Abuse in Government Care Essay example -- Childcare Foster Adoption Ab

Abuse in Government Care   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It is unfortunate that in our society some children grow up without the opportunity of having a loving family to raise them. More unimaginable is children growing up with parents or family members that are abusive. Children raised in abusive environments that are reported to social services and removed from their home are placed into foster care. Foster care is defined supervised care for delinquent or neglected children usually in an institution or substitute home set up by the government. Some advocates claim that the government child care system is adequate, but others like David Van Biema of Time Magazine state that, â€Å"foster care is intended to protect children from neglect and abuse at the hands of parents and other family members, yet all too often it becomes an equally cruel form of neglect and abuse by the state (Biema).† There is substantial research that looks deeper into the foster care system. It reveals that abuse in foster care is a big e nough problem that it needs to be addressed, but what changes can or should be made?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Government statistics, newspaper articles, and thorough research projects have been completed to answer the question, â€Å"is there a problem in the foster care system?† The results have revealed that a serious problem exist within foster care in the United States. At any given time there are approximately 542,000 children in the foster care system (Dept of Health). This number continues to rise each year. In 2001, 290,000 children entered into foster care, while only 263,000 children left the system (Dept of Health). Of the 263,000 children that left foster care in the year 2001, 31% were in care for over two years (Dept of Health). Nineteen percent of those children were in foster care for one to two years (Dept of Health). Two years is an unacceptable amount of time when taken into consideration that between the ages of 8 and ten are critical developmental years in a child’s life. The average age of the a child leaving the foster care system in 2 001 was 10.2 years old (Dept of Health). The amount of children per foster home at any given time is another problem. The average number of children per home in the foster care system is 3.7, which is up from 1.4 in 1983. Although 3.7 children is an average per home, there are claims that tens of thousands of homes have 5 – 8 children at once (C... ... we can ask for is that they come out alive (Thoma 8).† Work Cited: Biema, David Van. â€Å"The Storm Over Orphanages.† Time Magazine, p. 144   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  12 Dec. 1994. Cohen, Deborah L. â€Å"Foster-Care Reforms Often Ignore Problems Children Face in   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  School.† Education Weekly 15 June 1991. Maier, Timothy W. â€Å"Suffer the Children.† Insight on the News 24 Nov. 1997: Pg. 11. Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. â€Å"Public records and confidentiality laws.† Jan. 2004 http://emanuals.odjfs.state.oh.us/emanuals/legal/pubrec/@Generic__BookTextVie w/3;cs=default;ts=default;pt=23. Ritchotte, William. â€Å"Foster Care Reform.† Adoption.com   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  http://library.adoption.com/Advocacy/Foster-Care-Reform/article/5053/1.html. Thoma, Rick. â€Å"How Widwspread a Problem? A Critical Look at the Foster Care System† Liftingtheveil.org 24 June 2003 http://www.liftingtheveil.org/foster04.htm. Thoma, Rick. â€Å"A Critical Look at the Foster Care System: How Safe the Service?† Liftingtheveil.org 15 Nov. 2002 http://www.liftingtheveil.org/foster03.htm. U.S. Dept of Health and Human Services. â€Å"Foster Care National Statistics.† 2003   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  http://nccanch.acf.hhs.gov/pubs/factsheets/foster.cfm.

Elephant

Elephant was a movie based on an average high school In the last ten years, showing the experiences, different emotions and actions students have. While this movie In the end focuses on two boys, we see many different students throughout the movie and their part In high school. Even though this Is to be based on an average high school, I believe at times they showed an unrealistic portrayal on students and teachers with some of their actions in this movie.Not far into the movie they show a cone of girls in gym class, all wearing shorts outside except one, Michelle. Which is nothing wrong with that, but what happens is the teachers makes a comment on her wearing sweats, telling her she needs to Join the rest of the girls, by wearing shorts. Otherwise, by her not following these instructions, it would lead to a drop in her marks. Michelle to me seems like an insecure girl, not wanting to show her body off.And no school I feel would make girls who are insecure about their body have to f eel uncomfortable by wearing shorts, Just because every other girl in class was confident and wears shorts. I also found this movie made students look stupid, making them so oblivious to what was happening around them. As the two boys enter the school, stalking around the halls with those massive guns In their hands, you see not one student scream or even notice what was happening.Especially in the library which was full of kids, one of the boys marched right in, gun in the air, and it takes for him o actually shoot it after awhile for anyone to scream or run. Not to mention how as the shooting starts, students weren't even running out of the school. In so many of the scenes when you see students running away they completely ignore the doors as if they weren't even there. They Just run past or go up the stairs. No student would actually choose to run up a couple flights of stairs then to just run outside, getting away from this tragedy.

