Reading reflection Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Reading reflection - Essay Example According to McLean, ethics and morality is a key ingredient of not only article editing but also the acquisition of information for the same (182). These critical aspects serve to establish and maintain not only the reputation of an individual journalist but also his /her employer. Persuasion of these modalities establishes a strong sense of trust from the audience to the reporter. Newspaper articles readers are aspiring to reading news from credible sources; those made by individual journalists or stations that practice and or embrace workplace ethical codes of conduct. The justification of the conclusion so made draws from the rationale of establishing a strong ethical perspective in journalism work. It is beyond reasonable doubt that any story that is aired live or written as a newspaper article should exhibit high levels of accuracy in factual data; journalist should not merely write stories. Besides, precision is critical for any piece of report; it means directly pinpointing the issue under discussion. Journalists must also establish a balance between justifiable and unjustifiable stories before

Thomas Jefferson Essay Example for Free

Thomas Jefferson Essay What do we know about Thomas Jefferson as far as his life and work are concerned and did he really deserve to have his name on the Declaration of Independence?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Thomas Jefferson operated on two levels, as his opposition to slavery as a slave owner attests. Willard Sterne Randall argues, (Randall, 1994) this duality is what made him so effective. Whether Thomas Jefferson’s 1784 draft of Virginia’s constitution â€Å"prefigured the founding documents of republics in Europe, Asia, Africa and South America, as well as the Confederate States Of America,† as Randall claims, is questionable, but his impact on international trade, diplomatic discussions and the success of the state of Virginia cannot be disputed.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In the book, â€Å"Life of Thomas Jefferson) author B.L. Rayner tells us (Rayner, 1834) that Thomas Jefferson was born April 13, 1743 on the farm called Shadwell, adjoining now what is called Monticello, in the county of Albermarle, Virginia. He was inaugurated as President in 1801.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   At the age of five, young Thomas Jefferson was placed in an English school where he attended faithfully for four years and he was left an orphan at the age of fourteen.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Willard Sterne Randall also explains that the acquaintances that he formed in college probably determined the route of his ambition. These were the first characters in the whole province, among who he has placed on records the names of three individuals who were particularly instrumental in fixing his future destinies. Dr. Small was one of his professors in college who made him his daily companion.   Governor Fauquier to whose acquaintance and familiar table, he was admitted, and George Wythe, his faithful and beloved mentor in his youth and one of   his most affectionate friends and allies, during his life.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   â€Å"After having proved the original motion asserting their independence, Congress proceeded the same day, July 2, to consider The Declaration of Independence, which had been reported to lie on the table.† Rayner tells us. The debates were again renewed with great violence. It’s progress was continually disputed.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   I strongly believe that Thomas Jefferson’s name should be signed on the Declaration of Independence, since the Declaration of Independence was chiefly written by Thomas Jefferson and he created the first rough drafts of the papers and he also made several emendations to it, including alterations he ascribed to John Adams and Benjamin Franklin, who along with Jefferson, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston made up the committee charged by the Continental Congress with the drafting of a declaration in which Thomas Jefferson was one of the most important characters in which the Declaration of Independence was written and signed.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Thomas Jefferson made a huge impact on our nation during his life and with his important work, which included being a national leader; The President of the United States of America, and an important figure who was especially involved in the creation of the Declaration of Independence. Randall, Willard Sterne, (1994), Thomas Jefferson: A Life, Harper Perennial. P. 18 Rayner, B.L., (1834), Life of Thomas Jefferson, Lilly, Wait, Colmon Holden, p. 45

