4 Steps to Dramatically Improving Your Child's Handwriting

I have worked with children in the 10 to 12 year-old range on and off over the last 20 years and have come upon a remarkable observation. Kids with bad handwriting tend to be poor academic performers. The worse the handwriting the lower the academic performance level. I devised a system to deal with it from the first time I came upon it but did not immediately make the connection. More experience over time made the connection between handwriting and performance clear, but the reason for the connection, so far as I have been able to determine, was surprising, to say the least!

(This article deals with average, normal students and does not apply to children with mental or other serious defects, or anything that would result in a child not being considered normal.)

My first time dealing with this was when I was teaching grade 5 many years ago. It was my first formal job as a (pre-trained) teacher and I was handed the slow grade five class at a primary school. I can recall, as  clearly as if it was yesterday, the result of the first in-class exercise that required handwriting. I took the books to mark and discovered that I could not read the handwriting of most of the kids. In fact, of the group of over thirty students I was able to read only about five! So there I was. I picked up a book, looked at the handwriting and put it aside if I could not read it, then picked up the next one. Pretty soon nearly all the books were in the unreadable pile! I was completely amazed because I were wondering how the previous teachers read their handwriting since I was having such a serious difficulty with what I saw in the kids' books. I decided that I was not even going to try whatever they did and that the kids had to learn to write legibly - like immediately.

I decided on the spot that this problem had to be addressed as a matter of urgency (otherwise I would not be able to mark their work). The whole class went back to handwriting practice - in script (as opposed to cursive or 'join-up' as it was also called). Needless to say, the Principal was not amused but allowed me to continue - much to her credit.

I made it clear to the class that their general handwriting quality was not where it should be, that it was largely unreadable and that I would not accept it -period! They probably never took me seriously. After all, nobody else seemed to have had a problem with their handwriting before. Sure enough, the next handwriting assignment the following day looked very much like the one the day before. So I handed the books back and told them that they had to do it over. Now I had their undivided and very puzzled attention. And so the process began. The redo was noticeably better in most cases, but for those who still didn't get it, there were a few more rewrites and a lot of groaning, complaining and tears.

 I must tell you that in a few short weeks even I was amazed at the quality of their handwriting! Now I had to be careful about my own handwriting as some of the kids' penmanship rivaled my own - which is pretty good I am told. There was, in the end, only one boy who still was struggling. He also attended rather badly so there was no real surprise there. So, one day I sat down with him, held his hand and helped him form letters that he was having trouble with. I then gave him a writing assignment for homework. What I saw in his book the next day will remain in my mind for the rest of my life! The text was so well written that I could not believe he had done it himself. But he insisted that he had done it himself. So, I gave him another one on the spot. True enough, he did it again! To this day its the best handwriting I have ever seen by a child that age -and he kept it up. I also noticed that he began to attend classes more often.

In more recent times I have taken this same approach to kids with bad penmanship and the result has been consistent. So has the initial groaning, complaining and tears! But it became clear to me that all these kids were very capable of really good handwriting. So it was not a matter of ability, they were writing badly because they didn't have to do any better. But once they found they could write well, they also began doing better in other areas too.

The same is true for adult students. I have found it necessary to get a student to develop the internal discipline to write properly before I can help them to improve their maths, English, IT, or any other skill. Poor handwriting, it appears, is a symptom of the mindset that results in poor academic performance - not a reflection of the child's ability. 

As a teacher, parent or guardian you can do this to the benefit of your child if they have poor handwriting. 

1. Let them know that you know they can do better and that you will not accept that poor output from them. Do this calmly and firmly, no shouting, screaming or other dramatics are needed. Where they need help or guidance provide it.

2. Do not accept the poor handwriting and have them do over any work they present that is poorly written (and I mean the whole assignment -not just the bad part), without exception and with no special concession either.

3. Have them redo the same assignment until it is properly done.

4. Congratulate them when they have written the assignment properly. However, if the assignment is late because of this and there are penalties, the penalties still apply.

As I pointed out before you will have to put up with the initial groaning, complaining, tears, tantrums, or whatever your child is inclined to do. Do not loose your temper and have a meltdown - although it might be a little difficult. If you calmly and firmly hold your ground, unless there are other factors, they will comply and you will be pleased with the result.

2GNEC Training Team

Education 2010 And The Way Forward!

Hi !

Its been a while since our last publication and would you believe the changes that have happened? At 2GN Education Centers we have been busy with the development of our education programs and reaching out further. There are many reasons for this and we will be discussing these as we go along.

You will have noticed over the years that academic qualification is bringing lower and lower salary levels to graduates of virtually all educational institutions. You might also have noticed that quality educational training has not gotten cheaper even when the economy is bad. So the level of investment in education remains about the same or increases but the returns are diminishing. Is there an explanation for this?

You bet there is, and you want to pay attention here! There is a "Law of Economics" called the "Law of Supply and Demand". Basically, this law states that prices increase for a given product where there is a greater demand relative to the supply, and prices tend to fall when there is a lesser demand relative to the available supply, assuming that everything else remains equal (or unchanged).

Applying this law we can reasonably conclude that in the area of quality academic training the demand is either static or increasing. This would explain, to a large degree, why the price for quality academic training is either static or increasing. If you think about this you will begin to see how this could be so. Today, some level of education is needed for nearly every job, and even relatively common jobs, are now demanding greater levels of skill and knowledge to perform effectively.

