Title: HIV/AIDS Awareness Presentation
Specific purpose: To inform my audience on prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Monday, July 18, 2011
The Dangers of ADD/ADHD Diagnosis
The topic that is most significant to me would be the over prescribing of drugs to children diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder/ Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADD/ADHD). The controversy with this issue is that school administrators, teachers, parents, and child psychiatrists are diagnosing thousands of children each year with these disorders. There are no scientific basis and valid test to prove that this disorder even exists. I feel that our society is over prescribing children, so that problem children can become more manageable. Many children are hyperactive and have trouble staying on task, a problem which could have just as much to do with a child’s discipline or diet than a neurological disorder. It may not be safe to assume the child has ADD/ ADHD and needs to be medicated simply because the child has problems paying attention. These prescription drugs such as Adderall and Ritalin are powerful and potentially addictive. The Journal of the American Medical Association recently published a study showing that one of the stimulants used to treat ADD/ADHD is more potent than cocaine. Between the years of 1990 to 2000 over 569 children were hospitalized, 38 of them were life threatening hospitalizations, and 186 died from Ritalin. The side effects of these stimulants are insomnia, excessive nervousness, changes in blood pressure, weight loss, rapid heartbeat, loss of appetite, and hair loss. The National Alliance against Mandated Mental Health Screening and Psychiatric Drugging of Children is an organization that formed because of several children who have died because of their ADD/ADHD medication. In some cases, the children’s deaths were caused by physical reactions to the drugs after a period as short as a few months. In other cases, some children prescribed to Concerta and Strattera were found to cut themselves. In severe cases, other children committed suicide as young as twelve to fifteen years old.
I feel that the negative effects from these medications outweigh the positive for these children. I feel teachers need to educate themselves about the side effects, short-term effects, and long-term effects of all the types of ADD/ADHD medications before suggesting that a child has this disorder to parents and doctors. The decision to diagnose and medicate a child with ADD/ADHD can not only affect the child short-term, but also can affect the rest of that child’s life. For many children, psychiatric drugs are the gateway to drug addiction. Our children deserve to be treated with every alternative educational technique before being prescribed mind altering drugs. There are other alternative methods to help children with ADD/ADHD without medications, such as exercising each day, counseling with family and/or psychiatrists, and proper diet. Parents and teachers need to consider the horrible, life altering effects that these medications have on children who are diagnosed with ADD/ADHD and realize that our children are precious enough to take the time and effort to exhaust every alternative resource before we tamper with the delicate chemical balance of their minds.
The target audience is parents, teachers, and psychiatrists because these people have the most influence on the child’s diagnosis of ADD/ADHD. The purpose of this editorial was to inform any reader to the harsh reality of the long-term side effects of psychiatric drugs on the developing minds of improperly diagnosed children. The situation that we as a society face today is that there are approximately 6 million children are diagnosed with ADD/ADHD and medicated. This could affect millions of children their whole lives by creating mental conditions that did not exist previously. This editorial will hopefully inspire parents to take more responsibility for their children’s health and well being.
This website has helpful information about the controversy about ADHD:
http://www.ritalindeath.com/ADHD-Controversy.htm
This website has helpful information about the controversy about ADHD:
http://www.ritalindeath.com/ADHD-Controversy.htm
This website has advice about alternative ways of helping children cope with ADD/ADHD:
http://www.learningabledkids.com/learning_disability_LD/ADHD_medication_alternatives.htm
This website has facts and statistics about ADD/ADHD:
http://www.chaada.org/Page3.html
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Beginning the Job Search
The qualifications and skills that you must have to become an elementary teacher are the love for the age group they teach, possess classroom management skills, use of instructional methods and materials, ability to engage students in learning. Elementary teachers must have a bachelor’s degree from an approved teacher training program, as well as completing a student teaching internship. They are also required to pass a state licensing exam, which must be renewed regularly, by taking additional required courses. If an elementary teacher acquired a master’s degree, they could become an administrator in schools, such as assistant principle or principle.
