Valuing Literacy Essay Example for Free

Valuing Literacy Essay In speaking about the value of literacy in the classroom, it is essential to reflect upon our own personal histories in the classroom setting. Being that my favorite content has been primarily math, it was often difficult for me to be interested in literacy. Language, both spoken and written, did not appeal to me in the same way that math and numbers did. I always found math to be very logical, simple and straight forward, with understandable rules, while language seemed subjective, with rules that alter and change over time. However, even though language was not my favorite subject, it is vital to understand the ways in which people are aided by having a strong command of language. Development The development of the child as one passes through the school system is a constantly shifting and evolving process. I remember listening to bedtime stories as a young child and learning to read, then learning how to spell and write in elementary school and understanding the parts of speech. As I progressed into secondary school, I was expected to organize and refine my writing, developing concepts in depth. It is a natural process for children to start out slow with literacy skills. However, it is important for children to be supported in language acquisition as they grow older, promoting the comprehension of multifaceted ideas (Plaut, 2008). Content There were various methods employed by my parents and teachers to help me to fully understand the content of literacy. When reading with my parents, we took turns reading and pronouncing words. They encouraged me to read to them, just as they were happy to read to me. In elementary school, I received further instruction in grammar and semantics, learning how words worked within sentences, how words were spelled, how to gain meaning from the concepts being communicated. In secondary school, I was encouraged to write essays, to fine tune my organizational skills, and to communicate ideas in a comprehensive and orderly fashion. Experiences In reflecting on how some of my experiences with literacy were helpful or harmful, it is important to note that not all children learn about language in positive ways. Sometimes, the very people who are supposed to be our teachers use language to deflate the self esteem of children. I remember being reprimanded for reading something incorrectly, and the result was that I was less confident the next time. On the other hand, I remember instances of teachers praising my writing and pointing out what worked. I believe that praising the good is often more productive than shaming the mistakes. Social Impact The social impact of literacy is an important element of language acquisition. When family members, teachers, and friends are not highly educated in literacy or do not value language skills, then the result is a social environment which is not adequately supportive (McKenna Robinson, 2009). Social interactions have a way of making or breaking a person, and it is important to recognize the gulf between the expectations of the greater academic society and the reality of one’s social atmosphere. Practice In bringing my own literacy skills to a higher level and moving from being a student to being a teacher, it is highly important for me to be able to be an excellent model of literacy to the students I teach. Although I am focused on being a math teacher, the explanation and understanding of any subject has to be successfully communicated through language (Zwiers, 2007). It is of utmost importance to me and my future students that I be able to support them in polishing their literacy skills. In order to do this, I must focus on my own level of excellence. References McKenna, M. Robinson, R. (2009). Teaching through text: reading and writing in the content areas. Allyn and Bacon. Plaut, S. (2008). The Right to Literacy in Secondary Schools: Creating a Culture of Thinking. Teachers College Press. Zwiers, J. (2007). Building academic language: essential practices for content classrooms. John Wiley and Sons.

Gender and Power Relations in Browning’s Porphria’s Lover and My Last D

Gender and Power Relations in Browning’s Porphria’s Lover and My Last Duchess Robert Browning provides a critical view of gender and power relations in his dramatic monologues â€Å"Porphyria’s Lover† and â€Å"My Last Duchess.† The dramatic monologue, as S.S. Curry has written, "reveals the struggle in the depths of the soul† (11). Browning delves into the minds of characters to show their conceptions of women and ideas of power. He explores the mental processes of the characters, and invites readers to question societal ideas of power and gender. The mental pathologies of the speakers is emphasized, which forces readers to examine the sanity of their own notions of gender dynamics. In the Victorian age, the idea of separate spheres was an integral part of society. Men’s roles involved participation in the marketplace of the industrial society. Women, on the other hand, were expected to remain in the domestic sphere. They were assigned subordinate, and often passive roles, whereas men played direct roles in an industrial society, therefore being active agents. William Greg’s review-essay â€Å"Prostitution† (1851) provides insight into societal conceptions of men and women and their respective roles. Although Greg believes prostitutes are treated unfairly by society, he nonetheless views prostitution as â€Å"the darkest, the knottiest, and the saddest† social problem â€Å"which philosophy has to deal with† (448). A critical reason prostitution is ostracized is because it violates traditional ideas of gender relations. Prostitutes are women who participate in the marketplace. They, therefore, venture outside the realm of their expected sphere, the home. This is dissonant with Greg’s view – which is a reflection of society’s view ... ...nventional gender relationships. They were assumed to be the active agents and women were expected to be passive. Browning draws attention to the madness of the narrators by delving into their minds. In doing so, Browning forces readers to question their own conceptions of gender and power relations, since the men’s views are but an exaggeration of societal ideas concerning gender dynamics. Works Cited Browning, Robert. The Complete Works of Robert Browning, Volume III. Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press, 1971. Curry, S.S. Browning and the Dramatic Monologue. Boston: Expression Company, 1908. DeVane, William Clyde. A Browning Handbook. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, Inc., 1955. Foucault, Michel. The History of Sexuality, Volume I. New York: Vintage Books, 1990. Greg, W.R. "Prostitution." The Westminster Review 53 (July 1850): 448-506.

