Importance of reading

What is the best way to spend free time? There can be so many different answers to this question. That depends on the preferences of a person. If you are lively and active, you may spend time outdoors or doing sports, if you are sociable, you may enjoy holding a party and communicating with various interesting celebrities. Some of us get so tired of the noise than wait till a nice evening to tackle in and read a nice book to relax or to learn something new or to get to the new world of wonders and travel in it, forgetting about the reality. But these are only some of us. What about those, who detest even the appearance of the book and assure that they are allergic to its smell? There are a lot of other ways to get educated and to entertain oneself, but nothing can substitute reading. If to try, it can be much fun. For instance, it is very useful to read books to little children, almost infants, that way they get used to your voice and the manner of talking and you’ll practice and read whatever is interesting to you. Some of the dislikes are closely connected with the not carefully planned school program in literature. Sometimes we can see such books there that should not be read by students of such age. I’m quite sure that it is useless for a fifth grader to read Kafka’s “Plague” and same, study “Odyssey” during the first college year. What the system needs is a careful planning. Here everything has to be taken into consideration; starting from the reports at the seminars and finishing with the careful examination of the last literature essay. Of course, sometimes it may be easy to find something else to do than to read a boring book, but this is what makes you educated and intelligent in eyes of others. It will be very ungrateful of us to ignore the inheritage we have. I mean thousands, millions of masterpieces waiting to be taken and read at once and than discussed in a close circle of friends. But one has to be really picky about what to read. Just like with movies, there are some books that can’t be read at certain age and certain life orientations. I guess, it is unnecessary to present the examples, because they are numerous. Serious matters read at a young age influence the process of building of a personality greatly. It is certain that a book about demonology in hands of a teenager will do no good. There is no need to forbid sales of such books, it’s impossible. What we really have to do is to create an attentive, grateful and interested reader, by bringing him up with the help of necessary literature. An excellent essay paper of such a reader is a big credit to the creator of a masterpiece, which the reader admires. Reading different books of different styles widens our outlook and gives more opportunities to make a success. An intelligent phrase that you’ve read up in some good book, thrown by you during a heated argument, will definitely make the odds even. So read with pleasure and enjoy what you’re doing!

New high school is first in arizona schools to have no textbooks

Empire High School in Vail, located on the edge of Tucson, is the first in the Arizona schools to be all-electronic. Instead of textbooks, the 350 students use wireless, Apple laptop computers to research, organize their data, write and graph assignments, and create class presentations. The Arizona schools Empire High is a new school with a blank slate. Arizona schools officials could hire new teachers committed to technology-based teaching and purchase computers instead of textbooks. The Arizona schools officials wanted to move teachers away from habitual teaching from textbooks, cover-to-cover, and gave area students the choice to attend Empire or another school. Having researched schools in other states prior to the all-electronic decision, Arizona schools officials found students who were clearly more engaged in their studies and unusually enthusiastic about school. One reason was that they took a more active part in the lesson process, rather than everything being “fed” to them. Another advantage to laptops over textbooks is that groundbreaking information takes five to six years to get into textbooks, especially in the science fields. Of the few all-electronic schools across the nation, many are doing well from the perspective of both the students and the educators. The Arizona schools officials clearly felt they could enhance their students’ educational experience with technology over textbooks. Replacing textbooks with laptops for other Arizona schools would prove expensive at $850 each. For Empire, they took the usual $500 to $600 cost per student for a complete set of textbooks for four years, as well as the cost of a computer lab, and used this money to purchase the laptops and added technology needs. Some new challenges had to be faced by the Arizona schools’ new Empire High and research was done to address them. They had 350 students, who needed to be continuously and reliably connected to the Internet at high speed. All the laptops had to be configured to best suit the needs of the students for learning. The needed educational material had to be located on the Internet and integrated into lesson plans. A method for students to submit assignments across the Web was needed. These were problems they knew had to be resolved before the school year began. What the Arizona schools officials had not planned on was a different sort of technological problem. It seems that many students who used home computers for gaming, surfing the Internet, and X-Box, had a difficult time translating these skills to those needed in school, such as using word processing software, saving documents to specific locations, and being able to retrieve the files later. Skills training had to be added to the lesson plans. For other schools that are interested in setting up an all-electronic school, the Arizona schools officials advise that it must be a public choice. You cannot force such drastic learning changes. Include the parents and teachers in the planning at the ground floor. After a year, the system is working well overall. The Arizona schools plan to increase enrollment at Empire High to 750 students in the near future.

