Observation of Elementary School Room

I did my observation at Bullskin Township Elementary School on Mrs. Coles 2nd grade classroom. When I first entered the classroom, I felt very welcomed, she had all the students stand up and introduce themselves. It was a very colorful classroom covered with the children’s art work. The children seemed to feel very comfortable around each other; they all appeared to be communicating well. The goals of the children in the class room are to actively participate and understand the information taught. As I observed part of her math class, they were learning money.She gave them a worksheet to work on after she taught the lesson. As they were completing the worksheet she walked around to answer any questions and to make sure they were on task. I asked Mrs. Coles how she went about communicating with her students families and she said she uses phone calls, email, and parents will sometimes send a note if he/she has any concerns. She gave me advice to always call from work and to neve r call from home. She said last year she had a bad experience where she used her house phone to call a parent, and after that the parent was constantly calling her house.Her curriculum was based on the Pennsylvania Standards. She showed me a PA Scott Foresman Reading Street Grade 2 Unit 3 book, which was made from the PA Standards it gives you a weekly plan, and different activities to do Monday-Friday. A few of the activities included target skills of the week, like phonics, comprehension skills, and comprehension strategies. She had one autistic boy, whom required one on one time, so she had an aide in her classroom helping him, so he wasn’t isolated from the rest of the second grade students.I also asked her how she went about assessing her students, and she said she couldn’t assess them on the oral skills, but she did test them of comprehension, hand writing, and she used the company book test for each student. I thought the class room was set up nicely. The studen ts’ desks were facing the chalkboard, Mrs. Coles desk was placed behind the students, their cubby’s’ were as soon as you walked into the classroom to the left, and they had a restroom and computer area toward the back of the room.All of the materials were placed where the children could reach them, they had more than enough books and materials for each student, and the class room was well organized. The ultimate goal of the students is to be prepared for the 3rd grade, because in the 3rd grade they are now required to take the PSSA’s. So four times a week they have what’s called â€Å"intervention† where they divide the entire 2nd grade into groups high, middle, high-low, and low-low. From there the teachers help them get the children ready for the PSSA’s.They are required to do a bullying lesson every other Friday; it’s a whole school district wide program. It was called â€Å"Olweus Bullying Prevention Program† Mrs. Co les put the class in a big circle on the floor and she sat on the floor also and read them a story. The class became a little wild, so she said if they calmed down they could each bring in a healthy snack on Wednesday. The autistic student caused some distractions, refused to listen to the story and covered his ears, the aide removed him from the room.

Mini Marketing Plan Essay

Introduction Marketing Plans work when they are based on unique, meaningful marketing strategies that focus on the current needs and desires of a target customer. Ten Steps to Marketing Success 1. Finding your niche —-Market Segmentation/Unserved or Underserved customers —-Size, Usage, Benefits, Lifestyles, Occupation, Distribution Channels, Geography, Income, Social Class, Personality, Age, Family size, etc. (Examples-Demographics, Market Surveys, etc.). 2. Becoming better than your competition —-Customers have choices. In order to become better than your competition, you must know the competition. You can respond to a competitive advantage by creating another equally important advantage for your company. —-Visit competition, telephone competition, use telemarketing, get feedback from your salespersons. —Review RMA, D&B Financial info and other relevant information sources. 3. Develop a strategy —-Focus on creating a marketing strategy and tactics. —-Set marketing objectives and goals. —-Create a strategy to meet these goals. (write a rough marketing plan) 4. Find enough customers —-Advertising, Direct Mail, Mailing lists, trade shows, networking, dealer networks, personal sales calls, etc. 5. Find the right location —-Highly visible location, with sufficient traffic count, if relevant. For retail, who are the other tenants in the center or mall? How close is your closest competitor? What are the demographics of this location? 6. Motivating customers to take action —-Implementation of marketing strategies—utilize marketing mix determined in planning stage of marketing plan. Set targets and goals for sales reps if relevant. 7. Communication Measurement —-Measure effectiveness of marketing mix. Set up tracking mechanism for all sources of revenues. Review regularly and make necessary changes. Change product mix and/or pricing as required. 8. Making the sale —-Nothing matters unless sales are made. Set targets and goals for sales reps, review sales figures each week and review source of sales. Adjust as necessary—quickly! Update products and merchandise regularly. Don’t fall in love with any product—let your customers dictate. —-Compare actual sales vs. projections regularly. 9. Managing the sales force —-Refine sales rep hiring practices. —-Develop solid sales force training, conduct regular sales meetings, and review sales performances monthly. After first year of experience, let sales reps participate in goal setting and sales targets. 10. Marketing Plan —-Use all the above elements to assist in writing a creative, detailed marketing plan. ** Marketers need to re-evaluate their strategy every year to respond to changes in customers and markets.

