Monday, January 27, 2020

The World Of The Infant And Toddler Children And Young People Essay

The World Of The Infant And Toddler Children And Young People Essay Early childhood educators have long recognized the importance of play in infants and toddlers lives. Play is a strong feature which has meaningful learning practices. Play is embedded in and threaded throughout the New Zealand early childhood curriculum called. Te WhÄ riki: He whÄ riki matauranga mo nga mokopuna o Aotearoa Early Childhood Curriculum. This report will be discussing quality play as curriculum for infants and toddlers and will show the importance of play which supports childrens learning and development and will examine the value of play and how play promotes infants and toddlers to learn and develop. This report will also explain how Te WhÄ riki supports play as indicators of meaningful learning and together what is my role in facilitating a play-based curriculum with my beliefs and philosophy of play. Rationale Piaget describes three cognitive stages of play. He explains that in the first sensorimotor practice play, Infants and toddlers experiment with bodily sensation and motor movements with objects and people. My personal philosophy is making things interesting for the infants and toddlers I believe that pushing and grasping happens during their play times and through doing this over and over again the children learn that for example balls roll away and through this they experience the sensation and pleasures of movement and my philosophy is that play is natural and important for children. Vygotsky stated that the value of play is to promote childrens physical, cognitive, language, social, emotional development(Gonzalez-Mena, 2009, p.72). By playing with blocks and boxes children gain to master object permanence. Piaget states that retrieving hidden objects reveals that infants have begun to master object permanence, the understanding that objects continues to exist when out of sight. (B erk, 2010). According to Gonzalez-Mena (2009) a main ingredient of any infant or toddler program should be play(p.72). Play is natural for infants and toddlers and it should be an important use of their time. Piaget indicates play as the nature, built- in way to contribute children to accumulate learning experiences for their development (Dockeet Fleer, 1999). My own belief for play is giving infants and toddlers the freedom to play and extend on their interests while providing them with interesting resources to play with. Children develop eye-hand co-ordination from manipulation with toys. Vygotsky describes play is always a social experience even when they are engaged in solitary play as the children draw on themes, experiences and roles that have social originality (Berk Winsler, 1995). Play also provides rich experiences for children to develop their language, social and emotional skills (Berk Winsler, 1995). For example, when children pretend to be mothers, they become sensi tive to others needs and feelings because they get the knowledge about how their mothers care for them. Therefore they need to control their emotions to show their love and kindness to accomplish their roles. During play, all children need to use language, gestures, and symbolic objects to express their interests and feelings, like I am tired, or sit nicely on your highchair, Children may also pretend to use blocks as imaginary cakes to feed their babies. Through his play experience children learn their own capabilities and the way to understand themselves by social behavior such as sharing and taking turns, co-operating, using manners and language, emotional management, the nature of social rules and the way of making friends and feel part of a group and learn how to live and work in groups. Therefore, children improve their language communication and negotiation skills, as well as gaining the development of imagination and creation (Jalongo, 2004). I believe that even when the chi ldren disagree on who gets to be the baby, they are honing their social skills. Play is extremely beneficial and children have many opportunities to expand their own world and through play children are learning all the time. Aspect One: Group Sizing and age span during play for infants and toddlers. Larger groups tend to be over stimulating According to Gonzalez -Mena (2009), As larger groups are overly stimulating the quiet children usually get ignored and it is harder for the children to really get into their play, So a strategy that will be useful is to make sure that all children get to have their turn to play and teachers can encourage children to turn take and scaffold them during their play. Arthur, Beecher, Docket , Farmer, and Death (2007) states through scaffolding, those with expertise in a particular area ,such as parents or teachers, provide the framework of support that enables the children to try out new ideas, so as to lead them to greater understanding (p.95). Mixture of Ages As some play programs work well with a mix of ages others work well with the same age group. In this case with a mix of infants and toddlers it is best to protect the ones who cannot move around to the ones that can move. I can do this by fencing a portion of the room for the children that are immobile. It is best to not keep the children in playpens or cribs. Space for preschoolers and toddlers Children need space to move around as they need room to stretch. They need the space to interact with adults who share the floor space. Arthur et al. (2007) discusses that recent research exploring childrens social play has encompassed not only how children play with each other but also the nature and quality of social interactions, interactions among adults and children, the influence of childrens social and cultural context, and the role of popular culture in play (p.100). White, OMalley, Toso, Rockel , Stover, Ellis (2007) explains that The position of a child within a powerful social vision is articulated within Te WhÄ rikis goals: all children will grow up as confident and