In all areas of society - higher education included - many people have the sense that incivility has escalated in both degree and frequency.  For those of us in the professoriate who have been here awhile, the change has been marked and it’s been difficult to reconcile for ourselves and our colleagues.

Considering the fact that students arrive in your classroom with increasing amounts of baggage–and varying levels of instruction and modeling about ‘civil’ behavior–you cannot expect your teaching to be immune from disruptive incidents. Although there are no guarantees nor foolproof preventative methods, it’s always wise to get to know your students and to let them get to know you.  Developing positive relationships is a first step toward staving off inappropriate behavior or being able to curtail it, should it become an issue.

But let’s just say that you have done everything you can to keep disruptive behavior from occurring - and yet it does anyway.  Common misbehaviors include loud and excessive talking, profane or defamatory language, physical invasion of others’ space, bringing in food containers and spreading them out as if sitting in a fast food restaurant, putting one’s head down to sleep, and the like.  In an increasingly accountability-minded and litigious society, you cannot fail to respond when students cross the line with you or with their fellow students. Not responding to unacceptable behavior from a student creates a hostile environment for other students, reduces the effectiveness of instruction, and detracts from your standing with students.

The following practices can become part of your toolkit for addressing such situations:

• Maintain your most professional stance and refrain from being angry, sarcastic, or accusatory.  If you sink to their level (or respond in a knee-jerk fashion to their inappropriate behavior, language, or attitudes, you end up making the situation far worse and the students may even support the student who is behaving badly rather than you.  However, when you stay poised, yet firm, you are likely to rally support from the other students.
• Confront students quietly outside of class.  Whenever possible, address the students who are misbehaving outside the earshot of other students.  In rare instances, you have to take a student to task in front of the whole class, but that should be avoided whenever possible.  You can speak to students after class (asking them to stay), you can call students out of class, or you can ask students to stop by your office.  First, give the students a chance to explain and/or save face.
• Go the extra mile to preserve the dignity of all concerned.  Assume the best until proven otherwise.  Students are reasonably fragile and their inappropriate behavior may be due to not knowing any better (incredible, but true).  Explain what the behavior is that you find unacceptable, give them the alternative that you’ll expect to see (and why), and treat them respectfully.
• Keep private issues private.  Inexperienced professors, especially those who are younger and/or those who want the students to ‘like’ them will often be sucked into sharing concerns about one student with another.  Be VERY wary of students who try to get you to talk about other students.  No one is served by this.  If you had a private conversation with a student about his/her behavior, keep it private.
• Document actions and words immediately, and inform those who have responsibility for student affairs.  Unfortunately, there are some situations that are far worse that clomping into the classroom late or using profane language in the heat of an argument with another student.  Some students are dangers to themselves and others.  Other times, there are behaviors that persist.  Whether the problem is the severity or the frequency, begin to document what is happening so that you have it later.  Just keep a note in your lecture notes or planner.  It’s not necessary to use specifics but it’s wise to have the beginning of a record.
• Refer students to campus support resources.  Some situations are far beyond your ability to handle.  Either refer out those students who need help that you can’t provide and/or contact the campus support centers yourself to find out what might be an appropriate next step.
• Let your department chair or other unit leader know about problems that are extreme or pervasive.  I only had a handful of situations over my 15 years of being a faculty member that I felt the need to tell my department chair about - and I was always glad I had.  One involved a student who was ultimately excluded from the program (as he had been from several other programs in other states).  Another involved a “student” who had been released from an institution (apparently too soon) and wasn’t even enrolled at the university.  I felt I was in over my head with both students and was glad to have an administrator’s support, especially as a young faculty member.

You and your students deserve open, positive, productive arenas for teaching and learning.  Keeping the behavior within the acceptable range is one key step.

If you’re a single mother planning to go to college, whether you’re a recent high school graduate trying to stay in step with your peers or an older parent - perhaps a displaced homemaker ready to return to school after an absence of many years - you know that every little bit of financial assistance helps.

However, though you’re grateful for the federal aid you’ll receive, it may not be enough. You need to look into single mother college scholarship programs to help you offset the overall higher cost of your education as a single mother, which includes providing food, clothing and housing for your children in addition to yourself, and the ever colossal challenge of securing quality and affordable child care.

What kind of scholarships are available to someone such as yourself in your state of residence? One state that exhibits exemplary single mother college scholarship programs is arkansas. The state offers what is called the Arkansas Single Parent Scholarship Fund. To apply, you must initiate correspondence with the specified contact for your particular county. In providing college scholarships for single mothers, of particular praiseworthiness is the Arkansas Single Parent Scholarship Fund of Benton County.