Purchasing Power ParityBig Mac Index Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Purchasing Power ParityBig Mac Index - Essay Example The purchasing power parity or the PPP is also loosely explained as the Big Mac index, as introduced by The Economist in the mid-1980s. In the absolute definition of PPP, the Big Mac, a consumer good sold in practically every part of the world, takes the place of the commodity basket. Using this route gives a more simplistic definition of the theory. Therefore, a Big Mac being sold in the United States must have the same price as Big Mac sold in Australia, for example. Looking at PPP with a monetary approach to the exchange rate will show the behavior of exchange rate in the long run, in terms of the supply of and demand for money. An increase in the national interest rate results in the depreciation of the national currency. Likewise, an appreciation of the country's currency will be resulted by a decrease in the national interest rate. However, recent data cannot fully support the theory of the purchasing power parity and the law of one price. In the real world, there are trade barriers, free competition, and differences in price levels in different countries, giving rise to difficulty in testing the PPP through government-published price indexes. There are also certain products and services that have consequently become non-tradable goods because of steep international transport costs. The PPP can also be viewed as a country's real exchange rate, wherein a foreign commodity basket is valuated in terms of a domestic commodity basket. Having all other factors equal, a country's local currency will undergo a long-run appreciation vis--vis foreign currencies, an ensuing scenario when the world demand for this particular country's output increases. The more common notion of purchasing power parity must be distinguished from a related theory known as relative purchasing power parity, wherein the relationship between the relative inflation rates of two countries and the change in the exchange rates of their currencies comes into play. An exchange rate that is determined by purchasing power parity gives rise to an equalization of the purchasing power of different currencies in a particular home country. Despite the fluctuations in the market exchange rates, PPP exchange rates are reflected in the long run. However, the difference between the market exchange rates and the PPP exchange rates can be somewhat significant. See this example: The World Bank's World Development Indicators 2005 estimates that one United States dollar is equivalent to approximately 1.8 Chinese yuan by purchasing power parity in 2003. However, based on nominal exchange rates, one U.S. dollar is currently equal to 7.9 yuan. This discrepancy has large implications; for instance, GDP per capita in the People's Republic of China is about US$1,800, while on a PPP basis it is about US$7,204. This is frequently misused to assert that China is the world's second largest economy, but such a calculation would be invalid under the PPP theory. At the oth er extreme, Japan's nominal GDP per capita is around US$37,600, but its PPP figure is only US$30,615. The proper estimation of purchasing power parity is made difficult because there is no uniform price level. Also, different people in different countries have varying commodity baskets,

Costco's Five Forces Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Costco's Five Forces Analysis - Essay Example The focus in this paper is on Costco Wholesale Corporation (CWC) that operates a series of ‘cash & carry membership warehouses’ that trade high-quality, domestically branded as well as privately labeled merchandises at a low price range. It sells the products to businesses that purchase for the purpose of commercial use and also to the individuals as selected member groups. The business of the company is depended on the attainment of high sales volume along with inventory turnover by providing various ranges of products at low price. Costco Wholesale Corporation receives bulk purchase based inquiries from domestic as well as international markets in large volumes. Costco Wholesale Corporation possesses widespread worldwide buying power and it endeavors to satisfy any specific item related requirements beyond its everyday assortment. The innovative concept regarding warehouse retail has enabled the Costco Wholesale Corporation (CWC) to make vertical integration and provid e the products from manufacturers towards consumers. Porter Five Forces analysis facilitates to establish the strength of competition, profitability as well as the attractiveness of a company in the marketplace where it is operating. The five competitive forces that generate the framework of market and industry are ‘bargaining power of supplier’, ‘bargaining power of customers’, ‘threats of new entrants’, ‘threat of substitutes’ and ‘competitive rivalry between existing players’.... The other significant issue is the extreme focus related to capital, as type of inventories as well as warehouse facilities make it difficult for a firm to exist. Another noteworthy issue is that the retailers of warehouse strive to maintain brand loyalty and this effort is unique in comparison to usual customer loyalty based campaigns. In this aspect, Costco has captured the lead by means of proliferation related to tangible products as well as services (George et. al., 2004, pp. 8). Threat of New Entrants The threat of new entrants is low as there is high obstruction of entry in the market due to intense competition of Costco and its competitors. The new entrants may face enormous cost due to the inbuilt capital strength of the company. Costco already has developed good affiliation with suppliers as well as customers thus it would be a challenge for a new company to operate in the new market. Therefore, for Costco new entries are not a matter of great concern. The new entry may be important for two reasons: if the existing store in the market launches a product with greater expediency and low cost and if the competitors such as Target or Wal-Mart introduce warehouse retail chain with their capital resources. However, such situations have not occurred, as a result, for Costco the threat of new entrants has not become a major issue (George et. al., 2004, pp. 8). Threat of Substitute Products The threat of substitute of new products is considered to be low because the substitute of Costco’s multi product offerings is not available in the market. There is presence of substitutes of the products of Costco when there is disaggregation of the products across sub-industry parts. The mattress

