New Obesity And Tobacco Prevention Products For Preschoolers And Childcare Providers By Cafe Prevention

cafeprevention.com

CafePrevention.com announces the addition of two exciting, affordable, and new prevention products – the Fit for the Future Toolkit for preschoolers and childcare providers and the tobacco education resource, Smoking Makes Me Ugly program, for middle school students.

In an effort to provide exceptional service, Community Partnership will do their best to accommodate those who need the prevention education resource order before June 30 for fiscal year deadlines.

Community Partnership has developed their business around creating and supplying parents, schools, agencies and communities around the globe with a wide variety of tested and innovative prevention strategies and materials. Each product is both educational and eye-catching, and will engage the target audience, whether they are pre-schoolers, teens or adults.

The Fit for the Future Toolkit is designed for children ages 3-5 and childcare providers. The childhood obesity rate for children in this age group has risen to 12.4%, and childcare providers offer the perfect setting to teach about, and encourage, healthy eating and physical activity habits. The kit includes a teacher’s manual, training DVD, children’s books, a movement CD, as well as games and activities to support children making healthy choices.

Comments from childcare teachers have been extremely positive, and evaluations indicate the children are remembering what they learn and the cooks are changing what they serve.

For middle school students, Community Partnership is proud to unveil the Smoking Makes Me Ugly DVD, a comprehensive youth tobacco prevention program. The target ages of 10-12 years old were chosen, as these are the ages the CDC has identified as at risk to begin tobacco use.

Physicians, educators and students themselves were responsible for the content of the interactive DVD, and features include an animated tour of the body, hosted by Cig Free, the talking cigarette, showing how smoking affects teens; interactive lessons, including what smoking does to the outward appearance, and accompanying handouts and worksheets for teachers and students.

Smoking Makes Me Ugly is a new approach to an old problem and has been enthusiastically received by teachers and student alike. Teachers report the tobacco education and prevention DVD is unique and unmatched by any other in its approach to educating middle school youth about the hazards of smoking.

Both the Fit for the Future Toolkit and Smoking Makes Me Ugly DVD are designed to deliver critical information in an engaging and affordable format. CafePrevention.com is a community’s source for high quality prevention materials designed to improve the health and well being of youth.

Café Prevention is full of postcards, games, bookmarks, door hangers, wallet cards and posters on substances of abuse and teen resiliency. Many have chosen our large postcard format over brochures, as they find it easier to read and it can be mailed or handed out. For more information on these products, or to place an order, please visit http://www.cafeprevention.com.

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For The First Time Google Has Partnered With A Training Provider To Help Teach Marketing Executives How To Get The Most From The Google Marketing Applications

With the launch of Reed Learning’s Google Marketing Academy, marketers in the UK have been given a comprehensive range of search marketing courses, that not only cover the core disciplines of Google AdWords, Google Analytics and Search Engine Optimisation but are accredited by the search engine giant themselves ensuring that the course content is not only up to date and relevant, but will help marketers, web developers or SME owners to get the most from their online marketing spend.

Reed Learning

Dan Cobley, Marketing Director at Google said “Reed Learning’s Google Marketing Academy is the first of its kind in the UK. We’re delighted to endorse these programmes as effective, best-practice learning in the essentials of search marketing.”

In the current economic slowdown, many businesses are looking to maximise the return from their marketing budget. As “the UK is the world’s most developed market for online commerce, with 17p in every £1 spent online” (e-Retail Sales Index, July 2008) coupled with the ability to see the complete Return on Investment from digital marketing activities, unlike many other marketing methods, online marketing offers an attractive proposition to savvy businesses.

Reed Learning is offering a range of online marketing courses for both beginners and advanced marketers. The Google AdWords training will help teach businesses how to create and maintain effective Pay Per Click accounts, Google Analytics Training will teach marketers how to make websites work harder and how to analyse a website’s online presence, whilst the Search Engine Optimisation training will help businesses maximise their online exposure in the natural search engine results pages.

Alex Fenn, Marketing Director, at Reed Learning said: “We’re delighted to be able to add the Reed Learning Google Marketing Academy to our course portfolio. In our research, 71% of marketing professionals saw Google AdWords as an important tool for increasing return and reducing spend. With so many organisations feeling the pinch this year, one of these courses will be a valuable and timely investment.”

Visit us online or call 0800 132 448 to find out more about Reed Learning’s Google training courses.

