text:
#cefpinz13 Presentation by @stephen_h Role design & furniture has in enabling pedagogic change
The key role design and furniture has in enabling teachers to change pedagogy - my presentation from CEFPI Australasia in Auckland, NZ last week.
#Edutech Brisbane 2013_Harris.pdf
Shared with Dropbox
#EduTech Brisbane 2013
EduTech Brisbane 2013
I always enjoy the opportunity to share aspects of our journey of transformation at SCIL/NBCS. Included here is a link to a presentation June 2013 at EduTech, Brisbane. Transforming a school community into something far more relevant to the world that kids of today experience and will experience does not happen overnight - because it is about cultural shift. But it can happen. Gather your team - set your direction - broadcast your vision and just do it!
Pedagogy needs to inform the design process
The following question in the context of a conversation connected to class size was posed to me via Twitter and the blog of @danhaesler and warrants a response longer than 140 characters.
"A poor lesson in front of 40 kids will still be a poor lesson in front of 20″. Could a great lesson in front of 20 still be a great lesson in front of 40? Just throwing the question out there. I am not a teacher and have no research to quote.
Would be interesting to get @gregwhitby and @Stephen_H thoughts on this due to large space teaching/learning areas/classes in their schools. @darrenhowell
Some excellent issues are raised here. It is relevant to draw from Hattie's research (http://www.decd.sa.gov.au/quality/files/links/WhatIsEffectSize.pdf) where the impact of class size is listed in the of 'low influence' group of influences on student achievement. I should mention that Hattie's research also suggests differences between open and traditional learning spaces similarly have a low influence. This is at odds though with the 2012 research from the University of Salford, UK (http://www.salford.ac.uk/home-page/news/2012/study-proves-classroom-design-really-does-matter) which suggests that learning space design can have a 25% positive impact on learning.
This leads me to the real issue – class size is not the issue, nor is learning space by itself. The key issue for me is the notion of a class being one teacher working in isolation with around 30 students in a confined room with little ability to do much other than sit in formed rows or groups. That is the key issue. Could the learning experience itself be vastly improved in a model where a class was viewed as a far larger cohort shared among multiple lead-learners (teachers)? If this was the case, then designed space is an issue because it needs to facilitate this larger cohort.
Our experience at SCIL/NBCS (www.scil.com.au) is that when we can get teachers to engage in an unlearn-relearn journey and figure out how to work in a genuine shared team approach, then the experience of teaching and learning can change dramatically. No longer is it dependent on the pressures of a one teacher to 30 student scenario, rather students have multiple mentors and can draw in learning relevant to their needs on a daily basis. If the team can provide an environment where they collectively own all the students (albeit they might have a smaller group for administrative oversight), then the whole issue of class size melts away. I'd be confident to say that our Stage 3 'Zone' team are the most collaborative team that I have had the privilege of observing and supporting. I love the energy of the Zone and witnessing a combination of planned learning activities and spontaneous 'just in time' workshops to address obvious gaps in student understanding. Teachers have to surrender a great deal of their former practice (control and individual space), but they gain so much more. Their role shifts to being collaborative co-directors of learning and student behavioural issues become something of the past.
So my response? The issue is not class size or large space, rather how can we re-engineer learning so that the focus is on high expectations of students, formative evaluation, conversations, feedback, relationships – all the items listed in the 'high influence' on learning group in Hattie's research. My experience is teaching me that working to develop the capacity of teachers to work in teams is the future. Debates on teacher / student ratios are increasingly irrelevant – and learning space design needs to follow pedagogy rather than dictate it. That is why I favour fluid learning spaces, lots of on-the-shoulder professional development – and all mixed with loads of team fun!
The world that our children experience
This blog post seeks to capture aspects of emerging technology and culture that will shape the world of tomorrow for the students of today. The way we have taught kids in the past just won't cut it into the future. The traditional classroom is predicated on a control philosophy. The teacher's role has been to manage and control the behaviours of the class and once this is achieved, to then be the provider of knowledge and content.
Some students can cope with the school models of the past, but many students (dare say most students) do not. The control classroom does not prepare students for the world they will enter. The control classroom says 'it's all about the teacher's ability to be all things to all students'. No wonder that causes stress.
The African proverb that says 'it takes a village to raise a child' is far more accurate. Left alone in many contexts, even parents struggle to raise a child. How much stronger is a collaborative and community approach where a child has multiple relationships and multiple mentors. Learning does not all hinge on the one teacher model. Business has moved on from this years ago. Why place this as the model for kids to experience? No wonder so many students get disengaged from learning so quickly. Life outside the school gates is so very different from the world we still create inside the gates.
Governments and education ministries around the world just do not get it. They must create strategies for the future, not votes or their past. The control classroom can place a ceiling on the capacity of a child to think, to know, to understand & to create.
New technologies provide an amazing opportunity to allow a child to reach beyond the experience and knowledge of their teacher. Why limit that? Education as we currently know it in traditional schools will reach a tipping point. I suspect sometime in the next decade. Too much is changing for ed change not to happen. Costs of traditional education. Changing economic contexts. Changing cultural contexts. The current schooling model will exhaust itself. Why would a child attend school in a traditional way if better ways to educate a child emerge? Children will need a functional community. That will be the key to why schools should still exist.
Bubbling along behind the scenes of our society, our culture is being reshaped by new technologies. Think back 20 years as to what either did not exist or was not widespread. Can we now imagine a world without the Internet or mobile communication? Just as mobile phones have altered the way people communicate, so too access to mobile technologies will alter the way we work & learn. We receive and retrieve information in different ways. This will continue to change. Our children will interact with technology in ways that are not yet mainstream. Voice activated writing, touch screen technology, spreading from being fixed installations to multi-surfaced & pervasive will be their world. An ever-growing world of sensor-directed environments will be their story. Will our grandchildren even know what it is like to drive a car? Sensor technology is already taking over much of our daily experiences, even when we don't realise it. Schools must adapt. The aeroplane industry is an example of computer controlled transport. Who needs a pilot when computers can now manage all aspects of a flight?
Technology is integrating into our existence. We see this happening now. This integration will filter into all aspects of life. The line between human and cyborg is already crossing. This will be the medical world of our children. In the UAE over 80% of television is consumed via mobile devices. The world is changing. Rapidly. The technology that surrounds our existence is changing. This will fundamentally change schools. Already children seem to be born with an inherent touch-screen capacity. I've seen that in 2 year olds in both the developed/underdeveloped world.
Why teach for redundancy, when we could be teaching for competency & creativity & relevance. The shift to the online world is not just about social media and games. Increasingly we shop online, do courses online, schedule our days online. We do our banking, buy our books, find our clothes, organise our travel - manage our whole lives online. Schools will change. We need to be training our children into the responsibilities of the online world. Has any country created a core curriculum that includes that? And this isn't just the developed world. Are you aware of the impact mobile technologies are making in Africa and Asia? Have you seen whole villages painted over with the colours of the local telco companies? Mobile communication / learning is the future.
There have been enormous shifts in the world politically & economically in the last two decades. Our children will be forced to find solutions for some enormous challenges - climate change, cultural shift, changing demographics. Our children will be forced to find solutions for a new uncertain economic world order. Can education leaders respond to the 'arab springs' of social change? What will happen when those 'arab springs' demanding change hit our schools hard? Are we prepared for a new way? Whatever the outcome of the GFC, there is a monumental shift occurring from 'west to east', from the northern hemisphere to the Asia Pacific. Globalisation has already occurred and continues apace.
And around the world - whether in the developed or developing world, unemployment issues are starting to dominate the stage. Why educate a child if after 13 years they are still working alongside an uneducated neighbour in subsistence living? We have to teach job creation skills - otherwise we will fail our children. Over 50% of the youth of many nations are either unemployed, under-employed or mis-employed. Many students will graduate into a world unconnected to their higher education and training. Students are & will finish up with an enormous debt for the privilege of having a higher education. It has to be relevant. The NIC 2025 and 2030 Global Issues Reports both point to a near future that will be dominated by chronic food shortages and lack of access to water. Are we teaching students the skills to increase production, reduce conflict and focus on the critical issues that they will face? Have we given serious attention to enabling our children to understand how to respond to a world that is warming, whether that be from man made or historic cycles?
Our children are likely to live on average at least a decade longer than current life expectancies with new medical advances. Nanotechnology and other advances will provide better health care. Their lives and stories and social interactions will be inherently different. They already are. We have to focus on creating learning communities that are totally adaptive to change - but within the security of positive relationships, nurtured in functional communities. We have to collaborate. We should not compete. We have to think beyond ourselves. We have to second guess the world these children will inherit and give them every advantage to not only survive - but be those who shape and lead this new world.
Manifesto for education change #edchat #education
(Text version of a manifesto for educational change. i have also tweeted in tweet-sized chunks as a bit of an experiment - @stephen_h. I'd love you to join the change journey - and add your reflections as well.)
Imagine Learning Manifesto
The world is changing rapidly. Regrettably, education is not keeping pace with change. We need to re-think education. Toffler said 21st C learning is about learning, unlearning & relearning. So true. Governments are rarely visionary. Educators need to lead the vision of education as politicians cannot. Do not. Education should be about empowerment of people. Education should be about growing people.
With clear shifts to online activity everywhere else, we should expect this to happen in education. This will change the nature of schooling. To not expect a fundamental shift to online would be to make a fundamental mistake. We need to train teachers to know how to maximise benefits of online learning. We need to re-shape online learning space and make it personalised, engaging & suited to the task. We need to recognise that in some contexts, students will more effectively pull in relevant learning via the Internet than they receive in class.
Online learning could empower students in developing world to rise above the knowledge ceiling of their often untrained teachers.
Will schools have a role into the future? Yes! Schools should be the core functional, relational communities of society. Students/parents will select a 'base camp' community & from there select relevant providers of learning opportunities. Schools need to be at core relational.Teachers who cannot relate have no place.
Physical space is just as important as virtual and/or pedagogic space. Kill off desks, chairs and lockers. There are so many better & engaging ways to furnish a space. Think creatively. Children live in multi-age communities (and will work in same). Change schooling to replicate this.
