AU Blogspot

I had these in my first year of college and thought I would pass them along to my fellow classmates.

How do we find a proper balance that will allow us to excel in each aspect of our lives?

Tip #1
Family Meeting: Conduct a family meeting with the members of your household. Discuss how daily schedules, chores, and other responsibilities may shift now that you are in school working toward your degree. Delegate tasks to others so that you will have more time to complete your school work. Explain that it is a temporary situation and the resulting benefits to the family that a degree can provide will be worth the sacrifices.

Tip #2
Choose a satisfying career path. Finding and maintaining balance in your lifel means finding work that reflects who you are, and what you truly believe in. Simply stated, happiness requires a sense of purpose. Ask yourself, “What is most important to me? What occupation will give my work meaning?”

Tip #3
Save a day for yourself. You are busy working during the day, doing your schoolwork in the evenings, and spending time with your family on the weekends. Time for yourself is important for maintaining balance in your life, so try not to neglect yourself. Save at least one day a week to do the things you want to do instead of those things you need to do. You will feel refreshed and ready to conqure the world.

Tip #4
Let the housework go. Ask yourself, “What is the worst thing that could happen it I don’t vacuum the carpet today?” or “Is it possible I could the laundryon another day when I don’t have so much reading to do?” Save time and energy by ordering out for pizza on those nights when you have a lot of reading to do. Or better yet, delegate household chores to other family members, relieving you of these duties altogether. Keep the goal of GRADUATION firmly planted in your mind and do whatever it takes to make schoolwork a priority in your house.

Tip #5
Complete tasks right away. For example, whenever you receive an email, decide right then whether to respond to it or delete it. People who “do it now” are more efficient than people who wait till a later date to complete their daily tasks.

Tip #6
Get rid of unnecessary “stuff”. Clutter around the house and office makes demands on your life. If it does not serve a purpose get rid of it. With less “stuff” to take care of, you will feel more relaxed and you will focus on what is really important. For example, sort through papers sitting on or around your computer workstation to see what really needs to be there. If it’s not important, toss it.

Tip #7
Ask for help when you need it. You are not alone on your journey through life. There are people available to support you and guide you when you get lost or feel overwhelmed. Make sure to utilize your support system. Some who can help are family members, friends, co-workers, classmates, academic advisors, and even community services.

Tip #8
AVOID THE GUILT TRIP! Dont’ beat yourself up or feel guilty about not being able to spend as much time at work, or with family and friends as you used to. You made a decision to go to college to earn your degree. That’s important. Replace the guilt with pride that you are on a path to accomplish your goal of GRADUATION. Use your critical thinking skills to make decisions about how you choose to spend your time, and then stick with it! YOU CAN DO THIS!

Betty Ray-Mydland
Student
Ashworth Criminal Justice Program

                  Thanks to clspeace for permission to use this Photo. 

Megan Bowen is an Ashworth High School English Instructor.  You can read some of Megan’s blog posts by clicking here and scrolling to the bottom of the page.  As someone who is always thinking of new and dynamic ways to engage her students, it’s no surprise that Megan has begun hosting classroom discussions on the Ashworth Student Forum.  As an English major myself, I’ve personally enjoyed participating in these interactive discussions and have been very impressed by the insightul perspectives students have offered on their latest reading assignments. 

If you’re an Ashworth High School student or a parent of such a student, we encourage you to participate in one of Megan’s classroom discussions.  Our new student forum provides a terrific environment for students, parents, and faculty to interact—so be sure to join our Forum community today if you haven’t already. 

Megan and I hope to see you on the Forum soon!

Here are the links:

Ashworth University Student Forum

Megan’s Bowen Classroom Discussions

Ryan Rode
Interactive Services Manager
Ashworth University 

Primary caregivers’ number one question and concern about their preschooler is, “Will my child be ready for kindergarten?”  If the child in your care is their oldest, the preschool experience may be their only reference point.  If their own childhood education took place in programs based on scripted academic instruction, they will expect their children to be writing their ABC’s, working with math papers, and science projects.  This is how they were taught, so it must be the right way.  It is your job as an early childhood educator to help these parents and guardians understand the research and reasoning behind your curriculum.

Primary caregivers are so involved with their children that just sharing articles or handouts about developmentally appropriate practices may not be enough to convince them that their children are on track for learning.  Some may need a more “hands-on” approach.  Let me give you an example.

I once had a father who insisted that his three-year-old write his name several times daily and bring home work sheets of all sorts.  I explained that this was not a developmentally appropriate practice, but this father insisted.  I decided to host a night for parents and guardians in my classroom.  I planned this night in a very different format from others we had offered earlier.  The children did not perform, and we did not have a guest speaker.  For this special evening, I prepared copies of my lesson plans for each person attending the meeting.  In my classroom, I set up every learning area and posted the skills that children could learn as they played in the selected areas.

As the adults arrived, the children were excited to show what they were learning during the day.  We began with circle time, and I explained the theme of the week.  I then placed the grownups in the learning areas, explaining to them how I wanted them to explore and play just as their children might.  It was such an energizing experience!  The adults enjoyed the tasks they were doing.  One mother made a wonderful collage in the creative art area.  A dad and his daughter had a tea party in dramatic play.  I circulated around the areas, as I do during class everyday, asking open-ended questions about the projects.  This hands-on approach worked with almost everyone.

Do you know who still was not convinced?  That’s right—the father of the three-year-old.  Dad and child were in the creative art area when I approached him with a prepared sheet depicting an elephant.  I asked a simple question, “Do you know how long an elephant’s trunk is?”  The dad looked at me as if I had lost my mind and said he didn’t know.  I shared with him that an adult elephant’s trunk is 8 feet long and asked if he would learn that concept by coloring a picture of an elephant.  The dad shook his head, no.  Then, I shared a wonderful handout with Mr. Dad which I will share with you here. 

