Add Value In Workplace

According to Craig R. Barrett, Former CEO and Chairman, Intel Corporation to compete in the twenty-first century, individuals and countries will have to add value in the workplace to command a high standard of living and be competitive in the global marketplace.

Education Is Key

Education is the key to adding value. The United States recognizes that its K-12 education is not doing the job. You need good teachers with content expertise, high expectations, and feedback systems to help struggling students and teachers. These three requirements are difficult to implement in a massive public education system designed more for working adults than for learning students.

Top Universities Recruited

We need to follow the lead of other countries and recruit teachers from the top of universities’ graduating classes. We might start by converting all schools of education to programs like “Uteach in Texas”, a program designed to turn content experts into teachers, letting potential teachers study subject matter they will be teaching rather than the mind numbing theory of how to teach.

Quality Of Teachers

Good tools help make education more interesting and exciting, but ultimately quality of education comes down to quality of the teacher.

Focus On Learning Same Material

The United States needs to open its eyes in regard to expectation levels in our K-12 system. Achieve, a non-profit education reform organization, has been working on a state-driven, internationally bench marked “common core” curriculum to replace today’s myriad state tests. This will be an effort to get all kids in the United States to focus on learning the same material by grade level, by subject matter, in alignment with other successful education systems in the world. Driving these changes at the local level can provide the political will to implement change and get states to lead the way.

K-12 State Monopoly

Catalyzing change in education is especially difficult because of entrenched bureaucracies and the K-12 state monopoly. There is opportunity to use competition to effect change via charter schools. In states like Arizona, Colorado, and Indiana, charter schools are given great leeway in how they operate. Schools should embrace more tension in the system through paying for performance, employing data systems that track how much a child learns from a teacher, measuring teacher quality, giving local administrators the ability to manage staff and finances, and comparing results to the best education systems in the world.

Room For Innovation

There is also room for innovation, such as distance learning, one-on-one computing in the classroom, and software tools. Good tools help make education more interesting and exciting, but ultimately quality of education comes down to quality of the teacher. Without good teachers and high expectations, we will continue to languish behind other OECD countries.

Cordially,
Woody Woodchuck
“Words of wisdom from the Prairie Dog”                                                                                                                           

                     Prairie Dogs Prepare For                        Global Market Place

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Education And Job Training

If people and communities are to thrive, nothing is more important than education and job training. A workforce armed with the critical skills needed to succeed in the jobs of tomorrow is important not only to the success of our business, but also to a country’s ability to compete in the global marketplace. That’s why Chevron invests in schools and teachers. We focus on improving instruction in the key subjects of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) and on helping provide the career and technical training that can lead directly to good-paying jobs.

Support Standards

Working with our partners, we take a comprehensive approach to investments in education by getting students excited about STEM, encouraging them to pursue STEM courses and ultimately, STEM careers. We support educational standards and proven curriculum that promote project- and problem-based learning. We also support teacher training, provide classroom resources, fund out-of-school activities, and develop partnerships with universities designed to strengthen faculty, curricula and student development. These investments don’t just help the communities in which we operate — they help us, too. Tomorrow’s Chevron engineers are today’s schoolchildren.

What We’re Doing And Success Stories

In 2013, Chevron invested nearly $94 million in education partnerships and programs worldwide. In the United States our total investment in education was more than $100 million over the past three years. This work has enhanced the educational experiences of more than 500,000 students in the United States. Because of that success, we have expanded our efforts by pledging an additional $30 million over the next three years (2013-2015) to support STEM education efforts nationwide.

Chevron Supports

How Chevron Supports America’s Future Innovators
and champions STEM education in the U.S., from K-12 and beyond. Through our programs and strategic partnerships, we help students and teachers get the tools and resources they need to take advantage of every opportunity STEM offers.

More Information About Chevron

Download the Infographic (48 KB) AND for more information please contact Chevron at the following web page: http://www.chevron.com/

Cordially,
Woody Woodchuck
“Words of wisdom from the Prairie Dog”
http://woodywoodchuck.com/

Prairie Dogs Are Excited About 

STEM Careers

 

 

 

 

Find Immigration Forms

US-Immigration.com is a private entity and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the United States government or any other government agency. You can find blank immigration forms with written instructions for free on the U.S. government’s USCIS website. Purchase price does not include any applicable government filing fees. US-Immigration.com is not a law firm, does not provide access to attorneys or legal immigration professionals, does not offer any form of legal advice and is not a substitute for the advice of an attorney, but instead allows you to prepare your immigration applications yourself with the help of our Do-It-Yourself Immigration Wizard, to receive clear and concise written instructions and helpful tips from the Wizard along the way, and to receive phone customer support during business hours and 24/7 email customer support. Customer support is for billing and technical questions only. Customer support representatives do not answer legal questions or give legal advice.