Leadership roles should match priorities, not history. Budgets need to follow vision. We need to grow people - students, teachers, parents, administrators. Students must learn to be engaged learners. Parents need to grow their understanding of the realities their children will face, not re-live their own school experience.
I heard it said recently that "schools are not mortgage paying institutions". We should teach because we are passionate. Teaching could be about creative direction, rather than about behaviour management. We need to reorganise learning communities to allow teachers to shift their roles from being control agents to creative guides. Teachers need continual PD to learn, unlearn, relearn how to teach in collaborative multi-team environments.
Engaged learning cultures need to be stronger than any other culture a child experiences. We are assessing the wrong outcomes. Literacy & numeracy are critical, but so are many other areas. Discipline silos should give way to authentic real life integrated approaches. Curriculum should be meaningful, contextual, authentic, integrated, challenge based, relational.
Schools need to be located in new spaces avoiding/rejecting the 'one box per batch' classroom model. Schools should take over empty factories, empty malls as those spaces offer great collaborative opportunities. Existing schools would make excellent retirement villages. One room = great space for a retirement unit; good disability access too.
Teachers need to grow their capacity to be inspirational mentors, working in teams. We should kill off the one teacher per class model. It is fraught with emotional risks.
Learning is life; life is learning. Learning should enable and grow innovative capacities. View learning as a growth opportunity and grow the opportunities for students. Learning involves sessions of highly engaged community conversation. Learning involves collaborative team approaches. Learning involves times of individual high focus. Learning involves real life contexts, regularly. Learning involves times of expert knowledge transfer - small group, large group, individual.
Students should be given capacity to delve deeply into topics, not punctuated by factory-style bells. Schools need to experiment with far more timetable-less days - opportunities for real life learning. Street, social, sport etc cultures do not need to be defeated, rather take the backseat to engaged learning culture. School communities need to assertively shape a positive engaged learning culture by questioning every aspect of their operation. If engaged learning doesn't naturally occur, look at what could be changed to nurture it.
Teacher PD needs to replicate the teaching methods expected of teachers. No more prolonged one-size-fits-all whole group instruction. Universities teach MBA courses in collective teams. Why don't those same institutions use the same methods for training teachers?
And assessment. What do we think is ultimately important? Five years out from school, has a student continued learning? Could we measure that? Five years out from school, has a student shown capacity to be compassionate? Could we measure that? Five years out from school, has a student shown capacity to positively grow community? Could we measure that? Five years out from school, has a student shown capacity to take up or start a job? Could we measure that?
Brave new worlds: matching exec functions to 21st century priorities
(Cross post from my recent 'Connected Principals' article)
As I plan for 2013, I was inspired to take up a challenge. Most executive positions in schools piggy back on to old paradigm thinking and roles. How many companies retain positions and titles simply because you've always had them? They wouldn't and if they wish to remain alive, they don't. Yet why do schools cling on to roles? We don't think like businesses. Schools are excellent vehicles for recycling old ideas and not changing. No wonder Seymour Papert recognised back in 1995 that unlike other sectors, megachange was hitting a brick wall in education. And nothing much has changed almost two decades on. Time for a re-think!
If our executive structures cling to an old paradigm, how difficult would it be to shift the roles of thirty five people en masse to support where we wish to journey? We set about this journey in the last six weeks. To remove fear and anxiety, we set the parameter that no salary or status would go backwards. Then we were free to move forward. We made the process as fluid and as inclusive as possible. (e.g. tomorrow afternoon, we'll re-think the roles of grade learning managers in a new model – join the conversation)
Four questions for design thinking
It is always helpful to use a framework for thinking – and we adopted this:
Where were we now? Where do we want to go? How do we get there? What do we need to do to get there?
Our progress
We haven't completed the task – but we have made immense headway. Four new pillars of leadership have been created, all with fresh perspectives on the task. There will be a community leadership team – people with a prime role to maintain community confidence and vision. A new logistics & data 'dream team' has been created. We are going to view the main people in our community (students and staff) through a new lens of 'growth'. How do we grow people? And a team working on priority projects has been created to drive new directions (e.g. one embedding PBL more consistently across K-12; another addressing any implications of new 2014 national curriculum; another with a focus on growing our online learning capacity).
The following metaphor has proven very helpful – the boats that follow the current (and drive activity) will no longer be the subject areas or siloed disciplines or stages. They will be the priority projects we are seeking to embed. A team leader will steer the boat. Other exec will nominate as team members into boats, with anchors into different areas of responsibility (e.g. mathematics or early learning). The implication with this metaphor is that an anchor will at times be down and the focus will of necessity be on the 'sea floor' of activity, but at other times, with the dispersal of responsibilities, the team members of the new boat (e.g. embedding PBL consistently K-12) will 'up anchors' and be able to focus on that priority task. Anchors permanently down run the risk of getting covered in barnacles – something that would eventually likely sink the whole boat: our goal will be to get team members to continually empower their teams to take up micro-responsibilities and grow themselves professionally.
At the same time we are viewing our working spaces differently. After 12 years of sitting in isolation in my own office as Principal, I moved into a shared, glassed-walled space with my deputy – an infinitely more productive and visible way of leading a school. The philosophy – teams need team space for working together and all 'office' space is up for re-think now. Teams will have choices as to locations and types of space. The best spaces have entire walls painted with IDEA paint for continual creative thinking.
A fantastic outcome
Already some exec have launched into their new roles, not wishing to wait until 2013, with a sense of fresh freedom to accelerate the change processes across the school. A new perspective has been added to the school-wide key focus on 'learning' – opportunities. We recognised that we could better educate students into understanding, recognising and taking up opportunities. A great new lens through which to open up new thinking and possibilities. One new role has been created: 'student opportunities leadership' and with multiple people putting their hand up for this position, we have appointed two people into this new team-building function. That in turn has opened up new ways of better utilising the talents of the previously-labelled Grade Learning Managers. Now we will have a leadership team looking to lead fresh teams around the tasks we really want:
- community relationship developers
- activity-based growth agents
- culture shapers
- 'good choices' influencers
- learning mentors
- entry (to high school) inductors
- exit (to further learning) managers
This process is open ended. I suspect with an exec team re-cast around a cabinet approach, we will shift roles and titles to continually match 21st century change priorities as they emerge. It is a much more agile and adaptive framework. And since we are already 12% of the way through the 21st century, isn't it high time we matched structures to priorities?
Talk more? Love to hear from you via twitter: @stephen_h
Be our guest: take a tour of the SCIL Building
Leading Change: Five quick encouragements connected to innovative spaces (& a video)
The SCIL Building: a sequence of multimodal flexible learning spaces
The Sydney Centre for Innovation in Learning (SCIL) has as its home the SCIL Building – an inter-connected sequence of multi-age learning spaces. It is a deliberate collection of agile, active and adaptive environments – and the students love it.
Enjoy this short video and take a quick tour: http://vimeo.com/49879366
2. Vision has to be grown and shared to be authentic
I have always felt that vision needs to drive transformation, but that vision has to be an active growing and shared entity – not something that is printed onto a strategic document and placed in a file or drawer. One aspect of my role that I love is the uptake by my colleagues of a shared vision for converting a school from fifty classrooms to a collection of flexible learning destinations. We're working on transforming the 50 classrooms into 100 learning spaces – and teachers select the most suitable space as the destination for that day's lesson, a bit like a destinations board at an airport.
3. Tipping points will come
A tipping point has occurred in the process – a critical step where the need to push change is overtaken by a desire to pull in change by teachers and students. Then the challenge becomes how to keep pace with the re-purposing of any area in the school.
4. Light-bulb moments
'Light-bulb' moments have hastened the process. A particularly powerful one at NBCS has been when teachers working in courses where only one class exists per grade work out that there is no impediment to learning if you team up with a colleague and share space across grades. In fact, learning will most likely improve, classroom dynamics will be inherently positive and peer tutoring and mentoring will become a natural process. This has now happened for us in a few key subjects.
5. Batch-based learning has to be identified and ditched
Sir Ken Robinson has powerfully challenged the notion of organising learning around batches of students born in time-proximity. Why do we do that? Progression, friendships and creativity do not know such boundaries. We should view our structures through a different non-batch based lens – and make changes so that the needs of the learner and context come to the fore. We should view our spaces through a similar lens and facilitate deeper learning.
Twitter: Stephen Harris @stephen_h
When it comes to leading schools …
Talk about a comprehensive analysis! Conclusions based on an analysis of the behaviour of 30,000 managers, as seen through the eyes of some 300,000 of their peers using 360-degree evaluations. The finding was that bad leadership is defined not so much by any appalling things leaders do as by certain critical things they don't do.
When it comes to leading schools, those with capacity and position to grow a vibrant learning community should constantly be looking to our own habits and perspectives. This list, published in the Harvard Business Review Blog Network, is pure gold.
I suspect the implications can stretch further - every teacher is the leader of their learning space and students. If teachers view their role as the effective 'boss' of their classroom, then understanding this list is critical lest we inhibit the potential to learn by viewing leadership as control, rather than empowerment.
"Are You Sure You're Not a Bad Boss?"
by Jack Zenger and Joseph from the Harvard Business Review Blog Network
Here's the list:
1. Failure to inspire, owing to a lack of energy and enthusiasm. Again and again failed leaders were described by their colleagues as unenthusiastic and passive. This was in fact the most noticeable of all their failings.
2. Acceptance of mediocre performance in place of excellent results. The poorest leaders did not set stretch goals, inadvertently encouraging mediocre performance by letting people coast along doing less work, less well than their counterparts working for better managers.
3. A lack of clear vision and direction. Poor leaders have a murky view of the future, don't know precisely what direction to take, and are (not surprisingly) unwilling to communicate about the future, leaving their subordinates with no clear path forward.
4. An inability to collaborate and be a team player. Poor leaders avoid their peers, act independently, and fail to develop positive relations with colleagues. The worst of them view work as a competition and their colleagues as opponents.
5. Failure to walk the talk. Saying one thing and doing another is the fastest way to lose the trust of all your colleagues. The worst offenders here also pose a wider threat as dangerous role models — creating the risk that their organizations will degenerate if others behave as they do.
6. Failure to improve and learn from mistakes. Arrogance and complacency combine in the poorest leaders as they rise, causing them to come to the dangerous conclusion that they've reached a stage in their careers where development is no longer required. Closely connected to this failing is an inability to learn from mistakes, leaving these unfortunates to repeat the same ones over and over.
