Violence In School Essays - Misconduct, Behavior, Human Behavior

Violence In School http://nces.ed.gov/pubs98/violence/98030001.html Violence and Discipline Problems in U.S. Public Schools: 1996-97 Executive Summary No matter where you are, parents want their students to be safe and secure that might even precede a quality education With drugs, gangs, and guns on the rise in many communities the threat of violence weighs heavily on most principals' minds these daysAnyone who thinks they are not vulnerable is really na?ve. (Principal Michael Durso, Springbrook High School, as quoted in the Washingtonian Magazine, September 1997). Background Recent events have again focused the nation's attention on violence in U.S. public schools, an issue that has generated public concern and directed research for more than two decades.1 Despite long-standing attention to the problem, there is a growing perception that not all public schools are safe places of learning, and media reports highlight specific school-based violent acts. The seventh goal of the National Education Goals states that by the year 2000, all schools in America will be free of drugs and violence and the unauthorized presence of firearms and alcohol, and offer a disciplined environment that is conducive to learning. In response to this goal, the Congress passed the Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act of 1994, which provides for support of drug and violence prevention programs. As part of this legislation, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is required to collect data to determine the frequency, seriousness, and incidence of violence in e lementary and secondary schools. NCES responded to this requirement by commissioning a survey, the Principal/School Disciplinarian Survey on School Violence, 1996-97, the results of which are detailed in this report. The school violence survey was conducted with a nationally representative sample of 1,234 regular public elementary, middle, and secondary schools in the 50 states and the District of Columbia in the spring and summer of 1997. The survey requested information on four main topics: ? The incidence of crime and violence that occurred in public schools during the 1996-97 academic year; ? Principals' (or school disciplinarians') perceptions about the seriousness of a variety of discipline issues in their schools; ? The types of disciplinary actions schools took against students for serious offenses; and ? The kinds of security measures and violence prevention programs that were in place in public schools. The types of criminal incidents that schools were asked to report included murder, suicide, rape or other type of sexual battery, assault or fight with a weapon, robbery, assault or fight without a weapon, theft/ larceny, and vandalism. Any effort to quantify the frequency and seriousness of these crimes and violent incidents occurring in public schools will be affected by the way in which the information is collected and reported. Three important aspects of the process that were used to gather the data reported in this publication were: ? ? The survey questions asked, including how the questions were phrased, definitions applied, time span covered, and the context in which they were asked; ? The choice of survey respondent; and ? The survey sample size. The reader should keep these aspects of the survey in mind when comparing results of this particular sample survey with other studies on school crime and violence. The data reported from this study may vary from data reported elsewhere because of differences in definitions, coverage, respondents, and sample. For example, the data reported in this survey describe the number of incidents of crime, not the number of individuals involved in such incidents. It should be noted that an incident could involve more than one individual perpetrator or individual victim. Similarly, an individual perpetrator or victim could be involved in multiple incidents. Key Findings How Serious A Problem Was Crime And Violence In U.S. Public Schools In The 1996-1997 School Year? More than half of U.S. public schools reported experiencing at least one crime incident in school year 1996-97, and 1 in 10 schools reported at least one serious violent crime during that school year (table 7). ? ? Fifty-seven percent of public elementary and secondary school principals reported that one or more incidents of crime/violence that were reported to the police or other law enforcement officials had occurred in their school during the 1996-97 school year. ? Ten percent of all public schools experienced one or more

