Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 26

Assignment - Essay Example I for instance understand the importance of the type of communication to be made in writing. This is because of existence of different types of written communications that requires different approaches, formats, and formalities. A written communication also has to exhibit a high level of clarity to ensure efficient and effective message delivery to the recipient. This is because a clear message relieves the audience of possible strains in decoding and understanding the message and reduces chances of the message being neglected by the recipient. My skills in written communication also include the knowledge that such communications should be as short as possible to facilitate clarity of message. A written communication should also have an appropriate tone that considers the audience, and should be free from mistakes. An example of a written communication is in communication of an organization’s financial position to a potential investor (Guffey and Loewy, 2012). The program has similarly developed my ability to work as a team player, a factor that will allow me to fit into the accounting department that heavily relies on teamwork. I am particularly able to convey a given piece of information with a high level of clarity in expression. I have also developed good listening ability that allows me to receive communications from people, to understand them, and to respond to their needs appropriately. These facilitate interpersonal relationships towards team building and successful teamwork. I have similarly learnt to develop a positive attitude to any situation that may arise during interactions with team members. Such a positive attitude helps in managing identified weaknesses among other team members and develops trust towards a cohesive team. Similarly, I have developed patience and the ability to interact with people. While I developed these through practice during the course, their applications have demonstrated

Reflection Paper final Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Reflection Paper final - Assignment Example I believe another issue that makes the writing appealing to me is the candid manner in which Bugbee voices his doubts and uncertainties which I believe is instrumental in describing his wondrous journey of the mind and the heart while not only making him a participant in his own philosophy, but also a witness of his own processes and productions. For purposes of this reflection, I will reflect upon driving to Mexico which I find most interesting and the one that I can best identify with. The first thing that makes me identify with driving to Mexico is that while also driving I tend to let my mind wonder about things I find most pressing and more often than not, I end up agreeing that actually faithful reflection on the experience of things must resist the attenuation of experienced reality which I also believe arises from ignoring concrete realization. As a matter of fact, I can relate my life’s journey with the driving to Mexico as reading the part brings back the sobering experience of the extraordinary difficulty of coming to grips with my own beliefs while also reinforcing my belief that one should not say something that does not arise from what he believes in his heart. When criticizing what he seemed to be doing while driving from Massachusetts down deep to Mexico which made him clarify the basis of his objections, it downed on me that before clarifying the truth behind by doubts and thoughts, it is important that I take my time and deeply reflect upon the issues which would make the reflective concern to which should keep recurring. Greenwood Bugbee in the text makes a profound statement against philosophical certainty and the quest for nothing but the absolute truth. I tend to agree with the author that while it is true that confusion is not necessarily a bad thing, it is actually a natural part of human experience. I agree and believe that indeed the only aspect of life that provokes anxiety is the false notion that there exists a single path for

Investigating the Possibility of a Developmental Trend in the Way That Children Describe Themselves Essay Example for Free

