Tonight I Can Write Essay Example for Free

Tonight I Can Write Essay The theme of distance is introduced in the opening line. When the speaker informs the reader, â€Å"Tonight I can write the saddest lines,† he suggests that he could not previously. We later learn that his overwhelming sorrow over a lost lover has prevented him from writing about their relationship and its demise. The speaker’s constant juxtaposition of past and present illustrate his inability to come to terms with his present isolated state. Neruda’s language here, as in the rest of the poem, is simple and to the point, suggesting the sincerity of the speaker’s emotions. The sense of distance is again addressed in the second and third lines as he notes the stars shivering â€Å"in the distance. † These lines also contain images of nature, which will become a central link to his memories and to his present state. The speaker contemplates the natural world, focusing on those aspects of it that remind him of his lost love and the cosmic nature of their relationship. He begins writing at night, a time when darkness will match his mood. The night sky filled with stars offers him no comfort since they â€Å"are blue and shiver. Their distance from him reinforces the fact that he is alone. However, he can appreciate the night wind that â€Å"sings† as his verses will, describing the woman he loved. Lines 5–10: Neruda repeats the first line in the fifth and follows it with a declaration of the speaker’s love for an unnamed woman. The staggered repetitions Neruda employs throughout the poem provide thematic unity. The speaker intr oduces the first detail of their relationship and points to a possible reason for its demise when he admits â€Å"sometimes she loved me too. He then reminisces about being with her in â€Å"nights like this one. † The juxtaposition of nights from the past with this night reveals Lines 11–14: In line eleven Neruda again repeats his opening line, which becomes a plaintive refrain. The repetition of that line shows how the speaker is struggling to maintain distance, to convince himself that enough time has passed for him to have the strength to think about his lost love. But these lines are â€Å"the saddest. † He cannot yet escape the pain of remembering. It becomes almost unbearable â€Å"to think that I do not have her. To feel that I have lost her. † His loneliness is reinforced by â€Å"the immense night, still more immense without her. † Yet the poetry that he creates helps replenish his soul, â€Å"like dew to the pasture. † Lines 15–18: In line fifteen the speaker refuses to analyze their relationship. What is important to him is that â€Å"the night is starry and she is not with me† as she used to be on similar starry nights. â€Å"This is all† that is now central to him. When the speaker hears someone singing in the distance and repeats â€Å"in the distance,† he reinforces the fact that he is alone. No one is singing to him. As a result, he admits â€Å"my soul is not satisfied. † Lines 19–26: In these lines the speaker expresses his longing to reunite with his love. His sight and his heart try to find her, but he notes, â€Å"she is not with me. † He again remembers that this night is so similar to the ones they shared together. Yet he understands that they â€Å"are no longer the same. † He declares that he no longer loves her, â€Å"that’s certain,† in an effort to relieve his pain, and admits he loved her greatly in the past. Again linking their relationship to nature, he explains that he had â€Å"tried to find the wind to touch her hearing† but failed. Now he must face the fact that â€Å"she will be another’s. † He remembers her â€Å"bright† body that he knows will be touched by another and her â€Å"infinite eyes† that will look upon a new lover. Lines 27–32: The speaker reiterates, â€Å"I no longer love her, that’s certain,† but immediately contradicts himself, uncovering his efforts at self deception when he admits, â€Å"but maybe I love her. With a worldweary tone of resignation, he concludes, â€Å"love is so short, forgetting is so long. † His poem has become a painful exercise in forgetting. In line twenty-nine he explains that because this night is so similar to the nights in his memory when he held her in his arms, he cannot forget. Thus he repeats, â€Å"my soul is not satisfied. † In the final two lines, however, the s peaker is determined to erase the memory of her and so ease his pain, insisting that his verses (this poem) will be â€Å"the last verses that I write for her. †

Reading Aloud: Challenges and Solutions

Reading Aloud: Challenges and Solutions This assignment is my guide to the final step of my dissertation. In this assignment, I will discuss in details about what I will do for my dissertation. First, I will discuss my topic and why I have chosen, it and I will indicate my research questions and sub-questions. Next, I will identify key areas I need to read about and I will summarize 11 books and articles that give useful theoretical background for my research. The topics I am interested include define reading, then the process, models, methods of teaching reading, strategies readers use and the miscue analysis in relation to reading strategies. This second section will help me build the literature review for my dissertation. Finally, I will describe my research procedure and research methods I am going to use. Section one: My topic and why I chose it My topic is about problems my pupils have in reading aloud and find ways of improving my pupils reading aloud. I have chosen this topic because in my experience as a teacher I faced and taught different kinds of pupils from different levels, I have found that most of them have problems in reading, particularly reading aloud. Some of them are good in reading aloud but have many do substitute other words, have omission of words or letter-sounds while reading. This could be due to lack of sight vocabulary, lack of phonic skills, lack of strategies for reading. Some of them cant produce a single word. I discovered that pupils were learning nothing if they could not read aloud. My pupils who cannot read aloud have general difficulty in decode any reading text successfully. I believe my research is important because reading aloud is very important for my pupils in grade 9, which is closer to the final school leaving examinations in grade 