Assignment on Horlicks

ASSIGNMENT-2 SUB: Pick up a Branded product & explain the Segmentation, Targeting, Positioning of the Product HORLICKS – AN INTRODUCTION Horlicks is a name of the company and of a malted milk hot drink. It is manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline in the United Kingdom, South Africa, New Zealand, Bangladesh, Pakisthan, India and Jamaica. Horlicks came to India with British army. British army gave them as a Diet Supplement in the time of World War 1 and then took this as a family drink. It became a sort of status symbol of upper class Indians and middle classes.In recent years, there has been an increase in the scope of the brand in India. Horlicks has become an umbrella brand for a wide variety of products. Now Horlicks is a leading health drink of India for all aged groups. SEGMENTATION & TARGETING Horlicks introduced a wide varieties of product to india. Horlicks meant everything to everybody. It was a health drink that every one consumed. Right from small children to very elderly people Horlicks realized this and came out with its new versions of different horlicks to different customers.Horlicks differentiated the product as follows; Horlicks Junior It is for Pre-school children. Keeping the targeted customers in mind the packaging is cute and package has a picture of a small elephant which is very exciting for small children’s Horlicks Regular It is for General use. Regular Horlicks is a health drink of people of all ages. The packaging is contemporary and has great visuals to attract children and the young adults. Horlicks Mothers It is special nutritional drink with 26 vital nutrients designed keeping the specific needs of the pregnant and breast feeding women.The packaging is very interesting. It is shaped like an hour’s glass Horlicks Lite and Lite bite A nutritional drink and snack specially designed for all health conscious adults and is also suitable for use by people with diabetes. The packaging again is interesting. The horlicks lite is thin and tall. The Horlicks proves that segmentation could very efficient way of holding on and even increasing one’s market share. What is needed is clear focus and clever innovations in adapting product and changing the needs of customers. POSITIONING & RE-POSITIONINGIt was initially introduced both a substitute & an additive to milk and it was initially positioned itself as â€Å"as food for convalescing†& a nutrient supplement for kids only. Re-Positioning From a boring nutritional drink, GSK positioned Horlicks as â€Å"Pleasurable Nourishment† by launching it in vanilla, chocolate and honey variants. It introduced other variants like-Jr. Horlicks, Women’s Horlicks, Mother Horlicks& Horlicks Lite to reposition itself from the children segment to other segment for consumption. Marketing Mix (4 p’s) for Horlicks Product:Horlicks is a widely regarded and highly respected 130-year-old brand. GSK has four brands in the health food drinks segmen t. Apart from Horlicks, which contributes Rs 600 crores in revenue to the consumer healthcare division, it has Boost, Maltova and Viva – the last three are much smaller brands than Horlicks. Faced with stagnating sales in the health food drinks segment, the company has chalked out an aggressive brand push strategy and a revamp for its flagship brand, Horlicks. The relaunch aims to focus on children as Horlicks was previously considered as a nourishment drink for old people.The company expects Horlicks contribution to the total turnover to be around Rs 800 crore which amounts to a major chunk of the company’s turnover. Horlicks is a nourishing malted food drink which combines the wholesome goodness of malted barley, wheat and dairy ingredients. A For more nourishment, GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare India Ltd (GSKCH) has relaunched its flagship brand Horlicks. A to enable consumers choose different flavours, Horlicks is now available in Regular, Chocolate, Creamy Va nilla and Honey Buzz varieties in a new package.A Horlicks drinks provide the following essential nutrients: A Proteins, Carbohydrate, Fat, Vitamin A, Niacin, Vitamin B1, VitaminB12, Vitamin E, Vitamin B6, and Iron & Calcium Price: HORLICKS Flavors (Rs) ElaichiChocolateHoney BuzzVanilla Weight (gm)JarRefill PackJarRefill PackJarJar 20057-57— 500108103108103108108 1000199189—- HORLICKS JUNIOR Weight (gm)JarRefill Pack 20058- 500114105 Target market: Earlier Horlicks believed, white drinks are for the entire family in contrast to the browns, whose prime target audience is children.This is probably because whites–whose growth rate is faster than the browns–have the added advantage of being perceived as food which enhances the healthy image of those who are recovering. But gradually they realized that they have