Thursday, October 27, 2011

Secrets of Straight-A Students


Everyone knows about straight-A students. We see them frequently in TV sitcoms and in movies like Revenge of the Nerds. They get high grades, all right, but only by becoming dull grinds, their noses always stuck in a book. They’re klutzes at sports and dweebs when it comes to the opposite sex.
How, then, do we account for Domenica Roman or Paul Melendres?
Roman is on the tennis team at Fairmont (W.Va.) Senior High School. She also sings in the choral ensemble, serves on the student council and is a member of the mathematics society. For two years she has maintained a 4.0 grade-point average (GPA), meaning A’s in every subject.
Melendres, now a freshman at the University of New Mexico, was student-body president at Valley High School in Albuquerque. He played varsity soccer and junior- varsity basketball, exhibited at the science fair, was chosen for the National Honor Society and National Association of Student Councils and did student commentaries on a local television station. Valedictorian of his class, he achieved a GPA of 4.4 — straight A’s in his regular classes, plus bonus points for A’s in two college-level honors courses.
How do super-achievers like Roman and Melendres do it? Brains aren’t the only answer. “Top grades don’t always go to the brightest students,” declares Herbert Walberg, professor of education at the University of Illinois at Chicago, who has conducted major studies of super-achieving students. “Knowing how to make the most of your innate abilities counts for more. Infinitely more.”
In fact, Walberg says, students with high I.Q.s sometimes don’t do as well as classmates with lower I.Q.s. For them, learning comes too easily and they never find out how to buckle down.
Hard work isn’t the whole story, either. “It’s not how long you sit there with the books open,” said one of the many A students we interviewed. “It’s what you do while you’re sitting.” Indeed, some of these students actually put in fewer hours of homework time than their lower-scoring classmates.
The kids at the top of the class get there by mastering a few basic techniques that others can readily learn. Here, according to education experts and students themselves, are the secrets of straight-A students.
Set priorities. Top students brook no intrusions on study time. Once the books are open or the computer is booted up, phone calls go unanswered, TV shows unwatched, snacks ignored. Study is business; business comes before recreation.
Study anywhere — or everywhere. Claude Olney, an Arizona State University business professor assigned to tutor failing college athletes, recalls a cross-country runner who worked out every day. Olney persuaded him to use the time to memorize biology terms. Another student posted a vocabulary list by the medicine cabinet. He learned a new word every day while brushing his teeth.
Among the students we interviewed, study times were strictly a matter of personal preference. Some worked late at night when the house was quiet. Others awoke early. Still others studied as soon as they came home from school when the work was fresh in their minds. All agreed, however, on the need for consistency. “Whatever I was doing, I maintained a slot every day for studying,” says Ian McCray, a Middlebury College student from New Jersey.
Get organized. In high school, McCray ran track, played rugby and was in the band and orchestra. “I was so busy, I couldn’t waste time looking for a pencil or missing paper. I kept everything right where I could put my hands on it,” he says.
Paul Melendres maintains two folders — one for the day’s assignments, another for papers completed and graded. Traci Tsuchiguchi, a top student at Clovis West High School in Fresno, Calif., has another system. She immediately files the day’s papers in color-coded folders by subject so they’ll be available for review at exam time.
Even students who don’t have a private study area remain organized. A backpack or drawer keeps essential supplies together and cuts down on time-wasting searches.
Learn how to read. ”The best class I ever took,” says Christopher Campbell, who graduated from Moore (Okla.) High School last spring, “was speed-reading. I not only increased my words per minute but also learned to look at a book’s table of contents, graphs and pictures first. Then, when I began to read, I had a sense of the material, and I retained a lot more.”
In his book Getting Straight A’s, Gordon W. Green, Jr., says the secret of good reading is to be “an active reader — one who continually asks questions that lead to a full understanding of the author’s message.”
Schedule your time. When a teacher assigns a long paper, Domenica Roman draws up a timetable, dividing the project into small pieces so it isn’t so overwhelming.
“It’s like eating a steak,” she says. “You chew it one bite at a time.”
Melendres researches and outlines a report first, then tries to complete the writing in one long push over a weekend. “I like to get it down on paper early, so I have time to polish and review.”
Of course, even the best students procrastinate sometimes. But when that happens, they face up to it. “Sometimes it comes down to late nights,” admits Christi Anderson, an athlete, student-council member and top student at Lyman High School in Presho, S.D. “Still, if you want A’s, you make sure to hit the deadline.”
Take good notes – and use them. “Reading the textbook is important,” says Melendres, “but the teacher is going to test you on what he or she emphasized. That’s what you find in your notes.”
The top students also take notes while reading the text assignment. In fact, David Cieri of Holy Cross High School in Delran, N.J., uses “my homemade” system in which he draws a line down the center of a notebook, writes notes from the text on one side and those from the teacher’s lecture on the other. Then he is able to review both aspects of the assignment at once.
Just before the bell rings, most students close their books, put away papers, whisper to friends and get ready to rush out. Anderson uses those few minutes to write a two- or three-sentence summary of the lesson’s principal points, which she scans before the next day’s class.

