Respecting Students Is a Must for Teacher Effectiveness

Respecting Students Is a Must for Teacher Effectiveness Respecting students is essential for boosting teacher effectiveness. It seems today that the media jumps at every opportunity to showcase an educator who has made a poor decision in judgment. One of the most prevalent issues highlighted is that of a teacher continuously berating or disrespecting a student or group of students. This type of behavior is unacceptable. All educators expect their students to be respectful to them, but some fail to realize that this is a two-way street. All educators should show their students respect at all times including tense moments of conflict. Conduct a search on Google or YouTube for â€Å"teacher abuse† and the number of examples you will find of such unprofessional conduct is embarrassing to the profession. Educators should be adult enough, professional enough, and smart enough not to conduct themselves in this manner. In an age where every student has a cell phone, it only takes one time to find yourself on YouTube, embarrassed, and out of a job. Teachers must think before they react and choose their words carefully. How to Build Strong, Trusting Student-Teacher Relationships Sometimes we forget where many of these students come from and the situations that they deal with on a daily basis. School should be a safe haven and kids should trust all of their administrators, teachers, and staff members. Every kid is different and these differences should be embraced. If all kids were the same our jobs would be boring. It is important to realize that there are tremendous differences between each individual student and with each individual class. A 3rd grader cannot handle what a 6th grader can handle and so on. Try to have patience and understanding when dealing with a student. Before you say anything, take a deep breath, think about your response, and choose your words carefully. Your tone matters as much as what you say. We expect our students to be respectful to us and we should, in turn, be respectful to them at all times. This isn’t always easy, but you must always handle interactions with students in a positive manner. You should never berate or embarrass a student. It is best to address them separately from the class. The key is to talk to them, not down to them. Kids are going to make mistakes. It would be ignorant to think that they won’t. You are setting yourself and them up for failure if you do. There is a difference between having high expectations and having unrealistic expectations. Preconceived notions can and will destroy a relationship with a student. Everyone deserves a second chance. Allow someone this chance and you will find that they will surprise you more often than not. Educators should always strive to build positive, trusting relationships with their students. Some of these relationships take time to build and others are relatively easy. Respect is always the key. A teacher becomes so much more effective when they can earn a classes respect. Reasons Why Teachers Lose the Respect of Their Students There are several things that a teacher can do to lose their students’ respect. Doing any of these things can lead you on a path towards disaster. It is best to avoid the following practices: Never treat students differently based on personal interests.Do not create rules that can be perceived as unfair.Never misuse your authority.Do not ignore a student.Never avoid smiling and being friendly with your students.Do not yell or scream.Do not have a negative attitude on a consistent basis.Do not be afraid to apologize or admit when you make a mistake.Never become friends with students when they are in your class.Never give control over to your students.Do not be hypocritical.Do not say anything that you would not want to be recorded and played back.Do not humiliate or berate students in an attempt to get them to behave.Never use sarcasm.Do not use profanity.Do not violate a student’s personal space.Do not gossip, discuss, or complain about other teachers in front of your students.Never issue vindictive or counterproductive threats.Do not hold things against a student that is beyond their control. How Teacher Can Earn Their Students Respect There are several things that a teacher can do to earn their students’ respect. Doing these things will lead you on a path toward mutual respect and it will maximize a teacher’s overall effectiveness. It is best to engage in the following practices: Have a Positive Attitude: An educator who has a positive attitude toward their students and their job will be more effective. All of us have bad days, but we should still strive to remain positive even on our worst days.Be Consistent: Students must know what your expectations are on a daily basis. Be inconsistent will lose their respect and attention faster than just about anything.Be Fair: Treat every student the same when dealing with the same situation. Giving out a different set of consequences for the same actions will undermine your authority.Have a Sense of Humor: Having a sense of humor can be disarming. Students will naturally look forward to coming to your class and learning if they know that you aren’t uptight and rigid.Be Flexible: Teachers that aren’t flexible are setting themselves and their students up for failure. Things happen in life that is beyond anyone’s control. Be sensitive to every situation and be willing to adapt and veer from your sched uled plans when necessary.

