Reflective Account Essay Example for Free

Reflective Account Essay On an occasion at work I was aware of a staff member communicating very negatively, for example sighing and tutting and general negativity. Supervision was due so it was brought into meeting that last had concerned had noticed a change in the person’s general attitude, I asked if there was a specific reason and was told there was not. Although they agreed that they were being negative. We discussed the workload and it was decided it was not that. It was mentioned by the staff member that they were feeling a little unsure of how to deal with a service user who had dementia and was unpredictable and seemed to have taken a dislike to the staff member . We discussed at length the way forward and I arranged for some training in challenging behaviour and dementia. The staff member realised she could not avoid the service user and that if she had mentioned her concerns sooner the problem would not have escalated. She tried to hide her feelings but they were shown in a different way. I agreed to mentor and support the staff member with the service user helping her to find an appropriate approach, the service user was feeding on the negative behaviour of the staff .In a few weeks the situation was improved undoubtedly and the staff member is more positive and no longer showing any sign of negativity. I recorded everything we had discussed and we both signed it. At the following supervision the staff had been on a training workshop and was awaiting further news of more. She mentioned previously that she felt it was a weakness in her that is why she had tried to cover it up but since our discussion and my ongoing support she would never hesitate to mention any concerns she had in the future. I felt that we needed to improve activity at the Centre; the service users are a mixed group (physically and mentally frail) so I needed to find something they could all do and enjoy. I signed myself onto three one day courses with another staff member. The courses were all different but aimed at dementia sufferers. The first one ‘Bringing stories to Life ‘, I thought was going to be about putting together a Life Story, I could not have been more wrong! The ice-breaker at the beginning of the workshop was letter bingo, it involved walking around so I have adapted this so that my service users are seated, we use sets of the 26 letters of the alphabet and the service user chooses a letter and then gives me a word beginning with that letter before answering a quiz question, which I write down and while they are playing two alike trying to match up. I take the words and make up a little story or poem. The feedback from that activity has been very positive. Also from the workshop which involved using props to tell a story I have been able to do this activity several times? Using the props seems to help the quietest of the service user to join in and the feedback discussion afterwards have become very enjoyable to all. The second workshop was about using pictures (not personal) to story tell. Again this activity has been very successful, there was one or two people who were unsure but has we progressed they too joined in. The picture is given to the service user and they are asked open ended questions about it and everything is validated. Before we start we decide who is going to scribe and afterwards that person will firstly read back what as been said and ask if the service users would like to add anything? When everybody is satisfied the scriber will type the ‘story ‘ up and each service user gets a copy , we keep a copy in a folder for all to look at and we also pin a copy too our notice board . The third workshop was along the same line but using senses to make a story/poem, again we have done this a couple of times. We used a bottle of water some soil in a bag, cotton wool, leaves and bubbles, we pass the items around the room one at a time and ask the service user to say the first word they thought of when looking / touching or smelling the item .one thing we came up against was that the service users said the same thing as the previous person, so we are trying to adapt this activity further. From all three workshops I and my staff member redeveloped our armchair exercise which we do daily. We had heard the service users discuss how they were bored with doing the same exercise week after week and listening to the same music disc. So we put together some more upbeat music and sat and compiled our version of seated exercise ,using the same safe exercise taking advice from one of our other services ‘Ageing Well’ who had spent several weeks showing us seated exercise . Of course before we started any of the new activities we had a meeting with all the staff who were going to be involved. We discussed what we had learnt from each workshop and asked for feedback from the staff, some of them felt unsure about using the props and pictures, so me and the staff member who came with me agreed to lead the first one, we arranged a date and agreed on a theme for it and it was decided we would use props for the first one .I was to lead and the staff member was going to scribe. Before we started we went to each service user and asked them to sign a consent form to allow us to take photographs. This would allow another staff to get a little involved with out feeling to unsure .the discussion /feedback with the service users was great ,they were still talking about how much they had enjoyed themselves when they were going home. They were excited when I told them that there would be photographs to look at the following week. I discussed with the staff the following day how they felt about the activity and was pleased they were all positive. I continued to share taking the lead with the staff member who attended the training with me for several sessions to enable the other staff to be able to learn from us. Although with all the activities there is no right or wrong way. That is why we validate everything that is said. The change in the majority of service users is a pleasure to see, even the quietest person as become much more vocal and willing to join in with most of the activities we do. One person in particular who is hard of hearing and registered blind joins in, when in the past he as chosen not to. He still talks about certain themes we have done the story telling to, for example at Halloween we took the opportunity to do this theme, we used pumpkins and plastic spiders, I passed these things around the room and we used ‘The Monster Mash’ song to do some light movement to music before using props to make up a story relevant to the theme. I asked the service user to describe the spider, for example what he thought it was felt like and he got really into it and even had a photograph taken. Since then I have heard him telling others about ‘the day we let him hold the Tarantula ‘and how he danced to ‘spooky music’. Changing what we do and the way we do it as had a very positive effect all the way round. We still do the other activities for example Bingo, dominoes etc.During our action plan meeting we discuss which service users are in the centre that day and adapt our activity to suit, of course what we plan for the day may change if we ask the service users they may want to do another thing so if we can we will accommodate the majority. Usually the day is spent doing group work but if needed we do offer one to one.