Janey’s Dance :: Child Development Short Stories Essays

Janey’s Dance The Doe household is silent, seemingly without life in all its rooms. Yet listening carefully, a faint sound can be heard leaking from the walls of little Janey’s playroom. Moving closer, the tunes of Lamb-Chops sing-a-long cassette tapes become impeccably clear: â€Å"This is the song that never ends . . . â€Å" Peeking inside, not wanting to disturb the natural environment of the 11 month old, we see Janey’s reactions to this â€Å"classic† song. She is standing latched onto her chartreuse play table, bouncing up and down and flailing her right arm in an infant’s rhythmic motion. Her mouth is open in a wide, goofy grin as squeaks of happy sounds are released into the air. She is, in effect, dancing to the rhythm of Lamb Chop. What has contributed to Janey’s behavior? How has she progressed from a sedentary, crying newborn to an active, excited infant? There are a few different ways to interpret this developed behavior, stemming from four distinct theoretical frameworks used in the field of developmental psychology. Each model has its own explanation of Janey’s Lamb-Chop dance and all provide important contributions to a justification of this charming behavior. An examination of the infant’s dance from a biological-maturation perspective focuses on the development of Janey’s physical structures and physiological processes that allow her behavior to take place. This activity should not be expected from a three month old because an infant of that age has not experienced the maturational changes in the body and brain that are necessary to facilitate dancing in it’s earliest manifestations. Human development occurs in a cephalocaudal pattern, thereby beginning in the head and working downward from that point. Coordinated muscle movements of the arms are not apparent until approximately three months of age and the same behavior in the legs usually not witnessed until around nine months. To allow movements to occur, an infant’s bone and muscle structures must develop from the soft, thin, fragile structures they are born with. â€Å"The bones in the hand and wrist are among the first to ossify† (Cole & Cole, 2001, p.