Anti-Aging Tips to Keep Your Brain Young


1. Move It 
Quick — what’s the No. 1 thing you can do for your brain’s health? Differential calculus, you say? Chess? Chaos theory? Nope, the best brain sharpener may be … sneakers? Yup. Once they’re on your feet, you can pump up your heart rate. “The best advice I can give to keep your brain healthy and young is aerobic exercise,” says Donald Stuss, PhD, a neuropsychologist and director of the Rotman Research Institute at Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care in Toronto.
Mark McDaniel, PhD, professor of psychology at Washington University in St. Louis, agrees, but adds, “I would suggest a combined program of aerobics and weight training. Studies show the best outcomes for those engaged in both types of exercise.”
As we age, our brain cells, called neurons, lose the tree-branch-like connections between them. These connections, or synapses, are essential to thought. Quite literally, over time, our brains lose their heft. Perhaps the most striking brain research today is the strong evidence we now have that “exercise may forestall some kinds of mental decline,” notes McDaniel. It may even restore memory. Myriad animal studies have shown that, among other brain benefits, aerobic exercise increases capillary development in the brain, meaning more blood supply, more nutrients and — a big requirement for brain health — more oxygen.
The preeminent exercise and brain-health researcher in humans is Arthur Kramer at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In a dozen studies over the past few years, with titles such as “Aerobic Fitness Reduces Brain Tissue Loss in Aging Humans,” Kramer and his colleagues have proved two critical findings: Fit people have sharper brains, and people who are out of shape, but then get into shape, sharpen up their brains. This second finding is vital. There’s no question that working out makes you smarter, and it does so, Kramer notes, at all stages of life. Just as important, exercise staves off heart disease, obesity, diabetes and other maladies that increase the risk of brain problems as we age.
2. Feed It 
Another path to a better brain is through your stomach. We’ve all heard about antioxidants as cancer fighters. Eating foods that contain these molecules, which neutralize harmful free radicals, may be especially good for your brain too. Free radicals have nothing to do with Berkeley politics and everything to do with breaking down the neurons in our brains. Many colorful fruits and vegetables are packed with antioxidants, as are some beans, whole grains, nuts and spices.
More important, though, is overall nutrition. In concert with a good workout routine, you should eat right to avoid the diseases that modern flesh is heir to. High blood pressure, diabetes, obesity and high cholesterol all make life tough on your brain, says Carol Greenwood, PhD, a geriatric research scientist at the University of Toronto.
If your diet is heavy, then you’re probably also heavy. The same weight that burdens your legs on the stairs also burdens your brain for the witty reply or quick problem solving. The best things you can eat for your body, Greenwood notes, are also the best things you can eat for your brain. Your brain is in your body, after all. Greenwood’s recommendation is to follow the dietary guidelines from the American Diabetes Association (available at diabetes.org).
3. Speed It Up 
Sorry to say, our brains naturally start slowing down at the cruelly young age of 30 (yes, 30). It used to be thought that this couldn’t be helped, but a barrage of new studies show that people of any age can train their brains to be faster and, in effect, younger. “Your brain is a learning machine,” says Michael Merzenich, PhD, a neuroscientist at the University of California, San Francisco. Given the right tools, we can train our brains to act like they did when we were younger. All that’s required is dedicated practice: exercises for the mind.
Merzenich has developed a computer-based training regimen to speed up how the brain processes information (positscience.com). Since much of the data we receive comes through speech, the Brain Fitness Program works with language and hearing to improve both speed and accuracy. Over the course of your training, the program starts asking you to distinguish sounds (between “dog” and “bog,” for instance) at an increasingly faster rate. It’s a bit like a tennis instructor, says Merzenich, shooting balls at you faster and faster over the course of the summer to keep you challenged. Though you may have started out slow, by Labor Day you’re pretty nimble.
Similarly, Nintendo was inspired by the research of a Japanese doctor to develop a handheld game called Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day, which has sold more than two million copies in Japan. No software out there has yet been approved by the FDA as a treatment for cognitive impairment, but an increasing number of reputable scientific studies suggest that programs like Merzenich’s could help slow down typical brain aging, or even treat dementia. The biggest finding in brain research in the last ten years is that the brain at any age is highly adaptable, or “plastic,” as neurologists put it. If you ask your brain to learn, it will learn. And it may speed up in the process.
To keep your brain young and supple, you can purchase software like Merzenich’s, or you can do one of a million new activities that challenge and excite you: playing Ping-Pong or contract bridge, doing jigsaw puzzles, learning a new language or the tango, taking accordion lessons, building a kit airplane, mastering bonsai technique, discovering the subtleties of beer-brewing and, sure, relearning differential calculus.
“Anything that closely engages your focus and is strongly rewarding,” says Merzenich, will kick your brain into learning mode and necessarily notch it up. For his part, Merzenich, 64, has “4,000 hobbies,” including a wood shop and a vineyard.

