To what extent did miliarism contribute to the origins of the First Research Paper

To what extent did miliarism contribute to the origins of the First World War (1914-1918) and the Second world war (1939-1945) - Research Paper Example Introduction of new weapons and the arms race geared the culture of militarism that was gaining popularity in the Europe countries leading to the start of World War 1 in 1914 (Llewellyn, Southey and Thompson para 3-4). The governments officials were after Great power and their influence was dominated by military elites and they pushed for the government increasing its spending in the military. The government officials in most countries in Europe contributed to the mood for World War I by promoting military solutions for political problems a situation that threatened the relationship among countries and in response to this, each country developed is army more. The militaristic culture was mostly experienced in Germany as they build the Prussian army before 1850 that underwent rigorous training regimes and incorporated new weaponry and communication technologies. Other countries copied this and started modernizing their forces and equipping them with new technologies and improvements such as increasing weapon range, accuracy and portability. Machines guns that had been developed in 1881 were made lighter and accurate with a capability of shooting 600 bullets in one minute. New weapons such as the dreadnought battleship were developed and gas weapons began being produced. These activities made the countries fear each other and the competition on who is more powerful resulted into the World War I. Each country believed that going into war was a test of the countries’ military power and a chance to showcase their military superiority prompted the start of the war. Military spending increased highly increased between 1900 and 1914 with the six great European powers doubling their spending and trying to outdo each other (Llewellyn, Southey and Thompson para4). Militarism was strongest in Germany due to political involvement

Response Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 8

Response Paper - Essay Example In addition, the context that the author uses is more persuading as compared to Frye’s article. This is because Brady uses a more personal perspective when putting across her points. Here, Brady uses herself as the main point of reference, which makes the argument livelier and convinces more because it is written from a personal perspective. The choice of words in Brady’s article is also strategic in that the article is easy to comprehend by almost any individual in the society. This implies that it was written for the general audience. It also incorporates an interesting theme, which any person would like to read. On the other hand, Frye’s article argues using a second individual as the point of reference. This makes the article less convincing as compared to one that is written from a personal perspective. In addition, the choice of words by Frye is carefully done for a specific group of the population; the highly literate. Frye is also judging when he gives a general perspective on how most people think and misuse the word ‘think’. This article is not only less convincing because of the judgmental style used but also because of difficult word choice application. The title of the article is also negative and discouraging. The author also uses colloquially especially in the title. The main theme that the author adopts, which is that thinking takes place when an individual puts down ideas using the right words is confusing. This is because this theme does not specify what is meant by ‘right words’. This is in contrast to Brady’s theme, which is straightf orward requiring less effort in understanding. Brady’s theme gives the reader an immediate idea that the article would encompass certain reasons as to why the wife is needed. Frye’s article is confusing. This is one of the main reasons why I view this article as least