7. An inability to lead change or innovate owing to a resistance to new ideas. Whether stemming from a lack of imagination or simply too closed a mind-set, this flaw manifests itself as a failure to take suggestions from subordinates or peers.
8. A failure to develop others. Leaders who were not concerned about helping their direct reports develop and were not seen as coaches or mentors were highly likely to fail. Primarily focused on themselves, they were not concerned about the longer-term success of their employees or their department.
9. Inept interpersonal skills. These are the leaders who are rude, talk down, yell, and belittle either out of positive malice or out of boorish insensitivity. But even these failings often are manifested in things these poor leaders don't do. Included in this group are the people who don't listen, don't ask good questions, don't reach out to others, and don't praise or otherwise reinforce good behavior and success.
10. Displays of bad judgment that leads to poor decisions. Here at the bottom are the leaders who lead the troops over the cliff by deciding to do the wrong things.
(From http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/08/are_you_sure_youre_not_a_bad_b.html)
6 powerful strategies for paradigm-shifting teacher PD
As educators and leaders, we need to re-think every aspect of our professional practice to consider 'could we be doing this better?' Here is a brain-dump of the 6 most powerful strategies that I have used or in which have participated.
1. Use a 'hands-on' approach that teaches team work
I want the teachers for whom I am accountable to comprehensively embrace student centred, inquiry based learning.
If as a school leader I expect staff to sit in a room listening to me talk for longer than 5 minutes (or saying anything at all), then I am assuming that the collective cost of the time of the number of attendees is best spent that way. I doubt that I could say anything so powerful or clear that it would justify the cost. Think about it. 100 people for 60 mins = 100 hours x the cost per hour of each person. (There are very good meeting costs apps like Meeting Cost Calculator – a very useful tool.)
Instead, use the mode of PD as a means to shift staff practice by getting everyone to experience the methodology you are advocating. Create tasks where every staff member has to be an integral part of a team where they create a challenge relevant to themselves, collectively work on a solution and during the same time frame reflect on the challenges and success of the task completion via a written blog or video blog.
The emphasis on this style of PD is that you get teachers to do exactly what you would want them to do with students. You also get them to experience the challenges of collaboration and people can then usefully reflect on what are the key essential qualities of be a team member. Useful in every way.
2. Run an Open Space workshop
The best thing about an Open Space approach to running a workshop, summit or conference is that it places core value in the capacity of any attendee to contribute something worthwhile that will in turn shape the outcomes or directions of the event. View as a means by which to sift and distill the thinking of every participant attending a conference or workshop and use their knowledge, experience and passion in collaboration with like-minded professionals to drive thinking for change forward and at the same time create new strategies for immediate implementation. And it is entirely scalable. The process works for 5 or 500. In fact, after participating in some of these type of summits, you will become very restless if forced to attend an industrial paradigm conference which is all about an 'expert' delivering content to passive recipients. You can still use the expert input – they can become an integral part of an open space process, but as a fellow participant whose thinking and experience you value.
3. Encourage as many staff to develop courses or present at conferences or workshops
The benefit of this approach is that any person from beginning teachers through to highly experienced people can be affirmed in their professionalism. As they articulate their journey and thoughts, so they strengthen and live those approaches. Again, another win/win. (Works with students too). We have been growing this culture for many years and our biggest challenge now is either fitting in all the PD courses that our teachers wish to prepare for their colleagues or working out the logistics for the large numbers of teachers getting selected to present at external conferences to attend. A great problem to have. If at all possible, I will seek to resource and support any person willing to develop PD for others. It is a high motivator for someone when they are asked to present and they are building their career at the same time.
4. Pecha kucha style gatherings
If you have experienced a pecha kucha style TeachMeet gathering you will know they are informal, informative and fast-paced. Translate this idea into the local school context where you get your change champions or your quiet achievers alike to share and celebrate with their colleagues their success and programmes. The busyness of a school day is such that many people are simply unaware of what their colleagues are doing. A pecha kucha style session is a great way of celebrating successes. A common outcome from such presentations is to have ignited passion for learning or sparked an interest in trying something fresh.
5. Take teams on observational journeys
The most powerful way to create fresh vision created in a collaborative context, is to plan a physical journey that will form the foundations for a professional and emotional journey. This was the way I started the journey to change at our school – and as a result the Sydney Centre for Innovation in Learning was born (www.scil.com.au). A shared journey is at the one time collaborative, empowering, affirming, active and game-changing. I recall ten years ago checking out for the cheapest web based airfares in order to take a team of 4 – 6 people (or more) interstate for a crash course of observation, conversation and dreaming. You can do it in a day, or take two or three days. People feel immediately valued and they will rise to the maximise the benefits of the shared collegial and professional dialogue. Ideas will form and grow during the process. Capture them and place them into an implementation timeframe so that you maximise the benefits of this activity.
It can also be done as a one day whole staff professional development. As we were considering the use of space and activity to more actively engage our students into learning, we sent all the staff in teams into the city on a schedule that was in part suggested and in part created. Teams then came back the next day to share their new ideas and thoughts and were encouraged to implement at least one idea as soon as possible. This is another game changer because it accelerates the process of change and it particularly appeals to the kinaesthetic and visual learners in your staff. For greater interest, we added a 'race-around-Sydney' component where we captured some 'mathematical' images within the central city area from Google Earth and teams got bonus recognition for the teams that identified and visited the greatest number of those sites. Perfect training for a fun excursion also.
6. Join or create a 'Vision Tour'
It has been wonderful for a number of our staff to receive awards, fellowships and scholarships from time to time during our journey of change. While the awards are all very well and good, the money that often accompanies this recognition has been fed back into a recurrent process of taking a core team of change leaders on an international journey to look at exemplar schools, programs, museums, libraries or spaces, as well as meeting up with outstanding individuals who will immediately inspire or promote fresh vision.
One criterion we informally add into the expectations of participating in these tours (if not the immediate recipient of a scholarship), is that there is the intention to stay at our school for at least the next three years so that the monetary investment can have an impact back into the school community. I don't think that unreasonable – and it is not a signed contract context anyway. These journeys have morphed into the most powerful type of professional development I could be involved in or could conceive. It has the potential to enable any school to create world class examples of transformation and it will also help shape the path of what schools could look like in 2013 or 2030. We shape the future with vision, rather than letting context and circumstance shape us or our thinking.
It will not necessarily be the places, spaces or people that will have the most impact, it will be the constant conversation, creating and collaboration that will shape fresh vision. And vision does have the power to transform communities and nations.
For further information on the types of activities we would recommend visit: www.scil.com.au/visiontour.
Leading innovative & transformative change: 5 key considerations
This blog follows closely on the back of my colleague's recent blogpost (http://anneknock.com/2012/08/05/becoming-an-innovative-school-my-top-10-ideas/) as I consider her thoughts and some recent consultancy experience. What are five of the key considerations I can see in leading a learning community down fresh pathways?
1. Cast vision as clearly, concisely and strongly as you can
When it comes down to it, vision becomes the greatest unifier and direction-setter you can draw from. When ideas might be challenged, you can fall back to vision. The stronger you cast vision, share vision, grow vision, the more aligned everyone's thinking will be under the 'stardust' of that vision.
2. Claim & reclaim conversations: be forward thinking & inspiration based, never reactive or defensive
In the sometimes battleground of change, look to the future as the rationale for thinking. What is the world these students will graduate into? Is it likely to be the same as ours? If in doubt, use a resource such as the NIC documents (see links). The world of 2025 / 2030 will require divergent, collaborative thinking and action. It will involve urgent conversations about food production, access to water, shifts in world economic and ideological power. The learning spaces of today must be preparing the leaders of tomorrow with the tools to address these issues. They will not be using current technologies. Those technologies are still only dreamt of at present. However they will need the thinking skills and challenge-based learning strategies immediately available to us.
3. Know the big picture of educational best practice – but resist resorting to empirical evidence of improved data to be the reason to justify change
I am often asked to provide the evidence that new learning spaces are better for learning or that changes from teacher-delivery or 'industrial' model teaching is no longer the best method. Yes, I could provide every evidence available to me that the data highlights that the learners for whom I am responsible have only gone forwards. Has any one single change created that? May be yes, may be no. Prof John Hattie's effect size table suggests it is the combination of strategies that will have the most impact (see link). My experience? National data suggests our students are consistently moving ahead in a 'value added' way; staff and visitors to our learning community can clearly see that the learning culture is stronger than other cultures and owned by the individual learners; students are positive (and can articulate hope) about the future – but most importantly, they are being daily resourced in a relational environment to be the functional thought leaders and problem solvers the world and our communities will need.
4. Identify your team and grow people
This is a big one. Let's face it. Education faculties and government policies worldwide have not taught teachers how to innately work collaboratively. Many colleagues are great at having conversations, sharing coffee – but when it comes down to the core skills of sharing a task, we often default to that which we have experienced: separation – trained to be separate teachers, working in separate rooms on separately created class programs. As education leaders, we have to tackle this one head on. Every teacher professional activity needs to involve teamwork at some level. Even better, make it the primary learning mode. How I can I justify taking up the collective time of 100+ professionals by talking for longer than 5 minutes. The lost productively is alarming. How much better to get those people into teams of their own choosing, working on relevant challenges linked directly to their core tasks and gradually learning the skills of collaborative problem solving? NASA did not get a vehicle on Mars through the efforts of one person. I'd love to know how many teams contributed to pulling that one off.
5. Be resolute – just do it
This one is a given. If you spend time working out a 'safe' way to introduce change, you will either waste months (probably years) on small scale trial programs, rather than taking the 'risk' of using your professional intuition, training and experience and allowing passion to direct the way. We have to accelerate change in education because traditional change processes will only ever see schools continually needing to catch up to society, business, technology – the world. What will the learning world of 2025 or 2030 look like? It will be the world that we will shape it to be! Take the lead and #justdoit.


