Be Positive

When we say the word "Positive", most of us probably think that is the same of the word "happy".

But actually, happiness is not only the type of positivity. That is because there are many ways to be positive in the life. A human can be positive even when he is experiencing anger, sadness, or challenging moments.. 

To be positive try to follow these steps:

• Accept where you are, and make goals to improve your self. These goals must be realistic and achievable. And don't be afraid of failure.
• Believe in your self. 
• Use your body. Which means that you should know that if you are struggling to be positive, it could be because your body is working against you.                                              
• Smile! When you smile, whether you feel happy or sad, your brain elevates your mood.          
• Dress in a way that expresses your self. I think that you clothes and your style affects how you feel.
• Get some exercise. I have posted a post talking about the importance of exercising, especially the positive effects on our mood and feelings. When you exercise, your body feels better and it helps fighting the feeling of depression and anxiety.
• Do things you love to do. (listen to music, watch films, paint, write, read, meet friends or family, and maybe dance!) :)
• Show compassion to others. Try tutoring or volunteering and involve with your society. And never forget that when you draw a smile on others' faces your happiness will be endless. Try giving little gifts to the people around you, even the strangers.
• Surround your self with positive influences, and avoid all the negative ones. You should challenge your negative thoughts.

Of course, I didn't mention everything about how to be positive. But I liked sharing these steps, hoping to benefit from them. If you can add more steps, please share it with me :)

Creating Positive Relationships Webinar

On Monday, April 24, I attended a webinar titled: Creating Positive Relationships: Practical Steps for Positive Classrooms

Presented by Kevin Baird, Chairman of the Board at the nonprofit Center for College & Career Readiness.

The presenter is a co-author of the Pathway for College & Career Standards Implementation. For more than 20 years he has served schools, districts, state and national education offices as an expert in the use of technology to achieve college and career ready outcomes along with implementation of change models to drive sustainable, enhanced learning outcomes.

He started his presentation by an essential question: 
How can we advanced positive student-school relationships while enhancing rigorous learning?
He explained the importance of the relationships in the class using these equations, it's a kind of comparison...

He believed that: "changing heart comes before changing mind".

Kevin Baird showed a graphic talking about the learning method, and the heart of this graphic is one word, which is "Relationship".

He said that learning and Education is relational. It is a social element!

Then, he explained the Relationship in school based on a research done before by Univ of Minnesota Study on teachers'/students' interaction.

It is a comparison between two classes' interactions. The results were shown in this graph:

The second essential question was: How do we increase "safety"?

The answer in summarized by: Safety occurs in the neutral environment.

He presents a safety net and a pro-social classroom environment Alignment for speaking and listening:

He also explained the Pro-Social Paradigm through these points:

• Safety
• Emotional and physical Proximity
• Inclusion
• Choice
• Success

WOMEN

What was the role of Women in the past?
Women were seen as wives who were intended to cook, clean, and take care of kids and their husbands.
However, now a days, women succeed in presenting themselves in the society. They prove their importance and they become active participants in all walks of life.
The modern society has started recognizing the individual identity of women. She is believed to have her aspiration, qualities and abilities as man does have. It is also agreed that she should have the opportunities to develop her faculties and to express them according to her own choice.
We can't deny that women's life is more complicated than men's life. That is because in addition to her roles in the society she has to take care of her personal life, especially if she is a mother.
Actually, I can't express the importance of women in one post. We need thousands of posts and articles to talk about the women.

Women empowerment

An important quote to show the importance of women in education.. 

Smoking Facts

    Smoking, as a definition, is the inhalation of the smoke of burning tobacco encased in cigarettes, pipes, and cigars. A smoking habit is a physical addiction to tobacco products. Many health experts now regard the habitual smoking as a psychological addiction too, and one with serious health consequences. Nevertheless, the number of people who still smoke is alarming.

    Lets see how smoking affects our bodies:

• According to the brain, smoking increases the risk of having a stroke by at least 50%, which can cause brain damage and death. Also, it doubles the risk of dying from a stroke. One way that smoking can increase the risk of a stroke is by increasing the chances of developing a brain aneurysm. This is a swelling in a blood vessel caused by a weakness in the blood vessel wall.
• One big area of where smoking harms the body is the heart. Smoking causes the heart to work much harder and faster than normal, meaning tremendous stress on that area. Smokers have a greater chance of developing irregular heartbeats than non-smokers. Blood pressure levels increase as well as the chance of a heart attack or stroke because the blood vessels are constricted.
• Smoking causes unattractive problems such as bad breath and stained teeth, and can also cause gum disease and damage the sense of taste. The most serious damage smoking causes in mouth and throat is an increased risk of cancer in lips, tongue, throat, voice box and gullet. 
• Smokers have an increased chance of getting stomach cancer or ulcer. Smoking can weaken the muscle that controls the lower end of gullet (oesophagus) and allow acid from the stomach to travel in the wrong direction back up the gullet, a process known as reflux. It is a significant risk factor for developing kidney cancer.
• Smoking affects the reproduction and fertility. It can cause male impotence, as it damages the blood vessels that supply blood to the penis. It can also damage sperm, reduce sperm count and cause testicular cancer.
• Smoking does not just harm the people who smoke but it harms also the people who are near and breathe the smoke, including fetuses (unborn babies still inside their mothers) and small children.

Effects of smoking are endless..  There are more bad and dangerous effects. They are uncountable!