Citizenship

As a U.S. Citizen you have the right to vote, travel with a U.S. Passport, work as a Federal employee and much more. Learn all about these privileges and find out how to apply for U.S.Citizenship and Naturalization
U.S. Citizenship Application.

U.S citizenship Application
Citizenship Test Study Guide
New Naturalization Test
Citizenship Exam
More products…

For more information Please download the following web page: http://www.us-immigration.com/

Cordially,
Woody Woodchuck
“Words of wisdom from the Prairie Dog”

Prairie Dogs Assist Immigrants With
                                         Citizenship Exam                                                                                                

Long Way Off

Culture shapes the way we see the world. It therefore has the capacity to bring about the change of attitudes needed to ensure peace and sustainable development which, we know, form the only possible way forward for life on planet Earth. Today, that goal is still a long way off. A global crisis faces humanity at the dawn of the 21st century, marked by increasing poverty in our asymmetrical world, environmental degradation and short-sightedness in policy-making.

Cultural Values

Our cultural values, which often include particular religious beliefs, shape our way of living and acting in the world.

Explore The Values

Module 11 on Indigenous Knowledge and Sustainability explores the importance of indigenous values and spirituality in providing guidance for sustainable living. Such principles and values encourage a spirit of harmony between people, their natural environments and their spiritual identities.

Beliefs Vary

The principles for living sustainably that flow from these and other cultural and religious beliefs vary between groups and countries. They have also changed over time as circumstances demand. Despite this diversity, many principles for living sustainably are shared, not only among indigenous peoples, but also between different religious traditions.

Guidance Provided

This module explores the role of culture and religion in providing guidance on ways of living sustainably. It also provides activities which analyse the place of these themes in the school curriculum.

OBJECTIVES

To develop an understanding of the relationship between culture, religion and sustainable living;
To explore the principles for sustainable living encouraged in a chosen religion and in a case study from Nepal; to analyse the relevance and applicability of principles of sustainable living in the Nepal case study; and to encourage reflection on the contribution of religious education in Education for Sustainable Development.

ACTIVITIES

Defining religion and culture
Values and principles
A case study: Annapurna, Nepal
Culture and development
Reflection

World Culture Report

Culture is a crucial key to solving this crisis.
Source: Preface, World Culture Report, UNESCO Publishing, Paris, 1999.

For more information download the following web page:: http://www.unesco.org/education/tlsf/mods/theme_c/mod10.htm

Cordially,
Woody Woodchuck
“Words of wisdom from the Prairie Dog”

Prairie Dogs Observe Preface To Report

World Culture – UNESCO Publishing, Paris, 1999

 

 

 

Enhance Civic Education

By incorporating logic, history, and critical thinking with a national standard, Dreyfuss hopes to inspire a new way of teaching and preparing America’s youth. Learn more about his bold national initiative to enhance civic education in today’s classrooms. – Commonwealth Club of California.

Winner Of Best Actor Oscar

Richard Dreyfuss is one of the youngest actors to win the coveted Best Actor Oscar, when he snared it for his performance in The Goodbye Girl.

An Accomplished Stage Actor

Dreyfuss has been in movie classics such as Mike Nichol’s The Graduate and Postcards From the Edge, George Lucas’s American Graffiti, Stephen Spielberg’s Jaws and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Rob Reiner’s Stand By Me, Barry Levinson’s Tin Men, Barbara Steisand’s Nuts, Stakeout, Down and Out in Beverly Hills, Lost in Yonkers, and Mr. Holland’s Opus, which earned Dreyfuss a second Academy Award nomination. Dreyfuss is also an accomplished stage actor.

Overview Of Lessons

In this lesson, students will investigate the risks that journalists take to report on organized crime and corrupt government leaders. They will first discuss the role and value of a free press and some of the principles that define the work of reporters. Student groups will then role-play the work of a newspaper editorial board that must decide whether or not to publish a controversial story that could put the paper and its staff at risk.

Video Clips From Documentary Film 

The video clips used in this lesson (in Spanish with English subtitles) are from the film Reportero, a documentary that follows a veteran reporter and his colleagues at Zeta, a Tijuana-based independent newsweekly, as they stubbornly ply their trade in one of the deadliest places in the world for members of the media.

Library Of DVDs You Can Borrow

POV offers a lending library of DVDs that you can borrow anytime during the school year–FOR FREE! Get started by joining our Community Network. To purchase the institutional version go to subcine.com.