The Style, Technique, and Structure of Conrads Heart of Darkness Essay

The Style, Technique, and Structure of Heart of Darkness   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The novella Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad is proof that a novel does not have to be long to have literary merit. Heart of Darkness is quite short, yet intriguing, due to the content of the novel. Much like Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Heart of Darkness overwhelms the reader by the power of the story so that one will never feel quite satisfied with their attempts to intellectualize the experience (Adelman 8).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Heart of Darkness was written during the time of British imperialism and extreme exploitation of Africans in the Congo. The British were exploiting the Africans in an effort to extract ivory from the primitive jungle. Throughout the novel, Conrad expresses his dislike with the 'civilized' white people exploiting the 'savage' black Africans. Conrad also uses several literary devices in his writing to portray and express several messages. The writing style, techniques, structure and themes in Heart of Darkness all combine to create one of the most renowned, respected and mysterious novels of all time. Conrad wrote an ultimate enigma for readers to interpret and critically analyze for years to come.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Conrad's excellence in style is very controversial; some believe that he is "a literary genius" (Adelman 16), while others "criticize him for being limited, pretentious and vague" ((Adelman 16). Throughout the novel, Conrad uses ample amounts of descriptive language, vivid imagery, and powerful symbolism. The vague part is that he leaves it up to the reader to interpret his mysterious and 'unspeakable' enigmas. Conrad's descriptive language in Heart of Darkness is present from the beginning to the end. With the opening paragraphs d... ...xperience" (Adelman 8). Overall, readers must interpret for themselves which meanings Conrad intended or if he intended all the meanings. This deep novel by Joseph Conrad is not easy to read but is valuable knowledge once it is read.    Works Cited Adelman, Gary. Heart of Darkness: Search for the Unconscious. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1987. Conrad, Joseph. The Heart of Darkness. Ed. Cedric Watts. London: Everyman, 1995. Fothergill, Anthony. Open Guides to Literature: Heart of Darkness. Philadelphia: Open University Press, 1989. Glassman, Peter J. Language and Being: Joseph Conrad and the Literature of the Personality. New York and London: Columbia: University Press, 1976. Tindall, W.Y. "The Duty of Marlow." In Conrad's Heart of Darkness and the Critics. Ed. Bruce Harkness. Belmont, California: Wadsworth Publishing Company Inc., 1968.

