Essay on Book Report for Rifleman Dodd - 956 Words

1 BOOK REPORT Name: Smith, Stephen Grade: LCpl Date: Section: . Book Title: Rifleman Dodd Author: C.S. Forester Why I chose this book: Originally this book was given to me by on of my combat instructors in Marine Combat Training(MCT). I wanted to read it but soon found it impossible due to certain time constraints. I lost the book during the transition from M.O.S. school to my current residence. Just recently, I obtained another copy of this book from a fellow Marine who currently works in the same shop. Give a brief description about this book: â€Å"Rifleman Dodd† is a novel written on the account of a certain British foot soldier of the â€Å"Ninety-Fifth Foot† named Matthew Dodd who encounters†¦show more content†¦While sabotaging the city he was able to sneak through its gates undetected and set fire to the bridges ropes. Tactical lessons learned from this book: A few of the tactical lessons I learned from rifleman Matthew Dodd include proper concealment, guerrilla warfare-like maneuvers, keeping a safe distance from enemy forces, absolute military bearing, and choosing your targets wisely, as well as, knowing when to fire at those targets. Furthermore, Dodd was very successful with remaining undetected at opportune moments, as well as, knowing exactly when to increase the distance from the enemy. What impressed me most was his ability to successfully communicate with allied forces who didnt necessarily speak his language. He used hand and arm signals to pantomime and gesture what it was he was trying to get across to his comrades. This trait would definitely fall under adaptability. Leadership lessons learned from this book: Dodd, as well as the French, possessed some good leadership skills which could easily be learned from. First of all, Dodd was capable of leading the Portuguese rebels when he was English-speaking and they knew only Portuguese. He used the correct body signals to instruct his fellow comrades besides the fact that they had such a huge language barrier. He was meticulous in his planning making, even when there was only a split second to decide. Dodd posted sentries even when his troops were in no

