Network Protocol Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4250 words

Earn College Credit by Taking Free Online Classes

Acquire College Credit by Taking Free Online Classes It is conceivable to acquire genuine school credit by taking a free online class. The procedure isn’t in every case simple. Be that as it may, if you’re ready to pay some dues, you could finish a degree necessity by concentrating free online class materials. Heres how: Pick a College That Permits Credit for Experience With the goal for this to work, you should be taken a crack at a school that gives acknowledgment for some type of life experience. Inquire as to whether they permit portfolio credit, free investigation, or credit by test. On the other hand, you could take a crack at one of the huge three adaptable credit universities. You may win a locally certify degree from one of these projects, or you may move the credits you gain to a conventional school. Note that most universities will in any case charge you an education cost for credit earned non-generally. Select a Free Online Class With a Counselor Converse with a scholastic consultant at your school to get help picking a free online class. The advisor will assist you with choosing a class that satisfies your credit needs and help you comprehend what will be required to acquire formal credit. Follow Program Guidelines to Create a Portfolio or Complete Exams Gaining credit by taking a free online class will expect you to submit portfolio work to your school, concentrate close by a teacher, or take a normalized test to demonstrate your learning. As you complete the free online class, keep steady over the prerequisites set by your school. Move the Credits to Your Regular College When the free online class and extra school prerequisites are finished, you ought to be granted an evaluation. In the event that you are briefly joined up with one of the large three beneficial experience universities, you should move the earned credits to your conventional school.

Triggers of Domestic Violence Attacks

Triggers of Domestic Violence Attacks Relationships Violence and Abuse Print Common Triggers of Domestic Violence Attacks By Buddy T facebook twitter Buddy T is an anonymous writer and founding member of the Online Al-Anon Outreach Committee with decades of experience writing about alcoholism. Learn about our editorial policy Buddy T Updated on October 04, 2019 Kittisak Jirasittichai / EyeEm / Getty Images More in Relationships Violence and Abuse Spouses & Partners LGBTQ Drug and alcohol use has long been linked to domestic violence, but the exact role of substance abuse plays in triggering violent events is not clear. The general consensus seems to be that alcohol and drug use may act as a catalyst in escalating conflicts into a violent outburst but isnt the actual cause of the behavior. Alcohol can play a part in domestic violence because it can impair the abusers judgment, reduce inhibition and increase aggression. There have been many studies done on the relationship between alcohol abuse and domestic violence and the prevalence of alcohol abuse during a violent episode has been reported from 25 percent to 80 percent. But there is no scientific evidence indicating a cause-and-effect relationship between substance abuse and intimate partner violence. What Can Trigger Domestic Abuse? What then does trigger violent episodes among intimate partners? What does cause a perpetrator to launch a violent attack? A new approach to researching domestic abusers and their victims may be the key to finding the most common trigger for a violent episode. By listening to actual telephone conversations between perpetrators who have been incarcerated for felony domestic violence (violence that resulted in serious injury) and their victims, researchers have been able to determine exactly what triggered the violent episodes. Julianna Nemeth and other researchers at Ohio State University listened to hours of audio recordings of telephone conversations between male abusers who were in jail and their female victims. The researchers were trying to determine the immediate precursor of the violent episode -- the one thing that happened right before the violence, she wrote. Accusations of Sexual Infidelity What the researchers found was that violence most often followed an accusation of sexual infidelity made by one or both of the intimate partners. Drug and alcohol use was often involved in these incidents, but not always. Previous research has shown that sexual jealousy played a role in domestic abuse, but the Ohio State scientists were surprised to find that this particular type of jealousyâ€"infidelity accusationsâ€"was the trigger that most often initiated the violence. Other studies have found that even when subjects are intoxicated, some still do not become violent or aggressive unless they feel threatened or provoked. Suspicion of infidelity could certainly provoke feelings of being threatened. Other Relationship Stressors I have worked in domestic violence intervention for many years, but still the findings shocked me, lead author Nemeth wrote. We never knew that it was the accusation of infidelity that tended to trigger the violence. Along with the accusation of infidelity as the main trigger for a violent outburst, the telephone conversations reveal a variety of other relationship stressors that also contributed to the intimate partner abuse. They include: A long-running dispute about infidelity in nearly every relationship.Chronic drug and alcohol abuse, which escalated arguments into violence.Untreated mental health issuesâ€"depression, preoccupation with suicide. A Red Flag for Violence The Ohio State researchers concluded that counselors and advocates working with domestic abuse victims who are trying to assess how much danger the victim may be in should ask specifically if accusations of sexual infidelity have been discussed by the couple. It is a red flag that the relationship may be volatile, they wrote. They also suggested that healthcare providers working with abuse victims should also screen for drug and alcohol abuse as well as mental health issues. Get the Help You Need Previous studies have also recommended linking substance abuse and domestic violence services. Although there are different opinions about what role drug and alcohol abuse plays in intimate partner violence, research has shown that providing substance abuse and domestic abuse services together can have a positive impact on ending the abuse. If you or someone you know is it a relationship in which there have been accusations of sexual infidelity and in which there is some form of drug or alcohol abuse, please seek help. There is assistance available in your area.

The Industrys Longest Track Record Records Of Providing...

Today, it continues to build on the industry s longest track record of providing leading edge EP technology to develop new advancements-from reservoir to surface. Schlumberger supplies the industry s most comprehensive range of products and services, from exploration through production and integrated pore-to-pipeline solutions for hydrocarbon recovery that optimize reservoir performance. Its key Customers includes Twenty-eight customers that are currently publicly disclosed. Schlumberger is providing services for several large multinational and foreign companies including ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, BP, Petroleos Mexicanos, OGX Petroleo in Brazil, and Oil India Limited. The geographical diversity of its publicly listed company shows the†¦show more content†¦Drilling Group which is the segment this paper focus on it market analysis consists of the principal technologies involved in the drilling and positioning of oil and gas wells and consist of wide range of product lines. W e chose this segment because the potential of this segment, as it generated more than $2.5 billion in operating income in 2015 that is nearly 39% of Schlumberger’s total, comparing to $1.4 billion Halliburton drilling segment (best alternative) operating income. And Schlumberger’s drilling segment has around 12% global market share6. And Schlumberger’s drilling margins are the highest compare to Halliburton and Baker Hughes. Also Schlumberger acquisitions strategy enhanced the value proposition for drilling segment. Marketing Mix Schlumberger uses the marketing mix through the tactics to promote their drilling segment in the market. The 4Ps of the marketing mix influence each other and make up the business plan for Schlumberger to create its success. The Following are the 4Ps of drilling segment: Product: Schlumberger drilling group consists of wide range of sub segments product lines1 that consist of Engineering Real-Time Analysis, Drilling Services Systems, LWD MWD, Drilling Rigs, Drill Bits, Drilling Tools Products, Drilling Fluid Solutions, Surface Logging Services, Solids Control Cuttings Management, Fluids Processing, Drilling Applications, Cementing Services, Bits and Drilling Tools Fundamentals. Each

The Sin in Ideology - 1395 Words

â€Å"I’d rather you shoot at tin cans in the backyard, but I know you’ll go after birds. Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit ‘em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird†(90). Atticus Finch, a guide mentor of the novel, explains this to his children after they are gifted with air rifles for Christmas. Notably, the title of this American classic, To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, is taken from a seemingly insignificant excerpt. However, if read carefully, the reader begins to understand that this is just one other example out of a plethora of symbolism. Set in a Depression-era Southern town, Lee features various themes, though the novel focuses on various forms of prejudice. It brings forth the idea that prejudice, in†¦show more content†¦Lee’s use of the word â€Å"rutting† in this dialogue represents Maycomb’s view of black men; animals, and savages, waiting for the chance to attack. Mr.Gilmer fur thers this disrespect in his own way. In his cross-examination of Tom Robinson, the prosecutor repeatedly addresses Tom as â€Å"boy†(196), and â€Å"big buck†(198). Once again, this language provides a beast-like image of not only Tom Robinson, but all black men. The reader also sees symbolism of racism during Aunt Alexandra’s meeting with her neighboring woman. During a missionary meeting, Mrs.Merriweather states that the Mrunas, (an African tribe) live in â€Å"poverty and darkness†(230). The sickening irony of the women is seen here, as they feel pity towards the Mrunas, but are so hypocritical, they ignore the racism that results in the poverty of several black families in their very own town. The women at the meeting even proceed to insult their own black cooks and servants. Later, when the Tom Robinson vs. Mayella Ewell trial is completed, Aunt Alexandra expresses to Atticus her disapproval of him allowing the children to be present during the tria l, but Atticus repartees, â€Å"they might as well learn to cope with it. †¦ It’s as much Maycomb County as missionary teas†(212). Here, Atticus bluntly states that the conviction of Tom Robinson was just as racist, and unjustified as Aunt Alexandra’s hypocrisy-filled missionary teas. Lastly,Show MoreRelatedEssay on Chaucer and the Seven Deadly Sins723 Words   |  3 PagesShayne White Chaucer and the Seven Deadly Sins In the catholic religion the seven deadly sins: envy, pride, lust, anger, sloth, greed, and gluttony are themes that Catholics should stay away from and not abide to. In the Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer the tales expose a common, universal truth which is the seven deadly sins. 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Ethical Theories Free Essays

