PART: 2 How Body Language Affects Your Persona

We saw Importance Of Body Language While Communicating in our earlier article. Let us find how you can benefit from it as well.

According to the psychologists in order to complete a sales task from the beginning to the close is a mental game.The index and the reference of the game arecommunicated through many subtle representations for e.g. your facial expressions, standing/sitting posture, choice of your tone and the way you emphasize the important words. How do you feel from within reflects easily outside however, even while you plan to work with great positive outlook your faulty or weak body language can work against your purpose. If the sales person is smiling at you but is standing with a stoop shoulders it strongly sends the message of no confidence (in this man or in his product). Such minor mistakes send wrong signals to the customers which in turn can create a communication barrier and might result into failure of a good prospective lead. This wall is formed because the customers make certain interpretations and assumptions according to your body language and it robustly influences their behavioral pattern.

As in case of commercial sales, body language plays a major role all other spheres of life as well. As we are social beings and since we keep on interacting with our family, friends, colleagues, each time we socialize we tryto convince the other person with either our ideas, concepts, beliefs or our personality so that we can create our own identity around. And hence, the subtle communications through body language play a pivotal role for achieving success in all the sectors of interaction, big or small.

The good news is that there are positive vibes that you can send through subtle signals or body language postures. These signals shall exude positive vibes around and create a sense of goodwill about you.

Some easily adaptable body language skills are listed hereunder for you to adapt and benefit from:

1. High level of physical and mental energy is denoted in your every stride and walk. A person walking with confidence, with eyes fixed to his target and shoulders matching the direction of the steps denotes positive attitude.
2. Stand with your head erect and your posture tall. It says you are trustworthy and that you know your game.
3. Smile not just with your lips but smile with your eyes; it sends in a warm welcome signal. A good sense of humor along with gentle smile always goes on for miles. Too much of wide smile is also ungracious so practice to tone it down a little.
4. If you are making awkward (unfamiliar or opposite) gestures, it makes the person across you more uncomfortable or frustrated. Hence, your gestures should be very easy and comfortable so that the person with whom you are communicating feels at ease while discussing things with you.
5. Welcoming gestures always represent that you are open minded towards people whereas rigid body language such as crossed legs or folded arms creates a kind of barrier between you and the other person due to which the communication becomes restricted.
6. Make sure that you are well-dressed for the formal or celebration occasion and you are behaving according to the behavior expected for your position and you attire must complement your position.
7. When you feel low lean back in your chair and place your hands behind your head. Assume an “eminent authority” state in your mind. Be in this position for two minutes and your confidence will get a good boost.
8. Appear attentive. Do not check your emails, messages or watch when you really want the other person to talk to you. Lean forward, make direct eye contact and keep your face and body directly facing the person you are interested in communicating to. Do nod when you agree to their perspective and tilt your head when you are further more interested in other persons version of talk.
9. Ensure that there are no physical barriers such as pen stands, cup and table lamps, etc when you communicate across your desk. Physical barriers are in particular unfavorable towards shared mutual endeavors.
10. If you are talking to someone at the coffee table, keep you cup and saucers as low as you waist and not at your chest. You hold your files and cups high when you are nervous.
11. Do a gentle, warm yet firm handshake. Do not press other persons hand too hard. A warm firm handshake for as little as 1/40 second connects people with human bond. Keep your hand straight and not below. The position of your hand communicates the message you want to pass on; Hand below – I am less ready to communicate to you; Hand above- I am smarter than you think and far above you; Straight firm hand – I am confident and open to communicate.
12. To communicate your authority, use the authoritative arc in your tone. It means that your voices should starts on normal note, raise the pitch by a note in the middle and through rest of the sentence and drop it back down at the end. Keep your voice down – Louder means weaker, confused, and not confident, etc.
13. If the person you are interacting with is sending negative body vides (he/she is not interested in your proposal) through crossed arms, crossed legs or looking away, etc – Take a break. If you cannot practically take a break, do so at least in your topic. Drop that topic for that moment and pick up another one that you know the other person will open up with. You can come back to your topic once you pick positive tone and nonverbal signs from the other person.
14. Feet are equally important. To understand other person’s state of mind you need to take their entire body language in account. If they are sitting back in the chair but they have crossed their feet, they are not in total agreement with you. When we feel stressed, nervousness or anxiety, we often move our foot. We fidget or shuffle our feet when we are nervous. When we are stressed we usually wind our feet around each other or we round them around the nearest furniture. When in total agreement to each other, feet of both communicators are softly placed on ground facing the other person directly.
15. When you wish to show your agreement or disagreement to the other person all you need to do is take the open or closed to communicate body stance of the other person.