competent learners, healthy in mind and body, and spirit, secure in their sense of belonging and in the sense that they make a valued contribution to society (Ministry of Education,1996,p.9). As sometimes the mixture is toddlers and preschools. It is important to make sure that the toddlers are protected from the equipment they arent mature enough to play with. Aspect Two: Environments for infants and toddlers to play. Environmental factors that influence play Careful considerations need to happen when giving space for children to play as the age span and group size matters. Educators need to think about how the room is appropriate for infants and toddler for this to happen be to set the environment up and what the space needs. There should be choices that need to be encouraged. Choice depends on the philosophy of the centre and the age of the children .Culture also has an influence to the environment of play. Rogoff (2003) notes that participation and play for children is how the children change some of these routines and rituals through their participation. Through participating in play children learn the structure and cultural expectations of events. For example, participating in play conversations facilitates an awareness of the nature of conversations (such as turn taking, speaking and listening) (p.102). Setting up environments for play It is best for a caregiver to provide structure by doing this the environment gets structured to a play environment. Caregivers must set up an environment that has a good deal of undesirable behavior. For example if a child is not allowed to play in the kitchen it is a good idea to put a gate across the access. For infants and toddlers educators must make sure that everything that is in the environment to be touchable and mouth able which means that the play object is clean and safe to put in their mouths as infants and toddlers learn through mouthing. Te WhÄ riki (1996) states toddlers have access to an increasing range of playthings that can enhance both gross and fine motor skills (p.87). It is good to set up the right number of toys with providing the right number of choices and let the children find special ways to combine their toys and material. Which are soft and hard that will develop their fine and gross motor activity. Hygiene and gross motor activity for infants and toddlers. Making sure that the toys are sanitized time to time is important .Children should not be getting restricted to their natural inclinations. Ailwood (2003) describes such play as a natural, intrinsic and free, and progressivisms version of free-play. Providing gross motor activity is important inside as much as outside play. Infants and toddlers should be in an environment where they get to roll and slide and climb and also run. The area should be like a gym that is set up for active play. Aspect Three: Caregivers creating curriculum out of play for infants and toddlers. Safety as an overarching theme Setting up an environment that put safety a primary considerate is good so that the children are free to explore and discover. Te WhÄ riki (1996)states that safe things are provided to assist infants to move, for example, something to hold on to, to balance against, or to pull them up on (p.87). Caregivers encouraging interactions and then stepping back It is important to make sure that the caregivers interactions are encouraging for facilitating play for infants and toddlers. It is also important to support problem solving between children so they get to see themselves as capable children. Observing is a way to understand each individual child and each situation to promote the childrens learning. Ailwood (2003) states the process of play is characterized by play as learning which maintains is the result of the legacy of developmental psychology with its associated truths. Adult Roles in Infant-Toddler Play Caregivers can create curriculum out of play by giving the children their own freedom to play and also by helping them pursue their own special interests and adults should extend on their interests .Adults should also provide fun and colourful play resources. While children are playing it is important to encourage child to child interactions and encourage youngsters to come and learn such valuable skills and how the children can resolve conflicts. It is important to step back until needed too. A caregiver should always know when to intervene and become sensitive. Te WhÄ riki (1996) discusses toddlers are encouraged to develop skills at their own rate and to know and understand their abilities and limitations. Adults wait to let toddlers indicate that they need assistance rather than assuming that they will (p.87). Timing is crucial for infants and toddlers play .When adults step in too soon. Te WhÄ riki (1996) states that toddlers have opportunities for active exploration with the support, but not the interference e, of adults. Valuable learning can be lost but if an adult steps in soon but if it is too late there is a possibility that children can hurt each other (p.87) It is good to remember to encourage children to solve their own problems as it is a very important part of their education. But steeping back and not intervening is another adult skill that is important to practice. We should not interrupt a child who is really absorbed into their play as absorption is a quality that educators should value. Conclusion: In conclusion, play as a curriculum is the highest form of learning in early childhood education. Infants and toddlers are able to reach their deepest, wide range level of learning best through play. Play has an important function and infants and toddlers are learning all the time through their interactions with others, as well as working through the rules and values of their cultural groups. Three aspects of the above will finally draw a conclusion of the importance of play in the learning and development of supporting infants and toddlers. Play is a professionalized process and play is a freedom of expression as well as a game for life.

