STONECPS

On March 20 will be the Family Day for all grade 1 students in my daughter’s school. We will have a meeting on March 17 to finalize the details of the event but I read the memorandum and each section should have at least one performance.

I am the homeroom officer for my daughter’s class that is why I am thinking of a good but easy performance that the class plus the parents can perform. Thankfully, I have a musically inclined husband and he is helping me out with the preparations.

So far, we have checked out yamaha psr-s750 at guitar center as we are planning to do a song number and we will ask some of the parents to play the instrument and sing while our kids will dance.

This is just a simple performance, as we really don’t have the time to practice because it is difficult to coordinate schedule of all the parents so I am really hoping that we can pull this off.

My kids have always been music lover, thanks to their dad who has instilled that love of music in them. My daughter attended violin class last summer and I can see how much she enjoys doing it.

Now I can see how my youngest is showing interest in music too . He would play on his sister’s drum set, use his dad’s excellent jay turser or fiddle on the guitar. That is why I got really interested when my friend shared with me information about Academy of Rock.

Academy of Rock is accredited with Academy of Rock in Singapore and it is the Philippines’ pioneer pop and rock music academy. Their school is located in Rockwell and they offer classes on bass, guitar, drums, vocals, and dance. Check them out if you are looking for a good music school for you or for your kids.

Bags: Check
Lunch Box: Check
Books: Check
School Supplies: Check
soccer socks: Check
Rubber Shoes: Check

I am glad that even though we are away, things are all ready for B for her school opening. I was able to do some shopping here in the US for the school stuff that she needs like her bag, lunch box and juice bottle as well as the white rubber shoes that she needs for PE. And then my sister took care of enrolling her and buying the other school supplies from St Scholastica.

So hopefully B will be able to adjust to the time as soon as we get back as she only have one week (I think) to rest and recover from our travel before she goes back to school.

We will be going to the US this coming May and my cousin is asking me to check out Regency Beauty Institute, a Cosmetology school, as she is planning to enrol here when she moves to the US by mid of this year.

Regency Beauty Institute is the fastest growing beauty schools in the US. They started with just two campuses in Minnesota and now they have 80 campuses across 19 states. This just goes to show that they are a trusted institution when it comes to beauty schools.

Their success stems from the fact that they give the best hands on training as they have well-equipped campuses that mirrors upscale salon so their students can get nothing but the best training. Their service does not stop in training their students as they also help them look for jobs after the training as they have connections to salon and spa owners as well as cruise ships and runways.

These are just some of the good things that my cousin heard about Regency Beauty Institute which convinces her to enrol in this successful beauty school.

When I was still in college, Chemistry is one of the subjects that I really hate. I am good in Math, Physics and my other Science subjects but I despise Chemistry. That is why when my cousin is having a hard time with his Chemistry subject in school, I can totally relate to his frustrations. That is why, I offered to help him in looking for Chemistry Help and that is when I learned that there is an available Online Chemistry Tutoring that can help him get good grades in Chemistry.

My cousin is studying in a government financed school so they are required to maintain a certain grade to retain their scholarship. So you can just imagine, how busy his schedule is, just to finish all his school requirements. That is why I really think that an Online Chemistry Help is his best option. He can talk to his Online Chemistry Tutor at the comfort of his own home which saves him time traveling to the review center so he can make better use of his time to finish the requirements for his other subjects. And what’s good with this Chemistry Tutoring from TutorVista is that my cousin will get one-on-one tutoring at a much cheaper price but still he will be sure that he will get the best Chemistry Tutor because all the tutors of TutorVista have extensive experience in tutoring students from all levels.

I am sure getting a Chemistry tutor will help my cousin soar high with his Chemistry subject.

Now that the semester is over (finally I was able to submit all the requirements. Thanks to my hubby who helped me finish all my paper work specially during those times when I was sick, I was swamped with work, or I am just plain lazy), so what is next now for me and hubby?

During the semester I learned that:

1. Even if we are enrolled in an online learning program, it still takes a lot of our time. We have one subject where we have to participate in the weekly discussion board as it is part of the grading system.

