The eNotes Blog The Enchantress ofNumbers

The Enchantress ofNumbers The curious tale of the worlds first computer programmer. Today I stray a little from the ordinary literary and educational news updates, after coming across a nod to an exceptional woman I couldnt pass the day without commemorating, not only for her role in mathematics, but also for her role as a woman in mathematics, far ahead of her time. I hope that her story inspires women in the sciences, or indeed anyone who perseveres to think beyond the capabilities of modern technology. Sadly Im usually behind the times on Googles artistic and quirky depictions of special days via their homepage. But today, gmail just happened to crash, sending me to the Google homepage where I saw the below image: I was curious. Who was this woman in 19th century garb, scribbling mathematical functions with quill and ink? And so, by way of technological error, I learned of Ada Lovelace, the worlds first computer programmer. Ada Lovelace was born on December 10th, 1815, to the poet Lord Byron and his wife Anna Isabella Byron. She had a miserable childhood, considered a disappointment from birth for not having been born a boy. Ada was abandoned by her father before she was a month old and  resultantly  never knew him, as he died abroad when she was eight. Meanwhile her mother chose to keep little connection with her, possibly because young Ada reminded her of her devious husband, with whom the Baroness had an acrimonious divorce. So Ada was raised by elderly relatives and relegated to a life of suspicious observation via her mothers friends, dubbed the Furies. Fortunately for us, though, she was also subject to a life of educationintended to squash any deviation she might have inherited from her fatherand took a keen interest in mathematics from a young age. Around the age of seventeen, Adas special abilities became clear to her tutors, all famed in mathematics in their own right. The noted mathematician Augustus de Morgan even reported of Ada to her mother that she seemed destined to become, an original mathematical investigator, perhaps of first-rate eminence. Meanwhile another one of Adas instructors and friends, Mary Somerville, introduced her to Charles Babbage, future inventor of the worlds first computer. Ada was not yet eighteen at the time. Babbage and Ada thus began a friendship that produced their academic collaboration on the formers Analytical Engine. In 1843, Ada translated Italian mathematician Luigi Meanabreas explanation of the machine, complete with her own set of notes and conclusions (which were actually longer than Menabreas). In her depiction of the Analytical Engine, Ada imagined its potential as being greater than simple number crunching, something not even Babbage indulged in. She wrote: [The Analytical Engine] might act upon other things besides number, were objects found whose mutual fundamental relations could be expressed by those of the abstract science of operations, and which should be also susceptible of adaptations to the action of the operating notation and mechanism of the engine Supposing, for instance, that the fundamental relations of pitched sounds in the science of harmony and of musical composition were susceptible of such expression and adaptations, the engine might compose elaborate and scientific pieces of music of any degree of complexity or extent. Along with these forward-thinking notes, Ada wrote a computation of Bernoulli numbers for the Analytical Engine (below). It is this part of her thesis, Note G, that is universally considered to be the worlds first computer program, making Ada correspondingly its first programmer. Image via Wikimedia Commons So there you have it: the worlds first techie was a noble lady, The Right Honourable Countess of Lovelace. That means that on this day, as you browse the Internet in search of Google poetry, GIFs, or the Ikea Monkey, you have Miss Ada Lovelace to thank for her place in imagining the capability of computers to change our lives in the myriad of ways they have today. Ada was such an interesting woman, there is only so much of her life I could include in this post. I highly recommend her Wikipedia entry as an overview of her amazing achievements and somewhat scandalous personal affairs. In her mere thirty-six years, Ada gave us much to appreciate and stands as a prime example of the role women have played in science and technology, though they are often overlooked. She truly lived up to Charles Babbages nickname for her, The Enchantress of Numbers: Forget this world and all its troubles and if possible its multitudinous Charlatans  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ every thing in short but the Enchantress of Numbers. Related: Teachers, instruct your students on the history of The Enchantress of Numbers with document on Ada Lovelace, found here. It comes with an activity to help students write their very own programs and is recommended for Grades 4-8.

