Journal Article Summary and Application Essay Example for Free

Journal Article Summary and Application Essay This paper presents the summary of the article â€Å"Staff development and student learning: A synthesis of research on models of teaching† by Bruce Joyce, Beverly Showers and Carol Rolheiser-Bennett published in the Educational Leadership on October of 1987. The second half of the paper will discuss how the findings of this paper could be applied to real life situations. The objective of this paper is to demonstrate that theoretical assumptions of the authors about staff development can actually be used to enhance curriculums that would result to increased student performance. Summary This article argues that staff development must be and can be used to develop school programs and curriculums that would result to increased student performance and better learning. The authors discussed that the recent developments in the field of staff development have been very useful in designing new educational programs for students because the findings of said research have provided educational leaders the guide to which staff development can enhance student learning, provided innovative ideas and programs for more student involvement and a wider application of the different learning models. The authors assumed that the theoretical models and program designs that could be adopted to effectively improve student performance would only work in as much as how effectively the staff has been developed and trained. Thus, for the authors, staff development should come first before any improvements or programs can be designed and developed. The most important aspect of the measure of student performance and improvement was the effect size. According to the authors, effect size is akin to the level of change or value that was supposed to have occurred due to an intervening process or variable. Effect size can be used to determine how much the improvement was relative to its original value, effect size is important because it could tell just how effective the intervention was in bringing about change. On the other hand, the authors also pointed out that high effect size is desired but often a small effect size for a large number of people is more desirable as it would bring about greater change. The authors also discussed the teaching models that have been found to have yielded promising results and those that have been applied successfully in some research studies. Social models of learning refers to group and cooperative learning against individual learning, it has been found that students who learn by cooperation and group work are more socially equipped, have better self-concept and positive attitudes to learning. The authors recommend that staff development on how to teach cooperative learning can actually lead to better academic performance. Information processing models make use of the learning process as the strategy to help students retain more information and learn more in a given period. The authors mentioned the use of advanced organizers and mnemonics, which both had been proven to increase student learning and output but this would require intensive training of teachers and a highly technical staff development program. The personal models refer to the use of person centered learning experiences; the authors said that synectics and nondirective learning would help students learn both academically and personally. However, some have argued that the personal models would likely have lesser academic impact because it focuses on the person. The behavioral models were taken from the work of Skinner and it makes use of the different behavioral methods such as programmed learning, conditioning, reinforcement and the like. Much research have actually found that behavioral methods are effective in increasing student performance and this have been the focus of many staff development programs. The authors also identified specific teaching methods that could be used to increase student performance across levels such as wait time and teacher expectation and student achievement. Wait time refers to the process of allowing students enough time to think about the teacher’s questions while teacher expectation says that there are differential treatments in the classroom. The authors conclude that designing staff development programs should make use of the most effective working models and strategies and that this should be the focus of administrators who wishes to see their schools improve. Application The article has pointed out several learning models that could be used effectively to enhance student learning and this could actually be applied to the design of staff development programs. The assumption here is that teachers could not teach what they do not have, and since these models are not the conventional models and traditional ones teachers have been trained to do, it is imperative that staff development be able to teach teachers the exact method and process for a more effective classroom experience. For example, a staff development program on using nondirective learning should start with an input on the theoretical and technical aspects of the model, and then a workshop on how to carry out classroom interaction within this model can be demonstrated to the teachers and then critiqued by the group and resource speaker. Then the second part of the training session would be to have the teachers design a lesson plan and demonstrate it to the group and a series of critiquing would also be done to help teachers see their weaknesses and strengths in using the model and then be able to make improvements. The experiential learning was used in this design as adult learners learn more effectively in this way. References Joyce Bruce, Showers, Beverly and Rolheiser-Bennett, Carol. â€Å"Staff Development and Student Learning: A Synthesis of Research on Models of Teaching. † Educational Leadership 45/2 (1987): 11-23.

My Educational Philosophy Statement Essay -- My Philosophy of Educatio

As a teacher my primary role is to be not only a teacher to my students, but a caring and loving adult who is there to help guide them along the road less taken. I believe the most important part a teacher plays is the adult role model. The teacher may not be able to make every child exactly what they think the child should be. The teacher can teach a child right and wrong. The teacher can set an example and show kids how to be good citizens. Positive views of students will promote a positive teacher-student relationship based on trust. School is the first place where children begin to recognize what they likes and dislikes are, who they are and what they want to become. A great teacher will show the children that they are all important. A student-teacher relationship can become a great... My Educational Philosophy Statement Essay -- My Philosophy of Educatio As a teacher my primary role is to be not only a teacher to my students, but a caring and loving adult who is there to help guide them along the road less taken. I believe the most important part a teacher plays is the adult role model. The teacher may not be able to make every child exactly what they think the child should be. The teacher can teach a child right and wrong. The teacher can set an example and show kids how to be good citizens. Positive views of students will promote a positive teacher-student relationship based on trust. School is the first place where children begin to recognize what they likes and dislikes are, who they are and what they want to become. A great teacher will show the children that they are all important. A student-teacher relationship can become a great...

