Saturday, May 10, 2014

7 Famous Fictional Teachers in Movies

Teachers are the main providers of knowledge and scholarly skills carried out chiefly in academes. They are professional educators of life; needless to say, apart from our biological parents and guardians. Most of them are depicted on literary books, college essays, cinema theaters and TV series. 

Definitely, this shortlist is about the most remarkable fictional instructors in movies who completed our day truly enlightened, inspired as well as feeling dorky because of certain lead roles flanking with their hasty teaching antics. One way or another we want them to be real given that they are the coolest people whom every student should have known before putting their names down on the enrollment form.
 

 
Dewey Finn
School of Rock (2003)
Actor: Jack Black

Dewey Finn:
“It’s gonna be a really tough project, you're gonna have to use your head, your brain and your mind too.”

Perhaps, I’d also like to attend on his music class even though Dewey Finn is just a substitute teacher. It will surely make my childhood memories really great. He will jam my grade school nostalgias with loud and good rhythms as he took advantage us for his personal achievement by materializing a rock band for competition. But then again, I guess it feels incredibly momentous to attend on his energizing lectures.


Ms. Sharon Norbury
Mean Girls (2004)
Actress: Tina Fey

Ms. Norbury:
“ I know having a boyfriend might seem like the only thing important to you right now, but you don't have to dumb yourself down in order for a guy to like you. “

"Ok, so we're all here 'cause of this book, right? Well, I don't know who wrote this book, but you all have got to stop calling each other sluts and whores. It just makes it ok for guys to call you sluts and whores."

Tina Fey as the pretty fed-up high school math instructor of Cady Heron (Lindsay Lohan) handles to resolve the conflict concerning the group of “plastics” headed by Regina George (Rachel McAdams). Her efforts to eliminate the “whores and sluts” disputes in the university turn out to be successful and the math brainiacs did a magnificent job during the competition. FYI: Tina Fey wrote the script shrewdly!


Mr. John Kimble
Kindergarten Cop (1990)
Actor: Arnold Schwarzenegger

Detective John Kimble:
“We're going to play a wonderful game called... "Who is my daddy and what does he do?”

A hard-knock urbane investigator John Kimble is designated to be a kindergarten teacher to find out a hoary battle with a perilous drug mogul. For the moment as he executed his task, Detective Kimble bangs the legal action and put the criminal to jail. Eventually he discovers his quasi-occupation is so worthwhile that he abandons the law enforcement agency to continue edifying kids. If there’s a former Mr. Universe in the class, I would definitely hit the attendance record perfectly!
 
 
Glenn Holland
Mr. Holland's Opus (1996)
Actor: Richard Dreyfuss

Glenn Holland:
“Playing music is supposed to be fun. It's about heart, it's about feelings, moving people, and something beautiful, and it's not about notes on a page. I can teach you notes on a page, I can't teach you that other stuff. “

Glenn Holland has a spare time to accept a teaching job en route for achieving his dreams. He's a starving artist who strives accomplishing his ambition to make a remarkable orchestral music composition. Mr. Holland shares his contagious thirst for music and to mold the hearts of his students with his passion.
 

 
Professor Severus Snape
Harry Potter film series
Actor: Alan Rickman

Professor Severus Snape:
"I can teach you how to bewitch the mind and ensnare the senses. I can tell you how to bottle fame, brew glory, and even put a stopper in death."

Half-blood wizard Professor Severus Snape is the head of Slytherin and Death Eater, he began teaching at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry since 1981. He did everything to protect the scarhead Potter against powerful dark wizards in lieu of his undying love for Lily Evans, the mother of Harry. The potion master is one of the best characters in the J.K. Rowling's bestselling series beyond his complexity for being nasty and mean yet brilliant sorcerer.



Charles Xavier (Professor X)
X-Men (2000)
Actor: Patrick Stewart

Prof. Charles Francis  Xavier:
“Give me a chance. I might be able to help you find some answers. “

Among the Marvel's superhero Professor X is one of the most positive inspirations in Marvel superheroes. Before he became the founder of X-men training site "Xavier Institute for Higher Learning", formerly Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters in Westchester County, he loses all of his hair at the age of sixteen. Xavier was admitted into Oxford University in England and later chosen as an affiliated professor at Columbia University. He utilized his apprentices to function their innate superpowers in the mutant world. His genius-level intellect and mental powers touched the mind of his original group of students namely Scott Summers (Cyclops), Bobby Drake (Iceman), Warren Worthington III (Angel), Henry McCoy (Beast) and Jean Grey (Phoenix) to master their special abilities.
 
 
John Keating
Dead Poets Society (1989)
Actor: Robin Williams

John Keating:
“We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. “

Robin Williams stars in a 1989 drama film Dead Poets Society as an individualistic English professor in Welton Academy who motivates his students to get keen on poetry as he made their lives inspiringly extraordinary through grasping the day by enjoying their life to the fullest. Everyone is grateful while he gives out his wisdom with new level of philosophical lessons about independence and self confidence.

