You Could Be the Problem

Introvert Whisperer / You Could Be the Problem Is the Boss Really being Difficult or is it You? Recently, in a Linked In group associated with HR, someone posted a discussion that well over 2400 people commented on. The flavor of the discussion was: Why is it so hard to find good employees? It’s like a standoff between the frowning faces of the boss and the employee. Both are thinking really bad things about the other. I’d like to give you a perspective from a boss’s point of view regarding this comment. We have all had bad bosses I acknowledge that there are bad bosses. I also acknowledge that without reason, some simply don’t like you and want you to be gone. Despite being bad or disliking certain people, there are things that employees do that make even the best bosses seem like tyrants. What I am speaking about is poor performance and the tough talks that go with it. As a society, we’re taught to be nice to people and they will be nice to you. That concept doesn’t apply to the conversation at work where performance feedback is necessary and most often hard to do. It’s a tough message to give and a harder one to receive. It’s hard to feel warm and fuzzy about someone who just said what you did was a flop. It’s also easy to think that person is being unreasonable or difficult, yet are they really? It’s hard to feel warm and fuzzy about someone who just said what you did was a flop. More than anything else, a manager just wants things to work right. They don’t dream of coming in to the office and giving someone a bad time about their work. There is a higher amount of energy and focus drain that happens when an employee isn’t working up to expectations, because the manager has to go through extra steps to monitor the work. While it is part of the job, usually the manager’s job is not structured in such a way that they really have time for this extra task. It means extra work and extra stress. Then add to that the step of sitting down with the employee to tell them the bad news. This isn’t how most managers want to spend their day. On the reverse side of this, the employee with performance problems almost never really “gets it”. If they did, they probably wouldn’t have the issues to start with. Most managers give the under-performing employee the benefit of the doubt when they start engaging in the tough performance conversations. The benefit in this case, is that if the issue is pointed out, it can be corrected. I have seen instances where, following these chats, the performance actually gets worse and there is often some strange behavior to coincide. I once had an employee, who in their attempt to portray deep listening, eyes would bulge and go unblinking for the duration of our talks. This had to take so much concentration that I knew they weren’t listening; and they weren’t. While performance feedback should be ongoing and non-threatening dialogues, they many times don’t take place. You need to understand, this is part of your ongoing career development. To avoid driving off the performance cliff, here are FOUR  things you can do to aid in your own management: 1. Document your responsibilities and the expectations of your output. Make sure you understand both the qualitative and quantitative elements of how you will be measured. When things change, and they will, update your understanding. 2. If you aren’t receiving ongoing feedback on your performance, ask for it. It’s hard to be derailed when you are receiving information and making course corrections along the way. Engage key stakeholders for this feedback as well. 3. If you foresee a problem due to lack of resources, support or your own training, you need to flag that to the boss at the first sign of the issue. You need to come to an agreement on how the issue will be resolved. They need to be part of the solution. 4. If you still receive a tough performance message, don’t be defensive. Do your best to take in the information, ask questions and ensure your understanding. Develop an action plan that will respond to the issues and validate it with your boss. Once you are in agreement, ask for ongoing feedback to that plan. Keep in mind that when you are in a performance crisis, this is not the time to be trying to add something new or sexy to your workload. I once had a person, who wasn’t performing the basics, who decided the company should pay for their programming classes (which weren’t part of the job). While I believe in ongoing improvement, that was not the time to be away from the desk and adding to an already bad situation. Use your head â€" don’t grab an anchor if you’re drowning. I’ve long held the belief that doing a great job and being a great employee was easy. I still do. I just think that employees need to see the boss as something besides the enemy and to take responsibility for their performance. If you can do that, you will most likely like the boss better and be the “good employee” everyone is looking for. Go to top 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. 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 for your FREE copy