Keenly observebody language of highly successful people and also your regular acquaintances. You can study various behavioral patterns and judge the mindset of different people or opt to learn the topic in depth by going through extensive trainings, videos and books.

Rome Was Not Built In a Day: Keep on Practicing!

Nothing can replace the rewards of hard work and practice. Hence, to practice positive body language and also to understand the attitude of others through observation you need to keep on practicing it consciously, everyday. Remember, a good body language goes a long way in eliminating the complications that are caused by faulty or weak body language. At the onset of liberalization it has become quintessential that all of us learn and practice body language skills for success. Mere verbal communication is not enough to break the barrier of awkwardness or rigidity.

A good positive body language here functions as the conduit between two people from different communities. Noteworthy is the fact that many people in the world connect with each other even when they do not understand each other’s language at all. It is so because their body language communicates for them. Hope you understand communication is about connecting to the other person and not just about passing information. If you follow these ten simple and powerful body language tips, I guarantee you’ll increase your nonverbal impact in 2012.

PracTutor The Only Adaptive Learning Platform That Is Aligned With RTI And Offers Test Based On Principals Of PARCC And SBAC

Schools use PracTutor for all three tiers of Response to Intervention (RTI) framework.
PracTutor identifies students at-risk in the initial phase itself and accelerates their learning with instruction and practice that is intensive, balanced, and personalized.
Tier 1 - Core Instructional Interventions
All students in the Tier 1 phase receive high quality and scientifically segregated set of instruction. They are differentiated to meet their needs and are screened on a periodic basis to identify struggling learners who need additional support.
PracTutor takes a pre-test for each of the common core domains to ensure that each student has a unique learning path based on his/her skill set. The students then choose and learn from the educational and entertaining videos. Each video corresponds to one of the learning styles as per VARK (Video, Audio, Reading, and Kinesthetic). Students learn, practice, and take tests for each standard to ensure continuous progress. A student can take up the same lesson again and again with various resources until he receives desired grades. The score and progress records help identify the struggling students.
When teachers monitor students’ progress and get immediate alerts related to the struggling students, they provide instant remediation and help them on the individual basis.
Tier 2 - Targeted Group Interventions
In Tier 2 phase, the students identified as not “making adequate progress in the core curriculum” are provided with progressive intensive instruction that match their needs. As stated earlier these needs are identified based on the individual levels of performance and progress.
PracTutor ensures that the students who are identified as the struggling students in the core curriculum receive sufficient instructions. These instructions are in the form of videos, a step-by-step guide, along with explanations for each concept to ensure they grasp and relate to the basics thoroughly before they proceed ahead.
Teachers can group the students as per their skills and can assign the core standards to individual groups or to the whole class as per the needs of attention and intervention. The detailed reports help the school administrators and teachers to stay on the top of their assignments and progress.
Tier 3 – Intensive And Individual Interventions
In phase 3, students receive individualized, intensive interventions that target the students' skill deficits for the remediation of the existing problems. This level assists in prevention of more severe and deep-rooted issues.
PracTutor links each common core standards to the previous pre-requisite standard; this helps introduce intensive intervention by inserting the missing skills in the student’s personalized learning path. The student can learn the missing skills through the set of videos and practice (with hints and step-by-step explanations) to ensure the existing problems are resolved before proceeding to the next standard.
NCTM recommends a set of in the process of creating intervention program and PracTutor is the only program that satisfies all the criteria.
PracTutor For Enrichment
PracTutor is equally well suited for talented, proficient, dedicated, or gifted students as it is for the students that lag behind.
PracTutor takes a pre-test for each of the common core domains to ensure that each student has a unique learning path based on his/her skill set. The advanced students start with challenging core standards and are not required to complete the standards that they are already familiar with. This engages them more and helps them stay motivated.
Each core standard in PracTutor has a critical thinking practice and tests to challenge the advanced level students. These tests are application-based and concept building questions that are aligned with the PARCC and the Smarter Balanced Assessments.
PracTutor For Career And College Readiness
With the growing complexity of the world and the increasing demands of the 21st-century workforce, there is little doubt that all students must graduate from high school fully prepared for college AND careers.
PracTutor’s differentiated instructions through videos practice and tests relevant to real world problems help ensure the students are prepared for healthy career options and competitive college.
About PracTutor
PracTutor is a customized learning and practice environment to help students in Grades 1 to 8 master Math and English. We provide 1-to-1 mentoring for each student. We make the learning fun by introducing gamification and help parents and teachers track progress and get alerts whenever they need help.
For More Visit http://www.practutor.com