12. I hope it may able me and my colleges to find the diagnoses to help the participants and in future to help all my pupils with their reading problems . In my research I wil try to analyze and describe their miscues in reading aloud according to their levels good, average and week. That time I couldnt do any thing about it because I didnt have the experience to help them. After I joined the B.A course and studied EDUC 2031 TEYL, EDUC2033 Initial Literacy, EDUC2028 Language learning from these modules I realized the nature of young learners how do they learn, how do they acquire new language and how to teach reading to young learners. As I understood the older ways of teaching reading focused on letters and words and how to say them, all language books are concerning on that view only. The new researches showed a different view which rely on development of all language skills so, because reading in a second language is seen as a thinking exercise thats not only concerned on reading words, sentences and pages only but it is on developing language as a whole. Reading is the main reason to build the personality of a person as I mentioned before and it is the main thing that teaching and learning stands on because it is a communication way between the learner and the academic culture in the schools . I would like my pupils to be able to use reading for study, for pleasure , to understand and to interact with what they learning. My pupils are in grade 9 of general education school at the age of 14 years old with different ability levels. They have been studying English for five years only using Our World Through English. They started leaning English from grade 4. In addition, they are similar in many things such as pupils environment, strengths and weakness areas they have. I decided to do research for my dissertation where I will focus on finding the difficulties my pupils face in reading aloud and helping me find ways to improve my pupils in reading aloud. Although my research will focus on reading aloud, from my experience a pupil cannot read aloud well, he can have little or no comprehension when he read silently. My research question is: How can I develop the reading aloud abilities of my grade nine pupils?. My sub-questions will be: What miscues my good pupils and weak pupils make when reading aloud? Based on my miscue analysis, what reading strategies do my good pupils and my weak pupils use when reading aloud? What reading strategies can I encourage my pupils to develop to improve their reading? In my research the subjects will be six pupils from 2 of them are good , the other 2 are average and the last 2 are weak pupils) (785 words) Section 2 Summaries of relevant literature The key areas I will need to read about for my research are: reading process models of reading Methods of teaching reading. reading strategies miscue analysis How miscue analysis can be used to identify the reading strategies that pupils use and the errors they make. In this section I discuss 11 books / articles that I want to use for my dissertation because they will help me to develop my understanding of issues related to my research. The aspects that are relevant to my study are summarized below. Urquhart and Weir(1998) Urquhart and Weir discuss three models of reading and I will state them here : Bottom up approach. They say this analyses begin with the stimulus, i.e. the text, or bits of the text. They say that in Goughs (1972) model, the reader begins with letters, which are recognized by a scanner. The information thus gained is passed to decoder, which converts the string of letters into a string of systematic phonemes, then word, then sentence then text. So bottom-up models are sequential in that one stage is completed before another is begun. Top-down approaches. Since bottom-up models starts with the smallest text unit, either letters or letter features, we could expect, then, that top-down models begin with the largest unit, the whole text. According to Urquhart and Weir for top-down model of reading, readers first use their background knowledge to help them make a sense from the text. So for top-down approaches background knowledge is very important. Interactive approach. In interactive models (Urquhart and Weir refer to Rumelhart, 1977), there is no regular sequence from top to bottom or from bottom up. They quote Stanovich the best known proponent of interactive models, that in interactive models a pattern is synthesized based on information provided simultaneously from several source (1980:35). So in interactive approaches reader uses both small text units and background knowledge to make sense out of a text at the same time. Urquhart and Weir describes reading strategies to be a conscious response to difficulties in the text while reading action selected deliberately to achieve goals (Is this a Quotation?). Aebersold and Field (1997) Aebersold and Field also have sections on models of reading (bottom up , top down and interactive). They also focus on the readers experience in learning how to read and the ways reading fits into their lives. They give five common influential sources for information that affect reading development, particularly family, the community and the school influence. They mention that despite relatively small size, a family can foster a variety of experience that affects a childs reading development. They say that the community influence provides readers with a set of varied life experiences that also shape their individual knowledge. Thirdly the school can bring children into contact with communities other than their own or they can be homogeneous institution that reflect shared values. This is interesting because in Oman children learn English without much support from the family or the community and school does not bring child in contact to many other communities. Riley (1996) This article has a section on models of reading (bottom up , top down and interactive). The author discusses how schema theory describes the process by which readers combine their own background knowledge with the information in a text to help them comprehend that text. All readers carry different schemata (background information) and these are also often culture-specific. This is an important concept in ESL teaching, and many books have pre-reading tasks that are designed