The Arkansas Single Parent Scholarship Fund of Benton County combines financial assistance with much-needed mentor support. However, the beauty part of the program, at least financially, is that scholarship funds do not necessarily have to be applied to tuition, but can be used wherever they are needed most along your journey to receiving your college education as a single mother.

The funds could be used for textbooks, transportation, child care, and so forth. Also, the single mother college scholarship programs allow you to study whatever career field you wish, whether you want to work in nursing, human resources, accounting, or anything else.

Above all in your search for scholarships, maintain a positive outlook and never feel discouraged that your situation will make getting additional educational financial assistance more difficult for you than the average student.

If anything, the odds are actually in your favor because of your extraordinary life experience. Anyone can get a federal grant, but scholarships aren’t for just anyone - they are created for people like you who have special abilities or have had unique experiences - in your case, as a single mother. There are many organizations with a deep desire to help you help yourself - you must simply take the first steps of research and application. Louis Zhang, Singlemotherfinancialassistance dot com.

Obtaining educational financial aid is a daunting enough task for the average college student who only has to be responsible for herself. How much more intimidating, then, will accomplishing the same task be for a single mother who, before she can even think about paying for college, must provide for both her own and her child’s (or children’s) basic needs? Fortunately, there is help to be found in single mother grants for college.

Before you attempt to tackle finding specific government grants, it may help to take a step back from your personal situation for a moment. Look at yourself as simply a current or prospective college student.

Realize that there are government grants for education for anyone who needs them, regardless of her background. For example, any undergraduate can receive Federal pell grants - currently up to $4371 per school year - based on financial need alone. The outlook doesn’t seem so bleak now that you realize that any single mother grants for college you obtain will serve as additional assistance to the minimum the federal government will allot you simply as a student with a certain level of financial need.

So, what specific study grants do exist and how do you obtain them? The power of the Internet makes finding financial resources much easier than it used to be. Start with a simple search for “single mother” and “financial assistance”, “financial aid”, or “college grants”, and you’ll be well on your way to finding the help you need in providing for you and your children’s future. Also try including the name of your state of residence in your search. For example, Arizona offers the Arizona Foundation for Women, which provides empowering opportunities to girls and women through grants that assist them in meeting their personal needs, including higher education.

Specifically, single mother grants for college can be acquired through the Helping Hands for Single Moms program that is funded in part by the Arizona Foundation for Women. Helping Hands for Single Moms not only provides financial aid, but helps single moms find affordable housing and also teaches money management through the guidance of a mentor. The goal is that through a combination of higher education and life skills such as financial literacy, single moms will acquire the lifelong ability to independently support themselves and their children.

Helping Hands for Single Moms is just one example of many programs that make it possible to find single mother grants for college. Plus, positively keep in mind that grants such as these are financial assistance in addition to that which you will receive first from the federal government. Rest assured that with perseverance, you can indeed achieve your dream of obtaining a college education and becoming a financially independent provider for yourself and your children. Louis Zhang, Singlemotherfinancialassistance dot com.

Are you aware that statistics show by the year 2020, there will be a nursing shortage of more than 1.7 million? The US Department of Labor based on statistics shows that registered nurses will be among the top professions in the USA by 2012.

If you have an interest in the nursing profession, but you are concerned about the time and money involved in becoming an R.N., you should consider studying to become an LPN, or Licensed Practical Nurse, this is an ideal stepping stone in your nursing career, requiring much less an initial education, allowing you to get into the workforce that much easier and quickly.

There are multiple LPN to R.N. programs, some online and some at actual universities or medical schools, specifically designed to help LPNs make the jump to becoming an R.N. or Registered Nurse.

If you are currently an LPN interested in pursuing or at finding out more information about studying to become an R.N., but you’re concerned about the time involved or the available openings, there are multiple options available to you. In most cases, and LPN will have family obligations, possibly children, a home, possibly a mortgage than normal burdens of a full-time life. Most LPN to R.N. programs realize that an LPN is a living breathing individual with responsibilities and tailor their programs accordingly.

Ideally speaking and LPN can continue doing their current job while pursuing their higher education. These LPN to RN programs are designed to allow a working LPN to pursue advanced degrees, while continuing their current employment, and their education will be mostly online at their own pace. In most instances the hours are flexible and your education will occur in the privacy of your home. While it’s normal a small amount of actual on-site attendance will be required, these days can normally be tailored to your own work and family obligations.

In most cases you’ll have the choice of the following.

1. A 4 year BSN (Bachelor of Science in Nursing), which is an extensive course but will offer you the most opportunities as the nursing shortage becomes more critical. This degree is a requirement for many positions, and should be sought by those who have made a career choice and desire maximum flexibility in employment.