experience during task given

i want to story about my experience during class ENG276. Let's begin with the task that i get is doing a movie maker.The task is entitle my self.At first,i'm blur with what i'm must do because in my laptop does not have software for the movie maker.I ask my friend "do you have movie maker software" and they said "yes".I'm still blurring with what i'm must do.And i start thinking,why not i just download the software.

i open my laptop and online the google and find the cnet which is the place we can download every software there.And i found the software.Yes,have a lot of software there and i'm blurring again,i don't know which one should i pick up.And i download movie maker for 2011.Oh its almost the due time for the movie maker will present.sigh

first i must find old picture for my family,but i does not found it.i give up to find it and i just put my mother and brothers picture only.its okay at least i have the picture of them.Okay,in the movie maker i just put only my family picture but does not have my father's picture.The hobbies and also the dream place where i want to go is Italy.The most beautiful place in the world.

On the day presentation,i was so nervous.Even i make a preparation its does not mean we never got nervous right ?Oh i can't wait for my turn and yes my turn is coming .Okay,the movie maker was stuck,i do not know what to do.Why i'm not bring my laptop.sigh

Okay i use GOM player which make it more stuck.Ah what can i do right ? just go on with my presentation.i show to audience a.k.a my friend the movie.yeah , they enjoy it :)

i'm feel so happy doing the movie maker.and all the task given is fun actually but it was a worst if we not prepare well. thank you and that's all from me 

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

13 thing your pizza won't tell you


1. It's a pizza, not a lifetime commitment.

-My other line is ringing, so choose the toppings before you call.


2. We know when kids are prank-calling us.

-They can’t mask their voices very well. The smart ones block the phone number. The dumb ones don’t.


3. Accidents happen.

-If I drop your pizza on the way, sometimes I’ll shake the box to get the cheese to slide back on right.


