Set up Your Elementary School Classroom for the First Day of School

With the start of each school year, teachers get a fresh chance to arrange their classrooms for a new group of students. Every choice you make sends a message to your students, their parents, and anyone who visits your classroom. Through furniture, books, learning stations, and even desk placement, you communicate the values and priorities of your class. Follow these steps to deliberately maximize the organization and efficiency of your classroom set-up. What You Need Classroom furniture (desks, chairs, bookshelves, etc.)Textbooks and reading books for the class libraryPosterboard for sharing class rules and other key informationAn alphabet/handwriting poster for easy student referenceMaterials for decorating bulletin boards (butcher paper, die cut letters, etc.)School supplies (paper, pencils, dry erase markers, erasers, scissors, and more)Optional: Computers,  class pets,  plants, games 1. Decide How to Place Student Desks If you are going to emphasize cooperative learning on a daily basis, youll probably want to move the student desks into clusters for easy discussion and collaboration. If you want to minimize distractions and chatting, consider separating each desk from the one next to it, leaving a little buffer space to discourage misbehavior. You could also place the desks in rows or semi-circles. Whatever you choose, work with the room and materials you have, leaving plenty of aisle space for you and the students to move around with ease. 2. Strategically Place the Teachers Desk Some teachers use their desks as a central command station, while others use it primarily as a paper pile repository and rarely sit down to work there. Depending on how your desk functions as part of your teaching style, choose a spot where your desk will meet your needs. If its very messy, consider placing it in a less conspicuous spot. 3. Determine What Belongs up Front Since students spend most of their days facing the front of the classroom, be very deliberate about what you place on the walls up front. Perhaps you want to emphasize discipline by placing the class rules on a prominent bulletin board. Or maybe theres a daily learning activity that requires easy-to-view space that all students can see. Make this prime time space engaging, but not distracting. After all, all eyes should be on you, not necessarily a colorful explosion of words and images that distract from the core instruction at hand. 4. Organize Your Class Library Just like a public library, your classroom book collection should be organized in a logical manner that will be easy for the students to maintain throughout the school year. This could mean sorting the books by genre, reading level, alphabetical order, or other criteria. Labeled plastic bins work well for this. Also consider providing a little comfortable reading space for students to lounge with their books during silent reading time. This could mean some inviting bean bag chairs or a dedicated reading rug. 5. Set Aside Space for Your Discipline Plan Its wise to post your class rules in a prominent spot for all to see each day of the school year. That way, theres no opportunity for argument, miscommunication, or ambiguity. If you have a sign-in book or flip chart for rule offenders, set up a station for this activity. Ideally it should be in an out-of-the-way spot where curious student eyes cant easily stare as a rule-breaking student signs in, flips the card, or otherwise does his or her penance. 6. Plan for Student Needs   Make sure basic school supplies are strategically placed for easy student access. This may include various types of writing paper, sharpened pencils, markers, erasers, calculators, rulers, scissors, and glue. Organize these materials in one clearly-delineated part of the classroom. 7. Define the Role Technology Plays in Your Classroom Placement of your computer center communicates the role technology plays in your teaching. If you aim for a more traditional approach to instruction with technology as an occasional compliment, the computers likely belong in the back of the room or a cozy corner. If you integrate technology into most of the lessons, you might want to mix the computers in throughout the room so theyre easily accessible. This is a personal choice based on your beliefs about teaching in the 21st Century in combination with how available technology is on your campus. 