Reflective Journal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Reflective Journal - Essay Example It is our destination and the process of reaching the end of that destination. It is the real meaning of Martin Luther King Jr.’s vision: a sympathetic community where race and social class is surpassed and economic and social justice is the tenet and not the exclusion. It is as well the vision of this empowerment paradigm to social work tradition. The paradigm becomes profound and stretches out to integrate further explanation of how-to and for what reason, enlarged by stronger professional, community, multiethnic, multicultural and global points of view on empowerment mechanism and the commemoration of differences. Countless individuals still desire to live in a society where dearly loved community can be built, where caring bonds of affection and knowing unite us together through our differences. We just cannot give up that yearning. We call for such ties not for the reason that we embrace utopian dreams but because we have wrestled throughout our loves to build this community. The petite circles of affection and care we have been able to shape in our personal lives embody a tangible realistic note that beloved community is not a fantasy, that it previously is present for those of us who have carried out the task of enlightening ourselves for higher consciousness. Ambivalence and indecision indicate the likelihood of resistance. The social work business can be signified as a victorious hegemonic knowledge, yet it cannot attain absolute finality on its manner of perceiving the world: One of the unique features is the pursuit for ties of mutuality and collective identities, through which individuals and their concerns and motives are shaped and which transcend involved exchanges between individualized individuals. This pursuit may have been diminished, yet it has not been totally eliminated. There are other discussions wrestling for articulation from users of services provided by social work: types of

John Watson and B.F. Skinner Essay Example for Free

John Watson and B.F. Skinner Essay There are several theories out there on child development, but I’d like to share with you the theory that I believe in and connect with the most. This theory is called Behaviorism and Social- Learning and can be attributed to a psychologist named John Watson (1878-1958) and B.F. Skinner (1904-1990) Watson using classical conditioning which means the learning that takes place based on an association of a stimulus that does not ordinarily elicit a response with another stimulus that does elicit response. It is important to note that in classical conditioning, the stimulus comes before the behavior or response. Skinner using operant conditioning which is defined as a process in which a response is gradually learned via reinforcement or punishment. John Watson and B.F. Skinner introduced this theory and felt that children learned through a system of stimulus/ response events. Watson and Skinner use nurture approach. Development is based upon learned behaviors which are based upon a child’s interactions with their environment and influenced by positive or negative reinforcement. Reinforcement can be both positive and negative. Positive reinforcement is something good for children, whereas negative reinforcement is something unpleasant, but remember this is not to be confused with punishment. One knows there are some drawbacks is that it does not account for children’s culture, their values, and their social influences such as the special relationship between them and their parent or peers. Social learning theory addresses these concerns. As child growing up with my brother my parents used  positive and negative reinforcement. When we did not receive a passing grade we would have to stay inside and work extra hard to pass the next test, or if the gave credit. But if we received a passing grade we would be rewarded by going out to dinner of our choice or getting ice cream. If we did chores around the house we had a choice between the prize or money. If we did not complete the chore we would not receive anything. Most of the time when we did not complete the chore we would get upset, so my parents would explain that when you do a chore you get rewarded, but if you do not do your chores you will not receive anything. I use Behaviorism and Social Learning theory while working with children. If the child had a good day at school I would give them something from the prize box when someone came to get them from school. When they did not have a good day at school and they receive nothing from the prize box, and when someone come to get them I would explain why happened at school, and that is why the child cant receive anything from the prize box today. I am not a parent yet, but when I do become a parent I will be use John Watson and B.F. Skinner theory in teaching my children.

Knowledge, Power and Control :: Philosophy Religion Papers

Knowledge, Power and Control In this paper, I propose to examine some of the issues that arise as a result of the relationship between knowledge and power, and specifically those that concern who should control knowledge and disseminate it in society. This subject is discussed in the writings of Plato and is also commented on by such medieval thinkers as Averroes (Ibn Rushd), Moses Maimonides and St. Thomas Aquinas from the Islamic, Jewish and Christian traditions respectively and their views will be briefly outlined here. Despite the religious, historical and cultural differences which distinguish their approaches from one another, what is remarkable is the similarity in the conclusions that they reach about how noetic power and control is acquired and exercised. They all insist that knowledge should be made selectively available to certain individuals and groups according to noetic ability and social position in the context of the envisaged socio-political model of community that is in operation. Knowledge is perceived as a conserving influence on individual and political life, to be transmitted preferably in an essentially unaltered state in order to maintain sustain the desired socio-cultural value system and power structure. The emphasis is on respect for tradition and for the origins and status of the noetic content to be transmitted through the expertise of those delegated to act as transmitting agents. The content of knowledge is frequently portrayed as mysterious and mystifying, only capable of proper interpretation by appointed specialists. The role of teaching is consequently important since the teacher is the community's appointed expert for disseminating knowledge, as and when appropriate, according to the receptive abilities of those who learn. This epistemological approach appears to be in sharp contrast to the contemporary view of someone like Paulo Freire who insists that knowledge must be democratically available to everyone in order to politically transform society transformation through social justice.(1) This aim is achieved when the noetic process becomes a critical reading of reality, a reflection in action which is applied so that traditional ways of thinking constitute a permanent subject for reinterpretation. Knowledge is perceived in Freirean epistemology as a medium of communication between human beings, a process in which there is no permanently unaltered noetic data but rather an ongoing dialectic strategically pursued through contradiction and constantly aimed at radically redefining how people can coexist in a state of social equality. According to this view, knowledge offers everyone the possibility to think more critically about the world so as to act on it in a more humanising way.