Case 12-1; Litchfield Corporation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Case 12-1; Litchfield Corporation - Essay Example This means that despite Litchfield Corporation of a favourable environment to operate in the UK, the perceived profits will decline as the margin is to be taxed by the federal government. The establishment of an offshore subsidiary firm enables the institution split its profits into two where; export profits from the sale of the umbrellas to the subsidiary which is subject to income tax while export profits from the subsidiary sales to foreign buyers is not subject to the US federal income tax unless distributed to the parent firm in the form of a dividend (Burman & Slemrod, 2013). Litchfield Corporation’s ambitious expansion certainly will have to handle and manage the risks that are associated with exportation so as to ensure maximum profitability and limits losses. The risks likely to be encountered include; Credit risk; this might affect the parent company since the credit worthiness of the offshore subsidiary may be questionable. The credit worthiness limits the risk of late payments, non-payments hence minimizes the risk of reduced profits. Transportation and logistics; the company faces the risks associated with movement of goods over long geographical locations. This increases the costs of operation since more is invested in risk transfer and profit margins are likely to be reduced. Therefore, the risks that might likely to affect the business need to be identified and proper steps undertaken so as to minimize the risk of loss of profit. Some of the risk management options include; insurance that covers country risk cover, credit risk cover, and transit risk cover ensuring that Litchfield competes profitably in UK. Cost-based; this is transfer price based on the cost of production of material. This determination is set to include a profit margin for the producer. However, the simplicity of application of the cost based transfer price method, two problems arise such as the measure of

Final Exam Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Final Exam - Essay Example From the ‘means to expand’ side or expansionism it was argued by Jared Diamond (1997) that some of the major factors that helped Europeans dominate other nations was simply Guns, Germs and Steel. At the time of colonial expansion European technological expertise had given them a significant advantage in firepower. An example of this would be at the Battle of Rorke's Drift during the Anglo Zulu war in which A few hundred British soldiers were able to repel an attacking force of several thousand Zulu Warriors largely because the British had an advantage in firepower (Heavy caliber rifles). It could also be argued that because of prolonged fighting amongst neighboring European powers had given them a sort of ‘Veterans’ advantage, insofar as many colonial armies had actively been engaged in combat for many years and the commanding officers had several hundred years of battle texts to draw examples from. A second contributing factor according to Jared Diamond wou ld be the advantage of germs. Although it is the case that several tropical diseases exist in these continents Europeans had been living in dense, overcrowded, over-polluted populations for many generations that they had developed a better tolerance to serious diseases such as smallpox. When European colonists came into contact with indigenous populations in many places, local populations were often nearly wiped out because of the introduction of infectious disease. A final factor that gave Europeans an advantage in the colonization of new lands was an advantage in infrastructure and supply chains. Because Europeans had better supply chains they were better equipped for long standoffs with indigenous populations, by having preserved food, better access to ammunition, easier access to luxuries which in turn helps morale. It was even argued by Diamond (1997) agricultural techniques that produced more food per acre for the colonial powers (Through the use of draft animals, irrigation s ystems, and domesticated crops) allowed the nations to provide food for larger armies than the armies they hoped to defeat. With all of this in mind it could also be argued that the Europeans had desires of expansionism in order to gain an advantage over their European contemporaries or to further their own wealth. Some of the most important colonies were often established because of access to natural resources (Such as the Belgian colony in the Congo being exploited for its rubber, or the Dutch East Indies being exploited for its spices). These sorts of economic factors would play a huge role in motivating European nations to expand outward. The second main issue that this paper will address is what the legacy of imperialism in our contemporary world is?’ It could be argued that there are really only three perspectives that could be left by imperialism in the contemporary world which is that the legacy is positive, negative or somewhere in-between. From a positive perspectiv e of positive influence according to the Whittington writing for the BBC (2005) it was argued that one lasting legacy was strong infrastructure. Because European powers were looking to export significant resources

