Case Write Up Barbara Wilson Essay

The main challenge of Barbara Wilson as a Regional Sales Manager is to deal with the drop in growth of sales and earnings of the Food Mix Company. She is supposed to provide some ideas to increase the growth of sales. Here for she needs the help of the District Sales Manager and the Sales Representatives, but unfortunately she just got vague answers from them and didn’t receive valuable feedback. That’s why Barbara is not able to keep up or increase sales in her area. One of the main reasons for her problem is the communication between Barbara and her team. The team doesn’t trust her, they don’t see her as one of them, that’s one of the reasons, why they don’t try to help her with providing ideas for the sales growth by sharing their knowledge. Another cause for the problem of Barbara is the structure of the Food Mix Company (FMC). Employees, who have a long work experience (for example 18 or even 36 years) on the same job at FMC don’t get promoted, instead they have managers, like Barbara, who are much younger and well-trained, with few years of work experience and little knowledge about market characteristics and field work. This is frustrating for the employees and doesn’t support a good relation between them and their managers. Another reason for Barbara’s problem lies is the motivational system at FMC. The reward in the form of a bonus is always paid at the end of the year and depends on completing the yearly target, which is defined by the top of the performance from last year. The sales team is not motivated for an outstanding good performance, because this will raise the target for the next year. That’s why, they try to keep the information about the new market segment (older people) as a secret and hide this important strategic information from the top management. They don’t realize the importance of this information for helping to find a solution for decreasing sales. One option for Barbara to handle these problems is the improvement of the communication between her and the team. She should try to build trust by showing interest in the work and problems of the sales representatives and show them, that she is one of them, for example by spending time with the sales representatives on team meetings, workshops or joining them in the field. By spending more time with her team, Barbara would recognize the existing problems and could try to solve them by talking to the top management and find a better way for the motivation system. Another benefit of improving the communication between Barbara and her team is the chance in improving the intelligibility of the team for the strategies and problems of the FMC, so they would understand the importance of sharing their knowledge.

