Saturday, December 21, 2019

Analysis Of Joseph Conrad s Heart Of Darkness - 1233 Words

Imperialism has often been described as a light, a method to guide the uncivilized. However in Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad sheds true light on the subject. In the novel, Conrad exposes the situation in Congo during the era of Imperialism for the Europeans. Conrad reveals the exploitation of the natives through a tale of Marlow, an introspective sailor, and his nightmarish journey up the Congo River to meet a reputable European trader, Kurtz. As the life of the great Kurtz comes to a close, the horrors he speaks of could be referring to the atrocities that were taking place in the Congo, his realization of how horrible mankind can become without the structure and morality that are laid out by society, or the horror of Kurtz failing to carry out his grand plan of eventually becoming a godlike figure. In Heart of Darkness, violence and savagery is a recurring matter. As Kurtz approaches his inevitable death, he comes to a realization of the terrifying truth of the European colonization of Africa, that the atrocities and exploitation of the native that they have caused is pure evil. This brutal treatment of the Africans is driven by extreme greed and is evident all throughout the book. Marlow describes the Africans when he first sees them as effaced by â€Å"the attitudes of pain, abandonment, and despair†, and he witnesses this as they are being forced to do â€Å"the work!† while some of them are slowly dying one by one (63). As Marlow observes this barbarity occurring around him,Show MoreRelatedAnalysis Of Joseph Conrad s Heart Of Darkness1504 Words   |  7 Pagescontrol over others and can be found in both people and objects. In Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness the main character and narrator Marlow identifies a force within ivory that conveys a sense po wer within the enigmatic Mr. Kurtz. The African ivory trade was flourishing in the early 1900’s. Obtaining the precious object transformed some into greedy connoisseurs with endless intentions to get their hands on all of the continents ivory. Conrad shows that the power that is emitted from the ivory falls intoRead MoreAnalysis Of Joseph Conrad s The Heart Of Darkness 1801 Words   |  8 PagesAlly Jones Professor Smith English 1302 November 18, 2014 Female Roles in Joseph Conrad s the Heart of Darkness: In regards to Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, many literature reviews focus on the motifs of Imperialism, the symbolism of darkness and fog, or the aspect of racism in Conrad’s work. During the era which Conrad wrote, England was going through the Victorian Era, which was marked by a shift in views on morality. The term â€Å"Victorian morality† is used today to describe values whichRead MoreAnalysis Of Joseph Conrad s Heart Of Darkness 1713 Words   |  7 PagesMonth: January 2014 Name: Faris Khan Period: 3 Title: Heart of Darkness Author: Joseph Conrad Date started/date completed: 1/19 - 1/28 Pages read: 96/96 (Including the ten page introduction, 106/96) Rating of book (1-10): 9/10 Above you rated this book. Explain in detail why you gave this book that score: Author Joseph Conrad uses a very interesting method of narration in his novel, Heart of Darkness. The novel itself is written in first person, from the perspective of an unnamed sailor aboardRead MoreAnalysis Of Joseph Conrad s Heart Of Darkness 1396 Words   |  6 PagesShelly Pyakurel Ellen Stockstill English 4 DC 27 April 2015 Research Paper Heart of Darkness is a novel by Joseph Conrad that centers on Marlow, a man who goes to the Congo for a job opportunity. He meets a man named Kurtz, who is well known by many. Once he gets to the Congo, he sees colonialism first-hand. He sees that the natives of the country were practically enslaved and forced to work under very harsh conditions. The two major characters of the novel are Marlow and Kurtz. There are many minorRead MoreAnalysis Of Joseph Conrad s Heart Of Darkness1552 Words   |  7 Pagesfollowers. Historically, people have been socialized to accept and adhere to these stereotypes. Women have an important role in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. Women are used in this novella reflect an important aspect of culture: sexism. Heart of Darkness was originally published in 1898, a period where women were facing especially harsh discrimination. Conrad’s Heart of Darkness tells the story of Marlow, an experienced sea captain, who is setting out on a mission to rescue Kurtz, an intelligent butRead MoreAnalysis Of Joseph Conrad s Heart Of Darkness1555 Words   |  7 PagesAlthough the author Joseph Conrad never met the German philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, who died more than a century before Conrad’s birth, their distinct philosophies still have numerous points of intersection, suggesting some fundamental truths within the structure of the human reality. Through the novella, Heart of Darkness, Conrad details his perspectives on the faults of man and reality as a whole, with views often coinciding with many of Leibniz’s own, as found in his numerous philosophicalRead MoreAnalysis Of Joseph Conrad s Heart Of Darkness963 Words   |  4 Pagespeople. Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad, can be criticised through many different lenses. Though Natives are a large part of Conrad’s narrative of E uropean atrocities in the Congo, his treatment of Congolese Natives throughout the book show them to be nothing more than props. Conrad skews Natives language, culture and intelligence to fit Europeans schema for Africa and Africans. Conrad’s Heart of Darkness is placed in a colonized Congo. ...despite Heart of Darkness s (Joseph Conrad) obviousRead MoreAnalysis Of Joseph Conrad s Heart Of Darkness1080 Words   |  5 Pages1 Kathrine Carrasquillo Dr. David Mulry Engl 2112 Feb 13, 2017 Who is Mr. Kurtz, and what does Conrad use him for? Mr. Kurtz is the main character in Joseph Conrad s English novella, Heart of Darkness. There is no proof that Mr. Kurtz is based on a real person, so it is assumed that he is a made up character. When Mr. Kurtz is first introduced the audience learns that he is a Belgian ivory trader and he was sent to Africa by his employer for work. At first glance, Mr. Kurtz just represents a normalRead MoreAnalysis Of Joseph Conrad s Heart Of Darkness1250 Words   |  5 Pages Written in 1902, Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness follows the character Marlow in his journey up the Congo River to find the mysterious Kurtz, an ivory trader. In the story, Conrad explores the issues of colonialism and imperialism. The Company has enslaved native Congolese to help them mine for ivory and rubber in the area. The Congolese experience brutal working conditions as the company profits off their free labor. Racism is evident throughout the story with Marlow calling the blacks â€Å"savages†Read M oreAnalysis Of Joseph Conrad s Heart Of Darkness 2026 Words   |  9 Pages Ryan Li 7/22/17 AP Lit/Comp Summer Reading Heart of Darkness Heart of Darkness is written by Joseph Conrad and published in 1899. It is a novella written in the early modernism literary period. Joseph Conrad was born as Jà ³zef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski on December three 1857 in Berdichev, Ukraine to Polish parents. He was raised and educated in Poland. After his career is the seafarer in the French and British merchant Marines, he wrote short stories which he used his experiences

