Developing a Perfomance Appraisal System Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Developing a Perfomance Appraisal System - Essay Example Federal and state laws have added to the complexity and difficulty of appraisal plans. Criteria for compliance with equal employment opportunity laws are stringent. Management needs to design and operate its appraisal systems carefully in order to comply with these laws. A generation ago, appraisal programs tended to emphasize employee traits, deficiencies, and abilities, but modern appraisal philosophy emphasizes present performance and future goals. Modern philosophy also stresses employee participation in mutually setting goals with the supervisor and knowledge of results. Thus the hallmarks of modern appraisal philosophy are as follows: 2. Focus on goals or objectives - as the discussion of MBO shows, employees need to have a clear idea of what they are supposed to be doing and the priorities among their tasks; as the saying goes," If you know where you want to go, you are more likely to get there." 3. Mutual goal setting within supervisor and employee - this is the belief the people will work harder for goals or objectives that they have participated in setting. Among their desires are perform a worthwhile task, share in a group effort, share in setting their objectives, share in the rewards of their efforts and continue personal growth. The (Theory Y) assumption is that people want to satisfy some of their needs through work and that they will do if management will provide them with a supportive environment. 4. Clarification of behavioral expectations - this is often done via a behavioral anchored rating scale (BARS), which provides the employee and the manager with concrete examples of various levels of behaviors. Brief descriptions of outstanding, very good, acceptable, below average and unacceptable behaviors are specified for each major dimension of a job, thuis cueing the employee in advance regarding the organization's expectations. BARS helps reduce manager's tendency to focus on attitudes, personality, and nquirks of an employee and shift emphasis toward productive behaviors. 5. Extensive Feedback Systems - employees can fine-tune their performance better if they know how they are doing in the eyes of the organization. Most organizational appraisal systems requires supervisors to assess employees on various aspects of their productivity, behavior, and or personal traits. Examples of these three dimensions include quality of work and quantity of output, attendance and initiative and general attitude. Many appraisal systems also point toward both historical performance and the individual's potential for growth and advancement. The actual forms and procedures used for assessing this information vary widely. Some organizations ask supervisors to write essays describing the employee's performance; others recommend that they accumulate a record of incidents both positive and negative; mant firms use various types of graphic rating scales that grade employees on A-B-C-D-E or 1-2-3-4-5 systems. Regardless of the system used, the assessment is then communicated to the employee through the appraisal interview. This is a session

Organizational Behavior 3 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Organizational Behavior 3 - Essay Example By focusing on discussing the problem, both parties can have a better chance to solve the problem. Descriptive communication is all about being able to accurately and objectively describe the problem. In other words, negotiators should avoid judging or labeling a person for their behavior. Aside from focusing on solutions to the problem, negotiators should be able to maintain his/her objectivity when describing the event. Speaking in general terms can trigger miscommunication. To avoid misrepresenting the problem, negotiators should be specific when managing the problem. In general, specific communication means that negotiators should communicate in such a way that they will be clearly understood by the receiver of the message. In other words, they should speak direct to the point. Disjunctive communication is all about taking all the time to speak out one’s own thoughts without letting the other person express what they think. On the other hand, conjunctive communication is all about being able to initiate a conversation that flows smoothly. Therefore, when solving a problem, negotiators should make use of conjunctive communication and not disjunctive ones. For example, negotiator should avoid asking further questions before the other party completes his/her last sentence. Invalidating communication can make the receiver of the messages feel ignored, alienated, or worthless. On the other hand, validating communication is all about making the other party feel understood, valued, accepted, and recognized. Therefore, when solving a problem, negotiators should make use of validating communication and not invalidating ones. In most cases, this can be done by trying to avoid criticizing the other person. Owned communication is all about taking the responsibility for one’s own statement. For example, â€Å"I told you that you need to rest early†. Using the word â€Å"I† already indicate ownership

His fiend-Like Queen is Malcolms View of Lady Macbeth at the End of the Play Essay Example for Free

His fiend-Like Queen is Malcolms View of Lady Macbeth at the End of the Play Essay Act 1 Scene 5 is the first scene where you see Lady Macbeth. In this scene we are told a lot about Lady Macbeths character and her relationship with husband, Macbeth. The scene opens with Lady Macbeth reading a letter from Macbeth, which brings our attention to two main points. Firstly, Lady Macbeth is literate, which was very unusual at the time and tells us that she may be a well-educated character. Secondly, it shows us that she is very close to her husband; it wasnt a common thing to write to your wife from the battlefield because many generals didnt have the time, but Macbeth has made the time to do this. The content of the letter also shows us a lot; Macbeth tells his wife everything that happened to him in his encounter of the witches, which shows us that he is able to trust his wife. In the letter Macbeth tells his wife that the witches said, Hail King that shalt be! When Lady Macbeth reads this her thoughts, just like Macbeths, jump straight to murder: that which rather thou dost fear to do/Than