string(143) " other people as we would wish to be treated ourselves does not mean making the assumption that others feel exactly as we do about everything\." Morals define our character; ethics dictate the working of a social system. Ethics point towards the application of morality. In the wake of this understanding, national, social and workplace ethics are based on the abstract moral codes adopted and adhered to by each member of the group. We will write a custom essay sample on Ethical Theories or any similar topic only for you Order Now Ethics lay down a set of codes that people must follow. Ethics are relative to peers, profession, community, society and nation. Morals are and are dependent on an individual’s choice or beliefs or religion and can mean doing the right or wrong thing. An example to help you understand the difference would be: Abortion is legal and therefore medically ethical, while many people find it personally immoral. Ethics can be relatively simple to follow, while applying morals can be decidedly tougher. There can be a moral dilemma, but not an ethical one. While good morals represent correct and upright conduct, ethics act more as guidelines. Ethics are applicable or adhered to by a group or community or society, whereas morals relate to individuals. As we can see from the above discussion that ethics and morals may seem similar, but are in fact rather distinct. While morals constitute a basic human marker of right behavior and conduct, ethics are more like a set of guidelines that define acceptable behavior and practices for a certain group of individuals or society. Deontological theories: Deontological theories are the category of normative ethical theories. It is a form of moral philosophy centered on the principles of eighteenth century philosopher Immanuel Kant. Its name comes from the Greek words Deon and logos, meaning the study of duty. Deon means duty. Actions are morally right are those in accordance with certain rules, duties, rights and maxims. Deontological theories hold that an action’s tightness or wrongness depends on its conformity a certain moral norm regardless of the consequences. Actions can be morally permitted, required or forbidden. Consequences of the activities are not important according to deontological theory. The basis of deontology is to assess a person’s character by how well he or she follows moral rules, even if by doing so, tragic results occur. Deontology always advocates the Right over the Good. The deontological model of ethics determines the correctness of a moral action by determining if it follows moral norms. For instance, Kant gave the example that it is wrong to lie even if it could save a person’s life. The agent-centered theory of deontology: focus on the duties of the moral agent (the person acting); rather than the rights of person being acted upon (patient centered theory). Act only according to that maxim where by you can at the same time as an end and never merely as a means to an end. Lying is forbidden, because if lying is a universal action, society would be undermined. Also it is states that people’s moral choices are determined by personal obligation and permission. For instance, a parent is obligated to treat his or her child as more important than other people; however, other adults have no obligation to treat that parent’s child any differently than anyone else. Since people can have personal obligations that are different from other people, they also have permission to protect their obligations at the expense of others. In this theory, a parent has permission to save his or her own child even if it means causing negative or tragic consequences for other people’s children. The patient-centered theory: that deal with rights, it means an action is wrong if it violates a person’s right (life, liberty, property/ the pursuit of happiness) or against being used only as a means for producing good consequences without one’s consent. It centers on the rights of individuals rather than personal duty. It states that individuals have the right to not be used for moral good against their wills. For instance, a murderer cannot be killed without his or her permission even if it would save several lives. The Advantages of Deontological Theories Deontological morality leaves space for agents to give special concern to their families, friends, and projects. At least that is so if the deontological morality contains no strong duty of general generosity or, if it does, it puts a stopper on that duty’s demands. Deontological morality, therefore, avoids the overly demanding and excluding aspects of consequentialism and accords more with traditional notions of our moral duties. The Weakness of Deontological Theories Paradox of deontological theories: We are for forbidden from violating certain duties and rights even to prevent more violations of certain duties and rights. Deontological theories have also weak spots. First and most important of all, is the seeming irrationality of the having duties or permissions to make the world morally worse. Deontology is and will always be paradoxical, unless a nonconsequentialist model of rationality is created; deontologists need to defuse the model of rationality that motivates consequentialist theories. The Golden rule: is known as the ethic of reciprocity, this famous cross-culture maxim states: â€Å"Do to others as you want them to do to you†. Humanists try to embrace the moral principle known as the ‘Golden Rule’, otherwise known as the ethic of reciprocity, which means we believe that people should aim to treat each other as they would like to be treated themselves – with tolerance, consideration and compassion. Humanists like the Golden Rule because of its universality, because it is derived from human feelings and experience and because it requires people to think about others and try to imagine how they might think and feel. It is a simple and clear default position for moral decision-making. Sometimes people argue that the Golden Rule is imperfect because it makes the assumption that everyone has the same tastes and opinions and wants to be treated the same in every situation. But the Golden Rule is a general moral principle, not a hard and fast rule to be applied to every detail of life. Treating other people as we would wish to be treated ourselves does not mean making the assumption that others feel exactly as we do about everything. You read "Ethical Theories" in category "Papers" The treatment we all want is recognition that we are individuals, each with our own opinions and feelings and for these opinions and feelings to be afforded respect and consideration. The Golden Rule is not an injunction to impose one’s will on someone else! Trying to live according to the Golden Rule; means trying to empathize with other people, including those who may be very different from us. Empathy is at the root of kindness, compassion, understanding and respect – qualities that we all appreciate being shown, whoever we are, whatever we think and wherever we come from. Consequentialism: Hold that; this action’s rightness or wrongness depends on consequences it causes (happiness or pain). Consequentialist theories say that; the moral rightness of action can be determined by looking at its consequences, if the consequences are good, the act is right. The right act produces greatest ratio of good to evil of any alternative. If the consequences are bad the act is wrong. Lying generally is bad according to ethics, but if we don’t say that her illness to woman with cancer may be it will be better. Consequentialism is a moral theory, which stands under the normative ethical theories. It can be used as guidelines to enlighten on how to resolve moral issues. This specific moral theory focuses on the consequences of one’s actions, rather than looking at the rightness and wrongness of an act. Therefore a morally right act is an act that creates a good result or consequence. According to this theory the ethically correct decision is the one that produces the best consequences: â€Å"The end justifies the means†. Consequentialists realize and accept the fact that difficult moral choices sometimes injure others. Thereby they are more flexible than duty-based theorists. It is most important to look at consequences and analyze the results’ impact on other people. Thereby this theory is good in ethical dilemmas, because it concentrates on the impact of our behavior on others. There are two types of consequentialist theories: 1- Egoism 2- Utilitarianism 1- Egoism It contends that an act is moral when it promotes the individual’s best long term interests. If an action produces or is intended to produce of greater ratio of good to evil for the individual in the long run than any other alternative, then it is the right action to perform. Ethical egoism claims that it is necessary and sufficient for an action to be morally right that it maximize one’s self-interest. Egoism: The view that morality coincides with the self-interest of an individual or an organization. Egoists: Those who determine the moral value of an action based on the principle of personal advantage. An action is morally right if it promotes one’s long-term interest. An action is morally wrong if it undermines it. There are two types of egoism: a- Personal egoism: You pursue your own best interest, but don’t care what others do. Personal egoists claim they should pursue their own best long-term interests, but they do not say what others should do. Personal egoists pursue their own self-interest but do not make the universal claim that all individuals should do the same. Personal Egoism is a view according to which an individual claims that he/she ought do what is in his/her long term self-interests but cannot tell others what they should do. b- Impersonal egoism: You believe everyone should be an egoist. Impersonal egoists claim that everyone should follow his or her best long-term interests. Impersonal egoists: Claim that the pursuit of one’s self-interest should motivate everyone’s behavior. Impersonal Egoism requires that each person act in his or her own self-interest regardless of the interests of others (unless it so benefits him/her). This does not prevent people cooperating with each other even when there are different self-interests. Misconceptions about egoism: Egoists do only what they want, not true. Egoists don’t possess virtues like honest, generosity and self-sacrifice, not true. Egoist can possess all of these virtues, as long as they advance long term self-interest. Egoism can’t resolve conflict of egoistic interest. Egoists only do what they like, not so. Undergoing unpleasant, even painful experience meshes with egoism, provided such temporary sacrifice is necessary for the advancement of one’s long-term interest. All egoists endorse hedonism (the view that only pleasure is of intrinsic value, the only good in life worth pursuing) although some egoists are hedonistic, others have a broader view of what constitutes self-interest. Egoists cannot act honestly, be gracious and helpful to others, or otherwise promote others’ interests. Egoism, however, requires us to do whatever will best further our own interests, and doing this sometimes requires us to advance the interests of others. 2- Utilitarianism: Originally formulated Jeremy Bentham in 18th century and developed by J. Stuart Mill in 19th century. Greatest good is the foundation for morality. Determinations of morality are based on the application of the moral law to an action. Principle of Utility or GHP (Greatest Happiness Principle) is the moral law. GHP states that an action is right in proportion to its ability to promote pleasure/happiness. It is wrong in proportion to its ability to promote unhappiness/pain. Right action = pleasure/happiness Wrong action = unhappiness/pain According to Mill; Satisfaction depends on the attainment of pleasure, and pleasure depends on right action. Right action has to conform to the GHP. Satisfaction has to conform to the GHP. GHP is moral, greatest happiness principle refers to collective happiness not individual happiness. Standard of morality govern human conducts. If my action conforms to the standard of morality then my action is moral. Happiness of community is more important than personal happiness. You should sacrifice your personal interest for community happiness. Sacrifice is always done some end. Sacrifice for the greater good is the highest virtue. Utilitarianism is based off of the Greatest Happiness Principle which states that actions are considered moral when they promote utility and immoral when they promote the reverse. Utility itself is defined by Mill as happiness with the absence of pain. The main elements of this philosophy are one’s actions and their resulting utility. A person is considered moral when their actions tend to promote utility of the general public in accordance with the Greatest Happiness Principle. However, just an action increasing utility does not necessarily imply a moral action. In order for the action to be moral it must be the optimal choice in increasing utility and minimizing pain. Since it is difficult to determine the superior of two vastly different results, Mill provides us with a system to determine which choice would have the higher quality. This system has the proper judges of the actions determine which they prefer. Whichever is preferred by a majority is considered the action with a higher quality result and thus would be more moral to perform than the action with a lower quality result. In the result of a tie, both choices are considered equally moral. The Greatest Happiness principle also allows for us to cause pain to others as long as a majority of the people becomes happier. We could essentially just steal resources from smaller foreign countries and drive them to poverty as long as more people benefit than lose. Things such as slavery, bullying, rape, racism, and murder could be justified under Utilitarianism as long as the majority prefers it. Murderers could justify their action by simply killing all of those who opposed them. Once their numbers became the majority, murdering became justifiable as moral. Lastly, the Greatest Happiness principle eliminates the usage of the laws provided  by our government. As long as the person’s actions increase general utility, then it does not matter how many laws are broken in the process. We could all go speeding down roads and ignoring traffic signals/signs to our full enjoyment despite there being speed limits as long as few people cared and most people would be having a blast. Following examples are used to illustrate the concept of utilitarianism. Say that one has promised to a friend to meet up at six o’clock. Is it acceptable to break this promise in order to rescue someone from a burning building? Consequentialist is only concentrating on the consequence. Therefore, when looking at the result a consequentialist might say â€Å"no† as the consequence would be breaking a promise and in this way it could harm the friendship. On the other hand a consequentialist might say â€Å"yes† if the result might be saving another person’s life, even though it would demand breaking a promise. In utilitarianism it depends on the one making a decision. Therefore one could justify the killing of a homeless if his organs could be used beneficially, saving for example four other peoples’ lives, who have jobs and family (Frost, 2007: 15). Utilitarianism has many flaws. One of the biggest problems with it is that measuring and comparing happiness among different people is impossible in practice as well as in principle. Shareholder theory: It says that one and only obligation of business is to maximize its profits while engaging open and free competition without fraud. According to shareholder theorists such as the Nobel winning economist Milton Friedman, managers should inly focus on serving the interests of the firm’s shareholders. Therefore business executives are obligated to follow the wishes of shareholders while obeying the laws and ethical customs of society. On one hand, it is correct to say that the main focus of a business should be to make profit. Without profit, a business cannot survive. In a way, Friedman’s theory does promote social responsibility to society. The increase of profits in a company benefits the economy which benefits the citizens of the economy. Friedman also believed that social responsibility should not be forced by the government. Responsibility to stakeholders can still be achieved while helping to strengthen the community. For example, companies can conduct research to provide a safer product to consumers. Shareholder Theory, on the other hand, focuses strictly on those who have a monetary share of the company. According to this view, a firm’s only purpose is to serve the needs and interests of the company’s owners. In many industries there are companies that seem to follow a stakeholder theory framework while guiding the majority of interests towards the shareholders