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Wildlife and Sport Hunting

Almost everyone in America seems to profess a love of wildlife in one form or another. However, it is very important to understand that just saying that you love wildlife is not enough to ensure the continuation of the various species.

Instead, an understanding of wildlife management and just what it is, is necessary to creating a healthy wildlife population.

Wildlife management is the science of managing the environment for the benefit of all of the kinds of wildlife in a given area. This management includes the management of human activities because everything that people do will affect the environment in one way or another.

Creation of proper habitat is critical to a healthy wildlife population because, without habitat, wildlife cannot survive and it is just as simple as that. Consequently, the wildlife manager of today is concerned constantly with the state of the habitat in a given area for the benefit of the wild population that the manager is trying to sustain or expand.

Like a carpenter building a house with his tools, so also does a wildlife manager have specific tools to build his wildlife population. Regulated sport hunting is one of the managers most important tools. To many people, this sounds like a contradiction, however, in our capitalist society, everything revolves around the dollar. So too, does wildlife management. It takes a lot of money to develop wildlife habitat.

In every state, a hunter is required to purchase hunting permits and wildlife stamps. It is this money that is used to develop critical habitat for wildlife. Almost always, state taxes are not used for direct wildlife management programs. Rather it is the licensed hunter that is the critical tool for habitat and consequently wildlife development.

Additionally, the licensed sport hunter pays a federal excise tax on the hunting equipment that he/she purchases. This money is then funneled back to the various state game departments for additional habitat development.

It is only because of the monies supplied by licensed hunters that America has any wildlife of note. Today, every state has thousands of acres of wildlife management areas that provide home for hundreds of species of wild birds and mammals. These species consist of both game and nongame wildlife. None of these areas would have been possible without the funding supplied by the hunters dollars.

When people profess a love of wildlife, that is a good thing, however, if one really does have a sincere interest in the wild creatures that share our planet with us, one of the best things that one could do to ensure the survival of wildlife is to simply purchase a hunting permit and wildlife stamp in the state where one lives. If people fail to do this over time, wildlife as we know it today will disappear.

Rick Seward is a veteran game warden for the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission. He has an intense love for the wild creatures that he protects. Rick maintains a website that will showcase many types of engravings that he creates in his of duty time and invites everyone to look at http://www.Rickseward.net His passion for being a game warden his love of wildlife comes out in every piece that he creates. People may email Rick at the address listed on the website.

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Education How Principals Pass As Instructional Leaders and Fail as Managers

Within education, almost any teacher can become a principal through self-direction provided they have the proper education and credentials. Unfortunately, within the training of principals, the focus is on being an instructional leader and not a manager leader.

Incoming principals bring their instructional strengths and knowledge of working with students, but to be an effective manager within the school requires additional skill sets that are not actively developed during their teacher or principal training.

In the previous teaching role, the new or even existing principal probably spent the majority of her or his time using job specific skills such as instruction, writing lesson plans and grading papers. Dealing with students and parents was only to a certain level and then those interactions where elevated to the principal. Now, the principal must deal not only with students and parents, but manage an entire organization - the school - from the custodial and support staff to the teachers.

Being a principal extends beyond just instructional leadership. Ongoing research also reveals that effective leadership practices can raise academic achievement one standard deviation or a jump from the 50th to 60th percentile. Additionally, another study suggests that the principal’s leadership can affect student achievement by 20%.

Suddenly, a new picture has emerged. The strengths of the former teachers are now relegated to the >i

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The Key to Successful Classroom Management Teach Teacher Interaction Skills to Students Now

Virtually every school expects students to interact
appropriately with teachers. However, most schools
have no formal, written-down plan to train students
to have acceptable teacher interaction skills. Years
ago, families more reliably prepared their offspring
to respond appropriately to teachers. Unfortunately,
that is no longer the case; many youngsters are rude,
disruptive, defiant, and disrespectful.

Recently at some of our live workshops around the
country, we have been hearing a lot about student
misconduct that is becoming far more serious
than ever before. Each spring around this time, our
Live Expert Help page
(at our site, link below) begins to generate
rather desperate requests for help from teachers who
report being increasingly unable to control their
classroom. Based on some of the comments in our live
workshops, and from requests for Live Help, it seems
important to recap what is acceptable behavior in the
classroom. It also seems like a good time to review
how to maintain control over seemingly uncontrollable
students. Here are the top questions on these topics
that we have been getting at our workshop and via our
Live Expert Help Page.