Friday, December 13, 2019

Aesthetics and cultural theory Free Essays

Introduction Subjectivity is the starting point of Hegel’s statement. His lectures on aesthetics give the significance of art within his philosophy while the German period of romanticism is being explained and critiqued. Recent theorists such as Theodor Adorno, Paul Guyer and Arthur Danto based their views on aesthetics from Hegel’s outlook on art. We will write a custom essay sample on Aesthetics and cultural theory or any similar topic only for you Order Now All support that Hegelian idealism was introduced with a poor consequence of personal subjectivity. The idealistic philosophers argued that only our conscience has real status and that the physical world is only a product of consciousness. The idealism (or utopianism) is closely linked to the religion either directly or indirectly and all philosophies based on this term are supporting the existence of a superior power that can not be interlinked with human’s capability. The most effective way of understanding the whole concept of idealism is to study directly the forefather of all theorists. Plato in his book, ‘The Republic’, gives an allegory (the ‘cave’) to represent idealism in it’s simpler form. He describes men sitting in a dark cave who are chained in such a way that they can look in only one direction. Few meters behind them, light comes out of a fire which casts their shadows towards a wall they cannot see. Plato asks us to imagine those men in that specific position for their entire life. Having no experience of anything else, these men understand what they have experienced before reality is being represented to them. The philosopher continues with his metaphor and asks us to visualise that those prisoners got unchained and faced the existence of the fire and the shadows. They begin to have a sense of the environment they lived in. The allegory ends, with Plato explaining that those men in the cave are us. As a consequence, we experience the world with our only five senses, but as a matter of fact ‘our world’ is made with images and three-dimensional shadows. He claims that our mind has absoluteness perfection (‘absolute mind’). As we look into sun and turn away for protecting our eyes, thats how we turn back into the cave, in our safe place of sense perception. Now, modern idealism puts forward a cognitive human activity and attributes to a self-determined reality, such as the ‘absolute truth’ and creativity. Two German recent idealism theorists, J. G. Fichte and Friedrich von Schelling, which came to a climax in an absolute idealism of Hegel, started giving their explanation with a refutation of the uncertain thing-in-itself. However, Hegel formulated a complete structure of thought about art and the world. Most importantly, he hold up that reality should be logical, so that it’s eventual framework will be shown by our own thoughts. He did not think that symbolic, so by extension, conceptual art, has the ability to surpass the high nature of classical Greek art and its representational/imitative abilities. This is because, as he explains, since symbolisms, depend on the knowledge of man of the earth and society, and because, we can never know everything about the human psyche, trying to represent it with symbolisms, is just not enough. Hence, imitative art, which is what classical Greek sculptures, are of a much higher regard to Hegel, than symbolic art. He describes it as ‘the sensuous presentation of ideas’. It is in the communication of ideas excluding the connection between our reason and our sensory faculty and is distinctive successful. Modern aesthetic theorists turn first and f oremost to Kant, an 18th century German philosopher, and the historical convention of German romanticism to utilize the role of ‘pessimistic’ art. Hegelian view comes to support that art does more than sabotage the non?aesthetic. Thus, modern art can preferable take in contemporary artistic practices. Both theorists connect that art is superior to the external world, both opposed to appetite and enjoyment. Hegel gives his philosophy on art that is, as a whole, his main philosophical system. For us, to comprehend his philosophy of art we must understand his philosophy as a whole. Similar with Aristotle’s way of thinking, Hegel believes that the investigation of logic could lead to a key system of reality. Thus, logic is being characterised as dialectical. Poetry for Hegel seem not to have something physical as a sculpture. In that way, music according to him is the least spiritual form of art. On the other hand, Kant stated as an important matter that a generic explanation of the world could lead to an opposite observation. But Hegel explained that those two notions could be integrated by a move to a different way of thinking. Consequently, our mind moves from thesis, to antithesis, to synthesis[4]. This could be seen in history, nature and cultural progress. All the thinking consists by the idea (thesis), which antithesis is nature, while combining (synthesis) the two it forms t he spirit. This could also be named as the ‘absolute’ itself and is examined in more detail in Hegel’s ‘Phenomenology of Spirit’ as a transformation from subjective to objective to the absolute spirit. He is examining the organised structures in humanity giving absolute freedom and self determination to be essential. Those vitals principles include the practice of right, having a family and being part of a civil society (state). The most developed and sufficient perception of spirit is achieved by philosophy. It provides a conceptual understanding of the nature of reason while it describes why reason must take the form of time, space, life, matter and self-conscious spirit. In Christianity, however, the procedure which the ‘idea’ or ‘reason’ turns into self-conscious spirit is symbolised with metaphors and images as the procedure where God turns into spirit lies within humans. This is the process we place our belief and faith rather our notion of understanding. Hegel supports that humans cannot live with just the hypothesis of things but also need to trust the truth. He asserts that ‘is in religion that a nation defines what is considers to be trueà ¢â‚¬â„¢. According to Hegel, art is different from religion or philosophy and it’s purpose is the formation of beautiful objects in which aesthetically pleasing indication is coming through. Therefore, the main target of art is not impersonate nature but to give us the opportunity to look at images being made by non-materialistic freedom. In other words, art exists not just for the purpose of having ‘art’ but for beauty. This union of freedom and beauty from Hegel shows his obligation to two other theorists, Schiller and Kant. Kant goes further to analyse that our understanding of beauty is a form of freedom. He explains, by judging an object or a piece of art as beautiful, we are discernmenting about a thing. By this we are declaring that the ‘thing’ or object has an effect on us, thus everyone will have the same effect. This results to a comprehension and vision in ‘free play’ with each other, and it is this delight that comes from the ‘free play’ that guides us to our judgment if something is nice or not. Schiller comes in contrast with Kant which explains beauty as a belonging of the object itself. He stress that freedom is independent from our mind (Kant describes as ‘noumena’). ‘Freedom in appearance, autonomy in appearance [†¦] that the object appears as free, not that it really is so’’ However, in Hegel’s view on beauty, is being described as the complete manifestation of freedom. It can be seen or sound like a sensory expression. Hegel moves a step further to explain that beauty can be created by nature but as he calls a ‘sensuous’ beauty’ it can only be found through art which can be produced by people. For him, beauty has symmetrical qualities. It has elements that are not organised in a framework but are joined organically. We were told, as he explains, that the Greek outline is beautiful, because the nose is flawless under the forehead while the Roman human profile has more sharper angles between them. Nevertheless, beauty’s importance is not only the shape but also the content. Modern art-theorists disagree with Hegel’s theory of beauty and art. They claim that art can include any content. This content is described in religion as God, then a beautiful art could be seen as angelic. Nonetheless, Hegel insists that Godly art is through a humankind form as freedom. He understands that piece of art could consists of nature such as plants or animals but he thinks that art is responsible to show the angelic form, as mentioned before. Only a human can represent reason and spirit through colors and sounds. Art, in Hegel’s eyes, is metaphorical. Not because it always comes to copy what is in nature, but the main motivation of art is to communicate and represent what he explained as a ‘free spirit’. It can mostly be attained throughout humans and images. Particular, art exist to remind our mind that us, as human beings, have freedom and try not to forget the truth within ourselves. It is the only way the ‘freedom of spirit’ could be seen in it’s simplest form. The contradiction with art is that it links truth all through romanticised images made by someone. As mentioned before, according to Hegel, this spirit and beauty could be found through ancient Greek sculptures (Aeschylus, Praxiteles, Phidias and Sophocles). The German philosopher explains that are a lot of things we can be named as ‘art’, such as the Greek sculptures mentioned before, Shakespearian plays, but not everything is entitled to be called like that. This is because not everything represent what ‘true’ art really is. He sets some standards that a piece of work has to meet in order to be beautiful art. References BBC magazine, A Point of View: Why are museums so uninspiring(London, BBC, 2011) [accessed 11 mar 2011] Hegel G. W. F., Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit, (Oxford: University Press, 1977) Hegel G. W. F., Hegel’s Aesthetics: Lectures on fine art, Know, vol.1 (Oxford: University Press, 2010) Hegel G. W. F., Hegel: Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion: Volume II: Determinate Religion: Determinate Religion v. 2 (Oxford: University Press, 2007) Immanuel Kant, ‘Kant: Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason: And Other Writings’ (Cambridge, University Press, 2004) Jason M, Miller, ‘Research Proposal’ (unpublished doctoral thesis, University of Notre Dame, 2004), p.2 Robin, Waterfield, ‘Plato’s Republic’ (Oxford: University Press, 2008) Stephen, Houlgate, ‘Hegel’s aesthetics’, (The Stanford Encyclopedia of philosophy, 2009) [accessed 15 Mar 2011] Schiller, Friedrich, ‘Kallias or Concerning Beauty: Letters to Gottfried Korner†, in Classical and Romantic German Aesthetics’, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003) How to cite Aesthetics and cultural theory, Essay examples