wishest should be done. Lady Macbeth is determined that Macbeth shall be king and never actually mentions what she will gain from this, Glamis thou art, and Cawdor, and shalt be/What thou art promised. Lady Macbeth appears to know her husband well, yet do I fear thy nature, /It is too full o th milk of human kindness. This also tells us a lot about Lady Macbeth herself; even after Macbeth has been on the battlefield killing hundreds, most people would see the fact that he could come home and be kind as a great thing, but Lady Macbeth sees this as his weakness. This is thinking very much like the witches foul is fair, and fair is foul. Lady Macbeths character has many attributes, which may be associated with evil and which is, in turn, part of the witches characters. The first of these is the fact that Lady Macbeth is very manipulative: That I may pour my spirits in thine ear. She speaks of the Raven which is a bird associated with death. When she hears that Duncan will be coming to the castle she immediately thinks that this is the perfect opportunity to kill him, she refers to the fatal entrance of Duncan. She calls to the spirits for help: Come you spirits / That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here. make thick my blood, / Stop up th access and passage to remorse. Come to my womans breast/And take my milk for gall, In this speech she is asking the spirits to take her womanly tendencies away from her so that she is able to kill Duncan without feeling remorse and without those feminine feelings or attributes that may weaken her. In Shakespeares time witches were linked with the devil and gave away their femininity when they linked themselves to him, therefore when Lady Macbeth willingly asks for her feminine characteristics to be taken from her own body, she links herself to the supernatural, and therefore the witches. The speech also tells us that Lady Macbeth doesnt believe that she is normally able to kill someone; she thinks that this is the only way she will be able to do it and is trying to convince herself that she is evil throughout the scene. What is said in this speech is very similar to the one Macbeth makes, when he asks himself to not think about the treason and murder he is committing. This makes another link between Macbeth and his wife when Lady Macbeth says: Come thick night/And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell. This line shows us a lot, first that it reflects Macbeths, Let not light see my black and deep desires. The fact that she speaks of night links her to the witches, since night is the witches element. This line also links her subtly to the main dark themes of the play. Lady Macbeth has a very strong character and is very controlling, which was a characteristic uncommon at the time: and you shall put/This nights great business into my dispatch. She is taking everything into her own hands and seeing all the opportunities she has at that moment, but is failing to see further than that, to the consequences that may come about from her actions. In this scene Lady Macbeth does come across as having an evil nature. She is manipulative and is able to think about killing someone without much second thought, as well as able to link herself to the supernatural and destroy her feminine body in search of a greater power. In scene 6 Duncan arrives at Macbeths castle in Inverness. In this scene the first thing the reader realises once you have read it is the dramatic irony in it; Duncan says The air / Nimbly and Sweetly recommends itself/Unto our gentle senses and is talking about how nice the castle is when he is in fact very unsafe at Macbeths castle. This scene is also a very good example of Lady Macbeths deceiving abilities; she is sweet-talking Duncan and being kind, All our service, /In every point twice done then doubled and To make their audit at your Highness pleasure: she is being the perfect hostess. She is almost over doing the acting in the way she is flattering him so much, Still to return your own. Lady Macbeth is very two faced and hypocritical in this scene We rest your Hermits. She is taking up Duncans reference to prayer, How you shall bid God ild us for your pains, and this is hypocritical because of the prayers that she made to the spirits/That tend on mortal thoughts about taking away her womanly aspects. Scene 7 opens with Macbeth contemplating the plan to murder Duncan. He comes up with three strong reasons why he shouldnt kill him: First, as I am his kinsman and his subject, /Strong both against the deed; then, as his host, but there is still a present desire to be King. Lady Macbeth then comes into the scene and does not like what Macbeth is saying. She starts by putting him on the back foot by answering his questions with more questions: Macbeth: How now? What news? Lady Macbeth: He has almost supped. Why have you left the chamber? Macbeth: Hath he asked for me? Lady Macbeth: Know you not he has? This is where Macbeth tries to take charge and tells lady Macbeth [They] will proceed no further in this business and he tells her that he is happy, I have bought/ Golden opinions from all sorts of people. She doesnt take this into account and starts attacking. She starts by emotionally black mailing him, questioning his love for her, Such I account thy love, asking that, if he says that he wishes to be King and then take it back, how can she trust that he really does love her when he says it. She then attacks his ego, suggesting he is a coward even after he has come back from killing thousands of people on the battlefield: Wouldst thou have that/Which thou esteemst the ornament of life, /And live a coward in thine own esteem. She compares him to the cat, which would never go for the fish, Like the poor cat Ithage? She is asking him a rhetorical question, putting the thought into his head that he has the desire but not the guts to seize his dreams. She then attacks his manhood: What beast wast then? That made you break this enterprise to me? When you durst do it, then you were a man; / And to be more then what you were, you would be so much more the man. Then to prove her point further, and show us the length she is forcing herself mentally to convince herself she is truly evil, she presents this horrible image: How tendertis to love the babe that milks me-I would while it was smiling in my face Have plucked my nipple from its boneless gums, and dashed the brains out, had I so sworn as you have