Investigating the Possibility of a Developmental Trend in the Way That Children Describe Themselves Essay This version of Rosenberg’s research into children’s self-descriptions analysed data from semi-structured interviews with two children; Annie (8) and Kirsty (16). The data was interpreted to ascertain whether, as in Rosenberg’s research, children’s self-descriptions show evidence of a developmental progression and whether locus of self-knowledge shifts from other to self as children get older. Substantial support was found for Rosenberg’s theory that children’s self-descriptions become more complex with age and demonstrate a developmental trend. Some support was found for the idea that the locus of self-knowledge shifts from other to self with age but some of the children’s responses ran counter to expectation. Introduction A child’s sense of identity begins to form at a young age and develops throughout childhood. Eleanor Macoby (1980) pointed out that a sense of self emerges gradually as a child develops more complex understandings. Research shows that children differ in the way that they describe themselves at different ages. Bannister and Agnew (1977) and Harter (1983) found that as children get older they use more complex descriptions and include more references to emotions and attitudes. Younger children rely more on physical attributes, activities and preferences. Bannister and Agnew (1977) proposed that as children get older they become better able to ‘distinguish themselves psychologically’ from others (The Open University, 2009, p.20). Harter (1983) proposed that the way children describe themselves follows a developmental sequence which reflects the notion that identity develops in increments throughout childhood. Rosenberg (1979) focused part of his research into the self-concept on investigating this idea of a developmental trend in children’s sense of identity. He interviewed a sample of 8-18 year olds and created categories in which to sort the children’s responses. In keeping with the findings of Bannister and Agnew and Harter, Rosenberg found that younger children used mostly physical descriptions of themselves while older children relied more on character traits. As a result he concluded that ‘the self becomes less and less a perceptual object and more and more a conceptual trait system’ (Murphy (1947), as cited in The Open University, 2009, p.21). He found that, as children get older, they focus more on interpersonal traits and refer more frequently to relationships and inner qualities. Rosenberg also investigated what he called the ‘locus of self-knowledge’ – the extent to which children develop an ‘independent, self-reflective sense of self’ (The Open University, 2009, p.22). This was measured by asking children who knew them best, themselves or someone else. He found that younger children were more likely to claim that another, usually a parent, knew them better. Older children were more self-reliant when it came to judging themselves. Therefore, Rosenberg concluded that the locus of self-knowledge shifts with age from another to the self. Increased self-knowledge would result in more psychological self-descriptions so this relates to the idea of developmental progression being demonstrated in children’s self-descriptions. This study is based on Rosenberg’s research and is an analysis and interpretation of interview data. Children’s responses are allocated to Rosenberg’s categories in order to answer the research question: Do children’s self-descriptions show evidence of a developmental trend? This study will focus on answers to the ‘Who Am I?’ statements but will also pay attention to further interview responses to understand differences in the way children of different ages self-evaluate, view themselves and others and conceptualise an ideal self. This study also examines the concept of a locus of self-knowledge and asks: Does a child’s locus of self-knowledge shift from other to self with age? Method Design Rosenberg’s research design is employed in this study the responses from a semi-structured interview are compared. Participants The participants are Annie (8) and Kirsty (16), pupils from schools in the Milton Keynes area. They were recruited by the ED209 course team who asked school teachers for help in identifying willing participants. Materials A microphone and a video-recorder were used to amplify and record the interviews. Rosenberg’s semi-structured interview, with questions on self-description, self-evaluation, self and others, ideal self and locus-of self-knowledge was used. A sheet of A4 with the words ‘Who Am I?’ printed at the top and ten numbered lines beginning with ‘I’ was provided to enable participants to complete the written exercise. Adaptations of Rosenberg’s categories were used to analyse the responses to the Who Am I? exercise. The analysis of the ‘Who Am I?’ statements was presented on category analysis forms (appendix 1). A consent form was provided for the parents of the children to sign. Procedure The interviews took place in May 2005 during the day. Both children were interviewed by members of the ED209 course team in familiar rooms used by the schools. Annie was accompanied by a classroom assistant. The participants were told that they could stop the interviews at any time and were briefed as to the purpose of the research. A sound recordist and producer were present but efforts were made to ensure that neither they nor the equipment used inhibited the participants. Background noise was occasionally intrusive and recording halted. The final recording of the interviews was edited to ensure a smooth flow. The recorded interviews were listened to several times. The ‘Who Am I?’ statements were identified and transferred onto a pre-prepared category analysis form (appendix 1). The categories, Physical, Character, Relationships and Inner, were adapted from Rosenberg’s (see appendix 2). Each sentence read out by the interviewer was taken to constitute one statement. The statements were then coded. To ensure coding consistency, each statement was reviewed against the criteria for the inner category, then relationships, then character and then physical. Only if there was no way it could be said to fit within the ‘higher’ category was it pushed down. Even if it may have fitted within two categories, the fact that an order of review was applied meant that it would not be considered for a second category if it had already been allocated. Once the categories had been applied, the responses in each column were added up and the percentages calculated so that the results could be compared with Rosenberg’s findings. Next the detailed responses to the interview questions, including the locus of self-knowledge questions, were analysed in the context of Rosenberg’s research findings. The responses of the children were analysed to see if the same patterns were present. Ethics The data collected by the Open University ED209 course team was intended to comply with the BPS ethical code and principles. The children agreed to take part and their parents signed consent forms on their behalf. At the start of each interview the children were informed of their right to withdraw from the research and were told that they could ask for the