High School Musical Movie Success Paves Way For Sequel

By Zach Efron

The High School Musical Movie, produced by Disney became a run-away success when it was released for the cable channel a few years ago. The movie became a worldwide hit, launching its lead stars Zac Efron and Vanessa Anne Hudgens to super stardom. The movie has also spawned a special DVD, a live concert and other products. The movie was also extremely
Because of the movie's phenomenal success, the movie's producers decided to create a sequel- High School Musical 2. The sequel was staged during the summer break and is set in Sharpay and Ryan Evan's golf club.

At the start of the movie, Ms. Darbus' drama class is shown completely bored as the teacher goes on and on about the idea of Summer. The students can't wait for the clock to strike three so that they can be dismissed and go on with their summer plans. All the characters break out into a song-What Time is It? This is the beginning of the fun movie that teaches about following your dreams without stepping on other people and the value of friendships and staying true to yourself.

The stars from the first movie reprise their roles in the sequel. Zac Efron once again plays the role of Troy Bolton while Vanessa Ann Hudgens play the role of Gabriela Montez.

In this second installment of the HSM movie franchise, Sharpay Evans (played once again by Ashley Tisdale) convinces the club manager Mr. Fulton to hire Troy Bolton for the summer.
Sharpay figured having Troy work for the golf club where her family spends their summers (her parents seat on the board of the club), will mean the perfect opportunity to catch his attention and his heart.

Unfortunately for Sharpay, Troy requested that his friends and his girl friend be employed at the Lava Springs as well. Sharpay can't believe that she still has to share Troy Bolton with Gabriela and the entire East High basketball team during her almost perfect summer!

Once again Sharpay and Ryan try to break the two lovers up. Sharpay successfully confuses Troy and alienates him from his friends but in the process loses the respect of her beloved brother Ryan. Ryan ends up making friends with the other teens from East High. The whole team practices for the wonderful production that is put up every year at the Lava Springs to showcase the talents of the Evans siblings. This time Sharpay and Ryan work separately as Sharpay has managed to convince Troy to sing with her.

The sequel also became a huge hit and now third installment is already in the works and will be the first HSM movie to be released in movie theaters worldwide. The first two movies were just shown in the Disney cable network.

More updates, significant stories, musical tours and concerts about high school musical movie could be found at http://www.TheHighschoolMusicalOnline.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Zach_Efron

Massage School Learning Experience

By Roblynn Neumann

At the end of our first day of massage school, we all circled up to share our feelings. I got teary eyed and said, "I miss my kids and cannot wait to go home and see them."

The months, weeks and days leading up to this experience had been very stressful for me. I had been a stay-at-home mom for the past fifteen years, with six children ranging in age from two to fifteen. I was embarking on my second career. My husband could not understand my stress and concerns. His constant reassurances that everything would be fine at home for the next five months, and that it was no big deal to undress in front of complete strangers, did not help.

As the first day of school got closer, I was so stressed that I broke out with a huge fever blister, right smack dab in the middle of my bottom lip. It hung around for the first two months of school!

It was amazing for me to realize how many of my ideas about education could be traced back to my elementary school teachers. I was actually remembering educational experiences from over twenty years ago; which fed right into my stress, of course.

Another stress was the unknowns of massage school in general. Would I be the old lady in a class full of young people? Would there be guys I would have to work with?

Did my brain even still function? All of these and many more doubts went through my mind.

The first day of school erased about half of these worries. There were eleven students in my class; all but three attending for the purpose of a second career, like myself. They all seemed harmless enough, including the three guys. What a relief!

Thus we embarked on our five month journey together. I have seen and heard about classes were everyone became instant friends forever. We were all pretty much to busy in our own lives for that to happen.

Massage school definitely has a way of showing you yourself, up close and personal. I had always considered myself to be laid back, nice. This unraveled with the first learning experience; which was just a nice name for a test. It is supposed to help mentally to call it something else. At that point I found out that I was very competitive, and even almost mean about it. Wow! Insight number one.

Another eye opener came a few weeks into school when we were having a communications class. I usually skipped these. In this particular situation we were to partner up with another student, and tell how we felt about each other. My partner told me that when we had begun school she did not like me, but she was beginning to! That hit pretty hard, obviously, since I still remember it.

Number three came in our daily circle when we were given time to share how clinics were going, and how we felt about the work we were doing outside of class. I was so excited to share about my work with the university cross-country team. When the teacher called my name, another student remarked, "What are you going to brag about today?" Boom! Insight number three.

I am glad to say these three and many other experiences did encourage introspection and change, but that did not make them any easier to take at the time. The biggest lesson learned was to be careful about the words coming out of my mouth. This has served me well in my business and my life. This lesson, still with my twelve years later, is the same, with this addition: be kind.

