Frugal Living

Minimalism is a new hot topic among millenials. Many young adults are opting to buy cheaper groceries, minimizing house sizes, buying electric cars. Sustainability is gaining attention and being ingrained in daily life practices of many people. Here are 5 tips on living frugal. Not your ordinary pieces of information on frugality, but certainly beneficial. All articles were found on a popular barganing blog: www.TheBalance.com

1. Buy Furniture in January or July: January and July are the months that stores are riding of furniture to make way for new seasonal furniture. Many people do move in the summer or beginning of the year. It is wise to pay attention when to invest in new necessities. Click Link: When to buy furniture
2. Use Vinegar: Vinegar has many benefits other than to detoxify your body. Vinegar can be used as a cleaning utensil and an air refresher. Clink Link: everyday Vinegar Use Recipes
3. Use “Old” Fruit for sauces or desert: Wasting food is one of the planets biggest sustainability issues. Food scarcity could be resolved by making use of what we consider “rotten” food. Browning bananas can be made into banana bread, and rotting apples can be formed into cinnamon apple slices. Click Link: Apple Recipes
4. Earn some extra cash: In today’s job market sometimes one job is not enough. Or the simple career that brings purpose to your life does not bring in enough cash. There are many ways to fulfill your purpose and be able to fund your lifestyle. Tutoring or service driving are just a few of many ideas. Clink Link:15 Side Jobs
5. Save Money on Air Conditioning: Sustaining energy is essential to keep down bills and not overuse non-renewable energy resources. Clink Link: Air Conditioning Costs

Black College Expo: Oakland

 

On this upcoming Saturday February 18th there will be a job and college expo at Laney College in Oakland, Ca. The event begins at 9:00 am and ends at 5:00 pm. The earlier you arrive the better, to ensure that you are able to apply to colleges and receive job interviews. Be sure to bring your transcript, SAT/ACT, and resume.

The black college expo has been occurring in Oakland for more than 15 years and has been nothing short of a success to the African American community.

iBrand.Me will be present at the expo and will be promoting our upcoming workshop dates and connecting with teachers and universities.

5 Tips For Getting Back Into School Mode

The time has come to get back to school or back to work, for those in education. After a 2-3 week break it is not the easiest. Depending on how amazing or depressing your break was you may be anxious to get back to co-workers and studies, or dreading the idea of going back to work and class. Weather your outlook is positive or negative, we have some advice for excelling in this new year.

1. Self Care- Be sure you’re are healthy. Go back to drinking those 8 glasses of water a day and eating vegetables. Don’t forget 7-8 hours of sleep are optimal for health and brain function.                                                                                                                                                            
2. Planning- Getting back into full stride may require some extra lifting. That means being prepared. Write a list of goals to accomplish for the week then break them down by day. Make a checklist of the tasks you did accomplish for the day so as you plan in the future, your checklist will become more accurate.                                                                                          
3. Routine- This is essential. Not all routines have to be daily. You can simply exercise every other day, cook three times a week, study 2-3 hours a day, and read a leisure book 15 minutes daily. That could be useful to be sure you are covering your basics.                                                        
4. Time Management- Pay attention to how you manage your time. Its imperative to be sure you have an idea time range of the amount of time you want to spend on tasks. That way you can get more tasks done, and you record what tasks need more time.                                                   
5. Be Grateful– Its a new year. Be grateful you made it hear and have more opportunity to complete the goals you see yourself achieving and the status of your situation. Weather it is ideal or you are in a bind, appreciate the journey.

Why Vote Local: Municipal Vote

Election year is amoungst us and the election date is getting much closer. We are hearing the many different opinions of our presidential candidates Hilary Clinton and Donald Trump. They speak on issues that have an effect on the American people in a broad aspect. Such as job opportunity and our military operations. Though the people make up these large scale issues, the impact on individual American citizens is not as drastic as the impact that local officials have. Making not only our knowledge of the country vote imperative, but the knowledge of our local candidates (city and county) is even more so.

Over the last 15 years the municipal vote has dropped 10%.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Those who vote locally tend to be white older voters that leads to a one sided opinion. This leads to poorer outcomes for minorities, such as uneven spending. You can read more at this link: voter turnoutt plummeting.

Algebra Workshop Review

The algebra workshop reviewed basic concepts that often lead to lack of understanding of in depth algebra. A interesting note was the lack of elementary math that is missing from the students. Time had to be spent reviewing multiplication before reviewing fractions. Be it that the students were in a grade level to learn algebra, they had a hard time understanding 4th grade mathematical concepts.

It was evident that some students were able to move on in a subject category in spite of lack of foundational skills such as multiplication and division. The workshop identified areas of struggle which and addressed them. This is always the goal of any tutoring lesson and it served its purpose.

Below are some activities done at the workshop.

Above the curator of the African American Museum of beginnings in Pomona is giving a tour of the museum.

Here our young scholar is using skittles as visual aides to comprehend fraction word problems.

Above we have a adult who is using the free workshop as a starter point to sharpen his mathematical skills to enter into the field of education. The student is using playing cards to develop PEMDAS equations which were solved by him then taught to the group. Implying the idea that if you teach it then you know it.

 

 

Algebra Workshop

We will be hosting an algebra workshop covering the basics of algebra. Our goal of this workshop series is to increase the college readiness of minority students in the subject of Algebra and to raise standardized test scores. We will not simply be lecturing but providing small group activities and study skills that students can take into all course work.

