Potluck Essay Example for Free

Potluck Essay The meaning of Doublespeak in Lutz opinion The essay Doublespeak specifically dives into the significance of the idea. The author does not hold back, but early on defines the general meaning of Doublespeak. The authors introduction is the explanation of doublespeak in general context. He lets the reader know beforehand about many tangents in double speak. He mentions four types of doublespeak which are euphemism, Jargon, gobblygook, and complex language. From these sub groups of double speak, he further explains detail of such doublespeak and its effect to the public. In essence, the effect of the author is to nform the audience precisely about doublespeak in many angles. He does not take a strong stance on his argument, but he does let his audience know that double speak is an effective rhetoric to use in certain circumstances. The idea of euphemism is to sugar coat an instance. This can be used by simple diction or a whole statement. It is up to the writer to choose his/her method. Lutz leaves the choice to the audience, but provides certain examples to let the audience be informed with the affect of euphemism in a statement. In essence, he provides short and precise examples by omparing a straightforward statement with a doublespeak statement. He informs the reader that euphemism is a rhetoric that creates vagueness in a blunt statement. In my opinion, Lutz did a fine Job. The omission of any statements will leave the essay vague and blank, in a sense. Secondly, Lutz explains and defines Jargon to be a prestigious type language to impress and inform an audience. Many of the high class workers use this rhetoric in their professions to make a good impression. In essence, a Jargon can be used in a hospital, court, or any other professional environment. Lutz rovides the reader with positives and negatives regarding this rhetoric. He informs his reader to be well aware of using such rhetoric. The examples provided are precise and clear cut. In essence, he gets his point through. Adding on, gobblygook is a certain doublespeak that is similar to a Jargon, but way out of proportion with its complexity. Lutz lets the reader know to use this language in specific rhetorical situations. He informs the audience that gobblygook is a type of rhetoric that is used impress a bunch of ignorant audience, or to impress an educated group of audience hom will actually understand the meaning of such words. Besides that, it is not proper to use in personal conversations unless youre Einstein. Lutz efficiently explains this idea by providing examples to the audience. Furthermore, complex language is a type of rhetoric that is considered moderate compared to gobblygook. Its not out of proportion, but can stray away the audience if used too much. In oral arguments it is not functional. If used in papers, it can work, but if used too much, it can confuse the reader. Lutz explains the moderation of this rhetoric compared to Jargon and gobblygook. In essence, Lutz does a fine Job explaining the definitions of double speak in all angles. He gives the audience a general definition and provides general examples to prepare the audience for the lesson. He divides the four main definitions and gives sub examples for each definition. In addition he connects each definition back and forth providing the audience will clarification on his topic. He classifies his work in a general topic, then provides examples, and ultimately connects it to the overall meaning of doublespeak. In essence, he does an effective Job explaining the audience the general idea of doublespeak.

Helping Behaviour Based on Gender, Race and Mobility

Helping Behaviour Based on Gender, Race and Mobility HELPING BEHAVIOUR BASED ON GENDER, RACE AND MOBILITY Field study on evaluating helping behaviour based on gender, race and mobility Ravindran Ramkumar Abstract This field study investigated the different factors which influence helping behaviour in humans. The experiment is focused on different factors about willingness to help others based on gender, race of the victim and mobility of the helper. The past studies provided support for the experiment that indicating there is a cause-effect relationship between the situational factors, time pressure and helping behaviour. As Piliavin et al. (1968) focused on all three factors and shows that dispositional factors such as gender are influential as well. In conclusion, situation of the victim, dispositions based on gender and social factors in prioritizing the need are all influential factors, but because of limitations to the studies this can only be applicable in multicultural countries where race is not peculiar discrimination factor. Keywords: Gender, racial discrimantion, mobility of the subjects, time pressure. Introduction Prosocial Behaviour: Prosocial behaviour stems from various motives and helps us attain various goals. For this reason, it is a common and an important aspect of our day-to-day social life. Why do people help? Multiple factors play in influencing whether, and to what extent, people engage in prosocial behaviour Many aspects of the situation and several personal factors are also determining. Prosocialality is a voluntary behaviour that is carried out to benefit of another individual (Bar-Tal, 1976; Mussen Eisenberg-Berg, 1977). This study focuses on various factors of prosocial behaviour. To this end, we revisit several previous experiments, Wade, Carole Tavris (2000) believed that bystanders should be less helpful in groups than alone.This was explained using the concept of diffusion of responsibility in which the outcome is diffused, or spread, among many people.Our hypothesis is about to analyse whether one sex is more prosocial than the other, as it is standard in the literature (Croson and Gneezy, 2009). Men are more likely to help a stranger in need than women (e.g. Bryan and Test, 1967; Ehlert et al., 1973; Gaertner and Bickman, 1971;. Graf and Riddle, 1972; Latane, 1970; Morgan, 1973) contrasty the evidence that female reacts more than men to social and emotional stimuli in many contexts (see e.g. Brody and Hall, 2008, or McManis et al., 2001, among many others). Secondly, whether people are readily come forth to help the same gender or the opposite. As the more people were put under time pressure, the less likely they were to help (Darley and Batson, 1973).Thirdly, we hypothesize testing helping behaviour with respect to mobility and state dispositions of the individual. To deduce the consistency with the above mentioned this paper is presented by a field study. Method Participant The participants in this field study were 40 Common pedestrians roaming around Somerset Orchard Area, Singapore, about forenoon 11.30 AM on a Friday. To maintain standard uniformity the participants were randomly chosen from both genders (20 male and 20 female) who were either mobile or Stationary (20 Walking, 20 Sitting or Standing) ranging from young adults to adults. We also assigned two young adult confederates of both genders one native and one non-native person. Materials and Procedure: In this study, we have divided into two groups with one confederate of a gender and an observer