The Effect of Dashboards and Scorecards on the Performance of Employees in Hospitals Essays

The Effect of Dashboards and Scorecards on the Performance of Employees in Hospitals Essays The Effect of Dashboards and Scorecards on the Performance of Employees in Hospitals Paper The Effect of Dashboards and Scorecards on the Performance of Employees in Hospitals Paper Like actual dashboards found on automobiles and other transport machines, dashboards for hospital systems are actually designed to measure the performance of employees through noting the procedures that they use to complete certain tasks. It is through this certain system that the application of professional ethics as well as professional performance based from the actions of the employees during certain specific situations. (Pugh, 2005, 11) A hospital dashboard measurement is characterized by its measurement of performance based on seniority leadership that the employees show at work as well as the ability of certain employees to align effort among others and thus increase achievement levels on the part of the entire staff of the healthcare institution that they are working at. The said dashboard for performance management is subdivided into three dimensions which include (A) Organizational performance measure; (B) Strategic measures; and (C) Process and Operating Measures. (Pugh, 2005, 12) These dimensions are positively applied in the operational systems of the healthcare institution so as to imply progress and improvement on the part of the task divisions given to the staff members of the hospital. Through these dimensions, the activities and the performance level of the employees become much aligned as the members of the team become aware of the roles that they play during certain situations of dealing with their patients. (Institute of Medicine, 2001, 3) With the case of St. Joseph Hospital, it could be noted that they used seniority of performance as measure of their employees’ capability of being involved in certain emergency situations. This process has actually helped the administration in the said hospital to handle the need for training new staffs as well as increase competency of the entire hospital in handling the medical needs of their patients since the seniors are the ones leading hospital operations. Obviously, this process had been considered truthfully successful for the said health institution. (Pugh, 2005, 13) Reference: Michael D. Pugh. Dashboards and Scorecards: Tools for Creating Alignment. The Healthcare Quality Book (Ransom, Joshi, Nash, 2005). Institute of Medicine. 2001. Crossing the Quality Chasm: A New Health System for the 21st Century. Washington D.C.: National Academy Press. Kaplan, R.S. and D.P. Norton. 1992. The Balanced Scorecard-Measures that Drive Performance. Harvard business Review. (1996). Boston: HBS Press.

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Fair trade provides no significant benefits. To what extent do you Essay - 1

Fair trade provides no significant benefits. To what extent do you agree - Essay Example Fair trade is a social movement that aims at helping developing countries to achieve better conditions when trading with others, as well as achieve those goals that promote sustainability within their borders. In this movement, the main aim is to create an advocacy movement that seeks to impose higher prices amongst exporters, as well as ensure that the social and environmental standards are satisfied (Kadey 2005: 1). Dragusanu, Giovannucci and Nunn (2014a: 6-7) note that the settings of the fair trade commissions in the past aimed at dealing with five main attributes that would promote fair trade. The first one is pricing which aim at guarantee a minimum price for all goods in addition to a fair trade premium on all products sold. The prices and the premiums will be set separately, but with the producer in mind. The second is the aspect of the workers who must be free to associate with others, have safe working conditions, and wages that befit their legal minimum stated in the policies present. Regional balances will be drawn to ensure uniformity across a particular region. The third is the institutional structure where farmers need to create cooperatives that will make decisions democratically and transparently to effectively export products and administer premium aid. The premiums paid to the cooperatives will be accounted for by the administrators. The fourth attribute deals with the environm ent where harmful chemicals to the environment will be prohibited. This is to safeguard the environment and ensure good environmental practices remain etched into the farming management practices always. The last attribute deals with stability and access to credit where buyers may agree on long-term contracts and provide financial aid to promote producers when requested. In most cases, the people are aware of the impact that better trading options have on

The day that changed my life Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The day that changed my life - Essay Example After finishing my classes, I intended to go and play with my friends as usual. However, my mother stopped me and said: â€Å"Son, you have to finish your homework first. If not, I will not let you go out and play with your friends!† After I heard my mom saying that to me, I gave up arguing with her. I walked to my room very slowly because I did not want to do the homework. I was angry and sad. I used my tears as a â€Å"weapon† against my mother. However, my mother was angry too so any â€Å"weapon† was useless. Because of my strong emotions, my mother locked me in my study room and took all toys and games away from me. Finally, I made a compromise with my parents. I started to do my homework. However, it was not easy to calm down when I just started doing my homework. I shouted, tore paper from the notebook and threw it everywhere to show my dissatisfaction. After these crazy actions, I was pacified. I went to the window and looked outside. I saw that many children were playing games; they were jumping, and running and laughing. When I heard them were laughing, I thought they were laughing at me. Suddenly, I said to myself, â€Å"why should I play with my friends before doing my homework first?† I spent a few minutes thinking about these questions, but I could not find the answers. I sat down and did my homework. I did not finish until it was dark outside. When I finished, my father came into my room and talked to me. He said, â€Å"if you want to have more time to play in the future, you have to finish your homework first. If you want to be a good student, and son, spend more time studying instead of playing.†Eventually, I found the answers I needed from my father’s conversation. The answer was that I wanted to be a good student and a good son. I realised that studying can make my parents happy and make them relax from their hard work. Since the day my father talked to me, I significantly changed my behaviour. I became a good student who likes to study.