recording to be stopped at any time. The purpose of the research and they way in which the data would be used was explained to them before the interviews began. Results The first research question was: Do children’s self-descriptions show evidence of a developmental trend? The second research question was: Does a child’s locus of self-knowledge shift from other to self with age? Table 1 shows a comparison between Annie and Kirsty’s self-descriptions. It shows that the majority (60%) of descriptors used by the younger child are about physical characteristics and activities and the remainder are character descriptors. She makes no reference to relationships or inner qualities. The majority of the older child’s responses relate to inner qualities (50%). She spreads the remainder of her descriptions across the physical, character and relationship categories. Self Evaluation When discussing their strengths and weaknesses, Kirsty focused far more on character and relationship descriptions than Annie, who focused on physical attributes, particularly for her weak points (‘my ears my legs’). However, Annie counted her friends as a strength and the fact that she likes ‘being myself’. Self and Others Annie’s awareness of similarity to others in her age group was centred on having the same likes and dislikes. She also identified differences between herself and others in this way. Kirsty talked about having the same experiences as others her own age but identified character and inner traits as distinguishing her from others. Ideal Self Annie’s notion of herself in later life was focused upon what job she might do and how else her time may be spent. Kirsty focused on the character traits that she hoped to have developed. Locus of Self-Knowledge The locus of self-knowledge responses were not straightforward as both participants gave ambiguous answers at times. Annie conceded that in some ways her mother would know her better than she knew herself and Kirsty insisted that her mother knew her just as well as she did herself. Discussion In the ‘Who Am I?’ data, it can be seen that, in accordance with Rosenberg’s findings, the majority (60%) of descriptors used by the younger child are about physical characteristics and activities. Rosenberg found that older children are more likely to use character traits to define the self. In this analysis, Kirsty actually uses a lower percentage of character descriptors than Annie, but this is influenced by the large percentage of inner descriptors used. The data in this study supports Rosenberg’s finding that older children referred more frequently to relationships. He also noticed that older children were more likely to reference inner qualities, which can be seen by the high percentage of Kirsty’s inner descriptors (50%). For the main part, the analysis of the self-description data supports Rosenberg’s findings. Rosenberg found that older children focused on interpersonal traits when describing their strengths and weaknesses. Kirsty’s responses follow this pattern but Annie also mentioned the large number of friends she has as a strength. She also said that ‘being myself’ was a strength which was interesting. The interviewer explored this a little more and she seemed to revert back to describing preferred activities. Further prompting, however, may have ascertained that by ‘being myself’ she meant that she was confident about who she was, which would be a character description. It is difficult to tell at this point if Annie lacks the ability to explain what she means which may affect the results. Rosenberg found that only 36% of 8 year olds mentioned interpersonal traits when talking about the person they would like to become, compared with 69% of 14-16 year olds. Annie and Kirsty’s responses fall into the majority pattern for their age group. Analysis of the data provides a positive answer to the research question, Do children’s self-descriptions show evidence of a developmental trend? The developmental trend as identified by Bannister and Agnew, Harter and Rosenberg, is characterised by younger children relying on physical attributes when describing themselves and older children being able to use more sophisticated and complex descriptions that focus more on psychological characteristics. The data in this study largely supports this theory. The evidence for the locus-of-self-knowledge shifting from other to self with age (as Rosenberg found) is less obvious. When asked about who knows her best at school Annie identifies teachers and parents as being the best judge of her performance, which supports the idea that the locus of self-knowledge in young children rests with another. However, when questioned further about who would be right if they had different answers about Annie’s maths performance, Annie’s responses indicate that she is the best judge of her ability. However, when questioned about her behaviour at home she places the locus of self-knowledge with her mother. Kirsty, somewhat surprisingly given her high percentage of references to inner qualities (indicating high self- knowledge), believes that her mother would know her just as well as she knows herself and explains that her mum has ‘pretty much figured me out’. She decides that any differences in answers about how she would behave at home would be a matter of different interpretations. It is possible that Kirsty is unsure about what is being asked and a reformulation of the questions might provoke different responses. Although Kirsty does not exactly place the locus of self-knowledge within herself, she does not place it with someone else either, and so the data does not, in itself, contradict Rosenberg’s theory. The analysis of the locus of self-knowledge responses produces some support for Rosenberg’s findings but it is not conclusive. However, it is important to remember that this is a sample of only two participants and so the data is not enough to prove or disprove his theory. Another limitation of this study is that the coding reliability was not checked. Coding was applied according to one person’s interpretation. Had the coding of the data been interpreted differently results may have been different for the self-descriptions data (see appendix 3 for alternative coding of Kirsty’s responses. In this instance the evidence in favour of a developmental trend in self-descriptions is present but less compelling). Another consideration lies with the ethics of the research. The issue of informed consent is often difficult in research with children. In the case of a young child, such as Annie, it is not clear that she fully understands the nature of the research, despite the fact that it is described in simpler terms than those used to explain it to Kirsty. It is also possible that the power-imbalance between the interviewers and the participants may prevent them from withdrawing from the interview, even if they are told that they can. Conclusion The results of this study provide support for the idea of a developmental progression in the way that children describe themselves, particularly the analysis of the ‘Who Am I?’ data. Qualitative analysis of the other interview questions, however, while showing some support for Rosenberg’s theory, also presents some deviation from expectations.