On the last day of massage school we all circled up to share our feelings for the last time. When my turn came I said, "I'm glad this is over, and I can't wait to go home to my children."
Everyone chuckled, but all agreed.

Roblynn Neumann is Co Director and owner of Costa Rica School of Integrative, a study abroad massage school located in Heredia Costa Rica. You can contact her at info@crmassageschool.com She has owned and run a private massage practice for 12 years, and taught for 3 years.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Roblynn_Neumann

After School Activities And Relationship Building

By Mike Handy

After school activities are the rage of the day. With about $500 million invested in these programs and more than 10 million children attending them in America alone, the popularity of these activities cannot be overlooked. Everyone understands the need to develop new skills, gain more knowledge and keep the children safe when parents are working.

The most important factor in the success of any program is the relationship between the children participating in the program and the adult members who work with these children.
Often, children may confide in an adult member who is not a teacher. This kind of emotional interaction is a must when children are struggling to make sense of the whirlpool of emotions that assail them.

Direct contact with professionals can be an inspiring experience. Children are very much impressed by the knowledge and experience of these adults. Young people gain a lot of knowledge and experience when they deal with experienced adults and older youth who serve as teachers or mentors in these programs. These mentors are different from the teachers in the school and children are more likely to draw inspiration from them.

After school activities that are managed professionally by people who are successful in their own fields of expertise will produce children who are more enthusiastic and successful. Meaningful interaction with adults is a learning experience in itself.

So, learning experience is very important to product the best student and the best children as next generation. This is need participation between children, parent and society to build best relationship among other. Without this, I sure will not build after school program in the environment.

Mike Handy is meditation practitioner almost 18 Years in South East Asia. He has 8 seven type of Dragon Meditation for selected people. Now, he want everybody can enjoy this meditation via his website: http://www.mydragontattoo.com Ignore word tattoo in his website. The content is more important.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mike_Handy

What A Singing School Has To Offer You

By Kevin Sinclair

You may have in mind a large music studio which contains fledgling divas at a grand piano when thinking of a singing school. Singing schools are not only for professional singers. Even though many students are singers, there are a vast amount that enroll simply because they are enthusiastic about music and wish to hone their skills for the sheer pleasure of it.

Many people are of the assumption that singing schools always produce great singers as if it is an assembly of talent. This is simply not always the case. A singing school, as with any school, exists to provide its students with the opportunity to enhance their skills on that particular subject, which is the same in singing and performing.

Each individual student provides a different level of talent. It is not the job of a school to separate average singers from the great ones. The job of a singing school is to actually develop the skills of each individual student, in order them to show the best of the ability and, most of all, their passion for singing.

What kind of musical styles are taught in singing schools?
There was once a time when classical music was taught in a formal setting. The range of music nowadays, ranges across the board, from blues to pop and from country to world music. In current singing schools, almost every music style is covered at some point, giving the student a greater understanding of diverse musical expressions.

What kind of training is received?
When attending a singing school, each individual student is taught fundamental techniques for singing. These techniques are production, resonance, enunciation and projection. The levels of expertise vary from novice to advanced. However, at every level a consistent exercise is required.

Will it make me a singing star and help me to overcome stage fright?
Various singing schools specialize in public performance, which to some degree, will teach the students to overcome stage fright. However, this is not actually the purpose of a singing school. While it can assist you in the beginning of your professional singing career, it will certainly not teach you how to be a star. Being a star is up to the individual as a performer.

What if I want to sing only for myself and not actually be a performer?

Attending a singing school does not necessarily mean that you intend to be an entertainer or a recording artist. As with a painting or sculpting class, it does not necessarily mean that you want to be an artist. The ultimate objective is to allow the student to master the art for their own enjoyment.

A singing school enables its students to use their love for music and singing with the mastery of vocal techniques, which will develop them into the best singers they can ever be. It really is worth considering and well worth the effort.

Kevin Sinclair is the publisher and editor of http://www.musicianhome.com a site that provides information and articles for musicians at all stages of their development.

Keys To An Effective In School Suspension Program

By James H Burns

I was introduced to the in-school suspension process when I became an administrator in a school for students with severe behavior problems. It was used as I expected to keep students in school when they would have otherwise been suspended. The one thing that set this (ISS) In-School Suspension program apart from other programs was the amount of time that a student spent in ISS, and the level of student accountability. Students who were assigned ISS were not put in there for hours but, for days. Students also had to produce a voluminous amount of work in order to be released. If the student’s behavior was out of line while they were in in-school suspension, they were assigned more time.