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

80’s Yearbook Snapshots that You’ll Get A Kick Out Of

The 80’s was a year of blasts.

This decade was filled mullets, shoulder pads, big hair, and bright colors.  Queen’s, Blondie’s, and Michael Jackson dominated the airwaves.  Ronald Reagan became president. Alfred Hitchcock died. John Lennon died.

Inspite of the deaths of the legends in that era, everything else  was loud and perky and big. People in their high school years sported the trend that now many consider as something they have to defend or just left alone in a time capsule.  ‘The bigger - the better’ was the hair philosophy of many students who braved the dreaded yearbook photo sessions.

And so, in the spirit of the 80’s, I present yearbook photos from this era that even a cold-hearted person would smile about when they see these.





























Saturday, November 23, 2013

Perils of Giving In to Laziness While Making your Essay


Laziness is one of the many temptresses that students face everyday. From the very moment they wake up, they are tempted to just stay in bed and just sleep all throughout the day. The moment they're in school, they are tempted to just sit and not listen. And when they arrive at home, they are then tempted to just put off tomorrow to start on the essay that was assigned as homework. They give  both reasonable and unreasonable excuses for their laziness, but whatever those reasons are, at the due date, they al,
  1. Lose track of time. Students who put off writing essays for another day will end up not realizing the days that have gone by since the essay was assigned. They think that there are still many days left, that they have all the time in the world. Weeks will then turn to days, days to hours - and then the deadline is just 24 hours away. Students then cram to finish or even pay online for college essays when in reality, they can have just prepared and started on it earlier.
  2. Crams at the last minute. This is a by-product of losing track of time due to laziness. When you just realize that the essay is due in 12 hours, you drop all the other stuff in your life and work on starting (or finishing to those who are a bit more disciplined)   their essay.  You scramble for words and resources only to arrive at a beaten-around-the-bush work.
  3. Work is crap. Basically, an essay produced in let's say, half an hour cannot be at par with essays that were at least worked on for a day or two. A substandard essay will mean low grades and low grades will result to you working for extra credit which might turn to be additional essays.

Thursday, October 31, 2013

What is Action Learning?


It is another educational systematic method whereby students work and learn at the same time by discussing real social issues and manifesting it on their actions. Apprentices attain knowledge by means of actual deeds and practice rather than the customary instruction.

Action learning is done while integrating with other learners, in sub-groups referred as action learning sets. It is usually propositioned as in a particular group, as it allows and empowers each person to ponder on and assess the action or deeds they have engaged and the learning points arising, so they can enhance their performance.
With this kind of environment, a student chooses real life encounters by repeatedly performing it with others, and then acquires response and pointers by examining their actions.

For many years, action learning is one of the effective frameworks that have been used for workplace learning in business settings. It is becoming popular nowadays particularly in school, college university and other learning grounds by achieving a dynamic interaction rather than a sheer process.

Friday, September 27, 2013

Benefits of Experiential Learning


Learning from experience, or simply experiential learning builds an opportunity to be involve and to execute applied learning through hands-on experience, while instantaneously understand and gather new useful information about the environment that surrounds them. With this kind of learning, students tend to express their ideas and experiences eagerly in classroom as well on different setting.

Experiential Learning invigorates schoolchildren to create useful findings and experiment with knowledge themselves, as a substitute of grasping the knowledge about different life encounters of other individual.
 



And here are sensible viewpoints of three skilled educators in various fields of learning about the advantages of this approach.

Ann O. Koloski-Ostrow, Associate Professor of Classical Studies: "Experiential learning for me means bringing the students into the everyday lives of people who lived and died 2,500 years ago in the world of ancient Greece and Rome. Our collection of 800 ancient objects in the Classical Studies Artifact Research Center makes it possible for students actually to hold classical objects and try to feel what it would have been like in those days. The Romans, for example, did not just make high art, but they also had baby bottles, ordinary drinking cups, tongue depressors and a fantastic sewer system."

Scott Gravina, Senior Lecturer in Hispanic Studies: "Experiential Learning gives students the opportunity to take what they learn in class and apply it to real world situations. Taking their learning beyond the campus provides them with new perspectives and first-hand experience while allowing them to make personal contact with the community and give of themselves in ways they may never have thought possible. Through this practical approach to learning, students gain confidence in their own abilities, discover innovative ways to overcome obstacles and turn a class project into a life experience"

Vardit Ringvald, Professor of Hebrew and Director of the Hebrew and Arabic Languages Program:
"Teaching an experiential learning course has required me to explore the issues which the students are curious about, in order to be able to mentor them better. It actually has affected my approach to my discipline. I have become more aware of the “real world” applications of teaching and learning foreign languages, and I incorporate my new understandings in my teaching and in my research."


