#and those types are standard formal (what language lessons start out by teaching)

[zhooniyaa-waagosh]

Me, first learning kana: Wow I love how straightforward Japanese pronunciation is, it's really nice to not have to wonder how things are pronounced.

Me, learning kanji: oh what the fuck actually

Me, now learning about the types of keigo and how they affect conjugation and pronunciation:

[fuckyeahharryhart]

PART 6

THE ART OF SEDUCTION SEXY HARRY HART FANFIC

HARRY HART FAN FIC: (sing songs) smut, smut, smut! Inspired by Harry Hart and his glass of scotch. And also the one below of him in his shirt, tie and shoulder holster.

HARRY HART/ ORIGINAL CHARACTER M/F

WARNINGS: Mature, Smut, light D/s, lust 

Words: 7600

SUMMARY Harry and Gwendolyn, after getting acquainted with each other, share a rare evening alone together in the Kingsman lounge. What starts out as an innocent challenge and a glass of scotch, leads Harry to teach a lesson on the finer points of the gentleman spy's art of seduction.

NOTES: This is part of my main series for KINGSMAN 3, but since this is the chapter with sexy gentleman spy Harry Hart combined with smut that many of us like the most, I decided to also separate it so it's easy to find and read on it's own. If you're looking for the whole story, check out my other fics. Still in progress though

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After working months at his side, whether it be in the field, during training, debriefing in his office, or simply occupying the same space in quieter moments, reading in the lounge with a cup of tea, enjoying a few precious moments of peace, Gwendolyn was no closer at deciphering the gorgeous mystery that was Harry Hart. Her time with him merely reinforced what she already knew. And what she knew had, much to her chagrin, become increasingly and disconcertingly distracting with every moment she shared space with him. He was beautiful, obviously. She determined that the moment she saw him. Even from a distance, he cut a striking figure. But is was the understated way he acknowledged his own appearance, knew that it was pleasing and accepted it with grace, dignity and a matter-of-factness, that only made him more attractive.

His appeal wasn’t just based on his good looks. There were other men who had more classically balanced features. It was significantly more than good genes or the symmetry of bone structure. Not that his purely physical attributes were lacking in any regard. She had already committed to memory every aspect of his form and figure, from his hair, with a distinguished flurry of silver, all the way down to his feet in their gleaming oxfords. No doubt polished with every wearing; they carried him with purposeful movement and long measured strides.

Harry was a tall man. She would never forget the first choke hold he put her in. Often folding his legs as gracefully as possible under tables and desks that were just a breath too short to accommodate a man of his stature. He carried himself differently. Always with a posture, walk, a gait, that had a purpose.  Never rushed unnecessarily, he possessed the ease of someone in full control of his physical body. His movements were light, sharp, and kinetic. When he was still, he held himself straight and tall, without strain. In more casual moments, his weight would shift to one side or the other, or he might lean against a support, breaking up the long, precise lines of his full height.

Mostly, this had to do with a hyper awareness of his environment and his place in it. If he needed to calm a new recruit, he might stand with authority, but tuck his hands in his pockets, conveying a sense of ease and familiarity. When confronting an adversary, his stature seemed to grow as he pulled himself to his full height.  In those rare moments where he was free from personal and professional obligations responsibilities, as much as he could ever be, his figure would take on smooth curves and relaxed angles. The space he occupied was his to claim, mold, and manipulate. And he did so with his body, his voice, his gaze, his way of dress.

Surprisingly, she discovered that Harry was a man who often communicated through physical touch. As a man of few words, who often guarded his privacy and personal life, she expected him to be even more reserved with his body language, to be even more wary of close physical contact. Quite the contrary, he was often more generous with a hand on the shoulder or a gentle pat on the back as a form of approval or encouragement. Sometimes, he would place his hand over an agents as gesture of support and understanding. He was more demonstrative with contact and touch than he was with using words of praise or comfort. Even his proximity, whether it be as a figure in the distance or his physical closeness, could affect the energy of the room.

Rolling it over in her mind, she realised that it made sense that Harry would be comfortable communicating through touch. In some regards, he was a very tactile man, a sensual man, if not overtly so. He was a man that celebrated the senses.

In his office, though minimalist by Kingsman standards, austere even, there were touches of extravagance not influenced by tradition. All the furniture, as well as being beautifully made, focused on designs that were hospitable as well as functional. The chairs were comfortable. The lounge was upholstered in a dark, rich leather, well oiled and worn smooth by years of use. It was masculine, but also soft and inviting, a piece that you could relax and sink into.  A sumptuous throw. Pillows covered in dark velvet that were actually soft, not just decorative.

The items that did adorn his office were obviously selected thoughtfully and with care. The enticingly smooth curves of a vase, seemingly out of place, brilliant jade against the subdued tones of hunter green, tartans and plaid and the deep tones of polished wood and leather. The delicate lines and breathtaking color of a framed butterfly.  A small, sterling silver paperweight in the shape of a terrier. A cut crystal decanter, with matching tumblers, no doubt holding an insanely old and very expensive scotch.

There was an emphasis, not on the prestige or price of an object, but on its, color, texture, lines that were pleasing or challenging to the eye. Not as a flaunting of wealth, but a source of pleasure. It wasn’t an ostentatious display of the rich, It was the luxury of selection and taste. Any piece of clothing or fabric that touched his body directly was often luxurious, as well, scarfs, gloves, fine cashmere or calfskin leather. Though she had no way of knowing, she assumed his sheets would be of the highest thread count.

His manner of dress was immaculate and as precise as the polished, clipped tones of his aristocratic accent. He presented himself as a man who was self-assured with his appearance. Whatever he wore, he wore with confidence. He wore it well, without vanity, pretension, ego or conceit. Not that he needed the help of his wardrobe to face the world. His manner of dress seemed to highlight, magnify his innate sense of self.  He was not a flashy man, but he appreciated the expert craftsmanship that went into a finely cut suit. That good clean lines, quality materials, understated but interesting details could be the final polish on an already finely honed presentation.  

His clothing was the other area where he allowed himself some extravagance. A firm believer in the principle that if one’s self and surroundings are not only presentable, but impeccable, then one will always be prepared for what surprises life may decide to throw in one’s direction. In his line of work, unpredictability was as predictable as the sun rising in the east and setting in the west. His wardrobe countered the erratic nature of life as an agent.  Thus, his was a look of man who had his life in order.

He was a man of consistency. His tie was an unfailing full Windsor, tucked under the spread collar of a pristine white shirt. An equally crisp pocket square, folded neatly, peeked from his breast pocket. French cuffs were secured with custom gold links, bearing the Kingsman insignia. His suits were mostly double breasted, in classic shades of black, charcoal, navy and grey and cut in a wool that was appropriate for the occasion, whether solid, pinstriped, or woven with a pattern such as herringbone, or houndstooth. After years as a Kingsman agent, he had amassed a considerable and varied wardrobe that consisted of classic suits, formal wear, overcoats, ties, scarves, for any occasion or any type of mission. Each Kingsman agent also wore a gold signet ring on the pinky of their dominant hand. Harry wore the ring on his right.

Kingsman suits were cut close to the body, but designed with allowances made to accommodate weapons, ensure manoeuvrability and flexibility in all types of action. They were also bulletproof. It was a feature created after decades of experimenting with different textiles and weaves and exploring processes and techniques that would result in a material that could withstand the velocity and impact of of a bullet shot at close range. The lightweight, flexible lining was sewn into every Kingsman suit and many times proved to be a lifesaver.

Shoulder harnesses were used for carrying. Not belt clips. Belts constricted the body whereas a harness allowed freedom of movement. They were also easily and quickly detachable in case they needed to be removed. Belts, on the other hand, though they had their uses, could also cost valuable seconds when needed to be taken off. The carry position prevented printing and maintained the lines of Kingsman’s suits.

The fine, bespoke tailoring emphasized Harry’s height and build. Trousers were slim cut, long and hemmed with a perfect mid break. He preferred the simple Oxford rather than brogues. His shoes would glow with a mellow shine. He styled his hair in a classic, handsome cut, and was always clean shaven, (unless in the field where there was no opportunity for a straight razor shave). His aftershave and cologne were unobtrusive but memorable. Rather than preceding him, the warm and masculine sent of woods and spices, with hints of cardamon, the tactile sensuality of rich leather and suede, would linger after his departure, like a layer of warm dark velvet. Even his hands were beautiful. Beautiful but not delicate. Large wide palms, long elegant fingers, his nails were neat and clipped. They sometimes bore the marks of time spent in the field. They were strong and capable.

Overall, he had the appearance of a man who embraced classics, honoured tradition, but defined his look with his own individual aesthetic personality and sense of style.

In quieter moments, when she had the opportunity to watch him without being too obvious or call attention to herself, she allowed her curiosity to wonder over all the small details and mannerism that were unique to Harry. How his fingertips would gently find the arm of his glasses and rest lightly there, when he was thoughtful or pondering a question, as if it helped him focus or think.  The automatic gesture probably developed after years of transmitting information through the eyeglasses, which also functioned as communication devices.  Through her experience in human psychology, she recognised this as a self soothing gesture. Finding the comfort of something familiar. She was fairly sure that Harry was aware of this gesture and allowed himself some habits, that were, not particularly productive but, helpful nonetheless. Rubbing his thumb along the band of his signet ring. The way he would always shoot his cuffs when rising from his seat. Or run the palm of his hand along the back of his head, smoothing down the already polished hair.

Never had she met someone who had the ability to asses and evaluate any given situation as throughly and unerringly as Harry. Whether it entailed clearing a room, identifying a mark, or even just something as simple as slowing his pace when she walked along side him so she wouldn’t have to struggle to keep up. He was constantly aware of his surroundings and deconstructing what needed to happen to make the environment more pleasing, the conversation more engaging, the meeting more productive, the mission more likely to succeed. He was nothing if not thoughtful. Thus when she walked with him, he always slowed and allowed her to maintain her own graceful stride.

His physical appearance, his exacting nature, his precise moments, his carefully maintained wardrobe, his formal patterns of speech, his refined accent, not to mention his good looks could intimidate even the most confident agent, let alone a green one.  That was until the person in question realised that this outward perfection was merely the layer that he presented to the world.

It would seem impossible for man to be blessed with so many gifts, but Harry Hart proved to be the exception to the rule, for he was as charming and gracious as he was handsome. His quick wit, his clever way with words, as well as his dry, incisive sense of humour could enthral even the most unwilling participant.

He could placate the most difficult handler, assuage the most reluctant agent, enchant the most reserved target, or ingratiate himself into the most inhospitable of circumstances. When he turned on the full force of his charm, the people he met, let alone the men and women who worked with him, frequently found themselves elevated in his presence, their own experience heightened by his vitality and charisma. They left the experience a little breathless, a little awestruck, a little seduced by Harry Hart. She herself was no exception. And she had been spending a lot of time with him.

————

They found themselves alone one evening at the manor. In the lounge, when they both happened to desire a drink at the same time. Most of the Kingsman had already departed for the shop if they were returning to the city. The rest had dispersed to their own private quarters, or were participating in whatever activity they had planned for the evening. The lounge was quiet. They way he liked it. Apparently, it was the way Gwendolyn preferred it as well.

He spotted her the same moment she lifted her gaze at the new arrival. Her eyes narrowed slightly in pleasure at the sight of him. She gave him a small, but welcoming smile. The musical clink of crystal against glass as he poured a scotch from the fully stocked bar was the only sound aside from the cracking logs in the grand fireplace.