What Makes Aphid Reproduction So Efficient

What Makes Aphid Reproduction So Efficient Aphids thrive by the sheer force of their numbers. Their secret: Because just about every insect predator looks at them as an appetizer, their only chance of survival is to outnumber them. If aphids are good at one thing, its reproducing. Consider this fact from entomologist Stephen A. Marshall in his book Insects: Their Natural History and Diversity​: In optimal environmental conditions and lacking any predators, parasites, or disease, a single aphid could produce 600 billion descendants in one season. Just how do these tiny sap suckers multiply so prolifically? They can change the way they reproduce and how they develop as environmental conditions change. Aphids Can Reproduce Without Mating (No Males Needed!) Parthenogenesis, or asexual reproduction, is the first key to an aphids long family tree. With few exceptions, aphids in spring and summer are all females. The first wingless matriarchs hatch from eggs in early spring (from eggs laid late the prior year to overwinter), equipped to reproduce without the need for male mates. Within a few weeks, these females produce more females, and soon after that, the third generation arrives. And so on, and so on, and so on. The aphid population expands exponentially without a single male. Aphids Save Time by Giving Birth to Live Young The life cycle goes much quicker if you skip a step. Aphid mothers are viviparous, meaning they give birth to live young during the spring and summer, rather than laying eggs during these seasons. Their offspring reach reproductive maturity much sooner since they dont have to sit around waiting to hatch. Later in the season the females and males both develop.   Aphids Dont Develop Wings Unless They Need Them Most or all of an aphids life is spent feeding on a host plant. It doesn’t need to go very far, so walking suffices. Producing wings is a protein-intensive task, so aphids wisely conserve their resources and their energy and remain wingless. The aphids do quite well in their apterous state until food resources run low or the host plant gets so crowded with aphids that the group must disperse. Only then do they need to grow some wings. When the Going Gets Tough, the Aphids Get Going High populations, which occur quickly in light of the aphids prolific reproduction, lead to less than optimal conditions for survival. When there are too many aphids on a host plant, they begin competing with each other for food. Host plants covered in aphids are rapidly depleted of their sap, and the aphids must move on. Hormones trigger the production of winged aphids, which can then take flight and establish new populations.   Aphids Adapt Their Life Cycle to Environmental Conditions All would be for naught if the aphids in cold climates just froze to death at years end. As days become shorter and temperatures fall, aphids begin producing winged females and males. They find suitable mates, and the females lay eggs on perennial host plants. The eggs will carry on the family line, producing next years first batch of wingless females.

I love you Rosa Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

I love you Rosa - Essay Example An 11-year old Jewish boy’s love for his young, widowed sister-in-law! A writer-director can do more justice to the strength and originality of the movie than a professional director. For, a writer-director puts his heart and soul of the story, in the minutest details of direction. A religious theme has been tackled in a professional style without bias, fear or favor. He doesn’t bind the viewer and causes stress, with tension-producing interpretations, of religious revelations. â€Å"His story, unfolded mostly through a flashback, derives from the tenets in Deuteronomy on the duty of a man to marry his brothers widow as well as those involving the widows rights if shes refused. His hero, even under ancient law, is too young to marry, but he jumps at the chance to live with the sister-in-law he adores despite the opposition of his family and the taunts and attacks of friends and neighbors.† (Movie Review†¦.) The strongest character is the determined widow. Notwithstanding the ridicule and criticism she faces by the community leaders, she sticks to her position, she understands the affection of the 11 year young boy, but rejects him as her husband. Rosa, who has a progressive outlook, is not interested in either child-rearing or remarriage. Her rejection is strong and humiliating for the boy as she shoos him away. The boy still loves her and his sacrifice for his love is genuine, (they say, true love doesn’t expects to be loved back), he frees her from her religious commitment. In the end, she decides to marry him. The main characters in the movie are, Michal Bat-Adam, is the stalwart Roza, Gabi Otterman does the role of the boy torn apart and confused by tough and difficult-to-challenge religious beliefs. Avner Chezkiyahu is the understanding and affectionate rabbi, Yosef Shiloah is the widow’s suitor and the boy’s employer, who is trying to take undue advantage in a difficult

How the rise of China has hurt the US economy Research Paper

How the rise of China has hurt the US economy - Research Paper Example However, there are fears for the US economy that China’s economic growth may beset America’s economy. Over time, China has accumulated trillions of American dollars of currency reserves. Out of these reserves, about 800 billion US dollars are treasury bonds. This development is a culmination of escalating balance of trade surpluses that China has had with America, since China sells to the US much more than America can sell to China. In the course of this development, China has played the instrumental role of elbowing many American manufacturers out of business (Clark and Monk, 99-100) According to Liang, with the large stockpile of money mentioned above and the leverage this stockpile gives China, China is now threatening to dump the US treasury bonds and the American dollar on the market. The crux of the matter herein is that in the event that China executes this move, America’s currency will have been significantly devalued and the price of goods will skyrocket. This means that America’s economy will have been crippled. Although China has never made good this threat, yet the fact that it made this threat reveals its possibility. This situation has been gradually building up and it therefore continues to place America in a precarious position. This is because America has been producing less and has continued to increasingly survive on imports (Liang, 54). Mundell contends that a very strong way in which China’s growing economy continues to undermine America’s economy is by blocking US’ exports. What informs this decision by China is the fact that the People’s Republic of China reserves the largest part of its market strictly for state-owned businesses. The Beijing Administration demands that state-owned organizations have dominance domestic markets in railways, coal, telecom and other areas of key strategic interests. This means that these firms are immune from