to focus on one segment of market that is children. Horlicks is now positioned as a pleasurable nourishment drink aimed at children between the age gr oup of 8 -14. Nowadays children have tremendous influence on the things purchased for the family and therefore we want children to prefer Horlicks as a pleasurable nourishment drink.While all the action will be in the general Horlicks segment, the focus of Junior Horlicks (target segment: kids between one and three) will continue to remain the same. Promotion: The company has earmarked around Rs 10 crores for brand promotion throughout 2003, and 70% of this will be spent in next six months. Sixty-five per cent of the ad-spend (around Rs 10 crores) will be for the visual medium and the balance for the print and others. Apart from the high-decibel media campaign, the company also plans to conduct an inter-school competition called Activity 2003 in which around 1. million students are expected to take part. Unlike its other drink (the Rs 170-crore Boost, promoted by Sachin Tendulkar); the new Horlicks does not have a brand ambassador. While all the action will be in the general Horlick s segment, the focus of Junior Horlicks (target segment: kids between one and three) will continue to remain the same. The brand will continue to talk to the mother since the purchase decision rests with her. Place: It has a strong marketing network in India comprising over 1800 wholesalers and direct coverage of over 4,00,000 retail outlets.Horlicks sales have been strong in the south and eastern markets which contributes about 46 per cent and 47 per cent of the total sales. Milk-deficient South and East preferred white liquid powders (Horlicks, Viva, and Complan) as the drink could be prepared with hot water. SWOT ANALYSIS STRENGTH †¢It is current No: 1 position in the market †¢Variety of product targeting different segments †¢Trusted brand †¢Ã¢â‚¬ËœHealth’ is the central idea for all the products of horlicks †¢All the products of Horlicks belong to different categories which will not kill the market of its own product. WEAKNESS Customer perceived v alue of Women’s Horlicks †¢Price of Women’s Horlicks †¢Packaging of Women Horlicks Opportunities †¢Making Nutribar individual brand without the endorsement of Horlicks †¢Creating functional food category with the help of Nutribar (functional foods are those Health foods like energy drinks, cereals and cereal bars which contain health promote ingredients. ) †¢The market for functional foods in India is estimated to be around Rs 1700 crores and is growing very fast. THREAT †¢Cheaper version of Horlicks that is ASHA may damage the brand. CONCLUSION As far as I am concerned

Critically review Essays

Critically review Essays Critically review Essay Critically review Essay Critically review the situation at RestaurantCo and provide recommendations to the Board on the strengths and weaknesses of it approach to managing human resourceso Due Date: 20 sept 2013 There are a number of factors that may contribute and affect the success of an organization. It is the money (capital), materials and machinery but it also refers to the people and their knowledge and skills that make the actual difference. Human Resource Management refers to the organizational function that deals directly with employment relationship, (the relationship between the organization and the employee); it covers establishing (recruitment and selection of stafO, maintaining (ongoing training, career development and motivation) and terminating (retirement, resignation, dismissal, redundancy and retrenchment) an individual or group of employees (Barrile Cameron, 2010). This essay will explore the strength and weakness of different styles of managing human resource in an organization, articularly with the case of RestaurantCo, providing possible feedback and recommendations to the Board. RestaurantCo is a restaurant developed from a small family owned business in the 1960s and have experienced a period of rapid growth during the 1990s and have turned Trom Trancnlsea operatlons to a prlvate owned Dranoea cnaln large non- unionsied restaurant. Tthroughout these years, the organization experienced organizational change and in order to manage the change, RestaurantCo need to anage its human resources effectively and efficiently. (Suter,Je Marchington,M. 2012). There are two main arguments about managing human resources in most organizations, which are either to be centralised or decentralised. Centralisation is described as the location of decision-making power (Barrile Cameron, 2010 pp264). A centralised organization will reserve decision-making power in the sequence from top to down (Top management usually CEO of the organization to lower management usually front-line managers or supervisors).