done. After this Lady Macbeth manages to sway Macbeth back to the murder with her certainty: Macbeth: If we should fail? Lady Macbeth: We fail? But screw your courage to the sticking-place, And well not fail. She is almost mocking him with the we fail? making him feel small with the suggestion of it. Then she asserts her control over him again with And well not fail. She then shows us how she is a practical by explaining her plan to Macbeth; His spongy officers, who shall bar the guilt / Of our great quell? This speech really convinces Macbeth to go through with the murder and proves once again that, at this point, Lady Macbeth really does have control over Macbeth. This scene shows that Lady Macbeth has many evil traits; she is manipulative and controlling. She is also a very practical woman with her plan. Act 2 Scene 2 opens up with a short soliloquy from Lady Macbeth and the content of this soliloquy is quite contradictory; whereas in Act 1 where Lady Macbeth comes across as very confident, here she says What hath quenched them hath given me fire suggesting that maybe she isnt a naturally confident person and is trying to be. She comes across as being nervous and jumpy, Hark! Peace! It was the owl that shrieked. She lacks confidence in her husband: Th attempt and not the deed Confounds us. Just from hearing Macbeth say, Whos there? What ho! she jumps to the conclusion they have failed in plan. Next we see a whole new side to Lady Macbeth Had he not resembled My father as he slept, I had donet. This is proof that maybe Lady Macbeth has a heart and is not the cold heartless person she tries to make herself out to be. This is also an example of her stupidity; she doesnt make the connection between what she says and what she does. Lady Macbeth isnt a very understanding woman, another sign that she isnt very clever: when Macbeth comes in he is traumatized by what he has just done, instead of Lady Macbeth being caring and understanding she gets angry at him, Why did you bring these daggers from the place? They must lie there. Go carry them, and smear / The sleepy grooms with blood. When Macbeth looks at his bloody hands and says, This is a sorry sight. Lady Macbeth replies with A foolish thought, to say a sorry sight. That is also a sign of her practicality she is trying to get Macbeth to not dwell on his thoughts. Then there is also another sign of nervousness between them both with the short exchanges when they first meet: Macbeth: When? Lady Macbeth: Now. Macbeth: As I descended? Lady Macbeth: Ay. Lady Macbeth isnt very understanding at all of what her husband is going through and tells him, Consider it not so deeply. In act 2 scene 3 we see examples of Lady Macbeths practicality and ability to act. The scene opens with Macduff and Lennox entering, wishing to see the King and then finding him dead. Lady Macbeth enters and we see how her acting abilities are still strong, with her pretending she has no idea what has happened Whats the business, and it comes across that she genuinely doesnt seem to have an idea about what is going on. There is the irony of Macduff calling her, O gentle lady, when earlier we are given these horrible images by her, And dashed the brains out. She then manages to keep up the charade by coming across as horrified by the death of the King, Woe, alas! / What, in our house? Macbeth then enters and starts to give these flowery speeches: The wine of life is drawn, and his gashed stabs looked like a breach in nature: when these are compared to the initial reaction of Macduff, O horror, horror, horror! they appear to be prepared. Lady Macbeth can see this and sees how this is getting her husband into deeper trouble and she faints, drawing the attention away from her husband, another example of Lady Macbeths practicality and affection for her husband, she wishes to protect him. It is also possible that the vivid descriptions her husband has given, His silver skin laced with his golden blood, has really shown to her what they have done and the shock of this may have caused her to faint. It may have also been due to shock in the change of her husband, before this he was a wreck at the thought of what he had done: I am afraid to think what I have done. now he is able to lie with apparent ease, talking about the man he murdered so highly, and the guards he murdered while they were still sleeping. She scared at what her husband has become. By the end of act 2 we have seen cracks in Lady Macbeths visage, she is not as strong as she believes she is and she lacks the imagination to see this. In Act 3 Macbeth is now King and Lady Macbeth is the queen. The scene opens with Banquos soliloquy, then the full royal court entering and Lady Macbeth greets Banquo with great gusto, If he had been forgotten, / It had been as a gap in our great feast. After there has been much chatter between Macbeth and Banquo, Banquo leaves and Macbeth dismisses everyone including his Dearest love: before he was always with her and needed her opinion on decision and she was very much in control. Is this a suggestion that Macbeth doesnt feel he needs her guidance now or is he trying to be the man Lady Macbeth tried to suggest he wasnt? She must being feeling rather insignificant now and most probably hurt that after what they had just done that he could dismiss her like that. Act 3 scene 2 opens with Lady Macbeth asking permission to see her husband, Say to the King, I would attend his leisure / For a few words. This is very strange because before Lady Macbeth would never have had to ask to see her husband. Does this mean she has lost the power she had over her husband and isnt in control like she use to be? We then see that Lady Macbeth isnt the evil person she made herself out to be; we see she is hurting from what has happened: Tis safer to be that which we destroy, / Than by destruction dwell in doubtful joy. Macbeth then enters and Lady Macbeth forgets about her worries and starts trying to comfort Macbeth, whats done is done. But she isnt taking her own advice, she is, without content. Macbeth then talks about his torment and uses this vivid imagery, O full of scorpions is my mind, Macbeth then drops hints that something is going to happen, there shall be done / A deed of dreadful note. In this same speech Macbeths also uses the imagery of creatures associated with evil and death: The shard-borne beetle so we can assume he is talking about the plan to kill Banquo. Lady Macbeth