Cordially,
Woody Woodchuck
“Words of wisdom from the Prairie Dog”                                                                                                                           

Prairie Dogs Focus On Civics Education

 

 

 

 

Leading Authority

Shane J. Lopez, Ph.D.,a Gallup Senior Scientist, is the world’s leading authority on the psychology of hope and author of “Making Hope Happen”, published by Atria Books in March. The following information “Searching for the Most Hopeful Teacher in America” was posted on their web page on:  08/22/2013 10:29 pm. The book published by Atria Books may be purchased: http://imprints.simonandschuster.biz/atria

Results Of Gallup Student Poll

Hopeful students are more likely to go to school, engage in learning, and make good grades. And we now know where some of these high-hope students hang out. Gallup has identified 192 U.S. schools with a high-hope student body, based on Gallup Student Poll results from more than 1,700 schools.

Student Hope Measured

All of these schools participated in the 2012 Gallup Student Poll measuring student hope, engagement, and wellbeing. Schools where students’ average hope score was 4.53 or higher out of a possible 5 are being honored as a Gallup High-Hope School.

Find Most Hopeful Teacher

Gallup and Atria Books, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc., reached out to the principals of the 192 high-hope schools to find the most hopeful teacher in America. Principals at each of the Gallup High-Hope Schools were asked to nominate the one full-time, effective classroom teacher who was best at creating a contagion of hope in the school. Many principals told us that their nominee was easy to identify, as they were experts at getting students excited about the future and teaching them the ways to make their big goals a reality. One principal said it took a “split second” to pick the most hopeful teacher in the school.

Spread Hope To Students

Each nominee then submitted a personal story about how they spread hope to students. Based on their personal statement and on their principal’s nominating letter attesting to teacher quality and the educator’s knack for motivating students, we identified four finalists for the Most Hopeful Teacher Award:

Four Finalists

•Danny Chang, Robert Frost Middle School, Montgomery County Public Schools
•Melissa Frans, Peter Kiewit Middle School, Millard Public Schools
•Sapna Iyer, SIATech High School at San Diego Job Corps Center
•Mary Hawkins-Jones, Westover Elementary School, Montgomery County Public Schools

Four Finalists Interviewed

Each of the four finalists were interviewed to discover how they made students more hopeful. Each of the finalists talked about sharing their own hope with students. Three strategies emerged that these hopeful teachers shared in common:

Three Strategies Emerged

1. Caring about students and investing in their big future goals.
2. Aming teaching at their students’ goals for the future to increase     relevance of instruction.
3. Helping students overcome obstacles and teaching them how to solve problems on their own.

Communicates With Expectations

Chang’s principal, Joey Jones, said, “He teaches with his heart as well as his head.” Jones added, “[Chang] communicates high expectations, he provides frequent and explicit feedback, and plans for a variety of activities that generate multiple paths to learning.” Chang’s approach to inspiring students is shared by many other high-hope teachers. Chang elaborated, “Hope is contagious and it begins in oneself. I have hope in my students and when they see that in me, I believe they begin to have hope in themselves.”

Contacts with Single Student

At Kiewit Middle School, Frans tries to connect with every single student every day. To motivate students toward a future that matters to them, she tries to “find something each of them do well.” By getting students to do more of what they do best, they have more hope for their futures.

School Specializes

Iyer sees herself as a teacher, coach, and parent of her students at a school that specializes in educating those who did not find success at other institutions. She works hard to increase the relevance of what she teaches in her English classes. “I target more things to students’ educational and career goals,” she said. “English is a tool that can help us teach anything.” With that strategy, she helps students develop expository writing and oral communication skills that can be used in the classroom, on job interviews, and in the workplace.

Helps Set Goals

At Westover Elementary, Hawkins-Jones helps all of her 5th-grade students set goals with her and Patricia Kelly, the school’s principal. She encourages them to chase a goal they are excited about, list strategies, and consider obstacles in their way. Hawkins-Jones marvels at students who are so committed to their goals that they are willing to give up recess to work on them.

Titled Earned

These four teachers are masters of content and pedagogy, but they also possess the talent to make learning relevant to students and their futures. Each finalist is effective by any and all measures. But, only one earned the title of “Most Hopeful Teacher in America.” That is Mary Hawkins-Jones, a Montgomery County, Maryland 5th grade teacher.

Shares The Story

Hawkins-Jones combines teacher talent, caring, and homespun wisdom to connect students to a promising future. She shares the story of a student she described as a turtle in her shell because “she was always hiding.” The student told Hawkins-Jones that her career goal was to become a housekeeper. Hawkins-Jones told the student that she could be of service to people in other ways, telling her, “Oh no, you can dream higher than this.” Inspired, the student went on to be a teacher.

Other Goals Considered

Earlier this year, the former student contacted Hawkins-Jones to say thank you for encouraging her to consider other goals. “She told me she was nominated for teacher of the year in her district. And she won.” Hawkins-Jones said, “You can have a big impact on students by giving them a little hope.”