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Marylhurst University Adds New Online MBA Curriculum Focused Around Sustainability

Marylhurst University will expand its graduate program this summer and offer a new online MBA in sustainable business to meet a growing need in one of the few industries that is adding, not cutting jobs, thanks in part to the 2009 federal stimulus bill.

Marylhurst University

Concentrations within the new degree program will address the most pertinent sustainability topics: renewable energy, green development, natural resources and public policy. Inaugural classes in the new program begin June 22, and enrollment is underway.

With $62 billion in direct green spending, plus another $20 billion in tax incentives allocated in the 2009 stimulus bill, jobs in sustainability are growing in almost every industry. The bill specifically allocates $500 million for the creation of green jobs. In addition, many states are creating their own green job initiatives.

“We have collaborated with industry leaders to create a relevant and compelling curriculum in sustainability,” said David Plotkin, Marylhurst University provost. “Each course has been written to incorporate the important issues pertaining to the green movement. Being in Portland, one of America’s greenest cities, gives us a strategic advantage to be a leader in this area.”

The new MBA concentration in sustainability becomes the second concentration (joining real estate) available solely online at Marylhurst. The university has the highest combined on-ground and online enrollment of any MBA program in Oregon. The program’s small, seminar-style classes provide a strong grounding in ethics, teamwork and communication to students preparing to become leaders in today’s fast-paced global marketplace.

As a longtime education provider to “non-traditional” students, Marylhurst was among the first to offer online classes (since 1996), and the university is recognized by the Council for Adult & Experiential Learning for its “comprehensively effective practices in serving adult learners.” This includes a 2004 CAEL Institutional Service Award for “outstanding commitment to the expansion of lifelong learning opportunities and for innovative efforts to improve access and quality in academic programs for adult learners.”

With a multimillion-dollar campus-wide reconstruction completed over the past decade, Marylhurst is undergoing tremendous growth, though that hasn’t changed the university’s commitment to providing a personalized education to all students.

“While the student population is growing, we are still maintaining small class sizes, adhering to high faculty standards and staying true to our commitment to developing ethical leaders,” said Mary Bradbury-Jones, accelerated online program director.

For more information on the Marylhurst MBA program, visit: 
http://bit.ly/marylhurst-online-mba-sustainability

About Marylhurst University
Marylhurst University, a private liberal arts university located 10 miles south of Portland, Oregon, offers professional certificates and degrees for undergraduate and graduate studies. Marylhurst’s small, seminar-style classes – which are offered weekdays, evenings, weekends and online – provide many educational options for students with busy lives.

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Debatepedia Documents All Pros And Cons Of Merit Pay For Teachers

Debatepedia has developed the world’s most extensive article on the pros and cons of merit pay for teachers. The article draws over 30 pro and con arguments and quotations from over 20 of the most outstanding editorials, opinion pieces, essays, and political statements on the issue. And, it structures these arguments and quotations in Debatepedia’s unique pro/con “logic tree” structure. The structure helps separate the primary sub-debates (and arguments and counter-arguments) in this debate, which are represented by some of the following questions: Does merit-based pay improve education? Does it improve the quality of teaching by incentivizing hard work? Does it help attract and retain quality teachers? Does it help weed out bad teachers? Does merit pay distract teachers? Does it create undesirable competition between teachers? Does it discourage teachers from going to needy schools? Can teacher merit be successfully measured? Or does varying student performance get in the way? Is merit pay fairer to teachers? Does it fall pray to principal cronyism? Does it encourage teachers to cheat? Does the market demonstrate the importance of pay for performance? If teachers should be paid more in general, is merit pay the best way to do it? What do past examples of merit pay around the world demonstrate? Debatepedia’s community has outlined the pros and con arguments and quotations that fit within and respond to the above sub-debate questions, making it truly the most comprehensive breakdown of the debate available.

President Obama has repeatedly stated his support for merit pay for teachers. Yet, with many priorities on his plate, it would appear that the debate will continue for some time, and even after any policy decisions are made, the debate is likely to continue for years to come, in the United States and abroad. For this reason, Debatepedia’s pro/con structure is particularly valuable in helping walk citizens and decision-makers through the many arguments and quotations so that they can effectively deliberate, make decisions, and make the policy that will guide education in the 21st century.

Debatepedia is a wiki encyclopedia of pros and con arguments and quotations. It is essentially “the Wikipedia of pros and cons”. Started in 2006 by Brooks Lindsay and William Wnekowicz out of Georgetown University, Debatepedia subsequently merged with the International Debate Education Association in 2007. IDEA is a 501c3 non-profit piloted initially by the Open Society Institute in 1999. While IDEA promotes debate in all of its forms around the world, Debatepedia fits within its mission to expand a new industry in journalism – what it calls the “in-depth journalism of public debates”.

