Observation

Child Observation Background The child that I chose to observe was a nine year old boy that I will refer to as Dan. Dan is a highly gifted child who, unfortunately, suffers from cerebral palsy, as well as panic attacks. His parents are divorced and he lives with his mother, who has remarried. His father who also has remarried, does have contact with him, though the relationship is somewhat strained. He comes from an upper middle class background, and has no brothers or sisters. I observed Dan in the waiting room for about an hour (his mother was good enough to bring him in for his appointment a little early so that I could observe him).

The room contained many toys and books for varying ages, as well as a number of magazines for both kids and adults. The walls were covered with different pictures and posters, and there were a number of chairs. Observation Dan’s mother, Molly, helped him into the office by supporting him under his arms. His upper body works normally but he has trouble with his legs, particularly his lower legs, and is unable to walk on his own. His mother took him immediately to the corner of the room containing the toys and books, then lowered him to the floor.

Dan picked out a science book that appeared to be geared towards children a few years older than he. Lying on the floor, he began to read aloud and frequently questioned his mother, who sat in a nearby chair, about pronunciation of words, as well as dates and background information on famous scientists mentioned in the text. His mother answered all of his questions, and when she did, he engaged her in further conversation about the subject until he was sure that he understood. His mother was then called into the office to speak with the doctor alone.

Before leaving, she asked Dan if he needed to use the restroom (he needs her help to do so). He told her he was fine, and she went into the office. At this point, Dan and I were the only two people in the room. He continued to read aloud after his mother had left. With her gone, he engaged in private speech when he came to a word he did not know, or a subject he was unfamiliar with. His conversations with himself were very similar to those he had with his mother. About ten minutes after his mother had left, Dan began looking over at me occasionally, but only for a second before going back to his reading.

When he was unsure of a word, he repeated it several times before moving on. His reading grew gradually quieter until I could not always make out the words. At one point, he came across a word that he did not know and began reasoning to himself as follows: “This must be an English word…although I speak English, so maybe it’s from a different country… or maybe they only use it in England. ” Dan looked at me several times as he attempted to reason through this, but did not ask me for help. After that, he closed the book and looked around the room.

He pulled a rock the size of a large marble from his pocket, and began brushing it lightly against first a nearby chair leg, then his own sneaker. He sat up, experimented with throwing the rock at his left hand, which he held open, palm facing his right hand. I should note that he did not appear to be trying to catch it, but I could not be sure. At any rate, he never did catch it in the several times that he threw it. He then rolled it down his arm a couple of times, before throwing it straight up in the air, leaving his hand out, but not moving it at all as the rock fell past it.

At this point Dan looked at me for about five or ten seconds straight, the first time he had done more than glance at me. He then pushed the book away and crawled over to a large aluminum can with a lid on it that was filled with toys. He brushed the rock lightly against it, but did not open it. Next, he looked at me and smiled. He asked me if he was bothering me and I told him he was not. He told me he did not want to distract me if I was studying. I answered that I was just writing something for school and that he was not distracting me at all.

He said that he did not want to be bothersome and that he had been trying to be as non-distracting as possible. I told him not to worry about it and to just do whatever he wanted. After that, he began to talk to me a great deal. He told me about a book that he had read in the waiting room before and asked if I had ever read it. I answered that I had not and he told me all about it. He said it allowed you to put different wigs and clothes on different people and that he really liked it a lot. He went on to say that it was “a lot of fun, but it’s not here anymore so someone must have took it.

I don’t know who took it though. ” He then pulled down another book with big wobbly eyes that were placed to be on a different picture every time you turned the page. He asked me if I ever saw this book and I told him that I had. He said that it was “a really cool book. ” He then started reading it aloud, looking over at me occasionally as he did so. A little later, as he continued to read, his mother came back in and asked again if he needed to use the restroom. He told her he did not, and she lifted him up and helped him into the office for his appointment.

Interpreting the Observation The first thing that struck me about Dan’s behavior was that he ignored the toys and magazines, and went straight for the books. Not only that, the first book that he picked out was obviously geared towards kids several years older than he. I knew going into the observation that Dan was highly gifted, and combining that with his physical disability, it made sense that he would be an avid reader and , relative to the other kids his age, a very advanced one. This proved to be true.

Gambrell (1994) says that a child who is motivated to learn will read for a number of reasons, including to gain knowledge. This certainly seemed to be the case with Dan as he was very intent on being sure that he understood exactly what he was reading. Many kids read because they have to, and they learn so that they will get an “A” in school; Dan was reading and learning for the sole purpose of gaining knowledge. This is not surprising given the fact that gifted children have been found to have significantly higher intrinsic motivation to learn all subject areas than do their peers (Gottfried & Gottfried 1996).

This study went on to say that “From the early years through adolescence, children who are identified as gifted evidence superior persistence, attention, curiosity, enjoyment of learning and orientation toward mastery and challenge. This was mirrored in the enthusiasm with which Dan went about the task of reading and being sure that he understood what he had read. The fact that his mother allowed him to pick out a book himself could be relevant to Dan’s apparent motivation to read.

Gambrell (1994) reports that over 80% of children name books that they picked out themselves when asked about those they most enjoyed. In contrast, only 10% talked about books that were chosen for them. A strong correlation was shown to exist between a child’s being allowed to choose his own book and his intrinsic motivation to read. Gambrell further reports that learning through books is enhanced by social interactions, which further increase his desire to read. Dan obviously demonstrated this through the conversation he had with his mother while reading.

After his mother left, Dan made frequent use of Vygotsky’s private speech (overt verbalizations not intended for a listener), particularly in the form of questions to himself. I saw this as both modeling his earlier conversations with his mother, and actively trying to learn new words and information. Goodman (1981) found that, in problem solving tasks, questions to self occurred more frequently following failures. This too, was the case with Dan who would often ask himself questions after being unable to pronounce a word or figuer out its meaning.

Goodman also found that a hight rate of verbaliztions during problem solving tast was associated with increased efficiency. This is consistent with the fact that Dan, who made frequent use of such verbalizations, was a very advanced reader for his age. His frequent glances at me during particularly troublesome spots could have been related to social referencing. He appeared to want to ask me for help, but never did. Instead he simply looked at me as he tried to pronounce the word, as if trying to guage my facial reaction to see if he was right.

Conclusion Dan appeared to be, aside from his diagnosed problems of cerebral palsy and panic attacks, a fairly normal, though cognitively advanced, nine year old boy. His reading every thing aloud struck me as somewhat unusual, and I have no sure explanantion as to why; perhaps he feels that he learns better through auditory stimulation. He also seemed to use private speech more than the average nine year old would, but as I discussed earlier, some studies have linked this to better problem solving abilities and high cognitive performance.