Sociology Essay The WritePass Journal

Sociology Essay Introduction: Sociology Essay ). Determinists argue that thought processes are affected by language (Boroditsky 2001; Boroditsky, et al 2001, 2003, 2004). Nevertheless, this approach fails to recognise the fluidity of language, which is seen in the development of diaspora communities (Canagarajah, 2007; Haughen, 1972). The perceptions and the ideology of the researcher influence their examination of language, its language links to culture and impact of the person (Zahedi, 2008). Hence, the best model of determinism is ascertained by the researcher’s methodological approach. The empiricist is best suited to the Sapir- Whorfian Hypothesis, because it focuses on linguistic relativity and linguistic determinism (Mooney, 2010). The strong form that â€Å"language determines thought† (Zahedi, 2008, p.29) has been rejected. Instead the viable form is the soft approach, which states language affects thought patterns (Bilik, 2002; Zahedi, 2008). This has been supported by a number of studies (Boroditsky 2001; Boroditsky, et al 2001, 2003, 2004). This is an anthropological approach to language (i.e. externalist approach). Thus, language develops in a flexibly, especially when different cultures clash (Bilik, 2002). Culture clash will have two effects, the first is that the language will adapt to the new community (Collinge, 2002, p. 254; De Bot Stoessel, 2002). Thus, a broader understanding of language needs to be engaged with, such as the Saussurean approach. The Saussurean is an internalist approach, which identifies the arbitrariness of linguistic signs identified in the externalist framework (Zahedi, 2008, p.25). This article argues both the internalist and externalist approaches to language are necessary. Thus, Zahedi (2008) argues that just focusing on Sapir- Whorfian determinism will limit sociological understandings of language. A broader application of language and culture is essential, especially in the multicultural or transnational community (Safar, 2004). This is because clashes between cultures or resident state and HL preservation can change the perceptions of the person (Knight, 2002). The application to the Multicultural London is interesting, because the use of West Indian patios in other communities is clearly identifiable. It seems that this language has become part of the urban landscape. Thus, applying a narrow assimilative approach is not appropriate. Rather, a mixed approach to determinism is necessary, in order to understand how language affects the person and its connection to the social landscape (i.e. the link between West Indian patois and London’s urban landsc ape. . References: Alfonsi, C, Kokot, W Toloyan, K (2004). Diaspora, Identity and Religion: New Directions in Theory and Research London: Routledge Bilik, N. (2002). The Ethnicity of Anthropology in China: Discursive Diversity and Linguistic Relativity. Critique of Anthropology Vol 22, No 2, 133-148 Blunt, A. (2007). â€Å"Cultural Geographies of Migration: Mobility, Transnationality and Diaspora† Progress in Human GeographyVol. 31, Iss 5: 684-694 Blunt, A. and Dowling, R. (2006) Home. London: Routledge Boroditsky, L, Phillips W, and Schmidt., LA. (2004) Can Quirks of Grammar Affect the   Way You Think? Grammatical Gender Categories and the Mental Representation of Objects. Manuscript. Stanford, CA: Stanford University. Boroditsky, L,. Schmidt, LA and Phillips, W (2003). Sex, Syntax and Semantics. in Language in Mind: Advances in the Study of Language and Thought, edited by D. Gentner and S. Goldin-Meadow. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press., pp. 61-67 Byon, A. (2003). Language socialization and Korean as a heritage language: A study of Canagarajah, S. (2007). Lingua Franca English, Multilingual Communities, and Language Acquisition. Modern Language Journal Vol 91, pp. 923-939 Cohen, R (2008). Global Diasporas: An Introduction London: Routledge Collinge, NE. (2002). An Encyclopaedia of Language Taylor Francis De Bot, K and Stoessel, S. (2002). Introduction: Language and Social Networks. International Journal of the Sociology of the Language Vol. 2002. Iss. 153. 1-7 Fairclough, N. (2001). Language and Culture London: Longman Gammage, S. Paul, A. Machado, M. Benitez, M. (2005). Gender Migration and Transnational Communities. A Draft Prepared for the Inter-American Foundation April 2005 Washington DC. Retrieved from: http://previous.wiego.org/pdf/Gammage-Gender-Migration-Transnational-Communities.pdf Gibbons, J., Ramirez, E. (2004). Maintaining a minority language: A case study of Hispanic Teenagers. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters Giles, H. (Ed). (1984). The dynamics of speech accommodation. International Journal of the   Sociology of Language pp. 46 Haller, W and Landolt, P. (2005). The Transnational Dimensions of Identity Formation: Adult Children of Immigrants in Miami Identity Formation 1182-1209 Harris, R. (2006) New Ethnicities and Language Use. London: Palgrave Hawaiian classrooms. Language, Culture and Curriculum Vol 16, 269–283 He, AW. (2010). The Heart of Heritage: Sociological Dimensions of Heritage Language Learning. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics Vol. 30, 66-82 Hojat, M., D, Foroughi, H. Mahmoudi, F. Holakouee. (2010). A Desire to Return to the Country of Birth as a Function of Language Preference: An Empirical Study with Iranian Immigrants in the United States. International Migration, Vol 48 Iss. 3, 158-173 Honeycutt, C Cunliffe, D. (2010). The Use of the Welsh Language on Facebook: An initial investigation. Information, Communication Society Vol. 13, Iss. 2 226-248 Knight, WA. (2002). Conceptualising Transnational Community Formation: Migrants, Sojourners and Diasporas in a Globalised Era. Canadian Studies in Population Vol. 29, Iss. 1, 1-30 Lam, SEL and Warriner, DS. (2012). Transnationalism and Literacy: Investigating the Mobility of People, Languages, Texts and Practices in Contexts of Migration. Research Reading Quarterly Vol 47, iss. 2, pp. 191 Mooney, A. (2010). Language, Thought and Representation in Language, Society and Power: An Introduction 3rd Edition (eds, Mooney, A, Stilwell Pecci, J , Labelle, S et al) Routledge Portes, A (2003). ‘Conclusion: theoretical convergences and empirical evidence in the study of immigrant Transnationalism’, International Migration Review, vol. 37, no. 3, pp. 874-892 Safran, W. (2004). Deconstruction and Comparing Diasporas. New York: Taylor Francis Schupach, D. (2008) Shared Languages, Shared Identities, Shared Stories: A Qualitative Study of Life Stories by Immigrants from German-Speaking Switzerland in Australia Frankfurt: Peter Lang Singer, A. (2004) â€Å"The Rise of New Immigrant Gateways,† Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy, The Brookings Institution, The Living cities Census Series, Washington DC, February 2004. Singer, A. S. Friedman, I. Cheung and M. Price (2001) â€Å"The World in A Zip Code: Greater Washington D.C. as a New Region of Immigration,† Center on Urban and Metropolitan   Policy, Brookings Greater Washington Research Program, The Brookings Institution. Walter, B. (2001), Outsiders inside: whiteness, place and Irish women. London: Routledge Zahedi, K. (2008). â€Å"Determinist Inquiries: Debates on the Foundation of Language† International Inquiries: Debates on the Foundation of Language Vol. 1, Iss 1, 26-50