Domestic Violence: A Deviant Behavior Essay

Domestic violence is a repetitive assault and intimidating behavior that one uses against a spouse, a child, or intimate partner. Domestic violence can affect everyone and anyone can be the abuser as well as anyone can be a victim. It does not matter what race you are, what your profession may be or if you are educated or uneducated. Domestic violence is usually committed in the household by a husband against his wife or other family members and they may commit other deviant acts. If a child is a part of domestic violence it is child abuse and if a married couple is a part of domestic violence it is spousal abuse. Domestic violence is also known as intimate violence usually because it can be physically and emotionally harmful between the heterosexual couple living together as well as in gay or lesbian relationships. Both domestic violence and intimate violence are also deviant behaviors. They are labeled as abuse in a variety of ways such as, emotional abuse, verbal abuse, denial of access to resources or money, restrains of normal activities or freedom, including isolation from friends or family members, threats to kill or harm, and physical intimidation or attacks. In extreme cases, domestic violence can result in a death or other serious injuries and there may also be other deviant behavior association. The history of domestic violence has been around the world before the birth of Christ and the perpetrators of domestic abuse has been said to have started in Rome. A husband was allowed to beat and whip his wife with a switch if she did not do what he asked her to do. For much of domestic violence history and throughout the world, social and legal traditions have tolerated or even promoted the physical assault of women by men. In the United States, domestic violence has also been around for centuries. However, in the United States, the women’s movement brought it out to the public in the early 1970s. Programs offered hotlines for battered women to call and they also offered shelters for women providing them with counseling, food and education. It was not until the 1990s, that the police began to view domestic violence as the serious problem that it really is. In many states, the police was informed not to threaten the abuser with arrest, but to arrest them. Also, if the police officer did not arrest the domestic abuser, they were fined. Other penalties were given to the domestic abuser by putting a restraining other on them and if they attempted to go around the victim they were put back in jail and held without bail. During the 1970s, there were many coalitions and groups that evolved. One group, the South Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault (SCCADVASA), a statewide coalition made up of the 22 domestic violence and sexual assault advocacy programs in South Carolina provided information that showed in ancient Rome a husband could legally divorce, physically punish, or even kill his wife for behaviors that were permitted for men. During this era, punishment of wives was called chastisement, a term that emphasized the corrective purpose of the action and minimized the violent nature of the behavior. Under medieval English common law, a husband could not be prosecuted for raping his wife because the law provided that a wife could not refuse consent for sex to her husband. Because much of laws in the United States were modeled on English common law, this definition of rape remained in effect in the United States until the 1970s, when many states modified their rape statutes. These studies showed that domestic violence can be very harmful to a relationship. Not only can it be harmful to a relationship, but literally can physically harm individuals such as children, husbands, wives and other family members. Domestic violence can be physically and emotionally straining for any woman or child to overcome and it is something no human should have to go through. The National Center for Disease Control (CDC) reports that one in four women (25%) has experienced domestic violence in her lifetime. Estimates range from 960,000 incidents of violence against a current or former spouse, boyfriend, or girlfriend to 3 million women who are physically abused by their husband or boyfriend per year. Between 600,000 and 6 million women are victims of domestic violence each year, and between 100,000 and 6 million men, depending on the type of survey used to obtain the data. Nearly three out of four (74%) of Americans personally know someone who is or has been a victim of domestic violence. 30% of Americans say they know a woman who has been physically abused by her husband or boyfriend in the past year. According to social learning theory, people engage in crime because of their association with others who engage in crime. Their criminal behavior is reinforced and they learn beliefs that are favorable to crime. They essentially have criminal models that they associate with. As a consequence, these individuals come to view crime as something that is desirable, or at least justifiable in certain situations. Learning criminal or deviant behavior is the same as learning to engage in conforming behavior: it is done through association with or exposure to others. In fact, association with delinquent friends is the best predictor of delinquent behavior other than prior delinquency. Every type of behavior is learned more so understood primarily by observation and imitation. This theory can be associated with the CNN news recently reporting of a 52 year old Cleveland, Ohio man named Ariel Castro, who is charged with kidnapping and raping three females. He allegedly abused these young women over a period of 10 years and telling the investigators he did it because he had been abused as a child. He is accused of beating them and raping them for almost a decade. Researchers say that most batterers have had a violent father growing up in a bad lifestyle causing unintentional harm to a young child’s brain into thinking that what is going on is the right thing to do, therefore, damaging the mindset making it easy for domestic violence to increase in our society today. The Federal Bureau of Justice Statistics Report showed that 95% of all documented domestic assault crimes are committed by men against women; in 1996 there were 15,000 calls to law enforcement agencies in Sacramento County for domestic violence response (FBI). It is very difficult to know the exact number of victims of domestic violence, especially sexual assault and other incidents committed by the intimate offenders, due to the many occurrences not reported to the police. There are many factors that victims consider in their decision not to report it to the police, but the greatest reason is the fear that threats to kill you or your family will become reality. Other reasons include embarrassment, shame and hopes that his promises to change will come true this time. There is an assumption in our society that there is a clear relationship between anger and physical violent behavior. However, anger is a human emotion and studies have shown that physical violence or abuse is a learnt behavior and the perpetrator is more often than not, going to repeat this behavior. All human beings experience anger at one time or another. People get angry with their supervisors, co-workers, neighbors and friends. Yet people don’t ordinarily kill or physically hurt others in order to get their way, and when they do, society holds them accountable. Physical violence as well as other forms of domestic abuse are measures that are taken by one person in order to force another person into compliance. The Bureau’s definition of domestic violence states a pattern of assault and coercive behavior. This includes physical, sexual, psychological and verbal attacks as well as coercion used against an intimate partner. In abusive relationships, there is a victim and a perpetrator and typically it is that of a married couple or a couple living together and there may even be children living with the couple. During these times, researchers and activists believe that the term spousal abuse is inappropriate, because the term is gender-neutral in that the abuse can be that of either a husband or wife. Some activists say that men are just as likely as women to be victims of abuse. However, in many of the hospital and police records, it shows women as the victims of domestic violence in intimate relationships. In intimidate relationships, the problem tends to be intimidation control of women by their man. According to CDC, intimate partner violence is defined as actual or threatened physical or sexual violence or psychological and emotional abuse directed toward a spouse, ex-spouse, current or former boyfriend or girlfriend, or current or former dating partner. Intimate partners may be heterosexual or of the same sex. As stated above, there are a few other terms used to describe intimate partner violence, such as domestic abuse, spousal abuse, and domestic violence. The U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics reported on intimate partner violence, which also included rape and sexual assault, and stalking. The report includes an estimate of the extent of crimes against females and the characteristics of crimes and victims. In 2008, females age 12 or older were five times more likely than males age 12 or older to be victims of intimate partner violence. In 2007, intimate partners committed 14% of all homicides in the U.S. The total estimated number of intimate partner homicide victims in 2007 was 2,340, including 1,640 females and 700 males. Females made up 70% of victims killed by an intimate partner in 2007, a proportion that has changed very little since 1993. Many offenders and victims range between the ages 18 to 30 years old, sex literally focuses more on women being affected by the physical abuse or verbal abuse that is being taken in from the violence. Due to low income, raised in a violent family, alcohol or drug abuse, unemployment, sexual difficulties, and low job satisfaction. These are just a few ways domestic violence can be triggered. As domestic violence affects women and children of every culture and all ages, in 2012 the White House made a public service announcement that â€Å"1 is 2 Many† on dating violence that young women still face the highest rates of dating violence and sexual assault. In the last year, it was also noted that one in 10 teens were reported being physically hurt on purpose by a boyfriend or girlfriend. Along with the physical violence, one in five young women have been sexually assaulted while they are in college. In our society, we tend to want to look the other way to this deviant behavior that affects everyone (Norwood, et.al.). Most people will not get involved if they see a man hitting on a woman or a child’s parent slapping or hitting them upside the head. We tend to give many excuses such as we don’t want to get involved or it is none of our business. Some people just stand around and take video on their cell phones to post on the internet instead of calling the police emergency. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, 26% of all female homicides in 1995 were attributable to domestic violence. During 1996, there were 25 domestic violence related homicides in Sacramento County, accounting for 29% of all homicides. These killings usually take place when the female partner wants to leave the relationship. Women who leave their batterers are at a 75% greater risk of being killed by the batterer than those who stay. If she succeeds in leaving without being killed, she usually finds herself in a maze of legal and financial problems. If there are children involved in the relationship, custody problems are sure to follow. Domestic violence also affects the children and it creates an environment where children will live in persistent fear. Children who live in this environment are unable to bond with either parent. These children will most likely be abused and neglected living under these conditions. Statistics show that over three million children witness violence in their home each year. Those who see and hear violence in the home suffer physically and emotionally. (USDJ) Developmental researchers’ show that children from violent households may restore normal development process, such as empathy and self-control and that would minimize the risk of further harm caused by exposure to abusive adult models. Studies also show that men are mostly the dominate human when it comes to what sex is causing the most pain and hardship to this situation, its women dealing with crazy husbands that were raised in a dysfunctional household as a child, and now they are being watched by their children and their children are imitating their every move thinking it is the right way to go and its not. On legal interventions about domestic violence, some researchers say is that social and public awareness about the domestic violence has increased, and the public wants to know why the justice system has not stepped up to stop the violence, rather than treating it as a private matter between consenting adults. Now that the public knows what causes domestic violence and what the future might bring from domestic violence society wants it silenced. Some young couples may begin cohabitating at a very young age and also begin having children before they are married and the abuse begins. For a child can be harmful mentally and somewhat physically. A couple that is not married, but live together with kids, and they both have children that are not each others can also be the cause of domestic violence towards one or the other child. In that child’s environment, he or she thinks that everything in their family is going smooth and all of a sudden the girlfriend gets into a heated argument with the boyfriend or visa-versa and the boyfriend moves out of the house. This unhealthy environment for a child can lead to months or years in cases of domestic violence. A variety of mental illnesses can also cause a case of domestic violence, such as a background of family adversity, leaving school early, juvenile aggression and tendencies. Conviction of other crimes, especially violent crimes, drug abuse and long term unemployment can be traits and paths to finding a dysfunctional, domestic household. Past research shows that self esteem, extreme jealousy, difficulties in regulating anger, and also strong emotion, when a dominant man feels inferior from their partner from an educational socioeconomic standpoint, some of these men with very strong and traditional beliefs may think that they have the right to control the women, and that women are not equal to men. That dominate behavior takes the form of emotional, sexual and physical abuse, studies show that violent behavior often is caused by an interaction of situational and individual factors, meaning that abusers learn abusive behaviors from their family members people they trust people they love, more so whom they look up to. Domestic violence is a series of violence, this cycle of violence exists because as the social learning theory states, children observe and learn these behaviors during their young childhood, the home is the first place where children are taught what is expectable and normal. For example, when a child is born into a cohabitant household, from age 2 to the age of 8, the child has adapted to that environment meaning the child is comfortable and will imitate or copy most of what their so called parents do around the house. Mimicking these behaviors such as getting in trouble in school at a young age, later dropping out of high school, getting in trouble with the law, or dying on our dangerous streets. This is what children see as normal and it is what leads to the continuing cycle of domestic violence. No one should want to subject these young children to this type of behavior. There are many physical, psychological, social consequences and health behaviors in domestic violence and many victims experience serious health problems. The CDC reports associates a number of physical adverse health outcomes. These health conditions may be a direct result of the physical violence (for example, bruises, knife wounds, broken bones, traumatic brain injury, back or pelvic pain, headaches). Other conditions are the result of the impact of intimate partner violence on the cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, endocrine and immune systems through chronic stress or other mechanisms. Psychological consequences for the victims include anxiety, depression, and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, antisocial behavior, and suicidal behavior in females. Many victims also experience social consequences, i.e., restricted access to services, strained relationships with health providers and employers, isolation from social networks and even homelessness. Women may display behaviors that present further health risks such as, substance abuse, alcoholism, and suicide attempts. These studies show that the more severe the violence, the stronger its relationship to negative health behaviors by victims as they may engage in high-risk sexual behavior, have unprotected sex, multiple sex partners, use harmful substances, drink alcohol or take drugs, and experience eating disorders (CDC). In conclusion, many studies show that domestic violence affects women and children of every culture, race, occupation, income levels and age groups. Although our society has shown progress through education and awareness of domestic violence, it still remains a crisis and our society need to continue in working to improve it. Domestic violence continues to be the number one public health issue facing women and children today, but it is also a violation of their human right, which should never be tolerated. Families in today’s society need to focus more on taking care of their family and not cause stress and emotional instability. It is hard enough for one parent to take care of family needs in a society where both parents need to work. Domestic violence should never be in a home subjecting this deviant behavior in front of children It has no place in our society and every human being has a right to live without fear and violence. Works Cited Thio, Alex, Jim D. Taylor, and Martin D. Schwartz. 2013 (11th edition). Deviant Behavior. Boston, MA: Pearson. Shaw, Victor. 2002. Substance Use and Abuse: Sociological Perspectives. Westport, CT: Praeger. Norwood, William D., Jouriles, Ernest N., McDonald, Renee and Swank, Paul R. Domestic Violence and Deviant Behavior. Swank 2004 NCJ 199713. http://www.cdc.gov/ViolencePrevention/intimatepartnerviolence/index.html. Internet: 17 April 2013. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_learning_theory. Internet: 17 April 2013. www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/199713.pdf Internet: 17 April 2013. http://psychcentral.com/lib/2006/what-causes-domestic-violence/ Copyright  © 1995-2013 Psych Central. All rights reserved. Site last updated: 17 April 2013. https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles/171666.pdf U.S. Department of Justice. Office of Justice Programs. Legal Interventions in Family Violence: Research Findings and Policy Implications. Internet: 17 April 2013. http://sociology.about.com/od/Sociological-Theory/a/Social-Learning-Theory.htm. Site last updated: 17 April 2013. http://www.sccadvasa.org/domestic-violence-facts-and-stats/overview-of-domestic-violence.html. Internet: 17 April 2013. http://www.whitehouse.gov/1is2many. Internet: 17 April 2013.

Dressing for Work Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Dressing for Work - Essay Example Women wore chic yet stylish business wear consisting of longer skirts and suit jackets and they often wore their hair out of their face. Today, men often ditch the suit and tie for khakis or black pants and a button-down shirt without a tie or a polo shirt that is tucked in.   Women have the tendency to follow trends more closely, dressing in professional blouses, layering in a lot of jewelry, and have hair fixed either up or down. I think that the 1950s version of men implies that men were more business-minded and sophisticated. They wanted to make formal impressions.   Women were more modest.   People who work dress more casual and those with a career dress more professional with the exception of women who will be trendier but still look like career women so they are taken seriously.  They wanted to make formal impressions.   Women were more modest.   People who work dress more casual and those with a career dress more professional with the exception of women who will b e trendier but still look like career women so they are taken seriously.