to build or activate the learners schemata. The author also highlights some of the limitations of the use of the schema-theory approach and points out the importance both of developing the learners vocabulary and of encouraging extensive reading. (This sounds as if it is copied. Beware plagiarism, Saif.) Wray and Medwell (1991) This article focuses on reading process , models of reading and approaches to teaching reading. In reading process, they mentioned that reading is a highly complicated process, and there are a number of insights and concepts that the successful reader must develop. In models of reading, they discuss bottom-up models, top-down models, and interactive models and they strongly criticize the bottom up model. They also have a section on teaching reading approaches look and say, phonic methods of teaching reading and language experience approach. I discuss these under Graton and Spratt (1998) below. Graton and Pratt (1998) This book have useful sections on methods of teaching reading (whole word , phonics , language experience ) the methods teachers can use to teach pupils how to read. Most teachers use these methods to help their student in reading , sometimes they chooses one of these methods but some teachers work on two or more because they think each method is completed by the other. The phonic method as widely used from the language teachers to teach reading and writing in the English for second language learners. It is relies on children being taught the alphabet first. Then they learn to pronounce the sounds of the letters . However it is difficult to depend only to phonics because English is not a regular spelling language. The second method is look and say or whole word method. Here pupils learn to recognize whole words or sentences rather than individual sounds. The pupils will look at a word which the teacher sound, often with a picture, and in turns will repeat the word. The problem is that it does not teach children to work out new words for themselves. The context support method can be used when the pupils are just learning to read and it is important to choose exercises or activities that really interest them. If the pupils like cars, choose an activity or exercises with pictures and simple words about cars. This will keep their interest and they will enjoy learning with the teach. OMalley and Valdez Pierce (2001) OMalley and Valdez Pierce give a useful part about miscue analysis (p 124-5). They say it involves listening to a student reading aloud and recording the miscues. In types of miscues, they mention repetitions, substitutions, insertions, omissions and self-corrections. They also recommend the teacher must get the student to answer reading comprehension questions. They say miscue analysis can provide information about (1) the readers ability to use language and the reading process (2) it can be used for assessing reading, the readers approaches to reading and reading comprehension (3) information for revising approaches to teaching reading, how it can be used by teachers effectively to improve their learners reading. This book has useful lists of reading strategies (p 121-123) and suggest how miscue analysis can be used to identify reading strategies readers are using. The authors talk about reading in the native language then reading in second language, which I am interested in. The writers said that learners who do have native language literacy skills might not know how to transfer their skills to the second language without specific strategy instruction. Carter and Nunan (Eds.) (2001) Carter and Nunan (Eds) (2001) define reading strategies as Ways of accessing text meaning which are employed flexibly and selectively in the course of reading. In teaching, attention is paid to the manner in which the reader is able to draw effectively on existing linguistic and background knowledge. They list the good reading strategies that learners use to help them read in a very efficient way, to get maximum benefit from their reading with minimum effort. These include drawing inferences, predicting and using information in the text such as pictures. They also discuss miscue analysis in relation to reading strategies: As they say, miscue analysis refers to the study of the text alterations conducted by the subject while the pupil reads the text and would be very impossible without reading aloud. Carter and Nunan (Eds) (2001) assert that for early readers miscue analysis can be used by teachers to assess the quality and quantity of learners errors in their processing of text. First, this is especially useful for L2 learners who because of their interlanguage system may show systemic syntactic and phonological departures from Standard English. In addition, they argue that miscues will be based on learners current interlanguage rather than because of misunderstanding the text. Wallace (2001) p26 in Carter and Nunan (2001) Wallace discusses miscue analysis and she focuses on how miscue analysis can be used for early readers to assess the quality and the quantity of learners errors. Beard (1987) Beard has a section on miscue analysis and methods of teaching reading (whole word , phonics , language experience). The author focuses on miscue analysis and gives some models of how to use miscue analysis to develop pupils reading and how miscue analysis can fulfill an important diagnostic function of a kind not readily offered by other more established means of reading assessment. Cameron (2001) The author has sections on reading strategies , models of reading (bottom up , top down and interactive) , methods of teaching reading(whole word , phonics , language experience ) and discusses how miscues can help the teacher identify the reading strategies a reader is using . The author gives an example from her experience of reading with a little Malaysian girl. The author mentioned that she had introduced her to the strategies such as: With the word bar, I pointed to the first letter , the sound of which she knew, and then she managed to sound out the word. With the word rather I just told her the word and did not spend any time on it , because it was not crucial to the meaning of the story and is not a particularly useful word to learn at her stage. ith the word meals I told her the word and then explained the meaning as the story progressed and