The club was a vast space with a vaulted ceiling. The stately fireplace stood on the far wall. Like most of the manor, it was dressed in masculine shades of dark brown and hunter greens, tartan and plaids. Polished hardwood furniture, mostly antique, and historical paintings, displaying the rich history of Kingsman, whispered class and wealth. In the center was an arrangement to accommodate a more substantial group with larger sofas and chaises surrounding a massive polished low wooden table.

Around the room were smaller clusters of tables and leather club chairs tucked into alcoves for smaller gatherings or intimate conversations.  

It was at one these clusters that he found her, tucked in a quiet corner near the fireplace.

In the most relaxed arrangement he allowed himself while still on kingsman property, he had his coat draped over his arm. Dressed in his shirtsleeves, tie and shoulder holster, tumbler in hand, he approached her, also with a pleasant but small smile. Pleased that she be the one that was sharing this space with him.

She was dressed quite differently from how he first remembered her. Well, her clothes hadn’t been memorable, but she had been. Since she was not a knighted agent, they weren’t quite sure how to classify her yet, she took the freedom to dress beyond the Kingsman uniform. Though always appropriate and surprisingly on brand, she was not quite regulation. If she was out in the field, she was in tactical, or the women’s version of the kingsman suits. She even had the shop tailor some custom pieces so she could have more diversity. When she was at Kingsman HQ or at the shop in support, she dressed appropriately, but in her own style. There were handfuls of fashionable men at Kingsman. You couldn’t turn around and not run into a gentleman turned out in Kingsman’s finest. But an attractive, stylish woman was a rarer sight. Even he noticed the heads that turned when she walked by.

Walking toward her, he took the time to observe her appearance, he told himself as spies always did out of habit. Today, she remained on the property. Without the need for being in the field, this would be her most ladylike look. She was dressed in a way that was very elegant, but sexy at the same time. Or, perhaps it wasn’t supposed to look sexy. He set that observation aside. Not the time nor the place, he thought to himself.

She was dressed in a slim, knee length pencil skirt in a very deep shade of oxblood red. It was velvet he noted when he saw the sheen of the grain as she shifted her knees in his direction. A matching tailored jacket, that, like him, she had removed and draped over the back of her chair. Topped with a delicate, almost sheer silk blouse the color of sun bleached bone. It had tiny pearl buttons down the front, and lace detailing at the collar, cuffs and similar detailing along the button placket. A narrow dark brown leather belt circled her waist with a gold clasp rather than a prong buckle.  Dark brown suede court shoes with a tall, but reasonable heel. Her makeup was minimal and natural. She looked like she just somehow heightened her features, but in no discernible way he could describe.

As he got closer, he was able to notice even smaller details. Her long, wavy, he had to admit, beautiful hair, was twisted up and away from her face and secured in some secret way women have where it would stay perfectly in place by means he could never quite see. Her accessories were feminine and understated. Small gold earrings in the shape of teardrops, a simple gold cuff around her wrist, a Kingsman issue watch on the other. A signet ring on her own pinkie. Her nails were trimmed short and clean, either no polish or something bare. A thin gold chain around her neck with a small solid gold version of the Kingsman pendant.

He didn’t know what he wanted a woman to look like until he first saw her. The first time, on that first chaotic night, he had the same thought. He could give you a basic description of what she was wearing, but he could describe every feature of her face. The way she looked when she was reflective. The line of her jaw when she was determined.

And then, for the very first time he saw her, dressed, properly, walking down the long marble corridor of the HQ manor, when she had the opportunity to present herself on her own terms. He thought, this is what I want a woman to look like. It wasn’t that she was model beautiful, or that her features were perfect. In London, on the streets, you could see plenty of models. They were beautiful, no doubt, and pleasing to look at, but once you were done, you were able to go about your day without a second thought.  

Her beauty had substance. The fact that he knew what her skill set included, to know what she had overcome to be where she was, to be the person she was, made her beauty a real tangible thing, regardless of what she was wearing. Perhaps it was that, whatever she wore, she made it part of her. It wasn’t just a pretty skirt or a flattering blouse, it was the way she wore it that made you notice her. She could have look completely different, with the opposite features, petite and curly brown hair and brown eyes. He would have still have felt the same. And he would still say, this is what I want a woman to look like.

This young woman had the capacity to stir his heart. Something that had been quiet and still for a very long time. Even something that he thought no longer had the desire to be moved. It was certainly not something he was seeking. He, long ago, had accepted the fact that the life of agent isn’t one that fosters lasting relationships. Relationships were based on communication and he had far too many secrets as a Kingsman.

He was beyond the time in his life for these kinds of thoughts. He knew he had been handsome in his youth. He had his fair share of relationships and much more than his fair share of sexual encounters. He was aware that his looks had carried him quite well as he got older and that if he wanted, there were women, very desirable ones, that would be more than willing to engage in a casual relationship. He was by no means vanilla. It wasn’t that he was prudish in the least, or one to deny himself physical pleasure. If she wasn’t who she was, then he would have most likely allowed himself to pursue her and enjoyed whatever that relationship had to offer. The crux of it was, that he would not be as attracted to her, or charmed by her if she wasn’t exactly who she was. He would not want her as much as he did if she were any different. But it was who she was, ironically, that kept him from her. She was Merlin’s daughter.  It was a knot too tight for him to untie.

——

He set these thoughts aside as he approached her. Even though it was obvious she was alone, Kingsman manners never failed. Never ask a lady directly if she’d like your company. Give her a polite way to refuse without making her say no. She will indicate if your presence if desired.

“Excuse me, miss.” he opened. “Is this seat taken?”

She awarded him with an amused smile. She always enjoyed his little game of manners.

She nodded toward the chair. Please.

Draping his coat on the back of his chair, just as she did, He adjusted his slacks so he could sit down comfortably and gracefully. The club chairs were low and designed to sink back into. He took his seat, adjusted a little until he, too, was settled in.

Since both of them were now relatively stuck in their respective positions, where they couldn’t move without significant effort, he simply raised his glass in her direction. She followed suit.

———

Gwendolyn was pleased when he was comfortable enough to sit in silence with her. It was one of the first tells she would look for in asset or mark. Did they have enough self assurance to be silent? Were they uncomfortable, awkward, fidgety? Did they try to fill the silence with their own words? Most often, if they lacked confidence, she would notice these tells immediately. One of her favourite activities was to sit in silence.

It was also one of her favourite activities to look at Harry Hart. The fact that he was handsome was no surprise. When she initially started at Kingsman, this was simply an objective observation, like masterful way he handled weaponry. Or the fact that he was right handed.  The more they were partnered on the field, the closer they became, both in proximity and as colleagues, his physical attributes began to affect her in ways that continued to make her increasingly uncomfortable.

She was aware his body was that of a man that she admired and looked up to. Tall, broad shouldered, slim hipped. Strong, driven, powerful. She became aware of all the things that his body could do. She had the opportunity to observe him every time they were in the field, in combat, in action.

But she also began to discern a softness, a gentleness that he could convey when he gathered her up after a surprising blast had knocked them both off their feet. Hands that smoothed back her hair from her forehead upon waking up in medical after a particularly dangerous mission. A warm hand on her shoulder as she successfully accomplished a challenging task. Arms that held her after a devastating loss.

She was aware that as her mentor, he had a responsibility to maintain a professional relationship. But with escalating frequency, she imagined how it would feel to have him pressed up against her, to feel his body, purposeful and confident. While not in a chokehold.

————

The evening was relaxed. Both of them, without the urgency of an upcoming mission to prepare, took the opportunity to simply rest and unwind. A seldom occasion. Feeling more and more at ease when they were together, she allowed herself a little space to test the waters. When engaging targets, if they seemed comfortable sitting in silence in her company, would they make direct eye contact? She took another small sip of her drink, savoured it for a moment, and swallowed.

Hmmm. She was very curious about Harry and she was feeling surprisingly playful. She wanted to try something. Let’s say an experiment in tradecraft. She waited until she caught his eye. He seemed amused and matched her eye contact with equal directness. She was pleased that he made eye contact and even more pleased when he maintained it. But he was a spy, after all. Making and maintaining eye contact would be elementary for him.

With a little cheekiness on her part, she raised her glass to her lips again and took a small sip. He did not waver. His eyes even took on a little bit of curious amusement. She held the scotch on her tongue, pulled it to the back of her mouth, rolled the scotch around a little bit longer than necessary, before she swallowed.

Neither of them would look away first. She gave him a half smile, half smirk, crinkled her eyes a bit in amusement. She seemed to be saying. Ok. Your turn.

He had never seen her in this kind of playful mood and Harry suddenly found himself enjoying this little match immensely.

He could more than participate in this game. He, literally, had decades more experience than her. An agent may be able to seduce. But a gentleman agent was a master at the art of seduction. And Harry Hart was the consummate gentleman agent. One did not get to where he was in life without knowing how to pleasure a woman. He was often told he had beautiful and talented hands. That may have been years ago, but those kinds of skills, they stayed with a man.

A quick raise of his brow. Darling, challenge accepted.

Holding her eyes with his, he lowered his glass just enough to where it was in her sight line, but slightly off to the side, at the edge of her peripheral vision. She would still be able to hold eye contact, but would have to make an effort not to glance down at his glass. Especially, when she saw what he was going to do with it.

He held her gaze suddenly with an intense focus she was unprepared for. Out of the corner of her eye she saw that he was holding his glass, cupping it in the palm of one hand. He began to simply roll it around gently, as one would while enjoying a proper scotch. He rolled it around harmlessly, in a slow, lazy, rhythmic pattern.

She had to concentrate a little harder not to look away, but she kept his gaze. If she was uncomfortable, she didn’t show it. She hoped her gaze held a similar intensity as Harry’s. His felt, well, piercing, for lack of a more appropriate word.

This was certainly turning out to be an interesting evening, Harry thought. She seemed determined to stick this through. He would be required to dial his technique up a notch. He nested the heavy base in the center of his palm and let it rest there for awhile without moving. Then, once again, he started rolling the glass in his hand, not to stir the liquid, but to feel the surface of glass itself. He bounced the glass, lightly, as if testing the weight and feeling the heaviness.

The movement was subtle, slow, and sensuous. He let his hand explore the texture of the smooth surface. The base of his thumb pressed against the glass in slow, languid circles, sometimes rolling on to the pad of his thumb, sometimes to his finger tip. But he did this as if he were doing it unconsciously, because he was staring at the young woman who sat in front of him with the focus and intensity that said she was the only woman on earth, and that he wanted her.

There was truth to the term, the male gaze. It was not looking at something through a man’s eyes, it was seeing into something as a man. There was a reason why they called this particular look penetrating. It was a gaze of desire, a singularly male want and need. If done properly, it was a way to make love to a woman without touching her. It was far beyond physical contact . It wasn’t hard for him to harness his essential masculine energy. He had done it for years on countless honey traps in his younger days with the agency.  He hadn’t thrown the full force of himself to seduce in quite awhile and found that he was enjoying a little flex of his muscle.  If desire had a name, at that moment, it would be called Harry Hart. He let his desire roll off of him in waves.

What she didn’t quite understand, was that the game she was playing with him, wasn’t about who could keep eye contact the longest. It was a question of who was going to be seduced and who was going to be the seducer. She was approaching what she thought was a staring contest as a battle of the wills, which was why she was going to fail. Making eye contact may be a test of power and confidence, but that was a quick, brief test. A simple meeting or a darting of the eyes. It was very easy to find out who was going to be able to make and hold contact. However, eye contact for a prolonged period of time, especially between a man and a woman? It became something quite different. It was a game of seduction. It wasn’t a test of power. It was a test of control. Control of two things in this case, the seducer’s own desire, and the desire of the other person. Could the seducer harness his own desire to control the seduced.