References Gambrell, L. B. , (1994). What motivates children to read? Scholastic Literacy Research Paper, 2 Gottfried, A. E. & Gottfried, A. W. , (1996). A longitudinal study of academic intrinsic motivation in intellectually gifted children; Childhood through early adolescence. Gifted Child Quarterly, 40 (4), 179-183 Goodman, S. H. , (1981). The intergration of verbal and motor behavior in preschool children. Child Development. 52 (1), 280-289

Voice specialists make critical diagnostic, medical, therapeutic, and surgical decisions by coupling visual observations Of vocal fold tissue motion with auditory-perceptual assessments of voice quality. The details of the relationship between vocal fold tissue motion and the acoustic voice signal are not fully understood, and there is recent evidence that the acoustic impact of visual judgments of vibratory asymmetry may be overestimated during clinical voice assessment.

A series of three descriptive studies is proposed to systematically describe the co-variations among measures of vocal fold vibratory asymmetries and visual-perceptual judgments, acoustic voice properties, and therapeutically ratings. First, recent findings describing co-variations been subjective visual judgments and basic objective measures of vocal fold vibratory asymmetry in subjects with and without vocal pathologies will be validated with automated algorithms.

After replicating these results, image-based measures will be further refined to consider additional dimensions in the left-right and anterior-posterior planes f the images. Second, it is proposed to apply the developed objective measures of asymmetry to voice data from a new subject population with vocal pathologies that will be evaluated using a state-of-the-art system for laryngeal high-speed videophones. The new system will enable the validation Of hypothesized relationships between vocal fold vibratory asymmetry measures and objective acoustic voice measures at unprecedented temporal resolution.

Preliminary work has revealed mild co-variations between average values of vocal fold vibratory asymmetry and traditional acoustic perturbation assure, and new acoustic correlates of vocal fold vibratory asymmetries will be explored using knowledge of their effects on voice production. Third, an initial study is proposed to characterize the influences of vocal fold vibratory asymmetry on the auditory perception of voice quality. This study more directly addresses the clinical reality that voices are assessed by relating vocal fold tissue vibratory patterns to the voice quality of a patient during a standard examination.

Voice specialists make critical diagnostic, medical, therapeutic, and surgical decisions based on coupling visual observations of vocal fold tissue motion With auditory-perceptual assessments of voice quality (Zestiest et al. , 2007). While clinical experiences indicate that this approach is generally valid, it is inherently limited to case-by-case observations, and the details of the relationship be;en vocal fold tissue action and the acoustic voice signal are not fully understood.

Recent evidence indicates that visual judgments of vocal fold vibratory patterns may not adequately reflect changes in objective measures of the acoustic signal (Haven et al. , 2003). Furthermore, “the anecdotal reports and stroboscopic findings of a prevalent typical amount of asymmetry cause a concern, in that it may indicate an increase in overreactions of laryngeal pathology’ (Shaw and Delivery, 2008).

The overall goal of this project is to better understand the relationship between vocal fold tissue motion and the acoustic characteristics f the glottal voicing source so that clinical methods for assessing voice production can be improved. This work is made possible by recent advances in high-speed digital imaging, which provides adequate sampling for detailed intra- and inter-cycle comparisons between vocal fold tissue motion and the concomitant acoustic voice waveform.

A series of three descriptive studies is proposed to systematically describe the co-variations among traditional and more advanced measures of vocal fold vibratory asymmetry and their impact on visual judgments, acoustic voice properties, and auditory-perceptual tings. First, it is proposed to replicate and improve upon recent findings describing co-variations between subjective visual judgments and basic objective measures of left-right vocal fold vibratory asymmetry in subjects with and without vocal pathologies (Bonham et al. , AAA; Bonham et al. Bibb). After validating the baseline co-variations with more automatic algorithms for computing left-right asymmetry, the image-based measures will be further developed and optimized based on the visual judgments Of vocal fold vibratory asymmetry in both the left-right and anterior-posterior dimensions. Second, the developed objective measures of asymmetry will be applied to voice data from a new subject population exhibiting vocal pathologies who will be evaluated using a state-of-the-art system for laryngeal high-speed videophones.

The new system will allow for the validation of hypothesized relationships between vocal fold vibratory asymmetry measures and objective acoustic voice measures at unprecedented temporal resolution. Preliminary work has revealed mild cavitations between overall values of vocal fold vibratory asymmetry measures and traditional acoustic perturbation measures. Acoustic correlates of vocal fold vibratory symmetries will be explored using knowledge of their effects on voice production. Third, an initial study is proposed to characterize the influences of vocal fold vibratory asymmetry on the auditory perception of voice quality.

This study more directly addresses the clinical reality that voices are assessed by relating vocal fold tissue vibratory patterns to the voice quality of a patient during a standard stroboscopic examination. 1. 2 Thesis proposal structure This thesis proposal is organized as follows. First, Section 2 outlines the three specific aims and associated hypotheses of the proposed investigation, along tit a timeline of goals. Section 3 continues with background information on voice production mechanisms and reviews relevant research studies characterizing vocal fold vibratory asymmetries and the acoustic voice signal.

Section 4 introduces work that investigated the co-variations between a preliminary measure of vocal fold vibratory asymmetry and traditional acoustic perturbation measures. Section 5 follows with the research design and methods for the three studies proposed. F-anally, Section 6 concludes with information regarding the use of humans as subjects in these studies.

Specific Aims

A series of three studies is proposed to investigate the influence of vocal fold vibratory asymmetries on the acoustic voice signal. Specific aims and associated hypotheses of these studies are detailed below. Investigate co-variations between visual judgments of vocal fold vibratory’ asymmetry and objective measures of vocal fold vibratory asymmetry in subjects with and without vocal pathologies Aim 1 proposes to validate and improve upon recent findings describing co- variations between subjective visual judgments and objective image-based measures of left-right vocal fold vibratory asymmetry in a subject population thou vocal pathologies.

The recent findings have documented moderate correlations between visual-perceptual ratings and a basic objective measure of vibratory asymmetry of the left and right vocal folds (Bonham et al. ). Completely automated image-based measures of asymmetry will be developed to replicate the published co-variations with visual ratings on the same data. After validating the automated algorithms for computing asymmetry measures, the image-based measures will be refined and optimized with respect to the peculiarities judgment data to improve pond the baseline co-variations in subject populations with and without vocal pathologies.

It is hypothesized that the new image-based measures of vocal fold vibratory asymmetry will co-vary with visual asymmetry judgments to a higher degree than previous image-based measure because of the ability to capture and integrate more temporal and spatial information from the image data. Acoustic voice signal in subjects with vocal pathologies Aim 2 proposes to apply the developed objective measures of asymmetry to voice data collected from a new subject population with vocal pathologies hat will be evaluated using a statute-the-art system for laryngeal high-speed videophones.

