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How to pay for FHA down payment and closing costs
The FHA down payment is just 3.5% for most borrowers. As down payments go it’s certainly a lot less than the 20% up front some mortgage programs require. But is there a way to make the FHA down payment even easier?
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Hispanic homeownership is up — especially in these areas
Homeownership among Hispanic Americans is on the rise. According to a new report, Hispanic homeownership rose to 47.1 percent in 2018 — its highest point since 2010. It also marks the biggest annual gain in homeownership for the cohort in 13 years.
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Standards-Based Grading: How to Start the Journey
Nicole Naditz on episode 478
Standards-based grading — where students are assessed by specific standards — is being discussed or implemented in many districts. Today we talk to an award-winning French teacher turned Instructional Technology Program Manager who can help us understand the pitfalls and possibilities of successful implementation. Nicole Naditz will also give us advice for getting started with standards-based grading as well.
Listen to Nicole Naditz talk about Standards-Based Grading
Listen to the show on iTunes or Stitcher
Stream by clicking here.
Nicole Naditz – Bio as Submitted
Nicole has been a Program Specialist in Instructional Technology at San Juan Unified School District since 2018. Prior to that, she taught French for 25 years, winning numerous awards for her work designing authentic relevant learning experiences for her students. Her most notable awards include finalist for California State Teacher of the Year, 2012 and ACTFL National Language Teacher of the Year, 2015.
Nicole is a sought after speaker and facilitator of professional learning on the topics of literacy, student voice, social justice, standards-based grading and more. You can see her 2015 acclaimed “TOY Talk” on standards-based grading here: https://youtu.be/UYQpqWwStCw.
Blog: http://www.3rs4teachers.wordpress.com
Twitter: @NicoleNaditz
from Cool Cat Teacher BlogCool Cat Teacher Blog http://bit.ly/2Gz9uxH
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May 2019 mortgage rates forecast (FHA, VA, USDA, Conventional)
Mortgage rates are dropping to new lows. May could provide some of the lowest rates seen since early 2018 or even late 2017. This is the chance mortgage rate shoppers have been waiting for.
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Mortgage rates today, April 23, 2019, plus lock recommendations
Mortgage rates today are driven by movements in financial markets worldwide. When the economy heats up, bond price drop, and rates increase. When the economy pulls back, interest rates tend to fall.
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What’s better? The FHA or USDA mortgage program?
FHA or USDA mortgages, which should you choose? It’s not an easy question and there’s no single answer which is right for everyone. But it’s a question many borrowers should ask. The right answer can mean big mortgage savings.
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Indiana claim’s the nation’s best cities for families
Looking for a place to put down roots for your growing (or future) family? Apparently, Indiana is the place to do it. According to a new ranking, the state claims the nation’s two best cities for families.
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11 Essential Chrome Extensions (And a New Browser)
Vicki Davis on Episode 477 of the 10-Minute Teacher
Extensions can be useful, helpful tools for parents and teachers. There are pitfalls and pluses from each extension and ways to use them in the classroom. In this show, I’ll share eleven essential chrome extensions and information on the new web browser, Brave, and why people are using it. In the show notes, I share the links. Enjoy!
Learn about the 11 Chrome Extensions Recommended in the Show
Listen to the show on iTunes or Stitcher
Stream by clicking here.
Chrome Extensions and Software Mentioned In This Show
Extensity
Read Write Toolbar
Grammarly
3 Ways to ScreenGrab
Evernote
Google Keep
One Note
Notion (didn’t make it in time for press but I’m testing this one!)
LastPass
Color Pic Eyedropper
Tip: Use with Coolors.co
Gmail Notifier
Sending Screens to the board (3 ways)
Lightcast Sender
Airplay (no extension – part of Native iOS)
Miracast (no extension – part of Droid OS)
Screencastify
Too Many Tabs for chrome
Link Clump
The Brave Browser
If you find this helpful, sign up for my newsletter.
from Cool Cat Teacher BlogCool Cat Teacher Blog http://bit.ly/2XzOGwD
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Mortgage rates today, April 22, 2019, plus lock recommendations
Mortgage rates today are driven by movements in financial markets worldwide. When the economy heats up, bond price drop, and rates increase. When the economy pulls back, interest rates tend to fall.
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How do FHA loans work? A 2019 primer on the popular FHA program
How do FHA loans work? Everyone has heard about such mortgages but why does a government financing program introduced in the 1930s work so well today, especially for first-time borrowers?
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Homebuying power on the rise thanks to low rate and high incomes
American homebuying power has reached its second-highest point in the last 20 years. According to a new analysis, the average buyer can now afford a home priced as high as $391,037.
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5 Tips to Help Students Feel Valued in the Classroom
Crystal Willis on episode 476 of the 10-Minute Teacher Podcast
Students need to feel valued. Today’s featured educator Crystal Willis from Instagram and TpT as “SunflowersandSped” shares five important tips to help students feel valued. From noticing strengths to not making a simple mistake that makes people feel dumb — Crystal has practical tips to help all of us better make children feel loved.
