“My name is Yevenae Chambers. I am very independent and I love to expand my knowledge. My backstory is quite a rollercoaster. I was always talked down by negative people, so I learned to use positivity and knowledge as weapons. When I discovered Alison, I was so thankful and relieved because other online programmes are very expensive. Alison’s free courses have helped me with my stress, and I am so thankful.”
How did you learn about Alison?
I was looking for free certified programmes online.
What was your first course on Alison, and why did you choose it?
My first course was the Diploma in Biology, because I LOVE natural science.
What’s your favourite way to relax from studying?
I like to drink tea play the game Ace Attorney.
Where are you working and what are you studying now?
I am currently studying to be a Physical Therapy Aide.
What’s next for you, in terms of education or work?
I want to start a temporary career in the medical field and I also want to go to college and earn a Phd in Ecology.
If you could learn absolutely anything in the world from an Alison course, what would it be?
I would love to study a course in phlebotomy.
What would you say to someone if they asked you about Alison? Would you recommend it and why?
I would recommend Alison because they have certified diplomas and certificates that you can add to your resumé.
Mustard yellow and burnt orange are common colors found in all things related to autumn. I like to add an element of surprise to such monochromatic color choices by adding contrast colors like a beautiful sky blue. This stunning burnt orange & blue color palette is an excellent example of a fresh and funny color combination that you can use for your Autumn DIY.
Orange and blue are complementary colors, which makes these variations of the color wheel so appealing. Don’t be afraid to add a touch of sky blue to your display of pumpkins or Thanksgiving tablescape.
Orange & Sky Blue Color Palette
If you are looking for some inspirations related to this color palette, make sure to check the image below. Feel free to pin it for later use. I hope you will do some fantastic things with this color combo.
See our collection of other gorgeous color palettes by visiting our color palette section.
What do you think about using contrasting colors like blue and orange within one project? Do you like such choices or do you prefer to stay with colors that are similar to each other? We would love to hear your thoughts, so make sure to share them in the comments below.
Lastly, learn about the power of color in blog design in our blog post to see how important colors are in all the projects you create.
If you are looking for printables using an orange & sky blue color palette, then you may want to check our free thanksgiving poster: Gobble till you Wobble.
It is more a teal and orange combination, but it is also using contrast colors. Moreover, this printable is a great option for this time of the year.
All the fascinating giants of Egyptology appear here. Some were brilliant scholars genuinely eager to advance the science of Egyptology and forge a deeper understanding of ancient Egypt, some were self-serving fortune-seekers who cared mainly about their own advancement, and some were both at once.
There’s Champollion, who, on unlocking the Rosetta stone and revealing the secret of hieroglyphics after years of scholarly struggle, was so overcome with emotion and fatigue he collapsed to the floor in a faint. And Giovanni Battista Belzoni, the Italian strongman and one-time circus performer who in 1817, under the aegis of the British consul, managed to drag, float and sail the 2.7-meter-high, 7¼-ton bust of Ramses II all the way from Luxor to the British Museum…
Since the 1980s, when its rulers decided to turn the city of Dubai into a tourist destination, the U.A.E.’s biggest developments have included two of the world’s largest shopping malls; artificial palm-shaped islands that can be seen from outer space; and Burj Khalifa, the world’s .
1. After looking closely at the image above (or at the full-size image), think about these three questions:
2. Next, join the conversation by clicking on the comment button and posting in the box that opens on the right. (Students 13 and older are invited to comment, although teachers of younger students are welcome to post what their students have to say.)
3. After you have posted, try reading back to see what others have said, then respond to someone else by posting another comment. Use the “Reply” button or the @ symbol to address that student directly.
Each Monday, our collaborator, Visual Thinking Strategies, will facilitate a discussion from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Eastern time by paraphrasing comments and linking to responses to help students’ understanding go deeper. You might use their responses as models for your own.
4. On Thursday afternoons, we will reveal at the bottom of this post more information about the photo. How does reading the caption and learning its back story help you see the image differently?
When you hear the terms “canceled” or “cancel culture,” what comes to mind?
According to Dictionary.com, “cancel culture refers to the popular practice of withdrawing support for (canceling) public figures and companies after they have done or said something considered objectionable or offensive.”