with him/her, both the groups made the experiment at the same time and almost closer location, to ensure the results independent of time and location. The confederate showed a battery drained mobile phone to the participant to build their reputation and approached the participants requesting as â€Å"Excuse me, hi, I’m supposed to be meeting a friend but my phone has run out of battery. Would you mind if I borrowed your phone to make a quick call†. Then the observers out of the participants’ sight had recorded their responses on gender, responses or replies, age range and mobility categories. Result Interpretations The results were as follows, among the total 40 participants, 20 were approached by each gender confederate, so it is necessary to examine the results individually first to draw a general result, when the confederate is a female the result ranges as 7 males of total 10 male (4 stationary) were readily offered the help while 6 female of 10 (4 stationary) had offered, in total 13 (65%) people helped. When the confederate is a male, 5 male out of 10 were ready to help (3 Stationary) and 4 females of 10 helped (3 Stationary), in total 9 people (45%). In general 12 males out of 20 and 10 females of 20 lend their mobile phone. So 60% of male were tend to help a stranger while 50% of female does; of 12 male and 10 female with positive response 14 were stationary (7 male and 7 female, i.e. 58% of male and 70% of female) and 8 were moving (5 male and 3 female, i.e. 42% of male and 30% of female), and the participants expressed a range of responses for readily offering the help to offer help after an inquiry with some questions like â€Å"Is that a Local call?†, Some continued their helping despite of their hurry as they committed to help while being stationary (i.e. While waiting at the pedestrian crossing). No noteworthy differences were found in the responses with respect to nativity of the confederates as the experiment location Singapore is a multi-cultural country were discrimation according to race is widely curtailed. Limitations: In particular, that when the details of the experiment are put into a more â€Å"social frame†, the appearance, approach and language of the confederate may have an influence in the decision making of the participant, factors like the participants personality traits (demographic characteristics, personal motives and personality traits) situational constrains (the bystander is in; are they in a hurry or do they have time to stop and help) environmental factors (Temperature, weather, crowd, culture) may also have critical influence on the helping behaviour Discussion The recorded data have been keenly observed to deduce the results as follows. Since the gender and mobility based differences are minimum, in order to elicit subtle conclusions the percentage differences are to be evaluated. When the confederate is a female, 65% of people tend to help while 45% offered when the confederate is male from this we may resolve that people tend to help a female than a male because of the stereotyping dispositions that helping a female is safe and secure than a male as detailed in the study the type of victim (drunk or ill) and the race of victim (black or white) effect on responding, frequency of responding and the race of the helper, the study also shows that gender is a factor in helping behaviour, and that there was no race distinction. Gender and race are both dispositional factors (Piliavin et al, 1969). When a situation to help others arises 60% male were readily willing while 50% of female helped is consistent with our first hypothesis on whether on e sex is more prosocial than the other. Men are more likely to help a stranger in need than women (e.g. Bryan and Test, 1967; Ehlert et al., 1973; Gaertner and Bickman, 1971;. Graf and Riddle, 1972; Latane, 1970; Morgan, 1973). The Comparitively majority of people, despite of gender was tending to give hand for a help when they were stationary than in a movement which is exactly consistent with the previous study that the more the people under time pressure, the less likely they were to help (Darley and Batson, 1973), But the hypothesized bias on helping behaviour according to gender (i.e. helping same or opposite gender) was not significantly detected. Conclusion Consistent with previous studies, we can conclude that male are more likely to help strangers than female, and in sum, the people were more ready to offer help to a female than a male and the state of mobitity indeed have a significant difference in helping behaviour proving that people tend to help others in their happiness and relaxed state. Reference Wade, Carole Tavris, Carol. (2000) Psychology Sixth Edition. Prentice-Hall, Inc. Upper  Saddle River, 2000. Espinosa M and Kovarik J (2015) Prosocial behaviour and gender. Front. Behav. Neurosci.  9:88. doi:10.3389/fnbeh.2015.00088. Alice H. Eagly and Maureen Crowley, (1986) Gender and Helping Behavior: A Meta-Analytic Review of the Social Psychological Literature, Psychological Bulletin 1986, No.1. 100, No. 3,283-308. John M Darley C Daniel Batson, (1973), From Jerusalem to Jericho, A Study of situational  and dispositional variables in helping behaviour; Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1973, Vol. 27, No.1, 100-108. Nancy Eisenberg and Paul A. Miller, (1987), The Relation of Empathy to Prosocial and  Related Behaviors, Arizona State University, Psychological Bulletin 1987, Vol. 101, No. 1.91-119. ErnstFehr And UrsFischbacher, (2003), The Nature Of Human Altruism, Nature 425, 785 –  791 (23 October 2003); Doi:10.1038/Nature02043 Hans-Werner Bierhoff, (2002), Prosocial Behaviour, Taylor and Francis Group Psychology  press, ISBN 0-203-98942-2 Master e-book ISBN. Personality And Social Psychology, Altruism And Prosocial Behavior, John Wiley Sons,  Inc. Chapter 19, Pg. 463 Robert A.Baron, Nyla R. Branscombe, Donn Byrne Gopa Bhardwaj, (2009), Social  Psychology, 12th Edition, Pearson Education Jamie Lynch,, (1998) Effects of Gender and Sex role on Helping Behaviour, Lehigh  University. Paul D. Hastings, Kenneth H. Rubin, Laura Derose,(2005), Links Among Gender,  Inhibition, And Parental Socialization In The Development Of Prosocial Behavior, Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, Vol. 51, No. 4. Roberts, William, And Sthayer, Janet.(1996), Empathy, Emotional Expressiveness, And  Prosocial Behavior. Child Development, 1996,67,449-470 David Myers,Prem Sahajpal,Pushpita Behera; Social Psychology (English) 10th Edition,  McGraw Hill Education (India) Private Limited (Words 1602) Appendix A Observations made on the fiels study with respet to the participants’ gender, age group and mobility Group members: Jarinda, Ram, Beth, Devin, Fred. Trial No. 1 Experimenter: Beth Observer: Devin. Date conducted: 20 Mar 2015 Experiment start: 11.10am Experiment end: 12:20pm Location: Orchard Rd, pedestrian path outside Orchard Central Shopping Centre, 181 Orchard Road, S.238896. Appendix B Trail No. 2 Experimenter: Fredrick Observer: Jeranda Ramkumar. Date conducted: 20 Mar 2015 Experiment start: 11.30am Experiment end: 12:50pm Location: Orchard Rd, pedestrian path outside Orchard Central Shopping Centre, 181 Orchard Road, S.238896.

Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom

Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom George Washington Carver said that education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom (n.d. in BrainyQuote, 2010) and nowhere is this more true than for those who experience learning difficulties. In every educational environment it is important that the students feel valued; no matter what their learning difficulties they need to feel included as a part of the school community where any barriers to learning are removed in order to optimise à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦learning and participation (Booth, Ainscow, Black-Hawkins, Vaughan and Shaw, 2000, P. 13) and that they are bringing something valuable into the classroom where their efforts and achievement will be recognised (Ofsted, 2000, P. 4). The key to being able to support all students in their learning is first class assessment which identifies individual pupils strengths and weaknesses so that optimum provision can be made for them (Cross, 2004, P. 117) which is particularly important in protecting à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦specialist provisio n for those who need it (Croll and Moses, 2000, P. 1). Sometimes teachers instruct or tell, serving as transmitters of information that students have to acquireà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ at other times teachers show and demonstrate, acting as mentors and coaches rather than as instructorsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (Hargreaves, 2005, P. 5) the aim of this essay is to analyse behaviourist and cognitive approaches to learning for those who have learning difficulties identifying the strengths and weaknesses in each method when applied to the teaching. Historically children have been presented with a didactic model of learning: they were told when to come into school, what they were going to learn and were instructed about how they were going to learn it irrespective or their personal talents; students were all made to write with their right hand even if it did not come naturally to them much to their frustration my great grandmother for example. The education system became a à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ process of learning to instructionà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ by which children are expected to learn by intent participation in meaningful, useful occupations, with a factory model of education by assembly line instruction (Bruce, 2004, P. Xi). This followed very much the Behaviourist Model which argues that learning is initiated through our interaction with external stimuli which alters the way in which we tackle things (Glassman, 1995): the behaviourist school of thought grew from the pioneering work of Ivan Pavlov and his work with dogs; at the sound of a bell he was able to initiate salivation in the animals in anticipation of receiving food which continued long after the food was not delivered as expected this became known as Classical Conditioning. James Watson (who first used the term behaviourism) continued this work and attested that all human behaviour was the result of responding to stimuli in a conditioned manner he even went as far as to suggest that anyone, no matter what their social status or ability, could be schooled to fulfil any task or profession provided that they were healthy and applied themselves in their learning (Watson, 1924, P. 82) and that an adult carefully controlled the conditions for the stimuli and the responses (Keenan, 2002, P. 24). Experiments that were carried out with children to test this theory, notably by Watson and Rayner, illustrated that both fear and pleasure could be associated with particular objects or noises; this led them to theorise that à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ rewards or reinforcement s could arise from the satisfaction of inner needs and could provide a motivation for learning (Tilstone, Layton, Anderson, Gerrish, Morgan and Williams, 2004, P. 45). Skinner further developed these ideas into what he called Operant Conditioning; he put forward the idea that all actions that were reinforced, either positively through reward or negatively through punishment, would be duplicated he actively encouraged teachers and educators in general to cement a childs success through the use of positive praise and reinforcement. Positive reinforcement involves rewarding correct behaviour or responses such as reading a sentence without error leading to a star being given, progressing to two lines followed by a paragraph and so on to gain the reward and encourage learning. He felt that children were led and could be shaped in their learning and parents and teachers needed to reinforce their learning whenever and wherever it occurred in other words, when a parent or carer shows enthusiasm for something a child tries to say, this should encourage the child to repeat the utterance (David, Goouch, Powell and Abbott 2003, P. 49). Skinner also believed that the acquisition of knowledge needed to be tackled in stages which built on the existing learning of the individual involved proposing à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦a technology of teaching whereby instruction is individualised, complex verbal behaviours gradually shaped, reinforcement for appropriate responses is consistent and immediate, and learned behaviours are maintained by intermittent reinforcement schedules. (Ormrod, 2004, Ps. 79-80). Having said that it is individualised it is mechanistic in nature following a set pattern of repetition, correction and praise following successful modification to embed the skills into the learner (Capel, 1997, P. 136); this sort of learning treats the child like a type of human sponge (Kirk, Macdonald and OSullivan, 2006, P. 295) they are often referred to as command or practice styles and are often seen in subjects such as Physical Education (Byra, 2006, in Kirk et al, 2006, P. 450). These theorists placed great emphasis on the linear nature of devel opment what we call development in this view, is really just a long series of individual learning experiences (Bee, 1989, P. 14) considering learning to be the same for all no matter what their age or stage in life (Tilstone, Layton, Anderson, Gerrish, Morgan and Williams, 2004, P. 50) reinforcing the need for educators to look at how students are acquiring their learning necessitating accurate and thorough record keeping in order to be able to properly assess and evaluate their work. This is crucial in order to fully cater for individuals who are experiencing difficulties in their learning. The word cognitive comes from the Latin cognoscere which means to know; all of the processes which are undertaken in thinking and knowing about anything are what is known as cognitive actions. Cognitive development is the study of how these processes develop in children and young people, and how they become more efficient and effective in their understanding of the world and in their mental processes (Oakley, 2004, P. 2). Every individual thinks and reasons in a different way, with a childs processes being different from that of an adult which is why cognitive approaches to education are both fascinating and complex in their make up. Jean Piaget was one of the first to look at how children learn as individuals in their own right and that their way of thinking and therefore