Archive for the ‘What can Dr. Doug do for you?’ Category

Introduction

• There’s an old saying that “knowledge is power,” and while that might seem cliché, it is true when it comes to internet crime. Hackers and cybercriminals are looking for information about you and your family. If they find the information they want, it gives them the power to steal from your bank accounts, destroy your credit, ruin your reputation, stalk your movements, and possibly even attack you physically. Fortunately, there are things you can do to keep information about yourself and your family safe. Here are some basic online safety tips.

1. Enable Two-factor Authentication

• Many online services give you the option of using two-factor authentication to access your accounts. In addition to your username and password, you also have to provide another piece of information. This prevents people from accessing your accounts even if they have obtained your password. It offers greater protection for your accounts, especially if the second factor is something entirely unique to you, such as your favorite vacation spot, recognition of your face, or a fingerprint. You don’t necessarily have to stop at two factors, though. Multi-factor authentication providers may be able to help you become even more secure.

2. Protect Your Passwords

• Protecting your passwords is vital to maintaining online security, especially where two-factor authentication is not available. You should never share your passwords with anyone, not even those you trust the most. You should also avoid “default” passwords, opting instead for those that are easy for you to remember but difficult for other people to guess. Strong passwords have a combination of lowercase and capital letters, numbers, and sometimes special characters. Special characters aren’t always permitted, though, so pay attention to the rules when creating a new password. Another way to protect your passwords is to use a unique one for every login. This way, even if someone obtains the password to one account, the others are still protected. Be sure to keep a list or you may let your computer keep them for you if you don’t share it.

3. Keep Antivirus Software Up to Date

• Antivirus is sort of a blanket term to describe software that protects against all types of malicious programming; not only viruses but Trojan horses, worms, etc. Not all antivirus programs include protection against ransomware, however, so this is something to pay attention to during purchase and installation. If your antivirus doesn’t have it, you may require extra protection.
• Unfortunately, it is not enough merely to have antivirus software installed. Hackers are relentless at developing new programs that take advantage of outdated protections by exploiting their weaknesses. Therefore, you need to update your antivirus frequently to be sure it is equipped to deal with the newest threats. In many cases, you can set up the antivirus software to update automatically. This way, you don’t have to remember to perform a manual update

4. Use a Virtual Private Network

• Chances are good that you do not only access the internet from your home. Free Wi-Fi is ubiquitous, and portable devices such as tablets and smartphones make it easier than ever to connect to the internet wherever you are. However, this convenience comes at a price. When you connect to an unsecured internet connection, it makes any data and files that you send via the network vulnerable to everyone else connected to it.
• More commonly known as a VPN, a virtual private network keeps your data secure even when you connect to public Wi-Fi. It does this by encrypting your data and disguising your IP address so no one can use it to identify you. To add a VPN to your browser, you first have to purchase the best option for you, or try a free trial

5. Clear Your Cache

• Many websites save information about you in the form of cookies. This saves your personalized settings for you on sites that you frequent, but it could also save personal information about you that you don’t want widely known. To protect yourself, you should clear your cache periodically. Most browsers will allow you to choose which sites you want to clear cookies from and which you want to save to keep your settings intact. If you want to clear all cache, you should be able to find the option in your browser settings under more tools → clear browsing data.

6. Read the Email Addresses and Subjects of Unsolicited Emails Carefully

• Pay attention to where your emails are coming from. It may be easy to trust an email coming from a source you would generally trust such as your bank, phone support, or work. Scammers can make an email seem legit at first glance, but always look at the email address if you are unsure of the source. If it is an email you don’t recognize, block the sender. Use your judgment, common sense, and intuition to guide your online activities. If something doesn’t seem right, don’t click on it, swipe it, or otherwise engage with it at all. If you think it could be really dangerous to you or someone else, report it to the authorities. The image above shows a subject and an email address that are clearly bogus.

Craig Middleton

• Craig is a New York City-based retired business consultant, who is an expert in education and cultural trends. He has a Masters of Business Administration and a Masters in Education from St. Johns and loves sharing his knowledge on the side through his writing. If you have any questions or comments you can direct them to Craig at craigmiddleton18@gmail.com.

Six Ways To Help Students Deal With Academic Burnout by Amanda Winstead

Photo by Monstera: Pexels
Every educator should be all too aware of how real academic burnout can be for students, especially as the holiday break draws near. After months of learning new information and skills, taking tests, and finishing up homework assignments, students can feel burnt out and exhausted, both mentally and physically.

Thus, it’s crucial for educators to truly understand what burnout is and recognize the signs. If students go too long feeling burnout, it can severely affect their educational experience and even start wearing on their mental health.

Let’s take a closer look at what academic burnout is as well as some ways educators can help students deal with it and even prevent it in the first place.

