Mothering Sunday

As we all know, Mother's Day is celebrated in the US on the second sunday of May. But in the United Kingdom the occasion is celebrated as Mothering Sunday.

Originally a Christian holiday, Mothering Sunday was established to honour Mother Mary - a tradition that is believed by many to have been adopted from the Roman practice of worshipping the mother goddess Cybele during mid-March. The day had a different significance in the 17th century England when people made it a point to visit their "Mother Church" or Cathedral of their hometown at least once in the course of a year. Mothering Sunday used to be that sacred time when people came back to their native place to visit and pray in their "Mother Church", where they were baptized. Those working away from home were given a leave by their employers for this purpose. It is not clear when this tradition began but historical records testify to the fact that people indeed adhered to the custom and paid a visit to their "Mother Church" on this particular day, laden with offerings.

With the passage of time, the day became not only a Christian holiday but also a time for homecoming. For little children and daughters who worked away from home as domestic servants, it was a day off to visit their mother and family. Many of them came back not only with offerings, but also small gifts, flowers and special cakes for their parents, specially the female ones. Any youth engaged in such act of duty was said to go 'amothering' and the cake intended for his mother was called the "mothering cake". This is possibly the reason behind the name 'Mothering Sunday'.

The Mothering Sunday tradition began to decline when the English society went through a rapid transformation after the Industrial Revolution. But the occassion slowly regained its popularity in the late 19th century. In present times, Mothering Sunday is a celebration of motherhood and has become quite similar to the American Mother's Day. It is now a day to honor mothers and other mother figures, such as grandmothers, stepmothers and mother-in-laws and make them feel special with gifts such as small jewellery items, chocolates, luxurious clothes, flowers, greeting cards and cakes. It is not a bank holiday in the UK and public transport is easily available though cafes and restaurants are booked as many people have the habit of treating their moms or mother figures to brunch, lunch or high tea on this special day. Those staying away or abroad usually send gifts or cards to their mother.

Mothering Sunday is observed on the fourth Sunday of Lent. It is observed exactly three weeks before Easter Sunday and usually falls in the second half of March or the beginning of April.

The Story of a Mother

A mother sat there with her little child. She was so downcast, so afraid that it should die! It was so pale, the small eyes had closed themselves, and it drew its breath so softly, now and then, with a deep respiration, as if it sighed; and the mother looked still more sorrowfully on the little creature.

Then a knocking was heard at the door, and in came a poor old man wrapped up as in a large horse-cloth, for it warms one, and he needed it, as it was the cold winter season! Everything out-of doors was covered with ice and snow, and the wind blew so that it cut the face.

As the old man trembled with cold, and the little child slept a moment, the mother went and poured some ale into a pot and set it on the stove, that it might be warm for him; the old man sat and rocked the cradle, and the mother sat down on a chair close by him, and looked at her little sick child that drew its breath so deep, and raised its little hand.

"Do you not think that I shall save him?" said she. "Our Lord will not take him from me!"

And the old man--it was Death himself--he nodded so strangely, it could just as well signify yes as no. And the mother looked down in her lap, and the tears ran down over her cheeks; her head became so heavy--she had not closed her eyes for three days and nights; and now she slept, but only for a minute, when she started up and trembled with cold.

"What is that?" said she, and looked on all sides; but the old man was gone, and her little child was gone--he had taken it with him; and the old clock in the corner burred, and burred, the great leaden weight ran down to the floor, bump! and then the clock also stood still.

But the poor mother ran out of the house and cried aloud for her child.

Out there, in the midst of the snow, there sat a woman in long, black clothes; and she said, "Death has been in thy chamber, and I saw him hasten away with thy little child; he goes faster than the wind, and he never brings back what he takes!"

"Oh, only tell me which way he went!" said the mother. "Tell me the way, and I shall find him!"

"I know it!" said the woman in the black clothes. "But before I tell it, thou must first sing for me all the songs thou hast sung for thy child! I am fond of them. I have heard them before; I am Night; I saw thy tears whilst thou sang'st them!"

"I will sing them all, all!" said the mother. "But do not stop me now--I may overtake him--I may find my child!"

But Night stood still and mute. Then the mother wrung her hands, sang and wept, and there were many songs, but yet many more tears; and then Night said, "Go to the right, into the dark pine forest; thither I saw Death take his way with thy little child!"

The roads crossed each other in the depths of the forest, and she no longer knew whither she should go! then there stood a thorn-bush; there was neither leaf nor flower on it, it was also in the cold winter season, and ice-flakes hung on the branches.

"Hast thou not seen Death go past with my little child?" said the mother.

"Yes," said the thorn-bush; "but I will not tell thee which way he took, unless thou wilt first warm me up at thy heart. I am freezing to death; I shall become a lump of ice!"

And she pressed the thorn-bush to her breast, so firmly, that it might be thoroughly warmed, and the thorns went right into her flesh, and her blood flowed in large drops, but the thornbush shot forth fresh green leaves, and there came flowers on it in the cold winter night, the heart of the afflicted mother was so warm; and the thorn-bush told her the way she should go.