But if there is greater demand for better training at the employment side then how can the price for jobs be falling? There are a number of reasons for this, but generally, there is a greater supply of qualified persons than there are jobs for them. This may seem puzzling as many employers are having difficulty finding the right persons to fill job vacancies!

Having been in all these categories myself at various times (employee and employer; teacher and student) I believe I have an advantage over most persons looking at this issue and can provide a bit of insight into the meaning of this and, more importantly, what this means for you.

You see, jobs are largely determined by the goods and services being produced in a given economy. The greater the range and volume of goods and services being produced the greater the need for human input - for the most part. Let's say that you are in an economy that is mainly involved in selling things that are produced in other countries. Your economy will need more sales persons, accountants and customer service skills - up to a certain point. After that point is reached there is no more need for more sales persons as they will not sell large enough volumes of goods to make economic sense. But lets say there is a sales training school that developed to meet the need for sales persons at the time that the demand was greatest. This school will still have persons enrolling to do sales believing that they will find a job with relative ease. So the school trains them.

Then, a dozen trained sales reps show up for the last available job. The employer is now in a position to attempt to pick the best skilled person and offer a lower price for the job, since all the applicants are qualified. As persons realize that the chance of getting the job is 12 to 1 some will be prepared to accept the lower salary. The price has gone down for this skill even though the trainee would have paid the standard rate for their training. And so the process goes.

The school that provides training has no particular interest in knowing the number of jobs available. It will usually just stop offering that course when there are not enough enrollments. Because the school that provides the training and the businesses that provide employment are working with real amounts of money, they know what is happening in their industry very well and can respond quite quickly. The job seeker, on the other had, is not so fortunate.

Conventional wisdom is to get as well trained as you can be and get the highest paying job you can get. This drives the training and employment industry. In the end, the employer calls the shots. This suggests that it may be in your best interest to become an employer rather than a trained job seeker. There is considerable wisdom in this and we will look more closely at it in our next blog post.

In the mean time, we have taken a slightly different approach to our training programs. At 2GNEC we have not only made the learning process more sensible, enjoyable and productive but we have taken the time to do some research and have used our findings to create training programs that more closely match what employers are looking for. This is a significant benefit both to employers and employees. Whichever one you are, or become, you can certainly benefit from our training programs.

So visit our website at www.2gnec.com . Click on our Education link and make sure to subscribe for our free information kit. There is no cost or obligation at all and we might just have the course that is right for you.

We'll be back soon to continue this discussion. Until then, take care.

2GNEC Training Team

Never Fail Another Exam - Part 2! Still No magic nor "hocus pocus" involved.

"Learn the subject"

Can you explain how it is that when you divide by a fraction you get more than the original amount? I asked a high school student the same question and she looked at me like I had struck her on the head! Although she knew how to calculate the result she had no clue how this is so. Not that I am surprised, most teacher's can't explain it either. By the end of this post you will understand not only why this happens but you will learn a great deal more about how to pass your exams and never fail another one - and all that without wrecking your health or your nerves.

Now, if you are wondering what this could possibly have to do with passing your exams, you may want to pay some serious attention here. Knowledge gaps are at the heart of most academic confidence issues and a great number of failures. Although many persons will have noticed the phenomenon decribed above when dividing by a fraction, few have bothered to look any further.

We have long advocated, and, it is part of our training method that students ought to learn the subject thoroughly. The current practice of training students to answer exam questions at the expense of learning the subject is a worrying thing.

In a certain context it makes perfect sense

Let's look at that for a moment. If you had a life threatening health problem, needed surgery to correct it and found that your surgeon had been good at answering the questions in the medical exams but never really understood the whole business of surgery, had done your particular procedure several times and got it right most times, what would you think about your chances of survival? Would you feel better if your surgeon was thoroughly familiar with not only the procedure you would be doing but with the whole business of surgery? Do you think that this degree of thorougness would be useful in areas other than surgery? Which of the two surgeons would you think was the better student when learning surgery, the one that swatted and practiced to answer the questions and impress the examiners or the one that made the effort to really learn the subject? Yeah, when it comes down to it we know the better way. Its those that take the superior approach that make the real difference. Its the approach that we take and pass on to our students at 2GN Education Centers.

Not much more effort required

One of the practices that cannot be over recommended is to "learn the subject". This sometimes amounts to a very small difference in the amount of effort you make as you study but it will usually make an enormous difference in your results. In fact, any self improvement program will eventually get to telling you that the difference between major success and the disappointing results is usually very small differences in the mix of inputs. One of the most respected names in personal development, Bob Proctor, said, as he worked with insurance sales persons, that "it takes no more effort to sell a $1000 policy than it takes to sell a $10,000 policy". The more successful sales agents are the ones who sell more $10,000 policies.

In the same way, it really does not take any more effort to learn the subject properly than it takes to learn it partially and then try to figure out the answers to every possible question that might turn up in an examination. These same principles apply to every area of life. It may not be necessary to learn everything about a particular matter, but the part that you need to know, make sure to know it well. Otherwise, the knowledge gaps will turn up to haunt you sooner.