Importance-Performance Evaluation Essay Example for Free

Importance-Performance Evaluation Essay 1. 0 Introduction Patronage of any product or service is a function of the satisfaction a consumer derives from its usage. In the case of hotels, patrons tend to equate good service to the facilities and amenities which make their stay as pleasurable and comfortable as can be desired for their money’s worth. It is, therefore, imperative that the hotel management carefully considers customer feedback in addressing hotel improvement initiatives. The purpose of this report is to undertake an Importance-Performance Evaluation of the City Hotel as commissioned by the Griffith University Hotel based from the ratings given by selected business and pleasure travelers on how important the existing hotel facilities were to them and the performance of these facilities in meeting their needs. Preliminary calculations were performed to find the means and standard deviations for each facility which aided in the identification of the five highest and five least most important facilities, as well as the facilities which garnered the five highest and five lowest performance ratings. A scatter plot was then drawn with benchmarks set to indicate acceptable levels of importance and performance. Statistical analysis using the t-test was also conducted to identify significant differences on the respondents’ perceived importance of each hotel facility. Findings revealed that the over-all mean of the importance and performance rating are 2. 83 and 3. 15, respectively. Facilities with the highest importance and performance ratings are in-room cable television and family restaurant, respectively. The two types of travelers differed significantly in their perception of the importance in eight of the 17 facilities evaluated. 2. 0 Research methods This paper made use of Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) to identify hotel facilities which are performing well and those that need particular attention from management for improvement and to detect significant differences in the perceived importance of each facility. Utility of the IPA for use in this paper stems from the fact that results may be graphically displayed and interpreted on a two-dimensional grid, simultaneously indicating importance and performance dimensions of the hotel facilities being evaluated. The IPA method of assessment makes use of four sets of data, namely the means, standard deviations, scatter plot and the t-statistic. The t-test was performed using a 0. 05 level of significance. 3. 0 Results Figure 1. Importance – Performance Mean and SD and t-test Results Figure 1 displays the mean and standard deviation of each of the 17 facilities of the City Hotel as evaluated by its patrons, as well as the results of the t-test performed on the importance ratings given by the two types of travellers. As shown in Figure 1, the five most important hotel facilities are the in-room cable television, in-room broadband connection, a-la-carte restaurant, express check-out and the free daily newspaper; while the five least important facilities are the express check-in, valet parking, wireless broadband connection throughout hotel, mini-bar, and tennis courts. The over-all mean of the importance ratings is 2. 83. The facilities with the five highest performance ratings are the family restaurant, express check-out, tennis court, in-room broadband, and in-room pay movies. The five lowest performance ratings were given on the following facilities : wireless broadband connection throughout hotel, valet parking, in-room cable television, mini-bar and tour booking service. The over-all mean of the performance ratings is 3. 15. As expected of an IPA, the scatter plot in Figure 2 presents a visual of the importance and performance ratings. The plot also shows established benchmark standards indicative of acceptable levels of importance and performance. The sector defined by the quadrant at the top right indicates high importance and performance, where facilities are said to be performing well. Hotel facilities identified to be performing well include in-room broad connection, a-la-carte restaurant, swimming pool, express check-out, free daily newspaper and games room. On the other hand, the area covered by the quadrant at the top left portion of the plot signifies facilities of low importance but high performance, and are probably facilities which are being over-resourced like room service, family restaurant, tennis courts and in-room pay movies. Meanwhile, the quadrant at the bottom right portion represents facilities which are of high importance but were given low performance ratings. Such facilities are those that need attention from the management, namely the gymnasium and the in-room cable television. Finally, the quadrant at the bottom left portion of the plot contains the facilities with low importance and performance such as the wireless broadband connection throughout the hotel, mini-bar, express check-in, valet parking and tour booking service. These are the facilities with no real issue to focus attention on. Figure 2. Importance-Performance Scatter Plot Figure 3 next page represents the results of the t-test performed between business travelers and pleasure travelers to ascertain any significant differences in the means of their ratings on the perceived importance of each facility at 0. 05 level of significance. Results of the t-test revealed that there were significant differences in the importance ratings between the business and pleasure travelers in terms of the following facilities: in-room broadband connection, family restaurant, gymnasium, in-room pay movies, express check-in, free daily newspaper, games room and tour booking service. Variable Group P-value Significance (P0. 05) Business Pleasure in-room broadband connection 3. 29 3. 21 0. 01 Yes wireless broadband connection throughout hotel 2. 26 2. 23 0. 09 No room service 2. 64 2. 61 0. 07 No a-la-carte restaurant 2. 97 2. 93 0. 1 No family restaurant 2. 86 2. 88 0 Yes mini-bar 2. 2 2. 18 0. 42 No swimming pool 2. 92 2. 91 0. 22 No gymnasium 3. 01 2. 99 0. 02 Yes tennis courts 1. 94 1. 94 0. 15 No in-room pay movies 2. 95 2. 98 0 Yes in-room cable television (foxtel) 3. 8 3. 8 0. 46 No express check-in 2. 8 2. 84 0. 01 Yes express check-out 2. 86 2. 81 0. 05 No valet parking 2. 53 2. 49 0. 19 No free daily newspaper 2. 74 2. 69 0 Yes games room 2. 95 2. 99 0 Yes tour booking service 2. 84 2. 9 0. 02 Yes 4. 0 Conclusions In summary, the evaluation of the facilities of the City Hotel using IPA indicated that the three facilities with the highest importance and performance ratings and are considered as the strongest areas of service in the hotel are in-room broadband connection, a-la-carte restaurant and express-check-out. Management should see to it that these strengths should be well maintained and upgraded whenever possible. Meanwhile the weakest areas are the tour booking service and valet parking. Future improvement plans should include strategies to revitalize the said facilities in order to ensure continued patronage and possibly improve City Hotel’s share of the market. 5. 0 Recommendations Based from the findings and conclusions, the following recommendations are being forwarded : (1) Institute a check-out survey among the hotel guests on how the hotel can be of better service to its patrons particularly in the areas of tour booking service and valet parking. This way, management will be appraised of what measures to undertake to enhance customer satisfaction; (2) Review how the other hotels are delivering their tour booking and valet-parking services and take on initiatives which will make City Hotel’s facilities comparable or the best among its class; (3) Undertake an environmental scan on all facilities being offered by the City Hotel in order to single out problem areas, apply potent solutions and improve service on all facilities, prioritizing areas that need attention like the gymnasium and the in-room cable.

