Prescription Pill Abuse Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Prescription Pill Abuse - Research Paper Example Many teenagers hold the view that prescription medication abuse is safer than illicit drug intake. However, the fact is that prescription drugs can have severe short term as well as long term impacts on health if they are used improperly. Hence, it could be stated that the use and abuse of prescription pills has adverse effect on teenagers’ physical, mental, and social life. Prescription pill abuse may include taking a relative’s or a friend’s prescribed medicines to treat pain, get high, or to experiment with. As per reports, Opioids like OxyContin and Vicodin, stimulants like Concerta and Adderall, and central nervous system depressants including Xanax and Valium are the most common abused prescription pills over the past few years. Over-the-counter drugs (drugs available without a prescription) abuse has also become a threatening issue nowadays. Among the teenagers aged between 12 and 17, it was reported that 7.7 percent of them abused prescription drugs during 2010 (â€Å"Prescription drug abuse†). According to a study conducted by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, nearly one fifth of the teenagers have tried prescription painkillers ever in their life (cited in â€Å"Addictions: Generation Rx?..†). As The 2010 Monitoring the Future survey reports, prescription and over-the-counter pills were the most common drugs abused by 12th graders (NIDA). These surveys also point that prescription drug abuse may get intensified in future as no effective prevention mechanisms have been developed yet. In addition, surveys and other study reports indicate that prescription drug abusing youth is more likely to get addicted to substance abuse. Evidently, medication has side effects and therefore, a physician considers all potential benefits and risk factors of a drug before making prescriptions. In addition to the side effects factors, a physician takes into account a drug’s form and dose and its potential for addiction or withdrawal.

Body language Essay Example for Free

Body language Essay Gestures- an example of an gesture would be a thumbs up to refer to well done. I tried to use hand gesture to help the women to understand what I was saying.  Body language body language is a broad term for forms of communication using body movements or gestures instead of, or in addition to, sounds, verbal language, or other forms of communication. It forms part of the category of paralanguage, which describes all forms of human communication that are not verbal language. This includes the most subtle of movements that many people are not aware of, including winking and slight movement of the eyebrows. I tried to adapt to Egan theory of SOLER by leaning forward to show that I was interested. Listening- if we are not talking we are listening to what others are saying and trying to understand there views our body language can tell if we are listening to a persons whenever any body was talking I would lean forward to shows that I am interested. Because it was an group interactions I had to give other people the chance to talk and t get their opinion across  * Expression- facial expression can send very complex message that can be read easily. I tried to use a good facial expression to make her feel comfortable and welcomed. Eye contact Eye contact is the event when two people look at each others eyes at the same time. I kept good eye contact with her to show that I was actually listening and with the other members of the group  One 2 one seven year old boy  Verbal-  Tone /Pitch its not just what we say, but the way we say it. If we were to talk very fast in a loud voice with a fixed voice tone,  people may think that we are angry and shouting. I did not shout at the seven year old boy and I talk out a tone and pitch in which he could hear clearly. Slangs and jargons- I did not use slang in my dialect. This is because slang is mostly associated with teenagers and also he may not understand what I was saying  Pace the pace is the speed in which I talk. I can talk fast and I can talk slow. Because he is a kid I had to talk slow so that she can understand  Non verbal  Gestures- an example of an gesture would be a thumbs up to refer to well done. I tried to use hand gesture to help the boy to understand what I was saying and also used hand gesture when I had to take the boy to the toilet I had to hold his hands. Body language -. This includes the most subtle of movements that many people are not aware of, including winking and slight movement of the eyebrows. I tried to adapt to Egan theory of SOLER by leaning forward to show that I was interested. I did not stand over him Listening- if we are not talking we are listening to what others are saying and trying to understand there views our body language can tell if we are listening to a persons whenever any body was talking I would lean forward to shows that I am interested. Because it was an group interactions I had to give other people the chance to talk and t get their opinion across. Expression- facial expression can send very complex message that can be read easily. I tried to use a good facial expression to make him feel comfortable and welcomed by smiling a lot.  Eye contact Eye contact is the event when two people look at each others eyes at the same time. I kept good eye contact with him to show that I was actually listening to him.  The care value base is very important. The care value base is used widely in the field of health , social care and early years. The care value base is used to describe a set of principles that were thought to be relevant to the health and social care practitioners. The care value base can be used as an ethnical guide to decision making and practice in health, social care and early years setting. The care value base is used to be certain that care works or practitioners are not discriminating, being unkind, or providing poor care for their patients or service users The care value base covers five main areas:  1. Promoting anti-discriminatory practice  2. Maintaining confidentiality  3. Promoting and supporting individuals rights and respect  4. Acknowledging individuals personal beliefs and identities  5. Promoting effective communication  The care value base can form part of a code of conduct, or a professional code of ethics for anyone working in a caring profession. The car value base has become more important due to the fact the country has become more and more multicultural and ethnically diverse. Also there more people with disability. Laws have been passed which prohibit discrimination on the grounds of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability etc. is therefore vital that people do not feel discriminated against when they are using care services.

The Controversy Over Internet Censorship Essay example -- Television M

The Controversy Over Internet Censorship   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   For many people, using the Internet has become practically a new way of life, especially for college students and the like.   Various types of information can be accessed at the touch of a button: anything from encyclopedias, to surveys and essays, to articles from magazines, and adult sites.   Anyone who pays for their Internet service is usually offered space for his or her own web page, and even many free services provide space for personal web pages.   All of this available space can be used for any number of reasons: posting newsletters for community groups, advertising for businesses, or just voicing one’s opinion.   For those of us who know how to use this information, or at least how to find what we need out of it, it’s a very good thing. But what about children?   If adults can access this information with such ease, what’s stopping kids from checking it out too?   Who decides what’s appropriate for kids and whatâ€⠄¢s not when their parents aren’t constantly leaning over their shoulders?   And what about posting things that may be offensive to other people, no matter what age they might be?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   With easy access to the Internet and the multitude of Internet services providing all this free web space, many people decide to take advantage.   A person may have a very strong opinion about a subject and feel the need to voice that opinion on a personal web site, whether it is for the purpose of talking about his or her self, or informing others of a particular issue.   What happens when it’s an opinion that some think is funny, yet others find hurtful and offensive?   Can sites like this be censored in order not to offend people?   But what about the people who find it amusing?   Isn’t t... ...hould take in to consideration the thoughts and feelings of others who may be offended, and should also be aware of the influence their information can have on children and others.  Ã‚        Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Works Cited Legislation to Repeal the Internet Censorship Provisions of the Communications Decency Act.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Electronic Privacy Information Center.   19 Jan. 1997. Is There a Right to Speech that Advocates Illegal Acts or Violence?   Electronic Frontier  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Foundation.   Racist Speech on College Campuses.   Electronic Frontier Foundation.   Marriott, Michel.   "Rising Tide: Sites Born of Hate."   New York Times.   18 Mar 1999.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     

Eymp 5

2. 1 Explain the ways in which adults can effectively support and extend the speech, language and communication development of children during the early years. Adults can effectively support the speech, language and communication development of the child by the parent talking fluently and clearly so the child can hear the patterns of the language they are learning. The adult can also help the child’s understanding of communication by miming the actions they are saying, this help the child put together the actions and words to understand what he adult is saying.An adult can extend the child’s development by introducing new words, and getting the child to use more intellectual words such as ‘dog’ instead of ‘doggy’. Babies communicate by crying for their needs such as for a nappy change or a bottle. Adults can support the child’s development by talking to babies in short phases and high pitched voices and emphasis on key words, this is cal led parentese.Another way that adults communicate with children is by eye contact, if the child has sigh issues then the babies response would be by listening intently and becoming still, as for a baby that is well sighted would ‘dance’ and smile. Adults can extend the child’s communication development by repeating a word to the baby to get them used to the word, and then showing the child the meaning, by also miming and using body language. 2. Explain the relevant positive effects of adult support for the children and their causes. The positive effects of adult support for the children involve improvements in speech, language and communication skills, social interaction, behaviour and emotional development / self confidence. Praising and encouragement are very important when supporting the child’s speech, language and communication development as they need a lot of praising or rewards when the child is speaking correctly.By the adults giving the child rew ards and praising them supports the child as they know they are doing good, and will continue to excel and improve their development, as well as the child gains self – confidence and self – esteem when they are being praised which allows the child to experience new things and experiences, this would help the child’s communication as they would have the confidence to speak up and ask questions. There are a few methods that are used to praise children, one is verbal, such as praising the child by giving them positive comments about what they are doing and how they do things like ‘Brilliant Tony!You played really well’ As this has two positive comments would make the child feel good, and would then go and play well again and this would improve their social interaction as well as their motional development. Another positive method that the adult could use is symbols, such as smiley faces and well done stickers when the child has done something well such as reading, this would have a positive effect on the child development as they feel confident as they can read well or playing well, which could lead to the child trying to learn and do more things as they feel good about themselves.

Management innovation in the South African dairy industry Essay

The case focuses on management innovation in the South African dairy industry, describing how an innovative new yoghurt product, Danimal, was created specifically for the market at the base of the pyramid. It explains how management of the product line embodied the various innovation opportunities and challenges presented. The concept was initially introduced in order to assess the feasibility of profitably servicing this market. However, the project was not simply about introducing a cheap brand to poor people but was more about creating brand awareness in the market at the base of the pyramid. It was an investment for the future. The new product took into consideration the nutritional shortcomings in the diet of children in this market and also allowed for the lack of available infrastructure – electricity and refrigeration. The case illustrates the importance of a product being affordable, relevant and available for this market. Innovation went further than product design and also took into account the necessity of a lean distribution channel. This took the form of micro-distributers, referred to as Danimamas, who comprised township residents, unemployed or part-time employed individuals. The case offers insights into the complexity of doing business in developing countries. The company admits that it has not been a sustainable business model in terms of current profitability but the value that has been gained from social marketing and long-term brand development has been great. The case concludes with the challenge of how to ensure that the project continues on its upward trajectory. The objectives of the case are to encourage students to have a better understanding of the strategies required to successfully impact on low-income markets in developing countries, the different metrics that one could consider when assessing the impact of interventions on the base of the pyramid market, and the importance of harnessing opportunities and overcoming the challenges of management innovation. Questions to answer: How does the Danimal project shed light on and challenge the principals suggested to manage the base of the pyramid? How would you measure the success of the Danimal project? How does the approach taken by Maria Pretorius in managing the Danimal product line factor in management innovation opportunities and challenges?