The Grapes of Wrath and California History Essay Example for Free

The Grapes of Wrath and California History Essay I. The Joad Family is the main character in the novel of John Steinbeck entitled The Grapes of Wrath. The said novel was published in the spring of 1939 during the Great Depression. The Joads in the novel portrayed the migrants of California. From Collins and Steinbeck point of view, the migrants of California can be compared to â€Å"Jeffersonian yeomen† who aspire to gain their respective small farms. Jeffersonian Yeomen, historically, however, did not succeed in their goal. It was the farms owned and mange by the businessmen of San Francisco that ruled the rural economy of the state. Its big agricultural output was favored by the â€Å"goldrush† which permitted the growing of â€Å"cash crops† in the urban markets and the mining camps of San Francisco (David Igler Davis, 2002). It was in 1935 and 1939 when the great depression happened in California. The migrants came from Missouri, Arkansas, Texas and Oklahoma; the lower Plain states of the southwest. The number of migrants by that time was about 300,000. They were caked â€Å"Okies†. In the Grapes of Wrath, it was the Joads who migrated to California. The thirteen members of the family rode in one vehicle which includes even the grandparents and their grandchildren. Along the way the grandparents as well as the in-laws and uncles died. It was the fifty-year old Ma Joad who was left to lead the group in their journey. Tom Joad, son of Ma Joad and an ex-convict also played a significant role in the story. They join the thousands other migrants in their quest for better opportunities in California. II. In The Grapes of Wrath, the Joads migrated to California to seek for employment. They left the almost â€Å"perfect† and â€Å"peaceful† Weedpatch Camp because of the misfortunes that happened in their homeland. Dust storms occurred in Oklahoma and they had suffered financial crisis. Based on California history, the migration can be explained by several factors. The farms in Oklahoma and other states affected by the depression became unprofitable due to drought that happened in their land. There was low economic activity and widespread unemployment by that time. Tenant farmers were evicted by the landowners as a consequence of the New Deal Agricultural Adjustment (AAA). These programs had forbidden farmers to plant grain or cotton in exchange of cash. New Deal Programs inevitably had effects that went beyond the farm economy, through the recovery of the agricultural sector was the administration’s primary aim. Some agencies attempted to reorient the rural social structure, making it possible for laborers and tenants to live with dignity and even become landowners. Relief agencies operating in rural America improved public buildings and transportation facilities, hired unemployed people, maintained institutions, and enriched lives. And the New Deal undertook a revolutionary-and successful- effort to electrify the countryside. More federal activities were undertaken in response to the Dust Bowl, an ecological crisis that beset the Great Plains with especial severity. Government agencies promoted conservation, retired highly erodible acres from farming, resettled some victims on more viable lands, and provided sustenance for others (Danbom, 2006). The use of machinery which produces greater efficiency also contributed to the said eviction. Moreover, a big percentage of farmlands was destroyed by the great dust storms that occurred in the mid-1930s. Since then, poverty stroked Oklahoma. The Okies decided to move to California to be able to survive. They were encouraged by the â€Å"word-of-mouth campaign† by their friends and relatives. They were inspired by the information from other people that they could earn high salary in California by simply picking cotton and fruits. Moreover, transportation from Oklahoma to California was not a problem by that time (Orsi, 2001). III. The migrants moved to California because they believe that they will be able to find a brighter future there. Aside from the effect of the Great Depression in the life of the Okies, the mass migration was also brought by false advertising. In October 1929, the stock market of the United States fell and California was affected. This incident had caused California to suffer acutely because California oil shares which are the most active sectors in the 1920s had collapsed and many investors suffered. The depression also hit California but the economy recovered in the year 1934 and 1937 (Eymann 2004). It was then when California needed many laborers in the cotton fields. Indeed California offered high salary during those times when the number of cotton plantation in California was multiplied. A need for thousands of harvesters of crops had commenced especially in San Joaquin Valley. They had a problem of labor shortage not unemployment that is why high salary was offered to those Okies who were employed to pack meat, cement clay, railroad and even ice manufacturers. The salary that California offered was twenty to fifty percent higher than the salary of Okies in their homeland. Due to the nature of their work, the migrants had chosen to settle in one place with their children. IV. In the novel and in historical reality the migrants are hoping to find a better life in the fertile fields of California. They are expecting that when they reached â€Å"the promised land† they will be employed and earn high wages. They had believed that when they reach their destination, life will become easier. They will â€Å"simply† work in the cotton fields and harvest fruits and earn a big amount of money. They will raise their children there and all of them will not starve and will be able to gain bright future in California. They hoped to revitalize their wealth and recover their source of revenue on the land V. When they had reached their destination, they found themselves as victims there. Work was inadequate, salaries were small, and they were disliked, refuse to be accepted and suppressed by the residents. Their endeavors to upgrade their lives were branded as Communism, a system much disliked and feared by many Americans of the time. (John Steinbecks The Grapes of Wrath By Lee Cusick) Agricultural workers were not covered by Social Security, unemployment insurance, the minimum wage and the National Labor Relations Act. The New Deal was primarily a political response to the Depression, and unlike farm owners, the migrants had little political influence. While California Growers obtained federal price supports for some products, legally enforced marketing orders for others, and massive government expenditures for irrigation projects, migrant laborers received a small, poorly funded camp program that never got beyond the â€Å"demonstration† stage (Harvest of Gypsies). Grower satisfaction with the Okies was short-lived. The flood of migrants in 1937 had created an embarrassing oversupply of labor, and the squalor of their camps refelected on the industry. In 1938 it became apparent that the Okies were politically embarrassing as well. They were democrats, supported Culbert Olson, and displayed firm loyalty to the New Deal. They also disrupted the strong Republican hold on rural communities, a fact that led to the formation of the California Citizen’s association (CCA), which, like the Associated Farmers, fronted for banking, oil, railroad, real estate, and insurance interess allied with the agribusiness community. The CCA, detrmined to attack the New Deal and Olson through the migrants, launched a publicity campaign that, as Walter Stein has pointed out, went a long way toward creating a popular view of the Okie in California as â€Å"degenerate, degraded loser in the American struggle for survival. † Like migrants of the 1920s, nearly half settled in metropolitan areas, primarily Los Angeles, the Okies were quickly absorbed. The rest, however, turned north to the San Joaquin Valley where they sought work in the complex, industrialized agricultural system. Ineligible for relief for a year because they were new to the state, they accepted the low wages that the Mexican work force would not, and in a short time almost completely displaced the Mexicans as California’s harvest laborers. When the Okies became eligible for unemployment relief, the state relief administration under Gov. Meriam cut off relief payments if work was available in an agricultural harvest, forcing them into the old relief, harvest labor, relief cycle that essentially subsidized low farm wages. Important distinctions between the Okies and traditional harvest labor were not only that the migrants were white Anglo-Saxon Protestants but also that they sought permanence. They settled in Central Valley towns, sent their children to the local schools, and registered to vote. Their poverty could not be ignored. Living in shocking conditions in tent camps along irrigation ditches, they exposed the exploitation of farm labor in California’s peculiar agricultural system and became a highly visible burden in local communities, particularly in the San Joaquin Valley (The Great depression Chapter 21). A year later, the labor surplus of the Depression had been transformed into an extraordinary wartime shortage of workers. Migrants who were not subject to military service found well-paying jobs in California’s booming shipyards, aircraft factories and other defense plants. The Joads and their fellow Okies ultimately found economic salvation, not on the small farms they dreamed of owning, but in urban industry fueled by billion of federal defense dollars (Steinbeck, 1988). VI. The story of the migrants fit California History due to the efforts of Steinbeck and Collins who â€Å"actually lived† at California gathering information to capture â€Å"true scenarios† in California. Steinbeck stayed at Weedpatch Camp for several days, talking to residents, attending camp committee meetings and dances, and watching Collins tactfully promote his concept of limited and guided elf-government. Steinbeck and Collins travelled in the old bakery truck to nearby farms and ditch-side migrant settlements, and the author read the manager’s regular reports to the Resettlement Administration’s regional office in San Francisco. The reports, which included social and cultural observations on migrant life and individual anecdotes sometimes told in Okie dialect, were extraordinary documents. The News had already published excerpts from them, and Steinbeck eventually mined them for the material for The Grapes of Wrath. In 1936 he used them to get beneath the surface of migrant life, to understand the deep despair and hopelessness that poverty and homelessness had created (David Igler Davis, 2002). References: Danbom, D. B. (2006). Born in the Country: A History of Rural America Johns Hopkins University Press. David Igler, C. , Davis. (2002). The Human Tradition in California: Rowman Littlefield. Eymann, M. , , C. W. (2004). Whats Going On? : California and the Vietnam Era: University of California Press. Orsi, R. R. W. B. a. R. (2001). The Elusive Eden McGraw-Hill. Steinbeck, J. (1988). The Harvest Gypsies: On the Road to the Grapes of Wrath Heyday Books.