text: Eagle's Loft Early Learning Center 2715 Dayton Ave | Ames, IA 50010 | 515-232-8299 0.63 miles away Map It! Upcoming Event Curriculum Night Open House 10/7/20144:00 PM - 6:00 PM Experience a day in the life at our Curriculum Night. Join us to learn about our The World at Their Fingertips curriculum, meet our talented teachers, and experience our daily classroom learning activities. Ages Served: Infants, Toddlers, Preschool, Kindergarten Prep, School Age Contact us Visit center website Hours of Operation: M-F: 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Eagle's Loft Early Learning Center 2715 Dayton Ave Ames , IA 50010 515-232-8299

subset: commoncrawl


text: Table T2_4_2_2-1 2012 National Healthcare Quality and Disparities ReportsThis appendix provides detailed data tables for all measures analyzed for the 2012 National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Reports. Tables are included for measures discussed in the main text of the reports as well as for other measures that were examined but not included in the main text. Table 2_4_2_2.1Adults age 40 and over with diagnosed diabetes with total cholesterol less than 200 mg/dL, United States, 1998–2010a 2007–20102003–20061998–2002Priority populationWeighted size (in thousands)PercentSEWeighted size (in thousands)PercentSEWeighted size (in thousands)PercentSETotal 15,84566.82.113,78854.92.410,27148.32.8Age, not age adjusted40–596,55460.73.46,25149.13.14,64846.44.360 and over9,29176.71.57,53664.32.45,62351.42.9GenderFemale7,98565.02.57,33150.93.74,93446.24.7Male7,86068.93.36,45759.53.65,33850.44.1EthnicityMexican American1,33561.23.01,08052.43.870849.24.6Non-Hispanic, Black2,58658.73.32,11760.92.91,50551.54.2Non-Hispanic, White9,93369.43.59,19455.22.96,49046.83.7Family incomebNegative/poor2,06363.83.61,87151.14.61,61240.85.4Near poor/low4,16163.13.33,24141.34.02,43949.04.3Middle4,16165.75.84,12061.04.13,04948.54.4High4,03274.44.63,61461.53.92,16153.96.9EducationLess than high school5,07164.23.23,87948.74.13,67250.84.3High school graduate3,70768.35.03,65055.05.42,51241.86.1Some college7,05567.83.46,25457.63.64,08051.34.3a Estimates are age adjusted to the 2000 U.S. standard population, except where indicated, using two age groups: 40–59 and 60 and over.b Negative/poor refers to household incomes below the Federal poverty line; near poor/low, the poverty line to just below 200 percent of the poverty line; middle, 200 percent to just below 400 percent of the poverty line; and high, 400 percent of the poverty line and over.Key: SE: standard error.Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Current as of June 2013 Internet Citation: Table T2_4_2_2-1: 2012 National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Reports. June 2013. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/research/findings/nhqrdr/nhqrdr12/4_diabetes/T2_4_2_2-1.html


text:
Tomorrow, January 25th, is the anniversary of the birth of Robert Burns, widely recognized as Scotland's national poet. Burns was born in Ayrshire, Scotland in 1759. His father was a tenant farmer, and Burns' early life was one of poverty and hardship. Though he had little regular schooling, Burns wrote original poems and songs, and he also collected many folk songs of Scotland. Some of his best known works are Auld Lang Syne, Scots Wha Hae, A Man's A Man for A' That, To
Read more
You may not know this, but April 6 is National Tartan Day. National Tartan Day was first recognized by the United States Senate in 1998, followed by the United States House of Representatives in 2005 and a Presidential Proclamation signed in 2008. It celebrates the contributions of people of Scottish ancestry to American society.
© 1995-2014 Mid-Continent Public Library. All rights reserved.


text:
For most industrial businesses, a flange is a device used particularly in connecting pumps, valves, pipes, and other related pieces in order to generate a working pipe system. It is essential in such a way that it allows different industries to create and build different systems, as well as allowing easy access during inspection, adjustment, and access to cleaning up certain vital areas. A flange is specifically screwed towards certain devices and then connected with the use of different types of bolts. When bearings have a flange on the external ring, it tends to simplify the axial setting. Hence, a flange bearing is used when a shafts axis is at a 90 degree angle towards the bearing mounting surface.
A flange bearing provides a technique of precise mounting, and you will discover that these will come in a variety of configurations. There are three main hole configurations. For one, 2-bolt flanged bearings are diamond in shape with two mounting holes. 3-bolt flanged bearings are another type which is spherical in form with three evenly mounting holes. Finally, 4-bolt flanged bearings are either round or square in shape along with four mounting holes. Always keep in mind that when choosing suitable bearings, it is very important that you are aware of the multiple shaft sizes and both thrust and radial load requirements.
There are a variety of different types of flange bearings which will include plain bearings, roller bearings, needle roller bearings, and ball bearings. Plain bearings, or sometimes called bushings, journals, or a sleeve bearing is used to guide and limit friction in either linear or rotary applications. The rolling component for a roller bearing is the use of a roller. While also being true a needle roller is for a needle roller bearing. The latter is designed to be use for most radial load applications. Moreover, a ball bearing is utilized in order to provide less friction and smooth action in most spinning applications. Sufficient lubrication is necessary for all types of bearings as this can limit wear, and too much pressure.
Specifically, there are three main types of roller bearings and these include tapered, spherical, and cylindrical. The spherical roller bearing is the most common type of flange roller bearing. This is because it is self-aligned in a double row, and mostly a combination of a thrust and radial bearing. In addition to the information provided above, it is important to consider the size of the shaft and the entire height of the mounting surface when you are dealing with flange mounted bearings.
The shaft size signifies the highest diameter of the shaft while the entire height of the mounting surface is considered when you're dealing with low clearance applications. For the choice of covering or housing material for a flange bearing, you will be able to choose between stainless steel, cast iron, pressed steel, and plastic. However, for the material for bearing itself, it includes graphite or a metal alloy, stainless steel, sintered iron, steel, and plastic. Lastly, if you're dealing with making a secured shaft, keep in mind that the use of a set screw and a locking collar may be needed. Also when it comes to lubrication consider self-lubrication or sealed bearings.
Related products:


text:
Ok, so something I need to do is a bit of investigation into how collations are managed, and how you could use .NET code to compare a string in the same way that any given collation would...
So, for this, I need to try and create a data set which contains all possible two-character unicode strings. Seeing as this will end up being 4 billion rows, it could potentially be quite (very) time consuming.
So I thought I would ask you guys how you would go about doing it.
A bit of background:
This is because I need to be able to take the output of two ordered SELECT statements from two DBs with identical schema, and in .NET be able to tell which row would come 'later'. This is so that if the databases contain different data, I can read from the side which has extra rows until the streams are back in sync. This is pretty easy for numeric types, but I need to work with string types too.
asked Jan 25, 2010 at 06:42 AM in Default
Matt Whitfield ♦♦
add new comment (comments are locked)
Don't create a table with all the values, make one with all the Unicode characters - nchar(0) to nchar(65535) - joining it to itself to get the two-character strings.
answered Jan 25, 2010 at 08:00 AM
Rob Farley
dagnabit, I was going to suggest a table with a self join but thought there must be a good reason not to ... grudging +1 !;)
Jan 25, 2010 at 05:55 PM Fatherjack ♦♦
add new comment (comments are locked)


text:
onsdag 03.08.11
Name our board game
Soon you can play a Roskilde board game at home with your mates. You compete in having the best party in each your own camps and you can sabotage each other's camps. (Almost) anything goes in the battle of having the coolest party.
We still need to name the game and we need your help for this. Send us your suggestion for a name that both signals Roskilde Festival, orange feeling and camp life.
If you have come up with the name that we end up using, we will send you two games (when they are ready) as a token of gratitude.
You can either write your suggestion as a comment below or send it in an e-mail to bo.thomasen@. roskilde-festival.dk
The fine print: when sending your name suggestions, you grant us the permission to freely use the name for the board game.
Skriv en kommentar
Redigér profil


text:
Arnold returns - but do we still need him?
From McG's Terminator, that is. What a drag.
Arnold's reprogrammed -- Terminator 3 isn't. But it is fun.
Could it be that this year's crop of summer movies requires a brain cell or two?
The big-screen dames of cinema 2003 will keep you watching
A pumped-up U-571 recalls Wolfgang Petersen's famous German submarine drama


text:
DIY Idea: Slipcovered Headboard
Looking for a way to add a little color to your bedroom? How about making a slipcover for your headboard? This DIY project works for upholstered headboards, as well as plain headboards that need a little lift. Click below for links...
If you have a flat, rectangular headboard, making a slipcover is fairly simple (see links below). You can also build a headboard from scratch and sew slipcovers to change the look of your bedroom when the mood strikes. For step-by-step instructions, follow these links:
- How To: Make a Headboard Slipcover from eHow
- How To: Customize a Headboard Slipcover from HGTV
- How To: Make a Slipcover for a Flat, Rectangular Headboard from HGTV
- How To: Build Your Own Headboard from AT:NY
Photo: Upholstered Headboard Slipcovers at West Elm, on sale for $40
2 Comments
love that bedspread! who makes it?
What an awesome idea! I've been thinking of making a headboard for my king bed using a door blank and I could easily make slipcovers for it so I can change the color depending on which of my 2 duvets I'm using at the time. Thanks AT!


