Distance education is a field of education that focuses on the use of instructional systems designed to deliver education to students who are not physically on site of a school campus. Rather than attending courses in person, teachers and students may communicate at times of their own choosing by exchanging printed, electronic media or through technology that allows them to communicate in real time. In the past medical assistants and medical office staff were usually trained on the job with informal instruction. However with the advent of internet technology medical assistant and office staff classes can be taken online. St. Augustine School of Medical Assistants is a good example of an educational service using these new innovative technologies to deliver online instruction to medical assistants and medical office staff.

Medical assistants usually perform administrative and clinical tasks to keep the offices of physicians, podiatrists, chiropractors, and other health practitioners running smoothly. They should not be confused with physician assistants, who examine, diagnose, and treat patients under the direct supervision of a physician. The duties of medical assistants vary from office to office, depending on the location and size of the practice and the practitioner’s specialty. Employment for medical assistants is projected to grow much faster than average, ranking medical assistants among the fastest growing occupations over the 2006-16 decade. Job opportunities should be excellent, particularly for those with formal training or experience, and certification. Medical assistants may advance to other occupations through experience or additional training. For example, some may go on to teach medical assisting, and others pursue additional education to become nurses or other health care workers. Administrative medical assistants may advance to office manager, or qualify for a variety of administrative support occupations.

According to the U.S. Department of Education (National Forum on Education Statistics) virtual education is now part of the planning agenda of most organizations concerned with education and training. The quality of distance learning has greatly improved in the past few years, as both students and educators have become more comfortable with the technology, and as stories of best practices have been shared and duplicated.

Recent research has shown that the most significant factor helping students to succeed in online classes has been their ability to manage time. Distance learning features a number of advantages such: as accessibility for those living away from the training center, no waste of time or other resources in transport, and flexibility to study in any convenient location with an Internet connection. Self-paced online learning also allows students to quickly browse materials you have already mastered, and concentrate time and effort in areas containing new information. They can study materials at a personal speed and intensity, without having to wait for slower pace of the average classroom.

Online classes such as the medical assistant program offer at www.medassistant.org provide more opportunities to study the most current material available and provide flexibility for those with irregular work schedules. Also providing accessibility for those with restricted mobility, such as the handicapped and accessibility for those with family responsibilities (e.g., parents with young children at home). If you are interested in learning more about online medical assistant classes you may wish to consider a program such as that offered by St. Augustine School of Medical Assistants and other online distance education providers.

About The Author:
Dr. Mark Stout, Medical Assistant Program Coordinator, St. Augustine School of Medical Assistants at http://www.medassistant.org

Dish gardens…corsages…tussie mussies…the language of the floral industry can be really confusing for those who aren’t familiar with it. Sometimes it can make you feel like you need to log in to Wikipedia and look it all up before you can place an order. Don’t start clicking yet, though-it’s not as difficult as it might initially seem, and you’ve got a professional who speaks the language on your side.

A good, professional florist is one who cares enough about his or her customers to take the time to explain the many options available for floral gifts and decorative accents.

To help you gain a basic understanding, some of the terms used by florists are explained below:

Bud Vases: These are small floral gifts that include one or more stems of flowers in a vase. Bud vases are often given as a small token of friendship or to commemorate a special occasion. They’re a popular gift, as they tend to be fairly inexpensive, but are elegant and beautiful.

Basket Arrangement: Basket arrangements are exactly what they sound like - a floral design created in a basket. These are usually bright, cheery gifts and look fantastic in a home with a casual design. They’re perfect for any occasion or no occasion at all.

Formal Arrangement: These are very elegant arrangements that can be created in a multitude of containers and in varying heights. They are often used as a focal point in a formal room or to add some flair to the foyer of a home.

Dish Gardens: As the word \”garden\” implies, these are live, growing plants in a container, or dish of some sort. They’re often green plants, cacti, or flowering plants. Dish gardens are a great gift that, with proper care, can be enjoyed for years.

Sympathy Flowers: Sympathy flowers are those flowers sent to comfort loved ones when someone has passed away. There are a number of different kinds of arrangements within this category, such as easel sprays, wreaths, and casket sprays. Your florist will have photographs of various sympathy flower arrangements and can assist you in choosing the right gift.

