools than they are attending today. In the dynamic real world, much less would be needed, as families learned to become independent again. Not only is it likely that private funding for scholarships would be available for lower-income families, but those dollars would also be purchasing a much better educational product. Given these synergistic benefits, the only question remaining is: what are we waiting for?<br /><br />Mr. Cardiff is executive director of the National Center for Independent Education<br /><br /></span><a href="http://www.theadvocates.org/"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000000;">http://www.theadvocates.org</span></a><span style="color:#000000;"><br /><br /><br /></span></p></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-466056501049591583.post-76510302577902950212009-05-05T21:19:00.000-07:002009-06-15T05:54:17.656-07:00Decision Making<span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="color:#000000;"><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Many people have trouble making decisions.</span></strong> People are often afraid of making the wrong decision. Just remember that even if you make the wrong decision, you can learn from it. As long as you use the decision and its outcome to your advantage, you are progressing. </span></span><span class="fullpost"><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="color:#000000;">Some of the factors that hinder decision making include the physical or mental inability to make a decision. Some people experience great anxiety when making decisions. Procrastination also hinders decision making, as does letting your emotions control you. Being “wishy-washy” and not wanting to hurt any feelings also stands in the way of many decisions.<br /><br />One way to effectively make a decision is to define the problem. Once that is done, gather all the necessary information, pro and con, about the problem. Look at all the possibilities and evaluate them. Take the possibilities and see what may work and what may not. Pick the best possibility that you can envision. Go ahead and begin to work on the solution. Be sure to check on your progress as you are implementing your decision. It is important to review the decision. You need to be able to see what worked and what did not work. Make certain that you learn from the experience, whether it was good or bad.<br /><br />Sometimes decisions are so large that circumstances may dictate making small changes, rather than large ones. You may want to use a trial and error method. Make a small decision and see if it works. After the first decision is made, evaluate it and move forward or laterally, if necessary. Prioritize the challenges so that you do not have to decide everything at one time. Let each decision help the next one.<br /><br />Always look to the future when making decisions. You need to be open to the unknown possibilities and factors that may exist. Keep your mind open to all avenues.<br /><br /></span><a href="http://www.studytips.org/index.htm"><span style="color:#000000;">Study Tips Main Page<br /></span></a><br /><br /><br /><br /></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-466056501049591583.post-32433021249582676402009-05-04T12:46:00.000-07:002009-06-15T06:31:52.457-07:00Studying Islamic Education<span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:arial;"><strong>There are approximately 2 million Muslims living in the UK.</strong> and, according to the latest statistics, there are around 450,000 Muslim children in the schools of England and Wales. During the formal schooling years, alongside children from different religious backgrounds, Muslim children receive Religious Education which is taught on the basis of a locally agreed syllabus. There are about 150 of these agreed syllabuses, and they all include the study of Islam. </span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span></span><span class="fullpost"><br /><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000000;">These syllabuses are required study by all children, whether Muslim or not. Birmingham, England's second biggest city, is a multi-cultural and multi-religious city and home for a very large Muslim community. There are thousands of Muslim children at all levels of schooling. This fact makes the study of Islamic Education in Birmingham both an exciting and a challenging experience.<br /><br />As a way of responding to the educational needs of these Muslim children, the School of Education, through its well-known Religious Education research group, provides opportunities for conducting quality research in different areas of Islamic Education. This research covers the theoretical aspects of Islamic Education, such as the philosophy and the historical development of Islamic Education; and the conception of human development in the essential Islamic sources in addition to more empirical research topics. These include examining the present situation of Islamic Education in the Muslim world, and in the Western countries where Muslims are a minority; issues concerning curriculum development, teaching methods, and materials in Islamic Education, presentation of Islam in the multi-faith R.E syllabuses and studying the needs of Muslim children by exploring their life context.<br /><br />My own research investigates the question of what it means to be young Muslim in a Multicultural society -a situation which is, through globalisation, becoming the reality for Muslims around the globe-, by exploring the attitudes and identity development of young Muslims who are in the final two years of their schooling in Birmingham. The research also investigates the possibility of inter generational differences in terms of religious orientation and the degree of personal construction of faith among Muslim youngsters. The study aims to incorporate empirical findings concerning the Muslim students' life-world into the theory and practice of traditional Islamic Education.<br /><br />The University of Birmingham is well known for the study of Islam and this is carried on in the nearby Department of Theology, which now includes the academic specialists working in the former Centre for the Study of Islam, and also the former Westhill College, now also incorporated within the University. Undergraduates may study Islam in Westhill as they prepare for school teaching, and many aspects of Islamic history, culture and law, as well as studies of the Qur'an and the Hadith are pursued by staff in the enlarged Theology Department. These facilities, together with the world famous collection of early Muslim manuscripts in the Orchard Learning Centre are available to students in the School of Education who are studying and researching into Islamic Education. Many of the educational researches are supervised by a panel consisting of one Muslim specialist and one specialist in the social sciences.<br /><br />In addition, in the city of Leicester, about an hour's journey away, there is the Islamic Foundation a well-known Muslim organisation specialising in research on Islamic Economics and on other aspects of Muslim culture and the headquarters of the Federation of Islamic Organisations in Europe, which together provide further resources for Islamic education and information concerning the new developments taking place among Muslim communities settled in Britain and Western Europe.<br /><br />The University has an active Islamic Society, with a membership of several hundreds, who meet for prayer every Friday on the campus. The Society at the beginning of every academic year organises special sessions for new students attending various courses at the University in order to help them to become familiar with the Campus and with the local Muslim community in the city. It also arranges talks by inviting leading Muslim thinkers around the world to the University, conducts special classes for Muslim students who want to learn Arabic and increase their knowledge and understanding of Islam. The Islamic Society has a Women's section which deals specially with the needs of female Muslim students on the campus. The Society brings together the many Muslims who are studying everything from English to Engineering, from surgery to sociology in the University of Birmingham.<br /><br /><br />The whole orientation of research into Islamic Education at the School of Education is to nurture the educational understanding of Islam. This makes it clear that use of the range of social science research methodology employed in modern Educational research is encouraged. However, such a creative dialogue between Islamic sciences and modern social science entails specific theoretical problems which require special attention. Hence the wider issues, such as the interplay between Islam, modernity, and post-modernity, is given space to be problematised in separate research projects. In this context some perspectives which have been developed by contemporary Muslim theologians and philosophers to reconstruct Islamic thought, in projects like "Islamisation of Knowledge", "Islamic modernity" for example, are also being thoroughly discussed in the course of exploring the dynamics of Islamic Educational thought.<br /><br />In conclusion, we firmly believe that the use of a multi-disciplinary research methodology constitutes a fundamental aspect of research-based Islamic Education which, in turn, will help to guarantee an academically respected Islamic education. It is this combination of a professional commitment and a scholarly atmosphere that makes the study of Islamic Education in the School of Education, at the University of Birmingham, a stimulating experience.<br /><br />Abdullah Sahin<br />Islamic Centre of England </span><a href="http://www.ic-el.org/"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000000;">http://www.ic-el.org/</span></a><span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><br /></span><br /></span><br /><br /></span><span class="fullpost"></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-466056501049591583.post-6414514962337511182009-05-03T00:29:00.000-07:002009-06-15T06:34:19.173-07:00Can the Islamic Intellectual Heritage be Recovered?<span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="color:#000000;"><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">By</span></strong> "the Islamic intellectual heritage" I mean the ways of thinking about God, the world, and the human being established by the Qur’«n and the Prophet and elaborated upon by generations of practicing Muslims. I use the term "intellectual" to translate the word ‘aqlâ, and by it I want to distinguish this heritage from another, closely related heritage that also has theoretical and intellectual dimensions. This second heritage is the "transmitted" (naqlâ ) heritage.<br /></span></span><span class="fullpost"><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="color:#000000;">Transmitted knowledge is learned by "imitation" (taqlâd), that is, by following the authority of those who possess it. This sort of knowledge includes Qur’«n recitation, Hadith, Arabic grammar, and jurisprudence. It is impossible to be a Muslim without taqlâd, because one cannot discover the Qur’«n or the practices of the Shariah by oneself. Just as language is learned by imitation, so also the Qur’«n and Islamic practice are learned by imitating those who know them. Those who have assumed the responsibility of preserving this transmitted heritage are known as its "knowers," that is, its ulama.<br /><br />In transmitted knowledge, it is not proper to ask "why." If one does ask why, the answer is that the Qur’«n says what it says, or that grammar determines the rules of proper speech. In contrast, the only way to learn intellectual knowledge is to understand it. One cannot learn it by accepting it on the basis of authority. Intellectual knowledge includes mathematics, logic, philosophy, and much of theology. In learning, "why" is the most basic and important of questions. If one does not understand why, then one will be following someone else’s authority. It makes no sense to accept that 2 + 2 = 4 on the basis of a report, no matter how trust worthy the source may be. Either you understand it, or you do not. The goal here is not taqlâd, but taÁqâq, which can be translated as "verification" or "realization."