She had not faltered yet. He raised to single brow. Would you like me to keep going?

She narrowed her gaze. Please, do.

The expression on his face all but said out loud. “You asked for it.”

He saw the flush in her cheeks when she noticed what he was doing with his glass. Her breathing intensified. Her pupils dilated and there was nothing she could do to stop it.  

They were very small movements, but very deliberate movements. He cupped the bottom of the glass in one palm, fingers spread as if he were holding up a small tray. Using only his middle finger, the rest of his hand now cupping the base, he began to stroke the center of the glass. Like he was using his finger to say, come here. In very slow, very deliberate, beyond suggestive movements. His other hand simply rested on the top rim of the glass. Gently holding it in place while he moved his bottom hand. He did this without twitching another muscle in his body, as if nothing had changed.

Her eyes widened. Holy fuck, she thought. With very exact and explicit movements of his hands, he was not just implying, but overtly demonstrating how he used them to give pleasure to a woman. The shock of seeing him within the frame of something so blatantly sexual, all the while looking at her the entire time? It was intensely arousing.

He was not only looking at her, he was positively devouring her with his gaze. She could feel him, his energy in pulses of heat. This wasn’t merely eye contact. This was something unexpected and she was not prepared for it. Harry was suddenly changed, maybe not changed, but different. He was harder, stronger, more demanding. He was more of everything. The polite, honorable, considerate gentleman was still there,  but now he added an aspect of himself that she had never seen or experienced before. The man was still Harry, but it also as if a part of him had been unleashed, whatever primal energy that was held in check by the handsome suits and the manners and the chivalry, had been released.

She fought to maintain her composure. He knew exactly what he was doing. His hands moved expertly, and with ease. His gaze, became even more intense, if that was even possible.

He continued to play and to tease as he held the glass in his palm. She knew where he had his hand. She could feel the exact placement as if it were on her own body. The base of his palm would cup her center, with the rest of his fingers spreading between her legs. His middle finger was still moving in achingly slow circles, one direction, then slowly moving in the other direction. He curled his finger under, using his knuckle, rolling it in tiny circles. Not even really moving just shifting the pressure moving from one side to the other, from top to bottom.

She saw in his eyes, that he knew, that she was not only being affected by his movements, but she was feeling sensations as if he were touching her directly.

It was the most erotic experience of her life.

Here was this beautiful man, still dressed as properly as ever in his dress shirt and tie, his shoulder holster with his side arm. His perfect hair, his perfect face. With all his dignity and respect, relaxing comfortably back into his chair, his legs spread wide, an ankle crossed over his knee, one elbow resting casually on the arm of his leather chair. Radiating such a profound sexual energy, that without even touching her, had the ability to control her body with only his eyes and the the way he moved a glass in his hand. He was so confident in his movements. His expression said, however brief this moment, that he owned her, that she was his, and he knows that she wants it that way. He can see it all over her face. He can see it in her eyes.

——

He wasn’t even close to being done.

He took his other hand, laying his palm over the glass, as if it was resting there. On the other side of the glass, where his thumb fell, he began to roll it around in very explicit, very familiar circles.

He felt himself harden as his own arousal grew. He didn’t try to stop it. Instead of letting it distract him, he channeled that energy through him and into her. Allowing her to witness the physical evidence of his own desire would strengthen his hold. Never underestimate the power of the imagination. She would see it. Her mind would do the rest.

He saw her lips part, even the slightest bit. Her chest rising and falling under her ladylike blouse as her breathe quickened. Her knees pressed tightly together. He watched her face very, very carefully and intently, watching the subtle changes in her expressions as he shifted the movements of his hands, knowing that she was feeling his movements in her body. Every time her brow would furrow, or she took a sharp intake of breath, or would clench her pretty hands, as he moved his own, he knew she was feeling pleasure. And that he was the source of that pleasure.

He knew that there were men who were turned on by violence. For him, however, there was nothing more erotic than the sight of a woman experiencing the pleasure that you were giving her. So, he was especially aroused when he was free to look at the nuances of her face and body freely and openly. Her pleasure had reached a constant as she moved almost imperceptibly to the consistent rhythm of his hand.

And she still did not drop her eye contact. He knew, now that she was fully aroused, she would not break eye contact. She probably couldn’t at this point if she tried. For, half of her pleasure was a result of seeing the man who was controlling her pleasure. And seeing that she pleased him, that he was also sexually aroused, intensified her pleasure. And she wanted to offer that to him, very willingly. He was finding out much about her in these few moments. Things that he wasn’t even sure she knew about herself. Very few women would have been comfortable enough with their sexuality to be purely on the receiving end of pleasure. In the intimacy of their own bedroom in a committed relationship. Let alone in an extremely public and therefore vulnerable way. With a man who may be, slightly off limits. Which, in fact, probably added to her pleasure.

To see just how much she was under his thumb, pun aside, he paused for a moment. He kept his hand, his fingers in the exact same place. He just stilled. And watched her. After a few moments he could see the tiniest furrow of her brow. When he continued to remain still, he saw the movement he waiting for. She probably didn’t even know she had made it. It was the slightest lifting and rolling of her hips. He didn’t realize he could be more turned on, but he felt himself harden even more. It was the motion every woman made, in his experience, when they wanted more, when they were asking for more, and when they were begging for more.  The ability to actively listen and comprehend another person was the most profound influencing tactic one could hone in communication, and therefore seduction.  Which is exactly what he was doing. In a very non verbal, very physical way.

He began his movements again, with more intensity and purpose. He let his finger, for the first time, slide all the way up the side of the glass, even letting it lift with the upward movement of his palm. He saw her body move as if she were receiving him.

He knew she was experiencing waves of intense pleasure. He could tell she wanted to close her eyes and tip her head back. As he witnessed her need, he went in for his last movements. His palm pressing up into the base of the glass, his thumb rolling in small firm circles and his entire middle finger along the entire length of the glass, the tip almost reaching the top of the rim.  As if his finger were deep inside her, he made deliberate strokes while pressing into the glass, slow, but then gradually increasing in speed and pressure.

He knew, that she knew, the exact two parts he was pleasuring.

Her lips parted, her breathing grew heavier. She had no idea what was going to happen next, all she felt were waves of pleasure. The only thing she could concentrate on was not losing eye contact with the man in front of her.

Harry knew at this point, he had let what was a silly, flirtatious game, go too far. He also knew this began as a challenge, and Harry Hart was never one to back down from a challenge. He also knew that he never purposely lost a game. If it took climaxing for her to break eye contact, then so be it.

He also knew he was mesmerized by the sight of her. He didn’t know if he could stop. But it didn’t matter because he didn’t want to. This moment had to hit the list of the top most erotic experiences of his life. Both fully clothed, siting in separate chairs, more than six feet apart. With only eye contact between them. He didn’t know if he’d experienced something more intensely arousing, knowing that he was the one she was feeling when she made herself come.

He began to see the tell tale tremors, the quickening breath, her lips parting with cries that she desperately wanted to make that she would not let herself, and the dear girl, was still trying to hold on. Psychologically she was making it harder for herself, denying her own release would only make it that much more physically intense when she had to give in.

It was at that moment, that a door banged within the manor and someone appeared at the large entrance of the club room.

“Harry. That you?”

Damn it. It was Eggsy,

“Just headin’ out.” Eggsy called over. “What’s up? Looks like you two’re having a staring contest. Whose winning?”

“It’s a tie” Harry replied.

Eggsy held up his hand in a quick wave and left.

He glanced back over to Gwendolyn, where she was still trying to maintain eye contact, wait no, she was just staring into the space behind him, concentrating on something he could not see.

——

She knew she had to stop staring at Harry, so she looked past his shoulder into the empty space behind him. At this point, even the sight of him might set her off. She was still right at the cusp of her climax and her body was still so aroused she was afraid that any movement could push her over the edge. She wanted to tell Harry to leave, but she couldn’t think of a way without embarrassing or offending one or both of them. All she could do at the moment was sit quietly. So that’s what she did. She was waiting for her body to catch up with the rest of her and settle down. He was waiting patiently until she was ready to move or speak.

After a bit of time, she glanced over at him, made sure it was safe. It was, and she began to relax a little, though her body still felt like a flame that was ready to ignite with any hint of friction. She just needed to stay still for awhile.

She saw Harry watching her, his face both concerned and amused.

He broke the silence.

“And that, my darling,” he said pointedly. “Is how one create’s an effective honey trap.”

In an attempt to further diffuse the situation, he wanted to be frank and direct with her and not to brush what just happened under the rug. That would be awkward for both of them.  He did not want her to feel embarrassed or ashamed or uncomfortable with him or what had happened. The best way was to be as blunt as possible. He pushed down on his palms and rose out of his chair with minimal effort.

“My dear, I’ve been in the spy business for over 30 years. One does not get this far without knowing how to pleasure a woman.”

He winked at her.

“Not to worry, you’ll get there.”

He reached behind him for his coat, draped it over his arm, but not before she clearly noticed his own erection. Which before had just been a suggestion in the shadows. He’s hard!

The thought made her flame all over again.

“I need to take my leave. Will you be alright, here?”

All she could do is nod. She didn’t trust her voice yet.

Always the gentleman. He leaned over and brushed his lips against the top of her hair.

“Thank you for the lovely evening.”

She still couldn’t look directly at him so she turned her head slightly to the side and gave him a small nod. With a quick squeeze of her arm, she heard his departing footsteps. He was heading to the tunnels. He was going back into the city, He wouldn’t be staying at he manor. She didn’t know if she was glad or disappointed.

She was grateful to him for providing at least a somewhat graceful way to exit the situation, referring to the seduction technique that ALL agents are trained in. He was letting her chalk it up to a learning experience.

She opened her mouth. Nothing came out. She tried again.

“Fuck.”

It was the first word that she had said all evening.

——

“Fuck.”

Harry thought as he boarded the train back into the city. He had actually planned on staying at the manor, but with what just happened with Gwendolyn, he wasn’t sure if that would be the best course of action. It took all of his self control to remove himself from any temptation by leaving the place entirely. Making it impossible for him to act in a way that was inappropriate. Not that what had just happened would qualify as appropriate. At least it had the veil of a lesson on seduction. He wasn’t sure it would convince judges, but he found it a weak, but passable excuse.

Now, the problem for the moment was that all he could see was her face as he pleasured her. How her lips parted, and her breasts underneath her blouse, the flush of her cheeks. He wanted to hear what her cries would’ve sounded like. He wanted to be the one to make her cry out. His sex drive, always healthy, may have had a prolonged dormant period in recent times. But now it was raging like a fire that he unleashed and now he couldn’t put out. By letting the full force of it out this evening, it was fully awake and needed something to do. He had feared that if he had stayed at the manor even a moment longer, he wouldn’t have been able to help himself and would’ve taken her and had her right there.

If he could do that to her with his eyes and just the suggestion of his hands, he couldn’t imaging what it would be like pleasuring her with his entire body. He knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep until her took care of himself, and when he did, he would allow himself the sight of her trembling, responsive, body underneath his own as he gave her the pleasure he knew she so desperately wanted, him deep inside as he felt her body shudder around him when she climaxed, feeling his own release as he heard her cry out his name in pleasure.

———

If you got this far, thanks for reading! There will be additional chapters, but I thought this could stand on its own. Hope you liked it! Comments are always welcome and appreciated.

