Literary Analysis of the novel Enders Game Essay

Literary Analysis of the novel Enders Game - Essay Example This essay analyzes the heroic evolution of Ender Wiggin and how he successfully meets the criteria of an American monomyth. In Ender’s Game, the readers are firstly made aware of Andrew Wiggin’s character, particularly the strange story of his birth. Andrew Wiggin is labeled ‘Third’, because he is a third child in a civilization that imposes harsh punishments on parents who have more than two offspring. Especially strange was the fact that his birth was ordered by an oppressive, authoritarian regime, triggering the cause-and-effect waves of remorse arising from his former-Mormon mother and former-Catholic father, who feel in Ender the guilt of violating their public oath not to bear more than two offspring, and their intense buried desire to â€Å"multiply and replenish the earth† (Collings 102). The actual existence of Ender is ironically a continuous condemnation of their inability to live in accordance to the rules of their society and a continuous mental note of the deterioration of their religion. Ender is secluded and reserved from the very start. He should have not existed, but he did. The story’s action starts toward the finale of the second phase of Ender’s evolution. He has put on the monitor and was discovered deserving of the state’s involvement in and postponement of its rulings with regard to thirds. At this time, all of a sudden, he is shoved into a new dilemma. The monitor is taken away, and he should show his capacity to work—indeed to survive—without any way out. Repeatedly, all through the story, Card mentions this theme as Ender successfully grasps something about every new scenario and is, therefore and instantly, presented to new, more difficult test, that consequently necessitate new, more advanced insight (Spinrad 159). The method of repetition is vital in the story, because the author handles the American monomyth with intricacy and richness; nowhere does Card merely depend on it for a direct

Pallitive care week 7 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Pallitive care week 7 - Essay Example The BSN nurses are more experienced and learned than the diploma-prepared nurses (Joishy, 1999). Physician-assisted suicide is offered to the patient by a medical health professional as a means of ending the patient’s life. Ethical issues raised include the quality of life, autonomy, and acting on the best interests of the patient. The patient has the right to refuse medical treatment even when the nurse or the physician believes that the treatment is for the best interest of the patient. In such a situation, withholding the treatment of the patient as requested is not assisting the patient to die but rather a show of free-will and dignity towards the patient. The main challenge is the definition of what the patient’s best interests are and the identification of who should be allowed to determine the best interests, and if they can be met by administering a certain treatment or withdrawing it (American Society of Registered Nurses, 2010). American Society of Registered Nurses. (2010). Dilemma for nurses: Physician-assisted suicide. Retrieved from

Taking Middle School Kids Back to the Adventurous World of Literature Essay Example for Free

Taking Middle School Kids Back to the Adventurous World of Literature Essay The problem is that middle school students in Texas do not practice leisure reading creating a deficit in their reading skills as measured by the National Center for Education Statistics. Texas students showed an upsetting lack of improvement in reading on the Nation’s Report Card. In 2011, the average score of eighth-grade students in Texas was 261. This was lower than the average score of 264 for public school students in the nation (National Center for Education Statistics, 2011). The purpose of this review of literature was to examine reading interventions to promote positive attitudes towards leisure reading. The need is to improve reading skills as reflected reading scores on the Nation’s Report Card. Students who do not take time to read tend to have poor reading skills and sadly many students in middle school choose not to read. The transition from elementary to middle school makes an impact to the student’s interests and pastimes. Middle school students read less due to time spent with peers, participation in sports activities and other after-school activities, and to a growing lack of interest in textual materials (Johnson, Mckenzie, Miranda Williams-Rossi, 2011). Once the students stop practicing leisure reading, they start struggling with reading. Studies confirm a decline in reading scores on standardized tests, a decline in attitudes towards reading and a growing number of students who have good reading abilities, but choose not to read (Rodriguez Lira, 1998). When students stop practicing leisure reading they stop exercising their vocabulary affecting their reading comprehension. â€Å"The goal of comprehending text is not easily attainable for many adolescents, who demonstrate consistent and persistent difficulties with reading for understanding. † (Vaughn, Klingner, Swanson, Boardman, Roberts, Mohammed, Stillman Spisak, 2011). According to rate and accuracy scores, middle school students have shown a tendency in declining grades. One of the reasons might be because decoding to reading comprehension drops in adolescence and older students have more highly developed strategies that reduce their confidence on word identification skills (Reed, 2010). Middle school students in Texas struggle with their reading skills because most of them do not practice leisure reading. Both qualitative and quantitative studies demonstrate a connection between success in school and the amount of leisure reading students do (Allington McGill-Franzen, 2003; Krashen, 1993, as cited in Hughes- TAKING KIDS BACK TO THE WORLD OF LITERATURE 2 Hassell Pradnya Rodge, 2007). The purpose of this literature review is to recognize the problem of students who choose not to read and find a possible solution to motivate them in devoting leisure reading time. There are a numerous of experimental, quantitative, qualitative, descriptive, correlational, and causal-comparative research studies done in the State of Texas and outside of Texas that have identified this problem and gathered data, important information, and suggested interventions to create possible solutions. According to Knulst Kraaykamp (1998), leisure reading is the reading students choose to do for pleasure; is the reading done for a hubby or fun, it is a non-school recreational activity. Students in elementary schools do practice leisure reading, but once students get to middle school this practice declines. For some reason many students who are good readers simply choose not to read (Beers, 1998). Students Do Not Comprehend What They Read One of the reasons students choose not to read it is due to the lack of reading comprehension making them lose interest in literature. In the article â€Å"Understanding the Cause of Intermediate and Middle School Comprehension