But these days, the phenomenon can apply to personal relationships, too. Have you had an experience with canceling someone — whether a friend or family member, a celebrity, or someone in your school community — or being canceled yourself? Would you say that cancel culture is prevalent at your school?
In the 2019 Style article “Tales From the Teenage Cancel Culture,” Sanam Yar and Jonah Engel Bromwich share six stories of cancel culture from high school and college students.
In one, a teenager grapples with what she sees as a classmate’s problematic music choices:
A few weeks ago, Neelam, a high school senior, was sitting in class at her Catholic school in Chicago. After her teacher left the room, a classmate began playing “Bump N’ Grind,” an R. Kelly song.
Neelam, 17, had recently watched the documentary series “Surviving R. Kelly” with her mother. She said it had been “emotional to take in as a black woman.”
Neelam asked the boy and his cluster of friends to stop playing the track, but he shrugged off the request. “‘It’s just a song,’” she said he replied. “‘We understand he’s in jail and known for being a pedophile, but I still like his music.’”
She was appalled. They were in a class about social justice. They had spent the afternoon talking about Catholicism, the common good and morality. The song continued to play.
That classmate, who is white, had done things in the past that Neelam described as problematic, like casually using racist slurs — not name-calling — among friends. After class, she decided he was “canceled,” at least to her.
Her decision didn’t stay private; she told a friend that week that she had canceled him. She told her mother too. She said that this meant she would avoid speaking or engaging with him in the future, that she didn’t care to hear what he had to say, because he wouldn’t change his mind and was beyond reason.
“When it comes to cancel culture, it’s a way to take away someone’s power and call out the individual for being problematic in a situation,” Neelam said. “I don’t think it’s being sensitive. I think it’s just having a sense of being observant and aware of what’s going on around you.”
In another, a young person describes her own experience of being “canceled”:
It took some time for L to understand that she had been canceled. She was 15 and had just returned to a school she used to attend. “All the friends I had previously had through middle school completely cut me off,” she said. “Ignored me, blocked me on everything, would not look at me.”
Months went by. Toward the end of sophomore year, she reached out over Instagram to a former friend, asking why people were not talking to her. It was lunchtime; the person she asked was sitting in the cafeteria with lots of people and so they all piled on. It was like an avalanche, L said.
Within a few minutes she got a torrent of direct messages from the former friend on Instagram, relaying what they had said. One said she was a mooch. One said she was annoying and petty. One person said that she had ruined her self-esteem. Another said that L was an emotional leech who was thirsty for validation.
“This put me in a situation where I thought I had done all these things,” L said. “I was bad. I deserved what was happening.”
Two years have passed since then. “You can do something stupid when you’re 15, say one thing and 10 years later that shapes how people perceive you,” she said. “We all do cringey things and make dumb mistakes and whatever. But social media’s existence has brought that into a place where people can take something you did back then and make it who you are now.”
In her junior year, L said, things got better. Still, that rush of messages and that social isolation have left a lasting impact. “I’m very prone to questioning everything I do,” she said. “‘Is this annoying someone?’ ‘Is this upsetting someone?’”
“I have issues with trusting perfectly normal things,” she said. “That sense of me being some sort of monster, terrible person, burden to everyone, has stayed with me to some extent. There’s still this sort of lingering sense of: What if I am?”
Which of the stories in this article resonated with or stood out to you most? Why? Do you have any examples like these from your own school?
Have you ever “canceled” a classmate? Family member? Friend? Celebrity? What led you to that decision? Looking back, do you think it was the right choice? Why or why not?
Have you ever been canceled? Or have people ever been upset or offended by something you said or did? How did it feel? How did you react? Did you take responsibility and apologize? Did you ask for more information? Or did you feel you were wrongly accused of something?
What do you think about being “called out” versus being “called in” as a way to address problematic or harmful actions? (As the article defines it, “‘Called in’ means to be gently led to understand your error; call-outs are more aggressive.”) Have you ever witnessed one or both of these approaches? Do you think one is more effective than the other? Should different responses be used for different situations — for example, for a celebrity versus a family member? Why?
What do you think is the best response to being called out? Should the person take responsibility? If so, what should that look and sound like? Should they apologize publicly or privately? Or should they just step back from the person or community that was harmed?