The skills, experiences, and qualifications that I possess to become an elementary teacher are that I love working with children. Since I was twelve years old, I babysat my two brothers and several other children. I have also been a summer camp counselor for the City of Biloxi summer camp program for three years. I have been in a teacher assistant for going on seven years now and I love it. I am currently a teacher assistant working with children with language and speech disorder and I help these children to improve their writing, reading and decoding skills. I have had experience writing lesson plans, substitute teaching, and supervising children during recess. I think because I have experience working with children with disabilities, I would be qualified enough to be an inclusion elementary teacher and become a major asset in teaching these types of children. I am glad that I started as a teacher assistant before I started Elementary Education because it will gave me firsthand experience of what it would be like if I was an elementary teacher. I feel that this would show school administrators that I am more than qualified to take on a teaching position at their school.
There were only a few job openings in the Hattiesburg and Lamar County Schools area for elementary teachers. The job opening that I would be interested in pursuing further would be Purvis Upper Elementary because I would love to work with children in that particular age group. I also like this school because they are a Title I school, meaning the school receives funding the United States Department of Education in educational programs for students in low-income families. Purvis Upper Elementary has programs such as, Accelerated Reader and Fast ForWord, which are great for students to improve their reading skills. The schools have third, fourth, and fifth grade classes and their student-teacher ratio average is around twenty to one. Their third grade classes are self-contained, which is when a teacher keeps the same students in the same class throughout the school day. In their fourth and fifth grade classes the teachers participate in a team teaching approach, which is when the teachers collaborate with other teachers and share instructional responsibilities. This will be very beneficial to first year teachers if they are paired with veteran teachers because veteran teachers could mentor and be very helpful to first year teachers.
Here are some links for job openings in the Hattiesburg area:
The ways that I could go about writing a cover letter and resume to maximize my chances at obtaining this job position would be to write a cover letter that would grab the attention of the employer. The cover letter has to be interesting to employers because it is the first impression that the employer will read. If your cover letter is not interesting the employer might not read your resume and this could lessen your chances on getting the job. The way that I would structure my cover letter would be to state the job that I am applying for and give examples of my professional work experiences and skills. I would also state why I want this job and what I could contribute to their school as an educator. I would structure my resume to be well organized and an easy layout for the employer to follow. I would keep the font the same but highlight the past job positions that are relevant for the desired job position. In the beginning of the resume, I will include an objective statement that would state a summary of my profile and career goals. The will help identify my intentions for this job position. I would state on the resume my professional experiences, skills, education, certification, and credentials. I think that structuring my cover letter and resume to be interesting and attention getting but yet making it easy to read would increase my chances on getting an interview and become an elementary teacher.
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Improving Professional Correspondence
To: T. Leoni, Manager, Personnel Department
From: Donald Pryzblo, Manager, Data Processing Department
Subject: ERRORS ON PAYROLL CHECKS
From: Donald Pryzblo, Manager, Data Processing Department
Subject: ERRORS ON PAYROLL CHECKS
I have discovered some “errors” in the computer files that you may or may not have been aware of recently that you clerks obviously made. I do not feel that the errors were made by my people, but we have made the corrections to the faulty time tickets that your clerks have sent us.
After our discussion, my computer operators are performing a time-consuming task of comparing their entries against the time sheets from which your clerks are miscopying. We hope to fix this situation as soon as possible.
Please consider these concerns and present it to your clerks. I recommend for the future, that you suggest to your clerks to review their work carefully before giving it to my computer operators or have an employee assigned to review all entries before submission. I think this would help us to prevent this situation from occurring in the future. This will save us time and give us better productivity.