A Reflective Account Of A Fundamental Caring Skill Nursing Essay

A Reflective Account Of A Fundamental Caring Skill Nursing Essay For my reflective account of my caring skill of assisting somebody to eat I am going to use A model of reflective practice Gibbs, G. (1988). My practice was at a residential home with sixteen permanent residents and two respite rooms and so the health and amount of care needed by each individual varied. Some are mobile and independent, some need assistance from carers for only a few activities such as being pushed in a wheelchair, whereas a few are completely dependant on the carers to do daily activities such as eating. Before I started my placement I read the NMC code of professional conduct and the NMC guide for students of nursing and midwifery. This was so that I was aware of my accountability, responsibility, confidentiality and the wishes of the patients. I also researched into nutrition and feeding, to help me to understand my clients needs and feelings, so that my caring skill was more effective. Every cell requires an energy source for growth, development and for cell activity. The body obtains its energy source from eating and drinking and so they are essential to existence (Roper, Logan Tierney, 2000). Therefore nutrition plays an important role in health and I need to understand what a nutritious diet contains and the effects a healthy and unhealthy diet can have. A healthy diet contains all the nutrients the body needs to function. A nutrient is a substance that must be consumed as part of the diet to provide a source of energy, material for growth or substances for regulated growth or energy production. (Oxford Reference Dictionary for Nursing, 1990). I found that these are proteins, which supply the body with the essential amino acids for building and repairing body tissues, carbohydrates to provide heat and energy and fats which can be broken down to fatty acids and glycerol and also provide heat and energy. The body also uses fatty deposits to protect and maintain delicate organs, such as the kidney. The body also requires small amounts of vitamins and minerals. Vitamins are needed for many different things. Most of them have a catalytic function in metabolic reactions. They are needed for energy regulation, regulation of tissue synthesis and the general health of tissues. Minerals are the components of body tissues and fluids, and of man y specialised substances such as hormones, transport molecules and enzymes. (Roper, Logan Tierney, 1991). Although fibre is not used in any part of the bodys structure and is excreted in the faeces, it is still needed for a healthy diet because it provides bulk, which helps defaecation by stimulating muscular movement in the large intestine, and therefore prevents constipation. Finally, water is extremely important for the body because it makes up approximately 2/3 of body weight, is the main component of all body fluids and many body processes depend on it. Therefore if the body is severely deprived of water it will die. Holmes (1986, cited by Roper, Logan Tierney, 1991) found that food and fluid intake is controlled by complex biochemical processes. There are centres in the brain which are sensitive to changes in the level of nutrients and trace elements in the blood thereby controlling appetite and thirst. The amounts of these nutrients needed differ for each individual and vary throughout the different stages of life (Chern Rickentsen, 2003). These nutrients need to be ingested, digested and then absorbed. The digestive system includes the mouth, oropharynx, oesophagus, stomach and the intestines. The enzymes that facilitate digestion are produced in the salivary glands, pancreas, liver and gall bladder (Waugh Grant, 2004) There are many reasons why somebody may need help with eating. It is essential that nurses have knowledge of factors and how they influence activities of living. The model of nursing helps nurses to understand, assess, plan and implement relevant interventions and evaluate the effects. (Roper, Logan Tierney, 2000) The client that I assisted with eating was an elderly man who was completely dependant on the carers because he had had a cerebrovascular accident (stroke) and he was paralysed down his left side (hemiplegia). He also couldnt use his right arm much due to rheumatoid arthritis. However some people with physical disabilities like an arm defect can still eat and drink independently with the use of mechanical aids and specialised equipment or even just having the food removed from its wrapping. One client on my placement who had a stroke could use his right arm and used equipment such as a plate guard and another client used a specialised spoon so she could feed herself. The use of these aids help to maintain the persons dignity and self-esteem. (Child Higham, 2005) My client was still able to chew his food and produce the saliva and mucus to soften and bind it into a bolus and he still had the reflex to swallow it. Most of the clients could eat without or with very little assistance if given the appropriate handling aids. Other clients, who could not swallow properly due to a health problem such as cerebral palsy or a stroke, had had a Percutaneous Endoscopic Grastrostomy (PEG) for enteral feeding (a surgical procedure where an opening is made in the abdominal wall and a tube is passed through into the stomach directly). Other ways of enteral feeding are an Esophagostomy (placed at the level of the cervical spine to the side of the neck) or a Jejunostomy which is placed in the duodenum or a Naso-gastric tube which is a tube passed through the nose down the oesophagus and into the stomach.