"Smoking kills" is the phrase enough to define the dangers of smoking. As a conclusion, smoking is extremely detrimental to one's health in numerous ways.

The Winning Combination

The fact that sports can enrich our life and that it is good for our health is known by most of us. But this knowledge is limited and this is why we lack the motivation to exercise and practice some kinds of sport. So, I read some articles about the benefits of sports, and I summarized it as follows:

• Sport helps you to be in a better mood. It reduces depression, anger, and stress.
• It provides you stronger body and a better immunity.
• It allows you to sleep faster and deeper.
• The opportunity to live longer and healthier increases 10 times.
• Doing sports helps to develop a sense of achievement, which leads to a positive self-image.
• It helps to reduce body fat and controls your body weight.
• It gives you greater confidence and self awareness.
• It improves your concentration.

As we conclude, sports can affect our life style positively in all the ways. Exercising is good for mind, body, and spirit. Furthermore, team sports are good for learning dedication, responsibility and leadership. Putting it all together by playing a sport is a winning combination. :)

Motivation

We as teachers should know that motivated students are easier to teach and students who are interested in learning, learn more. So the most important part of teaching is motivating and encouraging students. Here I will present some practiced and tried strategies to keep students interested in learning..

• A teacher should act friendly and lovely especially if students are in small ages. A smile or a joke can add a positive atmosphere to the class. Keep in mind that students should love their teachers and respect them at the same time. I love to treat them as if I am their lovely friend but in limits. According to my experience, my students love English Language subject because they love me :) and I can't describe my happiness when their parents told me about this.
• A teacher should always praise her students in different ways, in words, actions, and awards.. Although it's my first year in teaching but I did an excellent idea to motivate my students. My effective idea was about giving my students cards with their names, and the one who collects 10 cards, can get awards from the principle of the school. Students get the cards only when they collect three 10/10 on the dictations, when they get more than 18/20 on any test, when they win a game or a competition in the class, and when a weak student improves himself...         Actually I didn't expect that these cards really encourage students in this way. They achieved what I want and even more! For example, my students ask for a dictation every day just to collect tens!  Also, they request and wait the exam to study more and get high marks.. They really affect positively! All the teachers started to apply this technique when they heard about it from the students. Moreover, parents noticed the progress of their children to get this marvel card!

Here are some pictures of my lovely students when they got the cards <3

Fatima & Remas

Abd Al Aziz & Walid

Shahed Al Asal

Love your work! :)

Unfortunately, most people don't love their work, many like it, some tolerate with it! 

Loving your work or working what you love is very important and valuable to your life in many ways. It affects not only your working life, but also your personal life. 

For example, a lot of dislike of your duties at work can be a result of the stress they carry. And a stressed employee won't get the workload faster. If anything, the build-up of stress will lead to a vicious cycle as employees lose their motivation, end up doing their work slower and the stress builds up even more.

The less motivated you are, the worse your performance will be. This can result in little to no career growth, no promotions, lack of learning and experience build. You will be always in a bad mood. Your relationships with your colleagues, friends and maybe with your family will be affected negatively.

On the other hand, you are more likely to push yourself and excel if your are enjoying your work. Your attitude is more likely to land you with more responsibility and therefore promotion.

I want to add that it is critical to distinguish between the job and the way you do it. This is important because every work has aspects that will be very unpleasant for you. You need to be able to get through them with a smile on your face

Even if you don't like your specific work, or the work environment you are in, you can love the way you do it!

The Difference between a Leader and a Boss!

"Leader and Boss" may have similar definitions, but do you know that a leader can be a boss while not every boss is a leader! That is because there are many differences between them. Just the term "leader" evokes more positivity than a "boss".
Leaders listen and speak rather than command. Bosses tend to give orders and their employees should listen and obey. But leaders share opinions and regard them as important. They advice, discuss, and give their colleagues positive feed backs. They motivate rather than terrify. Leaders teach and learn rather than expect and ignore.
A boss stays on the sideline and lets others do the hard work, while a leader is at the front of the pack and leads by example.

A leader is believed to encourage by creating the footsteps to follow, however bosses demand the people work under them and pushes them to work harder.

Actually, leaders are considered to be more effective compared to bosses. That is because the happier employees are, the more productive the are, resulting in more benefit for the company.

Technology in Education

   There are countless reasons why technology is a key aspect of learning in the schools. Whether we like it or not, technology is everywhere.

Technology has changed teaching and learning in a number of ways. Educational Technologies can help students' access content in new and often exciting ways.

Knowing that there are many advantages of technology in learning and teaching, I'll highlight some of it. According to me, the main one which can assure for us the importance of technology is that students prefer technological devices in learning. This is because they believe that it makes learning more interesting and fun. So, this can increase students' attitude in the learning process. 
Actually, new teachers are demanding it also. They consider technology as a necessity for the learning environment. 

Technology has the ability to enhance relationships between teachers and students. When teachers effectively integrate technology into subject areas, they grow into roles of adviser, content expert, and coach. Technology helps in making teaching more meaningful and fun. Students are also able to collaborate with their own classmates through technological applications.

The Powerful Weapon

Teaching

• Teaching is a very noble profession that shapes the character, caliber, and future of an individual. 
• If the people remember me as a good teacher, that will be the biggest honor for me.
• The teacher is like a candle. He/She burnt him/her self to light the student's future.