Alternatives to Incarceration

Provision of sustainable security in the society should be a collaborative endeavor between the government and social institutions which form the community. The government has a legal authority to mitigate crime activities through the criminal justice system, a factor that leads to incarceration. On the other hand, social institutions such as the family, church, and learning institutions play the ultimate role of instill reliable character and behaviors to members of the community as a tool for promoting social acceptable conduct in the society (Reisig, Cole, Clear, 2008). According to psychologists, the development of character traits on the young generation is mainly based on the surrounding environment. This is because the young engage in copying and adopting the behaviors of other in the community. Nevertheless, social institutions have failed in ensuring an environment that can promote reliable character among members. Such has been blamed for inhibiting the process of effectively fighting crime in the community. The author seeks to give a discussion on the question; why should we expect the correctional system to be able to accomplish so much when so many other social institutions have failed? When family, school, and churches are unable to inculcate law-abiding behavior. Why should we be surprised if the correctional also system fails? Possible solutions to the problems affecting the effectiveness of American correctional system will also be given. The American correctional system effectiveness The American correctional system has been blamed for its failure in ensuring sustainable reforming of criminals to reflective compatible character and behavior in the society. According to its mandate, the correctional system is marked with the responsibility of incarcerating crime offenders as a mechanism for instilling behavioral change from crime activities. Nevertheless, numerous research findings have evidently shown a high rate of recidivism into criminal behavior by criminals upon release from correctional facilities (Conis, DeLisi, 2009). Indeed, such findings indicate that victims from correctional facilities are more likely to engage in more serious criminal activities than before their incarceration. Numerous factors have been closely attributed with this failure of the American correctional system. First, the system is faced with the problem of addressing individual needs of criminals as a potential drive to committing crime in the society (Western, Weiman, Pattillo, 2004). As an example, the criminal justice system of American has received for failing to appreciate the psychological requirements of drug related crime offenders as well as mentally impaired criminals. According to psychological evidence, imposing punishment on drug abusers and mentally impaired victims serves no more than torture. This is because these individuals have their reasoning and judgmental capability compromised. This has the implication that crime offenders who have mental or drug abuse history can only be effectively corrected by engaging them in resolving their psychological problems first. This has nevertheless, been a major failure in the American correctional system. True from available statistical evidence, drug related crime activities are the leading source of prison population in the American community (Conis, DeLisi, 2009). In fact, this statistics indicate that an estimated over 40 percent of prison population in US is comprised of convicts of drug related crimes. Despite this fact, the correctional system has invested limited resources in establishing rehabilitation rather than incarceration facilities. Another factor which has been associated with the failure of the American correctional system is poor influence among inmates in the correctional facilities. The Federal Bureau of Prisons as the federal agency responsible for administering prisons has been quite efficient in appreciating the need to categorize prisoners depending on their crime. Based on this reasoning, the agency currently operates five security levels of correctional facilities in the nation which accommodate victims depending on the level of security needed (Western, Weiman, Pattillo, 2004). Such facilities range from low security prison camps with weak or no fenced perimeters to high secure prison marked with wall reinforced double-fenced perimeters and high prison guard to inmate ratio. On the contrary, it is commonly asserted that conviction and sentencing of criminals remains the decision of the criminal law courts. Just to be appreciated here is the fact that court trails in the nation are based on the due process procedure clause of the constitution. On the other hand, this constitutional provision bases its decisions on facts presented and the strength of defense given by the defendant in the case (Western, Weiman, Pattillo, 2004). This has the implication that such decisions are subject to error. Indeed, available information has claimed of numerous incidences of unequal conviction for priority criminals. This is because these criminals have been through the system several time and effectively identified the numerous escape loopholes in the system. Based on the above reasoning, the process of categorizing criminals in the correctional facilities based on court judgments remains a major setback to qualify security needs and mitigate poor influence among convicted crime offenders (Conis, DeLisi, 2009). This is because the process leads to accommodating of various levels of criminals in the same, a factor which promotes crime behavioral influence to first time offenders. Such is the reason behind the claim that victims of imprisonment potentially engage in more serious crime upon release from prison. Therefore, the failure of American correctional system can be closely attributed to lack of an efficient mechanism for identifying and group criminals depending on their crime gravity and required correction strategies. Over the passed three decades, the America correctional system has witnessed a high rate of increase in the number of prisoners held in its correctional facilities. This has no doubt been the source for numerous social and political concerns on the problem of overcrowding in the prisons (Meares, 2007). On the other side, overcrowding is to be blamed for increasing facility strain, thus leading to poor living conditions for inmates. According to psychological principles, character is build through persistent instilling of ideas in an individuals subconscious mind. This means that given long-term inhuman conditions imposed by prisoners, they are only bound top develop an attitude of less value for life and others in the society. In addition, numerous research findings have identified a close link between prisoner and prison guard behavior based on correctional facility conditions. It is no doubt that correctional facilities are marked with sense of authority from the prison guards forcing inmates to feel powerless and depersonalized (Wilson, 1993). On the other side, pushed against the wall, human beings are bound to fight back. This implies that the harsh condition imposed on prisoners in correctional facility is a potential cause for law defiance mentality among prisoners. Such attitudes are bound to be transfer to the community level by inmates upon their release, an element that negates their ability to respect law and order in the community. Social institutions as failures in inculcating law-abiding behavior   Sustainable behavior among the young generation is based on the influence brought to them by underlying social institutions in the society. This is based on the fact that at birth a child is purely innocent, only to development attitude and character with time. It is due to this reason why most criminal behaviors in the community are blamed to poor family influence on the young members of the community (Reisig, Cole, Clear, 2008). Family violence in the society is one of the numerous reasons for the failure by parents in promoting law abiding behavior among children. This is because such practices leave parents with limited time to monitor and address behavioral issues of their children.