In the original email, the writer seemed to be rude and not understanding towards the reader. He was not constructive in his communications and his demeanor was very abrasive. The original email could have caused some conflicts between the personnel manager and the data processing manager. This would not make their departments look good for either of them. In my revised version, I started the email be informing the personnel manager about the discovery of the errors that were made by her clerks. To make this revised email more reader-centered, I presumed that the personnel manager did not have knowledge of the mistakes her clerks have made on the time tickets. In the email, I informed the personnel manager that the computer operators spent a lot of time on the situation to correct the errors on the time sheets. I informed the personnel manager of suggestions that could prevent her clerks from making these mistakes in the future. I feel if I was the personnel manager, I would not want to receive an email, like the original. It would make me feel as if I was not able to do my job efficiently, so I revised the email to be informative and helpful towards the personnel manager. I feel that people are not perfect and they will make mistakes. People can become better workers if we find ways to help each other, instead of bringing each other down. Pointing the blame on each other is not going to make the problem go away but if they help each other it will make their departments stronger.
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Defining My Website's Objectives
Being an elementary teacher can be a rewarding job because you are giving the gift of education to young children that could possible change the world. If you truly have a desire to educate children to the best of your abilities, you will always have job security. I search different university’s education department websites to see how they persuade potential students to join the education major. The two universities that I chose were University of Southern Mississippi and Louisiana State University.
The websites that I thought were more effective and engaging for recruiting potential students to the elementary education major was the University of Southern Mississippi. The University of Southern Mississippi’s Curriculum, Instruction, and Special Education Department’s website was visually appealing, had great color scheme, and had helpful links. I thought the layout was well done and not visually overwhelming, like some other university websites. The website had a nice artistic contrast between the colors and the texts. The website also included photos of children and professional teachers in a classroom setting. By showing these various photos, the University of Southern Mississippi’s primary goal is to let potential students visualize themselves as teachers so they will decide to join the education major. The color scheme on the website was a good choice because the colors not only contrasted well but also represented the university’s colors. The biggest strength about the website was the helpful links. The website listed information about the department, various programs, and job openings. It also has a direct link to the Mississippi State Department of Education Frameworks. All of this links are helpful resources for current education majors and students who recently received their teacher certification. The weakness about the website is the size of the texts. At the top of the webpage the text size seems to be reasonable but as you scroll down the page the size seems to get smaller. This made it hard for me to read but overall I loved the site.
The Louisiana State University’s Department of Educational Theory, Policy, and Practice’s website was less effective and engaging for recruiting potential students. The layout was visually boring and lacked creativity. The website layout was very plain, outdated, and incomplete. The website was only limited to three photos, but the three photos consisted of instructors accompanying their students by either one-on-one or within a group of students. These photos showed variation of methods used by teachers in education which might encourage potential students to join.
I am writing to persuade more people to join the elementary education major because I feel our society needs caring teachers. I hope that this would encourage future teachers to put more thought into the decision making process of choosing a university and obtaining a teaching degree. My primary readers would be elementary education majors like myself who are trying to obtain their teaching certification. My communication would be open for anyone interested but would target mostly elementary education majors. My reader may or may not be well enough informed therefore I will have my communication as detailed as possible. I may or may not know who my readers will be, so I will be sure to have a variety of attractions such as graphics, different fonts and animated photos so my communications will be attractive to all readers. I will be sure to update my communications frequently throughout the school year. This will show my dedication and pride, and my readers will be more pleased that I am up to date with events. My readers might ask about teaching degrees programs or particular registration deadline dates in which I will have a calendar. I will use outlines with bullets to highlight main points and important information. The reader will be informed in an organized sequence of what expectations required within the elementary education program. I want them to be as passionate about wanting to teach as much as me because we need devoted teachers in the future. I want my readers’ attitude to be positive and motivated in becoming a part of their exciting future as an elementary education teacher. I do not think there would be many constraints that could limit the way I could write. What I learned from the other websites that could be useful to keep in mind when creating my website would be to make it visually appealing and well organized. I would want my layout to be captivating so that it would catch the attention of my audience and put more graphics and readable text.
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