Thursday, December 5, 2019

Foundations of Research Inquiry in Health

Question: What is social isolation like for older people? Answer: Foundations of Research Background: According to Dickens et al. (2011), social isolation is considered as a one of the most important topics in health-related researches. Recently this issue gets the lime light of the media and attracting lots of people because of its high rates of increase. According to the study of Steptoe et al. (2013), it is found that a large number of people in this society are the victims of social isolation. However, it is also found that the older people of the society are the more vulnerable group of this threat than the others (Shankar et al. 2011). Although many researchers try to define the reasons behind the isolations of this group of people through their extensive research studies it is recognized that there are so many factors played as variables as the reason of isolation of the older people, it is hard for the researchers to define, which are the important one. Therefore, the research of this article carefully developed the research question with the help of PICO format. The research question, which is developed with the help of PICO format, is as follows- What is social isolation like for older people? This research question can be considered with importance in the context of the nursing practice due to its severity and the impact of human health. According to the study of (Cacioppo, Hawkley and Thisted 2010), the health consequences of the social isolation are a matter of great concern. The majority of the research studies showed that the social isolation can lead towards several health risks even the death of the victim has been reported. According to Ahmed, and Haboubi (2010), older people are the main victim of social isolation as they are mostly overlooked by their families because of their poor health and feeble memories. According to the research study of Luo et al. (2012), it is found that the older people who are abandoned by their family are mostly suffering from health issues than those who are having the kindest attention of their families. It is also found from the research studies that the older people who have Alzheimer and dementia are mostly avoided by the society. The impact of social stigma is so heavier in their life that they catch up more health issues, mainly depression, which leads them to the deterioration of their health and eventually towards an unwelcome death. Therefore, it can be said that picking up this research question is justified to find out the impact of the social isolation on the older people, especially those who are mentally ill. Database search string: PICO is one of the most helpful to identify the search terminology and form a research question, after answering which the researcher can enlighten the truth and find the interventions. The PICO terms used to develop the questions are as follows- P=Patient, Participants, Problem, Population I= Intervention (Prognostic Factor, Exposure) C= Comparison O= Outcomes Older people Social Isolation - Wellbeing Keywords: The keywords identified with PICO are as follows- Impacts of social isolation on older people Older people and Social Isolation Truncation: In this search string ! is used as a truncation to find a root word and other terms that can be formed by using letters to the end. The is used as follows- Older people and socio!- This search terminology finds the results with- older people with social stigma, older people with social issues and older people with social isolation. Wildcards: In this search string * is used to hold space for other characters and form search terminology such as- Older people Soc*** isolation- which covered older people with socio isolation and older people with sociocultural Abbreviations: No abbreviations were used in the search strategy Boolean Operators: AND is used as one of the most important Boolean Operators in the search string in the following way- Older people and social isolation. Results List of five relevant research articles- Boulos, C., Salameh, P. Barberger-Gateau, P. 2016, "Social isolation and risk for malnutrition among older people: Social isolation and malnutrition",Geriatrics Gerontology International,, pp. n/a. Dickens, A.P., Richards, S.H., Greaves, C.J. Campbell, J.L. 2011, "Interventions targeting social isolation in older people: a systematic review",BMC public health, 11, no. 1, pp. 647-647. Kono, A., Tadaka, E., Kanaya, Y., Dai, Y., Itoi, W. Imamatsu, Y. 2012, "Development of a community commitment scale with cross-sectional survey validation for preventing social isolation in older Japanese people",BMC public health, 12, no. 1, pp. 903. VICTOR, C.R., SCAMBLER, S.J., BOWLING, A. BOND, J. 2005, "The prevalence of, and risk factors for, loneliness in later life: a survey of older people in Great Britain",Ageing and Society, 25, no. 6, pp. 357-375. Hawton, A., Green, C., Dickens, A.P., Richards, S.H., Taylor, R.S., Edwards, R., Greaves, C.J. Campbell, J.L. 2011, "The impact of social isolation on the health status and health-related quality of life of older people",Quality of Life Research, 20, no. 1, pp. 57-67. Table 1. Peer-reviewed Research Articles Article Reference (authors and publication date) Study Design (i.e., ethnography, cohort, RCT phenomenology,) Population (how many participants, age, gender, disease, etc.) Intervention OR Issue (what was being implemented or studied) Comparison If relevant (what was the intervention compared against?) Outcomes (what were the main findings of the study?) 1 Boulos, C., Salameh, P. Barberger-Gateau, P. 2016 A cohort study was performed by the researchers to find out the impact of social isolation on the older people. To perform the study, 1200 randomly selected older people (65) were included in the study from the rural areas of Lebanon. In this study the researchers interviewed the older people about their isolation and if they are deprived of the food facilities. The issue focused in this study is the malnutrition among the older people as a result of social isolation. In this study, the researchers did not compare any interventions. The result of the study reflects that the social isolation is highly related with the increasing malnutrition risks among the older people. However, they were unable to find any relationship between the risk of malnutrition and frequency of sharing of meals. 2 Dickens, A.P., Richards, S.H., Greaves, C.J. Campbell, J.L. 2011 Secondary research was performed to find out a proper intervention step for the older people who are suffering social isolation. More than 7067 papers were analysed by the researchers and evidence were collected. The following types of interventions procedures were used in this study- BCI (Bereavement crisis intervention), SAI (Social adjustment intervention). The researchers of this study compared the interventions between the randomised group and the control group From the study, it is found overall increment in social network helped to decrease the impact of social isolation 3 Kono, A., Tadaka, E., Kanaya, Y., Dai, Y., Itoi, W. Imamatsu, Y. 2012 A pilot test was performed by the researchers, which was followed by a cohort study. In this research populations of two local governments (Matsubara and Daito) were included in this study. The total number of participant of this is 859 In this paper, the researchers focused on the interventions (CCS) in a community to prevent social isolation among the older Japanese people. In this study, the researchers did not compare any interventions between the control group and study group. The result of the research study showed that the intervention (CCS) used by the researcher in this study have validity and is capable of helping the older people who are the victim of social isolation. 4 VICTOR, C.R., SCAMBLER, S.J., BOWLING, A. BOND, J. 2005 A cohort study had been performed by the researchers with the help of face to face interview to find out the risk factors of the social isolation among the older people. For this study, 999 participants were selected who are aged more than 65 years old and live in their home. In this research study, the researchers were focused on the prevalence of the risk factors, which are related with the loneliness of the older people. In this study, the researchers did not compare any interventions between the control group and study group. The result showed the risk factors related to health increases due to the loneliness and social isolation of the older people. 5 Hawton, A., Green, C., Dickens, A.P., Richards, S.H., Taylor, R.S., Edwards, R., Greaves, C.J. Campbell, J.L. 2011 A cohort study had been performed by the researchers to find out the impact of social isolation on the health status of the older people. For this study, 393 participants were selected by the researchers based on inclusion criteria. In this study, the researchers focused on the impact of social isolation on the health of older people. In this study, the researchers did not compare any interventions between the control group and study group. As the result of this study, the researchers showed the degree of clinical attendance increases among the older people with the increase of social isolation. Discussion According to Hawkley and Cacioppo (2010), the Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses (AMSN) considers EBP (evidenced based practice) is the best way to develop best patient care. The impact of EBP is already proved as very helpful in the nursing practice. From the research study of Cacioppo et al. (2011), it is found that the patient outcomes can be improved immensely with the significant help of evidence-based practices. However, the use of evidence-based practice is a time-consuming method and needs extensive search knowledge. To perform evidence-based practices first, it is important to develop a research question, answering which the researcher can meet the target of the research or fulfil the research purpose. I found that the use of PICO format was extensively helpful to develop an ideal research question. An ideal research question should be consists of four parts such as the participants/ patients, Interventions/ issues, Comparison and outcomes. While developing the research ques tion, I found PICO format is efficient as it helped to identify each of the elements of the research question, such as older people, social isolation and the wellbeing of the older people. Therefore, I can say that the formation of research question helped me to enrich my knowledge about the current health care issues and find out proper interventions for the patients. On the other hand, while developing the research string, I gathered knowledge how to use the Keywords, Truncation, Abbreviations, Wildcards and Boolean operators. With the help of proper search terminology, I managed to find five most relevant papers that helped me to find out the answers to the research question. To analyse those papers, I have used a table format, which helped me to analyse each of the important sections of the research paper in a proper way. The identification of related research not only helped me to find out the answer to the research question but also helped me to enrich my knowledge about the s elected health-related issue. From the articles, I found that the social isolation has a deep impact on the health of the victims. I also found recognized that the older people are the most vulnerable towards social isolation. The associated research articles enriched my knowledge about the interventions that can be taken by the community members to help the older people who are the victim of social isolation. In addition, with evidence now I know the severity of the social isolation among the old people. The evidence I have gathered after reviewing the associated current journals are indeed helpful to take or promote proper interventions to help the older people who are vulnerable towards the social isolation (Perissinotto, Cenzer and Covinsky 2012). While searching the relevant papers with the help of appropriate search terminology I found a handful of papers where the researchers compared the impact of social isolation with the loneliness of the older people, which in turn enrich ed my knowledge about the topic and encouraged me to perform EBP in an extensive way. Reference Ahmed, T. and Haboubi, N., 2010. Assessment and management of nutrition in older people and its importance to health.Clin Interv Aging,5(1), pp.207-16. Boulos, C., Salameh, P. Barberger-Gateau, P. 2016, "Social isolation and risk for malnutrition among older people: Social isolation and malnutrition",Geriatrics Gerontology International,, pp. n/a. Cacioppo, J.T., Hawkley, L.C. and Thisted, R.A., 2010. Perceived social isolation makes me sad: 5-year cross-lagged analyses of loneliness and depressive symptomatology in the Chicago Health, Aging, and Social Relations Study.Psychology and aging,25(2), p.453. Cacioppo, J.T., Hawkley, L.C., Norman, G.J. and Berntson, G.G., 2011. Social isolation.Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences,1231(1), pp.17-22. Dickens, A.P., Richards, S.H., Greaves, C.J. and Campbell, J.L., 2011. Interventions targeting social isolation in older people: a systematic review.BMC public health,11(1), p.1. Dickens, A.P., Richards, S.H., Greaves, C.J. Campbell, J.L. 2011, "Interventions targeting social isolation in older people: a systematic review",BMC public health,vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 647-647. Hawkley, L.C. and Cacioppo, J.T., 2010. Loneliness matters: A theoretical and empirical review of consequences and mechanisms.Annals of Behavioral Medicine,40(2), pp.218-227. Hawton, A., Green, C., Dickens, A.P., Richards, S.H., Taylor, R.S., Edwards, R., Greaves, C.J. Campbell, J.L. 2011, "The impact of social isolation on the health status and health-related quality of life of older people",Quality of Life Research,vol. 20, no. 1, pp. 57-67. Kono, A., Tadaka, E., Kanaya, Y., Dai, Y., Itoi, W. Imamatsu, Y. 2012, "Development of a community commitment scale with cross-sectional survey validation for preventing social isolation in older Japanese people",BMC public health,vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 903. Luo, Y., Hawkley, L.C., Waite, L.J. and Cacioppo, J.T., 2012. Loneliness, health, and mortality in old age: A national longitudinal study.Social science medicine,74(6), pp.907-914. Perissinotto, C.M., Cenzer, I.S. and Covinsky, K.E., 2012. Loneliness in older persons: a predictor of functional decline and death.Archives of internal medicine,172(14), pp.1078-1084. Shankar, A., McMunn, A., Banks, J. and Steptoe, A., 2011. Loneliness, social isolation, and behavioral and biological health indicators in older adults.Health Psychology,30(4), p.377. Steptoe, A., Shankar, A., Demakakos, P. and Wardle, J., 2013. Social isolation, loneliness, and all-cause mortality in older men and women.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,110(15), pp.5797-5801. VICTOR, C.R., SCAMBLER, S.J., BOWLING, A. BOND, J. 2005, "The prevalence of, and risk factors for, loneliness in later life: a survey of older people in Great Britain",Ageing and Society,vol. 25, no. 6, pp. 357-375.