the heroine moved from break fast to tea. When she came to watching TV she said washing . From this miscue I could see that she was making a good attempt at the word and had noticed the initial consonant and the final rime. www.mindtools.com/pages/articals/ According to www.mindtools.com/pages/articals/ miscue analysis refers to the study of text alterations made by the subject while s/he reads the text aloud. They summarise the research of Clay, Goodman and Weber (Davies 1995, p13) and they give a useful list of types of miscues. They say that the alterations often made by a reader are: Substitution (another word is pronounced instead of the printed word) Self-correction (the reader realizes his/her mistake and corrects by him/herself.) Repetition (the printed word is repeated orally) Omission (a word is missed from the text) Insertion (a word not in the text is added by the reader) Reversal (the word order gets changed or inverted) Hesitation (the reader pauses or makes a sound indicating hesitation) A long pause. The article also relates the miscues to approaches. It says that if a reader shows more hesitations, long pauses and self-correction, this shows a bottom up approach with the reader giving most attention to pronouncing the printed words. If a reader shows more miscues such as omission, insertion, reversal and substitution, this shows a more top-down approach where the reader is paying attention to the meaning of the whole text, not reading word by word. (Check this is not plagiarized. Can you give authors?) (1,910 words) How I will investigate my research question As discussed above, my research question will be How can I develop the reading aloud abilities of my grade nine pupils ? My Approach: For my approach and method, I read Blaxter, Hughes, Tight, (2000), Cohen, Manion, Morrison (2000), Nunan (1992). For my research approach, I will use an action research approach enabling me to investigate my own pupils over a period. Action research grows from the idea that a good teacher is one who reflects on what happens in the classroom à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" possibly with a view to changing it. (EDUC3079 session3). My Method For my research I will plan to use miscue analysis and interviews. The miscue analysis will provide quantitative data and the interviews will provide qualitative data. I will select a text from the course book which is not familiar to my pupils , I will let them each to read aloud this text , I will record them while reading , then I will use miscue analyses to help me analyse their mistakes. Finally I will interview each pupil, I will ask questions to to assess their comprehension of the text, to get them to tel me what strategies they used to work out the meanings of some words and to try to find out why they failed to read certain words correctly. The research Procedure My research will include an unknown reading text from the OWTE course book that the six pupils will read it in order to have effective and organized results for my research question. This text from the course book OWTE that I think will be not familiar for the pupils because I gave it to them for the first time (See the appendix). First I will use pre-reading questions to prepare each pupil for the reading. Pre-reading is a way of sampling where the students are familiar to the content that you are going to give them. It is a useful strategy for beginning with a class, especially when classes contain students with mixed abilities coming from a diversity of backgrounds. Then each pupil will read the text and I record it. Then I will note down all the miscues. Finally I will interview them to examine their understanding, to assess their comprehension of the text, to get them to tel me what strategies they used to work out the meanings of some words and to try to find out why they faile d to read certain words correctly. My Expectations: I expect some problems, and here I discuss how I will overcome them: Miscue analysis, I cannot assume that any two pupils will have the same miscues. In addition, anxiety may cause artificial results. To overcome these problems, I will choose six pupils from different levels. I will try to get them relaxed, so I will tell them about the reason for my research, and I will do the recording in a quiet place, so we are undisturbed. Pupils may feel boring from doing reading every time, so I must prepare a good situation for them to feel comfortable. The main problem I think it is the time. These kinds of studies should not used in a short period because the researcher need to try many ways to investigate his pupils and his study in order to collect a valid, reliable data. Conclusion: The EDUC 3079 helped me a lot on finding solutions for many problems that I will face in future in my life as a teacher to help my pupils to reach the successes in their life as students. I learned how to read a lot and how to use the linguistics theories to help my pupils and to learn and discover the problems. The use of miscue analysis is a very useful way to solve pupils weaknesses in reading because it is allows me to focus on the problem it self , and how to deal with each problem individually.

Searching for Peace in Tulips Essays -- Tulips Essays

Searching for Peace in Tulips Throughout the poem â€Å"Tulips† by Sylvia Plath, the author seems desperately searching for peace and tranquility, and instead finds everything she despises, symbolized by the tulips she received as a get-well present.   The hospital setting, in which she is â€Å"nobody,† provides a place where she can â€Å"learn peacefulness, lying by myself quietly,† as Plath explains in lines 3-4.   She goes on to describe her room as very white and serene, and within the walls is a temporary escape from all the cares of the world outside, all the â€Å"baggage† she carries in relation to her family.   Then she receives the tulips, which contrast with the white so much that Plath says â€Å"they hurt me† in line 36.   The passage continues in this vein, relating that they â€Å"weigh her down† in line 40, in a similar fashion as her family does.   This is because the tulips make her â€Å"aware of my heart† in line 60, telling her that she is becoming healthy and will have to leave the hospital and again be weighed down by the obligations of the outside world.   The...