The system will allow the validation of hypothesized relationships between vocal fold vibratory measures and objective acoustic voice 8 measures, on an average and frame-by-frame basis. Preliminary work has revealed mild co-variations between average values of vocal fold vibratory asymmetry and traditional acoustic perturbation measures (jitter, shimmer, and harmonics-to-noise ratio). As a result, these measures will be applied to a larger subject population and explore new acoustic correlates of vocal fold vibratory asymmetries using knowledge of voice production mechanisms.

Such studies are inducted by scientists or researchers wanting to study the behavior of an organism (including humans) in a natural setting. It can be useful in collecting data that clearly reflects the constraints of an organism’s normal environment and in the case where experimental techniques would be impractical or unethical. This report outlines the data collected during the sessions with each child. Will refer to Piglet’s Cognitive Development Theory to demonstrate how it is useful in determining different stages of development. I will also outline my observations of both children in terms of where they fit in regards to Piglet’s Cognitive Development Theory.

Setting My observations were of two siblings; a four year old girl and a five year old boy. I made arrangements to do the observation through a friend of mine, who has two children under the age of six. I have known this family for three years. The first observation was of the four year old girl (M), which took place on August 19, 2014 starting at 2:23 pm outside in the backyard of their home. Present was her older brother (T – 5 years old), her mother (J), a female friend of the family (C), a medium sized German shepherd, who is the family dog (K) and myself.

The backyard was quite large with a large play center with a swing set attached. The sky was a little clouded over, but it was still warm outside. The adults were sitting on the deck around the patio table. The children were told was there to do some work. They did not really pay too much attention to me. I interacted a little with the adults at the table so that I did not seem out of place to the children. My presence did not seem to affect the children at all. Sat with my chair facing the whole backyard so that I could see the children at all times.

The second observation was of the five ear old boy I made arrangements with the mother to do the second observation with this child later the same week. The observation took place on August 22, 2014 at 1:08 pm outside in the backyard of their home. This family is preparing to move in one week; therefore the backyard Was the best place to do the observation at the home. Present was his (M- 4 years old), his mother 0), a medium sized German shepherd, who is the family dog (K) and myself. The backyard was quite large with a large play center with a swing set attached.

The sky was a little clouded over, but it was till warm outside. The mother and I were sitting on the deck around the patio table. The children were told I was there again to do some work. They again did not really pay too much attention to me. I interacted a little with their mother at the table so that did not seem out of place to the children. My presence did not seem to affect the children at all. Sat with my chair facing the whole backyard so that could see the children at all times.

Results

Self-concept

M pointed out that she did her hair all by herself when C arrived and M also showed C her new purse.

M also shows the ability to scribe how she is feeling about her brother s actions, “l don ‘t like it when T hits me with his sword” or when she tells T, “I want to be alone right now”.

Gross motor skills

M demonstrated gross motor skills indicative off normal 4 year old. During the time of observation she displayed running around the backyard both with her brother and with the family dog, walking over to the play center, climbing over the chair on the deck, somersaults in the grass and jumping off the chair and off the family friend’s lap.

Fine motor skills

M demonstrated normal fine motor skills.

She cut open her fruit knack package with scissors without difficulty. She put on her own shoes (fastened believer) on the correct feet before going outside to play.

Vocal & language development

M demonstrated the ability to form sentences more than 4 to 6 words. For example; “l told you I want to be alone”. She showed the ability to ask ‘Why ‘ questions. She shows an understanding of prepositions when her mother told her that her purse was behind her. She does, however have some grammatical difficulties and people other than her family do have difficulty deciphering what she is saying at times.

According to ere mother she has been seen by a Speech & Language Pathologist and will be working with them on her speech.

Social & emotional development

M showed a lot of interest in playing with her brother; however was also fine playing with the family dog as well. She appeared to really enjoy the imaginative play with her brother while playing the sword fight; however did upset easily if the game was not going her way and did change the rules quite a bit to her brother’s dismay. She was quite distracted by the family dog and tended to her a lot.

She displayed some difficulty with moral reasoning on he swing set when she was calling her brother a “party pants” repeatedly until he got upset. When her brother kept getting in trouble instead of her she did not seem to be aware of his feelings when he was upset, instead she kept antagonizing him.

Cognitive development

M understands the concept of grouping and matching as displayed when she was helping her mother with the puzzle and when taking items out of her purse. She also showed the ability to count from 1 to 10 when she was taking the items out of her purse.

She showed the ability to identify secondary colors when showing the family friend her new “pink” purse. She was able to answer simple questions. She was also able to identify common objects and what they are used for; for example the family dogs ball, scissors, hat.

Results (Child T)

Gross motor skills

T demonstrated gross motor skills indicative of a normal 5 year old. During the time of observation he displayed running around the backyard, skipping, jumping, walking on just his hands, doing handstands, and hanging on the bars upside down on the play centre.

Fine motor skills

T demonstrated normal fine motor skills. He put on his own shoes (fastened by velour) on the correct feet before going outside to play. He was able to use scissors to open his sour patch kids, which was his snack that afternoon. Ill.

Vocal & language development

T demonstrated the ability to form sentences more than 4 to 6 words. For example; “I’m goanna throw it really high”, “There is a wasp in your ear, Can I have friends over later”? He demonstrated the ability to ask “why” questions. He does not have any speech or grammatical difficulties.

He appears to have met all of his developmental milestones for his age.

Social & emotional development

It is quite apparent that T really enjoys imaginative play and is able to accomplish this either with others or by himself. He did not partake in any imaginative play with his sister this time; however did do some imaginative play on his own pretending to be a gymnast who was displaying his talents for a crowd, as he bowed for people when he completed a stunt on the bars or completed a handstand. He also engaged in imaginative play with the family dog pretending she was his dragon.

He also is able to talk quietly to himself while playing on his own, but does not seem to be talking to or imaginary friend.

Cognitive development

T understands the concept of grouping and matching as displayed when he was putting all the same lord sour patch kids together and separating them. He also noted which ones had less in each group than the others. He let those for last. He demonstrated the ability to count from 1 to 10 and demonstrated the ability to identify primary colors. He was able to answer simple questions.

He was also able to identify common objects and what they are used for; for example the family dogs ball and scissors.

Discussion

Integration of behavior with theory According to Piglet’s Cognitive Development Theory (Beer, 201 0, p. 31 8), both children are in the operational stage (2-7), and they behave normally. They are classified as operational children, because the definition of the operational stage is as follows; ages between 2-7, preschool children use symbols to represent their early sentiments discoveries.

