Self Reflective Practice Essay -- Childcare Directors, Early Childhood

This paper will explore the role of the director in modeling reflective practice as a tool to move a program towards programmatic excellence. Childcare directors are closely connected to all aspects of the childcare program; they supervise and support the teachers and staff and they work with the children and families. They are responsible for the program administration. They are the program manager and the center leader. This paper will suggest ways to incorporate more reflective practice into our programs at Kennedy Heights Community Center. The literature on self-reflective practice will be explored and analyzed to support the paper’s thesis of reflective practice as a tool on the path to excellence. The limitations and weaknesses of reflective practice will also be explored. Reflection- Literature Review In her article, Becoming a Self Mentor, Bloom states, â€Å"The capacity to reflect and engage in candid introspection is at the core of achieving self-awareness. Reflective practitioners think creatively, imaginatively, and at times self-critically about what they are doing. Individuals who use a variety of reflective practices have a better understanding of themselves† (pg. 55). If we value continuous programmatic improvements then practitioners must know themselves to effectively change and improve themselves. Teachers and directors cannot adjust or improve their attitudes or behaviors if they are unable to honestly acknowledge and own their actions. Reflection can help to close the gap between â€Å"espoused theories and theories in action† (Bloom, 2007). The best written handbooks and program manuals are meaningless if teachers and directors do not implement the philosophy and vision of the program as written. If centers talk... ...d care and education to know what excellence looks like, but also knowledge of adult education to get all the teachers to the pursuit of excellence. While reflective practice is a critical part of professional development, the program administrator must continuously move a program towards excellence and have a deep understanding of best practices and what quality childcare looks like to effectively model and facilitate reflective practice that leads to sustainable change. While some aspects of quality are concrete and stable; many aspects of quality childcare reflect the needs of the children and their families and are constantly changing. It takes management skills to maintain consistency and leadership skills to facilitate the changing program needs to maintain quality. The director serves both roles and therefore serves as the gatekeeper to program quality.

How to Be Healthy Essay

Specific Purpose: â€Å"To inform my audience about how to eat healthy.† Central Idea: In this speech, I’ll be explaining why it is important to eat healthy, and give tips on what to do to initiate healthier eating habits. Introduction: Attention Getter: How many of you want to be healthy? Credibility Material: My mom is a dietitian; which is a person who specializes in the study of food and nutrition in relation to health, and she’s always stressing to my brother and I to eat up vegetables and to eat fruit everyday. Relevance to the Audience: Almost everybody knows that it’s important to eat healthy. However, not everybody can explain exactly why. Healthy eating is essential for a number of reasons, and not all of them are as obvious as â€Å"getting your vitamins.† Preview of Main points: Why pay attention to what you eat? Is healthy eating the same as going on a diet? How to eat to be healthy? Link: First off†¦ I. Why pay attention to what you eat? A. Healthy eating is one of the best things you can do to prevent and control many health problems, such as Obesity, Heart Disease, High Blood Pressure, Type 2 Diabetes, & Some types of cancer. 1) According to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, about one-third of U.S. adults (33.8%) are obese and approximately 17% (or 12.5 million) of children and adolescents aged 2—19 years are obese. Even for people at a healthy weight, a poor diet is associated with major health risks that can cause illness and even death. B. Healthy foods are full of nutrients that contribute to the health of your skin, hair and nails. These nutrients not only make you look better, but also keep your skin healthier. C. You’ll benefit your brain. The Alzheimer’s Association says a brain-healthy diet is one that reduces the risk of heart disease and diabetes, encourages good blood flow to the brain, and is low in fat and cholesterol. Like the heart, the brain needs the right balance of nutrients, including protein and sugar, to function well. Link: Next†¦ II. Is healthy eating the same as going on a diet? A. Healthy eating is not a diet. It means making changes you can live with and enjoy for the rest of your life. Diets are temporary. Because you give up so much when you diet, you may be hungry and think about food all the time. And after you stop dieting, you also may overeat to make up for what you missed. B. C. Eating a healthy, balanced variety of foods is far more satisfying. And if you match that with more physical activity, you are more likely to get to a healthy weight-and stay there-than if you diet. Link: Now that I’ve told you the differences between healthy eating and diets†¦ III. How to eat healthy? A. It’s easier than you think to start eating healthy! The U.S. Department of Agriculture has set guidelines for a healthy diet. The USDA’s â€Å"MyPyramid† divides food into five groups and explains how much of each food group you need, as well as the benefits of each food group. Following the USDA’s recommended dietary guidelines can help reduce the risk of some diseases, including heart disease. B. Small changes can make a big difference to your health. Try incorporating at least six of the eight goals below provided by the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports & Nutrition into your diet. Commit to incorporating one new healthy eating goal each week over the next six weeks. 1) Make half your plate fruits and vegetables. 2) Make half the grains you eat whole grains. 3) Switch to fat-free or low-fat (1%) milk. 4) Choose a variety of lean protein foods. 5) Compare sodium in foods. 6) Drink water instead of sugary drinks. 7) Eat some seafood. 8) Cut back on solid fats Conclusion: In conclusion, healthy eating is not about strict nutrition philosophies, staying unrealistically thin, or depriving yourself of the foods you love. Rather, it’s about feeling great, having more energy, stabilizing your mood, and keeping yourself as healthy as possible.