Corsages: Corsages are small arrangements that are worn by women. They can either be pinned to her clothing, or designed on an elastic band to be worn on her wrist.

Boutonnieres: Boutonnieres are small arrangements that are worn by men. They’re pinned to the lapel and often consist of a single bloom with a bit of greenery or other accent.

Tussie-Mussie: The tussie-mussie was first used as a Victorian bridal bouquet, but today is used for any occasion. It’s created by closely bunching flowers and binding the stems with a ribbon or other means. The result is a small, round, charming bouquet.

Topiaries: Topiaries are plants that have been trimmed in an unusual or artistic way. You might be familiar with them as small trees grown in pots that have been trimmed for a tall look with rounded foliage at the top.

Regardless of the occasion, your florist will have many options available to you. If you’re not certain what to order, don’t turn to Wikipedia, turn to your florist! He or she will have photos and samples to help you send the perfect gift.

About The Author:
Wesley Berry is member of the American Academy of Floriculture (AAF) and President of Wesley Berry Flowers, a successful multi-million dollar floral business that was established in 1946. He is also the developer of Localnewsdelivery.com a website that delivers local news to over 40,000 communities across the country. Recently he also launched a website providing information about various places of worship throughout the United States. Visit Wesley Berry Flowers on the web at www.800wesleys.com.

These days, when we want to know what the weather is going to be like, most of us listen to the radio or turn on the TV - in most cases, we don’t even need to wait for the weather report on the news; we simply turn to a network that focuses only on providing weather predictions.

Of course, some of us have been left feeling jaded - those sunny days that we’ve been promised don’t end up looking quite as bright or on those days when we’re told to bring along an umbrella the clouds burn off and blue skies are all that we see. Despite the fact that weather predictions are made, it is important to consider that there are a number of factors that can affect the way that pressure systems interact and weather events occur. Unfortunately, even though weather predictions are far more based on science than they once were, predictions can go awry.

In the mid 1700s, Ben Franklin published weather predictions in Poor Richard’s Almanac (1732-1757), expressly for the purpose of helping farmers anticipate the way that their crops would be affected by the weather. Prior to Ben Franklin, weather was predicted, based solely upon adages such as, \”Red sky at night, sailor’s delight. Red sky in morning, sailor’s warning.\” While the adage is generally correct, it was not the all-inclusive kind of weather predictions we get today.

Ben Franklin was actually the first person to actually put together that weather conditions traveled along predictable paths. Ben kept a weather observation diary, and when he started comparing letters received from friends and family at distant locations, along with their local weather observations, Ben was able to put together that most storms in North America traveled from west-to-east. He also put together that cold snaps also followed the same west-to-east patterns.

Weather prediction today relies on many of the same lessons Franklin learned in the mid 1700s. One of the lessons learned is that successful weather prediction relies on successful weather observations. Today, modern weather observation relies heavily on accurate time keeping and communication, and measuring the progression and speed of the movement of storms.

While Ben Franklin started to track the direction of a storm from southwest to northeast by following a whirlwind on horseback, ultimately his observations about the ways in which weather can be predicted are paralleled in the ways in which other systems form and move, the most notable of these cases being the prediction of El Nino in the waters of the Pacific. By tracking these patterns in weather journals and noting observations about the wind, the air pressure and the humidity, it’s possible to more accurately make weather predictions.

However, in order to ensure that weather predictions that are made are fairly accurate, there are additional resources that must be called on. The most basic of these is a clock that can be used to track the amount of time that it takes for a storm or weather front to travel from one area to another. A more advanced tool for weather prediction involves radar - and analyzing the information obtained using radio waves. Rain, snow and even wind all affect the ways in which radio waves are reflected within the atmosphere, and even modern weather radar relies heavily upon accurate timekeeping.

By studying these weather systems and learning to read radar charts, meteorologists are able to predict the weather, forecast storms and identify the ways in which different areas will be affected. Even today, in order to provide accurate weather forecasts those who are studying weather need to be able to have a strong sense of place, a sense of the winds, humidity and atmospheric pressure and they need to have accurate clocks to keep track of the time it takes for a system to move from one area to another.