8. Express Yourself Through Bulletin Boards Almost every elementary school classroom has bulletin boards on the walls, requiring themes, displays, and regular rotation. Consider designating one or two bulletin boards as seasonal, and thus focus on keeping those boards timely and relevant to current holidays, instructional units, or class activities. Make it easy on yourself by keeping the majority of the bulletin boards evergreen and constant throughout the school year. 9. Sprinkle in Some Fun Stuff Elementary school is primarily about learning, for sure. But its also a time for fun personal touches that your students will remember for a lifetime. Think about having a class pet and make space for cages, food, and other required materials. If a pets not your style, place a few houseplants around the room to add life and a touch of nature. Make a game center for educational activities that students can use when finished with their work. Pop a couple personal photos from home on your desk to express your interests and personality. A little bit of fun goes a long way. 10. Minimize Clutter and Maximize Functionality Before your new students (and their parents) enter the classroom on the first day of school, take a look around your classroom with fresh eyes. Are there any little piles that could be put into a cupboard to tidy up? Does each part of the room serve a clear, functional purpose? What messages are you sending with your classrooms overall appearance at first glance? Make tweaks as necessary. Check out your colleagues classrooms Visit the classrooms of other teachers on your campus for ideas and inspiration. Talk to them about why they made certain organizational decisions. Learn from their mistakes, and dont be shy about copying any brilliant ideas that will work with your teaching style and resources. Similarly, dont feel pressured to adopt any aspects that arent a good fit for your personality or approach. As a gesture of gratitude, share a few of your own best tips with your colleagues. We all learn from each other in this profession. Strike the right balance An elementary school classroom should be engaging, colorful, and expressive. However, dont go overboard and end up more towards the overstimulating end of the spectrum. Your classroom should project a sense of calm, organization, and positive energy, as well as a seriousness about learning. If you gaze around your room and feel overwhelmed by too much color or too many focal points, your students will feel scattered, too. Find a balance between chaotic and stark. Aim for cheery, but focused. Your students will feel the difference each day they walk into the room. Dont be afraid to make changes at any time Once your school year gets underway, you may find that certain aspects of your classroom set-up arent working quite the way you initially envisioned. No worries! Just eliminate any parts that now seem obsolete. Add in the new functionalities you now know you need. Briefly introduce the changes to your students, if necessary. Every so often, reevaluate with a practical, flexible attitude, and your classroom will be a vibrant, organized place for learning all year long.

Beverages Become Increasingly Important Parts Of...

Beverages Become Increasingly Important Parts of Restaurant Revenue The simple days of restaurants offering their customers four or five soda choices, coffee, tea and milk are fading fast. Customers want more exotic, personalized and upscale beverages and not just for alcoholic drinks. Restaurants are offering custom-made fountain sodas, signature restaurant beverages, specialty iced and hot teas and even on-premises roasted and ground coffees. You can increase profits dramatically and attract greater numbers of millennials and baby boomers by offering special beverages for your customers. Baby boomers were the first generation to embrace specialty coffees, and the trend gave rise to coffee shops, baristas and chains like Starbucks. In the United States, teas have finally begun to gain popularity among typical restaurant patrons, which reinforces tea being the world s most popular beverage choice. Specialty Teas Imagine going to a restaurant for the meal of your dreams. The food is superb, and the service is impeccable. You dine by candlelight on a fine linen tablecloth with every luxurious amenity imaginable. At dessert time, the server wheels out a cart of decadent pastries. You order dessert and tea, but your server brings a common brand of teabag that you get at the corner diner. You can t help but be disappointed, and the perfect meal is ruined. This scenario is not that uncommon in the real-world restaurant business. Restaurants are upgrading their foods, wineShow MoreRelatedStrategic Initiative Paper Fin/3701726 Words   |  7 PagesStrategic Initiative Paper FIN/370 Abstract McDonald’s has been in business since 1955. Through many years of great strategic and financial planning, it has become one of the most successful food chains in the world. In order to continue its great success, McDonald’s must continue to adapt to change. 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How Fairuz can increase productivity without neglecting service quality Free Essays