Cold, Cuddle And Coffee (Math) Calculation?

With the temperature waning to as low as minus 23 degrees or shrink beyond 25 degrees below the average temperatures, it is time to cuddle your children and spend some good quality time with them. In Oklahoma, the schools were closed and even some of the businesses closed their offices considering the safety of their employees. While you survive one of the coldest winters, something that has not been experienced over past 10 years, would it be advisable to drive your children to the activity centers or the nearby learning centers?

If you feel that your child's future is your top most concern, well, here is a God sent opportunity that you can actually convert into a once in a lifetime experience. Wondering how would you do that?

Why go out and risk your lives when PracTutor brings a real awesome adaptive learning platform to you.
All you need to do is just enroll and prepare your children to get ahead.

Here are a few key facts about learning math and how learning math online is more practical than the traditional classroom math education:

• The present day global standardized test scores prove that American students are not ready to compete on the global platform and one of the main reasons for the same is the lack of math skills.
• There is a fundamental lack of math teachers all across the nation.
• The adults competing for their careers find lack of math skills as a top most hindrance factor.
• Math education is facing absolute crisis on multiple levels in teaching as well as learning segments.
• Basic math fundamentals cannot and will not change, however, the traditional methods to teach math must change if we have to provide better understanding and skills to our students.
• The universities that implement math learning online attract more students who are adults and struggling for brighter career opportunities.
• Almost all technology critics agree that online learning is shaping the future of teaching and learning for good.
• With experiments conducted using traditional learning and online learning, conclusions are that online learning imparts better perspective and gives deeper and clear understanding of the concepts.
• As online math involves real time dynamic examples, (change of shapes, figures, variables, angles, etc) students find it to be fun while they actually learn. The little challenges that adaptive learning platforms bring in between the tutorials, challenge the students' minds for deeper contemplation.
• Another experiment was conducted to observe if learning math online did improve the skill set of the students. It was concluded that the students from traditional learning class and online learners both groups did equally well with easy math problems. However, when the students were given more complex and tough problems, the group of online math learners performed extensively better than the students who were taught in a traditional classroom.
• The visual evidence that provides more scope to find how concepts work is practically impossible in a traditional classroom.
• A few more advantages that interactive learning has over traditional learning are:
  • It is based on student's individual capability
  • It gives student the authority to pace his learning
  • It does not get frustrated while explaining the same concept over and over till the student feels perfectly conversant with it (is virtually unlimited)
  • It keeps students attentive, curious and interested in math
  • It gives instant and personalized feedbacks and encouragements

Apart from the advantages mentioned above, we are certain that though the traditional methods has been developed after years of hard work and research, they do not match up the present day challenges.