Fortunately, in order to have a sense of the weather and to be able to predict whether or not a storm is coming in the future, there are a variety of weather clocks available. Many atomic clocks are able to read the temperature from an outdoor sensor and to show it on the face of the clock, along with the time. Traditional weather clocks are also available for those who want to have a sense of not only what time it is, but also the inside temperature and level of humidity in the home.

With weather clocks, what you will find is that even before you get out of bed in the morning, you’ll be able to determine the best way to dress for the day. More sophisticated weather clocks can be used to monitor the temperature as well as the humidity in areas that need to be regulated - for example, home wine cellars as well as floral greenhouses.

When you need to be able to predict the weather and don’t want to have to watch the meteorologist on the local news, or you want to be able to create a controlled indoor environment for one purpose for another, accurate weather clocks can help you to know what’s going on and what you can do to be prepared for the day.

About The Author:
Andy Lipps is the owner of Its About Clocks, a website dedicated to offering a comprehensive selection of clocks, including: grandfather clocks, cuckoo clocks, employer time clocks, atomic clocks, weather station clocks, nautical clocks, designer clocks, desktop clocks, musical clocks, and more. Please visit Andy’s website to find a clock that meets your needs: http://www.itsaboutclocks.com

The First Nations - literally, the first peoples here - likely began settling in Alberta as early as 10,000 to 12,000 years ago, after the glaciers that helped carve the Rocky Mountains and the prairies finally receded. In the south, peoples such as the Blackfoot, Blood and Peigan hunted the bison that in the early 19th century numbered some 40 million across the North American plains. Further north, First Nations such as the Woodland Cree and the Chipewyan took advantage of rivers and woodland to fish, and to hunt game such as moose and caribou.

The arrival of European explorers in the late 1700s, followed by fur traders, missionaries and settlers, placed such pressure on the First Nations that their traditional way of living on the land - moving with the game and the seasons - began to change, especially with the near extinction of the bison here by the late 19th century. Those years also saw the creation of a new people: the M

5/19/2008 9:48PM China’s love affair with green tea is believed to have begun thousands of years ago. It took centuries for the Chinese to share this secret with their neighbors in Japan and even longer for the country to begin exporting this bountiful crop to destinations all over the world.

As China’s second biggest export behind silk in the pre-industrial years, tea no doubt had a major impact on this country when it was finally released for general consumption. But, what exactly happened to China when the tea craze went global? Did this export create the desire for mass production and the creation of surpluses? Did it plunge the Chinese into a capital frenzy? Or, was the impact of exportation minimal?

Looking At A Microcosm

Historian Robert Gardella took a very close look at the impacts of global trade on China in the 19th century. One of his studies focused heavily on the tea trade in particular in one small region. Southeast China’s Fujian was the subject of his study on tea and globalization in China.

Prior to global trade coming to China, this particular region survived economically by focusing on two different means. The first involved working the land and the mountains by growing crops, engaging in forestry and creating hand crafts. The second involved maritime activities, such as fishing, piracy, smuggling and migration of people out of China. These two distinct ways of living came together in a big way when in 1842 the Port of Fuzhou was opened up to foreign trade. This led to a huge rise in tea exportation to the United States, Great Britain and other global destinations. Tea produced in the northern area of Fujian was suddenly in high demand - a state that would remain so through the 1880s.

The Positive Impacts

While the globalization of green tea products was long in the coming, when it arrived in the Fujian region, some good things did happen as a result.

Historian Gardella points to a number of benefits the Fujian people realized as a result of the tea trade. They include:

Output increases - The Fujian region became much better at growing and exporting tea to meet the booming demands. This had all sorts of positive impacts on the region.

Higher incomes - The people of the Fujian region found that the ability to earn an income was suddenly increased thanks to the tea boon.

Government resources - As more money flowed through the port, the Chinese government offered more resources to the area.

A bringing together of the region - The tea trade brought the people of the Fujian region together in a mutually beneficial act.

