Article: Know who is behaving abnormally, like those repeatedly invading others personal space, since they could be potential assailants. Take a mental note of all the ways you can exit an area quickly, in case a situation suddenly escalates. Keep your periphery active by moving your eyes around, which will help you anticipate obstacles in advance. Your periphery is the outer boundary of your vision, what you indirectly see when staring at things. Practicing these behaviors will help you see violence before it happens, and give you time to prepare a response should you need one. Indications of this can include nostril flaring, excessive swearing, an out-thrust jaw, dilated pupils, or a whitening face. Once adrenaline begins pumping through potential assailants, their behavior becomes more difficult to predict. Be prepared to defend yourself no matter what they seem to be doing. Talk to your potential assailant and try to get him to step down or see the value of making truce. If you've got the gift of gab, here's where you can use it. Keep your guard up while you negotiate. Say something like: "I don't want either of us to get hurt. Can we try to just talk this out?'" You can also try saying: "What's the problem? Is there any way I can help?" Avoid saying things like "Calm down buddy" and "Take it easy," which can increase tension. The primary objective of a fight should be to protect yourself, not harm the other person. If you believe you are in serious danger, try to exit without causing the other person alarm. Whether or not you actually end up in a physical altercation, your opponent can no longer damage you once you're gone. There are a select few times when fighting will prevent future problems, but on the whole, you win 100% of the fights you defuse or avert entirely. Know your limitations. Going to the hospital with a broken nose might not be worth the "cred" that you get for staying in a losing battle.
Question: What is a summary of what this article is about?
Maintain an awareness of your surroundings at all times. Watch for aggressive body language from potential aggressors. Try to defuse situations with passifying dialogue. Leave at the earliest opportunity.
Article: New teachers will find solace in scripting out a lesson. While this takes way more time than a lesson should, if it would help you, do it. It may ease your nerves if you know exactly what questions you want to ask and where you want the conversation to go. As you teach, do this less and less. Eventually, you'll be able to go in with practically nothing at all. You shouldn't be spending more time planning and writing out than you are delivering! Just use this as an initial training device. You've written out your timeline to the minute, right? Fantastic -- but know that's only really for reference. You're not going to say, "Kids! It's 1:15! STOP EVERYTHING YOU'RE DOING." That's not really how teaching works. While you should try to stick to this plan within reason, you'll need to allow yourself some wiggle room. If you find yourself running over, know what you can and cannot scratch. What must you cover in order for the children to learn most? What is just fluff and time killers? On the other side of the coin -- if you have time left over, have another activity in your sleeve to pull out if need be. Knowing that you have plenty to do is a much better problem than not having enough. Even though you have a timeline, plan on the underside. If something might take 20 minutes, allow it 15. You never know what your students will just whiz through! The easiest thing to do is to come up with a quick concluding game or discussion. Throw the students together and have them discuss their opinions or ask questions. On the off chance something happens and you can't teach the lesson, you'll want to have a plan someone else could understand. The other side of this is if you write it in advance and forget, it'll be easier to jog your memory if it's clear. There are many templates you can find online -- or ask other teachers what format they use. If you stick to one it'll be better for your brain, too. The more consistencies, the better! In your teaching career, you're going to have days where students whiz through your plan and leave you dumbfounded. You'll also have days where tests got moved, half the class showed up, or the video you had planned got eaten by the DVD player. When this day rears its ugly head, you gotta have a back-up plan. Most veteran teachers have a handful of lesson plans under their belt that they can whip out at any time. If you had a particularly successful lesson on Punnett squares, keep that material for later. You can turn it into a different lesson with another class about evolution, natural selection, or genes depending on the next class' ability. Or you could have a lesson on Beyonce up your sleeve (think the civil or women's rights movement, progression of pop music, or just a music lesson for a Friday afternoon). Whichever.
Question: What is a summary of what this article is about?
If you're nervous, script it out. Allow for wiggle room. Over-plan the class. Make it so a substitute could understand. Form a back-up plan.
Article: Start by using your hand to support the puppy's chest, where the rib cage is. You can also use your forearm once you pick the puppy up. You'll need to go in from the side and place your hand between the dog's front legs. As you lift the puppy up, use your other hand to support the back end. In other words, your other hand or arm should be under the puppy's back legs and butt. Once your hands are in position, lift the puppy up. Make sure you continue to support both its chest and rump as you hold it. However, you can place one arm underneath the rump, and one arm around the torso, pulling the pup towards your body once you have it at chest height. Hold the puppy close to your body, not out away from you, as it can wriggle out of your arms. When moving the puppy back to the floor, make sure you still support the puppy's chest and rump. Also, never drop the puppy. Gently lower it all the way to the floor. While you may know not to yank on a pup's tail or pick it up that way, you should also not do that with the puppy's neck, even if you're holding it by the scruff. You could injure or even kill the puppy. Also, don't try to pick up the dog by a leg, as you could hurt the leg.
Question: What is a summary of what this article is about?
Place a hand under your puppy's chest. Support the back end. Lift the pup up. Place the puppy down the same way. Never grab a pup by its neck or tail.