The solution

So back to my high school student who did not know why dividing by a fraction produces a larger result than the original value. The standard mathematical procedure is to invert the fraction, so that the part that was at the botton goes to the top (so 1/2 becomes 2/1) then multiply the original amount by the top part and divide the product of that multiplication by the amount at the bottom of the fraction. Many people note that dividing by half (1/2) produces the same result as multiplying by two (2). But are they really the same? To determine this we have to convert this to a social problem. Humans are pretty good at understanding social problems, not so good at acdemic abstractions.

Let's say you got a bill for $10. Multiplying it by 2 has the effect of you getting another bill for $10, so now you owe $20. Dividing by 2 has the effect of splitting the bill between you and someone else. So its the same bill, but now you owe half - in this case $5.

On the other hand, what do you get when you divide by half? This is the same as asking how many bills would you get if each bill valued half of each of the dollars in the original $10, and the answer is, of course, twenty. You see, in a social context the questions that these mathematical issues answer are quite different. Let me share a real life example of this.

As you suspect, a story

When I was barely more than a toddler I had a major altercation with my kid sister who was a bona fide toddler and two years younger than me. Our mother had given me a brand new pencil and I had put it down to attend to something else. My kid sister got hold of it and proceeded to make a meal of it. Now, ignoring the debris, you know, the part she chewed up, she now had two pieces - a veritable division by 2. You can imagine the screaming and excitement when I tried to retrieve my pencil, or rather, two pieces of pencil.

I was horrifed, and not a little annoyed with her. Our mother intervened and saved us from ourselves. But I was still peeved about the broken pencil. In her great wisdom, mom sharpened both pieces, eliminating the teethmarks, and now I had two pencils, each being half the length of one original pencil. The wonder of a different perspective!

Applying the principle in other areas

This same idea of converting an academic situation into its social equivalent can be applied to any subject and it puts you in a better position to understand and resolve it. I was talking with a history student who was certain that there is nothing more boring than history and cursed the creator of such a subject. I was amazed because, like everybody else that I know, she likes stories. So I asked, what is it about history that you hate so much? "The dates", she responded without missing a beat! Well now, there is the issue. Most people with this view of the subject point to the difficulty of remembering the dates. So I suggested that she convert the history she was studying back to a story with a timeline and make the connections like you would in real life.

Take the voyages of Columbus, for example. You could look at it like this. Life in europe was bad so he managed to persuade some rich folks to hook him up with a fleet to go buy stuff that they could make big profits from selling. The normal routes were a problem due to the massive customs duties and extortion rackets going on so, his selling point was that he knew a route that would avoid this problem. Unable to resist the offer anymore they gave him a startup investment and sent him off.

He got lost because of a massive knowledge gap in his geography but he did hit upon the caribbean. He did what he could with what he found and headed back with a very convincing argument - he had found new land that nobody owned! (I never said anything about his arguments being true.) You realize the first one that got him the first outfit turned out not to be true either, but nevertheless there was opportunity. That was 1492. By the time he got back to Europe, sorted things out and was ready again two years had passed. His next trip was 1494 and the other would have taken about the same amount of time.

So we have eliminated the date issue and made the whole thing more meaningful. There is no end to the number of way you can do this and have no problems dealing with an examination. What is bottom line important is "learning the subject". Making that extra effort to bring the subject into what works best for you while at the same time bringing you into the real knowledge of the matter. People who do this, as a rule, do not fail exams.

Other Issues

Now there are some other issues that can affect your passing your exams such as psychological fears of doing exams and we gave you a fix for the most common one in an earlier blog. We will review that in another post but for now, you can put what we have suggested in the last two blogs to work and you may expect to pass your exams and never fail another one.

So we looked at:

• The importance of "learning the subject
• The fact that not much more effort is required to do a lot better
  
• The question of dividing by a fraction
• Applying the principle to other areas
  

In closing, let me share with you something a wise person discovered. He said, "Opportunities are often missed because they come in dirty overalls and look like work!"

Two questions I have for you. What would you say is the social context of multiplying by a fraction? And, are you putting this to work?

Leave your comments in the comment section.

2GNEC

Never Fail Another Exam - Part 1! No magic nor "hocus pocus" involved.

(As with all our blog posts, newsletters and free publications please forward to as many persons as you think could benefit from our publications and training programs. Copyright is only to prevent the content from being changed without our permission.)

For those presently attending classes the next exam is always at least a little worrisome. Will "I pass it?" or "will I fail it?" becomes a recurring thought, becoming all the more frequent the closer the exam. You are probably thinking that yourself right now. These are reasonable questions, and of course the answer is, unfortunately, going to show up very clearly after the exam. Now, herein lies the problem. You would much prefer to get the answer before the exam, but even more important is the answer you want - whether before or after the exam - you want to know you pass.

If you are doing CXC's some interesting information can be found here: http://www.caribexams.org/m_pass_rates

Now lets get something very clear, right now. I am all about learning and using methods and techniques that bring about positive results without harming the user in any way. Built into all of us is the capacity to achieve results such that passing academic exams are no big deal. In fact, you probably know persons who have proven that passing all your exams consistently is very possible, since they do it, apparently, without any great effort.

A quick google search on "free study tips" returns 131 million results in English! With all that out there you would wonder how anyone could still be failing exams.
http://www.google.com.jm/search?gbv=2&hl=en&q=free+study+tips&btnG=Search&meta=lr%3Dlang_en
It appears that there is more to this than meets the eye.