Professional Learning

Questions How may I continue my professional learning to support student learning in the classroom? Answer: What learning need would you address in your professional experience class? I have realized that the class I am teaching Math in is a mixed-ability class, as the students in my class differ from each other in terms of their skills, potential and power of understanding. While teaching my math lesson, I have realized that all the students were not capable of comprehending the lessons I was teaching. In addition, I have also realized that there are a group of students in my class for whom English is but a second language, and as such they encounter enough problem in retaining the mathematical concepts explained by me in English in my class (Burr et al., 2015). Support with evidence : I have faced a couple of ELL students, who have completely overlooked the fine line of demarcation existing between a Rhombus and a Parallelepiped. So, when I asked the class students to solve a problem, asking them to find out the area of a rhombus, some of the ELL speakers tried to solve the problem, by applying the formula of a Parallelepiped. So, I have realized that while teaching in my class, I should have stratified the whole class, based on their potentialities and those who lack in the comprehension power of the subject, should have received special attention from me. Significance (review relevant research/policy): Scaffolding, is a very important pre-requisite in the process of teaching. It is an indisputable fact that each student in the class has a different set of skills, abilities and potentialities, and hence the same teaching method for teaching all will never suffice. According to a research conducted by Mattews and Horne, not only do the various students in a class differ in their comprehension skills, but also in their listening skills (Radford et al., 2015). When a teacher is deliveruing lectures in a class, all the students are not necessarily listening to what the teacher is saying, although they are apparently hearing. This usually happens when the teacher is not being able to present his lectures in an interesting way. For this reason, scholars like Blair have suggested the use of visual literacy tools, whereby a teacher can employ a more interesting approach to the method of teaching, with the help of visual aids. The use of such devices assist in allowing the students to intera ct and participate in a more engaging way in the class. Blair has maintained that it often happens that the ELL students cannot completely comprehend the mathematical terms explaining the concepts in English, and they tend to get distracted (Smit et al., 2013). So, keeping this in mind, MIND Research Institute , has already collaborated with some international schools, to offer a wide range of interesting Math Flash games, by incorporating the use of ICT in the academic curriculum. It has often been found out that in teaching Math, teachers are often unable to demonstrate the exact way of defining and measuring an angle; in such situations, Robinsons Whats My Angle? is a brilliant digital aid, to explain the whole idea, as well as to keep the less responsive students of the class, participate more in the problem-solving method (Campbell et al., 2015). While the students who are not great achievers in the class, not only lack in merit in the present situation, but they also lack in motivation. Vygotsky maintains that while teaching mathematics to a novice, a teacher should remember that a student in order to be able to solve a mathematical problem, will require to connect the higher order scientific learning knowledge with the familiar, everyday concepts. Vygotsky claims that math should be introduced more as a fun subject, in a more innovative way. For example, a teacher may find difficult to explain Geometry to the ELL students, and hence may show a shoe box to the students, while explaining Geometry. He may ask the students to bend the shoebox like a rectangle, and then ask them to write what angle will they get. For this, they may refer to the book or the class notes, and if necessary may form groups and solve it, but must ensure that they independently work for it (Abdulwahed et al., 2012). While teaching in my class, I have realized that there are certain students who are not being able to grasp what I teach, and they find it difficult to get to the depth of the concepts. Although some of them are able to vaguely remember certain concepts, they are unable to have an in-depth knowledge of the lessons being taught. Keeping this in consideration, I have decided that I will make an inquiry into the needs of the weaker students, asking them personally where do they think my method of teaching is lacking, and I would be glad to take their suggestions (Hassard et al., 2013). Further, I am going to take more frequent help of audio-visual aids for teaching these students conceptually, rather than using the verbal method of teaching. I think I should adopt the method of Pre-teach vocabulary, whereby I , before initiating a chapter in class, shall pull out complex concepts and tough words from the lesson, and explain the meaning first. For example, before starting a chapter on Ge ometry, I shall primarily explain the meanings of words, such as area, Diagonal, Angle, Perimeter, Volume, etc. Further, each of the geometrical concepts should be demonstrated with the help of diagram, as well as visual representation through the use of digital media. Again, as part of the scaffolding technique, I will teach and explain a concept, and before proceeding to start a new concept, I shall ask the slow learners, to re-explain the idea, and to demonstrate the whole concept by solving a mathematical problem. Only when the students will be able to demonstrate the concept clearly, then only I should proceed on, as otherwise, they will be de motivated and perplexed, in their struggling efforts to learn a new topic, when the last one was not clear in the first place (Clark et al., 2015). Further, I should ask the students to explain familiar and related concepts on their own; for example, while teaching the concept of Average, I may ask one of them, to find out the average of the age of any of his three friends in the class. This will help the student, to gain a more comprehensive idea of what he is learning in class (Ellis , 2014). Reference List: Abdulwahed, M., Jaworski, B., Crawford, A. (2012). Innovative approaches to teaching mathematics in higher education: a review and critique. Burr, E., Haas, E., Ferriere, K. (2015). Identifying and Supporting English Learner Students with Learning Disabilities: Key Issues in the Literature and State Practice. REL 2015-086.Regional Educational Laboratory West. Campbell, C., Cameron, L. (2016). Scaffolding Learning Through the Use of Virtual Worlds.Learning in Virtual Worlds: Research and Applications. Clark-Wilson, A., Hoyles, C., Noss, R., Vahey, P., Roschelle, J. (2015). Scaling a technology-based innovation: windows on the evolution of mathematics teachers practices.ZDM,47(1), 79-92. Ellis, A. K. (2014).Research on educational innovations. Routledge. Hassard, J. and Dias, M., 2013.The art of teaching science: Inquiry and innovation in middle school and high school. Routledge. Radford, J., Bosanquet, P., Webster, R., Blatchford, P. (2015). Scaffolding learning for independence: Clarifying teacher and teaching assistant roles for children with special educational needs.Learning and Instruction,36, 1-10. Smit, J., AA van Eerde, H., Bakker, A. (2013). A conceptualisation of whole class scaffolding.British Educational Research Journal,39(5), 817-834.