Definition and Examples of Stasis in Classical Rhetoric

Definition and Examples of Stasis in Classical Rhetoric In classical rhetoric, stasis is the process of, first, identifying the central issues in a dispute, and next finding arguments by which to address those issues effectively. Plural: staseis. Also called stasis theory or the stasis system. Stasis is a basic resource of invention. The Greek rhetorician Hermagoras of Temnos identified four major types (or divisions) of stasis: Latin coniectura, conjecturing about the fact at issue, whether or not something had been done at a particular time by a particular person: e.g., Did X actually kill Y?Definitiva, whether an admitted action falls under the legal definition of a crime: e.g., Was the admitted killing of Y by X murder or homicide?Generalis or qualitas, the issue of the quality of the action, including its motivation and possible justification: e.g., Was the murder of Y by X in some way justified by the circumstances?Translatio, objection to the legal process or transference of jurisdiction to a different tribunal: e.g., Can this court try X for a crime when X has been given immunity from prosecution or claims the crime was committed in another city? See Examples and Observations below. Also see: ArgumentationDissoi LogoiExigenceInventionJudicial RhetoricMetastasisTopoi EtymologyFrom the Greek, stance. placing, position Examples and Observations Although he recognized the need to define the question at issue in a trial, Aristotle did not develop a theory to cover the various possibilities, nor did he use the term stasis. . . . The word literally means stand, standing, stance, describes the stance of a boxer toward an opponent, and perhaps was transferred from that context to the stand taken by a speaker toward an opponent. Quintilian (3.6.23) saw the influence of Aristotles dialectical categories of substance, quantity, relation, and quality on concepts of stasis, which in Latin is called constitutio or status.(George A. Kennedy, A New History of Classical Rhetoric. Princeton University. Press, 1994)Hermagoras was the most important contributor to stasis theory before the 2nd century AD and made stasis theory a much more important part of the rhetorical curriculum. However, only fragments of the works of Hermagoras have been preserved. Modern knowledge of the evolution of stasis theory is derived primarily from Rhetorica ad Herennium and Ciceros De Inventione.(Arthur R. Emmett, Hermogenes of Tarsus: Rhetorical Bridge From the Ancient World to the Modern. Rediscovering Rhetoric,  ed. by Justin T. Gleeson and Ruth C. A. Higgins. Federation Press, 2008) The Stasis SystemIn Book One of De Inventione, Cicero discusses a system for thinking through a judicial case, called the stasis (struggle or stopping point) system. An aspiring rhetorician could learn the skill by analyzing a case by dividing the debate into the likely issues of conflict, or stopping points. . . .Students studying a stasis system learned to think through cases by following the points at which disagreements were likely to arise. These points of stasis, or struggle, . . . divided a complex case into its component parts or questions. Arguments relevant to questions of fact, definition, and quality were rehearsed and thus integrated into the students pattern of thinking.(James A. Herrick, The History and Theory of Rhetoric. Allyn Bacon, 2008)The Stasis Doctrine: Three QuestionsThe stasis doctrine, a procedure for determining relevant issues, was a staple concept for the Roman rhetoricians. According to the simplest interpretation of this doctrine, three questions are i nvolved in the crux of a given case: (1) Did anything happen? a conjectural question answered by physical evidence; (2) What name should be applied to what happened? a question answered by precise definitions; (3) What sort of an action was it? a qualitative inquiry allowing the orator to specify mitigating circumstances.Additional material could be adduced by employing the topics.(Donovan J. Ochs, Ciceros Rhetorical Theory. A Synoptic History of Classical Rhetoric, 3rd ed., by James J. Murphy and Richard A. Katula. Lawrence Erlbaum, 2003) The Stasis Doctrine Applied to Yogi BearTo return for a moment to Jellystone Park, conjectural stasis would have us ask whether Yogi Bear was responsible for the disappearance of the picnic basket, definitional stasis whether he grabbed it and snaffled the contents, qualitative stasis whether the bylaws of Jellystone Park prohibit the theft of picnic baskets, and translative status whether the alleged theft should be tried in a human court or whether this thieving wild animal should be summarily shot by a park ranger.(Sam Leith, Words Like Loaded Pistols: Rhetoric From Aristotle to Obama. Basic Books, 2012)Stasis theory has to this day exercised important influences on the development of Western law, even if the level of explicit attention to the doctrines of stasis in the rhetorical as well as the legal literature has fluctuated greatly.(Hanns Hohmann, Stasis, in Encyclopedia of Rhetoric, ed. Thomas O. Sloane. Oxford University Press, 2001) Pronunciation: STAY-sis Also Known As: stasis theory, issues, status, constitutio Alternate Spellings: staseis

Free Essays on Guitars

Guitars Guitars Jimmy Hendrix, Eddie VanHalen, B. B. King, Angus Young, Brian "Head" Welch, Fletcher Dragge. What do all of these people have in common? They are all guitar heroes in they're own styles of music. However, because of the different styles of music they play, each guitarist mentioned above uses a different style of guitar. The guitars different body styles and shape help mold the perfect sound for the style you play. From sweet and warm, to loud and thrashing, the guitar is one of the most versatile instruments and can be used for any style of music. Most styles of music (and the legends who made that style famous) have a specific guitar that embodies each genres sound. Jimmy Hendrix, a virtuoso of the 60' era, played a Fender Stratocaster. Eddie VanHalen, know for his innovative "tapping" style solos, Plays a custom peavey guitar called a Wolfgang. B. B. King, a blues guitar legend, plays a signature model Gibson Hollow body. Angus young, lead guitarist for AC/DC, plays a solid body Gibson SG. Head, one of two guitar players for the band Korn, plays an Ibanez 7-string model. Fletcher Dragge, a pioneer in the field of punk, plays a standard series RG Ibanez. To those who don't play guitar these names may be unfamiliar, but to those who play, these guitars cover most of the different sounds you can get out of a guitar. One way a guitar sounds different than other models is the way it is built. Depending on what kind of wood is used the sound can completely change. Some examples of woods used for guitars are ash, pine, sandalwood, rosewood, and maple. The more dense the wood is, the longer the sustain it has (sustain is a term for how long the sound will carry from one attack). Also, the lighter the wood, the brighter tone it has. The wood used for the fret board is also important. Usually it is made of maple or rosewood. Each of these woods has a different feel to it (it is more of a preference for one or the other as op... Free Essays on Guitars Free Essays on Guitars Guitars Guitars Jimmy Hendrix, Eddie VanHalen, B. B. King, Angus Young, Brian "Head" Welch, Fletcher Dragge. What do all of these people have in common? They are all guitar heroes in they're own styles of music. However, because of the different styles of music they play, each guitarist mentioned above uses a different style of guitar. The guitars different body styles and shape help mold the perfect sound for the style you play. From sweet and warm, to loud and thrashing, the guitar is one of the most versatile instruments and can be used for any style of music. Most styles of music (and the legends who made that style famous) have a specific guitar that embodies each genres sound. Jimmy Hendrix, a virtuoso of the 60' era, played a Fender Stratocaster. Eddie VanHalen, know for his innovative "tapping" style solos, Plays a custom peavey guitar called a Wolfgang. B. B. King, a blues guitar legend, plays a signature model Gibson Hollow body. Angus young, lead guitarist for AC/DC, plays a solid body Gibson SG. Head, one of two guitar players for the band Korn, plays an Ibanez 7-string model. Fletcher Dragge, a pioneer in the field of punk, plays a standard series RG Ibanez. To those who don't play guitar these names may be unfamiliar, but to those who play, these guitars cover most of the different sounds you can get out of a guitar. One way a guitar sounds different than other models is the way it is built. Depending on what kind of wood is used the sound can completely change. Some examples of woods used for guitars are ash, pine, sandalwood, rosewood, and maple. The more dense the wood is, the longer the sustain it has (sustain is a term for how long the sound will carry from one attack). Also, the lighter the wood, the brighter tone it has. The wood used for the fret board is also important. Usually it is made of maple or rosewood. Each of these woods has a different feel to it (it is more of a preference for one or the other as op... Free Essays on Guitars Guitars Guitars Jimmy Hendrix, Eddie VanHalen, B. B. King, Angus Young, Brian "Head" Welch, Fletcher Dragge. What do all of these people have in common? They are all guitar heroes in they're own styles of music. However, because of the different styles of music they play, each guitarist mentioned above uses a different style of guitar. The guitars different body styles and shape help mold the perfect sound for the style you play. From sweet and warm, to loud and thrashing, the guitar is one of the most versatile instruments and can be used for any style of music. Most styles of music (and the legends who made that style famous) have a specific guitar that embodies each genres sound. Jimmy Hendrix, a virtuoso of the 60' era, played a Fender Stratocaster. Eddie VanHalen, know for his innovative "tapping" style solos, Plays a custom peavey guitar called a Wolfgang. B. B. King, a blues guitar legend, plays a signature model Gibson Hollow body. Angus young, lead guitarist for AC/DC, plays a solid body Gibson SG. Head, one of two guitar players for the band Korn, plays an Ibanez 7-string model. Fletcher Dragge, a pioneer in the field of punk, plays a standard series RG Ibanez. To those who don't play guitar these names may be unfamiliar, but to those who play, these guitars cover most of the different sounds you can get out of a guitar. One way a guitar sounds different than other models is the way it is built. Depending on what kind of wood is used the sound can completely change. Some examples of woods used for guitars are ash, pine, sandalwood, rosewood, and maple. The more dense the wood is, the longer the sustain it has (sustain is a term for how long the sound will carry from one attack). Also, the lighter the wood, the brighter tone it has. The wood used for the fret board is also important. Usually it is made of maple or rosewood. Each of these woods has a different feel to it (it is more of a preference for one or the other as op...

Learn About the 3 Main Stages of Cellular Respiration

Learn About the 3 Main Stages of Cellular Respiration We all need energy to function, and we get that energy from the foods we eat. Extracting those nutrients necessary to keep us going and then converting them into useable energy is the job of our cells. This complex yet efficient metabolic process, called cellular respiration, converts the energy derived from sugars, carbohydrates, fats, and proteins into adenosine triphosphate, or ATP, a high-energy molecule that drives processes like muscle contraction and nerve impulses. Cellular respiration occurs in both eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells,  with most reactions taking place in the cytoplasm of prokaryotes and in the mitochondria of eukaryotes.   There are three main stages of cellular respiration: glycolysis, the citric acid cycle, and electron transport/oxidative phosphorylation. Sugar Rush Glycolysis literally means splitting sugars, and it is the 10-step process by which sugars are released for energy. Glycolysis  occurs when glucose and oxygen are supplied to the cells by the bloodstream, and it takes place in the cells cytoplasm. Glycolysis can also occur without oxygen, a process called anaerobic respiration, or fermentation. When glycolysis occurs without oxygen, cells make small amounts of ATP. Fermentation also produces lactic acid, which can build up in muscle tissue, causing soreness and a burning sensation. Carbs, Proteins, and Fats The Citric Acid Cycle,  also known as the tricarboxylic acid cycle or the  Krebs Cycle,  begins after the two molecules of the three carbon sugar produced in glycolysis are converted to a slightly different compound (acetyl CoA). It is the process that allows us to use the energy found in carbohydrates,  proteins, and  fats. Although the citric acid cycle does not use oxygen directly, it works only when oxygen is present. This cycle takes place in the matrix of cell  mitochondria. Through a series of intermediate steps, several compounds capable of storing high energy electrons are produced along with two ATP molecules. These compounds, known as nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) and flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD), are reduced in the process. The reduced forms (NADH and FADH2) carry the high energy electrons to the next stage. Aboard the Electron Transport Train Electron transport and oxidative phosphorylation is the third and final step in aerobic cellular respiration. The electron transport chain is a series of protein complexes and electron carrier molecules found within the mitochondrial membrane in eukaryotic cells. Through a series of reactions, the high energy electrons generated in the citric acid cycle are passed to oxygen. In the process, a chemical and electrical gradient is formed across the inner mitochondrial membrane as hydrogen ions are pumped out of the mitochondrial matrix and into the inner membrane space. ATP is ultimately produced by oxidative phosphorylation- the process by which enzymes in the cell oxidize nutrients. The protein  ATP synthase uses the energy produced by the electron transport chain for  the phosphorylation (adding a phosphate group to a molecule) of ADP to ATP. Most ATP generation occurs during the electron transport chain and oxidative phosphorylation stage of cellular respiration.

