Believe me, I've read more than a few excellent books on real estate investing and real estate law, But I am a better Gregory Yates lawyer and dirt the guy than I was ten years ago, practice, practice and more practice. Not only is no substitute for experience. During This Time. If there was a quick and easy solution on how to do this, all we're doing it. you live, you learn, you can move on to the next deal and (hopefully) you'll get better every time.Gregory Yates Attorney
Saturday, December 7, 2013
Saturday, October 19, 2013
How to win an election
With the November elections fast approaching and with more rookies stepping up to the plate to run for political office, many of us realize that we do not know How to win an election. Tea Party groups, 912ers, We the People, and many other conservative groups do not have the deep pockets of the establishment and cannot afford to hire the "experienced" and high priced consultants and campaign managers.
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
Tattoos Of Movies A Good Idea? Things Like Star Wars Or Lord Of The Rings Tattoos?
I have noticed recently that there are a few jobs being posted on the web for custom tattoo designs involving movies. In fact I saw one on my site a day or so ago for a custom star wars tattoo design. This was something that the person wanted to get done that would span across their calves. It was honestly a pretty cool plan for a design and might come out very artistically.
Then a few weeks back I was on about.com's tattoo and body modification website and found they had awarded a tattoo of the week to someone who had gotten a Lord of the Rings Tattoo done on their back. Again the piece is beautiful and very well done.
However with all of these movie tattoos things like star wars tattoos and Lord of the Rings tattoos I have to wonder if it is a good idea. There is a lot of debate in the world of tattooing as to what is a good design to get a tattoo done of. However almost everyone agrees that the most important factor bar none is your own desires and like or dislikes. For example if you went out and got a shooting star tattoo or Celtic cross tattoo just because you heard they were popular right now and you didn't really like it for any other reason then eventually you would grow to hate the tattoo. Sure at first it might be fun to show it off to friends and look cool and popular. But in another 20 years or so you won't probably want to show it off. That is when a tattoo becomes something much more personal. So most designers, tattoo artists, and tattoo customers universally agree if you are going to get a tattoo go right ahead. They are really cool and very addictive. However get one because it is something you like and something you will always like.
Educational Problem Solving
Abstract
This article introduces the educational solutions
module of the world's most recent personal and professional problem
solving site, describing competitive offerings, the customer profile,
problem-oriented solutions, target markets, product offerings, and
usability features. It concludes that the module is a major contribution
to the information superhighway.
Introduction
The aim of
this article is to introduce to the world the educational solutions
module of the world's most recent personal and professional problem
solving site. The article is addressed to those readers who may have an
educational problem bogging them and who may therefore be looking for a
way out of their predicament. The reader may be a parent, child, or
student.
It is a common fact of life that we all have problems and
that we are often frustrated or we tend to lash out because of our
inability to find accessible and reliable information about our
problems. This specialist site fills this need - as our pragmatic friend
for solving our educational problems.
To be of the greatest use
to people a problem solving site must combine pragmatic discussions of
their personal or professional problem with merchant products that
provide more detailed information. Typically, the web site will provide
free information in the form of news, articles, and advice, which direct
the visitor on what to do to solve her problems. Complementing this,
the web site will also provide merchant products which discuss in detail
how the visitor can go about resolving her problem. This means that the
most effective, visitor-oriented problem-solving site will be an
information-packed commercial site - and so is the world's most recent
personal and professional problem solving site and its specialist sites.
The
approach that we have adopted below is to describe competitive
offerings, the customer profile, problem-oriented solutions, target
markets, product offerings, and usability features.
Competitive Offerings
The following are the top educational sites on the Internet, along with their offerings.
US
Department of Education. It defines the US education policy and
provides information on financial aid, educational research and
statistics, grants and contracts, and teaching and learning resources.
Educational Testing Service. It provides a range of test resources.
FunBrain.com. It provides educational games for K-8 kids.
PrimaryGames.com. It provides fun learning tools and games for kids.
GEM. It provides educational resources such as lesson plans and other teaching and learning resources.
Education World. It provides advice on lesson plans, professional development, and technology integration.
NASA Education Enterprise. It provides educational materials and information relating to space exploration.
Spartacus Educational. It is a British online encyclopedia that focuses on historical topics.
Department
for Education and Skills. It is a UK government department site that
offers information and advice on various educational and skills topics.
Times
Educational Supplement. It offers teaching news, teaching &
educational resources, and active forums to help UK teachers.
