Research-based Reading Program Essay

The Texas Reading Initiative has outlined a fairly comprehensive statement on the value of reading and the significance of infusing the habit of literacy among the young. Besides teaching/conducting a reading program per se, the quality, depth and integrity of such teaching methodology is equally important. This is the main reason why most reading advocates have bannered the discourse of a â€Å"research based† reading program rather than the traditional teaching methodology for teaching children how to read. It works on the emerging assumption that teaching the young is delicate enough for the reading teacher to adapt a research-based method. The paper on Components of a Research-based Reading Program, part of the Red Book Series by the Texas Education Agency, outlines the fundamental attributes of the recent development of teaching reading among the young. It is composed of a deeper understanding of the recesses of a child’s mind, its formation, development and predictable growth (Hilgard, 2001). Generally, the essential attributes of these Twelve Essential Components comprise an advanced understanding of adult-child training and communication: the Teacher-Trainer, the channel and the recipient (the child). These maybe the basic attributes of ordinary communication but an analysis of the paper can reveal that the communication framework is actually the basis of this research-based program, not to mention that the concept of code interpretation and language are involved and mentioned in that paper. The two ends of this communication curve, the Teacher-trainer and the child are the live working elements of this reading program, which makes the simplest components. What is generally interesting in these Twelve Components is the channel element and how the child decodes the communication. The paper frequently discusses the concept of language and how the child perceives instruction from the teacher, which is its whole point. This is the brunt/meat of the teaching methodology, where the paper discusses â€Å"opportunities† and â€Å"strategies† to aid child development. Such things are stated on the paper as to how to exploit the nature of the language channel, where educators strategically use the oral component to understand the written language-the act of reading. According to the authors, by the oral way, the child is directed into opportunities for appreciating sounds, its differences and â€Å"referents†, a concept used by linguists. They say that children may read aloud and â€Å"understand their building blocks† (www. tea. com), which we assume as auditory building blocks. This may imply that to reinforce one’s reading, one has to learn how to speak it first, using the auditory logic of the language’s construction, thus utilizing the nature of the child’s brain to absorb these â€Å"building blocks† into communicative memory (www. childdevelopmentinfo. com). And of course, there is the written format to contend with. This is where the recipient can visually decode using some of the strategies. Decoding in this context means visually playing with the language construction (â€Å"wordplay† as the paper says) through â€Å"blending† and what they call â€Å"word families† and writing patterns. On a lighter note, there is nothing new about the research-based reading program offered by the Texas Reading Initiative. The allegedly â€Å"new† methodology works much like teaching a foreign language to students in the collegiate level, but in the child’s case, localized and specialized for a kindergarten or grade-schooler. The same opportunities and teaching strategies have existed in basic foreign language class in university, and child psychologists seem to find it effective if made easier for children. Reference: Child Development Institute. Reading Improvement. Retrieved January 27, 2008, from http://www. childdevelopmentinfo. com/store/reading-improvement. htm. Hilgard, E. R. (2001). Introduction to Psychology. New York : Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.

American Violet Movie Review

The movie â€Å"American Violet set in Hearne County Texas, depicts the victimization of innocent second class citizens who are subject to racial bias and police corruption. Hearne county, a small town run by a corrupt D. A. was conducting military type drug raids on low income housing units that targeted the African American population, and this was no coincidence. Shockingly, this all took place not many years ago, just in the year 2000. The culture in the south was still apparently highly prejudice and racists, even in the criminal justice system, causing much harm to innocent people.Due to the type of people they were targeting, the working class, the trickle down effect of who was being affected by these arrests was everlasting. Dee Brown, in the movie, a single mother of four, is a prime example who was the only source of income for her children and was only a waitress at that. The victimization process in this movie is incredible, and seems almost unreal how insensitive the D . A. was to these people, using them and manipulating them the way he did without any sign of guilt.This relates directly to our victimization class in how these people are victimized. First, falsely accused and arrested on charges by a single conformant, then forced into a plea bargain or almost a certain conviction. Victimization within the criminal justice system is still a big problem today, as the majority of cases are never sent to trial and almost always settled in a plea bargain. This is corruption within the system and needs to be fixed, but still nothing is done.And in order to save time and money judges push for public defenders to push the plea bargain upon uneducated clients who cannot afford their own attorney. Thus, in order for the public defenders to make any money they must hear many cases, and in order to do this they cannot waste their time taking cases to trial. Even if their client may in fact be not guilty, they cannot run the risk of losing, and also more imp ortantly angering the judge. Therefore the reason to the never-ending vicious cycle of corruption within our criminal justice system which all comes down to power and money.Which was apparently a major reason to why these drug raids were happening in Texas. Federal money was going to the counties with the most drug convictions, and having someone in charge of the D. E. A. with racial bias to the African American community made these projects easy pickings. In a small town in Texas, going against the D. A. was simply asking for a lawsuit to brought up against yourself, and to the reason why these raids went on for years, without anyone speaking up for these poor people being served injustice.I believe we are far from an uncorrupt criminal justice system, but are working in the right the direction. The sad thing is, that behind all the corruption within the system, their will always be victims, and when dealing with corruption many times it is innocent people being victimized. Racial factors also will always be an issue no matter what era we are in, and would be naive to overlook it as the nation did so for so long in Texas, not believing that such racial discrimination could still exist in the 21st century.

