More teachers are starting off the school year with letters to parents and students to introduce themselves
and set a tone (基调) for the year. The letters are a good way to start positive communication with parents,
several teachers told Education World.
"I think it"s professional," said Dorothy Peselli, an English teacher at Sparta High School in Sparta, New
Jersay, Peselli, who gives out the letters the first day of school, told Education World. "It gives parents an
image of you as a professional. If you start communication off in a positive manner, you will have the parents
on your side when you need them."
In her letter to parents, Peselli encourages them to call or e-mail her with specific concerns about their
children. "I want to work as a team to make sure that your child becomes an independent lifelong learner,"
Peselli wrote to parents last September. She also telephones the parents of all her students at the beginning
of the year.
Peselli includes with the letter a classroom handbook (手册) listing plans and rules. And she requires
that both parents and students read and sign statements (included in the letter) when they read the handbook.
The student letter also lists needed supplies and gives encouragement. "Please come to class ready to work
and learn. This will be an exciting year for all of us," it says.
Last year, Peselli taught at a different high school and parents there were "shocked", but appreciative,
that she had so much contact with them. "I received roses and a thank-you note from one boy and his
mother," Peselli said. She wished her own children"s teachers would take the time to write notes as well.
"I never got a letter home from any of my daughter"s high school teachers." she said,"It would be nice to
know the background of some of the people who are teaching my daughter."
Believe it or not, optical illusion (错觉) can cut highway crashes.
Japan is a case in point. It has reduced automobile crashes on some roads by nearly 75 percent
using a simple optical illusion. But stripes, called chevrons (人字形), painted on the roads make drivers
think that they are driving faster than they really are, and thus drivers slow down. Now the American
Automobile Association Foundation for Traffic Safety in Washington D.C. is planning to repeat
Japan"s success. Starting next year, the foundation will paint chevrons and other patterns of stripes
on selected roads around the country to test how well the patterns reduce highway crashes.
Excessive (too great) speed plays a major role in as much as one fifth of all fatal traffic accidents,
according to the foundation. To help reduce those accidents, the foundation will conduct its tests in
areas where speed-related hazards (danger) are the greatest curves, exit slopes, traffic circles, and bridges.
Some studies suggest that straight, horizontal bars painted across roads can initially cut the average speed
of drivers in half. However, traffic often returns to full speed within months as drivers become used to
seeing the painted bars.
Chevrons, scientists say, not only give drivers the impression that they are driving faster than they
really are but also make a lane appear to be narrower. The result is a longer lasting reduction in highway
speed and the number of traffic accidents.
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