She then came to a large lake, where there was neither ship nor boat. The lake was not frozen sufficiently to bear her; neither was it open, nor low enough that she could wade through it; and across it she must go if she would find her child! Then she lay down to drink up the lake, and that was an impossibility for a human being, but the afflicted mother thought that a miracle might happen nevertheless.

"Oh, what would I not give to come to my child!" said the weeping mother; and she wept still more, and her eyes sunk down in the depths of the waters, and became two precious pearls; but the water bore her up, as if she sat in a swing, and she flew in the rocking waves to the shore on the opposite side, where there stood a mile-broad, strange house, one knew not if it were a mountain with forests and caverns, or if it were built up; but the poor mother could not see it; she had wept her eyes out.

"Where shall I find Death, who took away my little child?" said she.

"He has not come here yet!" said the old grave woman, who was appointed to look after Death's great greenhouse! "How have you been able to find the way hither? And who has helped you?"

"Our Lord has helped me," said she. "He is merciful, and you will also be so! Where shall I find my little child?"

"Nay, I know not," said the woman, "and you cannot see! Many flowers and trees have withered this night; Death will soon come and plant them over again! You certainly know that every person has his or her life's tree or flower, just as everyone happens to be settled; they look like other plants, but they have pulsations of the heart. Children's hearts can also beat; go after yours, perhaps you may know your child's; but what will you give me if I tell you what you shall do more?"

"I have nothing to give," said the afflicted mother, "but I will go to the world's end for you!"

"Nay, I have nothing to do there!" said the woman. "But you can give me your long black hair; you know yourself that it is fine, and that I like! You shall have my white hair instead, and that's always something!"

"Do you demand nothing else?" said she. "That I will gladly give you!" And she gave her her fine black hair, and got the old woman's snow-white hair instead.

So they went into Death's great greenhouse, where flowers and trees grew strangely into one another. There stood fine hyacinths under glass bells, and there stood strong-stemmed peonies; there grew water plants, some so fresh, others half sick, the water-snakes lay down on them, and black crabs pinched their stalks. There stood beautiful palm-trees, oaks, and plantains; there stood parsley and flowering thyme: every tree and every flower had its name; each of them was a human life, the human frame still lived--one in China, and another in Greenland--round about in the world. There were large trees in small pots, so that they stood so stunted in growth, and ready to burst the pots; in other places, there was a little dull flower in rich mould, with moss round about it, and it was so petted and nursed. But the distressed mother bent down over all the smallest plants, and heard within them how the human heart beat; and amongst millions she knew her child's.

"There it is!" cried she, and stretched her hands out over a little blue crocus, that hung quite sickly on one side.

"Don't touch the flower!" said the old woman. "But place yourself here, and when Death comes--I expect him every moment--do not let him pluck the flower up, but threaten him that you will do the same with the others. Then he will be afraid! He is responsible for them to our Lord, and no one dares to pluck them up before he gives leave."

All at once an icy cold rushed through the great hall, and the blind mother could feel that it was Death that came. "How hast thou been able to find thy way hither?" he asked. "How couldst thou come quicker than I?" "I am a mother," said she.

And Death stretched out his long hand towards the fine little flower, but she held her hands fast around his, so tight, and yet afraid that she should touch one of the leaves. Then Death blew on her hands, and she felt that it was colder than the cold wind, and her hands fell down powerless.

"Thou canst not do anything against me!" said Death.

"But our Lord can!" said she.

"I only do His bidding!" said Death. "I am His gardener, I take all His flowers and trees, and plant them out in the great garden of Paradise, in the unknown land; but how they grow there, and how it is there I dare not tell thee."

"Give me back my child!" said the mother, and she wept and prayed. At once she seized hold of two beautiful flowers close by, with each hand, and cried out to Death, "I will tear all thy flowers off, for I am in despair."

"Touch them not!" said Death. "Thou say'st that thou art so unhappy, and now thou wilt make another mother equally unhappy."

"Another mother!" said the poor woman, and directly let go her hold of both the flowers.

"There, thou hast thine eyes," said Death; "I fished them up from the lake, they shone so bright; I knew not they were thine. Take them again, they are now brighter than before; now look down into the deep well close by; I shall tell thee the names of the two flowers thou wouldst have torn up, and thou wilt see their whole future life--their whole human existence: and see what thou wast about to disturb and destroy."

And she looked down into the well; and it was a happiness to see how the one became a blessing to the world, to see how much happiness and joy were felt everywhere. And she saw the other's life, and it was sorrow and distress, horror, and wretchedness.

"Both of them are God's will!" said Death.

"Which of them is Misfortune's flower and which is that of Happiness?" asked she.

"That I will not tell thee," said Death; "but this thou shalt know from me, that the one flower was thy own child! it was thy child's fate thou saw'st--thy own child's future life!"

Then the mother screamed with terror, "Which of them was my child? Tell it me! Save the innocent! Save my child from all that misery! Rather take it away! Take it into God's kingdom! Forget my tears, forget my prayers, and all that I have done!"

"I do not understand thee!" said Death. "Wilt thou have thy child again, or shall I go with it there, where thou dost not know!"