Elementary Educator Essay

To become an instrument of education is a privilege that allows one to free ignorant minds. Next to food, clothing and shelter, education sustains an individual’s life. And this education has the most impact in the early years of childhood. Counting a few years into the future, I would like to have the opportunity to play an important role as an elementary educator. Early Education What we are now, what sustains us as we become adults, is the culmination of our experiences and education through the years. Education in the early stages of life is the most crucial. The things we are taught when we are young are carried over the years when we become adults. As one book title goes, â€Å"all I ever need to know I learned in kindergarten,† and that I believe in. At some point in our lives, we will always go back to the basics. Early education accounts for all the basic skills that we need to know — arts, music, math, science, language and social studies. It begins with learning through play. Later on, the elementary educator becomes responsible for gradually changing the medium of instruction from games to more formal means such as classroom teaching. More depth into the subjects is now incorporated and various modes of teaching are practiced. It now involves passing on knowledge from the teacher to the student in the most effective way possible. For the most part, it is important that educators are intelligent and well-educated themselves. Not only do they need to have the desire to teach but they also need to have the desire to practice lifelong learning. Teaching entails accurate and up-to-date knowledge in the various areas of study. The daily routine involves preparing lesson plans, creating visuals, learning and teaching technology, administering examinations, evaluating presentations and overseeing activities among others. It is the educator’s responsibility to pique his students’ attention and to keep them focused on the goal of learning. The responsibility, however, does not end in the technicalities of the job. Apart from formal instruction, there are other classroom duties that the educator needs to oversee wherein students can also learn (Wingo and Schorling, 6). These duties teach students to be responsible and develop soft skills such as management, leadership and organization among others. Therefore, it is also important that educators understand and are able to practice these soft skills themselves. To be considered a successful teacher, however, requires going beyond these roles and responsibilities. To be a great teacher is to provide guidance toward emotional and social maturity (Wingo and Schorling, 15). And to do this, the educator’s sincerity needs to be seen by the students to inspire respect and trust. Once the respect and trust is established, the relationship will take on a higher level of confidence. Given these roles and responsibilities, it is only appropriate that those, such as me, who wish to be educators, be required to have earned at least a bachelor’s degree (a degree in Childhood Education is required for those who wish to teach in private institutions), completed an approved teacher training program and be licensed (Teachers par. 1). The degree ensures that the educator is equipped with the right knowledge and tools to teach. The training ensures the educator is prepared to take on the challenge that he is about to be involved in. But only experience can teach the educator establishing effective learning and personal relationships in the actual environment. Envisioning a Lifelong Career The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that 1 in 4 Americans are enrolled in educational institutions. This fact equates to 13 million jobs in the education industry. To further add to the statistics, employment is highest in elementary and secondary schools. School attendance is compulsory until age 16 – more students, more teachers needed. As for the wages, it increases as the level of educational attainment increases. Elementary school teachers are reported to average at 43,000USD. Given these numbers from the BLS of the U. S Department of Labor, I can assess that I am looking at a promising career in the education industry. There is a demand for workers in the field given the number of students required to take early education. I am looking at job stability with this demand and its fair share of wages. In a few years, expected retirements will also create job openings. If eventually I come to the decision that I would want to move forward in my career, there is very high potential that I will be able to do so. All I need to do is pursue my studies further so I can move up the next level of teaching. The good thing about being in the education industry is that the need for learning will never cease. And the learning areas that exist are endless. There are a number of options one can have from preschool education to middle school and secondary education to vocational and special education. One can choose to be in a public or private institution. Learning becomes very rewarding because it becomes possible not only for the students but for the teacher as well. A curriculum exists to be followed but the creativity in the execution of this curriculum is left to the teacher. However, as with any other career, frustrations can arise with learning motivation problems. And it is an educator’s duty to understand his students and inspire motivation (Wyse, 2). Behavioral issues are also concerns of the teacher. Even violence whether minimal or very brutal (i. e. killings as reported in the news), is possible. Handling these kinds of situations can be very tough but it is part of an educator’s duties. Resolution of these problems requires the establishment of good teacher-student relationships through gaining trust and respect and the development of a healthy classroom environment. Overall, I look at being an elementary educator with more advantages than downsides. The potential for my growth in this field, given the degree that I am pursuing, is something I am looking forward to. To be able to contribute to this nation’s progress through honing the skills of our students and enriching their minds is an honorable achievement.