learning was different to that of an adult. He argued that all children go through a series of stages in their development which are linear in nature which means that they take place at approximately the same time (Long, 2000, P. 32): they are sensori motor (birth to about eighteen months), the pre operational (eighteen months to about six years), the concrete operational (six to approximately eleven years) and the formal operational (eleven years onwards). Piaget contests that the way that individuals learn in their lives is different at each of these stages and that as a result à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ the way children perceive the world, the way they process and respond to information, and the way they develop ideas and concepts (Moore, 2000, P. 9) will be different too. He believed that maturity affected the way that children thought and learned s aying that human beings are, from early childhood, active, independent meaning makers who construct knowledge rather than receive it (Moore, 2000, P. 7). He perceived children as being capable of constructing their own understanding of their experiences and the world around them as a result of their inbuilt curiosity and need for knowledge and understanding. Piaget put forward the idea that there are two distinct phases to the learning process; the first entails the child demonstrating their understanding of a particular experience or idea that they come across in the world by the way in which they integrate or assimilate this new data into it, for example a child using a large box as a house when they are playing; the other is known as accommodation which describes the learners ability to à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ make sense of the new event occurring in the environment (Leonard, 2002, P. 1). Piaget believed that these two phases needed to be perfectly balanced if effective learning was goi ng to be able to take place as it is only by the simultaneous action of assimilation and accommodation[that] events are perceived as meaningful and at the same time generate changes in the interpretive procedures (Barnes, 1976, P. 22). Due to every single experience that people have in life their perceptions of and interaction with the world around them changes and Piaget regards this as part of the process of learning and cognitive development to understand is to discover, or reconstruct by rediscovery, and such conditions must be complied with if in the future individuals are to be formed who are capable of production and creativity and not simply repetition (1973). The cognitive structures à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ adjust in response to challenges when incoming information cannot be accommodated within existing schemes, and modes of thinking develop with biological growth (Tilstone et al, 2004, P. 20). A similar route was followed by the work of Bruner who studied the processes behind learning and problem solving. Both stress the importance of engagement in problem solving activities which promote links with finding solutions (Wood, 1998) as well as there being stages through which learners acquire and develop their knowledge: Bruner describes them as enactive understanding is promoted in the learner through interaction with the world, iconic when images are more frequently used in order to remember knowledge and information and symbolic the use of complex systems of symbols, for example language, to convey understanding and abstract thought; these correspond to Piagets sensori-motor [enactive], pre-operational [iconic] and concrete and formal operational [symbolic] (Smith, 1999, P. 20). Bruner explains that the first stage is characterised by action on the part of the learner in that the recognition of objects à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ seems to depend not so much on the objects themselve s but on the actions evoked by them (Bruner, 1966, P. 12). As the learner matures there is less need to interact physically with objects to understand them as they develop the capacity to see something in their mind (the iconic stage). The learner moves to the symbolic stage through interaction with the world and those around them in order to develop language and communication within the context of the culture to which they are exposed as à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ learning, remembering, talking, imagining; all of them are made possible by participating in a culture (Bruner, 1996, P. xi). As a result he seems to equate learning issues or difficulties with an absence of culturally stimulating environments as opposed to deficiencies in any child (Tilstone, 2000 in Tilstone et al, 2004, P. 25) giving particular attention to three distinct areas or amplifiers motoric, sensory and reflective. Motoric covers physical extensions of human capabilities like knives and forks for eating, spears for hunt ing, tools for farming and cars to transport ourselves around more quickly and efficiently. Sensory involves the enhancement of the way that the world and people in it are perceived for example simple things like spectacles or magnifying glasses. Reflective encompasses the means through which communication skills are learnt, developed and shared with those around us; parents and carers initiate this process with both verbal and non verbal cues enabling them to scaffold communication through holding their attention while building on their responses (Tilstone, 2004, P. 26). Often this will mean that adults will challenge children to extend their abilities and skills through this which Bruner believes is the right thing to do as a teacher, you do not wait for readiness to happen; you foster or scaffold it by deepening the childs powers at the stage where you find him or her now (1996, P. 120). He believed that comprehensive development is possible through this sort of social/cultural interaction. Vygotsky furthered the idea that social interaction was the catalyst for the development of a child the entire history of a childs psychological development shows us that, from the very first days of development, its adaptation to the environment is achieved through social means, through the people surrounding it (Vygotsky and Luria, 1993, P. 116). Kozulin, Gindis, Ageyev and Millar (2003) inform us that at the heart of Vygotskys theory lies the understanding of human cognition and learning as social and cultural rather than individual phenomena (P. 1). He laid great stress on the socio cultural environments which shape the development of children (Kozulin et al, 2003, P. 2), believing that absolutely everything in the behaviour of the child is merged and rooted in social relations (Vygotski, 1932 in Ivic, 1989, P. 429) and their interactions with their peers, teachers, adults and the community as a whole. He in fact stressed that interaction, teaching and learning were integral to each other and that they could have no rigidly defined techniques ascribed to them (Popkevitz, 1998, P. 538). These ideas about cognitive development are referred to as social cognitive due to their being a mixture of social and cognitive theory; they centre round childrens dealings with the environment and those in it utilising the different communication skills that they have learnt. Vygotsky believes that children learn from watching and copying or modelling the different behaviours of those around them using a number of different cultural tools, for