and ultimately enforcing a shareholder theory framework. An analysis of shareholder theory applied to the management styles found in major league baseball has revealed such a conflict of interest. According to shareholder theorists such as the Nobel winning economist Milton Friedman, managers should only focus on serving the interests of the firm’s shareholders. In an article he published in the New York Times, The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits, he states, â€Å"Responsibility is to conduct the business in accordance with their [shareholder’s] desires, which generally will be to make as much money as possible while conforming to the basic rules of the society, both those embodied in law and those embodied in ethical custom. † (Friedman, 1970) Stakeholder theory: Freeman; who has contributed a lot to this approach, he defines stakeholders as â€Å"any group or individual who can affect or is affected by the achievement of the organization objectives. Normative stakeholder theory contains theories of how managers or stakeholders should act and should view the purpose of organization, based on some ethical principle (Friedman 2006). Another approach to the stakeholder concept is the so called descriptive stakeholder theory. This theory is concerned with how managers and stakeholders actually behave and how they view their actions and roles. Stakeholder theory is a theory of organizational management and business ethics that addresses morals and values in managing an organization. It was originally detailed by R. Edward Freeman in the book Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Approach, and identifies and models the groups which are stakeholders of a corporation, and both describes and recommends methods by which management can give due regard to the interests of those groups. In short, it attempts play to address the â€Å"Principle of Who or What Really Counts. â€Å"[1] In the traditional view of the firm, the shareholder view, the shareholders or stockholders are the owners of the company, and the firm has a binding fiduciary duty to put their needs first, to increase value for them. However, stakeholder theory argues that there are other parties involved, including governmental bodies, political groups, trade associations, trade unions, communities, financiers, suppliers, employees, and customers. Sometimes even competitors are counted as stakeholders – their status being derived from their capacity to affect the firm and its other morally legitimate stakeholders. The nature of what is a stakeholder is highly contested (Miles, 2012),[2] with hundreds of definitions existing in the academic literature (Miles, 2011). 3] The stakeholder view of strategy is an instrumental theory of the corporation, integrating both the resource-based view as well as the market-based view, and adding a socio-political level. This view of the firm is used to define the specific stakeholders of a corporation (the normative theory (Donaldson) of stakeholder identification) as well as examine the conditions under which these parties should be treated as stakeholders (the descript ive theory of stakeholder salience). These two questions make up the modern treatment of Stakeholder Theory. Who are stakeholders? A very different way of differentiating the different kinds of stakeholders is to consider groups of people who have classifiable relationships with the organization. Friedman (2006) means that there is a clear relationship between definitions of what stakeholders and identifications of who are the stakeholders. The main groups of stakeholders are: * Customers * Employees * Local communities the main groups * Suppliers and distributors * shareholder * The media * The public in general * Business partners * Future generations * Past generations (founders of organizations) Academics * NGOs * Stakeholder representatives such as trade unions or trade associations of suppliers or distributers * Government, regulators, policymakers Primary: a firm cannot exist without their continuing participation. Primary stakeholders include: shareholders investors, employees, contractors, customers suppliers. Secondary: those who influence or affect or are influenced/affected by, the corporation, but they are not engaged in transactions with the corporation or essential for its survival. Secondary stakeholders include: media, action groups, government agencies, trade unions, regulatory authorities. Non-social stakeholders do not involve human relationships, which may also be divided into primary (direct) and secondary (indirect), for example, natural environment, nonhuman species, future generations and their defenders in pressure groups. They are neither influenced by nor a factor in the survival of the organisation (Wheeler Sillanpaa (1998): p205, Vandekerckhove Dentchev (2005): p222). Freeman (1984) argued that it is easy but extremely detrimental for managers to assume that stakeholders who oppose them are irrational and irrelevant. Additionally, this issue is further reinforced by arguing that there is wide variation in stakeholder claims, interests and rights (Hall Vredenburg, 2005:p11). Internal stakeholders are those in the management, marketing experts, designers, purchasing, manufacturing, assembly and sales, while external stakeholders are the users/customers, distributors, governments, suppliers, communities, laws and regulations. Political stakeholders can be divided into 2 different sub-group; ‘national stakeholders’ and ‘international stakeholders’ (Holtbrugge, Berg Puck, 2007). National stakeholders include governmental actors such as central government, state government, local authorities and also non-governmental organizations or NGOs. On the other hand, international stakeholders are those supranational organizations which constituted by national government (IMF, WTO) and also NGOs (Greenpeace, international association of trade unions, international media). Both governmental actors and supranational organizations are classified as ‘public stakeholders’ while NGOs are classified as ‘private stakeholders’. Hillman Hitt (1999) proposed a typology which distinguishes between 3 different strategies of political stakeholders: 1. Information strategy: – Seeks to affect the actions of political stakeholders by providing them specific information about preferences for policy or political positions. 2. Financial incentives strategy: – Aims to influence the actions of political stakeholders through financial inducements which may include hiring personnel with direct political experience such as managers or consultants, providing financial support or community bribery of decision makers. . Reputation-building strategy: – Tries to influence political stakeholders indirectly through stakeholder support. The main instruments to achieve this goal are public relations and codes of conduct. The idea of grouping the different types of stakeholders is a noble one. It helps to improve the understanding and appreciation in managing stakeholders. For this, Kolk Pinkse (2006:p62) came out with the grouping of stakeholders into two groups, based on potential for threat and for cooperation and, based on concomitant strategies, as shown in Figure 4. Briner et al (1996) indicated 4 different sets of stakeholders namely: client project leader’s organization, outside services and, invisible team members. In the case of corporate and business environment, Colacoglu, Lepak Hong (2006: p211) cited that there exist three primary groups of stakeholders that exert distinct pressures on organizations and are directly impacted by the performance of organizations. 1. Companies must attend to the needs of capital market stakeholders-shareholders and major suppliers of capital such as banks. 2. Companies must consider the needs and demands from product market stakeholders-the primary customers, suppliers, unions, and host communities with whom organizations conduct business 3. Companies must consider the needs of organizational stakeholders, the employees and managers within the organization. IDENTIFYING The first Step in the mapping process is to understand that there is no magic list of stakeholders. The final list will depend on your business, its impacts, and your current engagement objective—as a result it should not remain static. These lists will change as the environment around you evolves and as stakeholders themselves make decisions or change their opinions Action: Brainstorm a list of stakeholders without screening, including everyone who has an interest in your objectives today and who may have one tomorrow. Where possible, identify individuals. Use the following list to help you brainstorm: * Owners (e. g. Investors, shareholders, agents, analysts, and ratings agencies) * Customers (e. g. direct customers, indirect customers, and advocates) * Employees (e. g. urrent employees, potential employees, retirees, representatives, and dependents) * Industry (e. g. suppliers, competitors, industry associations, industry opinion leaders, and media) * Community (e. g. residents near company facilities, chambers of commerce, resident associations, schools, community organizations, and special interest groups) * Environment (e. g. nature, nonhuman species, future generations, scientists, ecologists, spiritual commu nities, advocates, and NGOs) * Government (e. g. public authorities, and local policymakers; regulators; and opinion leaders) * Civil society organizations (e. . NGOs, faith-based organizations, and labor unions) To facilitate important stakeholder mapping, Freeman suggests the following questions: In 1984 Edward Freeman offered questions that help begin the analysis of identifying major stakeholders: * Who are our current and potential stakeholders? * What are their interest/rights? * How does each stakeholder affect us? * How do we affect each stakeholder? * What assumption does our current strategy make about each important stakeholder? * What are the environmental variables that affect us and our stakeholders? How do we measure each of these variables and their impact? * How do we keep score with our stakeholders? Stakeholder versus Shareholder? According to stakeholder theory, the very purpose of the firm is to serve and coordinate the interests of its various stakeholders. The se stakeholders can include employees, suppliers, customers and the communities in which the firm operates. It is the moral obligation of the firm’s managers to maintain a balance among these interests when directing the activities of the firm. Shareholder theory, on the other hand, focuses strictly on those who have a monetary share of the company. According to this view, a firm’s only purpose is to serve the needs and interests of the company’s owners. The Corporate Social Responsibility The way business involves the shareholders, employees, customers, suppliers, governments, non-governmental organizations, international organizations and other stakeholders is usually a key features of corporate social responsibility concept. CSR involves a commitment through the on-going engagement of stakeholders, the active participation of communities impacted by company activities and public reporting of company policies and performance in the economic, environmental and social arenas. Corporate social responsibility (CSR, also called corporate conscience, corporate citizenship, social performance, or sustainable responsible business/ Responsible Business)[1] is a form of corporate self-regulation integrated into a business model. CSR policy functions as a built-in, self-regulating mechanism whereby a business monitors and ensures its active compliance with the spirit of the law, ethical standards, and international norms. CSR is a process with the aim to embrace responsibility for the company’s actions and encourage a positive impact through its activities on the environment, consumers, employees, communities, stakeholders and all other members of the public sphere who may also be considered as stakeholders. The term â€Å"corporate social responsibility† came into common use in the late 1960s and early 1970s after many multinational corporations formed the term stakeholder, meaning those on whom an organization’s activities have an impact. It was used to describe corporate owners beyond shareholders as a result of an influential book by R. Edward Freeman, Strategic management: a stakeholder approach in 1984. [2] Proponents argue that corporations make more long term profits by operating with a perspective, while critics argue that CSR distracts from the economic role of businesses. Others argue CSR is merely window-dressing, or an attempt to pre-empt the role of governments as a watchdog over powerful multinational corporations. CSR is titled to aid an organization’s mission as well as a guide to what the company stands for and will uphold to its consumers. Development business ethics is one of the forms of applied ethics that examines ethical principles and moral or ethical problems that can arise in a business environment. ISO 26000 is the recognized international standard for CSR. Public sector organizations (the United Nations for example) adhere to the triple bottom line (TBL). It is widely accepted that CSR adheres to similar principles but with no formal act of legislation. The UN has developed the Principles for Responsible Investment as guidelines for investing entities. How to cite Ethical Theories, Papers Ethical Theories Free Essays Ethical Theories ETH/316 April 9, 2013 Ethical Theories Introduction Ethics is system of moral principles, the way individuals conduct themselves with respect to the right and wrong of their actions and to the good and bad of any motives and ends of such actions. Ethics are instilled in individuals since they were children by parents, teachers, and loved ones. This paper will show the similarities and differences between virtue theory, utilitarianism, and deontological ethics. We will write a custom essay sample on Ethical Theories or any similar topic only for you Order Now Similarities and Differences Understanding the similarities between virtue theory, utilitarianism, and deontological ethics, they first must be defined. Boylan (2009) stated, â€Å"Virtue ethics is also sometimes called agent based or character ethics. It takes the viewpoint that in living your life you should try to cultivate excellence in all that you do and all that others do† (p. 133). Individuals who judge others by his or her character rather than his or her actions, exemplifies the virtue theory of ethics. Utilitarianism is defined as a theory that an action is morally right when that action is for the greater good of a group rather than just an individual (Boylan, 2009). Utilitarianism theory is based upon creating the greatest good for a number of people. An individual can be overlooked in order to achieve a greater goal for all individuals involved. Deontology ethics is a moral theory that suggests that an individual’s duty to do a certain task because the action, itself, is right, and not through any other sorts of calculations—such as the consequences of the action (Boylan, 2009). Basically the theory suggests that individuals have a moral obligation to follow certain rules that are deemed unbreakable. Virtue theory determines the good and bad traits of a person over a long period of time. Utilitarianism theory also finds the good in a person – provides guidance for behavior and enables people to know what differentiates as a good moral choice. Deontology recommends an action based upon principle. Utilitarianism is the end justifies the mean while deontology is the end does not justify the means. Virtue theory is a broad term that relates to the individuals character and virtue in morals rather than doing their duty or acting to bring about good choices. Personal Experience From the time we are able to walk and talk we are given rules from our parents. Those rules are not given as punishment, but to guide us in life to know what is right from wrong. We are taught morals on how to act, how to treat others, not to lie or be disrespectful. We are taught virtues that were instilled in our parents from their parents and passed on from generation to generation in hopes that we learn from their past mistakes. They place values in us that we will grow up to do the right things in life and teach others and to lead by example. Conclusion Ethics is something everyone learns from a young age and individuals either grow with it or they choose to follow another path in life that may not be as good as it should have been. Ethics is learned it is not something that is already in place. Some people go above and beyond, why others falter. People all have a choice in life as the path they travel down. Every individual should instill some form of ethics within them so the world could be a better place to live in. Reference Boylan, M. (2009). Basic Ethics: Basic ethics in action (2nd ed. ). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson. How to cite Ethical Theories, Papers