Research Paper on Fun Things Essay

For this assignment, you will compose a ten-page research paper on a great thinker chosen from the attached list. There are three components to this assignment. The first is that you will write about the major thought, idea, or system of belief for which the great thinker was known. Secondly, you will write about two or three ways in which the teachings of the great thinker influenced history. Thirdly, you will provide a thoughtful analysis of at least one idea touted by the great thinker. You will need to research and properly document eight to ten scholarly sources using the MLA standard for citation. In addition to writing the paper, you will be learning and implementing a way to organize your research and writing. You will receive two grades for this assignment: one for the final paper and one for the research and writing prep work. Research Component Research is an important skill for college students to learn and implement. When done well, research will help strengthen an argument, prove a point, verify facts, and explain with first-hand knowledge. At its most basic level, research is studying the works of experts in any given field. For instance, if I want to research heart surgery, I will locate experts in the field of cardiology and read what they say about the heart. In reading their works, which may consist of published studies, medical journal articles or medical books, or informative medical websites or blogs, I am presuming and appealing to their expert knowledge and skill in an area I know little or nothing about. In short, I’m reading and studying their work in order to learn. For your research paper, you will be appealing to the expert knowledge of a great thinker. You will research articles and/or books that were either written by the great thinker (we call this a primary source) or by someone who studied the great thinker (we call this a secondary source). For example, let’s say you are studying Jonathan Edwards (great puritan theologian). Were you to read and study his actual sermons, you would be researching a primary source. Were you to read and study what John Piper (present day pastor and avid Jonathan Edwards fan) has written about the theology of Jonathan Edwards, then you would be conducting secondary research. Both primary and secondary sources are very valuable when writing research papers. Usually primary research is considered to be the most reliable in that it is closest to the original (the idea originator, the eye-witness account, the photograph, etc†¦). A good research paper will be able to navigate both types of research and carefully integrate it appropriately. For the purposes of this assignment, you’ll be doing both because you’ll be concerned with what the great thinker actually taught and that will best be discovered by his or her actual writings, and you’ll be concerned with how his or her thoughts influenced history, which is most likely written by other scholars. In addition to conducting primary and secondary research, you’ll need to make sure that your sources are consider scholarly; that is, your sources come from people who have appropriate expertise in the field of you are studying. This will not be an issue with your primary sources because you will go straight to the source (i.e., you’ll study the writings or Marx or Lewis), but it will be more of an issue in secondary sources. How to tell if an article or book is considered scholarly or written by an authoritative expert in the field can be tricky, but here are a few rules: 1. Does the author have an educational background that would account for the knowledge in the article or book? 2. In the case of articles, is it published in a peer-reviewed journal? 3. Does the article or book offer analysis and critique of original sources or just give mere impressions or opinions? Another term I have mentioned in regards to research is MLA citation (Modern Language Association). MLA is a method of citation that is used primarily in the humanities that indicates the source of your research. Learning MLA citation rules takes time and lots of effort, but it is a necessary part of conducting and writing a well-researched paper. For this assignment, you’ll need at least eight scholarly sources that may include journal articles or books but may NOT include websites. There will be in-class lectures that will teach you where to locate scholarly resources and how to properly keep track and cite them. As I see it, there are two major avenues of research for this paper: the first is research involving the actual ideas of the great thinker. The second is research involving the analysis of the thinker’s ideas. Content of Research Paper As mentioned in the assignment overview, there are two components to this research paper. The first is that you will research the major idea or set of ideas for which the great thinker was known. This will be the first section of the research paper and will include a thorough explanation of the great thinker’s idea or ideas and he or she came to belief or think in such a way. The second section of the paper will include a discussion on two or three of the major ways the great thinker’s ideas influenced history. The third section is where you provide thoughtful analysis about at least one of the great thinker’s ideas. This is not, necessarily, an argument, but rather it is an opportunity for you to break down the idea and comment on it yourself. Although I’m more interested in your analysis, it may help to research how others have analyzed and critiqued your great thinker’s ideas. In this section you may 1. Critique the thinker’s idea 2. Break down the thinker’s ideas and provide additional clarification or implication 3. Show how different scholars have viewed or interpreted the great thinker’s ideas and whether agree or disagree 4. Show why the thinker’s ideas produced negative or positive effects on society, theology, history, etc. 5. Any combination of the above. Please note that I do not wanting you to write a biography; that is, I do not want detailed discussion on the great thinker’s family history, marriage, hobbies, physical appearance, personal health, friends, etc. unless is it absolutely pertinent to his or her intellectual contribution. Paper Organization Each of you will be required to create an outline for your paper and turn it in as part of the assignment. Additionally, you will be required to keep track of all research and turn in your research notes. Research Organization I will require you to keep track of your sources through Microsoft One Note or Word, whichever works best for you. For every source you look at, you’ll need to record the following information: 1. Source Title- title of the article or book 2. Source Location-book, ebook with web address, journal article with web address 3. Source Citation- MLA citation as it would appear in your works cited page 4. What-what information are you using from the source. If it is short, type it here. If it is a chapter or large section, write down the major idea or some key words and the necessary information to find it in your source easily (page or section numbers, headings, etc.). 5. Plan- how you plan on using the information You will have at least eight records with the above information, although it is much more likely you’ll have more and may not use all sources in the actual writing of the paper. That is okay. Note: Make sure you accurately record information for every source because you won’t remember. Grading Criteria: Each paper will be graded on the following: 1. Accurate, detailed, and thoughtful discussion and analysis of the great thinker’s ideas 2. Coherent, fluid prose 3. Accurate implementation of MLA citation 4. Integration of scholarly sources 5. Proper adherence to Standard English grammar and style 6. Proper adherence to page length and formatting guidelines

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