Then the mother wrung her hands, fell on her knees, and prayed to our Lord: "Oh, hear me not when I pray against Thy will, which is the best! hear me not! hear me not!"

And she bowed her head down in her lap, and Death took her child and went with it into the unknown land.

The Lark and It's Young Ones

A child went up to a lark and said: "Good lark, have you any young ones?"

"Yes, child, I have," said the mother lark, "and they are very pretty ones, indeed." Then she pointed to the little birds and said, "This is Fair Wing, that is Tiny Bill, and that other is Bright Eyes."

"At home, we are three," said the child, "myself and two sisters. Mother says that we are pretty children, and she loves us."

To this the little larks replied, "Oh, yes, OUR mother is fond of us, too."

"Good mother lark," said the child, "will you let Tiny Bill go home with me and play?"

Before the mother lark could reply, Bright Eyes said, "Yes, if you will send your little sister to play with us in our nest."

"Oh, she will be so sorry to leave home," said the child, "she could not come away from our mother."

"Tiny Bill will be so sorry to leave our nest," answered Bright Eyes, "and he will not go away from OUR mother."

Then the child ran away to her mother, saying, "Ah, every one is fond of home!"

An inspirational short story for Mother's Day

A man stopped at a flower shop to order some flowers to be wired to his mother who lived two hundred miles away.

As he got out of his car he noticed a young girl sitting on the curb sobbing.

He asked her what was wrong and she replied, "I wanted to buy a red rose for my mother.

But I only have seventy-five cents, and a rose costs two dollars."

The man smiled and said, "Come on in with me. I'll buy you a rose."

He bought the little girl her rose and ordered his own mother's flowers.

As they were leaving he offered the girl a ride home.

She said, "Yes, please! You can take me to my mother."

She directed him to a cemetery, where she placed the rose on a freshly dug grave.

The man returned to the flower shop, canceled the wire order, picked up a bouquet and drove the two hundred miles to his mother's house.

Kenneth Baker

Honesty, kindness and loyalty came easily to my mother, but she had problems with accuracy.

Asked to describe someone she had met or something she had seen, she would brighten the facts with little exaggerations until her own eloquence dazzled her into stopping. Before her very limited audience - my father and me - she would turn into a diva of divagation, perhaps to fill the voids my father's reserve created. Though irked by this habit, I judged it less a failing than a sort of misspent generosity. At least she never had to give court testimony.

A hopeless compulsion to unravel her descriptive embroidery probably drove me to writing nonfiction. I still have to slap myself to remember that there is no such thing.

Just when I thought I had the knack of discerning useful information in my mother's fog of words, she threw me.

When I started college, she returned to secretarial work to help meet the expenses, after 20-odd years as a homemaker.

On my first visit home from my out-of-state alma mater, my mother and I talked about her new job.

Everything had changed since she got her certificate from the Katherine Gibbs School in Boston, which taught office skills. The new electric typewriters really got her going. She had never seen or even heard of anything like them.

"The carriage doesn't move!" she said. "Or I should say it only turns over, so you can spool the paper around it. The ribbon moves back and forth instead of the carriage. And instead of keys, the machine has this metal ball with all the letters and punctuation marks raised on its surface. When you work the keyboard, the ball jumps up and hits the paper with whatever letter you type, and jumps back, as fast as your fingers can move. It's just amazing!"

Who would have believed such a story in 1964? Not I. It's a good thing she didn't live to describe software.

A few months afterward I happened to see IBM's original Selectric typewriter in action for the first time. I recognized it instantly from my mother's description.

Of course, after that, I could never trust her all over again.

learning methods inteleligence

 
Welcome to LearningMethods
    "Intelligence applied to experience – understanding and navigating your life"

Learn for yourself and solve your own problems — it doesn't take long because you already have what it takes within you, you just need to learn to use it !

We are the most amazing learning creatures on the planet.  We have a wonderful in-built
intelligence, an exquisitely sensitive awareness and a wealth of experience day after day...
Yet we still suffer from so many chronic and completely unnecessary problems.    Why?
Especially when most of our chronic problems are so easy and quick to change...  read more...
 

Main areas of the web site: What is LearningMethods??    – More about how it can help you and what you'll learn       And how do I study it?       (aussi en français) Upcoming Workshops and Trainings (see below also)    – Calendar of scheduled workshops and upcoming events Quotes and Testimonials    – Read people's comments on how the work has helped them On-line Library of Articles and eBooks    – Articles on the work and how it solved various problems LM Store — Publications / Recordings    – Order books, articles, recordings by Gorman and others       including The Body Moveable, an illustrated 600-page text         on our human musculoskeletal structure & function. Finding a Teacher    – List of qualified LM teachers and apprentice-teachers Training as an LM Teacher    – What is involved in becoming a teacher of the LM work David Gorman's workshop and training schedule: LearningMethods Modular Training (including Anatomy of Wholeness and Alexander Technique) This multifaceted training includes local in-person groups, intensive periodic workshops and distance online learning. LearningMethods OnlineTM , the distance learning component has   already begun and more groups will be added soon. These include   training in LearningMethods and Anatomy of Wholeness from   beginner level to professional and certification level.   More details here... Stratford, ON, Canada  —  21-23 January 2011 - weekend    – Standing on Top of the World Kadermo, Finland  —  Summer 2011 - 2 weeks    – The Yoga of Wholeness (retreat on a beautiful island) In progress:  A new book by David Gorman —  a look at our human structure and function from the point of view of the whole thinking, feeling being — includes a full exploration of his revolutionary and profound discovery of 'the elastically-sprung suspension system'...       Selected parts will hopefully be available soon in downloadable e-book format — to be informed of this and other LearningMethods news and events join our e-mail list below