Also to come is a chapter when they finally get together :O (Smut is the main reason I started to write about Harry Hart anyway :)

[ilovereadingandilovebreathing]

Just Keep Swimming

Sorry not sorry. Also, this version has a read more. I swear I put one on the original post. :p

Summary: Virgil is the new kid (adult? kind of?) in school, and he’s still trying to navigate in unfamiliar waters. Thankfully, some more experienced fishies are more than willing to help.

Word Count:

1954

Genre: Teacher!Human!AU; slice of life

Characters: Virgil (Anderson), Logan (Foley), Patton (Thompson), Roman (Prince), Sleep (Remy Cordova), Deceit (Declan Anwir)

Warning for DECEIT and a lot of dumb teacher humor. School stuff. Self doubt. IDK what else.

Twain uses syntax. Twain also uses many different types of sentences- “Oh my god if I read this repetitive garbage one. more. TIME.” Virgil Anderson threw down his pen, sighed, and leaned back in the plastic chair, roughly running his fingers through his hair.

“What’s got you all worked up?” Roman Prince queried from the copy machine across the sizable work room.

“Apparently, Mark Twain uses syntax. Of course he uses syntax. Syntax is sentences. My god-” “I hear he also uses diction and chooses his words.” Roman teased as he strode past his co-worker with a mountain of copies in his arms. “So I hear.” Virgil mumbled, allowing the grin nipping at his lips to come to light. Roman could win every once in a while.

“How long have you been at that?” Roman paused at the door, cradling his papers on his hip like a baby. “Not too long. Just long enough to be fed up already. These are honors kids, for crying out loud. I know they have better thoughts than this.” “They do. They just don’t know it yet. Who’s giving you trouble?” “Giselle Wilson.” “Oo yeah, I had her last year. She’s a smart girl, really, but very much a verbal processor. Try doing writing conferences and talking through her thoughts. She does better that way.” “I don’t have time for that though. We’re already behind as it is-“ “Lesson plans are a formality, Virge. Lighten up.” “Says the man who’s been teaching for 5 years already.” “You’ll get there.” Roman flashed him one of his obnoxiously bright smiles. “I suppose losing your classroom during your planning period doesn’t help, but…it all settles in after the first few years.” “Yeah, if I last past the dropout stats. What is it? 20% in the first 3 years?” “It doesn’t matter because you won’t be one of them.” Roman replied shortly but not unkindly. “As I said, you’ll get there. As for me, I must get back to my domain before the serfs run amok.” “Oh my god, Roman; you left them alone?!” “Just for a few minutes.” Virgil eyed the precarious stack he was hauling. “They’re fine. They’re seniors. Some of them can vote and serve; they can handle themselves for 10 minutes.”  “Whatever you say.” Virgil rolled his eyes as the other sauntered away, turning back to his grading with another sigh. “Another day, another assignment to grade.” Virgil had just lapsed back into the flow of grading when the tap of footfall pulled him from his focus. “Oh, hello, Virgil.” Logan Foley paused inside the doorway. “I forgot you do your planning in here. I can come back later if you are trying to concentrate.” “No, it’s fine. I need a break anyway. Papers are painful.” “I understand the sentiment.” A shadow of a smile graced Logan’s lips as he sat across from Virgil. “My AP Language students are writing responses to past AP Examination prompts, and reading through them is taxing. My students often do well, but…I do always worry.” “That’s fair. But hey, Mr. Teacher of the Year, I think you’ll be fine.” Virgil nodded slightly. “They couldn’t have anyone better.” “Unless they have me.” Virgil visibly tensed as their red-headed colleague slunk into the room. 

“Your students’ scores have certainly been quite comparable to my own.” Logan conceded. “Of course.” Declan Anwir chuckled. “This place needed me desperately. You’re doing great and all, Logan, but one man can only do so much. Especially after all of that-“ “Do you mind? I’m trying to grade here.” Virgil snapped, gesturing to the papers spread out in front of him. “Not all of us have the luxury of a classroom during all periods.” “Of course. My mistake. I thought this was the teacher workroom, after all.” Virgil rolled his eyes after Declan rose and turned his back on them. “Anyway, I have a lot of grading to do. Those AP essays won’t score themselves.” He gave them a sharp wave and went out. “God, that guy gets on my nerves.” Virgil filed below his breath. “Sure his AP scores are high, but the kids hate his class. He’s a dictator. One of my past honors kids from last year broke down in Anime Club because of the workload in his class. It’s nuts!” “His methods may be…strict-” “Tyrannical.” “But the data is unarguable. His students get top scores.” “And that makes it all the worse…” “He is not a bad teacher, Virgil.” “He’s not a good one, either, though!-” Virgil caught himself and snapped his mouth shut; he inhaled deeply through his nose and unclenched his fists. “…So anyway, how is everything going? With….you know-“ “Clear as of the last check.” Virgil physically relaxed, his sharp gestures softening. “Good. Glad to hear it. But don’t hesitate to let us know if things aren’t good.” “Of course. I cannot thank you enough for everything you did for me when-“ “Well, hello, gentlemen!” Patton Thompson breezed into the room. “No one told me we were having a planning party!” “Not a party, Pat; just…a chat.” “Nice rhyme, Virge; you just might be a poet after all.” “Never again.” Virgil’s lip curled, and Patton exploded into giggles. “You teach English, silly goose; you’ll have to deal with it eventually.” “Yeah, Yeah-“ “So how are our freshman, Patton?” “Oh, they’re fine, as always!” Patton laughed as he headed toward a copy machine. “My precious babies. Still adjusting to high school life. It really is so hard.” “Pat, they’re 14, not 6.” Virgil muttered, the grievance not at all expressed in his expression. “They’ll be fine.” “Ooooooh I know, but I just want to scoop them up and take care of them, you know? They’re so helpless-“ Logan sighed. “They play on your kindness like a harp, Patton, and you know this. Yet you still give in.” “It’s just because they need the push, but they’re too scared to ask.” “Sometimes, I think you’re too soft for your own good, Pat.” Patton flashed his co-worker a grin before removing the warm papers from the finishing tray. “Soft inside; tough outside.” “Soft inside; soft outside, is more accurate.” Logan interjected seriously. “We’ll work on the tough part, Pat. I’ll teach you how to do a teacher scowl.”

“Don’t need it, but thanks for the offer!” Patton saluted. “They’re just fine with me as their Captain-”

“Don’t.” Virgil quipped.

“What?” Patton peered at his co-worker with his signature doe eyes.

“Don’t do it. I heard ‘Dead Poets Society’ through my walls yesterday. How many times a semester do you use that movie, anyway?”

“I use clips every chance I get! It really is a versatile film. I thought you liked that movie?!”

“I do, but hearing it quoted weekly makes it lose its appeal.” Patton’s jaw tightened, and Virgil backpedaled. “Sorry, Pat. I didn’t mean to go off on you like that. I just….It’s been a day.”

“Mass grading. I counseled you against such practices, Virgil.” Logan interjected. “It is not only harmful to you, but to your students’ grades-”

“I know. I know! I just….god, I agonize over grading. I start out so harsh, but then I worry that I’m too soft, and it’s all just so much.” Virgil slumped dejectedly, eyeing the stack of essays with malice. “And I have no one to blame but myself because I assigned them.”

“True that.” Patton shrugged. “That’s why I assign stuff that I’ll enjoy grading. And that meets standards and is good for the students, of course!” Patton giggled, swiping up his copies from the tray. 

“But you’re experienced and just…talented enough to do that. I’m not there yet.”

“But you will be one day.” Logan replied softly. “It takes time. Remember, you just got your Bachelor’s Degree. Patton and I both have our Doctorates and years of experience to drawn upon. You will get there. Be patient with yourself. Besides….if your students’ reactions to your activity last week was any indication, you are already off to a satisfactory start.”

“What was your activity?” Patton called over his shoulder.

“Nothing that great, really. It’s basically four corners. I put a scenario up on the board, and they go to one place or the other depending on their opinion. I try not to let them be in the grey area, and they have to argue their points to each other. It’s like an informal debate, and they get really into it.”

“I do not believe I have seen or heard your honors students be so rambunctious.” Logan commented.

“Yeah, sorry about that. They’re really passionate about Of Mice and Men, apparently. And the death penalty.”

“That one can definitely get people stirred up!” 

“Shaken or stirred, Patty, because there’s a difference.”

“Hey, Rem!” Patton greeted their sub-turned-part-timer. “Ready for the day shift?”

“You know it. I’m joe’d up and ready to flow!” Remy snapped a finger, the other hand grasping a coffee cup, as per usual. “Whatchya got goin’ on here, Toddler Teacher?” Remy gestured to Virgil’s piles. 

“Honors Lit. essays. This batch hurts.” 

“And so did the last one, but surely they’re getting better!” Remy pulled out a chair and sat backwards, resting his chin on his arms. “Shoot.”

“Twain uses syntax-”

“That’s all I need. You’re in for it, baby boy, but it’s normal. They’re still adjusting.”

“It’s week 3.”

“And they’ll be adjusting at week 13, too. They’re teenagers. It’s normal. You just gotta know when to hold their hands and when to let ‘em go.”

“You talk like you have teaching experience. Or parenting experience.”

“We’re their school parents, in a way, you know. Or at least, we can be.”

“I don’t think I’m at that stage yet. I think I’m still in the ‘weird older brother stage.’”

“Now don’t you say that, Virge!” Patton cut in. “Your kids love you!”

“Yeah because I’m…unconventional, I guess.”

“Because you’re a good teacher who does your best and cares about them! That’s all they want and everything they need.”

“True dat, Patty Pat.” Remy sipped at his frozen coffee.

“Sometimes it doesn’t feel like enough.”

“It is. Trust me.” Patton smiled warmly and jumped a bit when a sharp ringing sounded overhead. “You’d think I’d be used to that darn bell after all this time-”

“Well, they did change out the system this year. The pitch is higher and more shrill than it has been in the past.” Logan sighed, hauling himself from his chair. 

“It does it’s job, though.” Patton left with a wave, easily weaving into the sea of students in the crowded halls. 

“Time to get to it.” Remy slapped the back of his chair and rose, shouldering his laptop bag before placing a hand on Virgil’s shoulder. “Have a good one, kid.” He gave it a squeeze and disappeared into the mass of bodies as well.

“Are you managing well, Virgil?” Logan asked in a low tone, making direct eye contact. “Really?”

Virgil sighed deeply and gathered his papers and pens. “Yeah. ‘Well’ is a relative term, but I’m managing, that’s for sure.”

“Remember to inform me if that changes. We are here for you if you need us.”

“Thanks, Logan.” Virgil’s smile reached his eyes as he fell into stride beside the older teacher. “So, what were your kids doing yesterday? They got pretty loud, too.”

“Peer editing argument papers.” Logan replied, traces of a grin gracing his lips. “Some of them had opposing stances on the same topic, so I paired them together to gauge the result.”

“You’re a mad genius.” Virgil laughed out loud as they merged together into the current of teenagers, chatting until they reached their shared hallway and parted ways into their respective domains.  

[rankbooster786]

Driving lesson

So you have to pick a driving school for yourself or one of your relatives and you wonder - what driving school would be ideal for you? While the majority of driving schools would manage their responsibility competently, each school anyway may focus on their particular crowd and backing their particular arrangement of administrations which probably won't work for you independently. Driving lesson

The following are the primary checkpoints to consider while choosing a best driving school for you.

