Preschool Literacy Essay Example for Free

Preschool Literacy Essay This paper is going to outline the myriad of benefits that high-quality preschool literacy programs will afford families, communities, school districts and the world. Today, numerous researchers are delving into HOW to establish an effective and successful pre-school program. In this paper, I hope to answer several questions: ? What is pre-school literacy? ? What benefits do participants in a preschool program receive? ? HOW do we go about establishing a high-quality pre-school literacy program? I am rather passionate about this area. Being a speech pathologist, literacy skills and communication skills are so interwoven it is difficult to separate them. I have to say that while going to school many years ago, we didn’t learn that much about literacy as it related to speech and language development. It is only recently that researchers and educators have identified the importance of how both developmental areas are linked. I feel that establishing successful and highly effective programs that incorporate family and child directed activities are crucial to the success of our young students. That being said, let’s explore pre-school literacy. What is preschool literacy? Most people hear the word ‘literacy’ and equate that with ‘reading’. This would be an adult analogy. For very young children, we don’t, nor should we, expect them to read! Early literacy skills refer to many different things, none of which is sitting down with Mom at the age of two and reading aloud for her. At the youngest ages, early literacy skills refer to children’s exposure and experience with books. The following list is derived from Schickendanz (1999) and Early Literacy (www. zerotothree. com) . It states that early literacy behaviors include: ? Book handling behaviors – handling and manipulating the book ? Looking and Recognizing- how are they paying attention to the book, pictures, words; demonstrating recognition of pictures, etc. ? Picture and Story Comprehension – Imitation of actions noted in a story, talking about a story ? Story-Reading Behaviors – verbal interactions with the books, imitating a pointing a finger at words and/or pictures. ‘Establishing strong early literacy behaviors is essential to literacy development and should be the focus of early language and literacy programs’ (Early Literacy, 2003) It is suggested that these skills develop naturally and unfold as a result of social interactions with parents and caregivers, rather than direct instruction. I agree with this statement wholeheartedly. Ideally, it is everyday interactions with infants and toddlers that include talking and book reading that help establish the crucial beginning stages of literacy development. I recently heard on a radio program (can’t cite it) that children between the ages of 0-3 years should hear approximately 30,000 words a day to build an effective vocabulary! Amazing. Todd Risley, co-author of Meaningful differences in the 3 everyday Experiences of young American children (Mangione, 2005), states that isn’t an intentional teaching of these behaviors but rather embedded in the social interactions. He believes, as do I, that oral language skills appear to be the basis of phonological processing skills, which is a strong indicator for reading readiness in kindergarten. As children move into the preschool realm, (typically described as ages 3 through 5), prereading skills are developing along a continuum, rather than as a set of discrete and separate skills. In the article Critical Issue: Addressing the literacy Needs of Emergent and Early Readers (www. ncrel. org), the authors made a very interesting point I’d like to share with you. They discussed the various stages of literacy development that are not relevant to this article, however, an important transition occurs when a child’s â€Å"‘reading’ of a story changes from sounding like oral language to sounding like written language. This demonstrates a change in ideas from thinking of reading as spoken words to understanding that reading is recreated from written text that has special wordings† (McGee Richgels, 1996;Sulzby, 1991). It is the beginning of the child’s print recognition. With respect to specific pre-school literacy behaviors that we should see addressed in a high-quality preschool program, the most important would be: ? Oral Language- engaging in rich conversational exchange with students, developing oral vocabulary, reading aloud daily, having children develop their own stories by looking at pictures (Tomie DiPola books are excellent for this) ? General Knowledge – what prior knowledge are the student’s coming into school with that they share, encouraging questions and new experiences with in the classroom, ? Print Awareness- being exposed to various written materials, some repetition of early literacy behaviors, point/drag techniques while reading ? Alphabet knowledge – the ABC song, recognizing sounds that letters make, letter recognition. ? Phonological awareness- Increased awareness of the sounds of the letters and how to play with them through rhyme, segmenting, blending, ? Pre-writing skills – later stages of development and exposure to writing mediums (pen, pencil, crayon, markers, paint), using journals with self-made pictures, word walls. (Roskos, K; Christie, J, Richgels, D, www. naeyc. org) How do participants in high-quality preschool programs benefit? I think I could go on for days about the benefits of an excellent preschool experience. For the sake of brevity, I won’t! Numerous studies have been conducted to determine whether preschool programs are beneficial and cost effective. The majority of studies suggest the answer to that is an overwhelming YES. 4 The Chicago Child Parent Center (CPC), the High/Scope Perry Preschool