While the tea trade did bring some very big benefits to the Fujian region, not all impacts were good. Unfortunately, some of the impacts would prove even a bit devastating to the region.

The Downside Of Globalization

The tea trade wasn’t all wine and roses for China. As demands increased for tea, so too did the negative impacts of production and exportation. According to Gardella’s study, some of the pitfalls on the Fujian region included:

Vulnerable local economy - Unfortunately, the tea trade did not come with a structural transformation of the local economy. This meant that the people who made their livelihoods in the trade found themselves at the mercy of the global market. As worldwide conditions fluctuated, so too did the conditions within this region.

Environmental impacts - The Fujian region and its lands were not acclimated to the mass production of crops. As the trade grew, so too did soil erosion and deforestation.

Social problems - To meet the growing demands of the tea trade, many foreign workers moved into the region. Just like the gold rush in South Dakota’s Black Hills, the tea rush brought \”undesirable elements\” into the region, led to some outbreaks of social unrest and also involved an increase in the imports of opium to the region.

Why The Boon Ended

Although the Fujian region enjoyed a major shot in the arm for several decades, there were several factors that combined to bring the boon to an end. Gardella points to the decentralized, market-driven type of production and the loosely formed marketing networks that oversaw the tea trade as pitfalls that led to the end of the boon. Also, as advances came in the production of tea, the Fujian region often did not adopt them. Between an inability to keep up with the high costs of production and the introduction of taxes, the region could not compete with other countries that began to produce tea in mass. Fujian, in short, lost out. It was simply unable to compete with industrial plantations in places like India. Competition from Japan also put a beating on the local market.

As the tea trade moved elsewhere, the Fujian economy fell into decline. As it was in many gold mining towns in America at roughly the same time, the trade moved elsewhere and so did many of the people and much of the money.

The globalization of the green tea trade in the 1800s brought both perks and pitfalls to China. Within the Fujian region itself, an economic upswing brought jobs, government support and immigrants. These changes, however, were soon followed by a crash.

About The Author:
Jon Stout is Chairman of the Golden Moon Tea Company. For more information about green tea,oolong tea and chai tea go to http://www.goldenmoontea.com

For some people, time is simply the standard by which we hope to get to where we are supposed to be. We set an alarm to get us up in the morning; we rush out the door to be to work on time and then watch as the hours pass before we get to go home and spend time with our families and friends. We think about time when we need to be somewhere; we think about time when we would rather be somewhere else.

We also tend to think about time when we’re reminded that we need to set our clocks forward an hour in the spring and back as winter approaches. For those who have atomic clocks, even this isn’t an issue as, in many cases, the clocks automatically reset themselves.

Of course, there’s always going to be a little bit of contemplation of how atomic clocks work. While we can read explanations of the cesium atom, the hydrogen and rubidium atoms and the ways in which they interact to determine time - while we can read the instruction manuals that come with atomic clocks and see reference to the ways in which some commercial atomic clocks are periodically corrected by GPS in order to ensure accuracy - there’s little that fully helps many people to understand why such accuracy is really necessary.

Ultimately, the concept of why accurate time keeping is important can be traced back hundreds of years. Long before the development of the atomic clock - as well as the development of nautical clocks and other ship clocks - it was determined that there needed to be some sort of international standard for time keeping.

It was because of this need to set standards in time keeping that Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) were established. Prior to the 19th century, time was something that was determined merely by the sun. China, for example has one system of time that was independent from time in France, which was independent of time in Australia, which was independent of time within the United States.

Before Greenwich Mean Time was accepted as an international standard, time keeping posed real challenges for growing industries. When shipments were to be made, ship captains had difficulties telling time because as they traveled east to west, the sun would shift in the sky; for them, telling time was a matter of determining location and, only being able to use the stars as a navigation tool, posed a number of additional challenges. Similarly, as railway transportation because increasingly common combined with the fact that most towns set their local time according to when the sun was at its apex, it became essential to determine a way to express time consistently.

Ultimately, the standard for Greenwich Mean Time came about when in the 1880s representatives of nearly 30 nations came together to establish a means by which time could be measured accurately. During that convention, it was determined the Greenwich Meridian on which the Royal Observatory had determined the beginning and end of a 24 hours day and it was decided that maritime sea charts would be established based on the international time keeping standard.