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I will be able to provide you with more info once we get started - Research Paper Example Language particularly the mother tongue is probably sensitive index for exploring the ethnic composition of the populations. Statistics based on the ability to speak a specified language or languages are perhaps the least useful measures for identifying the ethnic groups but they have a utility in connecting with the problems of educating and communicating with linguistic minorities and they are means of pointing out heterogeneity of languages within the country and measuring their individual strength. Such data are specially important in countries where more than one official language is being spoken. Two major types of errors in census data leads to over and under enumeration of the population in census the first one being the coverage errors and the second one being the content errors which affect the accuracy of the information collected for the covered population. Since coverage errors occurs most frequently in a population or subgroup than others it may affect not only the abso lute number of persons in a given category but also their relative distribution. Levels and patterns of coverage and content errors differs widely across countries and even from census to census in a given country. Data on mother tongue are designed to identify the cultural or ethnic groups in population by languages reported to have been spoken in early childhood presumably before immigration. Objective and Aim of the Study In this study I wanted to test the hypothesis the relation of languages spoken ( first and second languages) in country by the population in relation to birth in that country or may be an immigrant. Methodology We randomly collected data from a population called R and interviewed them on the languages spoken( first and second languages) and were also asked whether they were born in that country or not. While making this study we wanted to minimize the predicted errors of missing data, coverage errors and content errors. We simply left out the missing data while doing our analysis. Results Fig 1 reflects the data collected in the percentage of the population( valid data country born and preference of language spoken) versus the missing data percentage of population which was left out from the survey Fig 2: Series one reflects the frequency of population speaking language in the country versus the series 2 whether born or not born in that country. The correlation coefficient was calculated about the percentages of population surveyed and language spoken found that the correlation co-efficient was 1 which indicated that the language spoken is definitely related to the birth in a country that means the more the population born in a particular country more he speaks the first or native language of that

Henry Peach Robinson Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Henry Peach Robinson - Essay Example The best-known nineteenth-century popularizer of fine-art principles among photographers was Henry Peach Robinson, an English commercial photographer who published a series of popular studio manuals introducing design concepts such as balance (of lines and mass), composition (of figures and lines), and chiaroscuro to both American and European photographers." (Brown, 187-8) Through his single most famous text, Pictorial Effect in Photography (1869), Robinson celebrated pictorialistic style which helped the development of photography in general. Therefore, Henry Peach Robinson is the most important photographer and theoretician of the nineteenth century and he is celebrated as the pioneer of pictorialist photography. An analysis of the major works by this eminent photographer and the photographic tools and processes used by him helps one in comprehending the elements of pictorialism and the pictorialistic style in detail. ... "The term pictorialism was used generally by photographers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to describe an artistic approach to the making of photographs as well as to define a number of specific groups organized to promote art photographers and their work... In 1869, Henry Peach Robinson published his Pictorial Effect in Photography, giving weight to the notion of photography as a self-conscious art form and popularizing the critical concept of pictorialism." (Peres, 103) It is essential to comprehend the definition of pictorialism exactly as the modern usage of the term has been found misleading and pictorialism original referred to any photograph that put the completed picture first and the subject second. Therefore, pictorialism also incorporated the more modern trends the photographs of this category emphasized atmosphere or viewpoint more importantly than the subject. The historical significance of the movement also helps one to realize the various aspects of pictorial ism. "Pictorialism served historically as a reaction against the flood of unexceptional and easy photographs enabled by the technical advances of the 1880s. Convenient innovations such as the dry plate hand-held camera, and flexible roll film, as well as improved camera design and optical sharpness, made camera work available to a larger group of amateurs whose primary concern was the graphic recording of information." (Peres, 103) The photographers of pictorialistic movement were disapproving of the literal representation of subjects and the scientific and commercial applications of the medium. Therefore, the formation of a group under the banner of pictorialism needs to be realized as a natural and spontaneous attempt to promote