Sociology and Social Constructs Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Sociology and Social Constructs - Essay Example Social construct exists because people agree to behave as if it exists, or concur as if to comply with certain conventional rules, or behave as if such accord or rules came into being (Social Constructs 2007). One social construct is individualism. It places the individual as the center of the social structures. For Hofstede, individualism "pertains to societies wherein the ties between individuals are loose, where everyone is expected to look after himself or herself and his or her immediate family (as cited by Allik and Realo.). As opposed to collectivism, which holds that the group (e.g. the nation, the community, the race, etc. is the primary unit of "reality and the ultimate standard of value," individualism points the individual as the principal unit of reality. His individual person, and not a certain group where he belongs in, is its main focus. For Tocqueville, selfishness is "a passionate and exaggerated love of self, leading a man to connect everything with himself and to prefer himself to everything in the world." On the other hand, his concept of individualism is "a mature and calm feeling, which disposes each member of the community to sever himself from the mass of his fellows and to draw apart with his family and his friends, so that after he has thus formed a little circle of his own, he willingly leaves society at large to itself (Democracy in America 1835)." Based from his definition selfishness concerns more on the emotional craving to love one's self, while individualism is more a mature feeling that makes a member of a society to choose it. Another common misconception is individualism's relation with isolation. Isolation means being alone and being outside of the social sphere. Individualism is a sociological concept that puts the individual at the pedestal. It makes individuals as the unit by which a society's achievement is measured. The common misconception about individualism is that the individual is emphasized and it disregards other members in the society. While it is true that individuals are given emphasis on this social construct, individualism only empowers the members of the society to freely choose what they prefer doing. This social construct should be viewed from the perspective of society wherein individuals are given the freedom to choose what they want in life. Individuals are responsible for himself and society's role is very minimal (Individualism 2007). Individualism and Collectivism After clarifying individualism from the common misconceptions about it, let us further illuminate this confusing term by differentiating it from its contradictory term - collectivism. As mentioned above, individualism puts individual members of the group as the unit by which the success or achievement of a group is based on. Collectivism, on the other hand views a social group as the basis. When an individualist, for example, comments on a crime the fault solely rests in the hands of the individual. The social group wherein he is part of is minimal. This makes individuals responsible for their actions. Collectivism stresses that the society is

Information Systems Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words - 1

Information Systems Strategy - Essay Example Current paper focuses on the identification of the value of information systems within modern organizations proposing at the same time effective strategies so that the use of these systems in business environment to be improved offering the necessary support to the further improvement of organizational performance. The major challenge of this paper is to locate the major problems related with the administration of Information Systems within modern organizations; however if taking into account the fact that each specific business develops its own strategies regarding the gathering, process and distribution of information, then it could be assumed that a general framework in which information systems are developed – referring to modern organization – would be adequate – at least at an initial stage; a more detailed explanation of the role and the methods of development of Information Systems in modern organizations could take place using specific examples of firms or organizations that already operate within the modern market. In fact, two such organizations have been chosen for the above task while a series of other applications of these systems in business sector is presented in order to help towards the understanding of the value of these systems and their contribution to the improvement of organizational performance worldwide. In this context, current study is considered to be of significant importance highlighting the criteria of successful implementation and administration of information systems in modern organizations. It should be noticed that the examination of the value of IS in modern business environment will be conducted referring both to the theoretical and the practical implications of the IS management on organizational performance; for this reason a summary of most common IS management practices will be presented at a first level while a reference to specific organizations

What insights, if any, can the writings of Michael Foucault provide Outline

What insights, if any, can the writings of Michael Foucault provide for the student of medieval 'outsiders' - Outline Example Perhaps one of the main contributors to the body of knowledge includes Michel Foucault. Indeed, his exploration of science, philosophy, history and a host of other fields generated useful insights that inform current decisions in the academic sphere. It is against this background that this paper underscores contributions of Michel Foucault that are informative to the student of medieval ‘outsider’. Foucault posits that the disappearance of the social problem of leprosy paved way to insanity2. Initially during the 1500s, mad people were secluded from the society and sent away in ‘ship of fools’3. According to Foucault, leprosy was a complex phenomenon whose occurrence was beyond the physical incapacitation6. From a medical point of view, the populations that were affected by it suffered immensely. The then societies feared the disease because of the medical implications that were associated with it. Just like mad people, lepers were secluded form the society The resultant gap made it possible for populations to carry on with the practice of seclusion. Gradually, mad people started being given a similar treatment. In essence, they were considered social outcasts and were exposed to brutal treatment9. Foucault believes that discipline and punishment gives the persons in authority power over an individual who is punished10. Power in this regard is defined by professional knowledge thus judges, parole officers and the police are powerful. The degree and length of the disciplinary measure is depended on the decisions that are made by individuals in power11. These also determine the type of punishment that need to be reflective of the type of wrong that is committed by the prisoner. Discipline and punishment play distinct social and political roles of: Human sexuality has a direct influence on social as well as political power structuring16. The procedures and

International Money and Finance (Final stage 3) Essay - 2

International Money and Finance (Final stage 3) - Essay Example The company’s annual report 2010 provides clues on the exchange rate risks. Operating Statistics Number of rental stores Staff numbers 31 October 30 April 31 October 30 April 2010 2009 2010 2010 2009 2010 Sunbelt Rentals 346 397 393 5,373 5,733 5,334 A-Plant 104 111 105 1,876 1,944 1,872 Corporate office - - - 11 12 12 Group 450 508 498 7,260 7,689 7,218 The operating statistics on the number of rental stores and staff strength provide a comparative view of the performance of the Ashtead Group in the years 2009 and 2010 respectively in Sunbelt Rentals and A-Plant (Ashtead Group Press Release, 2011). Exchange Rate Risk Ashtead Group is exposed to exchange rate risk developed from translation risk emerging from most of the company assets, liabilities, income and costs written in the US dollars. The changes in the comparative value of Pound Sterling and the US dollar can impact on the financial strength and functioning of the company. All debt of the company is shown in the US do llars to secure to a certain extent the revenue stream, hedging against the translation effects erupting from the shift in the dollar exchange rate. The company pays dollar interest on its debts to reduce the impact of any shift in the dollar exchange rate on its income (Ashtead Group Annual Report Accounts, 2010). Movements in the rate of the US dollar with respect to Pound Sterling has been having and crucial impact on our financial position and outcomes of operations as registered in pounds are because most of the company assets, liabilities, income and costs are represented in US dollars. Movement in the exposure of the firm against Pound Sterling or other currencies however, can create significant transaction exposure for the firm. Higher level of exposure can affect the firm’s short term cash flows and therefore may force the firm to borrow to meet its short term cash requirements. (Moffett, Stonehill, & Eiteman,2009). Till 31 October 2010 all company debts shown in the US dollar were nearly 80% of the value of net assets shown in dollar. It proved out to be robust hedge against currency fluctuations. It reduces the impact of exchange rate fluctuations as interest is paid through dollar as well, thus, reducing the effect on pre-tax profits and income. Based on the latest currency mix of Ashtead Group’s profits and on dollar debt levels, interest and exchange rates at 31 October 2010, a 1% change in the US dollar exchange rate would impact pre-tax profit by ?40,000 (Ashtead Group Press Release, 2011). The company has been benefitting from the strong dollar in the past, as is evident from the results of Sunbelt from stronger dollar in the year 2009 when revenues in dollar were short by 21% across the year to US$1450 million but in reality increased by 7% when shown in UK sterling (International Rental News, 2009). Ashtead's Sunbelt results were boosted by the stronger dollar. Sunbelt's revenues in dollars fell by 21% over the year to US$1450 million, although actually grew by 7% when expressed in UK sterling. A-Plant's sales for the year fell by 2% to 208.0 [pounds sterling] million. Dollar exchange rate hedging worked well for the company in the year 2009 amidst reducing sales for both the companies of the group in the final quarter with 28% cut in income by A-Plant and 24% reduction in the income of Senbelt in local

Personal statement(Business Economics Msc) Why do you want to study Statement

(Business Economics Msc) Why do you want to study this course and how will it help you in your future aspirations - Personal Statement Example I have always had a passion in the world of business and economics, and that is the reason I follow economic issues through the media. Every day that passes, we are all exposed to a lot of financial information from different sources such as mass media and the Internet. The information presented in these sources only represents a section of issues that make up the economy. Economic information seems hard and vague to be understood by persons without advanced education in economics. It is critical to understand economic issues in order to make wise decisions in life and the world of business. I consider that Economics will help me develop an understanding of what is becoming a single global market. I firmly believe that my knowledge in Economics must be enhanced by enrolling in a master program in order to adapt quickly in this area of learning. When one understands how the economy works, one will be in a position to make investment decisions and teach other people about the same. With this in mind, the significance of economy in people’s lives has compelled me to believe that having a masters degree in Business Economics would be valuable for my future career and decision- making. I think a Masters in Business Economics will challenge me to understand how significant the economy of a nation can be, and how it can recover from the chaotic situation it encounters today. A learned person in Economics can identify the issues that affect the economy and help to fix them in a timely manner. A Master in Business Economics is an ideal program for my ambitions because of the steps I want to make in my career. The program will help me build on my skills and knowledge that will appeal to employers. A Master in Business Economics will help me gain very marketable knowledge to help the economy of my country. The knowledge gained after pursuing this program will be critical in helping business

International Money and Finance (Final stage 3) Essay - 2

International Money and Finance (Final stage 3) - Essay Example The company’s annual report 2010 provides clues on the exchange rate risks. Operating Statistics Number of rental stores Staff numbers 31 October 30 April 31 October 30 April 2010 2009 2010 2010 2009 2010 Sunbelt Rentals 346 397 393 5,373 5,733 5,334 A-Plant 104 111 105 1,876 1,944 1,872 Corporate office - - - 11 12 12 Group 450 508 498 7,260 7,689 7,218 The operating statistics on the number of rental stores and staff strength provide a comparative view of the performance of the Ashtead Group in the years 2009 and 2010 respectively in Sunbelt Rentals and A-Plant (Ashtead Group Press Release, 2011). Exchange Rate Risk Ashtead Group is exposed to exchange rate risk developed from translation risk emerging from most of the company assets, liabilities, income and costs written in the US dollars. The changes in the comparative value of Pound Sterling and the US dollar can impact on the financial strength and functioning of the company. All debt of the company is shown in the US do llars to secure to a certain extent the revenue stream, hedging against the translation effects erupting from the shift in the dollar exchange rate. The company pays dollar interest on its debts to reduce the impact of any shift in the dollar exchange rate on its income (Ashtead Group Annual Report Accounts, 2010). Movements in the rate of the US dollar with respect to Pound Sterling has been having and crucial impact on our financial position and outcomes of operations as registered in pounds are because most of the company assets, liabilities, income and costs are represented in US dollars. Movement in the exposure of the firm against Pound Sterling or other currencies however, can create significant transaction exposure for the firm. Higher level of exposure can affect the firm’s short term cash flows and therefore may force the firm to borrow to meet its short term cash requirements. (Moffett, Stonehill, & Eiteman,2009). Till 31 October 2010 all company debts shown in the US dollar were nearly 80% of the value of net assets shown in dollar. It proved out to be robust hedge against currency fluctuations. It reduces the impact of exchange rate fluctuations as interest is paid through dollar as well, thus, reducing the effect on pre-tax profits and income. Based on the latest currency mix of Ashtead Group’s profits and on dollar debt levels, interest and exchange rates at 31 October 2010, a 1% change in the US dollar exchange rate would impact pre-tax profit by ?40,000 (Ashtead Group Press Release, 2011). The company has been benefitting from the strong dollar in the past, as is evident from the results of Sunbelt from stronger dollar in the year 2009 when revenues in dollar were short by 21% across the year to US$1450 million but in reality increased by 7% when shown in UK sterling (International Rental News, 2009). Ashtead's Sunbelt results were boosted by the stronger dollar. Sunbelt's revenues in dollars fell by 21% over the year to US$1450 million, although actually grew by 7% when expressed in UK sterling. A-Plant's sales for the year fell by 2% to 208.0 [pounds sterling] million. Dollar exchange rate hedging worked well for the company in the year 2009 amidst reducing sales for both the companies of the group in the final quarter with 28% cut in income by A-Plant and 24% reduction in the income of Senbelt in local

Evolving Practice of Nursing Delivery Models Assignment

Evolving Practice of Nursing Delivery Models - Assignment Example The associated programs pertinent to health care reform are inclusive of accountable care organizations (ACOs), nurse-managed health clinics, and primary care medical homes. Through expansion of the overall reach of insurance coverage, there is increased placement of greater demands on the prevailing primary care system present. Furthermore, through investment in the overall expansion of HIT – interoperable health information technology platforms – that critical implementation of system reforms can be effectively achieved (The NAP, 2011). This is not only vital in localized settings, but more so in terms of the spurred growth of community-wide exchange of information, as projected by the IOM and RWJF (2012). This has great potential of changing in profound ways, the scope, skill-mix (expertise) and distribution of nursing practice. Accordingly, the reformation within the health care delivery system foretells a number of crucial inputs by the nursing profession. These in clude: changes in the demand for RNs service provision, and the effective positioning of the nursing profession towards effectively responding to the reforms made. Furthermore, is the crucial role-play the profession has in regard to effecting a positive post-reform healthcare environment. The pertinent health reform legislation, augmented by other relevant policy initiatives, reveals a range of provisions and programs. These call upon the need for re-organization of not only the workforce responsible (in terms of delivery).