American Indians :: essays research papers Native American Indian

The American Indians Between 1609 To 1865 The Native Americans or American Indians, once occupied all of the entire region of the United States. They were composed of many different groups, who speaked hundreds of languages and dialects. The Indians from the Southwest used to live in large built terraced communities and their way of sustain was from the agriculture where they planted squash, pumpkins, beans and corn crops. Trades between neighboring tribes were common, this brought in additional goods and also some raw materials such as gems, cooper. seashells and soapstone.To this day, movies and television continue the stereotype of Indians wearing feathered headdresses killing innocent white settlers. As they encountered the Europeans, automatically their material world was changed. The American Indians were amazed by the physical looks of the white settlers, their way of dressing and also by their language. The first Indian-White encounter was very peaceful and trade was their principal interaction. Tension and disputes were sometimes resolved by force but more often by negotiation or treaties. On the other hand, the Natives were described as strong and very innocent creatures awaiting for the first opportunity to be christianized. The Indians were called the â€Å"Noble Savages† by the settlers because they were cooperative people but sometimes, after having a few conflicts with them, they seem to behaved like animals. We should apprehend that the encounter with the settlers really amazed the natives, they were only used to interact with people from their own race and surroundings and all of this was like a new discovery for them as well as for the white immigrants. The relations between the English and the Virginian Indians was somewhat strong in a few ways. They were having marriages among them. For example, when Pocahontas married John Rolfe, many said it has a political implication to unite more settlers with the Indians to have a better relation between both groups. As for the Indians, their attitude was always friendly and full of curiosity when they saw the strange and light-skinned creatures from beyond the ocean. The colonists only survived with the help of the Indians when they first settler in Jamestown and Plymouth. In this areas, the Indians showed the colonists how to cultivate crops and gather seafood.The Indians changed their attitude from welcome to hostility when the strangers increased and encroached more and more on hunting and planting in the Natives’ grounds.

Behaviour Contract

I have always loved to watch movies and television shows but I guess it was an addiction already for the past couple of months. I can say that I am very much hooked in watching the television for the past seven months. I love the thrill, happiness, suspense I feel whenever I watch something on television. Whenever I am at home, my whole day would be spent in front of the television. I sometimes skip meals just to watch my favourite movie or a certain talk show.Sometimes I even do not take a bath just to keep track of what I am watching. I love watching those shows that exposes the current fashion, recent social issues, and television magazines, shows that tells Hollywood celebrities’ lives and most of all, movies like suspense thriller, horror, love stories and fairy tales. For me it is the source of my enjoyment, I sometimes forget to study and read books. I think too much watching the television causes great effects in my being. I think being bored triggers my addiction to t elevision.I want something to entertain me so that I do not get too alone. Sometimes I get bored just studying and doing other things, but when it comes to television, I really can’t feel ennui at all. I really feel entertain by the television. I should control my being hooked on television and might as well eliminate it. I should discipline myself and have self control. Within 2 weeks I should minimize my television viewing and by the end of month I must have eliminated this behaviour already.If I spend too much of my time in front of the television then I will ask my mother to deduct my allowance by 50%, I will not be able to go on a night out during Fridays, I will not be allowed to wake up late during weekends, lastly I will not be able to go out with my friends during week ends.If I will not comply with the contract then my punishment for myself will be destroy all my shoes and sandals and I will come to school on slippers for one day. While if I will be able to follow a ll the terms in the contract and comply with it then I my reward will be, spending the whole weekend in my favourite beach resort and hotel.

