Essays on Self-Improvement

Reflection Paper

Reflection Paper

Article Summary

In this article, Maura Sellars examines the role of the teacher as a change agent through reflective practice. The author argues that it is the teachers and not education authorities, curriculum developers, or policy makers who are the most effective, durable, and powerful agents of educational change. She also contends that the reliability and proficiency of change in education practice depend largely on the capacity of teachers to develop self-knowledge and reflective practice. According to the Sellars (2012), historically, these aspects of teacher development have not been emphasized in the process of preparing and promoting effective teachers. ...

I first became aware of Bruce Lee as a child. At that time, for some reason, several of my friends and I had become interested in martial arts. Our interests included reading, watching and playing martial arts related comic books, video games, television series and movies. While I had heard of Bruce Lee, during that initial phase of interest, I did not have the chance to actually see him in action. That opportunity came a few months later during a holiday Bruce Lee movie marathon on TV. The first of his film’s that I saw was Enter the ...

Question 1

The function of gossip is to build strong bonds between individuals (Wert and Salovey 123). Individuals can share ideas, opinions, and emotions by finding common grounds that unite them. These points of convergence, whether positive or negative, unifies them in long-term friendships or a temporary association. Gossip also facilitates social comparisons that can either build up or tear down an individual. By comparing themselves with others, people gain insights into the validity of their opinions and beliefs, hence the description of gossip as “self-evaluative” (Wert and Salovey 123). Self-evaluation creates an avenue for identifying the shortfalls in one’s ...

Rapid changes that erupted in the United States during the antebellum period in the American history brought to life several new social movements and phenomena. The new society that was formed by the Market Revolution, growth in population, change in its composition and expansion to the west showed a great desire for better life, for self-improvement and correction of the social vices of that time. These processes have resulted in the Second Great Awakening, Utopian communal experiments, temperance, women’s rights societies and other social movements. The story of the Kingdom of Matthias, or in more sober terms, a ...

 Recently, Adult Learning (AL) has become a very popular and effective mode of learning. Globally, an increasing number of adults opt for further study and self-development. Adult learners learn for different reasons and have many valuable assets for continuing education. There are, however, challenges adult learners face in pursuing further education. Adult learners are differentiated based on age or cognitive maturity and can be classified as non-conventional learners. The paper engages the subject of adult learning from a critical viewpoint to explicate the problems that characterize it with the aim of problematizing the idea of adult learning beyond conventional ...

There is no doubt that the global environment is in need of good coaches. Whether this concern is evaluated from sophisticated management approaches, or from the routine functioning of society, the consensus appears to be relating to people who are conscious about changes, and how to relate with the changes to get work done. There is no single attribute that can be said to describe good coaches, but if the basic explanation offered is relied upon, the description seems to describe good leaders as well. This paper seeks to review available literature regarding the concept of coaching and how ...

The word prima facie according to W.D Ross moral theory implies a conditional duty which is a moral obligation that carries some significance in virtue of it being obligatory. A prima facie duty is binding to all things equal, unless overridden by another higher priority task. There are several prima facie duties that we can utilize to choose what it is that we are obligated to do as human beings. Ross compiled seven types of prima facie obligations that include fidelity, reparation, gratitude, justice, beneficence, self-improvement, and non-maleficence (Garrett, 2004).

An Experience in Life When I Had To Prioritize My Obligations

I’d like to believe that Ross’s prima ...

Introduction

Contemporary market is, no doubt, based on competition between different entities, which have to rely, in order to win the consumer, on innovation and self-improvement. ‘Global competition requires that our attitudes and values toward work be dynamic, engaging, and collaborative’ (Stamatis 1996). The mentioned improvement goal can be also described as the raise of quality, and the following three issues, which derive from ISO 9000, are thought to be necessary to consider, if such target has been set: ‘to establish important goals and objectives, formulate actions via policies, programs and procedures to achieve the goals, understand the source of ...

Introduction

The Gallup StrengthFinder assessment helps people to discover and understand their strengths. The assessment identifies the individual’s top five strengths and provides a description of how these strengths when combined are beneficial to the individual’s personal life and career. The StrengthFinder is useful for people who want to know, understand, and dominant their talents and use them to increase their performance and excel in their careers.

Survey Results

The results from my StrengthsFinder assessment identified my top themes which were: restorative, harmony, adaptability, relator and empathy. The Restorative theme means that I am able to figure out problems and ...

Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. By Benjamin Franklin. Ed. Frank Woodworth Pine.( Garden City, N.Y.: Garden City Pub. Co. , 1916.) 343 pp. Reviewed by

Benjamin Franklin is one of America’s greatest statesmen and was born in Boston in the year 1706 as the 15th of 17 children, and the youngest of his father’s sons. Franklin was born to Josiah Franklin, a candle, and soap maker who had immigrated to the United States from Northamptonshire in England (2). The young Benjamin disliked his father’s profession highly and did not want to follow his example. Hence, Franklin went to ...

Horatio Alger's ideas and ideal about the American Dream was drafted at a time when social scientists were discussing the survival of the fittest. Nonetheless, the story of Ragged Dick shows that Alger was just as concerned about social responsibility and stewardship. Ragged Sick was Alger’s most famous work at the time and the author's name has since become synonymous with moral values in the United States, especially as they pertain to politics. Alger wrote about one hundred novels and stories for juveniles, which were originally published between the 1850s and 1900. Horatio Alger is now possibly better known ...

At present, there is various issues that need to be enhanced the extent that academics and different exercises are concerned. I have attained a considerable measure in education, games and social exercises largely. In addition, I have enhanced my open aptitudes. Notwithstanding, regardless I need to focus on my principle objective, which is to acquire straight A's in all the courses I take every semester, and in the meantime, attain different objectives in different exercises separated from training.

At present, there are sure inner variables that are influencing me in various ways, both decidedly and contrarily. For instance, when ...

Just a few decades ago, the scientific community considered that the brain is fixed and programmed by nature. There was a consensus that the human brain can only deteriorate with age, but not improve. Today, the discovery of the fact that thoughts can change the individual’s well-being and psychological feelings is the most important achievement in the field of neuroscience over the past four centuries. Scholarly findings on the self-improvement potential of the human brain can now be used in everyday life, by ordinary people. The theory of thoughts’ influence can be transferred into its active phase by the integration ...

Quite often people ask themselves why some achieve greatness while others fail to do it. What is the difference between these groups of people and what are the secrets of greatness? These issues are widely discussed in Colvin’s article “What it takes to be great”. In it the author dwells on the possible measures that people can adopt in order to become great and to achieve success. Moreover, Colvin believes that greatness is available for everyone and mentions the fundamental principles people should live by if they want to achieve success. According to the author, it is not ...

General Summary of the Application of Positive Psychology in the field of Psychology

Psychology is a vast field. One of the main reasons why psychology, the study of human behavior and of the human mind, has been developed both as an academic discipline and a branch of applied science was because of the lack of society’s understanding of how mental illnesses and disorders develop and can be treated, or so at least in the past. Psychology has often thrived thanks to the collective and scientific approach that it uses to understand individuals and or groups of individuals, establishing theories that could help better understand the underlying mental health and or behavioral problems in a ...

Summary and Annotation of Literature: Thoreau’s Synthesizing Metaphor

“Thoreau’s Synthesizing Metaphor,” the author James A. Hamby explains the interpretation of metaphor that used in Henry David Thoreau literatures. Through out his works, Thoreau never halted to emphasize on the importance and the essence of life in connecting human beings to our nature, which is referred as “man-and-the-land relationships”. In one of his literature Walden, he united two antithetic terms “natural” and “pertinent” in demonstrating that his life is logical, reasonable yet natural and free, which the author thinks the way of adopting these two words showed Thoreau’s sweeping scope of concerns. In the chapter “Economy”, ...

The East Asian educational system has garnered praise and attention for its scores in international rankings. This has led Western countries to question and re-evaluate its teaching methods to emulate this model in hopes of improving its test scores. While the U.S. outspends more money per student, the academic success of East Asian students may attribute their academic success to social, cultural and educational factors. In this essay, I will attempt to answer what factors lead to the academic success of South Korean, Japanese and Chinese students. East Asian students may be viewed as more successful in their ...

The classic American myth of rags-to-riches can be seen in the lives of Benjamin Franklin and Frederick Douglass. These self-made aspects of their lives can be seen in the narratives of the stories of their lives. Benjamin Franklin and Frederick Douglass became very successful in achieving their goals. Their lives paint a clear picture of self-made individuals who fought odds in their lives and struggled to become famous and highly revered individuals in America. Even though they were separated, by time, place and circumstances, the two writers had a similar chronology of life events in their narratives. Benjamin Franklin is an ...