Experiencing Flow Essay Example for Free

Experiencing Flow Essay There are a number of characteristics in Christy’s basketball playing that defines her flow. First of all, he feels that she is â€Å"in the zone† when she is playing. Basically, this reflects to a state of mind. She worked in all aspects of the game and she did it effortlessly. Her responses were automatic and all the shots she took got in. Christy seems to be in a state of â€Å"optimal experience† as stated by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in the book entitled, â€Å"FLOW: The Psychology of Optimal Experience†. Christy feels a sense of exhilaration and enjoyment in what she does. She is able to anticipate the movement of her adversaries and she knows the court very well. Moreover, in all of these tasks, she is calm, and focused even under pressure. There are strategies that would help Christy experience flow more. Csikszentmihalyi describes the feeling as autoletic. It elevates life to a different level (2008). Basically, one needs to build inner harmony. This is done by how one interprets everyday experiences. This promotes happiness and an ability to control forces existing in the universe. Firstly, in order to achieve flow, one should take control of his body. Everything that the body does can be potentially enjoyable. The key to achieving flow is the enjoyment of doing. The important part of achieving flow is not the task in itself but how the task is being done. A person can achieve enjoyment by learning to impose order on one’s sensations. Christy needs to fully feel each sensation her body is experiencing. She must always determine her goals and break them into parts. These parts should be challenging in themselves so that she may sustain enjoyment. There are also ways of experiencing flow more often and longer. One way is to try new things that eventually lead to development of new skill. More enjoyment will be experienced with more skills developed. It is important that progress in these activities is monitored so that the flow can be experienced longer. It is also good to increase the difficulty of a challenge. Mastery of a particular skill may make one bored thus, a person such as Christy should try to find more challenges that she believes she can attain. Christy should also find more activities that she believes she can get flow from. It is essential that one needs to find many flow experiences as possible. Her coach plays a vital role in helping her experience flow more often. The coach can get her practicing with two opponents or shoot from the center of the court. This will not only avoid boredom but could increase her level of skill. Christy should also try to always get feedback from people on what she is doing. Thus, it is important for the coach to always monitor her performance and tell her about it. The coach should also make sure that the team is practicing in a place where there are little distractions. The coach should avoid making Christy do multitasking. He should develop a lot of activities during practice that will make her stay focused. Lapses in time during practices may destroy the momentum of the players and lessen the chances of achieving flow. All these strategies are important in order to achieve flow. Flow is essential for every experience because is promotes focus and total control of situations. It enables people to concentrate more effectively in their tasks. Understanding how to acquire it helps people to focus their attention at their will, without having others to get their attention. It also promotes happiness and enjoyment in all activities. Moreover, understanding flow can lead to understanding why people procrastinate on certain issues. References Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2008). Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. Chicago, IL: Harper Perennial.