While we are on the subject, subscribe to our free training programs http://2gnec.homeip.net/2gn/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=14&Itemid=12 and get access to our free, online homework center where we not only provide links to resources, submit questions for offline help, but you get to talk online with educators and students in our moderated homework chat room. Conditions apply.

In this section we will be discussing:

• What confidence is and what feeling has to do with it
• How to analyse your level of confidence
• How to deal with a subject area that you are having difficulty with

If you have been following this blog you will have seen this point in action, where we show you real, practical things that have been proven to work and which just about any person can do. Bear in mind however, you cannot expect to experience the benefits of any process if you are not prepared, and actually do, what is required. The extent to which you do the correct thing will determine the degree to which you get the results. This installment is no exception although the caption may have you wondering. So come with us on this adventure.

Now, lets say you got the answer before the exam that you will pass. Would you still pass the exam? Stop and think about that for a minute, seriously. I can hear you thinking, but that depends on ...., and you have a long list of conditions. Well, you can go through all the objections you can come up with to qualify the validity of the answer, or you can drop that whole line of thinking right now, so we can get to something more engaging. Ready?

Ok, now lets check on something. Your feelings. How did you feel going into the last exam that you passed. Were you certain that you were going to fail? Or did you feel certain that you had a chance to pass? Did you feel certain that you were going to pass? Lets explore that for a bit and see what comes up.

You have to admit that your feelings are a pretty complex part of your makeup. You will also have experienced times when your feelings were right about something even when everything else was pointing in the other direction. You ever wondered about that? It appears to be part of our natural makeup as humans to want this ability to kind of sense things to work reliably all the time. Imagine how life would be if you were able to rely on these feelings that, more often, are sometimes right and somethimes not? And what does this have to do with "never failing another exam"? Well, as it turns out, it has everything to do with success in anything you undertake, including your exams.


A simple technique I discovered as a kid

I recall sitting in an important exam many years ago using one technique I discovered by chance. Even as a youngster at the time I realized the value of this technique and have used it everytime since. My technique was simply to go through the entire exam paper reading the instructions and marking the questions I felt comfortable with. I would then add up the scores of those questions as indicated on the exam paper. If my total was less than a comfortable pass I would then review the remaining questions and select from those my next best set of questions until I had a comfortable pass total. Notice I said comfortable pass and not 100%. Not that I have any difficulty with the idea of getting 100%, in fact I love those scores and have had many. This technique actually helps you to get those scores. I think you can figure out by yourself how that is possible, but if not, we'll discuss that later.

This exam was CXC. I recall that by the time I had gone through the paper and applied my technique some of my fellow exam sitters had written several sheets of answers already! In fact, when I checked the time remaining I was a little concerned because by the time I began writing my answers down a few persons had already completed the paper!

I went through the paper according to my technique and finished just in time. Not surprisingly, a large number of persons failed the paper but I passed it. What was important in this case was that I was not really ready for this exam. This is a simple and practical techniques that helps you while sitting the paper, but what about preparing for the paper? This is what we are going to focus on next.


Confidence to pass ?
Another name for feeling certain about your ability to do something is your confidence in your ability to do these things. Your degree of certainty about your ability to do anything is determined by the number of times you have successfully done that thing before. And, if you have done something similar and are good at it, you will start with a certain level of confidence in your ability to do a new thing. This is natural part of our human makeup and an indcation of intelligence! Conversely, if you have done a thing a number of times and found you got different results than you should, your confidence goes the other way.

You will notice that your confidence is really a feeling. Before an exam, your questioning yourself is really to get a feel of your level of confidence. How you feel deep down is a very reliable indiator of your level of confidence. The next thing is to compare your level of confidence with your level of skill and bring both to a positive level. This is where most people fail themelves and, not surprisingly, their exams. This requires some effort and honesty with yourself.

The first step

Here is something you can do right now. Make yourself comfortable and take any subject matter that you are having difficulty with apart, breaking it up into its main subsections. Make a list. Review the list and for any sub-section that you have mixed feelings about and break that subsection down further. If you find items that you cannot break down further but still have mixed feelings about make a note of those. The issue may have to do with something outside of those subject areas.

Always the beautiful answer to him who asks the more perfect question.

Beside each item in your list make a note of how you feel - good, bad, uncertain. Next, item by item, note what you need to do about each item in order to feel good about it. Specifically, what skill, knowledge, or both do you need to get to feeling good about the subject matter. Avoid asking "why" questions when doing this. You'll get better results if you ask questions that focus on the outcome that you want. So questions like, "what do I need to do to get this? "or "How do I do this?" are better questions to ask yourself.

In fact, the questions you ask are critical to the results you get. We pointed this out before and will reiterate it often.

OK, so now you have a list that indicates the areas where you are having trouble and what you need to do to correct that. While you have an outline you need two other things: something to drive you to take action and something to keep you focussed and certain about your progress.

There is a large body of information out there on the first one - the something to drive you to take action and somewhat less on the second, how to focus and gauge your progress. Experience will have already taught you that you need both. We'll look at these in the next article.

So we have looked at:

• Feelings and confidence
• Simple exam sitting technique
• The business of asking questions
• Part of a success strategy for exams

If you want more drop us a line at info.2gnec@gmail.com or leave a comment on this blog. Follow this blog or share it on facebook (see the links on the right side of your screen.) We want o help as many person as we can and start a movement that helps people enjoy more success in their lives. Welcome to 2GNEC, that's our belief.

