Elaine

Teaching itself is a unique invention. The process of becoming a creative teacher is like the process of thinking creatively. If you count on your education courses, the classes youve given, your students contributions, youll be disappointed. You may learn about the subject being taught, the childrens nature, the learning process, the methodology, and institutional materials; however, all of this will never be sufficient. You may inform yourself about the gifted student, or the one with special needs. Even then, you will not have unveiled everything. Added up, all these will not prepare you to teach. They will need to be combined with your own abilities and potential, plus the needs of your students in such a way that theyll lead you to your very own invention: your unique way of teaching. This unique invention is tremendously important to teach creativity or to teach creatively, leading the students to the discovery and use of their own potential. The search for a pre-established goal - the invention of your own way of teaching - emerges from you own creative process.

If you fail, you will gain consciousness of your deficiencies and defects; you will know the existing gaps in your strategies and techniques; and you will discover the holes in your knowledge. You will base yourself on your life experiences and you will seek out indicators of how to improve your performance over the next try. You will have to read a lot. From then on, you study what you read and your questioning evolves increasingly. You will come to see things never before realized. Therefore, you will come to formulate and bet on hypothesis, and to search for solutions. You will become creative for you will be problem-solving. You yourself will be trying to become a good teacher through the experience of Methodology of Creative Action. Through your attempts, from the ecstatic successes and the acceptance of mistakes plus the very exclusion of these in the process, you will be vivifying the occurrence of your own invention itll be you being the teacher youve always wanted to be!

Paul Torrance used to say: Your own personality resources, your intellectual resources, your needs and abilities and those of your students, plus the expectations of the community to which youll be teaching interact to determine the most effective materials and methodology. It is possible, however, to derive some general principles from the experience and research thatll increase the chances that your teaching will increment and promote the potential of talented children. It is possible to create teaching methodology and materials that will be based on already tested principles. It is the teachers creative task to combine them to answer to the needs and abilities of the students, maintaining the harmony with their own needs and abilities.

TOP 10 REQUIREMENTS FOR A TEACHER TO CREATE

To teach creativity it is required that a teacher be greatly receptive to activities of listening, feeling and seeing the world. S/he needs to be, on his/her own, of upbeat personality, polite, curious and excited about the students learning, completely free of hostile attitudes and punishment when it comes to the students. A teacher can never have tendencies to punish. S/he has to be able to let one thing or a fact lead to another thing or yet another fact.

There exist some teachers who are used to placing the responsibility for not being creative on facts and things in the environment, accommodating as such over the years. Of course, in the environment, within society, and the educational system, there also exist many forces which inhibit the individuality of the creative teacher, which leads him/her to conform. In the search for our very own best way to teach, an analysis of the most common inhibiting forces is the least we should do.

They are:

1. Random thinking versus absorbing thought
2. Lack of time to think and to dream
3. Lack of intellectual honesty
4. Desperate mind
5. No more investigation and exploration
6. No more in-depth investigation of new things
7. Deterioration of imagination reserves
8. No more jotting ideas down
9. Fear of individuality
10. Not being yourself anymore

When we analyze each and every one of the 10 items considered obstacles for the creative teachers, we have:

1. When you try to be the only inventor of your very own way of teaching, there are times in which you have to concentrate on the problem. Some people incorrectly associate invention and discovery with mere chance, with random behavior. It is true that many good ideas seem to occur when the person is relaxed in the tub, during religious services, by the pool. However, these occurrences are ALWAYS preceded by attentive concentration during which the mind maintained itself occupied with the problem in question.

2. The absorbing thought takes up your time. The clock is a tyrant and much can be done to soften its tyranny. The activities have to be developed with authenticity. Dont freak out. Set aside a part of your day for some free time, dont be reserved about daydreaming occasionally, and dont be embarrassed if someone catches you floating outside reality, thinking and concentrating on something that interest only you.

3. We are rarely honest with ourselves when it comes doing things that truly interest us. To become the creator of your own manner of teaching, you have to free yourself from all the coverings and masks that hide you inside your won work; from all your beliefs that are false; and from all conventions and forms that are outdated.

4. Some people think that the more you know, the less you are capable of invention and discovery. That is false. According to Pasteur, the chances increase for the prepared minds. But there is a paradox here. Familiarity along with existing knowledge is necessary to attain more knowledge; however, the existence of previous knowledge about a certain problem can become an impediment to its solution. Pre-concepts are accused of hindering discoveries.

5. For the teacher, there can never be one single period in which the experimentation process and that of testing will cease.