(Williams, 1994) My client had already been assessed and he did not need any nutritional supplements to go with his meals. The Body Mass Index shows healthy ranges for body weight, it is determined by their weight in relation to their height and National Screening Tools are used to identify people at risk of malnourishment and nurses should be aware of ethical issues and the influences of religion and culture when doing a care plan to meet the individuals needs. (Walsh, 2002) The carers at my placement already knew my clients preferences and nutritional needs and that he could chew his food so the consistency of the food did not need to be changed. Having to be fed can threaten dignity so nurses should make every effort to minimise any negative aspects. (Isaacs McMahon, 1997) Before I started to assist my client I asked for his consent and made sure that I washed my hands thoroughly, to reduce the risk of infection and was wearing protective clothing and that the environment was suitable. The Department if Health (2001) states, the environment is conductive to enabling the individual patient/client to eat. At my placement, if possible, all of the clients ate in the dining room where there are no distractions, the tables were set properly and everywhere was clean and tidy. I gave my client a choice of two meals and I made sure it was prepared to his liking and presented in an appropriate way. This is because if the food is not presented appropriately for the client and does not look tempting to eat then feeding will be inhibited, giving them a choice gives them back some of their independence when they could be feeling helpless and vulnerable and their self-esteem could be decreased.(Child Higham, 2005) It is important to make sure that the client is comfortable and relaxed to make the interaction more effective (Williams, 1994). I think I achieved this quite well because I made sure that my client was sitting up in his chair, which also lessens the risk of choking. I pulled up a chair next to my client so that I was closer to him and was at a similar eye level. This also shows the client that you are not in a rush and he is not being an inconvenience to you. My body language was relaxed and I used positive facial expressions because if I had been tense and negative, my client would not have enjoyed his food and would have felt uncomfortable and rushed and therefore the interaction would have been inhibited and he might not have wanted to eat anything. I tried to ask my client if he had any preferences to the order that he wanted to eat his food but he did not really respond verbally or none verbally. This made me feel quite uncomfortable and I just fed him the food in the order that I thought he might have liked it and he seemed happy with that. I used ordinary cutlery and cut the food up into what I thought were appropriate bite sized portions for my client and adjusted the size if I thought I had put too much on the fork. After my client had swallowed his first mouthful I asked him if it was too hot and he said no so I carried on feeding him. I waited until I thought he had completely swallowed each mouthful before I gave him another. Once my client had eaten his entire main course I asked if he wanted a drink and I held the cup up to his mouth. I did this so that he would not still have the taste of his main course while he was eating his dessert. I cleared away the dirty equipment before I gave him his dessert and I once again cut it into bite-sized pieces and after his first mouthful asked if it was alright and if he liked it. Once my client has finished his dessert I cleared the dish away and asked if he wanted a drink. I encouraged him to try to hold the cup with his right hand and I supported the other side and tipped it up a bit further when needed. After he had finished everything I asked if he wanted anything else and if he was happy. I then gave him a wipe so that he could wipe his mouth but he could not do it so I asked if he wanted me to do it for him and he let me. Then I asked him where he wanted to go and took him there and asked if he needed the toilet or anything else but he said he didnt. I then went and recorded how much he had eaten in his notes. I feel the interaction went well because even though I felt a bit uncomfortable at first I soon relaxed and I think that I used good body language and facial expressions and it was good that I sat in the chair next to him and didnt just stand over him. My client was relaxed and happy to have me feeding him. The dining room was clean and tidy and there were no distractions. I did find it quite difficult to talk to my client because I did not want to ask him too many questions because he was eating and other than asking him if everything was alright I did not really talk much. It was good that I used a fork to feed my client because if I had used a spoon it may have made him feel like a child and lower his self-esteem. A negative factor of the interaction was that I put a paper bib on my client, which could have lowered his self-esteem and dignity. I also used a plastic beaker with a lid so that I did not spill his drink down him and this could have also made him feel like a child. At some points I did put the next forkful up to his mouth before he had completely swallowed the last one and even though I apologised and put the fork down again and waited until he had completely finished, I did feel as though he may have thought I was rushing him a bit. Next time I am assisting to feed someone, I will use a napkin instead of a bib and if possible a normal cup. I will also try to talk to the client a bit more without asking too many questions so that they dont have to talk with their mouth full. I will also ask if they want to brush their teeth or clean their mouth so that they feel more comfortable and it will also help prevent dental decay or any sores from developing around the gums. I spoke to my mentor about how she thought the interaction went and whether she thought I could improve on anything and she was happy with it. In conclusion, I feel my caring skill went well. This is because we were both relaxed and comfortable, no problems occurred and I would do most things the same again. Even though I felt as though I may have rushed him a bit at times by accident and some of the equipment I used may not have been appropriate, my client was happy and ate everything. He also said he would feel comfortable with me helping him again and I now feel confident and comfortable enough to assist feeding people. 2198 words.