Campaign Threats or Implied Promise of Benefits

Did the employer statements constitute an unlawful threat or an unlawful promise in violation of Section 8(a)(1) of the LMRA? Why or why not? Yes, the employer statements were unlawful. The NLRA guaranteed workers the right to join unions without fear of management reprisal. It created the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to enforce this right and prohibited employers from committing unfair labor practices that might discourage organizing or prevent workers from negotiating a union contract. Employees shall have the right to self-organization, to form, join, or assist labor organizations, to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing, and to engage in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid and protection. Section 8 defines employer unfair labor practices. Employer interference, restraint, or coercion directed against union or collective activity (Section 8(a)(1)), was violated in this case study. Threats, warnings, and orders to refrain from protected activities are forms of interference and coercion that violate Section 8(a)(1). Section 8 also prohibits union unfair labor practices, which include, according to legal construction, failure to provide fair representation to all members of the bargaining unit. The NLRA sets out general rights and obligation. Enforcing the Act in particular situations is the job of the NLRB. Did the questioning or statements by either supervisor Bates or Lofton constitute unlawful interrogation in violation of Section 8(a)(1) of the LMRA? Explain fully why or why not. As mentioned in the first question, yes it was unlawful interrogation. These supervisors were desperately trying to get the employees to vote against the union. In the event that they were successful at having all of their employees to vote against the union, some of them may have been unhappy and treated unfairly. Without representation, an employee will lose most battles against companies, unless they have solid proof of the employer’s wrongdoing. In the case I notice how the supervisors both told employees about the reduction in their benefits. They were trying to use scare tactics because they know people need their benefits. The supervisors seem to want to make these promising decisions when in fact they should have been offering these things to the employees in the first place. It doesn’t make sense to try to make things better to keep from getting the union involved. The plant manager was trying to convince the employees that they are able to handle things without the union getting involved. The manager tried to say that the unions are known for making broken promises, but it seems as if that is what the employer was doing. Develop a set of guidelines for supervisors and managers to follow when speaking to employees during a union organizing campaign. Employers should not threaten employees during an organizing campaign, but economic predictions regarding matters outside of the employer’s control, which are demonstrable, may be made. The employer should refrain from inflaming racial hatred. They should listen to what the employee has to say and advise them that they are able to speak with anyone on the management staff without union representation. They should advise the employees of the benefits that they are currently enjoying; however there is no need to make a threat to take away any benefits or reduce the cost. In the event that an employee is being insubordinate, they will need to continue to follow company’s policies and guidelines; however they will need to make sure they have sufficient evidence to support their decision. The NLRB prohibits employers from holding captive audience meetings 24 hours prior to the election, because insufficient time will exist for the union to respond; therefore if they decide to hold a meeting it will have to be within reasonable times. There should be a social media policy in place and such policy should be clear and understandable to the average employee. The NLRB’s rulings have in large part turned on the ambiguities of social media policies, and the possibility that employees may misunderstand the policies to bar protected activities. A social media policy must not be overbroad. Policies should be narrowly drawn to address the employer’s legitimate policy objectives (for example, preventing the disclosure of the company’s proprietary information via social media or restricting the use of social media to engage in harassing conduct that would violate the company’s anti-discrimination and harassment policies). Employers will not like what the unions are trying to do, but this does not give them the right to talk down on the unions. When employers talk to employees during a union organizing campaign, they will need to be mindful of what they are saying. Sometimes people talk too much and a supervisor or manager could cause an employer to have a lawsuit. Within the guidelines, I suggest the managers and supervisors to keep their negative thoughts to themselves. This will eliminate someone saying the wrong thing and will allow the employees to make a valid decision based on their own thoughts and opinions. Explain fully how the NLRB should rule in this case and why. The NLRB should rule that the employer is in violation because of the things the supervisors said. This may not be the first time or maybe it is; however it should not go unnoticed and that is what some would like to see. In this case, the employees are being threatened about their benefits and wages. They are also making it seem as if they don’t need a union, when in fact they seem to really need someone there to represent the employees. The company also threatened two of the union supporters. When the supervisor advised that if they strike, there are more people waiting for their jobs; apparently that supervisor is not aware of the employee rights with the union behind them. The employer has to hold their jobs when they go on strike.