text:
January 17, 2013
America's Downward Slide - Individualism
For a while I have struggled to figure out what it is, why it's this way, and then as I was reading a random book about Catholicism it hit me. It's not entirely religious why the people are they way they are, although the togetherness of a congregation no matter the religious affiliation is always positive, it has to do the mentality of the people we have created. The country is suffering from Individualism.
I say individualism in not in the context that everyone should be their own person, think for themselves, pursue the things that make them happy. I am talking about the dark, greedy side of Individualism. The "What's In It For Me" individual.
Individualism has become the most dominant trend driving the decision making process. No community, town, city, state or nation can grow strong with this kind of attitude. Individualism always weakens the community and causes the whole to suffer from this cancer.
What is perpetuating this unhealthy direction are the political and social reforms of enhancing the assumed sense of entitlements. Through special interest groups, unions, lobbyists pressuring law makers have successfully raised the rights of the individual above the rights of the society as a whole. An example of this is the movement to remove "Under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance because one person found it offensive. Another is successful lawsuits against schools against Father-Daughter Dances because one mother found it offensive. No longer keeping score at kids baseball games because one loser kid cried he lost so the helicopter parents went after the system. The list goes on.
The rights of the indiviudal have been strengthened at all costs, with no regard for right and wrong, and often to the detriment of the whole. In addition the rights of the State and any authority have been reduced as well. All of this has been done under a banner of false freedom. The freedom that has been advertised is a that you can do whatever you want, whenever you want, whereever you want, without interference or consequence by another person or authority. This is not national freedom. This is not American freedom.
American society prides itself on the high premium it places on self-expression but it is relatively disinterested in creating "selves" that are worth expressing. Individualism's foundation is greed, selfishness, and exploitation. The country's up and coming generations are full of individualism thinking.
The needs of the many out weigh the needs of the few, or the one.
This has been another Joe movement.
Twitter @joenobody
Like Me On Facebook
Joe Nobody Podcast
Labels: People, Random Thoughts
0 comments:
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


text:
About CableCom Training
Our Commitment to Quality & Improvement...
Cablecom Training is based in the north east of England, Stockton-on-Tees and was established in 2000.
Over the last ten years, CableCom has 'listened to the voice of industry' and designed, developed and delivered an ever increasing range of accredited qualifications to meet the needs of industry and those wishing to find employment or retrain and diversify into other sectors. We are proactive in our response to the latest legislation, directives and regulations which allows us to be at the forefront of innovation and training.
We pride ourselves in being proactive and responsive to the needs of employers in providing a quality service of nationally accredited training programmes and bespoke training to suit all requirements. Our advice and guidance service for employers and learners ensures a memorable, enjoyable and practical experience for everyone. Our trainers and assessors are sector competent, qualified and highly experienced practitioners in their areas of expertise.
All our training is designed, developed and delivered to meet the individual needs of our learners and contains a balance of knowledge, skills and practical application in our custom designed training rooms and workshops.
Additionally, Cablecom is committed to providing the best possible consultancy service to employers by ensuring their responsiveness to meeting the unique needs of employers and industry in the provision of tailor-made training and apprenticeship packages.
CableCom's commitment:
Business & Conferencing at CableCom
A new £2.1 million state of the art development by Business & Conferencing at CableCom is the perfect venue for your conference, business meeting or special event. Located on the new and impressive Westland Way Business Park development and only ten minutes from the centre of Middlesbrough. Our business and conference facilities can accommodate between 10-110 delegates and provides a truly unique venue in which to host your conference, business meeting or event.
For more information and to visit our booking website please click here
Quick Links
A new £2.1 million state of the art development by Business & Conferencing at CableCom is the perfect venue for your conference, business meeting or special event.


text: I was diagnosed in the year 2012 with schizophrenia. The days were long and life seemed helpless. I felt that i could not tell anyone about how i was feeling. Then one day I spoke out, it was the best thing I have ever done. I started to see a therapist. There my support grew and my family accepted what was really wrong with me. There is nothing wrong with being schizophrenic you just have to have a passion. My passion was back after a year and now i am going to school, making music, and socializing. schizophrenia help me to realize do not give up your dreams because i have a disorder. The disorder does not have power over you but you have the power in you to overcome!


text:
We couldnt find anything matching your search for Overhead Colour Drawings Tiger Tanks
Try a related item, a more general term, or check out some of our suggestions below.
Shop By Category
Shop Deals
Don't miss out on this deal -- one day only. Buy now; quantities are limited.
Visit our online weekly ad for this week's best offers and more.
Quantities are limited.
Selection changes constantly.
Selection changes constantly.


text:
Multicultural Perspectives and School Climate Course Information
EDUB 539 Multicultural Perspectives and School Climate
Course Description
In this course, participants examine the nature of cultures and the contexts for multicultural teaching. Candidates explore core values of multicultural education in relation to curriculum models, school conditions and climates, and learning styles theory. They analyze the meaning of culture, race, cultural assimilation, pluralism, and the nature of prejudice. They learn about theories of ethnic identity development, dynamics of race relations, and guidelines for understanding cultural differences.
Course Objectives
Upon completion of the course the student should be able to:
- Examine the contexts for multicultural teaching
- Develop cultural consciousness and intercultural competence
- Identify and explain the terms and definitions underlining multicultural theory: identity, equity, assimilation, pluralism, marginalization, ideology, etc.
- Analyze the self, the school, and society in relation to the goals of multicultural education
- Evaluate the culture of a school and how it directly affects the students' academic and social growth
- Develop a historical understanding of various racial and ethnic groups
- Better understand differences in individual and cultural styles of learning
- Integrate multicultural theory into curriculum and instruction
Week 1
Lecture: Introduction: Multicultural Perspectives and School Climate
Lecture: Defining Multicultural Education
- Discuss the historical origins of multiculturalism
- Identify the difference between pluralism and multiculturalism
- Analyze the core values, goals, and genres of multicultural education
- Identify with the need for multicultural education in our schools
Week 2
Lecture: Defining Culture
- Define the broad and specific aspects of human culture
- Analyze how the fields of archaeology and anthropology led to the current development of cultural studies
- Examine how key anthropologists defined cultural theories
- Identify the multiple ways in which cultures differ from each other
- Discuss how cultural differences can occur and how to overcome cultural conflicts in the context of schools
Week 3
Lecture: Defining Race and Ethnicity
- Question the difference between the term "race" and the term "ethnicity"
- Determine how race is an arbitrary social construct that changes historically over time and across various spatial planes
- Analyze the historical and scientific origins of race and race relations
- Define how we categorize each other by race
- Examine the cognitive processes underlying racial prejudice
- Question the role of race in contemporary American education
Week 4
Lecture: The European Immigrant Experience
- Define the Protestant Ideology and the Anglo-American culture
- Compare and contrast the various waves and groups of European immigrants
- Address the question: "How is cultural assimilation different from cultural pluralism?"
- Examine the universal theme of human migration and its push-pull factors across time and space
- Determine how different forms of capital provided leverage and mobility for the various European immigrant groups
- Discuss how xenophobia and nativism affected immigrant groups back then and even now
- Avoid the dangers of essentialism by examining differences even within each European immigrant group such as Jewish Americans
Week 5
Lecture: The African American Experience
- Define the various phases of African American history
- Examine the effects of slavery and segregation on the schooling of African American students
- Describe the idea of "dual consciousness" within the African American identity
- Analyze the achievement gap dilemma in American schools
Week 6
Lecture: The Native American Experience
Lecture: The Latino American Experience
- Examine the great degree of variance amongst various Native American groups based on culture, language and physical appearance
- Apply the term "genocide" to the history of Native Americans
- See how biases and stereotypes of Native Americans still persist today
- Analyze concerns facing Native American students today
- Examine the teaching of Native American history and culture in the classroom
- Analyze how various Latino groups have had different histories and therefore different immigrant experiences
- Closely examine Mexican Americans, Cuban Americans, and Puerto Ricans
- Understand how language and cultural differences affect Latino American students
- Examine how political issues affect the education of Latino American students
- Compare and contrast ESL education and bilingual education models and programs
- Analyze how humans acquire language, the language learning process, and the stages of language development
- Absorb a list of top ten things to do as a mainstream classroom teacher with an English Language Learner
Week 7
Lecture: The Asian American Experience
Lecture: Muslim and Arab Americans
- Identify the various Asian American immigrant groups within American history
- Discover the pattern of migration for Asian American groups
- Examine the various waves of Asian immigration and how they differed immensely
- Analyze how anti-Asian-American legislation led to the prohibition, removal, and segregation of this immigrant group
- Evaluate myths, stereotypes, and discrimination targeted towards Asian Americans
- Apply the assimilation versus acculturation model to Asian Americans
- Distinguish between Muslim Americans and Arab Americans
- Examine the early origins of Muslim immigrants
- Compare the three waves of Muslim Americans
- Compare and contrast Islam, Christianity, and Judaism
- Discuss the basics of Muslim beliefs and practices
- Distinguish the various waves of Arab American immigrants
- Analyze how current political events affect Muslim and Arab American children in the classroom
Week 8
Lecture: Learning Style and Individual Student Characteristics
- Discuss the contrast between cultural differences and individual differences based on learning styles
- Categorize and classify various types and modes of learning theory
- Examine how other aspects of one's identity such as gender and special needs can affect one's learning just as much as race, culture, and language
- Analyze how psychological concepts of motivation and self-esteem can also affect learning
- Discuss how family structures and conditions at home can also affect learning
The course description, objectives and learning outcomes are subject to change without notice based on enhancements made to the course. October 2011


