Oversized Classrooms Are Becoming An Issue Nationwide--Guest Blog Post from Kathryn Rinaldi

With the recession still posing a problem across the United States,
education systems are being affected nationwide. School systems are
dealing with large budget cuts, resulting in the termination of staff and
programs. Accordingly, due to the limited number of staff members
available, children are being placed in classrooms with a much higher
number of students. This in turn is disrupting students’ ability to
effectively comprehend what they are being taught and hurting their
chances of receiving high grades.

Consider one example. In an article titled, Parents, Teachers Protest in
New York City Over Class Sizes In New York, Julia Lawrence writes,
“Organizers collected first-hand accounts of the impact of the $1.3
billion in education funding cuts on those inside the system.” Due to a
lack of funds, this current generation of students is suffering the harsh
consequences of a nation in the midst of a recession. Julia continues,
“Although the classrooms can have a maximum of 34 students, according to
the Union President Michael Mulgrew, a quarter of the students have at
least one class daily that exceeds that number.” It’s from my personal
experience growing up that I believe students learn better when there is
more one on one attention with a teacher to help them better understand
the material and allow them to ask questions to clarify any confusion.

Parents want what’s best for their children, and it’s hard to accept that
their child’s education is out of their realm of control. In addition,
with the elimination of programs, children have spare time to be
mischievous and get into trouble. Changes need to be made to accommodate
to this turn in the economy, as well as providing students with sufficient
knowledge that will allow them to succeed in higher education.

About the Author

Kathryn Rinaldi is an educational blogger for Plus Plus Tutoring. She writes
about various important K-12 education issues.

Message from Alise--Join Us on LinkedIn!

Hey there, Readers,

TGIF! Hope that everyone plans to enjoy the weekend, even if you're just able to watch TV or do something fun of your choice.

I just wanted to drop a few more lines to let you all know that we have started a group on LinkedIn that discuss various aspects of tutoring. It's a great way to collaborate and help each other learn and grow.

If you are interested in joining our group discussions, please join us at the group “Becoming a Better Tutor”.  

We do have members that have already joined and look forward to you joining us as well.

As always, please know that we welcome any guest posts from individuals who have great tutoring strategies to help us grow our tutoring businesses.

Have a blessed weekend!

Happy Tutoring,

Alise

10 Reasons Why You Should Register Your Tutoring Business with the Better Business Bureau

Better business bureau was established in the year 1912 in the United States and Canada. It is looked upon as a brand name which any and every tutoring business holder would want to be associated with due to various reasons such as the following:

1.     Popular name: it is a trusted and reputed name in the market and thus association to it assures credibility to the organizations. Customers shed their inhibitions if BBB logo is on the website. The customers are positively aware of this name.

2.      Reliable: the customers can reach the help line anytime of the day to check the standard of the concerned organization. Meeting the standards of the bureau gives assurance to the customers.

3.      Eqouate or Equate: this is a business tool used by BBB to make the process of interaction between the consumers and the tutoring businesses as well as between different tutoring businesses smoother. The consumers can take quotes from various tutoring businesses with the help of the same form. Thus if your business can be one of them if you are a member.

4.      Special section: there is a member’s section especially for the members. You can keep updating your company’s information as and when required. There are many programs launched and organized by BBB. You can participate in them which will improve your popularity.

5.      Certified: once you qualify as a member your firm will receive a confirmation from BBB as a sign of promise to the consumers as a ethical company which is mandatory for the survival in the market.

6.      MIP: membership identification program can be opted by you if you are ready to comply in the decisions regarding dispute resolution procedures which are an additional benefit for no added cost!

7.      Enlistment: you are enlisted in the BBB list. Thus considered to be screened by experts on ethical grounds. Thus many sectors including the government may employ your firm if the need arises.

8.      Guide for consumers: this guide is circulated all over the country where your firm has been advertised because you are member. What better way to market yourself!

9.      Membership Live support: you are given live assistance by experts if you need help promoting your company.

10.  Networking events: Annual Golf Classic is one of the many events hosted by BBB for its members thus a chance for interacting with your competitors in the tutoring business as well as the future prospects who may also be members. Thus there are opportunities to expand.

Intellectual Property 101: What is Copyright and What does it protect?

 Copyright refers to a set of rights that a person can exclusively exercise for a specific duration of time in exchange for ‘public disclosure’ of the work. The rights are provided by the creator of the work or sometimes by the state. Any person who owns the copyright of a work has the right to exploit that work in any form for the fixed duration of time. After the fixed duration of time, the work cannot be exclusively used by the copyright owner as it enters the ‘public domain’.

            After the work enters public domain, its fair use does not require the copyright owner’s permission, but any other use apart from fair use requires the owner’s permission. Under the United States Copyright Law fair use includes criticism, teaching, reporting, research and library archiving of the work. The work can be used in these forms without violating the copyright law.

             Copyright law was limited to protecting books initially. But as intellectual theft increased, many literary and non-literary works like paintings, maps, motion pictures, photographs, drawings and even computer programs sought copyright protection. Concept of copyright was used in antiquity and copyright protecting The Statue of Anne in Britain in as early as 1709 is a perfect instance.

              Copyright did not receive importance in early America as the economy of the colonies depended heavily on agriculture that had no place for copyright. Thus, only three private copyright acts were passed pre 1783. After a lot of deliberation Copyright Act of 1790 was passed and it granted copyright for a term of fourteen years from initiation of the work. It also provided the provision for renewal after the term and it even covered maps and charts.

    Presently copyright protects a spectrum of intellectual property. A website is another form of a person’s identity. The intellectual work on the website is the reflection of a person’s work and vision. A person deserves the copyright for his authorship on the website. Thus, the original authorship in a website can be protected by copyright.

     But copyright denies protection for domain names. Also, if you are looking to keep your secret ingredient of a recipe a secret copyright cannot help as your application copy becomes public records. Another field where copyright does not exist is names. Names of bands, people cannot be copyright protected. Titles, slogans and short phrases cannot be protected by copyright but they can be protected as ‘trademark’.

    Unpublished work and architecture can be protected but ideas, sightings and star named after a person cannot be protected by copyright and the presence of copyright is instrumental in preventing in intellectual theft of any form.

For more information, check out the following links:

http://www.copyright.gov

http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl100.html

Message from Alise---New Blog Series!

Happy Monday! 

We are officially in the fall season and look forward to the leaves changing colors, beautiful pumpkin patches surrounding our community, and the fall festivals with family and friends.  Before you know it, we will be celebrating the holiday season.

I am writing to inform you that we will begin a new blog series that is strictly dedicated to helping you protect your tutoring business. After receiving several emails regarding intellectual property, I decided that it would be best to run a series on intellectual property. 

Over the next few weeks, you will learn a great deal of information to help you with protecting your tutoring business.

If you have specific questions about a certain blog post, please feel free to email me at becomingabettertutor@gmail.com.

Otherwise, please leave comments and I will answer them on the blog so that all readers can benefit. If you know of additional resources to help with this task, please let us know by posting the information on the blog.

I look forward to your feedback and have a blessed week!

Happy Fall Tutoring!

Alise