example a small child pointing a finger is seen initially as an inconsequential grasping action which changes into a significant one as people react to it (Vygotsky, 1978, P. 56). He emphasised two points in terms of learning, mediation and the expansion of psychological tools. Mediation can be seen as a learner using aids which are both human and symbolic to be able to understand the information that has to be learnt; at the start of the process something which needs to be learnt is modelled and observed by the learner who internalises it, m aking it part of their psyche having had time to reflect on it; this type of mediation can take countless different forms from simple guidance and encouragement to complex advice and scaffolding in order to achieve the understanding of a concept but rather than try to define mediation it is more important to understand that it à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦provides a perspective on how to look at interpersonal engagements and arrangements (Rogoff, 1995, P. 146-147). Psychological tools are à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ those symbolic systems specific for a given culture that when internalised by individual learners become their inner cognitive tools (Kozulin et al, 2003, P. 3) which aid them in à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦mastering mental processes (Daniels, 2001, P. 15) and gives them the ability to à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦control the conditions of their future remembering (Bakhurst, 1996, P. 202). Vygotsky felt that the higher cognitive processes could only be accessed and developed by learners through copying or imitating adults or older more experienced people due to what he referred to as the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD); he defined this as a à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ latent learning gap between what a child can do on his or her own and what can be done with the help of a more skilful other (Richardson, 1998, P. 163).  It is through following the lead of someone else that individuals are able to develop the skills and the cognitive ability to be able to accomplish tasks alone. Siegler believed that the linear way of regarding cognitive development did not paint a full enough picture of the facts that one could observe about learning, such as the anomaly of a variety of different skill levels within the same age group of children. He developed an overlapping waves theory in trying to better understand how children develop where the focus was on à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ the number of strategies that a child might use at any age rather than à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ which specific strategy a child might use most during which stage (Calais, 2008, P. 3). Siegler made three assumptions on which he based his idea: children use a number of methods to address a problem, not just one; methods of thinking and strategies that are used remain with people for indefinite periods of time; children use the experiences that they have to enable them to build towards and move on to more complex strategic thinking. He states that variability is undeniable when one observes how an individual or g roup tackle a problem and that inconsistencies in approach can be seen in individuals who use different strategies to address the same issue on different days. Siegler highlights five stages in learning; acquisition of appealing strategies, mapping strategies onto new problems, strengthening strategies for consistent usage, refining choices and executing appealing strategies (Calais, 2008, P. 4). These stages are all evident in the development of childrens cognitive abilities although they might actually be going through a number of them at the same time. Similar to Piaget and Vygotsky, Siegler discovered that the ability of the learner to choose an appropriate strategy in order to address an issue got better the more mature and skilled they became thus possibly accounting for why individuals within a group might tackle a problem differently in spite of being from the same culture. The teaching techniques which are associated with these schools of thought are almost diametrically opposed to each other. The behaviourist model is one which is teacher focused and revolves around the pupils following instructions that they are given to achieve a specified end. It is a mechanical and unimaginative way of working but is one which is essential if children are to learn the basics of any skill. Unfortunately there is no substitute in a great many areas of the curriculum for instruction based teaching in order to ingrain the skills into students prior to moving on to more advanced skills. Examples of this can be readily seen in the mathematics classrooms where I myself sat through what seemed like endless practice of times tables either through chanting as a class or via targeted questioning of individuals to ensure that they had been learnt properly; the basic rules of algebra need to be learnt before attempting to work out equations or problems; Physical Education less ons are full of the command or practice style of lessons where instructions and demonstration of skills are given followed by practice of skills in isolation, feedback from the practitioner and peers followed by time for improvement and a short game to contextualise the newly learnt skill. The advantage of this type of learning environment is that it is very focused on specific learning goals, the lessons targeting those exclusively in bite size pieces which is ideal for those with learning issues; the disadvantage is that it does not allow for freedom of expression or for the individual strengths of students to be developed. Cognitive schools of thought would encourage teachers to contextualise any skills that students are learning at all times or at the very least whenever it is possible to do so. This would involve starting work on a subject by assessing what the student already knows and constructing a programme of work from that point. This would enable the students with learning difficulties to feel confident in their ability to make progress in that they are beginning with familiar territory making the prospect of what is to come less intimidating and potentially overwhelming. Classrooms following this sort of approach are much more creative in that they allow, as far as possible, for the pupils to direct the learning towards set goals allowing for them to be as imaginative as possible in the process. This child centred approach requires a high degree of organisation in and management of the classroom and necessitates a measured lay out of the classroom for its various functions. In the primary cla ssroom there would need to be specific areas for each different activity in order to maximise the learning potential of the environment for example a computer area, a construction area, a role play area, a carpet area and a reading or quiet area. The teachers work area could be placed in the middle of the classroom for ease of access for all with clear gangways to aid uninhibited movement around the room. The displays should be vibrant, colourful and current indicating to the class that their work is valuable and worthy of being displayed a particularly important point for those with learning difficulties who invariably have low self esteem. Topic based work allows cross