Language Acquisition Essays - Language Acquisition, Linguistics

Language Acquisition Language acquisition is the process of learning a native or a second language. Although how children learn to speak is not perfectly understood, most explanations involve both the observation that children copy what they hear and the inference that human beings have a natural aptitude for understanding grammar. Children usually learn the sounds and vocabulary of their native language through imitation, and grammar is seldom taught to them; that they rapidly acquire the ability to speak grammatically. This supports the theory of Noam Chomsky (1959). that children are able to learn the grammar of a particular language because all intelligible languages are founded on a deep structure of universal grammatical rules that corresponds to an innate capacity of the human brain. Adults learning a second language pass through some of the same stages, as do children learning their native language. In the first part of this paper I will describe the process of language acquisition. The second part will review how infants respond to speech. Language Acquisition Language is multifaceted. It contains both verbal and non-verbal aspects that children seem to acquire quickly. Before birth virtually all the neurons (nerve cells) are formed, and they migrate into their proper locations in the brain in the infant. When a baby is born, it can see and hear and smell and respond to touch, but only dimly. The brain stem, a primitive region that controls vital functions like heartbeat and breathing, has completed its wiring. Elsewhere the connections between neurons are wispy and weak. But over the first few months of life, the brain's higher centers explode with new synapses. This helps an infant to be biologically prepared to face the stages of language acquisition. According to the textbook Child Development: A Thematic Approach, 3rd Edition (D. Bukatko & M.W. Daehler, 1996, p. 252) there are four main components to language acquisition. These components are phonology, semantics, syntax and pragmatics. Phonology is the study of how speech sounds are organized and how they function. It is the main linguistic accomplishment during the first year of life. The phonology of language refers to fundamental sounds units and the rules for combining them. Each language has a certain number of sounds called phonemes. Phonemes are the smallest unit of sound that affects the meaning of a word. Infants are able to identify hundreds of variations of sounds. For example, an infant who is six months old can detect the difference between ma and pa. An infant`s first year is mainly receiving messages but also working on being able to produce messages. As they physically develop infants form the ability to make sounds. Some of these initial sounds are cooing, vowel like utterances occasionally accompanied by consonants and babbling which are consonant-vowel combinations. During the first 6 months of life, physiological changes, such as the shape of oral cavity, tongue development, motor control of lips, and tooth eruption, also take place that contribute to speech development. One of the infants task is to identify phonemes. According to the textbook (D.Bukatko & M.W. Daehler, 1996, p. 202) infants show an early sensitivity to prosody, which is patterns of intonation, stress, and rhythm that communicate meaning in speech; the fluctuations of the voice. For example, raising your voice to ask a question or lowering it to let the infant know you are serious. This helps infants to learn the phonology of their language and prepares them for the next stage of learning which is semantics. Semantics is the meaning of words or combination of words. Shortly before babies have their first birthday, they begin to understand words, and around that birthday, they start to produce them (Clark, 1993). Words are usually produced in isolation. This one-word stage can last from two months to a year. Children's first words are similar all over the planet. About half the words are for objects: food (juice, cookie), body parts (eye, nose), clothing (diaper, sock), vehicles (car, boat), toys (doll, block), and household items (bottle, light, animals (dog, kitty), and people (dada, baby). At this time children usually start to use gestures to call attention to an object or event defined as protodeclarative communication. Protoimperative communication is the use of a gesture to issue a command or request. For example a child throws his bottle down to show that they no longer want it or they point at specific objects they want the parent to see. Around 18 months, language changes in two ways. Vocabulary growth increases and the child begins to learn words at a rate of one every two