Signs of Harm and Abuses Social Work Codes of Practice

Signs of Harm and Abuses Social Work Codes of Practice Allan Cochrane Introduction In this essay I will be looking at signs of harm and abuse, ways in which the individual may become vulnerable to abuse, legislation in relation to safeguarding and codes of practice in which we as social care workers must adhere to in order to safeguard an individual. Harm and abuse is something that unfortunately happens, but there are ways in which we can recognise the signs of children who are victim to this. Physical abuse can lead to neurological damage, injury, disfigurement, disability and in the most severe cases death. The possible signs of physical abuse could see someone with injuries that arent consistent with an explanation given for how they received them, injuries to the body in places which are not normally exposed to falls or rough play, injuries that have not received medical attention, bites, bruises, burns and fractures that do not have an accidental explanation, reluctance to change for or take part in, games and sports activities. The effects of sexual abuse could include behaviours such as self-harm, inappropriate sexual behaviour, depression, sadness, and a severe loss of self-esteem. The impact of this is believed to increase the longer the abuse continues. The possible signs of sexual abuse could be eating disorders such as bulimia or anorexia, sexual activity through words or drawings, repeated urinary infections and stomach aches, severe sleep disturbances, allegations concerning sexual abuse, preoccupation of sexual matters and knowledge of adult sexual behaviour or engages in sexual play inappropriate for the childs age, the child is provocative or seductive towards adults. Neglect of a child can have an impact on health, social functioning, education, growth and development, relationships and more severely death. The possible signs of neglect could be hunger, tiredness, dirty clothes, clothes too big or too small or inappropriate for weather conditions, left to fend for themselves or left unsupervised, unkempt, dirty hair, dirty skin, bad odour, untreated illness, infected cuts (www.kirkleessafeguardingchildren.co.uk) There are many ways in which children can be vulnerable to abuse such as parental substance abuse, the child has poor communication skills, absence of supportive/structed living environment, family is isolated, family dysfunction, history of abuse in the family, family refuse professional help, witness to abuse or domestic violence, child has no support/rejected by parents or carers, family live in poverty, poor housing conditions, family have an unhealthy social network, parent/s suffer from depression/stress, parent/s unable to supervise child. In recent years, we have seen a rise in children being targeted online, in a report by the Herald, it is estimated that the number of indecent communications recorded under the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009 between adults and children under the age of 13 rose from 103 in 2013/14 to 165 in 2014/15. In 2010 when the legislation first came into force there were only 15 offences recorded by Police Scotland, under the legislation it is an o ffence for a person to send sexual written and verbal communication to a child. (www.heraldscotland.com/news/14569603.Rise_in_the_of_Scottish_sexual_predators_targeting_children_online/) The Children and Young Peoples (Scotland) Act 2014 is a current piece of legislation designed to safeguard our children and young people, the act focuses on the rights of the children and young people in Scotland-encourages Scottish ministers and public bodies to think about these rights and how they relate to their work, the wellbeing and getting it right for every child (GIRFEC)-by improving the way services work to support children, young people and families, early learning and childcare-to strengthen the role of early years support the childrens and families lives, getting it right for looked after children-to ensure better permanence planning for looked after children. The act will also strengthen existing legislation that effects children and young people by creating a new right to appeal a local authority decision to place a child in secure accommodation, and by making procedural changes in the areas childrens hearings support arrangements and school closures. (www.gov.scot/To pics/People/Young-People/legislation/proposed-bill) The SSSC is the regulator of the social service workforce in Scotland, their role is to protect the public by registering social service workers, setting standards for their work practice, conduct, training and education and by supporting their professional development. Where social service workers fall below these standards of practice and conduct, they will investigate and take action. Some of the duties and responsibilities set out by the SSSC to safeguard individuals are 3.3 follow practices and procedures designed to keep me and other people safe from violent and behaviour at work, 3.9 enable people who use services and carers to make complaints. Take complaints seriously and either respond to them or pass them to the appropriate person. Take appropriate action when there is an allegation of harm, 4.3 take necessary steps to the reduce the risks of people who use services harming themselves or other people (Scottish Social Services Council, codes of practice for social service w orkers) Conclusion My research has shown me the various ways in which harm and abuse is perpetrated on an individual and the signs that we can look for to prevent further abuse or harm taking place. It has also shown me government legislation in protecting individuals and codes of practice that social services worker must work to, to safeguard individuals in our care. Word count:Â  883 References http://www.kirkleessafeguardingchildren.co.uk accessed 12.02.17 http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/14569603.Rise_in_the_of_Scottish_sexual_predators_targeting_children_online/ accessed 12.02.17 http://www.gov.scot/Topics/People/Young-People/legislation/proposed-bill accessed 14.02.17 http://www.cyps.org.uk/policy/children-young-people-scotland-act# accessed 14.02.17 Scottish Social Services Council, codes of practice for social service workers