Saturday, August 24, 2013

Educating Kindergarten Students about the Sense of Touch


Four of the sense organs of the human body: vision, smell, taste and hearing can be found in particular parts of the body, but the sense of touch is located all over. As a matter of fact, our somatosensory system arises in the skin layer between epidermis and subcutaneous tissues called dermis. It is occupied with numerous microscopic nerve endings that can transmit information about the objects with which the fleshly body comes in contact. The transmitted information carries to a long, thin, tubular bundle of nervous tissue, or better known as the spinal cord, that also transfers messages to the brain where the sensation is registered.

The touch receptors are comprised of millions of tiny nerve endings in the skin where it can convey you if something is warm or icy. These nerve endings can likewise feel the painful stuff. Sensing the heat, coldness, discomfort and pressure are most of the typical receptors of the skin. In all probability, the most significant for body protection are the pain receptors, as it can defend you by cautioning that you are hurt. 

Definitely, edifying youngsters to discover their sense of touch can be pleasurably fun by simply providing them with objects with a different range of textures and temperatures. Then, ask them to explain what they feel through categorizing things by how they feel and put their observations on a sheet of paper. 

 

Instructions:
  • Classify the items by sorting hard, soft, rough and smooth objects.
  • Let them close their eyes for a moment.
  • Lend them a variety of things; and ask if they are rough, smooth, hard, or soft.
  • Find out if the kid can recognize the object. (Here are some ideas to provide: sandpaper, cotton, pencil, silk hanky and so forth)
  • As soon as, they can identify all the items, help them to write on the paper and categorize every bits and pieces of the guessing game.
  • Next, enlighten them that this technique can be done with their eyes closed; discuss with the child how these stuff are still able to be distinguished even they can’t see those certain objects.
  • You can talk about that they can similarly sense the feeling through the skin on any part of the body.

Books to Recommend for Kids

My Five Senses Big Book (Let's-Read-And-Find-Out) by Aliki

The 5 Senses (Let's Learn about) by Nuria Roca

Touch (Five Senses) by Maria Rius, J.M. Parramon, and J.J. Puig

Wild Animals (Touch and Feel) by DK Publishing
 Fun With My 5 Senses: Activities to Build Learning Readiness (Williamson Little Hands Series) 
by Sarah Williamson


Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Love in the time of Exams: Balancing Studying and Acing Finals





Getting excellent scores on finals can be nerve-wracking even for most fully equipped students. As final exams are coming really near, it can be problematic for all undergraduates. Brain exhaustion shall pass but there are lots of methods to make yourself ready and to guarantee that you gain better grades while clinging on your college sweetheart. 

Check out 5 tips to incite you to academically tweak your GPA.

What to Study
First and foremost, make an outline of topics you need to know. If you begin by reviewing subject matters you should grasp, then supplement more tough or fresh bits and pieces of information as you progress. Definitely, you can correlate additional facts with comfortable tool of learning or modules. Instead of taking on unapproachable-slash-worrying sums of recent studies, this will somehow bolsters you into a wide-ranging research but make sure you always remember the basics.

When to Study
Learn how to budget your time. Every second and minute counts, as the final examination period rolls around. It is so much precious to schedule your review-time prior to the hell week of brain-draining exams. Generate a realistic study timetable for yourself. But then again, ensure yourself to line up subjects according to its importance that you’ll require to study the most. Be manageable on planning your date with significant other right after the examination week.

Where to Study
A recent study expounded that as opposed to fasten your scholastic-belt to one study area; you must interchange and modify your fave spot when studying for exam. As you ace for finals, you should alienate yourself from your dearest darling’s beloved sanctuary, witty buddies’ waggish asylum or your cherished mother’s hypnotic scullery. Nonetheless, if you really prefer to settle in a particular whereabouts, be certain if this specific place could really help you out on your studies.

With whom to Study
Develop a study group, as it can stimulate you to be enthused when it’s grueling to persuade yourself to review. As well as, clarifying tough theories vocally will aid you decipher what matters need more comprehension and what other necessary topics to go over, plus attaining a study-assembly will permit you to share and master definition of terms and enlightenment of ideas.

How to Study
Calm yourself while scrutinizing your notes to thwart from mind-blanking during the exam. Devote more time on how you sail through your exams through conjuring up the ways to achieve an A+. You also need to give more emphasis on what you know and holding onto your outline review according to its significance. But if you want to try other ways to study, jog around the campus as it helps you to enhance your memory even if it’s a 20 minute of cardio workout.

There is certainty that studying on high level learning institutes will make an impact on every student’s life. Study involves responsibility and time; however there are still options to spearhead a gratifying interpersonal relationship and family life while attaining a degree. And students should strive to engross mastering the art of balancing the lifestyle of ‘Grade A’ student.