Liberty today Essay Example for Free

Liberty today Essay The common notion of liberty today has been linked to the connotation of being free – freedom from dictators telling what the people should do and should not do, freedom from responsibilities, and alleviation of any restrictions we are suffering before. Liberty has always been related to the mitigation of certain laws and restrictions that bind us to do things that we desire. This is exists either as punishment or as a responsibility. Some perceptions of liberty are those which enable us to do something, or give us access to certain things that we were not able to access before. This is a manifestation of how varied people’s views of liberty are, wherein this also created a delineation of liberty, as either positive, or the â€Å"freedom to † and negative liberty which is about being â€Å"free from†¦Ã¢â‚¬  This various meanings arise depending on the situation or timeline one lives in. Therefore, the meaning of liberty has been twisted and redefined over the course of history, making it a term directly associated with freedom. Liberty for some is a description of oneness, of a singular thing or object, wherein there exists one state of being. It is an interpersonal, social idea wherein it arose from the people’s need to communicate. Liberty means being treated as a fellow person by another man, not just his servant or worker. This acknowledgement means that the person is being treated as an equal, not as anyone higher or lower that you are. Liberty doesn’t mean you are moving away from a certain group, but looking closely, liberty is a feature of connection, not of isolation or exclusion. Liberty doesn’t entail isolating oneself from the others, but rather being able to connect with various people, like socializing and promoting interpersonal relationships from various people. So whether you isolate yourself, you are depriving yourself your liberty. Liberty has solicited a lot of different meanings, and there is no proof on which meaning is true or not. There are no clear definitions that tell what liberty means, and that it doesn’t necessarily imply that liberty means being free from people, from the laws they set which binds us, or whatever the consequences our actions bring on other people. The certain instance when liberty becomes meaningful is when we are free with people, wherein we are able to do anything that we desire freely. But doing this still has a limitation. Our freedom stops when we are overlapping or stepping on some other’s freedom. That is the time when liberty makes sense, when we know our limitations, when we know that a certain level of exercising our freedom would intervene somebody else liberty, not unless our actions could re-enforce other people’s liberty. But the sad reality of liberty is that it only exists on people of the same footing, between equal human beings. In the case of inequality, it introduces a hierarchal position, thus putting a man above another man, thus implying superiority over the other. Inequality leads to slavery and other forms of undermining other people. That is why liberty only exists or is exercised freely in a society of equals. Before, back when people are engaged in slave trade, the notion of liberty was being able to alleviate yourself from the bounds of your master, since you are a servant, you are expected to serve him. Since slavery at that time were literally robbing other ethnic societies of their people (eg. Slave trade in Africa,) they are being transported to other parts of the world, primarily in the western side, the Europeans. They are alienated from their own homes, forced to work in the lands of the white people, and their notion of liberty was going back to the lives they ones had, back in their homeland, where they lived freely, away from the bonds that these white people have imposed on them. Liberty at that time was an aspiration for the slaves, for slavery was the great oppressing force at that time. After slavery came the wars. People from other nations were moving to conquer other lands, extending their influence, showing the world the power they possess. After colonizing, their colonies were subjected to foreign rule, laws wherein they are not accustomed to, and these are being imposed to them strictly, whether they like it or not. At this point of time, Liberty is more of about freedom from the influence of other ideologies or customaries. When people are imposing something, like a certain rule or law to other people, it is a manifestation of their subjugation, thus trampling down the Liberty that exists for the people in the country that they have conquered. Liberty has been the cause of wars, of uprisings from these colonies, in order to fight for what they believe is right. Another instance was in the times of civil war, when people desired liberty from the harsh rules or unpleasant dispositions of their current leader. This causes people to form groups or factions and do undesirable things. These uprisings are said to be fighting for liberty, which in this case was being autonomous from the grasps of a cruel leader. Looking closely, the aspect of liberty in these situations was of a larger scale as compared to that of slavery. Slavery’s focus was alleviating your personal situation as a slave, or the liberty from the bonds of a master and slave. While these wars and uprisings is liberty on a larger scale on a national level wherein you wish to liberate the whole country or region itself from the bonds it has on the parent or colonizing country, wherein you demand for a better quality of life, no that of which you have now. In our present situation, we are also experiencing a certain liberty. Liberty now is expressed as freedom – freedom to do whatever you want, depending on your rights as a human being, provided that you don’t step on the rights of other people. Liberty now has different forms, depending on the person addressing it. It could include the way you dress, the way you speak, how you look, your choice of religion, and so much more. It is a clear manifestation that what was being fought for before was now achieved, yet liberty is still being used, but in a different context. Liberty now express freedom of the person, or even a institution, like for example, the journalists are free to write about topics which they deem essential for the people to hear or see, which is simply the freedom of the press. Liberty means exercising these things to the fullest, and not doing so means you are being treated unfairly. Prostitution as the Oldest Occupation The emergence of prostitution could be traced back in the 1800’s in the Victorian Era, at the time of strict morality and repulsion of anything that deviates from social norm. It generally elicited a negative impression from the people, condemning the act of using one’s body to earn a living. The people which are most affected by this negative outlook are the women involved in prostitution. They are looked down as man-sucking vampires, seducing them with their bodies in order to earn money (Ruggiero). But in reality, these women maybe the ones oppressed the ones who are victimized by the harsh conditions of the society especially in the Victorian Era. Their turn on prostitution may be the outcome of man’s desire to keep the women oppressed: a manifestation of women being marginalized and discriminated. Women before were considered to be inferior to men, usually seen as dependent on their male counterparts. Sex has been a way to satisfy these men, and that is one of the very few uses of women at that time. Thus, when there is a time of great need, the women would often resort to selling their bodies to the males who are very willing to pay for their services. This opens the opportunity for sex as an income-generating medium for these women. Economic poverty has been one of the main factors that drive a woman to prostitution. This happens when they were at the edge, burdened by the problem of making the ends meet. Poverty is evident in the society not only today but even in the classical times. People really have to work their bodies out in order to earn money so that they will have food on their plates. A person owning a piece of land and a small vegetable plot is lucky if he’ll be able to feed his family three meals a day. What about those who doesn’t own anything? How will they be able to support themselves if they don’t have a source of income to be able to buy the foods for their everyday life? Will they choose to live a life of a thief and be contended with taking away what they don’t own? But considering that their body could be used in order to earn money, would they still resort to a life of crime? These questions are the ones at play when we talk about justifying prostitution as a profession, a career where you earn a living. Morality and Prostitution There are two opposing ideas when it comes to the concept of morality. The first can be classified as the moralist perspective, when the society associates shame and disgust with this act. They consider the fundamental ideas of a society, wherein sex is should be between two persons that are married, and that it should elicit a feeling of love. Another point of view is the libertarian, wherein prostitution is not associated with morality. It is considered as a willing buyer-willing seller interaction, wherein there I something between two people, and they both consent to it. It is a crime without a victim, if ever the law criminalizes it. Obligations and Prostitution People have the obligation to guard the people’s safety and welfare. This means that they are concerned with the wellness of every member of the society that’s why they wouldn’t permit anything that could be negative be associated with the people and the society. They are held accountable for any of the acts that could be very detrimental to the society, and some would say that these factors include prostitution. That is why there are those who would rather suppress prostitution than permit it, even though there are other issues with the people, like poverty and illiteracy. The people’s obligation is to watch the safety and well being of the society that is why prostitution should be removed. But this takes into consideration the wellness of those who rely solely in prostitution in order to support their lives. If we take away or criminalize prostitution, what would just happen to those who are relying on what they earn in order to live, or even to support a large family. Consequences Prostitution entails a great deal of consequences, starting with the people who are involved with this concern and also their family. Prostitution delineates the person from others as something â€Å"dirty,† or sinful at that. Because of this, a person’s (especially women’s) way of life can be affected. The people may have a different outlook when they came to know you better, but that is not readily accepted by the society. Homosexuality The word homosexual is used to describe the sexual orientation of men and women who find their primary emotional and sexual fulfillment with people of the same sex (Davies Janosik, 1991). Homosexuality is only an aspect of personality, as is heterosexuality. According to Davies Janosik (1991), identifying people solely by their choice of sex partners tends to belittle them; it conveys the impression that homosexuals’ only interest is in sex. They added that other aspects of an individual’s personality tend to be ignored when sexual labels are applied, so such labels should be used carefully and with the understanding that the only basic difference between heterosexual and homosexual is in their preference of sexual partners. According to Davies Janosik (1991), â€Å"our culture’s negative attitude toward homosexuality has been strongly influenced by religious teachings that hold homosexuality to be sinful and by psychoanalytical theory, which has traditionally held that homosexuality is an emotional disorder caused by psychosexual development†. Most of the people have their own religions and because of this almost everyone views homosexuality as negative and is linked to committing a sin. As Davies Janosik quoted, â€Å"homosexuality can be attributed to an unresolved masochistic attachment to the pre-oedipal mother, a distant relationship with the father, a defense against castration anxiety, or immature ego. The Origins of Sexual Orientation Diversity According to Money et. al (2005), one of the prevailing questions raised regarding sexual orientation centers on its origin or cause; questions about the causes of sexual orientation are typically concerned with the origins of homosexuality and bisexuality. Because heterosexuality is considered normative and natural causes of heterosexuality are rarely considered. Much of the biomedical and psychological research on sexual orientation attempts to identify one or more causes of sexual orientation diversity. The driving question behind this research is, is sexual orientation inborn? Or is it learned or acquired from environmental influences? While a number of factors have been correlated with sexual orientation, including genetic factors, gender role behavior in childhood, and fraternal birth order, there is no single theory that can explain diversity in sexual orientation (qtd.in Money et. al, 2005). Reference: Ruggiero, Vincent. Thinking Critically About Ethical Issues. Sixth Edition ed. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages, 2003. Blasius, M. Phelan, S. A. (1997). We are Everywhere: A Historical Sourcebook of Gay and Lesbian Politics. New York: Routledge. Davies, J. L. Janosik, E. H. (1991). Mental Health and Psychiatric Nursing: A Caring Approach. New York: Jones Bartlett Publishers. Glesne, D. N. (2005). Understanding Homosexuality: Perspective for the Living Church. New York: Kirk House Publishers. Koertge, N. (1981). The Nature and Causes of Homosexuality: A Philosophic and Scientific Inquiry. New York: Haworth Press. Money, L. A. , Knox, D. Schacht, C. (2005). Understanding Social Problems. New York: Thomson Wadsworth. Stewart, C. (2003). Gay and Lesbian Issues: A Reference Handbook. New York: ABC CLIO. Winer, J. A. (2006). The Annual of Psychoanalysis: Rethinking Psychoanalysis and Homosexuality V. 30. New York: Routledge. Brayton, Ed. Olson and the Meaning of Liberty. 2006. April 2008. http://positiveliberty. com/2006/07/olson-and-the-meaning-of-liberty. html. Derounian-Stodola, Kathryn Zabelle. Womens Indian Captivity Narratives. Penguin Group USA, 1998. Giollamoir, Oisin Mac. Liberty. 2005. April 2008. http://struggle. ws/wsm/ws/2005/85/liberty. html. Roberts, Dorothy. Race, Reproduction, and the Meaning of Liberty: Building a Social Justice Vision of Reproductive Freedom. 2001. April 2008. http://www. othmerinstitute. org/reports/report1. html.