What is your opinion of cancel culture as a whole? In a 2019 interview, Barack Obama challenged youth activists on their “purity” and “judgmentalism,” saying, “That’s not activism.” But in an Opinion essay, Ernest Owens, a journalist, wrote that Mr. Obama’s comments reflected a very “boomer view of cancel culture,” one in which older and more powerful people seem to be “more upset by online criticism than they are by injustice.” What do you think? Has cancel culture gone too far and become unproductive? Or is it a necessary and effective response to perceived wrongdoing?
“My name is Ogbanje Adeka Julius. I am from Okpokwu in Benue State, Nigeria. I attended Benue State Polytechnic in Ugbokolo and received both the National and Higher National Diploma Certificates in Marketing. Thereafter, I decided to switch career to education so I pursued a Postgraduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) and a master’s in Educational Administration and Planning. It was at that point in my pursuit of knowledge that a friend introduced me to Alison. I have done two courses so far.”
What was your first course on Alison, and why did you choose it?
“My name is Ohaya Sandra Ndidi. I am a caregiver who takes care of patients with disabilities and health issues, including my mum. I have become even more interested in health care since I became an Alison graduate.”
How did you learn about Alison?
I found Alison online through my own research.
What was your first course on Alison, and why did you choose it?
My first course on Alison was Dementia Care. I chose this course because I am really interested in health care.
Where are you working and what are you studying now?
I am currently unemployed. I have just finished some online courses on Alzheimer’s disease and Dementia Care.
If you could learn absolutely anything in the world from an Alison course, what would it be?
I want to be a medical doctor or a nurse and so I would like to study medicine or nursing.
What would you say to someone if they asked you about Alison? Would you recommend it and why?
I have carefully considered various learning platforms and I chose Alison. I was attracted to Alison by their course content and their reputation. I would recommend Alison to anyone because Alison is a place you can learn for free without any problems. Alison provides opportunities to learn and the courses are great. Alison also care about the success of their students, and they do their best to make sure your experience is great. So start learning independently and for free today!
A common misconception that people have about programmers is that they know everything. But, in reality, that’s not quite the case. What programmers do have is a unique approach to solving problems and, in this article, we’ll explore what that programmer mentality is all about. Plus, we’ll share tips to help you get there, too.
What is the programming mentality?
Let’s think about programming as speaking for a moment. When you speak, you’re aiming to communicate effectively with the people around you. When you program, you’re aiming to communicate with a machine. In both cases, you don’t need to know every single word or element of a language, you just need to know enough that you convey your ideas so that they are understood.
When you use code to solve a problem, it’s less about memorizing snippets of code and using them. It’s more about knowing the fundamentals and applying them. When you understand how to break a problem down into smaller pieces and apply the principles of programming, you don’t need to memorize everything. You simply learn how to approach a challenge or problem, and that is a skill you can apply every time you code.
Break things down into building blocks
Let’s look at a simple example of how you break a problem down into its building blocks, like a programmer approaches a problem.
If you were to describe to a machine (or a person who’s new to a task) how to open a jar of pickles, you couldn’t just say “open jar.” You’ll need to explain in a language they understand the steps required to open that jar. For example, you might offer the following set of instructions:
Pick up jar with left hand
Put right hand over the lid
Tighten both hands
Rotate right hand counterclockwise, and rotate left hand clockwise
Rotate until lid separates from bottom jar
Release tension in both hands
Simple tips to get you thinking like a programmer
Everyone’s programmer perspective is different; meaning, each each programmer thinks in a different way and learns how to approach and break down problems uniquely. Through practice, you’ll develop your programming perspective, and it’ll get easier to communicate with machines to solve increasingly complex problems.
As you develop your own perspective, here are a few tips and tricks you can use to learn to think like a programmer and develop this mentality.
1. Talk through the problem aloud
First, you can talk through the problem by calling up a friend or family member and explaining to them what you’re trying to tackle. By having a conversation with someone, you’ll be able to determine how you can communicate with them to clearly explain the problem and your solution.
Don’t have anyone to talk to right now? No problem! Just try speaking through the problem out loud. Explain your approach and understanding to your pets or even a stuffed animal. It’s speaking aloud that is the key.
2. Collaborate (work with other programmers)
Programmers don’t always work by themselves at their computers. They like to learn from each other. When the problem is complex, working with other programmers helps bring together the best ideas from many people, making it easier to come up with innovative solutions.