Digital Marketing Strategies Report for Coca Cola Company Essay

Digital Marketing Strategies Report for Coca Cola Company - Essay Example The company zoned its marketing techniques in 1970 to dedicate their product as a representation of fun, freedom and playfulness. Currently, the company operates in 120 countries and serves over 1.3 billion customers daily (Senker and Foy, 2012). The company continues to be the leading marketer of the non-alcoholic drinks world wide. According to Goldberg and WHA-TV (1999), the company’s sustained success in marketing is related to its strategic focus on satisfying the customer needs through enhancing consumer awareness. Its focus on enhancing consumer awareness has led to adoption of digital marketing strategies which are relatively efficient compared to other traditional marketing methods such as newspapers. Traditionally, most business players used digital marketing to include other marketing strategies such as search engine optimisation (SEO) and banner advertisement that are currently not considered as constituents of digital marketing. Traditional forms of marketing such as radios and television means cannot be considered digital because they do not offer instant feedback or reports. Some such as telephones may offer responses but there is no means of ascertaining the number of people who assessed the information. Digital marketing is basically an internet service. The internet has the capability of sending messages such as email or voice broadcast as well as serving a banner ad. Digital marketing exists in two forms; pull and push. The pull digital marketing denotes the consumer actively seeking information through the various web search engines while the push digital marketing involves the marketer sending messages without the consumer or recipient’s consent (Raulas et al. 2003:293-300). This implies that the digital marketing applies both private and public means in promoting products. The company can then establish a reporting engine to relay information on the performance of the marketing strategy. The company has set high standards on the methods of promoting business activities through the use of social marketing on the internet (Darroch, 2009). Its success in digital marketing is related to its focus on quality maintenance. Most of the company ads are entertaining and creative. They are created through channelling of huge financial investments. The Coca Cola Company management is vividly aware that maintaining regular contact with consumers builds and sustains customer relationships. This is why they have enhanced the efforts geared towards application of digital marketing which is a more efficient strategy linking the customers to the company. Application of the digital marketing strategy is built on the premise that modern marketing is changing from exchange of goods and services to service quality, interaction, customer relationships and enhancing connectivity (Vargo and Lusch, 2012). According to Robbins and Stylianou, (2003), interactivity in the digital media offers better methods of searching for company information. Additionally, consumers utilize digital marketing to seek help on any problems related to company products. Digital connection has also provided efficient and cost effective means of spending free time with company brands such as participating in promotion games and learning about the product they are using. The company benefits from digital marketing

Marketing Financial Services Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Marketing Financial Services - Case Study Example Marketing is defined as â€Å"managing profitable customer relationships â€Å" (Kotler Armstrong 28). Marketing is a way of approaching business, not simply a function that deals with sales and promotional material. Most industry sectors adopted a marketing mindset in the middle of the last century, but for financial services, it was not until government regulations were relaxed that banks found they needed to use marketing to win new customers and retain existing ones. The market in financial services is dominated by several large organisations, some specialising in specific financial products, such as pensions and life assurance, while others provide a full range of products, being a â€Å"one-stop shop† for a customer’s financial needs. Financial services are broadly divided into retail and commercial activities. The retail area is further divided into personal and business, with products in each specifically for those customers. Many of the commercial activities are not marketed heavily as they are extremely specialised. They would fall within business-to-business marketing, as would marketing activities directed at business customers within the retail area. Banking is an unusual activity in that it requires customers to deposit the raw material required to do business – money. What the banks do is limited by how much they hold on behalf of customers (savings and credit balances), compared with the amount they make available to other customers (through lending) and the relative risk associated with the funds held. Legislation also requires that banks maintain a specific ratio of capital assets available at all times. Financial institutions have to manage risk associated with default – overdrafts or loans not being repaid. This is usually reflected in the price of the produce – the â€Å"margin† or interest rate charged. The higher the risk, the higher the rate charged. In some cases, banks will not permit overdrafts or provide

Course Project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 1

Course Project - Essay Example When demand and supply situation in a country is unfavorable to the employers, they would prefer to compromise and give training to the available personnel rather than spend time and resources in search of ‘ideal match’, to avoid production loss. Gronau stated: â€Å"Since the length of service is directly related to the level of unemployment, one would expect wage demands (and hence the change in general wage rate) and unemployment to be inversely related† (290). If the pace of economic growth is robust, the increase in demand mitigates the effects of frictional unemployment in general. Development of transferable skills by a person could ensure transfers within the same company to other departments or make change of job easier and counseling facilities need to be strengthened. Uniformity in dissemination of information with regard to the jobs available, the attributes necessary and the experience required in relation to them is very important for proper understa nding in identifying the appropriate opportunities without any difficulty. Though the standardization could not be achieved completely in this respect in view of multiplicity of disciplines, grades and specialization, common parameters relating to jobs in a particular category acceptable to most of the employers or industry associations and understandable by majority of the workers would improve the situation considerably. In most of the cases relocation choices are not fully explored both by the employers or employees to the disadvantage of both. Moving cost to the employee and recruitment and training cost to the employer play an important role in making strategic management decisions. If the views of the employer and employee converge in this respect, solution could be reached easily. Diamond stated that â€Å"[t]he rate at which workers are offered jobs with different moving costs depends on the decisions of other workers as to which

The Global Service Sector Enterprises Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

The Global Service Sector Enterprises - Essay Example There was rapid agricultural and industrial development which was facilitated by the rich reserve of natural resources in the country. In the past few decades, Australia has established itself as an advanced economy and a strong competitor in the international market for goods and services. In the last century, Australia has been named one of the fastest developing economies among the OECD countries. The economic reforms made in the country during the 1980s are a major reason behind such brilliant performance by the economy. It ranks high in the international standards in the indices measuring human development, life expectancy, public literacy level and preservation of fundamental rights of the people. Australia has a non-permanent membership in the United Nations for the year 2013-2014 and is a member of the World Trade Organization since 1995 (Security Council Report, 2012). PESTLE Analysis Several factors originate and exist in the macro scenario of an economy that affects the op erations of the business organizations of the economy. Changes in tax structures, trade barriers, change in government policy, demographic changes and a multitude of new laws implemented as a result of all these changes form parts of the macro-environmental change (Morrison, 2011). We shall use the PESTEL model to analyse these changes in the context of Australia and determine the factors that act as drivers of small and medium enterprises within the country. POLITICAL FACTORS Political factors relates to the extent to which the government interferes into the matters of the economy. The government of Australia is also known as â€Å"the Commonwealth Government† or â€Å"the federal government† (Australia, n.d.). The government body has three divisions; the legislature, the executive and the judiciary. The constitution makes no reference to any political party so as to allow the legislature to operate smoothly. Although government policies are a very practical method of affecting business practices directly, they are not always appropriate or effective (The Allen Consulting Group, 2008). Government intervention The Australian Government launches programs from time to time which are aimed at improving the environment for SMEs, promoting their growth and increasing employment levels (The Allen Consulting Group, 2008). It provides grants to the enterprises for developing employee skill and provides support in project planning. It provides advisory support to entrepreneurs for the starting of home-based business and expanding them. However, there are several government policies and regulations which are acting as barriers to business development of the SMEs. The government is taking steps to reduce such regulations and encouraging local governments to help small firms in reducing compliance costs (The Allen Consulting Group, 2008). Consumer protection Rights of the consumers in Australia are protected with utmost sincerity. There is a single consumer law applicable for the entire nation. â€Å"The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission† (Australian government, n.d.) formed in 1995 has the responsibility to look after trade practices, prices and overall consumer benefit. The provision of consumer security makes Australia a safe ground for business activities

What are the key internal factors and external factors to be Essay

What are the key internal factors and external factors to be considered in price decision making - Essay Example he equilibrium point where demand curve intersects with supply curve is the deciding point at which price is determined. When price is considered in terms of demand and supply, it can be said that price has inverse relationship with demand and positive relationship with supply. In other words, when price increases demand decreases and vice versa, while price increases supply also increases. This is because, when price increases, the customers would like to reduce its consumption as the product seems to be more expensive. Likewise, when price increases, the firms will be encouraged to produce or supply more, as they expect more for their products. In another words, price has the tendency to be increased by the increased demand and to be decreased by the increased supply. But in a real market, price is not solely determined by the equilibrium position of supply and demand, but some other factors also play crucial role in deciding the price of the products. Pricing is a more a complex a nd complicated process than a simple determination of demand and supply. Hence, pricing policies which are deliberately taken by the firm is the most important deciding factor which decides the price of a particular product. These pricing policies of the firm are influenced, in general, by two sets of factors- internal and external. Both the internal as well as external factors influence the pricing decisions of any enterprise or firm. These factors may be psychological, economical, quantitative or qualitative. (Sawyer, 1981 and Kotler, 1997). 2. Internal Factors Pricing decisions are influenced by a number of internal factors which consist of profit margin, cost of production and other expenses, brand image and expectations of the company, suppliers’ and employees’ efficiency and responsiveness of the product to the price changes (Kotler, 1997). . These factors can broadly categorized under the following heads: 2.1 Corporate and marketing objectives of the firm. Corpo rate and marketing objectives of the firm mainly seek to recover the cost elements of all types, to make target returns and to maximize the profit. Coverage of the corporate cost of production as well as marketing should be an influential factor of pricing policy of the firm. Corporate objective of making specific return rates on the basis of internal cost factors is another important internal factor which play crucial role in an organization’s pricing strategy. Some important examples of other market objectives are survival of the firm in a high competitive atmosphere, current profit maximization, market share leadership and product quality leadership (Munroe, 1990). 2.2. Image sought by the firm through the price By setting a particular price or implementing a pricing policy, the firms seek a particular public image and this image plays a crucial role in the pricing policy. For example, premium prices are usually being charged for global brand. Likewise, a plant keep going by setting a low price in the hope that in future, the plant can increase the demand. In this case, survival is more important than price or profit maximization (Forman, 1998). 2.2 The Stage of the Production in its life cycle The stage of the production under which the firm goes through is an important factor in the price setting strategy. Whether the firm is going through increasing, decreasing or stagnant returns of scale and where the position of its average and marginal product curves stand, are the important things which decisively play role in the pricing policy of the firm. 2.3. Capacity Utilization and Market Contribution rates Capacity utilization has a positive influence on cost-based pricing strategies. Organizations operating at full capacity are capable of spreading the fixed cost to various units and