War on Drugs Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

War on Drugs - Research Paper Example This paper is a critical examination of the war on drugs in the United States and its effects in the country. Narcotics are a wide range of illegal drugs that are primarily used to influence and change the behavior or mood of the user. Chemically, narcotics are opium derivatives and they include drugs such morphine, heroin, cocaine, codeine among others (Roy, 41). Opiates and cocaine are the most valuable and profitable narcotics in the underworld economy. Narcotics are highly addictive, and they mainly function on the brain and the central nervous system where they reduce the intensity of unpleasant feelings such as pain and could produce euphoric sensations. In medicine, morphine, which is narcotic drug, is widely used to reduce chronic pain. Others narcotics applied in medicine include codeine and oxycodone for relieving pain in patients. Due to the addictive nature of these medically applied narcotics, the abuse of the prescription drugs is a growing concern in the United States (Acker, 57-69). History of Narcotics in United States Narcotics have an ancient history that dates back to the earliest civilization in Greece, Sumeria, Egypt and India among others. to Roy, opium, which is obtained from the poppy plant, played a major role in prehistoric medicine and pharmacy. The drug was mainly used for inducing sleep and as a general painkiller. In addition, the addictive and euphoric properties of opium encouraged people to use it as a recreational drug. The potent properties of opium increased its demand in the world and by 17th century, commercial production and trade in the drug was already established in the European continent. ... By eighteenth century, trade in opium was a very profitable venture because an increasing number of people had become addicted to the drug (72-96). The use of opium was no longer restricted to the rich and it soon became a commodity for mass consumption. Consequently, opium became an important source of revenue for various countries especially in Asia and Atlantic region. The main source of opium in United States in 20th century was China (Zabludoff, 49). Currently the main producers and suppliers of opiate drugs are Colombia, Mexico, Afghanistan and Pakistan (Chepesiuk, 68). Acker classifies the history of narcotics use in the United States in three distinct periods, from 1860 to 1910, 1910 to 1950 and from 1950 to the present (63). In the United States, the period from 1860 to 1910 was characterized by the outbreak of the civil war, which started in 1861 and ended in 1865. During the war, large-scale use of narcotics was noted among the combatants (Acker, 105). The medicinal and ad dictive properties of the drug elicited intensive research from pharmaceutical companies such as the giant pharmaceutical company Bayer. In 1874, chemists from Bayer successfully isolated heroin from morphine. During the period, addiction to morphine had become a major concern in Europe and United States. A growing number of people had become dependant on the drug, resulting to low productivity and increasing level of crime (Roy, 38). Therefore, the medical fraternity hoped that heroin, would cure morphine addiction. The successful synthesis of heroin from morphine well received in the market and the narcotic was promoted as â€Å"a wonder drug† (Musto, 55). The commercial promotion

Comparison of Aims, Objectives and Purpose of Marks & Spencers And Essay

Comparison of Aims, Objectives and Purpose of Marks & Spencers And Lidl Ltd - Essay Example This paper illustrates that business news and subjects have always formed a considerable hype among people and the race among the business firms are of particular interest to readers. However, this article is not about competition but reflects the internal aspects of business management and compares two top-ranking firms and their business practices. One of the companies is a front line retailer and supermarket chain operating globally, Marks & Spencer’s while the other one is the discount supermarket chain, Lidl. In reference to the selection of the companies, it is important to justify that these companies have been selected in order to understand the differences in their management and operational practices in relation to their particular industry traits. The company started its operations in the year 1940 and expanded their operations in 20 countries in Europe during the period of 1973. The privately held company with headquarter in Germany, over time, evolved as the fifth largest retailer in the globe in terms of sales, as per the statistics of 2011. The sales of the company rose to higher levels with the increase in their service processes and also helped them gain a reputation in the national retail and supermarket industry. The business operation of Lidl highly reflects the mission incorporated by the company. Lidl is well-aware about their existing size and customer base and aims to integrate customers across customers with different values and traditions. Lidl infuses systematic approach to achieving their primary goal i.e. customer satisfaction. The company understands the importance of the value of money for the customers and accordingly formulates the corporate strategies. The excellence of such strategies is reflected from the pricing decision and promotional strategies used by Lidl.

Decision-Making process Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Decision-Making process - Term Paper Example Managers are therefore expected to come up with the best decision. Nelson and Quick particularly discuss different decision models that could able to explain some assumptions about the best decision one could ever make. The first is rational model which has the basic assumption that the decision maker is conscious about the best decision he or she has to choose from the available preferences. The next is bounded rationality model which has basic assumptions that managers should select satisfactory decisions, they have simple view of the world, and they are comfortable with their decisions even without alternatives and they are into heuristic decision or based on the rule of thumb. Then there are also times when the decision-maker has to decide randomly or in an unsystematic way. Such of this is explained by the garbage can model. Nelson and Nick also discuss Jung’s cognitive style which is based on the idea of gathering information and evaluating the best alternatives. In this model, it is assumed that individuals are able to perceive things and eventually judge them. There is therefore a substantial risk in this considering the fact that perception at some point may eventually be based on personal choices that could be subjective at certain level. However, Nelson and Nick include that the influence of other individual in the decision making is viewed to have significant impact because from the point of view of cognitive approach, they too are capable of perceiving things and evaluating on them based on their best preferences. Furthermore, they point out that creativity is an integral part of the human’s capability. However, they believe that the problem with relying on other’s decision could be a potential drawback due to organizational influence, which means that the entire decision an d its creativity could either be impeded or supported. They also point out that the good thing however about group decision includes acquiring more knowledge and information, increase acceptance and commitment due to giving opportunity for each member to

Effective Intervention Reduce Alcohol Consumption In College Students Nursing Essay