Toni Morrisons The Bluest Eye Essay -- Toni Morrison Bluest Eye Essay

Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye Toni Morrison’s novel The Bluest Eye provides social commentary on a lesser known portion of black society in America. The protagonist Pecola is a young black girl who desperately wants to feel beautiful and gain the â€Å"bluest eyes† as the title references. The book seeks to define beauty and love in this twisted perverse society, dragging the reader through Morrison’s emotional manipulations. Her father Cholly Breedlove steals the reader’s emotional attention from Pecola as he enters the story. In fact, Toni Morrison’s depiction of Cholly wrongfully evokes sympathy from the reader. The sympathy for Cholly evoked in The Bluest Eye from the reader is not deserved. By definition, sympathy means feeling pity or sorrow for the distress of another, or compassion. The skillfulness of the author manipulates the reader into feeling a certain way towards particular characters. Sympathy for characters – Cholly being no exception – derives from an author’s ability to use words and the construction of the story to lead a reader into a certain emotional direction. The reader is the prime reason the author constructs a story. Because all authors are completely aware that an audience exists for their stories, authors are, in turn, completely aware that their words can manipulate their readers. It is this awareness that allows all sentence structures and idea portrayal to be the product of an author’s manipulation. Because there exists an audience, there exists someone to persuade or influence. Thus, an author, like Morrison, builds a textual relationship between the characters in her story and that of the reader digesting her story. Morrison, like all authors, understands that the reader searches for a... ...ror of Pecola’s first sexual experience: her father rapes her), and a difficult marriage situation (caused by his own drunkenness). The â€Å"bads† certainly outweigh the â€Å"goods† in his situation. Thus, the reader ought not to feel sympathy for Cholly. But, Morrison presents information about Cholly in such a way that mandates sympathy from her reader. This depiction of Cholly as a man of freedom and the victim of awful happenings is wrong because it evokes sympathy for a man who does not deserve it. He deserves the reader’s hate, but Morrison prevents Cholly covered with a blanket of undeserved, inescapable sympathy. Morrison creates undeserved sympathy from the reader using language and her depiction of Cholly acting within the bounds of his character. This ultimately generates a reader who becomes soft on crime and led by emotions manipulated by the authority of text. Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye Essay -- Toni Morrison Bluest Eye Essay Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye Toni Morrison’s novel The Bluest Eye provides social commentary on a lesser known portion of black society in America. The protagonist Pecola is a young black girl who desperately wants to feel beautiful and gain the â€Å"bluest eyes† as the title references. The book seeks to define beauty and love in this twisted perverse society, dragging the reader through Morrison’s emotional manipulations. Her father Cholly Breedlove steals the reader’s emotional attention from Pecola as he enters the story. In fact, Toni Morrison’s depiction of Cholly wrongfully evokes sympathy from the reader. The sympathy for Cholly evoked in The Bluest Eye from the reader is not deserved. By definition, sympathy means feeling pity or sorrow for the distress of another, or compassion. The skillfulness of the author manipulates the reader into feeling a certain way towards particular characters. Sympathy for characters – Cholly being no exception – derives from an author’s ability to use words and the construction of the story to lead a reader into a certain emotional direction. The reader is the prime reason the author constructs a story. Because all authors are completely aware that an audience exists for their stories, authors are, in turn, completely aware that their words can manipulate their readers. It is this awareness that allows all sentence structures and idea portrayal to be the product of an author’s manipulation. Because there exists an audience, there exists someone to persuade or influence. Thus, an author, like Morrison, builds a textual relationship between the characters in her story and that of the reader digesting her story. Morrison, like all authors, understands that the reader searches for a... ...ror of Pecola’s first sexual experience: her father rapes her), and a difficult marriage situation (caused by his own drunkenness). The â€Å"bads† certainly outweigh the â€Å"goods† in his situation. Thus, the reader ought not to feel sympathy for Cholly. But, Morrison presents information about Cholly in such a way that mandates sympathy from her reader. This depiction of Cholly as a man of freedom and the victim of awful happenings is wrong because it evokes sympathy for a man who does not deserve it. He deserves the reader’s hate, but Morrison prevents Cholly covered with a blanket of undeserved, inescapable sympathy. Morrison creates undeserved sympathy from the reader using language and her depiction of Cholly acting within the bounds of his character. This ultimately generates a reader who becomes soft on crime and led by emotions manipulated by the authority of text.

Past Way Of Life Essay

Life in the past was characterized with lots of battles between rival territories. This resulted to the rise of powerful empires and the measure of power during those days was through the number of wars fought. Warriors of those days were called Vikings. Erik the red is one of the renowned warriors of those days. He was born in Norway and participated in wars for his mother country. A Viking also denotes a pirate, merchant or explorer. These Norsemen normally used long ships to travel in the sea to all the places of their interest and used the same vessels to fight their enemies. The Vikings are traced to have originated in the early 17th century in the German territory. The initiator of Vikings in the Iceland is Erik the red. He lived all his life ruling his people after which his son picked the mantle from him (Gwyn, J. 2000). Erik the red left a legacy during his time because he is known as the founder of the Greenland territory. He was an explorer for a long time and moved with his people to many places in the sea. After having been exiled for three years from his native home in the Iceland, Erik decided to explore the neighboring regions in the sea and finally came across the green land. His sets of Vikings were mainly explorers but they had to fight some ballets whenever they met opposition. The team led by Erik sailed further to the north Atlantic territories and finally to North America. Their main activities were looting, exploration, colonization and living a mercenary’s kind of life. The Vikings had very strict leadership and way of life. In the beginning, Erik was the leader and at some point he was referred as the chief of the land. This was mainly in green land. He actually used his cunning nature to name the land. The word green was a very strategic name so that he could attract more people into his territory. These people were mainly farmers who planted yams and corn. Under the ruler ship of Erik, the Vikings could sometimes go for attacking expeditions in the sea and they as a result came back with commodities like ivory from tucks and even sea whales. More people later got attracted into the Greenland and they formed a territory in this island. Their population however increased that they sometimes lacked food and other commodities. CHANGES THAT HAVE OCCURRED Erik the red later died and left his ruler ship to his son Seif. They later discovered that attacking were more risky and less profitable. The incoming of Christianity further played a big part in eliminating the Vikings kind of life and they later adopted romanticism culture. The Nazi people are also a fruit of the cultural setting of the Vikings. This started in the 18th century when a myth was created to enable Sweden take up Finland to their side. This came at a time when Finland had been lost between Sweden and Russia (Tomasi, M 1999). Various authors have produced publications on the subject of Vikings and this was done with intent to revive the Nordic culture in the Iceland. Many territories in the region today have taken up after the Erik the red’s kind of ruler ship. Norwegians for example have a lot of symbolism to the Viking governance. An example of this is the Norwegian fascist party. This shows that Vikings policies are still operational in the political arena of the world today. The German people are also in the same train of following closely to the Viking culture. This they do even though they claim that they have no links to the Viking settlers. THE PRESENT SETTINGS AND COMPARISON TO THE PAST The ancient Vikings culture has been written in many books today. These trace all the happenings and activities of the people. The Vikings culture has been embraced by many people in this current generation. Norway and Germany are among the countries that practice various aspects of this culture. The Norway for example embraces its political arena organized in a Viking setting. Many political leaders have also taken the way of the Vikings ruler ship and with time are applying the skills in addressing various issues. Vikings always participated in wars in order to obtain food and other supplies for their territories. They did this through sea looting and piracy. These were accepted ways of life during those days but are not accepted in the day today. References Tomasi, M (1999). World history. Oxford: Oxford publishers. Gwyn, J. (2000). A history of Vikings. Oxford: Oxford publishers