Top 5 Tips To Choose An Online Tutor in America

Top 5 Tips To Choose An Online Tutor in America Education in American schools is facing a decline due to an insufficient number of teachers. And outdated infrastructure and syllabus. Students need some supplemental education to come out well in their studies. Since e-learning has been the favorite mode of education, students prefer online tutoring methods. They prefer online tutoring for compensating the educational loss in a regular classroom set up. When you choose an online tutor for remedying your learning loopholes, you have to be careful in your selection. Selection should be with a focus on certain parameters. Parameters like the credentials of the tutor, choice of an established tutoring site and the suitability of the tutor for your requirements. Here are top 5 tips to choose an online tutor in America! Geometry can be interesting if it is introduced with proper examples from the real life and with 3D models. https://t.co/NeIsBG0LRF â€" Tutor Pace (@TutorPace) February 26, 2016 Checking the skills of the online tutor A skilled tutor in a specific educational domain suits your requirements to the most. Suppose you need help for Algebra, how to choose? Choose an online tutor who has specific certification in the subject with relevant experience. Tutor who has exposure to handling various batches of students will come in handy for your demands. He is the ideal person to bust the subject intricacies through easy strategies. Selecting a reliable tutoring site Suppose you are not able to pick up a tutor of your choice, you can contact an e-tutoring site that offers one. There are many established and reliable tutoring sites like Tutor Pace and EduNiche which can render excellent services for meeting your educational needs. Checking the flexibility of the online tutor in terms of time and convenience Umpteen numbers of tutors are available in the field. But most of them may not turn up on time or could not show up excellence in their tutoring methods. Talk to the tutor, sit for a trial session and check whether he can accommodate your needs and could satisfy your educational demands. Cost also matters Educational expenses in the present day are very high and parents and students find them extremely overwhelming. Tutors cause additional expenses and so you need to choose a tutor who offers tutoring at pocket friendly rates without compromising quality. @TutorPace Offers 10% Discount on Online #Assignment Help for Improved Grades http://t.co/P1NO7BttIg #backtoschool pic.twitter.com/vJs9iihJwU â€" Tutor Pace (@TutorPace) September 10, 2015 Empowered tech tools Online tutoring is basically conducted through tech tools that carry forward the message of the tutor to the student in an effective manner. Still, the fact remains that there can be a barricade in communication if tutors do not use multimedia tools in the right manner. You have to check with the tutor about the tools used by him and whether he will be able to relay uninterrupted tutoring sessions to you. That way, you can save time and spend quality time while getting tutored. When in-person tutoring or brick and mortar tutoring classes are out of focus, students need to strain a little to look for a virtual tutor who suits their requirements to the maximum level.

5 Tactics to Encourage Academic Confidence in Your Middle Schooler

5 Tactics to Encourage Academic Confidence in Your Middle Schooler The middle school years can be full of challenges for students. With a plethora of new academic and personal responsibilities, it can become difficult for students to remain confident in their ability to succeed. To promote academic confidence in your child, encourage your middle schooler to set manageable goals and to create a schedule so that they can feel in charge of their education. Looking to offer your student extra support this semester? Keep reading to learn five tactics to encourage academic confidence in your middle schooler. 1. Encourage academic confidence in your middle schooler by noting effort, not just correct answers One beneficial technique is to acknowledge the effort your student puts forth in their education. For example, if youre working on a difficult homework problem with your child, offer positive reinforcement throughout the process. Focus your comments specifically on your childs attempts, questions, and engagement with the material. Avoid only offering praise when your child arrives at the right answer because this can teach students to value correct answers only, rather than the learning process as a whole. [RELATED: How Parents Can Help Students Setand AchieveAcademic Goals] 2. Encourage academic confidence in your middle schooler by promoting journaling To develop your childs confidence, encourage them to keep a journal. This can help them articulate their academic strengths and reflect on themselves as learners. The journal can be as creative and open as your child wishes. Options for journal prompts can include: A gratitude list, focused on anything school- or academic-related A list of accomplishments, both big and small A reflection on what your child did to help themselves reach a goal, including resources they used, steps they took to success, and ways that they revised or revisited previous strategies [RELATED: 3 Ways Students Can Benefit from Journaling] 3. Encourage academic confidence in your middle schooler by making connections to extracurricular interests and real-life scenarios Extracurricular interests can also act as motivators for students. Identify your students interests, and research ways these interests can benefit them academically. If your child is interested in comics, for example, encourage them to create comic books and graphic novels. If your child likes skateboarding, encourage them to read about it, learn about its history, and start a related DIY project that develops STEM skills. Another great strategy to develop your childs confidence is to find real-world connectionswhether thats helping your child imagine how they might use the skills in the future, finding a place to volunteer in your community thats related to one of their favorite subjects, or attending an event in the community. 4. Encourage academic confidence in your middle schooler by setting manageable goals Middle schoolers often havent yet developed the habit of breaking down large tasks into smaller ones. Discuss with your child how beneficial creating lists of goals can be in promoting success. Work together on how to break down a big project, encouraging them to return to and revise tasks, as well as being sure to celebrate completed goals. 5. Encourage academic confidence in your middle schooler by establishing a schedule Advise your child on how to make a schedule of responsibilities. This can be a project-based schedule, where your child assigns a task to each day or week. Alternately, it can simply be a daily, weekly, or monthly schedule that incorporates time spent on academics, social, and extracurricular activities. The schedule is not meant to feel strictrather, encourage your child to revise their schedule if something comes up or if they find that something else works better for them. [RELATED: 4 Questions to Ask Your Child About School] The main thing about encouraging academic confidence is to give your middle schooler some helpful, concrete strategies that they can apply to their own lives, and to encourage them to learn what works best for them. Doing this will help develop your middle schoolers agency over their own learning and boost their academic confidence. Any topics you want to know more about? Let us know! The Varsity Tutors Blog editors love hearing your feedback and opinions. Feel free to email us at blog@varsitytutors.com.