Rowing :: essays research papers

Rowing, the Best Team Sport   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Rowing, the thrilling team sport that gets you physically/mentally fit and provides you a second family with many friends. In the sport of crew, teamwork is very crucial. With that teamwork comes new friends and wonderful coaches. Even though you might think this is a physical sport it is also considered to be a mental sport. Just think, baseball has nine innings, approximately two hours of play and a lot can change in that period of time for a loss or win. With crew you only have about seven minutes to get your eight man boat down a two thousand-meter racecourse to receive a medal or win. If you have the lead it is mentally hard to come back and win for the rowers behind the top three boats. Aside of the teamwork going on is the individual effort that you yourself is contributing to the boat. As you are out on the water in the eight man boat you always need to give it your all even if it means pain. In fact, our coach just tells us to eat pain. As you are giving 100% and in pain, your brain is working 100% too. Handle height, legs down quick and hands down and away quick along with the part of feathering the blade. Those are the things you focus on during a race. Oh yeah you also have a cool little person screaming at you to pull harder. They are known as the coxswain (Cox-in). When the coach isn’t there listen to them because they are the assistant coaches. All this is the first stride you take to get that gold medal. Come on you can do one more push up! When you’re in the gym you do not have the support of teammates. At crew you will not give up because of the support you have from your teammates behind you. In the gym you can just say, â€Å"Oh that set can be done another day,† and give up. We have in crew on Tuesday and Thursday a 2k-meter ergometer (erg) test to see who will be in an 8A boat, that is our eight fastest men of our crew. These are the days that you need your friends behind you pushing you so your time comes true that the couch gives you. I know this might seem harsh but when it is all over with you feel very great about the way you look and how you just pulled on the 2k test.