Vocabbulary Resource

Vocabulary Resources Vocabulary learning is a lifelong process, and there is a plethora of online tools to help you along the way. We have gathered some of our favorite resources from around the Internet in one convenient list. Whether you're a student, teacher, or a word lover looking for inspiration, you're sure to find something here to enlighten your path to vocabulary enrichment. Great Vocabulary-Building Tools: Visual Thesaurus An interactive dictionary and thesaurus that leads you to discover the connections between vocabulary words in a visually captivating display. Word maps blossom with meaning, encouraging exploration instead of rote memorization to expand vocabulary. VocabGrabber VocabGrabber intelligently extracts vocabulary from any text you're interested in, generating lists of the most useful words and showing you how they are used in context. Spelling Bee The Visual Thesaurus Spelling Bee challenges players at all levels of English proficiency, since the spelling difficulty adapts to each player's skill level. Addictive and challenging. Online Vocabulary References: Cambridge Dictionaries Online Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary and other excellent learner dictionaries are available online, free of charge. Online Etymological Dictionary A free and open resource for reliable information on word roots. Vintage Vocabulary A site highlighting American words and expressions with intriguing origins. UsingEnglish Designed for ESL learners, UsingEnglish contains an extensive list of English idioms. Academic Word List (AWL) Developed by linguistics professor Averil Coxhead, AWL contains frequently occurring English vocabulary words from a broad range of academic texts. Tools and Tips for Teachers: ReadWriteThink A collaboration between NCTE and IRA, ReadWriteThink has a searchable lesson plan archive that features many lessons with a focus on vocabulary learning. Education Oasis Graphic organizers for teachers that can help students learn new vocabulary words and concepts. Literacy Matters A project from the Education Development Center with valuable resources for enriching vocabulary instruction as a means to improve content literacy. Cuesta College Guide to Vocabulary An overview of helpful vocabulary strategies that include interpreting context clues, recognizing word roots, and analyzing common relationships between words.

lyric baby

Justin Bieber ft Ludacris – Baby Lyrics

[Justin Bieber]
Oh woooah, oh woooooah, oh wooooah, oh.
You know you love me, I know you care,
you shout whenever and I’ll be there.
You are my love, you are my heart
and we will never ever ever be apart.
Are we an item? girl quit playing,
we’re just friends, what are you saying.
Said there’s another, look right in my eyes,
my first love broke my heart for the first time.
And I was like…

[Chorus]
Baby, baby, baby oooooh,
like baby, baby, baby noooooooo,
like baby, baby, baby, ooooh.
Thought you’d always be mine, mine (repeat)

[Justin Beiber]
Oh, for you I would have done whatever,
and I just can’t believe we aint together
and I wanna play it cool the thought of losing you
I buy you anything, I buy you any ring,
and now please say baby fix me and you shake me til’ you wake me from this bad dream.
I’m going down down down down
and I just can’t believe my first love won’t be around.
And I’m like…

[Chorus]

[Ludacris]
Luda, When I was 13 I had my first love,
there was nobody that compared to my baby
and nobody came between us, no-one could ever come above
She had me going crazy, oh I was star-struck,
she woke me up daily, don’t need no Starbucks.
lyrics courtesy of killerhiphop.com
She made my heart pound, I skip a beat when I see her in the street and
at school on the playground but I really wanna see her on the weekend.
She knows she got me dazing coz she was so amazing
and now my heart is breaking but I just keep on saying….

[Chorus]

Now I’m gone,
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
now I’m all gone.
Gone, gone, gone, gone, I’m gone.

definition of prose

Definition of PROSE

1

a : the ordinary language people use in speaking or writing b : a literary medium distinguished from poetry especially by its greater irregularity and variety of rhythm and its closer correspondence to the patterns of everyday speech

2

: a dull or ordinary style, quality, or condition

See prose defined for English-language learners »

Examples of PROSE

1. She writes in very clear prose.
2. … the esteemed critic James Wood reaches out to assure “the common reader” … that his prose is as free as he can make it of what James Joyce termed “the true scholastic stink” of so much academic writing. —Walter Kirn, New York Times Book Review, 17 Aug. 2008
3. Like many two-person writing teams, this one produces its share of three-legged prose and redundancy. —James McManus, New York Times Book Review, 15 Apr. 2001
4. In my own work I felt a need to hurry from climax as in film montage, or even in Joycean prose with its strings of firecracker words … —Arthur Miller, Timebends, 1987
5. [+]more[-]hide

Origin of PROSE

Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Latin prosa, from feminine of prorsus, prosus, straightforward, being in prose, contraction of proversus, past participle of provertere to turn forward, from pro- forward + vertere to turn — more at pro-, worth

First Known Use: 14th century

Rhymes with PROSE

brose, chose, close, cloze, doze, gloze, hose, nose, pose, rose, Rose

Browse

Next Word in the Dictionary: pro se
Previous Word in the Dictionary: proscription
All Words Near: prose

my mother is the best

Your Mother Is Always With You...