Health and Safety of Using a Computer

You need to use the internet to search for the following information. Use the table below to store your answers along with the web address of websites where you found the information. You should use more than one website to check your answers Why is posture important when using a computer? Information found (copy and paste from the website)| Web address| Your ‘computer posture' can have a huge impact on your health. If it's poor, and you slouch for 7 hours a day in front of your PC, your body will suffer in the long-term. | http://www. fitness-programs-for-life. om/computer-posture. html| Why should you take regular breaks or change of activity when using a computer? Information found (copy and paste from the website)| Web address| Eye muscles that shift focus between your source document and a screen for a long period of time can tire. | http://www. staffs. ac. uk/images/user042_tcm68-12657. pdf| Find an image to show how you should correctly sit when you are using a computer? Information found (copy and paste from the website)| Web address| | http://www. google. co. uk/imgres? imgurl=https://www. ourloungelearning. co. uk/materials/popups/new_screenshots/hse1. gif;imgrefurl=https://www. yourloungelearning. co. uk/materials/popups/health_safety. php;usg=__IFMYnONBLFJMUTBDRGIS4N0Y5NU=;h=328;w=425;sz=27;hl=en;start=3;zoom=1;tbnid=3kv5FZAK84FF1M:;tbnh=97;tbnw=126;ei=JhUxT_mxGIqK0AXjwtC0Bw;prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhow%2Bshould%2Byou%2Bsit%2Bat%2Ba%2Bcomputer%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dactive%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dcom. microsoft:en-gb%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D852%26sout%3D1%26tbm%3Disch;um=1;itbs=1|Why should computer screens and chairs be adjustable? Information found (copy and paste from the website)| Web address| Adjust your keyboard and screen to get a good keying and viewing position. A space in front of the keyboard is sometimes helpful for resting the hands and wrists while not keying. Adjust seat height to ensure hands are perpendicular to keyboard (height adjustme nt is usually achieved by a handle to the left underside of the chair). | http://www3. imperial. ac. uk/occhealth/guidanceandadvice/computerhealth/compute healthgeneralguidance| Find out at least two health problems that might be related to computer use? Information found (copy and paste from the website)| Web address| 1. Eye Disease 2. Computer Stress Injuries 3. Hurting Hands| http://heheli. com/business/top-4-health-problems-caused-by-computer-use/| Find an image to show overloading sockets and find out why you should not overload sockets Information found (copy and paste from the website)| Web address| | http://images. google. co. uk/imgres? imgurl=http://www. ambethliving. org. uk/images/overloaded%2520socket_m. gif;imgrefurl=http://www. lambethliving. org. uk/Default. aspx%3Fpage%3D516;usg=__PGOPSK2MwkKZwGesrJ2Em_8vjEo=;h=183;w=150;sz=13;hl=en;start=17;zoom=1;tbnid=XTRUfXeqS4U0ZM:;tbnh=102;tbnw=84;ei=IhcxT_7NEM2GhQfr9sz-BA;prev=/search%3Fq%3Doverloading%2Bsockets%26hl%3Den%26s afe%3Dactive%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D852%26gbv%3D2%26sout%3D1%26tbm%3Disch;itbs=1| Why should you not have trailing cables around a computer room?Information found (copy and paste from the website)| Web address| A large number of accidents around the work place, are cause by tripping over trailing wires. | http://wiki. answers. com/Q/Why_shouldn't_you_have_trailing_wires_near_a_computer#ixzz1lhKk6ABs| Find out what is meant by ergonomic furniture Information found (copy and paste from the website)| Web address| What does ergonomics mean? | ‘Ergonomics' is the science of designing environments and products to match the individuals who use them.The word ‘ergonomics' comes from the Greek ‘ergon' meaning ‘work' and ‘nomos' meaning ‘law'. â€Å"Fitting the worker to the job not the job to the worker. † * Fitting the job to the worker through task design and procedures * Fitting the worker to the job through the use of proper placement procedures an d training. It should be noted â€Å"What works for one worker may not work for another, so it's important to emphasize individual solutions. † Your basic knowledge of ergonomics is a prevention of physical damage or injuries that may occur.