The development of language and make-believe play takes place; however, thinking lacks the logic of the two remaining stages. T is a very active child. He has been in pre kindergarten over the last year and has been very socialized between school, extra-curricular activities, playground and playmates with friends. He is on a soccer team as well and enjoys this very much his mother says. T was quite active on the play centre this afternoon, especially on the hanging bars showing off his ability to hang upside down. He also displayed his ability to swing on the swings while standing on the swing instead of sitting on it.

He is quite a daring child. He was engaging in make-believe play acting as though he was doing these stunts for an audience as after each stunt he would get up and bow to the imaginary audience. M was happily swinging on the swing set, petting her dog, doing somersaults in the grass and drawing in the mud with a stick. She has the ability to keep herself busy and is happy to do so. She also enjoyed make-believe play with her brother playing a sword fight. Make-believe play increases in sophistication during the pre-school years (Beer, 2010, p. 318).

M used her stick as her “sword” during the sword fight and as her “magic wand” later on during the observation. This demonstrates her ability to coordinate her make-believe roles and pretend with less realistic toys (Beer, 2010, p. 318). M and T were both using the play center together happily. M fell off her swing and T went up and hit M for no reason and walked over to K, the family dog. T hugs K quite roughly and says “You’re my mummy bear” and walks away. I have noted on both occasions during these observations that T displays a bit of aggression.

According to Freud, play can have a cathartic effect, as children try to rid themselves of traumatic events or negative feelings through play. T asks his mother, “Mom, do you have to work today? His mother says “No, not today’. T asks “Why”? His mother answers, “Because have the day foot spend time with you and your sister”. T says, “Okay, I like that”. His language and understanding of language is well formed and has good sentence structure for his stage in development. His has no beech or grammatical issues. He asks “why” questions and understands the meaning to the answers to simple questions and answers.

M told her brother “l want to be alone”. Her brother did not leave her alone. M turned to him and said, “l told you, want to be alone”! This demonstrates M’s ability to verbalize her feelings and has a solid awareness of what she is feeling and thinking and is able to share it with others readily. During the sword fight, M said “you be the sword, I will be the gun”. T did not like this role change and disagreed. M said, “No! I am the gun, you are the sword”. She continued to e a gun, which seemed to anger T and he started hitting M with his sword. M screamed and T got in trouble with his mother.

M was able to assign roles; however was not able to negotiate well, which is usually indicated during the operational stage. On the play center, M was swinging on the swing and T was on the bar hanging upside down beside her. M calls T a “poppy pants”. T gets off the bar and hits her swing with his sword. M screams. T goes back to the bar. M calls T a “party pants”. T hits M’s swing with the sword again. M screams again and calls out to her mom. Mom ignores this. M continues to all T a “party pants” repeatedly. T starts hitting M’s swing again, as M is screaming.

This goes on for five minutes (timed). Mom finally tells T to stop and tells him that if he hits her swing one more time, his sword will be taken away. M proceeds to call T a “party pants” again. T hesitates to do anything and looks over at mom who is ignoring the situation. M continues to taunt T. Finally, T hits M’s swing and M screams. It’s sword is taken away. T asks mom why M is not in trouble for calling him a “party pants”. Mom does not respond and walks away. M calls T a “party pants” one last time and leaves the swing. She runs overt mom and gives her a hug and kiss and says “I love you mommy’.

The mother used presentation of punishment to decrease It’s undesirable behavior. The warning and punishment had a positive and negative response. The positive response was that the behavior was stopped. The negative response was that only one undesirable behavior was punished and stopped. When parents treat their children differently by directly varying amounts Of discipline to the two children, sibling relations are likely to be more conflicting and less friendly if children view these differences as unfair, which I believe T did by his reaction.

I found this to be concerning, considering It’s amount of aggression he displays in his make-believe play. M also showed a lack of moral reasoning and did not show that she was not aware of It’s feelings. M takes her small Barbie’s out her purse and other figurines and groups all the Barbie’s together and all the figurines together, which displays the ability to draw appropriate inferences about these objects and shows normal categorization, as with the puzzle she was doing with her mother at the table.

M and her brother pretend to hit the family dog with their swords and at times actually hit the dog. They also pretend to cut the dog up with their swords. These behaviors demonstrate animistic thinking believing that their (sword) has lifelike qualities and intentions. According to Pigged, because young children egocentrically assign human purposes to physical events, magical thinking is common during the preschool years, (Beer, 2010, p. 321). Conclusion I enjoyed observing these children very much.

I have watched them grow and change over the last three years. I find M very animated and interesting to observe and find T very in touch with his emotions and struggles with them at times. He is very athletic and determined. The reason I chose the children’s home environment is because I felt their own surroundings would be a good way to see what their normal daily routines would be and to see how they interact with family members. I found the backyard a bit limiting and would not choose this setting again.

Even though I did not find it was a great setting, did manage to collect some good data. As a mother and grandmother, I did find it hard sometimes during these observations not to jump in and say something to the mother when she was ignoring certain behaviors or when her children clearly just needed some attention. So it was hard at times not to interact with the children. However, I knew I had to control that urge as my role was to observe nothing more. I have learned how to observe and evaluate a child in the operational stage.

I have learned what milestones to look for and where a child between the ages of 2 to 7 should be developmentally. It gave me a better understanding to physically do the exercise rather than just reading a textbook I see the value in observing two different children, as not all children are alike in development and behavior. Ideally, a different setting for each hill would have been preferred; however this family is moving in a week and their home is full of moving boxes, so I settled for the backyard with both children.

Alyssa Martin Fall 2012 Observation Experience Summary: Pain Clinic The mission and scope of the setting is to provide diagnosis and treatment of acute, chronic and cancer pain. Patients present to the pain clinic for relief and treatment for a variety of painful medical ailments which do not typically respond to conventional therapy (“Pain management center,” 2012). Those in charge at the pain clinic are the two board-certified pain management physicians, Dr. Dwarakanath and Dr.

Henkle. There is also a team of nurses, physical therapists, and other professionals specially trained in a variety of techniques to manage pain. There are a number of techniques the pain clinic is able to perform, but there are two procedures that were the most widely used; the first being an Epidural Steroid Injection. This procedure is the number one pain management technique used in the clinic. It is specifically for radiating pain that is in the back/leg area or neck/arm area.

The procedure essentially includes corticosteroids being injected into the epidural space in the spine and decreases the inflammation and swelling in the nerves that are irritated, causing relief. Pre-procedure teaching mainly includes explanation of the sensations patient will feel, which include a small pin stick as local anesthetic is used. In addition, they are instructed to have a light meal before coming in, but if they are requesting to receive IV sedation, they are instructed to not eat at all 6 hours prior to the procedure (“Pain management center,” 2012).