Effective Intervention Reduce Alcohol Consumption In College Students Nursing Essay Heavy alcohol consumption among college students remains a concern across colleges and universities in the United States. Approximately 80% of all college students drink, including nearly 60% of students ages 18 to 20 (Johnston, OMalley, Bachman, Schulenberg, 2008). Even more troubling, 40.1% of full-time college students underage for legal drinking engage in binge drinking and 16.6% of students engage in heavy drinking (National Survey on Drug Use and Health [NSDUH], 2006). Binge drinking is defined as consuming five or more drinks on the same occasion on at least 1 day in the past 30 days, bringing a persons blood alcohol concentration (BAC) to 0.08 or above (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism [NIAAA], 2004;NSDUH, 2006). Consuming five or more drinks on the same occasion on each of 5 or more days in the past 30 days is considered heavy drinking (NSDUH, 2006). All heavy alcohol users are also binge alcohol users. Many colleges and universities have implemented numerous initiatives ranging from enhanced enforcement to deferred community-wide celebratory events, but with little or no success (Turner, Perkins, Bauerle, 2008). College counselors and health education centers have been the main source of counseling for students who consume alcohol. Students have the opportunity to meet with counselors to discuss their alcohol use and their interest in moderating alcohol consumption and receive personalized normative feedback, advice, and behavioral strategies for avoiding alcohol-related harm (Barnett, Murphy, Colby, Monti, 2007). Although this traditional method is still used by counselors, advances in technology are allowing counselors to use new and innovative methods to educate students on the dangers of excessive alcohol consumption. Key programs include wireless devices, e-interventions, and cybercounseling. Wireless devices provide counselors with an interactive method of reducing drinking and alcohol consequences in college students. They range from mobile devices such as cell phones and handheld computers to audience response technology, or clickers (Bernhardt et al., 2009; Killos, Hancock, Wattenmaker McGann, Keller, 2010; Labrie, Hummer, Huchting, Neighbors, 2009; LeGreco, Hess, Lederman, Schuwerk, LaValley, 2010; Turner et al., 2008). Compared to one-on-one counseling sessions, easy accessibility and the ability to assess a group of students during one session are advantages of using this intervention model. The use of such technology varies, but the outcome is the same- providing fast and accurate assessments about college students own drinking habits and the drinking habits of their peers (Bernhardt et al., 2009; Killos et al., 2010; Labrie et al., 2009; LeGreco et al., 2010; Turner et al., 2008). Mobile devices would alleviate the need for pen and paper assessments. The Handheld Assisted Network Diary (HAND) is an effective and valid method of evaluating daily drinking among college students (Bernhardt et al., 2009). Rather than counselors expecting a student to complete a daily assessment and have them return it to them after 30 days, counselors can have students record this same data on mobile devices. Although more students are likely to complete a pen and paper assessment than HAND, Bernhardt et al. (2009) found no significant difference between the two methods when students recorded their total drinks, number of drinking days, and drinks per drinking day. This suggests that those students who did complete HAND were comfortable with using the device and provided accurate information similar to those who completed pen and paper assessments. The difference in completion rates between the two methods is due to the design of HAND; students have a particular time-frame to comp lete the days assessment and are locked out of their devices at a predetermined time. This inhibits students from completing missed assessments. The disadvantage of students self-reporting data in the HAND should not diminish its advantage of being able to be completed daily with little deviation from a students active lifestyle (Bernhardt et al., 2009). Although HAND may sound promising, it should be noted that Bernhardt et al. developed this program and any of their published results may be biased. Audience response technology, commonly known as clickers, is a second type of wireless device used by counselors and health educators. Clickers are used in group interactive-feedback alcohol education sessions to decrease students perceived norms of how much other students drink (Killos et al., 2010; Labrie et al., 2009). During these sessions, a counselor or health educator would ask a group of students a series of multiple choice questions pertaining to their own drinking habits and their perception of their peers drinking habits. Students can then simultaneously respond and have their answers recorded and displayed to the group in graphical form. Killos et al. (2010) found that students who attend at least one of these sessions are more likely to believe that the typical student drinks less alcoholic beverages than perceived; those who do not attend such sessions are more likely to over-perceive the amount of alcohol a typical student consumes. This demonstrates that group clicker sessions are effective in positively influencing students beliefs about their peers drinking behaviors (Killos et al., 2010). Clicker sessions are practical because they can be designed for any variety of student groups including resident assistants, freshmen orientation groups, and high-risk drinkers such as Greeks and athletes (Killos et al., 2010). Labrie et al. (2009) examined the effectiveness of one type of group intervention, brief live interactive normative group intervention (BLING), on collegiate athletes. During a one-month follow-up after the clicker session, athletes showed evidence of changes in perceived norms, leading to changes in their own drinking habits; no further changes were seen at a two-month follow-up (Labrie et al., 2009). This suggests that clicker sessions are a fast and effective model for educating students. Clicker sessions have expanded to include two-way communication models promoting health and encouraging dialogue, rather than the original one-way communication from facilitator to student. Lets Talk About It, for example, is a simulation game engaging students about decision-making and drinking on a college campus (LeGreco et al., 2010). It was created to generate, identify, and challenge the social norms that students utilize to construct and reconstruct reality through narrative sharing, facilitated learning, and inter-student dialogue. A scenario prompt about going to a party with a friend was given to a group of students and they were asked what they would do in a particular situation (e.g. your drunk best friend is about to leave with a boy she just met). LeGreco et al. (2010) concluded that facilitators can encourage students to complete the story of a night of drinking, filling the gaps with personal experiences, choices, and narrative details by utilizing incomplete scenario s. The advantage of using programs like this is that simulations can provide a safe place for individuals to critically examine their more risky behaviors and experiment with different possibilities for healthy changes (LeGreco et al., 2010). Wireless devices are intended to expose the truth about perceived norms of college drinking. Although the studies mentioned above have shown the effectiveness of these devices, particular limitations cannot go unnoted. The major concern is that these programs only evaluated the short-term effects of the devices, whether it was 30 days or 2 months. More research is needed to examine any maintained changes and long-term effects of using wireless devices as an alcohol intervention in college students. Another concern is attendance and participation rates. During the clicker sessions, the response results that are presented back to the students could be misleading if a handful of students do not respond to any of the questions. Since this is a device that is intended for rapid responses, facilitators would be spending unnecessary time trying to figure out which clickers did not answer any of the questions. E-interventions Computer programs are changing the way college students are learning about the dangers of heavy drinking. Aside from changing perceived norms, these programs are increasing students readiness to change their drinking behaviors (Chiauzzi, Green, Lord, Thum, Goldstein, 2005; Moore, Soderquist, Werch, 2005; Murphy, Dennhardt, Skidmore, Martens, McDevitt-Murphy, 2010; Walters, Miller, Chiauzzi, 2005). Electronic interventions, or e-interventions, are directing students away from face-to-face counseling sessions and more towards self-education with personalized feedback and preventative interventions (Chiauzzi et al., 2005; Doumas Andersen, 2009; Murphy et al., 2010). Counselors may be wary about assessing students drinking behaviors outside of a traditional office visit. Moore et al. (2005) addressed this as they studied the feasibility and efficacy of a binge drinking prevention intervention for college students via the internet. Students were sent either four email-based newsletters or four identical print-based newsletters in the mail. In each web newsletter, there was a link to a short process-evaluation survey. Mail newsletters had a hard copy of the survey that would be mailed