This infographic highlights how the ideal traits of Waterfall and Agile software development align with common project needs.

Do you realize how close you are to turning your dreams into your reality? If you could see how close you are to success, you’d be kicking yourself that you haven’t just reached out to grab it yet. The truth is, no matter how much you feel like a failure, success is literally waiting to flood your life. The only thing you have to do, is tear down the “Success Floodgates” holding it back. Here’s 3 “Success Floodgates” holding back your dreams: 1. Making Excuses If we choose someone successful to look at as an example, like Steve Jobs, we’ll

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we wanted to again summarize the main taboos and especially warn you of what not to do in meetings and give you a few suggestions...

Do you realize how close you are to turning your dreams into your reality? If you could see how close you are to success, you’d be kicking yourself that you haven’t just reached out to grab it yet. The truth is, no matter how much you feel like a failure, success is literally waiting to flood your life. The only thing you have to do, is tear down the “Success Floodgates” holding it back. Here’s 3 “Success Floodgates” holding back your dreams: 1. Making Excuses If we choose someone successful to look at as an example, like Steve Jobs, we’ll

Governments play a pivotal role in society, one which defines the fate of the citizens they govern. But the way governments operate is not same, in fact the variation is immense. Governments are like our fingers of our hands; just like each finger has its own length and shape, different…

It's impossible to figure out how to outline any one aspect of your story in isolation. Instead, learn 3 ways to "bob and weave" from one to the next.

Recently, I was invited to conduct a workshop at a tutoring center about how to effectively take notes for school. I thought I would share some of the things we discussed! This is the main handout I gave to the students. Each student received a colored copy of this to understand the importance of colors and style of layout for note-taking. Note-taking is an essential skill that has to be mastered by students in order to excel. Apart from helping in retaining information and thereby making it easier to revise for tests, it is a valuable skill that is even useful during adulthood. It can be used at work during meetings, or at talks of interest. It's a skill that never loses its value. How many times have you gone for an exam after studying from the textbook or slides and gotten out of the exam wondering where some of the questions even came from? Those questions are most likely from something your teacher had mentioned in class and should be in your notes! Taking notes isn't just an activity a person does during class and completely ignores during any other time of day. It's highly important to get into the habit of working on it before and after class as well, if you'd like to excel in your studies! Before class, skim through next lessons texts. If you develop a slight understanding of what the teacher will discuss in the following class, it will definitely help in your note-taking, rather than going into class with absolutely no idea of what to expect. After class, go through your notes as soon as you can. While the points of class are still fresh in your mind, attempt to fill out any missing parts and organize your notes to make it clear and easy to understand. As for during class, there are many things to remember: Do's: *If you're in a physical classroom (rather than online), make sure to sit in the front row! Being right in front of the teacher helps in keeping yourself from getting distracted during class, and boosts your concentration level. From what I know, students that sit in the back generally tend to chitchat more with friends during class, and it can get distracting for students trying to stay focused! *Use legible handwriting. 2 months down the line when you're trying to study and can't figure out what in the world you wrote in your notebook...it will be frustrating. Don't write too big or too small, and keep the spacing consistent. As a rule of thumb, between each word there should be enough space to fit the letter "o". Also, find pens that work great for you. I find ball point pens to work the best and gel pens to make my writing messy. *Understand the lecture as you write. Don't keep writing without understanding as the notes won't make sense later on. *Use symbols and abbreviations. Writing at the same speed as your teacher is talking in is not an easy task. With the help of symbols and abbreviations, you can speed up the task. Here's an example of some: Source Make up some of your own if they help you in class! Just make a key somewhere in your notebook so that you don't forget in the future. Also, looking up what is coming up in the following class beforehand helps a lot as you can decide if you want to abbreviate any long words that will come up constantly. For example, if you're in History class and are learning about the French Revolution, it will take up too much time to keep writing "French Revolution" over and over again. Write down "FR = French Revolution" on the top of the page so you know what it refers to in your notes. *Figure out a method that works for you. Not every method will work for everyone. I will show you some examples of methods in this post! *Have revision sessions with your friends. Discussing concepts helps to engrave it in your mind for longer, and you will develop a better understanding of theories if you have someone to talk to about it. *Use COLORS! Make diagrams! It should be fun to look at. Don'ts *Don't write down everything word for word that the teacher is saying. Condense it and grasp the bigger concepts. Add examples as well for better understanding. Write it in your own words, not your teacher's. Simplify. *Don't write everything on the PowerPoint slides. You will be given access to these most likely, so it wastes time to write the same thing in class. If you're not given access, ask your teacher for them. *Don't get distracted while in class. Losing concentration due to checking your Facebook or talking to friends while in class can make you lose out some concepts in class. *Don't be shy to ask the teacher questions! The teacher is there for a reason and would love to answer your questions. It makes them happy when the students get involved!* *Don't cramp too much information on one sheet of paper. This makes it difficult to revise later on. As you can see in the example of the handout I passed out, there are some white spaces on the paper. It makes the page easier to read, and one can also write notes on it during revision time if anything extra is needed. Methods Print PowerPoint Slides: For those classes that have PowerPoint presentations in every session, an option is to print out multiple slides (4-6) on one page and write notes around that. This makes it easier during revision as you just have one reference point rather than going back and forth between your notes and the slides. Also, you'll have to write less during class. However, a lot of printing is involved, and not many people are up for that. Also there isn't as much writing space as a typical notebook. Here's an image of how to do it: Image Source Cornell Note-Taking System: This is possibly the most organized method, and is the best way to test yourself while reviewing as well. Here is the handout that was given in the workshop: Image Source In this system, 2 lines are drawn out on each page, one on the bottom for the summary, on one on the left side, which is known as the Cue Column. The largest section is the column on the right side, where the class notes go. Bullet points are recommended. The Cue Column is to be filled out after class. Here, apart from key points, you can also form questions. It's like the TV show "Jeopardy", where the answers are in front of you and you come up with the questions. This is great for revising, as you can cover the Note-taking Column and ask yourself the questions you wrote. Writing the summary down on the bottom ensures you understand the concepts and it's great for referring back to the pages when you are revising for tests. This is an extremely effective method! Rewriting notes after class: Ok, we're down to the method that I used while in university. Everyday, I'd go home and write my class notes all over again, using colors, drawing diagrams and using post-its. That was my idea of fun :) Apart from making the notes visually pleasing, it helped me revise all of the concepts and I understood class material a lot better this way. When the notes were colorful and neat, it made me WANT to open my book and study! It was definitely a method that worked for me, but all of my friends thought I was crazy :) One thing is for sure, you need to have time on your hands to work on your notes. In university, my only responsibility was to get good grades, as I lived with my parents. Rewriting notes not only helped me to digest the material better, but it allowed me to be a little creative as well, and I enjoyed that. I'm going to post some of my notes here. I did it in different steps. After I got married, I continued being a student in online classes. As time went on, I had less and less time on my hands. So my notes posted below are in 3 stages: (1) University days: Most free-time. Used colored pens, did drawings, printed pictures. (2) After getting married: more responsibilities. Still managed to rewrite notes, but only used highlighters and post-its. (3) After having a baby: No free time! Didn't rewrite notes, just highlighted after class and used post-its for vocabulary. The bare minimum that should be done after class is displayed in the last picture, highlighting. Normally I wouldn't highlight so much for classes like Science or Math, but if there is Literature involved, I tend to highlight the entire verses for quick reference. Finally, the last thing I discussed in the workshop was how to take Math notes. This can be quite tricky as it is not like the other subjects, but I found a video online that I feel will be very helpful to Math students: Video Source What YOU need to do now is figure out what method works best for you! With the correct mindset, you can make writing class notes effective and fun at the same time! I hope you enjoyed this post! Don't forget to Like this page on Facebook and Follow me on Pinterest! Thanks for visiting! Linked to: A Bowl Full of Lemons Remodelaholic Sweet Haute The Style Sisters Sweet Bella Roos