Program and the Abecedarian Project are all examples of highly qualified preschool programs. The CPC is recognized by the US Department of Education as an exemplary early childhood program. A comparison of the benefits of these programs was conducted, yielding what I thought were incredible results. These programs have been in effect since the 1960’s, servicing low-income areas in Chicago and Michigan (Lee, J, www.ccsso. org). In a speech given by Dr. W. Steven Barnett of the National Institute for Early Intervention Research in 2006, three separate studies compared the results of participants enrolled in the above-mentioned preschool programs against a control group that wasn’t enrolled in any preschool program. Their longitudinal studies revealed amazing results, which are credited to the attending of the preschool programs. According to them, participants in the program (as compared with non-participants): ? Were less likely to be enrolled in special education ? Had a higher rate of high school completion ? Demonstrated higher test scores ? Were less likely to repeat a grade ? Had increased earning after completing high school ? Engaged in less criminal activities ? Had a lower incidence of smoking, pregnancy and abortion. These benefits did not stop at the poverty line. They also demonstrated that middle class children benefited from the experience as well. He discussed the well-known fact that disadvantaged children benefit more when they are in class with children from different socio-economic backgrounds. An analysis I found very interesting was that ‘For every dollar invested into the preschool programs described in this paper $7 is saved in public expenditures’ (Lee. www. ccsso. org). WOW, think what that could mean to a superintendent’s budget! When trying to determine whether a preschool program could benefit those in the middle class, the US Dept. of Education, NCES, (1997) article entitled Dropout rates in the United States:1995 determined that middle class children have fairly high rates of the problems that preschool reduces for low-income children. While benefits decrease gradually with an income increase, the overall benefits are greater when ALL children are exposed to PreK. In an evaluation of 5 state prek programs conducted by Barnett,W. S, Lamy, C. and Jung, K. (2005), results revealed that in all programs, whether universal or targeted, students demonstrated gains in language, literacy and math. While all students (various SES backgrounds) gained, the low-income students gained more. Soooooo†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 5 How do we go about establishing high-quality preschool literacy programs? In an ideal world with unlimited funding, it wouldn’t be too difficult. However, we don’t live in an ideal world and much needed financing is often diverted to other important (or not so important! ) causes. Really, what is more important than education? One resolution could be to emulate the success demonstrated by the Chicago and Michigan programs spoken about earlier in this paper. In Rockland County, some school disctricts already offer a district-based preschool program. This year, all districts were alloted slots to participate in a Universal PreK initiative. However, while that is an excellent start to establishing a much needed entity, a lot of work still exists. During my research gathering I read many, many articles that discussed the family-centered literacy approach. Such as at the CPC, involving the parents and providing them with strategies and useful techniques to help their children empowers them and makes them feel useful and successful. Without parental involvement at the preschool level, literacy development suffers. Since the institution of NCLB, many school disstricts are seeking wasys to provide needed support to their students without it becoming a ‘special ed’ component or target program. Instituting a universal prek program benefits all. Looking at the various achievement gaps that Dr. Barnett identified in his paper, while there is significantly more of an achievement gap at the lower SES levels, there are still marked gaps in the middle class level, thus further justifying why ALL students would benefit from the experience. In an effort to establish successful high-quality preschool programs in Texas, the retired CEO of Texas Instruments was aware of the huge impact the Perry Preschool Program had on its communities and he was eager to replicate that success in Texas. Therefore, after establishing a successful pilot program, the participants wanted to be able to spread the success throughout the state and a handbook â€Å"Improving Early Literacy of Preschool Children’ was developed for prekindergarten educators. The authors and editors really were able to target what a high-quality program looks like with suggestions on how to implement them into your existing programs. The following steps are indicated to improve a preschool program: ? Set goals ? Create an improvement plan ? Build a classroom library ? Train the teachers and encourage collaboration. ? Keep rack of student’s progress ? Inform and involve parents 6 ? Communicate with elementary schools the children will attend ? Measure and document results (Dougherty, 1999) All of these steps are so important to developing a program that is successful. It is hard to determine whether one step is more important than another. Personally, I really feel that if the teachers and the teaching assistants and/or aides are given the proper training, every interaction with a child will take on new meaning. The Margaret Cone Head Start Center in Southeast Dallas has serviced predominantly low-income populations. As part of their language enrichment program (LEAP), each teacher attends six weeks of instruction at the nearby university as