All these sites are useful in the domains that they cover. Their main limitations are as follows:
All these sites are useful in the domains that they cover. Their main limitations are as follows:
1. They tend to cover only a very narrow segment of the educational market.
2. They do not take as their starting point the daily educational needs of the typical family.
3. They lack a problem focus; i.e., they do not formulate the typical learning and educational problems that pupils, students, and parents face on a daily basis.
4. As a result of the preceding point, the solutions offered are not as incisive (i.e. as problem-centred) as they could be.
5. They do not offer merchant products that deepen the visitor's understanding of her problem and of the consequent solutions.
2. They do not take as their starting point the daily educational needs of the typical family.
3. They lack a problem focus; i.e., they do not formulate the typical learning and educational problems that pupils, students, and parents face on a daily basis.
4. As a result of the preceding point, the solutions offered are not as incisive (i.e. as problem-centred) as they could be.
5. They do not offer merchant products that deepen the visitor's understanding of her problem and of the consequent solutions.
Rethinking Financial Aid's Role in Student Retention
The
administration of federal student aid is a highly complex and
bureaucratic job thanks to a great deal of program complexity and
regulation. Financial aid offices are often overwhelmed with the tasks
involved in that administrative process, with staff finding that little
time for anything else remains at the end of the day.
Unfortunately, simply following the rules and norms associated with financial aid administration is demonstrably insufficient when it comes to meeting the needs of today's students. With a far greater number of students entering higher education without the support of college-educated parents, and facing more significant financial constraints (and higher college costs), an effective financial aid office must do more than distribute financial aid and apply rules and regulations. To ensure that the aid dollars are spent in a cost-effective manner, aid offices must also be part of a cross-campus effort focused on student retention.
Everyone who works on the campuses of colleges and universities today has a shared responsibility for supporting undergraduate retention. This responsibility is essential if they want to help higher education become an engine of equality and social mobility, rather than the engine of inequality that it currently is. Many of the nation's financial aid officers are committed to this goal and eager to achieve it.
In today's context, a traditional aid office focused on regulation and personal responsibility is contributing to a crisis. Across the country, students who have overcome enormous challenges to college access find their way onto campus but struggle to retain their financial aid due to rules surrounding the 'satisfactory academic progress' (SAP) standards. SAP usually means that students must maintain a C average or risk losing their aid. When students fail to do this, there are significant institutional consequences (a loss of Pell dollars, lower graduation rates) and thus the school has failed as well.
Given the stakes, it is reasonable to ask: what role should financial aid offices play in ensuring students make SAP and keep their aid so that they have the financial support necessary to stay in school and reach graduation?
Recent conversations with aid officers suggest that the typical answer goes something like this:
"We want all students to succeed. We tell them that they must make SAP and what will happen if they don't. When they get in trouble, we let them know, and tell them to get help. We have lots of students to support, and some do their job, and others don't."
I'm sympathetic to that answer, but research suggests it is woefully inadequate. Here are three critical facts about first-generation college students to illustrate the problem:
1. They do not know what actions to take to increase their grades. Research across the educational spectrum shows that holding students responsible for outcomes they do not know how to achieve is ineffective and counterproductive. Example #1: a student tries to improve her GPA decides to take fewer classes, which results in her becoming part-time, and losing her grants that require full-time enrollment. Example #2: a student tries to improve her GPA by taking more courses, because she does not know how GPA is computed and she thinks more is better.
2. They are ill-equipped to sort out good advice from bad advice. When they follow instructions and go seek advice from advisers, they do not know how to handle conflicting advice or determine when that advice is under-informed. I have encountered academic advisers who do not know that student #1 above will lose some financial aid, or do not tell student #2 that taking more classes could put her at risk.
3. They have little external support, experience more family crises, work longer hours, and are often more averse to taking on loans. While they might want to seek out help from others, that help is often offered only during daytime hours when their schedules are packed. In addition, when told they they should take on loans, they feel alienated and misunderstood.
The growing presence of such students in higher education and the consequences of failing to support them to make SAP as they work their way through college requires financial aid offices to rethink their role in student retention. The financial aid officer is often the first to know the student is in trouble. This should trigger an early warning system. In 2013, the implementation of an early warning system ought to be required at every Title IV institution. The result of an early warning trigger should be proactive efforts (coordinated by multiple offices as needed) to reach the student for comprehensive advising that integrates academic, financial, and family support. Proactive efforts must reach the student where they are-- email is notoriously ineffective for this purpose. Until the office is connected to the student and progress is occurring, contact should be by phone or in person.