Research Paper on Why So Many Failed Drug Tests with Athletes in

On Why So Many Failed Drug Tests with Athletes in Professional Sports - Research Paper Example School level education programs are really essential to increase athletes’ awareness of the negative effects of substance abuse and thus to create an anti-doping culture. Please find enclosed my article titled, â€Å"Failed Drug Tests with Athletes in Professional Sports† for your kind perusal. This overview of the alarming issue of drug abuse and falsified performance tendencies among athletes makes an empirical study of the scenario with a list of actual cases and citations for the relevance and accuracy of the material. This article exposes the real facets of the influence of the contrabands at the core of reality with a belief that investigative studies in the field of ethical and health issues may be encouraged for the benefit of a transparent sports world. While being aware of the very fact that complete elimination of performance-enhancing drugs is not practical in the near future, a few recommendations are suggested in the article to regulate the management of global sports for total dope-free competitions. Apart from addressing the issue from a social and individual perspective, for the compilation of this article, names of several prolific sports personalities who have been defamed for having failed tests for doping or substance misuse have been mentioned. Although the references are not deliberate, it is expected that the inclusion of such names will mark a symbolic effect among the readers about the social and professional destruction caused by this evil tendency. Thus, with due humility and appreciation for your excellence, I submit this article before you. I hope the compromises made at meeting the standards at different areas may be excused and this work will be considered for a favorable approval. Professional sports have been a primary area of concern for most of the developed countries since ancient periods because they perceived sport activities as an opportunity to demonstrate their

Career Goal Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Career Goal - Case Study Example A student learning business must have good analytical abilities, solid mathematical understanding, good communication skills, and the ability to identify problems and find solutions. Accounting is the discipline in business dedicated to identifying, tracking, recording and analyzing economy activity. The information is tracked in an accounting information system. In order for a person to succeed in this type of work the individual must be good following specific procedures and algorithms to perform their job duties. The specialty I desired to study at the graduate level is international finance. Wall Street has always opened up my curiosity. To me Wall Street is the place to be as a finance enthusiast, on the other side of the hemisphere the city of London is a place were high level financial activity is taking place right now. The stock market in both these cities is a main driver of economic activity. The investors in these areas of the world now know exactly how the information involving reporting of financial information will look like since in Europe public must utilize international financial reporting standards while in the United States public entities must follow the general accepted accounting principles. According to Salary.com the median starting salary for an Accountant

Rufino Blanco-Fombona Essay Example for Free

Rufino Blanco-Fombona Essay Rufino Blanco-Fombona, (b. June 17, 1874, Caracas, Venezuela—d. October 17, 1944, Buenos Aires, Argentina), Venezuelan literary historian and man of letters who played a major role in bringing the works of Latin American writers to world attention. Jailed during the early years of the dictatorship (1908–35) of Juan Vicente Gomez, Blanco-Fombona fled to Europe, where he established Editorial America in Madrid (1914), which presented Latin American writers to the European literary world. A prolific author, he wrote poetry,short stories, novels, and essays. Of Blanco-Fombona’s vast output, his literary essays are considered his best work. Two of hiscritical works, El modernismo y los poetas modernistas (1929; â€Å"Modernism and the Modernist Poets†) and Camino de imperfeccion, diario de mi vida (1906–1913) (1929; â€Å"Road of Imperfection, Diary of My Life 1906–1913†), are considered standard works on the Modernist movement in Spanish. Other important works include Letras y letrados de Hispano-America (1908; â€Å"Letters and the Learned in Latin America†) andGrandes escritores de America (1919; â€Å"Great Writers of America†). His novel, El hombre de oro (The Man of Gold), was published in 1912.

Graduation Speech Essay Example for Free

Graduation Speech Essay ?It’s a rare opportunity to be given this privilege to talk to young minds like youthe youth whose minds and thinking are ideal, pure and filled with enthusiasm. Our theme is The Graduate: A Partner Towards Transformational Society, An Answer to Societal Change. We cannot effect social change if we ignore the social problems that are in our midst nowadays facing our very eyes. We should dig deeper to the root causes of these social problems. Every day, every hour, and every minute of our lives, we hear, we see the social problems besetting our country and our community. There is poverty, corruption in the government, violence, drug addiction, crimes, injustice and so on as if they are here to stay. Are there no more solutions for these ills of society? How and when can we stop this? The real root causes of these problems are the values of the people which they were brought up. Diploma is nothing without moral values. We have intelligent people in our society but they do not possess the right values. They think only for themselves. We have intelligent graduates but they ended up as greedy politicians and greedy businessmen. We have intelligent graduates but they are also indifferent, self-centered, irresponsible and lazy. What the society needs now are graduates who are disciplined, hardworking, honest, hospitable, makiKapwa, makaDiyos at Makabayan, not intelligent alone. Graduates, I encourage you to participate in our Sangguniang Kabataan actively in all its programs and activities. Let us always relive the bayanihan spirit and start it with the SK. It’s alright to aim for success in life. But true success is not only with becoming rich in material respect but rich with moral values. To our graduates, let’s not forget our Filipino values. Let’s keep our moral fibers intact as we go along the ladders of success. We know we cannot transform our society overnight. We know we cannot do it alone. As the future leaders of our society, you, graduates, should start now in your own little ways. Parents, and teachers, let’s us be a model to them and help our graduates in directing their path—to the path that is noble and worth living. To the graduates, congratulations, and may God Bless you.

What Are the Reflective Practices of Teachers?

