What made you want to be a Peace Officer? “What I love most about being a Police Officer working and interacting with children was the relationships that I built with those students and the feeling that I could possibly make a difference in their lives.”
What do you like most about your job? “The reason I wanted to be a Police Officer was to help people and along with that came the opportunity to work with the youth, so it wasn’t the typical police career spent enforcing the law and making arrests or writing tickets. It was rewarding in a sense that I got a chance to build relationships in the community and build trust with the community that I served.”
Walter has gone above and beyond the call of duty for his community. He has started a youth academy, coached youth in sports. He takes time away from his own family to help feed families for Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Even though he has retired, he went back to his community to work as security in the public schools to help the relationships with the students. Even after the students have grown, Walter has left a positive impact on many people of his local community.
Let’s face it; noise is part of the classroom. Whether it’s kids working on a project or coming in from recess, excited students can sometimes raise a ruckus. If you’ve tried the three fingers “stop, look and listen” trick and are at your wits end trying to quell the noise, thanks to Edutopia here are some other techniques you can employ to hush the bedlam and return to a learning environment. We’ve broken them down by age groups.
Kindergarten and early elementary
Flick the light switch
Capture attention with a wind chime or rain stick
Pop pretend marshmallows into the mouth until they are full
Fill a spray bottle with water infused with essential oils and call it a “quiet spray”
Blow magical “hush-bubbles”
Late elementary and middle school
Employ the “silent 20” – each time students return to seats and are quiet within 20 seconds following an activity, a token is advanced on a game board. When the final square is reached (in about a month) the class gets a popcorn party
Engage students at the door before they enter the classroom to reinforce that learning is about to begin
Utilize minimally invasive hand gestures and other non-confrontational techniques as shown in the Teach Like a Champion video
Incorporate a content “word of the week” (such as integer, Freud, renaissance) to signal that it is time for silence
High school students
Write a note that reads: “If you wish to continue talking during my lesson, I will have to take time from you at the break. By the time I’ve written the title on the board you need to be sitting in silence; anyone still talking will be kept behind for five minutes.”
Play soothing classical music on low volume when students enter to create a professional tone.
Some instructors find that call and response sayings are useful, such as:
Holy…..macaroni
1,2,3, eyes on me…..1,2, eyes on you
I’m incredible…..like the Hulk (everyone gives a grrrrr and flexes their muscles)
Ayyyy…..macarena
I get knocked down…..but I get up again
For those who like high tech options, there are:
“Too Noisy,” an app that shows a colorful graph with a digital noise meter to alert you and your students when the class has exceeded acceptable noise levels
Traffic Light, that allows you to show when the levels are too loud and the remedy
ClassDojo, which rewards students for successes and keeps parents apprised on how their students are doing
We know we’ve barely scratched the surface of great classroom/teacher ideas and we’d love to hear about some that you use.
Here are two more resources from California Casualty that can help educators:
Let us help make setting up your classroom a little easier on your wallet with a $2,500 Academic Award at www.calcasacademicaward.com.
Time is of the essence for stressed out nurses, time crunched educators or first responders on the go. Now that school has begun and schedules are getting even tighter, meal planning can be a real chore. Picking up a bag of salad, prewashed carrots or other veggies can be a real timesaver, but are we making the healthiest choice for our families?
Here’s some good news from The Cleveland Clinic. They’ve found that pre-cut vegetables are just as nutritious as whole vegetables, and even offered tips on how to pick the best bagged varieties:
Make sure to buy raw, not pre-cooked varieties for the most nutrition
Check that they are refrigerated for freshness
Inspect labels for use-by dates
Consume within a few days before vitamins break down
Watch for chemicals
The Clinic does warn pregnant women to be very careful with any fresh or pre-cut foods to avoid e-coli and other dangerous bacteria.
And speaking of food safety, Dr. Stephen Swanson of the Centers for Disease Control tells Eatingwell.com that most bagged vegetables and salads may actually be safer than their raw counterparts because they are washed multiple times in a solution of chlorinated water. It’s enough, he says, to kill pathogens, but in small enough levels as not to be a consumption concern.