<br /><br />In the transmitted sciences, people must follows mujtahids, whether the mujtahids be alive (as in Shi’ism) or dead (as in Sunnism). In other words, one follows a mujtahid because the only way to learn the transmitted sciences is from those who already know them. But one cannot follow a mujtahid in matters of faith, because faith pertains to one’s own understanding of God, the prophets, the scriptures, and the Last Day. A Muslim cannot say, "I have faith in God because my mujtahid told me to have faith." Someone who said this would be saying that if the mujtahid told him not to believe in God, he would not. In other words, he would be saying that his faith is empty words.<br /><br />Although in theory we can distinguish between the transmitted and intellectual sciences, in practice the two have always been closely interrelated, and the transmitted sciences have been the foundation upon which the intellectual sciences are built. One cannot speak properly without grammar, and one cannot understand things Islamically without the Qur’«n and the Hadith. However, the fact that people may have an excellent knowledge of the transmitted sciences does not mean that they know anything at all about the intellectual sciences. Nor does the ability to recite the opinions of the great Muslims on matters of faith prove that the reciter has any understanding of what he is saying.<br /><br />Both the transmitted and the intellectual sciences are essential to the survival of any religion—not only Islam—and both are gradually being lost. By and large, however, the transmitted sciences have been preserved better than the intellectual sciences, and the reason is obvious. Anyone can learn Qur’«n and Hadith, but very few people can truly understand what God and the Prophet are talking about. One can only understand in one’s own measure. One cannot understand mathematics (or any of the other intellectual sciences) without both native ability and training. One may have a great aptitude for mathematics, but without long years of study, one will never get very far. And mathematics deals with issues that are relatively near at hand, even in the most sophisticated of its modern forms. What about theology, which deals with the deepest issues of reality, the furthest from our everyday experience?<br /><br />It is important to stress that no religion can survive, much less flourish, without a living intellectual tradition. In order to verify this—because this statement should not be accepted on the basis of taqlâd —we can ask the questions, What was the intellectual tradition for? What function did it play in Islamic society? What was its goal? To ask these questions is the same as asking, "Why should Muslims think?" The basic answer is that Muslims should think because they must think, because they are thinking beings. They have no choice but to think, because God gave them minds and intelligence when He created them. Not only that, but God has commanded them to think and to employ their intelligence in numerous Qur,«nic verses.<br /><br />No doubt, this does not mean that God requires all Muslims to enter into the sophisticated sort of study and reflection that went on in the intellectual tradition, because it is obvious that not everyone has the proper sort of talents, capacities, and circumstances to do so. Nevertheless, all Muslims have the moral and religious obligation to use their minds correctly—if they have minds. As the Qur’«n puts it, l« yukallifu All«hu nafsan ill« wus‘ah«, "God does not burden any soul save to its capacity." When people’s capacity includes thinking, God has given them the burden of thinking correctly. But He does not tell them what to think, because then He would be making taqlâd incumbent in intellectual matters. If many of the Ulama have forbidden taqlâd in matters of uÄël, it is because God Himself forbids it. He has given people minds, and they cannot use their minds correctly if they simply accept dogma or opinions on the basis of authority. To think properly a person must actually think, which is to say that conclusions must be reached through one’s own intellectual struggle, not someone else’s. Any teacher of an intellectual science—like mathematics or philosophy—knows this perfectly well.<br /><br />It is true that many if not most people are unreflective and would never even ask why they should think about things. They simply go about their daily routine and imagine that they understand their own situation. In any case, they suppose, God wants nothing more from them than observing the Shariah. But this is no argument for those who have the ability to stop and think. Anyone who has the capacity and talent to reflect upon God, the universe, and the human soul must do so. Not to do so is to betray one’s God-given nature and to disobey God’s commandments.<br /><br />Since some Muslims have no choice but to think, learning how to think correctly must be an important area of Muslim effort. But what defines "correct" thinking? How do we tell the difference between right thinking and wrong thinking? Does the fact that people have no choice but to think mean that they are free to think anything they want? The Islamic answer to this sort of question has always been that the way people think is far from indifferent. Some modes of thinking are encouraged by the Qur’«n and the Sunnah, some are discouraged. Islamically, it is incumbent upon those who think to employ their minds in ways that coincide with the goals of the Qur’«n and the Sunnah. In other words, the goal of the Islamic intellectual tradition must coincide with the goal of Islam, or else it is not Islamic intellectuality.<br /><br />So, what is the goal of Islam? In general terms, Islam’s goal is to bring people back to God. However, everyone is going back to God in any case, so the issue is not going back, but how one goes back. Through the Qur’«n and the Sunnah, God guides people back to Him in a manner that will ensure their everlasting happiness. If they want to follow a "straight path" (Äir«Ç mustaqâm), one that will lead to happiness and not to misery, they need to employ their minds, awareness, and thinking in ways that are harmonious with God Himself, who is the only true Reality. If they follow illusion and unreality, they will be following a crooked path and most likely will not end up in a pleasant place when they go back.<br /><br />The history of Islamic intellectuality is embodied in the various forms that Muslims have adopted over time in attempting to think rightly and correctly. The intellectual tradition was robust and lively, so disagreements were common. Nevertheless, in all the different schools of thought that have appeared over Islamic history, one principle has been agreed upon by everyone. This principle is the fact that God is one and that He is the only source of truth and reality. He is the origin of all things, and all things return to Him. This principle, as everyone knows, is called tawÁâd, "asserting the unity of God." To think Islamically is to recognize God’s unity and to draw the proper consequences from His unity. Differences of opinion arise concerning the proper consequences, not in the fact that God is one.<br /><br />The consequences that people draw from tawÁâd depend largely on their understanding of "God." Typically, Muslims have sought to understand God by meditating upon the implications of God’s names and attributes as expressed in the Qur’«n and the Sunnah. The conclusions reached in these meditations have everything to do with how God is understood. If He is understood primarily as a Lawgiver, people will draw conclusions having to do with the proper observance of the Sharâ‘ah. If He is understood primarily as wrathful, they will conclude that they must avoid His wrath. If He is understood primarily as merciful, they will think that they must seek out His mercy. If He is understood primarily as beautiful, they will know that they must love Him. God, of course, has "ninety-nine names"—at least—and every name throws different light on what exactly God is, what exactly He is not, and how exactly people should understand Him and relate to Him. Naturally, thoughtful Muslims have always understood God in many ways, and they have drawn diverse conclusions on the basis of each way of understanding. This diversity of understanding in the midst of tawÁâd is prefigured in the Prophet’s prayer, "O God, I seek refuge in Your mercy from Your wrath, I seek refuge in Your good pleasure from Your displeasure, I seek refuge in You from You."<br /><br />Obstacles to Recovery<br /><br />My title indicates that I think the Islamic intellectual heritage has largely been lost in modern times. This is a vast topic, and I cannot begin to offer proofs for my assertion, but I think it is obvious to most Muslims who have some awareness of their own history. What I can do here is to offer a few suggestions as to the obstacles that stand in the way of recovery. For present purposes, I want to deal with two basic sorts of obstacles, though there are other sorts as well. First are intellectual forces that originally came from outside. They are intimately connected with the types of thinking that grew up in Western Europe and America and have come to dominate in the modern world. However, they have long since become an internal problem, because most Muslims have either actively and eagerly adopted them as their own, or they been molded by them without being aware of the fact. Given that these intellectual forces have now been internalized, they have given rise to a second group of obstacles, which are modern attitudes and social forces within the Islamic community that prevent recovery.<br /><br />In suggesting the nature of the first category of obstacles, we can begin with a basic question: Is it possible nowadays to think Islamically? Or, Is it possible to be a "Muslim intellectual" in the modern world? By this, I do not mean an intellectual who is by religious affiliation a follower of Islam, but rather an individual who thinks Islamically about the three basic dimensions of Islam—practice, faith, and sincerity— while living in the midst of modernity.<br /><br />I have no doubt that there are tens of thousands of Muslim intellectuals in the ordinary sense of the word—that is, Muslim writers, professors, doctors, lawyers, and scientists who are concerned with intellectual issues. But I have serious doubts as to whether any more than a tiny fraction of such people are "Muslim intellectuals" in the sense in which I mean the term. Yes, there are many thoughtful and intellectually sophisticated people who were born as followers of Islam and who may indeed practice it carefully. But do they think Islamically? Is it possible to be both a scientist in the modern sense and a Muslim who understands the universe and the human soul as the Qur’«n and the Sunnah explain them? Is it possible to be a sociologist and at the same time to think in terms of tawÁâd ?<br /><br />It appears to me, as an outside observer, that the thinking of most Muslim intellectuals is not determined by Islamic principles and Islamic understanding, but by habits of mind learned unconsciously in grammar school and high school and then confirmed and solidified by university training. Such people may act like Muslims, but they think like doctors, engineers, sociologists, and political scientists.<br /><br />It is naive to imagine that one can learn how to think Islamically simply by attending lectures once a week or by reading a few books written by contemporary Muslim leaders, or by studying the Qur’«n, or by saying one’s prayers and having "firm faith." In the traditional Islamic world, the great thinkers and intellectuals spent their whole lives searching for knowledge and deepening their understanding. The Islamic intellectual heritage is extraordinarily rich. Hundreds of thousands of books were written, and in modern times the majority of even the important books are not available, because they have never been printed. Those that have been printed are rarely read by Muslim intellectuals, and those few that have been translated from Arabic and Persian into English and other modern languages have, by and large, been badly translated, so little guidance will be found in the translations.<br /><br />I do not mean to suggest that it would be necessary to read all the great books of the intellectual tradition in their original languages in order to think Islamically. If modern-day Muslims could read one of these important books, even in translation, and understand it, their thinking would be deeply effected. However, the only way to understand such books is to prepare oneself for understanding, and that demands dedication, study, and training. This cannot be done on the basis of a modern university education, unless, perhaps, one has devoted it to the Islamic tradition (I say "perhaps" because many Muslims and non-Muslims with Ph-D in Islamic Studies cannot read and understand the great books of the intellectual heritage).