Do You Need to Go on College Tours 4 Reasons to Visit

Do You Need to Go on College Tours 4 Reasons to Visit SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips You’ve probably felt the pressure to go on college tours, but just how important are they? Are they an essential part of the college planning process, or is it not a big deal if you opt out? This guide will go over the most important reasons to visit a college, along with some circumstances when you might choose not to tour.We’ll also discuss how you can prepare to make the most out of your college visits. First off, what are some reasons you should tour your prospective colleges? Why Should You Tour Your Colleges? There are several strong reasons to visityour colleges of interest. For one, seeing and learning about the school in person can be a huge help in determining where you want to apply. You can find out more about the college from firsthand sources, like your tour guide and other current students. All of these impressions can serve as useful material if you need to have a college interview or write a supplemental essay about why you want to attend. Finally, having your name on the tour rosters can markwhat many admissions officers call â€Å"demonstrated interest.† Let’s take a look at each of these reasons in more detail, starting with how useful it can be to see a college and its surrounding environment in person. Seethe collegecampus and its surrounding environment with your own eyes, like this intrepid explorer. Reason #1: To See the School and City in Person One of the most compelling and important reasons to tour your college is to see it firsthand! These are the classrooms, dorms, and library you’ll be living in for the next four years; you want to check them out in person before committing. Walk around, soak up the atmosphere, and listen to what your intuition tells you about how it would suit your personal and academic goals. A college tour will let you see the buildings inside and out, including classrooms, dorms, dining halls, gyms, music rooms, and science labs. You can get a sense of what’s happening oncampus on flyer-covered bulletin boards, and see the places where students congregate - especially if you visit when classes are in session. The official tour will show you around campus, and you can check out the surrounding environment too. Some students are drawn to the busy, active vibe of New York City; others would prefer to study in a peaceful countryside setting. Some would love to see fall colors paint the trees on campus; others want to get as far away from the possibility of snow as they can. As you explore the surrounding scenes, find out if there are cafes and movie theaters around, or if most students stay on campus to socialize. You may want to find out if the area's affordable or generally asafe place. If you're looking for mountains to climb, a suburban feel, a large music scene, or a big city full of business internship opportunities, you can see if the area has what you want. Virtual tours and photos can only take you so far, and descriptions of colleges may be biased to promote it. The best way to get a genuine sense of the place is toexplore it in person. You’re the one who will be attending, so you should first see it with your own eyes. Learn about the college by going straight to the source. Reason #2: To Learn About the School from Firsthand Sources If your searches for school info have led down dead ends, then you know that admissions websites don’t always have the answers to all your questions. Tour guides will be there to answer any outstanding questions, plus they’ll teach you fun facts and history that give you a deeper insight into the college. Most tour guides are current students who are big fans of the college. Since they’re students, they can give you firsthand knowledge ofthe student experience.In addition to getting your own questions answered, you can learn from the questions askedby others in the tour group. Some tours involve an hour or so walk around campus. Others, though, involve a much more involved itinerary. You might be able to sit in on a lecture, meet with admissions officers or a professor, or even arrange to stay overnight in a dorm. That way, you’ll get tons of personalized guidance and stories from all different perspectives: faculty, administration, and perhaps most importantly, current students. All of this can serve to fuel your excitement and enthusiasm about a school, which may empower you to produce an even stronger application. On the flip side, it may save you a lot of effort and an application fee if you discover, in the end, that the school’s not for you. Either way, clarifying your desires and reasons to attend is key before you apply. Spark some ideas for any supplemental essays. Reason #3: To Write a Killerâ€Å"Why Us?† Essay Besides amping up your motivation to create the best application you can, a college visit will help if you need to write an essay to the prompt, â€Å"Why us?† Not all colleges ask for this, but there are many that require a supplemental essay in which you delineateyour reasons for wanting to attend. Colleges want to ensure that you have specific knowledge of their culture, courses, professors, and other opportunities. If you can include something unique that you learned on a tour, rather than repeat info from their website, then your essay could stand out even more. You don’t know what stories you’ll gain from your tour and exploring the surrounding area, so go with an open mind and see how your impressions translate to any supplemental essays that you may need to write.Just as some colleges ask you to write about your interest, some also keep track of their tour rosters to see if you â€Å"demonstrated interest† via a tour or communication with the admissions office. Having your name on a campustour list might officially document your "demonstrated interest." Reason #4: To Officially Demonstrate Your Interest in the School So far, we’ve talked about how personally illuminating it can be to tour your college and its surrounding environment. You may have also heard that touring can strengthen your chances of admission, because it shows you did your due diligence. So what’s the story with this idea of â€Å"demonstrated interest†? Does it really help you get accepted? Admissions committees are, generally speaking, rather secretive about their processes. They emphasize that their process is a holistic one that considers the â€Å"whole student,† rather than pieces of data. While this system has its strengths, it also means that we don’t have clear answers aboutexactly how officers consider eachpiece of your application. In the end, we’re often left with the frustrating answer, â€Å"It depends.† So as for how far demonstrated interest makes an impression on admissions officers, I’d also have to say, â€Å"It depends.† Generally speaking, the conventional wisdom seems to be correct - it can be in your favor for the college to have your name on its visit records. The more you can connect with a school, by going on an official tour, emailing admissions officers, and/or speaking to faculty, the more interested in the school you’ll appear to be. It will seem as though you’ve been thorough in your research, and admissions officers can be fairly confident that, if given an offer of admission, you will accept and enroll. Since colleges are looking to improve their yield - or increase the number of students who accept admission offers - they appreciate your â€Å"demonstrated interest.† A few admissions officers, furthermore, have said that they would perceive it as a lack of interest on the student’s part if she lived close by and didn’t ever take a tour. This definitely isn'ta make or break part of your application, but you certainly don’t want to come off as disinterested. Admissions officers value enthusiasm, excitement, and commitment. On the other hand, some schools, probably for the sake of fairness or because they already have more than enough information to evaluate, don’t track your interest. Yale, for instance, says, â€Å"Yale does not track visits to campus or contact with our admissions staff for the purposes of evaluating applications."They want people to sign up for tours, so they have a sense of numbers, but they say they won’t look at it later. Admissions officers understand that not everyone cantour a school. If you live far away, then they shouldn’t hold it against you. In the end, taking a tour is not essential, nor should it affect your admission chances very much. If you live close toa college, then you should make every effort to demonstrate your interest by signing up and touring. If it’s geographically or financially difficult for you, don’t stress about it. In fact, there are a few reasons why it might not make sense for you to tour a school. Let’s look at what a few of these reasons are. Don't worry if your college is just too far away. Are There Any Reasons Not to Tour a School? As I said above, don’t stress if it’s just way too difficult for you to visit a school. Some students apply to colleges across the country, and they might not have the time or money to visit all, or any, of their far-off prospective colleges. Others may be busy with after-school jobs or babysitting siblings, or they simply might not be able to afford the planes, trains, or automobiles to get there. Distance and finances are two very understandable reasons for not being able to tour a college, despite your interest in seeing it firsthand. Hopefully, you can still reach out to administration and current students online and check out the photos and virtual college tours offered on many school websites. Now, if your only reason for forgoing a tour is that you already know a lot about a school - perhaps a sibling already attended - I wouldn’t advise skipping it. It’s still a good idea to visit, demonstrate your interest, and shape your own impressions. To reiterate, if visiting a school is burdensome or otherwise just not feasible for you, then don’t worry about it. If you have the means and time, then check it out! In that case, your next step should be signing up. Like any good guest, make sure to RSVP to your college tour. How Do You Sign Up for College Tours? You can find tour schedules and sign-ups on each college’s website. You’ll often find this info on the admissions site under the heading of â€Å"Visit.