well as several workshops a year. Because of these teacher trainings, Cone Center children have produced improved scores on a variety of tests targeting vocabulary, language skills and social skills. I believe that involving the parents as much as possible and having them in the classroom for a half-day a week or twice a month lets them see what is happening and provides modeling they can use at home. Obstacles that I can identify at this point to establishing high-quality preschool programs that ALL children can attend include: ? FUNDING ? Private preschool programs vs. school district based programs ? Consistent participation on the part of the parents ? Difficulty providing quality training programs for the teachers and teaching assistants/aides due to lack of funding, time, resources While I feel there are many excellent examples of qualified and successful preschool programs in Rockland County, we do not meet the needs of all the children of the preschool age. As CPSE chair, I am able to provide special education needs to many children that require it. However, there is great variability between the programs that we recommend students attend. Consistent high-quality preschool programs would be beneficial to ALL students involved, not just the special needs children. In conclusion, it is a well-documented fact that preschool literacy education benefits all children involved. The need lies in our ability to establish high-caliber programs that are consistent, with staff that is well trained and caring. I think if we can distribute the information about the long-term effects researched and prove to the masses (school boards! ) that the bottom line would be cost savings to the community, we might see some change. I look forward to that day! References 1. Schweinhart, L. J. Lasting Benefits of Preschool Programs ERIC Digest. ericdigests. org. Retrieved February 25, 2008, from http://www. ericdigests. org/1994/lasting. htm 2. Dougherty, C. , et al. Improving Early Literacy of Preschool Children a Handbook for Prekindergarten Educators. Texas Instruments, 1999. 3. Lee, J. The Benefits of Preschool for High School and Beyond. Council of Chief State School Officers. Retrieved February 25, 2008, from http://www. ccsso. org 4. Roskos, K. A. , Christie, J. F. Richgels, D. J. The Essentials of Early Literacy Instruction. National Association for the Education of Young Children. Retrieved February 23, 2008, from www. naeyc. org/resources/journal 5. Mangione, P. L. (2005). Creating Language and Literacy Experiences for Infants and Toddlers. PITC Graduate Conference. Berkeley, CA. 6. Johnson, D. Sulzby, E. Critical Issue: Addressing the Literacy Needs of Emergent and Early Readers. North Central Regional Educational Library. Retrieved January 21, 2008, from http://www. ncrel. org/sdrs/areas/issues/content/cntareas/reading/li100. htm 7. Barnett, W. (2006, Jan. 10). Research on the Benefits of Preschool Education: Securing High Returns from Preschool for All Children. New York, NY. 8. Brain Wonders. Early Literacy (2003). Zero To Three. Retrieved January 24, 2008, from www. zerotothree. org/BrainWonders.

Great Britain Essay examples -- History, British Empire

Ever since its creation in 1707, the United Kingdom of Great Britain has been a powerful union of many different nations and identities, including the English, Scots, Welsh and later Irish. From the Middle Ages until the Second World War this union had not only fortified its domestic political power but also expanded its reign across the entire world, resulting in the world’s largest and mightiest empire, the British Empire. This great achievement of the union was mainly due to the remarkable sense of unity of its people who considered themselves primarily as British and secondly as Scots, Welsh or Irish. By the end of the Second World War, however, the domestic governance stability also threatened to collapse as many foreign colonies of the Empire seized independence. The Scots, Welsh and the Northern Irish started demanding more and more political independence from Westminster and by the end of the 20th century they were finally granted own national parliaments. After this p rocess of devolution, the English people started questioning their own identity and what distinguished them from the Scots, Welsh and the Northern Irish. But is there a national identity in England and if yes can this national identity be politically mobilized in the near future? When investigating English national identity and its possible future political mobilization it is crucial to analyze its meaning and history in the first part. Bechhofer and McCrone (2009) explain national identity as a political, sociological, cultural and psychological construct which is highly influence by the media, political changes within a state and its institutions. National identity, therefore, stays in a very close connection to notions such as nation, nationhood and nati... ...necessary in the eyes of the English voters that mainly vote in regard of other more important issues and debates. Partly contradicting Copus, Kumar (2001) explains that a future English nationalism is does not have to be excluded and very possible, but no one can now say how this is reflected in the future. To put it in a nutshell, in my opinion a political mobilization of the English identity in the near future is rather not probable since the English people are clearly not in the need of it an English parliament. Not only due to the multicultural aspect of its society today but also due to its imperialistic past, the English identity has become multifaceted and interpreted in many ways which makes it much harder for the English nationalism to evolve compared to Scotland, Wales and Ireland. Therefore, a unified mobilization is in the near future not thinkable.