6. In general, the students complain about studying and having to repeat certain topics, thinking that the emphasis causes discouragement. This occurs because the students have not dominated the ability of looking to the subjects approached with neither different things nor great depth. From studies on perception, however, it is clear that an objects meaning changes as we change the point and perspective through which we object it. Previously forgotten details can suddenly become extremely important. After we change the goals or after we obtain additional information, the meaning of something changes as well. Many are the inventions and discoveries through the deliberate use of certain methods, which made the familiar strange and the strange familiar.

7. The person will have difficulty in thinking creatively if her brain isnt rich in memories. Mental reserves filled with images will be useful to the creative teachers when s/he is searching for his/her own invention. One way of enriching the imagination is through the developing consciousness of the environment followed by detailed experimentation. This will be possible through sensory experiences, first-hand experiences, through personal identification with other professionals, through involvement with life. Another effective way is through immersion within world literature.

8. We feel deprived of ideas until the day in which we decide to write them down. Then our lives change! We frequently stop fixating on our own ideas, failing to capture them more so because they occur in inappropriate and uncommon places than because they occur where wed like them to. Even the children have to be guided regarding the importance of holding ideas, taking notes to be used in the future, or to develop them when the opportunity comes.

9. It is difficult to free ourselves from the opinion that people formulate about us. We are always trying to adjust to the expectations of others, to the fact that we shouldnt harm nor offend. This causes us to severely reduce our potentialities. Very few of the creative who contributed magnificently to society were popular or well-accepted by others. In fact, many of them were hated. The creative person always has something urgent to say and is constantly searching for new aspects of the truth.

10. Perhaps the best advice to be given to the teacher whos being capacitated in creativity is:

Be yourself if you wish to contribute with any original thing that you believe to be worthwhile. This is a piece of advice difficult to receive because we are hindered by our pretension and/or shyness, our doubts and weaknesses, beyond the confused self-concepts.

Seek to know the value of your intuitions. Treat them with care and cultivate the conditions to give them the means to sprout and grow. The process of becoming a creative teacher is, finally, an exciting adventure which brings unexpected returns. Trust in your dreams and from them, build your reality.

Dr. Eliane Leao is a native of Brazil, South America. She has a background in Education from Purdue University (Masters) and a PhD in the Department of Educational Psychology from the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP)/Purdue University (Ph.D.). Dr. Leao has also three Bachelors degrees, one in Piano, another in Musical Education, and a third in Voice. Dr. Leao is currently a professor of Music Education and Music Therapy conducting research on the influence of Music in Early Childhood Learning.

Dr. Leao hopes that the trials and successes of her family may inspire and convince other parents to stimulate their children during early childhood so that they may enjoy a rich, stimulating, integrated, and happy life always. Visit our site at: http://www.baby-can-read.com for free articles, ebook and free giveaways!

At the turn of the 21st Century, there was an explosion in information and the way it was delivered. Advertising firms, marketing organizations and businesses of every type across the globe needed to adjust their thinking and strategies moving forward. The Internet was changing the way everyone exchanged information and did business everyday, and it was really starting to show (this time).

Winning companies were sprouting up all over, profits were being made, conversion was key, spam was out, traffic was on the increase and so were online sales. There was a belief that anyone could be successful online, your company size and wallet did not determine your placement or success online. Just show up in the first two pages of Yahoo!, and you were in business (Google came later). The cost of Internet entry was certainly not prohibitive.

After a little while came PPC Advertising (Pay-Per-Click), what a concept... You select search terms or keyword phrases in the likes of Google and Yahoo! and you get placed at the top of the search results when anyone searches using those terms. If they click on your link, you pay a predetermined amount. Hmmm, it seems to me that this puts the corporations with big pockets at the top again but has it really?

It would also make sense that, as those terms/phrases increase in cost (based on bidding and popularity), that lower profits are the potential. Oh, and you do get some Branding effect from this activity as well exposure, market awareness, etc. However, ALL of your customers do come from the same basket paid search. What happens when your online company stops their PPC Ad campaign? Are you virtually out of business? Does it account for 90% of your online sales? Now its your business thats starting to sound similar to Google. The biggest benefit IMO is that results can be almost instant.

There are people (we call them visitors/ surfers/ prospects), that know these sponsored PPC links are paid advertising, and there are surfers who do not even know there is a difference in the results they are seeing (organic vs. ppc links its true). Some will not click on paid links because they have come to realize that those results are not necessarily the best content or even the most relevant websites to their search query. Some never click on paid links, but millions do.