text:
Living With It and Rocking It Out
November 5, 2013 12:10:25 PM CST
Living With It and Rocking It Out Written By Jenny Pavlovic First, an update on how Bandit and Chase are doing. Chase completed 21 radiation therapy treatments for colonic adenocarcinoma on August 23rd. He had a stellar follow-up appointment two weeks later. On September 24th he returned to his volunteer mission at the local library, where kids read to him. On October 15th, he had a CT scan to show the status of the cancer cells. There was no evidence of cancer at the original site, for which I am very grateful! We will need to carefully watch some tiny spots in Chase's lungs and a spot on his liver, to make sure the cancer has not metastasized. The oncology vets recommended another CT scan by the end of the year.Read More
Posted in Dog Articles Articles By Omega Fields
Meaningful Work
April 3, 2012 3:18:43 PM CDT
We all want to belong and feel useful. Most of us are happiest when we have meaningful work. Our dogs are descended from long lines of herders, retrievers, hunters, guard dogs, and other dogs who became companions to people because they did useful work. Nowadays, sleeping at home all day while the family is at school and work can leave a dog restless and bored. A dog needs plenty of exercise and a purpose in life. Of course our dogs are great companions, but when they don't have the opportunity to do the jobs they were bred for, they can get into trouble, or even invent their own jobs.Read More
Posted in Dog Articles Articles By Omega Fields
Enjoying the Winter that Almost Wasn't
March 6, 2012 6:00:00 PM CST
I'm always surprised to hear that some people stay cooped up inside all winter. With three very active dogs, I need to get out every day. I would get no rest on the sofa with three dogs bouncing off the walls. They need to run and play off leash to get worn out, so we go out for our daily walk/run no matter the weather.Read More
Posted in Dog Articles Entertaining Articles Articles By Jenny Pavlovic
Bandit, My Bolt Out of the Blue, My Miracle
December 6, 2011 11:26:13 AM CST
In January, I took my very old dog Rusty to the vet for the last time. Rusty had been a stray, found in a neighboring state. I had adopted him from the local animal shelter and we had been together for over seven years. Now his liver was failing and he was very ill and in pain. Sadly, it was time to let him go.---- The following is excerpted from the book, A Book of Miracles. Copyright © 2011 by Bernie Siegel. Reprinted with permission from New World Library. www.NewWorldLibrary.com.Read More
Posted in Dog Articles Entertaining Articles Articles By Jenny Pavlovic


text:
CET Action Auction Items
To view by category, select the category you wish to see and click the "Search" button. To select multiple categories, hold down the CTRL/CMD (⌘) while clicking the category names.
Home Fire Safety Kit
Item Category: Home Goods or Services
No home or office should be without these essential safety devices. The Fire Sentry smoke alarm operates on a 9 volt battery which is included, has a low battery indicator and carries a 3 year warranty. To add to your safety Silco has included a 2 1/2 pound fire extinguisher in this package. Multiples available.
Donor: Silco Fire & Safety
Donor Value: $75
Home Preventative Maintenace for a Year
Item Category: Home Goods or Services
Robinson Heating and Air, providing commercial and rsidential service since 1936, will provide a one year preventive maintenance agreement. This incudes 2 semi-annual visits to perform spring and fall maintenance on your furnace or air conditioner or heat pump. They do not service mobile homes. Service area is Ohio River to Dayton and the certificate expires April 15, 2015. Multiples available.
Donor: Robinson Heating and Air Inc.
Donor Value: $166
Hostess Gift Basket
Item Category: Home Goods or Services
For local handcrafts and gifts, Cozy Cottage in Bellevue is an ideal place to shop. The basket that they have donated contains creme brulee scented jar candle, four glasses fashioned from repurposed wine bottles, a stoneware bread warmer, a package of cocktail napkins and a $10 gift certificate.
Donor: The Cozy Cottage
Donor Value: $75
Hot Air Balloon Ride For 2
Item Category: Adventure - Local
Exclusive hot air balloon ride for 2 passengers. Enjoy a breathtaking view of farmland and urban areas of scenic Ohio, launching from the Warren County Airport. Choose between sunrise or just prior to sunset for your one-hour flight. Passengers must be over the age of 6; anyone under 18 must be accompanied by an adult. Complementary champagne is available for passengers over 21, and soft drinks for others. Some scheduling restrictions apply for weekend flights. No pregnancies permitted, and passengers should be physically agile. Flights are based on availability and appropriate weather. Certificate expires September 30, 2014 with no extensions even for weather conditions. Passenger responsible for any add on of passengers.
Donor: Gentle Breeze Hot Air Balloon Co. Ltd.
Donor Value: $599
Hot Pink Pashmina & Coupon Book
Item Category: Clothing
From Tanger Outlets in Jeffersonville, Ohio comes this hot pink Pashmina scarf. Pashmina is a fine, cashmere wool that will keep you warm and stylish! In addition, you'll receive a coupon book which includes over $1,000 in discount savings at Tanger Outlets. A lovely gift for yourself or someone special, a scarf and coupon book will go to each of the three highest bidders.
Donor: Tanger Outlets Jeffersonville
Donor Value: $25
House Portrait
Item Category: Home Goods or Services
Our houses are more than just framework and brick, shingles and nails. Our homes are our sanctuaries and strong reflections of who we are. For this reason, there may be no better way to remind ourselves of what "home" means to us than a beautiful, professionally-created house portrait.
This certificate is for one 11" x 14" watercolor house portrait on Bristol board, and includes a 2" matte. The portrait is painted from photographs supplied by the home owner. Whether you're celebrating new beginnings, delighting in good fortune, or transporting yourself back in time to the warmth and memories of your childhood, a house portrait created from a favorite photo is sure to warm the hearts of everyone who considers their house a home. Certificate expires December 31, 2014.
Donor: Rosetree Studio
Donor Value: $400
Howard Miller Clock
Item Category: Home Goods or Services
This traditional Howard Miller mantle clock has quartz time keeping and runs on a D-cell battery. The gold-tone face is decorated with gold filigree on the four corners and the clock will chime on the hour. It is sure to be a beautiful addition to your home or office.
Donor: Friend of CET
Donor Value: $75
Hummel Book Ends
Item Category: Collectibles/Memorabilia
A young girl protects her flowers from inquisitive geese, while a boy in oversize clogs walks among the piglets in these Goose Girl and Farm Boy bookends. The ceramic figures stand on a lightweight wooden base measuring approximately 4" x 5", with an overall height of 6". The figures are in mint condition.
Donor: Barbara Hild
Donor Value: $625
Hunt Club Clothiers' Gift Certificate
Item Category: Clothing
Voted best men's clothier in Cincinnati, Hunt Club offers made to measure clothing in over 800 fabrics, as well as, respected brands of ready made suits, accessories and casual clothes for the discriminating gentleman. Use this $150 gift certificate any time before December 24, 2014.
Donor: Hunt Club Clothiers
Donor Value: $150
Hyde Park Massage Envy Gift Card
Item Category: Salons & Spas
There is nothing more relaxing than a one hour massage or a facial. Treat yourself to a massage or facial at Massage Envy on Paxton Avenue in Hyde Park. There is no expiration date.
Donor: Massage Envy Hyde Park
Donor Value: $50
In Home Teeth Whitening Treatment
Item Category: Health & Body
The smile is our window to the world, and it's the first thing that makes an impression on people we meet. Make your smile the best it can be with your certificate to Drs. Harris, Sirkin & Kruger. Located in Blue Ash, they use state-of-the-art dental technology to help patients improve their smiles every day. You'll receive an exam, impressions for at-home teeth whitening trays, Zoom! DayWhite material and a follow-up visit. Your certificate expires August 12, 2015.
Donor: Drs. Harris, Sirkin & Kruger, Inc.
Donor Value: $340
Individual or Couples Membership
Item Category: Lifestyle
Sycamore Senior Center in Blue Ash provides all kinds of activities for the young at heart. This offering includes: a couples membership or two individual memberships for one year to the center, free instruction for basic computer use or an email & internet class. Also included are: four free admissions for paid activities at the center, one scheduled round trip visit to an area casino, and lunch or dinner for two at the Manor House Restaurant on the Maple Knoll Campus in Springdale. This certificate must be redeemed by September 1, 2014.
Donor: Sycamore Senior Center, Division of Maple Knoll
Donor Value: $205
Intraceuticals Oxygen Infusion Facial
Item Category: Health & Body
Oxygen under light pressure aids delivery of age defying ingredients to the skin at the same time as cooling and calming the skin. You will look and feel refreshed as you enjoy a facial treatment in the convenient facilities of Dr. Lawrence Kurtzman in Kenwood. Treat yourself, you know you want to do it. Expires April 1, 2015.
Donor: Kurtzman Plastic Surgery
Donor Value: $175
Iridescent Necklace & Earrings
Item Category: Jewelry
This lovely 24 inch length necklace is fashioned of very unique free-form beads in an iridescent color that varies from teal to turquoise. The groups of three are separated by three round gold beads. The set includes a pair of matchine earrings with gold stud fastenings.
Donor: Friend of CET
Donor Value: $135
Iron & Brass Kettle Stand
Item Category: Collectibles/Memorabilia
What fireplace hearth would not appear more authentic with this vintage kettle stand? Measuring 13" in height, the iron frame is capped with a grillework brass plate with black wooden handle. Add your own kettle for a touch of domesticity.
Donor: Barbara Hild
Donor Value: $25
Iron Scale & Weights
Item Category: Collectibles/Memorabilia
Form and function combine in this antique iron scale. The black scale made of iron with brass features comes with seven weights varying in size from one-quarter ounce to 2 pounds. Measuring 8" high x 12" long x 8" deep, this fully functioning scale is sure to bring back memories of trips to the general store or candy shop.
Donor: Barbara Hild
Donor Value: $50
Irons Fruit Farm Gift Card
Item Category: Food
Since 1936 Irons Fruit Farm offers fruit, vegetables, apple cider, jams, jellies, baked goods and more! Open April through December, the Lebanon, Ohio farm will have something for you! Certificate expires November 1, 2014.
Donor: Irons' Fruit Farm
Donor Value: $25
J Gumbo's Gift Card
Item Category: Restaurants
Enjoy down-home Cajun cooking at J. Gumbos where they say "we put our soul in the bowl!". This gift card is valid at the J. Gumbo's locations in Finneytown, Blue Ash and West Chester only. One each to the three highest bidders.
Donor: J. Gumbo's Florence KY
Donor Value: $25
Jean-Robert's Table Dining Certificate
Item Category: Restaurants
Located in the heart of downtown Cincinnati, Jean-Robert's Table is an urban restaurant serving contemporary food and drink rooted in tradition. Enjoy lunch or dinner at this casual, elegant restaurant. Your certificate is not valid on Saturdays or Holidays; does not include tax or gratuity and expires October 12, 2014.
Donor: Jean-Robert's Table
Donor Value: $25
Jeff Stahler Print
Item Category: Art
Jeff Stahler of the Cincinnati Post captured the life of young professional parents with this colorful cartoon which appeared in the paper in 1994. The 10 x 14 print is number 38 of 150 and is ready for framing.