If they are diabetic or on blood thinners, it is important to know so that special considerations need to be made for that patient. The patient is also told that the procedure is performed with little discomfort and only takes about 5 to 10 minutes. After the injection, the patient may feel warmth or numbness in their legs or arms for about an hour due to the anesthetic. Because of this reason, patients are observed while they recover and are then sent home with a friend or family member, since they are advised not to drive due to possible residual weakness for a few hours.

Post-procedure teaching includes information regarding the first few days after injection, where it is usual to feel increased back pain or discomfort from the needle being inserted. A second common procedure done is the Facet Joint Injection, which is usually done for non-radiating pain. This technique also reduces the inflammation or swelling of the tissue in the joint space (“Pain management center,” 2012). Pre-procedure teaching includes a lot of the same things as an ESI; the procedure only takes a few minutes, local anesthetic is given, and the steroid medication is injected.

Post-procedure teaching involves letting the patient knows that they should not drive upon discharge and will feel the same increase of pain before relief as seen in ESI. They will be able to return to work and other normal daily activities the next day. Potential complications of these procedures mainly include incorrect placement of the needle by the doctor. Because it is a delicate and difficult task to position the needle in an exact position, sometimes the physician accidently pinches a patient’s nerve and they feel a sudden rush of radiating pain in legs or arms, depending on where the needle is inserted.

Additionally, sterile technique is extremely important during these procedures because the needles are entering directly into patients’ spines and joints, so potential infection in these areas could prove to be highly detrimental and dangerous. Overall, the experience in the Pain Clinic was an informative one. It was interesting to see the procedures done first-hand because it was done extremely quickly but is something that needs so much precision and expertise.

The physicians made the techniques look easy, but not once did they falter with mandatory legalities such as the “time-out”, where everyone in the procedure room stops and verifies the patient, procedure, etc. that is to be performed. The staff nurses seemed in good spirits and verbalized enjoyment and passion for their roles, and that is what I found most valuable this time around. References Bare, B. , Cheever, K. , Hinkle, J. , & Smeltzer, S. (2010). Textbook of medical surgical nursing . (12th ed. ). Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott Williams &Wilkins. Pain management center. (2012). Retrieved from

Many instructional approaches exist that have been developed to reach more students. Teachers have to select the instructional approaches that work best for students. These approaches have been tested and researched from various theoretical perspectives. An education theory is the speculative thought of education and just like any other theory; it explains, guides, and describes the practices of education. The earliest speculation on educational processes began during the times of classical sophists and Greek philosophers.

Current education speculations use terms like andragogy, curriculum, learning pedagogy, education organization, leadership, and policy. Education thought is derived from various disciplines like, philosophy, sociology, critical theory, psychology, and history among others. This paper will discuss five topics based on the best education theory to be applied in the classroom setting with focus on two education theories postulated by Lev Vygotsky and John Dewey.

This paper will also address information processing by students, behaviors of teachers to promote thinking, implications of language development on learning and teaching, and on the relationship between the emotional and social development on student behavior and learning. Classroom Observation Analysis Education theory can either be descriptive like in the sciences or normative like in philosophy. Education theory postulates what education processes are supposed to consist of; it sets the standards, norms, and goals in carrying out an education process.

The scientific education theory gives a set of hypotheses, which have to be experimented and verified. The two approaches have produced two broad categories of education theories, which are the functionalist’s theory of education arising from the sociological perspective of education and the behaviorist theory of education from the psychology of education. The term theory in education refers to three broad categories known as the explanatory or generalizing model, practice observance, and a body of knowledge. Various educational resources exist that a teacher should employ in a classroom setting to enhance learning among students.

Also, human resources affect the learning process of students, which is the behavior of both the students and teachers. Teachers play a major role in improving the thinking ability of students. Other factors exist that of students in the individual, social, emotional development, and language development. Educational theory application in a classroom setting • Educational theories employed Lev Vygotsky and John Dewey postulated educational theories that explain how the human thought affect the outcome in education.

On human thought, Dewey’s ideas were instrumentalism based in educational ideas. Vygotsky ideas on education, on the other hand, were based upon the Marxist social ideas. The instrumentalism ideas of Dewey deal with the focus of thoughts and ideas as action instruments; this caused the theorist to believe that the education system needs to incorporate vocational studies. Therefore, schools according to Dewey should incorporate both academic and vocational studies. Students have to involve themselves in activities that promote cooperation and creativity.

Dewey believed that teaching individual’s new knowledge through memorization and repetition was ineffective. Through his writings and research, he advocates for thought and does not support strict topics as ways of teaching individuals. Teaching students on one content only is a waste of time, according to the theorist. Dewey encouraged teachers to be practical and creative in their educational approaches to provide students with a wide range of opportunities and to promote individual thought. Marxists social ideas on education were first applied by Vygotsky.

He believed that by learning the social situation, a person is capable of learning more. The Zone of Proximal development is the theory postulated by Vygotsky, which explains that a difference exist between a student is taught by an advanced peer, a teacher, and when a student studies alone. With this theory Vygotsky believed that social processes should be incorporated into the education system. Such social processes include peer review, group work activities, and individual contact between student and teacher.

Unlike Dewey and his ideas, Vygotsky does not support teacher‘s elitism, he favors the teaching of thinking kills to students and not just teaching a lesson based on a particular topic (Indiana University, 2004). The most effective educational theory to enhance instruction and learning From the two educational theorists, individuals can examine that they had two different thoughts on what education should be, which are not in agreement to each other. However, both Vygotsky and Dewey ideas should be applied in the classroom setting in unison because both their ideas are focused on a classroom environment that emphasizes ways of thinking and student achievement to learn facts.

The use of both ideas in a classroom stetting enables a learning situation guided by a teacher who guides students through direction with positive reinforcement and is not a strict figure of authority. Both the ideas of Vygotsky and Dewey require teachers to be dedicated and committed to individual student needs and abilities and not to the ideals and expectations regarding “normal” or “advanced” student knowledge of society. Also, using the ideas and theories presented in the classroom setting is beneficial because they encourage students to interact socially and work in teams to promote effective learning in the classroom.

According to both theorists interaction is seen as a learning tool, which has been emphasized by Vygotsky, but still applicable in Dewey ideas. A classroom environment that is more conducive to learning has been perceived as a classroom that employs both Vygotsky and Dewey’s ideas. Their contributions were significant to learning, but a combination of their differing ideas has proven to successfully impact the education system. Incorporating social learning ideas and theories with creative lessons plans is vital to the current world of education.