† To get there most directly, you could search for â€Å"Name of College + Visit.† If you want to check out what a few of these pages look like, you can see the tour information for Penn State,University of California at Berkeley, University of Chicago, and Harvard here. For colleges of historical interest, like Harvard, double check that you’re finding the tour for prospective freshmen, rather than a general historical tour! You may notice that many schools offer a morning and afternoon tour. If you’re looking at schools that are close together, should you fit in two tours in one day? How Many Tours Should You Sign Up for On the Same Day? Since many schools offer two or more tours a day, some students try to fit in two or more in one day. While you may be able to check out two colleges if they’re close together, I recommend giving each visit the time it deserves. In addition to the one to two hours that most tours take, you may be able to sit in on a lecture or meet with an admissions officer. Beyond the tour itself, you also should take some time to explore campus and the surrounding area, searching out the cafes, movie theaters, restaurants, concert halls, hiking paths, or whatever else you might be looking for in your life as a college student. So rather than rush around checking colleges off your list as fast as possible, make sure to take your time and make the most of your visit by focusing on one tour per day. Most high school students are granted several excused absences in junior and senior year to visit colleges, and you may be able to find extra time by visiting on weekends. That being said, when’s a good time to visit colleges? You'll see a much different college if you visitduring the semester versus winter or summer break. When’s the Best Time to Tour Schools? Considering your school visits can help you determine what schools make your college list, it’s a good idea to visit in junior year or earlier. Most junior students are granted 3 to 4 excused absences to visit colleges. If you can’t miss a school day due to your high school'spolicy or a largeworkload, many colleges also offer tours on the weekends or over the summer. The only drawback of visiting over the summer or, to some extent, on weekends is that you won’t get to see the college in full swing. There’s a big difference in the atmosphere if students are walking between class and studying on the lawn or the library versus cleared out and empty. Plus, with summer tours you may not have the opportunity for an overnight visit or to sit in on a lecture. Touring in the summer still beats no tour at all, but if you can, try to visit during fall or spring semester. Colleges, by the way, usually have different vacations than do high schools. So if you’re too busy with assignments and after-school activities to tour during a school week, then you might go during February or April break or certain high school holidays that fall on a Monday. You’ll be on vacation, but college students won’t be. This plan probably won’t work for the December holidays, though - colleges tend to have several weeks off, usually from early to mid-December to early to mid-January. Besides this big winter break, what other times are not ideal for touring? Hey, where'd everyone go? When’s the Worst Time to Tour Schools? Colleges have a different schedule than do high schools. You can take advantage of your vacation times to visit colleges when classes are in session, but you also should probably plan to avoid college break times. In addition to winter break, colleges have breaks over Thanksgiving and typically in the second or third week of March (spring break!). Before the December holidays vacation, they usually have a â€Å"reading period,† a week or two during which students study for finals and then take their exams. Classes won’t be in session. Reading periods and exam weeksusually precede the end of the fall semester and end of the spring semester. Finally, if you’re interested in visiting admissions offices, then you should check ahead to make sure this is a possibility. Admissions officers get busy with application review season in March and April, so if you’d like to visit at this time and meet with an admissions officer, just make sure they have time to talk with prospective students. However,you can still gain a lot from walking around campus and checking out the facilities and thesurrounding city even if classes aren’t in session. But if you plan ahead, you can make the most of your visit by visiting during the semester and getting the truest sense of the college in action. Apart from signing up for the tour, you should also prepare some questions to connect with your tour guide and find out more information about the college. Before you visit, prepare some questions to ask your college tour guide! What to Prepare for Campus Tours College tour guides are there to help! Most tour guides are current students who are enthusiastic about sharing info and insight into the school. Make the most of your visit by preparing questions to ask. It’s especially important to prepare a list of questions if you’re meeting with an administrator. So what should these questions look like? They might include, How much time do you typically spend on homework? What’s the average class size? (You may specify this question for a certain department.) What kind of orientation programs are there for freshmen? Are there opportunities for research in nanoengineering (or whatever the subject might be)? Can you talk about the community service clubs? Is it common to study abroad? What are the dorms like? How would you rate the food, on a scale from decent to inedible? Do a lot of students belong to frats or sororities? Really, you can ask anything you want to know that’s specific to your unique interests or goals. Find out answers to your questions that aren’t already available on the school website. Now that you’ve made it this far, let’s summarize what you need to remember about why, when, and how to visit your prospective colleges. To Sum Up... If you're able to find the time, money, and transportation to visit your colleges, I highly recommend doing so. Not only will you learn a ton of important info about the school, but you'll get to see and sense the general atmosphere of the campus and its surrounding area. Since this is the place where you could learn, live, and grow for four years, you want to make sure it fits your goals and personality. Most schools give juniors three to four excused absences to tour, plus you can go during your winter or spring breakssince colleges have different vacation schedules. Try to prioritize visiting when classes are in session. That way, you'll have more chances to sit in on a lecture, meet with administration or faculty, and get an authentic sense of the college when it's in full swing. Sign up for tours online, andspend plenty of time exploring. Show up with some questions in mind. Your tour guide can especially give you genuine insight into the student experience and social scene on campus. Visiting colleges will be a huge help in determining where you do and don't want to apply. In addition to weighing the courses and facilities the colleges have to offer, you should also make sure to listen to your intuition. Take some time alone to sit on a bench or steps outside the library, look around, and see if you can picture yourself there. If you feel it would be a great fit, you may, after your visit, be even better equipped tocommunicate whyin your application. Then, hopefully, admissions officers will feel the same way! What's Next? Just as you should explore the surrounding environment when you visit college campuses, you should also take the time to think about what kind of place would best fit you. Do you want to go toa big schoolor a smallschool? Do you want to stay close to home or look farther away? Check out these guides for more on how to decide and what other factorsto consider when creating your college list. Another concernwhen making your college listmay be financial aid. If this is important toyou, checkout these 27 colleges with the best financial aid! Want to improve your SAT score by 160points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

