What is it Like to Attend Washington University in St. Louis

What is it Like to Attend Washington University in St. Louis The tutors behind Varsity Tutors are not just here to teach theyre sharing their college experiences as well. Andrew is a senior at Washington University in St. Louis majoring in Environmental Biology and minoring in Writing. He specializes inmany subjects including Biology tutoring, ACT prep tutoring, and Essay Writing/Editing tutoring. See what he had to say about his school: VT: How easy or difficult is it to get around on your campus? Is it hilly, do lots of people bike, are there buses, etc. Andrew: It is very easy to move around campus.Our campus is somewhat spread out, so at times there will be a longer walk.Because of this, each class gives a ten-minute grace period before starting the lecture (moving between opposite ends of the campus is often a full ten minute walk).The pathways are very bike friendly; we recently put in extra wide walkways around campus with a bike side and a walking side.There is also a free campus circulator that comes in handy for trips between the dorms and main campus. VT: How helpful are the academic advisors? Andrew: WashU prides itself on our academic advising.When you first get to school, you get a four year advisor, often a teacher or dean.I had a great experience with my four-year advisor. He was a great resource for schedule guidance and general questions, though I have heard that sometimes teachers can get quite busy, especially when teaching a big class.If your four-year advisor is unavailable, there is no shortage of help.As a pre-med, I had four advisors: a four-year advisor, a major advisor, a minor advisor, and a pre-med advisor.Each one helped in his or her own way and other staff in their offices was more than happy to help if my specific advisor was unavailable. VT: How would you describe the dorm life? Andrew: The dorms are arguably the best part of WashU.Every freshman and most sophomores live on the south side of campus called the South Forty.Most of the dorms have been built within the past 5-7 years and some even come with Tempurpedic mattresses.It is not uncommon to think you are somewhere in Disney World or on a set of Harry Potter when in the South Forty.Dorm life is truly easy living, with up to date rooms, washers and driers, a fairly new cardio center, and a huge dining center. VT: Which majors/programs are best represented and supported? Andrew:WashU has five different schools: Arts and Sciences, Engineering, Art, Architecture, and Business.The largest school is Arts and Sciences, with an enormous amount of students starting out on the pre-med track (less than half stay on this track by their senior year). A great part of WashU is the ability to double major or minor in different schools or transfer between schools.For example, you could be an Arts and Sciences English major, have a second major in accounting in the business school, and minor in environmental engineering. VT: How easy or difficult was it for you to meet people and make friends as a freshman? Andrew: Making friends freshman year was super easy.When you arrive, very few people know each other.The first group you interact with is your freshman floor. This group of about 30 students will be your first group of friends and some will remain your good friends throughout college.WashU facilitates this by having activities and other events.Usually after a semester or so, students will begin to join Greek life or other clubs and meet even more people.The student body at WashU is overwhelmingly friendly, and everyone is always looking to meet new people, so dont be shy! VT: How helpful is the Career Center? Andrew: The Career Center is extremely helpful and extremely underutilized.They have plenty of services including resume building, cover letter writing, job searches, bringing recruiters to campus, and more.For me, I used the career center for mock interviews and received a stipend from them for unpaid summer work that I was doing. VT: How are the various study areas? Libraries? The Student Union? Dorm lounges? Andrew: Most kids on campus study in the main library on campus: Olin Library.Because of this, it can get very crowded at times, especially during midterms and finals.There are also libraries in the different schools and buildings.By the time you are a senior, you will find yourself studying in various classrooms, libraries, and dorms.In regard to the library resources and student union, WashU again supports its students as fully as possible.There are over 200 student groups and the library can get you access to virtually any paper or book that you may need. VT: What is the surrounding town like? What are the best local attractions that make it unique? Andrew: WashU is located in a really active, young part of St. Louis.Immediately north of campus is the Delmar Loop.The Loop has unique stores and clothing shops, local and chain restaurants, as well as a few local bars that some of the upperclassmen go to.There are also concerts at the Pageant, which is a really small venue so you can get a close seat to the performers. WashU is also close to Clayton, which is a nicer area with some great restaurants. VT: How big or small is the student body and how does that affect your experience? Andrew: The undergraduate student body is about 6000 students and I find this to be a perfect size.The main benefit is class size.Since most classes are 12-35 people, you get personalized attention from the professor and have a more intimate learning setting.The medium size of our school makes sure that no student gets lost in the crowd.We all play a significant role in the WashU community.Faces can get similar and at times it feels like you may always be with the same group of people, but even in my 4thyear, I still am meeting new friends. VT: Describe one memorable experience with a professor and/or class. Perhaps one you loved the most or one you dreaded the most. Andrew: General chemistry is the most popular class at WashU because it is a pre-requisite for almost any other science class. It also has a reputation for being a weed-out class for pre-med students.On the first day of class, which was also my first class at WashU, the teacher handed us paper and told us we were having a pop quiz: draw a carbon atom.We all did our best, though that wasnt very good.He collected them and chose at random drawings to project on the board for the class to laugh at.Though it was the most terrifying day of my life, we all felt comforted that every student was close to the same level of knowledge as we were (which was nothing), not to mention that our teacher had a sense of humor.The most amazing part is that although this teacher goes through almost 350 students a year, and I never spoke in his class, he still recognizes and says hello to me.That is the true epitome of the impact each student has at WashU. Check out Andrews tutoring profile. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent the views of Varsity Tutors.