Advertising for the Uk Alcoholic Beverages Sector Essay

e Center I’m Researching†¦ Saved Recents Uploads My Answers Account Products Home Essays Drive Answers Texty About Company Legal Site Map Contact Us Advertise  ©2017 HOME > ESSAYS > ADVERTISING FOR THE UK†¦ Advertising for the Uk Alcoholic Beverages Sector Alcohol, Alcoholic beverage, Drinking culture Mar 2, 2013 1163Words 94Views PAGE 1 OF 4 Essay Title: Advertising for the UK alcoholic beverages sector has gained far stricter guidelines and regulations over the last few decades. Do you agree that the advertising of alcohol should be restricted to such an extent and how far do you believe any governments should be able to control advertising? Introduction In responses to a mass of alcoholic advertisement appears to catering to adults and youth, governments have paid more attention on this, for example, the Government has pledged to introduce a ‘comprehensive alcohol harm-reduction strategy’ in 2004, which is likely to place restrictions on drinking advertisement which encourage binge drinking among youth. See more: Ethnic groups and racism essay Does all restrictions or guidelines published by governments like this that playing a part in controlling advertising? This essay will mainly concentrate on why such alcoholic advertisements should be restricted; and to what extent should any governments be able to control advertising. Generally, people drinking because they are happy or not, maybe because they get a raise in their salary, or get a rough patch at work, or just enjoy a night out at pub and so on. Mintel’s exclusive research confirms that the majority of adults, three quarters in the 2003 survey, believe that there is nothing wrong with drinking in moderation, and far more people drink occasionally-and mostly at home-than do so on a regular basis outside the home(Clark, 2003). As for the youth drinking alcohol, most of them just out of curiosity, or bear heavy burden from not only the economy but also the psychology like experiencing a disappointed love affair. In addition, alcoholic advertisement is found to be fancy and attractive for young people, which leave the impression of fun, or cool if they were drinking. According to health expert saying, since ancient times, drinking alcohol in moderation can be beneficial for our health, especially for red wine or beer, drinking a little per day is very good for preventing cardiovascular disease(Locke, 2011). But how about drinking too much? It may become easy for you to become emotional and suffer greatly from more other diseases, like chronic gastritis, alcoholism. Moreover,statistics show that â€Å"alcohol-related admissions to hospital in England have topped 1m in a year for the first time†. In other areas, up to 70% cases sent to the hospital were related to alcohol, and violence, accident and health issues that relating to alcohol are thought to cause thirty thousand premature deaths a year. Meanwhile, â€Å"prescriptions for treating alcohol abuse have also risen†(Meikle). Therefore, drinking too much is harmful for people both in physically and mentally. So how do people know about alcohol, from which channel? Absolutely, media is the main place for alcohol industry spending their money, it is the main channel for people get new information about alcohol, and it is believe that exposure to alcoholic advertisement can increase consumption and influence people’s attitudes towards alcohol especially for young people as they have not formed the correct understanding of it. In order to prevent the large amount of alcoholic advertising appears on media, over the last few decades, governments have set far stricter guidelines and regulations, in spite of this, the following table will disclose another side. Figure1: main alcoholic advertising expenditure on media, 1998-2003* | |? m |Sales ? m | |1998 |219. 7 |28,301 | |1999 |247. 3 |29,808 | |2000 |228. 6 |31,327 | |2001 |210. 2 |32,637 | |2002 |233. 7 |33,942 | |2003* |114. 7 |34,870** | *January to August **estimate Source: Nielsen Media research/Mintel The figure1 shows the advertising expenditure on alcohol, which discovers that during the 1998-2003, although the cost dropped almost half, the percentage of sales did not change a lot, conversely, it roses every year. According to an Kusserow(2001), who works on alcohol controlling revealed that regulations and standards placed on advertising control are almost invalid. Procedures are hard to follow through each department, the viability and effectiveness of huge criteria still have to be established. So Britain wants to balance of economy and health, the duty is not just the governments, and only depending on the polices of government is not far enough, alcoholic and other related-sectors should be self-regulated. On one hand, it is necessary for government to set out a series of limitations on advertising of alcoholic drinks, such as limiting the timing of advertisements on television, ads can be only allowed to display after 10:00pm, trying to avoid youth from it. Meanwhile, prohibiting the liquor company being the sponsor in sport, as Professor Gilmore(2007) said that the limitations should include alcohol sponsorship in sport as the alcohol was being advertised 24 hours a day. Besides,the contents of advertisement should be restricted, images like violence and potential crime should be forbidden as it is easy for young people doing the same things that shows on television. On the other hand, because of the boundedness of government’s control, both public and private sectors have responsibilities to help to set out limitations to restrict its promotion and sales through ads. For examples, clubs and music pubs should abolish the