1.       Permit Types Your Driving School Supports. Check if your school gives preparing to vehicle drivers, bike drivers, business transporters, etc. Note, that school transport drivers ordinarily require extraordinary preparing.

2.       Target Audience. Check if your school gives exceptional courses to beginners, teenager drivers, seniors and drivers with incapacities. Youngster drivers generally require extraordinary preparing approach which is not the same as preparing for seniors. In the event that you are a crippled resident a vehicle for your driving preparing may require exceptional gear just as educators gifted in preparing of that sort of understudies.

3.       Your School's Total Years in Business. While the longest work history doesn't really mean the best preparing administrations, a long time in business could be considered as a significant marker that your Driving School realizes how to adjust to the tempestuous market and can withstand rivalry well.

4.       School Status in DMV. Numerous states give cutting-edge data about nearby driving schools, their appraisals, client criticism and so on In Canada, for instance, you can get a rundown of not-perceived Canadian driving schools in commonplace DMV sites, so you could sift through evident confounds immediately.

5.       Valuing Your School Offers. Contrast your school's evaluating with the valuing offered by different schools with the comparable driving preparing administrations. To dodge sudden costs give extraordinary consideration to the fine-print. Ensure that you see every concealed expense and charges. Request exceptional offers. Numerous schools offer exceptional bundles with limits which you may discover fascinating.

6.       Dialects of Instruction Your School Supports. We are a country of workers. On the off chance that you are not the local English speaker getting preparing in your first language could be critical for you. Check what dialects other than English are upheld in that driving school.

7.       Mentioning Male or Female Instructor. In the event that your family has solid social binds with your boondocks it very well may be significant for you to demand male or female educator for your child preparing. Ensure that your preferred driving school tends to your requirements here.

8.       Formal Training in Classes. Does your school give formal preparing in classes? In the event that yes - how long of formal preparing is incorporated into your charge? Note that while being helpful, in class preparing isn't compulsory and frequently should be possible on the web.

9.       In the driver's seat Training. Check how long you will get in the driver's seat preparing with that school. This is significant checkpoint. Too hardly any hours probably won't be sufficient to finish the assessment in DMV. An excessive number of hours may resemble a "cash arranged" school.

10.   Let loose Pick and Drop-off Services. Most driving schools give let loose pick and drop-off administrations for their understudies. Anyway these free administrations typically apply to explicit areas just (normally communicated in miles from driving school's fundamental office). On the off chance that your pickup/drop-off area is outside of the upheld region you actually can get/drop-off administrations however with certain conditions - for instance, the time a teacher drives from the school office to your area could be tallied towards your driving exercise time. Ensure that you twofold checked this standard with your school of interest.

11.   Achievement Rate. Most driving schools would gladly express that the achievement pace of their understudies is %99.99. Take these assertions with a punch of salt. Starting today - the achievement rate insights isn't formally followed by DMV; thus the greater part of such idealistic proclamations are the subject of sincere trust as it were. Hear a second point of view - ask your companions, partners or partners about your school of interest. You can likewise keep an eye on line assets, gatherings and web networks to hear the more extensive point of view pool.

12.   Free, No Obligation Initial Driving Lesson. A few schools give free, no commitment one hour preparing exercise for new understudies. Inquire as to whether your school has this offer - attempt it for nothing and really at that time settle on your ultimate choice.

13.   Collision protection Discounts. Many driving schools give accident protection limits to their understudies. Check if your school is one of them.

14.   Vehicle for Driving Test in DMV. By law, it is the obligation of the contender to give sheltered, operable vehicle for his test in DMV. Tending to this issue a few schools give limited or even free vehicle lease to their understudy for their test in DMV. Request this alternative from your school in the event that you can't give your own vehicle to DMV test.

15.   Vehicle Fleet. Solicit what types from vehicles your driving school will use for your preparation. Old, destroyed vehicles decline the assurance and won't assist with advancing your driving abilities in an ideal way. Other than that more up to date vehicles are generally more secure. Anyway don't be over dazzled by new vehicles gladly publicized by certain schools - new vehicle alone won't supplant educator's experience and his expert aptitudes. Thus, utilize this checkpoint with alert.

Gist

Experience the choice check list gave above and you will get the best driving school you are searching for.

Note, that numerous from above examined questions can be replied without leaving your home.

For instance, you can locate all driving schools in your area utilizing web based driving school registries.

Attempt web based driving permit tests on the off chance that you like to skirt discretionary in-class-instructional courses in driving school office. Those tests are accessible in the web for nothing or for entirely sensible expense on the off chance that you are searching for additional inside and out preparing.

Call Dallas Leading Driving School to Clear the Test. Khan Driving School has the fully professional driving instructors who teach driving lessons at the fun way in all over Melbourne. Read more

[thiqgruvz]

Interview With an Advanced Music Student

The interviewee requested that this song be linked for your enjoyment while reading. Hope you enjoy!

This week, I’ll be interviewing one of my own music students, a talented young musician and visual artist who grew up both in Iran and in the U.S. She plays the piano brilliantly, with roots firmly planted in both western classical training and the jazz idiom, and with another flavor loosely reminiscent of Persian Traditional music that makes her approach to music making unique. Although she’s not yet 20, her playing is sensitive and emotional in a way that betrays her own breadth of experience and meticulous emotional awareness, much like captivating pull of her gentle yet mysterious shaded drawings. Although she’s requested to remain anonymous, she’s agreed to do this interview with me, for which I’m very grateful and excited, as I feel that her perspective is unique and refreshing, and a wonderfully relatable example of the human experience from living a life colored by an enormous variety of experiences and skillsets (including speaking three languages by the time she was 15) while slowly becoming more and more drawn to an art form until fully committing and rapidly evolving into a force to be reckoned with.

Q: How did you first come upon the piano? I recall you once mentioned that your family moved into your current house and the old owners had left their baby grand piano behind. Did you have access to a piano before that sparked your interest, or was it mostly curiosity until circumstances brought an instrument to you?

A: Actually in Iran, we moved to my grandparents’ house for a year, and we had a piano there because my grandma played piano. I used to dance as she played, and that got me into it. We moved to our apartment and got a piano there, which is where I started taking lessons, but that only lasted a few months. The teacher was sort of mean and she discriminated because she saw me as American. My next brush with it was in school where I got a rudimentary understanding of technique and started getting more into playing.

Q: How about visual art? When did you realize you felt an affinity for drawing?

A: I always liked to draw. My mom really encouraged us to do art and was very supportive of our artistic outlets. Even as early as kindergarten, it was also emphasized in school as well. I took drawing classes in Iran briefly, but it was mostly copying existing drawings and I quickly became bored, but continued drawing and making other visual arts on my own.

Q: When we first met, you already had a solid background in music despite relatively little formal training. Could you describe some of your earliest influences? What caught your attention about musical expression as a whole?

A: Well, my whole family was into music even though they didn’t really play instruments or study. They always had a respect for music and my mom introduced us to music from all over the world, from traditional to pop. My grandmother also used to love to sing and would teach me rounds to sing with her. When I was little, I wanted to grow up and become a musician, although at the time I was focused on vocal. The beginning of my education in public school introduced me to the basic mechanics of instrumental music in the form of melodies and chords on piano.

Q: As you improve as a musician and composer, what aspects of the craft have you realized were drastically more or less reccurrent themes than you thought they would be upon first exposure?

A: Before my public school experiences, I sort of though that music just happened. Like it came naturally and people expressed themselves how they might express thoughts but without the grammar…As soon as I tried writing my own however, I realized that structure was very much a part of it and that I needed to learn about this structure in order to express myself in a controlled way, much like the grammar I thought I was escaping.

Q: Were there things that seemed hard in the beginning but after practice were not, or things that seemed easy, but further nuance or higher standards for technique made difficult? And conversely, did you ever feel an improvement in technique hindering expressive capabilities that came naturally to you before you began training?

A: At first, I found the coordination of the two hands to be extremely challenging. I still think it is, but it definitely improved with practice, although it could be intimidating. I find that on the flip side there is a certain exercise-i-ness that comes into my playing as a result of stricter exercise type things I play during practice. I sometimes wish I could just play and not worry about my technique, but I’m always self-conscious about my technique when it comes to fluidity on the instrument.

Q: As you reach new levels, how has your perspective about the meaning of what you do changed?

A: Um… I’ve definitely taken music more to heart if that makes sense. It’s helped me to appreciate music a lot more as I learned about the challenges and teamwork involved… it made me respect musicians on a whole other level. Through training and becoming more aware of musical concepts, I’ve also really started viewing it more as a spiritual thing than “just music,” whatever that may mean to people. I guess music means many different things for many different people. Once I got really into it, it started to shape my life though and has taught me a lot of self-discipline. It’s also taught me a lot about self-worth and self-esteem. It motivates me to continue in my daily life when I face adversity outside of a musical context.

Q: Do you think your individual sound or identity as a musician relates more to your own cultural lens, such as real life experiences with your family and others in Iran and in the states, or more to the music or other art you’ve consumed and been influenced by? Further, if you think your art is mostly informed by other artists, what role do you believe your own life experiences play in the musical decisions you make? After all, your music is ultimately your expression of yourself in some form or another.

A: I think it’s a bit of both to be honest… I feel like my life experiences help me put more emotion into my work. I’m not really thinking of anything in particular about my life when playing necessarily, but music is absolutely about telling a story, and I think the emotional stories I tell with my music definitely have some basis in things I’ve lived. Listening to other musicians, I’ve definitely borrowed aspects from the work of other musicians that have resonated with me and found my own expression in their voices. I think on some level the collage of my heroes represents me.

Q: I feel like as our level shifts, although we’re always struggling with and working to improve at something, the things we can empathize with, excuse, or even not notice change. As a student who’s rapidly improving and grappling with challenging and complex topics, what advice do you have for students who are a little bit earlier in their journey than you are now?

A: Definitely keep pushing, even if you wanna throw your instrument out of the window. The more I pushed, the more I became competent at expressing myself musically, and I think a lot of my frustrations had come from the inability to do that. Practice things that challenge you, because even if it hurts and makes you feel bad to struggle with something like that, it’s the only way to move forward. That idea of pushing through adversity taught me about the world in addition to just music. Between that and the stories I’ve heard behind particular pieces of music and artists, I realized that music has a profound impact on people and can drive sociocultural change. It really is a universal language, and as a language lover, it’s definitely one I’d like to continue to cultivate.

Q: Certainly there’s overlap between the music you’re playing and studying and the music you’re listening to, but how would you categorize the role of the music we study and analyze compared to the music you seek out for listening pleasure or even encounter in your daily life such as in stores, movies, or the radio?

A: I think the music that we study for analysis benefits me because it teaches me about the history and framework of how music works. I’ve also grown a general appreciation for that, so when I listen for pleasure, I also listen for the structures that we analyze because I find that enriching to my soul. I think it’s really fascinating to see through to WHY we find pleasure in the music that we do and what makes it sound right. I guess I analyze some music just for the purpose of analysis, but I also analyze the music I listen to for pleasure, and I listen for pleasure to the music I analyze sometimes as well, so it all sort of bleeds into each other. To continue to develop our ability to analyze, we have to analyze different types of music to get a better picture of the whole.

Q: Although in an academic setting we describe what is happening in music largely in terms of music theory, and almost separately how the colors found in that theory make us feel in the particular musical context of a song, the most important takeaway is certainly how it makes us feel and what imagery it invokes or what experiences it enhances… What would you say the one primary commonality between all the music that touches you is, if there is one?