My Experience at University of Massachusetts-Amherst

My Experience at University of Massachusetts-Amherst Tayla received her bachelors degree in finance in 2012 from University of Massachusetts-Amherst. She specializes in algebra tutoring, geometry tutoring, and more. Read on for her review of her experience at University of Massachusetts-Amherst. Describe the campus setting and transportation options. Tayla: The University of Massachusetts, Amherst has a large beautiful campus, in a rural area. They have a public transportation system to take you all across campus (its a 40-minute walk from one end to the other), and the buses are free for all students. The buses can also take you to the surrounding areas which include shopping, downtowns, and neighboring schools. I felt safe on campus; they have emergency telephone stations spread throughout campus, as well as their own police department on campus. I would say due to the rural area of Amherst, one may want to own a car. A bike is also helpful, but only an option for so many months out of the year due to cold weather and snow/icy conditions. How available are the professors, academic advisers, and teaching assistants? Tayla: Being that the school is so large, most of the introductory courses have 300+ students, and you are able to meet with the teaching assistants for extra support. However, as you move up in your major the classes become much smaller, and it is easy to access professors during office hours. How would you describe the dorm liferooms, dining options, location, socialization opportunities with other students? Tayla: UMass has the best dining experiences, with their award-winning dining commons and chefs! The options are vast, and I heard they recently opened up a new dining hall with all healthy/alternative options. As for dorm life, the campus is very large with many housing areas. They also have a section for apartments and special housing for honors students. Which majors/programs are best represented and supported? Tayla: Majors and programs that are best supported are the STEM majors and the Isenberg School of Management (which I attended). Most School of Management students had to apply into the school and take prerequisites. I applied into the School of Management and majored in finance. I would say the university did a good job of supporting my area of study. How easy or difficult was it for you to meet people and make friends as a freshman? Does Greek life play a significant role in the campus social life? Tayla: It was easy for me to meet people and make friends as a freshman. The university sets up a very social atmosphere for the first-year students so that they can make friends and have a great social life. I would say, however, that transfer students maystruggle socially with the transition to a new school. How helpful is the Career Centerand other student support services? Tayla: The Isenberg School of Management had its own career center that was separate from the rest of the university, and it was pretty helpful. They held many career fairs and many reputable companies recruit on campus. How are the various study areas such aslibraries, the student union, and dorm lounges? Tayla: UMass Amherst is home to the tallest library in the world, the W.E.B. Dubois library with over 20 floors. The library is open 24 hours and is equipped with a tutor/learning resource center, caf, and many floors and areas to study. The lower levels can get crowded and more social-like, but the upper floors have designated quiet areas and you can usually always find a place to study. Other areas, like classroom buildings, dorms, and student lounges are also areas where people can study. Describe the surrounding town. Tayla: UMass has an exchange program with four other highly accredited schools in the surrounding area. They include Amherst College, Holyoke, Smith, and Hampshire; and you can take classes at any of these institutions. There are also events that are held at these schools, in addition to downtown Amherst and Amherst Center. Students stay on campus and travel for fun; it all depends on what youre doing for the day/night. How big or small is the student body? Were you generally pleased or displeased with the typical class sizes? Tayla: I was generally pleased with the typical class size. To me, it is more about how the material taught by the instructor, rather than how many students are around. Check out Taylas tutoring profile. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent the views of Varsity Tutors.