is properly feeling very confused at this point, before Macbeth included her in all the discussions and now she has no idea what he is talking about, Whats to be done? So by the end of this scene we have truly seen the soft and feminine side to Lady Macbeth: we have also seen the first signs of her coming collapse. We have seen examples of her love for Macbeth by casting aside her own worries to try to look after him. The first key point about Act 3 scene 4 is the notable change in Lady Macbeths behaviour. In Act 1 she was very welcoming and talkative with her guests coming across as being a strong character but is this scene she has lost this strong visage, she has to be prompted to welcome her guests, Our hostess keeps her state, but in best time / We will require her welcome. After this though we are able to see some of Lady Macbeths old characteristics, when Macbeth is distracted with talking to the Murderers, Lady Macbeth notes that he is away too long and reminds him he is holding a dinner, You do not give the cheer, an example of her practicality. Soon after Macbeth he rejoins the dinner he mental state deteriorates, when he sees Banquos ghost. Lady Macbeth steps in here with her practicality and tries to bring her husband back while passing off his madness as having some sort of fit: My lord is often thus, / And hath been from his youth She is finally able to bring him back by attacking his ego again by repeating the line, Are you a man? She is then fairly harsh to Macbeth mocking what he said earlier in the play, This is the air-drawn dagger which you said / Led you to Duncan. We see her lack of imagination, You look but on a stool. She is still unable to understand why Macbeth is suffering. Lady Macbeth is then able to bring Macbeth back to reality, where he starts acting normal but then mentions Banquo again, this sets Macbeth off again as the ghost reappears and he goes mad. Lady Macbeth steps in once again with her practicality and gets rid of the court so she can attend to her husband and before he is able to say to much about the murders, Stand not upon the order of your going. / But go at once. When the rest of the court has left, Lady Macbeth changes: her answers become short. At some point she must have realised what Macbeth had been seeing, changing how she was. Is her quietness a response to what Macbeth has become? She believed that this would only take one murder, and now Macbeth has murdered four times. She must be feeling scared, before she was very much in charge and now Macbeth is fully in control and not asking her opinions. There is already the idea of another murder in his head: Strange things I have in head, That will to hand; / Which must be acted ere they may be scanned. By the end of this act you can see Lady Macbeth is scared and she has lost the control she had over her husband. She isnt the strong character she was in Acts 1 and 2 only her practicality is left. Act 5 scene 1 is when Lady Macbeth has finally gone mad. Shakespeare gives little indication of time in the play, but from what we can gather a fair amount of time has passed, and over this time we can tell that he mental state has deteriorated. The scene starts off by telling us that Lady Macbeth has been sleeping walking and going through the routine of writing a letter, then reading it. I believe this refers to the letter she received from Macbeth about the witches; the letter which started the whole affair off. I think that subconsciously she is wishing for everything to go back to that moment so none of this ever happened. She enters sleep walking carrying a candle and the gentlewoman says that Lady Macbeth has, light by her / continually, tis her command. This is ironic because earlier in the play Lady Macbeth says, pall thee in thy dunnest smoke of hell. So after wishing not to see the light she cant bare to be without it. There is then more irony in this scene, Out damned spot, out I say! she is unable to wash the blood from her hands and to Macbeth earlier she says: A little water will clear us of this deed. She almost repeats Macbeths, Will all great Neptunes ocean wash this blood / Clean from my hands?: with the smell of the blood still; all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. We can see now that she always did understand what her husband was saying, but on a subconscious level: she lacked the imagination to understand when conscious. Earlier in Macbeth Lady Macbeth asked: Come thick night / and pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell, and now she says, Hell is Murky. It appears that she is now in her own hell and it is terrifying. Throughout the scene there is more imagery of blood, we have Lady Macbeth mocking Macbeth about being upset about killing Duncan, now she is saying: Who would have thought the man has so much blood in him. At first she acted as if she was fine and didnt have a conscience, we now see that everything had built up and has been affecting her: The Thane of Fife had a wife; where is she now? What, will these hands neer be clean? She is even suffering for the murders she had nothing to do with. After reading Macbeth and carefully analysing Lady Macbeths actions throughout I think we are able to feel some pity for Lady Macbeth. I think she can be blamed partly for the Tragedy of Macbeth because she did push her husband to commit the murder, but we do not fully see what her motivation for this was. My view is that she was mainly doing what she thought her husband deserved because it is obvious through the play that she is deeply in love with Macbeth. Also taking into consideration the time the play is set was it not Macbeths place to stick with what he originally felt and tell her that they would not murder the King? I think pity grows towards her as the play goes on; as the reader you can see a change in her character, which quite clearly shows us that she never intended for Macbeth to become theevil tyrant he did become. Another reason for her to be pitied is that you can see she is in pain and suffering but she ignores this to try and comfort her husband who is more open about his suffering. This drives Lady Macbeth crazy in the end, and the idea that she died because of her love for her husband is tragic. This is why I think Malcolms view of lady Macbeth, His fiend-Like Queen is unfair towards her and that it was Macbeths place to have put a stop to the murder which eventually led to both of their deaths.