The world has become a global village that has abundance of resources available right at your fingertips.
Can you possibly do justice to your children by depriving them the whole bunch of goodness that adaptive learning provides?

Can you afford to keep your children acquainted to the only traditional coaching when the rest of the world marches ahead towards a glorious tomorrow by embracing the blessings of the modern day technology?
Of course, you must spend some quality time with your children having fun while they learn. Will it not be kind of awesome to cuddle him, hold his hand, and lead him to learn (while you can still smell his hair)?

Yes, with such fabulous advantages of learning Math online, who knows you might just encourage your child to fall in love with Math and be a mathematician, Amen!

About PracTutor

PracTutor is a customized learning and practice environment to help students in Grades 1 to 8 master Math and English. We provide 1-to-1 mentoring for each student. We make the learning fun by introducing gamification and help parents and teachers track progress and get alerts whenever they need help.

For More Visit http://www.practutor.com

An Awesome Free Gift For Your Children 3 Months of Free Practice Tutorials For All Students

All a parent wants is just the best for his/her children. By default parents have concerns and suspicions about the well being and healthy future of the children. We often spend sleepless nights contemplating the best for our children. There are enough resources to help you be a worthy parent. But, does that really make your worries go away?

As a fact of the matter, the results of a recent survey conducted by the a leading parenting website disclosed the worst causes of anxiety among parents. What do you think did emerge as the biggest cause of worry among parents? – The health issues, bullying or the danger from strangers? Well, the concern that topped the list was of parental expectations. Parents are too often concerned that their children will not have the right kind of opportunities, help and resources to achieve their full potential.

On the other hand, there are parents who are relaxed even with implementation of Common Core State Standards. These parents are comfortable with the test as per Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium and even the PARCC assessment. The parents who enrolled their children with PracTutor.com are recommending it to their family, friends and colleagues for complete peace of mind. 

The teachers and school administrators believe it is an exclusive resource hub that the educators as well as the students need to be ready for all the challenges of the future. It provides a comprehensive platform for the educators as they can connect with other teachers on the PracTutor Community. An informative blog that keeps the parents, educators and students updated and entertained. 

Some other sites offer a few resources and as online gaming based platform for education, absolute personalized learning for each student, unlimited practice sessions, training videos, or detailed reports along with one on one mentoring. Just PracTutor offers the entire package with all these features for less than the price of a good pizza. 

Here are a few features that are really being applauded by all the parents and teachers

• Both the parents as well as the teachers can check out the videos and practice tests without adding a student or accessing the student’s login
• Parents can review in detail each question for each test answered by the child
• Parents and Teachers can change the student’s grades
• There are more conclusive reports presented in the tabular format and emailed on a periodic basis for your reference.
• Teachers can upload students using excel file or an existing document and can print the student roster 
• The Signup process is extremely simple.

As of now, PracTutor is offering three month subscription absolutely free! coupon code “DONATE” Try PracTutor and make your kids ready for the future without any obligations, at all. One thing that you can rest assured of is that you will surely get rid of your concerns about providing your children with the best learning platform. Your children will love it and will be thankful that you got them resources that are fun to learn.

To let your children be proud of you and vice-a-versa, click here, enroll and enjoy!

PS: Do find out how PracTutor Lets you be a better human while you be a proud parent?

Lawmakers Propose Financial Changes In The Education System In 2014

The lawmakers of South Carolina proposed changes in public schools related funding of the K-12 system. The new bill to be discussed during the legislative session 2014 includes ‘offering advertisement space in the school busses’ to the ‘selection of the trustees of the state-funded colleges and universities’.