Thursday, November 28, 2019

Sunday, November 24, 2019

How to Get into a Subjunctive Mood

How to Get into a Subjunctive Mood How to Get into a Subjunctive Mood How to Get into a Subjunctive Mood By Mark Nichol The subjunctive mood is a verb form that expresses any one of a variety of sentiments that are in some sense not necessary true: a potential action or a possibility, a judgment or an opinion, or an emotion or a wish. Here are some examples of statements in the subjunctive mood: â€Å"If that were the case, I wouldn’t be here.† â€Å"It’s about time we went home.† â€Å"If I had been there, I would have done something.† â€Å"It is necessary for you to have followed the news to understand the joke.† â€Å"If I should fail, what will happen?† Here are statements that appear superficially similar but are presented in the indicative mood, which is employed for factual statements and positive beliefs: â€Å"If that is the case, I’m leaving.† â€Å"I want to go home now.† â€Å"Now that I’m here, I’m going to do something about it.† â€Å"Are you following the news?† â€Å"If you’re going to fail, at least do it with class.† Most of the forms in the first list and those expressing other variants of the subjunctive mood give us little or no trouble, but the form demonstrated in the first example in the first list often throws writers for a loop: For example, do you write â€Å"I wish I was rich,† or â€Å"I wish I were rich†? Frequently, people erroneously use the indicative mood when they should use the subjunctive. For example, â€Å"He asked me if I was in charge† uses the indicative mood, so it seems natural to use the same form of the verb â€Å"to be† (was) for a similar but conditional sentence: â€Å"If I was in charge, I would do things differently.† But is that right? To test the form you’ve used to see whether it is correct, reorder the syntax so the verb comes first: Does â€Å"Was I in charge, I would do things differently† make sense, or is â€Å"Were I in charge, I would do things differently† logical? The latter sentence is obviously the correct one, so the proper sentence starting with â€Å"If I† is â€Å"If I were in charge, I would do things differently.† Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Grammar category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Inquire vs EnquireConnotations of 35 Words for Funny PeopleWhat is an Anagram?

Thursday, November 21, 2019

How did Witte's and Pobedonostsev's visions of Russia and its path Essay

How did Witte's and Pobedonostsev's visions of Russia and its path differ Could either of them have saved autocracy - Essay Example Ivan III wiped out the idea of democracy by annexing territory of both principalities of their kingdom, ensuring that no united political power would be able to oppose their total authoritarian rule. The leader drew a firm support of the Russian Orthodox Church to legitimize an autocratic rule (MacKenzie & Curran, 2001). The people of Russia would therefore feel the effects of this rule in later years during the time of reign of both Alexander III and Nicholas II of between 1880 and 1905. Many Russians suffered due to autocratic rule at these times and later it resulted to the Russian Revolution. During the time of these two rulers, the people of Russia ran to extreme poverty due to existence of famine, lack of education, the people lived under poor working condition in cities, there were limited industries even though society that is more agrarian could be noticed no development could be hastened. Due to autocracy, the Russian empire was deteriorated politically, economically, and socially. There were no industries and most of the people were peasants with high level of illiteracy. Most of the citizens were still under the slavery of wealthy property owners. The government still had no defined legal or constitution as well as parliament thus as a result no elections could be conducted. For efficient and smooth run of the entire vast empire, the Tsar appointed various ministers to help him rule. People were denied freedom of speech thus grievances could not be aired to the Tsar. The first round in the struggle to define a direction of Russia’s development was between the conservative stability proclaimed by Pobedonostsev, which elaborated on maintenance of Russia’s natural institution and massive industrial change driven by Witte that emphasized on the introduction of European institutions (MacKenzie & Curran, 2001). The two men experienced a reversal of their early

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Examine the responses of single women that dont participate in active Assignment

Examine the responses of single women that dont participate in active physical recreation with single men that dont participate in active physical recreation - Assignment Example He also adds that people with high school education are also inactive. However, in some countries there are barriers like lack of safe places to walk and cycle that prevent them from exercising or take part in physical recreation. Individuals also face other barriers to recreation. For example, organizational barriers like lack of financial resources, supportive policies and facilities. There are also cultural barriers where minorities feel unwelcome and uncomfortable in recreation facilities. Additionally, communication is another barrier where low-income families do not have information about recreation services and resources, and gender barriers where, men are favored than women, when it comes to offering recreation facilities. Men get a lot of attention when it comes to sports recreation and therefore, women tend to withdraw themselves from such activities. To add to this, women and men do not exercise because of general barriers like, the recreation department lacking creativity of involving men and women in involving themselves in physical activities. Women or men from poverty would also feel uncomfortable exercising with wealthy individuals. Some staff can also be unwelcoming and insensitive to sexual stereotypes like lesbians and gays and therefore, they feel discouraged from participating in physical activities. This analysis will answer why single men and women do not actively participate in physical exercises, from the research method used to conduct the study (Hamblin, 2005). The research method used to conduct the study was a questionnaire, in the form of an interview. Both single men and women were asked why they do not participate in physical recreation activities and their responses were different. The questionnaire was just a closed question where that was easy to answer as well as to code. The responses were only presented as No/yes choice with small explanation required about why the

Monday, November 18, 2019

The Macro and Micro-economic Concerns of the High Unemployment Essay

The Macro and Micro-economic Concerns of the High Unemployment - Essay Example Importantly, unemployment is highest in less developed nations; however, with the global economic slump, developed economies are of late facing the challenge. Predominantly, the US subprime challenges and its wide spread effects have considerably worsened the situation. In India, the challenge of unemployment is a prime obstacle to the region’s development. Studies note that even during the good periods, most Indian farmers remain unemployed for several years. Explosive populations and region disparity presents the major challenge for this economy. According to International Labor Organization (ILO) statistics, since the beginning of the 2007 fiscal crisis, the corporate world has lost more than thirty-four million employees. Indeed, the organization’s estimate of the year 2010 presented that about 210 million people were unemployed (Bahmani 236). Surprisingly, terrifying prospect states that the world’s youth unemployment figures may amplify progressively at a y early average rate of 13.2 %. As such, the organization presents sentiments that economical consequence of this situation is perilous thus demands critical attentions. The rational behind the high rate of unemployment Rethinking of the controversy characterizing the world’s present condition of unemployment is of great essence. A major factor increasing the unemployment rates is the lack of sustainable demands for the labor. Bahmani (236) notes that in developing economies, a considerable group of people works as extra labor. This case has emerged by sense that the world lack approaches for promoting industrial and corporate ventures that can comfortably absorb its labor. Tactical...This essay presents an modern attempt to find the solution to the unemployment issue on both micro and macro levels, by performing thorough theoretical research of the problem. Unemployment is an old economic challenge; thus, economists and policy makers have ever struggled to counter the problem. This effort has managed to regulate the spread pace, but of late, the situation has gone out of control. Strategic arguments observe that both macro and micro-economists should examine the present rates of unemployment critically. Unemployment invites financial disaster and reduces the aggregate purchasing capacity of a country. Unemployment leads to less spending hence minimizing businesses’ capital Adopting tactical measures can minimize the challenge presented by high rates of unemployment. Considering the magnitude of the matter, it is rational to propose that any future economic reforms and industrial adjustments should target reducing the challenge of unemployment. Both economists and policy makers need to work communally while according preference to unemployment. Tactical approaches entail promoting sustainable utilization of the available resources and engaging further industrial and technological developments. The corporate world and government entities should engage tactical measures aimed at alleviating unemployment. Developing employment opportunities and parity in income allotment will considerably address the concern of unemployment. Economies proliferation in future resides on the world’s unemployment rates.

Friday, November 15, 2019

What Are the Reflective Practices of Teachers?