Discovery learning and math teaching

Discovery learning and math teaching Castronova, J. (2002). Discovery Learning for the 21st Century: What is it and How Does it Compare to Traditional Learning in Effectiveness in the 21st Century? Action Research Exchange 1 (1). The researchers in this article developed a technology tool of discovery learning which called web quest. They defined discovery learning as the technique to learn and can be assistance by teaching process. Also, try to discover the efficiency of a technology depended on discovery learning. Researchers agree that the effective learning should be active more than passive, learning procedures, and how failure and feedback both are very important. And the last one was the depth of understanding. The researchers show that to theories which they depend it of discovery learning such as John Dewey, Jean Piaget and Levvygot sky and the teacher center of attention on students refection and he answered the student questions but as indirect way and students will not be learn if they didnt make mistakes, so they have to make these mistakes to learn very well. Additionally, researchers indicated the basic architectures, which found in discovery learning 1) case based learning, 2) incidental learning 3) learning by exploring 4) learning by reflection and simulation based learning. Moreover, this article covers the main 4 idea of focus 1) motivation 2) relation 3) achievement, 4) transference. A-Web Quest is a educational tool of an inquiring oriented activity that uses recourses from internet to complete and finish their projects. I think this resource is a valuable, reliable, and its very important because it shows that a Web Quest is a good tool for teachers and useful for integrating the technology in classroom. Rieber, L.P. (2009). Supporting Discovery-Based Learning within Simulations. Cognitive Effects of Multimedia Learning. (pp 218-228). IGI Global:USA This study describes the visualization in education simulations and this article covers how are using different simulation representations and creative designs to the simulations interface. Furthermore, researchers showed that the theoretical carry for visualization in learning for example dual coding theory and mental models. Additionally, to integrate and combine discovery learning technology and design of simulations needing to teach the teachers to support the computer based simulations. The teaching of mathematics lessons will be more interactive and effective if these simulations applied very well and in the correct ways in the classrooms. For what I read, I found that, the positive effects of discovery learning on students achievement happen if the simulations are attractive. This article good and emphasizes to the teachers how they can design computer based simulations lessons. Zakaria,E., Nordin, N. M.(2008). The Effects of Mathematics Anxiety on Matriculation Students as Related to Motivation and Achievement Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science Technology Education, 4(1), 27-30. Retrieved from http://www.iwm-kmrc.de/workshops/visualization/rieber.pdf One of the aims of matriculation education was to develop students knowledge competency and interest in the subject area (Nordin Zakaria) 2007. The authors in this study try to investigate if there was a statistical difference between matriculation students motivation and achievement when they were can classified depending to math anxiety levels and if the discovery learning has effective in learning progress. The researchers applies this study on (73 females and 15 male) students, they selected by volunteer and they know it is will not affect in their grades during the semester. About the results if this study was emphasized that there was a relationship between anxiety and achievement. Thats mean if mathematics anxiety scores increase then the achievement scores decrease and vice versa.. In addition, there are teaching procedures, which decrease mathematics anxiety suggested by Woodard (2004) (1) Create an environment in which students do not feel helpless and allow them to relax and rest. (2) Use cooperative grouping in the class room. It helps students to understand that others have the same problems as they do. (3) Teach at a slow pace. It can help students better comprehend the material during taught. (4) provide extra teaching sessions so that they are not left behind academically. Therefore, I believe that the teachers should try to think that how they could get less anxiety on the students by preparing a good environment in their class and try to find the best ways for teaching mathematics. Duggan, M., Husman, J. (2007). Online Mathematics Achievement: Effects of Learning Strategies and Self-Efficacy Zeitschrift fà ¼r Pà ¤dagogische Psychologie, 4(1), 27-30. This Research showed that the increased independence of an online or web-based learning environment may support students motivation for learning and enhancing the discovery learning in learning. The purpose of our article was to investigate students learning strategies and motivation in the framework of an online developmental mathematics course. Moreover, the cores of this study to help teachers and be more efficient and be more convenience with this strategy. The researchers applied the experiment 511 students with 89 participants completed all the surveys they answered all the questions. There are limitations and margins of this study one of them was the number of the sample with 89 students cannot generalizing the results. The second one was the timing of the survey time problem, which collected the data at the end of semester. According to this article I believe that a good web-based learning environment will be more effect thats what the results indicated in this article, on the other hand this research is valuable and currency. Matsuda, T. (2008). Using instructional activities game to promote mathematics teachers innovative instruction US-China Education Review, 5(3), 24-30. ISSN1548-6613 The author completed a study which improves teachers professional competence and he indicated that the curriculum or the instructional method should be changed and it is difficult to change the curriculum so he chooses the instructional method. The change on the instructional method should be based on three types of scientific resources approach for solving problems in daily life. First approach uses experiments and observations, the second approach uses mathematical concepts and procedures and the last approach is computer based approach, which is easy to understand and utilize than other approaches. (Matsuda, 2008) However, the purpose of this study to develop a training system to improve teachers professional proficiency through the design of lessons and created which will develop students ability to solve problem sloving questions using ICT (Information and Communication Technology) in (Matsuda, 2008) So, this a case study which the researcher use the model and concluding a meaningful graphs and tables which show what researchers indicated. This article also, was written very well with many references that help us as teachers to be professional development.