Listen to Crystal Willis talk about promoting student value
Listen to the show on iTunes or Stitcher
Stream by clicking here.
Crystal Willis Bio As Submitted
Crystal from SunflowersandSped is an educator with more than ten years of special education classroom experience. Her credential is in mild to moderate special education with a certification in ELA. She has taught in both public and private school settings for elementary, middle, and high school grades, and is currently helping to oversee the implementation of a special ed program at a private school in Southern California. Crystal uses her IG account to connect with other sped teachers, parents, and students. She has a passion for making sure all special ed students feel seen, valued, and loved. As a student who struggled with dyslexia herself, she shares her story to build connections and community with her students and their families.
What’s next? Crystal is releasing her very own SunflowersandSped podcast in May. The podcast will give multiple perspectives on special education from the students, teachers, parents, and community. She’ll be interviewing people representing each perspective, as well as sharing stories, strategies, and resources. The goal of the podcast is to inspire hope and community building.
Blog: https://sunflowersandsped.com/
Instagram: @sunflowersandSped
Glimpses from Crystal’s Classroom
from Cool Cat Teacher BlogCool Cat Teacher Blog http://bit.ly/2vok2KV
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Negotiating a better mortgage rate for your home
Mortgage laws have changed which makes it harder to pit lenders against one another. When you're looking for a better mortgage rate, how do you find it?
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What Happened When I Deleted All My Social Media Apps
Productivity and Living an Epic Life
When is the last time you watched the sunrise? It is such an amazing experience to watch the Master Artisan spray His graffiti of joy upon the sky and reveal to our heart His vast horizon of hope! How about you?
Today we seem to be in such a rush as we accelerate our lives to stay ahead of the avalanche of duties and responsibilities.
When do we take the time to watch the rain drip into a puddle or to walk outside and listen to the creek bubble on its way?
Savoring the Sip
Notifications hang like a fishbone in our coffee-coated throats as we attempt to swallow life whole without taking time to savor the sip.
We eagerly engage with our online audience while ignoring the children sitting at our feet watching us laugh at the likes and emojis spinning past our stream. Their eyes eagerly gleam for the day they can have their own “precious” to which they can sacrifice everything of worth like a modern Gollum.
Recently, I watched the sunrise. If you look closely enough in this picture in the Smoky Mountains, you can see that the trees are budding. We sat on the back porch and watched the bud burst as some trees torpedoed their leaves and blooms into the sunshine. You could see it happening.
For me, nature seems to be the opposite of social media. It restores. It refills. It renews. And we reconnect as a family when we turn off social media and head outside.
No-tificiations
But it takes more than nature these days. It means saying “no” to everybody “out there” so you can successfully savor the relationships “in here.”
So, this spring break, I removed every social media app and email off my “smartphone” and made it go dumb and mute.
Lately, I’m not finding my phone to be smart at all. It interrupts me for the most pointless of reasons. So, recently, I’ve been grounding it to a place deep in my pocketbook so I can get meaningful work done. Staying glued to my “smart phone” is actually pretty dumb, in my experience.
Note: In case you didn’t know, when you delete an app, this is not the same as deleting an account. The only problem I’ve seen with this approach is for those who forget their password and inadvertently set up a new account as if they re-download the app and set it up again.
Avoiding the Excesses That Can Ruin You
As I stumbled through our cabin at 5 am, instead of opening Facebook as I awoke, I faced “the Book” – my new chronological-archaeological Bible and realized that truly there is nothing new under the sun. Intrigued by Ecclesiastes 7:16,
“So don’t be too good or too wise! Why destroy yourself? “
Kip, my husband, and I started discussing and digging.
Too good? This verse doesn’t mean not to be good. Some other translations say “Be not righteous over much” or “Don’t destroy yourself by being too good or acting too smart.”
I believe that this is talking about excess. Not truly “being” good but acting “too good” – for your own good and that of others.
I know of some people who try to tell their friends what shows or movies they can and can’t watch.
Some people are overly “good” about the food they eat and are quite demanding that others agree with them. Others are overly “good” about their workout schedule and if you don’t work out an hour a day, you’re no good to them. You can be overly good with your religiosity, athleticism, or any other area of life, I suppose. I just watched an old Alan Alda movie called “the White Mile” where he is an adult bully who runs an ad agency and pushes these grown men to go rafting even when they don’t want to — and quite a few of them die. These “good” people exist trying to take their decisions and make them yours. Don’t fall for it.
I’m not sure I’d know but I’m sure in my life I’ve acted like a goody-goody. Most of us have.
Nowadays, I don’t feel overly good at anything except just looking at life and being thankful God put me here and uses me sometimes to do good.
I’d rather do something good than think I’m too good for something.
Too wise? Some people are so incredibly knowledgeable! And yes, we need knowledgeable people. But I think the verse is talking about the person who may know a lot but perhaps thinks they know it ALL.
Some people think because they know one subject so deeply that they are somehow an authority on everything else. This is why we have actors trying to tell everyone how to vote and we have business people trying to fix education.
