Stories for Little Girls Picture Books

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Original :: Stories for Little Girls (Picture Books)

The X Factor 2009 Danyl Johnson Auditions 1 itvcomxfactor

The X Factor: 27-year-old teacher Danyl has a passion for singing and manages to completely own the stage in an incredible first audition! See more at www.itv.com

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teachers

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My Big Animal Book Priddy Bicknell Big Ideas for Little People

• ISBN13: 9780312490836
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Original :: My Big Animal Book (Priddy Bicknell Big Ideas for Little People)

Kiss The Rain Yiruma Played by Ariel T

I dedicate this song to all my friends, classmates, and teachers especially to my one and only Love mom and Dad..... Ariel Tolome

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Fairy Tales Every Child Should Know

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FCHS Asian Humanities Booty Shake Period

Lavie Jaura teaches Miss Holmes Asian Humanities at Fort Collins High School as the Indian Enrichment Experience and then all Students and teachers are invited to go eat at Star Of India. FCHS Asian Humanities Booty Shake. www.starofindiafortcollins.com

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How to Shake the Winter Blues with Amateur Radio HAM Radio

How often have you seen a child running to a window and peering out at the falling snow with a big smile and a pumpkin like face. Most children love snow, and the more the better. I know when I was a child I certainly loved the snow, and for two reasons, if often kept me home from School that day, and it made for a very fun day playing in it. As we grow from children into adults we often stop playing in the snow and having such fun, especially if were males, since we have to act the tough and rugged way instead of showing emotions like a child's joy. Those that are lucky enough to have a playful spouse or children, know that this is a bunch of crap. Joy and having fun, is something we all ned to experience, a world without laughter and fun would not be a very nice place for anyone.

On them cold winter days if your an adult and you find yourself alone, or with empty time on your hands, why not head to your den, or office where you have your own gateway to the world, no, I am not talking about the internet, I am talking about Amateur Radio or HAM Radio as it's often called. Amateur Radio has been around for years, it is not amateur or simple as the name suggests, but instead it gets it name amateur do to the aspect that its members or operators work outside of a governmental or commercial field.

Amateur Radio is very fun, and it opens up a whole new world to anyone that does it. You can communicate to folks literally around the world with it, and it has been used in times of natural disasters and even war, to communicate with survivors. Communication is mostly done with voice transmission, like talking on a telephone or to someone in person, but a lot of the more seasoned operators will also chat using a series of codes, and some even use Morse Code to talk back and forth. You often can tell if someone is an Amateur Radio operator because of the large antenna outside their home.

Most newcomers to the Amateur Radio hobby, start by joining a local club or group, if there are none locally you can search the internet, where you will find numerous groups and chat rooms on the subject. You may also wish to purchase and study some books on Amateur Radio for beginners. There are quite a few things that one must become aware of when starting the hobby in their home, such as the type of equipment to use and purchase, antenna, license, getting your stations call sign, fees and other things.

Again, the best way to get started is by joining some local on online groups, and reading books for beginners. It may seem more complicated and overwhelming at first, then it needs to be, as there are an estimated two million Amateur Radio owners and operators around the world. So, why not get started today in the exciting hobby of Amateur Radio, it just may be what you need during them long, cold months, to help shake the winter blues.

There is a website that describes numerous activities and other methods to help eliminate the Winter Blues, this website is called: Winter Activities - and it may be found at this url: http://www.winter-activities.com

You may publish this article in your ezine, newsletter or on your web site as long as it is reprinted in its entirety and without modification except for formatting needs or grammar corrections.

Original :: How to Shake the Winter Blues with Amateur Radio HAM Radio

The GoingToBed Book

• ISBN13: 9780671449025
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Teacher Licensing A Protection Racket

Contrary to popular notions, teacher licensing in public schools does not insure teacher quality. A license also does not even insure that a public-school teacher knows much about the subject she teaches. In fact, in our upside-down public-school system, licensing often leads to ill-trained and mediocre teachers instructing our children. As we will see, it turns out that teacher licensing is a protection racket.The notion that only state-approved, licensed teachers can guarantee children a good education is proven wrong by history and common sense. In ancient Athens, the birthplace of logic, science, philosophy, and Western civilization, city authorities did not require teachers to be licnsed. Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle did not have to get a teaching license from Athenian bureaucrats to open up their Academies. A teacher's success came only from his competence, reputation, and popularity. Students and their parents paid a teacher only if they thought he was worth the money. Competition and an education free market produced great teachers in ancient Greece.Parents in America gave their children a superior education at home or in small grammar or religious schools for over two hundred years before we had public schools or licensed teachers in this country. School authorities' claim that teachers have to be licensed for our children to get a quality education, is therefore false.Today, in millions of companies across America, bosses or their managers teach new employees job skills, from the simplest to the most complex. Private schools and trade schools teach millions of students valuable, practical skills. Thousands of college professors with masters or doctorate degrees in the subject they teach, instruct hundreds of thousands of college students in subjects ranging from philosophy to electrical engineering. Over a million home-schooling parents teach their children reading, writing, and math with learn-to-read or learn-math books, computer-learning software, and other teaching materials. All these teachers are not licensed yet they often give children a far better education than licensed public-school teachers.Licensing laws imply that only public-school education "experts" can judge a teacher's competence. These alleged "experts" are usually graduates of teacher colleges and university education departments. Unfortunately, so-called teacher education is often an academic joke or waste of time, especially to student-teachers who have to endure years of this "teacher-training" torture.Steve Wulf, writing in Time magazine, revealed the opinion that many student-teachers had about their so-called teacher training:"Six hundred experienced teachers surveyed in 1995 were brutal about the education they had received, describing it as "mind-numbing," the "shabbiest psycho-babble," and "an abject waste of time." They complained that fragmented, superficial course work had little relevance to classroom realities. And judging by the weak skills of student teachers entering their schools, they observed, the preparation was still woefully inadequate."Many teacher colleges don't teach crucial reading phonics or math instruction skills, nor do they teach science or history. Many "licensed" reading, math, history, or science teachers have not taken courses in or majored in these subjects in college. One survey by the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education found that more than three-quarters of teacher-college graduates preparing to be elementary-school teachers had no academic major except education.In many teacher colleges, student-teachers don't learn specific knowledge in their subject field or competent teaching techniques to teach our kids reading, math, and science. Instead they learn the history and philosophy of education and other mostly useless nonsense. Also, many university education departments waste student-teachers' time on socialist, politically-correct courses about gender and minority oppression, multiculturalism studies, and other courses that would fit right in to a Marxist curriculum in Cuba.Licensing also implies that parents can't and shouldn't judge a teacher's competence. Yet millions of parents in all fifty states send their children to private kindergartens, grammar schools, and colleges. These allegedly ignorant parents have no problem judging the competence of teachers in private schools, and withdrawing their children if the schools don't live up to the parents' expectations.We judge the competence of our car mechanic, accountant, and our child's private kindergarten teacher all the time, and we do so reasonably well. Is there some mysterious reason we can't judge whether our children are learning to read, write, or do math? Public-school officials who claim that parents are too ignorant to judge their children's education are self-serving. If we allegedly can't trust parents with this job, obviously we have to trust the so-called education "experts," thereby guaranteeing these so-called education experts' cushy jobs.School authorities also claim that we need licensing to guarantee competence, so no charlatans become teachers. Yet some licensed public-schools teachers are barely literate themselves or are ill-trained or have little knowledge of the subject they teach. Fred Bayles, in a "USA Today" column titled, "Those Who Can't Spell or Write, Teach," gave an example:"On April 1, 1998, the Massachusetts Board of Education gave applicants who wanted to teach, a basic reading and writing test. The results of the test were that 59 percent of the applicants failed. If you think these test results made the Board of Education do something constructive, think again. It promptly lowered the test's passing grade from 77 to 66 percent. Under the "new" standard, only 44 percent failed. Note that all the applicants were college graduates."Also, these same education students often score lowest in academic achievement among other high-school graduates. Thomas Sowell, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, wrote about this issue in his book, "Inside American Education.""Despite some attempts to depict such attitudes as mere snobbery, hard data on education student qualifications have consistently shown their mental test scores to be at or near the bottom among all categories of students. This was as true of studies done in the 1920s and 1930s as of studies in the 1980s. Whether measured by Scholastic Aptitude Tests, ACT tests, vocabulary tests, reading comprehension tests or Graduate Record Examinations, students majoring in education have consistently scored below the national average.""At the graduate level, it is very much the same story, with students in numerous other fields outscoring education students on the Graduate Record Examination--by from 91 points composite to 259 points, depending on the field. The pool of graduate students in education supplies not only teachers, counselors, and other administrators, but also professors of education and other leaders and spokesmen for the education establishment."Because of poor teacher training, public schools often hire ill-trained or mediocre teachers, which can cause untold damage to millions of children. Parents have no recourse to oust these teachers because most teachers get tenure after a few years on the job.In contrast, in a private school, a truly incompetent teacher will not last long. Parents will complain, and the school owner will have to fire this teacher to keep parents happy. Also, for the same reasons, a private-school owner will make every effort to find out if a teacher is competent before he hires that teacher. The school owner's livelihood and the success of his school depend on having competent teachers and happy customers. Compulsory public schools can ignore parents, so they have no such constraints.Most parents naively assume that if a teacher is licensed, he or she is now a trained professional they should trust their children with. Parents therefore lower their guard with "licensed" teachers because they assume that a licensed teacher must be competent. As we have seen, this is often not the case.One solution offered for this problem is "merit" pay for teachers. Merit-pay programs would judge all school employees on competence. Better teachers would get paid more, and bad teachers, principals, or administrators could be fired or demoted. How one judges merit, of course, is a whole separate issue, but just as private-school owners devise methods to judge the merit of their teachers, so too could public schools.Yet, if teacher licensing produced competent teachers, why do school authorities and teachers unions fight so hard against merit pay? The answer seems obvious--the system produces many teachers, principals, and administrators who may not "merit" their pay, and might lose their jobs under merit-pay rules.In effect, public-school employees say to parents: "You have to pay our salary and benefits, but how dare you demand proof that we know how to teach your children? How dare you judge our merit? How dare you demand that you get your money's worth?" Only employees who think the world owes them a living are afraid to be judged by the people who pay them. So licensing does not keep charlatans out of our public schools. Instead, it practically guarantees that we employ charlatans or ill-trained teachers.If licensing doesn't work, what is the alternative? The answer is, no licensing. If anyone could teach without a license, like home-schooling parents or private-school teachers, then millions of new, competent, creative teachers would flood the market. These new, unlicensed teachers would compete with one another and drive the price of education down, much as competition drives down the price of computers. They would, hopefully, also put public schools out of business, since millions of parents and free-market schools would now hire these new competent, low-cost teachers.Without licensing laws, anyone with a special skill or knowledge could simply put an ad in the Yellow Pages or their local newspaper and advertise themselves as a tutor in English, math, biology, history, or computer skills. Retired cooks, engineers, authors, plumbers, musicians, biologists, or businessmen who love teaching could easily open a small school in their homes. If there were no license laws, these talented new teachers would not have to worry about school authorities shutting down their schools because they didn't have a license.How would parents be sure they were not hiring a charlatan if there were no licensing laws? The same way they judge their car mechanic, accountant, and child's kindergarten teacher -- by results, reputation, and by being careful consumers. Naturally, parents would make occasional mistakes in judgment because they are human. However, they would quickly become careful consumers because they would now be spending their hard-earned money for teachers. It is amazing how fast we learn to judge the work of others when we have to pay for their services out of our own pockets. Also, if a parent does make mistakes in judging an unlicensed teacher, by watching her child's progress she will soon catch her error. At that point, she can quickly fire the teacher and find a better one. Can a parent do that with her children's public-school teachers?The worst nightmare for public-school authorities is a true free market of teachers who don't need a license to teach. Fierce competition by millions of new, unlicensed, competent, highly-skilled people might destroy public schools, the teacher unions, and teachers' lifetime security in tenured jobs. It might destroy the licensing racket that protects their jobs. That is one unspoken reason why school authorities fiercely defend licensing laws--real competition terrifies them. That is also one of the best reasons to eliminate licensing.The only way to insure good teachers is to let parents decide who will teach their children, not bureaucrats. Millions of parents making individual decisions about who should teach their children will bring forth the best teachers. Fierce competition and an education free market would raise all boats in the teaching profession. Teachers who want to succeed in their profession would have to prove to parent-customers or private- school owners that they have what it takes. They would have to prove by results that they know how to teach and motivate children to read, write, and learn.Once this licensing protection racket was broken, parents would have complete control over who teaches their children. Our kids could then learn from the best teachers out there and get the great education they deserve.