Problems†, the authors were able to conduct a qualitative study by conducting a causal-comparative research. They determined the reasons of middle school students who struggle with reading is due to the lack of comprehension in specific vocabulary knowledge, background knowledge, or an understanding of subjects’ metaphors. They stressed students do not necessarily understand the meaning of words they are able to pronounce (Palumbo Loiacono, 2009). After analyzing their findings they describe data where it shows students in kinder garden were more exposed to narrative reading than to comprehension skills. They indicate that once the students get to middle school, it is now the teacher’s task to teach reading skills, comprehension strategies, vocabulary, and the multifaceted problems of subject matter text by using a variety of activities, supports, and scaffolds (Palumbo Loiacono, 2009). As a possible solution, they suggest using a strategy that has being used in the past since 1980 called Instructional Cloze (a story summary where every fifth word is deleted to be filled in the blank so students can be engaged in subject matter knowledge) to improve subject matter comprehension (Palumbo Loiacono, 2009). TAKING KIDS BACK TO THE WORLD OF LITERATURE 3 Many students don’t understand what they read, but comprehension is not the only reason they choose not to read for pleasure. Skills Alone Do Not Produce Readers On the other hand, Beers, the author of the article â€Å"Choosing Not to Read: Understanding Why Some Middle Schoolers Just Say No†, conducted a qualitative research and found out that skills alone do not produce readers. Reading experts recognize that some students leave school with the ability to read, but without the desire (Beers, 1998). Competency tests force many teachers to think they should focus more on reading skills than on reading pleasure (Maracek ,1978, as cited in Beers, 1998). According to Beers, reading can become a desired activity or an undesirable one. One of the great disasters of present-day education is not so much that many students leave school unable to read and to write, but that others graduate disliking reading even with the abilities they might have. Some of the reasons that indicates as to why students dislike reading is too much television, too little parental modeling, and too much emphasis on a skills approach to reading (Beers, 1998). In order to identify the different kind of readers in middle school, Beers gathered data by conducting interviews to reluctant reading students with openended questions on attitudes towards reading. After this, she provided descriptive data that displays characteristics of uncommitted, unmotivated and unskilled readers. With this data, she was able to see patterns of responses and understood students choose not to read for great number of reasons. Those patterns helped her to categorize types of aliteracy (Beers, 1998). In the Merriam-Webster dictionary, aliteracy is stated as the quality or state of being able to read but uninterested in doing so (hacker, 2012). Beers was able to observed devoted and inactive readers want to choose their own books, have teachers read aloud a few pages, meet the author, buy books at a book fair, keep a reading journal, go to the library, participate in panel debates, small group discussions or share books with friends. While uncommitted and unmotivated readers do want to choose their own books from a narrowed choice, have teacher read aloud entire book, compare movie to book, read illustrated books, do art activities based on books, read nonfiction material such as comic, sports, drawing, cars, fashion, make-up magazines (Beers, 1998). Beers TAKING KIDS BACK TO THE WORLD OF LITERATURE 4 did not give treatments to students in order to determine which reasons causes the distaste in reading, instead she conducted a survey to students about their feelings towards reading to gather qualitative data. Parents Modeling Leisure Reading According to the survey Beers conducted, parental modeling takes a big role in encouraging adolescents to literature practice. Devoted and inactive readers talked about their childhood where they remember seeing their parents reading to them at all times of the days and also remember their parents reading books in front of them, everywhere they were. On the other hand, many of the unmotivated students said their parents don’t read and they explain their parents used to read to them when they were kids but only before going to bed, it was an activity meant to keep them quiet and make them go to sleep. So they would see reading as a boring activity (Beers, 1998). This statement was also observed by researchers Hamston and Love, who conducted a quantitative and qualitative study at a private school. Their article is titled: â€Å"Voicing Resistance: Adolescent Boys and the Cultural Practice of Leisure Reading†. In this research the authors decided to focus on boys, leisure reading, and family reading dispositions due to the concerns raised in the literature regarding boys and literacy (Hamston Love, 2005). The study was conducted in a three year period at a private boy’s school. There were two stages in this research. In the first stage, Hamston and Love focused on 91 boys identified as good and committed leisure time readers. In the second stage, the researchers focused on 75 boys identified as mostly able readers who choose not to read. In both stages of the research, quantitative and qualitative data was gathered from each student through questionnaires about their reading practices, their parents, and the ways their parents share reading with their sons (Hamston Love, 2005). After observing and analyzing the questionnaires, researchers gathered quantitative and qualitative data where they were able to identify a similar culture for committed readers in the study; their parents guided them and facilitated them with leisure time reading. While reluctant readers show several acts of resistance and they lack enthusiasm to engage in the reading practices due to communication and relationships between these boys and their parents (Hamston Love, 2005). The TAKING KIDS BACK TO THE WORLD OF LITERATURE 5  research shows reluctant readers resist to reading novels since they are not highly motivated, they consider these privileged text. However, they are engaging in reading and interacting with multi-media, electronic and complex visual texts that relate to their lives as adolescents, but they still lack the passion in engagement to textual practice. (Hamston Love, 2005). The Leisure Reading Habits In a quantitative and descriptive research done at an urban middle school, Hughes-Hassell and Rodge (2007) found an interesting fact about the leisure reading habits. In this particular school, a study was conducted to collect data by administering a 5-page, 20-item questionnaire. It was focused on factors related to reading by choice. For example, whether or not adolescents read in their leisure time; if so, what, when and why do they read? The questionnaire contained multiple-choice and open-ended questions (Hughes-Hassell, Rodge, 