<br /><br />Given that modern schooling is rooted in topics and modes of thought that are not harmonious with traditional Islamic learning, it is profoundly difficult today for any thinking and practicing Muslim to harmonize the domain of intellectuality with the domain of faith and practice. One cannot study for many years and then be untouched by what one has studied. There is no escape from picking up mental habits from the types of thinking that one devotes one’s life to. It is most likely, and almost, but not quite inevitable, for modern intellectuals with religious faith to have compartmentalized minds — I will not go so far as to say "split personalities," but that is common enough. One compartment of the mind will encompass the professional, intellectual domain, and the other the domain of personal piety and practice. Although individuals may rationalize the relationship between the two domains, they necessarily do so in terms of the world view that is determined by the rational side of the mind, which is the professional, modern side. The world view established by the Qur’«n and passed down by generations of Muslims will be closed to such people, and hence they will draw their rational categories and their ways of thinking from their professional training and the ever-shifting Zeitgeist that is embodied in contemporary intellectual trends and popularized through television and other forms of mass indoctrination.<br /><br />Many Muslim scientists tell us that modern science helps them see the wonders of God’s creation, and this is certainly an argument for preferring the natural sciences over the social sciences. But is it necessary to study physics or bio– chemistry to see the signs of God in all His creatures? The Qur’«n keeps on telling Muslims, "Will you not reflect, will you not ponder, will you not think?" About what? About the "signs" («y«t) of God, which are found, as over two hundred Qur’«nic verses remind us, in everything. In short, one does not need to be a great scientist, or any scientist at all, to understand that the world tells us about the majesty of its Creator. Any fool knows this. This is what the Prophet called the "religion of old women" (dân al-‘aj«’iz), and no one needs any intellectual training to understand it. It is simply necessary to look at the world, and it becomes obvious to "those with minds" (ulu ’l-alb«b).<br /><br />It is true that a basic understanding of the signs of God may provide sufficient knowledge for salvation. After all, the Prophet said, aktharu ahl al-jannati bulhun, "Most of the people of paradise are fools." However, the foolishness that leads to paradise demands foolishness concerning the affairs of this world, and that is very difficult to come by nowadays. It is certainly not found among Muslim intellectuals. They are already far too clever, and this explains why they are such good doctors and engineers. In other words, they have already employed and developed their minds, so they have no choice but to be intellectuals. Inescapably, their intelligence has been shaped and formed by their education, their disciplines, and the media.<br /><br />The Gods of Modernity<br /><br />The information and habits of mind that are imparted by modernity are not congruent with Islamic learning. Perhaps the best way to demonstrate this concisely is to reflect on the characteristics of modernity—by which I mean the thinking and norms of the "global culture" in which we live today. It should be obvious that whatever characterizes modernity, it is not tawÁâd, the first principle of Islamic thinking. Rather, it is fair to say that modernity is characterized by the opposite of tawÁâd. One could call this shirk or "associating others with God." But for most Muslims, the word shirk is too emotionally charged to be of much help in the discussion. Moreover, they have lost touch with what it really means, because they are unacquainted with the Islamic intellectual tradition, where tawÁâd and shirk are analyzed and explained. So let me call the characteristic trait of modernity "takthâr," which is the literal opposite of tawÁâd. TawÁâd means to make things one, and, in the religious context, it means "asserting that God is one." Takthâr mean to make things many, and in this context I understand it to mean "asserting that the gods are many."<br /><br />Modern times and modern thought lack a single center, a single orientation, a single goal, any single purpose at all. Modernity has no common principle or guideline. In other words, there is no single "god"—since a god is what gives meaning and orientation to life. A god is what you serve. The modern world serves many, many gods. Through an ever-intensifying process of takthâr, the gods have been multiplied beyond count, and people worship whatever god appeals to them, usually several at once.<br /><br />The truth of my assertion becomes obvious if we compare the intellectual history of the West and Islamic civilization. Up until recent times, Islamic thought was characterized by a tendency toward unity, harmony, integration, and synthesis. The great Muslim thinkers were masters of many disciplines, but they looked upon all of them as branches of a single tree, the tree of tawÁâd. There was never any contradiction between studying astronomy and zoology, or physics and ethics, or mathematics and law, or mysticism and logic. Everything was governed by the same principles, because everything fell under God’s all-encompassing reality.<br /><br />The history of Western thought is characterized by the opposite tendency. Although there was a great deal of unitarian thinking in the medieval period, from the Middle Ages onward there has been constantly increasing dispersion and multiplicity. "Renaissance men" could know a great deal about all the sciences and at the same time have a unifying vision. But nowadays, everyone is an expert in some tiny field of specialization, and "information" increases exponentially. The result is mutual incomprehension and universal disharmony. It is impossible to establish any unity of knowledge, and no real communication takes place among the specialists in different disciplines, or even among specialists in different subfields of the same discipline. In short, people in the modern world have no unifying principles, and the result is an ever-increasing multiplicity of goals and desires, an ever-intensifying chaos.<br /><br />Despite the chaos, everyone has gods that he or she worships. No one can survive in an absolute vacuum, with no goal, no significance, no meaning, no orientation. The gods people worship are those points of reference that give meaning and context to their lives. The difference between traditional objects of worship and modern objects of worship is that in modernity, it is almost impossible to subordinate all the minor gods to a supreme god, and when this is done, the supreme god is generally one that has been manufactured by ideologies. It is certainly not the God of tawÁâd, who negates the reality of all other gods. However, it may well be a blatant imitation of the God of tawÁâd, especially when religion enters into the domain of politics.<br /><br />The gods in the world of takthâr are legion. To mention the more important ones would be to list the defining myths and ideologies of modern times—evolution, progress, science, medicine, nationalism, socialism, democracy, Marxism, freedom, equality. But perhaps the most dangerous of the gods are those that are the most difficult to recognize for what they are, because we in the modern world take them for granted and look upon them much as we look upon the air that we breathe. Let me list the most common of these gods by their seemingly innocuous names: basic need, care, communication, consumption, development, education, energy, exchange, factor, future, growth, identity, information, living standard, management, model, modernization, planning, production, progress, project, raw material, relationship, resource, role, service, sexuality, solution, system, welfare, work. These are some, but not all, of the ninety-nine most beautiful gods of modernity, and reciting their names is the dhikr of modern man.<br /><br />Anyone who wants an analysis and explanation of the nature of these gods should refer to the book Plastic Words by the German linguist, Uwe Poerksen. The subtitle is more instructive as to what the book is all about: The Tyranny of a Modular Language. Poerksen explains how the modern use of language—a use that achieved dominance after the Second World War—has resulted in the production of a group of words that have turned into the most destructive tyrants the world has ever seen. He does not call them "gods," because he is linguist and has no apparent interest in theology. Nevertheless, he does give them the label "tyrant," and this is a good translation for the Qur’«nic divine name, al-jabb«r. When this name is applied to God, it means that God has absolute controlling power over creation. "Tyranny" becomes a bad thing when it is ascribed to creatures, because it indicates that they have usurped God’s power and authority. In the case of the plastic words, the usurpation has taken place at the hands of certain words that are used to shape discussion of societal goals.<br /><br />As Poerksen points out, these tyrannical words have at least thirty common characteristics. The most important of these is that they have no definition, though they do have an aura of goodness and beneficence about them. In linguistic terms, this is to say that such words have no "denotation," but they do have many "connotations." There is no such thing as "care" or "welfare" or "standard of living," but these words suggest many good things to most people. They are abstract terms that seem to be scientific, so they carry an aura of authority in a world in which science is one of the most important of the supreme gods.<br /><br />Each of these words turns something indefinable into a limitless ideal. By making the ideal limitless, the word awakens unlimited needs in people, and once these needs are awakened, they appear to be self-evident. The Qur’«n says that God is the rich, and that people are the poor toward God. In other words, people have no real need except toward God. But nowadays, people feel need toward meaningless concepts, and they think that they must have them. These empty idols have become the objects of people’s devotion and worship.<br /><br />The plastic words give great power to those who speak on their behalf. Anyone who uses these words—care, communication, consumption, information, development—gains prestige, because he speaks for god and truth, and this forces other people to keep silent. After all, we think, only a complete idiot would object to care and development. Everyone must follow those whose only concern is to care for us and to help us develop.<br /><br />The mujtahids who speak for these mini-gods are, of course, the "experts." Each of the plastic words sets up an ideal and encourages us to think that only the experts can achieve it, so we must entrust our lives to them. We must follow the authority of the scientific mujtahids, who lay down shariahs for our health, our welfare, and our education. People treat the pronouncements of the experts as fatw«s. If the experts reach consensus (ijm«‘) that we must destroy a village as a sacrificial offering to the god "development," we have no choice but to follow their authority. The mujtahids know best.<br /><br />Each of the plastic words makes other words appear backwards and out-of-date. We can be proud of worshipping these gods, and all of our friends and colleagues will consider us quite enlightened for reciting the proper dhikrs and du‘«’s. Those who still take the old God seriously can cover up this embarrassing fact by worshipping the new gods along with Him. And obviously, many people who continue to claim to worship the old-fashioned God twist His teachings so that He also seems to be telling us to serve "care, communication, consumption, identity, information, living standard, management, resource . . ." — the dhikr is well enough known.