Real School Issues That Negatively Impact Learning

Real School Issues That Negatively Impact Learning Schools face several issues daily that negatively impact student learning. Administrators and teachers work hard to overcome these challenges, but it is often difficult. Regardless of the strategies schools implement, there are some factors that will likely never be eliminated. However, schools must do their best to minimize the impact these issues have while maximizing student learning. Educating students is a difficult challenge because there are so many natural obstacles that hinder learning.   Not every school will face all of the challenges discussed, though the majority of schools across the country face more than one of these issues. The overall makeup of the community surrounding the school has a significant impact on the school itself. Schools facing a large portion of these issues will not see significant internal changes until external issues are addressed and changed within the community. Many of these issues can be deemed as societal issues, which can be nearly impossible for schools to overcome. Bad Teachers The vast majority of teachers are effective at their job, sandwiched in between the great teachers and the bad teachers. While bad teachers represent a small percentage of educators, they are often the ones who generate the most publicity. For the majority of teachers, this is frustrating because most work hard every day to ensure that their students receive a quality education with little fanfare. A bad teacher can set a student or group of students back considerably. They can create significant learning gaps making the next teacher’s job that much harder. A bad teacher can foster an atmosphere full of discipline issues and chaos establishing a pattern that is extremely difficult to break. Finally and perhaps most devastatingly, they can shatter a student’s confidence and overall morale. The effects can be disastrous and nearly impossible to reverse. This is the reason that administrators must ensure that they make smart hiring decisions. These decisions must not be taken lightly. Of equal importance is the teacher evaluation process. Administrators must use the evaluation system to make informed decisions when retaining teachers year after year. They cannot be afraid to put in the necessary work required to dismiss a bad teacher who will damage students in the district. Discipline Issues Discipline issues cause distractions, and distractions add up and limit learning time. Every time a teacher has to handle a discipline issue, she loses valuable instructional time. In addition, each time a student is sent to the office on a discipline referral that student loses valuable instruction time. Any discipline issue will result in the loss of instruction time, which limits a student’s learning potential. Teachers and administrators must be able to minimize these disruptions. Teachers can do this by providing a structured learning environment and engaging students in exciting, dynamic lessons that captivate them and keep them from being bored. Administrators must create well-written policies that hold students accountable. They should educate parents and students on these policies. Administrators must be firm, fair, and consistent when dealing with any student discipline issue. Lack of Funding Funding has a significant impact on student performance. A lack of funding typically leads to larger class sizes and less technology and curriculum materials, and the more students a teacher has, the less attention he can pay to individual students. This can become significant when you have a class full of 30 to 40 students at varying academic levels. Teachers must be equipped with engaging tools covering the standards they are required to teach. Technology is a tremendous academic tool, but it is also pricey to purchase, maintain, and upgrade. The curriculum in general continuously changes and needs to be updated, but most states curriculum adoption runs in five-year cycles. At the end of each five-year cycle, the curriculum is totally outdated and physically worn out. Lack of Student Motivation Many students simply do not care about attending school or putting in the effort necessary to maintain their grades. It is extremely frustrating to have a pool of students who are only there because they have to be. An unmotivated student may initially be on grade level, but she will fall behind only to wake up one day and realize it is too late to catch up. A teacher or administrator can only do so much to motivate a student: Ultimately, it is up to the student as to whether she decides to change. Unfortunately, there are many students in schools nationally with tremendous potential who choose not to live up to that standard. Over Mandating Federal and state mandates are taking their tolls on school districts across the country. There are so many new requirements each year that schools do not have the time or resources to implement and maintain them all successfully. Most of the mandates are passed with good intentions, but the spacing of these mandates puts schools in a bind. They are often underfunded or unfunded and require a lot of extra time that could be spent in other critical areas.  Schools do not have enough time and resources to fulfill many of these new mandates. Poor Attendance Students cant learn if they arent at school.  Missing just 10 days of school each year from kindergarten to 12th grade adds up to missing almost an entire school year by the time they graduate. Some students have the ability to overcome poor attendance, but many who have a chronic attendance problem fall behind and stay behind. Schools must hold students and parents accountable for consistent excessive absences and should have a solid attendance policy in place that specifically addresses excessive absences. Teachers cannot do their jobs if students are not required to show up every day. Poor Parental Support Parents are typically the most influential people in every aspect of a child’s life. This is especially true when it comes to education. Typically, if the parents value education, their children will be academically successful. Parental involvement is essential to educational success. Parents who provide their children with a solid foundation before school begins and stay involved throughout the school year will reap the benefits as their children become successful. By contrast, parents who are minimally involved with their child’s education have a significant negative impact. This can be extremely frustrating for teachers and makes for a  continuous uphill battle. Many times, these students are behind when they start school due to a lack of exposure, and it is extremely difficult for them to catch up. These parents believe it is the school’s job to educate and not theirs when in actuality there needs to be a dual partnership for the child to be successful Poverty Poverty has a significant impact on student learning. There has been much research to support this premise. Students living in affluent, well-educated homes and communities are far more academically successful, while those living in poverty are typically behind academically. Poverty is a difficult obstacle to overcome. It follows generation after generation and becomes the accepted norm, which makes it almost impossible to break. Though education is a significant part of breaking the grip of poverty, most of these students are so far behind academically that they will never get that opportunity. Shift in Instructional Focus When schools fail, administrators and teachers almost always take the brunt of the blame. This is somewhat understandable, but the responsibility of educating should not fall solely on the school. This deferred shift in educational responsibility is one of the greatest reasons for a perceived decline in public schools across the United States. Teachers are doing a far superior job of educating their students today than they ever have been. However, the time spent teaching the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic has been significantly decreased due to increased demands and responsibilities to teach many things that used to be taught at home. Any time you add new instructional requirements you take away time spent on something else. The time spent in school has rarely increased, yet the burden has fallen to schools to add courses such as sex education and personal financial literacy into their daily schedule without an increase in time to do so. As a result, schools have been forced to sacrifice critical time in the core subjects to ensure that their students are being exposed to these other life skills.