What Are the Reflective Practices of Teachers? Teachers play a significant role in shaping the quality and effectiveness of the teaching and learning practices. Research on effective teaching has shown that effective practice is linked to inquiry, reflection, and continuous professional growth (Harris, 1998). The professional development of teachers takes many forms ranging from activities set by school administration to personal reflective practices about classroom experiences. Schon (1996) defined reflective practice as thoughtfully considering ones own experiences in applying knowledge to practice while being coached by professionals in the discipline. For teaching, reflective practice refers to the process of the teacher studying his or her own teaching methods and determining what works best for the students. Thus, teachers reflective practices are necessary to teach effectively and they address an important issue in providing meaningful lessons to students. Elementary teachers as well as the teachers of other grades can be supported to be involved in reflective practices on their own experiences. 1.1 Rationale The classroom realization of curriculum reform comes about through the actions of individual teachers (Christou et all, 2004). Teachers beliefs, practices, and working environment shape and direct their implementation. Teachers should be able to understand and appreciate the changes that the curriculum is attempting to implement and not otherwise. (Zanzali, 2003) There is a literature which presents the processes and barriers involved in the implementation of curricular change (e.g. Fullan, 1991; Macnab, 2003). Romberg (1997) showed that the use of a new curriculum in the classroom could create disjunctions between the teachers former knowledge and practice, which require resolution. The development and implementation of any curriculum will affect teachers in significant ways and if teachers are not helped in coping with demands brought about by changes in the content, pedagogical and psychological considerations, the implementation process will not be effective. Experience around the world in developing, industrialized, and information-based countries has shown that professional development is the key determining factor for improved classroom performance. Effective professional development experiences are designed to help teachers build new understanding of teaching and learning (Hea-Jin Lee, 2001). According to Baird and Rowsy (1989), high quality in-service program should be designed if teachers were to benefit from it. Regardless of particular circumstances, an effective curriculum development process usually entails a structured professional development program in order to guide the curriculum development process. The aim of this study is to investigate elementary teachers reflective practices on their mathematics teaching as they are involved in a continuing mathematics teaching professional development program as a consequence of a two mathematics education program integration process at a private elementary school in Ankara. In this study, two elementary teachers will participate in the study and they will be interviewed in order to get information about their reflective practices on their teaching. In addition to this, those teachers lessons will be observed in their classes through the professional development program in order to see their implementation. The participants will also keep reflective journal on their mathematics teaching practices. The findings will contribute to the future in-service training programs in Turkey. 1.2 My motivation for the study As a mathematics teacher teaching grades from 6 to 8, I realized that students have some problems related to mathematics learning and some of these problems are related to their previous learning experiences in early grades. These problems are brought to the upper grades if they were not solved in the earlier grades. It can be said that, students do not learn well and as we desire and I believe that some of these problems are related to the teaching, in other words, it is directly related to the way we teach the mathematics topics. In our country, elementary school teachers are responsible for teaching mathematics as well as teaching other subjects. As far as I am concerned, teaching mathematics especially to 4th and 5th grades is difficult for many elementary school teachers. In this respect, teachers, who are teaching in these levels should be supported by means of continuous program that involves several different components such as seminars, lesson observations, interviews, and reflective practices. By seeing the potential sources of the problem and having some solution ideas, as a mathematics teacher I can provide support for elementary school teachers in my school. Thats why, from my point of view, this study will serve a valuable information in order to understand elementary school teachers way of thinking in teaching mathematics by means of their reflective practices. 1.3 Research Question The research question related to this study is as follows: What are the elementary teachers reflective practices on their mathematics teaching as they are involved in a continuing mathematics teaching professional development program which is developed as a consequence of a two mathematics education program integration process at a private school in Ankara? CHAPTER II:  REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE The goal of this study is to investigate elementary teachers reflective practices on their mathematics teaching as they are involved in a continuing mathematics teaching professional development program as a consequence of a two mathematics education program integration process. This chapter is devoted to the review of literature related to this study. The issues that will be covered in this chapter are the term reflection, reflective practices, and studies on reflection and reflective practice. What you need is a theory which underlines the reflection. Not for this assignment, but for your TIK and dissertation. 2.1 The term reflection: Although the term reflection became popular after the studies of Schon, the roots of the term extend to John Dewey. Dewey (1933) claimed the importance of active and deliberate engagement with problematic situations in providing development. He defined reflection as an Active, persistent and careful consideration of any belief or supposed form of knowledge in the light of the grounds that support it and the further conclusions to which it tends constitutes reflective thought (p. 9). According to Dewey (1933), reflection does not consist of a series of steps or procedures to be used by teachers. Rather, it is a holistic way of meeting and responding to problems, a way of being as a teacher. As he stated, reflection involves intuition, emotion, and passion and is not something that can be neatly packaged as a set of techniques for teachers to use (p.9 you give the page number what where is the quote?). Dewey (1933) believed that an individual should to have three profiles in order to r eflect; being open-minded, responsible and whole-hearted. These imply openness to new ideas and thoughts, being aware of the meaning and consequences of ones actions and the capacity to fully engage with new ideas and actively seek them out respectively. He further stated the four-part experiential-reflective cycle showing the relationship between experience, description, interpretation, and action. Rodgers (2002, p. 845 as cited in Lee, 2005) characterized Deweys four criteria for reflection as follows: Did you take this directly from your second reference? Or did you paraphrase them? Is a meaning-making process that moves a learner from one experience into the next with deeper understanding of its relationships with and connections to other experiences and ideas. Is a systematic, rigorous, disciplined way of thinking, with its roots in scientific inquiry. Needs to happen in community, in interaction with others. Requires attitudes that value the personal and intellectual growth of oneself and of others. Deweys ideas and the idea of professional reflection were developed in the 1980s with the Schons (1983) new concepts of reflection-in-action and reflection on action. Schon stressed the relationship between reflection and experience and distinguished between `reflection-on- action and `reflection-in-action. While reflection in action can be described as the reflection done during the action, reflection on action is done after the action. Griffiths (2000) stated that, reflection both in and after action is important in order to evaluate and moderate intuitive practice. Another distinction about the types of reflection is done by Van Manen (1995). He stated that the simplest forms of reflection that regularly occur in teacher education take place before, during, and after teaching, and Van Manen defines them as anticipatory, contemporaneous, and retrospective types of reflection. 2.2 Reflective Practice Jaworski (1998) defined reflective practice as a rather thoughtful way of teaching, evaluating what occurs and feeding into future planning without a demand for overt, critical, knowledgeable action (p.7). Similarly, Schon (1983) defined reflective practice as thoughtfully considering ones own experiences in applying knowledge to practice while being coached by professionals in the discipline. According to Pollard (2005), reflective teaching implies an active concern with aims and consequences as well as means and technical competence (p15). He stated the seven main characteristics of reflective practices as follows: I think instead of listing them in this way, you should combine these in a paragraph. You may use most of your expressions below, but put them through a flow in the paragraph. Reflective teaching implies an active concern with aims and consequences, as well as means and technical efficiency. Reflective teaching is applied in a cyclical or spiraling process, in which teachers monitor, evaluate and revise their own practice continuously. Reflective teaching requires competence in methods of evidence-based classroom enquiry, to support the progressive development of higher standards of teaching. Reflective teaching requires attitudes of open-mindedness, responsibility and wholeheartedness. Reflective teaching is based on teacher judgment, informed by evidence- based enquiry and insights from other research. Reflective teaching, professional learning and personal fulfillment are enhanced by dialogue with colleagues. Reflective teaching enables teachers to creatively mediate externally developed frameworks for teaching and learning. McKenna (1999 as cited in Jay and Johnson, 2002) listed the characteristics of practitioner who is reflective by saying he; focuses on some dimension of their pedagogy; sees that dimension from a variety of perspectives using techniques of reframing and reflective listening; and engages in dialogue with their peers in order to illuminate the boundaries and frames of thought which limited their current perspective, with the goal being to take action based on a thorough and reflective understanding of events, alternatives, and ethics (p. 13). Again, you have page number but where the quote begins and ends (quotation marks) is missing. Instead, you should write these in your own words in a paragraph. 2.3 Studies on reflection and reflective practice Try to avoid talking about the article. Instead, talk about the study or the ideas presented. Griffiths (2000), discussed the term reflection as it relates to teachers and teacher education. She drew particularly on Schons (YEAR) definitions of two types of reflection, which are reflection-in-action and refection-on-action. In the article, differing definitions of reflection and their inter-relationship are explored, and how these relate to courses of initial teacher education in a variety of countries and cultural contexts is discussed. In addition to this, questions about the value and purpose of reflection were also raised, especially in the context of its practical relevance to teacher education. Another study is done by Jay and Johnson (2002) who explored the facets of reflection. They provided a typology designed to guide teacher educators in teaching reflection to pre-service teachers. After a short review on reflection, they defined the term reflection, reflection process and its content, and the typology of reflection is presented. The profile of typology consisted of three dimensions of reflective thought which are descriptive, comparative, and critical. In her article Frid (2000) discussed that although it has framed many mathematics teacher education practices in the last decade, it has ultimately not had substantial impact on classroom practices yet. Therefore she examined some reasons for this lack of impact. In the article, the stages and foci of teacher development are underlined from the stage of beginning student teacher to an autonomous teacher. In this paper the importance of broadening and embracing constructivist pedagogy more fully were mentioned in order to provide ways for the development of student teachers as professionals who have technical knowledge and skills as well as capacities for life long learning, flexibility and autonomy. Jaworski (2006) defined teaching as learning practice and she addressed the challenge of developing theory in relation to the practices of mathematics teaching and its development. She specially dealt with inquiry in mathematics learning, mathematics teaching and the development of practices of teaching in communities involving teachers and educators. Jaworski handle the inquiry as a tool which can lead to developing inquiry as a way of being when practiced as part of a community, in which members collaborate, as learners to develop their practice. The paper offered some ways for mathematics teaching development. In his writing, Farell (2008) described the foundations and components of reflective practice to facilitate the use of this approach among educators who work with adult English language learners. He firstly defined the reflective practice by giving briefly the related research and then he mentioned about practice, by discussing some techniques and tools such as action research, teaching journals, teaching development groups. He further discussed the continuum of reflection and how can teachers engage in the reflective practices in order to make continuous development in their career. As Frid (2000) and Jaworski (2006) mentioned, it is easy to set relationship between constructivism, inquiry method and reflective practices. The importance of reflective teaching is a central component for designing teaching and learning experiences for teachers. (Lowery, 2003, p.23). According to Van Manen (1995) in everyday life, the practice of pedagogy can only be reflective in a qualified and circumscribed sense (p.35). Reflective practice occurs when teachers consciously take on the role of reflective practitioner, subject their own beliefs about teaching and learning to critical analysis, take full responsibility for their actions in the classroom, and continue to improve their teaching practice (Farrell, 2008; Jay Johnson, 2002). Teachers can engage in these reflective practices in a constructivist manner in any time they need to develop themselves. 