In order for those who captained ships to determine their location, longitudinal meridians were used. By consulting sea charts and having accurate nautical clocks on board, captains were better able to identify their location, chart their course and make progress toward reaching their destination when scheduled.

Ultimately, being able to accurately tell time and location with the aid of nautical clocks and the Greenwich Meridian have had a dramatic impact on time keeping today. In addition to maintaining a schedule for shipments, Greenwich Mean Time allows international business and transportation to succeed and to continue to advance efficiencies.

With Greenwich Mean Time - along with the developments that have been made for atomic clocks with greater accuracy - it is possible for business to be conducted between countries across the world; likewise, it is possible to consistently keep track of international flights as well as cargo shipments.

In business and in transportation, time and timing are essential. It’s for this reason that clocks have undergone a tremendous amount of change over time in order to ensure greater levels of accuracy. Understanding Greenwich Mean Time - even on a basic level - is something that can give a greater appreciation for the ways in which we are all connected. Even if international time is something that you only think about when you’re picking someone up at the airport, or flying off for a vacation, standard international time does impact us all.

About The Author:
Andy Lipps is the owner of Its About Clocks, a website dedicated to offering a comprehensive selection of clocks, including: grandfather clocks, cuckoo clocks, employer time clocks, atomic clocks, weather station clocks, nautical clocks, designer clocks, desktop clocks, musical clocks, and more. Please visit Andy’s website to find a clock that meets your needs: http://www.itsaboutclocks.com

“Study skills are boring!” That is what most students tell me when I first meet them.

Boring!? These are skills that can help them get better grades and spend less time on homework how can they be boring?

Honestly, there is a good explanation for the bad rap that study skills have developed over the years because a lot of boring things are labeled as “study skills.” Learning how to use guide words in a dictionary…a necessary skill, but boring! SQ3R a reading strategy with many merits, but leaves me asking, “Who wants to take the time to do all five steps?” Boring! Identifying the main idea and supporting details on endless worksheets? Another important skill, but still boring.

There is a broader and more important role study skills should be playing in the lives of our middle and high school students, especially in our current Information Age, when we must prepare students for many careers and jobs that do not even exist yet. Study skills are:

The skills required to be an independent learner.

Skills that build confidence.

Skills that develop efficiency.

Skills that improve performance to prepare our students for high-stakes tests and the globally competitive job market of the future.

Skills that enable students to be proactive, make good decisions, and think critically.

The LAST thing they should be is boring!

We were all born with a natural desire to learn. Infants, toddlers, and pre-schoolers love to explore their world and take pride in learning new things. Just yesterday, my four-year-old was so excited about learning that he stood on top of his chair and raised both arms in triumph exclaiming in a ‘na-na-na-na-na-na’ tone, “I learned a new wo-rd! I learned a new wo-rd!” THAT was utter exhilaration over learning!

But, sometime in the elementary years, most students lose that enthusiasm for learning, usually because they lose all of their choices. Learning becomes dictated by their teachers, school districts, and state-mandated curriculum. They are suddenly swallowed into a bureaucracy of texts, tests, and lectures that would bore any rational human being.

Much of these mandates and “lack of choices” are and will remain out of students’ control, but there is a vital component we can offer students to bring some pizzazz back to learning. Teach them study skills principles and strategies to be organized and learn efficiently. Show them they have the power to beat the system. Well, maybe not beat the system, but at least work with the system strategically to be successful. When strategic learning enters the picture, students regain some control. They develop personal power. And they learn important life-long skills that will someday help them manage a home and career.

These may sound like lofty concepts, but they have real, concrete implications. For example, as parents and educators:

We can acknowledge that organizing papers and school-work is difficult because traditional systems actually complicate the process. We can then explore principles for organizing and strategies to simplify the process.

We can acknowledge that text-books are boring. But, if students understand how to maximize their brain’s learning process, they can be strategic readers and exponentially increase their reading comprehension while only reading a fraction of the text.