2007). Seventy-two percent of the students indicated that they engaged in reading as a leisure activity, a finding that is consistent with other studies of adolescent reading. Twenty-two percent said they read â€Å"constantly†, and 50% indicated they â€Å"read when they get a chance. † Six percent of the adolescents indicated that they do not read; the other 22% said they read only for school (Hughes-Hassell, Rodge, 2007, p. 23-24). These descriptive data exposes good percentage of students who are engaged in leisure reading. However it also raises a question: Why do these adolescents’ reading scores at this particular school remain low when they reported that they engage in leisure reading? (Hughes-Hassell, Rodge, 2007). It has been proven that â€Å"students who read in their spare time become better readers, score higher on achievement tests in all subject areas, and have more content knowledge that those who do not† (Cunningham Stanovich, 1991; Krashen, 1993, as cited in Hughes-Hassell, Rodge, 2007). But why is the survey showing otherwise? Hughes-Hassell and Rodge suggest a possible explanation that it involves the type of reading they are doing. In their survey it displays that â€Å"books† are not the preferred leisure reading material for both male and female students. In the data gathered it shows 72% read magazines about sports, video games, and music. Forty four TAKING KIDS BACK TO THE WORLD OF LITERATURE 6 percent of the students liked reading comic books, 37% choose internet reading material and only 30% of the students read books for pleasure (Hughes-Hassell, Rodge, 2007). Reading magazines, comic books and internet material is considered light reading and according to Hafner, Palmer and Tullos (1986), light reading does not automatically result in an ability to read advanced material, it only provides motivation for more reading (Hughes-Hassell, Rodge, 2007). After the research was conducted and observations were made, the authors provided these are following suggestions for teachers and librarians. 1. Teachers and librarian should provide the types of materials students prefer, including magazines, comic books, and the Internet. 2. Students’ culture and heritage need to be respected by providing multicultural resources that are relevant to students’ lives, as well as resources in their first language. 3. It is important to talk to students to find out what they are passionate about. of them don’t have time to read after school. 5. Adequate fund must be provided for school and classroom libraries in low-income urban communities. 6. Summer reading must be encouraged because it is critical to summer learning. for â€Å"parents play a significant role in developing and sustaining the leisure reading habits of children and adolescents† (Kim, 2004; Strommen Mates, 2004, as cited in Hughes-Hassell, Rodge, 2007). 8. Teachers and librarians have to be passionate about the love of reading and display the books currently reading by the teacher or librarian. (Hughes-Hassell, Rodge, 2007). 4. Students must be provided with time during the school day to read, because some 7. It is imperative to partner with parents to promote and encourage leisure reading Struggling Readers and Silent Reading In the experimental research: â€Å"Silent Reading Manifestations of Adolescent Struggling Readers† conducted by the researchers Gilliam, Dykis, Gerla, and Wright, vital facts were found about the importance of adolescents practicing silent reading. TAKING KIDS BACK TO THE WORLD OF LITERATURE 7. Many struggling adolescents’ readers have not fully developed the skill to read silently, discouraging them from finding a passion for reading (Gilliam, Dykis, Gerla Wright, 2011). According to Miller (1972), efficient silent reading implies a strong correlation between a rapid reading rate and a high level of comprehension (Gilliam, Dykis, Gerla Wright, 2011). Reading silently is developmental; students start first grade by reading out loud, but at the end of the school year 50% of these students read silently with correct understanding. Students who could not read silently either vocalized or moved their lips as they read to themselves, slowing down their reading rate (Gilliam, Dykis, Gerla Wright, 2011). The purpose of this case study was to discover the connection between speech and reading to oneself among struggling readers in secondary schools. Ninety-five struggling readers in the middle and high school students were chosen as the target population in which they received a treatment for an individual administration of a norm-referenced measure of reading along with direct observations (Gilliam, Dykis, Gerla Wright, 2011). During the test administrations, examiners observed the students in order to determine whether they read silently or whether they moved their lips, mumbled, or whispered as they read, or whether they read aloud. The exam had reading comprehension passages to observe the recorded student’s reading comprehension (Gilliam, Dykis, Gerla Wright, 2011). After making observations, the researchers found that less than half of the secondary struggling readers read silently when reading to themselves. In other words, the majority of struggling readers do not practice silent reading which is a fundamental aspect of comprehension and rate of comprehension. The authors propose silent reading to be taught to struggling readers, the study demonstrated that it will improve their reading rate and comprehension; this might also encourage them to practice leisure reading. (Gilliam, Dykis, Gerla Wright, 2011). Reading Interventions in the Middle Grades In the qualitative article titled: â€Å"Reading Intervention in the Middle Grades†, Allington offers five principles to help middle school struggling readers to succeed. After comparing and contrasting different interventions used in the past without success, TAKING KIDS BACK TO THE WORLD OF LITERATURE 8 his first principle suggests all students need high-quality instruction all day long. He proposes teachers to find appropriate lesson materials, because students need books they can actually read (Allington, 2011). It has been confirmed students cannot learn much from books they cannot read accurately, fluently, and with understanding (Allington, 2007). The second principle is to expand the volume of reading that struggling readers do every day, but do it with a book that they can both read and enjoy. With reading practice matters, struggling readers need to dramatically expand their reading activity (Allington, 2011). It may take years of remediation in which the struggling reader will get better than the achieving peers (Torgeson, 2005). If expanding reading activity among struggling readers is the goal, then the third principle is to provide students with books they can read and books they are interested in reading (Allington, 2011). In the fourth principle, Allington advices not to use decoding instruction for middle school struggling readers because this instruction is rarely useful for older struggling readers. Even when decoding lessons bring struggling older readers’ word recognition up to grade level, there is usually