Google Apps for Education †Pro-Academic-Writers.com

Google Apps for Education Google makes wonders with all aspects of our life. Its apps are very useful when we talk about education, both middle and higher. Parents should not get at their children immediately when they find out that there are a lot of downloaded applications on their favourite devices. Many smart students use Google apps to complete educational tasks: To learn more on a given subject Get more ideas for upcoming class or essay Impress their teachers Get free help with the essay Watch an educating video Find and use relevant resources Google Apps to Increase Academic Performance After all, education apps are helpful for in-class education. Apple rewarded education system with the plenty of the best tools, but Big G apps are just as good. The main search engine in the world releases new products on a regular basis. Moreover, different upgrades with the fixed bugs become available within the most popular education apps. Such collaboration tools are nothing else than a part of the  Google Apps Education  suite. The installation process is very simple. Many students have already tried various offers like custom software called Google Classroom  to succeed. And it worked! Teachers should master new technology to keep in trend. Going Google means creating a friendlier, informative academic atmosphere. No matter how far you are, it is possible to connect to your school computers and download any assignment or lecture that you want. We will cover the benefits of Big G apps developed to make education easier from the aspect of teachers. How to Use Resources Properly to Achieve Better Results in Education? Create files in Google Doc in the shape of your lecture plan. You may share it with your peers. Add notes and drafts on the upcoming school events or student meeting in the same place and share it with everyone invited or interested in the event. It is better to translate all files saved on the drive to keep in touch with the non-English speaking students if you have such friends. It would show your respect and care. Open revision history in Google Docs whenever there is a need to review some previous lectures. Video chat might be useful when you decide to invite a professional or another student just like you to share valuable education-related information. Forms in Docs are very convenient when taking tests and quizzes to check your knowledge and skills. Some apps are also designed especially to meet such requirements. Develop a parent volunteer survey. This is the best approach to gathering and analyzing personal information on the families of your peers to find out whether they are satisfied with the existing educational system. You might need those contacts in the future. Post a special spreadsheet with schedules and free places availability to let your classmates know about all upcoming events like Prom Night. You may also send notifications via special Google apps. Share a grade-level folder with your friends so that these docs can be edited or fulfilled by them too in case you’ve missed something during the lecture. It will save a plenty of time on your education-related goals. Creating a website with inserted docs, schedules, forms, and tools is a must to get the best of educational process promptly and successfully. Post class activity or homework assignments to the single Google Drive. Gmail calendar is effective while creating various in-class assignments if you work in team and keep information divided into separate lists. By turning on inserted mail translation, every message would be automatically translated into any language. Keep updated about your personal progress in education by using a corresponding website in Google Sites. Spreadsheets are useful to track academic process as well. There are apps to speed up the process. Gather teacher observations in a separate sheet to use these data for better performance. Google resource calendar is another helpful option. Download and use student-driven vocabulary to enrich your professional and academic language. You may use special apps dedicated to English learning as well. Gmail translation tools will also help to find pen pals in other countries to improve education achievements. Google calendar and some apps are just the right place for long-term and short-term planning of your educational process. Top tools for education are just as effective for teachers and other professionals as essay writing services are for students. We believe that teachers should not be too strict with those who use such services. After all, students also need help with education sometimes. You can get it right here if you have some writing assignments to do urgently!