What Are the Reflective Practices of Teachers? Teachers play a significant role in shaping the quality and effectiveness of the teaching and learning practices. Research on effective teaching has shown that effective practice is linked to inquiry, reflection, and continuous professional growth (Harris, 1998). The professional development of teachers takes many forms ranging from activities set by school administration to personal reflective practices about classroom experiences. Schon (1996) defined reflective practice as thoughtfully considering ones own experiences in applying knowledge to practice while being coached by professionals in the discipline. For teaching, reflective practice refers to the process of the teacher studying his or her own teaching methods and determining what works best for the students. Thus, teachers reflective practices are necessary to teach effectively and they address an important issue in providing meaningful lessons to students. Elementary teachers as well as the teachers of other grades can be supported to be involved in reflective practices on their own experiences. 1.1 Rationale The classroom realization of curriculum reform comes about through the actions of individual teachers (Christou et all, 2004). Teachers beliefs, practices, and working environment shape and direct their implementation. Teachers should be able to understand and appreciate the changes that the curriculum is attempting to implement and not otherwise. (Zanzali, 2003) There is a literature which presents the processes and barriers involved in the implementation of curricular change (e.g. Fullan, 1991; Macnab, 2003). Romberg (1997) showed that the use of a new curriculum in the classroom could create disjunctions between the teachers former knowledge and practice, which require resolution. The development and implementation of any curriculum will affect teachers in significant ways and if teachers are not helped in coping with demands brought about by changes in the content, pedagogical and psychological considerations, the implementation process will not be effective. Experience around the world in developing, industrialized, and information-based countries has shown that professional development is the key determining factor for improved classroom performance. Effective professional development experiences are designed to help teachers build new understanding of teaching and learning (Hea-Jin Lee, 2001). According to Baird and Rowsy (1989), high quality in-service program should be designed if teachers were to benefit from it. Regardless of particular circumstances, an effective curriculum development process usually entails a structured professional development program in order to guide the curriculum development process. The aim of this study is to investigate elementary teachers reflective practices on their mathematics teaching as they are involved in a continuing mathematics teaching professional development program as a consequence of a two mathematics education program integration process at a private elementary school in Ankara. In this study, two elementary teachers will participate in the study and they will be interviewed in order to get information about their reflective practices on their teaching. In addition to this, those teachers lessons will be observed in their classes through the professional development program in order to see their implementation. The participants will also keep reflective journal on their mathematics teaching practices. The findings will contribute to the future in-service training programs in Turkey. 1.2 My motivation for the study As a mathematics teacher teaching grades from 6 to 8, I realized that students have some problems related to mathematics learning and some of these problems are related to their previous learning experiences in early grades. These problems are brought to the upper grades if they were not solved in the earlier grades. It can be said that, students do not learn well and as we desire and I believe that some of these problems are related to the teaching, in other words, it is directly related to the way we teach the mathematics topics. In our country, elementary school teachers are responsible for teaching mathematics as well as teaching other subjects. As far as I am concerned, teaching mathematics especially to 4th and 5th grades is difficult for many elementary school teachers. In this respect, teachers, who are teaching in these levels should be supported by means of continuous program that involves several different components such as seminars, lesson observations, interviews, and reflective practices. By seeing the potential sources of the problem and having some solution ideas, as a mathematics teacher I can provide support for elementary school teachers in my school. Thats why, from my point of view, this study will serve a valuable information in order to understand elementary school teachers way of thinking in teaching mathematics by means of their reflective practices. 1.3 Research Question The research question related to this study is as follows: What are the elementary teachers reflective practices on their mathematics teaching as they are involved in a continuing mathematics teaching professional development program which is developed as a consequence of a two mathematics education program integration process at a private school in Ankara? CHAPTER II:  REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE The goal of this study is to investigate elementary teachers reflective practices on their mathematics teaching as they are involved in a continuing mathematics teaching professional development program as a consequence of a two mathematics education program integration process. This chapter is devoted to the review of literature related to this study. The issues that will be covered in this chapter are the term reflection, reflective practices, and studies on reflection and reflective practice. What you need is a theory which underlines the reflection. Not for this assignment, but for your TIK and dissertation. 2.1 The term reflection: Although the term reflection became popular after the studies of Schon, the roots of the term extend to John Dewey. Dewey (1933) claimed the importance of active and deliberate engagement with problematic situations in providing development. He defined reflection as an Active, persistent and careful consideration of any belief or supposed form of knowledge in the light of the grounds that support it and the further conclusions to which it tends constitutes reflective thought (p. 9). According to Dewey (1933), reflection does not consist of a series of steps or procedures to be used by teachers. Rather, it is a holistic way of meeting and responding to problems, a way of being as a teacher. As he stated, reflection involves intuition, emotion, and passion and is not something that can be neatly packaged as a set of techniques for teachers to use (p.9 you give the page number what where is the quote?). Dewey (1933) believed that an individual should to have three profiles in order to r eflect; being open-minded, responsible and whole-hearted. These imply openness to new ideas and thoughts, being aware of the meaning and consequences of ones actions and the capacity to fully engage with new ideas and actively seek them out respectively. He further stated the four-part experiential-reflective cycle showing the relationship between experience, description, interpretation, and action. Rodgers (2002, p. 845 as cited in Lee, 2005) characterized Deweys four criteria for reflection as follows: Did you take this directly from your second reference? Or did you paraphrase them? Is a meaning-making process that moves a learner from one experience into the next with deeper understanding of its relationships with and connections to other experiences and ideas. Is a systematic, rigorous, disciplined way of thinking, with its roots in scientific inquiry. Needs to happen in community, in interaction with others. Requires attitudes that value the personal and intellectual growth of oneself and of others. Deweys ideas and the idea of professional reflection were developed in the 1980s with the Schons (1983) new concepts of reflection-in-action and reflection on action. Schon stressed the relationship between reflection and experience and distinguished between `reflection-on- action and `reflection-in-action. While reflection in action can be described as the reflection done during the action, reflection on action is done after the action. Griffiths (2000) stated that, reflection both in and after action is important in order to evaluate and moderate intuitive practice. Another distinction about the types of reflection is done by Van Manen (1995). He stated that the simplest forms of reflection that regularly occur in teacher education take place before, during, and after teaching, and Van Manen defines them as anticipatory, contemporaneous, and retrospective types of reflection. 2.2 Reflective Practice Jaworski (1998) defined reflective practice as a rather thoughtful way of teaching, evaluating what occurs and feeding into future planning without a demand for overt, critical, knowledgeable action (p.7). Similarly, Schon (1983) defined reflective practice as thoughtfully considering ones own experiences in applying knowledge to practice while being coached by professionals in the discipline. According to Pollard (2005), reflective teaching implies an active concern with aims and consequences as well as means and technical competence (p15). He stated the seven main characteristics of reflective practices as follows: I think instead of listing them in this way, you should combine these in a paragraph. You may use most of your expressions below, but put them through a flow in the paragraph. Reflective teaching implies an active concern with aims and consequences, as well as means and technical efficiency. Reflective teaching is applied in a cyclical or spiraling process, in which teachers monitor, evaluate and revise their own practice continuously. Reflective teaching requires competence in methods of evidence-based classroom enquiry, to support the progressive development of higher standards of teaching. Reflective teaching requires attitudes of open-mindedness, responsibility and wholeheartedness. Reflective teaching is based on teacher judgment, informed by evidence- based enquiry and insights from other research. Reflective teaching, professional learning and personal fulfillment are enhanced by dialogue with colleagues. Reflective teaching enables teachers to creatively mediate externally developed frameworks for teaching and learning. McKenna (1999 as cited in Jay and Johnson, 2002) listed the characteristics of practitioner who is reflective by saying he; focuses on some dimension of their pedagogy; sees that dimension from a variety of perspectives using techniques of reframing and reflective listening; and engages in dialogue with their peers in order to illuminate the boundaries and frames of thought which limited their current perspective, with the goal being to take action based on a thorough and reflective understanding of events, alternatives, and ethics (p. 13). Again, you have page number but where the quote begins and ends (quotation marks) is missing. Instead, you should write these in your own words in a paragraph. 2.3 Studies on reflection and reflective practice Try to avoid talking about the article. Instead, talk about the study or the ideas presented. Griffiths (2000), discussed the term reflection as it relates to teachers and teacher education. She drew particularly on Schons (YEAR) definitions of two types of reflection, which are reflection-in-action and refection-on-action. In the article, differing definitions of reflection and their inter-relationship are explored, and how these relate to courses of initial teacher education in a variety of countries and cultural contexts is discussed. In addition to this, questions about the value and purpose of reflection were also raised, especially in the context of its practical relevance to teacher education. Another study is done by Jay and Johnson (2002) who explored the facets of reflection. They provided a typology designed to guide teacher educators in teaching reflection to pre-service teachers. After a short review on reflection, they defined the term reflection, reflection process and its content, and the typology of reflection is presented. The profile of typology consisted of three dimensions of reflective thought which are descriptive, comparative, and critical. In her article Frid (2000) discussed that although it has framed many mathematics teacher education practices in the last decade, it has ultimately not had substantial impact on classroom practices yet. Therefore she examined some reasons for this lack of impact. In the article, the stages and foci of teacher development are underlined from the stage of beginning student teacher to an autonomous teacher. In this paper the importance of broadening and embracing constructivist pedagogy more fully were mentioned in order to provide ways for the development of student teachers as professionals who have technical knowledge and skills as well as capacities for life long learning, flexibility and autonomy. Jaworski (2006) defined teaching as learning practice and she addressed the challenge of developing theory in relation to the practices of mathematics teaching and its development. She specially dealt with inquiry in mathematics learning, mathematics teaching and the development of practices of teaching in communities involving teachers and educators. Jaworski handle the inquiry as a tool which can lead to developing inquiry as a way of being when practiced as part of a community, in which members collaborate, as learners to develop their practice. The paper offered some ways for mathematics teaching development. In his writing, Farell (2008) described the foundations and components of reflective practice to facilitate the use of this approach among educators who work with adult English language learners. He firstly defined the reflective practice by giving briefly the related research and then he mentioned about practice, by discussing some techniques and tools such as action research, teaching journals, teaching development groups. He further discussed the continuum of reflection and how can teachers engage in the reflective practices in order to make continuous development in their career. As Frid (2000) and Jaworski (2006) mentioned, it is easy to set relationship between constructivism, inquiry method and reflective practices. The importance of reflective teaching is a central component for designing teaching and learning experiences for teachers. (Lowery, 2003, p.23). According to Van Manen (1995) in everyday life, the practice of pedagogy can only be reflective in a qualified and circumscribed sense (p.35). Reflective practice occurs when teachers consciously take on the role of reflective practitioner, subject their own beliefs about teaching and learning to critical analysis, take full responsibility for their actions in the classroom, and continue to improve their teaching practice (Farrell, 2008; Jay Johnson, 2002). Teachers can engage in these reflective practices in a constructivist manner in any time they need to develop themselves. 