Language Obervation Essay

Setting: The observation took place in the child’s home. The child’s home is a semi-detached house in a housing estate Immediate Context: This observation took place in the kitchen. TC is seated at the kitchen table finishing his homework. His father is nearby washing up at the sink. The observation took place at 2.30 in the afternoon. An hour after TC returned home from school. TC’s brother and sister are running around the kitchen while another brother is sitting at the table playing Lego. Name of Child: TC Brief description of the child: TC is a male aged 6 years and 5 months. He has been in school since September 12 months ago. He has one older brother (aged nine) three young brothers (twin 3 year olds and a 2 year old) he has  a younger sister also (aged 2 years). Because of the number in his family he is very active and talkative. Aim of observation: The aim of this observation is to observe TC for a period of time of 10 minutes in order to assess his language development. Observation: TC is sitting on a chair at the kitchen table finishing off his homework he is drawing objects that begin with â€Å"I†. He asks how to spell ice-cream, igloo and ice as these are the shapes he’s drawing. He takes out a sheet filled with words to learn. He is now looking at his words and pronouncing them. TC has finished his homework and packed away his bag. He takes out a sheet a paper. TC -> A â€Å"Daddy how do you spell IGLOO?† A -> TC â€Å" I-G-L-O-O† TC -> A â€Å"How do you spell ICE?† A -> TC â€Å"I-C-E† TC -> A â€Å"How do you spell ICE-CREAM† A -> TC â€Å"Well you already have ice on your page copy that first† TC -> A â€Å"but I need to spell ice-cream† A -> TC â€Å" Write down ICE then put a – then put C-R-E-AM† TC -> A â€Å"Okay† A -> TC â€Å"Are you finished now Ois?† TC -> A â€Å"Where’s Mammy Daddy?† A -> TC â€Å"Show me, what it is?† TC -> A â€Å"No it’s for Mammy, not you; you won’t know what to do with it!† A -> TC â€Å"ok she’ll be here in a minute she’s gone to the bathroom† A1 -> TC â€Å"what’s wrong Oision?† TC -> A1 â€Å"this is a letter for you from teacher† A1 -> TC â€Å"what’s it about?† TC -> A1 â€Å"The parent teacher meeting† A1 -> TC â€Å"ok what have I to do with it?† TC -> A1 â€Å"you have to read it and fill it out for teacher† A1 -> TC â€Å"oh right okay you go on and play so, good boy† Evaluation: The aim of this observation was to observe and record the language of TC, a six year old boy, for fifteen minutes as he finished his homework and engaged in conversation with his parents in order to gain a better understanding of his language development. I feel that I achieved this aim very well and that generally TC’s language development appears to be within the normal range for his age. Certainly, TC’s word pronunciation is accurate. He does make little errors tough e.g. he says â€Å"ate† for â€Å"eight†. This is usual for his stage of development. While children between four and five years pronounce most words correctly, they â€Å"may show some immature sound substitutions† (Flood 2010) One of the theorists I have studied is Skinner (1957), Skinner believed â€Å"that  learning, including language learning, occurs as a result of reinforcement.† Another theorist I have studied is Bruner(1915-). Bruner believed first-hand experience allows children to develop their ideas and thinking, he called this â€Å"enactive thinking†. Bruner stress the importance of the child’s environment in language development. He believes â€Å"The adults and more able peers in a child’s life provide what he calls a language acquisition support system (LASS).† Motherese, recasting, expanding and labelling all part of this system . Key stage of language development Gross Motor Skills †¢ Child tries to understand the meaning of words. The child uses adverbs and prepositions. The child talks confidently, and with more and more fluency. †¢ The child uses language creatively. The child adds vocabulary all the time. †¢ The child is an explorer and communicator; he or she begins to be able to define objects by their function – for example, â€Å"what is a bicycle† â€Å"you cycle a bicycle†. Fine Motor Skills †¢ A young child does not learn well in isolation from other children and adults. The child begins to share as he or she learns. Sharing sharpens and broadens the child’s thinking. This helps the child to learn better – for example, he begins to understand book language, and that stories have characters and a plot (the narrative). †¢ The child begins to realise that different situations require different ways of talking. The child establishes a sense of audience (who he or she is talking to). In summary, TC’s language development in terms of both fine and gross motor skills seems to be just on target and have reached the developmental milestones expected for his age. Personal Learning Gained †¢ I learned more about children’s language development. I know understand the terminology of â€Å"labelling†, â€Å"semantics†, â€Å"syntax†, â€Å"recasting† and â€Å" expanding†. †¢ I learned that in order to do so accurately, a tape recording with transcription is advisable. References †¢ Child Care & Education (5th Edition) (Bruce, Meggit, Grenier) Hodder Education †¢ Planning Play and the Early Years (2nd Edition) (Penny Tassoni, Karen Hucker) Heinemann †¢ Child Development for Students in Ireland (Eilis Flood) Gill&Macmillan †¢ Education & Care in the Early Years (4th Edition) (Josephine Donohue & Frances Gaynor) Gill&Macmillan