Money in the bank does not always translate to sense in the head.
Fame does not always mean you deserve it.
This statement of being “too wise” is true particularly if you’re moving out of your field of expertise. (Listen to Harvard Business Review’s recent podcast on “Avoiding the Expertise Trap” for information on the research supporting this argument.)
Too connected?
Why would I quote these verses? Well, I think just as you could be “too righteous” or “too smart” perhaps there is such a thing as being “TOO CONNECTED.”
For example, I know some folks who always email back within seconds seem like some sort of Pavlovian inbox watcher salivating for the next email they need to answer. While some people have a job to answer email, most of us have a job to which email is our form of “correspondence.”
Just as the great authors would read their correspondence once or twice a day – a twice-daily amount of email checking suits me. (Note that I have set up that if my husband, children, or a family member or my headmaster messages me that it notifies me on my watch – some folks are worth the interruption!)
Did I miss social media during spring break?
So, I spent a few days with no social media.
My eyes ah-googling the elegant sunrise, ears enjoying the auditory delight of avian chirrups, nose discovering the delight of aromatic espresso, my feet ambulating through antique stores, and my arms rowing my river raft down the Nantahala.
You know what? I didn’t miss social media. Not one tweet.
What did we find unto these hills as we nestled away from the online barrage of likes, shares, and tags?
Laughter. Music. Books. Conversation.
Each other.
Back in social media but with limits.
I don’t plan to go back to my old ways. Now, I’m reading Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World by Cal Newport. (On my trip home, I had read his book Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World and it has changed how I work.) I’m also reading Productivity for Indie Authors and several other books that talk about using social media instead of letting it use us.
Add to all of this conversation the spread of bad things. Right now our “local” news media is sharing stories of abuse, harm, evil, and sick things from around the country via their Facebook feed as if it is local news. I unfollowed. As a parent told me the other day on an unrelated matter, “I ain’t got time for that.” If you want to get sick, go to the doctor’s office. If you want to feel sick, go on social media and see what the news or political pundits are sharing. I’d rather read my news another way!
So, after going app-less for a week. Here’s where I stand.
Sharing on social media. Yes.
Engaging with real people on social media. Yes.
Do I want to be notified of everything? No.
Likes or ❤️ . No.
Retweets. No.
Direct messages. Yes.
Shares. No.
Comments and conversations. Only when I go in the app.
Social media should make us better, stronger, more informed, more stable, encouraged, and give us what we need to be a better person if it is worth the time we spend. But if my screentime report is truly right, I’ve got a whole lot of time I could use for other things that will bring more meaning to life.
The question is — do you?
from Cool Cat Teacher BlogCool Cat Teacher Blog http://bit.ly/2ZpFtc8
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5 Ideas for Helping Parents Read with their Kids (No Matter Their Age)
Amy Mascott on episode 475
Frederick Douglass said, “Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.” Reading is important. Today, the show features reading expert, Amy Mascott, about how parents and teachers can help older children develop a love of reading.
Advancement Courses
Sponsor: Advancement Courses, a 30-year leader in teacher PD, is kicking off their Spring Sale! Use the code COOL 20 to save 20% off each course.
Advancement Courses has over 240 graduate-level courses in 19 different subject areas. Topics include teaching foundational topics and emerging trends in K-12. The courses are all online and self-paced. Graduate credit is available with an official transcript from their CAEP and regionally accredited university partners. Thousands of teachers across the country become better at Advancement Courses.
My favorite thing is that you can work at your own pace, create things for use in your classroom today, and you can have six months to complete the courses. Right now, my listeners can save 20% off each course with code COOL20 at Advancement Courses.
Listen to Amy Mascott talking about Reading
Listen to the show on iTunes or Stitcher
Stream by clicking here.
Amy Mascott – Bio As Submitted
Amy Mascott @teachmama is the creator of teachmama.com <https://teachmama.com/>, where since 2008, she has shared tools and resources parents can use to become the best teachers they can be for their children. A reading teacher, author, and influencer, Amy has truly expanded the walls of her classroom, lending her expertise at local and national events all around the country. Amy resides in the DC Metro with her three crazy-cool kids, a dog, a bird, and a hamster.
Book Releasing June 1:
Setting the Stage for Rock-Star Readers: Help Young Children Develop a Lifelong Love of Reading
Raising a Rock Star Reader
Disclosure of Material Connection: This is a “sponsored podcast episode.” The company who sponsored it compensated me via cash payment, gift, or something else of value to include a reference to their product. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I believe will be good for my readers and are from companies I can recommend. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
from Cool Cat Teacher BlogCool Cat Teacher Blog http://bit.ly/2KSsrR6
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4 Cash-Out Refinance Options That Put Your Home Equity To Work
Home values are rising, and homeowners are no longer sitting on their equity. Four cash-out options are helping owners accomplish financial goals.
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Complete guide to buying a house in your 20s [INFOGRAPHIC]
Millennials have become the single-biggest group of homebuyers in the country. Is this move right for you? Let's break it down.
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