2. You may consider the associate degree (normally a two year degree) which will focus more on technical skills, but provides an excellent background for those planning to continue onto their BSN at a later time. The benefit of the two year associate degree is it allows the LPN to obtain the needed credentials more quickly, providing them the opportunity to enter the workforce at a higher salary in a shorter time period.

3. The third option is the diploma, which is a two to three year intensive study in nursing; this was common before the 1970s, but continues in limited schools. While the LPN to nursing diploma is certainly an option, the number of schools offering this diploma, are now less than one hundred. While this is certainly a viable option, some may find it limiting, be certain to do your research before making this crucial career decision.

There are many LPN to RN programs for your consideration, and of thing there is a certainty, nursing (in all areas) will continue to be an excellent career choice for many years to come.

There is an abundance of teacher resources available to today’s modern teacher, so many so in fact that it can be daunting to wade through the sheer number of options presented. Let’s face it, publishing houses are not getting any smaller and are producing books at a record rate. Additionally, there is an innumerable amount of personal and professional teaching resources available on the Internet. To make things even more complicated you have traditional publishers creating online content, and online content producers striking deals to have their works published. At the end of the day it is one big hodgepodge of teach resources all fighting for your attention and classroom budget.

Classroom budgets aren’t getting any larger either, in fact they’re downright vanishing; making it all the more important for you to invest your limited resources in purchasing only the best teaching aids available. Ideally you want to turn to resources that are created by professionals from within the field of education. These folks have on-the-job training that is invaluable to the final end product. Consider this: who would you rather learn from? Someone who spent years studying the issues facing teachers, or someone who spent years actually facing those issues head-on.

How to Thrive and Survive in Your Classroom is a program created by three education professionals with years of experience in the field of teaching. These guys know their stuff, and have worked tirelessly to create a program that passes their experience on to you in an accessible and easy to follow way. Their learn at your own pace program is designed specifically for teachers on a hectic schedule who find themselves at a loss for managing and maintaining their classrooms. It is not so much reeducation as it is refining current education, and molding existing knowledge into a more useful paradigm.

Travel agents often are very experienced travelers in their own right, and use these experiences to provide their clients with the most current travel packages available. Successful travel agents also take several courses and achieve certifications in their chosen field to maintain their abilities to offer top of the line service. The more education an agent has, the better assistance they will be able to provide to their customers.

There are many educational courses available, through conferences and as well as college courses available in many technical schools. There are also great online programs that offer many certificates for travel agents. Many of the courses teach about typical business practices and how to properly run a business.

Technology and specific computer programs relating to the industry are all explained in these courses as well. There are courses that teach an agent about reservation programs, as well as how to work with clients, how to create profitable packages for clients and about the laws and regulations that must be taken into consideration when traveling.

The more courses you take, the more courses you will likely want to take in the future. The benefit to your business and networking abilities will benefit mightily from the courses you take. These courses are also great for anyone trying to work their way up in an agency or to make themselves more competitive in their field. Specialized skills and advanced certified knowledge is always an advantage in any business world. It will definitely increase your own marketability if you have a way of actually displaying the knowledge you have attained. Employers often base decisions on the certifications of their candidates. Someone with little or no professional experience or training will ultimately have gain more to enhance their resume.

Many courses are available through community colleges and the online college world. Online courses are particularly helpful to many professionals because you actually create your own schedule from the ground up. If you are older and you are raising a family and you are wishing to go to school, online courses may be the very best way to go. If, however you are the kind of student who does much better with a hands on classroom experience, you certainly should avail yourself of the college experience.

There are also courses that are more highly regarded by the international and national tourism industry. There are very many distinguished agencies and accreditation societies that rank the different courses and finding the most admired and accredited courses available to you is of course the best idea. Doing adequate research online will also make choosing the appropriate course for your goals a much easier task.

When referring to drafting international commercial contract, high-profile facility agreement, and other commercial transaction designations as well as legal research & publication, Western-educated lawyers, legal practitioners, and legal researchers are often judged to be much more qualified than the Asian/African-educated ones.

By far, legal education in Asia is deemed lacking resources, from which other negative aspects were laid claim to; meager publications, lack of qualified instructors, as well as requiring sophistication and spontaneity from the legal practitioners and non-practitioners.

In retrospect to the cause of the above mental phenomenon, it is true that law was initially fabricated within the Western world; and over myriad of decades, laws in the Western world have become much more sophisticated and civilized than the Asian and African jurisdictions. It is even true when most law firms in Asia and Africa are owned, directed and even named after one or more Western lawyers. Law firms, law associations, law schools and other legal entities offering legal services would attract more clients or be entrusted with more esteems than the local-owned ones.