2. Our professor still uses different styles in delivering the online course. I have one professor who just posted the course handouts in the portal and we did not hear from him ever since. I did not even see him post a schedule for the finals in the portal, and for first timers like us, we are really lost as to how to go about with taking the final exams. But maybe, since it is graduate program, they really expect us to be on our own specially it is an online course so professors are supposed o be non-existent.

3. I graduated from a state university also and I realized that all other state universities are the same– they all lack organization.

4. There is no way I can survive one semester with three subjects if I have a full time job and I even have other sidelines.

So what’s next for us? Hubby and I decided that we will take a leave of absence this semester. It is the holiday season, a time to have fun with the family so this means lots of gimmicks, lot of get together, and lots of expenses. So I will need a time off from studies this semester as I don’t want to ruin my holiday season because I have to study and finish my paper works and I will really need all the time for my sideline to earn extra for all the expenses that I will incur this holiday season.

So no school for us this coming semester. Let’s see if we will find the drive to enroll again next school year. LOL.

I often tell my nieces and nephews that their generation is lucky because almost all the information that they need for school can be easily found on the Internet. They can easily search in Google or Wikipedia and with just one click of the button, all the information that they need is presented before them. But because of this easy access of all information on the Internet, Plagiarism has become one of the problems being encountered in Universities.

So how can universities encourage their students to create their own work and avoid Plagiarism:

1. I believe that the first effective method to combat plagiarism is Education. Most of the time, students plagiarize unintentionally. The school should include in their Students’ Orientation, a discussion about Plagiarism so that students will be aware of it and thus, there is a big chance that they will put the best effort to avoid committing Plagiarism.

Aside from incorporating it in the Student’s Orientation, the school can distribute leaflets and have a campaign project in the university by posting posters about Plagiarism, its bad effects and how they can avoid committing Plagiarism.

If the university has a website, they can put a special section on their website about Plagiarism where students can easily get information about it.

2. The faculty should give students enough time to do their work so the students will not cram and therefore will just opt to copy works on the Internet or to get services of companies offering thesis and essay writing.

The faculty should also schedule a periodic review of the students’ report and paper work so the faculty can check the progress of the student. This will also be a time for the faculty to discuss his observation on the style the student is using for his paper and the faculty can also give suggestions on how to improve the work and pointers on how to avoid plagiarism.

3. The faculty should also require a specific format for the paper that he is requiring his students. For example, students should use different sources for their work like book sources, journal sources, Internet, etc.

4. The school should also put an effort to discuss important principle on intellectual property right to their students so that the students will be aware too that there are some principles present that will allow them to use copyrighted materials so as not to impede the students to search for further knowledge when doing their research work.

One principle is the Principle of Fair Use. As defined in wikipedia.org,:

“Fair use is a doctrine in United States copyright law that allows limited use of copyrighted material without requiring permission from the rights holders, such as use for scholarship or review.

The fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright.”

If the students are aware of their rights, they will not be impeded to do further research for their studies, at the same time, they will be able to avoid committing Plagiarism.

5. The Principle of Creative Commons can also be introduce to the students. As defined in Wikipedia:

“Creative Commons (CC) is a non-profit organization devoted to expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has released several copyright-licenses known as Creative Commons licenses. These licenses allow creators to communicate which rights they reserve, and which rights they waive for the benefit of recipients or other creators.”

This way, the students will have information on the options that they have in conducting their research work and paper and thus, students can explore using previous and existing knowledge in doing their research work without the fear that they might commit plagiarism and copyright infringement.

6. The university should also impose a strict disciplinary measure if students have been proven to be committing Plagiarism. Disciplinary measures like suspension or giving a penalty on the grades for submitted work that has been found to be plagiarize.

7. If the university can afford it, they can also employ plagiarism detection system where they can check the students’ submitted work against an electronic database of original and copyrighted contents.

Sources:

http://www.wikipedia.org

http://www.citejournal.org/vol1/iss4/currentpractice/article2.htm

Ethics in Information Technology by George Reynolds