Racism: African American Races Essay

A social problem is a condition that at least some people in a community view as being undesirable. A big social problem in the world told would have to be racism. Some say that racism doesn’t exist but it does. Racism is a very strong word to use I have to say, but there have been a lot of unfairness and discriminations throughout the years in America. Which is what makes me interested in this topic the unfairness people receive from other people because the color of their skin. Some people I know have experienced unfair acts because of the content of their skin. Many people know that racism has occurred in the past when African Americans were treated unfairly being segregated from the opposite race. But most of that changed when people began to fight for equal rights having boycotts, protests, and consistently having those individuals who were racist know that they deserved equal rights as well as they did. And until they receive justice they were going to have their voices heard to receive justice. Racism is just with black people it’s with everybody. Any race can try anything, but there are still going to be those people who just converse with each other about other races. It’s definitely not only the Caucasian race it’s basically every race. The African-American race makes fun of the Caucasian and Latino races. The Latino race makes fun of the Caucasian and African American races. Everybody talks about everybody although it is not right I don’t believe that it will ever stop. I feel there should be a end to it simply because everybody is equal whether we want to believe it or not. So a stop to racism is a must it needs to happen now.

I Used to Live Here Once by Jean Rhys †Analysis Essay

To what lengths will someone ever remember their home and recognize the things they’ve once known? Stories have been used throughout the ages to not only create a tale that can cause to the reader great imagination and wonders, it is also common for them to hide several meanings and twists to the adventure. Through the portraits of her life, and the perils of her adventures, Jean Rhys’ has incorporated many of the paths of her life into the illustrations she had developed into short stories. These representation of her original life represent the strong and key points of her journey where she had felt abundances of emotions; many of which were transcribed into very short tales such as ‘I Use To Live Here Once’ where you may notice the precision on the details, the excess of description on the author’s view and imagination, as well as the direct correlation with herself. The following story entitled as mentioned, tells the tale of a woman returning back to a distant memory, and finds two mysterious figures that will enlighten her truth. Further opinions will be referred to as a base to the literal analysis of the story, in order to understand the feelings of the author. Jean Rhys’ includes a particular genre and writing style in this short story that is built around her personality, the author’s use of the ending helps to symbolize the connection with her life whilst using specific types of imagery and juxtaposition throughout the story. The story debuts on a quite simple scale with one description leading to another where each receive a thorough scan, to which we may notice several types of similes and metaphors used in order to express the themes and tones of the short story. The gradual increase of the ‘truth’ hidden at the end of the story can be understood as you proceed the reading through the use of these writing techniques; these reverses of ‘meaning’ give away odd particularities throughout the whole story: â€Å"She stopped and looked towards the house that had been added to and painted white. It was strange to see a car standing in front of it. (The New Windmill Book, 1994). In this passage we understand that the main character is familiar with the house to begin with and have noticed several changes, this sets a doubt to the reader where the question is raised on what is the relation between the main character and this house. There have been some interference in her writing due to personal problems work as considered by Castro (2000), these interruptions have caused Jean Rhys’ novels to be highly influenced by her perils, she had reached a period of hiatus in her writing life due to alcoholism and financial status. The story ‘I Used To Live Here Once’ has been written shortly after the author had gone back to Dominica to revisit her home to only find it burnt down and different to what she had once known. Being the only visit she had made back to her hometown, this has affected Jean Rhys’ view of her origin and roots. We understand throughout the story many of the correlation of the story with her life, as in one part where she describes the stepping-stones that the character in the story needed to step on to cross the river (The New Windmill