no improvement in their reading comprehension (Torgeson Hudson, 2006). In the fifth and last principle, Allington points out that it is teachers who present the problem that needs to be solved, more than the students do. In other words, it becomes clearer that many of the struggling readers’ problems are caused by teachers, especially when they don’t take action in providing appropriate instruction. In order to help struggling readers, teacher must provide reading material that is to the student’s interest, books they can read and understand to expand their reading time along with reading comprehension (Allington, 2011). Substantial supportive facts with Allington’s fourth principle are found in the article, â€Å"Efficacy of a Reading Intervention for Middle School Students with Learning Disabilities†. Wanzek, Vaughn, Roberts and Fletcher (2011) conducted a one year experimental study which included sixth to eighth grade students with learning disabilities from seven middle schools. In this study, researchers conducted a reading intervention by providing 50 minutes of phonemic decoding instruction to middle school students compared with similar students who did not receive the intervention. No significant differences were found for phonemic decoding fluency and passage comprehension (Wanzek, Vaughn, Roberts, Fletcher, 2011). Since no major effect TAKING KIDS BACK TO THE WORLD OF LITERATURE. 9 was encountered in this experimental study, Allington’s suggestion is correct, teachers should focus more on training struggling readers with reading comprehension by providing time and students’ centered interest reading materials which at the same time it promotes leisure reading (Allington, 2011). Efficacy of Collaborative Strategic Reading Collaborative strategic reading (CSR) is one of the effective solutions found in reading comprehension for struggling readers. Collaborative strategic reading is defined as follows: Collaborative Strategic Reading (CSR) is a set of four strategies. CSR integrates word identification, reciprocal reading, and cooperative learning. CSR teaches students how to monitor their comprehension and also how to use procedures for clarifying understanding when difficulties arise. Students also learn main idea and questioning practices that assist them on text while reading and guiding group responses to text after reading (Vaughn, Klingner, Swanson, Boardman, Roberts, Mohammed Stillman-Spisak, 2011, p. 940). The authors Mohammed, Swanson, Roberts, Vaughn, Klingner, Boardman, SREEA (2010) conducted experimental studies to test the CSR effectiveness for struggling readers. In their article, â€Å"The Effects of Collaborative Strategic Reading Instruction on the Reading Comprehension of Middle School Students: Year 1†, they explained the experimental study conducted to diverse students who were identified as struggling readers. After their study analysis and the positive impact made on the intervened students, they concluded CSR is an effective practice that should be used as a reading intervention (Mohammed, Swanson, Roberts, Vaughn, Klingner, Boardman, SREEA, 2010). A year later, another experimental study was conducted by the authors: Vaughn, Klingner, Swanson, Boardman, Roberts, Mohammed and Stillman-Spisak (2011), to examine the effects of collaborative strategic reading and metacognitive strategic learning on the reading comprehension of students. The title of the article is â€Å"Efficacy of Collaborative Strategic Reading with Middle School Students†. In this study, students were selected from three school districts from seventh and eighth grade. After they were TAKING KIDS BACK TO THE WORLD OF LITERATURE 10 randomly assigned to class, there were 27 comparison classes and 34 treatment classes. Students in the treatment classes received the intervention and students in the comparison classes received typical instruction (Vaughn, Klingner, Swanson, Boardman, Roberts, Mohammed Stillman-Spisak, 2011). Students in the treatment classes outperformed students in the comparison classes on a standardized reading comprehension exam. After the study findings, authors reassure CSR is an achievable and effective practice that can be integrated into reading and language arts instruction to make a positive impact (Vaughn, Klingner, Swanson, Boardman, Roberts, Mohammed Stillman-Spisak, 2011). Even though these two experimental studies about CSR effectiveness were completed in the same states, Texas and Colorado, the researchers had different designs and questions with diversity students. In the first study: â€Å"The Effects of Collaborative Strategic Reading Instruction on the Reading Comprehension of Middle School Students: Year 1†, the authors targeted identified struggling students and used CSR as a reading intervention to experiment reading comprehension (Mohammed, Swanson, Roberts, Vaughn, Klingner, Boardman, SREEA, 2010). In the second study: â€Å"Efficacy of Collaborative Strategic Reading With Middle School Students†, the researchers focused on the effectiveness of CSR with adolescent readers when applied by well trained and supported CSR teachers (Vaughn, Klingner, Swanson, Boardman, Roberts, Mohammed Stillman-Spisak, 2011). Reading Time Provided for self-selected books In order to promote leisure reading, one of the many suggestions made by researchers is to provide reading material that will target the adolescents’ interest and give them time during school to read. To test these recommendations and see students’ attitudes towards reading, Rodriguez and Lira (1998) conducted an experimental study at a middle school in South Texas. The study consisted of providing 30-minute periods five times a week for eight months to 41 eighth grade students. The students’ assignment was to read from self-selected books (books which did not have more than five unknown words on any given page), keep a reading log, take home their books and participate in the reading club (Rodriguez Lira, 1998). This experimental design was combined with TAKING KIDS BACK TO THE WORLD OF LITERATURE 11 a descriptive and a group pretest-posttest to determine if there was a significant difference with students’ scores before and after the experiment. Rodriguez and Lira (1998) also made observations on students who participated in this study observing for positive attitudes towards reading. The results point out that most of the students enjoyed the required reading and felt they had improved with their reading skills, specifically their vocabulary and fluency. Even though the study did not reveal significant improvements in reading achievement for the 41 students, however, the study showed greater gains in reading achievement for students with low to average reading abilities than it did with students with better reading abilities (Rodriguez Lira, 1998). In other words, struggling readers improved their reading abilities, and this fact proves a statement mentioned earlier; it may take years of remediation in which the struggling reader will get better than the achieving peers (Torgeson, 2005). Successful Engagement with Text Using the E-reader Making technology part of a