Related links:

*Merit based pay for teachers:
http://wiki.idebate.org/index.php/Debate:_Merit-based_pay_for_teachers
* Home page: http://wiki.idebate.org/index.php/Welcome_to_Debatepedia!
* Media kit: http://wiki.idebate.org/index.php/Debatepedia:Media_Kit

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The Book Of Dreams Project Chapter One Description

I was a little nervous when the students at Harford Friends School and I began our studies of The Underground Railroad,and local Black history.. After all, this was the Book’s first chapter, and uncharted territory for all.

As the kids settled in to the project,my fears were replaced with pride. After four three hour sessions, the first chapter of an original piece of fiction inspired by our studies had been composed. The story centers around a boy and girl, both slaves. The kids worked together, with no help from teachers or parents. I’m very proud of what they created. (click here to read) I emphasized to the students that there is history beneath our feet, and in front of our faces, everyday, everywhere. It’s just that many of us never bother to check it out,because we don’t know it’s there.

I knew that we would not have to look very far to find some tasty local Black history. After all,we live in Maryland!

As it turned out, we would Christen the Book Of Dreams by entering the first chapter just two miles from our school.

In 1867,a one room school house was built from wood,and stood amidst the rolling farm land of Darlington,Maryland. The school was for black children only,during the long years of segregation. The Hosanna school has been restored to it’s original condition.. It still stands alone with fields all around,as though little had changed. As we entered the classroom, there was a silence,occasionally punctuated by the creaking of a wooden floor board..The old desks were still in their original positions,empty and mute. A pot belly stove sat in the same corner as it always had when it was the sole source of heat for the small building. There was a quiet energy about this place..

It would not have taken much to imagine the ghosts of children and teachers long gone, learning to read,write,and add in this very room. Many of the children and some of their parents who had never learned to read walked 6-7 miles each way,rain or shine. Teachers in black schools such as this were paid about half of what teachers in the white schools were paid. The curriculum in black schools was very different than in white schools as well. The local board of education explained the disparity by stating that the black children would grow up to be farm hands,so they did not need the same level of education as their white neighbors children. The cool thing about today was, that we did not need to imagine ghosts.. We had Christine Tolbert with us, who along with her parents and grandparents, had been a student here as a young child.

We also had Gladys Williams who was Christine’s teacher,right here in the very room in which we all were now seated.

Today,they would both be OUR teachers. The kids listened well,and asked many questions as the ladies wove their stories of a bygone era..Later,Tamika Hudson read two original spoken word pieces to us all, in the voice of Harriett Tubman. Christine told us that even when she was a child,there had always been strong relationship between the Deer Creek Friends Meeting,and the Hosanna School, and surrounding black community.She said that today felt like a family reunion of sorts. Tamika and Gladys seemed to really hit it off,as did we all.The kids then put quill pen to Cotton paper,and the first chapter had been entered.

It was an awesome day, and not one that any of us will soon forget. I know that the Book will travel to many schools and historical sites,and I’m looking forward to seeing it take on a life of it’s own.

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Book Of Dreams Project By Gandhi Hurwitz

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” (Edmund Burke)

The Book of Dreams is living testament to good people who chose to act when the evil of slavery governed in America. Written by American school children in the 21st century, it will tell the stories of ordinary people, black and white, enslaved and free, who tapped into deep waters and together worked to create safe passage to freedom on the Underground Railroad for thousands of American slaves. The Book’s creator, Gandhi Hurwitz, sees the project as a way for children to understand that if their ancestors could work together in such a tumultuous and primitive world, so can they in today’s world.

Born at the Steppingstone Museum in Havre de Grace, Maryland, the Book of Dreams was “beaten out of the fire, carved out of wood” by Steppingstone’s resident blacksmith, Tom Alexander, and Masters of the Shop and woodworkers, Wade Whitlock and John Weifenbach, with jointing by Joe Cambria. It is massive, structural, permanent. Handcrafted entirely of iron and black walnut, it measures 30”x 36” x 9” and weighs in at about 60 lb. Visitors to Steppingstone’s Fall Harvest Festival on September 23 and 24, 2006 will be able to watch these master craftsmen put the final touches on the Book of Dreams, using traditional techniques and hand- and foot-powered tools.