Cordially,
Woody Woodchuck
“Words of wisdom from the Prairie Dog”

Prairie Dogs Watch Most Hopeful Teacher Award

 

Our Mission

“Constitutional Rights Foundation (CRF) seeks to instill in our nation’s youth a deeper understanding of citizenship through material expressed in our Constitution and its Bill of Rights and to educate young people to become active and responsible participants in our society. ” CRF is dedicated to assuring our country’s future by investing in our youth today. Additional information may be found on their web page at:  http://americansforprosperity.org/ 

Civic Participation

CRF is a non-profit, non-partisan, community-based organization dedicated to educating America’s young people about the importance of civic participation in a democratic society. Under the guidance of a Board of Directors chosen from the worlds of law, business, government, education, the media, and the community, CRF develops, produces, and distributes programs and materials to teachers, students, and public-minded citizens all across the nation.

Publications Developed

CRF staff includes teachers and educators, lawyers, community organizers and fundraisers, designers, writers, and editors. They provide technical assistance and training to teachers, coordinate civic participation projects in schools and communities, organize student conferences and competitions, and develop publications in the following areas:

Law And Government Programs

Law and Government programs and materials focus on how groups and individuals interact with the issues, institutions, people and processes that shape our laws and government.

Civic Participation Programs

Civic Participation programs and materials bring to life the rights and responsibilities of active citizenship by challenging young people to explore their community and plan and implement projects that address community needs.

Constitutional Rights Foundation

“Get to know more about Constitutional Rights Foundation by looking over our Annual Report. Contact our staff. Explore our Programs section to learn how CRF translates its visions into reality. Turn to the Publications page to survey our catalog offering materials in Government, U.S. and World History, Business, and Civic Participation. Tour our Support section to learn how we keep our vital work moving ahead, or check out the CRF Calendar.”

How to Reach CRF

Do you have any questions about CRF Programs or Publications? Do you want to reach a particular CRF staff member? You may also download a copy of CRF’s brochure at the following web page: crf-usa.org/‎,  To learn more about about CRF’s Expanding Horizons Internships, how you can sponsor an intern, or how to apply, you may contact: Nancy Sanchez at (213) 316-2109.

Cordially,
Woody Woodchuck
“Words of wisdom from the Prairie Dog”

Prairie Dogs Are Responsible Participants In Our Society

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Online Learning Policy Brief Released

ARLINGTON, VA – Coming on the heels of a disappointing
legislative session for school choice, Americans for
Prosperity Foundation released a policy brief on online
learning today explaining virtual schools’ exciting
new frontier of educational freedom. The recent January
2013 POLICY PAPER No. 1301 – “A Nation Still at
Risk: The Continuing Crisis of American Education and
Its State Solution”, by Casey Given is available here.

A Click Away For Thousands Of Students

“Thanks to the Internet, a quality education is a click
away for thousands of students who were previously
unsatisfied with their brick-and-mortar public school,”
AFP Foundation policy analyst Given explains in the
report.

Virtual Schools Aren’t Bound 

Since virtual schools aren’t bound by enrollment caps
and geographic location like brick-and-mortar schools,
Given argues that they have unprecedented potential
to extend educational choice to every student with an
Internet connection. The policy brief then explains
the history of online learning, its various forms, and
its contemporary challenges.

Some States Refuse Expansion

“Several states stubbornly refuse to expand educational
freedom online. In fact, many conservative educational
reformers are even scaling back their state’s existing
online programs, often in the name of preserving ‘local
control’ for district school boards,” according to
Given.

Better Techniques Needed

From New Jersey’s withdrawal of approval for the first
two virtual schools to open up in their state to
Pennsylvania’s targeted cuts to online learning, the
report suggests that better techniques need to be
implemented to evaluate and approve virtual schools.

Focus On Virtual Schools

“Instead of one-size-fits-all evaluations, states
should more effectively evaluate virtual schools’
performance by focusing on progress rather than
benchmarks. States should evaluate whether a student’s
knowledge has improved rather than if their knowledge
is sufficient to pass a state standardized test.”

School Choice Often Overlooked

The policy brief serves well as a primer on a subject
of school choice that is often overlooked by education                                       reformers. A full copy of the policy brief is available here.

Dispel Myths Of School Choice

“Dispelling the Myths of School Choice” AFP
Foundation-Wisconsin and the John K. MacIver Institute
Air “Did it Right” Commercial: “Stop Punishing Parents
Who Want the Best For Their Children”

If you like this post, you may Chip in $5 to AFP Foundation
or you can read more at the following website:
http:americansforprosperityfoundation.com/newsroom/
afp-foundation-releases-new-policy-brief-on-online-
learning#ixzz2yhaGLMss.

Cordially,
Woody Woodchuck
“Words of wisdom from the Prairie Dog”

Prairie Dogs Observe Online Learning Policy