string(77) " servers and miscellaneous employees \(O’Fallon Rutherford, 2011\)\." Introduction Service quality is defined as the gap that exists between customer expectations and their perception of the service. Service productivity, on the other hand, is defined as the effectiveness with which resource inputs are transformed to produce value for customers (Barnes, 2003). In the hospitality industry, customer satisfaction is achievable through ensuring that they are provided with the best possible service quality. We will write a custom essay sample on How Fairuz can increase productivity without neglecting service quality or any similar topic only for you Order Now This will not only determine their satisfaction, but also their possibility to return or recommend the company to other potential customers. Just like quality is paramount, it is also vital to ensure that productivity is at its optimum so as to cater for all customers, especially during peak seasons (Grigoroudis Siskos, 2009). In this regard, companies are expected to ensure that service quality does not compromise productivity, and vice versa. This report presents a proposal for Fairuz, a Lebanese restaurant that operates in London, on the approaches that can be used to increase their service quality without overlooking productivity. The restaurant serves Lebanese food, and has a seating capacity of 75 clients at any given time (Fairuz, 2014). By applying the strategies that are suggested in this proposal, the company will be able to increase customer satisfaction and reduce operation costs. Proposal There are several aspects of Fairuz that ought to be addressed in increasing service quality and the overall productivity of the restaurant. As this proposal aims to make these improvements at Fairuz, it will focus on improving the position of the restaurant in the market by making it more competitive than other restaurants of its level. Improving Productivity This section presents the approaches that Fairuz restaurant needs to use in order to increase its service productivity. Though there are many approaches that can be used to achieve this, this paper suggests three approaches that Fairuz can use. These include improving employee productivity, using key performance indicators to measure productivity and utilization of technology (Assaf et al., 2011). Employee productivity Productivity of employees in service companies is largely dependent on human resource practices or policies used. The collective efforts that are made by employees towards the attainment of organizational objectives vary with the effectiveness of the human resource department (Bratton Gold, 2012). The most appropriate way in which their productivity can be increased is through applying different employee motivation strategies. These include offering reasonable remunerations, bonuses and rewards (Hartnett et al., 2011). Employees at Fairuz can also be made more productive by standardizing all processes, procedures and policies in the organization to create a sense of order. This saves time and maximizes efficiency (Medeiros et al., 2012). Even though these can be achieved at Fairuz, they may be hampered by high employee turnover because Fairuz’s budget may not allow it to compete with larger companies in terms of employee salaries. Small restaurants are always faced with the r isk of losing employees to larger organizations. Measuring performance through key performance indicators Performance indicators that can be used by Fairuz to measure its performance, to establish flaws and make improvements, vary with the different departments. In regard to staff, the restaurant has to ensure that it has a sustainable wage cost (Sainaghi et al., 2013). This can be done hiring small but sufficient number of employees to cater for the 75 guests that the restaurant targets to serve. This will reduce the wage burden in the company and also make it possible to remunerate them well. Labour or wage costs can also be minimized by ensuring that employee turnover is minimized, given that it is nearly impossible to completely eliminate it, especially in restaurants. Costs that could be used in training new staff members monthly or weekly can then be directed to more productive activities in the organization (Choi et al., 2012). Other key performance indicators that can be used by Fairuz to determine its performance include seating efficiency, stock value, costs of food and profita bility (Sainaghi et al., 2013). Using Technology to increase Productivity Most of the companies in the services sector, which include restaurants, are fast adapting to the technological changes taking place in the industry to increase productivity and efficiency in service delivery (Tzeng Chang, 2011). Fairuz can use technology in all its departments to achieve an increase in productivity. For instance, it can acquire modern ovens or stoves for its kitchen that can be used to prepare more of food in a shorter time and on less energy. This not only makes it possible for the company to cater for many customers, but also increases its efficiency (Sloan et al., 2009). Technology can also be used to ease communication among employees within the restaurant. In this case, one of the technological equipment that Fairuz should acquire is the kitchen display system. This system provides real-time updates and information about food orders that have been made by clients and also monitors the speed of service (Katsigris Thomas, 2008). This is quite effective and time -saving than the traditional approach where servers had to take orders from clients then go to inform chefs in the kitchen. This consumes more time and is prone to human error. Whilst it is expected that technology will contribute towards an increase in efficiency and productivity, Fairuz has to consider that the initial costs to be incurred in setting up these technologies and training employees on how to use them is quite high. Therefore, an analysis needs to be done