Theories and Approaches to Learning

Theories and Approaches to Learning Write about helpful and unhelpful approaches to learning during your own education. What was positive about those approaches? Did they reflect or express any particular theories of learning? Life is a learning experience. When I was a young girl I was so confident and positive about what I wanted. Maths and Science were my favourite subjects but I was not given freedom to learn as I wanted to learn these subjects. I realized this after I gained a very good experience in teaching primary school children. Student motivation is rooted in students subjective experiences, especially those connected to their willingness to engage in lessons and learning activities and their reasons for doing so. (Brophy, 2004, p. 4) According to Brophy, I must say learning is, interesting fun and exciting when the curriculum is well matched to students interests and abilities and the teacher emphasizes hands-on activities in order to keep the students busy and engaged. When the teacher teaches the right things the right way, motivation takes place by itself. If students are not enjoying learning, something is wrong with the curriculum and teachers instruction. At times I felt my school life was boring and frustrating because I hated all subjects except Maths and Science. I had to sit and listen to longtime instructions and copy the notes from the chalk board. I managed myself for learning because I had to show the Progress Report with good grades to my dad. Ê »Science is like everything, I guess and I think everything has a science to it. [When] baking cookies you have to add the right amount of eggs and milk and stuff like that (Kaufman, Moss, Osborn, 2003, p. 48) As I agree with Kaufman, Moss Osborns point of view, these two subjects add lot of fun to learning as they contain lot of practical activities which are conducted in the school laboratory. I loved to learn through doing and touching, it is because I had trouble sitting still and learning. My worst day during Science period was when my teacher said no when I offered him my help to fix the Bunsen burner to the gas cylinder. He said ‘you are still young so must stay away. Now I understand that I was a kinaesthetic learner that time, my teacher could have engaged me in his work because I could be better able to understand information by doing hands-on activities. I am not going to blame my teacher for this because at the time of my learning teacher centred education was given importance by educators. If teachers are able to understand childrens learning needs, it will reduce lot of frustration like homework incompletion, failures in assessments and sports and speaking in public. A s long as I know sometimes kids are just doing what works for them but, the curriculum in practice when I was in school did not cater the childs individual needs and the educators did not consider the childs learning style. I know that cognitive focuses on the inner mental activities such as thinking, memory, knowing, and problem-solving so, I think at cognitive stage the children should be catered carefully according to their learning needs. I gained lot of experience in teaching, today I am an experienced teacher, I wish I was my teacher when I was in school because when I was a child I did not get what I give to the pupils in my classroom now. As a teacher, I work in my classroom according to my childrens expectations. I believe in group work, differentiated planning, reading a lot for fun, guided reading, shared reading, classroom policies, and ongoing assessments which help me know the level of progress frequently. The few hyperactive boys in my classroom are always my helpers; they are always engaged in classroom jobs. In a typical classroom, some children process information best by hearing the teacher explain it, some learn by seeing whats on the chalkboard, and others learn through hands-on exercises. Nowadays colleges have increasingly begun teaching new students about learning styles so they can develop effective study habits. Three basic learning styles are auditory, kinaesthetic, and visual. Auditory learners prefer listening to explanations over reading them and like to study by reciting information aloud. These types of learners may want to have background music while studying, or they may be distracted by noises and need a quiet space to study. Kinaesthetic learners learn by doing and touching. They may have trouble sitting still while studying, and they are better able to understand information by writing it down or doing hands on activities. Visual learners process new information by reading, looking at pictures, or watching a demonstration but, they may grow impatient listening to an explanation. I still remember the learning style and classroom setting when I was small which is mostly similar to what shown on the video clip of ‘The four UK teachers experience in a Kenyan school. At least for ten years my classroom strength was 35-40 children, our tables and chairs were laid in rows, teachers table and the chalk board was at the front of the class. The classroom layout was so congested, though we learnt how to move around without any incidents, our teachers never approached each table in order to assist the individual needs. Teacher instruction was mostly lecture based and activities contained more board work. We were never treated according to our learning styles which are auditory, kinaesthetic, and visual instead the whole class was given the same type of activities only the able children understood them and completed on time and the rest were neglected. Regret to say that our teachers failed to realise that all of us are designed to absorb information differently; each learning style results in people with various interests, desires and talents and learning is more fun and effective when the teachers look into multiple learning styles. Children learn more efficiently on their own way and can reach their potential by working smarter. Once a teacher identifies the childs learning style, she can give that child the freedom to learn which will support his work at home, at school, and in life. Once my English language teacher asked us to write a simple paragraph on ‘Good Schools, since I like role play activities, I wrote the paragraph and drew pictures of girls and wrote two dialogues in the speech bubbles as they speak the positive things in the school. My teacher saw my work and crossed out the picture and said ‘this is not required here. That time I took this as my teachers valid point of view but later when I became a te acher I thought my teacher should have appreciated my speech bubbles and corrected the sentences or showed me what rules I should follow when I write statements in the speech bubbles. In this way the teacher put a full stop to my desire in learning or trying new concepts. The educators should be able to understand the learning styles of the learners and should provide opportunities accordingly. A kinaesthetic learner should be given more activity based work, for an example- in maths lesson for addition; this type of a learner can be given counters rather than asking him to work out the sums mentally. Kinaesthetic learners should be able to experience and explore the learning aids/ models which are available in the classroom or lab. Learners with strength for visual learning tend to process information by visualizing and seeing it. During a PD training which I attended recently I learnt that about 65% of the population prefers to learn visually. Visual learners in schools can be given opportunities to use colors to organize, receive written instructions and lists, look at graphics like film, flow charts, or diagrams, use visualization when memorizing information, take detailed notes and draw graphics as they learn by looking. People with strength for a uditory learning tend to remember information they hear and discuss. According to what I learnt, about 30% of the population prefers learning with an auditory style. Auditory learners in the classroom can be given recordings of materials like video clips of rhymes or documentaries to be learned; can participate in discussions or discussion groups, have questions read out loud, receive verbal instructions and read written information out loud. It is very sad to say at the time of my learning in the schools I did not see teachers had any knowledge of the types of learners and teach them according to their needs but learning was on going in the classroom. If this is the case how did I learn? This is a very difficult question for me to answer. The learning theories of the school where I studied were forced me to learn in the way I did not want to, the classroom instruction in my school life was mostly suitable for visual learners as there were activities like reading text with pictures, key points of the lesson given on the chalk board and copying texts from the chalk board to the note books. There were hardly any resources around the classrooms; the teaching aids were the text books, chalk board and the chalks. I liked to spend more time in the Science lab its because of the laboratory equipment which our Science/Maths teacher used during practical lessons. I enjoyed these subjects though there were limited resources available in the school lab; the teachers conducted the lessons as for the whole class without realizing the individual needs of the children. I did not study the English language as the way I studied Maths/Science. English was taught through visualizing things, long instructions and reading paragraphs in tex ts. If teachers use a lecture style for instruction, the English language learner will not receive as much comprehensible input. (Haynes, 2007, p. 6) Haynes argument is right. I became impatient listening for long periods during English. Once my English teacher caught me reading my favourite story book in the class and said ‘you must spend time with your text books, you should never read story books it is a waste of time. I followed her instructions and never read story books ever since she told me. Why did not this teacher realize that reading open doors for many worlds? Had I read a lot or be encouraged to read that time I would have had a rich vocabulary when I entered the High school. Another day a story teller visited our school to read stories to each year group and involved the students in making story props and acting out the stories. This was the most enjoyable moment during my English lesson; I had an opportunity to learn new vocabularies too. Everyone had fun during this lesson because the story teller involved each and every student in a kind of activity. Another issue was no school policies were read to us on the first day of school as there were no many policies constructed for the school at that time. We knew how to go in a line to the library, hitting and verbally abusing the peers not allowed, wore neat uniform every day, respect the teachers and so on but we were never taught any of these. I think the hidden curriculum in my school was stronger than the curriculum which was in use that time. Then I moved to a college for my higher education. I can say from my college experience that many higher education instructors still do not realize that students vary in the way that they process and understand information or attempt to respond to those differences in their pedagogical efforts. Effective teaching cannot be limited to the delivery of information; instead it needs to be based on a model of minds at work. Effective instructors are those who understand the importance of involving all of their students in learning how to learn. Effective learners are created when instructors affirm the presence and validity of diverse learning. At the college level the cognitive development occurs at the same pace but the learners experience different kind of problems or issues due to many changes. One of them is ‘culture shock. Newcomers have usually left behind family members, friends, teachers, and pets. They are no longer surrounded by a familiar language and culture. Children often do not have the full support of their parents because the parents are experiencing culture shock, too. (Haynes, 2007, p. 2) I agree with Hayens because the greater the difference between the students new culture and the students primary culture, the greater the shock. During this stage, I as a newcomer was excited about the new lives. Everything was wonderful and we were having great time learning about the environment. For me the differences between the new culture and the old one become more apparent. I rejected my new surroundings because there was so much that I did not understand. At times I felt sleepy, irritable, uninterested, or depressed; there were few more students who felt the same as I did. In my college the English language learners were frustrated because they could not communicate and are bombarded with unfamiliar surroundings, unreadable social signals, and an unrelenting barrage of new sounds. I was homesick and missed my family, friends, and familiar sights and sounds but, our instructors failed to realise this and started their duty stuffing our brain with Physics, Chemistry and Biolo gy. I was compelled to listen and follow what they instructed but, I did not know how much I learnt at that stage. In fact, I was surprised and overwhelmed by the lectures though we were forced to learn what we were supposed to, because the instructors knew so much about the subject taught. At times I asked myself, how did the instructors prepare themselves so well in order to answer all types of questions asked by the students? I saw them as good role models from the way they socialized with others, and delivered the content of the subjects during lectures. Listening to a lecture involves active attempts to construct new knowledge but, most of the time I felt that the instructors could have included videos to their instructions, involved us in presentations or group discussions as I loved these types of activities. ACTIVITY 2: Why are theories of learning important? Write down some initial thoughts about your own priorities at this stage of your development as a (head) teacher. To what extent do your own current priorities coincide with the priorities mentioned above? There are many different theories of how people learn. What important and useful is to consider their application to how our students learn and we teach our educational programs. It is interesting to think about our own particular way of learning and to recognize that everyone does not learn the way we do. In my opinion one of the main points is a teacher should know that each student does not learn in the same way others do. This means if the teacher chooses just one style of teaching such as direct instruction or collaborative learning or inquiry learning the students will not be maximizing their learning potential. For sure a teacher cannot reach every student on the same level during one lesson, but implementing a variety of learning styles throughout the course allows all the students to experience the chance to learn in at least a way that matches their learning style. Most of the materials used to educate students beyond primary school are largely text and lecture based, which have significant limitations. Those students are not involved in group work or discussion activities. Reading is a very important learning mode but, not all students learn effectively from reading. There are students who do not like reading a lot but, respond better to visual and audio stimuli of lecture but often get lost in the material or lose interest in the presentation. In this type of a learning environment, students have limited opportunity to ask questions or may be uncomfortable asking a question in front of the class. So the learning theories we have should cater the individual needs of the children. I believe student learn best by trying to make sense of something on their own with the help of the teacher