Theodore Roosevelt Essay Summary Example For Students

Theodore Roosevelt Essay Summary Theodore Roosevelt was a man on a mission. Maybe he didnt know it, but he was. He affected millions of people throughout his life in many different ways. He was the leader of a famous military group, he was an author, a lawyer, and he was also the 26th president of the united states, all of these things ended up bringing him fame. He was born in new York city on October 27 1858 into a rich Dutch family. He was always a cowboy at heart. Even though he was born in a big city his cowboy side and his passion for adventure would come up later in his life. His father taught him to go for his goals, to follow a strict Christian moral code, and to enjoy the life of the mind. His father taught him that the mind was the strongest tool he had.He probably preached this because his son had serious asthma, and a grail un- athletic body. Ted listened to his father and that led to many accomplishments in his life. We will write a custom essay on Theodore Roosevelt Summary specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now He did all the normal things that a young man from a wealthy family was supposed to do. He worked hard on his academics, he got good grades, went to Harvard, and graduated with a great education in 1880. In that same year he married Alice h lee, a girl he met at Harvard. He still wasnt sure of what career he wanted. He ended up serving three one year terms in the new York assembly from 1882-1884. While serving there he became known as an independent republican. Then, in 1884 his mother and his wife died on the same day. He was completely broken-hearted, and he had no idea where he wanted to go from there. after a couple of months of mourning, he decided that he would head west, and he would finally fulfill his childhood dream of being a cowboy. He decided that he would move to the Dakotas where he became a rancher with all of the rough experienced cowboys of the west. Even though he was this scrawny awkward outcast that wore glasses; something most of the people in the Dakotas never even saw;he was still able to get the respect of the rough and tough cowboys. He did it by tracking three rustlers, and bringing them back for a trial by himself. Even though he loved being a wild cowboy out on a ranch he realized he had a real life back in New York. He would have loved to live in the west for the rest of his life , but after only two years in the Dakotas he went back to New York. A couple of months after he returned to New York where he met Edith Kermit Carow and married her shortly after. After that he returned to writing books, something he started earlier in the 1880s. Two of the books were biographies, one on Thomas Hart Barton in 1886, and then another one on gouverneur Morris two years later in 1888. He also wrote the first two volumes of a four volume book called the winning of the west, in 1889. He finished the other two volumes in 1896. He received little fame, and a lot of recognition from these three books. In the next ten years of his life he made a lot of progress in his political career. In 1889 president Benjamin Harrison gave him the title ofCivil Service Commissioner. In 1895 he resigned that job. He then became the president of new York CitysBoard of Police Commissioners. After two years of that he went back to Washington, this time as an assistant secretary of the navy. This political experience would help him later in life. .u49b81ba81fbf3ddb6494b9b023e7a5fe , .u49b81ba81fbf3ddb6494b9b023e7a5fe .postImageUrl , .u49b81ba81fbf3ddb6494b9b023e7a5fe .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u49b81ba81fbf3ddb6494b9b023e7a5fe , .u49b81ba81fbf3ddb6494b9b023e7a5fe:hover , .u49b81ba81fbf3ddb6494b9b023e7a5fe:visited , .u49b81ba81fbf3ddb6494b9b023e7a5fe:active { border:0!important; } .u49b81ba81fbf3ddb6494b9b023e7a5fe .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u49b81ba81fbf3ddb6494b9b023e7a5fe { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u49b81ba81fbf3ddb6494b9b023e7a5fe:active , .u49b81ba81fbf3ddb6494b9b023e7a5fe:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u49b81ba81fbf3ddb6494b9b023e7a5fe .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u49b81ba81fbf3ddb6494b9b023e7a5fe .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u49b81ba81fbf3ddb6494b9b023e7a5fe .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u49b81ba81fbf3ddb6494b9b023e7a5fe .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u49b81ba81fbf3ddb6494b9b023e7a5fe:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u49b81ba81fbf3ddb6494b9b023e7a5fe .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u49b81ba81fbf3ddb6494b9b023e7a5fe .u49b81ba81fbf3ddb6494b9b023e7a5fe-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u49b81ba81fbf3ddb6494b9b023e7a5fe:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: The Inspector doesn't lead Eric EssayWhile all of these political jobs were going on for Theodore Roosevelt there were some serious problems going on down in Cuba. At that time Cuba was owned by Spain, and at the end of the 1890s people in the united states started reading horrible stories in the newspapers about how the Spaniards were treating the people down in Cuba. The united states decided to stay neutral until February 15, 1898 when the USS Maine, a battleship