Abstract

The paper provides a discussion through different theories and methods for self-leadership development and focuses primarily on the matter if leader skills and traits can be nurtured through the experience and self-improvement. Different researchers and authors have made suggestions regarding both professional and personal leadership, which is believed to be interrelated. Paper also alludes to practices, which are found to be used for self-leadership cultivation and refers to practical recommendations for self-upgrade. The final summary present paper’s author combined analyses on the reviewed literature and wraps up within reference to practical researchers recommendations. Key words: self-leadership, self-made leader, ...

Benjamin Franklin was an exceptional intellectual personality. He went from being a poor uneducated boy, into a very intelligent and wealthy man. This was through his self improvement and determination in life. Franklin was a diplomat, printer, scientist, political philosopher and a writer. Throughout Franklin’s life, he worked on his self improvement so that others would learn from it. He improved his characters by writing the thirteen virtues which helped him in his moral perfection. Benjamin Franklin was a genuine and a compassionate man who wanted to help other people. He wanted the world to learn from his own experience, by allocating his ...

Competition continues to prove to the society as an ideal approach to achieving goals. In a number of occasions, it leads to increased levels of performance while the company strives towards conquering the opponents (Carnegie 34). However, competition has also been blamed for exploitation tendencies as people go to great strengths in order to best, whether in the classroom, in business or in the workplace. Competition means that there has to be a winner and this has its pros and cons. Therefore, the question that arises is, is competition beneficial to society? Clearly, while competition might cause harm to some of ...

The Oprah Winfrey Show commonly known as Oprah is the most successful female talk show in the history of American TV. It is an American syndicate talk that has been aired for 22 years; that is from 1886 to 2011. It was also one of the most influential and popular daytime talks shows in America (Garson 221). The show had interesting and highly influential topics that penetrated into the American pop-culture awareness. Markedly, Winfrey used this show as a platform to inspire, teach, and motivate viewers. This show included uplifting experiences that featured book clubs, self-improvement segments, compelling interviews, and ...

William Edwards Deming is an American statistician, professor and lecturer. He began to work in Japan after the World War II and influenced the further development of the country. Deming contributed not only into the development of one country, but in the development of management system all over the world. It was he who firstly implemented and described the principles of quality management. Thanks to his works, people all over the world nowadays are served on high quality level. In my opinion, William Edwards Deming played one of the most significant roles in the development and implementation of ...

Introduction:

The morality of genetic research can play out in many ways. Two broad fields of concern are that of genetically engineered organisms and the ethics involved in the use of human stem cells taken from zygotes and human embryos. Another issue is the patenting of the genome and how that affects medicines and the rights of people to “own” their own cells. Of special concern is that bio-engineering might escape and have long term adverse effects as the manipulated creations cross genetic structures with other biological elements in the environment. This paper will look at the general ethical concerns ...

Alabama Department of Corrections

The Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC), which is headed by Commissioner Kim T. Thomas, has a total of fifteen major correctional facilities located in the different places within the State. Along with these major facilities, the ADOC also has thirteen Work Centers and Two Private Facilities. ADOC’s mission is to provide programs that will rehabilitate convicted felons in a humane and secure environment with the help of professionals in managing the facilities and they prepare the offender for their social re-entry (state.al.us). The Department’s correctional programs are usually engage with offenders who able to work, attend programs for ...

Abstract

Adults are human being with the natural drive to expand their learning experiences, to broaden their accomplishments and to improve their ability towards self competence and learning autonomy. The process of learning is a natural occurrence to an adult learner. Part of the desire towards learning are the influences of self-esteem, the need for satisfying individual wants and needs and the need for self development. Self directed learning complements the psychological aspect of an adult learner by increasing the momentum of the learning experiences of an adult learner and to nurture and deepen the learning experiences acquired on the process. ...

Introduction

Personal improvement is an essential element of working in a team, and on a larger scale, within an organization. A higher potential for growth usually leads to higher chances of earning a reputation in a large corporation and being placed in a sweet spot filled with other employee perks and privileges. While this may seem to be one of the most common and strongest type of motivation for self-improvement and personal growth, especially at a time when studying in a university and enjoying the advantages and enjoyment associated with college or university life are already over, there is more to self-improvement and personal growth within an ...

Communication Style

I recently conducted a personal survey to find out my face-to-face communication style. There are nine dimensions of communication style, which include; dominant, dramatic, contentious, animated, impression leaving, relaxed, attentive, open and friendly (Robbins, 2008). My survey results revealed that I had above average scores on attentive and friendly communicative style dimensions. This means I listen attentively to other individuals and am encouraging to them. Being attentive and friendly are positive qualities. This translates to an optimistic view of life and valuing others and their opinions. I am considerate, helpful and can compromise my interests in favor of others. ...