text:
Cyber Monday Forecast 2009
Comments Off
What is minimum viable product (MVP) and how can it help you deliver results faster, cheaper and easier?
Sophia has had quite a journey from highly rebellious teen to the CEO of Nasty Gal, a $100m company and one of the top online fashion companies in the world.
Ten exciting testing strategies you can use to extract greater value out of your existing marketing programs.
Birthday email campaigns are a great way to increase unique click rates, transaction rates and revenue for your email program.
Trick-or-Treat With Halloween lurking around the corner, candy sales will surely rise. But before you purchase this year's trick-or-treat supply, first read the report Experian Simmons put together regarding the candy consumption of American adults and children. The report will help you choose the candy to stock up on by identifying the brands kids like […]
Comments Off
I have been a fan of Southwest Airlines for years. They seem to truly want to please their customers and are always making changes to the way they work to make processes better. Some recent changes that they have made for the better include assigning a boarding range instead of everyone in the boarding group […]
Comments Off
How Teenage Girls Spend Their Money It's football season and that means that millions of American teens, especially girls, will be daydreaming—and fretting—about putting together the perfect homecoming look. Experian Simmons examines the purchase behaviors of high school age girls and finds that 15 and 16 year-olds are the most likely to spend their allowance […]
Comments Off
Definition of an NHL and Non-NHL fan The behaviors and preferences of National Hockey League (NHL) and non-NHL fans are compared in this report. Below are the definitions of each consumer type: NHL fans are 18+ adults who are either "very", "somewhat", or "a little bit" interested in NHL Non-NHL fans are 18+ adults who […]
Comments Off


text:
This is a grand experiment this year: me on camera talking about "Idol" on top of writing about it. Sorry, the coding was incorrect before. Here's my first try with host Brittany Umar of Cinesport:
This is a grand experiment this year: me on camera talking about "Idol" on top of writing about it. Sorry, the coding was incorrect before. Here's my first try with host Brittany Umar of Cinesport:
Naturally, Joe's Place got all sorts of juicy details from last Friday's pre-taped performance with the top 12 guys we'll see Tuesday night. The site got not only the songs but the performance order.
If you want to know, here it is.
I won't give away any specifics but here are teasers:
- Three of the 12 guys received standing ovations from the audience. Two you'd expect, one not so much.
- A very obvious person got the pimp spot.
- One person sang a song best known to be sung by a woman.
- At least one guy chose a sung he had already sung in Hollywood.
- At least four of the songs have been done on "American Idol" before, one that was a signature song for a woman during season one. Two have been kind of done to death on this show and not good picks at all.
- One hard-rock act that I'm 100% certain has never been heard on "Idol" gets covered.
- Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler become tear-eyed over one performance.
- One person blames the fact he was "given" a song for his
Continue reading Major leaks from last Friday's taped performance of top 12 guys »
Schwartz Research Group studied the social media presence of various "American Idol" contestants and here are the top 10 most connected, based on likes on Facebook and followers on Twitter. Will this correlate to actual votes? We'll see.
1.Tim Halperin
2. Scott McCreery
3. Lauren Alaina
4. Paul McDonald
5. Thia Megia
6. Brett Loewenstern
7. Julie Zorilla
8. Robbie Rosen
9. Casey Abrams
10. Kendra Chantelle
Most likes on Facebook are the young ones:
Scott McCreery, Lauren Alaina, Tia Megia
Most followers on Twitter:
Tim Halperin, Paul McDonald, Julie Zorilla
Facebook is far more popular for "Idol" fan engagement, triple that of Twitter.
Three least popular on social media?
Tatynisa Wilson, Rachel Zevita and Clint Jun Gamboa.
And here are Yahoo's top 10 most searched season 10 contestants the past week:
States doing the most Yahoo! searches
Continue reading Which contestants biggest on social media? »
It's a bit unfair to handicap the top 24 since we have not see any of them perform live (or more or less live, since this week's shows were taped last Friday). But who ever said blogging was fair? We are here to make snap decisions based on limited information!
So here we go:
Likely to go into the top 13:
Casey Abrams - Sure, he's a bit doughy and looks 15 years older than his 19 years, but he is a classic archetype that can excel on the show. He's likable, approachable and talented. His bluesy voice has plenty of range. Think a more skilled, less cheesy Taylor Hicks. His 'Georgia on My Mind" with the stand-up bass is an instant "Idol" classic.
Robbie Rosen – The Long Island teen with the Barbra Streisand nose has impressively mature depth and texture in his voice. He could go far in this competition given his consistently smart performances so far.
Jacob Lusk: The R&B/gospel singer got zero airtime during the initial auditions. We first noticed him in the group round of
Here's the column I wrote for the print edition set for Monday:
"American Idol" has aired more than 300 hours of entertainment since 2002, some of it truly enthralling and memorable. But season nine last year felt like arthritis was setting in as dull contestants and a dysfunctional judges' panel left viewers feeling enervated and ready to ditch the show forever.
Fox knew it needed to give the show, still No. 1 in the ratings, an adrenaline boost this year. Surprisingly, "Idol" has found its mojo again.
Here are reasons why
The Green Mile two-hour episode (on top of Wednesday's one hour portion) went by relatively pain-free.
The only disappointing departures for me were John Wayne Schulz and Colton Dixon. Otherwise, favorites and not so favorites made it through in not-so-surprising fashion.
Happy with the top 24?
No-brainers such as Casey Abrams and Robbie Rosen breezed in. And it's clear the male field was far stronger than the females. Unfortunately, "Idol" required equal male and female numbers so we got a couple of less-than-worthy women in favor of better guys. Such is life on "Idol" and its requirement for all-male and all-female semifinal rounds next
Continue reading 'American Idol' top 24 Green Mile recap: more male talent than female »
Simon Cowell explains how "The X Factor" works below and provides audition cities, none really near Atlanta.
Los Angeles, CA Sunday, March 27 L.A. Sports Arena
Miami, FL Thursday, April 7 Bank United Center
Newark, NJ Thursday, April 14 Prudential Center
Seattle, WA Wednesday, April 20 Key Arena
Chicago, IL Wednesday, April 27 Sears Centre Arena
Dallas, TX TBA TBA
I presume the host and judges will be named soon as well.
TV Ratings: "Idol" last night drew 22.6 million viewers, down from 23.5 million for the comparable sixth-week episode a year ago. That's a 4% drop. Among 18-49, it's down 13% from 9.1 ratings to 7.9.
Continue reading Simon Cowell explains 'The X Factor,' coming this fall, with audition cities »
Kellie Pickler is a regular guest on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show." She's always a delight:
She explained why they decided to elope on New Year's Day:
"Every time we got to the guest list, it was like, 'Oh my God! I hate half these people," she said.
She and her hubby of seven weeks Kyle Jacobs found a small Caribbean island.
"We didn't plan anything," she said. "We just packed a wedding dress. We packed him an outfit. We flew there. We didn't know what kind o f cake. we didn't have our food picked out. We just had faith in God that it'd work out. It was the most incredible day of my life."'
Ellen gave her a wedding gift: a bed with a covering featuring a photo of Pickler meeting her hero Clint Eastwood the last time she was on "Ellen."
Pickler considers "11″ her lucky number, thus 1-01-11 is now her wedding date forever. She sees it everywhere – on her microwave, her oven, you name it.
She had no bachelorette party so Ellen sent out three male stripper types to dance with
Continue reading Recently betrothed Kellie Pickler on 'Ellen' talks about elopement »
Early favorite Casey Abrams was rushed to a hospital yesterday for stomach pains, according to TMZ.
If he isn't ready to perform Friday, he could be eliminated though the local Fox affiliate below reports he should be out today.
The talented 19 year old Idyllwild, Calif. singer who could also play stand-up bass was ranked No. 1 by a huge margin among blog readers here Monday. His early departure would be a huge blow to the show. Let's hope and pray for his quick recovery and that whatever it is is not serious.
Continue reading Casey Abrams rushed to hospital over stomach pains »
In past years, the "Green Mile" episode was usually squashed into one hour. This year, they've stretched it out to three hours and cut the Beatles round in Vegas to one hour.
That sounds like a recipe for disaster. But it wasn't in the end. Our connections with some of the best singers deepened.
Chris Medina's elimination before the top 24
During the Beatles hour, we got a taste of some tough love from one of the vocal coaches (Peggi Blu) and a tease of what Interscope Chairman Jimmy Iovine will bring to the table when he becomes the regular mentor during the rest of the season.
We heard mostly good to great Beatles covers. We lost a few contestants we got to know along the way (but not that many.) Then quickly, we get into the elimination of the
Continue reading 'American Idol' recap, Vegas Beatles edition, first cutdowns: sob story shocker »


text:
Website: http://benjamingeiger9.wix.com/brgproductions
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ben-Ge...0345768584
photo, photography, nature,leaf...
Thick as the Day's End
by Ben Geiger
Throw Pillow
Throw Pillow made from 100% spun polyester poplin fabric, a stylish statement that will liven up any room. Individually cut and sewn by hand, each pillow features a double-sided print and is finished with a concealed zipper for ease of care. Sold with or without faux down pillow insert.
- 179Promote
Thanks so much! I am so glad you like the title too. In my opinion the title can make or break a piece so I really do invest a bit of time into every title.