A Writer’s Identity - Freewrite Store

A Writer’s Identity - Freewrite Store This is a guest post by Rebecca A. Demarest. Rebecca is an award-winning book designer, author, and technical illustrator living in Seattle, WA with her bacon-sharing husband and a temperamental cat named Cat. Her novel,Less Than Charming, is available for pre-order through March 15th on Indiegogo, and will be launching from Parkhurst Brothers Publishing, Inc. on May 1st 2016. For more information on her work, please visit her website. Several years ago, as we were getting ready for bed, my (now ex-) boyfriend turned to me with: â€Å"You know, since you keep putting off working on your novel, I’m going to have to start introducing you as a publisher instead of a writer.† Instinctively, I corrected him. â€Å"Illustrator, not publisher.† That’s what I did all day- I drew diagrams for computer programs at a tech publisher. Even though I automatically corrected his title gaffe, it cut me to the quick that he no longer considered me a writer. But I knew he was right; that part of my identity seemed to have started slipping away sometime after obtaining my MFA. I had immersed myself in several rounds of editing on my novel nà ©e thesis and after all the work I had done editing and revising and rewriting, I finally sent out the query letters, but the response I was hoping for never came. It was a good experience for me as several agents gave me useful feedback instead of form rejections, but it was also depressing, because they all pointed out a major flaw that none of my previous readers had even touched on. Apparently, though they all adored the setting and the story, they just could not connect with my main character as he was presented to them at the beginning of the manuscript and I had no idea how to go about fixing that fact.   Under the pretext of trying to figure out how to fix my novel, I stopped writing. I’m a very methodical writer and I spend a lot of time planning before I begin, so it seemed logical to me to take a step back to analyze what I had and what was missing. I shelved the novel and moved forward with the rest of my life while I contemplated the changes. At first it was just the novel itself that went untouched. Then it was my blog. I had started the blog for two reasons: to force myself into creating new fiction once a week, and to praise or rant about books that I had been reading so my friends didn’t have to hear me talk about them over and over. But then life and my health got in the way and I was running around trying to get everything done and diagnosed before work, after work, during work and my self-motivated, deadline-free writing took the hit. I stopped writing anything. So, after an evening of hanging out with his friends, he said to me, â€Å"You know, if you keep putting off working on your novel, I’m going to have to start introducing you as a publisher instead of a writer.† It hurt because he was questioning my identity, but even more so because I was afraid he was right. I knew I needed to start the next round of revisions on the novel. I knew I needed to create some fresh fiction and get back into the habit of writing every day. I knew all of this had to happen if I was going to progress and succeed, but never in a thousand years had I imagined myself as anything but a writer. Even when I wasn’t actively writing, I still considered myself a writer, not an illustrator. I had been a writer when I was five and wrote my first story: â€Å"How a Butterfly got its Colors.† I ceased being a writer for exactly four months in college when I wanted to be a psychologist because I found it fascinating and thought I could make a decent living. Then a creative writing course I took cured me of my desire to make money and revived my craving to write. Maybe someday I’ll go back to psychology and look into a fascinating field called Narrative Therapies, but, for today, all I truly want to do is put words on the page and bring wonder and emotion to readers. This then, I decided, is what it meant to be a successful writer: to put words on the page. It does not mean you put 500 words into your novel every day, no excuses, no breaks. No, it means that when the story grabs you and demands your attention, you listen, and you give it an outlet. Sometimes I go a couple months without creating new fiction, but in the meantime I am working on promotional materials, querying materials, submission applications, graphic designs for my stories, or looking for new readers. There is more to being a writer than your daily word count, or even your monthly word count. Some (very few) people are blessed to be able to be full time writers, but they are rare. Most of us must be content with fitting in a few hours here or there over a coffee while we wait for a meeting with the boss at our day-jobs, or late at night during NaNoWriMo when we feel like we’re connected to the whole world writing together. And it can pay off. All of those stolen moments and pages, all those times where I put down the computer and despaired of being able to drag new words out of my skull, working around day-jobs and freelancing and health concerns, I can stand in front of you today and say â€Å"I am a writer,† and believe it to my core. Because I chose to reject his definition of being a writer and have embraced my own, I have brought two books to the market, I have had several short stories in journals and anthologies, including one that was featured on NPR, and I have a novel coming out with a traditional publisher this summer, all because I didn’t let someone else define me. I chose to believe I was a writer no matter what else was happening in my life, and that made all of it possible. A Writer’s Identity - Freewrite Store This is a guest post by Rebecca A. Demarest. Rebecca is an award-winning book designer, author, and technical illustrator living in Seattle, WA with her bacon-sharing husband and a temperamental cat named Cat. Her novel,Less Than Charming, is available for pre-order through March 15th on Indiegogo, and will be launching from Parkhurst Brothers Publishing, Inc. on May 1st 2016. For more information on her work, please visit her website. Several years ago, as we were getting ready for bed, my (now ex-) boyfriend turned to me with: â€Å"You know, since you keep putting off working on your novel, I’m going to have to start introducing you as a publisher instead of a writer.† Instinctively, I corrected him. â€Å"Illustrator, not publisher.† That’s what I did all day- I drew diagrams for computer programs at a tech publisher. Even though I automatically corrected his title gaffe, it cut me to the quick that he no longer considered me a writer. But I knew he was right; that part of my identity seemed to have started slipping away sometime after obtaining my MFA. I had immersed myself in several rounds of editing on my novel nà ©e thesis and after all the work I had done editing and revising and rewriting, I finally sent out the query letters, but the response I was hoping for never came. It was a good experience for me as several agents gave me useful feedback instead of form rejections, but it was also depressing, because they all pointed out a major flaw that none of my previous readers had even touched on. Apparently, though they all adored the setting and the story, they just could not connect with my main character as he was presented to them at the beginning of the manuscript and I had no idea how to go about fixing that fact.   Under the pretext of trying to figure out how to fix my novel, I stopped writing. I’m a very methodical writer and I spend a lot of time planning before I begin, so it seemed logical to me to take a step back to analyze what I had and what was missing. I shelved the novel and moved forward with the rest of my life while I contemplated the changes. At first it was just the novel itself that went untouched. Then it was my blog. I had started the blog for two reasons: to force myself into creating new fiction once a week, and to praise or rant about books that I had been reading so my friends didn’t have to hear me talk about them over and over. But then life and my health got in the way and I was running around trying to get everything done and diagnosed before work, after work, during work and my self-motivated, deadline-free writing took the hit. I stopped writing anything. So, after an evening of hanging out with his friends, he said to me, â€Å"You know, if you keep putting off working on your novel, I’m going to have to start introducing you as a publisher instead of a writer.† It hurt because he was questioning my identity, but even more so because I was afraid he was right. I knew I needed to start the next round of revisions on the novel. I knew I needed to create some fresh fiction and get back into the habit of writing every day. I knew all of this had to happen if I was going to progress and succeed, but never in a thousand years had I imagined myself as anything but a writer. Even when I wasn’t actively writing, I still considered myself a writer, not an illustrator. I had been a writer when I was five and wrote my first story: â€Å"How a Butterfly got its Colors.† I ceased being a writer for exactly four months in college when I wanted to be a psychologist because I found it fascinating and thought I could make a decent living. Then a creative writing course I took cured me of my desire to make money and revived my craving to write. Maybe someday I’ll go back to psychology and look into a fascinating field called Narrative Therapies, but, for today, all I truly want to do is put words on the page and bring wonder and emotion to readers. This then, I decided, is what it meant to be a successful writer: to put words on the page. It does not mean you put 500 words into your novel every day, no excuses, no breaks. No, it means that when the story grabs you and demands your attention, you listen, and you give it an outlet. Sometimes I go a couple months without creating new fiction, but in the meantime I am working on promotional materials, querying materials, submission applications, graphic designs for my stories, or looking for new readers. There is more to being a writer than your daily word count, or even your monthly word count. Some (very few) people are blessed to be able to be full time writers, but they are rare. Most of us must be content with fitting in a few hours here or there over a coffee while we wait for a meeting with the boss at our day-jobs, or late at night during NaNoWriMo when we feel like we’re connected to the whole world writing together. And it can pay off. All of those stolen moments and pages, all those times where I put down the computer and despaired of being able to drag new words out of my skull, working around day-jobs and freelancing and health concerns, I can stand in front of you today and say â€Å"I am a writer,† and believe it to my core. Because I chose to reject his definition of being a writer and have embraced my own, I have brought two books to the market, I have had several short stories in journals and anthologies, including one that was featured on NPR, and I have a novel coming out with a traditional publisher this summer, all because I didn’t let someone else define me. I chose to believe I was a writer no matter what else was happening in my life, and that made all of it possible.