curricular links to be forged which is a strength of this method of learning: for example a topic on the Great Fire of London could be tackled encompassing a number of different areas of the curriculum; history would clearly be covered as the foundation of the study alongside a study of how the buildings of the ti me were constructed, why they would have burnt so quickly and how they could have been constructed to make them safer; English and Literacy could be covered through the construction of fire safety posters and poems and the community could be involved through a visit from the local fire service personnel. The children would be encouraged to work both on their own and as members of a group for different parts of the study that they are undertaking using the adults as a resource from which to glean information or to aid them in their planning of how to approach part or parts of their work. The disadvantage of this method of approaching teaching is the huge amount of preparation which needs to be completed before the session to accommodate the creative talents within the group of children but the advantage is that pupils are motivated to complete work to a high standard which expresses their knowledge and understanding of the topic to its fullest extent irrespective of their relative ta lents or abilities. There is no easy or definitive way to teach the skill of reading to any child let alone those who experience learning difficulties. The current trends appear to be a blend of the behaviourist and the cognitive approaches which bring in the best of both worlds. Before implementing any programme it is important to understand the level at which children are operating when they enter the classroom. Some primary children will already have acquired the basics of letter recognition and even some reading skills. However it is important to establish where they are and how to go about reinforcing the basic skills which will allow them to access books and reading materials in the future. It is crucial to understand that the teaching of reading is designed to cover two areas the mechanical aspects of decoding words and the comprehension of them. Decoding is the means through which people are able to interpret written words on a page and make them into meaningful sounds; this involves providing them with the skills to be able to sound out letters and syllables in order to construct the words that appear on the page. It gives people the ability to read almost anything even if it is slowly through the decoding process initially this involves using words with which the learner is familiar followed by the introduction of increasingly more complex ones. The most popular method at present is that of phonics the use of letter/sound associations to recognise words. There are five basic skills which are required for reading and writing which are learning the sounds of the letters, learning the formation of the letters, blending, recognising sounds in words and spelling words that are different or difficult (Jolly Phonics, n.d.). The concept has been popularised by the development of a number of products for the use of both parents and schools to aid students of all ages and abilities with their reading. Phonics provides the learner with that which is readily accessible, easily produced and comprehensible to them sounds, which can then be linked to words. There are a number of different approaches in terms of structure but I will be focusing on one, that of Jolly Phonics. To begin with children are taught the forty two main sounds in English in seven distinct groups: (Jolly Phonics, n.d.) These are known as digraphs and are accompanied by a series of actions (encompassing a multi sensory approach, examples of which are below) which correspond to the letters to help the children to remember them which gradually become unnecessary as the learner gains in confidence. s Weave hand in an  s  shape, like a snake, and say  ssssss a Wiggle fingers above elbow as if ants crawling on you and say  a, a, a. t Turn head from side to side as if watching tennis and say  t, t, t. i Pretend to be a mouse by wriggling fingers at end of nose and squeak  i, i, i. p   Pretend to puff out candles and say  p, p, p. n Make a noise, as if you are a plane hold arms out and say  nnnnnn. (Jolly Phonics, n.d) They learn each letter by its sound, for example a is for ant which will help with blending later in the process. The first group of letter above are introduced at the outset as they provide the greatest amount of three letter words when combined with each other. The students are then taught how to hold a pencil correctly followed by how to form letters in an appropriate way. This is followed by blending which is the process of articulating the individual sounds within a word before running them together to produce the whole. All children need to learn this stage and get better with practice and encouragement. This is often the key with those who have special needs having the encouragement and the confidence to try and not fear making mistakes. It may need the adult to say the parts of the word first to ensure that the pupil can hear them before repeating them which could be seen as the adult providing the support or scaffolding in order for the child to progress to the next level ( Vygotskys Zone of Proximal Development). Games can be played like I-Spy to encourage children to listen for the sounds in different parts of words and blending cards can be helpful in this process. Spelling is a different issue with a number of possibilities available to aid in this learning process for example Look, Cover, Write, Check or Mnemonics (the first letter in each word of a saying spelling a word, e.g. fish Frogs In Silly Hats). As we can see from the above example of the teaching of reading and from teaching techniques in general there are advantages and disadvantages in each teaching method. If one wishes to get a safety message across about crossing a road it would not be appropriate for the children to find out by playing chicken with the cars! They would need to be given specific instructions as to how to accomplish the objective safely and if necessary practice in the playground in a role play situation to ensure that the message has been taken in. The basics in reading need to be given through instruction and practice before words can be used creatively in the context of story writing, telling and reading. Lots of practice and exposure to words in and around the classroom through colourful displays with pictures combined with words will lead to a comfort and familiarity with reading and the written word which is particularly valuable for those with learning difficulties. Reading is a basic and necessa ry skill which one needs not only to access a curriculum to be able to pass exams but to be able to function in the most basic way in life. Those with learning difficulties have the right to be taught and to learn this skill of communication; there is no one all encompassing way to achieve this and practitioners have to develop a number of skills and techniques to accommodate the different needs of the personalities in their care. It would appear that there needs to be a blend of both the behaviourist and cognitive approaches to get the best from children as some aspects need to be specifically taught whereas others can be guided and discovered through shared activity with both their peers and adults alike.