motivational reading tool can encourage reluctant students to engage in literature. Johnson, Mckenzie, Miranda Williams-Rossi (2011) conducted an experimental study in a middle school where 199 students were given 1525 minutes to read high interest chapter books and stories on the Amazon Kindle ® reader. This was done to study the attitudes and response to reading using e-books by reluctant students. After making qualitative observations, the authors found reluctant readers demonstrated motivation in reading, engagement and expressed high levels of satisfaction with the e-readers. Researchers were very satisfied with the reluctant attitudes towards reading after this study, that they recommend e-readers to be used in reading improvement classes as another choice for reading material (Johnson, Mckenzie, Miranda Williams-Rossi, 2011). Conclusion The problem is that middle school students in Texas do not practice leisure reading creating a deficit in their reading skills as measured by the National Center for TAKING KIDS BACK TO THE WORLD OF LITERATURE 12 Education Statistics. Texas students showed an upsetting lack of improvement in reading on the Nation’s Report Card. In 2011, the average score of eighth-grade students in Texas was 261. This was lower than the average score of 264 for public school students in the nation (National Center for Education Statistics, 2011). The purpose of this review of literature was to examine reading interventions to promote positive attitudes towards leisure reading. The need is to improve reading skills as reflected reading scores on the Nation’s Report Card. It has been demonstrated that students who practice leisure reading perform better in many subject areas (Hughes-Hassell Pradnya Rodge, 2007). Leisure reading is the key to help students improve the standardized test scores. After examining experimental and nonexperimental studies conducted in and out of the state of Texas, it is alarming to know students in the middle schools choose not to read for numerous reasons. In schools, students are not being motivated to read for pleasure, instead teachers focus more on reading skills to pass standardized tests so teenagers are being forced to read lacking the passion to literature (Beers, 1998). Many reading materials offered to students are out of their interest and most of the time these books are filled with unknown vocabulary words causing the student to struggle by not comprehending the reading (Palumbo Loiacono, 2009). There have been several reading interventions done to help students with vocabulary decoding and reading skills, but researches show the most important of all is reading comprehension; and this can only be obtained when teenagers self-select the reading material (Rodriguez and Lira, 1998). Researches show silent reading is a great way for students to better comprehend text and it helps read at a faster rate, but most of them have not developed this skill (Gilliam, Dykis, Gerla Wright, 2011). When students enter middle school, their reading habits start declining because they start getting involved in after school activities or just hang out with friends. Time must be provided during school hours for them to dedicate leisure time (Allington, 2011). Parents take a big role in influencing their kids in leisure reading by practicing reading themselves and motivating their kids to practice reading at home (Hamston Love, 2005). A research study shows teenagers are fascinated with technology and using electronic devices such as e-readers has made a positive impact on reluctant readers with their attitudes towards reading (Miranda Williams-Rossi, 2011). Both qualitative and TAKING KIDS BACK TO THE WORLD OF LITERATURE 13 quantitative studies demonstrate a connection between success in school and the amount of leisure reading students do (Allington McGill-Franzen, 2003; Krashen, 1993, as cited in Hughes-Hassell Pradnya Rodge, 2007). TAKING KIDS BACK TO THE WORLD OF LITERATURE 14 References Cited Allington, R. L. (2007). Effective teachers, effective instruction. In K. Beers, R, E. Probst, Reif (Eds. ), Adolescent literacy: Turning promise into practice (pp. 273288). Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. Allington, R. L. (2011). Reading intervention in the middle grades. Voices From The Middle, 19(2), 10-16. Beers, K. (1998) Choosing not to read: Understanding why some middle schoolers just say no. Into Focus: Understanding and Creating Middle School Readers, 1-27. Gilliam, B. K. , Dykes, F. , Gerla, J. K. , Wright, G. L. (2011). Silent reading manifestations of adolescent struggling Readers. Reading Improvement, 48(3), 118-127. Hacker. (2012). In Merriam-Webster. com. Retrieved April 30, 2012, from http://www. merriam-webster. com/dictionary/hacker Hafner, L. , Palmer, B. , Tullos, S. (1986). The differential reading interests of good and poor readers in the ninth grade. Reading Improvement, 23, 39-42. Hughes-Hassell, S. Rodge, P. (2007). The leisure reading habits of urban adolescents. Journal of Adolescent Adult Literacy, 51(1), 22-33. TAKING KIDS BACK TO THE WORLD OF LITERATURE 15 Hamston, J. Love, K. (2005). Voicing resistance: Adolescent boys and the cultural practice of leisure reading. Discourses: studies in the cultural politics of education, 26(2), 183-202. Johnson, K. A., Mckenzie, N. , Miranda, T. , Williams-Rossi, D. (2011). Reluctant readers in middle school: successful engagement with text using the e-reader. International Journal of Applied Science and Technology, 1(6), 81-91. Knulst, W. Kraaykamp, G. (1998) â€Å"Trends in leisure reading: forty years of research on reading in the Netherlands. † Poetics, 26:1 (September), 21-41. Mohammed, S. S. , Swanson, E. , Roberts, G. , Vaughn, S. , Klingner, J. K. , Boardman, A. , Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness. (2010). The effects of collaborative strategic reading instruction on the reading comprehension of middle school students: Year 1. Society For Research On Educational Effectiveness. National Center for Education Statistics. (2011). The nations report card reading 2011 state snapshot report. Texas. Grade 8, Public Schools. National Center For Education Statistics, ERIC. Web. 24 Mar. 2012. TAKING KIDS BACK TO THE WORLD OF LITERATURE 16 Palumbo, A. Loiacono, V. (2009). Understanding the causes of intermediate and middle school comprehension problems. International Journal of Special Education, 24(1), 75-81. Reed, D. (2010). The contribution of retell to the identification of struggling adolescent readers. Request LLC, 1-226. Rodriguez, C., Lira, J. R. (1998). A study of eighth grade students from a south Texas middle school who participated in 30-minute required reading periods of selfselected books. Torgeson, J. K. , Hudson, R. F (2006). Reading fluency: Critical issues for struggling readers. In S. J. Samuels A. E. Farstrup (Eds. ), What research has to say about fluency instruction (pp. 130-158). Newark, DE: International Reading Association. Torgeson, J. K. (2005). Recent discoveries on remedial interventions for children with dyslexia. In M. Snowling C. Hulme (Eds. ), The Science of reading: A handbook (pp. 521-537). Malden, MA: Blackwe