Should the NCAA Continue to Monitor and Enforce Compliance on the Collegiate Level

Should the NCAA Continue to Monitor and Enforce Compliance on the Collegiate Level Introduction The National Collegiate Academic Association was established approximately one hundred years ago with the principal objective of monitoring and regulating athletic sports practices at the collegiate level and universities. The main purpose of the organization is to ensure fairness, safety, equitability and sportsmanlike conduct in intercollegiate athletics (NCAA, 2011).Advertising We will write a custom proposal sample on Should the NCAA Continue to Monitor and Enforce Compliance on the Collegiate Level? specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More NCCA also aims at ensuring the integration of intercollegiate athletics into higher education in order to ensure that the educational experience of the student-athlete is supreme. This implies that the policies adopted by the body embraces both academics and athletics excellence. In the light of this view, there is need for institutional control, which broadly refers to efforts adopted by the institutions to comply with the NCCA rules and look into violations that may take place (NCAA, 2011). Intercollegiate athletics in the present day is characterized by a number of complex legislations, administrative processes and laws. Effective implementation of these needs comprehensive knowledge and feasible advice in order to foster compliance in an area that is often characterized by extreme public scrutiny (Bill, 2011). In addition, effective implementation within the context of higher education needs a cost-effective implementation of the resources in a manner that is consistent with the educational goals of NCCA. The current state of collegiate sports is characterized with cases of increasing scandals, improper benefits, violations by the sports agents and those in charge of recruitment poses the need to investigate the effectiveness of the NCAA to foster compliance and monitoring of the collegiate institutions and their respective sports practices (Taylor, 2011). The re al problem is within the organizational structure of the collegiate sports. Cases of malpractices within the collegiate sports are on the increase. For instance, during 2010, the National Collegiate Athletic Association summoned the University of Southern California after finding out cases of improper benefits. According to reports by Yahoo Sports, millions of dollars had been given to at least seventy Hurricanes Football players in a period of at least 8 years.Advertising Looking for proposal on health medicine? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The real scandal cannot be attributed to the improper benefits and malpractice by the agents and recruiter, rather with the structure and the principles that NCAA justifies its establishment basing on the principles of amateurism and student athlete. Notable violations include the skeptical hoaxes, legalistic confections that are initiated by higher institutions in order to e xploit the fame and the skills of the youthful athletes (Smith, 2011). This culminates to unfair and unequal treatment of the college athletes due to the fact that some are paid while others are not. There will be a number of ethical and legal issues concerning this research including the principle of voluntary participation, preservation and anonymity of the respondents and the potential harm or good that may be as a result of the research (Ruane, 2005). This research will serve to add to the current knowledge regarding the status of the collegiate sports and to determine whether the NCAA should continue monitoring and reinforcing compliance. Variables Independent Variables: The types of collegiate athletics malpractices: the various types of malpractices will be used as a major indicator of the compliance and regulative failures associated with the structure and objectives of NCAA. Number of college institutions complying with the NCAA rules: This variable will be used to evaluat e the prevalence of college athletics malpractices between complying and non-complying institutions The number of students involved in sports malpractices: This will be used to assess the rate of involvement of students in the violations of NCAA rules and the underlying causation factors for their involvement in malpractices in college sports. This will be vital in assessing the structural failures of the institutions that are not complying with the NCAA rules Unfairness among the college athletes and the NCAA rules and regulations: this will indicate the ineffectiveness of the implementation of the NCAA rules and regulations by the colleges. The documented number of violations by the college institutions in the United States. Dependent Variables: The need to reinforce monitoring and compliance by the NCAA: this will depend on the extremities of the identified malpractices due to non-compliance The effectiveness of NCAA in reducing malpractices in collegiate sports, which will dep end on the overall extent of the violations of the NCAA. Summary The increase in violations and malpractices in collegiate sports questions the effectiveness of the NCAA in fostering monitoring and compliance of the college institutions (Bill, 2011).Advertising We will write a custom proposal sample on Should the NCAA Continue to Monitor and Enforce Compliance on the Collegiate Level? specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Notable areas of concern include cases of increasing scandals, improper benefits, violations by the sports agents and those in charge of recruitment poses the need to investigate the effectiveness of the NCAA to foster compliance and monitoring of the collegiate institutions and their respective sports. Ethical and legal issues identified that are associated with carrying out of this research include principle of voluntary participation, preservation and anonymity of the respondents and the potential harm or good that m ay be as a result of the research. This research will be an effective tool that can be used for recommendations regarding the reinforcement of compliance by the NCAA. Review Of Literature An increase in the number of scandals entailing college athletes receiving money and other types of improper benefits and with the increase in the cases of violations by the sports agents and the recruiting personnel has tainted the reputation that college sports had. Collegiate institutions such as the University of Miami, University of South Carolina and the University of North Carolina have been on the limelight for violation of the NCAA rules rather than administering education to students (Elkin, 2011). The NCAA has the sole responsibility of enforcing accountability within the college; however, it has been hesitant to adopt strategies to address the increasing cases of the violations of the established rules and regulations. Mc Millen (2011) considers the assumption that the National Collegia te Athletic Association can implement safeguards and administer punishments for the institutions that violate its rules as a wishful thinking. In the light of this, Mc Millen (2011) asserts that the NCAA is not ready to address the problems that it created; as a result, the college trustees should play a forefront role in ensuring the goals of NCAA are achieved together with the educational excellence of student athletes.Advertising Looking for proposal on health medicine? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Reforms in the NCAA to constrain colleges’ expenditure in sports have failed since most of such transactions are carried off the book, making it hard to detect and administer punishments (Taylor, 2011). The situation is worsened by the perception that college athletics is a multi-billion dollar industry characterized by sports budgets that are bloated and highly paid trainers and coaches and recruiters who use the funds available to recruit the top talent in the sport. The ineffectiveness of the NCAA in punishment administration is worsened by the fact that the most of culprits often move on after the punishment for administration have been issued. For instance, Mc Millen (2011) notes the USD 4 million annual pay for football coach within the University of South Carolina. While the NCAA was investigating the matter, the accused coach was given another contract as the head coach for a five year contract at Seattle Seahawks worth USD 30 million. By the time the sanctions agains t the football team at the USC were issued, the coach was already gone. This is a clear indication of structural failures with the organization. Mc Millen (2011) says that colleges usually take pride when their sports teams are successful. Cases of scandals usually affect their reputations. In the light of this view, Mc Millen (2011) proposes that colleges have the inherent capacity and capability to deploy measures to eliminate the malpractices in collegiate sport programs. This implies that the college trustees and the college regents can effectively adopt effective solutions when compared to the NCAA president s who are less conversant in collegiate sports programs and are faced with intense economic pressure from the fans (Mc Millen, 2011). Presently, most of the boards are extremely comfortable with their athletic departments; as a result, most of the board members tend to forget that their responsibility is to safeguard the institutions and not the trainers and coaches and sat isfying the fans. This puts the college trustees in a position that they can effectively maintain the standards (Smith, 2011). In addition, a significant number of the colleges are laxative in relation to their sports programs due to the high profits accrued from the sports broadcasting and the revenue received from the fans. This results in reluctance towards the policing of the practices of the coaches, the players and the directors of athletic departments (Fleisher, 1992). Therefore, the trustees and regents of collegiate institutions have a legal and moral obligation to ensure that they are involved in practices that are deemed right for their institutions (Fiutak, 2011). The adoption of the recommendations by the Association of Governing Boards and Colleges will help in minimizing cases associated with the violations of the NCAA legislations and the law. Some of the recommendations by Mc Millen (2011) to eliminate malpractices in the collegiate sports include annual approval of the budgets for the sports programs and their most important capital expenses by the college regents; annual auditing of the expenditures incurred by the athletic department by external auditors who are independent; establishment of a committee that have the responsibility of monitoring compliance with the NCAA legislations and the academic performance of the student athlete and the approval of coach and directors compensation by the board (Yaeger, 1991). A survey conducted by Mc Millen (2011) concluded that a number of colleges are starting to acknowledge the significance of these recommendations. For instance, regents undertake annual auditing of the athletic department within the Kansas State University. Similar practices were adopted at the University of Michigan through the signing off on the operating and capital budgets adopted by the athletic department. In addition, panels have been established to address athletic problems have been established in the University of Colorad o and Georgetown University, University of Wisconsin, University of Oklahoma and Texas AM University (Taylor, 2011). These colleges are also embarking on the approval of any adjustments in the compensation for their athletic personnel. Mc Millen (2011) therefore concluded that the NCAA requires to be more careful in ensuring that colleges comply with its legislations and foster accountability within the college boards. In addressing the issues in college sports, schools do not have the responsibility in addressing the violations of the rules, but can help in preventing their occurrences, which serves to take place of the void created by the incapability of the NCAA (Mc Millen, 2011). The increasing number of sanctions adopted by the NCAA issued to Ohio, Texas, Auburn and Tennessee denotes the nature of the present college sports. This poses significant concerns as to who is to be blamed, and the steps that NCAA can implement in order to fix all the problems that are facing college a thletics. Fiutak (2011) argues that the NCAA is responsible for the present state of affairs in college athletics and argues that the problem