Your mother is always with you...

She's the whisper of the leaves

as you walk down the street.

She's the smell of bleach

in your freshly laundered socks.

She's the cool hand on your brow

when you're not well.

Your mother lives inside your laughter.

She's crystallized in every tear drop.

She's the place you came from,

your first home...

She's the map you follow

with every step that you take.

She's your first love

and your first heart break...

and nothing on earth can separate you.

Not time, Not space...

Not even death...

will ever separate you

from your mother...

You carry her inside of you...

Speaking of speech

WELCOME TO THE NEW
SPEAKING OF SPEECH.COM
IEP GOAL BANK!

This IEP GOAL BANK is the place where you can "deposit" your own IEP goals/objectives and "withdraw" the goals/objectives contributed by others. Few things cause more angst in our profession than writing IEP goals/objectives! One way to simplify the process is to use the template below. If all sections of this template are filled in, then your goal/objective is measurable.

IEP Goal/Objective Template:

From a baseline of  ___, the student will....

• perform a specific skill
• a specified number of times
• under specified conditions
• at a specified level of achievement
• for a specific length of time.

For example: From a baseline of 55% at the single word level,
                     Joey will...

• correctly produce an /s/ in the initial position
  
• of 25 words from his classroom curriculum
• after highlighting those sounds as a visual reminder
• in 8 of 10 trials (80% accuracy)
• for three consecutive therapy sessions.

IMPORTANT NOTE: You will likely NOT be able to use these goals/objectives "as is." Because goals/objectives need to be individualized, it is important to adapt elements of the goals/objectives below to meet the specific needs of your students. The examples below are just that -- examples to give you ideas when writing your IEPs. They appear on this page just as they were contributed, without editing, and may be missing elements that you'll need to complete. It's up to YOU to make needed changes so the goals/objectives are appropriate for your student.

To "make a deposit" into the IEP Goal Bank, please email your goals/objectives to mervinep@mac.com. Please type GOAL BANK in the subject line and type your goal exactly as you want it to appear on this page. Please include the category for posting. Your contribution will be much appreciated!

To make a "withdrawal" from the Goal Bank, simply highlight and copy the text you want to use, then paste into your IEP. Then reformat text and make changes as needed to individualize the goal/objective.

CLICK ON THE TOPICS BELOW TO ACCESS
RELATED GOALS/OBJECTIVES.

Articulation	Auditory Processing	Aug.Com.
Fluency	Functional Life Skills	Language
Miscellaneous	Phonological/Aud. Discrim.	Social/Pragmatics

Articulation Goals:
Long Term Goal: Student will produce the // speech sound with 90% mastery.
     Short Term Objectives:
     1. S. will produce // in isolation with 90% accuracy.
     2. S. will produce // in syllables with 90% accuracy.
     3. S. will produce // in all positions of words with 90% accuracy.
     4. S. will produce // in sentences with 90% accuracy.
     5. S. will produce // in oral reading tasks with 90% accuracy.
     6. S. will produce // in structured conversation with 90%                         accuracy.
     7. S. will produce // in spontaneous speech with 90% accuracy.
     8. S. will improve self-monitoring skills for the target sound // with          90% accuracy.
     9. S. will improve carry-over of the target sound // outside of the          therapy setting with 90% accuracy.


X will produce intelligible utterances in “Subject-Verb-Object” sentence forms.

X will produce intelligible 3- to 4-word utterances containing prepositions such as “in,” “on,’ “over,” and “under”

X will expand spontaneous utterances to 5 or 6 words, given an oral or gestural cue

X will produce short grammatical utterances to make comments and requests using carrier phrases (e.g, “I want the/to __,” “Where is the __,” “Are you __”)


Long Term Goal for Articulation/ intelligibility: Given a structured or unstructured classroom setting, Firstname will increase meaningful communication interactions by (insert objectives here) within his educational setting to __ % over _ consecutive trials as measured by clinician/teacher observation, other informal assessments and data collection. PA Standard: 1.6.3/5/8/11.C

     Short term objectives / benchmarks
     1. Firstname will work towards increased intelligibility by decreasing his rate of speech during all tasks and increasing his loudness level given less than 2 verbal cues per interaction.
   