2.4. Developing a reflective practice-empirical research studies It is evident that there is an emphasis on the literature that reflection is strongly related with experience, in other words practice. Van Manen (1995) raised some questions about the meaning and place of practical reflection in teaching and about the relation between knowledge and action in teaching. He underlined the importance of reflective thinking which has a complex array of cognitively and philosophically distinct methods and attitudes. He defined different reflection profiles namely retrospective reflection on (past) experiences, anticipatory reflection on (future) experiences, and contemporaneous reflection. He raised the questions considering different cases, such as for novice teachers, experienced teachers, and explains the different findings in different occasions. In her article Lowery (2003) mentioned the importance of reflective teaching in providing development in teacher knowledge and research results that defines the reflective thinking as distinguishing strategy between experienced and novice teachers. She discussed the importance of teacher reflection; she describes the three-level plan to promote reflective teaching, which are understanding the importance of reflective thinking, implementing reflective strategies the reflective cycle and developing a reflective venue. Another study was performed by Loughran. Loughran (2002) examined the nature of reflection and to suggest how it might become effective reflective practice that can be developed and enhanced through teacher preparation programs, He underlined the inefficiency of experience alone is mentioned and importance of reflection for learning. The main message he gave in the article that, if learning through practice matters, then reflection on practice is crucial, and teacher preparation is the obvious place for it to be initiated and nurtured (p.42). 2.4.1. Reflective Practice among Preservice Teachers In their article, Harford and MacRuairc (2008) reported on the study they performed among twenty preservice teachers with the aim of examining the use of peer-videoing in the classroom as a tool to promote reflective practice among student teachers. The pre-service teachers who were participated in the study were from a variety of subject disciplines participating in a Post-Graduate Diploma in Education program in an Irish university. They defined the purpose of this paper as to contribute to the international debate over best practice in supporting, encouraging and scaffolding reflective practice. The findings of the study indicated that the use of peer videoing in the classroom has a powerful function as a catalyst for reflection and critical dialogue among teachers. In another study, Kullman (1998) focused on what transpired during a mentor training course in Hungary. This mentor training course involved prospective mentors and student English Language teachers. In the course, role plays proved to be the stimulus for an exploration of how far the model of mentoring commonly promoted takes sufficient account of contextual factors. He discussed the mentors roles, the ways in helping student teachers reflect on their classroom experience and how to promote reflection in relation with the contextual factors. The study of Lee (2005) has the purpose of investigating how the process of reflective thinking develops in preservice teachers and reviewing the criteria for assessing reflective thinking. Lee performed the study with the participants who enrolled as juniors in a secondary mathematics program in Korea. The data were collected by interviews, observations and written documents such as survey questionnaires and journal entries. Reflections of preservice teachers are assessed from two perspectives, one of them is content and the other one is depth. In the study, it is found that reflective thinking depends on personal background, field experience contexts, and the mode of communication. The criteria for depth of reflection are defined as recall, rationalization and reflective levels. In her article McDuffie (2004) reported on the study which has the aim of investigating the pre-service teachers thinking with regard to reflective processes and how they use their pedagogical content knowledge in their practices. The case study was done with two elementary preservice teachers during their student teaching internship program. She found that the pre-service teachers use their pedagogical content knowledge in anticipating problematic events and in reflecting on problematic events in instruction. She further founded that the limited amount of pedagogical content knowledge and lack of confidence had effect on the pre-service teachers reflection while in the act of teaching; therefore they were more likely to reflect on their practices outside of the act of teaching. 2.4.2. Reflective Practice among Novice Teachers In the literature, the amount of studies done with expert teachers and preservice teachers is greater than that of novice teachers. In one of these studies Roehrig et. al. (2008) conducted a grounded theory analysis in order to explore the potential for mentoring to support novice teachers use of effective teaching practices. The study was conducted with six beginning primary teachers in the US, and with their mentors. The data were collected by means of survey, interview, and observation. The results of data analysis revealed that some factors, other than type of mentoring program were related to beginning teachers success in improving classroom practices. It was found that more effective beginning teachers mentors had more experience as mentors and were more effective teachers than other mentors. In addition to this, more effective beginning teachers communicated more with mentors, more accurately self-reported use of effective teaching practices, and were more open to mentoring. Another study with novice teachers was performed by Cavanagh and Prescott (2010). They reported on their study that was conducted with three beginning secondary mathematics teachers. The aim of the study was to interpret how beginning teachers reflective practices developed during a one-year university teacher education program and concurrent professional fieldwork experience or practicum. The data were collected through the interviews during the practicum and once more in their first year. A three-stage, hierarchical model of reflective practice of Lee was used to interpret the interview responses. Results of the study revealed that the participants showed improvement in their ability to reflect on their teaching during the practicum. 2.4.3 Reflective Practice among Expert teachers One of the studies performed with expert teachers is done by Curtis and Szestay (2005). They reported on the learning outcomes of experienced teachers who attended a program designed to enable them to come together and engage in professional development through structured and systematic reflective practice. They used both qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis methods. As a quantitative data collection method, they used questionnaire and as qualitative methods, they used one-to- one, face-to-face audio recorded interviews. They interviewed with seven past seminar participants, three primary school teachers, three high school teachers and one middle school teacher. Six themes emerged from the teacher responses. These are, renewed enthusiasm for teaching, looking at teaching with fresh eyes, shifts in understanding teaching, becoming more reflective and aware as teachers, enhancing the quality of student learning and building professional communities. As another study, Jaworski (1998) discussed the study of teacher researchers undertaking research into their own mathematics teaching at the secondary level. The study used qualitative methods to explore the processes and practices of Mathematics Teacher Enquiry (MTE) project research. Two important considerations were the special nature of mathematics in this research, and the role of external researchers in the MTE project. In this study, the teachers were seen as reflective practitioners, who develop knowledge and awareness through enhanced metacognitive activity. Their research was characterized as evolutionary, in contrast with established patterns of action research. This study reveals the fact that, teachers researches have commonalities and some differences, and these results provide potential for the development of mathematics teaching. In her article, Walshaw (2010) dealt with the ways of understanding what structures a teachers narrative about his practice. This study was a part of the larger project that represented the New Zealand component of the international Learners Perspective Study (LPS) and on one teachers reflections on a sequence of algebra lessons at the secondary school level, in a larger project. The data were collected through classroom video records, interviews with and classroom researcher observations. As a result of the project, Walshaw pointed out that reflections are more than instruments of change; they are also instruments of social reproduction. Zaslavsky and Leikin (2004) performed a study with junior and senior high school mathematics teachers with the aim of analyzing the processes encountered by the teacher educators, as members of a community of practice, which contributed to their growth as teacher educators. In addition to this, thy aimed at testing their theoretical three-layer model of growth through practice in special context, which is professional development of mathematics teacher educators. The study was conducted as grounded theory approach within in-service professional development program. In another study, Farell (2001) reported on the study that he performed with one non-native speaker, a teacher of English as a foreign language in Korea, during a 16-week period with the aim of understanding what the teacher talked about in the three modes of reflection: group meetings, individual meetings and what she wrote about in her journal; and what was the level of her reflection in each activity: descriptive or critical. The results of the study revealed that the teacher shows a clear preference for group discussions as her method of reflection over the other two activities: journal writing and classroom observations. 2.4.4 Summary of literature review on teachers reflection and reflective practice From the literature review, we can summarize the following statements. To begin with, the theory and practice division is dominant in the literature related to the reflection and reflective practice. Secondly, it is learned from literature that, reflective practice is a valuable and important component in teacher development. It is promoted to be included in preservice teachers education program as well as in-service teacher development programs. Thirdly, when we look at the literature from the aspects of tools and methods in order to promote reflective practices, we see that reflective journal writing, use of videos, observations, peer observations, reflective dialogue are the most common preferred ways. Another thing that attracts our attention in the literature review is that it relates constructivism and inquiry with reflective practices of teachers. As a last statement, we can mention on the literature which emphasize on the social aspect of reflections. The literature review on reflective practices of teachers revealed some further research needs. First of all, studies are needed regarding how the incorporation of effective ways in a continuous development program be achieved so that teachers benefits from these practices. In addition to this, some research would be beneficial on collaborative reflective practices of teachers on their teaching area as well as on teaching in general. Further, the role of scaffolding in developing teachers reflective practices can also be a study area. Some research on assessing the effectiveness of reflective practices would be beneficial. From the literature review it is seen that that reflection is a hallmark for development of teachers and for providing quality in teaching; it should be given importance to provide development of teachers both in undergraduate programs and continuous education programs. CHAPTER III:  METHODOLOGY 3.1 The research site The present research is a qualitative study using elementary teachers reflective practices. The study will be conducted with two elementary teachers in one private elementary school in Ankara. Two mathematics programs, namely Primary Years Math Program (PYP-math) and mathematics program designed by Ministry of National Education (MoNE) have been integrated in this school in 2010. There are approximately 100 staff including coordinator, principle and vice principals, teachers, counselors, program development expert, and measurement and evaluation expert in this school. The school has approximately 700 students from kindergarten to 8th grade. There are four sections at each grade level. The school starts at 8.30 in the morning and finishes at 15.35 and teachers are to be at school during whole week between these hours except for one half day in a week. In addition to these, for Tuesdays and Thursdays the working time extends to 17.00 and all the meetings and workshops are planned in this period. The school is implementing a new program for two years for K5 grades. This program is called Primary Years Program (PYP), which is a part of International Baccalaureate Program (IB) developed by International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO). The International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO) was established in 1968 and is a non-profit, international educational foundation registered in Switzerland. The PYP is based on the inquiry and thematic in nature. Teachers teaching the same grade level come together and develop six transdisciplinary thematic units to be covered during whole year. 3.2 The Overall Research Design of the Study The data will be collected by means of reflective journals, in-depth interviews and lesson observations. When we look at the literature from the aspects of methods in order to be used for data collection for teachers reflective practices, we see that observations and interviews are very commonly preferred (Cavanagh and Prescott, 2010; Curtis and Szestay, 2005; Lee, 2005, Roehrig et. al., 2008). In addition to this, journal writing is found a valuable tool in the literature to promote teachers reflective practices. (Farell, 2001, 2008; Lee, 2005) 3.3 The Participants Two elementary teachers will participate in the study. In the school, one group of elementary teachers teaches to the grades 1-3 and the other group teaches to the grades 4 and 5. The participants of the study will be selected from those who generally teach to 4th and 5th grades since in these grade levels, mathematics content is more intensive when compared to lower grade levels. The participants will be selected according to number of years in teaching in school and teaching experience overall. Teachers having five to fifteen years of experience will be preferred as participants. Classroom teachers are all female in this school; therefore the participants will be female. 