<br /><br />Because the plastic gods have no denotations, all those who believe in them are able to understand them in terms of the connotations that appeal to then and then convince themselves that they are serving the basic need that is stated in the very name of the god, because, after all, it is a self-evident need. We are poor toward it and we must serve it. It is obvious to everyone that these gods are worthy of devotion. Religious people will have no trouble giving a religious color to these tyrants. In the name of the plastic gods, people of good will join together to transform the world, with no understanding that they are serving man-made idols, idols that, as the Qur’«n puts it, "your own hands have wrought."<br /><br />The topic of false gods is vast, especially nowadays, when more false gods exist than were ever found in the past. The Qur’«n tells us that every prophet came with the message of tawÁâd, and that God sent a prophet to every community. Every community of the past had its own version of tawÁâd, even if people sometimes fell into shirk because of ignorance and forgetfulness. But in modern society, there are nothing but the gods of takthâr, and these gods, by definition, leave no room for tawÁâd.<br /><br />Understanding the nature of false gods has always been central to the intellectual sciences, but this cannot be the concern of the transmitted sciences. One cannot accept that "There is no god but God" simply on the basis of taqlâd. The statement must be understood for people to have true faith in it, even if their understanding is far from perfect. Hence most of the Islamic intellectual tradition has been concerned with clarifying and explaining the objects of faith. What is it that Muslims have faith in? How are they to understand these objects? Why should they have faith in them?<br /><br />The first of the Islamic objects of faith is God, then angels, prophets, the Last Day, and the "measuring out, the good of it and the evil of it" (al-qadri khayrihâ wa sharrihâ). In discussing God and the other objects of faith, it is important to explain not only they are, but also what they are not. When people do not know what God is and when they do not know that it is easy to fall into the habit of worshipping false gods, then they will have no protection against the takthâr of the modern world, the multiplicity of gods that modern ways of thinking demand that they serve.<br /><br />What is striking about contemporary Islam’s encounter with modernity is that Muslims lack the intellectual preparation to deal with the situation. Muslim intellectuals—with a few honorable exceptions—do not question the legitimacy of the modern gods. Rather, they debate about the best way to serve the new tyrants. In other words, they think that Islamic society must be modified and adapted to follow the standards set by modernity, standards that are built on the basis of takthâr. This is to say that innumerable modern-day Muslims are forever looking for the best ways to adapt Islam to shirk.<br /><br />Many Muslims today recognize that the West has paid too high a price for modernization and secularization. They see that various social crises have arisen in all modernized societies, and they understand that these crises are somehow connected with the loss of the religious traditions and the devaluation of ethical and moral guidelines. But many of these same people tell us that Islam is different. Islam can adopt the technology and the know-how—the "progress," the "development," the "expertise"— while preserving Islam’s moral and spiritual strength and thereby avoiding the social disintegration of the West. In other words, they think, Muslims can forget tawÁâd, embark on a course of takthâr, and suffer no negative consequences.<br /><br />The fact that so many people think this way and do not recognize the absurdity of their position shows that they have lost the vision of tawÁâd that used to give life to Islamic thinking. They cannot see that everything is interrelated, and they fail to understand that the worship of false gods necessarily entails the dissolution of every sort of order—the corruption not only of individuals and society, but also of the natural world. In other words, when people refuse to serve God as He has asked them to serve Him, they cannot fulfill the functions for which He has created them. The net result is that our world becomes ever more chaotic. A significant Qur’«nic verse here is this: "Corruption has appeared in the land and the sea because of what the hands of people have earned" (30: 41). When people follow the gods of takthâr, corruption can only increase, and it will end up by destroying the natural world just as it is destroying society. "Corruption" (fas«d), after all, is defined as the lack of "wholesomeness" (Äal«Á), and wholesomeness is wholeness, health, balance, harmony, coherence, order, integration, and unity, all of which are established through tawÁâd or "making things one."<br /><br />Attitudinal Obstacles<br /><br />The second sort of obstacle preventing the recovery of the intellectual heritage can be discerned on the societal level in the attitudes and habits of mind that have been adopted by modern-day Muslims. These result from the loss of intellectual independence and have become embodied in the institutions and structures of contemporary society. I will not attempt to go into details. Instead let me suggest that these obstacles become manifest in various currents that are not difficult to see, such as the politicization of the community, monolithic interpretations of Islamic teachings, and blind acceptance of the teachings of contemporary Muslim leaders (in other words taqlâd where there should be taÁqâq). Perhaps the broadest and most pernicious of these obstacles, however, is the general attitude that one might call "anti-traditionalism."<br /><br />Although Islam, like other religions, is built on tradition—the sum total of the transmitted and intellectual heritages—many Muslims see no contradiction between believing in the gods of modernity and accepting the authority of the Qur’«n and the Sunnah. In order to do this, however, they need to ignore thirteen hundred years of Islamic intellectual history and pretend that no one needs the help of the great thinkers of the past to understand and interpret the Qur’«n and the Sunnah.<br /><br />We need to keep in mind that if there is any universally accepted dogma in the modern world, it is the rejection of tradition. The great prophets of modernity—Descartes, Rousseau, Marx, Freud—followed a variety of gods, but they all agreed that the old gods were no longer of any use. In the Islamic view, God’s prophets share tawÁâd. In contrast, the modern prophets share the rejection of tawÁâd and the assertion of takthâr. One can only reject God’s unity by inventing other gods to replace Him.<br /><br />In traditional Islamic terms, God is qadâm," ancient" or "eternal." God has always been and always will be. In modernity, the gods are new. To stay new, they have to be changed or modified frequently. The new is always to be preferred over the old, which is "outmoded" and "backwards." Science is always making new discoveries, and technology is constantly offering new inventions that all of us quickly think we need. Anything that is not in the process of renewal is thought to be dead.<br /><br />One name for this god of newness is "originality." He rules by ordaining new styles and models, and his priests are found everywhere, especially in the domains of advertising and mass indoctrination. Thus we have the fashion mujtahids who tell women what to wear and who change their fatw«s every year. Originality’s priests also exercise authority in the world of art. Or take the modern university, where many professors adopt the latest intellectual styles as soon as they arrive on the scene. In much of the modern university, as in women’s fashion, Paris rules.<br /><br />The greatest danger of anti-traditionalism for modern Muslims is that they have accepted this god—like so many others—without giving any thought to what they are doing. Hence they think that for thirteen hundred years, Muslims had nothing to say. They want to retain their Muslim identity, but they imagine that in order to do this, it is sufficient to keep their allegiance to the Qur’«n and the Sunnah, blithely ignoring the great interpreters of the tradition over the centuries.<br /><br />If people think they no longer need the grand interpreters, this seems to be because they believe in the gods of progress, science, and development. They tell us that today we know so much more about the world than those people of olden times, because we have science. People who think this way usually know nothing about science except what they are taught by the media, and they certainly know nothing about the Islamic intellectual tradition. They are blind obedientalists on the intellectual level, even though taqlâd is absurd in such matters. What is worse, this is a selective taqlâd. They will only accept the intellectual authority of the "scientists" and the "experts," not that of the great Muslim thinkers of the past. If Einstein said it, it must be true, but if Ghazz«lâ or Mull« Âadr« said it, it is "unscientific"—which is to say that it is false.<br /><br />If such people really knew something about the intellectual roots and bases of science and theology, they would know that science has nothing to say to theology, but theology has plenty to say to science. The reason for this is that theology is rooted in tawÁâd, and hence it can look down from above and discern the interconnectedness of all things. But science is rooted in takthâr, so it is stuck to the level of multiplicity—the lowest domain of reality—and it can only dissect this multiplicity and rearrange it endlessly. Even when it is able to gain a certain overview of interconnections, it does this without being able to explain how it can do so or what the ultimate significance of these interconnections may be. By its own premises, science is banned from the invisible domains—what the Qur’«n calls ghayb. If it has nothing to say about angels and spirits, which are sometimes called the "relative ghayb," it has even less to say about God, the "absolute ghayb." In contrast, the Islamic intellectual tradition is rooted in knowledge of God, and thereby it also acquires various modalities of knowing His creation. These are rooted in absolute truth and in certainty, unlike modern disciplines, which are cut off from the Absolute. Only this sort of traditional knowledge can re– establish human connections with the divine.<br /><br />Finally, let me suggest that the most basic problem of modern Islam is that Muslims suffer from what has traditionally been called "compound ignorance," jahl murakkab. "Ignorance" is not to know. "Compound ignorance" is not to know that you do not know. Too many Muslims do not know what the Islamic tradition is, they do not know how to think Islamically, and they do not know that they do not know. The first step in curing ignorance is to recognize that one does not know. Once people recognize their own ignorance, they can go off in "search of knowledge" (Çalab al-‘ilm)— which, as everyone knows, "is incumbent on every Muslim," and indeed, one would think, on every human being. No recovery of the intellectual tradition is possible until individuals take this step for themselves. The tradition will never be recovered through taqlâd or by community action, only by the dedication of individuals, through their own, personal taÁqâq. Governments and committees cannot begin to solve the problem, because they start from the wrong end. Understanding cannot be imposed or legislated, it can only grow up from the heart.<br /><br />The Prophet said, "Wisdom is the believer’s lost camel. Wherever he finds it, he recognizes it." People today do not know what wisdom is, and still less do they know that it belongs to them by right. Until they recognize this, they will never know that their camel has been lost. They will think that in any case, camels are no longer of any use, since cars, airplanes, and computers will take them wherever they want to go. It is a tragedy when people have no idea that the only way to cross the desert of modernity without danger is by the camel of wisdom.<br /><br /></span><a href="http://www.allamaiqbal.com/"><span style="color:#000000;">http://www.allamaiqbal.com/</span></a><span style="color:#000000;"><br /><br /><br /></span></span><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-466056501049591583.post-68468957109811862102009-05-03T00:02:00.000-07:002009-06-15T06:35:43.318-07:00The Freedom Of Studying At Your Own Free Time<span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="color:#000000;"><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">E-learning programs or online coaching programs</span></strong> have just emerged and this is a totally new concept in the education scenario, at least in countries like India. The offline i.e. classroom based teaching or a tutor at home also helps you to prepare for the competitive examinations. But in respect to today’s fast moving world we also need to keep ourselves updated with the cutting edge technologies.