Government Funding For The Arts Essay -- essays research papers fc

Government Funding for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts is a government sponsored foundation. The duty of the National Endowment for the Arts is to foster the growth of the arts evenly through the national, state, and local levels of the country. With all of the budget slashing that is now taking place the arts is the first place that people look to take money from. This not only happens on the national level but also in our schools. Many people don't see the arts as important. It is the most important thing that our society has. Art, in each and every form that it comes in, shows us who we are. Our pictures that we paint, our songs which we compose, our theater for which we write, act, and dance for, our buildings which we design, as a whole, explains our culture. Future historians will look back at these things and judge us by our accomplishments in these areas. When we look back in history, we recall it through the greatest past achievements in art: the Sistine Chapel, the great pyramids of Egypt, Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, and the works of Plato. Shouldn't we be able to show feats just as grand? Most Americans do agree with me. In 1992, a study called the "Americans and the Arts VI" was conducted; it ended with these results: * 60% of the people support the federal support of the arts. * 63% of the people support the state's support of the arts. * 84% of...

Ophelias Hamlet :: essays research papers

Hamlet’s Ophelia William Shakespeare has written many masterpiece plays and has told a vital story in almost all of them. In the play Hamlet Shakespeare uses melancholy, grief, and madness to pervade the works of a great play. Throughout the play Shakespeare uses such emotional malady within Hamlet, that the audience not only sympathizes with the tragic prince Hamlet, but to provide the very complexities necessary in understanding the tragedy of his lady Ophelia as well. It is the poor Ophelia who suffers at her lover's discretion. Hamlet provides his own self-torture and does fall victim to melancholia and grief, however his madness is feigned. Ophelia and Hamlet each share a common connection: the loss of a parental figure. Hamlet loses his father as a result of a horrible murder, as does Ophelia. Her situation is more severe because it is her lover who murders her father and all of her hopes for her future as well. When looking at her character, one would think she was in grief but quickly turns to madness. Ophelia is made to be this sweet innocent girl but then turns crazy after her father dies and Hamlet leaves for England. People argue that Hamlet has the first reason to be hurt by Ophelia because she follows her father's admonitions regarding Hamlet and his true intentions for their love. Polonius tells Ophelia that Hamlet will not do anything but be fickle with the girls since he is suppose to have an arranged marriage. After telling Ophelia this, Polonius and Claudius try to have Ophelia become bait to find out why Hamlet us acting crazy. Hamlet begins with his overwhelming sarcasm toward Ophelia, "I humbly thank you, well, well, well," he says to her regarding her initial pleasantries (3.1.91). Before this scene, he has heard the King and Polonius establishing a plan to deduce his unusual and grief-stricken behavior. Hamlet is well aware that this plan merely uses Ophelia as a tool, and as such, she does not have much option of refusing without angering not only her busybody father but the conniving King Claudius as well. Hamlet readily refuses that he cared for her. He tells her and all of his uninvited listeners, "No, not I, I never gave you aught" (3.1.94-95). Hamlet has a right to direct his anger to Ophelia because it was her that â€Å"repelled† against him. Her father forced her, and if she did try to disobey her father she could be disowned.