along the way. Therefore the learners should be involved in activity based learning and given the freedom to use the classroom resources around them. Another im portant point is that the best way to learn is by having students construct their own knowledge instead of having someone construct it for them. For an example, for giving them the concept of Addition they should be given counters or an abacus to find the sum of two numbers rather than explaining this on the chalk board. For the language development they should be given activities for listening and writing which will be an interesting activity too. Science and Geography can be taught through pictures, video clips, lab work with a lot of experiments and the use of internet. At times I did not get the clear concepts of the subject taught when I attended the lecture type classes but I had an opportunity to understand better when I was asked to teach the same concept to someone else on my own. An experienced teacher should always use cognitive terminology such as classify, analyze, predict, and create when assigning tasks to the students, this helps the students to explore and research to find lot of information about the subject. We should encourage student critical thinking and inquiry by asking them thoughtful, open-ended questions, and encourage them to ask questions to each other. Further, we should provide enough time for students to construct their own meaning when learning something new. We should acknowledge that, students understanding and prior experiences about a concept before teaching them, which is as vital as breathing. Group discussions that we organize should encourage communication between the teacher and the students and also between the students. All learning and some elements of non-learning begin with situations where there is a disjuncture between a learners biography (past experiences) and their construction of present experience. (Jarvis, Holford Griffin, 2003, p. 70) As Jarvis, Holford Griffin explain educators should pay importance to the childs prior learning experience in order to give them the proper foundation on learning. In the school where I work the children speak English as a second language therefore I had to construct my learning theories according to their past experience with the language of English. One of the word level objectives of English for first graders is ‘to represent in writing the three phonemes in CVC words, spelling them first in rhyming sets, then in non-rhyming sets. This is a very simple objective but difficult for a first grader in my school as their prior knowledge in English is zero due to use of no English at home. In that case if I as a teacher insist them to learn this objective then I will be committing a crime for not having any knowledge on their biography. So it is vital for me to spend correcting prior knowledge before new learning can occur, in fact we in our school where I work now spend at least 2-3 weeks at the beginning of the first term to learn the biography of the children. Teachers must be fair in distributing their praise and all students should receive praise. They should look for positive things to say about a students work even when pointing out problems or mistakes during lesson. Some might receive praise for bigger achievements than others but, even the lower performer needs a regular pat on the back. Teacher should also give praise or verbal rewards to the class as a whole to encourage the class and build team unity. True, the learning theories help support planning and teaching, help to critically evaluate classroom practice and help in the diagnosis of classroom problems but in my opinion the important person who constructs the learning theories in the classroom is the teacher who is not given enough opportunities to implement these in her classroom to experience the consequences. I hear teachers of other schools say that excess amount of paper work and work load do not provide enough time to engage the children on learning. In the school where I work our teachers are not given extra duties such as after school duty, snack duty etc in order to make sure that they spend more time in the classroom and prepare for students learning. We have special subject teachers for ICT, Physical Education and second languages so the class teachers can concentrate only on the core subjects like Literacy, Numeracy, Science and Geography. One may ask, why do our teachers are kept away from teaching ICT? In my opi nion ICT should be integrated in learning however, in some cases, teachers feel ICT increases their workload, with some tasks taking longer time to complete. This can often be traced to one or more of: a lack confidence or lack of ICT skills, ineffective networks or a lack of appropriate training or technical support. To reduce teacher workloads in our schools in future, ICT strategies will be included specific workload aims although this should not be at the impression of continuing to find ways in which ICT can raise quality and pupil performance. (We are planning to improve ICT strategic planning through strategic aims, hardware, software, connectivity, technical support and staff training and development in future and involve the teachers in integrating ICT to learning). Staff meeting or Curriculum meeting is conducted only once a week, which helps the teachers to spend more time with their work in the classroom and during their non contact periods they are supposed to prepare additional activities for the lesson they have planned. Progress Report for the pupils are being sent only thrice a year rather than every month, the teachers in our school have to spend less time dealing with behavioural issues because we have well constructed standardized policies for discipline, behaviour, uniform, food and bus and the Social worker is highly involved in implementing the policies. In our school calendar there are few days allocated as ‘Staff in Students out for professional development which is very important for the educators to upgrade their skills. I have seen few schools in this country utilize the student time I mean have shortened day in order to organise PD for the staff. In some schools teachers spend most of their time on disciplining the children and dealing with behavioural issues because of the weak hidden curriculum in place and no proper plan or policies to manage these types of issues there. Some educators want to expose themselves as good teachers or professional and show that they can manage the children very well, so they spend more time on putting up class displays, classroom management and less time on teaching the children. I have seen educators who work only for survival, their aim is to spend the days in the school and get monthly wage on time. The overall goal of the teachers should be to help and support students develop into self motivating learners. Students who are encouraged to become motivated lifelong learners will be more successful in and out of the classroom. When I worked as a teacher in other schools I had to teach all the subjects including IT and Physical Education, send monthly progress report home, prepare student portfolio for each child in my class, do after school duties and attend meetings with the Principal for four days in a week. I must say at that time I was frustrated for not having enough time to concentrate on the learning of my students and I was able to realise that they were not gaining anything according to their learning style. So, when I became as a head of a school I made sure that the teachers are given more time to spend for the children not with paper work and so on. The Social Worker and I are directly involved in solving behavioural issues in the school so the teachers will not have to spend time on this issue. The school policies and curriculum should be child centred and focus only on their learning. Educators should spend more time on pupils learning for which the strong hidden curriculum of the school should be helpful so that the teachers can construct proper planning for their teaching rather than wasting their time on other issues like behaviour and discipline. What I am trying to explain is that the learning theories we construct should focus on the childs academic and intellectual development. ACTIVITY 3: Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation List eight ways in which you motivate pupils in your classroom and school. Explain which motivational forms are intrinsic and which extrinsic. We know nothing about motivation. All we can do is write books about it. Peter Drucker I have read a lot about ‘Motivation in books and on websites. I think Drucker is concerned about the nature of understanding the term ‘Motivation. I know what motivation is but, I do not think that I have made a closer inspection to it ever in my career. I have motivated the learners to read a lot, work smarter, behave well and be a good role model through rewards and appreciation as the way the factory workers are encouraged by ‘end of year bonus so that production improves and absenteeism falls. No one can know the future at least in any detail. In preparing the future, students should be able to develop viable occupational skills. Learning a discipline and doing it well provides the foundation for a sense of purpose, security and confidence in adulthood. In addition to this the students should prepare for change. As we see, change is best handled and even welcomed, when individuals possess a well developed mental skills associated with original creative and independent thinking. Further, according to Martin V. Cavington, the greatest legacy of education is to encourage in our students a will to learn and to continue learning as personal circumstances-change in short to promote a capacity for self renewal. Today many students drop out of school without a single achievement for which they can feel uniquely responsible for it. More ever the majority of the students fail achieve their potential due to lack of motivation in schools and home. How to always be motivated? Keeping our motivation high is the key factor to achieve our goals. We all face setbacks in life but, the ability to turn it into a lesson and move through a positive direction should be our aim for which motivation is highly required. If we are not motivated, we will experience difficulties in turning our great ideas into great results, wake up in the morning without any desire, ask people around us for support, give up our tasks before finishing them, postpone important decisions and wish that we will have a set of helping tips to overcome our setbacks. If we as adults will have to face a great deal of inconveniences due to lack of motivation, what will happen to those who just started their life in schools as children? What will be the consequences for being not motivated by important factors? How motivation takes place in classrooms and schools? A primary concern for educators is how to balance the use of extrinsic incentives as needed to promote student task engagement while establishing a climate that also fosters intrinsic motivation. (Alderman, 1999, p. 213) The motivation comes from the pleasure one gets from the task he does or from the sense of satisfaction in completing or even working on it. As Alderman explains, we should equally balance extrinsic and intrinsic motivation in order to promote engaging students on task. According to what I understood intrinsic motivation means motivation which comes from inside an individual rather than from any external or outside rewards, such as money, trophies or grades. Extrinsic motivation refers to motivation that comes from outside an individual. The motivating factors are external, or outside, rewards such as money, trophies or grades. These rewards provide satisfaction and pleasure that the task itself may not provide. Is intrinsic motivation the solution for increasing student engagement? One perspective is that intrinsic motivation to learn is a necessary, but insufficient, component for academic achievement in classrooms; that is, one can enjoy learning or have an interest in a subject, but lack the strategies necessary for continuing motivation (Alderman, 1999, p. 218) According to Aldermans argument, an extrinsically motivated student will work on a task even when he has little interest in it because of the anticipated satisfaction he will get from some rewards. The rewards can be something as minor as a smiley face to something major like a trophy or free computer game. For example, an extrinsically motivated child who dislikes maths may work hard on maths problems because he wants the reward for completing it right. For me it is very difficult to agree with Aldermans point of views on ‘motivating extrinsically will result positively as I have teaching experience with children of some (sorry to say) arrogant parents, rich parents who are proud of their wealth and children who enjoy the most lavish life in this country which is completely different where I come from. I have implemented many strategies for motivating children in my class; I never had an opportunity to discriminate intrinsic and extrinsic motivation until I come across some readings on these topics by Jerome S. Bruner and Alderman. All I knew were about motivating children to be engaged on task. Two years back I had few children in my class, whose parents especially the mothers were not supportive at all; their children most of the time turned in completed homework, they had poor reading skills and had unacceptable behaviour in the classroom. In order to motivate them towards task, I used to tell them if they complete work on time or behave well they will get a smiley sticker or a badge but, I always had reply from these kids ‘I dont need I can buy them when I go out with my driver or ‘who cares of those cheap stickers or ‘I have got plenty of them at home. In such a place where I am in, most of the children are not attracted by those extrinsic motivations rather they would like to get motivated by intrinsic factors. I have spent a lot of time trying to think of ways to motivate my more reluctant students. I have tried fear† If you are late again, I will call home†. I have tried rewards â€Å"If you follow the classroom code of conduct you will earn points that you can redeem for a free homework pass or computer game. As a motivational support fear and rewards do work, for a while but, I did not want to threaten my students, and I did not want to bribe them. I want them to develop a will to come to class and learn. I wanted their motivation to be intrinsic. The question then was how I get my students to become more intrinsically motivated so that the classroom experience is more enjoyable for everyone. When Iencouraged mystudents self motivation by structuringmy class and my teaching I met their needs which are love, respect, emotional support and to move about the classroom freely. I followed many ways to motivate the children but now, I can differentiate them according to intrinsic and extrinsic motivational factors. Intrinsic motivation takes place when there is a positive relationship between the learners and the educators. As Jerome Bruner (1966), explains that extrinsic reinforcement may lead to a desirable kind of activity and cause its repetition but will not ultimately encourage sound learning. His belief was that intrinsic rewards are more important than extrinsic rewards in the long term. Intrinsic motivational factors I implemented in my classroom and school were, 1- When I asked my students to volunteer to be my assistant and assigned jobs for them more learning went on than if I did all the teaching myself. 2- When I had those students who could not sit still for very long and lose focus easily did their maths questions on the board, they were more likely to stay focused and learn which develop the interest of involvement. 