Music Essay - An Analysis of the Rap Song, Put it On :: Exploratory Essays Research Papers

An Analysis of the Rap Song, Put it On While on a recent carefree jaunt throughout Harlem, I was introduced to the lyrical genius of one â€Å"Big L.† As is common of all true artists, Mr. L passed before his time, but not without a legacy. You see, it is the will of the Almighty Himself that I elucidate the meaning of Mr. L’s first major work, â€Å"Put it On,† in order for it to be made accessible to the common man and the upper crust alike, so that this truly majestic piece may live for eternity in the bosom of humankind. To this end, I have composed a line-for-line translation of the complex, sophisticated diction, which, I expect, will henceforth serve as the standard through which all scholars will study this master of the English language. Verse One Ayo you better flee, hops, or get your head thrown three blocks. L keep rappers’ hearts pumpin’ like Reeboks. And every year I gain clout and my name sprout. Some brothers would still be virgins if crack never came out. I got the wild style, always been a foul child My guns go boom-boom, and your guns go pow-pow. I'm known to have a hottie open, I keep the shottie smokin,’ Front and get half the bones in your body broken. And when it comes to getting’ nookie I'm not a rookie- I got girls that make that chick Toni Braxton look like Whoopie. I run with sturdy cliques, I'm never hittin’ dirty chicks, Got thirty-five bodies, buddy, don't make it thirty-six. Step to this, you're good as gone. Word is bond. I leave mics torn when I put it on. Summary: This verse serves to make a strong impression of Mr. L. We first learn that he is not to be toyed with. Big then threatens his opponents, speaks briefly about his fondness for firearms, and draws attention to his sex appeal. As for a more detailed analysis of the verse: Ayo you better flee, hops, or get your head thrown three blocks. L keep rappers’ hearts pumpin’ like Reeboks. Greetings. You had better take flight, my good man, or else you will receive a wallop - for I am to be feared. And every year I gain clout and my name sprout. Some brothers would still be virgins if crack never came out. I strengthen my fame on an annual basis. Hence, my name becomes increasingly better known with time. Incidentally, a number of black men would still have not had sexual relations with women, had it not been for the advent of crack cocaine.

The World Needs More Nuclear Power Essay -- Argumentative Essays, Pers

Opponents of the nuclear industry conjure up frightful images of nuclear accidents to spread terror to those who could benefit from its awesome bounty. A misguided desire to protect the environment blinds people to the reality that nuclear power is a "green" energy source. Nuclear power is superior to traditional power generation in almost every way whether it is looked at from an environmental, economic or technical point of view. Currently, most consumer power generation is achieved through the burning of fossil fuels. Skeptics of nuclear energy’s potential have long contended that fossil fuels are safer to process, are better for the environment and pose less of a long term hazard than nuclear power. Concerns over safety also dominate the issue since the often lamented invention of nuclear weapons has demonstrated that the awesome force of nuclear power can be dangerous indeed. Nuclear power is also tagged as being expensive, not only for power generation but for the environmental detriments that must be mitigated after processing. None of these arguments against nuclear power has any real factual basis as research has shown that nuclear power has less of a negative impact on the environment, has the potential to be safer and ultimately cheaper than traditional power generating methods. The mainstays of traditional power generation involve the burning of fossil fuels, such as natural gas and coal. Environmentalists use scare tactics to try to convince people that nuclear power is a dirty energy. The truth however, is that as far as damage to the environment goes, nuclear power is a much greener source of energy than either coal or natural gas. The first advantage of nuclear power over coal or natural gas is ob... ...ands in the way of nuclear power becoming the energy of the future is fear and rhetoric. As the famous philosopher Heraclitus said â€Å"Dogs bark at a person whom they do not know† (Heraclitus, para 97), which means that people will always attack that which they do not understand. This makes education the greatest step towards making one of man’s greatest technological triumphs into a blessing for this generation. Works Cited Heraclitus. â€Å"The Complete Philosophical Fragments.† Middlebury College Website. Middlebury College. 07/14/10 http://community.middlebury.edu/~harris/Philosophy/Heraclitus.html Hill, Patrice. â€Å"Nuclear Power Is the Energy of the Future.† Insight April 2001 McGregor, Douglas S. â€Å"The Use of Nuclear Power Should be Increased.† The New American April 2001: 12-19 Robinson, Mark, A. 100 Grams of Uranium Equal 200 Tons of Coal. Kelso, WA, 1987

Capitalization of Gender in Edna Millay’s Essay

The sonnet has experienced many modifications and innovations throughout the ages. Edna St. Vincent Millay’s â€Å"I, Being Born a Woman and Distressed† and Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s â€Å"Sonnet 43†, both Petrarchan sonnets, have diversified and helped pave the way for future female poets. In order to address and capitalize on ideas of gender connected to sonnet form and content, Edna Millay and Elizabeth Browning both revolutionize the traditional male-dominated sonnet form as females, Browning expresses overly sentimental and passionate emotion through content and Millay contradicts the social norm of female sexuality as well through content. Millay and Browning revolt against the male-dominated sonnet. Popular among prominent male poets, the sonnet was deemed unworthy for females, as men were far more educated and capable of fulfilling its high standards and strict guidelines. Both poets proved common beliefs wrong by excelling in the sonnet form. They used the Petrarchan sonnet, playing close attention to rhyme scheme and using iambic pentameter. They even incorporated the Volta between the octave and sestet, while using the first three lines in the sestet to introduce the change in tone and the last three lines in the sestet to conclude, invariably identical to the traditional Italian sonnet. At a time where women did not even have the right to vote, Millay and Browning both struggled to find a place in poetry writing, especially the sonnet form in which their predecessors were all male. The literary cannon and the Romantic Era consisted of all male poets who directed the sonnets to their lovers in regard to express their profound appreciation. Love has been the preferred sonnet theme since the 1300’s when the sonnet was created and both, Millay and Browning, stuck with the same traditional concept of love and lust as their topic. Being one of the most popular, sought out forms of poetry, the sonnet was the perfect way for nineteenth-century women to get out into the limelight and start a feminist movement. Or possibly, women poets stumbled toward the sonnet form due to its oppressive rules of rhyme scheme, structural shifts, meter and syllable count, it provided them a ready-made metaphor, suggesting difficulties in communication. Extremely restrained, the sonnet form helped make inexpressibility apparent, it therefore presented women sonneteers with an irony that revealed their circumstances of restricted speech and forced silence. Female poets, who incorporated the strict sonnet form, at a time difficult for women to freely embark in the lyric tradition, did so only to promote gender variance. Elizabeth Browning uses exceedingly sentimental emotions in her â€Å"Sonnet 43†. She either does so for ridicule or freedom for women to express themselves. By the use of such diction she is using satire and mockery of overly melodramatic reactions and feelings of a typical woman. â€Å"†¦ With my lost saints! -I love thee with the breath,/ Smiles, tears, of all my life!