One irritating and costly downside? - Click Fraud. Yep, the practice of your competitors clicking on your ad links just to cost you money. Thats silly, why is it we cant cure this? Qualified visitors (?), click-throughs you technically paid for - that never landed on your website (O.K., they landed, but they didnt stay, or look around, and had no intention of buying). A refund scenario of 10 to 47% of our annual online ad budget does not propel their stock value.

Through 2005, businesses discovered that a long-term multi-faceted marketing approach was necessary to succeed online. Buzzwords were abound like PPC, keyword phrases, search engine optimization, organic search results, and SERPS (search engine results/ranking pages served). We had link farms, aging delays, and even play in a sandbox. This was a time for intense analysis. Growing log files with too much information, leaving room for outright misinterpretation. Panic from your web people with every Google algorithm update whisper.

Even the inexperienced webmaster knew when there was some search engine update happening by watching their ranking reports and log file statistics, visiting the forums, or even reading todays newspapers. Like futureware (software & hardware coming attractions), these updates are given nicknames like Bourbon or Jagger and can be multi-phase or multi-part updates, these updates should not be confused with the Google Dance another story altogether.

The bottom line is that these algorithm updates wreak havoc with some webmasters and their website(s) based on the techniques that were used or new algorithm values or de-values that were once considered popular or have evolved with time. What webmasters thought they did to optimize their pages, has suddenly been found (filtered) to be less relevant than they had anticipated & intended. Instead of focusing on the user and improving the actual content on the pages (site), they put effort into what they thought the search engines were looking for (at that time). Some of these firms then find themselves falling in their historic organic rankings (by 10 or 300 positions), or they do not find their company (ranking) at all anymore. There is a better approach, in my opinion.

Many webmasters and even some suggested SEO professionals fear these updates. You should be aware that the top 3 search engines are going through updates all the time. Why would you be afraid? We actually look forward to these updates.

As is the intent, with every update some cleaning house takes place in these directories and the ramifications are generally swift at a minimum. It helps our client sites to have some of the fluff being removed from the resource directory, or put in their proper perspective based upon the new algorithm criteria. What I mean is, if the update was newly filtering some spammy sites or relevancy issues it could be likely that some websites above mine in the rankings for my keywords got removed or moved down or out which effectively moves my website up that many positions. It is important to note that we made no edits to our website to invoke this recent increase in our rankings. You can actually see this take place using before and after update testing.

You have a good website with good content and good ease of use, you are a leader in your industry and you show everyone why, right within your website so your website IS the leader in its field online. All of your offline marketing activities also promote this fact. Now you work to convert that good content into great content and continue to add relative content, and improving conversions - which increases your links, popularity, authority and ultimately qualified traffic. Did I mention some patience is required? Expectations should be set realistically, and it should be a long-term marketing approach to winning online.

Diversify your online marketing activities and budget. You can still Own your Category Online! You have qualified traffic coming in from so many different resources that a single hiccup in one area does not impact your bottom line so negatively.

Starting today, take the presence you have online and improve upon it. This is your business; one of the goals is to build it. Take some time to learn the web page marketing fundamentals, implement them without prejudice (always considering the human user), get your website linked up with other like types per page, making your business a part of your Industry hubs online. Donate a worthwhile article or two, and drop a press release with your new product release information and USPs. You will find these suggestions to be quite successful.

No amount of prayer or sacrifice to the Search Engine Gods will work. With a positive white hat human user mindset, and successful implementation of good Titles to your great content plus a comprehensive sitemap page linked from your home page, mixed in with all your other promotions, - you really dont have to worry about Search Engine and Directory updates. You may even find yourself looking forward to future updates. Because when these concepts are implemented properly you are much less vulnerable to periodic hiccups in organic search ranking which, in some cases can, and has - put people literally out of business online.

Try just leaving some great content alone for 60 or 90 days (continuing external promotions and link building, of course). You can begin seeing more upward ranking trends even with the algorithm changes taking place. Based upon years of our clients statistics and continued ranking results, we are simply sharing some concepts, that above all, - have proven successful in ranking endurance within the engines. These concepts do not include the frantic worry and (over) reaction that could actually hinder your organic website ranking results.

Oh yeah, one more thing - anyone clicking on our organic links a thousand times? - does not cost us a penny.

Good Luck Everyone!