School Curriculum

Language is the organized speech used as our means of communication. It is a differentiated system as used by a section of human race. A second language is learned after the mother tongue. It is an advantage to speak several languages since we are associated to multi-cultural environment, a preparation to orientation and exposure to variety of languages in the workplace. A second language contributes to the preservation of different cultural identity within a unified society and the medium of instruction of worldwide scope in education, business and different professions. Studies show that bilingual children score higher on standardized tests than those who speak only one language. In fact, students who have studied a foreign or second language for four or more years scored higher than students who had studied other subject for the same number of years. Finally, students who have studied four years of foreign or second language scored higher in mathematics than students who had taken four years of Math (Cook 45). Acquiring fluency and eloquence of a second language must be done in several yet systematic stages. The basis of language such as sound, vocabulary, grammar, enunciation and so on must be rigidly developed. There must be a learning situation which is generally applicable to learners of different first language backgrounds. The ideal time to start teaching is in childhood wherein a child can learn up to five different languages if a child is commonly exposed to this, commonly the language used in the household regularly. Children and adolescents respond more readily by means of cognitive and academic approaches. So each age range would seem to have pros and cons with regards to language learning. If on educational, political and philosophical grounds children are to be introduced to second languages based on psychological needs, it cannot be the only consideration. Age is not certainly the individual factor in language learning. Cognitive factors, style, personality, attitudes and motivation play a vital role in this complex question of second language learning. Correction of grammatical and enunciation errors does not have a direct influence on learning a second language. However instruction may affect the rate of learning but will undergo the same stages. Children and adolescents who know the systematic way of learning the second language comprehends faster than those who do not (White 354-356). Learners of the second language have knowledge that goes beyond the input they received in other words the whole is greater than the parts. Learners are able to construct utterances of phrases, sentences and questions that they have never seen or heard before. Furthermore children and adolescents who have limited input still acquire the first rather than the second language. Bilingual education should be repaired not replaced. It helps provide long periods of total English immersion as well as opportunities to interact with native speakers. There are several teaching methods that will help primary and secondary students learn a second language. The immersion training of which where regular hours are spent in schools in studying the language, taking a distinct language subject, the grammar translation method and the direct method. In the grammar translation a method student are instructed in grammar and are provided vocabulary with direct translations to memorize and was predominant in Europe in the 19th century. Today most instructors acknowledge the infectivity of the method itself and for written languages also. The teaching of grammar consists of a process of training in the rules of a language which must make it possible to the students to correctly express their opinion, to understand the remarks which are addressed to them and to analyze the text which they read. The objective is that after primary and secondary, the pupil controls the tool of the language which are the vocabulary, grammar and the orthography. By this time a pupil can be able to read, understand and texts in various contexts (Mangubhai 156-158). The teaching of grammar examines the texts and has developed the awareness of language constitutes a system which can be analyzed. This knowledge is acquired gradually by traversing facts of language syntactic mechanism, going from simplicity to complexity. The teacher is supposed to correct the exercises so that the pupil can follow his progress in practicing the language through comparison of results. The direct method, sometimes also called natural method, is a method that refrains from using the learners' native language and just uses the target language. It was established in Germany and France around 1900. The direct method operates on the idea that second language learning must be an imitation of first language learning, as this is the natural way humans learn any language – a child never relies on another language to learn its first language, and thus the mother tongue is not necessary to learn a foreign language. This method places great stress on correct pronunciation and the target language from outset. It advocates teaching of oral skills at the expense of every traditional aim of language teaching. According to this method, printed language and text must be kept away from second language learner for as long as possible, just as a first language learner does not use printed word until he has good grasp of speech. Learning of writing and spelling should be delayed until after the printed word has been introduced, and grammar and translation should also be avoided because this would involve the application of the learner's first language. All above items must be avoided because they hinder the acquisition of a good oral proficiency. India with its huge population and apparent new boom for English learning as mentioned by Gupta (12-18) is also a large beacon of English learning. Just these two countries alone and their appetites for English education give us a new sense of the increased diversity of language ownership; something Phan Le Ha (456-458) touches on in her article on the internationalization of the language and non-natives increasing critical role in teaching, development and learning. It signals the reality that those learning English will be significantly entered around or originating from Asia. Therefore educators need evermore to recognize the importance and distinctive context based needs of those requiring education in English outside the traditional native speaker contexts. This is not inherently contradictory with those with persistent arguments that many general principles of acquisition should be understood and appropriately applied by educators within their distinctive classroom settings and communities. Chew (144-149) in her article on reviewing the evolution of syllabi in Singaporean English education, indicates that the single centred approach to a syllabus may be ebbing, increasingly substituted by a more eclectic one. Whether this experience will be replicated in other countries in the region, may be difficult to exactly say. It may be that we are in a period of the â€Å"end of methods†. But like others in different social sciences who harkened the end of ideology, it may be more prudent to view change as largely evolutionary with recurring ebbs and flows depending upon the current contextual streams of challenges. However, the attractiveness of task based learning relates not only to the enumerated benefits. It provides rather a useful practice that that can be applied across many approaches, as well as boundaries. Task based learning may provide an enduring legacy that meets the test of time. It may also provide a curricular and syllabus framework of flexibility that logically students and teachers will be drawn to even if it need not be the central leitmotif for certain places. For example, tasks could include, completing a grammar bingo game after a contrastive analysis, grammar-translation based presentation. Subsequently, task based communicative teaching practices could be supported to incorporate the appropriate grammar into developing two way oral skills through an interview exercise. Again, the task approach does not deny that in some Asian classes -or anywhere in the world for that matter- that certain traditional approaches need to have their day. Rather it is especially supportive of an integrated approach, or even where the needs of the learner may be solely communicative. However, again task selection and development is the key to better ensure specific needs are met. In doing this, the educator needs to be conscious of principles and aspects of acquisition. In this respect Ellis (203-206) has so well summarized here with authority and clarity the general understanding in the profession on instructed language learning. We are further faced with the fact that the true task of learning a second language in the many EFL environments that Asian learners find themselves are removed from a lot of ‘naturalistic†, non-classroom, English speaking settings. Such an understanding of these realities and the principles that surround realistic classroom learning can be of service to classroom teachers wondering what methods, approaches and practices to choose at a specific time. It reminds us of the value of the extensive reading programmes to which Helgesen (514-516) alludes can be so useful for Asian learners where they are limited in their accessibility to communicative English in a natural environment. Teachers in such contexts may need to be reminded, at times to extend the task work outside the classroom with proper direction that permits students to develop independent learning skills that facilitate students to do the extensive work necessary to gain fluency. In cultures where top down approaches are in the main, instructors be they native teachers or not, need to be cognizant of these realities and limitations. We can not simply, for example, put all learners on the Internet or through CALL, clap our hands and say â€Å"go to it†. Again learning context, as related to acquisition can be highly relevant, which Ellis (256-258) would seem to imply. The process of language learning can be very stressful, and the impact of positive or negative attitudes from the surrounding society can be critical. One aspect that has received particular attention is the relationship of gender roles to language achievement. Studies across numerous cultures have shown that women, on the whole, enjoy an advantage over men. Some have proposed that this is linked to gender roles. Doman (511-512) notes in a journal devoted to issues of Cultural affects on SLA, â€Å"Questions abound about what defines SLA, how far its borders extend, and what the attributions and contributions of its research are. Thus, there is a great amount of heterogeneity in the entire conceptualization of SLA. Some researchers tend to ignore certain aspects of the field, while others scrutinize those same aspects piece by piece. â€Å"Community attitudes toward the language being learned can also have a profound impact on SLA. Where the community has a broadly negative view of the target language and its speakers, or a negative view of its relation to them, learning is typically much more difficult. This finding has been confirmed by research in numerous contexts. A widely-cited example is the difficulty faced by Navajo children in learning English as a second language.