Sunday, January 19, 2020

Poes Fall of The House of Usher Essay: Gloomy Images :: Fall House Usher Essays

Gloomy Images from The Fall of the House of Usher In Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher the narrator first views the house of Usher and perceives a mystery incapable of being solved. Foreboding imaginings keep coming into his mind in spite of rational thinking and reasoning. As he says, there are things beyond our ability to rationalize. He rationalizes that if he could look at things differently or in a brighter light, he might be able to change it, but when he looks into the lake he sees, with even more fear before, a mirror image of the house in all its darkness. The eye-like windows of the house reflect back at him. This paragraph is the epitome of the Romantic movement and the story itself makes many direct and indirect references to Romanticism. Poe's references to Van Weber and Fuseli are direct references to European Romanticists. Poe wrote this story when Romanticism was at its height in Europe. The neoclassic world view had given way to the realm of the emotion. No longer was art or life looked upon as a set of rules that if one followed one could rationalize and make a sense of order out of things. Now, one looked at the emotion beneath the rational. And if that emotion was dark and even evil, it was still beautiful because it expressed a truth. Whereas Hawthorne, in Young Goodman Brown, viewed good and evil as something outside of ourselves, such as a witch or a devil, Poe seems to look within the very soul of man. The first element of Romanticism which Poe seems to incorporate into our paragraph and into the story is the moving away from neoclassic rationality when he says that when he looked upon the house he was "forced to fall back on the unsatisfactory conclusion that . . . the reason, and the analysis, of this power lay among considerations beyond our depth." In the story, he also speaks of abandoning reason in his struggles with fear. Reason does not seem to help here. Reason has gone the way of the neoclassicists. In another part of the story, Poe speaks of the sentience, or consciousness of feeling, of vegetable which seems to grow out of the ordered placement or arrangement of the stones. But the consciousness of feeling does not come until the element of decay and fungi is added to the ordered structure.