4. Patience, please!

-It takes about 20 minutes to go from raw dough to fully baked pizza. And then I have to drive to your house.


5. Why won't we deliver to some neighborhoods?

-In some neighborhoods, a kid getting out of a car with a pizza in his hands is like screaming, “Rob me! I have cash!”


6. I'm a human being.

-When you see me drenched and shivering in the rain, it’s not nice to close the door in my face while you search for some quarters in the sofa cushions.


7. Use your manners.

-When you open the door, please hang up your cell phone or put it down. It’s basic etiquette.


8. Before you open the door.

-I’d prefer that you have a shirt on (and definitely some pants).


9. Tips should be 10 to 15 percent of your order.

-If you order a lot of pizza—say, hundreds of dollars’ worth, for a party or something—but give me a $1 tip, well, I’m going to have a problem with that.

10. The more gated the community, the more guarded the wallet.

-The best tips actually come from middle- and lower-class people who know what we go through.


11. I remember every customer who doesn't tip.

-I won’t do anything to jeopardize my job, but shaking the soda on the next delivery would not be out of the question.


12. I can't wait forever.

-I’ll knock on your door three times and call you on the phone twice. If you don’t answer, don’t call later to complain that you didn’t get your food.


13. Some people want more than just pizza.

-A guy once ordered pizza from me just so he’d have some help moving his sofa up a flight of stairs. I agreed to help him. He gave me a few extra bucks. I took it.

source from: reader's digest



if i were producer television

As many of you know, if my other life I was a television producer. Television news, but still, a producer. I sat in on an uncountable number of meetings in which focus groups told us what to put on-air, where management stressed over the number of viewers watching our newscasts vs. our top competitors, where our news director insisted people were stupid and our job was to tell them what to think. The list goes on. The one thing in common: a hatred of taking risks.

The fall TV season is just around the corner. Have you noticed the new promos on-air? I've seen a few new show promos that look promising, but the stuff I'm really interested in are the coming-back promos. I can't wait to see what the writers/producers have in store for Gibbs and the NCIS team, I really want to know how Castle gets wrapped up (just let them have sex already!!) and what crazy antics the Modern Family crew get into. And Parenthood...I really want to see Crosby fix his life and I wonder what will happen with Adam & Company and I think it's about time Amber started to grow up...but I digress.

The shows above, by the way, are my favorites of the moment because they take chances, they don't go with the obvious public-will-love-it action. Risks in writing make me happy. So, if I were a television producer, I would take those risks - I would put Tony and Ziva (NCIS) into a bedroom and not let them out until their sexual frustration was over. Because that would bring all sorts of new conflict into the show. I would push Amber (Parenthood) to be the person she would be in real-life - instead of repeating her mother's mistakes, make her painfully aware of them and willing to do anything NOT to repeat them. I'd have Crosby and Jasmine get drunk and married in Vegas and have to deal with the effects of his engagement-affair, house-buying insanity so that she can't just run away.

Those are just a few risks I'd take if I were in television. Which brings me to the risks I'm willing to take as a romance writer. As scary as the freak-you-out headlines about Borders closing and Amazon moving into publishing and the ups-and-downs (in general)of publishing. And you know what? As scary as things are right now, I don't think they're more scary than they were fifty or so years ago. I think people still want to read good books, and I think some publishers have lost sight of that fact (if you don't believe me read Snooki's book or the upcoming tome from Casey Anthony). But the new publishers who have come into the space? Or who are becoming the road-makers of digital publishing? I think they've realized that a good book written by an unknown is better than a bad book written by a pseudo-celebrity. At least that is my hope.

The risks I'm willing to take: 1) Write the best book I can, even if it doesn't fit into a pre-conceived notion of 'what sells'. 2) Create characters that jump off the page and into the reader's life. 3) Make a concerted effort not to hash-and-rehash some past segment of a character's life, move on and keep the tension building. 4) Keep working, every day.