Eaters of The Dead :: essays papers

Eaters of The Dead â€Å"Eaters of the Dead† by Michael Crichton is a fiction but with historical background. Through this piece Crichton hopes to express the way of life for the Vikings in the year 922 AD while at the same time creating an entertaining story. Using a manuscript written by Ibn-Fadlan Crichton pieced together a book filled with adventure and excitement. Michael Crichton was born in Chicago, 1942 and always knew he had a talent for writing. He attended Brown University and has since published many books such as â€Å"Jurassic Park†, â€Å"The Rising Sun†, â€Å"Disclosure†, and many more. Several of his books have been made into movies, for example, â€Å"Jurassic Park†, â€Å"The Lost World†, â€Å"Sphere†, â€Å"Congo†, and â€Å"Eaters of the Dead† is coming to theatres this summer starring Antonio Banderas. Michael Crichton is also the writer of the hit TV show â€Å"ER†. Ibn-Fadlan is a refined Arab courtier representing the powerful Caliph of Baghdad and the whole story line is based on his travels. He is a Muslim and is sent to the Bulgar land to instruct the king in the Islamic religion, acquaint the king with Islamic laws, and build a Mosque in the city. Little does Ibn-Fadlan know where his travels will lead him. Wyglif is the present chief of the Northmen (at the time) he has fallen ill and is believed to have no chance of recovery. Once he dies, shortly after becoming ill, Buliwyf is made the new leader. Buliwyf is a young noble chosen to be the Northmens new leader once Wyglif dies. He is a courageous warrior, very tall and strong, and skin, hair, and beard of pure white. Herger, one of the Northmen warriors, also became Ibn-Fadlan’s friend. He helped him to translate the words of the Northmen and also helped Ibn-Fadlan become accustomed to their way of life and how to act around the Northmen. â€Å"The Wendols† are characters in the story who, as told by Ibn-Fadlan, do not seem fully human. They ride on the back of a black horse and have the head of a bear. They are extremely fierce warriors and are quite vindictive. They give off a stench so strong it hurts to breathe because they consume human flesh and it is always on their breath. They come with the mist, a dark fog that encircles the land when the Wendols come.

I Didnt Choose Home Schooling :: Personal Narrative, education

I Didn't Choose Home Schooling I didn't choose to be taught at home; my parents decided for me. I was four, and my toddler priorities lay elsewhere. Little did I know that I was volunteering for an educational experiment. Every September my parents and I had our annual discussion about continuing home schooling versus sending me to "regular" school. I don't know if I thought school would be a bit boring or if I was afraid of change, but I always chose to stay home. I did go to school for a few classes and for violin lessons, but much of my time there was spent explaining my sporadic attendance to teachers and classmates. I grew accustomed to giving both rote and wry answers to questions like, "Do you watch TV all day?" The rote answer was "No, of course not. I do the same things you do in school." The wry answer was "Yes, from nine to noon," watching their faces form into expressions of disbelief. I didn't tell them I was watching Massachusetts Educational Television on PBS. When discussing home schooling with strangers or skeptical parents, the first question usually concerns "socialization", often posed bluntly as "Do you have any friends?" Sports and orchestra brought me into contact with kids my age, but even then it was a common interest rather than a common age that drew us together. Over the years, I found wonderful friends in Mendelssohn, O. Henry, a German woman on my paper route who was a World War II refugee, Newsweek, a paralyzed basketball coach who couldn't walk but still coached me as if he could, history books, and a range of musical instruments from viola to tinwhistle. People are always relieved to discover that I'm not a hermit. Home schooling gave me the freedom to explore and experiment. We Traded houses with an Irish family and lived in Galway for a month. I was never given actual lessons on "how to write a sentence"; I learned as I wrote history essays. Few schools would have allowed me to research the sinking of the Titanic, but my parents let me read about it, build models of it and learn about watertight bulkheads. (I even managed to finish my math book that year, too.) As I got older, people started to ask if being taught at home was going to hinder me in college.