Our Advice To Learn Portuguese Easily

Our Advice To Learn Portuguese Easily Learning Portuguese Is Easy Once You Know How ChaptersTips To Remember The Portuguese AlphabetHow To Master Portuguese PronunciationBasic Portuguese GrammarLearn How To Write In PortugueseLearning a language and gaining fluency in it is always a rewarding experience. Portuguese, in particular, is a wonderful language to learn, seeing as it is spoken by over 200 million people across the world and is considered the seventh most spoken language in the world.However, it’s not known as being a particularly easy language to learn for native English speakers, as Portuguese does have its own challenges when it comes to things such as communication, notably pronunciation, and the differences between Brazilian Portuguese and Portuguese.Having said this, it’s very possible to learn Portuguese, whether you’re a complete beginner, intermediate, or near-fluent speaker, and we highlight some of the ways you can learn the basics of this language below.Regularly test yourself on your knowledge of the Portuguese alphabet â€" for instance, can you recite it back to front?; andSee if it helps to find a rhyme or song that teaches you the alphabet in Portuguese â€" it may help you commit it to memory.The Portuguese alphabet is one of the first things you should consider learning in Portuguese. (Image Source: CC0 1.0, geralt, Pixabay)How To Master Portuguese PronunciationAs noted above, Portuguese pronunciation is known to be a bit tricky for English speakers to master.This is in part due to the fact that Portuguese is not a phonetic language. This means that the way a word is pronounced in Portuguese does not necessarily mirror how that word is written.This means that,  in order to improve your speaking skills in Portuguese, you should ideally try to learn how Portuguese letters are commonly pronounced, and how common combinations of Portuguese letters (for example, CH) are pronounced.Additionally, one way to really improve your Portuguese pronunciation is to develop your listening and speaking skills in Portuguese.By re gularly speaking with a Portuguese native speaker, or by listening to Portuguese language shows or radio programmes, you may find that:You have a better understanding of how Portuguese native speakers pronounce common greetings and expressions;You have a chance to ask a Portuguese native speaker whether you’re pronouncing certain words correctly; andYour Portuguese comprehension skills improve overall.Finally, bear in mind that Brazilian Portuguese and Portuguese are spoken differently. This means that, if you’d like to learn Brazilian Portuguese, that it may be better to focus on speaking with Brazilian Portuguese speakers and listening to Brazilian Portuguese more than you listen to Portuguese people and Portuguese-language shows, and vice versa.Superprof has a range of tutors that specialise in either Brazilian Portuguese or Portuguese, meaning that you should be able to find a tutor in your local area  or online that can help you learn the type of Portuguese that you would l ike.Part of learning Portuguese is developing your Portuguese speaking skills. (Image Source: CC0 1.0, Clker-Free-Vector-Images, Pixabay)Basic Portuguese GrammarAnother key aspect of learning Portuguese is to understand the fundamentals of Portuguese grammar.While grammar often isn’t considered a particularly fun or exciting aspect of a language to learn, the fact is that understanding a language’s grammar is key to developing your proficiency in that language.For instance, once you’ve learnt basic Portuguese grammar, you should be able to do things such as:Conjugate basic regular and irregular Portuguese verbs in the present tense;Understand basic Portuguese syntax and construct your own sentences in Portuguese;Know the genders of common Portuguese nouns.What’s more, once you’ve learnt the very basics of Portuguese grammar, you can continue to build upon your existing knowledge. For example, you can start to learn more complex tenses in Portuguese, from the future and pas t tenses to the conditional. This, in turn, should