When we want to say, “Why can’t you plan ahead?!” we can pause and understand that they have never really learned how to plan ahead. Armed with that perspective, we can help them discover how to prioritize their time and think proactively. There is a commercial that depicts two professionals heading into their office building at the beginning of the day. They are both neatly groomed and dressed professionally. You can presume from their appearance and surroundings that they are well-educated people. They are both half-way up an escalator when the escalator suddenly stops.

They look shocked and bewildered. “I don’t need this!” complains the woman. “Figures!” grumbles the man. They look around in panic and start feeling around for their cell phones, but both discover they have forgotten their phones at home.

As the commercial continues, these two “smart professionals” remain stranded for what appears to be hours, yelling and screaming for help and wallowing in their unfortunate sorrow that they are stuck on an escalator. That’s right it’s an escalator, NOT an elevator.

Are you wondering why they don’t just stand up and walk off?

That’s the point of the commercial…some solutions are so blatantly obvious to some, but not to all. Students, in particular, are commonly stuck on their own escalators, running for help every time they get stuck and not employing any strategies or critical thinking to move forward.

Arming students with study skills –skills for thinking strategically about organizing, managing time, and learning– gives them the power to simply stand up and walk off their own escalator.

Taking control over their learning? Learning how to ‘play in the system’ with strategy? There is nothing boring about that!

About The Author:
Susan Kruger is the author of SOAR Study Skills; A Simple and Efficient System for Earning Better Grades in Less Time. Get Susan’s FREE Homework Rx Toolkit, featuring 25 Ways to Make Homework Easier…Tonight!, at her website: http://soarstudyskills.com/.

As a Native American in the Western world, it is even more essential that we remain true to our roots and continue to show unwavering support for each other. We have a rich and diverse culture that needs to be celebrated in as many ways as possible. We are a strong group from the tribal nations, a group that has stuck together from the aboriginal people of the native lands. Finding online support for our culture and the First Nations is no easy task; however, it is now possible with the explosion of resources on available on the Internet today.

From the moment that Christopher Columbus discovered America on his journey India in 1492, the white man has impacted us in countless ways. Native American culture has always been deeply rooted in the earth and the Great Spirit, shaping and forming the current culture and the lives of our future generations. While the Europeans made their way to settle on our soil, the relationship between the Native American populace and the white man led to wars, battles, and murder.

We were doomed to lose the battles, without the weapons and artillery that the Europeans had by their side. We fought hard with whatever resources we had in order to preserve our territory. The struggles were fierce, our tribes had limited resources, and the fight continues today - but in new ways. In order to preserve our customs, traditions, and culture, we must stand up for our rights and beliefs and maintain our religious and spiritual lands. Sadly, through this turmoil and upheaval, many of us have lost our voice and removed ourselves from the Great Spirit in more ways than one.

Our tribes can be found all across North and South America; some are clustered in larger groups while others are spread across nations. Native American culture is rich with history and deeply rooted in the world of the First Nations.

Unfortunately, European influences have forever changed our culture and our traditions, having led us into wars and battles that have compromised our tribes in many ways. Tribal customs and traditions have been ruined. Opposing tribes have even engaged in warfare that is far from the standards of our intrinsic Native American ways, and led us to remove ourselves from our true nature. How do we reconnect and recover our losses in the present day? What resources and solutions are available for us?

With the rise in technology and increased education opportunities available for us, a Native American can find many opportunities to network and preserve their roots with online forums, networks, blogs, and discussion groups. Finding other tribes and aboriginal people through the web is one way that we can look forward to preserving our traditions. The Native Myspace Native American Tribal Community MyRezSpace.com is more than just the standard online community. The goal is to gather information about native culture and preserve knowledge by blogging, sharing stories, and archiving entries from the tribal members and nations across the continents. Popular site features include a virtual pow wow session, the Chief’s Corner, and the First Nation Band for music inspiration. Aboriginal news was developed to create a space for all aboriginal people to use, so that their voices could be heard.