3- When I greeted my students at the classroomdoor early morning with a smile and allocate games and puzzles for them to d Theories and Approaches to Learning Theories and Approaches to Learning Write about helpful and unhelpful approaches to learning during your own education. What was positive about those approaches? Did they reflect or express any particular theories of learning? Life is a learning experience. When I was a young girl I was so confident and positive about what I wanted. Maths and Science were my favourite subjects but I was not given freedom to learn as I wanted to learn these subjects. I realized this after I gained a very good experience in teaching primary school children. Student motivation is rooted in students subjective experiences, especially those connected to their willingness to engage in lessons and learning activities and their reasons for doing so. (Brophy, 2004, p. 4) According to Brophy, I must say learning is, interesting fun and exciting when the curriculum is well matched to students interests and abilities and the teacher emphasizes hands-on activities in order to keep the students busy and engaged. When the teacher teaches the right things the right way, motivation takes place by itself. If students are not enjoying learning, something is wrong with the curriculum and teachers instruction. At times I felt my school life was boring and frustrating because I hated all subjects except Maths and Science. I had to sit and listen to longtime instructions and copy the notes from the chalk board. I managed myself for learning because I had to show the Progress Report with good grades to my dad. Ê »Science is like everything, I guess and I think everything has a science to it. [When] baking cookies you have to add the right amount of eggs and milk and stuff like that (Kaufman, Moss, Osborn, 2003, p. 48) As I agree with Kaufman, Moss Osborns point of view, these two subjects add lot of fun to learning as they contain lot of practical activities which are conducted in the school laboratory. I loved to learn through doing and touching, it is because I had trouble sitting still and learning. My worst day during Science period was when my teacher said no when I offered him my help to fix the Bunsen burner to the gas cylinder. He said ‘you are still young so must stay away. Now I understand that I was a kinaesthetic learner that time, my teacher could have engaged me in his work because I could be better able to understand information by doing hands-on activities. I am not going to blame my teacher for this because at the time of my learning teacher centred education was given importance by educators. If teachers are able to understand childrens learning needs, it will reduce lot of frustration like homework incompletion, failures in assessments and sports and speaking in public. A s long as I know sometimes kids are just doing what works for them but, the curriculum in practice when I was in school did not cater the childs individual needs and the educators did not consider the childs learning style. I know that cognitive focuses on the inner mental activities such as thinking, memory, knowing, and problem-solving so, I think at cognitive stage the children should be catered carefully according to their learning needs. I gained lot of experience in teaching, today I am an experienced teacher, I wish I was my teacher when I was in school because when I was a child I did not get what I give to the pupils in my classroom now. As a teacher, I work in my classroom according to my childrens expectations. I believe in group work, differentiated planning, reading a lot for fun, guided reading, shared reading, classroom policies, and ongoing assessments which help me know the level of progress frequently. The few hyperactive boys in my classroom are always my helpers; they are always engaged in classroom jobs. In a typical classroom, some children process information best by hearing the teacher explain it, some learn by seeing whats on the chalkboard, and others learn through hands-on exercises. Nowadays colleges have increasingly begun teaching new students about learning styles so they can develop effective study habits. Three basic learning styles are auditory, kinaesthetic, and visual. Auditory learners prefer listening to explanations over reading them and like to study by reciting information aloud. These types of learners may want to have background music while studying, or they may be distracted by noises and need a quiet space to study. Kinaesthetic learners learn by doing and touching. They may have trouble sitting still while studying, and they are better able to understand information by writing it down or doing hands on activities. Visual learners process new information by reading, looking at pictures, or watching a demonstration but, they may grow impatient listening to an explanation. I still remember the learning style and classroom setting when I was small which is mostly similar to what shown on the video clip of ‘The four UK teachers experience in a Kenyan school. At least for ten years my classroom strength was 35-40 children, our tables and chairs were laid in rows, teachers table and the chalk board was at the front of the class. The classroom layout was so congested, though we learnt how to move around without any incidents, our teachers never approached each table in order to assist the individual needs. Teacher instruction was mostly lecture based and activities contained more board work. We were never treated according to our learning styles which are auditory, kinaesthetic, and visual instead the whole class was given the same type of activities only the able children understood them and completed on time and the rest were neglected. Regret to say that our teachers failed to realise that all of us are designed to absorb information differently; each learning style results in people with various interests, desires and talents and learning is more fun and effective when the teachers look into multiple learning styles. Children learn more efficiently on their own way and can reach their potential by working smarter. Once a teacher identifies the childs learning style, she can give that child the freedom to learn which will support his work at home, at school, and in life. Once my English language teacher asked us to write a simple paragraph on ‘Good Schools, since I like role play activities, I wrote the paragraph and drew pictures of girls and wrote two dialogues in the speech bubbles as they speak the positive things in the school. My teacher saw my work and crossed out the picture and said ‘this is not required here. That time I took this as my teachers valid point of view but later when I became a te acher I thought my teacher should have appreciated my speech bubbles and corrected the sentences or showed me what rules I should follow when I write statements in the speech bubbles. In this way the teacher put a full stop to my desire in learning or trying new concepts. The educators should be able to understand the learning styles of the learners and should provide opportunities accordingly. A kinaesthetic learner should be given more activity based work, for an example- in maths lesson for addition; this type of a learner can be given counters rather than asking him to work out the sums mentally. Kinaesthetic learners should be able to experience and explore the learning aids/ models which are available in the classroom or lab. Learners with strength for visual learning tend to process information by visualizing and seeing it. During a PD training which I attended recently I learnt that about 65% of the population prefers to learn visually. Visual learners in schools can be given opportunities to use colors to organize, receive written instructions and lists, look at graphics like film, flow charts, or diagrams, use visualization when memorizing information, take detailed notes and draw graphics as they learn by looking. People with strength for a uditory learning tend to remember information they hear and discuss. According to what I learnt, about 30% of the population prefers learning with an auditory style. Auditory learners in the classroom can be given recordings of materials like video clips of rhymes or documentaries to be learned; can participate in discussions or discussion groups, have questions read out loud, receive verbal instructions and read written information out loud. It is very sad to say at the time of my learning in the schools I did not see teachers had any knowledge of the types of learners and teach them according to their needs but learning was on going in the classroom. If this is the case how did I learn? This is a very difficult question for me to answer. The learning theories of the school where I studied were forced me to learn in the way I did not want to, the classroom instruction in my school life was mostly suitable for visual learners as there were activities like reading text with pictures, key points of the lesson given on the chalk board and copying texts from the chalk board to the note books. There were hardly any resources around the classrooms; the teaching aids were the text books, chalk board and the chalks. I liked to spend more time in the Science lab its because of the laboratory equipment which our Science/Maths teacher used during practical lessons. I enjoyed these subjects though there were limited resources available in the school lab; the teachers conducted the lessons as for the whole class without realizing the individual needs of the children. I did not study the English language as the way I studied Maths/Science. English was taught through visualizing things, long instructions and reading paragraphs in tex ts. If teachers use a lecture style for instruction, the English language learner will not receive as much comprehensible input. (Haynes, 2007, p. 6) Haynes argument is right. I became impatient listening for long periods during English. Once my English teacher caught me reading my favourite story book in the class and said ‘you must spend time with your text books, you should never read story books it is a waste of time. I followed her instructions and never read story books ever since she told me. Why did not this teacher realize that reading open doors for many worlds? Had I read a lot or be encouraged to read that time I would have had a rich vocabulary when I entered the High school. Another day a story teller visited our school to read stories to each year group and involved the students in making story props and acting out the stories. This was the most enjoyable moment during my English lesson; I had an opportunity to learn new vocabularies too. Everyone had fun during this lesson because the story teller involved each and every student in a kind of activity. Another issue was no school policies were read to us on the first day of school as there were no many policies constructed for the school at that time. We knew how to go in a line to the library, hitting and verbally abusing the peers not allowed, wore neat uniform every day, respect the teachers and so on but we were never taught any of these. I think the hidden curriculum in my school was stronger than the curriculum which was in use that time. Then I moved to a college for my higher education. I can say from my college experience that many higher education instructors still do not realize that students vary in the way that they process and understand information or attempt to respond to those differences in their pedagogical efforts. Effective teaching cannot be limited to the delivery of information; instead it needs to be based on a model of minds at work. Effective instructors are those who understand the importance of involving all of their students in learning how to learn. Effective learners are created when instructors affirm the presence and validity of diverse learning. At the college level the cognitive development occurs at the same pace but the learners experience different kind of problems or issues due to many changes. One of them is ‘culture shock. Newcomers have usually left behind family members, friends, teachers, and pets. They are no longer surrounded by a familiar language and culture. Children often do not have the full support of their parents because the parents are experiencing culture shock, too. (Haynes, 2007, p. 2) I agree with Hayens because the greater the difference between the students new culture and the students primary culture, the greater the shock. During this stage, I as a newcomer was excited about the new lives. Everything was wonderful and we were having great time learning about the environment. For me the differences between the new culture and the old one become more apparent. I rejected my new surroundings because there was so much that I did not understand. At times I felt sleepy, irritable, uninterested, or depressed; there were few more students who felt the same as I did. In my college the English language learners were frustrated because they could not communicate and are bombarded with unfamiliar surroundings, unreadable social signals, and an unrelenting barrage of new sounds. I was homesick and missed my family, friends, and familiar sights and sounds but, our instructors failed to realise this and started their duty stuffing our brain with Physics, Chemistry and Biolo gy. I was compelled to listen and follow what they instructed but, I did not know how much I learnt at that stage. In fact, I was surprised and overwhelmed by the lectures though we were forced to learn what we were supposed to, because the instructors knew so much about the subject taught. At times I asked myself, how did the instructors prepare themselves so well in order to answer all types of questions asked by the students? I saw them as good role models from the way they socialized with others, and delivered the content of the subjects during lectures. Listening to a lecture involves active attempts to construct new knowledge but, most of the time I felt that the instructors could have included videos to their instructions, involved us in presentations or group discussions as I loved these types of activities. ACTIVITY 2: Why are theories of learning important? Write down some initial thoughts about your own priorities at this stage of your development as a (head) teacher. To what extent do your own current priorities coincide with the priorities mentioned above? There are many different theories of how people learn. What important and useful is to consider their application to how our students learn and we teach our educational programs. It is interesting to think about our own particular way of learning and to recognize that everyone does not learn the way we do. In my opinion one of the main points is a teacher should know that each student does not learn in the same way others do. This means if the teacher chooses just one style of teaching such as direct instruction or collaborative learning or inquiry learning the students will not be maximizing their learning potential. For sure a teacher cannot reach every student on the same level during one lesson, but implementing a variety of learning styles throughout the course allows all the students to experience the chance to learn in at least a way that matches their learning style. Most of the materials used to educate students beyond primary school are largely text and lecture based, which have significant limitations. Those students are not involved in group work or discussion activities. Reading is a very important learning mode but, not all students learn effectively from reading. There are students who do not like reading a lot but, respond better to visual and audio stimuli of lecture but often get lost in the material or lose interest in the presentation. In this type of a learning environment, students have limited opportunity to ask questions or may be uncomfortable asking a question in front of the class. So the learning theories we have should cater the individual needs of the children. I believe student learn best by trying to make sense of something on their own with the help of the teacher