Conditional Statement Examples

Conditional Statement Examples Conditional statement examples involve solving problems using conditional equations. A sentence that is either definitely true or definitely false is called conditional statement. Conditional statement is an effective tool in Algebra. While working with conditional statements, identify the converse, inverse, and contrapositive. Then translate the verbal statement into symbolic form if needed. The following examples illustrate the way of problem solving using conditional statements Example 1:-If Allen travelsfor 4 hours at an average speed of 40 miles/ hour, how far did he travel? Solution: From the statement we have, Time taken to travel = 4 hours Average speed = 40 miles/ hour We have to find out the distance he travelled. To find distance we use formula Distance = Time. Speed Distance = 4. 40 = 120 miles Therefore the distance travelled by Allen in 4 hours is 120 miles. Example 2:-If two angles are congruent then the measure of two angles are same. Solution: Statement: If two angles are congruent then the angles have same measure. Converse: If two angles have same measure then the angles are congruent. If the converse is true then inverse is also true. Inverse: If angles are not congruent then they do not have the same measure. Contra positive: If angles do not have same measure then they are not congruent In the above example all the above statements are true. Example 3:- If m = 3n-1 = 33n+1, then value of m/n = -1/9? Solution: To solve this equation follow the steps 3n-1 = 33n+1 n - 1 = 3n + 1 (both sides having the same base ) -2n = 2 n = -1 Since n = -1, m =3n-1 = 3-1-1 (Substitute n= -1 ) 3 -2 = 1/9 Hence, m/n= (1/9) / -1 = -1/9

Getting Gritty With It

Getting 'Gritty' With It Improving Academic Performance Failure ain’t what it used to be. Or, at least, failure is understood differently today, as we examine more closely how much it actually helps us in the long run. When we allow failure and setbacks to be learning experiences and jumping off points for the development of resilience and grit, our lives transform. We refine our character all the more, but like a fine work of art that benefits from revision and reframing. Nowhere is such an experience in growth more valuable and applicable than education. Several years ago, a man named (fittingly) Paul Tough, published the excellent book How Children Succeed, which explains in great detail that the process of trying something difficult and not coming up smelling like roses actually provides an excellent opportunity to grow - not only for students, but as individuals. Tough explains, in a nutshell, that although cognitive ability and IQ might still be factors in one’s ability to succeed in education, character and non-cognitive skills can weigh just as heavily on a student’s ability to learn and thrive and that such development of character often comes through the practice of persistence in the face of foundering. You can watch Tough here give an excellent talk on his research and developments and applied practice in schools today. Too much emphasis today is on the end goal or the good-enough grade rather than the process of challenging learning. Too much emphasis is on the over-protection of children and young adults from adversity and potential harm rather than the encouragement to face challenges with curiosity and gusto. Though such intentions like focusing on grades and protecting young ones from adversity are well-meaning, the results are plain, as Tough continuously illustrates in his book, as well as the following article on Edutopia explains: children and adolescents who do not go through necessary trial and error experiences, and yes, even outright failure, are less equipped to handle higher education and the eventual real world. Not only that, but they are missing out on opportunities to develop a character rounded out with strength, resolve, perseverance, and courage. Grit is a term Tough uses regularly throughout his book, which can also be defined as pluck, nerve, fortitude, or strength of character. The idea of grit being applied in education was first coined by Angela Duckworth in her book, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance. It is an invaluable trait to possess, and both Tough and Duckworth argue that it often develops most strongly in students who are willing to go for sometimes overwhelming challenges without too much fear of failing and the subsequent willingness to learn from that failure. You can check out if you have the five most common characteristics of grit here. We have to look at what our culture means by the term “failure.” Is it simply not succeeding in the long run? No. A better perspective on failure might be understanding that mistakes are inevitable and that perfectionism stifles growth. Failure is not necessarily earning a failing grade on a report card; it might be not making the basketball team one year or getting a lower than expected mark on a science project or dealing with the consequences of putting off studying for an entire semester. It could also mean struggling early on in an extra difficult class before one decides they need extra help or more time spent in the library. These little learning experiences are what help individuals develop grit and understand that a willingness to keep trying, learning, studying, practicing, even in the face of “failure,” is a worthwhile human attribute. If you are a parent, you might want to allow your children to take a few bigger risks now and then; let them risk making a handful of hefty mistakes. Let them risk a bad grade or a cut from the sports team or a last place contestant in a competition. Or, if a student yourself, why not go out on a limb and take that more challenging class or extra curricular activity you know nothing about and see what happens? You might just develop extra grit in the aftermath and become an overall more successful individual down the road. A good way of looking at it is thinking about what type of character you aim to possess rather than simply making the grade or avoiding imperfections. As Tough explains, “what matters…is [that we] develop persistence, self-control, curiosity, conscientiousness, and self-confidence.” Go for it! About the Author Stephanie Ingraham is a former English teacher turned writer and tutor with a BA in English from UCLA and a Masters in Education from Pepperdine University in Los Angeles. She is deeply passionate about education, psychology, child and adolescent development, literature, and writing. She believes the education world can benefit greatly from the meditation world - mindfulness and self-compassion are key! In her free time she loves reading and writing, music, baking, yoga, dance, animals, and exploring new cities. She currently lives in Chicago, Illinois.