Professional Teachers Essay

â€Å"The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires† (William Arthur War). Teaching is more than a profession; it is about being full time parents to the students. Students spend most of their hours with teachers, thus when you are a teacher, you don’t just teach the basics; teachers are expected to go the extra mile for their students and ensure all the necessary requirements are met. On the other hand, learning can be defined as gaining knowledge or skills that can be useful or beneficial (www. cidde. pit. edu). Beliefs about teaching and learning strategies do not always help one to become a good teacher. Beliefs can be defined as â€Å" the mental act, condition or habit of placing trust or confidence in something or someone† (www. thefreedictionary. com), therefore as you can see if a teacher believe in using a wrong strategy for learning or teaching is the correct application this may cause devastating results for students. Good teaching is an act of generosity, a whim of the wanton muse, a craft that may grow with practice, and always risky business (www. couragerenewal. org). I believe that teaching, if done wholeheartedly and effectively can make a profound impact on students. The impact would not just be restricted to the transfer of knowledge but understanding and guidance. Teachers should develop a bond with their students and a relationship so that students can feel safe and protected by teachers. They should be able to have the same sense of feeling they have towards their parents or guardians. They can serve as effective caregivers — loving and respecting their students, helping them succeed at the work of school, building their self-esteem by treating each student as having worth and dignity, and enabling students to gain a first-hand appreciation of the meaning of morality by being treated in a moral way (www2. cortland. edu). After participating in this course I understood that these small factors make up the bigger picture. I learned that by having these qualities would make you a memorable teacher and would impact on the children in a positive way. Being a patient teacher is also an essential factor that leads to good teaching. As a teacher, you encounter a variety of situations and it is your responsibility to be patient and understanding in all events. A good teacher must remain patient with his or her students at all times. However, that doesn’t mean the teacher should let the students get away with whatever they want to. Discipline and fairness must be used as well. A teacher with these qualities is able to understand his or her students and know how to help them succeed. A teacher with little or no patience can easily give up on a troublesome student as a way to avoid the problem (sithpenguin. hubpages. com). My in class session showed me that some teachers are not patient because of troublesome children and they give up on the students to make their lives easier, but this should not be so. Meanwhile I also learnt that as teachers we should try our best with the students to help them become better people. If their home is not stable, we should help them as much as possible in school and do not turn them down. We should give them the guidance and comfort they are not getting at home. It is our job to be affectionate with students because teachers are like the second parents/guardians for students. Different children adapt to different learning methods, therefore learning can be universal and can be accessed via multiple avenues to facilitate all learners. I believe that learning should be an engaging and rewarding experience. When children attempt to do something instead of criticizing them, I think they should be applaud when they are right and corrected if they are wrong. When they achieve something, they should be rewarded and motivated to do better. If they do not understand something, teachers should correct them in a positive way and make it an engaging and interactive experience. According to Professor Michele Clarke of the School of Geography, learning should be fun; an engaging, challenging and rewarding experience both for student and teacher. Of course, making complex ideas fun for all participants is a far from easy task but if you can enable students to use their own imagination and creativity in an interactive manner which develops critical thought and deep understanding, the academic achievements can be impressive, the task memorable and the benefits for the individual long-lasting (www. nottingham. ac. uk). My Practicum course showed me that learning is supposed to be an engaging and rewarding experience for students. It must be this way in order for learning to take place, especially in primary schools because they consist of small chidden at a tender age who works well when learning is fun, rewarding, engaging and motivating. During our in class group discussions I also understood that when learning is rewarding, it actually makes the children want to come to school and be enthusiastic about doing the work. Children learn best in a secure and supportive environment where provision is made for discovery, challenge and choice. Inviting surroundings enhance children’s positive disposition towards learning and a sense of belonging. Creating environments for learning is more than just a simple classroom arrangement (www. education. gov. sk. ca)The indoor environment receives the most attention from educators, children and other adults, therefore as teachers we should create an environment where colours, graphs, charts, pictures and arts and crafts are seen in abundance. This way the children would