3.4 Data Collection Procedure The participants will be interviewed in the beginning of the process in order to gather general information about them as teachers. After that, their lessons will be observed within at least five whole observation cycles, including five pre-interview sessions, five lesson observations and five post-interview sessions. The lessons will be video-taped and participants will be provided a copy of each observed lesson video in order to make reflection on it before coming to the post-interview session. Each of the observation cycles will be completed in two weeks, therefore the observation cycle process will last about ten weeks. In addition to this, the participants will keep reflective journal during these ten weeks and the journal entries will be checked at the end of each observation period. The general design of the data collection procedure is in the Table 3.1. Table 3.1 Data collection procedure Week 1 Initial General Interview Week 2 3 Observation Cycle 1 Reflective Journal Entries Literature Review: Medical Research on Schizophrenia Literature Review: Medical Research on Schizophrenia Research is a way of developing a better understanding of a specific chosen area which can help improve further studies within the chosen subject. An interesting subject to research is a mental health condition known as schizophrenia and how it affects people within modern society. This specific mental health topic was chosen due to personal reasons and also as a professional interest. This research paper will help gather more information and knowledge toward the understanding of the illness to help progress further within the mental health care industry. In an article published by Medical News Today (2014) Nordqvist (2014) it describes schizophrenia as a mental health disorder which affects the brain and causes delusions, confusions, social withdrawal, psychosis, loss of personality and can also cause the patient to portray some unusually bizarre behaviour. MNT (2014) also states that this disease of the brain will normally hit a person during their late adolescent years or early adulthood years, but goes on to stress that it can affect anyone at any given time of their life. According to research gathered by the National Institute of Mental Health (2014) a person suffering with schizophrenia will have to cope with the symptoms for life but, treatment can relieve many of these symptoms. The research information that was published by NIMH (2014) was secondary data founded and collected by medical professionals that study and research schizophrenia as a profession. The study that was conducted is known as an epidemiology study (a study of patterns of disease within the community or population) and was used to collect the primary data through participant observation and surveys (patient 2014). In recent research studies it is suggested that one in three people to every 100 in the UK suffer with schizophrenia according to statistics provided by Mind (2014). This works out around 220,000 people living in Wales and England and around 24,000,000 worldwide suffer with this illness (RC Psych 2012). These figures founded for this particular research paper are qualitative (open questionnaires) and quantitative (numerical information collected through closed questions) based as they were done through doing surveys and questionnaires on the population of the UK society having home treatment and therapies to help deal with their mental health condition. They are also only based on people living at home with the condition so it excludes people who are confined to prison or within a mental health hospital so as one could imagine the statistics will be much larger in numbers than this. All these statistics come from reliable sources as the figures come from the amount of patients that a re being treated by medical professionals, and they are then reported back to the government so that they are able to collect this information and record the figures accurately through the quantitative data gathered by the researches. In 2009 Gattaz (2009) did a study examining the link between schizophrenia and the sufferer’s urbanicity. This study was carried out during 20 different studies (known as a systematic review, where more than one case is studied, Saha et al 2005) in Western Europe and at the end of it Gattaz (2009) came to the conclusion that the longer a person living in that kind of environment is exposed to urban residence the higher their risk of developing schizophrenia was. This study was ethical in its research as the subjects were all demographically similar with their age, gender, sex and migrant status being within the same range. However during this investigation one of the major methodological (which is the way the researcher would go about discovering the knowledge in a systematic way) (Killam, 2013) implications of conducting the study into the relationship between the neighbourhood and schizophrenia was the timing of the individuals exposure. This was discovered when March et al (2008) assessed and reviewed the study and looked into the validity and the reliability of the study (the quality and the accuracy of the results). This study then becomes unreliable and inconclusive due to the unethical approach which means the hypothesis to this research can be researched again through a more in-depth approach. Kelly et al (2009) conducted research in order to find if there is a link between schizophrenia and urbanity. This was a longitude study spanning over several years. The subjects were identified by attending psychiatric services within an urban catchment of Dublin during the period of 1995 – 1998 where subjects from North East Ireland were also identified. The population used was 171 during the period of 1995 – 1998 and 153 subjects during the period of 1995 – 2001. All cases bar one were ethically Irish and all were male. The researchers collected qualitative data by means of face to face interviews. The research found that males were almost twice as likely to suffer from schizophrenia in urban areas, in comparison to males in rural areas. However, incidences of psychosis were lower in urban areas in comparison to the rural counterparts. This research found that the results suggested that males were 48% more like to suffer from schizophrenia This research did highlight the risks of schizophrenia when living in urban areas. However, this study gives a biased conclusion as all subjects were male and Irish. This research could not be used to generalise the risk cross culturally. Research involving an even ratio of male and female, also an even ratio of ethnicity would probably give a less biased result. One website named as Schizophrenia (2010) Dr Ira Glick breaks down the etiologic pathway to explain the way that schizophrenia sets in. Etiologic is a medical research term, it is important as the collected information gathers evidence for the investigation into the causes of such illnesses and diseases (Miettinen 2011). The research described on the website schizophrenia (2010) goes on to suggest that schizophrenia starts with the early environmental insults which is the genetic predisposition where, this will then lead onto the neurodevelopmental abnormalities and target features. The later environmental insults start with the further brain dysfunction and schizophrenia which will then lead to the onset of psychosis which is the neurodegeneration and schizophrenia. The study shows that ever growing research suggests that schizophrenia could possibly be prevented whilst the mother is pregnant with their child or, in the early stages of childhood. This could be a good thing because a s many other research studies suggest, schizophrenia runs in the family and that deformed genes are passed down hereditary through the family (NHS 2012). RC Psych (2014) online research website has recently been looking into research suggesting that schizophrenia is linked with the misuse of the illegal drug known as cannabis. These studies suggested that there is a clear strong link between the two with the early use of cannabis and the later mental health issues in those with a genetic vulnerability. Not only was it found that schizophrenia is linked with cannabis misuse but also another mental health issue known as bipolar disorder. According to RC Psych (2014) there is now sufficient evidence that the younger the person is misusing cannabis the higher the chances are of developing the condition later on in life. So in other words they are stating that the more cannabis smoked by an individual the more susceptible the individual is in developing the illness. Another research that has been studied between people who suffer with schizophrenia and healthy individuals asks the question ‘Is there a difference between the perception of emotional and non-emotional facial expression affected the same within healthy individuals and those who suffer with the mental health illness?’ The results from this study showed that patients suffering with schizophrenia showed impairments in the recognition of identity compared to the groups of young and old healthy individuals. Similarly though it found that old healthy individuals have the impairment of learning new faces the same as experienced in the ability of patients with schizophrenia recognising the learning of new faces (Silver 2014). The method used in this research was through direct observation where the participant’s behaviour was observed by the person conducting the research. In one of the largest studies to ever be undertaken, scientists believe they are closer than ever before in understanding the complex interplay between a person’s upbringing and their genes that can result in schizophrenia (independent 2014). Within this study the group of Psychiatrists analysed the DNA of 37,000 schizophrenic patients with completely different backgrounds and found that 128 independent genes located at 108 different locations in the human chromosomes significantly contribute the susceptibility of developing schizophrenia, whereas before 83 of these have never been previously linked to the condition. This research study will hopefully prove to be a breakthrough in understanding and hopefully finding a cure one day for the illness. Larsson et al (2012) conducted research into the use of counselling for individuals suffering from schizophrenia. The research methodology was analysing how eight psychologists talk about and around the topic of schizophrenia to patients by using semi structured interviews. This allowed the researchers to gather qualitative data. Each participant signed a consent form to and were fully briefed in regards to what date was being collected for research. This ensured that all research methods were completed ethically. Larsson et al (2012) concluded that the use of psychology in diagnosing schizophrenia is heavily underrated, The diagnosis of schizophrenia is almost unheard of in counselling psychology literature. Researchers stated that â€Å"conflicting, theories about the cause and nature of schizophrenia have arisen as outlined by Geekie and Read (2009). These include evolutionary theories, psychodynamic and psychoanalytical, life event theories, sociological and anthropological and philosophical and existential theories.† The research concluded that counselling along with medication brought something different to the treatment of schizophrenia. However, there was a danger of counselling pathologising the individual further. Counselling has been identified as being underepresented in the treatment of schizophrenia. Counselling was identified as being underrepresented within the NHS in general. Further research using counselling and medication for individuals with schizophrenia could prove to be very informative in treating an individual. However, with NHS budgets getting cut, this could prove to be a barrier in effectively treating individuals with schizophrenia. In the conclusion to the researches named above the most important thing is finding the key main factor that causes the illness to help in finding a treatment to try and prevent it, keep it at bay or possibly cure it. As research is put into place to help improve a better quality of life for persons suffering with conditions such as schizophrenia all the individuals taking part need to be treated equally therefore these studies need to be ethical in their research to help get a better understanding. Correct training of staff in hospitals, institutes, and self help groups would be of a beneficial factor but these are not cost effective and will cause the government to be paying out expenses for all aspects of the path that needs to be taken in getting there. On the other hand if a better understanding and knowledge of the condition was available to the sufferers then this could keep the cost down as the patients may not be afraid to seek help which can result in them leading a normal and healthy life the same as the next person, being able to get an education behind them, work, get a social life without feeling out casted due to the ignorance of mental health within society (Kings College London 2009). There are so many different theories in the causes and implications on schizophrenia there will be researches going on for a very long time in trying to establish the true cause of the condition. From the research gathered above if society and medical professionals were more educated on mental health illnesses such as schizophrenia then there wouldn’t be as many problems and research into the condition would become easier as sufferers won’t feel as though they are being judged because of the condition but will feel more that there is help out there for them. References: Cannabis and Mental health (2014) Available online at: http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/mentalhealthinformation/mentalhealthproblems/alcoholanddrugs/cannabisandmentalhealth.aspx Accessed on 24/11/2014 Causes of schizophrenia (2012) Available online at: http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Schizophrenia/Pages/Causes.aspx Accessed on 25/11/2014 Crawford et al (2012) Report of the National Audit of Schizophrenia (NAS), RCP: London DNA hope on schizophrenia: Research breakthrough points at over 100 genes (20143) http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/dna-hope-on-schizophrenia-research-breakthrough-points-at-over-100-genes-9619638.html Accessed on 27/11/2014 Epidemiology (2014) Available online at: http://www.patient.co.uk/doctor/schizophrenia-pro Accessed on 27/11/2014 Kelly, B. OCallaghan, E. Waddington, J. Feeney, L. Browne, S. Scully, P. and Clarke, M. et al (2010) Schizophrenia and the City: A Review of Literature and Prospective Study of Psychosis and Urbanicity in Ireland: Schizophrenia Research 116(1), pp. 75-89. Killam, L (2013) Research Terminology simplified: Paradigms, Axiology, Ontology, Epistemology and Methodology, Sudbury: Author Kings College London (2009) Excellence in Mental Health Care: Putting Evidence into Practice, Achievement of Excellence, London: Kings Health Partners, pp. 1 Larsson, P. Loewenthal, D and Brooks, O. (2012) Counselling psychology and schizophrenia: A critical discursive account. Counselling Psychology Quarterly 25(1), pp. 31-47. Meittinen, O.S (2011) Epidemiological Research: Terms and Concepts, London: Springer Mental Health Problems (2014) Available online at: http://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/types-of-mental-health-problems/statistics-and-facts-about-mental-health/how-common-are-mental-health-problems Accessed on 26/11/2014 Nordqvist, C (2014) What is schizophrenia. Available online at: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/36942.php Accessed on 27/11/2014 Saha, S (2005) Systematic Review of the Prevalence of Schizophrenia. Available online at: http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.0020141 Accessed on 25/11/2014 Silver, H. Bilker, W (2014) Social Cognition in Schizophrenia and Healthy Aging: Differences and Similarities The path to Schizophrenia (2010) Available online at: http://schizophrenia.com/hypo.php Accessed on 25/11/2014 What is schizophrenia (2014) Available online at: http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/schizophrenia/index.shtml Accessed on 27/11/2014