This idea of in-school suspension has been around since the 1970’s when researchers began propagating the notion that out-of-school suspensions (OSS) were ineffective, and perhaps even detrimental to students. It has been my experience that out of school suspension is only ineffective when the student is left unsupervised in the home while they are suspended, and because the parents don’t hold the child accountable for his poor behavior in school. Students would come back from out of school suspension, without any consequence imposed in the home, and had no fear of being suspended again. The school then has been handed the responsibility of holding students accountable, while the student remained in school for behaviors that they would otherwise be suspended for.

The Key Components to an Effective In-School Suspension Program:

Respect must be Present – If mutual respect is not established between the instructor and the students assigned the program will be a dismal failure. An in-school suspension program should have one, and I stress one supervising teacher. Students who have chronic behavioral problems have difficulty adjusting to different personalities and really need more of a mentor to help and encourage them to change their behavior. The supervising teacher should be a certified professional and have a background in Special Education, or counseling.

Students must be responsible and held accountable – The teachers and administration must develop a user friendly mechanism that provides assignments for the students assigned on a daily basis. All work must be completed before a student is allowed to leave. The work should be checked for completeness by the in-school suspension teacher and routed back to the teacher who provided the assignment. If students complete their assignments before the end of the day, supplemental packets should be made available. These assignments should not be busy work, but rather they should be used to address some of the specific behaviors that put the student in in-school suspension in the first place.

Non-compliance must be addressed - If a student continues to exhibit inappropriate behavior while in in-school suspension it must be addressed. Too often inappropriate behaviors are ignored; this sends the wrong message to other students in the room, and in its own way communicates by default agreement. Students who exhibit inappropriate behavior, should be given instruction regarding the rules and regulations of the room, given a firm warning, and then if the inappropriate behavior continues support needs to be summoned to the room. Counselors are not disciplinarians, but they should be called first to help manage the student’s behavior. A clear line needs to be drawn between the counselor and the administrator. Counselors deal with behavior from a therapeutic standpoint and provide compassion and understanding;
administrators enforce the rules and regulations of the school. Both are needed for the discipline process to be effective.

Room location, size, and student teacher ratio – The In-School Suspension room should be far enough away from the general population of the school, but close enough to allow for administrative visits. The room should not be so far away that the disciplinarian by-passes the room during building tours. The size of the room should be large enough to keep plenty of space between each student to avoid the possibility of any student confrontations. Students in an in-school suspension program can be chronic behavior problems. Large numbers of these students in one room can become unmanageable. The student teacher ratio should be no more than 8-1.

Amount of time assigned - It has been my experience that periods, or hours do nothing to change a student’s behavior. Students should be assigned 2 days of In-School Suspension for every day that the student would otherwise be suspended for. Too often ISS is used as a holding area and can become a place where students want to go. Students should not be allowed to assign themselves ISS because of problems with a particular teacher, or because they refuse to do work. The disciplinarian of the school has the responsibility of assigning the day and time a student should report to ISS. Administration and only administration should assign students to the ISS room.

Jim Burns is one of America’s most inspirational educational speakers. His humorous and insightful presentations touch and influence his audiences in an unforgettable way. Best known for his presentations on Bullying, Motivating Disaffected Students, Diffusing Power Struggles, Character Education, and Leadership, Jim has worked as a teacher and administrator since 1977. He is also an accomplished college instructor who teaches graduate level courses in the areas of Cooperative Discipline, Disability Awareness, Brain Compatible Methods in the Classroom, and Teaching and Learning through Multiple Intelligences. Jim connects with participants in his audience in such a unique way that they are able to practically apply his information in both their personal and professional lives.

For more about Jim Burns: http://behavioral-management.com/

What Benefits Can Be Obtained from Interior Design School?

By Darren Williger

The interior design industry is always changing. Few years back, you had to go to a proper design or art school to study interior design. These days, interested students can have interior design as major in almost any college or university.

Today it is compulsory for professional interior designers to have an industry license in order to practice their skill. Much like an architect, they must go through intensive study and testing before even being allowed to take any licensing testing. The NCIDQ (National Council for Interior Design Qualification), requires all testers to have a combination of:
six years of work experience,
two years of schooling plus four years of work experience,
Four years in a FIDER recognized university or college plus two years of work experience in order to qualify. This intensive method ensures that trade licensing helps to generate
responsible and educated designers.

Students interested in interior design study should go for a college or university that is FIDER recognized and works towards a bachelor's degree which is required for commercial career.
Even some of the high-end designers prefer to achieve a master’s degree or a doctorate in design.