A: They all have intent to express. Some musics have resonated with me in the past and later on they didn’t touch me in the same way, but I understand that that’s due to a shift in my own headspace, and those musics are for those people in their headspace, so I think in general the music is for people to empathize with or get inside of or even release from a particular state of being.

Q: How has your musical taste changed since the beginning of your study? Would you describe this as a linear evolutionary process relating to the breadth or your awareness, or sort of a non-linear steeping effect where you learn through osmosis from all the music at once and after the fact apply it to the rest?

A: It definitely shifted the more I listened to a greater variety music. I have a greater appreciation for complexity now because I’m able to derive emotional experience from increasingly complex and nuanced music rather than becoming lost or overwhelmed by it and seeking more accessible forms of solace. Realizing that made me want to improve myself and my mind to be able to connect with it on a deeper level. I admire that it makes me think, and I feel that it’s capable of delivering a more multifaceted emotional picture to such a point where I still appreciate simple music on a mood-making level, but it no longer provides the same emotional stimulation if it ever did, so I’d say it’s been fairly linear yes.

Q: Given that you’re also an excellent visual artist, do you see your music fitting together with your visual art in the future?

A: Aw thank you! I definitely do! Even if I do make standard format albums in the future, I don’t want to reduce my visual art to just album covers. I have to think about that a lot more though, I’m not really sure what final form it will take, but I’ve been tossing around the idea of animated shorts that highlight the themes and imagery in the music to create a multimedia experience for more visual individuals, and to sort of ground some more complex music with an experiential story.

[arabellaflynn]

Two of my housemates are learning things on the Duolingo app right now -- I think one of them is doing French and the other Spanish, but don't quote me on that. I signed up for the free version, and currently have nine languages running, because that'll keep me from getting bored and blowing through the entire skill tree on any one of them in like three days. I've spent the past two hours poking at it, because I currently have one of those plagues that's long on extra snot and short on oxygen, and I can do nothing that takes me more than lunging distance from a box of tissues. Au début, j'ai découvert que je fais du français encore assez bien, lorsque je me suis remplie des drogues. Duolingo will give you a fluency score; it tops out around 50-60%, because Duolingo isn't life, and right now my French hovers around 53%. It would probably be higher, but I'm far enough into it that it's asking me to translate things that can be said in a number of slightly different ways, and my first guess is not always the exact one the program wants. It's an irritating variation on the Guess What Verb The Parser Knows game from the old Infocom text adventures, particularly when I know full well that if I had said it that way to an actual human, it would have worked fine. It sometimes wants precise translations and sometimes wants contextual equivalents, and sometimes it wants precise translations that are just plain ol' wrong on both counts. The French lessons, for instance, translate the pronoun on as 'we'. It is not; on is the impersonal "one", as in "One speaks French in France." Inasmuch as it is a third-person singular pronoun, it takes the same verb conjugations as he, she, and it. If you would rather translate it into the less-formal English equivalent, it almost always maps to the impersonal "you", as in "You speak French in France." Also irritating, and sometimes obstructive, is that Duolingo does not explain grammar. The sets of lessons might be captioned 'Prepositions', but it never explains what a preposition is, nor is it very good at taking into account the fact that some of them mean slightly different things depending on context, and there is not a one-to-one correspondence to prepositions in English. You get present-tense verbs without an explanation that the 'verbs' and 'is verbing' forms are the same in French/German (and not the same in Spanish or Japanese). It really plays fast and loose with the Japanese translations, where it will demand you guess the exact pronoun it wants despite the fact that this information is literally nowhere in the sentence they want you to translate -- Japanese often leaves pronouns off, and since Japanese doesn't conjugate for subject you can't reconstruct it with 100% accuracy from an out-of-context phrase. These inconsistencies are especially rage-inducing when you're doing the bonus skills, like flirting or idioms. Duolingo expects you to guess what things mean by looking at how they're used in a sentence, but because they want the equivalent idiom in English, and never give the exact translation of the French one, they're fucking up the pattern you're supposed to be picking up. Their translation of Ça va, ça vient is "On again, off again", which is not what those words say. Le monde appartient à ceux qui se lèvent tôt = "The early bird catches the worm." Nope! Sauve qui peut is rendered as "Run for your life!", which is often what it means, but it literally says "Save who/that which can (be saved)!" It would also be used if, say, someone tipped a pitcher of beer all over the table and wanted everyone to jump forth and rescue their own phones and wallets. The idiom they render as "You can't have your cake and eat it too," is actually, "One cannot (concurrently) have (both) the butter and the money for butter." They also at some point teach you the word for cake, and it is not beurre. The languages are also inconsistent in whether they'll let you answer in the Latin alphabet. The Esperanto lessons will take the ASCII-based x-transliterations (Esperanto requires letters like ĵ, ĝ, ŝ, and ĉ, which so far as I know are unique to that language, and require hotkeys on a QWERTY keyboard), but Russian immediately demands you go find a Russian IME or keyboard. They do not have any lessons teaching you the Cyrillic alphabet. They just throw words at you and expect you to work it out on your own. I'll bet they don't do that when they're teaching Russian kids to read. The Asian languages will only ask you to type when translating things to English; both the Japanese and Korean lessons have you build your Japanese/Korean answers by picking the words you want out of a list of options. The Japanese lessons generally use revised Hepburn romanization, which is one of the two common standards, and comes out okay; they use Revised Romanization for the Korean, and it's fucking awful. The correspondence between what the hangul block literally says, what the voice pronounces, and the Roman letters that represent it is appallingly poor, to the point where I was doing better when I turned the sound off. The vowels are fine and pretty well disambiguated, but there appears to be very little consistency to how the consonants are transcribed. The same phoneme is R at the start of syllables and L at the end; the simple final stop might be b, g, t, tt, k, or kk, and the one the romanization uses does not always reflect the actual Korean letter(s) used in the han. They also never explain what the jamo are or how you assemble them into han, which effectively means they are trying to teach you hangul by the same brute-force memorization method as hanja. There is perfectly good logic behind how you build those blocks -- which means you can disassemble them to sound words out -- so this is stupid and wrong. They don't have any Arabic lessons for speakers of anything I could stumble through a language course in. Given the state of the Korean, that might be a good thing. If anyone else is entertaining themselves with Duolingo, I'm Arabella Flynn on there. Feel free to add me as a friend. from Blogger http://ift.tt/2xfj8CR via IFTTT -------------------- Enjoy my writing? Consider becoming a Patron, subscribing via Kindle, or just toss a little something in my tip jar. Thanks!

[harryseducation]

Education and The Law

The Law on home education in England

Home education is legal throughout the UK, although the laws in the four areas of the UK (England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales) are not exactly the same.

It is simply where a parent takes responsibility for their children’s education rather than registering them with a school.

Education is compulsory but not necessarily by attending a school.

“According to the 1996 education act in England and Wales, it is parents (not the state) who are responsible for providing their children’s education ‘at school or otherwise’. Their education must be suitable for the age, ability and aptitude of each child. The same wording is used in Northern Ireland. Scottish law says that ‘every child has a right to an education, and it is the duty of the parent of every school age child to provide that education, either by sending the child to school, or by other means.”

Home educators in the UK do not have to be trained teachers, nor do they need any special qualifications to educate their children.                          

The law requires that all children are to be educated from the start of the school term following their fifth birthday all the way through until they are 18. At this older age the child must be in education, employment or training.

Education at home does not mean you are bound by school hours or term times.

A child educated at home is more likely to receive one-on-one contact and there are no times lost from moving to class to class, disruptions, assemblies, fire drills and so on.  A home educated child is more likely to receive the parents full attention as there are not 20+ other children to attend to.

Some children do not fit in the school system, like my son, Harry, he could not cope in school, completed next to no work for his last six months there, and so fell behind his peers. He has learnt so much more since being educated at home. He is eager to learn now that he can.

You do not require a private tutor to come in and teach your child, however if you wish to have a tutor for some subjects you are allowed to do this.

You do not need to keep a log of what you have done with your child, however many families do like to keep a blog, website, facebook or twitter page, youtube channel or scrapbook in order to keep some sort of record of what they have been doing and/or to show family and friends.  

I have all of the above! I want to show off all the things we do together as a family and share our experiences with others. I find that my children remember in more detail some of our experiences when they can look back at the pictures and things we have collected along the way.

It is also a great way to connect with friends, family, other home educators, and others when they show an interest!

Education Act 1996 (England and Wales)

“Duty of parents to secure education of children of compulsory school age: The parent of every child of compulsory school age shall cause him to receive efficient full-time education suitable— (a) to his age, ability and aptitude, and (b) to any special educational needs he may have, either by regular attendance at school or otherwise.” (Section seven)

This means that education must be suited to the abilities and aptitudes of the particular child and not some programme. So, what does “efficient” and “suitable” mean?

Efficient and Suitable

Efficient has been broadly described as an education that “achieves that which it sets out to achieve” and A suitable education is one that “primarily equips a child for life within the community of which he is a member, rather than the way of life in the country as a whole, as long as it does not foreclose the child’s options in later years to adopt some other form of life if he wishes to do so”. (Mr Justice Woolf in the case of R v Secretary of State for Education and Science, ex parte Talmud Torah Machzikei Hadass School Trust. 12 April 1985.)

You are not required to:

* teach the National Curriculum * have a timetable * have premises equipped to any particular standard * set hours during which education will take place * have any specific qualifications * make detailed plans in advance * observe school hours, days or terms * give formal lessons * mark work done by their child * formally assess progress or set development objectives * reproduce school type peer group socialisation * match school-based, age-specific standards.

The Department of Education does recommend the following weekly teaching hours for children in a school, as well as those receiving an education at home 21 hours for children aged 5 to 7         (4.2 hours a day) 23.5 hours for children aged 8 to 11    (4.7 hours a day) 24 hours for children aged 12 to 18     (4.8 hours a day) for 38 weeks of the year.

Now, if like us, you work through the schools holidays and some weekends then that daily teaching time could effectively be lower. However, with Harry and many other children educated at home, they don’t do less just because they can, they tend to cover more than they would at school. In fact, with IGCSE’s, many home educated children complete a two year course in much less a time due to having more time to study.

It is worth remembering that whilst these amount of hours are recommended, children in school receiving the same amount of hours do not get full on one to one help and supervision. They do more than one subject each day so time is wasted when changing books or moving to another classroom or even school area.

A child at home has, more often than not, immediate contact with the educator for guidance, so lessons/learning time tends to last longer than they would at school. There is no, or little, moving around from lesson to lesson area, and the child is not fighting for the attention to get help in order to complete work.

Children learning at home can work at a slower pace if needed.

The opportunity to learn more on a subject than you would at school is greater too.

In a school setting the teacher allows a certain amount of time for each activity or set piece of work, this allows each pupil a chance to ask for help, allows some pupils more time than others need, and ensures that the work gets completed.

However, at home, there are less children and so what may take an hour in a school setting may only take 15 minutes at home. This means a child educated at home is able to complete more work in that same time frame.

The opportunity to learn is all around us so it is important to not worry too much about sitting at a table all day in order to learn. We took a trip to the beach recently and the children took some activity learning sheets on the train with us, they did not see it as learning until we got home and I told them to place it in their learning folders.  They also had a talk with the life guard on duty, again they did not think of it as learning until they realised they had learnt from it.

Have fun with learning!

What do I have to teach?