Free Essays on INFORMATIONAL TEXT

What is Informational Text? Informational text provides ideas, facts, and principles that are related to the physical, biological and social world. Informational texts may take many different forms: picture books, photo essays, chapter books, articles and essays, letters, diaries and journals, factual books including almanacs and statistics, brochures and manuals. The primary purpose is to communicate information. (www.scholastic.com) How does is differ from fiction? Fiction is generally defined as a narrative that is imagined rather than real compared with non fiction which is based on fact. Fiction is a large category that includes many kinds of literary works. It includes historical fiction, realistic stories, plays, fantasies and folklore. A fictional text may be a novel, short story or play. The purpose of fiction is to entertain and involve readers in stories of life. (Fountas and Pinnell, 2001, p 401) Why is it important to teach children how to read it? It is important to teach children how to read informational text because: „_ Provides success in the later years of Schooling. As children progress they are faced with content area text books as well as informational passages on tests. Introducing the children to informational text early on allows them to better handle the information.  ¡Ã‚ §Children learn to read and read to learn ¡Ã‚ ¨ (www.Scholastic.com) „_ Prepares children to handle real life reading. Children need to be prepared to read newspapers, non fiction magazines and web based materials. To prepare children for the real world we need to teach them how to apply their knowledge effectively. „_ Develops vocabulary and other types of literacy knowledge. When reading informational text there is a stronger emphasis on vocabulary. Students are introduced to new concepts and there are many teachable moments. Learning to read diagrams, tables and other types of graphic organizers... Free Essays on INFORMATIONAL TEXT Free Essays on INFORMATIONAL TEXT What is Informational Text? Informational text provides ideas, facts, and principles that are related to the physical, biological and social world. Informational texts may take many different forms: picture books, photo essays, chapter books, articles and essays, letters, diaries and journals, factual books including almanacs and statistics, brochures and manuals. The primary purpose is to communicate information. (www.scholastic.com) How does is differ from fiction? Fiction is generally defined as a narrative that is imagined rather than real compared with non fiction which is based on fact. Fiction is a large category that includes many kinds of literary works. It includes historical fiction, realistic stories, plays, fantasies and folklore. A fictional text may be a novel, short story or play. The purpose of fiction is to entertain and involve readers in stories of life. (Fountas and Pinnell, 2001, p 401) Why is it important to teach children how to read it? It is important to teach children how to read informational text because: „_ Provides success in the later years of Schooling. As children progress they are faced with content area text books as well as informational passages on tests. Introducing the children to informational text early on allows them to better handle the information.  ¡Ã‚ §Children learn to read and read to learn ¡Ã‚ ¨ (www.Scholastic.com) „_ Prepares children to handle real life reading. Children need to be prepared to read newspapers, non fiction magazines and web based materials. To prepare children for the real world we need to teach them how to apply their knowledge effectively. „_ Develops vocabulary and other types of literacy knowledge. When reading informational text there is a stronger emphasis on vocabulary. Students are introduced to new concepts and there are many teachable moments. Learning to read diagrams, tables and other types of graphic organizers...

A Gerund Is a Verb and a Noun in One

A Gerund Is a Verb and a Noun in One A Gerund Is a Verb and a Noun in One A Gerund Is a Verb and a Noun in One By Mark Nichol A gerund is a verb that also functions as a noun. For example, one can say one is engaged in the act of writing, but one can also say that what one is doing is a thing called writing. A gerund can be part of the subject of a sentence (â€Å"Writing takes a lot of effort†) or part of the object (â€Å"I’ve done a lot of writing†). Most writers generally employ gerunds without difficulty, but one aspect of their use can be confusing: the genitive case. In the genitive case, the pronoun associated with the gerund takes a different form than it would when associated with the same word used as a verb. For example, when expressing that you listened to some people talking, you would write, â€Å"I heard them talking.† However, if you are emphasizing talking as a thing rather than an action, you would write, â€Å"I heard their talking.† Or, consider the difference between â€Å"They heard it breaking† (breaking is a verb) and â€Å"They heard its breaking† (breaking is a gerund). Writers should also make a distinction with possessive forms of nouns: â€Å"The girl shouting awakened her parents† uses shouting as a verb (girl is the subject); in â€Å"The girl’s shouting awakened her parents,† however, shouting is a gerund (and shouting, not girl, is the subject). In many instances, the difference in connotation is insignificant, but whether one employs a simple verb or uses it as a gerund can change the sense of the sentence. 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:When to Capitalize Animal and Plant Names3 Types of HeadingsDealing With A Character's Internal Thoughts

