National Literacy Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

National Literacy Strategy - Essay Example To address suggestions on improving the ways in which children learn to read, the National Literacy Strategy was conceived in 1998, but by 2003 it was evident that more new concepts were needed. Results indicated that areas of need for children learning how to read still existed. Marian Sainsbury, principal researcher at the National Foundation for Educational Research, includes in a Literacy Today article (2004) a survey of 4,671 children, Years 4 and 6 combined, comparing 1998 with 2003, which shows that in 2003 children were significantly less interested in reading and going to the library, more interested in watching TV [SEE chart, next page]. Children surveyed in 2003, "after five years of teaching according to the National Literary Strategy" (par. 11), did show more confidence and independence, but although there had been some improvement in reading skills for the pupils in England, by comparison, their enjoyment of reading was poor. Sainsbury notes that teachers rather than the children often choose the reading material for the "literacy hour" in some schools. This is a practice that might discourage a child's interest in further reading, since the child has no input. Children do prefer reading by themselves silently and at home, and giving them more choices in the school setting might well increase their interest level. In a University of Reading press release (2003... They were invited to discuss the subject further by writing brief papers, expressing their concerns. The published papers are presently available at www.ncll.or.uk. According to the press release, "The authors argue against attempts to analyse and categorise the novel, story or poem, to 'stick labels on it, teach-and-preach it into a coma . . . or kill it off altogether with some kind of test' " (par. 3). The effort to meet curriculum needs in the classroom in early education creates stress, and teachers don't feel they can give pupils more freedom to learn at their own pace because they have to meet certain standards. Some of the issues addressed by the Early Years Curriculum Group (2000) that continue to be relevant in 2006 are listed below. They confirm the need for a more relaxed setting: The current emphasis on literacy and numeracy is having a negative effect on some young children's earliest experiences, particularly in the maintained sector and most particularly in children's reception year (par. 1.2) There is substantial evidence from research in this country, and from overseas, that a later start to more formal aspects of language and literacy learning will lead to quicker gains in competence in reading and writing, and actually to higher standards at age nine or 10 (1.5). Reporter Wendy Berliner, in her Guardian article "War of Words" (2005), outlines the success of a Scottish reading program using synthetic phonics and discusses the pros and cons of the system. In 1998, three hundred Scottish children were taught to read using diverse programs. Of the three programmes followed, synthetic phonics showed the best results after seven years. The proponents of

Healthy Grief Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Healthy Grief - Essay Example The positive attitude develops as a result of someone acknowledging that the departed person or item is irreversible. The acknowledgment will help a person to act a near normal in case of departure. The positive attitude towards grief is what the psychologists refers to as a healthy grief. There are five stages that are involved when helping a bereaved person to recover from the grief. The grieving process established by Kubler-Ross projects some reactions that Job underwent in his life that is described in the Bible. The denial stage is the beginning point of the healing process. At this stage, the bereaved person will want to deny his or her real situation that he or she is facing (Kubler-Ross, 1969, p. 140). In other words, as the term denial suggests, the person will want to focus on other issues in order to feel like he or she is acting on the normal life. Drawing the perspective from the biblical account of Job, after all his children and animals died, he acted as though there was nothing happened to him. He preferred to suggest that all he had was given to him by God and if he had decided to take it back; he had no other measure to deal with the situation. The second stage that forms part of Kubler-Ross grief process is that of anger (Kubler-Ross, 1969). Shortly after the denial process, the bereaved person will come to the reality that he or she has lost a dear one or a property that is so valuable. There is an increase of emotional pain that affect the bereaved person (Nithyananda, 2007, p. 175). The person begins to be troubled by questions regarding the cause of the loss. For example, you will hear people asking, why did this happened to me? The power of anger in manifested in many ways and blames will arise towards himself and to others. In the Biblical story of Job, we see him having anger in the way he tore his clothes and went into the road and stayed without food. The only thing he did was to sit on the road