back. A greater percentage of students receiving the email-based newsletter completed the process-evaluation surveys than did the students receiving the print-based newsletter (Moore et al., 2005). This could be explained by many reasons, including easy accessibility and convenience. Students who are receiving the newsletter via email are already online and can simply click on the links; the other students would have to take the time to complete the surveys and mail t hem back. Interestingly, Moore et al. (2005) observed that the greatest results in decreasing the number of drinks per occasion and the number of occasions feeling drunk were seen in binge drinkers. Students and counselors alike would benefit from using an email-based intervention. Students are comfortable with internet communications and it is fast and convenient; for counselors, the intervention is cheaper than printing materials, assessment results are easy to enter, and there is a higher response rate from students (Moore et al., 2005). E-interventions are different from all other types of interventions because they rapidly give students personalized feedback (Bersamin, Paschall, Fearnow-Kenney, Wyrick, 2007; Chiauzzi et al., 2005; Doumas Haustveit, 2008; Doumas Andersen, 2009; Murphy et al., 2010; Thombs et al., 2007; Walters et al., 2005). These programs provide students with personalized information as part of the intervention or the intervention itself. Most programs rely heavily on educational content, providing text information about the physical, social, and behavioral effects of alcohol in the form of interactive games and quizzes (Walters et al., 2005). Electronic Checkup to Go (e-CHUG) is a 15-minute intervention designed to reduce high-risk drinking by providing personalized feedback and normative data regarding drinking and its consequences. High-risk students who had access to e-CHUG reduced their weekly drinking quantity by approximately 30% compared to a 14% increase in students who did not have access to e-CHUG (Doumas Andersen, 2009). There was also a 30% reduction in reported alcohol-related problems for high-risk students in the e-CHUG group in comparison with an 84% increase in reported alcohol-related problems for high-risk students in the control group (Doumas Andersen, 2009). MyStudentBody (MSB) provides students with tailored motivational feedback about high-risk drinking according to gender (Chiauzzi et al., 2005). Both students having access to MSB and those who did not have access were asked to complete 4 weekly 20-minute sessions. The respective websites was available for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, so students had flexible access. Chiauzzi et al. (2005) saw a significant decrease in the number of binge episodes in a typical week among all participants and a rapid decrease in the average consumption among persistent heavy drinkers who had access to MSB. Thombs et al. (2007) were the first to study normative feedback on the basis of a known blood-alcohol concentration. At night in the residence halls, freshmens BAC would be measured and recorded. The next day, these students were directed to a website where they found their BAC measure from the night before, the average BAC of the residence hall, and interactive activities. The results, however, were unexpected. BAC levels were lower in the residence hall that just had access to their own BAC level (Thombs et al., 2007). This could have been due to a number of reasons. The most practical reason, though, is that some students may have either increased their drinking on some nights or avoided providing data on nights they did not drink (Thombs et al., 2007). These automated interventions reflect the contributions of mailed self-help and in-person approaches. However, the advantage of the computer is the ability to provide much more information upon demand (Walters et al., 2005). As new programs are being developed, some questions remain unanswered. Although there is no clear relationship between the length of the intervention and its effectiveness (Walters et al., 2005), it is still unclear as to what type of information makes a difference and which approach is most relevant to college students. E-interventions have given counselors and students much to enjoy, but there is evidence that computer-based interventions are not as effective as in-person interventions with a counselor (Barnett et al., 2007; Carey, Henson, Carey, Maisto, 2009; Croom et al., 2009). These studies compared Alcohol 101 Plus with traditional brief motivational interventions (BMI). Students participating in the BMI were found to reduce drinking and related consequences (Carey et al., 2009). Similarly, at a 12-month follow-up from the initial intervention, students using a computer-delivered intervention were consuming a greater number of drinks per occasion than at baseline (Barnett et al., 2007). E-interventions focus on preventative measures and providing personalized feedback. Throughout the literature on these programs, researchers have noted a few limitations. The most commonly noted limitation is the inability to generalize the effectiveness of e-interventions. The students that are more likely to use such programs are those who report binge drinking and heavy drinking. Also, some students may find this type of intervention adequate, while others would prefer meeting with a counselor and work collaboratively on how to reduce their drinking habits. A second limitation is similar to that of the wireless devices. These studies on e-interventions only examined immediate and short-term effects of the program on alcohol reduction. Research with longer follow-ups would be ideal to examine the consistency of the students changed behaviors. Third, consideration should be given to the willingness of the university to invest in these computer programs. Lastly, concern arises with t he possibility of computers and the programs either malfunctioning or crashing. This could result in delayed feedback for students and loss of data for counselors. Cybercounseling Little, if any, research has examined the use of cybercounseling in reducing college drinking. Cybercounseling is the practice of providing professional counseling and information to clients when both are in separate or remote locations and they utilize electronic means to communicate over the Internet (Maples Han, 2008). E-mail, electronic bulletin boards, and chat rooms are all forms of cybercounseling. Counselors and students alike see the disadvantages of cybercounseling as outweighing the advantages. Maples Hans (2008) make it clear that communication by e-mail could pose a number of potential ethical concerns regarding the protection of students privacy. For instance, email accounts are prone to being hacked and the information between counselor and student could be compromised. Also, the absence of verbal and nonverbal cues in cybercounseling makes miscommunication between counselor and students more common (Maples Han, 2008). Proper assessment and interventions become non-existent when there is uncertainty about what is being said. This is especially true for counselors. Counselors are prone to use informal language while instant messaging with students; students are more likely to decrease their perceptions of the counselor as an expert and trustworthy (Haberstroh, 2010). Lastly, instant messaging is time consuming, especially if the student, the counselor, or both are slow typers (Haberstroh, Parr, Bradley, Morgan-Fleming, Gee, 2008). This creates a time-lag between responses that can lead to being distracted and slowing the pace of the session. Summary Excessive college drinking remains a national concern across all college and universities. Technology has made it possible for counselors to expand on the models of interventions used to educate college students and prevent heavy drinking. A few of these new interventions include wireless devices such as cell phones, smart phones, and handheld computers, clickers, and computer programs. Each method provides a unique, interactive experience for both the counselor and the student. Wireless devices are typically used to expose the truth about perceived norms of college drinking, while e-interventions are more focused on preventative measures and providing personalized feedback. With all technology, there exist flaws. One such flaw is seen in cybercounseling. Too many potential problems exist that the disadvantages of cybercounseling outweigh the advantages. Conclusion Technology is rapidly advancing and colleges are trying to keep up with it so that it may provide fresh solutions to existing problems such as alcohol consumption among college students. The programs that are available today vary in their purpose and their efficacy. Counselors need to consider what they want to use the intervention model for and then further research how they can get the most out of that particular intervention. E-interventions are the most popular alcohol prevention interventions; thousands of colleges and universities have implemented such programs among freshmen orientation groups and collegiate athletes. The reason for its popularity is that it is inexpensive, fast, and easy to use. Since an array of computer programs and software already exist, researchers today should be focusing on how to use these programs in the most efficient way possible. This includes studying the required length of the intervention to be effective and when the best time would be to use s uch programs.

