My Boarding School Blog

Students transitioning into High School are faced with loads of challenges ranging from change in curriculum, choice of major subjects, peer pressure and extracurricular activities in school. Not included are the personal changes an adolescent at this age experiences, all of these bring a churn of emotional and physical stress. A teenage student can cope with this stress if she has a solid support system which includes her family, peers and mentors.

With all these transitions and changes happening, a student needs to be able adapt to changes by maintaining a high self esteem and encouraging them to build their social network that can provide the necessary support and assistance. A high regard to peer pressure often times causes trouble for high school kids as they try desperately to fit in resulting to misconduct and behavior problems. Students are caught in trouble and worried parents are often seen called to school for their students’ disciplinary sanctions.

Students who find themselves in this scenario will benefit belonging into a group that fosters leadership skills in an individual. Leadership is defined as the ability to provide guidance and gear everyone to a common goal. Leaders are not born rather they are molded into being a person who can follow what he preach. A good leader is a person who leads by example.

Here are a few simple steps to teach students in becoming an effective leader.

1. Set an example. To teach how to become a good leader you must practice what you preach and uphold the principles of leadership yourself. By doing this you teach kids effortlessly and much effectively rather than telling them what they should do.
2. To get the attention of high school students to listen to what you have to say you must be able to grasp their curiosity. You can develop ways into teaching them with the use of technology like multimedia presentations, movies and internet resources. Movies that teach courage and leadership are fun to watch and useful in trying to teach lessons on leadership. Among the good movies is “Lord of the Rings”, “Remember the Titans” and “Saving Private Ryan”.
3. Encourage students to participate in interactive exercises to apply principles of leadership as it is best learned through experience.
4. Teach students how to address conflicts and provide resolutions through collaboration with team members. Emphasize that good leadership entails being an active listener to your members and team mates. You are not to dictate but instead lead them and provide guidance from their own ways and suggestions.

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In an article from The Independent UK it was discussed that parents who send their children to boarding school may be doing them more harm than good. A psychotherapist, Nick Duffell, believes that the separation into boarding school may produce psychological damage in a child.

A support group called Boarding School Survivors (BSS) offers workshops for students who are experiencing the “boarding school syndrome” characterized as intimacy problems, work obsession and hatred of the opposite sex for most non-coed boarding schools.

The syndrome talks about the trauma that children undergo when they are separated from their families that they tend to keep their emotions to themselves making it difficult for them to form new and fulfilling relationships when they grow up. In the early days, boarding schools are associated in movies and literature with cold showers, strict teachers, creepy school halls and bland cafeteria food. But these are far from the real picture. Middlesex School in Massachusetts boasts of state of the art facilities that cater to a lifestyle for the rich and famous. They have dining services that serves delicious and enticing menus fresh everyday. Some boarding schools like the Concord Academy even have summer camp activities for their students to enjoy off campus. Boarding schools offer an environment wherein students feel independent at the same time the value of being responsible and accountable for own actions is observed. Boarding schools also has high tech facilities that enable the students to be in constant communication with their parents, families and loved ones through the Internet and advanced telecommunication. These are just among the good things that boarding school students enjoy.

Although some doesn’t share the enthusiasm of boarding schools especially those who were reported to be abused and those who suffered from traumatic experiences such as bullying and sexual abuse. Some will argue that this is an isolated case and does not prove that boarding schools directly harms an individual psychologically.

According to Dick Davison, a spokesman for the Independent Schools Council said that efforts have been made to improve the relationship between students and adults in boarding schools. Strict implementation of school rules and regulations are observed and selection of schools staff, teachers and administrators are carefully screened to avoid such untoward incidents of child abuse. Boarding schools have dramatically changed from way back then and most of these changes reflect a better and improved system.

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Technology has certainly changed the way the world works. It has greatly influenced the various aspects of life and redefined our day to day living. Without a doubt, technology plays a critical role in our lives. Thanks to technology, many tedious tasks have become easily performed through automation. A lot of complex and critical processes can now be performed with ease and efficiency. The fields of education and industry are no exception. They have undergone a major change and surely have changed for the better.

Technology, particularly the arrival of personal computers and the Internet have revolutionized education. It has made it easier for the teachers to supply knowledge and for the students to understand it.

Computers have interactive audio-visual media. PowerPoint presentations and animation software programs can be utilized to render information. These result in inviting a larger attention from the students. These software programs can also serve as visual aids to the teachers. These audio-visual teaching techniques have brought about significant improvements in student attendance and concentration. Interactive media have proven to be helpful in enhancing the concentration of students.

The Internet is a huge information base. This could be one of the most effective tools in acquiring knowledge. All the students need to have is a search engine where they can type in their search queries. There are loads of different websites and web directories that offer information on a wide variety of subjects.

Today, computer education is a part of our school and college curricula. The wide range of different applications and computer programs has made it necessary for almost all of the students to become knowledgeable about these programs. Considering the advantages, it’s critical that every student at least have the basic knowledge in operating the Internet and different computer programs.

Technology has also given birth to online education and distance learning. Today, students do not necessarily require being physically present in classrooms. Many educational organizations offer online courses. Majority of the schools and colleges have online facilities where the students can perform and submit their assignments. There are universities that have programs that allow students and teachers interact with one another and access different reference materials via the Internet.

The importance of the computer and Internet technology in education cannot be stressed enough. The introduction of computer technology and the Internet in the educational field has made the process of learning and teaching an interactive and exciting activity. Computer and the Internet technology is indeed two of the most greatest inventions of mankind.