Digital Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Digital - Essay Example The CIA initiated the process of collecting information anonymously following advice by the 9/11 commission. The data privacy issues in this article are that the CIA collects information without the consent of twitter and face book accounts holders hence infringe on their privacies. Burnham, Kristin. â€Å"Online Privacy: How to Block Google Ads and Adjust Your Settings.† 2011. Web. 10 November 2011 . This article highlights how Google an online service provider, collects information from its services users to optimize online searches. For instance, the article highlights that most of the advertisements Google shows are linked to the subject of the email exchange or thread. In view of this, if a Gmail account holder receives several emails centered on the theme of photography, Google collects this information and optimizes it for advertisements related to photography. Google claims to protect its online user’s privacy by not offering the users information that individua lly identifies them to the third parties such as marketers. The relevance of the article to data privacy is that, it offers tips on how to adjust Google setting to safeguard ones privacy. The Privacy Projects. â€Å"National Cyber Security Alliance to Coordinate Data Privacy Day.† 2009. Web. 10 November 2011 . In this article the National Cyber Security Alliance, highlights some of the measures it has put in place, to create awareness on data privacy and protection in the online platform. National Cyber Security Alliance highlights some of the achievements, which have been realized in data safety through collaborative efforts. The relevance of this article to data privacy is that organizations have realized data privacy is an issue in the online platform hence the need to safeguard it. Data protection Day 2010 - Think Privacy - new videos. 2009. This video centers on the needs to safeguard information shared. Those who do not safeguard their information do not enjoy peace, wh ile those who do safeguard their information enjoy privacy. Thus, information shared with the public can be used against the owner resulting into bad consequences. Data protection lesson. 2009. This video focuses on educating young people on the importance of data privacy, how data is collected and misused. Furthermore, the teachers in this video teaches her students on various methods through which data is obtained and how it is used to benefit everyone such as through a census. The significance in this to data privacy is that individuals need to be careful with who they share their information with Data Privacy and Social Networking 01-28-2010.mov. Dir. ontargetweb. 2010. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YLt3g8hI5I This video focusses on how information shared on the online platform can turn out to be disadvantageous to the owner. Furthermore, the video highlights measures people can put in place to safeguard data privacy such as maintaining anonymity in the online social setting. Poor data privacy can lead to loss of jobs, loss of finances and loss of identity in an event the information shared is accessed by unauthorized individuals. Article 2 Intellectual property rights Understanding Intellectual

How do teacher salaries affect students Why does it matter than Essay

How do teacher salaries affect students Why does it matter than teachers earn tens of thousands more in some districts than others - Essay Example This translates to schools which have better academic preparation and schools that are inadequately prepared. The disparity is evident with the results high stake tests that low budgeted schools are destined to fail. This issue matter because students are being subject to the same rigorous aptitude examinations and the unfairness in children’s preparatory education shows up in the result of the tests. The high stake tests which Kozol identified as the culprit, really would make inner-city children fail due to their inadequate preparation which resulted from little budget allocation from the government. To keep up, there are schools that adopt drastic measures just to raise test scores whose method can be compared to military schools. This is not helpful because instead of keeping up, children drops out of school not to mention that it damages their psychological well being that some were even crying when they undergo the rigor of ill-budgeted school’s drastic measures. It defeats the purpose of education because students would opt to be out of school than to be subjected to such punitive measures of schools just to keep