Compulsory subjects at school are as follows

English                                 Maths Science Design and Technology Computing History Geography Art and Design Music Physical education, including swimming Ancient and modern foreign languages Citizenship (keystage 3&4) Sex education  (keystage 3&4)

The Government says that If your child attends school at a later date it is advisable to be aware of what is taught in schools for each year group (the national curriculum) so that they are not at a disadvantage with their peers. I can assure you that this is not always the case. A child can enter or re enter school at any stage without prior knowledge of what schools have taught in the year groups they have been at home for.

The National curriculum does not need to be followed at home as it does in school, however some home educators do loosely follow it, examples can be found on these sites

Government website for National curriculum and National curriculum

The National Curriculum sets targets for what each year group should have knowledge of. This is then interpreted by the teacher in the form of lesson ideas and projects in the classroom.

For example if a target for a year 3 pupil states ‘introduction to decimals, basic understanding of decimals’ this would mean that the teacher will teach the class of year 3’s basic decimal understanding. The teacher will possibly print some worksheets or use the whiteboard and the children will write in their maths books.  So, if you were following the curriculum at home you could go online and print some worksheets off or go into a store such as wh smith and buy a workbook for age 8-9 and the book will cover basic decimal understanding for that age range.

With so many readily available workbooks and worksheets, lesson ideas and information sites online, it is so easy to find work suitable for your child.

There are lots of workbooks based on the curriculum that you can find in shops like Waterstones, Wilkinson and WH Smith. We use a variety of workbooks. The workbooks cover a small age range and cover the Governments guidelines. A workbook will save you having to find the same resources to print off online.

How much will an education at home cost?

There are no funds available for home educators but it really does not have to be  expensive.

There are plenty of websites that offer free worksheets, lesson plans, and online work.

You may wish to purchase second workbooks or share and swap with other educators. A book labelled workbook does not need to be used in way of writing in the book, you can practise more handwriting by asking the questions and getting your child to write the question in a different book as well as the answer.

You could also use it just as a guide and modify the questions.

Local Authority

The Local authority will write to you once they have received notification from your child’s school that they have been removed from the register.

You are under no obligation to invite them into your home or to meet them in a neutral place, such as your local library, to provide them with any information regarding how you will educate your child at home. You may send them an educational philosophy.

Many home educators do allow visits, but there are many more that do not. Now this is where lot’s of home educators have positive and negative contact with their local authority. Some families have a great relationship with their local authority, others do not. Education Act 1996

“(1) If it appears to a local education authority that a child of compulsory school age in their area is not receiving suitable education, either by regular attendance at school or otherwise, they shall serve a notice in writing on the parent requiring him to satisfy them within the period specified in the notice that the child is receiving such education.” (Section 437) How these formal enquiries are to be conducted is further laid out in the 1996 act. They are also addressed in the government guidelines to LAs re electively home educated children, published by the DCSF (now renamed DfE) in November 2007 which advise that:

2.8 “Prior to serving a notice under section 437(1), local authorities are encouraged to address the situation informally. The most obvious course of action, if the local authority has information that makes it appear that parents are not providing a suitable education, would be to ask parents for further information about the education they are providing. Such a request is not the same as a notice under section 437(1), and is not necessarily a precursor for formal procedures.”

*The authority therefore has no duty toward a home-educated child unless it appears to them that a child is not in receipt of a suitable education. In such a case, the parent will need to ask, “Can it reasonably appear to the local authority that my child is not in receipt of a suitable education?” (Bear in mind that, if they have no information at all, the LA can make that assumption.) It is reasonable to ask if the authority has cause to think the education is not suitable so that you can address their concerns directly.

If the local authority has no information concerning the educational provision of a child in their area, they have the right (but not the duty) to make enquiries of the parents to ascertain whether they have a duty toward the child (eg: provision of school place, or section 437 duty.)

The guidelines state:

2.7 “Local authorities have no statutory duties in relation to monitoring the quality of home education on a routine basis.”

Summary 2

LAs must respect the wishes of parents in relation to the education of their children.

LAs have a duty to act only if it appears to them that a child is not receiving suitable education

Government guidelines advise LAs to first address the situation informally While LAs can ask for information, they have no duty to monitor home education ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Children Missing Education:

You may hear from your local authority that they need to speak to you because they have to keep a register of “Children Missing Education.” (CME)

Government guidelines state:

2.6 “Local authorities have a statutory duty under section 436A of the Education Act 1996, inserted by the Education and Inspections Act 2006, to make arrangements to enable them to establish the identities, so far as it is possible to do so, of children in their area who are not receiving a suitable education. The duty applies in relation to children of compulsory school age who are not on a school roll, and who are not receiving a suitable education otherwise than being at school (for example, at home, privately, or in alternative provision.) The guidance issued makes it clear that the duty does not apply to children who are being educated at home. ”

Repeat: children missing education register - The guidance issued makes it clear that the duty does not apply to children who are being educated at home

The Role of the State: Child Welfare

As a home educator, you may hear from your council that they have a welfare or safeguarding duty in relation to your home-educated child. Education Act 2002: states:

“(1) A local education authority shall make arrangements for ensuring that the functions conferred on them in their capacity as a local education authority are exercised with a view to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children.” (Section 175)

The thing to remember about this is that the duty applies only when carrying out the functions conferred on them.

*There is no general duty to check child welfare conferred on them.

*Local authorities do not have a duty to ensure the safety of your child.

The Home Education Legal Guidance for Local Authorities states, in relation to this:

2.12 “Section 175(1) does not extend local authorities’ functions. It does not, for example, give local authorities powers to enter the homes of, or otherwise see, children for the purposes of monitoring the provision of elective home education.”

2.15 “As outlined above, local authorities have general duties to make arrangements to safeguard and promote the welfare of children (section 175 Education Act 2002 in relation to their functions as a local authority and for other functions in sections 10 and 11 of the Children Act 2004). These powers allow local authorities to insist on seeing children in order to enquire about their welfare where there are grounds for concern (sections 17 and 47 of the Children Act 1989).  However, such powers do not bestow on local authorities the ability to see and question children subject to elective home education in order to establish whether they are receiving a suitable education.”

Summary 3 CME does not apply to children who are being educated at home Local authorities have no general duty to check child welfare Local authorities do not have a duty to ensure the safety of your child There is no duty to monitor elective home education There is no power to question children to establish whether they are receiving a suitable education

[discoverearlychildhoodedu]

Do Kids Need Preschool?

  The child is the father of the man, noted poet William Wordsworth. While that 19th century observation may sound sexist, what Wordsworth meant remains true. What happens in childhood has a huge influence on the man or woman that youngster eventually becomes. Preschool can make a profound difference in the life of a child. The answer to the question, “Do kids need preschool?” is a resounding “Yes!”, but there are equally viable alternatives to traditional preschool.

Preschool is not synonymous with daycare; the key word is “school.” Preschool offers an academic curriculum geared to 3- to 5-year-olds. During preschool, they learn the basic skills to prepare them for further education, along with how to play well with others. With daycare, the emphasis is on care. It is a place for parents to leave their children in a safe environment while they work. Daycare does offer socialization opportunities, but educational opportunities are more limited if they exist in any formal capacity.

Preschool hours adhere to those of other schools, while daycare hours do not follow a school schedule. Kids in daycare may range in age from infants to those in elementary school, coming in after school hours, rather than the 3- to 5-year-old preschool range.

  Negatives

Positives

Kids Gain From Preschool

Long-Term Benefits

Preschool Alternatives

Negatives

– Costs Standard preschool is not cheap. While the costs vary according to the region and type of preschool, the average parents can expect to spend between $400 and $1,000 per month on private preschool. For many families, spending that kind of money on preschool isn’t possible. Daycare is also costly, with the average family spending $972 per month for Monday through Friday full-time care in a licensed facility. However, most children attend preschool for about three hours in the morning or three hours in the afternoon, not the entire day.

– Short-term benefits While studies show that children who attended preschool have an advantage over those who did not in kindergarten through second grade, the Fade-out Effect then sets in. The Fade-out Effect refers to studies showing that the advantage that preschool gives children over those who do not attend preschool fades out by the third grade. As time passes, the academic benefits enjoyed by children who attended preschool tends to diminish. However, much depends on the quality of the child’s further education. Attending a good quality preschool is not going to make as much of a difference if the child’s subsequent schooling is inadequate. One issue is that, in kindergarten teachers may have to spend a lot of time helping children who did not go to preschool learn what preschoolers already know. Having to go over a lot of material they have already mastered is not helping the child who has attended preschool move forward.

Positives

– What Kids Learn in Preschool Kids are learning all the time. At this age, they are curious about everything and ready to soak up knowledge. Preschool allows children to develop and boost their language, cognitive, social, and emotional skills, along with an introduction to academics. Preschool is a child’s introduction to this type of educational structure and promotes later school readiness.

While in preschool, expect your child to learn:

Numbers

Counting

Colors

Shapes

Letters

Preschool also aids kids in developing fine motor skills, refined as they work on arts and crafts projects. Outdoor play and dancing boost gross motor skills, while spending time away from parents and in the company of kids their age increases their social and cooperation skills.

Children may learn to perform basic tasks, giving them a sense of responsibility. That may entail watering a plant, setting the table for snacks, or being asked to help another child who needs help with a task with which your child is familiar. Kids learn simple but essential things like washing their hands before eating their snacks, sitting in a circle and paying attention to the teacher, raising their hands to ask a question, and waiting their turn for various endeavors. This structure will serve them well as they move on to kindergarten.

Early Child Development Theories to Learn More About:

The Theory from Jean Piaget

The Theory from Lev Vygotsky

Kids Gain From Preschool What They Can’t at Home

Some parents may dismiss preschool as just kids playing, singing, and the like. However, playing allow kids to interact with other children and learn important social skills, while singing helps them develop language and enhance their communication abilities. When playing games, kids learn about teamwork and sharing. While kids can learn some of these skills at home, experienced preschool teachers help reinforce what parents teach their children while adding enriching learning experiences. Kids also need other children their age with whom to play and learn. Most parents cannot repeat these critical opportunities regularly with their child’s peer group. Keep in mind that during a child’s first five years their brains make connections that affect them throughout their lives.

Preschools should include play areas that children may not have at home, as well as lots of toys and props. In play kitchens, with stoves and sinks at their level, kids can pretend to cook and serve meals to each other. They can set up a pretend store and sell items to their classmates, taking turns as buyers and sellers. The only limit is their imagination.

At a good preschool, the teacher should give you a daily report on your child, including areas in which they excel and those in which they need a little more work. A third party, such as a preschool teacher, may notice things about your child of which you are unaware. Perhaps the teacher sees that your child does not know how to join a playgroup with other kids, and can recommend ways in which he or she can start playing with the others. Parents meet regularly for parent/teacher conferences for more in-depth updates on your child’s progress.

Long-Term Benefits

There is no question that the preschool experience benefits children going into kindergarten because these kids are already exposed to what is expected of them in a group setting and the classroom. The question is whether preschool offers children any benefits beyond kindergarten and first grade, and the answer is affirmative. These benefits extend over a lifetime.

The HighScope Perry Preschool study tracked two groups of youngsters, half of whom attended preschool and half who did not, until age 40. Preschool attendees entering middle age were more likely to graduate from high school, hold a job, and were less likely to have a criminal record.

When it comes to the national Head Start program, a preschool program for children from low-income families, data shows participants were nearly 9% more likely to enroll in college, and 19% more likely to receive a degree. In adulthood, Head Start participants also had lower levels of obesity, depression, and fewer criminal convictions than their peers who did not enter a Head Start program.

Preschool Alternatives

Good preschools are not cheap. Not every family can afford the costs, but there are less expensive preschool options for your consideration. Sometimes, a parent may replace part or all of preschool tuition via volunteering. Parents can get together and form their own preschools based on approved curriculum.