Original :: Teacher Licensing A Protection Racket

The Present Situation For Writing And Publishing Creative Writing For Children

Africa has been marked by a dearth of books, especially picture story books for younger children reflecting an African environment both in textual context and illustration. Problems militating against a rapid growth in writing and publishing for children in Africa include the following:(1) The bulk of reading matters available to the African child are textbooks rather than books for pleasure and enjoyment.(2) Most children's books are still imported. Such imported works are mostly insensitive to local culture, and unreflective of the social realities of the African child and his aspirations.(3) Not enough African published children's books are available.(4) If they are available the ilustrations in them are either(a) of poor quality(b) not in full colour(c) Do not have beautiful dust jackets.(5) And if they are in full colour, and of good quality, they are either much too expensive or for an elitist few and well beyond the reach of most African children, especially those in the rural areas.(6) Most serious African authors do not bother to write for children since it is not accorded the same status as writing for adults.Africa has very little concern for written literature. Even Nigeria which is rich in award-winning authors is marked by neglect of her authors. Writers are seldom as honoured.as footballers are. Hardly any foundations exist to boost the creativity of African writers. Prizes for literature are also in short supply. Book Development Councils seem to be either non-existent or collapsing except in Ghana. In Sierra Leone and the Gambia its absence is still being bemoaned. Whereas in Nigeria where one was once set up to develop indigenous book publishing, it hardly made any impact until it was swallowed up by the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council. In Africa generally adults seldom read children's books - not even parents. Compared to the over 2,000 titles published every year for children in Britain, the output in Nigeria is hardly up to 60.In spite of the over 100 publishers in Nigeria the situation remains bleak for children's literature. This is due mainly to their textbook orientation which makes them lazily rely on a captive school market. It has been proven that if only African children had access to more books they would read outside the classroom. An illustration of this fact could be seen from the 1985 Ife Book Fair where the Children's Literature Association of Nigeria (CLAN) held a special exhibition of booksVisitors to that stand were fascinated by the colourful poster illustrations of folktales decorating the wall, the top and back of shelves. Some even wanted to buy the poster-sized illustrations made by a very gifted woman artist from the Nigerian television authority. The festive air given to the stand by the balloons decorating it along with the colourful posters attracted many children. There was the astonishing sight of three children of varying ages reading one picture book at the same time, visibly very fascinated by this picture book entitled No Bread for Eze by Ifeoma Okoye and published by Fourth Dimension in Enugu. It was one of those picture books where both story and illustrations were ideally integrated. It was about a young boy Eze who loved bread and could not eat enough of it. He wanted bread all the time. So his exasperated parents made him eat nothing but bread. Eze was at first very happy. Nobody was pressurizing him to eat nourishing food. But he soon grew tired of eating bread all the time and pleaded with his parents to give him other types of food. But they would not relent. So Eze became tired of bread and stopped eating. He grew hungry and weak and could not even play football with his friends. In the end his parents relented and Eze began to enjoy a balanced diet, having learnt that boys shall not live by bread alone. This emphasizes the importance of illustrations in children's books, for those children were fascinated not only by the story of Eze but also by the imaginative and sometimes humorously drawn pictures. If children are to acquire the reading habit, they must be given attractive books which also mean well-illustrated books. Even a two-year old baby can enjoy looking at a picture book. Picture books could indeed be expensive to some extent if one insists on printing in four colours which is ideal as could be seen in the lavishly illustrated folktale The Drum specially written for children by Chinua Achebe. But even line and wash drawings could be so well drawn that they too could be captivating.Half-tone illustrations as in Adagbonyin's The Singing Ashes (1981) can also be effective due to the masterly shading of the artist. Even one-colour children's books could infectiously hold young readers as does Just in Case (1983) By Sandra Slater, illustrated by A.L. Satti.Other good picture books include the colourful Amina the Milkmaid (1988) by Fatima Pam illustrated by K. Ofori Pam, a Ghanaian, The First Coin (1989) by Mabel Segun illustrated by the same artist and How the Leopard Got His Claws (1982) by Chinua Achebe and John Iroaganachi. This has two illustrated versions, the one in full colour being by Adrienne Kennaway.Although Nigeria has a few good illustrators, most of the good illustrations there have been done by expatriates. It appears that many Nigerian illustrators cannot draw children's faces and have problems with interpreting texts. In order to remedy these defects, CLAN has run two illustrators' training workshops with UNESCO funding and published a book on Illustrating For Children (1988) edited by Mabel Segun.But this problem can only be solved permanently by integrating text and illustrations, a feat best accomplished by an author illustrator The cost of publishing in full-colour could even be reduced through co-publishing with, a number of publishers working together to increase print runs and reduce the unit cost of books. Sometimes a book is published with texts in different languages using the same colour illustrations. In Nairobi, five publishers across Africa including Nigeria's Daystar Press came together in 1983 under the auspices of the World Association for Christian Community (WACC) and co-published a number of children's books in full colour under the imprint DUCCA.The dearth of good children's authors is also militating against the publishing of children's literature in Africa. For, writing for children, is much more difficult than writing for adults, for not many adults can either enter into the child's world and interact with him with understanding and lack of condescension whilst adapting the contents and language of her writing to the child's age, experience and background... A good writer for children must understand a child's psychology for the story not to ring false. Good children's literature arouses a child's imagination and extends his horizon giving him a knowledge of the past in relation to the present and imbuing him ideals and values necessary for national development. Work ethics. selflessness, loving relationships, acceptance of responsibility are amongst the values which can be so taught, not in a didactic, off-putting manner but with subtlety so that children can be mobilized towards national and international development. Good children's literature develops a child's creativity and inventiveness without which a people cannot hope to move into the technological age.Good literature can also give a child personal identity in a continent which has been subjected to cultural imperialism through mass importation of foreign literature. Achebe does this through his well-written folktales such as The Flute, The Drum and the earlier How the Leopard Got His Claws co-authored with John Iroaganachi and published in 1972 by Nwamife Publishers. The latter was one of the first children's picture story books published in Nigeria and remains one of the best and most successful ones, with an East African Publishing House. Chinua Achebe is quoted as saying it.. 'Is one of the best things I have ever done.' Mabel Segun does this through character-building books such as Olu and the Broken Statue (1985).In neighbouring Ghana many other problems including the country's balance of payments difficulties which cause constant short supplies of essential raw materials and spare parts to repair defective printing equipments. Amongst The Ghana Publishing Corporations' substantial number of children's books published, one of the earliest and most attractive was Mesheck Asare's picture story book, Tawia Goes to Sea published in 1970. This was probably the first African-published children's book to gain world-wide recognition and it was also the first book from an African publisher to be translated into Japanese. Better still was the welcome news that a Ghanaian children's book was the winner of the 1982 Noma Award. This $3,000 prize went to Mesheck Asare, for his engaging picture story book The Brassman's Secret published by Educational Press and Manufacturers United of Kumasi in 1981.The jury in selecting it were impressed by its' exciting and unusual children's story, beautifully and imaginatively illustrated by the author, himself an artist, to bring out important aspects of his Asante culture. They also thought it remarkable that a book of such high quality was produced under such difficult conditions then prevalent in Ghana. Asare has like Achebe been rehabilitating the African child's mind through literature designed to reveal to him his cultural heritage through all these fantasies as well as the adventure book Chipo and the Bird on the Hill and his more recent Sosu's CallAnother G.P.C. item Mercy Owusu-Nimoh's The Walking Calabash published in 1977 was singled out for 'Honourable mention' in the first Noma Award for Publishing in Africa competitionInspite of its many problems Ghana manages to maintain a lively and enterprising local book industry. Firms such as Aframs Publications, Adwinsa Publishers and the Wielerville Publishing House are among those whose list includes occasional children's books.In East Africa, the bulk of the children's book publishing output is from Kenya. The East African Publishing House in Nairobi in particular, has an extensive list of picture-story books illustrated in full colours, as well as readers, and traditional stories and folklore. Especially appealing is their series called 'Lioncubs.' Charity Waciuma, Pamela Kola, Asenath Odaga and Cynthia Hunter are amongst the most prolific authors in the EAPH list. Another prolific children's writer is Barbara Kimenye who publishes with the East African branch of Oxford University Press, some titles one of which is Martha the Millipede recounting the story of Martha who fed up with getting sore feet decided it was about time to get herself some shoes.The Kenyan Literature Bureau taking over from the East African Literature Bureau has produced a few children's books among which is Ray Prather's A is for Africa A Colouring Book for Africa which contains forty full-page drawings depicting the various people of Africa, accompanied by small maps showing their geographical locations.Foremost Kenyan writer, Ngugi Wa'Thiongo has joined his Nigerian counterpart, Achebe, in writing and publishing his first children's book but unlike Achebe in his native Gikuyu language but later translating it as The Great Hero and the Flying Bus.In Southern Africa, Zimbabwe Publishing House have already built up a most impressive collection. A government supported private commercial undertaking, it publishes books on education, politics, literature and creative writing, Zimbabwean history but with books for children featuring prominently. It sponsored a splendid magazine for children ANTS started by a panel of Zimbabwean children but which I have learnt with much regret has stopped publishing more than 15 years now.Other publishers catering for children here are Mamba Press and the Zimbabwe Literature Bureau, the latter having a wide range of materials in Shona and Ndebele comprising novels, poetry, short story booklets, children's comics and material for literacy development.In Malawi another firm actively developing children's books in the