improve your proficiency in Portuguese, and transform you into an intermediate or even advanced learner, as opposed to a complete beginner.When you first start learning Portuguese grammar, there are a few different approaches that you can try:Try to identify which aspects of Portuguese grammar are most important to you as you learn the language â€" for example, are you more interested in being able to say common phrases and expressions, or do you want to know what the most common Portuguese nouns and verbs are?; orSpend some time developing your knowledge of all fundamental grammatical areas â€" from your vocabulary to your knowledge of pronouns and understanding of the Portuguese alphabet and how certain letters and words are pronounced.The main thing is to try and ensure that you practice Portuguese grammar regularly, regardless of whether you’re learning Brazilian Portuguese or Portuguese. This is because committing basic gramm ar rules to memory will make it easier to learn more complex areas of the language, and should improve your overall level of proficiency in Portuguese.If you need any help learning Portuguese grammar, you could always try to reach out to a tutor at Superprof for some bespoke grammar exercises to make sure that you are improving your overall knowledge of Portuguese.There are a few ways you can improve how you write in Portuguese. (Image Source: CC0 1.0, Free-Photos, Pixabay)Learn How To Write In PortugueseWhen you learn a foreign language, you’re often told that you should develop four different skills in order to improve your knowledge of that language. Those skills are:Your ability to read in the foreign language (reading skills);Your ability to write in the foreign language (writing skills);Your ability to speak in the foreign language (speaking skills); andYour ability to listen in the foreign language (listening skills).Ideally, none of these skills should be developed in pure isolation. This is because often, the skills can complement one another. For example, when you speak to someone in Portuguese, you’re not only developing your speaking skills, but you’re also training your listening skills when you listen to your friend or conversation partner respond to what you were saying.While every Portuguese learner should take the time to develop each of the above four skills, it is equally true that some skills generally take longer to master. In this sense, many people find that they would like to improve their Portuguese writing skills, either because they feel that they write too slowly in Portuguese, or often find that they make grammatical or spelling mistakes.When it comes to improving your level of written Portuguese, then your first port of call if you’re a beginner is to make sure that you’ve got a solid grip on the Portuguese alphabet and the fundamentals of Portuguese grammar and syntax and to revise these areas regularly.Once you’ve ma stered that, or if you’re an intermediate or advanced learner, then one great way to improve your Portuguese writing skills is to set some time aside to practice writing in Portuguese.Regardless of whether you prefer to write your own small pieces in Portuguese, or you’d rather copy out passages from textbooks, newspaper articles, or books, regularly writing in a foreign language can not only increase your writing speed, but by reading works in Portuguese and copying them down, you’re also working on your overall Portuguese comprehension skills.Ultimately, if you want to learn Portuguese from scratch, or would like to improve your existing level of Brazilian Portuguese or Portuguese, there are plenty of techniques and study approaches you can use to improve your proficiency. The key is having some regular practice and having the commitment to study and ask questions to a tutor or teacher if you’re unsure of the meaning of a particular word or a particular point of grammar.Re member, if you feel stuck when learning Portuguese, you could consider hiring a Portuguese tutor from Superprof, who can help guide and encourage you to improve your understanding of Portuguese as a foreign language.