OSHA Laws Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

OSHA Laws - Essay Example Authorities, later, proposed a fee of $12,000. They began an investigation following a grievance that an employee had been brutally beaten and jeopardized by a customer at the centre on September 28th, 2011. The employee filed a police report at the Racine County Department. The investigation exposed that workers at the centre had been assaulted a couple of times. In regard to OSHA, the health centre is to blame for a severe breach of the bureau’s "general duty clause" for failing to offer a workplace free from hazards, prone to cause severe harms or death (OH and S 1). The OSHA bureau also stated that these violations could have been avoided if the hospital maintained a complete record of the state/government standards. If the health centre had kept these standards, then the violence scenarios would have been avoided. The laws clearly states that workers should not be mishandled within their working centres. The case would have also been avoided if the hospital’s management followed up on the previous fighting cases. This would have used the previous cases to come up with ways of preventing future occurrences. In conclusion, managements could also log in to the OSHA website to download materials, handbooks, articles, and supplies that will assist them to avoid violations of the OSHA laws. OH and S. Worker Beaten by Patient at Health Center, OSHA Issues $12K Fine. NP, 2011. Web.

My role as an Officer Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

My role as an Officer - Essay Example I also have been trained to specialize in operating maritime vehicles; this is not something that every Warrant Officer will be responsible for, however each will specialize in some field such as with aircraft, special units and equipment, organized tasks and other events. I have been trained to specialize in maritime vehicles because so many other roles within the Army are not so focused; Army personnel are generally trained in a little of every aspect of the entire organization and it is my job and the job of other Warrant Officers to take the lead on tasks that require a deeper knowledge base. Another important part of my job is to function as a teacher for other Army personnel. I possess the skills to train a variety of personnel in general studies as well as to help recruits who have been chosen to specialize get their studies underway. It is up to me to share my own knowledge of how the Army is organized and how each person fulfills a role within that framework so that every new recruit understands their function and what they are responsible for within the larger unit. As a Junior Warrant Officer, I was involved more in the day-to-day tasks of my unit; dealing with machinery and exercises.