Vygostsky ideas and application in the classroom setting Just like Jean Piaget, Vygotsky agrees that education takes place through constructivism, which is the belief of cognitive development (Davison, 2006, p. 1), but they differ on the ideas regarding how the cognitive development process occurs. Cognitive development is the process through the building up or addition of information to newly learned information on already learned information. Piaget is seen as a trivial constructivist who believed that human beings are social learners who learn through interaction with the environment.

Individuals can generate new knowledge and understanding about the environment they have been exposed to. Vygotsky, on the other hand, is considered a social constructivist that believes people learn through interaction with other people (Dougiamas, 1998, p. 4). Vygotsky’s ideas are applicable in a classroom setting because through group work and peer reviews students are exposed to what they are taught by others. He disagrees with Piaget’s theory and stated that learning comes before development and not the vise versa according to Piaget’s claim.

Vygotsky believes students learn from symbolism, socialization, and history (Davison, 2006, p. 1). The information and actions that children are exposed to by other individuals greatly affects their learning process, and through the interaction with people of adequate intelligence and education will enable students to comprehend and retain information taught more productively (Slavin, 2009, p. 43). The influence of other individuals is vital before a student reaches the point of self-regulation. Self-regulation occurs when an individual can solve problems and think critically without helps from others.

By applying this theory in the classroom, a teacher can identify ways to run a classroom with increased efficiency and production. Through the ideas of Vygotsky, the teacher will achieve integration through a diverse student base at different intellectual levels; this will enable students who have learning disabilities or slow learners to be encouraged and tutored by the more advanced students. The teacher will also encourage students to work in group projects so students can come up with answers after solving problems as a team.

Such approaches have been praised and beneficial when teaching English and Social Studies. Dewey’s ideas in the classroom setting According to Dewey, learning institutions should be democratic, meaning students can freely share their differing ideas. The classroom setting should focus on subjects that contain practical knowledge in relation to real-life of students. The incorporation of field activities into the classroom learning process enables students to expand their knowledge, boost their critical thinking, and understand their world.

Cooperative learning, according to Sharan and Sharan (1992), include Dewey’s learning process as equal aspects of intellectual, emotional, and social events. Dewey argues that a classroom setting should give learners the experience to deal with situations that will arise in their lives to create a democratic society. The cooperative learning will act as a motivator for students and provides them with a sense of personal responsibility toward their academics. Information processing to student learning Students learn in different ways based on their life experiences, stages of development, and culture.

These factors determine how students process information. Based on the different characteristics of students, teachers have a responsibility to develop lessons plans that fit the needs of each student. To provide a positive teaching and learning environment, teachers should know learning is affected by aspects such as culture, emotions, and individual thought. Some student’s process information based on their metal states or moods and teachers have a responsibility to create supportive and positive tactics to enhance the learning process of every individual student.

A teacher also has to develop a teaching plan to fit those children suffering from various Learning Disabilities who experience challenges in reading and information processing. Students with learning disabilities have been known to interpret information differently and decode social information in a different manner. Some learning disabilities negatively affect the ability of students to interpret social cues and have limited solutions to the social dilemmas they face. They also face the challenge of generating solutions to simple mathematical problems.

Theory of information processing, The human mind functions through the creation of mental representations and creating cognitive processes them. Cognition is the ability to have mental representation and memory of objects, people, and learned knowledge through life experiences and academics. In learning, information received through listening and hearing involves various processes that take place in the brain. The incoming information leads to the formation of a series of mental representations.

The important ideas are selected and stored in the brain for referencing in the future. According to Miller’s theory of information processing, reinforcement is a crucial activity in enhancing the remembrance of short-term memory. The repetition of a recently read idea will force the brain to process the information through encoding strategies and to later be stored as long-term memory. Reinforcement can be done in the classroom setting through elaboration of and repetition of previous and newly learned information.

A teacher can also tell students to do maintenance rehearsals through practices and drilling to help the reinforcement of new information. Such practical strategies can be through songs and repetition poems. Also, to encourage student’s rehearsal, a student can use a variety of interactive computer activities. By repeating the newly learned skills the students will be able to encode the information into long-term memory. The environment and learning Psychologists have studies how human beings are affected by the environments that they have been brought up in.

The environment consists of individuals within the family unit and external influences in society. The classroom environment also affects how adolescent students learn and process information. Classroom environments should have no distractions. Factors such as the attitudes of teachers, lack of administrative support, lack of parental support, and a classroom environment that does not support learning leads to poor academic performance among adolescents. The teachers and parents should therefore work hard to provide adolescents with a natural and positive environment for learning.

York-Barr, Schultz, Doyle, Kronberg, and Crossett (1996) suggest the use of inclusion strategies in a classroom to enhance a desirable environment for learning to students, especially those from diverse backgrounds. Educators according to inclusion practices should focus on quality education and are to be guided by unique dispositions. Educators are responsible for evaluating teaching practices and initiating positive changes. A teacher’s attitude should be positive and they should have the skills and ability to provide emotional, social, and academic support to students.

Students with disabilities should be provided with supporting facilities and proper equipment they need in the classroom to ensure proper education. Consultation is also one of the classroom strategies that educators can use to intervene to the process of students within the class, and it is applicable to solving problems facing the whole school. A proper classroom environment that would boost students’ attention and memory includes teaching materials, equipment, and technological tools for teaching.

Students can remember the things they have learned when various learning strategies are employed. Other strategies to help students memory and attention is enabling them to self-assess their performance, targeting particular solution, implementing technologies for education, and record keeping of student performance. Providing the right educational environment is therefore the best way of enhancing student’s memory and attention than the social setting. Teacher behaviors that promote students’ thinking abilities Teachers should practices skills that provide for the individual needs of students.

These needs range from emotional, social, and educational needs (Wehby, Symons, Canale, & Go 1998). A teacher practicing collaborative model such as the Educational Review Team will lead to positive outcome to students. To facilitate students comprehension and reasoning, the teachers use strategies that enable them to design good lesson plans, which first starts with the introduction of the topic, presentation of the content in a clear way, checking whether students have understood the information, periodic review, independent practices, and guided practices among others.

The teacher should also employ strategies that would improve the motivation of students to learn, the teacher should keep in mind the inertest of students and use a variety of teaching strategies to avoid students being bored. To enhance comprehension and reasoning the teacher has to communicate high expectations, give prompt and constructive feedback, and treat each student as an individual. To promote the thinking skills of student’s teachers should certain framework, which would enable students to think critically and to develop skills, which will make them regulate personal learning and acquire problem-solving skills.