Check out our website by clicking on this link: http://2gnec.homeip.net/2gn

PS.
Enjoy the features in this blog like our video bar, our content related links and of course, th information. And check out the other stuff we do on our website.

2GNEC: 3 Key Reasons Why Online Learning May Be Right For You !

(As with all our blog posts, newsletters and free publications please forward to as many persons as you think could benefit from our publications and training programs. Copyright is only to prevent the content from being changed without our permission.)

Many persons are now waking up to the tremendous opportunities made available by the Internet and computer technology. Maybe you are one of those! You know what, now is a great time to wake up. Of course you will have already missed a great deal of opportunity so far, but there is so much more available now!

Our discussion of online training in this blog looks at the matters of acquiring considerable computer skills passively, of being able to study and take care of your family at the same time; and the enormous benefits of being able to study at the pace that is best for you.

Education has been one of the greatest supporters of Internet technology and has benefited perhaps the most from it. Today it is possible to find information on any topic at a place near you - quite likely at home. Never before has so much information been so easily available and updated so quickly and frequently.

If you have a computer (even a relatively old one as long as it is working) you might be able to realize some significant benefits from training online. Of course, to train online you need an Internet connection and a training program that meets your needs. Or you might be able to have your child, ward or friend achieve those critical academic successes they want so badly.

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A number of my friends have invested in computer systems for home use. Without exception they have printers and most have Internet connections. A few have some computer skills, some bought the computer with the intention to learn how to use it, but never got around to the learning part. So their investment is aging and so are their skills, while the world moves on.


Since some of them bought their computer from me, I have often noted the pain I feel when I meet some of them later, having trouble with their aging computer that they still have not learned how to use properly. Calling your computer supplier to complain that your printer is not working only for the tech-support crew to find out that the ink cartridge needs to be changed is really not amusing!

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1. So this introduces the first reason to train online - it builds your computer skills automatically, many times without you realizing it! This is such a powerful way to learn that we incorporate it in our training programs at 2GN Education Centers. Our students come away from our courses with way more than they paid for and wonder if it is really that easy. Its easy because of our extraordinary expertise in the area of computer skills training. and computer assisted training. Any of our graduates who has also trained somewhere else will attempt to explain the difference with some difficulty - they can't always put their finger on it. But they are unanimous that training with us is unlike training anywhere else.

2. A close friend of mine has two small kids, works a full time job and attends classes after work. Her kids get home before she does most days. To avoid the risk of them using the computer, and especially the Internet inappropriately, they are not allowed to use the computer without supervision. So the computer mostly just sits there aging. The kids are having the same struggles as people without access to the wonderful world of online learning. Of course, even if she had the knowledge, she would not likely have the strength nor inclination to teach her kids much when she gets home. We can't help mentioning that this well meaning mom sends her kids to extra classes which keeps them on the roads when most kids would already be home and safe.

What would a smarter mom do? That's right, study online! That one was easy, wasn't it? By studying online she could have eliminated a whole slew of problems: she would be able to spend more time at home, supervise her kids (and even have them study online), would gain the passive benefits we mentioned earlier and actually benefit from the significant investment she made in the computer system. If you are in a situation like that studying online may be right for you. That's the second reason for studying online. There are so many benefits from this reason that we could stop here.

3. But there is more. One of the weaknesses of traditional classroom training is what we call the "averaging effect" where faster students have to slow down and slower students are kind of pulled along through the 'learning curve'. It is frustrating for both sets of students, while those in the middle are mostly just praying to get safely through the exams, so they don't have to study the subject any more. We have included flexibility in our training programs to avoid this phenomenon since the beginning of our training programs many years ago. Today online courses like ours allow students to learn at their best pace, with the guidance of online instructor run classes more as support than as the main event. Online students have access to more instructional material than their classroom counterparts, more choice in finding the material that works best for them, more ways to keep in touch with and get help from their instructors, and a better overall learning experience, especially when the other two factors we discussed earlier - the passive skills acquired and the flexibility to operate from home - are taken into account.

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There is no escaping it, there are some very serious advantages to studying online:

• the development of passive (and active) computer skills as a natural outcome of the exposure to computer technology;
• the safety, comfort and the peace of mind to study at home;
• and the greater opportunity to learn more at ones best pace.

Until now, this was only affordable by the ultra-rich. Today anyone who really wants to can enjoy these benefits and the large number of others we have not mentioned in this article. Franky, we know you get the picture, so we won't rub it in any more.
Subscribe to our free online training newletter by clicking anywhere on this line.

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2GN Education Centers offers quite a range of training programs including CXC, Pre-CXC, GSAT and special programs such as remedial reading, English language and maths. Our professional programs include three levels of Business Information Technology and Cashiering. Check out our educational programs at http://2gnec.homeip.net/2gn and click on the "education success link". You might also want to check out or personal development link as well, there is a lot available there and this material will help you do better with less effort anything else you are working towards achieving.

If you've never experienced it or seen online training at work and feel a little scared of trying it we have a solution for that too! You can subscribe at the link below to our free newsletter which will provide you with details on such things as our free online training sessions, our special programs and deals on existing packages. Subscribing puts you in the best position to enjoy the benefits of modern information technology.

Subscribe to our free newletter by clicking anywhere on this line.

So get in early, click here and get the first opportunities for the best there is. And of course you can contact us by email: info.2gnec@gmail.com, telephone: (876) 622-2810 or Skype: skype-2gnec. Details on our contacts page and the bottom of most of our web pages.