Parents can substitute much of what a child learns in preschool with other viable options. Here are just a few possible preschool alternatives:

– Preschool Co-operatives Parent volunteers run co-operative preschools, so they are less expensive than standard preschools if you can spare the time. While the co-operative preschool employs teachers, parents do much of the other necessary work, including administration, cleanup, and preparing snacks. This lowers operational costs, keeping the need for paid staff at a minimum. For parents with flexible schedules, preschool co-operatives are a good alternative to traditional preschools. Those whose schedules don’t offer flexibility will probably find a better fit elsewhere.

– Home School Co-operatives (That Include Preschoolers) Home school co-operatives for preschoolers are inexpensive options if parents can find a suitable group. Although there is a curriculum for home-school co-operatives, such groups do not necessarily have certified teachers involved. Instead, these co-ops consist of parents with similar-aged children who meet regularly, usually at one another’s homes, and the parents work with the children on academic skills and let them play together. Home school co-operatives are informal and less structured than other types of preschools.

– Structured At-home Play Sometimes, preschool isn’t a possibility for financial or other reasons, but that doesn’t mean a parent cannot impart some of what their child would learn at a preschool in the home. Structured play, also known as play with a purpose, are activities teaching youngsters specific skills through play. The parent or another adult serves as the instructor, helping the child reach the desired goal. Structured play may also include puzzles, board games, or incorporating play and learning into daily household tasks. When a preschooler takes specific lessons from a teacher, such as dance or music, or is involved in sports activities, those are also versions of structured play.

– Online Programs Online programs can help prepare your child for school. Popular programs like ABC Mouse teach not only the basic academic skills like letter and number recognition, but also help kids learn life skills such as getting dressed and toothbrushing. They also learn more about the world around them. Such programs are generally available by subscription, starting at about 10 dollars per month.

– Learning Programs, CDs, DVDs, Apps Today’s parents have access to all sorts of early childhood education learning programs, ranging from CDs and DVDs to apps. Companies such as LeapFrog offer a variety of educational tools and toys that teach kids while they’re having fun. Apps, ranging in price from approximately $10 to $25, offer learning activities in reading, math, and science through games. There is certainly no shortage of CDs and DVDs available with wonderful songs and stories for kids to experience.

– Library or Community Programs The local library is usually a treasure trove for preschool-age children, offering special programs and introducing children to books and other media. Story Time is a perennial favorite, along with arts and crafts, puppet and similar shows, and reading aloud for kids. Along with libraries, check out community programs in your area. Churches and other houses of worship may offer special programs for preschoolers, as do organizations such as the YMCA.

– Public School Preschools In some states, public schools offer free preschool education for eligible children. Such preschools are generally geared toward kids deemed to need enrichment before entering kindergarten, so there is extra emphasis on language, physical, and other skills to help them catch up to peers. (Note – my son attended such a preschool in NJ and he grew up to be a lawyer!)

Final Thoughts

Your child is not one-size-fits-all, and neither is a preschool. The right preschool for one child is not the best choice for another. Much depends on the child’s personality, the preschool location, other family obligations, and your budget. Get recommendations from other parents for good preschools in your area. Do your research concerning the type of curriculum offered by individual preschools. Visit potential schools and learn how they operate and trust your gut when it comes to choosing the best alternative for your child.

For some parents, preschool is not an option for their child. That does not mean your child can’t thrive if he or she didn’t go to preschool. There are ways in which to substitute parts of the preschool experience for your youngster. Build language skills by reading to your child every day and encouraging discussion. Provide lots of paper, crayons, coloring books, and similar items to stimulate your child’s creativity and aid their fine motor skills development. Take your kids to interesting places, such as the park and library. While preschool can help, it never replaces a devoted parent’s time and attention.

https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2017/03/17/the-preschool-fade-out-effect-is-not-inevitable.html

https://www.verywellfamily.com/cost-of-daycare-616847

The blog post Do Kids Need Preschool? is republished from #discoverearlychildhood

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How to Overcome Apathy and Disillusionment When Standardized Tests Fail Kids

Many educators recognize that standardized tests don’t measure everything—and that some of the most critical types of growth can’t be measured by a numerical score. This is especially true for at-risk students.

Seven years ago, during my first year of teaching, all of my eleventh graders failed the Georgia State End of Course Test in American Literature. I was working as a special education teacher in Cobb County School District at the time. My co-teacher at the time told me not to worry about it. “No one expects your students to pass,” he said. This statement left me frustrated and confused. So what was my job exactly? For me, being a teacher inherently meant I needed to truly believe my kids could learn—and I did.

My students were just as responsible for learning as any other kids in the district. They all showed a willingness to learn and put in effort. The clear discrimination towards the special education population really bothered me, mostly because I could see that it was systemic and possibly out of my reach to fix. I was tired of hearing that certain students didn’t want to succeed, and observing teaching that rarely surpassed babysitting.

My students deserved more.

In 2015, when I started teaching American Literature at McClarin Success Academy, I knew I had an opportunity to break the stigmatization of at-risk youth.

McClarin Success Academy in College Park, GA is an alternative high school and many of our students have never passed a standardized test. But the reality is that our students still need to take them, and it is our responsibility to prepare them for the experience, which is an uphill battle.

Since passing a test isn’t necessarily representative of student growth, it is also our responsibility to seek out alternative methods for gauging growth that may not be demonstrated on a state exam. So, what does success look like for an at-risk student, and how do we measure it?

The truth is that it’s different for every student, and it doesn’t always fit neatly into the boxes provided by the district or the state. As a first step, we need to consider the roads our students have traveled, and what led them to an alternative school in the first place.

Some students find themselves in an alternative school because they have faced challenges outside the classroom that have contributed to learning gaps. Some of them have faced trauma or are dealing with mental illness. Some struggle with behavior and others are using drugs or engaged in a never ending cycle of gang violence.

For many of our students, there isn’t a singular, definitive reason why they came to McClarin. Many of our students are victims of societal neglect and discrimination—and that happens even inside school buildings.

Image Credit: Farhat Ahmad

Tanked Motivation Leads to Apathy

Most of our students struggle with low engagement. Years of repeated low test scores followed by disappointed reactions from teachers and family members have tanked their motivation, leading them to appear apathetic. Student apathy is one of my greatest frustrations.

There are many different ways of preparing for standardized tests, but all of them are stressful for students and teachers. Students fear that their identity will be reduced down to a number, and teachers worry their clout amongst colleagues and leaders could be decimated by a set of raw scores.

In my experience, test preparation is similar to bootcamp. Two weeks before testing day, after weeks of struggling robotically through course content, we ditch the projects and texts we are working on to focus solely on test practice, fueled by Powerpoints featuring sample test questions from prior years. It should come as no surprise that this approach doesn’t hit the mark when it comes to increasing engagement and raising motivation.

When an exam is designed to assess a wide set of skills and content, and success is calculated by one total score, students walk away identifying as a letter, number or percentage. When a student's score is repeatedly low, enthusiasm for learning often plummets.

Even though most of my students won’t come out and say it, they all crave the feeling of success—and it’s hard to come by.

Quantity Vs. Quality

The year before I came to McClarin, less than 20% of students taking American Literature at the school were passing the Georgia Milestone test. Schools in less economically challenged parts of the district had average scores of 90% or higher. I found it hard to believe our students were less capable than students in traditional school settings, so I designed my own curriculum-based diagnostic exams to learn more about my students. Many of them were scoring higher than the expectations I had based on their standardized test scores from the prior year.

Something didn’t add up.

It quickly became obvious that the standardized test wasn’t an accurate reflection of what these kids knew—so I tasked myself with finding out how best to how to best measure their success.

At the time, it seemed like the best thing to do was to get my students the most remediation I could and to squeeze it in as quickly as possible. I tried to fit everything from 8th, 9th and 10th grade into the curriculum.

This plan of attack always started out strong, but it unraveled quickly. Struggling students just struggled more—some shut down completely from the sheer amount of assigned work. What I didn’t consider was how overwhelming this was for my students. It set the expectation that if they wanted to “catch up,” they needed to work around the clock. I couldn’t have been more wrong about what my students needed. I knew I had to switch gears.

Image Credit: Farhat Ahmad

Curriculum Overhaul

In 2015, I was hired as a Fulton County School District Learning Architect, which meant I was part of a team tasked with identifying power standards for English Language Arts. Our team collaborated to determine how mastery was achieved for each of those standards, and developed sample tasks for each level of mastery on a given standard.

My work on this team prompted me to reevaluate my approach to curriculum and assessment. Rather than aiming to hit every skill and standard, I decided to focus on fewer tasks, but to keep them at a higher level of rigor and scaffold appropriately for each student.

I redesigned the entire curriculum from the ground up based on the data I had collected from diagnostic tests and ongoing classroom formal and informal assessments. I wanted to move away from the typical structure of a lesson with warm ups and exit tickets—which my students had been conditioned to expect—and go beyond blindly assigning multiple choice and vocabulary questions and calling it measurement.

I had my first evidence of success with the Georgia Milestone test, doubling my passing rate from 2015 to 2016. It felt good, but it wasn’t enough.

Shifting Perspective: Passing Vs. Progress

In 2017, I did a close analysis of how Lexile and Georgia Milestone scores aligned. Based on my findings, students who scored a 1300 on their Lexile test typically scored an 80% on the milestone test for American Literature. I had high hopes for my students, but the average lexile score at my school was 800, which is equivalent to a late elementary or middle school level.

I had to face some hard facts. Some students weren’t going to pass the test no matter what and that was completely out of my control. I needed to find other opportunities to showcase student success. I reframed my mindset to look for progress rather than mastery on the milestone test, as well as other less formal curriculum-based assessments throughout the semester.

For the American Literature milestone test, I stopped looking for a specific percentage, and started looking at change over time. If I could see a student’s scores trend upwards, it meant something to me, even if it wasn’t a passing score.

The milestone included three types of essays: informative, argumentative and narrative. I started to work one-on-one with students on accessible topics, and began to work our way up to more complex prompts. My students were writing one essay a week, and I was collecting them in a Google Drive folder. At timed intervals, I could compare their writing samples using a rubric and I started to see their growth reflected—and they could see it too.

For curriculum-based assessments, I started using a pre- and post-test model, assessing students at the beginning and end of the semester to see if I could notice change—and I did.

As far as passing the milestone, I knew it was a gamble. But for the first time in my career, I was able to show every one of my students how they were improving.

Measure What Matters

Sometimes, the progress we value most as educators doesn’t align with the academic achievement measured by traditional assessment. Heightened engagement, improved work ethic, more self-regulation and stronger communication skills are often the types of growth that keep us coming to work everyday. These traits will serve our students well as they exit high school and move on to higher-education programs or into the workforce. But growth in these areas is hard to prove.

Educators wear a lot of hats. My biggest priority and the responsibility I hold most dear is finding ways to reflect student growth so that I can help my students gain confidence. It’s not always easy.

Though I’m constantly coming up with creative ways to find ways to make my students shine and celebrate their successes—it’s not enough. No matter how much a student’s work ethic improves, or how far a student comes with self-regulating their behavior, states still use standardized testing to define student success—and our kids know it.

There isn’t much I can say when a student comes to me deflated after putting months of work in and says, “Why did I fail?” That’s why finding ways to show my students how they have grown, and how those traits can serve them well in their futures is so critical.

How to Overcome Apathy and Disillusionment When Standardized Tests Fail Kids published first on http://ift.tt/2x05DG9