Certain activities that a teacher can practice either intentionally or unintentionally can impede students from reasoning or comprehensions. Such aspects include teaching at a fast pace and not bothering to check whether the students have understood the concepts or not. Another aspect is using a teaching strategy that is not inclusive to all the needs of students. A teacher who does not consider strategies that deal with inhibition, planning, fluency, set shifting, working memory, and self-regulations leads to poor attention p among students.

In order to enable students attain academic goals, the educator has to consider the action and thoughts of students. Teachers should acknowledge that certain students could be faced by challenges of working on their own and cannot complete certain tasks. The teacher has to implement behavior modification plans (Harris et al, 2005) to help students with attention problems. Another strategy is to limit distraction in the classroom environment, which is a strategy that should be carried out before the beginning of each lesson.

Comprehension and reasoning can be enhanced by the teacher by telling students to scan through the headlines of the topic under discussion. Language development Language learning is a vital aspect in the learning process. Language learning enables students to read and write. Reading is as result of comprehension and decoding of information. For students to internalize various academies subjects, the elementary activity is to first teach on language comprehension. Delayed speech development affects the learning process of a student.

This delay occurs in two ways; it can either be receptive or expressive. The expressive form gives a child difficulty in the use of vocabulary, poor grammar, poor writing skills, and poor conversational skills. Expressive delay can be seen in students who are shy or hesitates to speak. Receptive delay, on the other hand, affects a student’s ability to comprehend what the student has read, following directions, and understanding speech. The student may also find it difficult to understand visual and sequencing relations.

The relationship of social and emotional development to student learning and behavior A student suffering from emotional and behavioral problems leads to interference of the learning process. Such changes lead to poor communication, poor social relationships, and difficulty expressing thoughts and feelings. This affects student’s social intelligence and competence development. Competence development is related to emotional intelligence, which hinders the person from making accurate and logical decisions and in the developments of problem-solving skills.

Classroom Analysis During my classroom observation I was able to view theories that were employed by both Vygotsky and Dewey as described above. The teacher was able to interact with student as a friend but also as a figure of authority. The teacher was able to instruct using repetition of previous instructed material while introducing new thought and feelings. I felt the instructor lacked behaviorism because there were no clear cut rules and regulations and the instructor mainly focused on the educational aspects of learning.

The teacher was creative when giving lesson plans, and it was obvious the teacher put a large amount of time preparing for lessons. I observed the teacher calling upon students to answer questions regarding the topic presented to ensure the student was paying attention and learning the material. I did notice several students not paying attention and the teacher did not seem to notice but this was understandable considering the high student to teacher ratio. The teacher was also able to use differing vocal tones to emphasize important material content that I assume would be on an upcoming exam.

Reference

http://dougiamas.com/writing/constructivism.html#faces

In any workplace the goal of the company is to perform all job duties so that work functions may be carried out accordingly. Jobs that are centered around the criminal justice system have an even more important task of getting things done because just like any other job, criminal justice ones have laws to uphold. This paper will discuss the Alabama Department of Human Resources (DHR) and its workplace observations.

The leadership consists of three levels: upper management, middle management and lower level management. Upper management involves the judge of each case that passes through DHR. The judge is responsible for overseeing the case and making final decisions overall about the case. Middle management consists of the attorneys that are assigned to each case. Attorneys are responsible for making sure the legal aspects of the case in regards to the child are being followed.

Lower management consists of the DHR workers. The DHR workers are responsible for making sure the welfare of the child is in their best interest. Culture is one of the most important factors in successfully managing a criminal justice workforce. It is extremely important for each of the above named participants to be able to understand the differing diversities that the courts may encounter. It is not uncommon for a DHR worker to have a caseload with different ethnicities and cultural differences.

You can read also 

Sometimes, those cultural differences may cause an individual to speak a different language than the worker, judge, or attorney is familiar with. Language barriers can often cause problems with relaying actual problems that are going on with a case. If either of the above participants can fluently speak different languages then that helps not only the court participants, but the people that are involved in the case personally.

This will cut down on the legal issues that could arise in cases. Speaking of legal issues, the law is an extremely serious matter in DHR. DHR workers have the ever daunting task of making sure they report behavior to the courts about the welfare of any child. The judges have to make sure they are upholding the law and interpreting it to the best of their ability, and attorneys are built to practice and exercise the good will of the law all according to their states’ statutes.

Field Observation Report of Introduction to Public Speaking On the basis of my ambition to one day become a political figure in the United States government, I was obliged to observe Introduction to Public Speaking, COM 110. Dr. Jason Ingram teaches Introduction to Public Speaking on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6:00 pm to 7:15 pm in the College of Communications on North Campus.

I conducted my observation of COM 110 on September 8 and 10. According to the course syllabus, the main goal of this class is to educate students on the fundamentals of public speaking in order to advance critical reasoning skills and gain the ability to present a well-constructed speech (Ingram, course syllabus). The main concept of my study was to learn how reading, writing, and speaking were entailed in this course’s curriculum.

COM 110 dignifies the meaning of effectively communicating a message to a particular audience group as a purpose for creating various types of speeches and strategies. It is embedded in the field of communication and the discipline of the social sciences. This course incorporates applications of strategic planning and critical thinking for supporting arguments, the determinants of the rhetorical situation, and audience awareness used to enhance communications skills for use in any public environment.

Through the practice of organizing the speech, reading and researching proven techniques and strategies for effectively communicating a message to the audience, and applying concepts in speeches and conducting peer reviews for future benefit, students are able to hone exceptional speaking techniques that they can later resort to in interviews, public forum, or any other oral aspect in their professional career. By taking advantage of the opportunity to observe Dr.

Ingram’s class on two separate occasions, through interviewing a undergraduate and the professor himself, and by examining how public speaking impacts various careers, I came to grasp the notion through an assortment of ways why this course is an exceptional representation of its field and discipline. After a short amount of time observing Dr. Ingram’s class, I came to comprehend how COM 110 helped students develop strong oral and critical thinking skills. This class can generally be classified as mainly a presentation-based class with some occasional lectures focusing on key concepts.

The main educational purpose of lecture-based days was to reinforce the content involved in the chapters that were assigned for homework the previous class. Dr. Ingram carried out this theme by having open class discussions on specific material and generalized public speaking topics. He stated in his syllabus that every class was an opportunity for someone to voice their opinions, to actively participate in an effort to create an intellectually stimulating learning environment and to ask questions or request additional information on material that is unclear (Ingram, Course Syllabus).

The professor also encouraged small group work in order to learn the fundamental format of how speeches were traditionally conducted. The two class days that I attended however, focused primarily on presentations. Dr. Ingram commenced class by reviewing the rubric as criteria for which impromptu speeches were based off of. Prior to handing out topics to the students, he encouraged all of them to stand up and babble or recite mostly consonant-based phrases like sally sells sea shells down by the sea shore in an attempt to warm up their mouths for speaking.