Organization of Buddhism Essay

Buddhism is the religion founded by Siddhartha Gautama Buddha in Indian about 500 B.C.   Buddhism is the chief religion of Burma, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Japan, Korea, Mongolia, Kampuchea, Laos and China. Buddhism is one of the oldest and biggest religions of the world. Its central deity was Buddha, â€Å"the Enlightened One†. It was founded by Siddhartha Gautama who was born 563 B.C. in Kapilavastu, just inside the borders of what is now Nepal. Buddhism beganin India as a revolt against Hinduism. The origin of the religion is described in the article Buddha. Buddha himself did not leave any writings, and his teachings were not written down until several hundred years afte rhis death. Like Christianity and Islam, Buddhism is a missionary religion. Within 300 years after Buddha’s death, it had spread throughout India and reached Ceylon (Sri Lanka).   Monks and travellers carried it to other parts of Asia. Japan adopted it about the seventh century A.D. About the same time the religion reached Tibet. Here it was combined with native religions. The two major divisiobs of Buddhism probably developed in Indian monasteries before 100 A.D. A. The Life of Buddha Siddhartha Gautama was born in Kapilavastu, India (now Nepal) in about 563 BCE. At his birth, legend says, a wise man told his father that Siddhartha would either become a great ruler or a great holy man, depending on what he saw of life. Determined that his son should rule after him, his father did all he could to shield Siddhartha from the problems of the outside world. Siddhartha grew up in great luxury in his father’s palace. He married a beautiful princess and had a son. Despite this, he felt that something was missing from his life. At the age of 29, Siddhartha had an experience that changed his life. On a secret chariot ride outside the palace, he saw a sick man, an old man and a dead man. It was the first time that he had seen people suffering. Then he saw a holy man who was happy and content, despite being poor. Siddhartha vowed to give up his luxurious life and become like the holy man. That night, he left the palace and began his search for the answer to the suffering he had seen. After many years of fasting and hardship, Siddhartha came to the village of Bodh Gaya. Sitting under a great tree, he closed his eyes and began to meditate. There, at last, he gained enlightenment and became the Buddha. He realized that people suffered because they always wanted more than they had. The Buddha spent the rest of his life as a monk. He traveled around India with a group of followers, teaching people how to overcome suffering. He died, aged 80, in the town of Kushinagara in India. B. Its History –  Buddhism Buddhism began in India as a revolt against Hinduism. The origin of the religion is described in the article Buddha. Buddha himself did not leave any writings, and his teachings were not written down until several hundred years after his death. Like Christianity and Islam, Buddhism is a missionary religion. With 300 years after Buddha’s death, it had spread throughout India and reached Ceylon (Sri Lanka). Monks and travelers carried it to other parts of Asia. Japan adopted it about the seventh century A.D. About the same time the religion reached Tibet. Here it was combined with native religions and developed into Lamaism o  Ã‚   Buddhism According to Buddhism, liberation is attained through understanding and practice of the Four Noble Truths: 1. There is suffering in life. 2. Suffering is caused by desire for pleasure, existence, and prosperity. Suffering and rebirth cease when one ceases such desires, leading to enlightenment, or Nirvana, a blessed state in which peace, harmony, and joy are attained. 4. The way, or path, to Nirvana is the Eightfold Path, summarized as: –  Right understanding – Right thoughts – Right speech – Right conduct – Right occupation – Right meditation – Right mindfulness – Right effort The Eightfold Path is also called the Middle Way—because of its emphasis on avoiding such extremes as following sensuous pleasures on the one hand, and self-punishment on the other. The Buddhist must at all times observe the high moral principles described in the Eightfold path, which emphasizes nonviolence and the brotherhood of all. Perhaps the best-known Buddhist scriptures are the Tripitaka (â€Å"Three Baskets†), first written down in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) in authoritative edition was prepared by the Sixth Buddhist Council at Rangoon, Burma, in 1954-56. The three Pitakas are about four times as long as the Bible. C. Other Beliefs of Buddhism Buddhism’s beliefs and teachings are derived from Hinduism although there may be some slight variations in some concepts. Karma is a Sanskrit word of â€Å"action†. The action refers to volitional acts (thoughts, deeds or spoken words that are in the control of a person) as well as the forces that arise resulting form these acts. The law of Karma describes the connection between actions and the resulting forces, like good action results to good Karma while bad action results to bad Karma. Good actions are described in a Buddhist belief in the Noble Eightfold Path. A Noble Eightfold Path is a path of life that has eight stages or phases. This path consists of the right views, right aspiration, right speech, right conduct, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration. Furthermore, the law of Karma states that there is a connection between the moral quality of man’s action to the resulting condition or states. The life he has now is largely dictated by what he said and did in his past life while his next life will be determined by what he is doing and saying now. In other words, the Karma of past, present and future events are connected by the law of cause and effect. For example, if one does something wrong like hurting or killing another human being; he will have to suffer the negative consequences of these actions in his present life or another lifetime. Similarly, if he does something right he will enjoy the positive consequences of that deed in his present or subsequent lifetimes.   