Physical development Essay

Throughout this coursework I will be writing about different life-stages of my chosen celebrity. My chosen celebrity is Michael Jackson. I will start with physical development and go through intellectual, emotional and social developments. Physical development Infancy At around THE AGE OF 3 months time baby Michael will be able to sit supported by their carers. This develops up to the age of 6 months the where the infant will be able to sit unsupported for a few minutes, turn their head and roll over. At about 9 months the infant will be able to sit for about 10 minutes, and roll and crawl around. At the age of 1, Michael will be to sit unsupported and go to a sitting position by himself. He will also be able to crawl fast and stand by holding onto something. At about 15 months the infant will be able to walk around briefly and crawl stairs or crawl onto different objects. At about 2 years he will be able to walk and walk UP AND down from THE stairs AND RUN on their own because their leg muscles will have grown a little bit. He will be able to walk fully unsupported. At the age of 3 he will be able to run around, throw and catch objects because he will have developed their reactions. Childhood At DURING childhood, Michael will not have fully grown their body, they will still have small parts of their body to fully grow. At this stage Michael will be able to ride bicycles and run and skip. His muscles will also develop; therefore they will be able to hit with bats and catch easier. In addition, at this stage the children may slightly start their puberty and show some signs. Adolescence At this stage, Michael will start to go through puberty. There will be massive changes on their bodies. For girls, they will start develop their breasts and grow pubic hair under armpits and around private parts. The girls hips will also start to widen. At later stage girls will have their periods, which meanS that they can start to have babies. For boys, they will grow more muscles and grow pubic hair around their armpits and around their penis. The boys testicles and penis will also grow larger, and boy will start to produce sperm. Boys can realize this by having wet dreams. One of the biggest developments in boys is that their voice will break, BY Their voice will start becomING deeper and their voice box grows. Adulthood At this stage Michael will be fully mature and grown. Usually adults gain weight at this stage normally because of their inactivity in sports. Men will ALSO be able to produce sperm until they are ABOUT 80 years old, however this varies on different people. For women they will stop having period at around the age of 45-55 AND THEY WILL START MENOPAUSE, which means they can’t have babies anymore. Some women will start TO feel some sense of loss when this occurs. Later adulthood At this stage Michaels body will start to become weaker. Some major changes will occur to peoples bodies. One of the most obvious changes is wrinkles. Michael will start have lots of wrinkles around their face and body. Another change is Michael’s hair. Some PEOPLE will start to get white or grey hair, but more often people lose their hair and start to become bald. Bones will start to become much weaker and easier to break if there is an accident especially women’s. Most people will start find it hard to breath because their hearts and lungs becomes weaker and less efficient. Another major change is that people’s sight starts to weaken. They will find it hard to see stuff from close range and far range. In addition, they will find it hard to hear stuff as their hearing will become weaker too. Another physical change in later adult hood is that joints become stiffer, old people will find it hard to move around due to this. As sense of balance reduc es more old people uses a stick to help them balance and walk. Intellectual development Language development At around 3 months old Michael will be able to make some noises because they will have learnt how to control their muscles used with giving speech. At around 12 months Michael will start making noises made by the parents or carers. For example, if the carer says â€Å"mommy MAMA†, the infant will repeat the carer and say â€Å"mommy MAMA†. At around the age of 2 Michael will be able to put two words together and make a two word speech. At the age of 3 children will start to make sentences to communicate with their parents. For example they can say â€Å"I want to go out† but their sentences might be hard to understand. At the age of 5 and above, children will be able to make clear sentences which could be understood by anyone and use adult grammar. Infancy and childhood At birth babies are born with senses. They will only be able to sense different objects. Babies are also born with reflexes. These reflexes will help to feed, for example, sucking reflexes to feed them self. These reflexes will lead to â€Å"motor actions† which controls the baby’s body muscles automatically. At this stage the babies thinking will be limited. Piaget states that babies will not be able to memories and think about the world until they are 18 months old. At the age of 2 Piaget believes that children will not be able to think logically, however the children will be able to make noises or use words to communicate but they still won’t understand it logically. At around the age of 5 children will be able to start thinking logically. Children will also understand different concepts. For example, the concept of colors, numbers and sizes. The child will also start learning whets right and wrong. At this stage children will also join school and meet new people. For this reason they will begin to learn new vocabulary because they will listen to other children in their class and therefore they will start to learn new words. They will be able to see stuff from someone else point of view and start to be able to solve problems on their own. Adolescence At early adolescence TEENAGERS will start to think in different ways. They will understand harder concepts and solve COMPLEX problems easier. They will also be able to blend different information from different sources. This means that they will be able to solve problems in their head without actually seeing them. Adulthood At this stage most people will find jobs and new careers. Due to this, adults will start to learn new skills such as effective communication skills. In addition, adults will start to live independently, which means that they will have to learn the skills of cooking and managing their homes. This will prepare them for children and marriage. Most adults will get under pressure at this stage therefore their thinking time will become a lot slower. But because of their experience they will find it easier to solve their problems Later adulthood At this stage Michael will find it hard to remembering things. Especially if they are under pressure. Their reaction time will also become slower. However, because of their past experience in life, they will be able to make better decisions than younger people. In addition at this stage Michael will start to get ready for retirement. Emotional developments Infancy 0-3 years When a baby is born they need to build an attachment with their carer. Bowlby argued that infants will have an automatic need to form attachment with their carer. This quality will have future affect on the child’s emotional developments. However Ainsworth argues that the quality of the attachment will affect the assumptions people make about their life and others. This means that infants with a good quality of attachment will be able to cope with stress and uncertainty in life whereas infants with insecure attachment will have a reduced ability to cope with