- Scott

Written by and Copyright Scott Sedwick, www.hyperformancemedia.com

Scott is the Founder and Sr. Internet Marketing Specialist for Hyperformance Media, Inc. a website marketing firm located just outside of Chicago, IL (Since 1996). Specifically, he has over 24 years of sales and marketing experience and accomplishment in the computer industry.

http://www.hyperformancemedia.com

Returning to college after a long hiatus from the classroom can be very intimidating, scary, and frustrating. But as an older college student you actually have an advantage. There are many success tips that will help you to use your advantage to gain you the respect of your instructors and classmates, as well as keep an above standard grade point average and pad your resume.

One of the greatest success tips for older college students is to use your age to your advantage. Draw on your life experiences, work experiences, and relationships to come up with unique, creative answers to questions. Promote further discussion about a topic in the classroom or a study group by giving your input based on years of experience. This will not only earn you respect, but high grades for participation and creativity.

You can also apply these success tips outside of the classroom. There are many opportunities for college students to take advantage of such as internships, student teacher assignments, and positions on the school newspaper. Use your skills, talents, and experience to edge in on these opportunities. It will look good on your resume, and give you another way to connect with the other students.

One of the best success tips for getting great grades on group projects is to use your leadership ability. Those returning to college after exhausting or leaving another career path have already developed amazing leadership skills. Use those skills to drive your study group to success and earn you, and them, an A.

Other success tips for older college students include getting involved in competitions and mentoring. Most colleges compete in many competitions, and your experience through life and work will put you in a unique position to win these contests at a land slide. Colleges also have mentoring or student counseling volunteers, which you could also get your foot in on based on your previous career path. This will give you a wonderful opportunity to pass on your own success tips to younger students. Better yet, these activities will pad your resume with a show of leadership and practical skills.

There are many other success tips for older college students. You can find more information online or through self help books. Also, many colleges require an academics for business professionals course for returning college students that will arm you with more success tips than you would have thought possible. If you are at all nervous about attending college for the first or the second time, you should discuss possible success tips with the college admissions or academics counselors.

Mario Churchill is a freelance author and has written over 200 articles on various subjects. To achieve Success and Happiness and to earn more money checkout his website today.

If you don't own a home, I'm sure you have dreamed of owning one. If you do own a home and have lived in it for awhile, you are probably dreaming of ways you can change the look of either one room or maybe even the entire home. Wood flooring might be an option to consider. There are many magazines now days that are designed to appeal to your decorating senses. You can get tips from just about anything in the home you might ever want to redecorate or remodel. Many give detailed instructions on how to (whatever it is you are wanting to do). This article will explore ways of using wood flooring to enhance the appearance and value of your home.

Wood flooring has come a long ways from back when. It has always been a very popular way of decorating floors, but in the past it required much more work to keep up. Just like anything now days, it's all about convenience. Wood flooring is now easy to install and clean. We live in such a busy world that we just don't have time to spend on many household chores so we are always looking for ways to make short cuts. With the new wood flooring choices available today, clean up is quick and easy. Installation has become very simple and most people can install their own wood flooring.

You used to find wood flooring in older homes that had a country appeal to them or log homes that were made rustic and very outdoorsy. Although wood flooring goes very well with these two types of themes, you will find many newer more modern look homes sharing the same type of flooring. Wood flooring is very eye appealing. It gives a warm clean appearance and many homes today have included this look in some part of their home. As more and more people are aware of how much dust is collected in carpeting, the choices for other options have become very popular. In some cases, you may find wood flooring throughout the entire home just for those reasons. If someone suffers from allergies or asthma, then it is a smart choice to choose wood flooring.

The new wood flooring comes in many different color shades and many of them have a built in shine already applied to the wood which means no waxing. Most of the wood flooring today requires little upkeep. You simply sweep and wet mop. How easy is that. Besides the nice appearance and ease of care, you cut down on dust mites which can cause many health risks. You can find wood flooring in many carpet and flooring stores, or home improvement and building supply stores.

For more information on flooring try visiting http://flooring-solution.com, a website that specializes in providing helpful flooring tips, advice and resources to include Wood Flooring and more.

Thought I'd do an I Ching for J K Rowling, as she's such a popular author and somewhat usual in her meteoric rise to the top of best-seller lists everywhere.

Surprisingly, it came back with this:

12 Obstruction

Blockage!

___

___ Force - Strong on the outer

___

______

- - -

- - - Field - Receptive on the inner

- - -

No change lines.

Could this mean she will get writer's block?

Looking at the text of this hexagram, it says:

"Unable to advance. Unfortunate. Obstructed by people of little worth and petty aims. Withdrawing."

Can't imagine anyone could stop her from doing anything, she's got too much money and is therefore quite powerful, I would have thought. But read on.