The Soliloquies of Shakespeares Hamlet - To be or not to be Soliloquy

The â€Å"To be or not to be† Soliloquy within Hamlet      Ã‚  Ã‚   The fame of one particular soliloquy by the hero in Shakespeare’s Hamlet logically requires that special consideration be given to said speech. And such is the intent of this essay.    In â€Å"Superposed Plays† Richard A. Lanham discusses this most famous of all the soliloquies:    The King and Polonius dangle Ophelia as bait and watch. Hamlet sees this. He may even be, as W. A. Bebbington suggested, reading the â€Å"To be or not to be† speech from a book, using it, literally, as a stage prop to bemuse the spyers-on, convince them of his now-become-suicidal-madness. No one in his right mind would fault the poetry. But it is irrelevant to anything that precedes. It fools Ophelia – no difficult matter – but it should not fool us. The question is whether Hamlet will act directly or through drama? Not at all. Instead, is he going to end it in the river? I put it thus familiarly to penetrate the serious numinosity surrounding this passage. Hamlet anatomizes grievance for all time. But does he suffer these grievances? He has a complaint indeed against the King and one against Ophelia. Why not do something about them instead of meditating on suicide? (93)    Marchette Chute in â€Å"The Story Told in Hamlet† describes just how close the hero is to suicide while reciting his most famous soliloquy:      Hamlet enters, desperate enough by this time to be thinking of suicide. It seems to him that it would be such a sure way of escape from torment, just to cease existing, and he gives the famous speech on suicide that has never been worn thin by repetition. â€Å"To be, or not to be . . .† It would be easy to stop living.    To die, to sleep; No more. And by a sl... ...in, Harry. â€Å"An Explication of the Player’s Speech.† Modern Critical Interpretations: Hamlet. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1986. Rpt. from The Question of Hamlet. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1959.    Nevo, Ruth. â€Å"Acts III and IV: Problems of Text and Staging.† Modern Critical Interpretations: Hamlet. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1986. Rpt. from Tragic Form in Shakespeare. N.p.: Princeton University Press, 1972.    Rosenberg, Marvin. â€Å"Laertes: An Impulsive but Earnest Young Aristocrat.† Readings on Hamlet. Ed. Don Nardo. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1999. Rpt. from The Masks of Hamlet. Newark, NJ: University of Delaware Press, 1992.    Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 1995. http://www.chemicool.com/Shakespeare/hamlet/full.html