The Causes of School Violence :: Expository Cause Effect Essays Columbine

Violence in schools is an ever-growing problem in America. It seems every time we turn on the television we hear news of a new and even more disastrous event. The question we need to ask ourselves now is how can we prevent these tragedies. Many agree that looking at the behavior of students and trying to catch the problem before it escalates could be the solution. Schools increasingly believe that their responsibility is not only to teach academics, but also to curb violent, disruptive, and antisocial behavior. They recognize that underlying problems, such as bullying, teasing and learning disabilities, need to be addressed. Many of these problems were present in Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, the adolescent murderers from Littleton, Colorado, but were not adequately addressed before the tragedy. Dylan and Eric had been quiet, intelligent boys and respectful to their teachers throughout middle school, but as they entered high school, things began to change. Dylan and Eric began to alienate themselves and became "loners". They would play violent games and were easily agitated. For a class project, Dylan and Eric made a video featuring gunmen in long coats shooting athletes in the school hallways. They were often made fun of by the "popular" crowd. Why were these signs left unaddressed? Research has shown that the students most likely to own guns and bring them to school have histories of antisocial behavior involving violations of school codes of conduct and criminal laws. Violence, typically, is used to express feelings, to manipulate others, or to retaliate against others. Warning signs include: * Inability to self-regulate emotions * Exposure to violence/abuse * Alienation/rebelliousness * Peer rejection * Substance abuse * Academic failure/ low goals, aspirations * Lack of effort in school Violent youth usually feel alienated. The key to curbing this behavior is learning to recognize these signs and getting professional help for those displaying them. The earlier the intervention, the more effective it will be. Some medical conditions have been connected with violent behavior in young people.

Macbeth Newspaper Article Essay

The flow of blood stopped and History recorded a tragic death. King Duncan over ten years was the most trusted noble. He was a good and Godly man, friend to the poor and defender of the downtrodden. He had been given the title, â€Å"Thane of Fife†. But he is no more with us. Our King Duncan was murdered last night according to the Scotland police authority. King Duncan was assassinated during his stay at Macbeth’s castle in the early morning on (May 12). He died surrounded by those that loved him and his legacy will live on. Duncan’s two guards were considered the main suspects, but were slaughtered by Macbeth at the scene. Authority has conformed the two guards responsible, but has no plan to charge Macbeth either. General Banquo told the police, everything looked good in the dinner. Duncan seemed to have a pleasure time that night. He announced Macbeth and Lady Macbeth as the best host and hostess in the world and had several dances with Lady Macbeth. They had been celebrating until eleven p. m. late at night. When the celebration finished, his Highness King Duncan retired back to his room. Other witnesses also agreed with Banquo’s statement. However, in the next morning, Duncan was found dead in his own bed. Nobel Macduff was the one who has found the King’s body. Macduff told the police, he and Nobel Lenox arrived at the castle with some other servants around 7:30 am. Everyone in the castle seemed still sleeping at that time. They knocked the gate several times before the porter opened it. Then, Macbeth led two to the King’s chamber. While Macbeth and Lenox stayed there discussing the scary storm on Friday night, Macduff discovered horrible scene along. â€Å"O Horror, Horror, Horror! Tongue nor heart can conceive nor name thee! † Macduff cried (Pg 65, line 73).