Quality Development

Abstract It is important to define the key terms in this report. In simple terms, quality can be defined as fitness for a purpose. This is the main tool that determines the quality during and after evaluation of quality. This report paper explains the contextual frame work within which a quality system operates. In the context in which the system operates, it also includes ethical and legal issues how they arise and how they are going to be solved. The paper entails a wide range of tools and basic methodologies in which serious problems are handled. It is also crucial to ...

A Discussion

Self Concept in Psychology: A Discussion Just as a person has opinion about those around them, they also have perceptions about their own self. This opinion about one’s self is generally known as self-concept. Self-concept is not a predefined view and, as with most perceptions, develops overtime as a result of external influences. It includes an organized, dynamic and complex network of acquired beliefs, opinions and attitudes towards an individual personal existence. Cosden, Brown and Elliot describe self-concept as ‘domain specific self-perceptions’, while self-esteem is differentiated as ‘one’s overall sense of self-worth’ . Self-concept is often also identified as self-identity, ...

Introduction

Oprah Winfrey could easily be considered the "Queen of Change." Before even entering onto her web site at Oprah.Com a pop-up invites you to "Dream Big" which is just what she did when she was a little girl growing up in an impoverished neighborhood. Since that time, she employed change as a noun and a verb in every aspect of her life and business. A large part of her leadership style relates to transformation, for herself, her staff, her businesses and most of all as a product for her following. To maintain this type of fluid change requires strong leadership and vision.

Who is Oprah?

Oprah changed people, ...

Personal Development Plan

Introduction I feel very fortunate to undertake this assignment. A Personal Development Plan (PDP) is a great tool that puts into context the things that I have to plan for to reach my goals in life. The internet resource Self Development Mentor (2012) explains that the PDP is a static document in that there will be things that would change for me that would shape my career beyond my current vision. According to the internet resource Effective Positive Thinking (2012), a PDP forces one to examine the goals and aspirations in a systematic, logical and realistic manner. With the PDP, I ...

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin wrote one of the most intelligent and purposeful autobiographies in history. Franklin emerged from the American Revolution one of the most famous men in the world. An inventor/entrepreneur/publisher/writer with a keen sense of self-promotion, Franklin was spectacularly successful at using his celebrity as a platform from which to share the wisdom collected from a life of remarkable achievement. Perhaps the most notable aspect of his memoir is the fact that it combined simple language and personal examples with brilliant, often deceptively complex personal philosophy. The result is a truly “democratic” literary work in that it offers something beneficial for everyone.

Keywords: Benjamin Franklin, autobiography, American Revolution, memoir

Self-Promotion ...

Motivating Students in the Classroom

Learning in the classroom is largely dependent on the levels of motivation amongst the students. While certain students are naturally enthusiastic, others require inspiration and stimulation. A teacher has an important role to play in motivating a student. Each student has an individual level of motivation, which should be enhanced by the teacher. A student can be intrinsically motivated which means that motivation stems from self interest, desire to acquire knowledge on the subject material, and a sense of enjoyment (Kirk, 2011). A student can also be extrinsically motivated; this means that the student’s desire to succeed is fuelled by a ...

In the history of human civilization, there were numerous questions which philosophers and scientists could not answer or even explain. There were also issues which both philosophers and scientists interpreted in different and usually opposing ways. The most common example of contradiction between science and philosophy is the existence of God. While philosophers suggested various rational and reasonable intellectual reasons for the existence of God, scientists were more eager to unravel mysteries of human life, understand the essence or causality of human existence and its material origins. In other words, faith in God and cognition of the world were ...

Book Review

Franklin’s Autobiography was written at four different times and was left unfinished at his death. In fact, he said before his death that he did not want it to be published, but in fact he had sent copies of it to many friends and, within a month of his death, some parts of it were published in America and in 1791 Part One was published in a French translation. When we consider why Franklin wrote his autobiography, it seems that there was no coherent overall plan, and that in the four sections he had a slightly different purpose in each. The ...

Popular psychology, mostly referred to as pop psychology or pop psych, refer to theories and concepts about human mental life and the performances that are majorly based on psychology and that gain popularity in the wider general population. These term ‘pop psychology’ can be used to explain consultants, teachers and entertainers who are basically known as being psychologists, not for the reason of academic achievements but because they have demonstrated that very image or have been treated in that manner in respect to their work.

Pop psychology can also refer to Popular Industry Psychology, a spreading network of daily sources ...