Global warming and people going green Essay

The natural environment is the place of all life and non life beings. Natural resources are available to human existences without clear cut boundaries in the natural air. H2O and clime. Natural environment has a beginning of energy. radiation and electric charge and all these are non as an influence of human activity but by the bing nature of our planet. It is the huge creative activity that makes adult male enjoy and take pleasance and hence demands to prosecute in preserving and heightening the natural environment. Great challenges have faced our natural and original environment and accordingly devastation. pollution. and loss of life has been seen to happen through the influence of human activity. Pollution in the air. H2O. and in the environment in general has been apparent through the burning of fuels and other non reclaimable stuff. Water. land and air have non been conserved and this poses a great danger on the bing ecosystem. Man’s interferance has threatened the being of species and has led to some of them being endangered or nonextant. This is a direct impact that shows that adult male has had discourtesy of biodiversity and ecosystems in which human existences and other life beings depend on. Human’s activities have been linked to be an environments large challenge. The release of C dioxide from green houses has been on focal point as this is a human and natural environments interaction with gases has caused clime alteration. These strong concerns are associated to greenhouse gases that cause climate alteration. Global heating has been associated to the rise in the temperature on the earth’s air and oceans. Large heat capacity on oceans have caused the sea degree to lift and do utmost conditions alterations. As a consequence of such environmental concerns assorted authoritiess have signed the Kyoto protocol so that they can be after on cut downing green house emanation. hypertext transfer protocol: //www. globalissues. org/EnvIssues/GlobalWarming. asp It is of import at this occasion for adult male to understand that he has a direct influence to the alterations that occur on the Earth surface and should take cautiousness about them. Climate may alter but non entirely by atmospheric concentration of C dioxide from green houses. The ascription of planetary heating can be linked to the industrial epoch where adult male has been vigorous in their activity and have had no cognition on the impact they have to the natural environment. The soaking up of atmospheric gases contributes to warming the lower ambiance and surface of the planet. During the soaking up and emanation procedure of infrared radiation warming occurs. ( Weart 2003 ) . Water vapor. C dioxide gas. methane and ozone are the major green house gases responsible for the heating effects. This is attributed by increased human activity in the industrial revolution such as agribusiness. green houses. motor industries among others. deforestation. One among the greatest human activities that have markedly increased gas emanation is the combustion of dodos. Use of dodo fuel is therefore seen to be lending factor with such dodos fuel militias increasing their emanations through the increased and extended usage of coal and pitch littorals. Evaporated H2O signifiers gas in to the ambiance and as a consequence more H2O evaporates and hence there is more consequence than due to carbon emanations entirely. From the clouds. emitted infrared radiation exerts a warming consequence and when they reflect sunlight they emit infrared radiations that have a chilling consequence. ( Weart 2003 ) . Temperatures were comparatively stable before 1850 but gradual addition in sea temperature than on land is a natural phenomenon. Land has an effectual heat capacity as compared to the oceans which loose heat more readily. Forest glade and Asiatic rice irrigation are human influences that William Ruddiman argued that planetary clime was influenced by these activities. hypertext transfer protocol: //www. incredulity. net/global_warming Global heating consequences to planetary retreat and sea degree rise. The addition in planetary temperatures can take besides to north-polar shrinking and marked pattern alterations in the rainfall. As a consequence inundation or checkerss are a common consequence of the planetary heating. These are utmost conditions events. Death of animate beings and immensely the devastation is really tremendous. Floods and drought seasons cause low agricultural output as endurance of workss is so compromised and the life of animate beings is at interest with addition in diseases. With such catastrophes. inauspicious wellness effects. supplanting and utmost economic losingss destabilize the normal life of the people on planet Earth. hypertext transfer protocol: //www. incredulity. net/global_warming Human activity have great reverberations on their life with the possible decrease of ozone bed and happening of hurricanes and other pelagic interventions that make favorable. the spread of malaria and dandy fever febrility. With political and societal arguments traveling on. hapless parts such as Africa risk the effects of planetary heating. The developed universe and particularly the western portion have accepted the thought that human influence is the major influence to climate alteration. Assorted states now weigh the benefit that would ensue when industrial emanations are limited against the cost they would incur when they adopt new alterations. For the interest of recovering back the natural environment. alternate energy beginnings should be embraced and given opportunity for observation. Vigorous runs that teach on the consequence of planetary activities and stress on adaptation of stricter steps that would cut down gas emanation should have support worldwide. India and Chinas