Q:
I have male students who are not just touching female
peers inappropriately, but me too. What do I do?

A:
This is an example of the increasingly inappropriate
behavior being reported by teachers. This type of
misconduct rises to a whole new level.

First, the conduct you describe is far beyond
what any teacher should tolerate in a classroom, but
it is important to note that this behavior is quite
likely also illegal as that type of sexual
harassment is not usually legally permissible.

Second, you are describing a situation that is
extremely unsafe for you and your female students.
Your first responsibility as a youth professional is
always safety. This dangerous situation can not
continue. You need to seek help immediately from your
principal or other resource.

Third, whenever a classroom or group of young
people is utterly out of control, it is usually
quite difficult to re-gain control. Because of that,
we usually strongly recommend that the problematic
class or group be terminated– at least as far as
your young people are concerned– and a new class
or group initiated in its place. It is far easier
to start again than to clean up a situation that
has deteriorated to the point that you describe.

In the future, we strongly recommend that you set
much higher, tighter standards, and force yourself
to adhere to them. If you are unsure how to enforce
higher standards, get training from us or another
source right away. Our live and recorded Breakthrough
Workshop gives immediate help: 800-545-5736 or
http://www.youthchg.com/live.html. You can always
ease up if you start off firm, but it can be nearly
impossible to tighten up if you start off being loose.
When you are unsure of how to react, always err
towards being too firm. Have high expectations
for conduct. You can easily ease up if your firmness
is unnecessary or too extreme. Your situation is
extremely unlikely to get better, and is quite
likely to worsen because there are no “brakes” being
offered to stop or slow the inappropriate contact. Don’t
wait until a tragedy happens to take action; get
help today.

Q:
My students have no clue how to act reasonably
towards teachers. What can I do?

A:
Before you expect teacher interaction skills, you
must teach them. You wouldn’t expect math skills
until you taught those skills; the same is true with
teacher interaction skills. To determine what skills
to teach, you can start by making a list of the
problems you are seeing. You can include problems
like disrespect, verbal abuse, non-compliance, and
so on. Next, prioritize that list, putting your
biggest concerns at the top. We recommend that
safety concerns top the list. Next, identify a time
to provide instruction to your students on the first
few items on your list. You can use entire class
periods or the start of the class. It doesn’t matter
where you put the training, but that you do it. You
will probably be delighted with the results, but be
sure to include motivating students to accept the
training. Our site has engaging lessons so you don’t
have to develop ideas on your own.

Q:
I have a lot of students who just seem to hate all
teachers. Am I right that there is not a lot that
I can do to change that?

A:
Actually, we have a lot of wonderful student attitude
adjustment devices that can re-shape the way these
youngsters view and interact with teachers. Here is
an intervention that is a favorite in our live
workshops. Create a little manual, like those small
booklets that come with a new computer or a new jacket.
Call it “A Student’s Guide to the Care and Heeding of
Teachers,” or something similar. In the manual, you
can put humorous text on “What to Do When Your Teacher
Doesn’t Work Right,” and “How to Get Your Teacher to
Do What Your Want.” Next, hang the manual from a
thread, and attach it to your sleeve. Inevitably, a
student will soon ask: “What’s that hanging off
your sleeve?” You can respond with feigned surprise at
discovering the manual, and then read it to your
students. What a fun and unusual way to begin a dialogue.
If you don’t want to have to make your own manual, you
will find a very funny, nicely illustrated one
in one of our books. Contact us for help locating it if
you want to save time looking around our site for it.

Q:
What can I do about the constant interruptions from some
students during class?

A:
Have you given your students a recommended number of times to
talk out per class? We find in our workshops that most teachers
haven’t provided any quantifiable standard for students to
follow. In essence, that means you are asking students to
adhere to an unspecified standard. A lot of your students may
lack the ability to determine this standard on their own. The
first step must be providing a quantifiable standard. Also, be
sure that you teach specific skills like hand raising if you
require it. If the interruptions persist, you can require
students to turn in a chip or marker to talk. If you recommend
students talk 8 times per class, give out 8 chips.

There is a
newer version of this last intervention, which you may prefer.
Bring a large TV remote control to class, and tell students
that you have to point the remote at them to turn on their
volume before they are permitted to speak. Students often adore
this fun intervention, and it can ease any power struggles that
were occurring. You can even put a student in charge of the
remote control, which will quickly become a highly coveted job.
Students can even earn the opportunity to do that job by talking
out properly during class. A chronic problem can become
a non-problem.

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