What Is Academic Burnout?

Usually, when you hear the word “burnout,” it refers to occupational burnout. We lead hectic and stressful lives today and, as such, burnout has become a major concern. In fact, the World Health Organization has deemed burnout an official syndrome that can be diagnosed.

However, while burnout typically refers to a syndrome that stems from chronic workplace stress, it’s important to recognize that this same overwhelming stress can occur as a result of chronic classroom or academic stress as well.

When students spend too much time pushing themselves at school and then working on homework when they go home, they can easily become overwhelmed and exhausted. Students need time to de-stress and take care of themselves just as much as working adults do.

Unfortunately, not all educators know how to recognize the signs of academic burnout and what to do about it — but they should. Some of the most noticeable signs of a student dealing with burnout include:

Increasing self-doubt
Feeling defeated more than usual
Detachment and disinterest
Lack of motivation
Poor or negative attitude that is getting worse or not going away
Emotional and physical exhaustion

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio: Pexels

Six Ways Educators Can Help Students Prevent and Manage Academic Burnout

Academic burnout is not something to take lightly, as it can significantly impact a student’s life and success. Luckily, there are ways educators can help their students mitigate and manage their academic burnout.

1. Make student health a priority

First and foremost, the well-being of your students should be a top priority. It’s difficult to teach your students adequately if they are struggling with their mental health.

Supporting student mental health not only shows them that you care and have their best interests in mind, but it can also teach them how to manage and prioritize their own well-being. You can do this by bringing mindfulness exercises to the classroom, normalizing mental health check-ins with personal awareness, and offering resources to students who might need to talk to someone about their mental health.

Making your students’ mental health, a priority can go a long way toward helping them better manage stress and prevent burnout.

2. Teach healthy coping strategies

For some students, suffering from academic burnout is the result of poor stress-coping habits. Thus, teach them healthier academic coping strategies, such as how to:

Stay present and aware
Recognize their needs and prioritize them
Build self-care habits
Use positive self-talk and be kind to yourself

Essentially, you want them to understand that it’s okay to not always be the perfect student. They are allowed to give themselves a break and even forgive themselves when they mess up or fall behind.

3. Encourage healthy habits

When students are overwhelmed by school, they can start developing unhealthy habits. They might start sleeping poorly, exercising less, and developing unhealthy eating habits. All of these things can make the symptoms of academic burnout worse.

While it is the job of the parent to promote healthy habits, teachers can also encourage healthy habits in the classroom. You can teach them that eating smarter makes them smarter, that getting a good night’s rest can help them focus better in school, and that making time to exercise can boost their mood.

There’s no one right way to encourage healthy habits in the classroom, but doing so can help students better manage their stress.

4. Provide more outlets for students to have fun and de-stress

Learning doesn’t have to just be about sitting at a desk listening to a lecture or reading out of a textbook. There are many other fun ways to help your students learn while also providing them with an outlet to have some more fun and release some of their stress.

Educational video games, for example, can be a great way to boost student engagement while also giving them a much-needed break from more traditional and mentally exhausting teaching methods. You can also use other types of games or more interactive and fun lessons.

If you feel like your students are more stressed and overworked than usual, you can also offer them more breaks during lessons. Even just five minutes here and there can allow them to give their brains a much-needed break. You can even guide them through some meditation or even mini-stretch sessions to help them alleviate stress.

5. Encourage socialization with their peers

When students are burnt out, they might start to isolate themselves and spend less time with their peers. But socialization is important, and it can help them find support in friendship and give them an outlet for their stress.

Of course, you can’t control what your students do with their time outside of the classroom, but you can help by encouraging them to participate in extra-curricular activities or even join a student club.

6. Help them stay organized and set realistic goals

Burnout can also be the result of poor organization and time management, and not all students are great at this, especially when they are younger. So an important aspect of helping students deal with their burnout is teaching them how to be more organized.

This can also include teaching them how to set more realistic and attainable goals. As students get older, they start setting academic goals for themselves, especially if they hope to go to college or land a job.

But this can sometimes lead to them putting too much pressure on themselves by setting unrealistic goals. Helping them learn to better manage their workloads while also teaching them how to set more attainable goals can help them mitigate stress that can lead to burnout.

Wrapping Up

As an educator, you are likely aware that no two students are the same. So not all of the above tips will necessarily work for every student. In the end, the most important thing you can teach them is that it’s okay to ask for help. If they are struggling and feeling burnt out, help them understand that it’s okay to reach out to you, their parents, the guidance counselor, or anyone else for help.

Amanda Winstead

Amanda is a freelance writer out of Portland, focusing on many topics, including educational technology. Along with writing, she enjoys traveling, reading, working out, and going to concerts. If you want to follow her writing journey or even just say hi, you can find her on Twitter.