Our dreams cannot be lost forever. We can band together to preserve our culture, our heritage, and our roots. If you listen closely to your fellow tribe members, it becomes easier to reconnect and find value in our rich history. Online websites that can help us reconnect and develop stronger bonds are essential to preserving our Native American roots. Our aboriginal people had settled on American soil long before the white man set foot on our land. European desires for conquest and ownership have left us with a history of wars, massacre, and violence; we cannot continue to live under the principles of greed and control. In order for us to preserve our history, we must educate ourselves and stay strong.

There are many reliable web sites available that can help us with this process. Native Americans NativeAmericans.com provides an abundance of facts and information on our history; including biographies, maps, and pow wow documentation. Pictures, photos, and artifacts from museums, along with biographies of chiefs and tribal leaders of the nations can help inspire us and motivate us to learn even more about our heritage.

Preservation for our tribal culture is essential now, and for our future generations. The Internet is rich with information and opportunities to network and connect with the people of the First Nations. It is up to us to take a stand and explore our options for the nations that remain today, and those that will be available to future generations tomorrow!

About The Author:
Written by: Eagle Vale of MyRezSpace.com The name is a merging of the Myspace concept, with \”The Rez,\” from a television show of the same name that reflects life on the reservation in Northern Canada.

This article about native american culture was created for the express purpose of bringing awareness to our \”Native American Cultural Preservation Project\” at http://www.MyRezSpace.com You may also use the MyRezSpace Interactive Community at: http://www.MyRezSpace.org

For hundreds of years now, the Native Americans, indeed the true aboriginal peoples of the North American continent, have experienced multiple trials and tribulations at the hands of those who first came to settle this continent. Everything that they did throughout the harsh history of their relations with the aboriginal nations, only stood to benefit European settlers, not the First Nations of this great North American continent.

When the first European settlers arrived, many of the members of this continent’s First Nations tried to acquiesce and appease, not by giving away their lands, but by extending a hand of friendship to the Europeans and trying to help them with their settlements. Alas, this only served to work against the Native Americans in the long run, as they eventually faced the cruelty with which the white man would take over their lands and claim it for another nation in the name of some distant king or queen.

Indeed, not only did the white man find it necessary to take the lands away from our ancestors, those once great tribal nations, but the European settlers, also fought us, taking away our freedoms, our cultures that had been with us for thousands of years, and sadly, our religion. We were forced to make way for their people, so that their people could take our lands for themselves, and as we were forced to make way for the Europeans, much of our culture and our religions were taken from our lives.

The tribal and aboriginal customs of our Native American ancestors were destroyed and left by the wayside to rot on the long, lonely stretches of land that we would later be resigned to trek, to carve out a new niche for ourselves on this North American continent. If the natives performed the ceremonies that meant so much to the tribe and to her people, the white man sneered at us and called us dogs. If we prayed to our Great Spirit, we were surely pagans who needed instruction. We were allowed to keep so little of ourselves, that for many years, our ancestors were forced to think of themselves shamefully and to forget all of the magnificence and majesty that was once ours, when we were allowed to freely roam this beautiful North American continent.

Even today, many of our native brothers and sisters strain to survive under abject poverty, poor educational opportunities, and a desolate lifestyle and future, all a direct result of the European invasion into our once great and beautiful tribal nations. Our forefathers were pushed off of lands that were rightfully theirs and were made to live on land that was fit for no one, in what was once called the Great American desert on the Great Plains of North America. Crops would not grow, let alone flourish in the new tribal lands assigned to our people by the U.S. and Canadian governments. The spirit of our ancestors was completely diminished by the new reality of having our native lands torn from their reach and the forced removal of our ancestors from their rightful lands. A diminished heart and spirit has followed Native Americans since.

However, as young Native Americans today begin to explore the world as it really is, there are many among us who are tired of accepting the defeatist attitude that has become so prevalent within our culture, and we wish to bring our people to a more prosperous future. Our people are not stupid; we are not lost to the diseases of drugs and alcohol. We are educated, loving, and proud members of the Native American community, who choose to do more than simply accept the low standards and low expectations that the U.S. and Canadian governments had defined for us, so many years ago. We wish for all of our brothers and sisters to rise up and meet their destiny as proud and productive members of the First Nations’ community.