Persuasion Essay Example for Free

Persuasion Essay The criticism of His criticism In Jane Austens novel Persuasion. diction and subversive tone depict Austens disdain and disapproval towards the society. Sir Walter Elliot informs Anne and Mr. Shepherd about his irritation toward people who strive to rise above the society. He mentions how naval officer is a profession that transits man with obscure birth into undue distinction (Austen 14), and expresses his disgust towards the officers growing old in appearance sooner than any other man. Sir Walter declared, l was in company with two men Admiral Baldwin, the most deplorable looking personage you can imagine I never saw quite so wretched an example of what a seafaring life can do (Austen 14). Austen Implies the superficial nobllltles like Sir Walter Elliot who insist trivial matters such as appearance supplant other elements of a man. The diction includes deplorable and wretched, which illustrate Jane Austens perspective toward the members of upper class. She uses Sir Walters absurd contempt for the sailors to portray her contempt for the materialistic nobilities. hen Admiral Baldwin Is the example of a seafaring life can do, Austen portrays Sir Walter as one, too (Austen 14). She sets Sir Walter as the example of what an overindulged life can do to people; they do not understand the torment of toil and labor of the mind as they possess the authority and wealth (Austen 14). Therefore, Sir Walter Elliots negative diatribe on the navy conveys Intentions and feelings of Austen towards the peerage. As Sir Walter continues on his anecdote to denunciate the social workers whom do not adhere to what he values, he asserts, They are all nocked about, and exposed to every climate, and every weather, till they are not fit to be seem It Is a pity they are not knocked on the head once (Austen 14). Sir Walter who is on a highly acknowledged position would rather Judge an individual effortlessly through ones physical appearance than recognizing their true worth. Jane Austen has included irony to reveal her opinion to the Judgmental aristocrats; she gives pity to the society where the foolish upper class men obstinately relate peoples quality with ones appearance. While the workers were exposed to every climate and every weather, the prestigious aristocrats peacefully remained indoors with their luxurious benefits. Austen deprecates the society consisted of immoral nobilities; she believes the peerage Is a pity not knocked on the head once. She holds the opinion that the hollow nobility are not fit to be seen. In response to Sir Walters diatribe, Mrs. Clay begins off her return with a mild explanation of each profession and their loss of personableness on looks as they get devoted to the profession. It Is only the lot of those who are not obliged to follow any, who can live In a regular way o hold the blessings of health and a good appearance to the utmost: I know no other set of men but what lose something of their personableness when they cease to be quite young (Austen 15). Austen expresses her disagreement with Sir Walters shallow judgments through Mrs. Clays clarification on the relationship between toll and mans look In regard of natural effect of time. This strengthens Austens tone of disgust towards the wretched upper class; her attitude oward the members of the aristocracy is revealed through Mrs. Clays subtle to rise above their status by praising the nobility; Mrs. Clay attempts to place herself with the level of Sir Walter. Another ironic tone of Austen is depicted as Mrs. Clay mentions a life of living in a regular way. This is ironic due to a well known fact that the nobilities of high society live in an distinguished way compared to the people in middle classed society. Austen stresses on the essence of appearance for the peerage to signify her chastising tone of the society where pride and self-admiration re the prominent traits of the nobility. The prejudiced society where only the rank and superficial appearance signifies ones reputation and quality was well illustrated in the story of Persuasion to emphasize the insincerity of ignorant and shallow- minded aristocrats. Until the society today, people cannot escape illogical Judgments only based on the appearance or the social status of a person. Bibliography Austen, Jane. Persuasion. 2nd ed. Ed. Patricia Meyer Spacks. New York: W. W. W. Norton Company, New York, 2013. 14-15. Print.

Causes and Spread of infection

Causes and Spread of infection Outcome 1 – Understand the causes of infection 1:1  Identify the differences between bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites The differences between bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites are; Fungi have cell walls made up of chitin (found in outer skeleton of insects, shrimps and lobsters – also used in healing agents). Fungi and parasites are multi cellular (Ref: www.euchis.org) Viruses are not living, they are only made of complex proteins and nuclear acids Bacteria are unicellular micro-organisms Parasites and bacteria are animals (Bacteria, fungi and parasites are living organisms) (Dundas Welsby 2002, pp99-106) 1:2  Identify common illnesses and infections caused by bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites Common illnesses and infections caused by bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites are; Viruses†¦ Chicken pox Shingles Laryngitis Pneumonia Mumps Common cold Aids Whooping cough Measles Parasites†¦ Malaria Intestinal Scabies Ringworm Tapeworm Crab louse Fungi†¦ Conjunctivitis Athletes foot Ringworm Thrush Fungal nail Intertrigo (yeast) Bacteria†¦ Colds Flu Fevers Meningitis Pneumonia Gastroenteritis Impetigo MRSA Severe gastrointestinal (caused by E-coli) Acne (Brooker Nicol 2003, pp254-255) 1:3  Describe what is meant by â€Å"infection† and â€Å"colonisation† The meaning of colonisation occurs when micro-organisms inhabit on a part of the body for example, skin but don’t cause signs and symptoms of infection colonised pathogens have the potential to cause infection if spread to a different parts of the body depending on the micro-organism colonised pathogens which can be passed on from person to person from touching objects or not washing hands. This is a major route of colonisation within the health care facilities. Colonisation of micro-organisms can inhabit the host by being in or being on, they don’t cause damage or invade the tissue, yet if they do invade tissue this can make the person sick, which in turn will turn into an infection. Even though the host may not show signs of illness, they can still pass it on to others. (Lister Dougherty 2008, pp1112-1113) 1:4  Describe what is meant by â€Å"systemic infection† and â€Å"localised infection† The skins function is to protect the body from infectious organisms, but when there has been a break in the skin infections can pose a threat. The meaning of localised infection is an infection that is limited to a specific body region. The meaning of systemic infection is when the pathogen is distributed throughout the whole body by the