text:
Would you like to receive monthly email updates
with personalized jobs and opportunities?
25. How to Succeed in a Nonprofit
Brian Hooks, Chief Operating Officer, Mercatus Center
There's so much bad advice out there on the topic that my first goal has to be not to add to it. So I'll do my best to dispel some of the more prominent myths and then, like any good multi-tasker, I'll make a list.
First, a disclaimer: I don't know the answer. I have, however, learned a few things in almost ten years at the Mercatus Center that might be helpful. During my time here, I've had five jobs, three bosses, and dozens of unbelievably accomplished colleagues. Some of the most important lessons for my current role as chief operating officer I learned just months out of college in my first role as program assistant.
Another disclaimer: My scope is fairly limited. These may be terrible lessons for an investment banker. But presumably you're reading this because you've made the ever-so-important decision to do what you love and work for a cause you believe in. If that sounds cheesy, you need to reconsider this choice. Go be an investment banker. This love of, and belief in, your cause is what will get you through the long days and nights and, for most of your career, relatively thin paychecks.
Which brings me to the list.
Lesson 1
Love what you do. The nonprofit that you choose is a mission-driven organization. How do you feel about that mission? It probably shows. I have not read a good book on nonprofit management, which means that I've had to learn whatever I know about it from experience. And—though this will be disappointing to those who thought a 700-word essay would provide all the answers—so will you. This means you'll have to put in a lot of time working through problems, making mistakes, and figuring out how to do things better with less information than your counterparts in business. That's a lot of work and it will be unbearable if you don't really believe in the reason you're doing it.
Lesson 2
Learn your limitations. You're not going to be great at everything. But you'll be much better at what you're good at if you know what you don't do well and act on that knowledge. This is a good thing to keep in mind as you take on your first few roles at an organization.
Lesson 3
Don't think too much about it. Don't let your career goals distract you from the job you're there to do. In my limited experience, climbers tend to fall. Maybe not immediately, but eventually. I'm not a big believer in the five-year plan. That's not to say that people who have their act together and a clear vision of where they're going can't succeed. But sometimes you can focus too much on the map and miss the road ahead.
Do the job that you have well. Or to put it in "Career Guide" terms, don't dress for the job you wish you had, dress for your day.
These are qualities that are largely within your control. But all the self-awareness in the world won't be enough to get you there. The rules within which you work will have a lot to do with how well, or poorly, your efforts are rewarded.
A few things that we have at Mercatus that I couldn't do without (these make for good questions to ask about where you work now or where you want to work, to help determine if you have to move out to move up):
The culture of the organization. Is the place you work the sort of place that rewards ideas and performance, or do you need a fancy title or a hefty résumé to go with that (or in place of it)?
Mentors. I've been fortunate to work for brilliant people who took the time to work with me. Much of the way I approach a problem—whether it's public policy or personnel—has been shaped by what I learned from them. Do you respect the people you work for enough to learn from them, or are you more inclined to snark and resent the weekly team meeting where your boss drones on and on?
Know-How. There are some skills that are particularly scarce, and picking them up along the way can make you a good candidate for more responsibility. Things like project management, personnel management, and judgment. The way to pick these up is to dig into each job you have. You need to be "that guy that gets things done" no matter what things need to get done.
Measure your success by the level of responsibility your organization entrusts to you. This should increase over time, even if the size of your office doesn't. One big mistake people make is to treat their first position as a formality, to think that they only have to put in their time at the entry level before moving up to where they really belong. If that's you, you'll probably end up putting in your fair share of time—and a lot of it. Understand how the role you have, no matter what it is, contributes to the goals of the organization and what you need to do to do it well.
Brian Hooks is chief operating officer at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. He oversees strategy and all programs and operations for the organization. The Mercatus Center plays a unique role within the academy and within the world of public policy. Hooks' role is to ensure that Mercatus remains a dynamic and effective organization that advances an understanding about how markets work to improve people's lives, and applies that knowledge to solve problems in public policy. Mercatus is also a leading source of new talent for the academy and public policy organizations. Mercatus graduate student programs are at the heart of what Mercatus does, and Hooks works to ensure that Mercatus faculty and staff have the tools they need so these programs continue to provide more and more students with a world-class education in the theory and practice of market-based economics. Mercatus's work is made possible by thousands of committed individuals, foundations, and businesses. As COO, Hooks is responsible for maintaining the trust that Mercatus contributors put into the organization and seeing that Mercatus is always a good steward of these investments. Prior to serving in this role, Hooks was director of the Global Prosperity Initiative, Social Change Project, and Enterprise Africa at Mercatus, three programs he helped to develop. These programs focus on building an academic network to apply a uniquely "Mercatus School" of social science to problems of economic development and social progress both in the United States and overseas. They then work with policymakers in executive agencies and Congress to apply the ideas developed at Mercatus to improve U.S. policy. A graduate of the University of Michigan, Hooks lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife, Christine.
This entry was posted in Resources. Bookmark the permalink. ← 26- Changing Policy in the Public Sector 24- Starting at the Bottom and Working Your Way Up →


text:
A new Daily Kos/SEIU poll conducted by Public Policy Polling that comes out later today shows that a full half of Americans believe that "Republicans are intentionally stalling efforts to jumpstart the economy to insure that Barack Obama is not reelected." This includes 61 percent of self-described "moderates" and 15 percent of "conservatives. Forty-one percent said Republicans are not hurting the economy to hurt Obama, while 10 percent are not sure:
Poll: 50 Percent Say GOP Is 'Intentionally Stalling' Economy To Hurt Obama
Like ThinkProgress on FacebookDon't show this to me again
By clicking and submitting a comment I acknowledge the ThinkProgress Privacy Policy and agree to the ThinkProgress Terms of Use. I understand that my comments are also being governed by Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, or Hotmail's Terms of Use and Privacy Policies as applicable, which can be found here.


text:
Email or Text Us
Email or text us at email@example.com
Chat With Us
Ask us a question using the chat window to the right. Online hours:
Frequently Asked of Us
Check our FAQ for research tips and answers to popular questions.
Visit or Call Us
Stop by the Ask Me desk at Shadek or the Circulation desk at Martin, or call at:
Meet With Us
Students can meet with a librarian for one-on-one, expert research assistance.
Grad Schools & Jobs
Students can consult with a librarian to research prospective employers and explore graduate school opportunities.
ENG 105: America in the Age of Nixon
F&M LIBRARY CATALOG, WorldCat and E-Z BORROWSearch the F&M Library Catalog to find out what books, journals, reference resources, newspapers, videos, maps, CDs, music, etc., the library owns.
NOTE: There are no journal articles in a catalog!
Search WorldCat to discover books on your topic held by libraries all over the planet!
Use E-Z Borrow (a regional, expedited book-exchange service) if F&M's copy of a book you want is unavailable, or if we do not own the desired book. [Requires your F&M ID barcode number.]
Alternative Press Index Archive
JOURNALS, MAGAZINES & NEWSPAPERS @ F&M and INTERLIBRARY LOAN (ILL)To determine whether or not the F&M Library owns a journal, use the JOURNALS: search our catalog of print and online journals feature on the Library's web site. If the library does not have a journal you need, and you have at least 1 week before your assignment is due, you can submit an Interlibrary Loan: request journal articles & books request to have the journal article acquired for you by the library. Allow 2-7 days for the article to arrive.
If you have any questions, would like further assistance, etc, contact:
Lisa Stillwell, Information Literacy Librarian,


text:
read bottom to top
my friend lauren went on a rant about quidditch and it was glorious
(Source: redviperofdorne, via theroadtoworld)
Halie Burns
Jersey # 94 - Chaser
Halie is a first year chaser for the team. She knows where she needs to be and how to get open, and she is always where she needs to be.
At this years Mid-Atlantic Regional Tournament, Halie spent the day on the pitch working a two female chaser line. She played hard the entire day, hardly getting the break that she very much deserved.
Photo Credit: Hilary Valentine ( http://nachtaras.tumblr.com )
(Source: theroadtoworld)
Quidditch Mid Atlantic Regionals!
(Source: broken-skies-and-angel-wings)
Maria Wizbicki, Chaser and President for the Macquarie Marauders. Maria is a fearless player, pushing herself above and beyond the limit every single game, not afraid to put her all into each and every single game. Not only that, but Maria is an incredibly welcoming and lovely person, helping all of the Rookies to the sport getting the hang of the game.
Official IQA quidditch player card! #MembersOnly
(Source: girlscouse)
I'm reading through the IQA Rulebook when suddenly this little gem appears:
"The "two-minimum" gender rule
A quidditch game requires each team to have at least two players
on the field who identify with a different gender than at least
two other players. The gender that a player identifies with is
considered to be that player's gender, which may or may not be
the same as that person's sex. We call this the "two-minimum" rule.
The IQA accepts those who don't identify within the binary
gender system, and acknowledge that not all of our players
identify as male or female. We welcome people of all identities
and genders into our league."
You go, IQA!
(Source: 2boldlyqueer)
"Men who want to be feminists do not need to be given a space in feminism. They need to take the space they have in society & make it feminist."
Kelley Temple, National Union of Students UK Women's Officer (via lunagemme)
(Source: marchingstars, via arabellesicardi)
Shei - Perú
(via theroadtoworld)
Brace yourselves…
(via girlscouse)


text:
Man Killed In Motorcycle Accident on Forest Park Parkway
Brian Kelly Twitter:@brpkelly June 24, 2012 11:07 AM
Get Breaking News First
Receive News, Politics, and Entertainment Headlines Each Morning.Sign Up
ST. LOUIS (KMOX)-A man was killed Saturday evening in a motorcycle accident on Forest Park Parkway in St. Louis.
Police say 25-year-old Timothy Thomas lost control of his bike east of Skinker Blvd. and hit a fence.