     2. Firstname will use appropriate phrasing (pitch, volume, rate, stress) during sentence production or conversation in 3 out of 4 trials

     3. Firstname will use correct sequencing of syllables during multisyllabic word production in 3 out of 4 trials.

     4. Firstname will apply targeted speech intelligibility skills across educational and social settings.


Long Term Goal for Articulation/ oral-motor skills: Given a structured or unstructured classroom setting, Firstname will increase speech intelligibility by use of improved oral motor characteristics and oral movements for speech sound production including (insert objectives from below) to blank % over blank consecutive trials as measured by clinician observation and data collection. PA Standard: 1.6.3/5/8/11.C

Short term objectives / benchmarks

• Improve strength of oral musculature with lingual-labial exercises. Improve correct sound production of (*fill in target sounds) during structured speech exercises.
• Improve ability to utilize and self monitor exaggerated articulatory posture.
• Improve ability to maintain slow speech rate with intermittent pausing.
• To increase diadochokinetic rate to normal limits.
• Generalize improved articulation skills across educational and social settings.

Long Term Goal for Articulation/ traditional: Given a structured or unstructured classroom setting, Firstname will correctly produce /insert target sounds / sounds in a hierarchy, beginning with sounds in isolation and carrying over to conversational speech, to __ % over _ consecutive trials as measured by clinician/teacher observation, other informal assessments and data collection. PA Standard: 1.6.3/5/8/11.C

Short term objectives / benchmarks

• Imitate and produce target sound in isolation Produce target sound in words (initial, medial, final)
• Produce target sound in sentences
• Structured sentences
• Spontaneous sentences
• Produce target sound during oral reading
• Apply targeted speech sound production across educational and social settings

** Demonstrate production of / / with 80% accuracy over 3 out of 4 trials with __ cues or less.

Identify presence of target sound in speech with 80% accuracy over 3 out of 4 trials with 2 cues or less.

Discriminate between correct and incorrect production of the target sound with 80% accuracy over 3 out of 4 trials with 2 cues or less.

Produce target sound in a variety of consonant – vowel combinations with 80% accuracy over 3 out of 4 trials with __ cues or less.

Produce target sound in ____ position of words with 80% accuracy over 3 out of 4 trials with __ cues or less.

Produce target sound in blends and consonant clusters with 80% accuracy over 3 out of 4 trials with __ cues or less.

Produce target sound in structured sentences with 80% accuracy over 3 out of 4 trials with __ cues or less.

Produce target sound in structured conversation with 80% accuracy over 3 out of 4 trials with __ cues or less.

Use effective strategies to improve speech intelligibility with % accuracy over _ out of _ trials with _ cues or less by:
            Self-correcting misarticulated sounds
            Facing speaking partner or group
            Control rate of speech
            Increasing volume of speaking voice
            Repeat or reword utterance to clarify the message when asked




Fluency Goals:

I. “Student” will address non-fluent speech in therapy with Van Riper symptomatic techniques.

II. “Student” will demonstrate increased control of fluency throughout the academic day

III. “Student” will demonstrate increased awareness and control of rate of speech and intelligibility throughout the day.

Benchmarks

• F1. “Student” will maintain eye contact
• F2. “Student” will identify and eliminate secondary symptoms
• F3. “Student” will stutter/stop
• F4. “Student” will stutter/stop/repeat
• F5. “Student” will stutter/stop/repeat/analyze
• F6. “Student” will stutter/stop/change toward correction
• F7. “Student” will independently identify rates of speech (too fast, just right) with 90% accuracy.
• F8. Given an oral cue, “Student” will identify proper intonation and breath patterns by chunking phrases with 80% accuracy.
• F9. “Student” will independently identify episodes of nonfluency with 80% accuracy.

Long Term Goal for Fluency Awareness/ Relaxation: Given a structured or unstructured classroom setting, Firstname will relax body and speech musculature with specific emphasis on (*insert objective from below*) for blank minutes over blank consecutive trials, as measured by clinician/teacher observation, other informal assessments and data collection. PA Standard: 1.6.3/5/8/11.C

Short term objectives / benchmarks

• Firstname will demonstrate the ability to identify and relax points of tension in the speech musculature.
• Apply targeted fluency awareness techniques across educational and social settings.

Long Term Goal for Fluency Awareness/ Self-monitoring: Given a structured or unstructured classroom setting, Firstname will increase awareness of own speech production by describing characteristics of fluent and dysfluent speech by (insert specific objectives here) with __ % accuracy over _ consecutive trials or during a _ minute language sample. PA Standard: 1.6.3/5/8/11.C

     Short term objectives / benchmarks
     1. Evaluate speech of self and others

     2. Develop a hierarchy of speech situations, relative to people, activities, and settings from least to most stressful.

     3. Describe what he/she does to produce fluent and dysfluent speech in terms of :
          • Respiration
          • Phonation
          • Articulation
          • Rate
          • Continuity

     4. Apply targeted fluency awareness techniques across educational and social settings.


Long Term Goal for Fluency Awareness / decreasing dysfluencies: Given a structured or unstructured classroom setting, Student will increase awareness of speech production by describing what he can do to produce fluent speech (including but not limited to the following activities: insert objectives here) during a _ minute speech sample. PA Standard: 1.6.3/5/8/11.C

Short term objectives / benchmarks
    1. Using fluent speech during:
          • Automatic responses
          • Phrases
          • Sentences
          • Initiation of questions
          • Responses to questions
          • Reading
          • Conversation

     2. Use of fluent speech during low stress situations.

     3. Use of fluent speech during high stress situations.

    4. Use of fluent speech when conversing with a friend or teacher.

    5. Use of fluent speech during phone conversations:
          • Initiating phone call
          • Answering phone calls
          • Conversing during phone calls

     6. Apply targeted fluency awareness techniques across educational and social settings.



Functional Life Skills Goals:

S. will match 10 identical symbols given a choice of 4 in a functional context such as cooking, in 8 of 10 opportunities.