Race Ethnicity and The American Dream

Race Ethnicity and The American Dream Free Online Research Papers This semester I have taken a class at the University called Race, Ethnicity and American Dream. This class talked a lot about stereotyping in American Society, and made the students fully aware of the issues that are currently going on in society. Here, I am about to tell you the three most important things I learned throughout the semester and hopefully you can pass this along to whomever you wish. First and foremost, I learned that race is determined by several different things such as: blood, genes, parents, appearance/skin color, and your nationality. I found this extremely significant because not many people in society know exactly how race is determined. They just hear the concept almost every day and just think of it as the word race, but instead, in our class we learned exactly how your own race is determined. The next important thing I learned in class this semester is the talk about white privilege, and how whites are the hierarchy in society. White privilege makes whites feel one of three things. First, it makes white people feel comfortable, that the world was designed for them. Secondly, it makes white people normal. They don’t have to describe themselves as white, unlike every other nationality. Lastly, it equates whites with positive attributes, which entitles beauty, wealth, ability, and even intelligence. White privilege is all about a system of advantages that no other ethnicity can have. The last most important thing I learned in class this semester was the first death penalty that was given out in Texas to white men for killing a different race, occurred recently in 1998. A group of three white men were driving and happened to see an African-American standing outside when they decided to go up to him and beat him to death, for no apparent reason. Oh yeah, and I forgot to mention that after he was knocked unconscious, but still alive, the white men decided to tie him to their truck and drag him for 3 miles until his body disintegrated. I bet you didn’t know that, did you? The reason that why you didn’t know, is because the media could care less about an African-American getting beat up to death. However, what do you think would happen if it were the opposite way? If three black men were to kill a white man? I certainly believe it would be all over the news, and still talked about in classrooms all over the nation today. The problem is, we still live in a racist society and somehow, this needs to change. It’s not fair to Races other then white who get singled out for no apparent reason. It’s just not fair. Something needs to change now, or the world will never be unified as one. Research Papers on Race Ethnicity and The American DreamWhere Wild and West MeetCapital PunishmentBook Review on The Autobiography of Malcolm X19 Century Society: A Deeply Divided EraThe Masque of the Red Death Room meaningsHonest Iagos Truth through DeceptionHip-Hop is ArtThe Hockey GameMoral and Ethical Issues in Hiring New EmployeesStandardized Testing