How to Write Lyrics Steps to Success for Any Musical Style

How to Write Lyrics Steps to Success for Any Musical Style Suzy S. Interested in learning how to write lyrics and songs? Here, New Jersey guitar teacher  Matthew H.  explains an easy 3-step process to follow   Songwriting is not easy; just ask any composer or lyricist. While the musical composition is highly important (making sure the melody is catchy without sounding too trite), having a strong, relatable message to go along with a great tune is just as, if not more, important. Here are some tips on how to write lyrics for a good song. 1) What is the story? Too often, songwriters worry about the rhythmic structure or rhyme of the lyrics when they first should be focused on the whole point of a song: storytelling. It doesn’t matter if you are adding lyrics to existing music, creating music for the lyrics, or doing both simultaneously, you have to have a story to tell. Start small. What do you want the overall point or moral of the song to be? How should a listener feel after hearing it? Common examples include: falling in love, missing someone, feeling liberated, and so on. Once you choose a starting point, expand upon it, but write down the story as if it were prose rather than a song. For example: I miss my brother ever since he moved out of the country. I don’t get to see him as much as I used to and I feel like a part of my life will not be the same as a result. I wish things were the way they used to be when we were younger and living together at home. 2) Make your story musical. Now that you have an outline of how you want the song’s story to play out, set it to music. Even if you don’t have a solid sense of the entire orchestration or final production elements, play around with different melodic structures and rhythms. Taking our missing brother example from before, figure out which specific words need to be stressed. If youre working on the hook and you decide that the sensation of “nostalgia” takes precedence over everything else, then be sure to make that clear within the chorus with either a very clever line (avoid clichés like comparing his absence with death) or a sustained syllable within a strategic word (the o in home, for instance). A good rule of thumb is to never marry any idea right off the bat; the best way to write lyrics is to be flexible. In doing so, you’ll avoid any problems you might encounter if you insist on having a specific line a certain way. 3) Don’t be afraid to make some changes! Test out your song. Does the story make sense? Do the lyrics flow well with the music? Would everything suddenly sound much better if you switch out one word with another? These are the things you need to look for after developing your perspective and making it melodic. If you’ve been working on the song for a long time, take a break. Your ears and mind will need a distraction. After a couple days or a week even, try listening to what you have and make any necessary changes that jump out at you after having taken some time to separate yourself from your creation. When songwriting, you really are baring your soul for the world to see (and hear) in an extremely vulnerable way. If you follow the advice above on how to write lyrics, you will find the words resonate deeper than the generic pop schlock that typically permeates the radio’s Top 40. Matthew H. provides tutoring in various subjects both online and in New Milford, NJ.  He recently received his MA from NYU with a background in Sociolinguistics and related research. Learn more about Matthew here!   Interested in Private Lessons? Search thousands of teachers for local and live, online lessons. Sign up for convenient, affordable private lessons today! Search for Your Teacher Photo by Rubin Starset

An Introverts Guide To Filing For Workers Compensation - Introvert Whisperer

Introvert Whisperer / An Introvert’s Guide To Filing For Workers’ Compensation - Introvert Whisperer An Introvert’s Guide To Filing For Workers’ Compensation For introverts, who need personal space and alone time to recharge, dealing with the process of filing a workers’ compensation and all of the complications that can arise may seem completely overwhelming. Thankfully, according to The Disability Guys, there are steps that can be taken to ensure that everything will go smoothly and that injured employees have the help they need. Step 1: Get The Medical Help You Need When the body is in pain it can be difficult to focus on anything else. Don’t hesitate to seek the care that you need in order to feel comfortable. Step 2: Write Everything Down This step is very important. Write down every detail you can remember about the accident which resulted in your injury including what caused the event, as well as each of the injuries that were sustained. Describe the treatments required to care for those injuries and continue to write down anything that comes to mind. Not only will this action help to keep track of a timeline but it may also help you find some peace. Step 3: Set A Pace When it comes to filing a workers’ compensation claim, there is a timeline for everything. For example, injured workers must inform their employers of their accident and injury within 30 days in writing. Help yourself to not feel overwhelmed by creating a list of every step that needs to be completed and the date by which each task should be completed. Step 4: Find A Quiet Space Help to clear your head by making sure that you have a quiet space to work in. Step 5: Ask For Help There is absolutely nothing wrong with asking for help. In many cases, a workers’ compensation attorney can assist an injured employee more than they ever thought possible. Attorneys aren’t just available at times when legal action is required. An experienced workers’ compensation attorney can assist from day one to ensure that the correct forms are filed out and that everything is done in a timely manner. If, as many claims are, the workers’ comp claim is denied, an attorney can assist with the appeal. What Should I Do If My Employer Is Giving Me A Hard Time? If you have been hurt on the job, your employer is required to cooperate with you while you file a claim. In fact, in many states, if they act in a way which prevents the injured worker from filing a claim, they can be subjected to severe fines and penalties. If your employer is refusing to cooperate, the first thing you should do is contact the local Workers’ Compensation Administration office and let them know that you are encountering difficulty. They can assist you with obtaining the forms and inform your employer of his obligation. What If My Employer Doesn’t Have Insurance? In the majority of states, employers are required by law to have a workers’ compensation insurance policy. If they fail to obtain a policy, they can face fines, jail time, and their business may be shut down. There are two purposes to having workers’ compensation insurance. The first is so that injured employees have their medical expenses and a fraction of any lost wages covered while they heal. The second is so that the employer is protected against personal injury lawsuits. If a workers’ comp claim is filed, an employee is barred from pursuing a lawsuit. This does not apply, however, when the employer does not have insurance. If you find that your employer does not have workers’ comp, the best step is to consult an attorney who can help you pursue a personal injury lawsuit. It is through this legal action that you may be able to obtain compensation. Bio: Mr. Mittman is the Managing Partner at Markhoff Mittman, P.C., a workers’ compensation and personal injury law firm. He has several decades of experience in assisting those who have been injured on the job and has worked with hundreds of clients who have been diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury. Outside of the office he volunteers for the Pediatric Cancer Foundation and coaches multiple children’s sports teams. Do you know what your next career step is?   Many people don’t. I want to help you accelerate your career by connecting you with your Free Instant Access to my eBook on how to construct your Career SMART Goals â€" that will help you put together your actions and keep you accountable.   Get your copy now and start your action plan today: CLICK HERE Brought to you by Dorothy Tannahill-Moran â€" dedicated to unleash your professional potential.