<br /></span></span><span class="fullpost"><br /><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000000;">For a country like India the competition in various entrance examinations is very tough. For example more than 3 lakh students are expected to appear for CAT 2009. CAT is the entrance examination for the coveted management institutes like IIMs. Many other reputed institutes like MDI, IMT, SP Jain, etc. also accept CAT score. There are many classrooms coaching institute to help students appearing for CAT. Recently a young IIM alumnus and a Professor at reputed St.Xavier’s College Kolkata, Vineet Patawari has come up with an online coaching portal for CAT in the name of www.fireup.co.in. The timing of the launch of such a portal is most appropriate as CAT is going online from 2009.<br /><br />After going through the website and comparing it with various other in the same domain I realized e-learning, specially for competitive examinations is more efficient learning tool as compared to the classroom tutorials in many ways. Firstly, you save the time and energy spend to attend the classroom coaching. You can log into www.fireup.co.in or any other similar website, whenever you want to get yourself started. There is no time barrier or timing schedule for the classes.<br /><br />Secondly, many CAT aspirants are professionals who have a busy daily schedule with very little time to attend classes for such preparation purposes. Online mode of preparation becomes a boon to such people who want to pursue higher education keeping their professional life intact. Many people prefer a calm and homely atmosphere while studying. This makes them uncomfortable in tuition centers and thus they cannot concentrate on their study. Online mode of education helps you to prepare as per your convenience.<br /><br />In brief it is Any Time, Any Where, Any Pace Learning. People usually have some social commitments too. Online study also provides the time for meeting their social obligations simply because they do not have to rush to coaching classes. Family men also find it easy since they do not have to adjust their time for meeting family commitments. Additional information on a particular subject can also be browsed through net which are not normally made available under classroom conditions.<br /><br />Of course traditional campus education will never be dispensed with; sill there has been remarkable increase in the number of students preferring online courses in recent years. Apart from the specific advantages students get the chance to master the skill for dealing through net which is considered as essential under modern working conditions. Moreover facilities like 24*7 virtual coach provided by fireup.co.in are a boon for CAT takers.<br /><br /></span><a href="http://www.articleavenue.com/"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000000;">www.articleavenue.com</span></a><span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /></span><br /></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-466056501049591583.post-14551378883296516242009-05-02T23:20:00.000-07:002009-06-15T06:38:07.125-07:00Free College Education Exists<span style="font-family:arial;color:#000000;">As high school seniors begin making plans to go to college, the financial reality of it all begins to set in for their parents. Sure, it's usually pretty easy for students and their parents to get approved for college loans to pay for whatever you can't pay upfront - but does anyone really want to graduate with tens of thousands (or more) in college loans? It's a rude awakening for college graduates to enter the "real world" after earning their degrees with all of that debt on their shoulders.<br /></span><span class="fullpost"><br /><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000000;">Since most of us don't come from families who are able to pull the cost of a college education out of their back pocket - you'll probably be interested (if not completely surprised) to discover that there are a number of colleges in the United States that offer 100% tuition-free education. In exchange for free tuition, many of the colleges expect students to work 10 or 15 hours in a job related to their field of study, but this could only be seen as an advantage! You graduate debt free, and with work experience for your resume.<br /><br /><strong>Alice Lloyd College</strong><br /><br />Located in Kentucky, Alice Lloyd College offers guaranteed tuition to full time students from 108 counties. The university is a highly respected, private four year liberal arts college, offering degree programs in Education, Natural Science and Math, Social Sciences and Humanities. There are four residence halls (two for males and two for females) and students are required to live on campus unless commuting from an immediate family member's home. A variety of sports and activities round out campus life.<br /><br /><strong>Berea College</strong><br /><br />Another free tuition school located in Kentucky, Berea College was founded in 1855 and currently spends more than $24,000 per student, per year, to provide each admitted student with a free education. There are more than 28 degree programs leading to bachelor of arts or bachelor of science degrees. The college offers more than 50 clubs and organizations, sports teams and on-campus facilities that make your stay comfortable. More than 50% of Berea students get to study abroad, as well.<br /><br />Room and board are not included in the free tuition - and total around $6,000 per year. With additional financial aid provided by the school, many students pay nothing towards these expenses as well - or pay discounted amounts. You can apply to Berea - without an application fee, too!<br /><br /><br /><br />All students work at least 10 hours per week on campus.<br /><br /><strong>The Cooper Union</strong><br /><br />Founded in 1859 by philanthropist, Peter Cooper, The Cooper Union is one of the nations oldest colleges. It's located in New York City and offers programs in architecture, art, science and engineering fields. All enrolled students receive 100% tuition scholarships, estimated at $33,000 per year. Students attending The Cooper Union are responsible for paying room and board, miscellaneous fees and general living expenses.<br /><br />There are a number of clubs and activities for students to participate in, as well as athletics.<br /><br /><strong>Webb Institute</strong><br /><br />Also located in New York City, the Webb Institute is a college for Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering fields of study. Tuition is free, and there are no laboratory fees, library fees or course fees. Students are expected to contribute to their room and board expenses, which average $7550 per year, as well as some other basic living expenses and drafting equipment.<br /><br />Located on Long Island Sound, students tend to sail or water ski in their spare time. Students have access to the local YMCA at no charge, as well as programs in music and athletics.<br /><br /><strong>College of the Ozarks</strong><br /><br />Located in Missouri, The College of the Ozarks has been named Stone Cold Sober School by the Princeton Review for ten consecutive years. Students are not permitted alcohol or drugs on or off campus. It's largely a christian school, offering tuition in exchange for work rather than pay. The college does not participate in federal loan programs, either, and discourages debt.<br /><br />There are sports teams for both men and women. All students work 15 hours per week and two 40 hour work weeks during their stay on campus. Students must stay on campus unless they are over 21 years old or live with parents/immediate relatives, or are married.<br /><br /><br /></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-466056501049591583.post-31080532768203002592009-05-01T22:12:00.000-07:002009-06-15T06:39:58.991-07:00Universities With the Best Free Online Courses<span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="color:#000000;"><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">N</span></strong>o tuition money? No problem! There are many top universities that offer free courses online. This list ranks several of the best free university courses available for people who want to enhance their personal knowledge or advance in their current field.<br /></span></span><span class="fullpost"><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong>1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (mit.edu)<br /></strong></span><br /><br /></span><a href="http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/home/home/index.htm"><span style="color:#000000;">Free MIT Courses Online</span></a><span style="color:#000000;"><br /><br />If you are looking for a wide range of free courses offered online, MIT is your best option. More than 1,800 free courses are offered through the school's OpenCourseWare project. Courses are in text, audio and video formats and translated into a number of different languages. Students all over the world use OpenCourseWare and 96 percent of visitors to this site say they would recommend it to someone else.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong>2. Open University (open.ac.uk)</strong></span><br /><br /><br /></span><a href="http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/"><span style="color:#000000;">Free Open University Courses Online</span></a><span style="color:#000000;"><br /><br />The Open University is the UK's largest academic institution. The school's OpenLearn website gives everyone free access to both undergraduate and graduate-level course materials from The Open University. Courses cover a wide range of topics, such as the arts, history, business, education, IT and computing, mathematics and statistics, science, health and technology.<br /><br /><br /></span><span style="color:#000000;"><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">3. Carnegie Mellon University (cmu.edu)<br /></span></strong><br /><br /></span><a href="http://www.cmu.edu/oli/"><span style="color:#000000;">Free Carnegie Mellon Courses Online </span></a><br /><br /><span style="color:#000000;">Carnegie Mellon University offers a number of free online courses and materials through a program called Open Learning Initiative. OLI courses are intended to allow anyone at an introductory college level to learn about a particular subject without formal instruction. Course options include such offerings as statistics, biology, chemistry, economics, French and physics.<br /><br /><br /></span><span style="color:#000000;"><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">4. Tufts University (tufts.edu)<br /></span></strong><br /><br /></span><a href="http://ocw.tufts.edu/"><span style="color:#000000;">Free Tufts University Courses Online</span></a><span style="color:#000000;"><br /><br />Like MIT, Tufts has OpenCourseWare that is available free to everyone. Courses are sorted by school (i.e. School of Arts and Sciences, School of Medicine, etc.) and include assignments, lecture notes and other supplementary materials.<br /><br /><br /></span><span style="color:#000000;"><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">5. Stanford (stanford.edu)<br /></span></strong><br /><br /></span><a href="http://itunes.stanford.edu/"><span style="color:#000000;">Stanford Courses on iTunes U</span></a><span style="color:#000000;"><br /><br />Stanford University, one of the world's leading academic institutions, has joined forces with iTunes U in providing access to Stanford courses, lectures and interviews. These courses can be downloaded and played on iPods, PCs, and Macs and can also be burned to CDs. If you don't have iTunes, you can download it here for free.<br /><br /><br /></span><span style="color:#000000;"><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">6. University of California, Berkeley (berkeley.edu)<br /></span></strong><br /><br /></span><a href="http://webcast.berkeley.edu/courses.php"><span style="color:#000000;">Free UC Berkley Courses Online </span></a><br /><br /><span style="color:#000000;">UC Berkley, one of the best public universities in the nation, has been offering live and on-demand webcasts of certain courses since 2001. Hundreds of UC Berkley courses, both current and archived, are now available as podcasts and webcasts. Courses cover a range of subjects, including astronomy, biology, chemistry, computer programming, engineering, psychology, legal studies and philosophy.