is mainly due to rules that are deemed unrealistic and unfair. In addition, the situation is worsened by the fact that the NCAA openly admitted that it lacks the capability to reinforce the rules that it established. Fiutak further argues that the NCAA has not adopted fruitful efforts in preventing sports programs from engaging in cheating and ensuring that there are minimal cases of improper benefits and incentives. Fiutak (2011) agrees with Mc Millen (2011) that NCAA lacks that the capability to fix the issues of compliance and monitoring of the college institutions with regard to college sports. Fiutak notes that most of the scandals in college sports are usually uncovered by the media and concludes that the legislative measures adopted by NCAA are not effective in imposing some level of deterrence. There are no simple solutions to address the complex issues rocking college athletics (Mc Millen, 2011). There are number of limitations of the NCAA in addressing this issue of compliance and monitoring of college sports programs. A practical limitation that NCAA faces is the manpower and the resources required for investigating scandals in the college sports programs. Unless the media is legalized to blow up the scandals, this task is considered as too big for the NCAA; a fact that the organization has already admitted. The second constraint is that the NCAA can be provided with wrong facts. This is worsened by the fact that there are no legal provisions at the federal and state level that can result to perjury charges for providing the NCAA with falsified information (NCAA, 2011). This means that lack of appropriate and accurate evidence makes it hard for the NCAA to administer punishment and reinforce its compliance and monitoring goals. It is important for the NCAA to have an understanding of its limitations, and explo it them to develop effective solutions to the problems facing college sports programs. Fiutak (2011) suggests the granting of amnesty for the scandals that took place in the past as a starting point, after which the colleges, coaches and administrators must engage in self-reporting by collaborative working with the NCAA. According to this approach, compliance, monitoring and accountability rests with the college, and the NCAA only steps in during cases of the violations of the legislations. Case by case analysis is needed for violations that are done off-the-book without the involvement of the major parties (Mc Millen, 2011). Leniency is guaranteed provided that there are self-reporting efforts and corrective steps aimed at making the situation right. Any potential cases of violations and deviations from the principles of NCAA are adequate enough to amount to ban from participation in the NCAA championships. Fiutak notes that the current steps adopted by the NCAA are not effective a nd it is time to step out of the line and use stringent legislations that have no provisions for future scandals and malpractices. In addition, Fiutak recommends that the players are also supposed to be allocated a fair share of the blame and face the consequences. This approach however requires much effort from the coaches in terms of individual monitoring of the players. The focus should also aim at helping the student athletes achieve their academic goals. Fiutak concludes that the issues of compliance and monitoring are fixable, although NCAA has to be more realistic due to the fact that times have changed and its approaches also need a review (Fiutak, 2011). Lack of institutional control by the NCAA is also a significant issue that imposes significant impacts on the compliance and monitoring of college sports programs. The NCAA has been on the forefront in highlighting the institutions that have violated its legislations and engaged in malpractices (Mc Millen, 2011). The outcom e of this is there is increasing frenzy while there are no feasible solutions. As a result, NCAA has managed to escape scrutiny, yet the real issue rests within its administrative structure. The NCAA is considered corrupt, which is a significant constraint towards effective implementation of compliance and monitoring by the colleges. In addition, the NCAA establishes the rules as times goes by. Most of the justification for the sanctions adopted by NCAA base on a reasoning that is post hoc, making it almost impractical for the colleges to navigate (Elkin, 2011). For instance, in the case of the sanctions imposed on the University of South Carolina, heavy penalties were imposed due to lack of compliance. A survey by Fiutak (2011) reported that the NCAA does not have guidelines in its legislations stating the minimum number of compliance officers that the individual colleges must have. In the case of USC, the NCAA did not state prior to the sanction that the college did not have suffi cient compliance officers. Lack of clarity in the NCAA legislations makes it difficult to implement effective compliance and monitoring in sports programs in colleges. Lack of institutional control is one of the principal reasons why NCAA is not effective in ensuring compliance and monitoring of the colleges and their respective athletics programs. The semi-voluntary nature of the organization imposes significant limitations regarding its level of institutional control and its susceptibility to manipulation by the colleges (Taylor, 2011). It is arguably evident that most of elements of theoretical framework have focused on the role that the colleges’ trustees and regents can play in ensuring compliance and monitoring frameworks. The existing and proposed solutions on the issue have shifted focus from the structural role of NCAA in fostering compliance and monitoring of the college sports programs (Taylor, 2011). This creates a void between the institutional roles and accounta bility and the role of the NCAA in ensuring that the colleges comply with its regulations in order to eliminate cases of malpractices in collegiate athletics. Despite the efforts adopted by colleges to enhance accountability and compliance, the NCAA has a responsibility of ensuring that compliance is actually taking places according to the reports by the colleges (Taylor, 2011). Effective implementation needs adequate institutional control for this strategy to be effective. This poses the need to determine whether the NCAA should continue monitoring and enforcing compliance at the collegiate level, which is the primary focus of this research. Research Question Owing to the current status of athletic at collegiate level, it is vital to deploy appropriate structural policies to ensure that institutions at collegiate level are complying with the legislations established by the NCAA. Prior to reaching a conclusive opinion, it is also important to assess the effectiveness of the current monitoring and compliance strategies. This will provide a theoretical framework that describes the conditions under which the proposed monitoring and compliance enforcement should take place. Basing on this framework, the following is the research question. Should the NCAA continue to monitor and enforce compliance on the collegiate level? Method Purpose When assessing the effectiveness of the NCAA in eliminating malpractice in college sports programs and the attainment of educational excellence for student athlete, most authors relied on qualitative approaches for their surveys and the resulting conclusions. This study will deploy a qualitative approach to determine the answer to the established research question (Ruane, 2005). A significant body of research in relation to the topic based on the roles and responsibilities of the colleges in enhancing accountability and fostering compliance with the rules and legislations of the NCAA. This leaves a void in assessing the effectivenes s of the NCAA in monitoring and enforcing compliance. This is the framework adopted in this research, which focuses on the role of the role of the NCAA in monitoring and enforcing compliance at the collegiate level. On a wider perspective, the purpose of this research is to assess the effectiveness of the NCAA in addressing the problems associated with the sports programs at the collegiate level. On a narrow perspective, this research aims at determining whether or not the NCAA should continue monitoring and enforcing compliance on the collegiate level. Paradigm The knowledge acquisition for this method will be based on actual research and primary sources. The research will make use of previous theoretical frameworks as a philosophical model for knowledge acquisition (Ruane, 2005). This implies that the actual findings from the research will be compared with the existing findings and theoretical model as a framework for arriving at the answer of the research questions. This implies that the research will significantly rely on primary data sources, which will be achieved using the data collection methods outlined later in this research proposal (Maxwell, 1996). In order to determine the accuracy of the discussion of the findings and recommendations, a comparative approach is recommended through the analysis of the influences of the research methodologies on the research findings and conclusions. Primary research involves the data acquisition based on first-hand information by the researcher (Fisher, 2007). This will be carried out using questionnaires and semi-structured interviews, which will be based on a one-on-one approach with the respondent. Primary data sources serves as an effective method of carrying out a research because the information gathered is usually raw and has not been manipulated, this in turn increases the accuracy of the research study (Ruane, 2005). In addition, the primary data collected can be used to match against the secondary sources for accuracy purposes (Maxfield Babbie, 2009). The various ways of gathering primary data that were used during the research include questionnaires and interviews. Study design Research method is determined by the structure of the research question and the research context. Social research aims at providing an explanation for current state of affairs using predetermined variables (May, 2001). Research significantly depends on probability; therefore, providing an explanation why a given variable plays a significant role in determining the outcome is vital (Ruane, 2005). This implies that it is imperative for the research to put more emphasis on the findings, coupled with a correlation to the available theoretical frameworks to explain the effectiveness of the NCAA in addressing issues associated lack of institutional control and compliance (Nardi, 2003). When carrying out a research, the researcher can choose between qualitative and quantitative approaches. Quantitative approach en tails the compilation and breakdown of experimental data and statistics to result to infer a conclusion; it involves collecting data through investigative units such as questionnaires (Maxfield Babbie, 2009). Qualitative approach on the other hand utilizes analysis and evaluation of qualitative data through interviews and observation to reach a conclusion. This research requires the analysis of qualitative data that will be collected from the coaching staff, college administrators, compliance officials and personnel of the NCAA in relation to its effectiveness in enforcing compliance and monitoring the athletics programs at the collegiate level (Maxfield Earl, 2011). In addition, data collected will also entail the opinions of the players regarding the need for the NCAA to continue monitoring and enforcing compliance (Ruane, 2005). The data acquisition methods will incorporate both primary and secondary sources. This are because the data collected was in form of questionnaires and interviews, which are both quantitative and qualitative respectively. The deductive approach will be used since the research will begin with a description of concepts such as the variables affecting the effectiveness of NCAA, after which it will involve an analysis of empirical evidence. Therefore, a deductive approach was used because the research study commences with a research hypothesis and terminates with empirical measurement, analysis and evaluation of research findings (Ruane, 2005). Population and sample The target population for this research will mainly include college institutions in the state of South Carolina. The sample population will include the compliance officers in the colleges, staffs of athletic departments, NCAA personnel and the players. This implies that the sampling approach to be used in the research will be quota sampling in the sense that the