have a batch of C dioxide emanations and the U. S. every bit good. However. worthwhile thoughts and dedications have been recorded in the U. S which is willing to bear the cost and cut down its C emanation. hypertext transfer protocol: //www. globalissues. org/EnvIssues/GlobalWarming. asp Many alterations are bound to be realised with the day-to-day effects related to planetary heating. There is so much uncertainness about other warming marks that may be associated to human activity and ensuing to temperature addition. Vector borne diseases are bound to increase due to the migration of the insects from the north parts and particularly due to the consequence of the warmth addition. As it was recorded in 2004 and 2005. black hurricanes were attributed to the heater Waterss on the ocean and no 1 can expect if they will patronize or be stronger as they hit the parts. ( Leroux 2005 ) As a consequence of planetary warming serious checkerss will hold people suffer and particularly Africa and in Europe. In general. the effects of planetary heating can run out the economic system at a state as they try to reconstruct damaged substructure. remedy diseases and seek to pull off such environmental struggles. Though planetary heating has been attributed to other activities that do non associate to adult male. the major intercession by adult male would be to cover with those that are in their control. Solar fluctuations. volcanic eruptions. orbital forcing. glacier retreats and disease vectors may be associated be causative agents to increased temperature. But a critical expression at it lives the inquiry. Should adult male be nescient of his activities on the Earth? hypertext transfer protocol: //www. canadafreepress. com/2007/global-warming020507. html Man should be at the bow forepart. looking for solutions instead than warranting their non- part to the planetary heating. Small and big graduated table preventative steps can be put in topographic point to assist forestall farther injury and make a better topographic point for our kids to populate in. Without green house emanations temperature would be endurable and more hospitable. Use of fossil fuels used to run autos. heat places and concerns should be under cheque so that carbon dioxide concentration is reduced. In this breath. usage of gas. gasoline and Diesel as used in crude oil merchandises should be reduced. In the same manner that adult male has been able to impact the planet. they should be able to consequence alteration through alteration of practise. They should do usage of fuel-efficient autos. cut down travel errands. and utilize alternate agencies of conveyance like walking or merely working from the house. At place. one should take at utilizing energy salvaging contraptions and illuming stuffs. A great trade of deforestation. industrial activities. excavation and agricultural addition has led to gas emanation. As a scheme. trees should be planted and deforestation stopped. Deciduous trees should be planted as they contribute to taking 50 lbs of C from the air yearly. Industrialization should be minimized and compost cavities made for waste disposal such as foliages. Ignorance about planetary heating should be a forgone phenomenon and adult male should wake up to the call of reconstructing the already damaged environment. Air. H2O systems and the environment have degraded and the issue at manus is to come on and change by reversal the eroding that has already taken topographic point. It is of paramount concern. that adult male should non take opportunities to affect themselves in activities that compromise the planetary call to forestalling planetary heating. The hazards involved in planetary heating are far stretching and the effects can be felt for a life-time. As per the United Nations millenary development ends. work outing the environmental job will be regarded as eliminating poorness. Mankind should take to cut down dodo fuel imports and continue the ecosystem through increased consciousness runs that address the clime alteration issue. Citizens and companies should encompass anti pollution and planetary heating bar steps. ( Pringle 2001 ) Policies at local and national degree should be put in operation so that single activities are governed and implemented at province degree. Why would adult male non be willing to do a better topographic point for him and coevalss to come? The major measure to understand that forestalling C emanation is one of the cheapest intercessions that adult male can utilize to halt the threat. Invention in new engineering of autos and major power workss should hold a 2nd idea on the deduction it has the hereafter. All in all adult male should through accustomed pattern. salvage energy and have another option to utilize of fossil fuels. In 1990 to 19995. El Nino was a force per unit area release that was linked to planetary heating. Heavy rains pounded and several thousand displaced by inundations. Death of human and of farm animal marked the season. Beside such conditions events hurricanes have claimed life. caused devastation and economic loss. hypertext transfer protocol: //www. globalissues. org/EnvIssues/GlobalWarming. asp Why would adult male be willing to put on the line more? It is the responsibility of all adult male to transport aggressive runs and appreciate the fact that they caused it to go on and they can do it alter for better. With dedication and motive. such calamities can be long forgotten as they work on towards one end of forestalling planetary heating and reconstructing the debauched environment. Its effects are black but our control is the manner frontward. Plants Cited Ball T. Global Warming. worlds. Carbon Dioxide. The Cold. Hard Facts. Retrieved from ; hypertext transfer protocol: //www. canadafreepress. com/2007/global-warming020507. htm on Friday. April 11. 2008