The Book of Dreams will “visit” its first school during Black History Month, in February 2007, where the students at Harford Friends School in Darlington, Maryland will research local Underground Railroad history and write Chapter One as a parent-led and expert guest enrichment activity. Hurwitz, whose daughter Clairellen attends the school, says he was inspired by local Quakers who worked on the Railroad, including members of Deer Creek Meeting where the school is located. (The previous Meetinghouse in Darlington is believed to have been burned down by arsonists who objected to Quakers’ antislavery activities.)

After leaving Harford Friends, the Book will travel far and wide to schools along Railroad routes in Maryland and beyond, perhaps circulating as far south as North Carolina. Students from each school will research local Railroad history and write a Book chapter. Each chapter will be recorded on a large sheet of archival cotton paper and entered into the Book. Hurwitz has invited Tamika Hudson, an actor and Harriet Tubman interpreter, to contribute a written piece in Tubman’s voice. After the Book has circulated, it will return to its permanent repository at Harford Friends School where 8th grade students will write the last chapter as part of their year-long study of Harford County and American history.

Hurwitz calls Steppingstone the perfect birthplace for the Book of Dreams. Located on the site of a Quaker family farm believed to have been a station on the Underground Railroad, Steppingstone is a living history museum and interpretive center of American farm life near the Mason-Dixon line. Hurwitz found receptive partners when he first presented his vision to Steppingstone’s Director, Linda Noll, its board of directors and craftsmen. Under the Museum’s sponsorship, the craftsmen – all volunteers – have dedicated dozens of hours to building the Book.

The Book’s striking appearance was inspired by a design created by Clairellen Hurwitz. Two wrought iron, life-size arms – one shackled and skeletal, the other unshackled – reach across the Books’ black walnut cover. They are connected by a railroad track. A hand-carved rendering of the African continent rises out of the wood. A burnished iron North Star sits near the top. “Book of Dreams” is boldly embossed along the Book’s iron spine. You can view photographs of the Book on the project’s website: www.bookofdreamsproject.org

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New Advanced HR Business Partner Programme By Henley Business School

Henley Business School has launched a new Advanced Human Resources Business Partner programme as part of its executive education programme. Aimed at senior HR business partners, the programme will help them focus on aligning the HR agenda with the strategic business imperatives of their organisations, on deriving competitive advantage for the business through delivery of that agenda and on developing their own strategic leadership skills.

The Advanced HR Business Partner programme is intended to provide HR professionals looking to move to more senior roles with the necessary leadership skills to understand and contribute to overall business management. Typically participants will have been charged by their organisations to set an HR agenda that is aligned to, and supports, the overall business agenda – rather than being responsible for a discrete area of HR.

Henley Business School

The programme is based on real-world business research by the Henley Human Resources Centre of Excellence into what is required from HR today.

Nick Holley, Programme Director, said: “Great human resources people need to understand what drives the business and focus on HR’s contribution as part of overall business leadership. One HR Director commented to me that there are many people with strong HR knowledge but few with the business acumen or personal strength to challenge and influence their peers. Our research with many leading international businesses has revealed what a good HR leader looks like and this programme will enable participants who work as part of a senior team to develop those commercial and influencing skills.”

The ‘Advanced HR Business Partner’ programme is part of Henley Business School’s new portfolio of executive development programmes aimed at helping organisations to develop effective leadership and the right calibre of managers to survive and thrive in today’s turbulent economic times.

As part of an extensive executive education offering, which also includes both customised and tailored qualification programmes, these management courses and leadership courses are highly practical, designed to create immediate impact and make a real difference back in the work environment.

About Henley Business School:
Henley Business School was formed in August 2008 from the merger of Henley Management College, itself founded in 1945, and the Business School at the University of Reading. It is one of the longest established Business Schools and the world’s third largest supplier of MBA education. It delivers business management training to managers in more than 112 countries worldwide with in excess of 5,400 people studying at any one time.

Henley Business School is one of Europe’s largest full service business schools and offers a comprehensive range of management programmes from undergraduate to board level.

Encompassing the world-ranked Henley MBA, executive and distance learning MBAs, DBAs, PhDs, MScs, BScs, BAs and its internationally renowned open and tailored executive education, it provides learning and development opportunities from the start of a career through to senior executive levels, from developing strategy to managing change and achieving sustainable, responsible success. With expertise in the development and delivery of solutions to the management and leadership challenges of our times, it is also one of the very few international business schools to hold triple accredited status (AMBA, EQUIS, AACSB).

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