Persuasive Topics for High Schoolers’ Speeches

Persuasive Topics for High Schoolers’ Speeches Every persuasive speech starts with a good topic. We decided to make a list of nice persuasive topics, but before we get to it, let’s define what persuasive speeches are and what is the goal of these tasks. First of all, persuasive speeches are aimed to convince an audience to accept a certain point of view. Usually, there are people in your audience who already have an opinion on your topic, so you can either reinforce a popular opinion or refute it. You have to deliver a message or motivate your audience to take some actions. Anyway, high school is the best place to develop your persuasive skills so we suggest taking this task seriously. If you can’t figure out what your speech should be about, we can help your with our list of interesting topics. Many our topics also contain key questions that may give you a hint on what arguments to use. There are topics from various fields, including medicine, education, and social issues. We hope that you will easily find a topic that will be interesting to discuss with other students. High School Persuasive Topics About School Why are exams important for students? You can tell about important knowledge that you get in school and how it can be used after graduation. You can also provide some suggestions on how to become more productive. Field trips and their role in the process of education. Obviously, field trips are aimed to make education fun. What knowledge students can get during such trips? What other benefits do you see? Why we go to college after school? Explain how can students benefit from college and describe what can happen if they don’t go to college. You can give a couple examples of successful people who managed to build their careers without college. What is their secret? Advantages of changing school hours. Every student has his or her biorhythms that may differ from the school schedule. Many if such students feel too tired after school or don’t eat their breakfast at morning because of the rush. What other problems do you see? Why should students use their phones? How can they benefit from using cell phones? Most professors claim that it is a distraction. What do you think about it? iPads and other tablets in high school. What are advantages of tablets over textbooks? How may these devices help students learn better? How to motivate students to use their tablets for studying instead of playing games? Why should educational facilities provide free textbooks? Textbooks become more expensive every year. Think of how much money students spend on their textbooks. Convince your audience to raise funds for some threatened species, for example, Angonoka tortoise or Sumatran rhino. What measures can help us save these animals? What is the biggest danger for them? Female students and makeup. Many teachers shame girls who wear makeup in school. Is it right? Every person has a right to look like he or she wants. Some people have problems with their skin so they wear makeup to feel more confident. What kind of makeup do you consider appropriate for school students? Should students be allowed to listen to music when studying? Provide your audience with necessary facts so they can think whether listening to music is a distraction from studying or something that may help students focus. Persuasive Topics on Medicine for High School How often do we need to wash hands? Why we must wash hands and what happens if we don’t do it? Tell about diseases that spread due to dirty hands. How may washing hands help treat some diseases? Cancer. How can we fight it? Persuade your audience to join the American Cancer Society. Why is it important to stand up against this deadly disease? How such societies help people diagnosed with cancer? Why should students donate plasma? Tell about the use of plasma in various kinds of therapy. Describe benefits of donating plasma and give some examples of how donors saved lives. The role of red wine in preventing stomach ulcers. Provide your audience with information about the use of red wine for fighting bugs that poison food. Does white wine have the same effect? Benefits of healthy food. Describe the main reasons why we need to eat healthy food. List key principles of healthy eating and its role in fighting obesity, anxiety, and other health problems. Benefits of eating potatoes. Describe how potatoes help in lowering blood pressure, fighting obesity, etc. Conduct a research and provide as many facts as you can. Why should people donate their organs? Choose several reliable sources and explain why it’s better to donate your organs in case of a car accident or any other kind of unexpected death. Advantages of free healthcare. Do you think that healthcare should be free? Why? Compare the situation with healthcare before the Affordable Healthcare Act was repealed against the Trump’s healthcare policy. Plastic surgery. Focus on arguments for and against plastic surgery and tell about its history. Tell how plastic surgery is used to help soldiers and people who survived tragic accidents. What are negative sides of plastic surgery? How people use it to improve their self-esteem? Persuade your audience to join the American Red Cross. Tell what internship programs this organization offers students. Describe benefits of joining the Red Cross for their education and careers. Topics on Society for High School Students Cyberbullying. Why should we fight against it? Provide your audience with statistical data on children who become victims of cyberbullying. How bullying affects their self-esteem and psychological condition? You can also mention cases of cyberbullying among adults. How can it be stopped? Crime among juveniles. How should they be sentenced? Explain why they are sentenced as adults and how it can affect their future. Do IQ tests