Once the students were fully capable of projecting their voices he assigned topics accordingly to the people who had signed up to present for that particular day. He allowed them to choose one topic out of three possible categories written on note cards. After the student chose the topic, he or she was given a maximum of eight minutes to prepare for the speech. During this time frame the professor strongly encouraged that the students go into the hallway so that they could carefully formulate a plan to successfully present their impromptu speech to the class.

Dr. Ingram also suggested reading the newspaper or other news-based text in order to have an additional source to relate the topic back to. Once the preparation time ceased, the students had three to four minutes to present their topic to the class referring to nothing but a few note cards. Each of the speeches were critiqued by two of their fellow classmates in an effort to relay to the student how they could effectively improve their presentation style for the future.

This structure based upon which learning critical thinking and strategic skills are applied to presentations with the addition of receiving feedback from other students allows the presenter to truly build their communication skills. The class objectives of COM 110 are “ to understand elements of the rhetorical situation characterizing public speaking; advance well-supported arguments using sound reasoning and evidence; craft messages for various types of audiences; construct effective feedback for peers and for self-improvement; and understanding some of the persuasive strategies at work in political messages,” (Ingram, Course Syllabus).

Dr. Ingram addresses these course goals through an array of methods upon each class meeting. The best technique that he used for carrying out the course objectives was by having the students perform different types of speeches for the rhetorical situation and receiving feedback on their performance. Over the course of the semester the professor plans to have the students present a wide variety of topics through the use of impromptu, informative, persuasive, and call to action based speeches.

He encourages that students dress accordingly for their speech so that they are able to place more emphasis on the specific message they are conveying to the audience. Since COM 110 is an introductory-based course, the 23 students in my session were comprised primarily of freshmen and sophomores. The small class size signifies that the learning environment is much more active and participation-based than traditional introductory courses. Most of the students that attended the class were seeking differing majors but needed a communications elective in order to fulfill the General Education Program (GEP) requirement.

Since this course was an introductory class, the professor did not require the students to have any prerequisites or prior knowledge of public speaking. Aside from the students majoring in radically different subjects, they all had the common goal of wanting to develop exceptional public speaking skills for their future careers. In addition to conducting a comprehensive observation on COM 110, I had the opportunity to gain insight from a sophomores’ perspective of the class along with how the student planned on utilizing these skills in his future career.

In addition to this, I also conducted an interview with Dr. Jason Ingram to learn how his past experience helps to inform the students about all the intricacies of public speaking. I first interviewed Michael Esposito, who is currently a sophomore in computer programming. When asked about why he originally signed up to take COM 110 he bluntly stated that it was “a required course in order to graduate with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering,”(Esposito).

After hearing this I was inclined to discover his initial impressions and experiences on the class. He enlightened me by explaining that “the class seems to be of appropriate difficulty for an introduction class, but is graded more on an artistic basis instead of the effectiveness of each speech,” (Esposito). Based on his personal experience, he felt that in order to meet these expectations a student must first master the task of feeling comfortable in front of the class while simultaneously conveying his or her thoughts in an appealing way.

When asked what skills he deemed were required to be successful in the class he responded that “confidence and logical reasoning are the most important traits used in speaking in order to convince the audience that the speaker is not wasting their time,” (Esposito). He emphasized that if the speaker presented a flawless argument or appeared meek in any form that they were deemed unqualified for the speech and deserved to be tuned out by the audience. After hearing this, I was intrigued to find out how exactly he planned to benefit from taking COM 110.

He reveled to me that he planned to use this class in order to “convey his engineering ideas to lawyers, politicians, and administrators without using so much jargon that only another engineer could understand,” (Esposito). He went on to inform me how everyone can benefit from taking COM 110 since the traits acquired from the class are universally sought after by a virtually every employer. Once I had an idea how the students in COM 110 planned to apply their communication skills for their future, I opted to find out how the lecturer honed his past experience to educate the undergraduates about public speaking. I interviewed Dr.

Jason Ingram, the instructor of COM 110, who holds an MA and a PhD in communication and is an assistant professor in the College of Communication. In an effort to discover why Professor Ingram teaches his class slightly different from other COM 110 classes, I questioned him about his past experiences in communication. He inherently told me that he has “been the assistant director of debating and held several debate summer workshops in the past,” (Ingram). To my surprise the focus of his research was largely based off of rhetorical and cultural studies. He focused on how the application of political values affected ommunication through observing works in popular culture with a rhetorical point of view (Ingram). In addition to his past experience, I was interested to find out how Dr. Ingram incorporated reading and writing into a communication-based class. He informed me that the reading material assigned for homework built a strong foundation for being able to conduct a speech for the rhetorical situation. He also explained that the only writing assignment aside from constructing speech formats was a topic proposal paper where the student was to use their creativity and perform a speech on a topic that they deemed either interesting or educational.

Even though COM 110 stresses the importance of developing critical thinking skills for communication, it is imperative to understand how it is applied to various careers. Any student at NC State can expect to benefit from the skills that one acquires in this class. Regardless of career, public speaking is viewed as a vital component of communication where interaction with the audience is used in order to create a connection (Zarefsky 7). Despite preconceived notions about public speaking being a one way message system, it is quite the contrary.

The speakers’ ideas are often tested by interacting with the audience, while the listeners’ knowledge and comprehension of the topic are refined through communication with the speaker (Zarefsky 7). As a result, public speaking is often viewed as a constant communication process where messages and gestures are often exchanged between the speaker and listeners (Zarefsky 7). Taking into account the importance of creating a connection with the audience in the rhetorical situation, one can say that public speaking has unparalleled value in every career.

The preconceived notion of COM 110 by every student required to take it at NC State can be insignificant, however, it proves to have intrinsic value. This course not only teaches the fundamentals of public speaking but also represents the field of communication in a variety of manners. Through the use of developing critical thinking skills and applying them to the rhetorical situation, increasing confidence in speaking in front of an audience, and creating a connection with the audience, students in COM 110 gain vital skills that aid in their quest to mastering all aspects of ommunication. Hence, COM 110 is a brilliant representation of the communication field that provides students with an extraordinary skill set for any career. “Cited References” Esposito, Michael. E-mail interview. 13 Sept. 2009. Ingram, Jason. Communications 110: Introduction to Public Speaking. Course Syllabus. Fall semester 2009. Ingram, Jason. Personal interview. 10 Sept. 2009. Zarefsky, David. Public Speaking: Strategies for Success. Boston: Pearson Education Inc, 2008.