The 2GNEC Training Team

2GNEC: Secrets to faster, more effective ways to learn!

Dealing with Maths!

Yeah, we know the feeling. That's why we are sharing these tips with you, so you will feel like we do today! Believe me, discovering this stuff was profound. In fact, lets get to it right away.

First off, the biggest problem with maths is the way it is taught - the subject itself is not half as difficult as it becomes using the normal teaching methods. If you have ever been in a maths class you probably recall, with some trepidation I imagine, the teacher writing line after line of stuff that you need to recall in that particular order. The bright ones get it and most don't quite get it. Sure we can try and recite the steps and probably pass the exams hoping never to see the accursed thing ever again for the rest of our lives. Sounds familiar? Well here are some facts that you wish you knew years ago, but which can help your kids or friends right now.

First, mathematics is a practical subject. Its something you do. This likely sounds strange to you - and if it does - you are not alone. Most people are in the same position. Now you are changing that by reading this special article.

Most mathematics that is now taught by lectures in a classroom were discovered and developed in the the real world of construction and farming and so on - and quite a large portion by trial and error. Then later, someone (or a group of persons) figured out why the thing worked and came up with a kind of short hand way of describing it. Interestingly, for the most part, the thing with maths is that it is so unforgivingly precise. Of course, in the real world that is a good thing. If you are using a method to determine how many tiles of a certain size will cover your floor, you will be able to determine how many to buy. Since this is going to cost you real money, you would want this to be precise - wouldn't you?

Second, when you figure things out yourself you usually 'know it', not just remember it. What is equally important is that when you discover the thing for yourself, even if you do not recall an exact result, you know how to figure it out. For example, if you know the price of a pound of sugar and you learned how to add, you can figure out the price of two pounds of sugar. Alternatively, you might notice that the price the cashier collected for a package of sugar is twice the amount you expected and you are certain that something is off - either the price you had was wrong or the amount of sugar in the package is wrong. Either way, you will likely figure it out really quick. Once you figure out and understand the relationship between the price and the amount of sugar, you know precisely what to expect at the cashier even before you leave home (as long as your information is correct, of course).

Third, while it is understood that learning in class is necessary for passing exams, classroom training is not necessarily geared at ensuring that you understand what you are doing and why. But then, you already know that, don't you?. Every person who is in or has been in the traditional education system has stuff they had to learn - the purpose of which they never understood. This is an unfortunate side effect of traditional classroom environment. It is geared at producing GCE or CXC passes much like the production line in a factory is designed to produce items. The ones that don't pass the quality standard are dropped from the line before they reach packaging.

Ok, so what can we do? There are a few things and you can start right now:

1. Give yourself the best information you can find on any topic. You might find that the recommended mathematics text book does not work for you. (Personally I have seen some dreadful CXC maths text books that I have difficulty with, even with topics that I know very well!) This might sound a bit odd, but it is not likely that any one text will have all you need the way you need it. So use other text books that explain it better, or use the Internet. You would be amazed at the range of choices you have to gather information and view points on any topic - including maths. Then, when you have found the explanation that is clear, express it into your own words. Once you can do this clearly and effortlessly you know you have it!

2. Try things out in a practical way. Do you think you would learn to drive properly only by reading the Road Code book? No, not even your driving instructor can do it for you. You have to sit in the driver's seat, take the controls and drive. There is no known alternative. And what fun it is when you finally have control over the thing, so you can drive effortlessly. Or, if you are not a driver, how about learning to use a computer? The same principles apply - as they do for mathematics.

3. Take a good look at your beliefs about your ability to learn. Then take a good look your beliefs about mathematics. (This applies to any subject or skill, by the way.) Here is where you'll find the biggest "gotcha" in learning the subject. I am not talking about other people's belief that it is important to learn maths, I am talking about your true beliefs. How do you do this? Its like we explained in the previous blog: just by yourself close your eyes for a moment and think about maths. What feelings come over you? What picture or pictures come to your mind? These indicate your true beliefs. Now, there might be very deep issues and beliefs in your overall belief system that are working against you even though you appreciate the need to learn maths. As you assess these you might find that it is time to change some of your beliefs by replacing them with new, better and more supportive beliefs. We will look at ways to do this later.

4. Reduce the subject to the simplest terms that work for you. For example, take a topic like reading a book. For you the simplest terms may be:
a. Take up the book and open to the page at which you need to start
b. Read.
c. If you are not at the end of the book and have to stop, take a note of the page

that is, if the book is written in a language you understand. If it is not you will find that the steps may be a lot more detailed - to include a translation dictionary and other learning aids.

The same is true of any subject. Your previous experience and skills will determine how simple or detailed the terms need to be. Once you have mastered this you will find that you are much more effective at doing any subject - no matter how difficult you might have thought it to be.

5. Take a look at the questions you ask yourself and the answers you come up with. You will find that your experience will tend to match that. For example, if you believe that other people have learned the subject that you are trying to master and that you can too, you would ask yourself "how did they do it?" You will find that you begin to see how, and will even find yourself in situations where you can learn from such person either directly or indirectly. Opportunities that were not visible before pop up, sometimes completely unexpectedly. If you believe that the subject is difficult and nobody could possibly make sense of such crap, you will find more an more people and situations to support that too. It has to do with the way our minds work - and believe me - your mind is extraordinarily powerful - but you have to direct it. If your direction to your mind (through your real belief system) is: maths is difficult lets see how we can avoid this thing, your mind will come up with ways to do this. You already know that, don't you? If, as in the example before, your direction is: we can do this, lets find a way - rest assured that your mind will go the extra mile to find the way. In both cases, you will get the results you directed your mind to look for.