Core & Peripheries

Economic value will shift to the ends of the networks, as a result of the decoupling of intelligence in a network. Subsequently, companies have realized that they need to change their focus to the core – the back-end intelligence that is farthest away from the user – and the periphery – the front-end intelligence that is closest to the user. This separation of value to the ends has thus created an opportunity for organizations to optimize their business functions around the ends. Common InfrastructureAs in the case of the PC at work, there was a clash between what the users wanted: easy-to-use, portable, and flexible at the front-end; powerful and reliable at the back-end. In trying to provide both requirements some necessary design compromises had to be made previously. However, with the decoupling of intelligence in networks the two ends could be separated and a common infrastructure provided at the back-end, in the form of one server in the IT Department of th e office, while the front-end intelligence could be made without compromise as specialized machines.Similarly, disparate elements within the company can be combined to form shared infrastructures that are more cost-effective in their specialization. Modularity The mobilization of intelligence is another pattern that has resulted in a trend that has shifted economic value in the network. Sawhney and Parikh (2001) have discovered that the importance of plug-and-play has been established by the subsequent modularity of devices, softwares, and processes into self-contained modules that can be assimilated into a new value chain as needed.Sharing of capabilities is more important in this regard, than safeguarding of proprietary assets. Orchestration With increased modularity, it has become more and more economically valuable for there to be companies and managers that are able to coordinate, organize, and connect the different modules into new value chains. HP and Cisco are such examples of companies that are seeking to become the intelligent hubs to coordinate their various stakeholders, and are thus reaping the lion’s share of the value in their respective networks. Conclusion In the words of Sawhney and Parikh (2010, p.79): â€Å"By learning to recognize two simple patterns in the evolution of networks, you may be able to turn chaos into opportunity. † It is the intelligence of the network, more specifically its location and mobility as established by the recent advancements in technology that determines the way that companies organize disparate pieces of information, products, people, and the market, and consequently, how to maximize the inherent value. References Sawhney, M. & Parikh, D. (2001). Where Value Lives in a Networked World. Harvard Business Review, 79, p79-86. Retrieved May 02, 2010, from Harvard Business Review.

Definitions and Discussions of Redundancy in Language

The term redundancy has more than one meaning. (1) In grammar, redundancy  generally refers to any feature of a language that is not needed in order to identify a linguistic unit. (Features that are not redundant are said to be distinctive.) Adjective: redundant. (2) In generative grammar, redundancy refers to any language feature that can be predicted on the basis of other language features. (3) In common usage, redundancy refers to the repetition of the same idea or item of information within a phrase, clause, or sentence: a pleonasm or tautology. See Examples and Observations below. Also see: 200 Common RedundanciesExercise in Eliminating Deadwood From Our WritingInformation ContentPadding (Composition)Practice in Cutting the ClutterRAS SyndromeRevision Tip: Eliminate the Blah, Blah, Blah Etymology:  From the Latin, overflowing Examples and Observations A sentence of English--or of any other language--always has more information than you need to decipher it. This redundancy is easy to see. J-st tr- t- r--d th-s s-nt-nc-. The previous sentence was extremely garbled; all the vowel in the message were removed. However, it was still easy to decipher it and extract its meaning. The meaning of a message can remain unchanged even though parts of it are removed. This is the essence of redundancy.(Charles Seife, Decoding the Universe. Penguin, 2007)Thanks to the redundancy of language, yxx cxn xndxrstxnd whxt x xm wrxtxng xvxn xf x rxplxcx xll thx vxwxls wxth xn x (t gts lttl hrdr f y dnt vn kn whr th vwls r). In the comprehension of speech, the redundancy conferred by phonological rules can compensate for some of the ambiguity in the sound wave. For example, a listener can know that thisrip must be this rip and not the srip because the English consonant cluster sr is illegal.(Steven Pinker, The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Langua ge. William Morrow, 1994)Redundancy can be something as simple as the u that tends to follow a q in English (inherited from Latin), my saying PIN number, or my reciting my phone number twice when leaving you voicemail; or it may be something more complex, such as the harmonious recurrences sewn into a poem. Generally, you need to pick up about three words in ten to get an inkling of what a conversation is about; it is the lack of redundancy in mathematics and its teaching that explains why so much maths bewilders so many people. Redundancy can be rhetorical, but it can also be a practical way of shielding meaning from confusion--a safeguard, a reassuring and stabilizing kind of predictability.(Henry Hitchings, The Language Wars. John Murray, 2011)Highly predictable phonetic elements, grammatical markers that all must agree within a sentence, and predictable word-order constraints can help one anticipate what is coming. These are all direct contributors to redundancy.(Terrence Deacon , The Symbolic Species: The Co-Evolution of Language and the Brain. Norton, 1997) Redundancy: Definition #3 Legal writing is legendarily redundant, with time-honored phrases such as these: . . . To avoid needless repetition, apply this rule: if one word swallows the meaning of other words, use that word alone.(Bryan Garner, Legal Writing in Plain English. Univ. of Chicago, 2001)I believe in an America where millions of Americans believe in an America thats the America millions of Americans believe in. Thats the America I love.(Governor Mitt Romney, quoted by Martha Gill in Eight Phrases From the Election Well Probably Never Hear Again. New Statesman, November 7, 2012)Planning your funeral service in advance can offer emotional and financial security for you and your family.(Erlewein Mortuary, Greenfield, Indiana)alienate, transfer, and convey (transfer suffices)due and payable (due suffices)give, devise, and bequeath (give suffices)indemnify and hold harmless (indemnify suffices)last will and testament (will suffices) The Lighter Side of Redundancies First and foremost, I hope and trust that each and every one of you shares my basic and fundamental belief that needlessly repetitive and redundant word pairs are not only troublesome and bothersome but also vexing and irritating. We should, of course, be thankful and grateful, not worried and concerned, when a thoughtful and considerate teacher or editor makes a truly sincere effort to completely eliminate any unnecessary and superfluous words from our written compositions. Put another way, redundancies clog our writing and bore our readers. So lets cut em out. Pronunciation: ri-DUN-dent-see