Try pair programming, which is when two programmers share a computer to solve a problem together. One programmer (the driver) writes the code, and the other (the navigator) reviews the code and directs how the problem is broken down and solved. Every few minutes, the two switch roles. This gives you the chance to see another programming perspective at work. How your partner solves a problem will be different from you, and this helps expand your mindset and learn to approach problems from multiple angles.
3. Take it one step at a time
Whether you are programming or starting on any big project, large problems can seem scary at first, and it’s easy to get overwhelmed. The best way to combat this feeling is to look at the problem from a high level and then break it down into smaller chunks.
Just like we talked about earlier, when you split a problem down into smaller pieces, you can then apply the fundamentals of programming to solve each piece. Approach each chunk of work separately so that the task is manageable, and you can start to make some real progress, one step at a time.
4. Start simply: how would you solve a similar, simpler problem?
You can also consider how you might solve a problem that is similar to what you’re attempting to solve, but much simpler. Then write the code to solve that small problem. Slowly but surely, introduce complexity to solve the larger problem you were presented with at the beginning.
5. Practice, don’t memorize
Memorizing code is tough, and you don’t need to go down that road to think like a programmer. Instead, focus on the fundamentals. Learn the principles and ideas behind programming, and you’ll get much further than trying to remember everything.
Every time you solve a simple problem using programming, you’ll develop your fundamentals even further, making it easier as you progress. Codecademy’s optional problems and projects are a great place to start. Practice is key to your programming perspective becoming second nature.
6. Don’t worry if you need to look up the right syntax
Even some of the best programmers around need to look up syntax when they don’t remember things. So don’t sweat it if you need to search online or in developer documentation for the syntax that you need.
In fact, the co-founder of React, Dan Abramov, wrote a blog post about how people often think he knows more than he does. The moral of the story is that you don’t need to be an expert at all things, because you can program if you know the fundamentals, and we’re all capable of learning new things.
7. Shortcuts can be dangerous
Taking shortcuts while you’re learning to program can be more hurtful than helpful. Try to think of the learning process like running tennis drills. You could take steroids to get stronger and become a better player, but that’s likely to hurt you in the long run.
Rather than searching for an answer right away when you encounter a problem, try to solve it yourself first. When you rely on other people’s coding solutions, you don’t get to develop that programming muscle yourself.
Focus on the basics, put in the practice, and run your drills. The tried and true training methods are that for a reason; they work! We know that it can be frustrating when it takes time to learn to program, but that’s all part of the process of forming your own programming perspective.
8. Get help after you’ve exhausted other options
If you’ve really tried your hardest and approached the problem from many different perspectives, but you’re still struggling, now’s the time to ask for help. Reach out to a colleague or teacher or post on a forum to get some guidance.
It’s more likely you won’t be robbed of a learning opportunity when you wait to ask for help until you really need it.
9. Debugging tests your knowledge
Debugging your own code allows you to take a step back and see the opportunities for improvement in your own work. It can be easy to blame the machine every time something goes wrong. But if you take a moment and analyze how you’re approaching the problem, you can see where you might have gone wrong. Understanding this will help you to identify errors in the future quicker, and you’ll naturally get better by avoiding these issues in the long run.
10. Get familiar with reading documentation and applying it to your code
Documentation for programming is just like a recipe for cooking. It lays out how the code is intended to work and is an excellent resource to help you understand programming better. Learning to read documentation will also steer you away from looking for a shortcut or an easy solution to your problems or bugs.
Putting your programming into practice
If you’re itching to start practicing to learn how to think like a programmer, we have some resources to help. Head to the Codecademy Forums for a list of resources for practicing what you’ve learned on Codecademy.
Remember to focus on how to solve a problem and to learn as you go. Don’t get hung up on needing to do things “right” or to be “perfect.” There are many ways to solve a problem, and, with practice, you’ll build your own unique programming perspective!
Members of Congress have been trying to get Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s chief executive, to testify in an ongoing investigation into whether big technology companies wield their power fairly. Amazon’s lawyer said on Monday that Bezos was willing to appear at a House hearing alongside other C.E.O.s. (You’ll notice that is hardly an unqualified yes.)
… What I’ve learned from congressional fact-finding sessions like this is that they are theater on both sides.
Too often, our elected officials use these moments to grandstand or catch executives in a lie, and corporate leaders — just as powerful but unelected by the public — say things that might be technically true but not all that revealing.