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18 easy and low to no cost coping skills...great ideas for overwhelmed kids and teens.

I use a variety of resources to help me in my journey towards a differentiated classroom, and I've had so many readers ask which resources I find most useful so I thought I would share a few of the things that have been helpful for me. I decided to separate this into two different posts. This post will focus on actual printed resources or guides that I use and later I will show you specific items and tools that I use in my class (including some items I wish I had but haven't acquired yet). Above all, resources that I feel have been most helpful to me are any and all publications by the Differentiated Instruction guru, Carol Ann Tomlinson. She is the queen of D.I. I'd LOVE to meet her someday but until then, I stalk her through her publications and books. My favorites are: This is a super easy read, tons of great 'get right to work' suggestions and ideas. Great resource guide for elementary specifically. Great read for those getting started. Knowing that instruction should focus on core principals, I also reference the following website quite a bit to keep up on the latest Common Core State Standards for Kindergarten. It's a great reference site for everything Common Core. A couple of guides that I have made up myself that help me greatly in my day-to-day planning are: Click on the picture above to get a copy of the explanation. And this template I use (not as much anymore more but quite a bit when I first started out) to remind me of the what process I should use for tiering. You can click on the form to get a copy for yourself. Another chart that I use quite often when I think about differentiating in response to learning profiles and intelligences is I put this in the front of my planner to remind me of all the intelligences I should be considering when planning learning centers and other activities. If you'd like a copy for yourself, just click on the picture above to download it. These are just a few references that I use regularly to keep me on the straight and narrow. If you have any great resources that you use, please drop me a comment. I'd love to hear from you. And come back and check out my favorite tools used for differentiating in the next couple of weeks.

Do you have a family tree mystery that might be solved by a medical record? I do. My grandfather had an aunt who immigrated from Norway to North Dakota in 1915. She was married in 1917 and our records show that her husband died around 1920. We cannot find records of her after her marriage in 1917, but oral family history says that she may have spent some time in an asylum.

Can research actually be fun and engaging for kids? You bet! These Research Project Posters are super student friendly and help guide your students in what exactly to research. And they are perfect for students to display their research!

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A four-step approach to using a powerful model that increases student agency in learning.

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This infographic shows the difference between men and women project managers, both in their career industries and their salaries.