2.4. Developing a reflective practice-empirical research studies It is evident that there is an emphasis on the literature that reflection is strongly related with experience, in other words practice. Van Manen (1995) raised some questions about the meaning and place of practical reflection in teaching and about the relation between knowledge and action in teaching. He underlined the importance of reflective thinking which has a complex array of cognitively and philosophically distinct methods and attitudes. He defined different reflection profiles namely retrospective reflection on (past) experiences, anticipatory reflection on (future) experiences, and contemporaneous reflection. He raised the questions considering different cases, such as for novice teachers, experienced teachers, and explains the different findings in different occasions. In her article Lowery (2003) mentioned the importance of reflective teaching in providing development in teacher knowledge and research results that defines the reflective thinking as distinguishing strategy between experienced and novice teachers. She discussed the importance of teacher reflection; she describes the three-level plan to promote reflective teaching, which are understanding the importance of reflective thinking, implementing reflective strategies the reflective cycle and developing a reflective venue. Another study was performed by Loughran. Loughran (2002) examined the nature of reflection and to suggest how it might become effective reflective practice that can be developed and enhanced through teacher preparation programs, He underlined the inefficiency of experience alone is mentioned and importance of reflection for learning. The main message he gave in the article that, if learning through practice matters, then reflection on practice is crucial, and teacher preparation is the obvious place for it to be initiated and nurtured (p.42). 2.4.1. Reflective Practice among Preservice Teachers In their article, Harford and MacRuairc (2008) reported on the study they performed among twenty preservice teachers with the aim of examining the use of peer-videoing in the classroom as a tool to promote reflective practice among student teachers. The pre-service teachers who were participated in the study were from a variety of subject disciplines participating in a Post-Graduate Diploma in Education program in an Irish university. They defined the purpose of this paper as to contribute to the international debate over best practice in supporting, encouraging and scaffolding reflective practice. The findings of the study indicated that the use of peer videoing in the classroom has a powerful function as a catalyst for reflection and critical dialogue among teachers. In another study, Kullman (1998) focused on what transpired during a mentor training course in Hungary. This mentor training course involved prospective mentors and student English Language teachers. In the course, role plays proved to be the stimulus for an exploration of how far the model of mentoring commonly promoted takes sufficient account of contextual factors. He discussed the mentors roles, the ways in helping student teachers reflect on their classroom experience and how to promote reflection in relation with the contextual factors. The study of Lee (2005) has the purpose of investigating how the process of reflective thinking develops in preservice teachers and reviewing the criteria for assessing reflective thinking. Lee performed the study with the participants who enrolled as juniors in a secondary mathematics program in Korea. The data were collected by interviews, observations and written documents such as survey questionnaires and journal entries. Reflections of preservice teachers are assessed from two perspectives, one of them is content and the other one is depth. In the study, it is found that reflective thinking depends on personal background, field experience contexts, and the mode of communication. The criteria for depth of reflection are defined as recall, rationalization and reflective levels. In her article McDuffie (2004) reported on the study which has the aim of investigating the pre-service teachers thinking with regard to reflective processes and how they use their pedagogical content knowledge in their practices. The case study was done with two elementary preservice teachers during their student teaching internship program. She found that the pre-service teachers use their pedagogical content knowledge in anticipating problematic events and in reflecting on problematic events in instruction. She further founded that the limited amount of pedagogical content knowledge and lack of confidence had effect on the pre-service teachers reflection while in the act of teaching; therefore they were more likely to reflect on their practices outside of the act of teaching. 2.4.2. Reflective Practice among Novice Teachers In the literature, the amount of studies done with expert teachers and preservice teachers is greater than that of novice teachers. In one of these studies Roehrig et. al. (2008) conducted a grounded theory analysis in order to explore the potential for mentoring to support novice teachers use of effective teaching practices. The study was conducted with six beginning primary teachers in the US, and with their mentors. The data were collected by means of survey, interview, and observation. The results of data analysis revealed that some factors, other than type of mentoring program were related to beginning teachers success in improving classroom practices. It was found that more effective beginning teachers mentors had more experience as mentors and were more effective teachers than other mentors. In addition to this, more effective beginning teachers communicated more with mentors, more accurately self-reported use of effective teaching practices, and were more open to mentoring. Another study with novice teachers was performed by Cavanagh and Prescott (2010). They reported on their study that was conducted with three beginning secondary mathematics teachers. The aim of the study was to interpret how beginning teachers reflective practices developed during a one-year university teacher education program and concurrent professional fieldwork experience or practicum. The data were collected through the interviews during the practicum and once more in their first year. A three-stage, hierarchical model of reflective practice of Lee was used to interpret the interview responses. Results of the study revealed that the participants showed improvement in their ability to reflect on their teaching during the practicum. 2.4.3 Reflective Practice among Expert teachers One of the studies performed with expert teachers is done by Curtis and Szestay (2005). They reported on the learning outcomes of experienced teachers who attended a program designed to enable them to come together and engage in professional development through structured and systematic reflective practice. They used both qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis methods. As a quantitative data collection method, they used questionnaire and as qualitative methods, they used one-to- one, face-to-face audio recorded interviews. They interviewed with seven past seminar participants, three primary school teachers, three high school teachers and one middle school teacher. Six themes emerged from the teacher responses. These are, renewed enthusiasm for teaching, looking at teaching with fresh eyes, shifts in understanding teaching, becoming more reflective and aware as teachers, enhancing the quality of student learning and building professional communities. As another study, Jaworski (1998) discussed the study of teacher researchers undertaking research into their own mathematics teaching at the secondary level. The study used qualitative methods to explore the processes and practices of Mathematics Teacher Enquiry (MTE) project research. Two important considerations were the special nature of mathematics in this research, and the role of external researchers in the MTE project. In this study, the teachers were seen as reflective practitioners, who develop knowledge and awareness through enhanced metacognitive activity. Their research was characterized as evolutionary, in contrast with established patterns of action research. This study reveals the fact that, teachers researches have commonalities and some differences, and these results provide potential for the development of mathematics teaching. In her article, Walshaw (2010) dealt with the ways of understanding what structures a teachers narrative about his practice. This study was a part of the larger project that represented the New Zealand component of the international Learners Perspective Study (LPS) and on one teachers reflections on a sequence of algebra lessons at the secondary school level, in a larger project. The data were collected through classroom video records, interviews with and classroom researcher observations. As a result of the project, Walshaw pointed out that reflections are more than instruments of change; they are also instruments of social reproduction. Zaslavsky and Leikin (2004) performed a study with junior and senior high school mathematics teachers with the aim of analyzing the processes encountered by the teacher educators, as members of a community of practice, which contributed to their growth as teacher educators. In addition to this, thy aimed at testing their theoretical three-layer model of growth through practice in special context, which is professional development of mathematics teacher educators. The study was conducted as grounded theory approach within in-service professional development program. In another study, Farell (2001) reported on the study that he performed with one non-native speaker, a teacher of English as a foreign language in Korea, during a 16-week period with the aim of understanding what the teacher talked about in the three modes of reflection: group meetings, individual meetings and what she wrote about in her journal; and what was the level of her reflection in each activity: descriptive or critical. The results of the study revealed that the teacher shows a clear preference for group discussions as her method of reflection over the other two activities: journal writing and classroom observations. 2.4.4 Summary of literature review on teachers reflection and reflective practice From the literature review, we can summarize the following statements. To begin with, the theory and practice division is dominant in the literature related to the reflection and reflective practice. Secondly, it is learned from literature that, reflective practice is a valuable and important component in teacher development. It is promoted to be included in preservice teachers education program as well as in-service teacher development programs. Thirdly, when we look at the literature from the aspects of tools and methods in order to promote reflective practices, we see that reflective journal writing, use of videos, observations, peer observations, reflective dialogue are the most common preferred ways. Another thing that attracts our attention in the literature review is that it relates constructivism and inquiry with reflective practices of teachers. As a last statement, we can mention on the literature which emphasize on the social aspect of reflections. The literature review on reflective practices of teachers revealed some further research needs. First of all, studies are needed regarding how the incorporation of effective ways in a continuous development program be achieved so that teachers benefits from these practices. In addition to this, some research would be beneficial on collaborative reflective practices of teachers on their teaching area as well as on teaching in general. Further, the role of scaffolding in developing teachers reflective practices can also be a study area. Some research on assessing the effectiveness of reflective practices would be beneficial. From the literature review it is seen that that reflection is a hallmark for development of teachers and for providing quality in teaching; it should be given importance to provide development of teachers both in undergraduate programs and continuous education programs. CHAPTER III:  METHODOLOGY 3.1 The research site The present research is a qualitative study using elementary teachers reflective practices. The study will be conducted with two elementary teachers in one private elementary school in Ankara. Two mathematics programs, namely Primary Years Math Program (PYP-math) and mathematics program designed by Ministry of National Education (MoNE) have been integrated in this school in 2010. There are approximately 100 staff including coordinator, principle and vice principals, teachers, counselors, program development expert, and measurement and evaluation expert in this school. The school has approximately 700 students from kindergarten to 8th grade. There are four sections at each grade level. The school starts at 8.30 in the morning and finishes at 15.35 and teachers are to be at school during whole week between these hours except for one half day in a week. In addition to these, for Tuesdays and Thursdays the working time extends to 17.00 and all the meetings and workshops are planned in this period. The school is implementing a new program for two years for K5 grades. This program is called Primary Years Program (PYP), which is a part of International Baccalaureate Program (IB) developed by International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO). The International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO) was established in 1968 and is a non-profit, international educational foundation registered in Switzerland. The PYP is based on the inquiry and thematic in nature. Teachers teaching the same grade level come together and develop six transdisciplinary thematic units to be covered during whole year. 3.2 The Overall Research Design of the Study The data will be collected by means of reflective journals, in-depth interviews and lesson observations. When we look at the literature from the aspects of methods in order to be used for data collection for teachers reflective practices, we see that observations and interviews are very commonly preferred (Cavanagh and Prescott, 2010; Curtis and Szestay, 2005; Lee, 2005, Roehrig et. al., 2008). In addition to this, journal writing is found a valuable tool in the literature to promote teachers reflective practices. (Farell, 2001, 2008; Lee, 2005) 3.3 The Participants Two elementary teachers will participate in the study. In the school, one group of elementary teachers teaches to the grades 1-3 and the other group teaches to the grades 4 and 5. The participants of the study will be selected from those who generally teach to 4th and 5th grades since in these grade levels, mathematics content is more intensive when compared to lower grade levels. The participants will be selected according to number of years in teaching in school and teaching experience overall. Teachers having five to fifteen years of experience will be preferred as participants. Classroom teachers are all female in this school; therefore the participants will be female. 