indigenous languages publishes the popular publications of Limbe.In Lesotho the church-sponsored Mazenod Book Centre similarly has a substantial list of books for children in African Languages,In Zambia and in Tanzania some children's material is coming from the National Educational Company of Zambia and the Tanzania Publishing House. In South Africa initially the small local market did not make it feasible to publish local children's books in English. English children's books written with a South African background or by a South African were usually published in England. Jock of the Bushveld (1907) written by Sir Percy FitzPatrick, is generally regarded as the first English South African children's book. .This was published in South Africa during the second half of the twentieth century. Only during the 1970s did local publishers realize the need for indigenous children's books in English and start exploiting the market. This change was brought about single handedly by the writer Marguerite Poland with her Mantis and the Moon which was published in 1979. The rise in price of imported children's books made the publication of indigenous material more competitive. The political changes during the 1980s then brought improvement of the quality of education of African children and the decision that they could receive tuition in English. This created a large potential market for English children's books in which some publishers specialize. At the end of the 1980s English children's books were prominent in dealing with the political and socio-economic conditions in the country. The English children's book was more explicit with regard to criticism of apartheid. with authors like Lesley Beake, Dianne Case and Lawrence Bransby taking the lead. As a result of the small local market, few original books with full colour illustrations are published. Collaboration with overseas publishers and the simultaneous publication in various indigenous languages is often the only way to make a publication viable. Also, publishers of children's books concentrate on the publishing series, beginner and second language readers. The change in government in the country and the elevation of the African languages to official status, one should have expected would have led to the development of children's literature in the African languages, but for several reasons this has not yet occurred. The rise of African consciousness and nationalism in the battle against apartheid has rather led to the identification of English as the language for education and freedom. For many African children prefer to read in English, and many African authors prefer to write in this language. Also only a small minority amongst African children read for recreation. Some publishers nevertheless try to publish children's books of a high quality in African languages, but due to a shortage of indigenous writers most books are translations from English or Afrikaans. This suggests the problem of language as another factor hindering the rapid development of children's literature in Africa. The language problem posed by writers being forced to write in foreign languages which they have not really mastered raises the issue of writers being trained to write in their indigenous languages. But then this creates yet another problem as some of the authors of books written in African languages cannot distinguish between concepts for adults and concepts outside the experience of children. Similarly they use an off-putting adult language.There is also an imbalanced attention to the various ages of childhood. For far more books are being written for the middle-aged (8-12) while very young children remain largely neglected. Very few books for adolescents have been written. One is Angi Ossai's Tolulope (1979). Another is Joined by Love by Joy Ikede. The Kenyan Asenath Odaga's work Jande's Ambition is about choice of career which should be a prime concern at that age. Macmillan's Pacesetter Series also appeals to young adults but their works are said to be of varying quality, featuring crime, espionage and love tangles.There is in addition the chronic absence of children's magazines in most parts of Africa. In Sierra Leone the attempt by The Sierra Leone Writers and Illustrators to establish one did not survive its second issue. But the invaluable role they could play in inculcating the reading habit in the child because of their wide variety of subjects, the form of presentation and the fact that children love to read what their peers have written and thus start having similar creative impulses is recognized.Most parts of Africa are not book-friendly for there are few if any bookshops where the African child can buy books. Neither is his access to libraries especially so in rural areas easy. School libraries are a phenomenon of a distant past. Where public libraries are still available and functioning their children's sections are poorly housed, poorly furnished, poorly ventilated, poorly equipped, poorly staffed and poorly sited. There is therefore an obvious need for thorough overhauling of library services in Africa. And efforts should be made to make it an essential public service from the central on to local government levels so as to give every community the opportunity of accessing and growing on books. Similarly every school should have a library that is well stocked and well-equipped.The distribution of books is another area of difficulties. For this is usually left to private enterprise although some governments purchase textbooks in bulk to distribute to schools. Wholesale bookselling is best handled by private entrepreneurs trained in the discipline. But the main problem hindering this is that the book distributors tend to restrict themselves to using distribution methods more suited to countries with a high level of literacy where the wider citizenry is already converted to books. In Africa, publishers and book distributors cannot afford to wait for buyers to come to them. They must rather take their products to the people wherever they are. In Tanzania, therefore, enterprising publishers take books to the local markets. There shoppers mingle with books and enjoy lively discussions with the publishers on all aspects of books. The huge sales at these exhibitions have proved the usefulness of such innovative activities. This kind of promotion will no doubt create in adults an awareness of the need for literature.Efforts made to promote and sell books in the West could be extended with adaptations, if necessary, to intra-African book distribution so that print runs will be longer for the prohibitive costs of books to be brought down. Why cannot children in Nairobi, for instance, read literature published by an indigenous publisher in Nigeria? Much is lost through the compartmentalization of African children's literature. In 1976 an attempt to sell African books from all parts of the continent at the Second Pan African Trade Fair in Algiers collapsed when 4,000 such books had to be brought back because the Algerian government's imposition of a 120% tax on the books had made them too expensive. Such tariffs need to be removed with communication and transport systems improved to facilitate trans-African movement of books.The situation however seems poised for major changes with the intervention of a series of bodies and institutions thus complementing the efforts of others such as UNESCO that had been working assiduously in the field. There is a wide network of organizations geared towards supporting the growth of publishing in Africa. One of them is APNET which network exists to help strengthen book publishing by Africans in Africa. APNET has been working closely with the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA) and has been supported by Bellagio. The Bellagio Group of donors has been exploring ways of improving support for a number of cultural industries, which it is hoped will eventually include African books for African children as there is now recognition among policy makers that culture of which books are an integral part is much of a key to development.Book Fairs in Africa have been fastly becoming established institutions with a concerted series of initiatives to redressing the otherwise parlous state of books in Africa. The Pan African Children's Book Fair (PACBF) started in Nairobi, Kenya in 1991 through the initiative of the Foundation for the Promotion of Children's Science Publications in Africa (GHISCI). The fair has been trying to stimulate a learning environment that captures and nurtures the African child's inherent qualities of imagination, curiosity and creativity. It has created a dynamic atmosphere to enhance the preciousness of books in the learning life of the child. Through a variety of activities such as art, toys, fun with science, debates, quizzes, creative writing, story-telling, and reading aloud, Kenyan children have come to love and comfortably identify with this event with increasing numbers thronging it every year. In 1994 a children's library introduced within the fair further whet the children's appetite by enabling children who could not buy books to have the opportunity to read a couple of books at the fair. Since 1994 the Reading Tent has been a major attraction to all children visiting the fair. This has resulted in other African book fairs widely emulating this innovation. Exhibitors also have been steadily improving their marketing skills thus reaching out to the children in more proactive ways, engaging them into books with new titles introduced. The 1998 PACBK had a spectacular advance with each stand becoming a mini library. Yet another innovation - A Children's Home Library Campaign - was launched with children responding with tremendous enthusiasm, buying books and promising to start their own home libraries.The Zimbabwe International Book Fair has been another important stimulant for the development of the book industry in Africa.The1998 fair was of especial significance because its theme and that of the accompanying Indaba was 'BOOKS AND CHILDREN' At the sessions of the inaugural Indaba it was emphasized that up to the 1990's book production for children has been weak if not non-existent in some countries. But since 1987 spectacular growth in children's publishing, in both European and African languages have been reported. In Kenya, Uganda and Nigeria production has notably increased in the last ten to twenty years. Print runs have also increased significantly averaging 3,000 to 5,000 copies per title with possibilities of frequent reprinting.This progress has been attributed to the following:1. The creativity of African publishers enabling them to produce well-made children's books in terms of content, production quality and price.2. Continuing increases in state purchases of books for schools and libraries.3. Appreciable support being provided to publishing and book acquisitions by development agencies, international organizations and N.GO'S.4. Noticeable increases in sales resulting from efforts publishers are making to promote their books nationally and internationally.5. Co-operation between publishers and distributors enabling the development of export sales. But in spite of this difficulties still remain or have been created in the following areas:1 Wide differences between countries. The situation in South Africa, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Kenya and Tanzania is very much better than in other countries in their regions. In francophone West Africa, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Mali and Togo stand out clearly.2 Difficulties in finding good authors and illustrators still persist. 3 Readership is not sufficiently developed, given the level of illiteracy and the lack of a reading culture or habit.4 Even where a readership exists, its purchasing power is limited. For books is not as high a basic priority as basic needs.5 The library network is not developed, especially in the rural areas.6 The distribution network is not developed.7 The intense political situation in Zimbabwe has negatively affected the most favorable climate created there for the growth of books not only there but the whole of Africa and has robbed The Zimbabwe International Book Fair of its international flavour.