<br /><br /><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">7. Utah State University (usu.edu)</span></strong><br /><br /><br /></span><a href="http://ocw.usu.edu/"><span style="color:#000000;">Free Utah State University Courses Online</span></a><span style="color:#000000;"><br /><br />Utah State University also provides access to free online courses. Study options include everything from anthropology to physics and theatre arts. These comprehensive text-based courses can be downloaded as zip files or viewed directly on the site.<br /><br /><br /></span><span style="color:#000000;"><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">8. Kutztown University of Pennsylvania (kutztownsbdc.org)<br /></span></strong><br /><br /></span><a href="http://www.kutztownsbdc.org/course_listing.asp"><span style="color:#000000;">Free Kutztown University Courses Online</span></a><span style="color:#000000;"><br /><br />Kutztown University's Small Business Development Center offers the largest collection of free business courses available on the web. Course topics include accounting, finance, government, business law, marketing and sales. Comprehensive text, interactive case studies, slides, graphics and streaming audio help to demonstrate the concepts presented in each course.<br /><br /><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">9. University of Southern Queensland (usq.edu.au)</span></strong><br /><br /><br /></span><a href="http://ocw.usq.edu.au/"><span style="color:#000000;">Free USQ Courses Online </span></a><br /><br /><span style="color:#000000;">The University of Southern Queensland in Australia provides free online access to a number of different courses through yet another OpenCourseWare initiative. Courses from each of the five faculties are available, covering a broad range of topics, including communication, science, career planning, technology, teaching and multimedia creation.<br /><br /><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">10. University of California, Irvine (uci.edu)</span></strong><br /><br /><br /></span><a href="http://ocw.uci.edu/"><span style="color:#000000;">Free UC Irvine Courses Online</span></a><span style="color:#000000;"><br /><br />UC Irvine, one of the nation's top public universities, recently joined the OCW Consortium and began providing free university level courses online. Right now, there are only a handful of options to choose from, but this list is growing. Current courses cover topics like financial planning, human resources, capital markets and e-marketing. Course materials include syllabi, lecture notes, assignments and exams.<br /><br /></span></span><a href="http://education-portal.com/"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000000;">http://education-portal.com</span></a><span style="color:#000000;"><br /><br /></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-466056501049591583.post-46223934915115145432009-05-01T21:02:00.000-07:002009-06-15T06:41:29.576-07:00SUDOKU<span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong>Sudoku</strong></span>, which means single number, has recently gained popularity throughout the word. The game sudoku has been around about two hundred years. Sudoku has been popular in Japan for many years. </span></span><span class="fullpost"><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="color:#000000;">Not only has sudoku provided hours of entertainment for many people throughout the world, it is also catching on as a teaching tool in the classrooms. Anyone who performs sudoku well becomes a person who can think logically.<br /><br />Sudoku is not a mathematics game; it is a logic game. Reasoning skills and concentration are developed when playing this game. Everyone can play it and enjoy it. Sudoku can be used to pass the time while waiting for the doctor, the bus, class to be over and any number of situations. The more sudoku you do, the better you get at the answers. Different levels, ranging from simple to quite difficult, are offered.<br /><br />The rules for a sudoku are simple, although the solution may be difficult. Usually, the sudoku puzzle is placed on a 9 x 9 grid square and divided in 3 x 3 square regions. The goal of the game is to fill in the blank squares so that each row, column and square region contains each one of the numbers from 1-9. These numbers may only be used once in each 3 x 3 square.<br /><br />Use sudoku for relaxation or to improve your concentration and logic skills.<br /><br /></span><a href="http://www.studytips.org/index.htm"><span style="color:#000000;">Study Tips Main Page</span></a><span style="color:#000000;"><br /><br /></span></span><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-466056501049591583.post-19930966498865972372009-05-01T11:45:00.000-07:002009-06-15T06:42:55.687-07:00Education Keeps Older Minds Active and Sharp<span style="font-family:arial;color:#000000;"><strong>Years of Education May Protect Mind From Age-Related Memory Decline</strong></span><span style="color:#000000;"><span class="fullpost"><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /></span></span><br /></span><span class="fullpost"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000000;">Years of education may pay off long after graduation. A new study shows that the more educated you are, the more active your mind is likely to be in old age.<br /><br />The study showed that depending on their educational status, older and younger adults had opposite patterns of brain activity when performing memory tasks. For example, activity in the frontal lobes region (the part of the brain right under the forehead) is used more when performing memory tasks in highly educated older and less-educated young adults, while less-educated seniors and highly educated young adults relied more on the temporal lobes alone. The frontal lobes are involved in problem solving, memory, language, and organizing memory input -- it helps place words or pictures into categories.<br /><br />Researchers say results indicate years of education allow older people to effectively "call up the reserves" in their brain. They say their study shows that enlisting the frontal lobe to help them solve tasks may be an alternative brain network used by highly educated older adults to compensate for age-related declines in memory function.<br /><br />They say the findings also show that education may help protect the brain from the normal declines in memory and other skills that occur with age.<br /><br />Education May Help Memory<br />In the study, researchers examined the relationship between education and brain activity in two different age groups: a group of 14 young adults aged 18 to 30 with 11 to 20 years of education and a group of 19 adults aged 65 and up with eight to 21 years of education.<br /><br />The results appear in the March issue of Neuropsychology.<br /><br />Since memory is known to decline as people age, researchers tested each group on a series of memory tasks while scanning their brains using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).<br /><br />As expected, researchers found that the older adults performed worse on the memory tests. But the brain networks related to education and memory performance were different between the two groups.<br /><br />The study showed that in young adults, more education was associated with less use of the frontal lobes and more use of the temporal lobes. But for older adults doing the same memory tasks, more years of education was linked to less use of the temporal lobes and more use of the frontal lobes.<br /><br />Researchers say the results show that older adults with higher education may use the frontal lobes as an alternative network to help in performing daily tasks.<br /><br />"Many studies have now shown that frontal activity is greater in old adults, compared to young; our work suggests that this effect is related to the educational level in the older participants," says researcher Cheryl Grady, PhD, of Rotman Research Institute in Toronto. "The higher the education, the more likely the older adult is to recruit frontal regions, resulting in a better memory performance."<br /><br />In this manner, more years of education may allow the brain to function better long into retirement.<br /><br /></span><a href="http://www.webmd.com/"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000000;">http://www.webmd.com/</span></a></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-466056501049591583.post-89621275543017751182009-05-01T11:17:00.000-07:002009-06-15T06:44:01.623-07:00How babies learn language<span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="color:#000000;"><strong>Have you ever really thought about how your baby learns to talk?</strong> </span></span><span class="fullpost"><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="color:#000000;">Because it really is an amazing process. Think about it: she learns to roll a ball or clap her hands by watching you and imitating you. But speech is way more complicated that than that.<br /><br />If you say the word ‘da-da’ – the first word many babies learn – you’ll see that it involves placing your tongue up against the roof of your mouth just behind your upper front teeth and then moving it down. Your watching baby doesn’t see those complex internal movements of tongue against palate or teeth, though. All she sees is your lips parting as you say the word. And yet still she learns how to say it!<br /><br /><br /><br />More than mimicry<br />What’s going on in your baby’s brain is nothing short of incredible. Her brain contains millions of neurons – special nerve cells that send and receive electrical signals out to the body. Scientists have recently discovered that even more specialized neurons, called mirror neurons, may help us mimic the behavior and actions of others.<br /><br />Some experts theorize that hearing your speech activates the same neurons in her brain that you yourself used to make that sound, enabling her to try to imitate you even though she can’t see exactly how you form sounds. She’ll start experimenting with sound fairly early on and by five months or so you’ll hear her babbling: streaming together the noises she’s been hearing you. As she gets more skilled her babbling will start to take on the intonation of proper speech so although it’ll still sound like nonsense she’ll be able to convey pleasure, surprise and happiness.<br /><br />The fact that speech is complex means than initially her attempts to say proper words will be awkward but as she becomes more aware of your speech she’ll begin to articulate more smoothly herself… which is how you end up with that tween who’s fluent in backchat!<br /><br /><br />Helping your baby learn to talk<br />Just because instinct plays a part in leaning language doesn’t mean that you don’t need to get involved. After all, language is social, it’s communication, it’s give and take – and if your baby has no one to communicate with her, speech will be delayed. So talking to your baby is vital.<br /><br />Your baby’s acquisition of language is enhanced by what’s called ‘motherese’ – a universal behavior in which we speak to our babies in high-pitched, slow sing-song tones. Because it’s melodic and repetitive, it engages your baby’s attention and may help activate those mirror neurons so she can start to copy you.<br /><br />You’re also the key to her understanding that the sounds she’s forming aren’t just noise – they have nuance, and can be instructions, questions, suggestions and warnings. You can reinforce this by labeling objects as you refer to them: ‘Here is your ball’, ‘there is the dog’. Reading to her as often as you can helps too because it helps her hear the intonations and emotions that underlie meaningful, and also demonstrates how sentences are structured. Use gestures too: new research suggests that toddlers who use gestures such as pointing often have better vocabularies when they reach school age<br /><br /><br />Your baby’s language explosion<br />She’ll likely say her first word any time from 10 to 12 months onwards and by 18 months she’ll have accumulated a vocabulary of 50 words. At every stage of language learning she’ll understand the meaning of more words than she can actually say.