Africa Diaspora Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Africa Diaspora - Research Paper Example Although the slaves significantly outnumbered their masters, they found it difficult to find their own voice outside their communities. The slaves suffered particularly harsh treatments if there were any attempts to gain emancipation or to run away (Bulliet, Crossley, Headrick, Hirsch& Johnson, 584). In the 1750’s, Mackandal  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ a voodoo priest with a charismatic personality was able to gather slaves into organized movements and networks throughout the plantations (Blackburn). He was also able to organize the maroon bands or runaway slaves. Even after his death in 1978, the movement continued to fight for the cause of the slaves. Concerned by this and by the disparity in the populations of the different groups, the European officials passed a number of laws that were not only discriminatory and oppressive of slaves but also of freed persons of color (Blackburn). These individuals were denied opportunities, were limited in the number of administrative positions that the y would be offered and were ostracized socially. Such laws motivated the freed slaves and others to join the protests. The French revolution led to the declaration of the Rights of Man in 1789, which declared all men to be equal (Blackburn). This was believed to be a vindication of their rights by the free colored population of Saint-Domingue. One such person was Vincent Oge who had recently returned from France. He believed that he and others like him had the right to vote in Saint-Domingue; and he perused this cause till he was captured in 1971 and brutally killed (Blackburn). This incident caused an uprising that was led by another voodoo priest Dutty Boukman. This uprising that started on 21st August 1791 led to the violent and disruptive revolt of slaves all over the province. In an attempt to curb the revolt, equal rights were granted to freedmen in 1792, but the war between France and England bought the rebels the support of the Spanish and the English (Bulliet et al., 584). The French realized that they could not fight on so many fronts, and so in 1794, the Assembly of the First Republic declared all slaves in the French colonies as free men. L'Ouverture  was a former slave who rose to the rank of commander in the army and worded tirelessly for the emancipation of slaves (Dubois, 171). These freed slaves were then encouraged to join the French army, thus serving as an incentive for the French to ensure emancipation of all slaves. These troops succeeded in defeating the Spanish and British invaders and gained command of the island where L'Ouverture declared himself a ruler and declared Saint-Domingue a sovereign black state in 1801 (Dubois, 177). This angered Napoleon Bonaparte who had L'Ouverture  captured. L'Ouverture  later died in prison in France. Napoleon sent Leclerc and Viscount of Rochambeau to take control of Saint-Domingue, where they tried to reestablish slavery without success (Dubois, 180). This fueled the revolt that continued to we aken France till it was defeated in 1803. Jean-Jacques Dessalines who was then leading the rebel forces in Saint-Domingue declared the state free on 1st January 1804 and renamed it as ‘Haiti† (Dubois, 303). The success of this revolution caused questions about slavery to be raised across the United States where slavery was still practiced. A number of freed men and slaves were inspired by the efforts of the rebels in Haiti and these voices caused political enquiry into the issues of slaves (Popkin, 298). American soil also saw refugees - both white and those of color - from Haiti