bloodstream. Systemic infection: Conjunctiva infection can cause lasting damage if not treated in time Low immune systems due to diabetes, kidney failure etc. The elderly or children may cause complications with infection due to their age Localised infection: Swelling Redness Temperature changes in infected area 1:5  Identify poor practices that may lead to the spread of infection Covered on ECA course Training centre Outcome 2 – Understand the transmission of infection 2:1  Explain the conditions needed for the growth of micro-organisms The conditions needed for the growth of micro-organisms are nutrients for them to reproduce. It also requires warmth and moisture. They are not visible with the naked eye. The factor that encourages the growth of micro-organisms is nutrition, oxygen, temperature, PH and moisture. The PH and temperature determines the rate of growth. The moisture carry’s foods into the cell, and carry’s the waste away from the cell to maintain the content of cytoplasm (ground substance in where different components are found). All micro-organisms have a PH at which they can grow. (Brooker Nicol 2003, pp.254-255) 2:2  Explain the ways an infective agent might enter the body An infective agent might enter the body through the mouth, stomach, intestines. The digestive tract. It can also be through broken skin. Areas of infection: The respiratory system nose, lungs, windpipe. The digestive system – spoiled food, unclean hands or objects. The urinary tract urethra, bladder, kidneys. Wounds on the skin – cuts, grazes, trauma to the skin. There is also secondary infective agent: Genital – sexually transmitted, non-sexual PH imbalance (soaps, sprays, creams). Conjunctival – to the eye (dust, viruses, bacteria, contact lenses) The ways that gains entry to the person is by infecting the cells: Trauma bite – infected animal, human, insect Congenital – unborn baby (developed through pregnancy. Rubella, chickenpox, herpes, syphilis) 2:3  Identify common sources of infection The best source for infection is poorly chilled, heated or contaminated food. Contaminated laundry on a low heat setting, clinical waste, and contaminated equipment, others that may be infected. Unclean work surfaces in kitchens. We all come into contact with hands, some just don’t take hand hygiene seriously and will spread the infection further afield. 2:4  Explain how infective agents can be transmitted to a person Airborne – inhalation of pathogens (microorganism disease producing agent such as bacteria, virus). The common cold and flu spread the infection to another person, either sneezing into the air, nasal droplets; this may be from a nebuliser. Infected dust particles containing skin scales may cause a respiratory virus. Direct contact – this would be person to person contact, such as dirty hands upon a patient or other way around. Sexual intercourse, chicken pox/shingles (herpes zoster) with the rash and until the last blister has dried up. Impetigo (staphylococcus aureus) which mainly affects children and immune suppressed people. Hands – are the main part of cross-infection. This can be transferred by microbes to other body areas, for example: hand to face to phone (communal), to shared computers, to person with a handshake. They in turn have now picked up everything you have touched. If they don’t wash their hands, the cycle of cross infection will multiply too many others. With the ambulance cross contamination can be spread from person to equipment including steering wheels, radios, door handles. Your body’s blueprint may have a good resistance to bacteria in your genes, but others you treat or touch may not and could potentially make them very ill. Indirect contact – can be spread by fomites – an inanimate object that becomes contaminated with infectious organisms and then transports those organisms to another person. This can include children’s toys, chopping boards, baby’s nappies, oxygen masks, Entonox breathing adaptors. They can live for a few minutes or a few hours. Indirect contact can also be spread by crawling or flying insects these are examples of vectors these are organisms that transmits pathogens and parasites (person, insect, animal). Insect bites may cause a variety of infections, one being malaria. Ingestion – the organisms that infect the gastro-intestinal tract are ingested through the mouth by objects such as the hands, in drink, uncooked food, faecal/oral spread, eating food with unclean hands. Cross infecting would be to eat food while sharing communual keyboards/laptops who would in turn pass on to others by contracting sickness and diarrhoea and by not following hand washing techniques, this will continue until the cycle is broken. Inoculations – there may be a chance of a â€Å"needle stick† injury caused by infected needles that may contain Hepatitis B virus, and as the inoculation has been put directly into the blood stream of the patient, an infection is high. 2:5  Identify the key factors that will make it more likely that infection will occur The key factors that will make it more likely that infection will occur are individuals susceptible to infection; these would include older people with lowered immunity due to other illnesses or conditions, children or babies. Compromised circulation secondly to peripheral vascular disease. People with diabetes have a risk of developing infections if their blood sugar is lower than normal. Urinary catheters or percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy tubes (PEGS). IV lines if kept in too long (when a paramedic inserts a needle to administer drugs, you should note the time and date it was inserted and place on the surrounding site of the needle, this keeps hospital staff aware the length of time it has been in). Poor personal hygiene can be a factor and open to infections. Areas around skin folds due to obesity, as infections build up in moist areas such as the groin, stomach and under the breasts, infections can multiply rapidly in these areas. Young and premature babies with under develo ped lungs and heart, this is due to the lungs not being fully developed affecting the oxygen levels in the cells. Infection may be more if the patient or person is contact with contagious agents. Referencing using Harvard/RefME Brooker, C. Nicol, M., 2003. Nursing Adults: The Practice of Caring, United Kingdom: Mosby Elsevier Health Science. Dundas, S. Welsby, P., 2002. Common Hospital Infections Unknown. E. Sheppard, ed., London: Science Press. European Chitin Society, 1996. What is chitin? https://www.google.co.uk/webhp?gws_rd=ssl#q=chitin. Available at: http://euchis.org/ [Accessed October 26, 2014]. Hateley, P., 2003. Infection Control. In C. Brooker M. Nicol, eds. Nursing Adults: The Practice of Caring. United Kingdom: Mosby Elsevier Health Science. Hendry, C., 2011. Function of the immune system. Nursing Standard, 27. Lister, S. Dougherty, L., 2008. The Royal Marsden Hospital Manual of Clinical Nursing Procedures, Student Edition 7th ed., United Kingdom: Wiley-Blackwell (an imprint of John Wiley ; Sons Ltd). Professor Carlos Andrà ©s Peniche Covas, 2007. Natural polymer Chitin shows great healing properties. https://www.google.co.uk/webhp?gws_rd=ssl#q=chitin+medical+uses. Available at: http://www.news-medical.net/news/2007/07/16/27582.aspx [Accessed October 26, 2014]. Robinson, J., 2012. Fungal skin infections in children. Nursing Standard, 27. Unkown, 2008a. Barrier Nursing: nursing the infectious or immunosuppressed patient. In L. Dougherty S. ListerUnknown, eds. The Royal Marsden Hospital Manual of Clinical Nursing Procedures, Student Edition. United Kingdom: Wiley-Blackwell (an imprint of John Wiley ; Sons Ltd). Unkown, 2008b. Infection Control. In S. Christopher, ed. NVQ/SVQ Level 3 Health Award for healthcare assistants. United Kingdom: Heinemann. Weller, B., 2009. Baillià ¨re’s nurses dictionary: for nurses and health care workers 25th ed. B. Weller, ed., United Kingdom: Elsevier/Baillià ¨re Tindall. Wright, D., 2000. Human Physiology and Health for GCSE: Student Book unknown. A. Clayton, ed., United Kingdom: Heinemann Educational Publishers. Sharon H Ferguson-Guy