Try this. When you feel challenged, frustrated or even angry at not being able to master a subject, stop. Just stop and note how you feel. Don't fight with yourself for feeling that way, just take note. Then see whether there are other factors in your physical environment that is contributing to this. Are you hungry or thirsty, for example. Are you uncomfortable or are there distractions like noise or heat or any other number of things that support the negative feelings. So far as you can, fix those. Then, when you are more comfortable, think of something pleasant. Stay with it until you feel better and no longer have the negative feelings. Then go back to the subject.

If the material you are using is not clear enough for you, try other material. If you still have difficulty even with other material there is a good chance that the problem is not the subject. This is a good time to talk with someone who can help. It is easier to get help if you have put in an honest effort and can explain what difficulty you are having. If you cannot do either of these at the time but you can take a complete break and get back to the subject some other time, that can sometimes work too as you will likely have developed a clearer picture of the problem you are having.

Now, when you get back to the subject, remind yourself that someone else has mastered this thing and so can you, its just a matter of understanding. And it really is! In fact, it has to be easier for you because you don't have to go through the trial and error - you just have to learn the solution part.

You see, its not the subject that's the problem, its your mindset which controls what you believe and how you go about learning and solving problems.

Another important part of paying attention to the questions you ask yourself as you deal with matters you have to learn and decisions you have to take is that asking certain questions automatically answers others and creates a different mind set. When you ask how a thing can be done, you automatically answer the question of whether or not it can be done. Did you get that? It is summed up in an old saying: always the beautiful answer to.... the more perfect question.

So now there are two remaining issues. One is the matter of fixing your belief system and the other is examples of learning mathematics as a practical subject. The matter of beliefs will be dealt with last as we will be linking to some more proficient sources on that subject. So that will be dealt with second. Right now, lets look at maths.

Practical maths
Take the geometric constant known as pi. If you are from the old school you know this as 22/7 and if you are from the new schools you know it as 3.1416, which is what you get, to four places of decimal, if you divide 22 by 7. Alternatively, if you convert the decimal 3.1416 to an improper ( top heavy) fraction you get 22/7, with some effort I might add.

The really big question is, what is it? How did they come up with this thing? I have asked this question of students of practically every age and the answer has been the same, "Don't know". I have asked a number of maths teachers and, believe it or not, the answer has been the same although they generally go around a lot more corners to say it.

So what is it really? We'll 'discover' it practically, like so many of my students have. You will need a ruler, some string or thread, a lean sheet of letter sized paper, a pencil and something to draw a circle with. If you have a geometry set it would have all you need except the paper and the string or thread.

Draw a circle on the sheet of paper. Draw it to a reasonable size, say four or five inches across. Now draw a line across the centre of the circle as accurately as you possibly can. This line, of course, is the diameter of the circle you drew. Use the ruler to measure the diameter and write down this measurement. Now stretch part of the string or thread to exactly match the circle. This would be the circumference of your circle - the distance around it and a string is a simple way to get an accurate measurement of the circumference. Do it carefully and write down this measurement. Now make a few more circles of different sizes and do the same exercise for each one. Now, divide the measurement you have for the circumference of your first circle by the measurement you have for its diameter. Do the same for each circle. What do you notice? Did you notice that the figure always comes out just a fraction more than 3 every single time? In fact, if your figures and measurements were 100% accurate you would get 3.14, give or take.

You have just discovered pi, the ratio or the fixed relationship between the diameter of a circle and its circumference. The relationship remains regardless of the size of the circle! Once you know this you can figure out the two key measurements of any circle if you have one of these measurements. The circumference will always be just over three times the diameter (or pi times the diameter) and therefore the diameter will always be just a fraction less than one third the circumference. That's all there is to it! Now, if you play around with the circle and read more on the subject of circles a whole new world will open up for you. But don't just take my word for it, give it a try.

Now, as promised, here are some links on the subject of beliefs, and in particular, eliminating limiting beliefs:
http://abundancejournal.com/2007/how-to-get-rid-of-your-limiting-beliefs/
http://thinksimplenow.com/happiness/6-steps-to-eliminate-limited-beliefs/
http://www.law-of-attraction-lifestyle.com/eliminate-limiting-beliefs.html

If you do a search for "eliminate limiting beliefs" on the Internet there will be nor shortage of links to look at. Take a look and see what makes sense to you, what resonates with you. Then start fixing your belief system so that it supports your progress rather than hinder it.

So, until next time, keep in touch.

2GNEC: Secrets to faster, more effective ways to learn? Oh yes, definitely! And some of them are so simple and effective you'll wish someone had told you this stuff years ago! That was exactly my feeling as I learned and that's why I am sharing then with you - for free !

A simple technique, correctly applied, massive results. Like I said, your mileage will vary, but, done right, you will get similar results if this is the problem you (or your child or friend) is having. Of course, If you are near us, we can help. Better still, if you become a 2GN student you have access to all this and much more.