How does increased wait time affect the quantity of correct responses Essay

How does increased wait time affect the quantity of correct responses to question from elementary ELL students - Essay Example Despite the comprehensive understanding of the role of thinking in reading process, there exists very few researches that seek to clarify the time required by a student in answering classroom’ questions(Brenda, 1999). However, the existing researches have classified the time required before responding to a question into eight categories, post-teacher question time, within-student’s response pause-time, post-student response wait-time, student pause-time, teacher pause-time, within-teacher presentation pause-time, student task-completion work-time as well as impact pause-time (Stahl, 1994). Several researches has as well confirmed that, adequate wait-time give students enough time to process the received information, use the available techniques and strategies to come up with an accurate answer and to encode the received information (Stahl, 1994). Adequate wait-time also advances cognitive learning skills compared to short wait-time. In addition, researches have as well found out that, student who pursue second language requires adequate amount of time in order to translate the new information into their native language (Stahl, 1994). Second language students have limited meta-cognitive processes of understanding new information compared to native speakers. To understand teachers or instructors instruction, second language students ought to be given adequate time to understand and respond to classrooms questions (Rowe, 1986). Information processing models of learning have as well indicated that, providing adequate time for learners to understand and formulate teachers’ questions prior to giving response increase the quality of the answer. This is especially the cases on questions that require a lot of facts and accuracy (Donna and John, 2006). In reference to the model, in answering a question, a learner requires sufficient time to locate the relevant information in long-term memory, retrieve the information into work memory and to evaluate whether the retrieved information can adequately answer the posed question (Rowe, 1986). In answering questions that requires applications of external information, a learner is supposed to apply the retrieved facts into the current situation and identify the accuracy of the facts before responding to the question (Orpha, 1994). If the questions require additional information, the learner is therefore expected to have more time to retrieved additional information from long-term memory and apply the retrieved information to the new situation (Alejandro and Celeste, 2003). As a result, offering additional information to a student before responding to the posed question gives a learner adequate time to search for the needed information, retrieve the information, apply the retrieved information, evaluate the information as if need be to seek for additional information (Alejandro and Celeste, 2003). In addition, the provision of adequate time to master a question helps a student to have b etter mastery of the content. Moreover, completing the process of retrieving information assists a student to identify accurate information to the posed question. Adequate time to recover the store information also plays an incredibly crucial role in improving