Cooking for the family after a hectic day doesn’t have to eat up a lot of time. Realsimple.com has a list of 20 speedy recipes that take 15 minutes or less to prepare to accompany those bagged selections:
Time is of the essence for stressed out nurses, time crunched educators or first responders on the go. Now that school has begun and schedules are getting even tighter, meal planning can be a real chore. Picking up a bag of salad, prewashed carrots or other veggies can be a real timesaver, but are we making the healthiest choice for our families?
Here’s some good news from The Cleveland Clinic. They’ve found that pre-cut vegetables are just as nutritious as whole vegetables, and even offered tips on how to pick the best bagged varieties:
Make sure to buy raw, not pre-cooked varieties for the most nutrition
Check that they are refrigerated for freshness
Inspect labels for use-by dates
Consume within a few days before vitamins break down
Watch for chemicals
The Clinic does warn pregnant women to be very careful with any fresh or pre-cut foods to avoid e-coli and other dangerous bacteria.
And speaking of food safety, Dr. Stephen Swanson of the Centers for Disease Control tells Eatingwell.com that most bagged vegetables and salads may actually be safer than their raw counterparts because they are washed multiple times in a solution of chlorinated water. It’s enough, he says, to kill pathogens, but in small enough levels as not to be a consumption concern.
Cooking for the family after a hectic day doesn’t have to eat up a lot of time. Realsimple.com has a list of 20 speedy recipes that take 15 minutes or less to prepare to accompany those bagged selections:
So did you take some time off this Labor Day? It’s the last hurrah of summer and one of the last chances to get in a vacation before winter. Getting away could also save your life.
Numerous job-site studies have found almost half of all American workers don’t use their vacation time, despite the fact that over 60 percent say work stresses them out. Stress can be a killer, causing heart disease, digestive disorders, lack of sleep, high blood pressure and weight gain. Health experts warn that not taking your vacation time can be dangerous to your health.
That’s compounded by employers demanding more from their employees, who often clock in well over the standard 40 hour work week. A government study found that job stress leads to more accidents, absenteeism and even violence in the work place, resulting in $300 billion dollar cost to U.S. businesses each year.
So why would we skip vacations? Many of us say we can’t afford them – monetarily or because of work demands. However, research shows workers who take time to de-stress and relax actually save businesses billions of dollars by reducing health care costs and through increased worker productivity.
With that in mind, Expedia looked at the research and came up with 12 reasons why you need to take your vacations:
Time off boosts brain power, improving memorizing new skills
Time away from work fully recharges a depleted brain
Being away from work allows the brain to connect and consolidate, creating better problem solving
Workers who take time off live longer (reducing risk of disease by 21 percent)
Time off helps the heart (men who skip vacation increase their risk of heart attack by 30 percent)
Relaxation prevents coronary heart disease
Vacations improve worker quality
Time off stimulates creativity
Worker performance increased the more vacation employees used
Vacation time helps prevent depression
Time off improves sleep
Taking vacations improves attitudes and motivates employees to achieve higher goals
For those looking for one last great summer adventure, Expedia has collected data and released a list of the top 10 destinations for Labor Day 2016:
Atlanta
Los Angeles
Chicago
New York
Dallas/Fort Worth
San Francisco
Denver
Seattle
Las Vegas
Charlotte, NC
If Europe has been on your travel radar, the strong dollar compared to the Euro has made many trans-Atlantic destinations even more affordable this year.
And, if you are packing the car and hitting the road for the three day weekend, you are not alone. Fuel prices are some of the lowest in decades this Labor Day. That means more Americans will be on the nation’s highways and byways and unfortunately traffic crashes are expected to rise. The National Safety Council is urging all drivers to remain attentive, avoid alcohol before taking the wheel, get plenty of sleep, never use a cell phone or other devices while driving and have everyone in the vehicle wear their seat belts.
Don’t let a flat tire or heat drained battery detour your fun if you choose to drive to your Labor Day destination; check out our list of summer auto care tips.
So, where is your favorite place or thing to do for Labor Day? Let us know so we can share it with others.
Name: Walter H.