Joshua Putnam of Anderson and Fairfield County, a Republican representative and Mary Gail Douglas, Democratic representative proposed a bill to offer commercials in the school buses. The commercials ought to be child affable and shall be on display in public school buses that are not possessed by the school or school districts. The funds that flow in from such advertisements can be used to buy new buses. The oldest fleet in the country, the statewide run school buses is operational only in South Carolina.

The new proposed bill “The South Carolina Jobs, Education and Tax Act” would revise the present Education Finance Act. It is observed that the implementation of the Education Finance Act led to the imparting of fewer funds to comparatively richer school districts. 

The new bill filed by Jenny Anderson Horne, representative of the Dorchester County Republican, proposes formation of a distinct fund as “South Carolina Public Education Program Fund”. This fund would not be a part of the general fund of the state.

A chief constituent of the new proposed funding system is the 100-mill property tax implemented statewide. The new change will replace the penny sales tax which was swapped by the Legislature in 2007 with property taxes for school operations.

The new bill also will re-instate local school’s authority for the operational issues of a maximum up to eight percent of the assessed property value that is within the limits of the district.

The new bill, unlike the present one, does not guarantee “at least minimum” education but,  states that each student will receive education as per their need that will be imparted using the proven research-based strategies for high academic values. It will ensure that the academic achievement goals are met as per the guidelines laid by the state law and the state constitution.

The other bills propose various other changes related to schools and education and full day schedule for the kindergarten students and a systematic approach to deal with the bullies. Some more changes pertaining to the safety of the schools have been proposed as well.  “House Bill 4413” proposes setting up a web portal where the complaints of bullying in schools can be reported while all the volunteers and school employees shall be provided protection against any lawsuits filed by their employers under Bill 843 of the Senate.
one such change included setting up of

Other Senate bills such as 884 propose taking demographic representation into account while filling in the positions of the board of trustees while Bill 810 proposes formation of a special commission to filter eligible candidates for the position of a trustee in any institute imparting higher education.

Some more proposed considerations include

• A compulsory electrocardiogram test  for students who would participate in any athletic programs in high school
• An installment system of college fees for students, if they ascertain to pay a fixed percentage of their earning spread over a definite number of years after graduating.
• The novel methods of screening, recruiting and certifying the teachers
•  Utilization of the Federal funding allocated to K-12 institutes.
• Waiver of eligibility criterion for participation in sports and athletics for students absent under a medical condition.

The Education Oversight Committee formed in 1990s, as the autonomous accountability panel is proposed to be put to rest.

What Should Teachers Consider When Opting For A Master’s Program?

Probably, you love being around kids or you have a significant flair to pass on your knowledge to next generations. Only such deep-rooted factors could have kept you glued to the teaching sector, since the salary in the education field is just not enough (Average salary $39,000 per annum).

Though there is a massive dearth of teachers and good teachers are even rarer, the ones with special education degree are more in demand. If you are planning to go for higher education, we recommend you to consider being a Speech-Language Pathologist (one among the top twenty best-paid jobs in the US and you still will work with the kids and schools).

Well, if you are considering higher education, here are a few more points that you must consider. 