Effective advising is be supportive, non-judgmental, and aligned with the realities of students' lives. First generation students are more than willing to take responsibility for their academic performance and they are, at the same time, right to expect their colleges and universities to be responsible in return for serving them. In this day and age, responsibility in financial aid office goes beyond using the same old practices for every student, irrespective of need. We will never increase equity in graduation rates or do our jobs in a cost-effective manner without this fundamental transformation.
The nation's colleges and universities are littered with dropouts who began college with support from financial aid, only to lose it because of an insufficiently supportive environment. That is a tragedy we cannot afford. It's time to act.
Unfortunately, simply following the rules and norms associated with financial aid administration is demonstrably insufficient when it comes to meeting the needs of today's students. With a far greater number of students entering higher education without the support of college-educated parents, and facing more significant financial constraints (and higher college costs), an effective financial aid office must do more than distribute financial aid and apply rules and regulations. To ensure that the aid dollars are spent in a cost-effective manner, aid offices must also be part of a cross-campus effort focused on student retention.
Everyone who works on the campuses of colleges and universities today has a shared responsibility for supporting undergraduate retention. This responsibility is essential if they want to help higher education become an engine of equality and social mobility, rather than the engine of inequality that it currently is. Many of the nation's financial aid officers are committed to this goal and eager to achieve it.
In today's context, a traditional aid office focused on regulation and personal responsibility is contributing to a crisis. Across the country, students who have overcome enormous challenges to college access find their way onto campus but struggle to retain their financial aid due to rules surrounding the 'satisfactory academic progress' (SAP) standards. SAP usually means that students must maintain a C average or risk losing their aid. When students fail to do this, there are significant institutional consequences (a loss of Pell dollars, lower graduation rates) and thus the school has failed as well.
Given the stakes, it is reasonable to ask: what role should financial aid offices play in ensuring students make SAP and keep their aid so that they have the financial support necessary to stay in school and reach graduation?
Recent conversations with aid officers suggest that the typical answer goes something like this:
"We want all students to succeed. We tell them that they must make SAP and what will happen if they don't. When they get in trouble, we let them know, and tell them to get help. We have lots of students to support, and some do their job, and others don't."
I'm sympathetic to that answer, but research suggests it is woefully inadequate. Here are three critical facts about first-generation college students to illustrate the problem:
1. They do not know what actions to take to increase their grades. Research across the educational spectrum shows that holding students responsible for outcomes they do not know how to achieve is ineffective and counterproductive. Example #1: a student tries to improve her GPA decides to take fewer classes, which results in her becoming part-time, and losing her grants that require full-time enrollment. Example #2: a student tries to improve her GPA by taking more courses, because she does not know how GPA is computed and she thinks more is better.
2. They are ill-equipped to sort out good advice from bad advice. When they follow instructions and go seek advice from advisers, they do not know how to handle conflicting advice or determine when that advice is under-informed. I have encountered academic advisers who do not know that student #1 above will lose some financial aid, or do not tell student #2 that taking more classes could put her at risk.
3. They have little external support, experience more family crises, work longer hours, and are often more averse to taking on loans. While they might want to seek out help from others, that help is often offered only during daytime hours when their schedules are packed. In addition, when told they they should take on loans, they feel alienated and misunderstood.
The growing presence of such students in higher education and the consequences of failing to support them to make SAP as they work their way through college requires financial aid offices to rethink their role in student retention. The financial aid officer is often the first to know the student is in trouble. This should trigger an early warning system. In 2013, the implementation of an early warning system ought to be required at every Title IV institution. The result of an early warning trigger should be proactive efforts (coordinated by multiple offices as needed) to reach the student for comprehensive advising that integrates academic, financial, and family support. Proactive efforts must reach the student where they are-- email is notoriously ineffective for this purpose. Until the office is connected to the student and progress is occurring, contact should be by phone or in person.
Effective advising is be supportive, non-judgmental, and aligned with the realities of students' lives. First generation students are more than willing to take responsibility for their academic performance and they are, at the same time, right to expect their colleges and universities to be responsible in return for serving them. In this day and age, responsibility in financial aid office goes beyond using the same old practices for every student, irrespective of need. We will never increase equity in graduation rates or do our jobs in a cost-effective manner without this fundamental transformation.
The nation's colleges and universities are littered with dropouts who began college with support from financial aid, only to lose it because of an insufficiently supportive environment. That is a tragedy we cannot afford. It's time to act.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)