One way that many proud Native Americans are communicating with each other, from all over this mystical continent across which we have been scattered, is through the use of myrezspace.com. This website can help you make connections to many other Native Americans, who are looking to make more out of their lives than they have been allowed to do in the past. This is a website that has been designed to enable our Native American family to come together to find new friends and to discover a way to escape the hopelessness that our ancestors carried for so long. Together, as a united group of nations and individuals, we can make meaningful advances and strides within our aboriginal culture.

About The Author:
Written by: Eagle Vale of MyRezSpace.com The name is a merging of the Myspace concept, with \”The Rez,\” from a television show of the same name that reflects life on the reservation in Northern Canada.

This article about native american culture was created for the express purpose of bringing awareness to our \”Native American Cultural Preservation Project\” at http://www.MyRezSpace.com You may also use the MyRezSpace Interactive Community at: http://www.MyRezSpace.org

How to Take a Test

Being *prepared* for a test is absolutely essential, but there are some things you can do while taking a test to reduce anxiety and improve your score.

The following action plan will give you a greater sense of control during tests, which will allow you to be more relaxed and think more clearly. These tips are also good for most standardized tests.

Action Plan

Be good to yourself. You have heard it dozens of times, but good rest, a balanced breakfast, and drinking water keep your brain healthy, which help you think more clearly when taking a test.

Know your time limit. Before the test date, ask your teacher what type of problems will be on the exam, how many, and how much time you will have to take it. Then, determine how much time you should spend on each problem/section of the test so you can properly pace yourself.

Read the directions. Twice. Any teacher who has ever graded a test will verify that MANY points are lost by students who neglect to read (and follow) directions.

Scan the entire test once. Before answering any questions, quickly read through the problems. Just as athletes warm-up before a game, scanning a test gives your brain a chance to warm-up to the information it will need to access, which will dramatically improve your performance.

Begin answering questions.

Stuck? Skip it. When you are stuck, you can waste a lot of valuable time fretting over ONE question. As you fret, you loose time, get nervous and loose confidence. Before you know it, you are rushing through the last 30 problems because you were stuck on problem #5. Instead, skip that problem, moved on to the next one, and come back to #5 after you have completed the remaining questions. You will be more relaxed as you complete the rest of the test and may even discover the answer to #5 while reading question #29.

Breathe. If you begin to feel anxious because you came across five questions in a row that could not answer, take slow and deep breaths. Deep breathing controls your reaction to anxiety and keeps your brain in \”rational mode.\” You will need rational mode to make good guesses on those problems!

When in doubt, go with you first \”hunch.\” For most tests, you are not penalized for guessing. So, after you have completed the rest of the test and still do not have a clue about the correct answer to a question, choose the option that you *first* thought was correct. Your unconscious mind may be trying to tell you something.

Do not turn your test in early! Every point earned on a test puts you one point closer to a better grade. Take advantage of extra time to make sure you read each question correctly, filled in the correct bubbles on the Scantron sheet, followed the directions properly, etc. You will find an error about 50% of the time.

Specific Test Tips

Multiple Choice: Read all of the options first, then cross out the obvious wrong answers to narrow down your choices.

Essay: If possible, do essay questions last to give your brain more exposure to the information before creating your own answers. Before you write long paragraphs, create a short outline in the margin using key words to help you write a more focused answer. If you run out of time, your teacher may give you partial credit based on your outline.

True/False: These are probably the most misleading and misused test questions, so approach them with caution. Take your time to read each statement twice and look for trick words (like \”not\”) that can change the entire meaning of the statement.

Fill-in-the-Blank: First, fill in only the blanks you know 100% and cross out used words in the word bank, then complete the rest of the problems. Reread all answers to ensure the filled-in words make sense in each statement and that all grammar tenses, singular and plural nouns, etc. fit the rest of the sentence.

In Conclusion

There is no substitution for a good study plan before a test, but there are tactics to help you be more strategic during your test-taking ‘performance.’

About The Author:
Susan Kruger is the author of SOAR Study Skills; A Simple and Efficient System for Earning Better Grades in Less Time. Get Susan’s FREE Homework Rx Toolkit, featuring 25 Ways to Make Homework Easier…Tonight!, at her website: http://soarstudyskills.com/.