Original :: The Present Situation For Writing And Publishing Creative Writing For Children

Buying Paintings For Sale on CollegeArtOnline

"There are so many young artists but not enough galleries that want to show them," says Vincent de Sarthe, who co-founded Arizona-based CollegeArtOnline.com with Adam Rosepink in 2009. Paintings For Sale on CollegeArtOnline.com are created by emerging artists from all over the world. Only art students, graduates and teachers can sell their works of art on the website.

What sets CollegeArtOnline.com apart is that the whole idea behind the website was to democratize art, i.e., make art not only easily accessible to a larger audience but also make it affordable. How affordable? ScoopFactory.com said it best: โ��Gallery quality at garage sale prices.โ��

The added bonus is that CllegeArtOnline.com also serves as a platform for artists who may have otherwise remained largely unknown.

On average, a work of art on the website costs about $200. That means, a 9โ�� x 12โ�� original still-life painting, for example, will set you back $25. That's right. Twenty-five bucks. None of the Paintings For Sale on the website costs more than $3,000. That's the maximum a work of art can go for on CollegeArtOnline.com.

But don't succumb to the thought of judging a painting by its price tag. Paintings For Sale on the website are good enough to be hung in a gallery curator's living room. The asking price of most of the original paintings on CollegeArtOnline.com has been determined by the artists themselves. In some cases, CollegeArtOnline.com has been asked to help with the pricing. However, not every painting featured on CollegeArtOnline.com has a price tag as some artists have elected to invite bids for their originals.

Incidentally, the paintings are sold directly by the artists (132 and counting) who create them.

Buying Paintings For Sale on CollegeArtOnline.com is a breeze. Using the 'Advanced Search' feature, you can easily refine your search and view paintings by artist or subjects such as Abstract, Figurative, Minimalist, and so on. Simply choose your painting, click through to the secure payment gatewayโ��CollegeArtOnline.com is a verified Authorize.Net merchantโ��and your painting will be on its way to you.

Original :: Buying Paintings For Sale on CollegeArtOnline

Children

Rating: (out of 3 reviews)

List Price: Price: $ 84.97

Original :: Children

Social and Emotional Learning Defined

If a child were to attend a class centering on social and emotional learning they would be attending a class that centers on understanding their own emotions or feelings. It would address potential mood shifts and how to handle a mood shift. It would cover their own motivations when they take an action. It would also attempt to include character development within the structure of the classroom.