3.4 Data Collection Procedure The participants will be interviewed in the beginning of the process in order to gather general information about them as teachers. After that, their lessons will be observed within at least five whole observation cycles, including five pre-interview sessions, five lesson observations and five post-interview sessions. The lessons will be video-taped and participants will be provided a copy of each observed lesson video in order to make reflection on it before coming to the post-interview session. Each of the observation cycles will be completed in two weeks, therefore the observation cycle process will last about ten weeks. In addition to this, the participants will keep reflective journal during these ten weeks and the journal entries will be checked at the end of each observation period. The general design of the data collection procedure is in the Table 3.1. Table 3.1 Data collection procedure Week 1 Initial General Interview Week 2 3 Observation Cycle 1 Reflective Journal Entries Literature Review: Medical Research on Schizophrenia Literature Review: Medical Research on Schizophrenia Research is a way of developing a better understanding of a specific chosen area which can help improve further studies within the chosen subject. An interesting subject to research is a mental health condition known as schizophrenia and how it affects people within modern society. This specific mental health topic was chosen due to personal reasons and also as a professional interest. This research paper will help gather more information and knowledge toward the understanding of the illness to help progress further within the mental health care industry. In an article published by Medical News Today (2014) Nordqvist (2014) it describes schizophrenia as a mental health disorder which affects the brain and causes delusions, confusions, social withdrawal, psychosis, loss of personality and can also cause the patient to portray some unusually bizarre behaviour. MNT (2014) also states that this disease of the brain will normally hit a person during their late adolescent years or early adulthood years, but goes on to stress that it can affect anyone at any given time of their life. According to research gathered by the National Institute of Mental Health (2014) a person suffering with schizophrenia will have to cope with the symptoms for life but, treatment can relieve many of these symptoms. The research information that was published by NIMH (2014) was secondary data founded and collected by medical professionals that study and research schizophrenia as a profession. The study that was conducted is known as an epidemiology study (a study of patterns of disease within the community or population) and was used to collect the primary data through participant observation and surveys (patient 2014). In recent research studies it is suggested that one in three people to every 100 in the UK suffer with schizophrenia according to statistics provided by Mind (2014). This works out around 220,000 people living in Wales and England and around 24,000,000 worldwide suffer with this illness (RC Psych 2012). These figures founded for this particular research paper are qualitative (open questionnaires) and quantitative (numerical information collected through closed questions) based as they were done through doing surveys and questionnaires on the population of the UK society having home treatment and therapies to help deal with their mental health condition. They are also only based on people living at home with the condition so it excludes people who are confined to prison or within a mental health hospital so as one could imagine the statistics will be much larger in numbers than this. All these statistics come from reliable sources as the figures come from the amount of patients that a re being treated by medical professionals, and they are then reported back to the government so that they are able to collect this information and record the figures accurately through the quantitative data gathered by the researches. In 2009 Gattaz (2009) did a study examining the link between schizophrenia and the sufferer’s urbanicity. This study was carried out during 20 different studies (known as a systematic review, where more than one case is studied, Saha et al 2005) in Western Europe and at the end of it Gattaz (2009) came to the conclusion that the longer a person living in that kind of environment is exposed to urban residence the higher their risk of developing schizophrenia was. This study was ethical in its research as the subjects were all demographically similar with their age, gender, sex and migrant status being within the same range. However during this investigation one of the major methodological (which is the way the researcher would go about discovering the knowledge in a systematic way) (Killam, 2013) implications of conducting the study into the relationship between the neighbourhood and schizophrenia was the timing of the individuals exposure. This was discovered when March et al (2008) assessed and reviewed the study and looked into the validity and the reliability of the study (the quality and the accuracy of the results). This study then becomes unreliable and inconclusive due to the unethical approach which means the hypothesis to this research can be researched again through a more in-depth approach. Kelly et al (2009) conducted research in order to find if there is a link between schizophrenia and urbanity. This was a longitude study spanning over several years. The subjects were identified by attending psychiatric services within an urban catchment of Dublin during the period of 1995 – 1998 where subjects from North East Ireland were also identified. The population used was 171 during the period of 1995 – 1998 and 153 subjects during the period of 1995 – 2001. All cases bar one were ethically Irish and all were male. The researchers collected qualitative data by means of face to face interviews. The research found that males were almost twice as likely to suffer from schizophrenia in urban areas, in comparison to males in rural areas. However, incidences of psychosis were lower in urban areas in comparison to the rural counterparts. This research found that the results suggested that males were 48% more like to suffer from schizophrenia This research did highlight the risks of schizophrenia when living in urban areas. However, this study gives a biased conclusion as all subjects were male and Irish. This research could not be used to generalise the risk cross culturally. Research involving an even ratio of male and female, also an even ratio of ethnicity would probably give a less biased result. One website named as Schizophrenia (2010) Dr Ira Glick breaks down the etiologic pathway to explain the way that schizophrenia sets in. Etiologic is a medical research term, it is important as the collected information gathers evidence for the investigation into the causes of such illnesses and diseases (Miettinen 2011). The research described on the website schizophrenia (2010) goes on to suggest that schizophrenia starts with the early environmental insults which is the genetic predisposition where, this will then lead onto the neurodevelopmental abnormalities and target features. The later environmental insults start with the further brain dysfunction and schizophrenia which will then lead to the onset of psychosis which is the neurodegeneration and schizophrenia. The study shows that ever growing research suggests that schizophrenia could possibly be prevented whilst the mother is pregnant with their child or, in the early stages of childhood. This could be a good thing because a s many other research studies suggest, schizophrenia runs in the family and that deformed genes are passed down hereditary through the family (NHS 2012). RC Psych (2014) online research website has recently been looking into research suggesting that schizophrenia is linked with the misuse of the illegal drug known as cannabis. These studies suggested that there is a clear strong link between the two with the early use of cannabis and the later mental health issues in those with a genetic vulnerability. Not only was it found that schizophrenia is linked with cannabis misuse but also another mental health issue known as bipolar disorder. According to RC Psych (2014) there is now sufficient evidence that the younger the person is misusing cannabis the higher the chances are of developing the condition later on in life. So in other words they are stating that the more cannabis smoked by an individual the more susceptible the individual is in developing the illness. Another research that has been studied between people who suffer with schizophrenia and healthy individuals asks the question ‘Is there a difference between the perception of emotional and non-emotional facial expression affected the same within healthy individuals and those who suffer with the mental health illness?’ The results from this study showed that patients suffering with schizophrenia showed impairments in the recognition of identity compared to the groups of young and old healthy individuals. Similarly though it found that old healthy individuals have the impairment of learning new faces the same as experienced in the ability of patients with schizophrenia recognising the learning of new faces (Silver 2014). The method used in this research was through direct observation where the participant’s behaviour was observed by the person conducting the research. In one of the largest studies to ever be undertaken, scientists believe they are closer than ever before in understanding the complex interplay between a person’s upbringing and their genes that can result in schizophrenia (independent 2014). Within this study the group of Psychiatrists analysed the DNA of 37,000 schizophrenic patients with completely different backgrounds and found that 128 independent genes located at 108 different locations in the human chromosomes significantly contribute the susceptibility of developing schizophrenia, whereas before 83 of these have never been previously linked to the condition. This research study will hopefully prove to be a breakthrough in understanding and hopefully finding a cure one day for the illness. Larsson et al (2012) conducted research into the use of counselling for individuals suffering from schizophrenia. The research methodology was analysing how eight psychologists talk about and around the topic of schizophrenia to patients by using semi structured interviews. This allowed the researchers to gather qualitative data. Each participant signed a consent form to and were fully briefed in regards to what date was being collected for research. This ensured that all research methods were completed ethically. Larsson et al (2012) concluded that the use of psychology in diagnosing schizophrenia is heavily underrated, The diagnosis of schizophrenia is almost unheard of in counselling psychology literature. Researchers stated that â€Å"conflicting, theories about the cause and nature of schizophrenia have arisen as outlined by Geekie and Read (2009). These include evolutionary theories, psychodynamic and psychoanalytical, life event theories, sociological and anthropological and philosophical and existential theories.† The research concluded that counselling along with medication brought something different to the treatment of schizophrenia. However, there was a danger of counselling pathologising the individual further. Counselling has been identified as being underepresented in the treatment of schizophrenia. Counselling was identified as being underrepresented within the NHS in general. Further research using counselling and medication for individuals with schizophrenia could prove to be very informative in treating an individual. However, with NHS budgets getting cut, this could prove to be a barrier in effectively treating individuals with schizophrenia. In the conclusion to the researches named above the most important thing is finding the key main factor that causes the illness to help in finding a treatment to try and prevent it, keep it at bay or possibly cure it. As research is put into place to help improve a better quality of life for persons suffering with conditions such as schizophrenia all the individuals taking part need to be treated equally therefore these studies need to be ethical in their research to help get a better understanding. Correct training of staff in hospitals, institutes, and self help groups would be of a beneficial factor but these are not cost effective and will cause the government to be paying out expenses for all aspects of the path that needs to be taken in getting there. On the other hand if a better understanding and knowledge of the condition was available to the sufferers then this could keep the cost down as the patients may not be afraid to seek help which can result in them leading a normal and healthy life the same as the next person, being able to get an education behind them, work, get a social life without feeling out casted due to the ignorance of mental health within society (Kings College London 2009). There are so many different theories in the causes and implications on schizophrenia there will be researches going on for a very long time in trying to establish the true cause of the condition. From the research gathered above if society and medical professionals were more educated on mental health illnesses such as schizophrenia then there wouldn’t be as many problems and research into the condition would become easier as sufferers won’t feel as though they are being judged because of the condition but will feel more that there is help out there for them. References: Cannabis and Mental health (2014) Available online at: http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/mentalhealthinformation/mentalhealthproblems/alcoholanddrugs/cannabisandmentalhealth.aspx Accessed on 24/11/2014 Causes of schizophrenia (2012) Available online at: http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Schizophrenia/Pages/Causes.aspx Accessed on 25/11/2014 Crawford et al (2012) Report of the National Audit of Schizophrenia (NAS), RCP: London DNA hope on schizophrenia: Research breakthrough points at over 100 genes (20143) http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/dna-hope-on-schizophrenia-research-breakthrough-points-at-over-100-genes-9619638.html Accessed on 27/11/2014 Epidemiology (2014) Available online at: http://www.patient.co.uk/doctor/schizophrenia-pro Accessed on 27/11/2014 Kelly, B. OCallaghan, E. Waddington, J. Feeney, L. Browne, S. Scully, P. and Clarke, M. et al (2010) Schizophrenia and the City: A Review of Literature and Prospective Study of Psychosis and Urbanicity in Ireland: Schizophrenia Research 116(1), pp. 75-89. Killam, L (2013) Research Terminology simplified: Paradigms, Axiology, Ontology, Epistemology and Methodology, Sudbury: Author Kings College London (2009) Excellence in Mental Health Care: Putting Evidence into Practice, Achievement of Excellence, London: Kings Health Partners, pp. 1 Larsson, P. Loewenthal, D and Brooks, O. (2012) Counselling psychology and schizophrenia: A critical discursive account. Counselling Psychology Quarterly 25(1), pp. 31-47. Meittinen, O.S (2011) Epidemiological Research: Terms and Concepts, London: Springer Mental Health Problems (2014) Available online at: http://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/types-of-mental-health-problems/statistics-and-facts-about-mental-health/how-common-are-mental-health-problems Accessed on 26/11/2014 Nordqvist, C (2014) What is schizophrenia. Available online at: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/36942.php Accessed on 27/11/2014 Saha, S (2005) Systematic Review of the Prevalence of Schizophrenia. Available online at: http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.0020141 Accessed on 25/11/2014 Silver, H. Bilker, W (2014) Social Cognition in Schizophrenia and Healthy Aging: Differences and Similarities The path to Schizophrenia (2010) Available online at: http://schizophrenia.com/hypo.php Accessed on 25/11/2014 What is schizophrenia (2014) Available online at: http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/schizophrenia/index.shtml Accessed on 27/11/2014