150 Million Years of Snake Evolution

Considering how diverse they are today--nearly 500 genera comprising almost 3,000 named species--we still know surprisingly little about the ultimate origin of snakes. Clearly, these cold-blooded, slithering, legless creatures evolved from four-legged reptilian ancestors, either small, burrowing, landbound lizards (the prevailing theory) or, just possibly, the family of  marine reptiles called mosasaurs that appeared in the earths seas around 100 million years ago. Piecing Together the Evolution of Snakes Why is snake evolution such an enduring mystery? A big part of the problem is that the vast majority of snakes are small, relatively fragile creatures, and their even smaller, even more fragile ancestors are represented in the fossil record by incomplete remains, mostly consisting of scattered vertebrae. Paleontologists have discovered putative snake fossils dating as far back as 150 million years, to the late Jurassic period, but the traces are so evanescent as to be practically useless. (Further complicating matters, snake-like amphibians called aistopods appear in the fossil record over 300 million years ago, the most notable genus being Ophiderpeton; these were completely unrelated to modern snakes.) Recently, though, solid fossil evidence has emerged for Eophis, a 10-inch-long middle Jurassic snake native to England. The Early Snakes of the Cretaceous Period Needless to say, the key event in snake evolution was the gradual withering away of these reptiles front and hind limbs. Creationists like to claim that there are no such transitional forms in the fossil record, but in the case of prehistoric snakes theyre dead wrong: paleontologists have identified no less than four separate genera, dating back to the Cretaceous period, that was equipped with stubby, vestigial hind legs. Oddly enough, three of these snakes--Eupodophis, Haasiophis, and Pachyrhachis--were discovered in the Middle East, not otherwise a hotbed of fossil activity, while a fourth, Najash, lived on the other side of the world, in South America. What do these two-legged ancestors reveal about snake evolution? Well, that answer is complicated by the fact that the Middle Eastern genera were discovered first--and, since they were found in geologic strata that were submerged in water a hundred million years ago, paleontologists took that as evidence  that snakes as a whole evolved from water-dwelling reptiles, most likely the sleek, fierce mosasaurs of the late Cretaceous period. Unfortunately, the South American Najash throws a monkey wrench into that theory: this two-legged snake was clearly terrestrial, and appears in the fossil record at roughly the same time as its Middle Eastern cousins. Today, the prevailing view is that snakes evolved from an as-yet-unidentified land-dwelling (and probably burrowing) lizard of the early Cretaceous period, most likely a type of lizard known as a varanid. Today, varanids are represented by monitor lizards (genus Varanus), the largest living lizards on earth. Oddly enough, then, prehistoric snakes may have been kissing cousins of the giant prehistoric monitor lizard Megalania, which measured about 25 feet from head to tail and weighed over two tons! The Giant Prehistoric Snakes of the Cenozoic Era Speaking of giant monitor lizards, some prehistoric snakes also attained gigantic sizes, though once again the fossil evidence can be frustratingly inconclusive. Until recently, the biggest prehistoric snake in the fossil record was the appropriately named Gigantophis, a late Eocene monster that measured about 33 feet from head to tail and weighed as much as half a ton. Technically, Gigantophis is classified as a madtsoiid snake, meaning it was closely related to the widespread genus Madtsoia. Unfortunately for Gigantophis fans, this prehistoric snake has been eclipsed in the record books by an even bigger genus with an even cooler name: the South American Titanoboa, which measured over 50 feet long and conceivably weighed as much as a ton. Oddly enough, Titanoboa dates from the middle Paleocene epoch, about five million years after the dinosaurs went extinct but millions of years before mammals evolved into giant sizes. The only logical conclusion is that this prehistoric snake preyed on equally huge prehistoric crocodiles, a scenario you can expect to see computer-simulated in some future TV special; it may also have occasionally crossed paths with the equally giant prehistoric turtle Carbonemys.