Choose Your Program Aptly: If you feel the need to polish your skills once again and learn further and better, do ensure that the higher education or master’s program that you choose meets those requirements. College Accreditation: For any universities that you choose to apply with, check if they have a valid accreditation. The Lists accrediting agencies (regional as well as national) recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education is available at http://www2.ed.gov/admins/finaid/accred/index.html Many Universities Now Offer Online Education: Read the program guidelines carefully as some of these programs offer only partial online course completion. For such programs, you can continue distance education for initial couple of semesters and then you have to go and study at the college campus. Educational Ideology: Masters Programs are not same as school education or high school education. While you learned what was taught at school, you will need to research and polish your skills to an entirely next level in the Masters. Apart from the program being of your genuine interest, the faculties should also share the same ideology. Compatible thoughts will make it easy for you to finish your program with ease.  As far as possible you must study under the adviser whose ideology gels with yours so that you can share and bounce ideas off each other, opines the assistant professor, Emily Kang, PhD, of Ruth S. Ammon School of Education, Adelphi University, NY. Practical Experience: With the Common Core being the new standards of learning, what you will need is tons of in depth knowledge with lots of real life experience. If your Masters program gives you plenty of clues at being a better educator, you will be glad to have been through the apt program. “Try to secure more hands on experience with kids and enroll with a university that has lab to do research work involving kids,” suggests Ms. Kang. Fees And Durations: Master’s Programs are expensive. Find resources such as scholarships or grants offered by the school that you teach at. There are special grants that are allotted for research work, find out if you are eligible for the same. Some programs can involve embedding practical work experience, inquire how much of such practical experience can be achieved at your own school. Research: Talk to top ex students of the same professor and from the same universities that you find lucrative. Get details such as the amicable nature of the professors to the market value in terms of salary after securing a Masters degree from that particular university. We strongly believe that teachers never stop learning. We wish all the very best to all the nurturers of tomorrow and hope that your research would open new avenues and discover untouched depths of child psychology.

Top 10 Ways to Nurture the Great Readers of Next Generation

Being a good reader has always been important. With arrival of the “Information Technology” age, the importance of reading has elevated to a next level altogether.

Why should we nurture our child’s reading skills?

• We cannot access, analyze, collect, and/or utilize information without reading.
• A good reader is a better judge of character and a thoughtful critique.
• Reading improves memory skills and is important for graceful brain development.
• It improves vocabulary, communication skills and influences overall personality of a person.
• Above all: It is an important segment for Academic Achievements.

How can we help our child be a better reader?

Every child is unique and so is each parent. As a parent, we always tend to know what works best for our child. Here are top 10 tips to choose from and find out what works best for our little genius.

• The bedtime stories: Read aloud the bedtime stories to preschoolers. It enhances their vocabulary and comprehension skills. If a child is in elementary school or is in his teens, ask the child to read aloud while listening to his stories. What is important is that we spend sometime with our child reading together.
• Parental influence: Kids often tend to observe and learn from elders. They are best at imitating us. We can choose to read our own stuff when our child reads or does homework sitting besides us. 
• The interesting stuff: We tend to choose our reading stuff as per our age, maturity, and interest. We need to find out what our kid prefers to read. Provide the same at places that he can easily grab it from: such as center-table of living room, by the pool, in the car, and near his bed, etc.
• The reading room:  If possible, dedicate a separate space as library or reading room. Walk him to the nearby library or reward him for spending time at school library. Appreciate the child whenever he uses the library to read or research. Encourage the child to be the best of friends with books and inform him of the benefits of being an avid reader.
• The variety of material: We can download e-book readers in our teen’s cell phone or ipad. Provide audio books to our young kids. Encourage them to read from good websites. For younger kids we can provide printouts of reading material. This will keep them in tune with modern technology and will provide wider reading scope. 
• Fun with words: Words and reading can be a lot more fun when the kid reads menus, road signs, and names of places as we drive. Make them participate in quiz, help them make their own puzzles, play rhyming words, and various other word games available on websites, etc.    
• Group studies: Invite his friends over for reading. Make for them a comfortable space and organize a contest for the group. Award the one who wins this reading competition. Include speed-reading with the contextual reference, word games, and interpretation as per their age. 
• The mentoring: Apart from having fun with the child, we also need to watch him carefully for reading skills and difficulties. There are certain difficulties such as, not being able to recognize sound of words, use the words in right context, relate the word to its right meaning, and grasp what he reads, etc. If asked a few questions from the material that we read together, with careful observation, we can underline it, if the child needs help.
• In case of reading issues:  Seek guidance from school as well as from professionals. We can get help from online resources as well as from tutors.
• Taking reading to next level: Make kids write their own journal or diary. 

Keep motivating and influencing the child in a positive manner. Never miss an opportunity to praise him for his good work. It is one habit that will blossom to reap many awesome benefits and is totally worth the effort.