to establish the most ideal technologies to implement, which will assure it of a good return on investment (Allen, 2011). Improving quality Even as Fairuz strategizes to improve its productivity, it is also vital for it to ensure that the quality of service is not compromised. Thus, this section explains approaches that the restaurant can use to increase the quality of provided to its clients. Ensuring employee competence Restaurants have different departments that require different skills and competencies in executing their respective responsibilities. They can be classified into managers, chefs, servers and miscellaneous employees (O’Fallon Rutherford, 2011). You read "How Fairuz can increase productivity without neglecting service quality" in category "Essay examples" To ensure quality, Fairuz has to ensure that it hires employees that have the required qualifications and experience needed in delivering their required duties. In addition to this regular training sessions have to be organized to improve their competencies. If employees are competent, the chances of substandard service quality are greatly reduced (O’Fallon Rutherford, 2011). The fact that the restaurant serves Lebanese food means that the majority of clients are Lebanese. Thus, the company needs to ensure that a section of its employees are familiar with the Lebanese culture, foods and other dimensions that may affect their service perception. Being a small restaurant that mainly targets the Lebanese population, it may be challenging to hire the best talent since people with skills in this industry often target to work for larger organizations (Jang George, 2012). Therefore, Fairuz may be limited to selecting low-income people who may not be quite competent and provide them with on-job training to improve their competence. This approach can mainly be applicable for selecting employees in positions that do not require special skills, like waiters. Utilizing quality measurement tools It is quite vital for organizations to ensure that they have an ideal framework that they can use to gauge their quality of service. This involves benchmarking the company’s current progress, identifying the problems that might exist, predicting future outcomes and using key quality indicators that are applicable in the restaurant business to establish their position in terms service quality (Barnes, 2003 ). For Fairuz restaurant, measuring service quality should be done by comparing customer expectations and their perception of service. Whereas all restaurants work to meet or exceed customer expectations, there are several factors that may limit their capabilities to attain this objective. It is thus vital for Fairuz to collect regular client feedback to enable it establish any flaws that may exist in its service delivery and make the necessary changes (Grigoroudis Siskos, 2009). One of the most convenient ways that Fairuz can do this is through requesting waiters and receptionists to ask guests whether the meals met their expectations. The company also needs to link its website to a third-party review website like Tripadvisor, which will be vital in monitoring any customer feedback any time a review about the restaurant is made. Other approaches that can be used to do this include sending follow-up emails to clients and engaging more with clients over social media avenues. Positive feedback is an indicator of good service, while negative feedback indicates that the service offered is substandard and appropriate measures need to be taken to improve. One challenge that can be associated with this approach is that some clients’ views may be biased or in some cases, clients may provide conflicting feedback. Making comparisons with competitors in the market Perception of services at Fairuz is relative to clients’ perceptions of services in other neighbouring restaurants. In this regard, Fairuz will only be the preferred choice if its service quality is considered to be netter than that of its competitors (Grigoroudis Siskos, 2009). To obtain a competitive edge over other restaurants, Fairuz has to ensure that it utilizes customer feedback so as to align its services with the customer preferences. Due to the fact that customer tastes and preferences are prone to regular change, Fairuz also needs to carry out regular customer research by collection of customer feedback to decide on what changes it should consider making (Barnes, 2003). Through tertiary monitoring websites or by visiting its competitors’ social media sites, Fairuz can be able to identify the core strengths and weaknesses of its competitors. These will be instrumental in ensuring that makes its services better than those of its competitors (Kalluri Kodali, 2 013). However, whereas it is assumed that Fairuz is only in competition with restaurants of its level, there could be other bigger restaurants with unmatched capabilities that may be targeting the same clients. This poses a great threat to Fairuz. Using Technology to Improve Service Quality Service quality in restaurants can be improved through incorporating several technological solutions. Whereas food is a major part or determinant of customer satisfaction, the whole experience of