<br /><br />At around three, she’ll start to apply the rules of grammar to speech, and scientists are still scratching their heads over the fact that young children seem to inherently know the ‘rules’ of speech. Think about it: your preschooler doesn’t say ‘Milk cup of I want’ does she? She knows the right order the words need to come in – and it isn’t just because she’s heard you say it, because if that were the case she’d be saying ‘I ran’ instead of ‘I runned’ (learning those tricky irregular verbs comes later!).<br /><br />Between two and six years or so she’ll learn the meaning of as many as eight new words a day. By the time most children enter elementary school they know around 11,000 words – not bad!<br /><br /></span><a href="http://www.gurgle.com/"><span style="color:#000000;">http://www.gurgle.com/</span></a><span style="color:#000000;"><br /><br /></span></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-466056501049591583.post-49208607764337022122009-04-30T20:49:00.000-07:002009-06-15T06:46:17.478-07:00Types of Tests<span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="color:#000000;"><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">In a classroom situation</span></strong>, there are three types of tests that are common.</span></span><span class="fullpost"><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="color:#000000;">These include the true/false, the multiple choices and the short answer. It is a good study strategy to have a general idea of how to take any one of these tests.<br />True/false tests are easy in the sense that every word in the statement must be true. Any word that is not true makes the statement false. Pay attention to the wording. Qualifiers, such as frequently, generally, and negatives, such as cannot, may confuse you. Notice if the statement must be absolutely true by words such as none, always, every, only.<br /><br />Read long sentences more than once. Multiple choice tests need to be considered carefully. Read over the test and answer the easiest questions first. Go through the second time for more difficult questions. Think critically in multiple choice. Watch for all of the above and none of the above answers. Always make a choice unless you are penalized for guessing. If questions in the last part of the test make you see the need to go back to the first part, then change your answer. Remember to look for the best answer.<br /><br />Short answer tests make it necessary for you to review your notes and textbook. It helps to make summaries of the material when studying. If you make a guess, use common sense. Ask your professor for direction, if appropriate. Be sure to get all your information in the short answer. Watch your grammar and punctuation. If the directions state complete sentences, write complete sentences.<br /><br /></span><a href="http://www.studytips.org/index.htm"><span style="color:#000000;">Study Tips Main Page</span></a><span style="color:#000000;"><br /></span></span><br /><br /><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-466056501049591583.post-68720907056301733952009-04-29T21:58:00.000-07:002009-06-15T06:48:12.466-07:00Learning Disability<span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="color:#000000;"><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Definition </span></strong><br /><br />Learning disabilities are disorders that affect one's ability to understand or use spoken or written language, do mathematical calculations, coordinate movements or direct attention. Although learning disabilities occur in very young children, disorders are usually not recognized until a child reaches school age.<br /></span></span><span class="fullpost"><br /><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000000;">Learning disabilities affect one's ability to interpret what one sees and hears, or to link information from different parts of the brain. These limitations can show up as specific difficulties with spoken and written language, coordination, self-control or attention. Such difficulties extend to schoolwork and can impede learning to read or write, or to do math.<br /><br />Learning disabilities can be lifelong conditions that, in some cases, affect many parts of a person's existence: school or work, daily routines, family situations and, sometimes, even friendships and play. In some people, many overlapping learning disabilities may be apparent. Others may have a single, isolated learning problem that has little impact on other areas of their lives.<br /><br />Not all learning problems fall into the category of learning disabilities. Many children are simply slower in developing certain skills. Because children show natural differences in their rate of development, sometimes what seems to be a learning disability may simply be a delay in maturation.<br /><br />To be diagnosed as a learning disability, a child's condition must meet specific criteria.<br /><br />Dyslexia is a term that describes serious problems with reading. With this problem, a child may not understand letters, groups of letters, sentences or paragraphs. At the beginning of first grade, children may occasionally reverse and rotate the letters they read and write. This may be normal when he or she is first learning to read. By the middle of first grade (and with maturity) these problems should disappear. However, a young student with dyslexia may not overcome these problems. The difficulty can continue as the student grows. To him, a "b" may look like a "d." He may write on when he really means no. Your child may reverse a 6 to make 9. This is not a vision problem, rather it is a problem with how the brain interprets the information it "sees."<br /><br />Dysgraphia is a term for problems with writing. An older child may not form letters correctly, and there is difficulty writing within a certain space. Writing neatly takes time and effort; yet despite the extra effort, handwriting still may be hard to read. A teacher may say that a learning-disabled student can't finish written tests and assignments on time, and supervisors may find that written tasks are always late or incomplete.<br /><br />Dyscalculia is a term for problems concerning math. A child may do well in history and language, but he may fail tests involving fractions and percentages. Math is difficult for many students, but with dyscalculia, a child may have much more difficulty than others his age. Dyscalculia may prevent your child from solving basic math problems that others his age complete with no difficulty.<br /><br />Auditory memory and processing disabilities is a term for problems with understanding and remembering words or sounds. A child may hear normally, but he or she may not remember key facts because his or her memory does not correctly store and interpret facts. This is not caused by a hearing problem—it happens when the brain fails to understand words or sounds the right way.<br /><br /><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Symptoms</span></strong> </span></span><br /><span class="fullpost"><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><span style="color:#000000;">The criteria and characteristics for diagnosing learning disabilities appear in a reference book called the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). The DSM diagnosis is commonly used when applying for health insurance coverage of diagnostic and treatment services.<br /><br /><strong>Learning Disorders</strong><br />Students with academic-skills disorders are often years behind their classmates in developing reading, writing or arithmetic skills. The diagnoses in this category include:<br /><br />Reading disorder<br />Disorder of written expression<br />Mathematics disorder<br />Learning disorder not otherwise specified<br />The reading disorder, also known as dyslexia, is quite widespread. Reading disabilities affect 2 to 8 percent of elementary school children.<br /><br />The essential feature of a reading disorder is reading achievement (reading accuracy, speed or comprehension as measured by individually administered standardized tests) that falls substantially below the expected level given the individual's chronological age, measured intelligence and age-appropriate education. The disturbances in reading significantly interfere with academic achievement or with activities of daily living that require reading skills. If a sensory deficit is present, the reading difficulties are in excess of those usually associated with it. If a neurological or other general medical condition or sensory deficit is present, it should be categorized as that. In individuals with a reading disorder, reading aloud is characterized by distortions, substitutions or omissions. Both reading out loud and silently are characterized by slowness and errors in comprehension.<br /><br />In the disorder of written expression, writing skills (as measured by an individually administered standardized test or functional assessment of writing skills) fall substantially below the expected skills for the individual's chronological age, measured intelligence and education. The disturbance significantly interferes with academic achievement or certain daily living experiences. If a sensory deficit is present, the difficulties in writing skills are in excess of those usually associated with it. There is generally a combination of difficulties in the individual's ability to compose written tests, which tend to be full of grammar, spelling and punctuation mistakes, poor paragraph organization and poor handwriting.<br /><br />The essential feature of the mathematics disorder is a lack of mathematical ability (as measured by individually administered standardized tests of mathematical calculation or reasoning) that falls substantially below the expectation for the individual's age, measured intelligence and age-appropriate education. The disturbance in mathematics strongly interferes with academic achievement or activities of daily living. A number of different skills may be impaired in a mathematics disorder, including "linguistic" skills (understanding or naming mathematical terms, operations or concepts, and decoding written problems into mathematical symbols), "perceptual" skills (recognizing or reading numerical symbols or arithmetic signs and clustering objects into groups), "attention" skills (copying numbers or figures correctly, remembering to add in "carried" numbers and observing operational signs) and "mathematical" skills (following sequences of mathematical steps, counting objects and learning multiplication tables).<br /><br />For those who do not meet the criteria for any specific learning disorder discussed so far, there is the category of learning disorders not otherwise specified. This might include problems in all three areas (reading, mathematics and written expression) that, together, significantly interfere with academic achievement, even though performance on tests measuring each individual skill is not substantially below that expected given the person's chronological age, measured intelligence and age-appropriate education.<br /><br /><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Causes</span></strong><br /><br />Mental-health professionals stress that since no one knows what causes learning disabilities, it doesn't help parents to look backward to search for reasons. There are too many possibilities to pin down the cause, and it is more important for the family to move forward with getting help.<br /><br />While learning disabilities were thought to be caused by a single neurological problem, researchers now say that the causes are more diverse and complex. New evidence seems to show that most learning disabilities do not start in a single, specific area of the brain, but from difficulties in bringing together information from various brain regions.<br /><br />A leading theory is that learning disabilities stem from subtle disturbances in brain structure and function that may begin before birth. Other possibilities include:<br /><br />Genetic predisposition<br />Tobacco, alcohol or substance abuse by the mother prior to, during, and after pregnancy<br />Problems during pregnancy or delivery<br />Environment—both emotional and physical<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong>Treatment</strong></span><br /><br />Identification of Learning Disabilities<br /><br />Evaluation, the process for determining whether a child has a disability and needs special education and services, is the first step in developing a helpful educational program. A full and individual initial evaluation must be done before the initial provision of any special education or related services to a child with a disability. In addition, a student must be reevaluated at least once every three years. Evaluation involves gathering information from a variety of sources about a child's functioning and development in all areas of suspected disability, including information provided by the parent. The evaluation may look at cognitive, behavioral, physical and developmental factors, as well as other areas.