Saturday, January 11, 2020

High school dropouts: proposal Essay

This research seeks to answer the question of the influence that dropping out of high school has on a person’s tendency toward crime. Studies have shown that most persons who do not have a high school diploma are at an economic disadvantage compared to those who have finished high school. It has also been shown that many prisons have a high concentration of members who have not finished high school. This study will take questions to a group of inmates at a local prison as well as a group of high school students in the same area. It will use questionnaires that contain items which attempt to probe issues concerning the criminal exposure of inmates during and after high school as well as that of current high school students. The results will be analyzed and correlated using graphs and charts in order to shed light on the influence that the lack of a high school diploma has on criminal activity. Introduction Several reasons have been cited by researchers to explain why students decide to drop out of high school. One of these reasons is a lack of adequate early-childhood preparation (Reynolds et al. , 2001). Children who receive inadequate educational preparation in the early stages of their lives often find it difficult to grasp the concepts being taught at the high school levels. These children might also not have had proper exposure to the types of behaviors and study habits necessary for success in high school. These, and other problems associated with them, often lead to an inability to cope with the demands of the educational environment (2001). Lack of adequate financial support also plays a part in causing students to drop out of school (Ingrum, 2006; Reynolds et al., 2001). It is often the case that students are unable to access the materials necessary for success in school due to lack of funds. Furthermore, poverty often drives students to seek jobs (or even less honorable ways of earning money) before their high school education officially ends. This often has also to do with a lack of appropriate emotional and family support, which often ebbs when finances are low. Furthermore, some parents of these students have hardly attained high school diplomas themselves and are therefore incapable of assisting these children with assignments (Sum et al., 2003). Finally a lack of intellectual aptitude, which manifests in the form of learning disabilities, has been cited as having a significant part to play in prompting students to drop out of school (Ingrum, 2006). Schools are largely accommodating to those persons of average intelligence who have little or no endogenous difficulties learning. These students often find it particularly difficult to perform even the fundamental functions of education, such as reading and simple arithmetic. Many who do drop out are disadvantaged compared to their counterparts who possess diplomas. These people are more likely to be unemployed, as employers for substantial and adequately paying jobs generally seek high school graduates. These persons are also more likely to be underemployed, as it is often difficult to find full time positions that seek to employ persons who have not completed high school. Because of these previously mentioned effects, high school dropouts are also more likely to be on welfare, and it has also been demonstrated that these persons are more likely to be incarcerated (Lochner & Moretti, 2003). Many programs exist that center on the rehabilitation of dropouts because such persons are considered more likely to be desperate. The reality of being marginalized when it comes to eligibility for adequately paying jobs often drives persons toward feelings of low self worth and even toward such extreme measures as crime (Lochner & Moretti, 2003). It is often the case that persons who fall into this desperate category are those who have mental or physical challenges and who need the help of these programs (Ingrum, 2006). However, a large proportion of them are considered more likely to have emotional/behavioral problems, and it is quite often members of this group of dropouts that show up in prison populations (Lochner & Moretti, 2003). Such persons are considered a drain on the government for several reasons, one of which is lost revenue from taxes. Persons who have no high school diploma are usually able to command lower wages or salaries than those who have graduated. This lower wage translates to a lower portion of income tax payable to the government. Furthermore, these persons are often also on welfare, and the cost of these programs to the government increase with each person that benefits from it. The cost of prison programs is also significant to the government. Since, therefore, it is considered that the prison population contains a higher concentration of dropouts than the general population (Lochner & Moretti, 2003), it might be seen that high school dropouts contribute more on average to the drain on the government due to prison programs than do members of the general population. Hypothesis Lack of education as demonstrated by dropping out of high-school leads to an increased likelihood of criminal arrests in young people. Methodology: variables and instrumentation The main instrument that will be used in this study is the questionnaire. This will be administered to 130 prison inmates from (NAME OF PRISON) in (NAME OF CITY & STATE) and 130 students of a high school in the same neighborhood. The questionnaire given to the inmates will consist of approximately 25-30 items that will deal with the level of high school education attained and arrests suffered by the inmate. The participants will be given choices regarding their schooling, ranging from below eighth grade level (< 8) to below twelfth grade level (< 12). They will also be given a chance to indicate whether high school diplomas were received by the time they reached 18 years of age or after 18 years. The questionnaire will also contain items that deal with the inmates’ criminal history. Items will attempt to elicit information concerning the number of arrests participants have experienced. It will also distinguish between number of arrests and number of convictions. Participants will also provide information regarding the number of juvenile arrests and convictions they have had, as well as the length of the sentence(s) which they currently serve and/or have served in the past. The questionnaires for the students will include items concerning the students’ career goals, role models, access to homework help, and the difficulty of specific core classes or skills (Mathematics, English, and Reading). They will be asked to give their GPA’s. The students will also be asked questions about those they know who have dropped out of school. They will be asked how many of their friends or acquaintances dropped out in the different grades—ninth to twelfth, and ask to rate the degree to which these dropouts’ behaviors might be considered deviant. The students will also be asked whether they ever considered dropping out of school and whether they think they would. Finally, they will be asked questions concerning their exposure to weapons and people who commit crimes. The responses to the questions for both groups will all be presented on a Likert scale ranging from â€Å"strongly agree† to â€Å"strongly disagree. † Interviews will also be sought with two or three of these inmates. The possibility of conducting an interview via the internet (instant messaging or voice programs) or via phone will be investigated. The interview questions will be more open ended, but will tend toward eliciting information concerning the inmates’ views on how they consider their lack of a high school diploma to have influenced their current situation. No interviews will be sought with the students.