Book, 1994, p. 57). By identifying her events and the ones in the story, we can create a relation between these stones and the several encounters with men that the author had. More relation can be made on the similarities between the main character of the story and Jean Rhys herself, such as the feeling of nostalgia shown throughout the entire narrative, especially when the woman in the story is describing the house and children by the tree. In one piece in the story, the heroin had characterized the sky as â€Å"Glassy†. We may confirm that there are some strong emphasis on this particular part of the story as the description of the sky given by the author releases information on the characters being in between two separate worlds (Brady, 2009); the implications stated behind that gap is her eventual situation as a ghost. Whilst the identification began when the explanation on the magnificent blue day was made, there is a notice on the exaggeration and contradictions between what the women in the story felt as it was immediately followed by the unusual illustration of the sky. Moreover, when identifying the nature of the other descriptions made in the story, this confirms the confrontation with the ‘glassy’ comment of the sky. This interpretation showed very strong emotions released by Jean Rhys as it may reflect some feelings of transparency and a lack of presence to the heroin even though she feels being physically present. Considering her involvement in the tale, many features in the story give up nformation on how does the story reflect on the personality of the author. For instance, by looking at the way she had described the environment surrounding the heroin in this story, we can connect through this some of the descriptions, which are majorly contained of effects of degradation and undetected figures, which have been noticed by the main character. These are several hints in connection to some of the traumas Jean Rhys had experienced in her life, as said by author Maren Linett (2005) â€Å"consider Rhys’s exploration of the dark subject of/in female masochism – not, as has been argued by some critics, as an individual psychological kink from which Rhys suffered†¦Ã¢â‚¬  these traumas has therefore raise more questions on Jean Rhys’ writing influence. Furthermore, her incorporation of the two kids in front of the house shows a lot on what and how the author thinks. As stated by herself in the biography, she finds the color black warm and gay whereas she finds the color white cold and sad (The New Windmill Book, 1994, p. 156) considering that she had lived in Dominica and that this story is taking place there, we can identify some forms of irony as she observes and desribes the skin of the children (Brady, 2009) as most of the Europeans who had been born in there had similar skin. Whilst reading the story once, the ending of the story generates a shock to the reader. There is some is some sort of a build up in this narrative, from one description to another, the descriptions that the woman makes creates images to which can imply on beauty of the day. This implies to the lecturer to reconsider the whole journey that the author had used to create symbolisms with her life. Considering the involvement of Jean Rhys’ life in the story, her point of view is revealed through the use of symbolism, to which readers can interpret the types of feelings that she is having in addition to the ones of the character in the story. From this, the sudden appearance of her death helps the reader understand the different implications of what the heroin felt, thus relaying to the connection with Jean Rhys life. As said by Myranda Grencinger (2012) the use of symbolism in this tale allows the emphasis on the ending, which had transported the theme of the narrative to the eyes of the reader; in addition, it had not only showed but also set the tone of the story. All in all, considering the author’s use of her writing style and techniques, genre and personality, we may conclude that the short story â€Å"I Used To Live Here Once† holds many secrets upon the feelings of the character. She had succeeded to include her particular techniques so that the reader can attempt to understand and reevaluate their view on a story. Whilst using specific types of imagery and juxtaposition throughout the story, Jean Rhys has been able to symbolize the connections with her life, thus showing more to the reader of the correlation between the woman and the author. However, none of these writings would create much sense and order to the story without the use of the ending revealing the true nature of the tale. Therefore, many understandings can be made on the life of the author through reading this narrative – but to which extent can an author always create portraits of their life in stories, and how clear these can be understand will eventually depend on the imagination, styles and adventures of writers such as Jean Rhys.