S. will match 10 symbols to objects given a choice of 4 in a functional context such as cooking, in 8 of 10 opportunities.

S. will point to or get named symbols and objects from a choice of 6 when used in language games, cooking activities, and other classroom routines, in 8 of 10 opportunities.

S. will point to a "same" or "different" symbol to indicate if pairs of thematic symbols or items are same or different, in 8 of 10 opportunities.

S. will sort 10 items into 2 dissimilar categories, in 8 of 10 opportunities.

S. will make 10 choices of preferred items from an array of 3 during snack by picking up a symbol or photo to an adult, in 8 of 10 opportunities.

S. will initiate his turn during snack and Circle by pressing a voice-output switch, reaching toward the adult, and/or vocalizing, in 4 of 5 opportunities.

S. will follow verbal directions to "sit, stand, give, go" during daily routines and transitions, with no more than 1 prompt, in 4 of 5 opportunities.

S. will identify a named symbol, photo, or object by touching or selecting it from a choice of 3 during Circle (story, song, weather), attendance, schedule, language games, etc., in 4 of 5 opportunities.

S. will demonstrate understanding of symbols by performing an action or going to the appropriate place when shown a symbol related to daily routines, in 8 of 10 opportunities.

Reading skill acquition

Main article: Reading skills acquisition

Literacy is the ability to use the symbols of a writing system. To be able to interpret the information symbols represent, and to be able to re-create those same symbols so that others can derive the same meaning. Illiteracy is not having the ability to derive meaning from the symbols used in a writing system.
Dyslexia refers to a cognitive difficulty with reading and writing. The term dyslexia can refer to two disorders: developmental dyslexia which is a learning disability; alexia or acquired dyslexia refers to reading difficulties that occur following brain damage.
Major predictors of an individual's ability to read both alphabetic and nonalphabetic scripts are phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming and verbal IQ.^[4]

[edit] Skill development

Both the Lexical and the Sub-lexical cognitive processes contribute to how we learn to read.

Sub-lexical reading

Sub-lexical reading,^[5][6][7][8] involves teaching reading by associating characters or groups of characters with sounds or by using Phonics learning and teaching methodology. Sometimes argued to be in competition with whole language methods.

Lexical reading

Lexical reading^[5][6][7][8] involves acquiring words or phrases without attention to the characters or groups of characters that compose them or by using Whole language learning and teaching methodology. Sometimes argued to be in competition with phonics methods, and that the whole language approach tends to impair learning how to spell.
Other methods of teaching and learning to read have developed, and become somewhat controversial.^[9]
Learning to read in a second language, especially in adulthood, may be a different process than learning to read a native language in childhood.
There are cases of very young children learning to read without having been taught.^[10] Such was the case with Truman Capote who reportedly taught himself to read and write at the age of five. There are also accounts of people who taught themselves to read by comparing street signs or Biblical passages to speech. The novelist Nicholas Delbanco taught himself to read at age six during a transatlantic crossing by studying a book about boats.^{[citation needed]}

How to write a book series

How to Write a Book Series - How NOT to Write a Novel

200 classic mistakes and how to avoid them - A misstep-by-misstep guide

A couple of years ago we ran a novel writing contest. We only received 23 entries, but that was plenty.
A few were decent. Three had potential. The rest were, and I'll be nice, not quite up to snuff. Honestly, half of the entries were horrible. We couldn't imagine how these folks could have thought their books were complete.
Typos... misspellings... poorly constructed sentences. Lack of editing was just one small part of the problem. The books were dull. The characters were predictable or flat. The story line in some cases seemed to be missing in action. Oh, it was a grueling process for us...
So when I was asked to review the new book by Howard Mittlemark and Sandra Newman, How NOT To Write a Novel, I jumped on the chance.
Learning from the mistakes of others is always valuable. Reading well-written novels should be a top priority for any aspiring author, but sometimes it's nice to know if you're making any of the classic mistakes. That's why I like this book.
First, I'll assume that you read voraciously if you're a writer. If you're not, I recommend that you read a half dozen good novels before reading this book.
Now, assuming you read consistently in the genre in which you intend to write, you'll have some sense of what works. This book shows you what doesn't work - and why. The book is divided into seven parts.