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Love in The Yellow Wallpaper, Hlls Like White Elephants, and A Dolls H

Love in The Yellow Wallpaper, Hlls Like White Elephants, and A Doll's House True love is the love that everyone fantasizes about. It is the love that is unconditional and everlasting. Love is very hard to define since everybody's concept of love is different. However, in order to achieve a good relationship, people must have a well balanced power structure in their relationship, and good understanding and communication between them. In the stories, "The Yellow Wallpaper,'; "Hills Like White Elephants,'; and "A Doll's House,'; one could see the lopsided relationship between the males and females. In these stories the males predominates the females, and the characters seem to lack understanding, and communication toward another, which causes problems in their relationships.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The communication going on between the man and girl in the story, "Hills Like White Elephants,'; are not an honest one. The man seems to lead the conversation where as the girl is quiet. He brings up the subject of 'operation' which suggested abortion, but never mentions the word 'abortion' in the story to understate it. He tries to convince the girl to get the operation, but the girl seems bothered by this subject. However, he does not stop. Their relationship seems to be fine when the baby has not came in between them. We could see this where the guy says, "We'll be fine afterward. Just like we were before.'; The girl wants the relationship to become as before, but is in a huge dilemma whether to give birth to the baby or not. The man does not want the baby and has the choice of abortion in mind, not thinking of the other problems that would occur through operation such as the girl's health. Later on, the girl makes a melancholy remark that the hills look like w hite elephants. Probably the hills being a round shape reminded her of the baby. She walks toward the end of the station, and sees the beautiful nature. When she looks more toward the nature, one could see her small desire wanting the baby and thinks what may have been happened if she had the baby. The guy does not pay attention to that remark, because he is just concerned about making his point that he wants the operation done, not considering her side. The American guy does not come straight forward and does not mention the word abortion trying to manipulate her. We could see the man having the power over the ... ...hat she was nothing more than a doll for Torvald, she decides to leave the house. She sees no hope in Torvald, who until the end was concerned about his reputation and could not understand his wife. This could have been prevented if they ever had serious talks and understood each other. They needed to get into a relationship where nothing was covered up, and deal with the ugly unwanted sides of another by communication.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In all of these stories one could see the relationships where men were in control, and women were the followers. All of the relationships had problems and the cause was the lack of love, and communication. They could have had better relationships if they solved problems by having true and honest conversations, and try to know and understand the other person's thoughts. Those were stories of the 19th century, but there are still problems between males and females dealing with unbalanced relationships, and miscommunications or no communications. Love is a hard subject, and there would always be problems in relationships dealing with it, but if one is willing to listen to another and puts effort into reaching true love, the relationship could be a happy one.