Practice Innovation for School of Health Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Practice Innovation for School of Health - Essay Example Presently, the topic being dealt with is â€Å"effect of implementing hourly intentional nursing rounds on health improvement of patients in an acute medical ward.† The entire evidence-based practice and critical analysis of articles are going to be undertaken based on a strict adherence to School of Health  & Social Care's guidelines  for presentation, referencing and confidentiality and consent (Leighty, 2006). RATIONALE FOR THE CHOICE OF TOPIC The practice of intentional hourly nursing rounds is a practice that has been with the health sector for a very long time. Most often, nurses would take the pain to go round their patients to have a follow up of how well they are doing and responding to treatment (Melnyk and Fineout-Overhold, 2005). This practice was actually associated with several advantages and benefits as in most cases it helped in improving the health situations of patients and reduced hospital-related problems such as falls. However with time, the practice w ould not be as effective as it used to be because there were general shortage of nurses in most parts of Europe and the United States. Today, the issue of nursing rounds has been revisited because of the advantages that it carries. By successfully completing this research work, there are a number of advantages and importance that are going to be experienced. In the first place, the place of intentional nursing rounds in improving the health of patients in acute medical wards is going to be defined. By definition, there is going to be a clear stand taken on whether or not the practice is really worth its value and whether or not it should be continued. What is more, this is going to be a research with much academic importance as it is going to offer its self as a critical review of existing works of literature to draw conclusions on the relevance, validity, and reliability of the findings that have been made by earlier researchers. Finally, the research work shall be a tool for outli ning some of the most needful innovations that are needed in nursing practice, especially when it comes to nurses in acute wards. From a professional perspective, the paper is going to help in reviving the act of evidence-based practice that once use to be the focus and fulcrum around which nursing practices were undertaken. Today, there is much evidence to suggest that because of how most practitioners lack the basic ideas of differentiating between sources of literature that are credible and those that are not, most nursing practitioners have given up on evidence-based practice (Meade, et al, 2006). This has also led its self up to denying nurses of the benefits that they would have had in undertaking evidence-based practice. FOCUSED QUESTION To undertake the present research as an evidence-based practice, there are a number of stages that are going to be used in arriving at the eventual goal of the study. The first of such is the creation of a focused question. The focused questi on is very relevant to the entire study because it is going to serve as the scope around which data is going to be collected (Orr, Tranum and Kupperschmidt, 2007). By this, reference is being made to the fact that the focused question is going to assist the researcher in knowing the best database to use, the best type of search to undertake, the kind of articles to look for and the type of reviews to undertake.  

Abortion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Abortion - Essay Example This enzyme deficiency prevents the metabolization of phenylalanine. According to medical and health ethical considerations, every child born with PKU should be placed on a special low phenylalanine diet for a period not less than five years of their life. This is thought to have happened to Martha. It was ethical to consider this when Martha was young and developing. The ideal situation Martha was placed in was to ensure that life is protected at all costs. As such, it is important for Martha to consider abortion for the sake of her life since failure to abort is likely to put the lives of both the child and her in jeopardy. The diet is a necessity in order to reduce or prevent occurrence of sever retardation. Nonetheless, the diet is actually burdensome. This is when considered that Martha is in some state of difficulty with her relationship and marriage with the father of the child. Martha has done no problem of being engaged with this situation. However, she should take caution o f Dr. R‘s emphasis and advice since she is about to care for more than one life. Martha is not exposed to limited foods. She is supposed to consider and stick to the use of the medical food, which is of bad taste and yet protects her from ill health. Considering pregnancy in such a case is another tedious thing since it has been proved that she is in a more difficult situation now that she is pregnant. Dr. R’s advice of considering abortion is deeply directed at reducing any possible thwart of life if she continuous carrying the pregnancy to birth. Yes, she is considerate of the fact that her ethics from religion does not allow her to abort. Nonetheless, avoiding aborting in such a scenario is poised at risking the lives of two people, more importantly her life with that of the fetus (DeGrazia and Jeffrey 45-56). Martha is at a point of making a crucial decision considering the fact that it is like she is fighting a fight of life and death. According to her doctor, abor tion will solve the issue of the present life, as stated by the medical ethics at hand. The fetus is yet to be given an opportunity to grow and live, though this will be negatively affecting on the possibilities of living in Martha’s point of contention. Thus, if Martha is poised to consider abortion, she will have managed to successfully limit any occurrence of life-neglect since it is well foreseeable that she is likely to risk and kill her life together with that of the child. Her continued carriage of the fetus is like an approach of difficulty pertaining life and death, something that should not be given a chance in any medical ground poised with medical and health ethics. Furthermore, Martha is up to the fact that she has been inconstant in her diet. She has failed in remunerating the proceeds of her health discipline. As such, she should consider abortion owing to the fact that if she continues to carry the fetus; she will be up for a tedious end. If Martha J is resolv ed to carry her fetus to term, Dr R will be in a huge responsibility of trying to balance between the lives of two people, who survive the ordeal of living a short and exposed life. It is the responsibility of Dr R to oversee and ensure that Martha has fully adhered to the precepts of t the diet at hand. If he fails to do so then he will be acting contrary to the ordeals of medical ethics, which requires him to do so. First, Dr R is endowed with the responsibility of ensuring that Martha has stepped up to the challenge of her ruthless medication as she had experienced during childhood. At the moment, it is not a big deal for her to metabolize phenylalanine. Nonetheless, now that she is expected to carry her pregnancy to term, she should maintain the same low-level phenylalanine diet through out the course of