Questions on International Marketing

1. What are the important issues that need to be addressed when conducting marketing research in a foreign country? Cultural differences, racial differences, climatic differences, economic differences, religious differences, historical differences, language differences, differences in actual and potential target groups. 2. What are the factors that add to the complexity of international marketing research? Ethnocentrism, polycentrism, regiocentrism, geocentrism. 3. What are the steps to be taken in coordinating international research? Identifying and defining your problemDeveloping your approach Establishing research design and strategy Collecting the data Performing data analysis Reporting and presentation 4. What are some ethical problems that marketing researchers face in designing and conducting field studies in different countries? Some questions can be very strong or offensives to some culture, but this same questions can be very normal to another culture, so people who are thi nking in doing a international marketing research should be very careful in how they structure the questions because everything depends in the culture. . Peter Philips, an engineering student, has designed an innovative piece of equipment to help the physically disabled to communicate. The equipment incorporates a system of electronic signals emitted with a slight turn of the head. This product is currently a success in the United States among health-care organizations. Peter wants to market this product in different countries. Acting as Mr. Phillips’ marketing/international business consultant, suggest a course of action to help Peter bring this product to the international market. This is an extra question which will have more weight than the other questions) Well, first of all peter has to choose which market he is going to hit, I mean in which country he would like to sell his product. Then he would have to make an international marketing research in which this investigat ion clearly helps him to know if this country it’s interested in this product, because a lot of people might not be interested in this product or they don’t know this new product.The research need to give very important information about how the economy is going in that country, I mean this product can be in the profit range for American people but a some other people in other country can’t afford such an expensive equipment, so it might be very risk to enter to that new market. Besides this here comes the legal and policies barriers in which he have to know how to negotiate all this barriers. So it is very important before introducing a new product to a country to make an marketing research so you can know and measure the risk that it would take to introduce your new product another country.