stress and events in life. Later on during infancy, in about 6 months infants will be shy of strangers. at about 2 years, they will show jealousy with peers and siblings, they will not be able to control their emotions. At the age of 3 they will start to control their emotions better and not as jealous of other children. Childhood 4-9 years At this stage Michael become much better at controlling their emotions. They will learn how to express their emotions differently in different situations. Children will mostly depend on their carers and family. As children grow older they will meet new people and teachers. Their relationship between their teachers and friends will have affect on their self-confidence. For example, if a child gets bullied in school, their self confidence will be low whereas if they are popular in school it will have a positive affect on them and have a high self confidence. Adolescence 10-18 years At adolescence Michaels hormones change and therefore they will have different emotions. People will be excited one minute and depressed the next. Families and carers will find difficult to cope with these mood swings. This is usually because they are going through puberty. At this stage people also try to discover who they actually are and try to create an identity for themselves. Teenagers usually do this by having ideas of politics or religion, or by smoking or drinking. Erikson a famous psychologist has created an identity theory which states that in order for a person to feel fully secure when they work with others or having sexual attachments, they will need to have a clear understanding of their identity and they should fully understand who they are. This will be a very stressful time for teenagers and their development of their identity will have affect on their self-esteem. Adulthood 19-65 years During this life stage Michael will have to be more independent and self-reliant. At this stage Michael start living with their partners and this will take a high level of emotional maturity which some may struggle. People who struggle with this usually break up their relationships. Michael have to adapt with their partners and their own emotions and control them and respond in an accurate way. Erikson argues that the key task of early adulthood was learning to cope with emotional attachment to a sexual partner. This means that Michael must ensure that they do not become emotionally isolated and not being too self-centered. At later point of this stage adults will start having children. This means that adults have to accept new responsibilities. Having children will cause lots of stress because children are very demanding. Adults will have to be very emotionally mature to cope with this. Later adulthood 65+ At later adulthood Michaels emotions will become fully mature. You may experience some difficulties as you may suffer from bereavement and there not able to control your emotions. Because of retirement you will have more free time, therefore you will be able to spend more time with your family and friends and share emotions. Social developments Infancy 0-3 years At these stage infants usually start to interact with their carers. Once they are 2 months old they will start to smile. At 3 months they will start to make some responsive behavior when adults talk. This means that they are trying to respond when adults are talking to them. At around 5 months old, they will start to become scared and shy of strangers. They will be able to tell the difference between familiar and unfamiliar people. At around 2 years old, they become interested in playing with other children and start to slowly play alongside other children but still not interact with them. At about 2  ½ years, they might join other children for a few minutes but then play alone for the rest of the time as the child do not know how to share toys and playthings. At 3 years old they will be able to play with other children as they now have learnt how to share they toys, and they will also be able to stay away from their parents for few hours. Childhood 4-9 years At this stage Michael has formed a strong attachment with their carers and have learned all the social behaviors within their family. Michael will now be able to understand the emotions and feelings of others. He can be separated from their carers for long time without stressing. At about 5 years old children will start to socialize a lot more. He will for the first time join school and meet many new children. Due to this, he will start to learn the rules of fairness in different games. He will also learn how to co-operate with other children and they tend to choose their friends. They usually bond with friends who like and agree with each other. At about 7 years children start to understand the differences between sexes. Due to this they usually play with the same sex and are shy of opposite sex. This usually continues until adolescence. Adolescence 10-18 years At adolescence Michael will usually become independent from their parents. Friends become more important than family and parents. It becomes important to fit in with other groups. For this reason at this stage Michael usually tend to copy others styles and the way they dress to fit in groups. In early stages of adolescence teenagers usually do different activities in groups. Therefore, teenagers test drugs and alcohol as an experiment. In later stages of adolescence teenagers become more interested in opposite sex and usually start a sexual relationship with the opposite sex as an experiment. Overall adolescence will be a struggling time because teenagers goes through puberty however, in this life stage they will get prepared towards the adulthood as in this stage teenagers test everything such as sexual relationships. Adulthood 19-65 years In adulthood Michael have to make their most important decision in their life. Most of the people choose their forever partner this stage and marriage takes place. However, this happens at later stage of adulthood. At early adulthood friendship will still remain important but employment and work will take place. Therefore Michael may not be able to socialize as much as they could in adolescence. People start to work at this stage and become totally independent from parents. Parents will start to realize that their child will have to take care of them self from now on. Michael now also have to separate relationships. For example they will have formal relationship in work with colleagues and informal relationship with friends and older friends. Socializing with friends will decrease constantly throughout the adulthood. People socialize less once they have married and have children. The responsibility will be higher and people tend to spend more time with their own family and children. Due to this people may experience pressure during their adulthood. Later Adulthood 65+ At this stage, most people retire because the retirement age is 65 years old. This means that during this life stage Michael will have much free time therefore socialize more. Most people usually spend more time doing their hobbies and interests and some spends more time with their family. However, this all depends on the level of income. If Michael has more income, he will be able to enjoy his hobbies and travel around, whereas if you have low income you will not be able to do all those stuff. During retirement people children may live on their own with their own family, therefore older people might feel isolated and unneeded, however they may enjoy having their grandchildren and enjoying time with them. In addition, some people may suffer from bereavement of close friends or partners therefore they will have to get used to socialize in a smaller circle.