School based mental health services reduce school violence

We live in a complicated world requiring complex skills. We must prepare our children to cope and to compete. They need reading, social studies, science and math more than ever, but they also need social skills, problem solving, superior reasoning and good mental health. There is a societal need to reduce the incidence of violence in our schools, as well. When children and teens are focused on problems at home or within themselves, they often do not do well in school. School success and good mental health are intrinsically tied together. Additionally, school success and good mental health are linked to life success. Identifying those youth who are in need of help can reduce suffering and improve mental health, school success, and life success. Good mental health aids development, learning, interpersonal relationships, and the ability to cope with stress more effectively. Approximately 1 in 5 children & adolescents (20%) experience the signs and symptoms of a mental health disorder during the course of a year. These children are estimated to have severe emotional or behavioral problems that significantly interfere with their daily functioning. Yet, less than one-third of the children under the age 18 with a serious disturbance receive any MH Services. Often the services they do receive are inadequate or inappropriate (Children’s Defense Fund). Ten percent of children in any given classroom (3/30) are ready to learn at the curriculum level (Dr. Adleman & Dr. Taylor UCLA School Mental Health Project).Only 16% of all children receive any mental health services. Follow through for children receiving mental health services in school is much greater than those referred to community services. Of the 16% that receive MH services, 70-80% receive that care in a school setting (healthinschools. org), yet less than 10% of all school districts in the United States currently have an established School Based Mental Health Program (Center for School Mental Health Assistance, Dr. Mark Weist 2001, University of Maryland). To assess the effectiveness of school based mental health (SBMH) services in reducing emotional, school, home, and behavioral problems of youth, Robert Schmidt, MA and Kathryn Seifert, Ph. D. collaborated on the evaluation of outcomes for a SBMH program for a rural mid-Atlantic School district. Coordination of mental health services with educators, Department of Social Services, the Department of Juvenile Services, and the Development Disabilities program contributed to the program’s success. The project began in 1999 with a Federal grant to the school district and the project is ongoing. Youth were referred to the project from teachers, guidance counselors, parents, student self-referrals and other agencies such as the Departments of Social Services and Juvenile Services and Law Enforcement. The student’s scores on the Devereaux, BASC, CARE and several school measures such as absenteeism, disciplinary referrals, violence related suspensions, and other suspensions were measured at the beginning of services and at the beginning and end of each school year. From 1999 to 2004, 36% youth were referred because of symptoms of depression, 26% because of family problems, and 24% because of behavior problems. Examples of reasons for referral to the program included: crying in class, child can’t stay focused, student found out mom is terminally ill, youth’s parents going through divorce, and recent sexual abuse. There were 84 referrals to the program in 1999, compared to 437 students in 2002 and 239 students in 2003. Peak referral times were in October and February. Youth in the transition years of sixth and ninth grades were referred to the program most often. In 2000, 2,132 mental health sessions were provided, in contrast to an amazing 15,763 sessions in 2003. A group of 632 students who participated in the program showed significantly improved attitudes toward teachers and school, mental health symptoms, and self-esteem during and after services. Students participating in SBMH in years one and two had significantly better school attendance (56 and 57% increase) when compared to non-participants (66 and 59% decrease). Additionally for the group of participants, absenteeism increased 44% before participation and decreased 53% during participation. Students had a significant (40%) decrease in disciplinary referrals when compared to non-participants (20% decrease). Participants in years one and two had a significant decrease in suspensions (32% and 27%) from school when compared to non-participants (33 and 16% increases). Parents reported that their children were having significantly fewer problems after receiving services. Youth self-reported significantly improved commitment to school, interpersonal relationships and self-esteem, as well as fewer stress related problems. Students reported significantly reduced school maladjustment and clinical maladjustment and improved attitude toward parents and emotional well-being. Evaluation of the success of the program revealed several key components. One important component was having a central school/mental health coordinator to be an organizer, ombudsman, problem solver, program evaluator, and coordinator of the two systems. Additionally, the mental health service must be an integral part of the school system, not just an adjunct or add-on. Mental health staff need to communicate and attend meetings with school personnel. Mental health professionals can provide workshops and consultation to teachers, guidance counselors, and administrative staff. Funding for the project came from mental health third party billing and grant funding. Supplemental funds allowed mental health professionals to attend meetings, consult with school personnel, and provide services for children and youth who do not meet medical necessity criteria of their insurance companies. It is also important to include families as an essential part of the program. In a time when all programs are struggling to cope with funding cuts, collaborative programs, such as this one can make services more efficient and cost effective. Many families of troubled youth are involved in more than one service, in addition to the school. Coordination of multiple services is beneficial to the families and helps improve outcomes for youth. This project demonstrated that school based mental health services improved student well-being, behavior and school success, while showing a significant decrease in violence and other behavior problems at home and at school. The study is ongoing and a second site has been added.

Rn to bsn online two top nursing schools

Copyright 2006 Michael V. Gruber, MPH The number of people available to fill the constant demand for nurses is falling farther and farther behind the demand. Nurse's aides are becoming registered nurses as quickly as they can. In turn, it is incumbent upon registered nurses to take the next step and earn their bachelor's of science in nursing degree or BSN as quickly as possible. There is such a need for nurses that you can now get paid to travel anywhere you like with an extra traveling bonus and the ability to work during your vacation for months at a time. There is no other job in the country that offers the same benefits while allowing you to also choose your destination and the amount of time you will stay! The job shortage also allows those in the nursing profession a flexibility in location that few other careers can claim. Should you need to relocate across the country to be with a relative or when your spouse gets a promotion, there will be no problem securing a job when you get there. Apply ahead of time and start working as soon as you get to town or wait until you get there and check out the facilities first. One way to make sure that you secure the best position and the highest salary possible is to make sure that your resume has the educational training to match your experience. Even if you intend to take on a few of the traveling nursing positions or relocate in the near future, you can begin upgrading to a BSN online at schools like Jacksonville University and University of Phoenix online. With an online degree you can begin immediately to earn the credits you need to become a BSN and up your pay grade as well as increase your job options and opportunities. At Jacksonville University, you can transfer any classes that you've taken at other schools and apply the credit toward earning a BSN degree. Labs, practice projects, homework, tests, and lessons all take place online so you don't have to worry about missing work or rearranging your schedule. At University of Phoenix, you can not only earn your BSN but when you complete that, you can go on to earn a masters degree in science and specialize in health care education, health care management, integrative health care, or health care administration. With a higher degree, you can make yourself a shoe in for any nursing position anywhere in the country with the highest possible pay grade for the position. It's worth it to at least check it out!