Upton Sinclairs The Jungle :: essays research papers fc

Long and tedious, with the purpose of showing the unsanitary conditions of the Chicago meat industry, The Jungle is a book that was written by Upton Sinclair. After his manuscript was completed in 1905, it appeared serially in Appeal to Reason, a widely circulated socialist periodical. This initial publication caused much controversy and immediate reaction. Much difficulty was encountered, however, when he tried to get it published in book form. None of the publishers wanted it published completely in its current form, and Sinclair didn’t want to cut any of it out. It was finally published in 1906, by Sinclair himself with considerable financial aid from Jack London. There is no table of contents as it is written in the form of a novel. Likewise, there are very few footnotes and the footnotes it does have are on how to pronounce things. There is a bibliography in the back which lists all of his sources for information on meatpacking and his other documentation. For the most par t it is historically accurate, as it tells the life of a man who works in a realistic meat packing setting. Because it is fictional, though, it probably would not be much of an aid to a historical researcher. The novel itself, containing over Three hundred pages, is rather long and tediously boring.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Sinclair’s central purpose in writing The Jungle was to persuade people to join the socialist party and to adopt the view that socialism is the only way to conquer the capitalistic empires that abuse the working class. The socialist ethic is that the general public will have joint ownership of the factory. Thus, they will finally be able to eliminate the undesirable working conditions and to advocate new, more comfortable working conditions. Sinclair uses many clever devices in order to get his readers to agree with this ethic. First, he keeps the many characters basically flat and two-dimensional throughout the whole novel. After their initial introduction, they are not developed any further or given any more human characteristics. They are outlined by what the author tells you they do; no thought or decision making on their part is ever shown. He also keeps all of the characters at the same level. The reader never knows any more about one character’s personality than he does about another character’s personality. He only knows basically nothing about either character’s personality. Another device Sinclair employs is leaving only one option, one alternative, to being held captive by capitalism.

The Great Gatsby :: English Literature

The Great Gatsby Look closely at the details presented, the snatches of dialogue, and Nick’s comments, in order to explain how Fitzgerald renders this episode in both positive and negative ways. The two-page extract from the Great Gatsby has various themes, motives and symbolism running at its roots. This essay will attempt at deciphering these symbols and clearly expressing their true meaning, as well as the course they help to create in Fitzgerald rendering this episode in both positive and negative ways. Gatsby’s house is compared several times to that of a feudal lord, and his imported clothes, antiques, and luxuries all display nostalgia for the lifestyle of a British aristocrat. Though Nick and Daisy are amazed and dazzled by Gatsby’s splendid possessions, a number of things in Nick’s narrative suggest that something is not right about this transplantation of an aristocrat’s lifestyle into a democratic America. Nick creates, through visual imagery an imaginary representation of Gatsby’s house in his readers. He expresses the beauty embedded in the gardens, â€Å"the sparkling odour of jonquils and the frothy odour of hawton†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (88) the various eras and architectural designs, â€Å"Marie Antoinette music-rooms and Restoration Salons† (88) and lastly the different themes captured by these rooms, â€Å"through period bedrooms swathed in rose and lavender† (88). The point it seems Nick tries to convey is the ridiculousness found within the very structure of Gatsby’s house. Gatsby’s ‘limited’ upbringing clearly represents his inability to string things together, which would make his house classy and reserved. Instead Gatsby combines things of different eras, expressing not his incapability of decorating but rather an attempt in reflecting his wealth through a brash and gaudy structure. Furthermore it is fairly important to consider that out of all the rooms, magnificently decorated and filled with materialism, Gatsby’s room, the one in which the most time was to be spent, was the least ‘polluted’ by materialism. â€Å"His bedroom was the simplest room of all†. (88) There also seems to be a sense of not belonging for Gatsby by the introduction of Mr. Klipspringer, suggesting that everything that Gatsby has created serves only one purpose: Daisy. It is fundamental that Mr. Klipspringer’s presence, as well as Nick’s expectations of hidden guests, â€Å"I felt that there were guests concealed behind every couch and table† (88), suggests that the very nature of his home, his very establishment is to house extravagant and careless parties, in which the magnitude of his status and wealth may be exaggerated, in the belief that Daisy may eventually realize his new status and fulfill his lifelong endeavor. Thus far Fitzgerald, through Nick, the only man to pertain to any morals, has created the idea of an unbalanced environment.

Abilities vs. Disabilities :: Biology Essays Research Papers

Further Inside "The Center" - Abilities vs. Disabilities The Center for the Work in Barstow, CA, conceived and run by Byron Katie, was a place where people from all over the world could come and learn how to view life differently from before. Through the process of inquiry, also known as The Work, everyday folks could turn normally unpleasant experiences into opportunities, and painful ideas into insights. The result was a small culture, full of people who moved peacefully and joyously through their lives no matter what was going on around them. Tremendous flexibility to change with changing circumstances was a natural outcropping of this new way of thinking and viewing adversity. People well versed in The Work could quickly ascertain what their circumstances were, and move in accordance with the reality of their situation. As the situation changed, their movements would change with it. From the outside it appeared that there was little continuity in what these people were doing, for plans would change at a moment's notice. Katie would move faster than anyone I know. This process had the appearance of "Katie is not consistent." But in truth she was staying absolutely consistent, consistent with doing what was best at the given time with the changing circumstances. She "changed her mind" as fast as circumstances changed. She would make plans and share them with the staff. Then it was the staff's job to bring them to fruition. But as a situation changed, Katie's plan would change with it, and the staff's actions would change accordingly. An example that comes to mind, which illustrates this point, was when we had a mailing to get out. We had a list of hundreds of names of people interested in the Work, and Katie was to make an appearance somewhere. We were to send out the announcement of her date, time and location. We worked up the postcard style announcement, printed up hundreds of copies, printed out the address labels of recipients, and got the labels on the postcards and had nearly all of them stamped. This process took a few days with many volunteers helping out. When we were nearly all done with the project, word came down that her plans had changed. She was not going there after all. We had about five people working on the project when we got the news. We were to throw away those postcards and start on something similar reflecting her new plans.