Stepping back from my company to become a full-time novelist

Stepping back from my company to become a full-time novelist Stepping Back From My Company To Become a Full-Time Mystery Novelist JD Shiner enjoyed a twenty-eight-year career in the world of wireless data communications and now writes full-time. He is an expert on developing technologies, fiber transmission, firearms, fast cars, and thriller fiction. In this guest post, JD talks about his decision to take a break from the world of telecommunications in order to become a full-time novelist, and shares his advice for other  writers looking to do the same.A goal to write a specific number of words every  dayAlthough I was not able to follow his regimen to the letter, I did take his advice and set myself up on a modified version of it. For instance, Stephen King  states that he likes to write 3,000 words per day. I only wish I could write that many! My goal was 1,000 words per day when I started. Some days I did more, some days less.Self-publishing manuscript #27Never give up. Read a lot. Write a lot. Writing full-time has been extremely challenging. It has also been extremely rewarding. The Caves of Corihor is available on Amazon for Kindle and paperback.Are you a full-time writer? Are you thinking of becoming one? What has the journey of deciding to devote yourself to your craft full-time been like?  Leave your thoughts, experiences, or any questions for JD in the comments below.

How does the educator demonstrate an understanding of the focus Assignment

How does the educator demonstrate an understanding of the focus learners performance with respect to both learning targets as reflected in the lesson objectives - Assignment Example le for selecting such a resource was forms as the resource was able to exhibit a clear association between learning targets, performance and assessment of the learning instructions. Through the resource it was clear that learning targets played an essential role in assisting teachers to demonstrate a comprehension of the focus learner’s performance in relation to learning targets within the goals of the lesson (Moss & Brookhart 2012). Despite the contributions of the resource various improvements were considered essential. For instance the resource laid more emphasis on the learning targets as opposed to the focus learning performance which is an important aspect that can be engaged by educators in lesson planning and meeting the objectives of the lesson. From the resource utilized various lessons can be learnt by educators. These lessons are important as they will enhance their skills and make them better educators. An important lesson involves the connection between the learning targets and the lessons goals. Through this association the skills of the educators will be enhanced in terms of designing classroom evaluation within the context of lesson planning and understanding (Moss & Brookhart 2012). Moss, M.C. & Brookhart, S.M. (2012). Learning Targets. Helping Students Aim for Understanding in Today’s Lesson. Retrieved on 20 April, 2015 from,

Legal Closed Memo Assignment Project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Legal Closed Memo Assignment Project - Essay Example Barnett Productions administered a psychological test to Mr. Merton, which the latter passed. This factor, added to the context of the reality show within which the offensive events occurred, may be excellent grounds for defense for Barnett Productions. The company can argue that the events constitute mere annoyances within the context of a reality show. Despite such defenses however, two aspects work strongly in Mr. Merton’s favor – (a) the knowledge defendants had about his childhood trauma and the sign by which it was manifested externally and (b) the deceptive manner in which Mr. Merton’s cooperation was elicited. Since Mr. Merton was subjected to a reappraisal of his childhood trauma purely to generate a newsworthy reality show, the outrageous criterion may be established. A lounge singer, the client, Mr. Murton, is currently unable to work, because he suffers from recurring panic attacks, clinical depression, and paralyzing stage fright. He claims that these serious conditions are the result of Barnett Productions’ duping him into participating in a reality television show called â€Å"Regular Guy.† Specifically, he claims that, during the show’s taping, he was forced to partake in humiliating school-yard contests while a group of athletically gifted â€Å"hunks† ridiculed his limited physical abilities. Mr. Merton states that during the taping of the recess segment, the hunks shouted insults. â€Å"I remember, one of them said to another ‘What a bunch of losers. These guys look like 14-year-olds. We should kick their asses’ and another one said, ‘See these babies squeal? I bet they’re about to go in their pants’.† Mr. Merton states that he was subjected to a background investigation and psychological testing and passed both. According to Mr. Murton, the show’s producers also brought him to beach front property that was directly across from the school where Mr. Murton’s bullying had previously occurred.