Social and emotional learning is also a teaching field that some educators are encouraging their teachers at the schools to learn. There are social and emotional learning seminars and work studies that are taking place that a teacher or other educators can attend.

This type of learnig about oneโ��s emotions or social inclinations would normally be taught at home. But with so many fractured homes it is harder for students to learn how to deal with these emotions and feelings when in social or emotional situations. If a student does not have a point of reference then they will often make bad decisions when faced with choices. If a student is grounded in their character development and feels strong with their own awareness then that child can be aware of others and their feelings and needs also.

But how does a student obtain these skills? Well some educators believe these skills should be taught in the schools and included in the school curriculum. This is one way students can actually receive feedback from someone including their peers and their teachers or educators. Included in this type of curriculum would be things like mood management which would help direct a student when facing destructive impulses or learning how to redirect their anger in a more positive manner. It would also include teaching self motivation so they can set goals for themselves and actually have a chance of meeting or exceeding them. It would teach them to redirect their feelings when faced with detours or other such setbacks.

Another thing these types of classes could teach would be how to actually manage the relationships that they will have or have already encountered. It would help them make decisions on who to make friends with and how to deal in a healthy manner with these relationships which would include jealousy and other negative emotions that are not effective when handling conflicts with friends or even other social skills of interaction.

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Protein Supplements For A Healthy Body

Protein have always been very popular among sportsmen for obvious reasons. They have to be in the peak of their fitness and a balanced a healthy diet is not only a must, but it also has to have a lot more extra than then the regular diet of an average human. Protein is the most important building component of our body and it helps in building our tissues, fibers and muscles. Children should be encouraged to have a meal rich in protein and even young adults can chew on protein bars because they often tend to skip either lunch or dinner and the discrepancy in their diet has to be maintained. They can also be taken before of after a heavy exercise and it is one of the best ways of keeping yur body fit and healthy. . Some of the well known protein supplements are:

Glutamine: This is the most commonly recommended supplement by the doctors because it is very easily digestible compared to the other supplements available in the market. It helps in replacing the amino acids found in the human muscles, which strains away very easily after an exercise, causing it to ache and cramp. Body builders consume it in large amounts so that they can work out for longer hours and lift heavier weights and can be consumed in moderate amounts in daily life for general energy of the muscles.

Some other form of Protein supplements may be taken which are organic in nature, and as they are widely available and affordable, anyone can have them.

Whey Protein: Although this kind of supplement is easily available and is very good for the body, it is a little hard n digestion and older people, especially patients should be given this in only small amounts. Even children should have it diluted. Once rendered in a diluted and palatable form, it is very easily absorbed by the blood stream and as it is rich in all kinds of amino acids, especially cysteine, it help a lot in improving the immunity of the body.

Original :: Protein Supplements For A Healthy Body

A challenge Worlds Longest Domino Rally with Childrens Books A World Record

HarperCollins Children's Books had a dream. They wanted to achieve something never before attempted. They wanted, specifically, to line a load of books up and push them over. This is the result. (Yes, there have been longer ones. But have they been exclusively with children's books? Hmm?? Well then.

Video Rating: 4 / 5

Bill Martin reads Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See

Author Bill Martin reads his classic children's book, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do You See? www.henryholtkids.com

Video Rating: 4 / 5

LITERAL Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Trailer Parody HD

TWEET!! tinyurl.com CAREFUL, HARRY shirts - bit.ly Harry Potter. Literally. SUBSCRIBE!!! bit.ly TOBUSCUS SHIRTS! - bit.ly Lyrics: Introductory helicopter nature shot. Bad guy at a safe distance Second helicopter introductory nature shot bad guy at an uncomfortably close distance (turn) Careful Harry, he doesn't have a nose. Harry needs some sleep. And he needs a nose. And he needs some sleep. And some new glasses. And he needs a manicure. Don't sleep yet Harry, he's gonna kill you LOOK OUT! Spell, dodge, too many passengers, dramatic turn, how does that hold him up? First time he touched a girl Pan up pointy roof Leaf bed look right This movie is extremely important Force field dissolves Dramatically raise hand That train is screwed Slowly look left This movie is the most important movie you will ever see Back up in a library Raise your hand and a wand Dragon's pissed, Weasley's scared Of a bunch of bad guys but he acts brave while he runs. You've gotta buy 2 tickets Masked guy on a broom swerve Run throw exploding Running closer shot cast a spell DUCK be careful with that stick too late. Ok, time out. Oh thank god ok. Catchin my breath. He's grabbin his face, whatever. Ok go! Dragon take off People running Downhill people running Flex Part 1 November walking Chase that fire you wizards flying horse lizard look out harry Too late got him, help him Ron. PART 2 July 2 BURNING People Running backwards Screaming wave-hand upskirt Windy Kissing Snape cast spell climb look blow ...