1. Plot
   
2. Character
   
3. Style - the basics
   
4. Style - perspective and voice
   
5. The world of the bad novel
   
6. Special effects and novelty acts - Do not try this at home
   
7. How not to sell a novel

How to Write a Book by BAD Example

What I like about their book is how Mittlemark and Newman provide specific examples of bad writing to illustrate their points. Some are quite humorous. Others are downright painful to read.
For example, in section 1 on Plot, they provide an example where the plot is too slight:

"Fools," Thomas Abrams thought, shaking his head as he completed his inspection of the drainage assembly under the worried eyes of Len Stewart. "Foolish, foolish, fools," he muttered. Squirming out from under the catchment basin, he stood up and brushed off the grit that clunk to his gray overalls. Then he picked up his clipboard and made a few notes on the form, while Len waited anxiously for the verdict. Thomas didn't mind making him wait.
   "Well," he said, as he finished and put the pen away. "Well, well, well."
   "What is it?" Len asked, unable to keep a tremor out of his voice.
   "When will you people learn that you can't use a B-142 joint-enclosure with a 1811-D-nipple cinch?"
   "B-but--" Len stammered.
   "Or maybe, let me take a wild guess here, just maybe you confused an 1811-D with an 1811-E?" He paused to let it sink in before delivering the death blow. "... Again."
   He left Len speechless and walked away without a look back, chuckling ruefully as he managed the look on Len's face when he fully realized the implications of his mistake.

"Death blow?" Oh, my... that's really bad. Sucks you right in, doesn't it?
The authors go on to provide examples on plot lines that are delayed too long, the character's childhood is recounted to no purpose, and in which the leader is intentionally misled. And that's just a quarter of what's in the first section.

Economics of education

Economics

Main article: Economics of education

It has been argued that high rates of education are essential for countries to be able to achieve high levels of economic growth. Empirical analyses tend to support the theoretical prediction that poor countries should grow faster than rich countries because they can adopt cutting edge technologies already tried and tested by rich countries. However, technology transfer requires knowledgeable managers and engineers who are able to operate new machines or production practices borrowed from the leader in order to close the gap through imitation. Therefore, a country's ability to learn from the leader is a function of its stock of "human capital". Recent study of the determinants of aggregate economic growth have stressed the importance of fundamental economic institutions and the role of cogniive skills.At the individual level, there is a large literature, generally related back to the work of Jacob Mincer,on how earnings are related to the schooling and other human capital of the individual. This work has motivated a large number of studies, but is also controversial. The chief controversies revolve around how to interpret the impact of schooling.
Economists Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis famously argued in 1976 that there was a fundamental conflict in American schooling between the egalitarian goal of democratic participation and the inequalities implied by the continued profitability of capitalist production on the other.

data structures

Data structures

A data structure is a group of data elements grouped together under one name. These data elements, known as members, can have different types and different lengths. Data structures are declared in C++ using the following syntax:

struct structure_name {
member_type1 member_name1;
member_type2 member_name2;
member_type3 member_name3;
.
.
} object_names;

where structure_name is a name for the structure type, object_name can be a set of valid identifiers for objects that have the type of this structure. Within braces { } there is a list with the data members, each one is specified with a type and a valid identifier as its name.

The first thing we have to know is that a data structure creates a new type: Once a data structure is declared, a new type with the identifier specified as structure_name is created and can be used in the rest of the program as if it was any other type. For example:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

struct product { int weight; float price; } ; product apple; product banana, melon;

We have first declared a structure type called product with two members: weight and price, each of a different fundamental type. We have then used this name of the structure type (product) to declare three objects of that type: apple, banana and melon as we would have done with any fundamental data type.

Once declared, product has become a new valid type name like the fundamental ones int, char or short and from that point on we are able to declare objects (variables) of this compound new type, like we have done with apple, banana and melon.

Right at the end of the struct declaration, and before the ending semicolon, we can use the optional field object_name to directly declare objects of the structure type. For example, we can also declare the structure objects apple, banana and melon at the moment we define the data structure type this way:

1 2 3 4

struct product { int weight; float price; } apple, banana, melon;

It is important to clearly differentiate between what is the structure type name, and what is an object (variable) that has this structure type. We can instantiate many objects (i.e. variables, like apple, banana and melon) from a single structure type (product).

Once we have declared our three objects of a determined structure type (apple, banana and melon) we can operate directly with their members. To do that we use a dot (.) inserted between the object name and the member name. For example, we could operate with any of these elements as if they were standard variables of their respective types:

1 2 3 4 5 6

apple.weight apple.price banana.weight banana.price melon.weight melon.price

Each one of these has the data type corresponding to the member they refer to: apple.weight, banana.weight and melon.weight are of type int, while apple.price, banana.price and melon.price are of type float.

MOTHER'S ARE THE SWEETEST.

Our mother is the sweetest and
Most delicate of all.
She knows more of paradise
Than angels can recall.

She's not only beautiful
But passionately young,
Playful as a kid, yet wise
As one who has lived long.

Her love is like the rush of life,
A bubbling, laughing spring
That runs through all like liquid light
And makes the mountains sing.

And makes the meadows turn to flower
And trees to choicest fruit.
She is at once the field and bower
In which our hearts take root.

She is at once the sea and shore,
Our freedom and our past.
With her we launch our daring ships
Yet keep the things that last.

~Nick Gordon~