Taiyuan English First

Taiyuan English First Taiyuan English First EF English First, a division of EF Education First isthe worlds leading privately owned education company. Founded in 1965, EF operates in over 50 countries around the world. We have vacant spots for teaching positions across Taiyuan, Shanxi, China in our 3 branch schools which are located in 3 different districts around the city. Our students range from 3-year-oldsto teenagers. EF Taiyuan is currently in its 15thyear. We have 18 foreign teachers now from all over the world.They are a friendly,close-knitgroupand havealways been a strong teamthatsupport each other. Taiyuan, the provincial capital of Shanxi,isa city with 4 different seasonsandis full of scenic spots and historical sites located in the north of China. Around Taiyuan, we have many famous places like Jinci Park, the ancient city Pingyao,theDatong Yungang Grottoes, Wutai Mountain, Qiaos Grand Courtyard just to name a few. The city is less than 3 hours away from Beijing by high-speed railway.The foodin Taiyuanis very tasty with a lot of different varietyand one restaurant for every four people (the highest ratio in China). Our housingand schools are near shopping mallsand you can reach the central business district by usingtheconvenient transportationsystemavailable in Taiyuan. So if youd love to work here in Taiyuan EF or want to learn more about the traditional culture of this beautiful place, we probably have the right position available for you. We have both Kids Teens schools in over 60 cities in China. View our Brochure

First Tutors partners with Potential Plus to help disadvantaged children reach their maximum potential

First Tutors partners with Potential Plus to help disadvantaged children reach their maximum potential First Tutors is an international private tuition service allowing students and parents to choose a home tutor for all popular subjects at many levels and begin private tuition at their home or the tutor's. We showcase both home tutors and private tutors who teach from their own home. First Tutors puts you in control to choose private tutors you like at hourly rates you feel appropriate. Tutors write their own tutoring profiles so you can get a strong sense of how they approach private tuition. Our platform enables you to arrange lessons, and if your tutor doesn't meet your requirements, leave feedback to tell us why and we'll connect you to another one free of charge, giving you peace of mind in your tutoring. We, at First Tutors, firmly believe that all children should be given the best tools for ensuring a better education regardless of their backgrounds. That's why we have teamed up with Potential Plus, to help children from extremely disadvantaged backgrounds find a tutor should they feel they need one. A recent article in The Telegraph states: ...the growth of private tuition matters. Nobody would deny that parents have a right to do what they can for their children. But as a society we have a duty to make sure that those without the means to exercise that right don't lose out. Subjects that are most tutored for are Maths, English, Sciences and Languages as children can fall behind and schools do not offer the support these children need to catch up. The same article states: more enlightened tutor agencies are developing their own programmes to support disadvantaged pupils. First Tutors hast been trying to set up this kind of charity work for years as we understand the important effect private tuition can have on a child's education. We have many tutors willing to offer free tuition to children that would otherwise not have had this opportunity and would be happy to hear from other charities looking to help disadvantaged children. Potential Plus is an independent charity which was established in 1967 that supports the social, emotional and learning needs of children with high learning potential of all ages and backgrounds. This includes children and young people: who have been identified as gifted and talented who have the ability to achieve; but who, for whatever reason, are not achieving their potential who are dual and multiple exceptional (gifted with a disability or learning difficulty) who are profoundly gifted First Tutors have formed a partnership with Potential Plus that aims to find a volunteer tutor for children who have a specific learning disability or who are from disadvantaged backgrounds. These children fall under the category of 'dual and multiple exceptional'; children that do not have the means or the funds to hire a tutor. Our partnership was formed through a common want of enabling these children to grow and learn in confidence and to achieve their full potential. First Tutors has provided tutors willing to help these children learn. There will be no fees included from either parties. Potential Plus has provided the details of the children in need of a tutor and First Tutors has matched them to a suitable volunteer tutor in their area. Parents want the best for their children and both First Tutors and Potential Plus have found a way to ensure parents that do not have the means to ensure their children reach their maximum potential, have the same chance of success as their peers.