unlimited drinking for a certain time only with the fixed money, people who are too young should not be permitted into this occasion. Besides, the price should be increased to reduce the alcohol consumption. In addition, manufacturer should develop a new production line, as an alternative to replace alcohol. Conclusion Now, alcohol has abounded in UK’s society, being consumed by both adults and youth, which forms an unbalanced condition between economy and health. The mass advertising appears on television or networks or other channels is the main selling way. Naturally, to control alcoholic advertising is becoming more and more important in UK. But obviously, the actual effects that caused by government’s policy is not big, so alcohol-related sector should play an increasing important part in controlling alcoholic advertising, then it must be more powerful and effectiveness. References Brown, K. (2007) National Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy [WWW] Institute of Alcohol Studies. Available from: http://www. ias. org. uk/resources/nighttime/policy/nahr. html [Accessed 25/08/12] Clark, T. (2003) Drinks market: UK, 2003. [WWW] Mintel Group Ltd. Available from: http://www. mintel. com/drinksmarket [Accessed 18/08/12] Department of Health&Human Services(2001) Youth and Alcohol. USA: Department of Health&Human Services. Gilmore, I. (2007) Britain’s ‘top doctor’ calls for total ban on alcohol advertising [WWW] Institute of Alcohol Studies. Available from:http://www. ias. org. uk/resources/publications/alcoholalert/alert200701/al200701_p10. html [Accessed 27/08/12] Grube, J. (1971) Main alcoholic advertising expenditure on media [Diagram]. In: Clark, T. (2003). Drinks market: UK. London: Mintel Group Ltd. Locke, T. (2011) Moderate alcohol drinking offers heart disease protection [WWW] Heart disease health centre. Available from:http://www. webmd. boots. com/heart-disease/news/20110222/moderate-alcohol-drinking-offers-heart-disease-protection [Accessed 20/08/12] Meikle, J. (2011) Alcohol-related hospital admissions at record high. Guardian, 26th May, p,1.

Key Performance Indicators

Key Performance Indicators Key Performance Indicators are a tool to measure performance. This may be the performance of an organisation or an individual. In the case of an individual’s performance, KPI’s consist of, â€Å"a list of characteristics associated with effective or superior performance in a particular job role† (smallPRINT Australia Pty Ltd, 2010, 20). KPI’s clearly specify to employees what they are required to accomplish and how success will be measured. KPI’s will vary according to the specific roles and responsibilities of a position and the goals and objectives of an organisation.They are generally long-term with few changes made over an extended period of time (Reh, 2013). When writing KPI’s a range of key factors or competences considered essential to job performance should be taken into account. They should clearly explain what is to be done and how it will be quantifiably measured. In this way, an employee has something sp ecific to aim for and is able to track progress and monitor performance (smallPRINT Australia Pty Ltd, 2010). KPI’s should be: S – specific and conciseM – measureable A – ambitious (achievable yet challenging) R – related to overall department and enterprise goals T – time framed T – trackable or easily monitored (Cole, 2010) KPI’s enable individuals to determine how well they are performing and identify areas in need of improvement. This fosters individual accountability for performance and results. Overall, use of KPI’s ensures alignment between employees’ work and the goals and objectives of an organisation (Performance Management and KPIs, 2013). Key Performance Indicators Key Performance Indicators Key Performance Indicators are a tool to measure performance. This may be the performance of an organisation or an individual. In the case of an individual’s performance, KPI’s consist of, â€Å"a list of characteristics associated with effective or superior performance in a particular job role† (smallPRINT Australia Pty Ltd, 2010, 20). KPI’s clearly specify to employees what they are required to accomplish and how success will be measured. KPI’s will vary according to the specific roles and responsibilities of a position and the goals and objectives of an organisation.They are generally long-term with few changes made over an extended period of time (Reh, 2013). When writing KPI’s a range of key factors or competences considered essential to job performance should be taken into account. They should clearly explain what is to be done and how it will be quantifiably measured. In this way, an employee has something sp ecific to aim for and is able to track progress and monitor performance (smallPRINT Australia Pty Ltd, 2010). KPI’s should be: S – specific and conciseM – measureable A – ambitious (achievable yet challenging) R – related to overall department and enterprise goals T – time framed T – trackable or easily monitored (Cole, 2010) KPI’s enable individuals to determine how well they are performing and identify areas in need of improvement. This fosters individual accountability for performance and results. Overall, use of KPI’s ensures alignment between employees’ work and the goals and objectives of an organisation (Performance Management and KPIs, 2013). Key Performance Indicators Key Performance Indicators Key Performance Indicators are a tool to measure performance. This may be the performance of an organisation or an individual. In the case of an individual’s performance, KPI’s consist of, â€Å"a list of characteristics associated with effective or superior performance in a particular job role† (smallPRINT Australia