Consultation is a core competency of graduate nursing Essay

Consultation is a core competency of graduate nursing - Essay Example It is based on this that consultation and supervision have both been considered very important in nursing training. Differencing between the two, Smith, Atherly, Kane & Pacala (2007) indicated that supervision is hierarchical while consultation is mutual. What this implies is that in terms of supervision, there is always someone of higher experience and competence who offers guidance to another person of lower pedigree of learning. Because of this, it is very common to realise supervision comes with compliance with directors that are given by the supervisor or person of higher learning, considered being an authority. Consultation has however been noted to be different because in consultation, there is mutual learning between people considered to be at par in terms of knowledge, experience and practice (Chauncey, 1995). In line with this, consultation is only considered to be a risk management tool which does not come with much obligation but based on professional judgment of the lear ner. Consultation and collaboration are two other terms that are also used interchangeably. Between collaboration and consultation on one side and consultation and supervision on another side, Brykczynski (2009) noted that consultation and collaboration are more synonymous than consultation and supervision. This is because in both consultation and collaboration, there is high level of personalized cooperation than the type of compliance that is experienced with supervision. In effect, both consultation and collaboration can be said to take place among people with relatively same level of experience, competence and knowledge. It would therefore be right to argue that both consultation and collaboration is peer based rather than hierarchical. The similarities notwithstanding, consultation and collaboration must not be taken to be exactly the same thing. This is because in consultation, there is often a rationale for one person to seek part of what another person has. But in

Critically analyse the the Mosaic and new Covenants, showing their Essay

Critically analyse the the Mosaic and new Covenants, showing their relationship to the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ - Essay Example zing the Mosaic and new covenants in relation to death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, let us first comprehend what a covenant is in biblical stipulations. A covenant is only a formal treaty between at least two parties amongst the agreed sides. According to the Hebrew Bible, a covenant is used in translating the Hebrew word birth (ב× ¨Ã—™× ª) Meaning covenant cutting or cutting in referral to sacrificing (Barr, 1999: 4-17). The scriptures had three major covenants namely, the covenant of Abraham, the old covenant and lastly the new covenant. In all three covenants, it is clear that God is the dominant party in his quest to establish a covenant with all his creation. It is vital to acknowledge that God’s covenant reveals his will; hence allowing humanity to look no further in order to understand God’s desires. Both the Mosaic and new covenants show how God is ready to reunite with humankind. Understanding the covenants is important in knowing a detailed between God and the Hebrews, in the Old Testament. The old covenants are found in the Old Testament; they include the covenant of Abraham and the covenant of Mosaic. The Covenant of Abraham was formed between God (YHWH) and Abram. Moreover, according to (Genesis 12:1), the covenants terms are handed to Abram when God commands him to leave his homeland Ur, to a new place. According to the scriptures of Genesis 17:9-14, Abraham is told by God to circumcise all male offspring as a symbol of the agreement. In return for Abraham’s obedience as well as that of his descendants, God’s promise to Abraham is that of making a great nation, as well as having many blessings (Pate, 2004: 29). The second main covenant found in the Old Testament is that of the Mosaic Covenant. Exodus 19 through to chapter 24 shows that the covenant has the basis for the Torah and is the promise of God to make Israel the chosen land (Exodus 19:5-5) as long as terms of the covenant are preserved. The covenants basic terms included