Video Rating: 4 / 5

Teacher Behavior Observation Scale TEBOS

INTRODUCTIONThe importance of early years have been emphasized by various researchers. Bloom (1964), pointed out the fast rate of intellectual development in the early years and emphasized the importance of environment. Children were seen as malleable during the preschool years and for the future productivity of children, early educational experiences were seen as crucial (Roopnarine and Johnson, 1987). Hunt (1961), claimed that an enriched environment in early childhood could make significant differences in the level and rate of intellectual development (cited in Goodwin and Driscoll, 1984). Various studies reported by Berrueta-Clement, Schweinhart, Barnett, Epstein and Weikart (1984), Shweinhart, Weikart and Larner (1986), Schweinhart and Weikart (1988) showed that high-quality early childhood programs were effective in overcoming the negative effects of childhood poverty and even produced various short-term and long-term benefits for these children. Various studies pointed out the crucial importance of the component of teacher in early childhood education (Reichenberg-Hackett, 1962; Rosenthal and Jacobson, 1968; Good, Biddle and Brophy, 1975; Kounin, 1970; Scott, 1977). After reviewing these studies it can be said that teacher is the most important factor in a nursery school and increasing the quality of teacher behaviors will positively effect the quality of early childhood education services. The initial step for working on the performance of teachers is evaluation. Teacher behaviors need to be evaluated to determine the existing strengths and weaknesses so that interventions can be provided to reinforce the strenghts and build up the weak points. The evaluation process necessitates objective means for assessment. Search by the present researcher showed that there was a need to develop a tool for this purpose in Turkish early childhood education system. The aim of this study was to develop a rating scale that could be used by people trained in the field to evaluate teacher performance in terms of direct observable interaction of teachers with the children in the nursery schools. The Component of Teacher in Preschool EducationPreschool education consists of the components of physical environment, teacher, children, administrator, aim of the center, curriculum, evaluation and parent involvement. All of these components are very important and all of them have certain requirements. The high quality in early childhood education can only be obtained when these components and the requirements of these components are correctly applied. One most emphasized component; the dimension of 'teacher' constitutes the most important element of preschool education. Several studies were carried out to show the vital importance of teacher in early childhood education (Reichenberg-Hackett, 1962; Rosenthal and Jacobson, 1968; Good et al., 1975; Kounin, 1970; Fagot, 1973; Hyman, 1973; Garbarino, Guttman and Seeley, 1986). In the light of research that has been carried out it can be concluded that without a creative teacher who is sensitive to the needs of children and knowledgeable about the developmental characteristics of preschool age children, other components of preschool education cannot function effectively. The studies carried out showed that among the factors that influence teacher behavior, SES of the center and the children, aim of the center, age of the teacher, sex of children, characteristics of the program followed, work related stress, conception of the work setting, getting rewards from the system, higher expectations about teacher performance, opportunities for personal development, working in a centralized versus democratic decision making systems can be cited (Tizard, Philps and Plewis, 1976; Fagot, 1973; Quay and Jarrett, 1986; Good et al., 1975).Statement of the ProblemThe aim of this study is to develop a rating scale which can be used by people trained in the field to evaluate the observable behaviors of teachers as they interact with children in the day-care centers. The purpose is to construct items and to determine the most appropriate items for teacher behavior evaluation by means of content validity procedure.METHODConstruction of the InstrumentThe items of the rating scale developed were based on five main sources. These sources were available theories of child development and approaches in early childhood education, available instruments in the related fields, behavior categories in Bekman's doctoral dissertation, psychological maltreatment categories and finally observations of teachers in day-care settings in Istanbul. In terms of theories of child development; Heider's naive psychology (Baldwin, 1980), Lewin's field theory (Baldwin, 1980), Piaget's developmental theory (Birren et al.,1981; Fantino and Reynolds, 1975), Werner's organismic developmental theory (Baldwin, 1980; Birren et al., 1981), Frued's psychoanalytic theory of development (Bee, 1975; Fantino and Reynolds, 1975), Erikson's theory of development (Bee, 1975), Social learning theory of child development (Baldwin, 1980; Bee, 1975), Sociological view of child development (Baldwin, 1980), Gesell's maturational theory (Bee, 1975; Gesell, 1923) were utilized in developing the items of the scale. In terms of the approaches in early childhood education; Ausubelian approach (Ausubel and Robinson, 1969; Roopnarine and Johnson, 1987), Montessori program (Roopnarine and Johnson, 1987), the Bank Street approach (Isaacs, 1933; Roopnarine and Johnson, 1987), Tucson early education model (Roopnarine and Johnson, 1987), the Distancing model (Roopnarine and Johnson, 1987), High/Scope program (Hohmann, Bernard and Weikart, 1979) as being the most influential one for this study were used in the construction of the items of this scale. The instruments that were used in the development of the items of this scale were as follows; Classroom environment scale (CES) (Tรผter, 1989), Parental attitude research instrument (PARI) (Kucuk, 1987), Perceived emotional abuse inventory for adolescents (PEAIFA) (Alantar, 1989), Family environment questionnaire (FEQ) (Usluer, 1989), The instructional environment scale (TIES) (Ysseldyke and Christenson, 1986), operational definitions of child emotional maltreatment (Baily and Baily, 1986), Program implementation profile (PIP), Parental acceptance rejection questionnaire (PARQ) (Erdem, 1990). In the present study, some of the categories in Bekman's doctoral dissertation (1982) were also used. Specifically, attending to and talking to staff, positive control, negative control, promoting social interaction, questioning child for information and giving child extensive information or explanation, suggesting, instructing, housework and dealing with play equipment, physical contact, affection and comfort, demonstrating to the child, no contact at all, helping the child, administrative, minimum supervision, general supervision, sharing the activity, organised group activity, organised talk and teaching session, rigidity, block treatment and social distance. All of these components gave the researcher inspiration while constructing both the items and the categories of this rating scale. Psychological maltreatment areas of rejecting, degrading, terrorizing, isolating, corrupting, exploiting, denying emotional responsiveness and adultifying (Finkelhor and Korbin, 1988) were reviewed in developing the items of the rating scale. Observation process was carried out for the purpose of validating the categories of behavior attained through literature review and to see if teacher behaviors other than those mentioned are present. The interview and the observation form used in the observation process were developed by Kagitcibasi, Sunar and Bekman in 1988. In developing the items of the rating scale, the "domain-referenced approach" suggested by Gable (1986) was utilized. This approach helped the researcher to consider the verbs and the adjectives that could be relevant to a preschool teacher behavior in the nursery school settings in writing the items.Item and Category ConstructionIn developing the items of this rating scale, as a first step, the prominent theories and approaches in the field of preschool education were reviewed. By going through these theories and approaches the researcher pinpointed the important categories of teacher behavior. After that, the instruments mentioned were carefully examined and it was found that some of the items in these instruments were applicable to the aim of the present study. The main theme of these items were taken and adopted by making some modifications in their wordings. The behavior categories in Bekman's doctoral dissertation (1982) gave the researcher inspirations about the possible teacher behaviors in preschool education settings and the items representing those behaviors. Since psychologically abusive behaviors restrict or stop the development of children and such acts should not ever be done by the teachers, the psychological maltreatment literature was also used in constructing the items of the rating scale. The observations made helped to see whether the information that was gathered from the categories and the items in those categories could actually be observed in the nursery schools and whether teacher behaviors other than those already specified could be observed. It was found that most of the behaviors represented by the items were actually observed in the nursery schools. For the teacher behaviors that were not found in the literature reviewed new items were constructed. After the literature review and the observation procedure, 400 items were developed. Through consequative brainstorming sessions with colleagues, the items were started to be reduced in number mainly for the purpose of practicality. Finally, the items were reduced to 96 items. By all of these 96 items the most important teacher behaviors were tried to be emphasized and it was believed that this number would be appropriate for the practicality of this instrument.While constructing the categories of this scale, by means of the literature review, observation process, psychological maltreatment literature and the categories in Bekman's doctoral dissertation (1982) the researcher could gather an idea about the possible teacher behaviors in the preschool settings. About twenty categories that were started with were collapsed together according to their similarity and the teacher behaviors that could be representative of several categories at the same time. After clearly defining each teacher behavior and thus the categories in general, each group of definitions were given a name. Hence at the end of this procedure, ten different categories were developed each with a different name. The names were as follows; control, supervision oriented promoting social interaction, cognitive oriented promoting social interaction, education directed behavior, emotional abuse component of teacher and child interaction, affective component of teacher and child interaction, general teacher and child interaction, disciplinary attempts, organizational attempts and competition. The congruence between the items and the operational definition of each category was continously checked so that a high rate of content validity could be obtained at the end of the study.Content ValidityIn order to determine which items will constitute the final form of the rating scale, the scale was sent to 31 experts who could be identified to have practical and/or theoretical information about early childhood education field. The experts were from Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir and one from Paris. The scale was given to the experts in Istanbul personally and was mailed to the others. A return rate of 22 out of 31 experts was realized. The return rate was 70.9%. All of the experts participated in this study were females between the ages of 26 and 54, majority of them (40.9%) being psychologist with 40.9% holding a Ph.D degree, 36.4% of them was nursery school headmaster, 31.8% was academicians, 45.5% was working in the university, 63.6% had some teaching experience and majority of the experts had direct contact with preschool age children and preschool teachers. The final form of the rating scale given to the experts for the content validity study consisted of 10 categories and 96 items representing these categories. The operational definitions of each category was written down. A two-page demographic information questionnaire was added to the scale and also a recommendations page was attached to the end of the scale to get ideas of the experts about the items. The data about the items and the categories that the items hypothetically belong to was analyzed by using two types of methods. In the first method; initially, the distribution of each particular item to either one of the 10 categories or the eleventh no-fit category was assessed by taking the frequency counts for each specific item. After that, the degree of appropriateness of each specific item to the categories assigned was estimated by multiplying the number of people with each of the value of degree of appropriateness (3, 2 and 1). Then all of the estimated values were added and the final value was divided into the total number of subjects who assigned that item to that particular category. In the second analysis, a weighted index of assignment (WIAS) (A. Baykal, personal communication, June 1990) was found by multiplying the number of experts rating the item to be in the selected category by the degree of appropriateness values of 3 (very appropriate), 2 and 1 (appropriate) respectively. By adding up all the scores a WIAS value was attained for each item. After obtaining a WIAS value, a weighted index of appropriateness (WIAP) was calculated for each specific item by dividing the WIAS score into 66. The value of 66 was found by following the rationale that if all of the 22 experts had given a degree of appropriateness of 3 for that item, 22 times 3 would be 66. The WIAPs for each particular item was rank ordered. The items with a WIAP of .333 and above were considered to be material for the final form of the rating scale. The value of .333 was set as a limit following the rationale that if 22 experts had given a degree of appropriateness of 3 for a particular item, 22 times 3 would be 66. When 66 was divided into 2 which would constitute 50% of the experts, 33 would be obtained, by dividing 33 into 100, .333 would be received.RESULTSIn this section the results of the two kinds of statistical analysis carried out will be summarized. At the end of the first statistical method it was found that out of 96 items 36 of them were selected by at least 68.18% of the experts with a degree of appropriateness of at least 2. These items were as follows; item1, the teacher rather than being together with the children in the group spends his/her time outside the class; item 2, the teacher tells children what not to do without explaining the reason when s/he wants to prevent or stop children's behaviors; item 5, the teacher does not allow