really reflect the level of somebody’s intelligence? Find reliable sources and provide your audience with information on alternative tests. Explain what tests are more accurate and why. Do we need to protect freedom of speech on the internet? Consider sexist, racist, and homophobic views in the context of freedom of speech. Should we allow people with such views express their opinion on the internet? Explain how we can make the internet safer for children. What types of discrimination are present in the modern world? Do we realize all possible ways of discrimination? Provide your audience with information on discrimination by age. Why we can’t just deport Hispanic immigrants? Tell about the reasons why immigrants from Mexico and other countries come to the US. Mention examples of Mexicans who work hard in the US, making their contribution to the economy. Compare Barak Obama’s and Donald Trump’s positions on this issue. Why should same-sex marriage be legal? Why should we allow gay couples to adopt children? Support your point with examples from states where gay marriages are legal. Why should we support the system of birth control? What methods of birth control are most effective? Tell why birth control is good for society and provide examples from various countries. Incarceration. Provide examples of the effective and ineffective use of incarceration. What are benefits and drawbacks of incarceration? Should women make a proposal? Explain why everybody must be able to propose marriage and express feelings. Interesting Persuasive Speech Topics for High School Benefits of learning foreign languages. How can foreign languages can help in education? What career opportunities you get when you know a foreign language? Why do people like to travel? Does it help in developing certain qualities and skills? Mention the importance of new experiences for our psychological state. What can students do if they want to travel but don’t have enough money for it? Why is Bora Bora a perfect place to spend your holidays? Tell about its climate and provide other important information about the island. What is the influence of devices on kids? Many experts state that devices make them lazy. Find reliable sources and provide examples of such an impact of electronic gadgets. Mention such problems as decreased social activity, obesity, anxiety, and isolation. Texting while driving. Why is it dangerous? Provide your audience with statistical data on car accidents caused by drivers who were texting. Compare these statistics with data on driving on drugs and alcohol. Human-animal hybrids. Should scientists be allowed to create them? Why? Focus on ethical and practical aspects of this issue. What is the difference between animals and human-like beings? Why it’s important to use alternative energy sources? Describe how solar panels work and why we should use them instead of traditional technologies. Focus on the environmental and economic issues. Do we need to prohibit the use of animals in circus performances? Provide examples of trainers abusing their animals and examples of good treatment. Why do we need to stop plastic pollution? Find information on how plastic decomposes and how much time it takes. What eco-friendly technologies can help us stop pollution? What recycling technologies we can use? Positive aspects of electric cars. Why should we buy them instead of traditional vehicles? How can electric cars help us stop air pollution? What disadvantages they have? For example, describe the process of battery utilization. Funny Topics for a High School Persuasive Speech Find some evidence that UFOs exist. Begin your speech with skeptical arguments and then refute them from the ufologists’ perspective. Why should we stop tipping waiters? Focus on the fact that, by tipping, we motivate employers to pay minimum wages. Mention Japanese traditions ? Japanese waiters consider tipping as an insult. Why do we need to spend less time with our devices? Provide statistical data on how much time we spend surfing the web. What hard do mobile devices cause? How can we spend less time in social media? Why should we eat Chinese food with chopsticks? Find interesting information about the history of Chinese kitchen and etiquette. Imagine yourself a Big Brother and write a speech from this person. Try to make it a hate speech. Focus on some country that is currently at war and describe how people hate each other and why you like it. The moon landing was a lie. Choose any conspiracy theory about the fake mission and tell how the â€Å"fake† video with Neil Armstrong was filmed. Don’t forget to mention the fluttering flag. Why are GMOs actually good? Many people believe that GMOs cause various diseases, including cancer. Find reliable sources that prove the complete safety of GMO products. Why should we realize that ghosts are real? Present evidence that ghosts are real. Find some shocking photos and videos as well as interviews with people who claim that they have seen ghosts. Why pit bulls have a bad reputation? Provide your audience with information on the history of these dogs and refute common misconceptions about them. Abstinence is a perfect way to protect yourself from STDs or pregnancy. Present statistical data on the efficiency of abstinence compared to common contraceptives. Tell how abstinence can improve a marriage. If you can’t find any topic that looks interesting to you, check some creative ideas for a persuasive speech in high school: We need censorship in music. Orange juice is good for your health. We need law regulation for graffiti. Weed must be legal. Public broadcasting. Small stores are better than malls. We must drive slower. We should buy generics instead of brand name products. The best movie in history. Angels exist. Benefits of learning CPR. We must use public transport instead of personal cars. Agenda-setting in media. We need larger counties. Why we must read more. We should stop wearing tight pants. Stomach stapling. Darfur crisis. Benefits of joining the army. Smoking in public. Drinking is dangerous for society. Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Columbus Day. Build a strong family. Public bathrooms must be cleaner. Benefits of buying security systems. How to avoid food with artificial hormones. Live your life as good as you can. Alternatives for prisons. Why religious cults are dangerous. Reincarnation is real. We need to completely reduce secondhand smoke by making a smoke-free environment. Benefits of the Greek system. We need a strict system of regulations for the internet. We can fix potholes. France boycott. Why we need to ban fireworks. We need more strict laws for advertising. Good sides of state lotteries. We should ban aggressive driving. Why you should be who you really are. The best TV show ever. We must ban Ticketmaster. Why we don’t need sin taxes. The importance of bachelorette and bachelor parties. We shouldn’t use shock therapy. The government must control freedom of speech. Share the road with bicycles. Find Even More Topics for Your Persuasive Speech on Our Website! We know that sometimes it’s hard to find a good topic for your high school speech. If you think that you’re never going to make it, don’t worry and contact us. Place an order and our experts will find a perfect topic and prepare an impressive persuasive speech for you. Describe your task in details and our writers will deliver you the exact content you are looking for.

Ten Common Myths Regarding Teachers

Ten Common Myths Regarding Teachers Teaching is one of the most misunderstood professions. Many people do not understand the dedication and hard work that it takes to be a good teacher. The truth is that it is often a thankless profession. A significant portion of the parents and students that we work with on a regular basis do not respect or appreciate what we are trying to do for them. Teachers deserve to be respected more, but there is a stigma associated with the profession that will not go away any time soon. The following myths drive this stigma making this job even more difficult than it already is. Myth #1 – Teachers work from 8:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. The fact that people believe that teachers only work Monday-Friday from 8-3 is laughable. Most teachers arrive early, stay late, and often spend a few hours on the weekend working in their classrooms. Throughout the school year, they also sacrifice time at home for activities such as grading papers and preparing for the next day. They are always on the job. A recent article published by BBC news in England highlighted a survey asking their teachers how many hours they spend on the job. This survey compares favorably to the amount of time teachers in the United States spend working each week. The survey evaluated the time spent in the classroom and the time spent working at home. According to the survey, teachers worked between 55-63 hours per week depending on the level that they teach. Myth #2 – Teachers have the entire summer off work. Yearly teaching contracts typically range from 175-190 days depending on the number of professional development days required by the state. Teachers generally receive about 2 ½ months for summer vacation. This does not mean they are not working. Most teachers will attend at least one professional development workshop during the summer, and many attend more. They utilize the summer to plan for the next year, read up on the latest educational literature, and pour through new curriculum that they will be teaching when the New Year begins. Most teachers also start showing up weeks in advance of the required reporting time to start preparing for the new year. They may be away from their students, but much of the summer is dedicated to improving in the next year. Myth #3 – Teachers complain too often about their pay. Teachers feel underpaid because they are. According to the National Education Association, the average teacher salary in 2012-2013, in the United States, was $36,141. According to Forbes Magazine, 2013 graduates earning a bachelor’s degree would make an average of $45,000. Teachers with all ranges of experience make $9000 less a year on average than those beginning their career in another field. Many teachers have been forced to find part-time jobs in the evenings, on the weekends, and throughout the summer to supplement their income. Many states have beginning teacher salaries below the poverty level forcing those who have mouths to feed to get government assistance to survive. Myth #4 – Teachers want to eliminate standardized testing. Most teachers do not have an issue with standardized testing itself. Students have been taking standardized tests every year for several decades. Teachers have utilized testing data to drive classroom and individual instruction for years. Teachers appreciate having the data and apply it to their classroom. The high stakes testing era has changed a lot of the perception of standardized testing. Teacher evaluations, high school graduation, and student retention are just a few of the things that are now tied to these tests. Teachers have been forced to sacrifice creativity and to ignore teachable moments to ensure that they cover everything their students will see on these tests. They waste weeks and sometimes months of class time doing comprehension test prep activities to prepare their students. Teachers are not afraid of standardized testing itself, they are afraid of how the results are now used. Myth #5 – Teachers are opposed to the Common Core State Standards. Standards have been around for years. They will always exist in some form. They are blueprints for teachers based on grade level and subject matter. Teachers value