†¦ (12-13)†, even with the usage of several exclamation marks, she creates emphasis on the over exaggeration. In her Sonnet 43, Browning proclaims the pleasure love brings and pleads for a complete surrender to love, which seems far too corny. Or perhaps, she is just being herself, demonstrating to fellow females to be confident and unafraid of articulating and communicating your feelings. Following the thematic convention of rhyme scheme and iambic pentameter, Browning either wants to represent stereotypical females with her portrayal of unrealistic sensations or she wants to prove that even a completely feminine sonnet can create attentiveness to gender difference. Edna Millay challenges the social standards of female sexuality. Millay’s poem explores a female-centred perspective which opposes the widespread male-dominated presumptions of women. It is indeed a very sexual poem, revealing her sexual attraction and intentions to a particular man. Female sexuality was silenced in those times and rarely did women speak so openly and fearlessly of personal matters. She created a new realm of subject matters to women authors and helped support a liberated approach to life. The style of her poetry is formal with typical meter and rhyme scheme. Critics have repeatedly pointed out her bizarre connection of conventional poetic forms and structures with completely unconventional ideas and expressions. We must recognize and appreciate Millay for revealing the love ’em and leave ’em tactic normally exercised by males. However, because of the poet’s reversed gender, this strategy seems more modern, harmless and considerably humorous. There is irony and originality in a female using such rebellious content, perhaps she is scrutinizing normal male intentions, as it is regularly the women who are hurt in the end because they long for a relationship while the men are only looking for sex. The form may receive validity of tradition while the content concurrently mocks tradition. With the help of this poem she gained a reputation of a free-spirited and revolutionary social figure whose work followed her commemoration of life. Edna Millay’s poem fights for sexual freedom originally claimed by men, it fights for equality of the double standard that exists, which inhibits female sexuality and encourages male sexuality. Writing as women has led them to run â€Å"counter to† their culture and â€Å"against the grain of time† to echo Pounds’ words. Edna St. Vincent Millay’s â€Å"I, Being Born a Woman and Distressed† and Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s â€Å"Sonnet 43† redefine the standards of genre and gender norms. Millay and Browning both revolt against the regularly male sonnet form, they were attracted to its structural affinity to promote gender variance. Browning creates emphasis using ordinary female emotions, while Millay challenges normality of female sexuality. However at the same time there are distinct contrasts apparent, Browning’s poetry has a feminine quality with such passion and sentimentality while Millay’s poetry has a masculine quality, as it resists sentimentality with her ability to look beyond the status quo and her completely opposite lifestyle of love affairs. However, both poets attempt to reconcile with convention while contributing to gender capitalization, hoping to establish diversification equally valid for females. Both are icons for womanhood, both are masters of the sonnet forms and both are nurturers of ambition, independence, outspokenness and flaunting sexuality.

Censorship of internet in China

Since the Faceable and Youth are blocked in main land China, feel totally disconnected with the US after go back to China for vacation. Not only myself, but also the whole country Is blocked from rest of the world because of the censorship for the Internet. The censorship of Internet Is not good for the country and Its nation. Censorship of the Internet block the people In China from the rest of the world which Is harmful for the development for the country. Nobody can progress all on themselves, they cannot see the defects clearly as other do.The theory is the same for progress of the country, no communications and connect with other countries will only lead to fall behind. However, there are still some people support the censorship. They state that the censorship of internet is necessary. Because children can see sexually explicit materials which is unhealthy for them through the opening internet. Surely we should keep the bad information away from the children but there is no need to forbid everything about the sex in the internet. Proper and moderate Information Is necessary and good for the children.Whereas, government makes a sensitive topic even more awkward. Forbid of healthy sex education and free thoughts will not make country progress. Likewise, block the Chinese people from the world, often get blabs Information. If the news on the Internet Is fact, the government do not have to censor It. In addition, If the Information Is blabs, people still will find out the truth someday which means censor the internet is useless and harmful to people. Besides, people get curious when they can't see something and they will do anything that it takes to find what they want.The hiding of the fact could not last forever, people will find the information navy. ‘ay. The anger of feeling betrayal will cause and develop the disappointment from the nation. As the disappointment increase day by day, people will do violence things to release the feeling. Also, govern ment expresses free and open internet environment causes social unrest. However, that is the pretext of government which fears retaliation from the public if all the truth came out. The reason for social unrest Is not come from nowhere, there must be something wrong and causes people's dissatisfied.One of the reason Is the government hide the truth and no lies can last forever. In addition, the censorship harms the right for freedom of speech. People have the right to talk whatever they want to and that is the natural rights. Share the opinions also help the government and country find out error which can be corrected. All things considered that internet censorship offers more disadvantages than the benefits. Hiding the fact, blocking country from the rest of world in digital way and forbidden for the freedom of public speech strongly against the people's right as well s the impress for the country.Next question appears to us that how can we change the situation of censorship? Since the Faceable and Youth are blocked in main land China, I feel totally disconnected with the US after I go back to China for vacation. Not only myself, but also the whole country is blocked from rest of the world because of the censorship for the internet. The censorship of internet is not good for the country and its nation. Censorship of the internet block the people in China from the rest of the world which is harmful for the development for the country.Nobody can progress all on moderate information is necessary and good for the children. Whereas, government world, often get bias information. If the news on the internet is fact, the government do not have to censor it. In addition, if the information is bias, people still will find out forever, people will find the information anyway. The anger of feeling betrayal will all the truth came out. The reason for social unrest is not come from nowhere, there must be something wrong and causes people's dissatisfied. One of the reason i s the