Friday, January 3, 2020

What Is Gaelic Definition, History, and Modern Usage

Gaelic is the common but incorrect term for Irish and Scottish traditional languages, both of which are Celtic in origins from the Goidelic branch of the Indo-European family of languages. In Ireland, the language is called Irish, while in Scotland, the correct term is Gaelic. Though Irish and Gaelic share a common linguistic ancestor, they diverged and changed over time into two distinct languages.   Key Takeaways Gaelic is the common but incorrect term for Irish and Scottish traditional languages.Though Irish and Gaelic are derived from the same ancestor, they are two distinct languages.Attempts have been made to eradicate both Irish and Gaelic, but revival movements have kept them from disappearing.   Attempts were made in both Ireland and Scotland to eradicate the language and the culture associated with Gaelic, with varying degrees of success. However, both countries have seen recent revivals of their native tongues. While Irish is recognized as an official language by the European Union, Gaelic is not, as it is classified as an Indigenous Language. Roughly 39.8% of Irish people speak Irish, with the highest concentration of speakers in Galway, while only 1.1% of Scots speak Gaelic, almost exclusively on the Isle of Skye.   Definition and Origins The term â€Å"Gaelic† takes its name from the Gaels, a group of settlers that arrived in Scotland from Ireland around the 6th century, though both Irish and Scottish Gaelic began to develop prior to the settlement of the Gaels in Scotland. The Gaelic and Irish languages are both rooted in Ogham, an ancient Irish alphabet that evolved into early and later Middle Irish, which spread across the island of Ireland and into the northern and western parts of Scotland via trade and farming practices. After Gaelic moved from Ireland to Scotland, two distinct languages began to develop independently of one another.   Historic Irish   Irish is a recognized indigenous language, with ancient roots that evolved into the preferred literary language of Ireland between the 13th and 18th centuries. The Tudors were the first British rulers to attempt to diminish the impact of Irish by restricting legal and administrative proceedings to English, though later English monarchs fluctuated between encouraging and discouraging its use. For centuries, Irish remained the common language of the people. It was ultimately the introduction of a national education system in the 1800s in Ireland by the British government that prohibited Irish to be spoken in schools, leaving poor, uneducated Irish people as the primary speakers of the language. The Great Famine in the 1840s had the most devastating effect on poor communities and, by association, the Irish language. Though Irish experienced a dramatic decline during the 19th century, it was considered a source of Irish national pride, particularly during the independence movement in the early 20th century. Irish was listed as an official language in both the 1922 and the 1937 constitutions. Historic Gaelic   Gaelic was brought to Scotland from the Kingdom of Dalriada in Northern Ireland around the 1st century, though it was not a politically prominent language until the 9th century, when Kenneth MacAlpin, a Gaelic king, united the Picts and the Scots. By the 11th century, Gaelic was the most commonly spoken language in most of Scotland. Though the Norman invasion of the British Isles during the 11th and 12th centuries had little impact on Irish, it effectively isolated Gaelic speakers to the northern and western parts of Scotland. In fact, Gaelic was never traditionally spoken in the southern areas of Scotland, including Edinburgh. Political turmoil created a growing divide between the southern and northern parts of Scotland. In the north, the physical and political isolation allowed Gaelic to define the culture of the Scottish Highlands, including a societal structure made up of familial clans. When Scotland and Britain were unified under the Acts of Union 1707, Gaelic lost its legitimacy as legal and administrative language, though it maintained significance as the language of highland clans and the language of the Jacobites, a group intent on re-establishing the House of Stewart to the Scottish throne. After the defeat of Prince Charles Edward Stewart and the final Jacobite Rebellion in 1746, the British government banned all elements of Highland culture—including the Gaelic language—in order to dismantle the clan structure and prevent the possibility of another uprising. Gaelic was lost almost to extinction, though efforts by Scottish writer Sir Walter Scott saw the revival of the language as a romantic ideology rather than a useful means of communication. Modern Usage In Ireland, the Gaelic League was established in 1893 to promote a strong sense of national identity and preserve the Irish language. Administrative and legal work is done in Irish, and the language is taught to all primary school students alongside English. Use of the language fell out of fashion for a few decades, but Irish is increasingly being used in formal and informal settings, especially by Irish millennials. Gaelic use in Scotland is also on the rise, though its use, especially in southern parts of the country, is contentious. Since Gaelic was never a traditional language in places like Edinburgh, adding Gaelic translations to English road signs can be seen as an attempt to create a separate nationalist identity or as cultural tokenism. In 2005, the Gaelic Language Act was unanimously passed to recognize Gaelic as an official language. As of 2019, it is still not recognized by the European Union.   Sources Campsie, Alison. â€Å"Gaelic Speakers Map: Where in Scotland Is Gaelic Thriving?†Ã‚  The Scotsman, Johnston Press, 30 Sept. 2015.Chapman, Malcolm.  The Gaelic Vision in Scottish Culture. Croom Helm, 1979.â€Å"Gaelic Language Skills .†Ã‚  Scotlands Census, 2011.â€Å"Irish Language and the Gaeltacht .†Ã‚  Central Statistics Office, 11 July 2018.Jack, Ian. â€Å"Why Im Saddened by Scotland Going Gaelic | Ian Jack.†Ã‚  The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 11 Dec. 2010.Oliver, Neil.  A History of Scotland. Weidenfeld Nicolson, 2010.Orton, Izzy. â€Å"How Millennials Are Breathing Fresh Life into the Ancient Irish Language.†Ã‚  The Independent, Independent Digital News and Media, 7 Dec. 2018.