Photo by Julia M Cameron

The Developmental Benefits of a Summer Job by Amanda Winstead Explains the many benefits of working with others during the summers while you are in high school. While you may learn some useful skills on the job, the people skills you developed are invaluable. Thanks, Amanda.
Introduction
School and parenting are essential elements in a child’s growth, but they are not the only things that can benefit your child’s development. It is also helpful for them to gain further knowledge and skills through other life experiences, such as a job.

Though it’s understandable that you might want your kids to have the freedom to enjoy their youth, a job doesn’t have to be a limiting experience for kids. In fact, a summer job can be fun, social, and help teach them new life skills and behaviors that are essential to growing into a responsible, healthy adult. And it doesn’t have to take up all of their time either.

Instead of having a job year-round, your kids can simply look into something part-time over the summer, which still gives them plenty of free time and opportunities to pursue other interests. But even just a part-time summer gig can do wonders for developmental growth and help prepare your kids for higher education and the “real world” once they graduate and move into adulthood.

A Summer Job is More Than Just a Paycheck
Though a summer job can help your kid financially prepare for college and put money in their pockets, it’s not just about the paycheck. A summer job can open your kid’s world up to so many new experiences.

Let’s take a look at the many benefits of a summer job that go above and beyond simply providing your kids with a paycheck.

When kids are younger, time is somewhat of an abstract construct. They rely on adults to help them understand what time it is and when things need to happen. But as your kids get older, time management becomes an important skill that can help them manage school, work, and their free time and social life. So by getting a summer job, your kid will learn to become more responsible with their time and how best to manage multiple things at once or in a day.

Self-Confidence
If your kid is lacking in confidence or simply doesn’t feel that they have much control over their life, a summer job can help. Having a job teaches your kid new skills that can help them feel more confident about their abilities, which can overall improve their sense of self-worth and self-confidence. It can also give them a sense of independence, which can help them feel like they are more in control of their life and what happens to them.

Educational Development
Summer jobs have also been shown to help kids with learning in the classroom. Overall, having a job can teach kids and teens new skills that boost their cognitive development and help them succeed more in school. Most importantly, it helps boost their critical thinking and problem-solving skills, which are essential when it comes to academic performance.

Social Skills
Whether your kids are shy or not, a job can help them expand their social circle and develop new relationships that can become an important part of their lives. For kids who perhaps are on the shy side, having a job can help them come out of their shells and learn to interact more with others. If they aren’t shy, it can help them socialize and network, expanding their circle of friends to people who can further help them grow and become a healthy adult.

Financial Responsibility
Understandably, kids don’t tend to have the best financial habits. With each new generation, such as Gen Z, spending habits change. So when your kids start earning money, it can help you better understand what their money habits are like or will be like, which paves the way for you to sit down and chat with them about healthy financial habits. This can help them learn how to better spend and save their money to prepare for their future.

Photo by cottonbro
Tips to Help Your Kid Land a Summer Job
It’s one thing to talk about your kid having a summer job and another thing altogether to help them actually get one. No two kids are the same. While some might easily land their ideal summer job, others might not. It’s also important not to force a job on your kid that isn’t a right fit.

land their ideal summer job:

1. Look for the right job.
Every job comes with different duties and requirements, so make sure the one your kid chooses is a good fit for them. This can include standard summer jobs at amusement parks, summer camps, swimming pools, restaurants, retail stores, etc. Or, it can be something a little more professional for older teens just out of high school, such as computer programing, pharmacy tech, customer service, or even maintenance work.

2. Interview practice.
For some kids, the interview can be the hardest and most nerve-wracking part of landing a summer job. So it can be helpful to sit down with them and practice what it’s like to be in an interview. Tell them what it might be like, what questions they might get asked, and how best to act and respond.

3. Interview outfit.
Though a lot of summer jobs don’t necessarily require your kids to dress nice or professional, it doesn’t hurt to go into the interview looking a little more put together. So in addition to helping them practice for an interview, it’s also helpful to take them out shopping for nice interview outfits. If they are just out of high school and going for a more professional job, the right outfit can help them make a good impression.

Final Thoughts
When helping your kid land a summer job, just remember that the goal is to improve their skills and provide them with a new experience that is beneficial to them. If you force them into something that isn’t the right fit or that they have zero interest in, it could end up doing more harm than good.

So try to make it a positive experience. The more interested your kid is in the job they land, the more they will get out of it and the more effort they will put into it.

Amanda Winstead

• Amanda is a freelance writer out of Portland focusing on many topics, including educational technology. Along with writing, she enjoys traveling, reading, working out, and going to concerts. If you want to follow her writing journey, or even just say hi, you can find her on Twitter.

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