FOOTPRINTS IN THE SAND :: essays papers

FOOTPRINTS IN THE SAND Tears rolled down my face as I tried to smile. Prolonging the dreaded good-bye, I kept busy organizing the small stuff in her new home. Her home with out me. It was one of those moments I anticipated but would not accept the reality until the time finally came. I had never been good with good-byes. An hour later, my dad looked at me and I knew this time we were leaving. I had given her a hug without looking at her and we whispered I love you’s to each other. She was having a hard enough time leaving everything behind so I wanted to stay strong for her. I wanted to stay. Walking from that dorm room felt like I was saying good-bye to my very best friend. As I reached the car and we drove off I began to cry, trying hard not to let my dad see. I did not want to talk about it. Through life, many people turn away but family is always there. When you are away from the ones that mean the most to you, it is then when you realize how much they mean to you. Just like the old saying goes, â€Å"absence makes the heart grow fonder†. I found this saying to be true when my oldest and only sister moved away for the first time to go to college. Losing one mom was hard enough but when I had to say goodbye to my second I thought I was going to die. On March 12, 1992 my mother passed away of acute leukemia and my older sister moved up in the family tree. She became my mother, my sister, and my best friend. When she left, it was hard to imagine life without her around. We seem to be the perfect age apart to completely understand each other. She is the person who keeps me going. She is my conscience and role model. She teaches me everyday to live and learn and always try my best. My friends and father all mean so much to me but whenever anything goes wrong my very first reaction is â€Å"What will Allison think? What would she say?† In 1936, many say that 14 year-old Mary Stevenson wrote the poem

Diversity of human potential Essay

Gardner meanwhile developed the concept of multiple intelligences to reflect diversity of what human beings can do. He argued that there aptitudes or different propensities including linguistics, logical-mathematical, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, spatial, interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligences. Learning as a social behavior Bandura’s social learning theory extends the concept of the human potential and noted the role of obtaining competencies through the process of response consequences or observational learning which is essentially imitation or modeling. Modeling according to this theory has four components. Attention, the first component is perception of the significant attributes of a particular behavior. Retention is the next component or coding or committing the behavior to memory. Motor reproduction is the ability to reproduce the modeled behavior. The fourth component is motivational or reinforcements – the necessary push to do set of actions associated with the particular behavior (Bandura, 1975). The three basic psychological concepts outlined above just about cover the domain of psychology and points us to the direction that although there are individual competencies or potentials what happened if these individuals co-exists at particular setting. Bandura posited learning would be impossibility without a social setting even assuming the individual has the potential to learn (Bandura, 1962, , 1975). Accounting for variations. Levels of permanence and variability defines features of the individual like body shape which is relatively permanent than mental recognition or perception which could change quickly which may be internal or influenced by external factors. If modeling is a way of learning accounting for changes through time would be the next step, which is progression. In the case of suicide which has very strong negative association Kolb’s experiential learning cycle model would be helpful and may provide an expanded understanding on how groups or social networks form. This is very important as it has been shown modeling or experiencing losing someone because of suicide is a difficult phase which has proven significant as shown by Bearman and Moody, in terms of suicidal ideation or making the person who committed suicide a model figure (Bearman & Moody, 2004). Kolb identified four phases which has interesting interrelationships if taken not as phases but states of mind which is simultaneously being processed. Psychological diversity would be immense because of possibilities of dominance of each of the state of minds. Concrete experience (CE) and abstract conceptualization (AC), for example could be taken as off tangent to each other as experience could be taken as activity which is cyclical in itself but abstraction and conceptualization (AC) is progressive. Human potential may have been the same in the past 300 years but the explosion of knowledge because of science and technology what Bruner may call as powerful amplifiers. Reflective observation (RO) and active experimentation (AE) meanwhile in context of CE and AC could explain possible changes or how situations develop. To tie these all up is talking about the process cognition. As applied to understanding of the complex act of committing suicide, we see that actual experience or feeling the pressure from the environment as continuing until the final act. It is easy to understand what clinical psychologist would point out that suicidal tendencies should be seen as a form of mental illness an irrational behavior wherein the mind or the will has ceased to function. Kolb’s model is posited on the positive or rational thinking and development towards a higher plane of competence and learning as the rule or trend of human behavior. But still we could use Kolb’s and others thinking on human development as operative albeit the outcome is generally considered unacceptable. A lot of cases tends to point out there are risky social situations which may push some people into progressive stages until the act of committing suicide. For this we explore the sociological perspectives.