Analysis of I Stand Here Ironing by Tillie Olsen

Analysis of I Stand Here Ironing by Tillie Olsen I found the theme of "I Stand Here Ironing" to basically be Emily's mothers' responsibility for Emily's upbringing against what should be society's responsibility, or what is thought to be the society's responsibility. I believe that society shouldn't always be held responsible for how someone has been brought up. Was it only her mothers' fault or that of society as well, that Emily had such a troubled life and continued to experience difficulties as an adult. When Emily was sent away to the home, they hadn't cared for her properly either. I don't believe that anyone has the ability to be happy when they aren't allowed to love. There is no room for any relationships and friendships to begin. The story was written in both the first person and third person. It seemed to me as if the mother can't see how badly Emily was being raised.Dear Mother Earth monument at grave of Emily Carr,...After getting further into the story, it looked like Emily's mother did a better job of taking care of and raising her other children, but what about Emily?The mother's pain is obvious from the beginning of the story. She realized that she could have done a better job, had it not been for the circumstances and life events which occurred following Emily's birth. For example, the father left at the very beginning of Emily's life. He left the note which said he "could no longer endure sharing want with us." The mother does go back and forth through the story with "ironing" as the metaphor. It was just a way to cover up for the time when she wanted and needed to just think and go over what had happened and what had gone so wrong. It sounded as if she was just living...

How to Create a Rubric in 6 Steps

How to Create a Rubric in 6 Steps How to Create a Rubric: Introduction Perhaps you have never even thought about the care it takes to create a rubric. Perhaps you have never even heard  of a rubric and its usage in education, in which case, you should take a peek at this article: What is a rubric? Basically, this tool that teachers and professors use to help them  communicate expectations, provide focused feedback, and grade products, can be invaluable when the correct answer is not as cut and dried as Choice A on a multiple choice test. But creating a great rubric is more than just slapping some expectations on a paper, assigning some percentage points, and calling it a day. A good rubric needs to be designed with care and precision in order to truly help teachers distribute and receive the expected work.   Steps to Create a Rubric The following six steps will help you when you decide to use a rubric for assessing an essay, a project, group work, or any other task that does not have a clear right or wrong answer.   Step 1: Define Your Goal Before you can create a rubric, you need to decide the type of rubric youd like to use, and that will largely be determined by your goals for the assessment. Ask yourself the following questions: How detailed do I want my feedback to be?  How will I break down my expectations for this project?Are all of the tasks equally important?How do I want to assess performance?What standards must the students hit in order to achieve acceptable or exceptional performance?Do I want to give one final grade on the project or a cluster of smaller grades based on several criteria?Am I grading based on the work or on participation? Am I grading on both? Once youve figured out how detailed youd like the rubric to be and the goals you are trying to reach, you can choose a type of rubric. Step 2: Choose a Rubric Type Although there are many variations of rubrics, it can be helpful to at least have a standard set to help you decide where to start. Here are two that are widely used in teaching as defined by DePaul Universitys Graduate Educational department: Analytic Rubric: This is the standard grid rubric that many teachers routinely use to assess students work. This is the optimal rubric for providing clear, detailed feedback. With an analytic rubric,  criteria for the students work is listed in the left column and performance levels are listed across the top. The squares inside the grid will typically contain the specs for each level. A rubric for an essay, for example, might contain criteria like Organization, Support, and Focus, and may contain performance levels like (4) Exceptional, (3) Satisfactory, (2) Developing, and (1) Unsatisfactory.​ The performance levels are typically given percentage points or letter grades and a final grade is typically calculated at the end. The scoring rubrics for the ACT and SAT are designed this way, although when students take them, they will receive a holistic score.   Holistic Rubric:  This is the type of rubric that is much easier to create, but much more difficult to use accurat ely. Typically, a teacher provides a series of letter grades or a range of numbers (1-4 or 1-6, for example) and then assigns expectations for each of those scores. When grading, the teacher  matches the student work in its entirety to a single description on the scale. This is useful for grading multiple essays, but it does not leave room for detailed feedback on student work.   Step 3: Determine Your Criteria This is where the learning objectives for your unit or course come into play. Here, youll need to brainstorm a list of knowledge and skills you would like to assess for the project. Group them according to similarities and get rid of anything that is not absolutely critical. A rubric with too much criteria is difficult to use! Try to stick with 4-7 specific  subjects for which youll be able to create unambiguous, measurable expectations in the performance levels. Youll want to be able to spot the criteria quickly while grading and be able to explain them quickly when instructing your students. In an analytic rubric, the criteria are typically listed along the left column.   Step 4: Create Your Performance Levels Once you have determined the broad levels you would like students to demonstrate mastery of, you will need to figure out what type of scores you will assign based on each level of mastery. Most ratings scales include between three and five levels. Some teachers use a combination of numbers and descriptive labels like (4) Exceptional, (3) Satisfactory, etc. while other teachers simply assign numbers, percentages, letter grades or any combination of the three for each level. You can arrange them from highest to lowest or lowest to highest as long as your levels are organized and easy to understand.   Step 5: Write Descriptors for Each Level of Your Rubric This is probably your most difficult step in creating a rubric.Here, you will need to write short statements of your expectations underneath each performance level for every single criteria. The descriptions should be specific and measurable. The language should be parallel to help with student comprehension and the degree to which the standards are met should be explained. Again, to use an analytic essay rubric as an example, if your criteria was Organization and you used the  (4) Exceptional, (3) Satisfactory, (2) Developing, and (1) Unsatisfactory scale, you would need to write the specific content a student would need to produce to meet each level. It could look something like this: 4Exceptional 3Satisfactory 2Developing 1 Unsatisfactory Organization Organization is coherent, unified, and effective in support of the papers purpose andconsistently demonstrateseffective and appropriatetransitionsbetween ideas and paragraphs. Organization is coherent and unified in support of the papers purpose and usually demonstrates effective and appropriate transitions between ideas and paragraphs. Organization is coherent insupport of the essays purpose, but is ineffective at times and may demonstrate abrupt or weak transitions between ideas or paragraphs. Organization is confused and fragmented. It does not support the essays purpose and demonstrates alack of structure or coherence that negativelyaffects readability. A holistic rubric would not break down the essays grading criteria with such precision. The top two tiers of a holistic essay rubric would look more like this: 6 Essay demonstrates excellent composition skills including a clear and thought-provoking thesis, appropriate and effective organization, lively and convincing supporting materials, effective diction and sentence skills, and perfect or near perfect mechanics including spelling and punctuation. The writing perfectly accomplishes the objectives of the assignment. 5 Essay contains strong composition skills including a clear and thought-provoking thesis, but development, diction, and sentence style may suffer minor flaws. The essay shows careful and acceptable use of mechanics. The writing effectively accomplishes the goals of the assignment. Step 6: Revise Your Rubric After creating the descriptive language for all of the levels (making sure it is parallel, specific and measurable), you need to go back through and limit your rubric to a single page. Too many parameters will be difficult to assess at once, and may be an ineffective way to assess students mastery of a specific standard. Consider the effectiveness of the rubric, asking for student understanding and co-teacher feedback before moving forward. Do not be afraid to revise as necessary. It may even be helpful to grade a sample project in order to gauge the effectiveness of your rubric. You can always adjust the rubric if need be before handing it out, but once its distributed, it will be difficult to retract.   Teacher Resources: Creative Writing Prompts for High School Students14 Ways to Write Better in High SchoolThe Top Reading Skills to Teach Your StudentsGreat Books to Recommend To Teens