along the way. Therefore the learners should be involved in activity based learning and given the freedom to use the classroom resources around them. Another im portant point is that the best way to learn is by having students construct their own knowledge instead of having someone construct it for them. For an example, for giving them the concept of Addition they should be given counters or an abacus to find the sum of two numbers rather than explaining this on the chalk board. For the language development they should be given activities for listening and writing which will be an interesting activity too. Science and Geography can be taught through pictures, video clips, lab work with a lot of experiments and the use of internet. At times I did not get the clear concepts of the subject taught when I attended the lecture type classes but I had an opportunity to understand better when I was asked to teach the same concept to someone else on my own. An experienced teacher should always use cognitive terminology such as classify, analyze, predict, and create when assigning tasks to the students, this helps the students to explore and research to find lot of information about the subject. We should encourage student critical thinking and inquiry by asking them thoughtful, open-ended questions, and encourage them to ask questions to each other. Further, we should provide enough time for students to construct their own meaning when learning something new. We should acknowledge that, students understanding and prior experiences about a concept before teaching them, which is as vital as breathing. Group discussions that we organize should encourage communication between the teacher and the students and also between the students. All learning and some elements of non-learning begin with situations where there is a disjuncture between a learners biography (past experiences) and their construction of present experience. (Jarvis, Holford Griffin, 2003, p. 70) As Jarvis, Holford Griffin explain educators should pay importance to the childs prior learning experience in order to give them the proper foundation on learning. In the school where I work the children speak English as a second language therefore I had to construct my learning theories according to their past experience with the language of English. One of the word level objectives of English for first graders is ‘to represent in writing the three phonemes in CVC words, spelling them first in rhyming sets, then in non-rhyming sets. This is a very simple objective but difficult for a first grader in my school as their prior knowledge in English is zero due to use of no English at home. In that case if I as a teacher insist them to learn this objective then I will be committing a crime for not having any knowledge on their biography. So it is vital for me to spend correcting prior knowledge before new learning can occur, in fact we in our school where I work now spend at least 2-3 weeks at the beginning of the first term to learn the biography of the children. Teachers must be fair in distributing their praise and all students should receive praise. They should look for positive things to say about a students work even when pointing out problems or mistakes during lesson. Some might receive praise for bigger achievements than others but, even the lower performer needs a regular pat on the back. Teacher should also give praise or verbal rewards to the class as a whole to encourage the class and build team unity. True, the learning theories help support planning and teaching, help to critically evaluate classroom practice and help in the diagnosis of classroom problems but in my opinion the important person who constructs the learning theories in the classroom is the teacher who is not given enough opportunities to implement these in her classroom to experience the consequences. I hear teachers of other schools say that excess amount of paper work and work load do not provide enough time to engage the children on learning. In the school where I work our teachers are not given extra duties such as after school duty, snack duty etc in order to make sure that they spend more time in the classroom and prepare for students learning. We have special subject teachers for ICT, Physical Education and second languages so the class teachers can concentrate only on the core subjects like Literacy, Numeracy, Science and Geography. One may ask, why do our teachers are kept away from teaching ICT? In my opi nion ICT should be integrated in learning however, in some cases, teachers feel ICT increases their workload, with some tasks taking longer time to complete. This can often be traced to one or more of: a lack confidence or lack of ICT skills, ineffective networks or a lack of appropriate training or technical support. To reduce teacher workloads in our schools in future, ICT strategies will be included specific workload aims although this should not be at the impression of continuing to find ways in which ICT can raise quality and pupil performance. (We are planning to improve ICT strategic planning through strategic aims, hardware, software, connectivity, technical support and staff training and development in future and involve the teachers in integrating ICT to learning). Staff meeting or Curriculum meeting is conducted only once a week, which helps the teachers to spend more time with their work in the classroom and during their non contact periods they are supposed to prepare additional activities for the lesson they have planned. Progress Report for the pupils are being sent only thrice a year rather than every month, the teachers in our school have to spend less time dealing with behavioural issues because we have well constructed standardized policies for discipline, behaviour, uniform, food and bus and the Social worker is highly involved in implementing the policies. In our school calendar there are few days allocated as ‘Staff in Students out for professional development which is very important for the educators to upgrade their skills. I have seen few schools in this country utilize the student time I mean have shortened day in order to organise PD for the staff. In some schools teachers spend most of their time on disciplining the children and dealing with behavioural issues because of the weak hidden curriculum in place and no proper plan or policies to manage these types of issues there. Some educators want to expose themselves as good teachers or professional and show that they can manage the children very well, so they spend more time on putting up class displays, classroom management and less time on teaching the children. I have seen educators who work only for survival, their aim is to spend the days in the school and get monthly wage on time. The overall goal of the teachers should be to help and support students develop into self motivating learners. Students who are encouraged to become motivated lifelong learners will be more successful in and out of the classroom. When I worked as a teacher in other schools I had to teach all the subjects including IT and Physical Education, send monthly progress report home, prepare student portfolio for each child in my class, do after school duties and attend meetings with the Principal for four days in a week. I must say at that time I was frustrated for not having enough time to concentrate on the learning of my students and I was able to realise that they were not gaining anything according to their learning style. So, when I became as a head of a school I made sure that the teachers are given more time to spend for the children not with paper work and so on. The Social Worker and I are directly involved in solving behavioural issues in the school so the teachers will not have to spend time on this issue. The school policies and curriculum should be child centred and focus only on their learning. Educators should spend more time on pupils learning for which the strong hidden curriculum of the school should be helpful so that the teachers can construct proper planning for their teaching rather than wasting their time on other issues like behaviour and discipline. What I am trying to explain is that the learning theories we construct should focus on the childs academic and intellectual development. ACTIVITY 3: Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation List eight ways in which you motivate pupils in your classroom and school. Explain which motivational forms are intrinsic and which extrinsic. We know nothing about motivation. All we can do is write books about it. Peter Drucker I have read a lot about ‘Motivation in books and on websites. I think Drucker is concerned about the nature of understanding the term ‘Motivation. I know what motivation is but, I do not think that I have made a closer inspection to it ever in my career. I have motivated the learners to read a lot, work smarter, behave well and be a good role model through rewards and appreciation as the way the factory workers are encouraged by ‘end of year bonus so that production improves and absenteeism falls. No one can know the future at least in any detail. In preparing the future, students should be able to develop viable occupational skills. Learning a discipline and doing it well provides the foundation for a sense of purpose, security and confidence in adulthood. In addition to this the students should prepare for change. As we see, change is best handled and even welcomed, when individuals possess a well developed mental skills associated with original creative and independent thinking. Further, according to Martin V. Cavington, the greatest legacy of education is to encourage in our students a will to learn and to continue learning as personal circumstances-change in short to promote a capacity for self renewal. Today many students drop out of school without a single achievement for which they can feel uniquely responsible for it. More ever the majority of the students fail achieve their potential due to lack of motivation in schools and home. How to always be motivated? Keeping our motivation high is the key factor to achieve our goals. We all face setbacks in life but, the ability to turn it into a lesson and move through a positive direction should be our aim for which motivation is highly required. If we are not motivated, we will experience difficulties in turning our great ideas into great results, wake up in the morning without any desire, ask people around us for support, give up our tasks before finishing them, postpone important decisions and wish that we will have a set of helping tips to overcome our setbacks. If we as adults will have to face a great deal of inconveniences due to lack of motivation, what will happen to those who just started their life in schools as children? What will be the consequences for being not motivated by important factors? How motivation takes place in classrooms and schools? A primary concern for educators is how to balance the use of extrinsic incentives as needed to promote student task engagement while establishing a climate that also fosters intrinsic motivation. (Alderman, 1999, p. 213) The motivation comes from the pleasure one gets from the task he does or from the sense of satisfaction in completing or even working on it. As Alderman explains, we should equally balance extrinsic and intrinsic motivation in order to promote engaging students on task. According to what I understood intrinsic motivation means motivation which comes from inside an individual rather than from any external or outside rewards, such as money, trophies or grades. Extrinsic motivation refers to motivation that comes from outside an individual. The motivating factors are external, or outside, rewards such as money, trophies or grades. These rewards provide satisfaction and pleasure that the task itself may not provide. Is intrinsic motivation the solution for increasing student engagement? One perspective is that intrinsic motivation to learn is a necessary, but insufficient, component for academic achievement in classrooms; that is, one can enjoy learning or have an interest in a subject, but lack the strategies necessary for continuing motivation (Alderman, 1999, p. 218) According to Aldermans argument, an extrinsically motivated student will work on a task even when he has little interest in it because of the anticipated satisfaction he will get from some rewards. The rewards can be something as minor as a smiley face to something major like a trophy or free computer game. For example, an extrinsically motivated child who dislikes maths may work hard on maths problems because he wants the reward for completing it right. For me it is very difficult to agree with Aldermans point of views on ‘motivating extrinsically will result positively as I have teaching experience with children of some (sorry to say) arrogant parents, rich parents who are proud of their wealth and children who enjoy the most lavish life in this country which is completely different where I come from. I have implemented many strategies for motivating children in my class; I never had an opportunity to discriminate intrinsic and extrinsic motivation until I come across some readings on these topics by Jerome S. Bruner and Alderman. All I knew were about motivating children to be engaged on task. Two years back I had few children in my class, whose parents especially the mothers were not supportive at all; their children most of the time turned in completed homework, they had poor reading skills and had unacceptable behaviour in the classroom. In order to motivate them towards task, I used to tell them if they complete work on time or behave well they will get a smiley sticker or a badge but, I always had reply from these kids ‘I dont need I can buy them when I go out with my driver or ‘who cares of those cheap stickers or ‘I have got plenty of them at home. In such a place where I am in, most of the children are not attracted by those extrinsic motivations rather they would like to get motivated by intrinsic factors. I have spent a lot of time trying to think of ways to motivate my more reluctant students. I have tried fear† If you are late again, I will call home†. I have tried rewards â€Å"If you follow the classroom code of conduct you will earn points that you can redeem for a free homework pass or computer game. As a motivational support fear and rewards do work, for a while but, I did not want to threaten my students, and I did not want to bribe them. I want them to develop a will to come to class and learn. I wanted their motivation to be intrinsic. The question then was how I get my students to become more intrinsically motivated so that the classroom experience is more enjoyable for everyone. When Iencouraged mystudents self motivation by structuringmy class and my teaching I met their needs which are love, respect, emotional support and to move about the classroom freely. I followed many ways to motivate the children but now, I can differentiate them according to intrinsic and extrinsic motivational factors. Intrinsic motivation takes place when there is a positive relationship between the learners and the educators. As Jerome Bruner (1966), explains that extrinsic reinforcement may lead to a desirable kind of activity and cause its repetition but will not ultimately encourage sound learning. His belief was that intrinsic rewards are more important than extrinsic rewards in the long term. Intrinsic motivational factors I implemented in my classroom and school were, 1- When I asked my students to volunteer to be my assistant and assigned jobs for them more learning went on than if I did all the teaching myself. 2- When I had those students who could not sit still for very long and lose focus easily did their maths questions on the board, they were more likely to stay focused and learn which develop the interest of involvement. 3- When I greeted my students at the classroomdoor early morning with a smile and allocate games and puzzles for them to d