standards because it gives them a central path to follow as they move from point A to point B. The Common Core State Standards are no different. They are another blueprint for teachers to follow. There are some subtle changes that many teachers would like to make, but they truly are not much different than what most states have been using for years. So what are teachers opposed to? They are opposed to the testing tied the Common Core. They already loathe the overemphasis on standardized testing and believe the Common Core will increase that emphasis even more. Myth #6 – Teachers only teach, because they cannot do anything else. Teachers are some of the smartest people I know. It is frustrating that there are people in the world that actually believe that teaching is an easy profession full of people that are incapable of doing anything else. Most become teachers because they love working with young people and want to make an impact. It takes an exceptional person and those who consider it glorified â€Å"babysitting† would be shocked if they shadowed a teacher for a few days. Many teachers could pursue other career paths with less stress and more money, but choose to stay in the profession because they want to be a difference maker. Myth #7 – Teachers are out to get my child. Most teachers are there because they genuinely care for their students. For the most part, they are not out to get a child. They have a certain set of rules and expectations that every student is expected to follow. The chances are decent that the child is the issue if you think the teacher is out to get them. No teacher is perfect. There may be times that we come down too hard on a student. This often results out of frustration when a student refuses to respect the rules of the classroom. However, this does not mean we are out to get them. It means that we care enough about them to correct the behavior before it becomes uncorrectable. Myth #8 – Teachers are responsible for my child’s education. Parents are any child’s greatest teacher. Teachers only spend a few hours each day over the course of a year with a child, but parents spend a lifetime. In reality, it takes a partnership between parents and teachers to maximize a student’s learning potential. Neither parents nor teachers can do it alone. Teachers want a healthy partnership with parents. They understand the value that parents bring. They are frustrated by parents who believe they have little to no role in their child’s education other than making them go to school. Parents should understand that they are limiting their child’s education when they do not get involved. Myth #9 – Teachers are continuously opposed to change. Most teachers embrace change when it is for the better. Education is a continuously changing field. Trends, technology, and new research are continuously evolving and teachers do a decent job of keeping up with those changes. What they fight against is bureaucratic policy that forces them to do more with less. In recent years, class sizes have increased, and school funding has decreased, but teachers are expected to produce greater results than at any time. Teachers want more than the status quo, but they want to be properly equipped to fight their battles successfully. Myth #10 – Teachers are not like real people. Students get used to seeing their teachers in â€Å"teacher mode† day in and day out. It is hard sometimes to think of them as real people who have lives outside of school. Teachers are often held to a higher moral standard. We are expected to behave a certain way at all times. However, we are very much real people. We have families. We have hobbies and interests. We have lives outside of school. We make mistakes. We laugh and tell jokes. We like to do the same things everyone else likes to do. We are teachers, but we are people too.

Personal develop plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Personal develop plan - Essay Example It is the means through which ideas are exchanged between people. I believe developing effective communication skills is important to effect any change. Even though I have these positive attributes there are some weaknesses in my communication. Although am clear and concise, my speech is sometimes stilted, and too formal1. This is evidence of tension and not being relaxed enough. Sometimes people find it difficult to follow my argument. Feedback shows that at times it is not easy to understand the flow of my argument or presentation of ideas. These are challenges I need to work and improve on, and I will do so in the following ways. In order to present a perfect argument or presentation through speech, I have to practice public speaking more often. I have to practice in order to be confidence when speaking smoothen my presentation. As I gain confidence, I will see a marked improvement. I will utilize the learning support offered by the University, to improve my writing skills. This will have a positive impact on my grades as my ideas will be well thought out written works. Better grades will be the resultant effect of this2. I will also dedicate enough time to research to enhance the quality of my presentation. Team work refers to the ability to fit in a group and successfully achieve the set goal or goals. The ease with which one fits and work in a group is the above mentioned skill. Working as a unit is important as it leads to division of tasks or assignment, which in turn yields faster and credible solutions. As far as this particular skill is concerned I believe am well above average. I have been in many situations where it was mandatory to be a team player and also situation where I have exhibited my leadership qualities. I have worked part-time in my uncle’s repair store. I was just but one of the employees. The nature of the work was such that we all relied on each other in order to do a