<br /><br />It can identify children who have delays or learning problems and may need special education and related services as a result.<br /><br />Eligibility. It can determine whether a child has a disability under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and qualifies for special education and services.<br />Planning an Individualized Education Program (IEP). It provides information that can help parents and the school develop an appropriate IEP for a child.<br />Instructional strategies. It can help determine what tactics may be most effective in helping a child learn.<br />Measuring progress. It establishes a baseline for measuring a child's educational progress. The evaluation process establishes a foundation for developing an appropriate educational program. The public agency must provide a copy of the evaluation report and the documentation of determination of eligibility to the parent. Even if the evaluation shows that a child does not need special education, the information may still be used to help that child in a regular education program.<br />After a child's evaluation is complete, parents will meet with a group of qualified professionals to determine whether their child has a disability under IDEA. The school must provide the parents with a copy of the evaluation report and a written determination of eligibility.<br /><br />If the team determines that a child is eligible for special education and related services, the next step is to develop an IEP to meet the child's needs.<br /><br />The goals and objectives the IEP team develops relate directly to the strengths and needs that were identified through evaluation.<br /><br />It's important for parents to understand the results of their child's evaluation before beginning to develop an IEP, and they should ask to have the evaluation explained in plain language by a qualified professional.<br /><br />Parents will want to request the evaluation summary report before meeting with other members of the team to develop the IEP. Reviewing the results in a comfortable environment before developing the IEP can reduce parents' stress and provide time to consider whether the results fit their own observations and experiences with their child.<br /><br />The most common treatment for learning disabilities is special education. Trained educators may perform a diagnostic educational evaluation assessing a child's academic and intellectual potential in addition to his or her level of academic performance. Once the evaluation is complete, the basic approach is to teach learning skills by building on the child's abilities and strengths, while correcting and compensating for disabilities and weaknesses. Other professionals such as speech and language therapists also may be involved. Some medications may be effective in helping the child learn by enhancing attention and concentration. Psychological therapies may also be used.<br /><br />Learning disabilities can be lifelong conditions. In some people, several overlapping learning disabilities may be apparent. Others may have a single, isolated learning problem that has little impact on their lives.<br /><br />Dyslexia<br /><br />Recognizing dyslexia early is a key factor in how much the learning disability will affect a person's development. Unfortunately, adults with unidentified dyslexia often work in jobs below their intellectual capacity. But with help of a tutor, teacher or other trained professional, almost all people with dyslexia can become good readers and writers. Incorporating the following strategies into the learning process can help overcome the difficulties of dyslexia:<br /><br />Early exposure to oral reading, writing and drawing, and encouraging development of print knowledge, linguistic awareness (the relationship between sound and meaning), basic letter formation and recognition skills<br />Practice reading different kinds of texts (books, magazines, advertisements, comics)<br />Multi-sensory, structured language instruction and practice using sight, sound and touch when introducing new ideas<br />Modifying classroom procedures to allow for extra time to complete assignments, help with note-taking, oral testing and other means of assessment<br />Using books-on-tape and assistive technology such as screen readers and voice-recognition computer software<br />Help with the emotional issues that arise from struggling to overcome academic difficulties<br />Reading and writing are fundamental skills for daily living; however, it is important to emphasize other aspects of learning and expression. Like all people, those with dyslexia enjoy activities that tap into their strengths and interests. As multidimensional thinkers, visual fields such as design, art, architecture, engineering and surgery, which do not emphasize language skills, may appeal to them.<br /><br />Dyscalculia<br /><br />Helping a student identify his or her strengths and weaknesses is the first step in moving ahead. Following identification, parents, teachers and other educators can work together to establish strategies that will aid the student in learning math more effectively. Help outside the classroom lets a student and tutor focus specifically on the difficulties that student is having, taking pressure off moving to new topics too quickly. Repeated reinforcement and specific practice of straightforward ideas can make understanding easier. Other strategies include:<br /><br />Use graph paper for students who have difficulty organizing ideas on paper<br />Work on finding different ways to approach math facts; instead of just memorizing the multiplication tables, explain that since 8 x 2 = 16, if 16 is doubled, 8 x 4 must = 32<br />Practice estimating as a way to begin solving math problems<br />Introduce new skills, beginning with concrete examples and later moving to more abstract applications<br />For language difficulties, explain ideas and problems clearly, and encourage students to ask questions<br />Provide a place to work with few distractions, and have pencils, erasers and other tools on hand as needed<br />Help students become aware of their strengths and weaknesses; when a child understands how he or she learns best, he or she takes a big step toward achieving academic success and confidence<br />Dysgraphia<br /><br />There are many ways to help a person with dysgraphia achieve success. Generally, strategies fall into three categories:<br /><br />Accommodations: Providing alternatives to written expression<br />Modifications: Changing expectations or tasks to minimize or avoid the area of weakness<br />Remediation: Providing instruction for improving handwriting and writing skills<br />Each type of strategy should be considered when planning instruction and support. A person with dysgraphia will benefit from help from both specialists and those who are closest to the person. Finding the most beneficial type of support is a process of trying different ideas and openly exchanging thoughts on what works best.<br /><br />Below are some examples of how to teach individuals with dysgraphia to overcome some of their difficulties with written expression.<br /><br />Early Writers<br /><br />Use paper with raised lines for a sensory guide to staying within the lines<br />Try different pens and pencils to find one that's most comfortable<br />Practice writing letters and numbers in the air with expansive arm movements to improve motor memory of these important shapes. Also practice letters and numbers with smaller hand or finger motions<br />Encourage proper grip, posture and paper positioning for writing; it's important to reinforce this early on as it's difficult for students to unlearn bad habits later<br />Use multi-sensory techniques for learning letters, shapes and numbers; for example, speaking through motor sequences, such as b is "big stick down, circle away from my body"<br />Introduce a word processor on a computer early; however, do not eliminate handwriting for the child. While typing can make it easier to write by alleviating the frustration of forming letters, handwriting is a vital part of a person's ability to function in the world<br />Be patient and positive; encourage practice and praise effort; becoming a good writer takes time and practice<br />Young Students<br /><br />Allow use of print or cursive, whichever is more comfortable<br />Use large graph paper for math calculations to keep columns and rows organized<br />Allow extra time for writing assignments<br />Begin writing assignments creatively with drawing or by speaking ideas into a tape recorder<br />Alternate focus of writing assignments; put the emphasis on some for neatness and spelling, others for grammar or organization of ideas<br />Explicitly teach different types of writing: expository and personal essays, short stories, poems<br />Do not judge timed assignments on neatness and spelling<br />Have students delay before proofreading their work; it's easier to see mistakes after a break<br />Help students create a checklist for editing work: spelling, neatness, grammar, syntax, clear progression of ideas<br />Encourage use of a spell-checker—speaking spell-checkers are available for handwritten work<br />Reduce the amount of copying; instead, focus on writing original answers and ideas<br />Have students complete tasks in small steps instead of all at once<br />Find alternative means of assessing knowledge, such as oral reports or visual projects<br />Encourage practice through low-stress opportunities for writing, such as letters, a diary, making household lists or keeping track of sports teams<br />Teenagers and Adults<br /><br />Provide tape recorders to supplement note-taking and to prepare for writing assignments<br />Create a step-by-step plan that breaks writing assignments into small tasks (see below)<br />When organizing writing projects, create a list of key words that will be useful<br />Provide clear, constructive feedback on the quality of work, explaining both the strengths and weaknesses of the project and commenting on the structure as well as the information that is included<br />Use assistive technology such as voice-activated software if the mechanical aspects of writing remain a major hurdle<br />All age groups can use many of these tips; it is never too early or too late to reinforce the skills needed for proper writing<br /><br />Though teachers and employers are required by law to make "reasonable accommodations" for individuals with learning disabilities, they may not be aware of how to help. Speak to them about dysgraphia, and explain the challenges you face as a result of your learning disability.<br /><br />Although obtaining a diagnosis is important, even more so is creating a plan for getting the right help. Because learning disabilities can affect the child and family in so many ways, help may be needed on a variety of fronts.<br /><br />Learning Disabilities and the Law<br /><br />Public Law 105-17, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Amendments of 1997, is the federal special education law. IDEA was signed into law in June 1997, with final federal regulations published in March 1999. This law replaces all earlier versions of Public Law 94-142, the Education of All Handicapped Children Act of 1975.<br /><br />IDEA guarantees each child with a disability and need of special education services, the right to a free appropriate public education (FAPE) in the least restrictive environment (LRE) appropriate.<br /><br />Sources:<br /><br />American Academy of Pediatrics<br />Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders<br />Families and Advocates Partnership for Education<br />Learning Disabilities Association of America<br />National Center for Learning Disabilities<br />National Institute of Mental Health<br />National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke<br />University of Maryland Medical Center; Learning Disabilities<br />United States Department of Education; Jessup, Maryland: Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services<br /><br />By: </span><a href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/"><span style="color:#000000;">Laura Stephens </span></a><br /><br /></span><br /><br /><br /></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0