Once I have thought that cross-border business transaction and diplomacy would gravely alleviate the above status quo, but in fact it does not. But thanks to the large numbers of Western legal scholars and professors who have committed to building legal foundations for Asians and the Africans and their desires to help us in legislating our own laws. So we must be more than ready to solidify our own legal foundations, augment our being meager legal resources, and if the Western legal scholars really want to help us, they must be ready to build Asian-oriented/African-oriented legal resources and foundations.

A Western legal scholar who wishes not to be named, said that if western professors really care about you and the other five billion people living outside North American and Western Europe they would go to work in your country at its wages and use the expertise that they have gained at the expense of the standard of living of the majority of the people in the world to give something back. This is what the Asia, Africa and the Middle East, particularly need to press for; shifting resources back towards use in favor of the majority of the people in the world.

I am seeing African, Asian and the Middle Eastern law schools rising to the challenges of creating their own foundations and the legal resources originated from their owned jurisdictions, which are as good as the West. Western professors who want to enhance legal education in Africa, Asia and Middle East shall go to teach in these places for local wages or help these schools to get access to the best research resources that are available in western schools, and which in some cases have been stolen from the South. It is really true that many law schools in Asia, Africa or the Middle East have professors who understand international law better than their colleagues in Western law schools and we are seeing an increasing number of law students in Asia, Africa or the Middle East are more qualified and sophisticated than the Western-educated ones, who are being crazed with gluts of resources, since they have striven to absorbed and achieved from the meager legal resources.

Without existence of commercial, labor, and administrative courts, and internationally standardized commercial arbitration entity with international jurisdiction, like Singapore, Hong Kong and other business nations, and its meager legal resources, Cambodian law students, legal practitioners and non-practitioners shall see these challenges and be ready to penetrate through these barricades, in order to shatter this status quo.

I have a dream that one day we will stand in the equal footing to enter into legal competition with just anyone from anywhere in this globalized world.

The opinion expressed in this comment is the personal opinion of Mr. Lay Vicheka himself, and TOTALLY does not related to any workplace and association with which he is affiliated with.

Woo-hee!  This is a scary concept - having a colleague come in to your classroom to observe your teaching (and then to give you feedback).  I know it’s intimidating (for a lot of reasons), but I’m going to write about it anyway and encourage you to access this as a feedback method.  Here are some ideas to keep in mind when you considering inviting someone to observe you as you teach.

First, think about who you might ask.  You could invite

• An experienced instructor in your own department - whom you know well.
• An experienced instructor in your own department - whom you don’t know well, other than by reputation.
• An experienced instructor in another department - whom you know well.
• An experienced instructor in another department - whom you don’t know well, other than by reputation.
• Someone who has been assigned as a peer mentor.
• Someone who has been assigned as an experienced faculty mentor.
• Someone from your institution’s faculty teaching/learning center (or one of their specially-trained faculty consultants).
• A graduate student from your department (or an undergraduate student from your department (or another one).

There are many ways to set up the observation, but here are a few guidelines:

1. Ask the person if s/he would be willing to observe your teaching and provide you with feedback.  If the answer is yes, proceed.  If no, thank the person and assure that there are “no worries.”
2. Determine a time that is mutually convenient for the two of you.
3. Discuss the expectation of confidentiality - both for your students’ sakes as well as yours.
4. Provide whatever background information the other person might need about your teaching, the particular lesson you’re teaching, the students in the class, and any other pertinent context.
5. Define, as specifically as possibly, what you want the other person to ‘look for.’  If no direction is provided, then the feedback you may receive could end up being less than helpful.  In addition, the other person may feel like a ship adrift when walking into your classroom and in fact, feel less confident that if the direction had been provided.
6. Discuss the ways that the observer could make notes, depending on his/her style as well as whether or not you have a particular form you want used.  In many cases, I felt most comfortable using a laptop where I could script nearly everything that was said, much faster than I could have hand written it (plus, with a laptop, at least someone could read it later!!)
7. Set up a time when the two of you can debrief.  Note:  The debrief is better sooner rather than later in terms of making sure that memories are still intact about what happened in the classroom interactions.

Note that there is significant risk in this process unless you are absolutely comfortable with the person observing your teaching and that person, likewise, is comfortable playing this role. If the person you chose declines - for perfectly understandable reasons - resist applying pressure of any kind. The simple fact that you invited him or her to participate in the process might plant a seed that will bear fruit at some later time. Note too that an informal assessment may be especially useful when there is a formal process in place that you must satisfy later - your colleague’s observation can serve as a trial run. Therefore arrange it far enough advance so that you have time to make changes based upon its feedback.