be excited about learning and they would find themselves enjoying their class sessions while, using graphs, pictures and charts as references when the teacher is teaching. Apart from the indoor environment, the outdoor environment is important. The indoor environment communicates the values and beliefs that underpin the living and learning that takes place in that space (www. education. gov. sk. ca). Learning should felicitate guide play, exploration and discovery also. Outdoor activities also lead to effective learning. Doing this course, I got a further understanding of how the environment impacts on a child’s learning. I understood as a teacher it is my job to ensure that I develop a proper learning environment for my students. During our Practicum Seminar when one of our speakers; a teacher from San Fernando Boys RC school came and introduced us to her classroom, I was amazed with the environment she provided for her students. Her classroom was like a resource centre with millions of materials to enhance learning in the classroom. My beliefs on teaching changed in that the traditional method of teaching by role does not do the job anymore and guarantees that any teacher using methods of lecture, copy what’s on the board and memorization will lose the student’s attention and kill the desire of students to learn (www. themommydaddy. com). Teachers must now evaluate themselves and move forward from these â€Å"old school† ways and norms and bring new and innovative ways of bringing across the lecturers/ lessons across to the class in a more interesting and interacting way. They should develop new and innovative learning strategies for the students. Groups are composed of individuals who may share some of the same knowledge and skills, however, oftentimes, members come from different educational backgrounds and have different work and volunteer experiences, which uncovers strengths that one group member may have, while others are lacking. (ehow. com) During my form three days at school, my Technology Education teacher would often divide us into groups of four to five to do projects. These projects would not be just any plain portfolio hand up. Mr Awesome would instruct us to actually brainstorm, think critically and creative and build innovative objects and/or create our own piece of work. By doing this our teacher encouraged us to exchange ideas and know how creative our peers could be. Group work along with brain storming also taught me to look at a problem from different angles and understand that it could be solved via a wide range of solutions by my peers. This would encourage effective learning by students. During the Practicum course, I even further understood the importance of group work among students, because as a student myself, I do not like group work. My teacher went on to explain that group work also helps students look at how their friends look at problems and how it encourages the child to feel comfortable if he/she does not understand something, so they can ask for help as a group and not individually. Working in a group can help individuals build long-lasting relationships based on trust and loyalty. As group members, people learn about the commonalities they share and differences, which lead them to seek group members they can build relationships with even outside of the group (ehow. com; Esquith, R. 2007). As a teacher, you should do your homework also. I learned this from my lower six teacher who was always prepared for a class. She would never reach to class and question the class where in the syllabus she are supposed to teach or she would never come to class and start organizing her lesson for the day, she would always come prepared and she would always make the extra time to go the extra mile for the class. For effective teaching to take place teachers should always be organized and their class must always be well planned. Lesson plans is always the best method to be organized. When using lesson plans, teachers do not have to think on their feet, they are clear on the procedure to follow and they build on previous teaching and prepare for coming lessons (myenglishpages. com). I always admire my teacher for always including activities in her lesson plan rather than just reading and writing. Including activities in your lesson plan develop strategies to obtain feedback on student learning. A successful lesson plan addresses and integrates these three key components: Objectives for student learning, teaching/learning activities, strategies to check student understanding(www. crlt. umich. edu) With the Practicum course, ,my views on lesson planning did not change , because during class, I would often remember my teacher stressing on doing a lesson plans accurately and do it for all areas of teaching. She also explained the importance and benefits of lesson planning so I held my beliefs on lesson planning to a high standard. Without students teaching is nothing and without teachers learning is nothing. All students have had hundreds of teachers in their lifetimes. A very few of these teachers they remember as being exceptionally good. Good teaching is as much about passion as it is about reason. It’s about motivating students not only to learn, but teaching them how to learn, and doing so in a manner that is relevant, meaningful and memorable. It’s about caring for your craft, having a passion for it and conveying that passion to everyone, but mostly importantly to your students (www. facultyfocus. com) â€Å"Demonstrating that you know it. Teaching is reminding others that they know just as well as you. You are all learners, doers and teachers†-Richard Bach.