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The quality of education today is far improved and centralized than it was centuries ago. The method of teaching back then was just instructional with little or no student participation at all. The primary aim of education at the early times is to just give information to students. There were no opportunities for self learning, exploration, analytical thinking or problem solving. It is all concentrated on knowing the facts.

Government institutions have structured education reforms to uplift the face of education to the people. Programs have been implemented to make education free for all and available to all society classes. Bringing a positive change in education is deemed very idealistic though it is not impossible. With education reform there are many aspects that need to be considered like assessment, technology and curriculum.

Here are just some of the issues that various education reforms are trying to address.

• Class Sizes – this refers to the student teacher ratio in a class. A low student ration is considered by some to be very effective in student learning. With a smaller class size the teacher will be able to concentrate on a handful of students and will further determine their areas of strengths and weaknesses which she can utilize to help them improve in their academic performance. For developed countries like the US in which their Department of Education is allocated with high funding for education can employ many teachers to keep a low student teacher ratio but unfortunately for most states this is not always the case. Funding may be insufficient or there are no teachers available in their area. Big classes is not advisable for optimum child development as not all have the same learning ability and for those who are lagging behind, the teacher cannot slow down for them to accommodate their learning speed and information uptake thus producing poorly educated students.
• Quality of teaching – this is an ongoing issue for most educational institutions as there are fewer teacher who are qualified to teach students nowadays. Let’s face it being a teacher, with its low income and huge amount of workload it is not the most popular career choice. Teach for America (TFA), a non profit organization in the U.S. recruits new college graduates to teach for two years in low income communities in America. The goal is to help out and make an impact to the students in pursuing their education. Members are given a five week summer training to prepare them for the commitment. Criticisms towards the TFA program have been raised many times. A USA Today 2009 article stated that the program replaces experienced teachers with new inexperienced ones who have not developed teaching effectiveness yet to save on costs for tenured teachers. Some schools are rumored to lay off experienced teachers and employ new TFA teachers with beginner’s salary. The hope of receiving quality education for these low communities is now taken away from them.
• Curriculum standards – standardization of school curriculum is proposed but has never been implemented as schools choose to have their own structured curriculum based on their resources and facilities which is a sound argument. The government in turn wants to implement a standardized way of evaluating student performance through standardized tests like what the No Child Left Behind Act is trying to carry out.

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When you see leaders like Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, or Martin Luther King delivering their speeches, you just can’t help but be amazed of their public speaking skills and begin to ask yourself, “What is it about them that make people want to listen?” Is it because of their authority? In most cases, these people have developed the ability to connect with people. The ability to involve people, make them feel important. And this is all being done through the use of their body language and communication skills. This is what attracts attention. Their confidence, positive mental attitude, and even their fashion sense make a significant impact as well.

The Britannica encyclopedia defined oratory as the rationale and the practice of persuasive public speaking. In order to be good at this, public speaking should be honed to students early on in their education. The earlier one begins the better. That’s why this was incorporated by the US Department of Education in our school and college’s curriculum.

More often than not, students feel nervous and anxious when they are asked to deliver a speech in front of the class. This causes the kids not to create the required impact necessary in speeches. If you are one of these students who get jittery and nervous while delivering a speech, and are looking for some tips on how to deliver a speech smoothly, below are some public speaking tips that can certainly help you out.

Tips on How to Be an Effective Public Speaker

Know Your Content

It does not matter how good a speaker you are, if the content of your speech is not organized or poorly researched, being confident and all will not make any difference at all.

Make sure that you exactly know the message you want to communicate through your speech. It also pays to do a little research on what kind of audience you are going to delivery the speech to. With all these information in hand, you should be able to write and organize your content properly.

Remember that speeches follow a logical sequence. One message should lead to another and so on. Also, make sure that you pause before jumping from one topic to another.

Spice Up Your Content

Once you have taken care of the basic material, you need to add some flavor to it by including some stories or funny experiences, to make your speech more interesting. All these, of course, should be aligned with the point you are trying to make in your speech. You can ask help from friends or family if you feel you lack in this area.

Practice, practice, practice

One of the most critical steps on how to effectively carry out a speech is, practice. Practice your speech as many times as you can. You can practice by standing up in front of a mirror. Observe your body language while carrying out your speech, and then make the necessary adjustments.

Become Familiar with the place

It’s very common for students to become very nervous when speaking in front of a large audience. What you can do to help you relax is by going to the hall where you have to deliver the speech. Arrive at the place one hour before your speech. This will help you get familiarized with the surroundings. If possible, rehearse the entire speech along with your visual aids, if you are going to use any. This can certainly put you at ease and reduce your anxiety.

Voice Modulation

Voice modulation is also very critical. All kinds of audiences find a monotonous voice boring. Make sure to put some stress into your speech especially on the important points. If you included a personal experience that you would like to share in your speech, pause first before you tell it. On the entirety, make sure that your voice has clarity and audibility. Deliver it loudly, and at the same time, slowly.

Hide Your Anxiety

Lastly and probably the most important tip is to keep your nervousness and anxiety hidden. Being nervous during a public speaking engagement is natural. Even the great speakers that you feel are very confident, may actually just be faking their confidence! The audience cannot tell the difference if whether you are truly confident or if you’re just faking it. So fake it! Put a smile on your face and deliver!

We hope that this will better equip you the next time you are asked by your teacher or professor to come up on the stage to deliver a speech. Joining organizations like Toastmasters, can greatly improve your skills. In the end, it is practice, exposure, patience and your ability to stay relaxed, are keys to effective public speaking. If you do all these, soon you will find the audience cheering and applauding your name. Good Luck!

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