There are few extra courses that ‘would-be designers’ should consider such as: AutoCAD by Autodesk is an excellent computer aided drafting course. Those with some experience and knowledge of this software program can command a higher starting rate than those who haven’t taken the time to learn anything about it.

Business classes along with variety of marketing courses are also a plus that many students ignore. Remember, interior design is 90% networking, marketing, selling, and knowing the right people; 7% paperwork and only 3% design.

Some professional designer’s even advocate taking acting classes that can help you learn how to make better sales pitches.

Art classes too can help you be better prepared when talking with clients. People are visual and you’ll have a better shot at convincing a new client of your ideas if you can sketch them. Also consider taking an art, furniture and antique history class. They all come in to play every day in the design industry.

Design school can be very intense. You will have to take traditional classes; a normal workload of reading, tests and other class work, as well as you will have to complete very large-scale design projects along the way.

One vital aspect where the design school can really help you is to find most successful and rewarding stream of interior designing matching your skills. They’re many different fields to enter in this profession. There are residential interior designers whose only purpose is to serve homeowners, and then there are commercial interior designers who work on offices, restaurants, banks, malls, hotels, and so on. And, all of these specialties need a project manager heading up the entire project, a draftsperson, and a product sales representative.

Some designers go for their own drapery workroom or fabric warehouse, a design firm, or decide to be a partner in a firm, a painter, wallpaper hanger, carpet layer or any of a hundred other design specialists. How you eventually use your designer’s education and skill is totally depending on you, your interest, and the level of your designing skills.

Darren Williger writes for InsidePlanning.com, ErgoWebsite.com, and ParentingProcedures.com

Sunday School in the 21st Century

By Julia Shipley

What does the future hold for Sunday School? It’s a question that Christian educators working at all levels must ask. Why do we see some Sunday Schools that are exciting and growing?
Whilst others are dead, dying or somewhere in between just holding their own, with the same programmes and attendance.

England has a rich history of beginnings and steady growth. Plat owing through the latter half of the last century. Today most Sunday Schools fall into the last category - just holding their own.
A closer look at the first group, the schools that are showing steady growth that is sustained.
That have exciting and dynamic programmes could be the answer we seek. How a higher level of Christian education and commitment can be achieved and promote growth. If we are willing to make changes to our programmes and learn to listen.

Taking time and studying the information about these Sunday Schools the following was noted as common themes. It is not intended as a complete list by any means. The hope is that you will be able to think about how you could make changes to the programmes you run in order to promote more growth.

First these Sunday Schools were large (200 members or more). This gave them the advantage of a larger pool of teachers/leaders to choose from. The encouraging aspect to this is that most started small. You may have a small school now but you can grow!

Secondly most if not all employed a full-time Youth Paster/Director of Christian Education. This was thought to be necessary taking into account the amount of time it takes to co-ordinate and run the various programmes. If a paid person was not an option then they had very active volunteers (individuals or a committee) who gave considerable time to the planning and promoting of the Sunday School.

All were evangelical. All had a definite sense of reaching and meeting the needs of the un-churched and “un-Sunday-Schooled” in their area/community. Regular planned programmes included invitation and visitation. Classes were offered covering evangelism and outreach. Of vital importance was that all these schools made sure visitors and new members were made welcome and made to feel part of the Sunday School family. Some offered special classes for the spiritually “young” members.

There seems to be an abandoning of traditional Sunday School lessons in favour of writing their own curriculum. Whilst others used denominational or independent publishing they made major changes to adapt the material to the needs of the children.

Another interesting aspect was that most had moved away from the single teacher approach to that of team teaching. Two or three people teach a particular class for a year (no more). They agree to study, pray and plan for the coming lessons. The advantage of this is that one person can teach the class whilst the other/s prepare for the next part. The one year commitment also ensures that “burn-out” is not reached as the historical problem of using and exhausting teacher/leaders is avoided.

Today’s children and young people are used to having lessons in small segments of information, each related to the same lesson or theme, presented in rapid succession. The class may start with a story and move into music, drama, guest speaker, crafts etc.

Another way of teaching is to make use of the activity/learning centre approach. This entails children moving from one station to another within the classroom. They learn at their own pace so this method relies on the child’s self-motivation. Activities range from listening centres to week-long activities with parents/carers.

In conclusion it all paints a bright and optimistic future for Sunday Schools. The question remains what will you do to build a Christian education programme? One that will reach into your community and touch the un-churched at the same time building and encouraging members to a deeper commitment to God, His word and His work. It won’t be easy but if you are to have an active, growing Sunday School, do you have a choice?

Julia Shipley is a committed Christian and loves to teach young people the word of God. For more information visit http://www.quick-christian-resources.com