customers in the restaurant is also dependent on several factors (Tzeng Chang, 2011). For instance, Fairoz can ease the process of making reservations by providing an option for it on its website. In addition, free Wi-Fi can be provided in the restaurant for clients who are interested in surfing the internet when having a meal at the restaurant. Technology can also be used in the collection of customer feedback, which is vital in improving the service quality at Fairuz. The most appropriate cost-effective approach that is relevant to the present-day customer is social media sites like Facebook and Twitter (Tuten Solomon, 2012). Fairuz has to consider subscribing and increasing its activity on social media to monitor customer feedback. Point of Sale (POS) systems are also ideal feedback co llection systems for restaurants. Though the mentioned technologies improve the service experience of customers and can also be used by the company to improve its service production, there are certain disadvantages that may arise. For instance free Wi-Fi might expose some clients to internet threats, especially those who may be unaware of how to secure their information when online (Cheema Papatla, 2010). Conclusion Service quality and service productivity are both vital for service based companies, which include restaurants. Therefore, as companies strive to increase their productivity, it is also necessary for them to ensure that service quality is also improved, and vice versa. This proposal has provided suggestions of approaches that can be used to improve service production and service quality at Fauruz, a small scale Lebanese restaurant that is based in London. The suggestions that have been presented include effective human resource management approaches, utilization of quality and production measurement approaches, and incorporating technology in the restaurant’s operations. Though these recommendations have a high potential of increasing service quality and productivity, some of the limitations associated with them have also been provided. Whereas this proposal has provided suggestions for Fairuz, they can also be applicable to other companies in the industry. References Allen, K.R., 2011. Launching New Ventures: An Entrepreneurial Approach. Mason: Cengage Learining. Assaf, A.G., Deery, M. Jago, L., 2011. Evaluating the performance and scale characteristics of the Australian restaurant industry. Journal of Hospitality Tourism Research, 35(4), pp.419-36. Barnes, J.G., 2003. Establishing Meaningful Customer relationships: Why some Companies and Brands Mean More to the Customers. Managing Service Quality, 13(3), pp.178-86. Bratton, J. Gold, J., 2012. Human Resource Management: Theory and Practice (5th edition). London: Palgrave. Cheema, A. Papatla, P., 2010. Relative importance of online versus offline information for Internet purchases: Product category and Internet experience effects. Journal of Business Research, 63(9), pp.979-85. Choi, S., Cheong, K.K. Feinberg, R.A., 2012. Moderating effects of supervisor support, monetary rewards, and career paths on the relationship between job burnout and turnover intentions in the context of call centers. Managing Service Quality, 22(5), pp.492-516. Fairuz, 2014. About Us. [Online] Available at: http://www.fairuz.uk.com/pages/about_us.htm [Accessed 29 April 2014]. Grigoroudis, E. Siskos, Y., 2009. Customer Satisfaction Evaluation: Methods for Measuring and Implementing Service Quality. London: Springer. Hartnett, H.P. et al., 2011. Employers’ perceptions of the benefits of workplace accommodations: Reasons to hire, retain and promote people with disabilities. Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation, 34(1), pp.17-23. Jang, J. George, R.T., 2012. Understanding the influence of polychronicity on job satisfaction and turnover intention: A study of non-supervisory hotel employees. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 31(2), pp.588-95. Kalluri, V. Kodali, R., 2013. Benchmarking the Quality Function Deployment Models. Benchmarking: An International Journal, 20(6), pp.6-13. Katsigris, C. Thomas, ?., 2008. Design and Equipment for Restaurants and Foodservice. New Jersy: John Wiley Sons. Medeiros, C.O., Cavalli, S.B. da Costa Proenca, R.P., 2012. Human resources administration processes in commercial restaurants and food safety: The actions of administrators. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 31(3), pp.667-74. O’Fallon, M.J. Rutherford, ?.G., 2011. Hotel Management and Operations. New Jersey: John Wiley Sons. Sainaghi, R., Phillips, P. Corti, V., 2013. Measuring hotel performance: Using a balanced scorecard perspectives’ approach. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 34, pp.150-59. Sloan, P., Legrand, ?. Chen, ?.S., 2009. Sustainability in the Hospitality Industry. New Jersey: Routledge. Tuten, T.L. Solomon, M.R., 2012. Social Media Marketing. New York: Prentice Hall. Tzeng, G.H. Chang, H.F., 2011. Applying importance-performance analysis as a service quality measure in food service industry. Journal of technology management innovation, 6(3), pp.106-15. How to cite How Fairuz can increase productivity without neglecting service quality, Essay examples