Elevator

Hey Gaby, I just started my class online with the University of Phoenix, let me tell you a little bit about it because I know you were interested in going back to school as well. Online courses are also known as distance learning, which means that you are earning your education via online. Instead of being in a traditional classroom setting and having that face to face contact with your teacher, distance learning is student centered instructional format that allows you to take courses without having to commit to a regular campus attendance. I personally enjoy doing distance learning; so far I have been able to easily concentrate on my work. The reason why I chose to do distance learning is because I really have a hard time attending regular face to face classes due to my work schedule, very much similar to the situation you are in Gaby. Just like your goals I want to continue to pursue my degree further and I didn’t want to stop attending school so I chose this avenue. Distance learning is a field where instructional systems are designed to deliver education to students who are not able to physically be in classroom site. In my opinion I think you would enjoy distance learning and you would be able to focus a lot easier. I really enjoy doing it because I love working with computers, some people say that they do not like it but most people that I have spoken to say that they really enjoy it as well. You should really try it I truly recommend it; I was scared at first because I was concerned about having questions that I would like to ask my teacher in person and via online you do not have that opportunity. The method used to communicate with your professor and or classmates is through forums and thread discussions. In these forums and threads you post your questions and responses to other posts as well, somewhat like a live chat room. This is referred to as asynchronous communication; because you are not receiving feedback onsite like you would in a regular face to face classroom. To be honest with you it was a little frustrating learning how to navigate thru everything but once I had spoken to my advisors and they explained to me how everything worked things went so much smoother. As the time has gone by I have gotten the hang of it and I think you would pick up the process pretty easily too. Hope that this information has shown you that there is a way for you to continue your education just like I am.

Pros and Cons of Death Penalty

Death Penalties The death penalty is a controversy discussed by many state governments in the United States, the 8th amendment in the Bill of Rights is a right that protects people from cruel and unusual punishment. This amendment originally created by our founding fathers has been the main reason for this debate; some states look at death as cruel and unusual punishment while others don’t. Though the decision to sentence someone to death is considered harsh by some judges and juries, there have been crimes and occurrences where a judge feels a death penalty is reasonable.I am against the death penalty, with my knowledge of its pros and cons it seems that the pros are over powered by the cons. Criminals who are facing life in prison, crimes of rape, torture, treason, kidnapping, murder, larceny, and perjury. People like these who can never handle themselves in the normal world; constantly being resent back to prison, or permanently in prison from their beginning sentencing. Al though these people pay their own consequences and debts by their punishment, we must also help support them; with our taxes we pay for their living.However it may sound that we invest more money paying for their stay in prison rather than their death. In reality, the process of a death penalty is more expensive and complex than life without parole. This is so because we must pay for their incarceration, automatic appeals, and federal habeas corpus appeals. This process ends up costing us millions more, millions more that can be used to create programs for teenagers to avoid ending up in the same position.People also believe that the death penalty could decrease criminal acts because it could frighten people from committing something extreme, which is also incorrect. In my perspective the death penalty does not reach the minds of most criminals because a criminal rarely believes he/she could be caught. They hold a belief that they are intelligent enough to outsmart authorities. Ther e is other whom holds such anger towards certain crimes that they believe death is a rightful punishment, but death does not â€Å"undo† a crime they have committed. I think it would be better for a criminal to think and reminisce their conscious.Their death would only put peace in their state of mind and except them from the punishments that prison holds for them. Families harmed by these criminals are sometimes frightened by the thought that they’re persecutor could escape and harm them again, however someone sentenced to life in parole in the united states has never escaped or been released. There is also a possibility that an innocent person could be convicted of a crime they did not commit, even with all our new technology and DNA testing there is always a chance of making a mistake.Though there are also pros to the death penalty, my opinion is that it should not be allowed. I say this because it is more costly than life in prison being the process is more complex and long. It does not secure the deficiency of crime acts because of criminal’s confidence that they will not be revealed. Persecuted families are just as secure due to our highly restricted and watched prisons. There is also always a possibility we convict the wrong person, these reason lead me to be against the death penalty.