So call us at (876) 488-2771 or email us at info.2gnec@gmail.com

2GN Education Centers

2GNEC: Secrets to faster, more effective ways to learn?

2GNEC: Secrets to faster, more effective ways to learn? Oh yes, definitely! And some of them are so simple and effective you'll wish someone had told you this stuff years ago! That was exactly my feeling as I learned and that's why I am sharing then with you - for free !

Have you ever wondered whether there is an easier way to learn things, whether to improve your skills or academic performance? If you are like most of us, the answer is a resounding yes! At some point in our learning experience, every one of us has wondered this very thing - isn't there an easier way? Well, take heart for there is! But the traditional education system won't tell you about it. We are not traditional, we go after the best, the cutting edge, the most effective and efficient - whether they are brand new or as old as the hills. So we have some really interesting things to share with you that you won't hear at your kids' PTA, nor probably anywhere else but here!

The normal systems of education provide plenty of opportunity for transfer of knowledge. The trouble is whether the person receiving the information can put it back together in the same way the person providing the information intended. Now this is where all hell breaks loose, for the results of normal training show quite clearly that, for a large number of persons, the information transferred is not quite the information received.

Instead of attempting to list the many methods attempting to correct this problem, nor the even more attempts at explaining it, we will focus on what can be done right now to help you learn more, faster, easier and accurately. Its this last part, the matter of accuracy, that sets 2GN and 2GN Education Centers apart from other education and training institutions.

We understand that, just as every person is unique, so the way each person learns is unique. So we provide each student in a flexible learning environment, zoom in on their area of difficulty, locate and manage the cause, thereby creating a unique experience. In order to do this we avail ourselves of all the best techniques, methods and technologies to make learning as fast, efficient and effective as possible. We have had some remarkable results - and we keep improving!

Later we will explain what that means. Right now, we will give you some information that you can use right now to improve your results.

Dealing with tests and examinations

Most students find tests and, in particular, final exams to be particularly stressing. This is where their knowledge, or lack of knowledge, shows up most clearly. Or so it was thought. What is now becoming clear is that students' scores are as much a reflection of their knowledge of the subject as it is their ability to decode the questions and recall or create the correct answer under stress. It stands to reason also, that each student will experience different levels of stress depending on their level of preparedness, their level of comfort with the subject and their general mental condition at the time of the test. Of course, high performing students have these issues too, but what do they do different than failing students?

First, they take more time to prepare. Most failing students believe that they have not taken enough time to prepare and become stressed and even frightened when faced with a test. Now they feel certain that they will fail - and this belief becomes their experience. Passing students will already have spent some time understanding the subject to the point where they feel comfortable with their level of understanding and feel they can pass a test on that subject. This belief, again, becomes their experience, but it is not drawn out of thin air. It is their level of understanding of the subject that gives rise to this confidence. Any failing student, if they take this approach to their studies will develop greater and greater confidence in their ability to pass a test.

At the examination however, the matter of stress arises. Confidence alone might not be enough to deal effectively with the stress and there are large numbers of students who do very well in assignments where they are not under exam pressure. There are a number of ways to deal with this and, as with any kind of treatment of this kind, your mileage will vary. We will look at one method.

Rewire your mental association of the examination situation. This is a simple yet powerful technique that can be applied to a wide range of situations. Although we will not go in depth into how and why it works, the following example will make it clear that it does work. Once you try it, you might wonder why you never thought of it yourself.

The writer shares this experience: My daughter, 16 years old at the time, was having trouble with her exams and her grades were, in a word, bad. But she studied hard and did well during the school term. The question was, why was she failing so often at the end of term exams. This was a good occasion to put this technique I had learned to work.

I had her sit in a comfortable chair take a few deep breaths and relax. This was over the phone, by the way. Then I asked her to describe what came to her mind the moment I said the word "exam". After a brief pause she described a very dark and dismal scene, not unlike what you would see in a disaster scene. So clear and strong was it in her mind that her mood changed immediately. Bear in mind that she was at home, sitting in a comfortable chair and not doing an examination at all! So you see where the problem comes from.

I had her stop at that point and relax again. Then I asked her to describe a scene that made her feel happy and confident. So she described a bright sunny day where she was lying down and looking at the sky. She even said that the song "Its gonna be a bright, bright, sunshiny day" came to mind. So I had her really get into it so it would be easy for her to recall later when we needed it.

That's the first part of the technique to correct the problem. The next part was to help her to pull up the second scene - the bright sunshiny day when I next used the word "exam". Although simple, it is important to get the next step right, and, being on the phone I was concerned about that. Nevertheless, we continued. Her sense of imagination was quite powerful and I thought it would work well even over the phone. Now, I said, when I say exam and the first scene - the gloom and doom one - comes to mind, switch immediately to the bright sunshiny scene. Do it as fast as you can and hold the sunshiny screen, seeing it as clearly as you can.

So I said "exam" and there was quiet on the line. A few seconds later she said with a chuckle, "yeah, I see it now!". We repeated the exercise about three more times to make the transition more smooth. The result: her next set of examination grades were remarkably better. In fact, they were among her best.

A simple technique, correctly applied, massive results. Like I said, your mileage will vary, but, done right, you will get similar results if this is the problem you (or your child or friend) is having. Of course, If you are near us, we can help. Better still, if you become a 2GN student you have access to all this and much more.

So call us at (876) 488-2771 or email us at info.2gnec@gmail.com

2GN Education Centers