the children to start a new activity like playing a game or going to toilet without waiting for the other children; item 7, the teacher talks with others or deals with something else in the group rather than mixing with the children; item 9, the teacher gathers children into a group to teach something; item 11, the teacher does not follow the daily routine; item 12, the teacher generally smiles; item 13, the teacher does not allow children to speak out of order; item 14, the teacher explains the child consequences of his/her actions upon others or the feelings of his/her friend when a problem arises between two children; item 15, although the teacher is in the same area with the children s/he is not involved with them when they are playing or doing activities unless there is an important reason; item 21, the teacher gives explanations with the aim of teaching the children; item 23, the teacher helps children whenever they seek help while they are doing an activity; item 26, the teacher tells the children what to do to control them without providing behavioral alternatives; item 28, the teacher praises the children when needed; item 31, the teacher provides the children with the alternative behaviors and explanations when problems arise among the children so that they can find solutions; item 34, the teacher creates competition among children by suggesting various rewards while they are dealing with the activities; item 36, the teacher hits the children so that they get more involved in the activities; item 38, the teacher throws the materials in the class at the children when s/he gets angry; item 40, the teacher tells the children that they are getting on his/her nerves; item 42, the teacher verbally and/or physically punishes the children; item 43, the teacher asks children questions to help them understand the characteristics of the objects; item 44, the teacher teaches children by giving instructions whenever s/he wants to teach something; item 56, the teacher in general makes suggestions to increase and reinforce sharing, mutual help and cooperation among the children; item 58, the teacher continously picks up a specific child to criticize or to punish; item 59, the teacher directs the children with strict rules; item 60, the teacher degrades the children, makes fun of them; item 62, the teacher shows the children the way the materials are used; item 63, the teacher threatens the children so that s/he can have order in the group; item 69, the teacher shows physical affection to children; item 74, the teacher eats with the children; item 76, the teacher asks children questions so that they can see the cause-effect relations and tells children about antecedents and consequences; item 79, the teacher frequently criticizes the children; item 83, the teacher tells the children that s/he does not love them whenever they make something that s/he does not like; item 89, the teacher participates in the activities of the children actively; item 91, the teacher helps the children when they are putting their clothes on and off and item 92, the teacher helps the children at the toilet. Twenty one items were selected by 63.64% to 50% of the experts with a degree of appropriateness of 2 and above. These items were; item 4, the teacher shares the problems of the children when they have difficulty; item 20, the teacher makes suggestions to further help develop the activities the children are doing; item 22, the teacher shows the solution to children when a problem arises among the children; item 24, the teacher gives children food and beverage; item 30, the teacher allows the children to enter or exit all the activity areas in the class whenever they want to; item 35, the teacher walks among the children to help them or to supervise the things they do while they are doing activities; item 37, the teacher while teaching an activity to the children shows them how to do it himself/herself ; item 45, majority of the children spend a lot of idle time; item 47, the teacher wants the children to explain the activities that they will start and by asking questions s/he helps them; item 48, the teacher allows the children to use the materials in the class freely whenever they want to; item 49, the teacher shows the same reaction to each child who does the same thing; item 51, the teacher explains to the children the consequences of breaking a rule; item 53, the teacher makes suggestions to help the children participate in the activities or to provide them with alternative play choices; item 57, the teacher complains about the children to others when they do not listen to him/her; item 64, the teacher allows the children to make fun of each other; item 70, the teacher wants the children to follow certain cliches while they are doing the activities; item 72, the teacher gathers all the children as a group, the children individually or as a group sing songs, tell stories, play group games with rules; item 73, the teacher in the group activities provides the children with the opportunity of learning by doing; item 88, the teacher cannot find anything that s/he looks for in the group; item 93, the teacher while teaching something to children during the group activities directly gives information to the children and item 94, the teacher asks the ideas of the children about the rules of behaving in the group and discusses the rules with them and explains them to the children. Altogether 57 items could be considered for inclusion in the final rating scale.Some of the items were put into a certain category by a majority of experts with acceptable degree of appropriateness according to the present criteria yet this was not the category of choice set by the researcher. These items were; 16, the teacher laughs at the jokes of the children; 17, the teacher is interested in the activities of the children; 19, the teacher makes the children think in the group activities by asking questions; 50, the teacher allows the children to express and tell their feelings when they are hurted or sad; 67, the teacher gives his/her time and interest to children whenever they want his/her time and interest; 68, the teacher locks the children into a room or toilet to punish them; 78, while the teacher is showing an activity to the children s/he explains it to the children clearly thus children know what to do and 87, the teacher does not want children to show affection toward him/her. Item 6, the teacher compares children with each other; 8, the teacher does a part of the child's activity for him/her; 25, the teacher in the group that s/he gathered to teach: a-gives examples understandable by the children, b-expects the participation of all children, c-takes into consideration the interests and the desires of the children and d-does not provide opportunities for the children to answer; 54, the teacher makes the necessary intervention when the children are injured were rated in the previously selected category by at least 50% of the experts but the degree of appropriateness was lower than 2. A second method of analysis was decided to be carried out for several reasons. The initial analysis left the researcher with a desire for more refined mathematical procedure. Also, the criteria set for the former procedure left out several items seen valuable by the researcher. The second analysis provided more mathematical precision and provided a second valuable checking process for the inclusion of the items in the final rating scale. In the second method of analysis 64 items out of 96 items were selected by looking at the WIAP scores. While 32 items were decided to be excluded since they had WIAPs lower than .333.Mostly the same items were excluded in the two methods of analysis used. In the first method, items 6, 25, 46: the teacher wants a child to do the activities that his/her friends did but s/he has not done yet; 54, 55: the teacher prepares the activities and the required and used materials beforehand; 61: the teacher makes suggestions to children so that they can share the activities they have done and their observations with each other and 90, the teacher in group activities sets different aims for different children, uses different methods or materials were also excluded. These items were not excluded in the second method of analysis.DISCUSSIONThis rating scale was developed with the aim of evaluating the performance of nursery school teachers in terms of their directly observable interaction with the children. It originally consisted of 10 categories and 96 items. To carry out the content validity study the scale was distributed to 31 experts of which 22 returned the scale back. Two types of statistical analysis were carried out; in the first one 57 items could be included to the final form of the scale. Items that were put into different categories by at least 50% of the experts with a degree of appropriateness of at least 2 and the items that were put into the previously selected category by at least 50% of the experts but with a degree of appropriateness lower than 2 were also retained in the final form of the scale. Also the items with WIAP values higher than .333 were decided to be included in the final form of the rating scale according to the criteria of second statistical method of analysis. Altogether 74 items constituted the final form of the rating scale. It can be concluded that after great scrutiny this scale is ready for interrater reliability study in its present form. It was initially argued that based on available literature and the researcher's personal experiences in the field, teacher is the one most important factor in preschool settings. Also, there was a need for an observation tool for assessment of preschool teachers in the field. This study is a first step towards the provision of such a tool. A second way this scale can be utilized in the field is in preschool teacher training and education. The categories and the behaviors specified under each category can help form the framework for the training programs. For the future studies, a shorter form of TEBOS could be developed to aid in quick general evaluations.REFERENCESAlantar, M. (1989). Psychological maltreatment: an attempt of its definition by experts and its assessment among a group of adolescents. Unpublished master's thesis, Bogazici University, Istanbul.Ausubel, D.P. and Robinson, F.G. (1969). School Learning: An introduction to educational psychology. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.Baily, T.F. and Baily, W.H. (1986). Operational Definitions of Child Emotional Maltreatment: Final Report. Augusta, Maine.Baldwin, A.L. (1980). Theories of Child Development. (2nd ed.). New York: John Wiley and Sons. Bee, H. (1975). The Developing Child. New York: Harper and Row Publishers, Inc.Bekman, S. (1982). Preschool education in Turkey: A study of the relations between children's behavior, the aims of the program and the sex and social class of the child. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of London, London.Berrueta-Clement, J.R., Schweinhart, L.J., Barnett, W.S., Epstein, A.S. and Weikart, D.P. (1984). Changed Lives: The Effects of the Perry Preschool Program on Youths Through Age 19. Michigan: High/Scope Educational Research Foundation.Birren, J.E., Kinney, D.K., Schaie, K.W. and Woofruff, D.S. (1981). Developmental Psychology A Life-span Approach. Boston: Houghton-Mifflin Company.Bloom, B.S. (1964). Stability and Change in Human Characteristics. New York: John Wiley and Sons Inc.Erdem, T. (1990). The validity and reliability study of Turkish form of parental acceptance rejection questionnaire. Unpublished master's thesis, Bogazici University, Istanbul.Fagot, B.I. (1973) 'Influence of Teacher Behavior in the Preschool', Developmental Psychology 9 (2): 198-206.Fantino, E. and Reynolds, G.S. (1975). Contemporary Psychology. San Francisco: W.H. Freeman and Company.Finkelhor, D. and Korbin, J. (1988) 'Child Abuse As an International Issue', Child Abuse and Neglect 12: 3-23.Gable, R.K. (1986). Instrument Development in the Affective Domain. Boston: Kluwer-Nijhoff Publishing.Garbarino, J., Guttman, E. and Seeley, W.J. (1986). The Psychologically Battered Child: Strategies for Identification, Assessment and Intervention. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.Gesell, A. (1923). The Pre-school Child. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. Good, T.L., Biddle, B.J. and Brophy, J.E. (1975). Teachers Make a Difference. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.Goodwin, W. and Driscoll, L. (1984). Handbook for Measurement and Evaluation in Early Childhood Education. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.Hohmann, M., Bernard, B. and Weikart, D.P. (1979). Young Children in Action. Michigan: The High/Scope Press.Hyman, R.T. (1973). Approaches in Curriculum. New Jersey: Prentice Hall Inc. Englewood Cliffs. Isaacs, S. (1933). Social Development in Young Children. London: Routledge.Kagitcibasi, C., Sunar, D. and Bekman, S. (1988). Comprehensive Preschool Education Project: Final Report. Canada: IDRC Publications.Kounin, J.S. (1970). Discipline and Group Management in Classrooms. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc.Kucuk, S. (1987). The validity of the Turkish form of the PARI subscales II, III, IV. Unpublished master's thesis, Bogazici University, Istanbul.Program Implementation Profile (PIP). (1989). Michigan: High/Scope Educational Research Foundation.Quay, C.L. and Jarrett, S.O. (1986) 'Teacher's Interactions with Middle and Lower SES Preschool Boys and Girls', Journal of Educational Psychology 78: 495- 498.Reichenberg-Hackett, W. (1962) 'Practices, Attitudes, and Values in Nursey Group Education', Psychological Reports 10: 151-172.Roopnarine, J.L. and Johnson, J.E. (1987). Approaches to Early Childhood Education. Ohio: Merrill Publishing Company.Rosenthal, R. and Jacobson, L. (1968). Pygmalion in the Classroom. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc.Schweinhart, L.J. and Weikart, D.P. (1988) 'Education for Young Children Living in Poverty: Child-initiated Learning or Teacher-directed Instruction', The Elementary School Journal 83(2): 213-225.Schweinhart, L.J., Weikart, D.P. and Larner, M.B. (1986) 'A Report on the High/Scope Preschool Curriculum Comparison Study: Consequences of Three Preschool Curriculum Models Through Age 15', Early Childhood Research Quarterly 1: 15-45.Scott, M. (1977) 'Some Parameters of Teacher Effectiveness as Assessed by an Ecological Approach', Journal of Educational Psychology 63(3): 217-226.Tizard, B., Philps, J. and Plewis, I. (1976) 'Staff behavior in Preschool Centers', Journal of Child Psychology, Psychiatry 17: 21-33.Tรผter, N. (1989). A preliminary study towards the development of the Turkish form of the classroom environment scale. Unpublished master's thesis, Bogazici University, Istanbul.Usluer, S. (1989). The reliability and the validity of the Turkish family environment questionnaire. Unpublished master's thesis, Bogazici University, Istanbul.Ysseldyke, J.E. and Christenson, S.L. (1986). The Instructional Environment Scale (TIES). Texas: Pro-ed.