"Adapt by changing your idea of yourself", and it also suggests, "Too much splendour".

Maybe she's overdoing the spending. Although I have read that she does a lot for charity. But then I have also read that she has a house in every country or something similar. Must take its toll trying to manage, or at least keep an eye on all that.

Then it says: "Submitting to one's desires. Negative energy in charge".

I cannot imagine her being negative. But who knows? Maybe she is being like that at the moment for some reason. Maybe, because she has all that money, it does bring a lot of stress with it, and pressure.

Intrigued and wanting to know more, I did a psychic look at the situation as well:

I saw money and logic dominating everything, across the whole radar screen of her life; it being out of balance, and pushing everything else out of the way. Sweeping all other concerns aside.

I saw her as seeing the creative side of things as heavy, too serious, needing all her strength to do it.

It looked like she was stretching and using all her energy to earn money, to the exclusion of all else, and does not have any relaxing creative hobbies, which is harmful to her.

I saw her as being robotic, on a merry-go-round, being controlled (by publishers presumably).

So even though she's a children's author, this suggests she's being overly serious and needs to lighten up a little. I've read that she is anxious to get her messages across in her books, about her political beliefs, about socialism and the importance of sharing. There are a lot of good quotes in them.

I was surprised by these answers. I thought her life would be good, or not too difficult. Perhaps energetic and busy but somehow balanced, and enjoyable of course. Just goes to show how we all see other people and imagine their lives to be. We all want to be her but the reality, in fact, may not be so sweet. She is after all human.

* - * - * - *

I also did her Numerology, which is very interesting. She has something in common with the Dalai Lama! See it on a forthcoming website: mrmonk.co.uk (not quite ready yet). Coming soon.

X - X - X - X

The I Ching can be used to answer your questions and find solutions to the ordinary and the extraordinary. Make decisions and change direction confidently.

You too can benefit from the I Ching's ancient wisdom and know-how.

Email in your first question for free − This is a genuine offer − No spams.

Interests include: self-help, motivation, health, and anything that improves your life. The author uses ancient techniques that have been around for hundreds of years: numerology, I Ching, psychic insight, and astrology, that can provide deep personal insights and wisdom, helping with everything from ailments and depression to a complete overhaul of your life. Choose a career that really suits you, make decisions and find direction. Liberate your playful side, have fun, and get energized about life and living.

Email: mrmmonk@yahoo.co.uk

Golf flexibility is the biggest term you hear when the senior golfer is complaining about lack of distance or a sore back.

Why is this?

Its not a secret that with age comes a decline in physical capabilitiesespecially golf flexibility.

The good news isthe above scenario can be drastically improved with a little bit of effort and consistency.

The biggest and most noticeable change is in backswing range of motion. This can rob you of massive yards off the tee and humiliate you with your golfing buddies.

How many times have you been the shortest hitter off the tee? Be honest now. I know how frustrating that can be and there is a simple solution.

Golf Flexibility!

In this article lets address the backswing.

What is the main cause for an ever-shortening backswing?

Because the golf swing is a rotational movement, it is critical to be able to turn your shoulders at least 90 degrees, while your hips only turn 45 degrees.

This is virtually impossible if you have physical limitations in torso and upper body. While youre ready this articlesit up straight, cross your arms in front of your chest and rotate to the right as far as you can go.

What happened? How far did you go? Since you are seated, this is true rotational flexibility.

If your shoulders only turned back a couple of inches, theres your problem with lack of distance of the tee.

Heres a simple stretch you can do right at your computer. Do it right now!

• Extend your arms straight out, chest high.
• Put your palms together so your fingers are pointing straight out.
• Turn as far as you can to the right.
• Think of only your shoulders doing the rotating.
• Now hold that position for 10-15 seconds.
• Come back to center and repeat that a couple of more times.

How easy was that?

You didnt have to do anything. No going to the gym. You didnt even have to get out of your chair.

This is just one simple golf stretch you can do 2-3 times every day that will make a huge difference in your backswing range of motion.

Improving your golf is all about making it simple!

Dont overwhelm yourself with too much information. Give the above stretch a try and watch out what happens next time you play with your golfing buddies.

You'll soon realize the tremendous benefits of golf flexibility!

About The Author: Mike Pedersen is an Internationally recognized golf flexibility and strength trainer and author. He is Golf Magazines golf performance expert, and founder of several cutting-edge online golf performance membership sites. Take a look at his best selling Golf Fitness Training System at his golf flexibility training site - PerformBetterGolf.com.