English Sense Verbs - What They Are, How to Use Them

English Sense Verbs - What They Are, How to Use Them English sense verbs, also known as sensory verbs, are special verbs used with each of the five senses.  Here list with each sense, and  the sense verb that matches it:Sensory Verbs List:Sight  To see (sight)Hearing  To hear (hearing)Taste  To taste (taste)Touch  To touch (touch)Smell  To smell (smell)Those are the 5 senses in English. Study the English sense verbs to greatly improve your English vocabulary.Examples of Sense Verbs:I see a blackbird outside my window.I hear loud music from my neighbor’s house every Friday night.Can you taste chili in this sauce?He hurt his finger badly and didn’t want me to touch it.She smelled smoke and knew the house was burning.Grammar How to Use English Sense Verbs:We can combine  sense verbs with adjectives to express our personal preferences, beliefs and feelings, for example:I look older than I am.Her white sauce tastes fantastic.His new sweater feels soft against the skin.We can also use sense verbs to express a similarity between two or more objects. For example:John looks like my old boyfriend.That cake tastes like ones my grandmother used to bake.It feels cold here just as it did in Alaska.Sense Verb Exercises and Examples:Here is an extract from New Zealand writer’s Katherine Mansfield’s classic short story The Garden Party. See how many verbs of the senses you can find.Only the tall fellow was left. He bent down, pinched a sprig of lavender, put his thumb and forefinger to his nose and smelled it. When Laura saw that gesture she forgot all about the karakas in her wonder at him caring for things like that caring for the smell of lavender. How many men that she knew would have done such a thing? Oh, how extraordinarily nice workmen were, she thought. Why couldnt she have workmen for her friends rather than the silly boys she danced with and who came to Sunday night supper? She would get on much better with men like these.Its all their fault, she decided, as the tall fellow drew something on the back of an envelope, something that was to be looped up or left to hang, of these absurd class distinctions. Well, for her part, she didnt feel them. Not a bit, not an atom And now there came the chock-chock of wooden hammers. Some one whistled, some one sang out, Are you right there, matey? Matey! The friendliness of it, the the Just to prove how happy she was, just to show the tall fellow how at home she felt, and how she despised stupid conventions, Laura took a big bite of her bread-and-butter as she stared at the little drawing. She felt just like a work-girl.Write the sense verbs you find in comments, and we will reply with the correct answers. Ready to learn? Learn more about Skype English lessons.