Pty Ltd, 2010, 20). KPI’s clearly specify to employees what they are required to accomplish and how success will be measured. KPI’s will vary according to the specific roles and responsibilities of a position and the goals and objectives of an organisation.They are generally long-term with few changes made over an extended period of time (Reh, 2013). When writing KPI’s a range of key factors or competences considered essential to job performance should be taken into account. They should clearly explain what is to be done and how it will be quantifiably measured. In this way, an employee has something sp ecific to aim for and is able to track progress and monitor performance (smallPRINT Australia Pty Ltd, 2010). KPI’s should be: S – specific and conciseM – measureable A – ambitious (achievable yet challenging) R – related to overall department and enterprise goals T – time framed T – trackable or easily monitored (Cole, 2010) KPI’s enable individuals to determine how well they are performing and identify areas in need of improvement. This fosters individual accountability for performance and results. Overall, use of KPI’s ensures alignment between employees’ work and the goals and objectives of an organisation (Performance Management and KPIs, 2013).

Curriculum mapping

Answer to why curriculum mapping. Comprehensive curriculum maps promote higher achievement levels as the vision of the map is created by a team of education experts not only from within the school or system, but also includes central office personnel and instructional leaders. These education leaders involve all the teaching staff of the school to provide data and information about the content, skills, and assessments administered in their classes. Important skills, content, and assessments methods are chronologically addressed and cater to the schools academic calendar.Teaching load of each teacher is displayed on the map and this makes it very easy to review as the issues in sequencing of instruction become obvious and can be corrected easily if required. So curriculum mapping is an effective tool to improve teaching skills of the teachers and competency levels of the learner. It is also an effective process for documenting and analyzing what is being taught and when. A very import ant benefit of this mapping is the teachers can quickly gauge what students mastered in the preceding grade and plan teaching without wasting time and effort on unnecessary reviewing and re-teaching.Precious teaching time is appropriately utilized in building skills and improves knowledge levels. A well organized curriculum map ensures same time line for a given subject topic, being uniformly practiced in all the classes of the same grade. Learning is made more relevant by identifying common points which means overlaps in course content. Interdisciplinary connections can be made by the teachers in their lesson plans. The students too identify and link information among courses and the teachers can plan lessons at a higher level.In a nutshell all important educational and curricular activities are reflected for every classroom within a department, school, or district level. Total education of the students in a school is effectively addressed. The information is so organized that it p resents and provides a timeline of instruction of the complete course for all the teachers. Hayes-Jacobs (1997) said, â€Å"Curriculum mapping amplifies the possibilities for long-range planning, short-term preparation, and clear communication†.A curriculum map developed by the teachers in the school helps them to effectively communicate about the course content and related skills that will be used in the classroom. All teaching lesson plans are modified to cater for all the students in class. Teaching program developed in collaboration with other educators and experts in the field always have cohesive instructions because they are evolved by integrating curriculum with content standards leading to formation of customized curriculum guides. Teachers can develop a Blue print for teaching objectives to coordinate instruction both horizontally and vertically.(Kathy Tuchman Glass 2007) shows teachers how to develop a customized, personalized process to prepare their curriculum wh ile folding content into a larger curriculum map. Curriculum map is an excellent resource not only for teachers but helps curriculum directors, staff developers, and principals to lead there teachers to evolve an academic calendar map for a complete session to educate their students. The components of this mapping serve as a benchmark to determine what students should know and be able to do.It provides an action plans for school leaders and provides processes to make standards manageable. Educators are able to translate there mission and vision in an effective manner. Not only the school managers the teachers are able to share resources and are able to teach beyond the facts. Public schools can plan to produce thinkers in place of core thinkers with this concept of integrated content plans. Educators who have adopted curriculum mapping, found this is a practical approach to create the culture and structure needed to effectively align curriculum and meet standards.Roles of district l eaders, curriculum directors, principals, and teacher leaders are defined pointing at leadership strategies for each phase, including discussion of roles and responsibilities. The initiative also provides information and facilitates how leaders can create professional development maps and professional roles maps. In most of the public schools it became clear that a curriculum mapping exercise was an essential backbone to any decision about innovative teaching as it