respondents are grouped in accordance with their roles and responsibilities in ensuring accountability and compl iance with the regulations of the NCAA (Ritchie Lewis, 2003). Investigative techniques Data consists of two types: primary data which is collected by the researcher and secondary data which is collected by other researchers (Neuman, 2003). The research will utilize mainly primary data sources. Data collection is a significant requirement for the success of any social research since it determines the success of the research in terms of facilitating the inference of conclusions. This implies that a research should significantly rely on statistical data since it deploys a probabilistic approach to offer a rational explanation to the ways things are currently in the social context (Fisher, 2007). Questionnaires Ruane (2005, p.123) defines questionnaire as â€Å"self-contained, self-administered instrument for asking questions†. The questionnaire will be used to gather information on the perceptions of police workforce basing on gender orientations. The use of questionnaire is pr eferred because it facilitates the researchers to acquire enormous amounts of data within a limited time frame. The use of questionnaire will also provide a first-hand data from the respondents regarding the effectiveness of the NCAA in addressing the problems facing athletic programs at the collegiate level (Neuman Kreuger, 2006). The primary objective of a questionnaire is to encourage and offer motivation to the respondent to actively participate in the interview. This will be achieved through the use of interesting questions and visual aid representations for clarity. The respondents will be asked their opinions as to whether the NCAA should continue to monitor and enforce compliance at collegiate level. This will be aimed at captivating the motivation of the respondents to actively participate in the research study. The questionnaire will comprise of structured and unstructured (open) questions. A structured question can be either in form of multiple choices, dichotomous quest ions or scales (Ruane, 2005). Dichotomous questions are designed to collect the fundamental data from respondents such as Male or Female, age and other basic personal information. Dichotomous questions will save time required for the respondents to answer the questions. They will be in a simple format involving Yes or No multiple choice questions (Fisher, 2007). Checklists will be used to obtain diverse information from the respondents such as the minimum number of compliance officers required, whether monitoring and compliance is required or not, and whether the NCAA should be disbanded altogether. All these will be helpful in determining the need for monitoring and compliance enforcement within the colleges (Neuman W. L., 2003). Ratio Scales will be designed as a five-point scale range between 0 and 5 to indicate extremes of the need for changes in the structural and administrative organization of the NCAA. The will also be the open ended questions where the respondents will be ab le to open clarify and express their opinions in detail concerning the overall effectiveness of the NCAA in meeting specific requirements posed by collegiate sports requirements. This research aims to collect approximately 100 questionnaires from the various regions in the state of South Carolina. Semi-structured interviews Semi-structured interviews provide a large number of qualitative data. However, the limiting factor towards this approach is that interviews a lot of time. The semi-structured interviews will mainly involve selected players at collegiate level. Willing players will be interviewed immediately (Maxfield Babbie, 2009). Focus groups Ruane (2005) argues that focus groups are one of the most effective methods of gathering collective data. In addition, it offers an interactive approach to research. Focus groups used in the research will comprise of six individuals; three females and three males, with one facilitator. The proposed duration for a focus group meeting will range from forty five minutes to one hour. Instrumentation An Initial pilot study will be done in order to ensure the quality and accuracy of the questionnaire and interview’s questions. It will also be used to test the reliability and validity of the primary research through discussions with friends. The initial pilot study will be aimed at detecting and rectification of the difficulties concerning the questionnaires such as cases of ambiguity in the questions and lack of clarity (Neuman, 2003). It will be carried within the surroundings of the university and the neighbourhood. Data collections The collections will be collected within duration of one week after being issued to the respondents. In cases where possible, questionnaires will be distributed electronically to the target respondents. For electronic submissions, mail alerts will be used, while call alerts will be used for individual submission of the questionnaire (Maxfield Babbie, 2009). Data analysis plan Data a nalysis is an essential phase in research because it is used to infer conclusions. The research findings will offer a framework for determining the answer to the research question. It is therefore important that the data collected should be as accurate as possible to facilitate the process of data analysis. The data collected during the research will mainly entail qualitative data. This implies that both inferential and descriptive statistics was used to arrive at the conclusion (Maxfield Babbie, 2009). Descriptive statistics in research usually serve to summarize and describe data with quantities such as percentage, proportion, mean, mode, mode and other descriptive statistical quantities. Inferential statistics on the other hand was used to generalize on the sample population; it will generally entail the use of statistical tests such as variance, chi-square, standard deviation and other statistical test variables (Fisher, 2007). The approach for data analysis will consist of mai nly univariate data analysis, which examines the distribution of one statistical variable at a time. Bivariate data analysis will also be deployed in analysis cases that will require the evaluation of the relationship between two variables, for example, the relationship that exists between compliance enforcement and the occurrence of violations and scandals (Fisher, 2007). Ethical consideration (Human Subject Protections) Any social research must put into consideration the various ethical and legal concerns associated with conducting a social research (Neuman, 2003). Firstly, the questionnaire and interview questions should be devoid of sensitive questions. Majority of people fear for their views to be known and they seek confidentiality. The following is an outline of the ethical and legal issues associated with the research. The principle of voluntary participation: it requires that no correspondent will be forced into participating. In order to achieve these, the questionnaires will be issued to only participants who will be willing to participate in the research study. Preservation and anonymity of the respondents: all social research studies should aim at guaranteeing the anonymity and confidentiality of the respondents. All the information gathered will not be revealed to anyone under any circumstance. In addition the questionnaires will not be asking the respondents their names and associated personal information. The social research should guarantee no harm to participants and researchers before, during and after the research study. It is an ethical requirement of a social research study that the researcher should not put the respondent in a harmful situation through his participation in the project. All participant shall receive equal treatment without prejudice and they will be informed the reasons for the research prior to their participation. Assumptions The responses from the participants will be honest The number of the responses is adequate e nough to carry out accurate data analysis and answer the research question The data distribution will be normal Limitations The significant constraint that the research will face is the time constraints. This may result to inadequate collection of questionnaires. This may result to a higher marginal error. Another problem was that some target respondents might not be interested in answering the questions during the research and during interview. Some respondents may also provide inaccurate information, which will affect the accuracy of the findings and their respective interpretation. Data analysis and interpretation will deploy adequate provisions in order to addresses the anticipated marginal error imposed by the research methodology. Timeline period Task January Week 1-week 2 Research on more literature and read them. Week 3-week 4 Read on literature and make required notes February Week 1 Research on project management techniques. week 2 Make required consu ltations to matters pertaining the project Week 3 Identification of potential research areas Week 4 Gathering of necessary requirements for the research March Week 1 Design the questionnaire and interview questions. Establish Pilot questionnaires and interviews. Week 2 Restructure and review questionnaire and interview questions. Week 3 Draft the literature review and edit it. Week 4 Collect questionnaires and make appointments of interviews. April Week 1 Write literature review. Week 2 Revise the literature review and make necessary adjustments. Week 3 Data collection through questionnaires and interview Week 4 Continue with questionnaire and interviews. May Week 1 Analyse results of primary data. Week 2 Analyse results of primary data. Week 3 Write the research report Week 4 Conduct thorough Proof reading. Week 5 Submission of dissertation. References Bill, N. (2011, June 20). College Football 2011: With NCAA Amateurism a Joke, Heres How to Fix the Mess. Retrieved from Bleacher Report, Inc: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/741984-ncaa-and-amateurism-are-a-joke-how to-fix-the-college-football-mess/page/3 Elkin, A. (2011, August 17). NCAAs stricter academic rules: What does it mean for your team? Retrieved from CNN: http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/08/17/ncaas-stricter-academic-rules-what-does it-mean-for-your-team/ Fisher, C. (2007). Researching and writing a dissertation. Edinburgh: Pearson Education Limited. Fiutak, P. (2011, June 8). What The NCAA Needs To Do To Fix The System. Retrieved from CollegeFootballNews.com: http://cfn.scout.com/2/1077987.html Fleisher, A. (1992). The National Collegiate Athletic Association: a study in cartel behavior. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Maxfield, M., Babbie, E. (2009). Basics of Research Methods for Criminal Justice and Criminology. California: Wadsworth. Maxfield, M., Earl, B. (2011). Basics of Research Methods for Criminal Justice and Criminology. New Y ork: Cengage Learning. Maxwell, J. (1996). Qualitative research design: An interactive approach. Thousand Oaks: Sage. May, T. (2001). Social Research Issues, methods and process. Maidenhead: OUP. Mc Millen, T. (2011, August 31). Accountability on the Quad. Retrieved from The New York Times: nytimes.com/2011/09/01/opinion/how-to-referee-college sports.html?_r=1 Nardi, P. (2003). Doing Survey Research- A Guide to Quantitative Methods. Boston: Pearson Education Inc. NCAA. (2011). Rules Compliance. Retrieved from ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/public/NCAA/Enforcement/Process/Char ing# Neuman, W. L. (2003). Social Research Methods- Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches. Boston: Pearson Education Inc. Neuman, W. L., Kreuger, L. (2006). Social work research methods with research navigator. New York: Allyn Bacon. Ritchie, J., Lewis, J. (2003). Qualitative research practice: a guide for social science students and researchers. Sage Publications: London. Ruane, J. M. (2005). Essentials of Res earch methods: a guide to social science research. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers. Smith, E. (2011, May). USC vehemently disagrees with NCAAs rejection of appeal. Retrieved from USA Today: http://content.usatoday.com/communities/campusrivalry/post/2011/05/usc reaction-vehemently-disagree-ncaa-appeal-denied/1 Taylor, B. (2011, October). The Shame of College Sports. Retrieved from The Atlantic: theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/10/the shame-of-college-sports/8643/?single_page=true Yaeger, D. (1991). Undue process: the NCAAs injustice for all. New York: Sports Publishing LLC.