Helping Kids with ADHD Manage Big Emotions

Helping Kids with ADHD Manage Big Emotions Have you noticed that your child or teen with ADHD seems to be more emotional than his or her friends or classmates without ADHD? Is he or she happier and more excited when something positive happens, and more sad, irritable, angry when something doesnt go his or her way? Many kids with ADHD feel their emotions more powerfully than kids without ADHD. At times, the unbridled joy and excitement expressed by a child with ADHD is a gift, and his or her enthusiasm is infectious. The challenge comes when their excitement grows so big that it cant be contained, and leads to behaviors that are unsafe or are disproportionate to the situation. Conversely, when a child with ADHD is feeling deeply sad, irritable, or angry, he or she can become consumed by the emotion. Your child may struggle to move beyond his or her feelings in the moment, and see the upsetting event within the context of a bigger picture. Even small problems can trigger big emotional reactions that stick around and interfere w ith friendships, school, or family time. At a young age, all kids have a difficult time managing their emotions. Toddlers are prone to tantrums because the parts of the brain that deal with self-regulation arent well developed at this stage. Over the course of development, kids without ADHD naturally develop the capacity to better manage their emotions. For ADHD kids, the capacity and skills for emotion regulation lag behind those of their peers, and many dont naturally acquire the skills they need to effectively manage their emotions. Fortunately, emotion regulation skills can be taught, and kids with ADHD can gradually learn to become better at managing their emotions. Teaching kids with ADHD to regulate their emotions involves two phases: Teach-It Phase Learning to label emotions and sensations. At a time when your child is calm, teach him or her about emotions. Help your child list out some of the emotions he or she experiences often, and the way that his or her body feels when having these emotional reactions. For example, When I am angry, my face feels hot and my fists are clenched. It can be helpful to allow your child to play-act these feelings, so he or she can more realistically recall how his or her body might feel. Let your child know that these physical sensations are the first clue that he or she is about to experience a strong emotion. Identify calming strategies. Next, help your child think of two calming strategies that he or she can use when feeling overwhelmed with emotion. These should be easy to do, at home or in public. For example, walking away from the situation and taking five deep breaths, closing his or her eyes and thinking of something that makes him or her smile or laugh, or calmly walking away and getting a drink of water. You can also choose one or two at-home activities, like coloring or drawing, or writing down how he or she is feeling. Read together. Many kids and parents also find it helpful to read books about emotions. There are quite a few great books available for younger kids, like The Way I Feel, by Janan Cain and Listening to My Body, by Gabi Garcia (for kids in preschool about 4th grade). For girls ages 9 and up, The Feelings Book: The Care and Keeping of Your Emotions, by Dr. Lynda Madison is an excellent resource, and Understanding Myself, by Dr. Mary Lamia can be helpful for both boys and girls in this age range. Use-It Phase Once your child has learned to identify his or her emotions, the physical sensations that signal their arrival, and a few calming strategies that he or she can use when his or her feelings become overwhelming, he or she will need reminders to use these tools in the moment when experiencing powerful feelings. When you notice that your child is having difficulty managing a big emotion: Help your child label his or her emotion. Calmly ask your child how he or she is feeling. If your child has difficulty with this, label the emotion for him or her, It seems like you are pretty sad right now. Prompt him or her to use a calming strategy. Remind your child of the strategies he or she had selected and practiced, and prompt him or her to use one of the strategies now. Provide feedback. After your child has used the strategy, give feedback. You walked away and took a lot of deep breaths. You seem calmer now. Learning to manage emotions takes time, and your child will need repetition and practice to learn these skills. So, stay positive. Even if your child doesnt use his or her calming strategies perfectly, or seems only slightly calmer than he or she was before, recognize the efforts and improvement. It may not seem like it in moment, but these small improvements are actually big steps in the right direction.

Pupil Premium funded private tuition

Pupil Premium funded private tuition As the new school year very rapidly approaches we know schools are contemplating how best to invest their pupil premium funding and some are considering private tuition as a strong potential option. We've been talking to headteachers over the summer about just how much impact this funding could have and three things have become very clear: 1. We all want to see the cash used in a way that really delivers good value education, not money for old rope. 2. That, as ever, we need to track the impact of any intervention so that progress is measurable. The methods we use must be intelligent. 3. One size does not fit all. Schools who serve diverse communities, often with specific challenges at a per pupil level, need tailored solutions. We are naturally keen to work with schools to develop tuition services which will meet these needs, and not just because it is good business. So why should you work with us? We enjoy designing innovative solutions and ideas, and because we're a relatively small firm we can actually implement them quickly! We have tens of thousands of tutors registered with us and we collect reviews every time one meets a new client. We can find you some very good tutors. We already track huge amounts of data about private tuition, including motivations for seeking tuition from parents, demographics, etc. We like designing this kind of software and we know how to present data in an easily usable form. We have won awards - including 'Supplementary education firm of the year', 'Ebusiness of the year' and various entrepreneur prizes - and we've been positively reviewed by some pretty firm critics, including The Good Schools Guide. So, if you'd like to chat with one of our directors, please contact us.