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Hire a Divorce Lawyer or Go Pro Se

If you and your wife have recently undergone a separation, your feelings are probably all over the place at the present time. Troubles with marriage can be emotionally devastating particularly when the parties decide that a dissolution of marriage is the only option left. In this situation, it is imperative that you consult with a divorce lawyer regarding the matter. You will want to find someone who you feel comfortable with, who takes the time to listen and who has your best interests in mind. This situation can be emotionally, physically and mentally draining. If children are involved, it can be even more traumatic. Having an attorney that understands what you are going through and looksout for your interests, even when you are not emotionally prepared to do so, is a very important part of this process.

Because a dissolution of marriage must take place in a court of law, it is best to have a legal representative rather than attempting to handle matters on your own. The reason for this is that a divorce lawyer knows the correct protocols that must be followed over the course of the proceedings. Going through the process of the division of property, the possibility of alimony payments and the issue of visitation of the children can really take a toll on a person. Information will have to be collected regarding financials, the issue of the grounds for resolution and possibly even the character traits of each individual. These are issues that people typically do not like to discuss with others, but unfortunately, in this circumstance it is a necessity. Therefore, a client must feel a certain amount of trust in the divorce lawyer that he hires.

If both spouses are not on the same page, things can quickly get messy. As much as someone would like to think that an ex-partner would never sling accusations or cause intentional pain, these things can and do happen all the time. When parents are at odds over the matter of child custody, things can get really feisty. Legal counsel will help to make sure that the child is not put in an awkward position with either parent. Mediation is often recommended and sometimes even required. This is to help the parents come to an agreement on custody and visitation concerns and it also addresses the topic of how the parents should act in the presence of the child when addressing the dissolution of marriage.

A dissolution of marriage is best handled by a divorce lawyer. He will make sure that everything goes as smooth as possible the duration of troubling process. It is too easy to let emotions take control when you are being subjected to the stressors of a dissolution. Your attorney will make sure that the best interests of you and your child are looked after both short-term and long-term. He will also be able to point out many issues that may come to light in future years so that concerns may be dealt with during the initial proceedings. This will save money, anxiety and frustration for years to come.

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Sought After And Also Inexpensive Businesses for Teachers

Sought After And Also Inexpensive Businesses for Teachers

If you are an instructor and also you - or your family - has encountered a fiscal downturn, businesses for teachers could be one resolution you can tap into. With all the unexpected worldwide economic depression experienced by billions of people, the necessity to salvage a person's finances is driving entrepreneurship. It is true that teachers work full-time in their career; nevertheless, we can't refute that the income of teacher - in public or perhaps private school - simply leaves much to be ideal.

If you are an educator hoping to get control over your current income and how much you're shelling out, instead of resorting to a new work, creating a small business is a more profitable venture. There are in fact several benefits to possessing an enterprise. To begin with, you can deal with it yourself. You have the chance to see it grow as well as succeed. And what you will be making from it is way greater compared to a regular income.

With some of these advantages alone, I guess you're already preparing up to begin a business. Before you do, think about these ideas of probable businesses for teachers. You can start from wherever you are financially, with no or perhaps little capital, and gradually construct your business.

• Suggestion #1: Tutoring business. The main reason why instructors exist is they make an effort to educate students. This may be a nice beginning for you to construct your very own tutoring center. This is certainly the nearest business you'll be able to eventually tackle that conforms well to your occupation as well as passion. Preferably, rent a place close to a school, or perhaps have extra room placed in your home in order to save on some money. This can be done once your educating tasks are completed, or during the week-ends or perhaps holidays. Along with a great number of parents around seeking to assist their kids succeed in school, this particular business is sure to be a hit.


• Suggestion #2: Writing business. This can be a simple but also a lucrative business enterprise for educators. There are several college students - including a few educators - who're working on their own thesis or some other large tasks. Based on this, they need to create documentations that will be presented to their advisors. This is a nice beginning, specifically if you are a good English teacher who is looking towards grammar and word construction. This is really ideal because you only will be designated to write several pages and also to edit their documents.


• Suggestion #3: Hobby business. If you possess a hobby at heart that you might want to enhance as well as present to others, this can also be a productive business for teachers. No training is required, because you are extremely amply trained with your selected pastime. If you want to prepare food as well as bake, you possibly can set up a catering business for the community or set up an area within the school's cafeteria with your homemade dishes. If you are into cross stitching or even sewing, you may take some orders and may make clothes as well as home decorations on your leisure time.

One can find practically many business efforts every instructor can take part in. You needn't in fact devote plenty of cash to have an initial investment. The thing you need would be the determination as well as the resources to construct a cheap but worthwhile enterprise. After all, businesses for teachers is one crucial resolution toward a mentor's economic stability.

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