Having a colleague observe your classroom and give you feedback is invaluable - regardless of whether you are an outstanding teacher or someone who is struggling a bit.  I won essentially every award available at my institution and had observers constantly - and it helped me.  AND, sometimes, I asked observers to attend my class because I was struggling with an entire class or a whole group.  It was always scary - and always helpful, too.  Don’t miss this chance for growth.

The law school admissions test or LSAT, as it is more commonly known, is one of the most rigorous of all the professional studies exams. It is meant to separate the wheat from the chafe amongst law school applicants. It is important law school applicants and LSAT test takers leave themselves ample time for complete preparation. Preparation often includes utilizing numerous resources that exist to support the LSAT test taker, including: forums, discussion boards and blogs. All of these are places where like minded students can gather, brainstorm and mull over tips and strategies prior to the exam.

The LSAT draws so much attention on forums and discussion boards because the exam is a behemoth of an exam, lasting nearly a half day. In addition, the exam is required by nearly every law school in the United States and Canada. Law Schools rely on the exam because it is considered to be a standardized measure for evaluating candidates from different undergraduate backgrounds. The exam is administered four times per year in locations all around the United States, with a few select testing sites overseas.

Students are turning more and more to forums and discussion boards partially because new technology and social media have made meeting and discussing the exam so much easier. Even more importantly, those taking the LSAT have found that such collaboration in preparation for the exam can be very beneficial to the final score they earn when they sit for the exam. Those preparing for the exam are often out of the school and are out studying on their own. Not surprisingly, any opportunity to pool resources and collaborate can have a big effect on the test experience and outcome.

Thus, no matter which of the four annual LSAT exams you are planning on taking you should leave yourself with plenty of time for LSAT prep and discussion. Collaborating with others preparing for the exam is one sure fire way to really improve your score and, ultimately, get you into a top law school. Good luck!

The City of Caracas, the capitol of Venezuela, is home to many varied interests and attractions, but one of the most fascinating and interesting, are its schools of learning. Higher education in Caracas has a long-standing tradition, stretching back three hundred years, to the colonization of the new world, even before the founding of the United States of America. The schools of Caracas range in size and scope, the nature of their funding and the way in which they recruit students.

The schools of Caracas range from the Universidad Central de Venezuela, the largest, most respected and the oldest public university in Venezuela founded in 1721 by King Philip V of Spain, to the Universidad Bolivariana de Venezuela, the most recent of the major schools and the most controversial school of Caracas, founded in 2003 by presidential decree of Hugo Chavez. The former school is known for its rich tradition and history while the other is thought to be a propaganda mouthpiece of the socialist president of Venezuela.

In the middle of the extremes, are schools like the Universidad Simón Bolívar, or USB.
USB is a public school located in Caracas, whose scientific and technological focus is well respected around the world. Its graduates are known to possess some of the highest professional standards in the world. Engineering and science students come from all over South America to study at this prestigious school and international corporations have been known to poach students in their final years for work. Its architecture is likewise iconic, making it a destination for tourists to Caracas and beyond.

One of the more interesting schools of Caracas is the Universidad Católica Andrés Bello, or UCAB. A religious university founded by the “Episcopado Venezolano a la Compañía de Jesús”, or the Jesuit Order in 1953, it specializes in religious education for the priesthood of the church, providing solid education and support to the 18,000 members of the worldwide Jesuit Order. A catholic-run school, it’s private and admits only those it invites to its halls, creating an air of mystery that has inspired local legends of mysterious catacombs, a reliquary of immense proportions and the idea that the school possesses pieces of the true cross.

Other universities in Caracas include such schools as the Universidad Metropolitana, the Universidad Nacional Experimental Simón Rodríguez and the Universidad Santa Maria. Also in Caracas are the Universidad Pedagógica Experimental Libertador, the Universidad José María Vargas, the Universidad Monteavila, the Universidad Nueva Esparta, the Universidad Experimental Politécnica Antonio José de Sucre, Universidad Alejandro de Humboldt and Universidad Bolivariana de Venezuela.

These schools range in age from several years to several decades, founded by prestigious and influential members of Venezuelan society, corporations and business associations for the betterment of the people of Caracas. Each focuses on specific fields of study, with expert faculty and well-regarded curriculum’s. Unlike many so-called universities of Latin America or the Caribbean nations, Caracas ‘ schools rarely have any problems with other, more first-world schools recognizing their credits.