We find algebra imperative to understand because of the vast job opportunities within STEM subjects. Algebra provides critical thinking and analyzation skills that can be applied to many different areas of ones daily life.

The workshop is free and we do hope that you can show up. It is for all people of all different backgrounds.

Importance of Teenagers Working

Importance of Teenagers Working

Everyone has the story of their first job. Many being from major coroporations such as Macy’s, McDonalds, or chain movie theaters. The idea of having an entry level job is a screeching one to many adults after evolving into the professional realm. But those humble beginnings develop a character than can not be forgotten.

Working during high school or college give a since of responsibility. Learning to be on time, to have excellent customer service skills, and to work in submission to rules that you may not completely agree with. On top of the character building is money management and the ability to spend on bills and leisure activities, and having a healthy balance of them both.

The idea of working in high school or college has dropped since 2000 as stated in the article link above. This could be due to the lack or jobs, or the lack of willingness to work a service job that is not often “ideal” to many. However, the lessons learned through the responsibility make it essential to work young. Building a stronger network and branding oneself as efficiently as possible, this can never be done to early.

The writer of this time magazine article gives some statistics and insight on the importance of working in high school and college.

Importance of Teenager Working, Time Magazine

 

Effective Notetaking

  Taking notes in college is an imperative skill to being successful. Notes are helpful for exam preparation in the current course you are in, and helps in learning how to be overall organized. Properly organized notes are a foundation to the structure you will need to move through college efficiently. Notes can obliterate confusion about subjects and due dates. Learning to be organized in the classroom is a skill that will be moved into your professional career. Here are 5 tips to taking notes and loving it.

1. Proper Materials: The basics you need to be prepared for any course are lined paper, no 2 pencils, and black and blue pens. To be more detailed, having a section in a binder or a given folder for each course is helpful. As well a folder to put handouts.
2.  Topic Preparedness: Being able to follow along in the book or have a understanding of the name of the topic being taught helps in organization, therefore when you are told the topics or chapters being given on a test you will not be surpirsed. So try to know what is going to be taught in the class ahead of time to ensure youve done the proper reading.
3.  Listening Skills: Outside of writting down information on powerpoints, or having powerpoints printed ahead of time, you need to be able to write down the detailed explanations a teacher gives that are not in the book. The details listened to and example problems explained are key to what you want to write. These details along with the readings you’ve done will give best comprehension of material.
4. Question what you do not understand: Notes are no good if you are simply writing things down and not questioning the why of information. It is important to ask question either verbally in glass or during office hours so you can be sure that you understand your notes.
5. Read Your Notes: The most often forgetten part of proper notetaking is reading the notes you’ve written. If you read the notes then you will have special attention to what you do not understand from previous lectures and get these uncertainties answered. This also ensures a more conceptual understanding of class material.

Focus February

There are many strategies to focusing in the classroom. A major point being that of attentiveness. It is common for students to tune out during a teachers lecture of important not so exciting topics. Below is  a list of purposeful ideas to assist with learning in the classroom.

1.  Key or “signal” words. Key words (or “signal words”) such as “causes,” “purposes,” “effects,” “ways,” “advantages,” “characteristics,” and “types” can be used as “headings” to indicate that the speaker is introducing a major portion of the lecture (e.g. “Now, I am going to discuss the top five ways that…”).

2 . Main ideas. Topic sentences indicate the main points or ideas that the speaker is trying to communicate. These are often indicated by such words as “First…” “Second…” “Third…” and “Finally…”.

3. Definitions and key terms. If the instructor is taking the time to define a term, it is almost certainly a critical concept that’s central to your understanding of the topic. If the speaker says something like “[the term] means…” or “[term], also known as…”, you’re hearing a definition. Wong recommends writing “DEF” or “=” in your notes to indicate that you’ve copied down a term defined in class.

4. Supporting details. Examples, dates, statistics, anecdotes, and other details illustrate the key points, provide supporting evidence for the topic under discussion, and help clarify your understanding.

5. The speaker’s verbal clues. Most instructors will use certain key words (as described above) to indicate important concepts. You may also notice that an instructor becomes more enthusiastic at a certain point in the lecture,  or that he or she “punctuates” key points with a louder voice, deeper tone, or particular gestures. The more familiar you become with the instructor’s speaking style, the more readily you’ll come to know his or her method of confirming that a particular point is important. (And of course, if the instructor says “This is important,” it’s important!)

6. The conclusion. The instructor will likely “wrap up” the lecture by summarizing the main points that he or she covered that day. Be sure to capture these points, and write them under the heading “Conclusion” so that you can readily find them when it’s time to review.

• Brandy Williams

 

New Year, New Goals

New Year, New Goals, same dreams, different tactics. 2016 is here and many of you have set new goals to reach. From weight loss, to straight A’s, to financial stability, and many endless goals of pursuing excellence. iBrand.Me lives to inspire people to follow through with your dreams with consistency and a plan.

The following link below is an old but excellent article of tools to stay on track with meeting goals. Many have to do with daily journaling of what you hope to accomplish. Journaling is excellent in that you have a written reflection on how far you have to go and how far you’ve come.  Writing down daily routines gives you a physical checklist to assure that you complete all that you can with the given 24 hours. The most difficult part is staying on track.

Please click the link below and look for ways that you can fulfil those dreams of 2016.

7 Tools to Help Keep Track of Goals