The Zoo Story

Daniel Castellanos THE2000 Ms Janet Roney 12/1/12 The Zoo Story Edward Albee’s â€Å"The Zoo Story† is a one act play that shows what alienation and loneliness can drive a man to do. It is a unique story in the sense that you almost feel as though you are reading in on a social experiment. I consider it is an experiment because of how the reactions between the two characters Peter and Jerry lead up to an intense and life affecting climax between the two. The idea of The Zoo Story is about a middle class man with a wife and two daughters named peter who you can say is quite receptive to what life has given him so far.However, you also have a man named jerry who is just about the opposite. Jerry is unfortunately friendless and not to happy with what life has brought to his plate. One day these two characters have a date with destiny on a New York City park bench. As Peter is minding to himself Jerry comes along and tries to befriend him. The socialization between the two doesn’t go as planned for Jerry. Nevertheless, Jerry walked into that conversation with another plan. It was one that included his own death.Eventually, it ends up into a confrontation between the two where Jerry is punching thus forcing Peter into defending himself. Jerry then pulls out a knife and tosses it towards Peter forcing his hand. In self defense, Peter picks up the knife and holds it up which then leads to Jerry charging towards the knife and thus murdering himself. Peter reactively says â€Å"Oh my God† whereas then with Jerry’s last breath he says â€Å"Oh†¦My†¦ God is a combination of scornful mimicry and supplication†. His last words give you an insight on what this novels idea could be.After reading, I started to relate to how Aristotle’s theory on Plot matches to â€Å"The Zoo Story†. When you think of plot you would consider the arraignment of events such as rising action and climax. Now when you start to stick to gether the structural plots in this story you would begin with the exposition where Peter is sitting on the park bench and soon then enters Jerry. The rising action would have to be the conversation they both shared leading up until the moment Jerry spits and then punches Peter. Of course, the climax is the scene when Jerry then tosses the knife on the floor and hen forces Peter to choose between leaving or quite possibly killing a man with his own weapon. The falling action is when Jerry runs into the blade consequently killing him. Therefore, leading to the resolution which is the last words Jerry is able to say to Peter after his initial reaction to his death. The idea of characters would mainly consist of the protagonist and the antagonist. In The Zoo Story it puts you in the life of Jerry who, to some, would come off as the antagonist however to me I see him as the protagonist.It is clear that Jerry is a man who is lonely and desperate to make a friend. It starts with Jerry try ing to make an effort to communicate with Peter, yet he doesn’t seem all interested. As each new topic Jerry comes up with is diminished it gives me the feeling that all Jerry is trying to do is socialize with another human being. The theme of a play is usually the reason why the playwright would write the play. The theme we come across in this play is Loneliness.