It is important to note that the law of Karma is final. No one (including divine intervention) or nothing can stop the law of Karma from operating in a person’s life. In other words, man’s destiny is dictated only by the law of Karma itself. Rebirth as the name implies, is a process of being born over and over again (unless a person attained Nirvana or release from the cycles of birth). In simpler terms, rebirth is nothing more than a movement from one’s old body at death to a new body at birth or conception. Rebirth is necessary for the execution of Karma which needs more than one lifetime to be completed so that it can be rightly said that rebirth is nothing more than the transmission of one’s karma. Only when all accumulated karma is paid for and craving is rooted out from a person’s life that one can enter the stream that leads to Nirvana. But as long as there is delusion, greed, and aversion, which consequently fuels the desire to live, man generate karma. The Buddhists idea of Rebirth, like Karma, is derived from an Indian philosophy of Hinduism. However, the Buddhist concept of rebirth is different from Hinduism because in the Hinduism theory of rebirth there is a transmigration of souls while the Buddhist denies the existence of self or soul (the immortal version of self).   In Buddhism the idea of self or soul is merely an illusion for perceptions, consciousness, mind and body that makes up â€Å"self† is changing. The Buddhists argue that how can there be a self when in fact its composition is not permanent. Furthermore, Buddhists explained that the body is mortal and when it dies, consciousness and all mental activities cease, hence there is no more self and consequently there is no soul. According to Buddhism, liberation is attained through understanding and practice of the Four Noble Truths. First, is that there is suffering in life; Second, suffering is caused by desire for pleasure, existence and prosperity; Third, suffering and rebirth cease when one ceases such desires, leading to enlightenment, or Nirvana, and joy are attained; Fourth, the way or path, to Nirvana is the Eightfold Path summarized as; right understanding, right thoughts, right speech, right conduct, right occupation, right effort, right mindfulness and right meditation.

A Research Study On Stem Cell Therapy - 1511 Words

Introduction Stem cells are homogeneous cells found in the human body which have potential to change into, or differentiate into a range of specific types of cells (Stoppler, 1996). The refurbishment and protection of many adult tissues are safeguarded by stem cells (SCs) which exist in the top of the cellular sorting section of these tissues (Beck, 2013). Practical assessments, such as transplantation, in vitro clonogenic assesses (technique used to study efficacy of exact agents in terms of the proliferation and endurance of cells) and in vivo lineage tracing, have been undertaken to evaluate the repairing and differentiation capability of normal SCs (Beck, 2013). Currently, research is on-going to resolve whether stem cell therapy is†¦show more content†¦Minimal research findings and reports have been written on the role of side population (SP) cells in human nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). This literature review will evaluate the 2007 research article on, â€Å"Identification of Ca ncer Stem Cell-Like Side Population Cells in Human Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Cell Line,† by Wang, Guo, Chen, Zeng and Lu, and determine whether SP cells in human NPC are viable as an aid in efficient drugs and therapeutic strategies which target NPC Cancer stem cells (CSC) (Wang, Guo, Chen, Zeng, Lu, 2007). Review of Underpinning Science Cancer stem cells (CSCs) give rise to the movement of cancer from one section of the body to another, and are located in several tumour varieties. The unique properties of stem cells which make them different from normal cells are; their unspecialised nature, capability to give rise to specialised cell types and ability to divide and renew themselves (Bethesda, 2015). These stem cell properties can be used to classify CSCs, and therefore can enable them to treat NPC. A major result of this manipulation process is the ability the cell can have to extrude dyes such as Hoechst 33342 through the ATP binding cassette (which encloses membrane proteins that transfer an extensive array of substrates) (Dean, 2002)(Wu, C., Alman, B. A., 2008). Importantly, SP cells are a source of research as they contain these stem cell characteristics and are therefore able to exclude the Hoechst 33342 dye. This