10 Tips to Improve Kindergarten Reading Comprehension

10 Tips to Improve Kindergarten Reading Comprehension Learning to read is an exciting milestone for kindergarteners. Early reading skills include letter recognition, phonemic awareness, decoding, blending, and sight word recognition. Go beyond worksheets to improve kindergarten reading comprehension and skill through hands-on learning activities, games, and targeted techniques. Key Takeaways Build a foundation for comprehension by providing explicit phonics instruction and reinforcing new knowledge through interactive games.Select books with repetitive text that focus on topics your child enjoys, and read each one multiple times. Repetition encourages comprehension.While you read, help your child make connections by asking questions about the story and encouraging them to visualize it. Start with a Strong Foundation Overall reading success, including strong comprehension skills, begins with phonemic awareness. More than merely reciting the alphabet, kindergartners need to learn the sounds that each  letter makes.  Phonemic awareness also includes: blending individual soundsisolating beginning and ending sounds and recognizing words that start or end with the same soundssegmenting words into individual sounds Children need explicit phonics instruction. This instruction  builds on phonemic awareness to teach the relationship between letters or groups of letters and sounds. The most effective phonics instruction follows a specific sequence beginning with vowel and consonant sounds and building to two and three letter blends, double consonant ends, plural words, and diagraphs (letter blends such as ch, sh, bl, and th). Finally, kindergarten students should work on recognizing high-frequency words commonly known as sight words. Fry words and  Dolch sight words are two such word lists.   Play Kindergarten Reading Games Get young children involved in hands-on activities that improve their phonemic awareness and reading comprehension skills. Roll Word Families Start with two blank dice. On one, write word-beginning consonant sounds (example: b, s, t, m, p, r). On the second, write word-ending vowel-consonant sounds (example: at, op, an, in, ap, et). You should be able to combine the beginning and ending sounds to create consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) words. To play, invite your child to roll the dice and read the resulting word. Some of the combinations will be nonsense words, but that’s okay. Nonsense words still provide practice blending sounds. If desired, ask students to identify which words are real and which are nonsense. I Spy Send  children on a CVC or sight word scavenger hunt through classroom books  with a simple I Spy game. Ask them to search the books for  CVC  or sight  words, then report back on the words they find. Act Out Passages Encourage students to act out a scene from a book they are reading. This fun, simple activity adds meaning to the words on the page, and helps children focus on and visualize those meanings. Bingo Use a preprinted sight word bingo card or fill a blank template with sight words or CVC words. Create a few different card options and give one to each student, along with marker chips. Call out the words one at a time. As students locate each word on their card, they will cover it with a marker until they have five in a row. You can use preprinted bingo cards or try other printable sight word games. Reading Recommendations for Kindergarten When looking for books that kindergarten students can read independently (or with a little help), it’s important to keep a few facts in mind. First, children should recognize and be able to read 90% of the words in a â€Å"just right† book. It helps to remember the 5-finger rule. If a student makes five errors reading a page from a book, it’s too hard. One error is too easy. Four errors might mean the book is okay to try with some help. The sweet spot for a just right book is only two or three errors per page. Second, remember that it’s okay for children to read the same book multiple times. It may seem as if this isn’t helpful for reading comprehension because they are memorizing the text. However,  becoming  comfortable  and familiar with text improves reading fluency, vocabulary, and word recognition.   Similarly, reading books with repetitive text, such as The Foot Book or Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss, improves reading comprehension. Include books with familiar sight words such as Big Brown Bear or Big Pig, Little Pig, both by David McPhail.   Finally, help children select books on topics that interest them. Keep in mind that some children prefer fiction books while others thrive on non-fiction. Try non-fiction books written for early readers such as Baby Pandas by Bethany Olson, Big Shark, Little Shark by Anna Membrino, or On a Farm by Alexa Andrews. Kindergarten Reading Comprehension Assessment One of the easiest ways to assess reading comprehension in kindergarten students is the  Informal Reading Inventory (IRI), also known as a Qualitative Reading Inventory. The IRI  allows  instructors to individually assess a student’s fluency, word recognition,  vocabulary,  comprehension, and oral reading accuracy. Kindergarten students should be assessed in the middle and at the end of the school year. Children are usually asked to read a passage aloud.  Reading fluency rate is determined by how many correct words  a student reads in one minute. Oral reading accuracy can help an instructor determine a student’s reading level and ability to decode words. Comprehension can be checked by asking questions about the passage or asking the student to summarize what he read. Vocabulary is assessed through open-ended questions about words in the passage. Model Good Reading Habits It is important for children to see that  their parents and teachers  value reading. Teachers can help by setting aside 15 to 20 minutes for silent reading each day. During this time, students and their teacher choose books to read silently. Parents can help by making sure that children see them reading at home. Teachers and parents should read aloud to students regularly so that children can hear the role that reading rate and voice inflection play in fluency. Choose books that are above the level that children could read on their own to expose them to new vocabulary. Parents should make bedtime stories part of their nightly routine. Ask Questions Improve kindergarten students’ reading comprehension by asking questions. Before reading, look at the book’s title and illustrations and ask students to make predictions about what will happen. During the story, ask questions about what is going on, what students think will happen next, or what they would do if they were the main character. After the story,  ask questions about what happened, how the story made the children feel, or why they think the book ended the way it did. Help Kindergartners Make Connections Helping students make connections is another effective technique for improving comprehension. Give students a foundation for what they’re reading. Talk or watch a video about unfamiliar experiences before reading about them. Help children  connect  stories to their own experiences. When reading a book about a boy getting a new puppy, for example, talk to students about who has a pet. Ask where they got their pet and how they chose it. Teach Comprehension Strategies Teach children what to do when they don’t understand what they’re reading. Instruct students to: Re-read the passageLook at  the pictures for cluesThink about what happened before or read what happens next If those tips don’t help, students may be reading a book that is too difficult. Don’t forget the 5-finger rule! Use Anchor Charts Anchor charts are resources to help students remember the key concepts about what they’ve learned. Anchor charts for reading comprehension might include reminders about decoding techniques, making connections, or visualizing the story. Build Vocabulary Increasing a student’s vocabulary in an excellent way to improve their reading comprehension. Give students confidence in their budding reading skills by defining  unfamiliar words ahead of time so that they don’t lose the meaning of the story. Teach them to  infer the meaning of a new word from the context of the story. For example, if a student reads, â€Å"The tiny ant goes in the little hole,† he may be unfamiliar with the word tiny but recognize little from his sight word list. Teach kids to ask themselves questions such as, â€Å"What could go through a little hole? Would it be something small or something big?† By reading the word in context, kids can learn to infer that tiny must mean small or little. Encourage Visualization Teach children to create mental images, often called brain movies or mind movies, when they are reading. Ask them to draw a picture of what is going on or what the character is thinking or feeling. Instruct them to use their  five senses to picture the action of the story in their mind. Envisioning the action of a story is a fun way to improve students’ reading comprehension.