Free Essays on The Reshaping Of Everyday Life

The cultural and developmental aspects of American history in the 17th and 18th centuries are certainly among the most important and influential factors in the shaping of this country's long and storied history. The society that existed at that time had very different views on life and how it should occur. The daily routines were unlike ours even though it may be hard to believe. Even families, which seem to be a non-changing in history, were also distinct in size and order. A big change that occurred was the growth of the country. When the settlers first came to America they settled in villages near the coast. As more and more people migrated to America land for farming started to become scarce. There started to become a larger demand for land due to the fact that agriculture was the leading occupation for new settlers. The government started expanding the country by purchasing land from other countries. With all this new land, people started heading west to purchase their own. (Larkin 6) During the early years of colonization and exploration in North America, the New World collided and brought to each other many new things, both good and bad. There were exchanges of ideas, products and crops that greatly advanced the cultures of all involved, but on the other hand, new diseases, and harsh treatment of one another were also present. Before the arrival of the Europeans to present day United States, the Native Americans treated their homeland with respect and with spiritual properties. Occasionally they burned sections of land in the wilderness for better hunting area, but other than that they provided no threat to its well-being. This all changed when the European settlers arrived. The Europeans believed that humans had domination over the land. By building huge colonies, extensive road systems and for other technological advances, the colonizers greatly changed the face of our nation. Another impact on both the Native Amer... Free Essays on The Reshaping Of Everyday Life Free Essays on The Reshaping Of Everyday Life The cultural and developmental aspects of American history in the 17th and 18th centuries are certainly among the most important and influential factors in the shaping of this country's long and storied history. The society that existed at that time had very different views on life and how it should occur. The daily routines were unlike ours even though it may be hard to believe. Even families, which seem to be a non-changing in history, were also distinct in size and order. A big change that occurred was the growth of the country. When the settlers first came to America they settled in villages near the coast. As more and more people migrated to America land for farming started to become scarce. There started to become a larger demand for land due to the fact that agriculture was the leading occupation for new settlers. The government started expanding the country by purchasing land from other countries. With all this new land, people started heading west to purchase their own. (Larkin 6) During the early years of colonization and exploration in North America, the New World collided and brought to each other many new things, both good and bad. There were exchanges of ideas, products and crops that greatly advanced the cultures of all involved, but on the other hand, new diseases, and harsh treatment of one another were also present. Before the arrival of the Europeans to present day United States, the Native Americans treated their homeland with respect and with spiritual properties. Occasionally they burned sections of land in the wilderness for better hunting area, but other than that they provided no threat to its well-being. This all changed when the European settlers arrived. The Europeans believed that humans had domination over the land. By building huge colonies, extensive road systems and for other technological advances, the colonizers greatly changed the face of our nation. Another impact on both the Native Amer...

Beethovens Symphony No. 9 Essays - Music, Symphony No. 9

Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 Essays - Music, Symphony No. 9 Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 Choral' The 9th Symphony is an amazing piece of music. From the slow opening, to its quick ascent to a powerful clash of instruments, the entire piece is captivating. The incredible part about the entire piece is that from the beginning to the end there is a contrast between soft and loud, always dueling for time. Either there is a strong controlling element running through the music or there is a soft easy melody. The dualism between the deeper instruments playing in contrast to the softer woodwinds makes for an interesting listen. Each time that I have listened to this piece I am always hearing different pieces that I had not heard the time before. The trouble I have had with the piece is that I have a hard time listening to the piece as a whole. Instead I end up hearing either the high pieces or the low pieces, rather than being able to capture the two together as interconnected pieces. Yet, with the excerpts that I have been able to connect the two parts, their differences help unite them into an incredible piece of music. From the onset of the symphony, it appears that the entire piece is based around the conclusion, being Ode to Joy. It seems like everything is just getting ready to build and build into the climax. There being smaller climaxes along the way, but for the most part it is solely preparing the listener for Ode to Joy. The exciting part about the entire piece is that at no time does the listener become lulled into the music and become withdrawn from the music, rather the listener is always attentive to the music waiting and expecting the next note or series of notes, wondering what the composer and conductor have in store. Joseph Glazar November 15, 2000 William Tell This piece by Rossini is a rather devious piece of music. For the most part the listener is put into a position that the entire piece will be rather melodic and peaceful, but in an instant all of that changes and throws the listener for a complete loop. As the Overture warms the listener, one begins to get the idea that a sense of nature is present in the music, with the little chirps from the softer instruments. As the listener continues there begins a low, but ever present rising in intensity coming from all the instruments. From what seemed to be a careless peaceful tone, becomes a menacing and powerful thrust of music. Moreover, as soon as the listener becomes accustomed to the intensity of the music, the composer once again changes it up and softens the mood again. The listener is continuously taken on a roller coaster ride of excitement. The highlight for this listener was the part of the Overture that had been used as the anthem for the Lone Ranger. It is a great example for me of how music can create a vivid memory of life, with it as the background. I have always loved this piece because of how dynamic it was and because of its connection to me as a child. My parents were always trying to find ways for me to enjoy classical music as a child, without creating a distaste for the music. From that I was able to grow into the music. I love the entire piece, and only listen to it in its entirety. The movement through out the piece is very perky, with a little bit of calmness. The listener does not have the opportunity to become complacent with a melody, before it is quickly changed into something that makes one's heart pound. This is an absolutely incredible piece of music. Joseph Glazar November 22, 2000 European History Bibliography The novel that I read for historical reference was that of Charles Darwin's Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex. A.L. Burt Company, Publishers, New York. 1871. p713