Four things you don’t learn when you color an elephant:

1. How an elephant smells
2. How big an elephant is
3. What color an elephant is
4. What an elephant likes to eat

This parent began to realize that there is no inherent learning value in the use of coloring sheets.  When coloring a patterned picture, a young child learns to color between the lines.  And that’s it.  This dad became one of my best resources for the rest of the school year.  He was still watchful as the school year progressed, but he did grow to understand hands-on learning and the benefits of this type of program for his child.

Deann Deloney
Child Care Career Skills Instructor
Ashworth University School Of Professional Services

As pioneers in the online learning field, we here at Ashworth University are very excited to watch the online education format quickly becoming the preferred choice of thousands upon thousands of new students worldwide. With its’ superior convenience, flexibility, and customized learning features; the online learning model is increasingly being seen as the central way to educate and train oneself on your own terms as we move into the future. As our everyday tasks, communications, and experiences continue to move into the “virtual” world, it’s not hard to understand why the online learning revolution has literally transformed the lives of students everywhere.

If you’re interested in discussing your educational options, all you have to do is click here for more information. Our advisors are not sales people. They’re simply here to answer your questions and help you make informed decisions if you think online learning might be a viable option for you. We’ve also just launched the Ashworth University Forum, which is a great place for those interested in finding out what we’re all about to talk with Ashworth students, faculty, and alumni. You’ll find a lot of people just like yourself carrying on conversations there, so be sure to check it out. We look forward to hearing from you!

Ryan Rode
Interactive Services Manager
Ashworth University

                    Thanks to Olivia for permission to use this Photo. 

George Siemens is acknowledged as being one of the most innovative minds in the education field.  Through his groundbreaking analyses of how educators can use technology to their advantage rather than fearing its’ radical capabilities, Siemens has had a major impact on how teachers, students, and just about anyone involved in the education field perceives how our traditional learning models must evolve in order to effectively provide the knowledge and skills most vital in tomorrow’s “connected” world.  In the following slideshow presentation, Siemens outlines some of his main thoughts on what tomorrow may look like if we begin taking the necessary steps to reform our educational system today.  This presentation is a solid introduction to George’s theories.  We’d like to thank him for being an Ashworth University contributing blogger and would like to encourage everyone to check out his amazing elearnspace Blog.  Thanks George!

Ryan Rode
Interactive Services Manager
Ashworth University

 
             Thanks to Chunyang Lin for permission to use this Photo.

In the spirit of this blog’s commitment to providing home school parents with the most comprehensive information on today’s social media/educational technologies, we’d like to bring your attention to another series of instructional yet entertaining series of videos.  Principally developed to train librarians on the web’s most popular 2.0 resources, the “Learn More” video series serves as an excellent primer for people new to these resources, but who are eager to learn.  Click here to check out these great videos for yourself.  As you begin gaining knowledge and experience working with them, drop in for a few minutes to share your comments with our home school community. 

Ryan Rode
Interactive Services Manager
Ashworth University

 
               Thanks to Kafkaesque for permission to use this Photo.

Forbes magazine recently featured a commentary piece by Bill Gates on expanding educational opportunities.  Gates speaks very candidly about his concerns for education– which include a lack of skills based training, a shortage of qualified teachers, and his overarching belief that our education model/system suffers from what he terms a “problem of scale.”  Fortunately, Gates’ feels confident that technology and all its’ potential applications can be the most effective tool in balancing issues of scale.  Many of us often overlook the philanthropic contributions of the world’s richest man.  We must note that he has literally invested billions of dollars in educational incentive programs.  Let us know what you think about Gates’ prescription for change.  You may be surprised how inspiring his vision for education turns out to be.

Ryan Rode
Interactive Services Manager
Ashworth University

               Thanks to Jason V for permission to use this Photo.

I like John Connell’s statement in Our Duty to Protect through Education: “how do we teach our young people to make responsible use of the web tools and resources at their disposal if we are completely unable to access them in school?”

I fully understand and respect the need for security in schools.  

But, as John indicates, schools are about preparing people for the world…not protecting them from the world. My children are currently “blog-less” in school, which is to be expected as we are still in the early stages of a hype cycle (actually, we are well past the early stages in my eyes, but classroom reality suggests otherwise).  

While still young, they realize that access has been removed. (more…)

                  Thanks to Alex D for permission to use this Photo.

The Ashworth University blogging community is a big supporter of contributing blogger Steve Hardagon and his Classroom 2.0 social network for educators.  If you’re a parent of a home school student and care about the future of education, we humbly encourage you to check out Classroom 2.0 for your self.  Steve’s been very generous in sharing his insights with our Ashworth home school community and we’re proud to be associated with any project he’s involved in.  We received the following message from Steve yesterday and I’m passing it on for all of our AU Blogspot readers.  Thanks Steve!

From Steve Hardagon: 

Tomorrow I’m experimenting with a live talk show program by starting a discussion on using Ning in education.  If it goes well, I’d like to consider a regular (weekly) show on Web 2.0 in education.

Here is the link to the first educational “Ning-cast”:  http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/tscmd/tc/12083.  It is scheduled for tomorrow, January 3, at 6pm Pacific / 9pm Eastern.

(more…)

              Thanks to pizzapancakes for permission to use this Photo.

Here’s an interesting podcast interview with educational guru and Ashworth
University contributing blogger Steve Hargadon.  The interview focuses on progressive uses of technology, alternative learning methods, and the overall need to reform our current educational model.  As always, Steve makes some excellent points.  Click on the image above to listen.  Please feel free to share your thoughts with the AU community. 

Ryan Rode
Interactive Services Manager
Ashworth University