highlighted the depth of innovative activity that is needed to make teaching relevant.Innovative teaching shifts the mindset from quantitative assessment that examines what students ‘know’ to a mindset of understanding, what students are ‘learning’ (Henri, 2002). A curriculum mapping exercise initiates ‘what is taught and when’ and also assists instructors in reflecting and adjusting their own lesson units (Payne, J. 2001). When referring to teaching topics educators often talk of te aching ‘topics’. The emphasis is on ‘teaching’ and ‘topics’. To be a curriculum practitioner you require understanding academic-practice knowledge and the array of curriculum work from policymaking to evaluation.Thomas W. Hewitt (2006). Change is inevitable hence it becomes important for students to explore and examines current issues. A good practitioner understands the necessity to keep mapping the learning path relating to current issues and trends that affect both the knowledge and the work of curriculum. When it comes to curriculum mapping, for many educators, â€Å"there is a gap between the compass and the clock – between what’s deeply important to us and the way we spend our time† (Covey, Merrill & Merrill, 1994, p. 16). Sometimes the time factor to convert perspective into practice is ignored at the managerial level.Experienced teachers cannot digest the fact that after effectively teaching for more than a decade w hy they need a curriculum map. Muhammad (2009) wrote, â€Å"Educators’ personal belief systems may be the most powerful variables perpetuating learning gaps in our public school system† (p. 14). At times in order to meet the deadlines of completing the course content teacher may not account for the learning pace of the students and overlook important aspects. According to Schmoker (2006), â€Å"Mere collegiality won’t cut it. Even discussions about curricular issues or popular strategies can feel good but go nowhere.The right image to embrace is a group of teachers who meet regularly to share, refine and assess the impact of lessons and strategies continuously to help increasing numbers of students learn at higher levels† (p. 178). References 1. Angela Koppang (2004) Curriculum Mapping: Building Collaboration and Communication Journal article by; Intervention in School & Clinic, Vol. 39 2. Bena Kallick, Jeff Colosimo, Heidi Hayes Jacobs (Jul 2008) Using C urriculum Mapping & Assessment Data To Improve Learning (Paperback) Publisher: Corwin Press 3. Janet A.Hale, Heidi Hayes Jacobs ( 2007) A Guide To Curriculum Mapping: Planning, Implementing, And Sustaining The Process 4. Thomas W. Hewitt (2006) Understanding and shaping curriculum: what we teach and why 5. Covey, S. R. , Merrill, A. R. , & Merrill, R. R. (1994). First things first. New York: Simon & Schuster. 6. Muhammad, A. (2009). Transforming school culture: How to overcome staff division. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree. 7. Schmoker, M. (2006). Results now: How we can achieve unprecedented improvements in teaching and learning. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Transcendentalism Depicted in Henry David Thoreaus The...

Transcendentalism was a trend during the romantic period where some authors chose to depict the serenity and the innocence that nature holds. Transcendentalists also believed that living totally dependent on oneself brings out the best in a person. Being a fairly independent person myself, I can identify with some of their opinions about life and nature. The idea of nature being a spiritual experience is a rebellious idea compared to the rationalism of many others during the same time period. The transcendentalist writer of the late 1700’s, author Henry David Thoreau, shares the same thoughts about nature, independence, and recreation as I do. The transcendentalists thought nature is something pure that can be fully appreciated if civilization is left behind. In Isabel Wilkerson’s, â€Å"The Warmth of Other Suns, written by Henry David Thoreau, looked at his short term lifestyle of simple living in natural surroundings with appreciation. Living in Perry County m eans you do not have to live with the hustle and bustle of big city living. Instead, we live everyday in a place with very little noise and interruption much like the outskirts of Thoreaus town. Although many of us may not care to admit it, Perry County is full of nature in its most pristine form. Someone like Thoreau would have loved to stay in a state park such as Fowlers Hollow due to its peacefulness and low number of visitors. Thoreaus main goal was to find a new level of understanding life with

Public Adherence And Compliance With Law Enforcement Essay

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These crimes induce great fear am ong the victims and the general public, especially since they occur inside one’s home where people expect privacy and safety (Heinonen and Eck, 2012). Consequently, residents attempt to remedy their fear of these crimes by avoiding places at particular times and purchasing crime prevention equipment, as well as forming neighborhood movements against crime (Devalve, Quinn Grohe, 2012). Ultimately, the level of public confidence in the police is revealed through the strength of the public’s belief that the police areShow MoreRelatedClean Air Laws Should Reduce Smoking Essay700 Words   |  3 PagesClean air laws have been passed to diminish the injurious effects of environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) on non†smokers by limiting or prohibition of smoking in designated public areas (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1986; Environmental Protection Agency, 1992). 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