Assessing Leadership In The Telecommunications Sector Business Essay - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 5 Words: 1608 Downloads: 10 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Marketing Essay Type Analytical essay Did you like this example? Direct Telecommunications Pls (DT) has gone from being one of the most successful telecommunications companies, to a position, where it has accumulated to an enormous dept. Responsibility for this dreadful decline has been attributed to the Chairman of DT, David William. Report will analyse the differences between leaders and managers, explaining why David William should be more of a leader than a manager. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Assessing Leadership In The Telecommunications Sector Business Essay" essay for you Create order Short definition of leadership will be given followed by the characteristics of successful leader. Explanation of Hierarchical organisation structure and its disadvantages will be provided following the benefits of more appropriate organisation construction, also suggestions how Direct Telecommunications could achieve it followed by conclusion and recommendations for the company. Characteristics of successful leader Frequently the group leaders appear in a large organisation, they are very enthusiastic, they encouraging and helping others toward achieving companys goals. According to the book writer organisation without leaders would be only the group of confused people. In every organisation where is at least one leader who is leading the others. Thereto leadership is the ultimate act that identifies, develops and uses the potential that is in the organisation and its people. People tend to use the term leadership and management, then they talk about companys management structure as its leadership or than they talk about individuals who are actually manager as the leaders of various teams. One of the most important characteristic of successful leader is intention to lead and decision to become a leader. Leader has to provide a vision of the future of organisation and to be able to inspire others to successes. The vision must be aimed throughout the organisation. Second important thing t o be a successful leader is to be able to see the goals and objectives of organisation, follow the vision, to provide direction and to guide other employees. Personal characteristics such as intelligence, courage, inspiration, competence and honesty are also very important for the leader of organisation. Why David should be more leader than a manager? Undoubtedly leadership is an important part of management. Managers are required to plan and organise, but the leader role is to influence others to seek defined objectives enthusiastically. This means that the person can be a strong leader, but the poor manager, if they poor planning orient the group to the wrong direction. Sometimes its opposite person can be a very weak leader but at the same time be a relatively effective manager. In real business organisation people expect excellent managers to have reasonably high leadership ability. According to business analysts David Williams does not have the leadership skills that modern companies require, he is more concerned about controlling and maintaining the organisation, these skills are more suited to the organisation of the past. Nowadays then telecommunication market is so competitive, he needs more of the leader skills to respond quickly to the changes in the market place. As competition responded to the changes in the market, David did not bring any changes in the organisation, which is one of the reasons why company faced the downturn. Leader is usually role model of the organisation and other employees tend to follow them. David was not open for new changes, did not have a clear vision and promptly set goals of the future. It may be a lot of reasons of that, such as, lack of resolution and courage, motivation deficiency, which cost the failure of all business. David should me more initiative, courageous with a clear vision of changes and to inspire others to success, not just plan and control the organisation. Disadvantages of Hierarchal structure A proper organisation structure its very important to a company as it helps management to achieve its objectives. According to business analytics DT is still organised in a traditional Hierarchical structure. Decision making is still made by the committees, which takes far too long to make the necessary decisions in a rapidly changing environment. Hierarchical structure is usually used and still usable in a big organisation such as DT. In Hierarchy employees are arranged at the various levels within the organisation, where each level is above the other and at each level one person has a number of workers directly under their control (see the picture below) (Hierarchical Organisation Structure) Usually is centralised with a highest role, where the most important decisions being taken by top managers, most clearly defines each workers position within the organisation and shows their relationship with other employees. A traditional hierarchical structure clearly defi nes each employees role within the organisation and defines the nature of their relationship with other employees. Hierarchical organisations are often tall with narrow spans of control, which gets wider as we move down the structure. Â  As organisation grow bigger hierarchical organisation is practical, because management could ensure command and control of the organisation. Nonetheless this organisational structure has quite a few disadvantages. First of all organisation can become bureaucratic and respond slowly to the changes, which are essential for organisation and for customer needs. Secondly is disadvantageous because of communication between the various sectors can be poor, as they apart from each other. Another disadvantages is that department can make decisions which are more beneficial to them rather than to the company and business. In some way it is good for a highest management, but is it suitable for the company, especially nowadays then widespread use of tech nologies downsize and reduce the workforce. Technologies took over the functions previously carried by the humans. Analysing DT situation we can see that David did not introduce any new technology and did not adapt to the changes in the consumer telecommunications market, while the competitors did. That was another reason of DT failure. The Matrix Structure Another alternative to DT could be the matrix organisation structure, which been used by big organisations such as hospitals, government agencies, universities, management consulting firms, laboratories and construction companies. (Matrix structure) The strength of the matrix is that individuals with highly specialised skills are lodged together in one functional department or product group. The structure has two different grouping, each function and project has a manager, and each subordinate is a member of each group, usually having two supervisors. Matrix system improves companys coordination by allocating project responsibility to a single coordinator rather than spreading it among the number of heads of functional department. Furthermore it could improve the communication between employees, because they have the opportunity to talk about the project or work plan with both colleagues in their project team and in the functional department. There is no doubt that changes need to be introduced in DT as soon as possible on purpose to save the organisation and be able to respond to the increased competition. One of the most important tasks for David, would be reorganisation of the companys structure, as we know people who perform the work is the base of success and grow of the business. First of all proper organisation structure, such a matrix, should be used and the plan of systematic arrangement of work should be made. By using the matrix the better plan could be made such as, for example financial department would be in one axis and department of geographical areas would be on the other, it might be beneficial to have each of its geographic units interlaced with its finance section. The matrix structure would allow DT to decide if they have a capital necessary to purchase the license and develop the particular area or if it should take advantage of an opportunity in another region. It would help DT improve the work efficiency because people f rom different departments would cooperate closely, they would share the data and it would help them to achieve common goals. Matrix organization may use the recourses more efficiently than other organic structures because of speed and flexibility. Moreover matrix management system will improve motivation in the DT, because decision making within groups becoming more democratic and participatory, because each member is able to bring specialized knowledge and skills to the table and usualy when people have a direct impact on decisions, they are more likely to experience higher levels of motivation. Furthermore become more responsible, they work harder and seeking to reach the common goals. Conclusion To sum up the report above we could state that is essential to introduce some major changes in the Direct Telecommunication, starting from the chairman David Williams. It is obvious that he is more of manager than a leader, but there is no doubt that he should become more of the leader on purpose to save the business. Report shows that good leader has to have and provide a vision of the future of organisation and to be able to inspire others to successes. In the other hand you can not save the organisation by being just a good leader, you also have to have a good organisational structure, in this case it would be changing the old hierarchical structure to a new, more effective matrix organisation, which would help introduce the new technologies and improve employees efficiency. Properly structured organisation will release energy and creativity, rationalise productivity and will improve morale. After implementing all these changes in DT, company will be able to grow, to return to t heir previous market position and compete with other telecommunication companies. Recommendations David Williams should be more of the leader, rather being just a manager. Be more responsible for the organisation, set the clear goals, spread it throughout the organisation and inspire other to success. Liquidate the old inefficient hierarchical organisation structure and introduce more responsive, such as matrix. Introduce new technologies. Respond faster for the new changes in the market.