Analyzing a work of music Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Analyzing a work of music - Essay Example The one event that finally made him finish on a song that he had desired to write the whole of his life was the Russia shooting down the Korean jet flying to Seoul from New York where 269 people, including 63 Americans, died. â€Å"I saw the senseless strike as a personal attack against our countrymen and it moved me to pen to paper† says Greenwood. â€Å"The song came so easily, it nearly wrote itself.† â€Å"I’m from California, and I don’t know anybody from Virginia or New York, so when I wrote it-and my producer and I had talked about it-[we] talked about the four cities I wanted to mention, the four corners of the United States.† The producer however suggested Detroit and Houston because they both were economically part of the basis of the US economy. He says ‘so I just poetically wrote that in the bridge while they chose New York and L.A. (the boot.com) In 2003, the song was performed b the American Idol season two finalists and released as a single, with part of the proceeds going to American Red Cross. It raised 155,000 dollars for the charity though some words were changed such as ‘men’ in ‘and I won’t forget the men who died† was replaced with ‘ones’. It reached number 4 in the ‘hot 100’ and it was certified gold b the RIAA the same year (Keuss, 03-45).

Reference tool paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Reference tool paper - Essay Example However, there have been a lot of assessment tools that have been developed to correctly evaluate whether a person shows signs of schizophrenic behavior and/or tell the severity of each case. Some of the most commonly used are Abnormal Involuntary Movement Scale (AIMS), Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS), and Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). Introduction Schizophrenia is a chronic mental disorder that is mainly caused by unsound function of the brain. A lot of psychologists point to past experiences, frustration, or a tragic loss of a loved one as factors that impact one’s mental health that leads to this debilitating disorder. However, as each case of schizophrenia is always unique, where each patient’s history should be clearly studied before coming to a conclusion of someone’s diagnosis to this disorder, it is important to understand effective assessment tools used to reach to a comprehensible judgment. Common Symptoms of Schizophrenia There ar e common symptoms of schizophrenia that somewhat signals the need to talk to a psychologist or to get help. Some of which would be hearing voices that no one could hear, assumptions of people talking about them or laughing at them, extensive control over their thoughts and imaginations, and the inability to control emotions (The Role of the Diagnostic Statistic Manual IV (DSM-IV) in Diagnosing Mental Disorders, n.d.). Diagnosing Schizophrenia There are several factors to consider in diagnosing schizophrenia. Aside from looking at mental behavior, how they react to their environment for which a candidate for schizophrenia surrounds themselves with is a factor to consider. This would include the change in their work, school, interpersonal relations, and or ability for self-care is important. This is because of the fact that an abrupt change to their routine without anything triggering a behavior is a strong sign of which. Another important basis for diagnosis would be the duration for which these abnormalities have been felt without the influence of substance use and/or an underlying medical condition. Persistence of which for at least six months is a clear supposition of the disorder and not just a result of perhaps a mid-life crisis or coping with a major happening in one’s life (Schizophrenia Society of Canada, n.d.). Assessment Tool in the Diagnosis of Schizophrenia Unfortunately, all these symptoms are not a guaranteed basis for a correct diagnosis of schizophrenia. Also, since there is no single course of treatment yet for this, assessment tools, one of which is the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) is one that will help provide a more customized and effective diagnosis and treatment. The Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) is a standard rating scale used to weigh the positive symptoms of a patient that manifests schizophrenic tendencies as opposed to the symptoms that point to the absence of these traits. It is a 30-item scale, assessed on a seven-point scale that points one from poor to extreme case of the disorder. This assessment technique was developed solely for diagnosing the syndromes of schizophrenia in all unique cases that