Special Education Teacher Essay Example for Free

Special Education Teacher Essay Passion and compassion two words with very different meanings, but for me, one is the driving force behind my determination to teach. It’s been a long and winding road for me to reach this point of my life, and for me to discover my true destiny to be a teacher. It is now that I realize that my compassion for children is what will strengthen my teaching aptitude and the combination of my education and compassion make me a qualified candidate for any teaching position. In short, my compassion for children is what drives my passion to teach. As I consider the road that is ahead of me, I am thrilled with excitement and eager to explore the many opportunities that lay ahead of me. Most of all, I am passionate about the structure of my future classroom and objectives I plan to tackle in my future career. I feel I owe my students the best possible upbringing and education. They deserve a stimulating and supportive environment that brings out the best in them. I want to encourage my students to broaden their imaginations and reach for goals they considered unattainable. I will strive to instill morals in my students and encourage them to treat each other and their community with respect and understanding. My students will be my primary responsibility their needs will be placed before my own and their development will be my priority. Before we can know where we are going, we must first know where we came from, and the same is true for the educational field. While I am striving for excellence in my career, I must educate myself on the strides my field has made throughout history. Vital lessons can be learned from our nation’s history and the mistakes made in the past. I must reflect on these past strides the educational field has made and continue to look forward. At the same time, I will be able to identify potential regressions the field is trending. I know I can make not only make an impact in the lives of my own students, but in the lives of students everywhere if I stand firm in my beliefs and fight for equality and justice of all children and demand that they be granted all the opportunity to achieve their dreams. Following current political and economic issues affecting education will allow me to understand the direction the field is heading and make educated opinions and allow me to make a stand for what I so passionately believe in, and my involvement in these issues will ensure the educational field will continue to progress. At the same time, identifying and addressing current issues confronting education will empower me to make the proper steps in my quest and further educate me. These current issues will explain to me which groups of children are being neglected or offended by our public education system and pinpoint which matters I need to fight for or against. The important key is education; I need to be educated in education. To do this, I will continue my education after receiving my bachelor’s degree. If I fail to do so, I will be failing innocent children and depriving them of their right to a quality education. I will also attend all school board meetings and be voice for these children in my community. I will also continue to vote in state and federal elections in hope that I may make a difference concerning these issues and so I can change the lives of children nationally. One of the issues confronting education that I am most passionate about is the amount of government involvement allowed in our school systems. Since education is a major focus in the nation’s politics and recipient of federal and state funding, the government naturally enforces strict regulations and guidelines on our school systems. While the degree of this federal involvement varies, the most common obstacle teachers are forced with in this regard is standardized testing. Personal opinion on the matter aside, the fact of the matter is that today’s children must be able to show their knowledge and understanding through this type of assessment. Elected officials have deemed these topics and concepts vital to the development of our nation and the assessment of my students will essentially become the assessment of my school and most importantly, myself as a professional. One of my main focuses in the classroom will be to prepare my students for these standardized tests, academically and mentally. I will vary my approaches in teaching these central concepts in anticipation of reaching a greater sense of understanding for all my students in hopes that they will then succeed on such assessments. While not all will positively respond to the method of testing, I must encourage them to do their very best and attempt to prepare them for this method of testing. I will practice this method of assessment with my students prior to the official testing so they may feel comfortable with the method of assessment and feel less stressed on test day. Regardless of the result of the tests, I will determine what makes a successful school year and I will continually support my student’s learning and be proud of them for all of their already tremendous accomplishments. I will provide each student with the level of support and understand they will need to guarantee an overall successful school year. Furthermore, to become more experienced and a more informed student of education, I dedicate myself to a minimum of thirty hours to participating in K-12 classroom field experience. I will partner with the leaders in the career field and analyze their instruction, relationships and classroom management strategies to gain insight into the field and take away from the experience their best practices so I may be better prepared for my students. I will approach each day with my mentor as the exceptional opportunity is it. I will enter the classroom each time with a new objective I intend to accomplish and will cherish each second I’m able to spend in the classroom. Not every career enables their freshmen professionals the ability to have immediate hands-on experience; this opportunity is truly a rarity and such a blessing. This allows me the chance to learn from quality observation of senior educators and interactions with children in the same setting I expect to one day teach in. I will also be able to share in the instruction of these students and experience the joy when they grasp new concepts and understand the fundamentals. This precious time will provide me with a background that no classroom can provide me and allow me to refer back to these moments when I have a classroom of my own. In addition to analyzing my mentor teacher’s classroom management and relationships, I will also evaluate his or her usage of modern technology in the classroom. After all, modern technology has taken this country by storm; virtually every profession has been influenced by technology and education is no exception. To be successful educator in the twenty-first century, I must be willing to embrace technology and explore options as to how I can incorporate technology into my classroom and lesson plans. My students will benefit from my use of new tools such as smart boards or PowerPoint presentations or Webquest online lesson plans I will prepare for them. My main goal in teaching is making my students respectable and productive members of society, and in order to be productive in today’s age, my students will need to have some technological literacy. While I don’t anticipate them word processing homework assignments, I do expect to explore advances in technology together and I will teach them how to use these advances to their advantage. I must remain up-to-date in the latest developments and learn how I can effectively incorporate technology into my classroom and still remain a student focused atmosphere. I need to able to showcase my ability to embrace technology and my creativity and organization to potential employers so they may be able to develop a firm understanding of my capabilities. One ingenious way to do just this is to create a website portfolio to demonstrate these abilities, along with my teaching philosophy, experience, growth and potential as an educator. I intend to treat this portfolio as a working resume and will constantly keep it current. However, to set my portfolio apart, aside from my extraordinary qualities and capabilities, I plan to entitle a section of my portfolio specifically for the parents of my students to track their child’s activities, learning and progress in my classroom. I welcome as much parental involvement in my classroom as possible, and so I am always considering any additional ways I can allow my parents to be in touch with their child and I think a special section on my website portfolio is perfect. This way the parents can learn more about me personally as a person and teacher so they may feel more comfortable with me and my position as their child’s educator. My biggest challenge in all this will be balancing all my aspirations to become a well-rounded and successful teacher. I will never be perfect and will continuously be learning to better myself for the sake of my students. I plan to grow and develop just as much as my students do each year. I bravely accept this challenge and believe I am more than capable to conquer any obstacle that comes my way. I refuse to allow anything to inhabit my students from becoming successful citizens or degrading my classroom climate, and I am fully prepared to fight for my students’ futures. It is this compassion for my students and my passion for their success that makes me an asset to any school district and a blessing to a child and above all, an exceptional teacher.

Emily Character Analysis of A Rose for Emily Essay -- A Rose For Emily,

Miss Emily Up Close In the short story of A Rose for Emily, the main character illustrates a disturbed individual that doesn't want to separate herself from a deceased loved one. Everyone knows what its like to loose a loved one, but the town of Jefferson had no idea how hard Emily had taken death until they unraveled her deep, dark secret. People knew what it must have been like to be Emily. They knew the type of life she had lived and felt bad for the way her father had kept her all cooped up and sheltered away from any man. They also knew her father had felt that no man was good enough for her. The people of Jefferson felt that the family thought they were better then everyone else and showed no sort of insanity. When her father died, people realized the toll it had taken on Emily. They were somewhat relieved to know he was gone, and she too would discover what it was like to be a ?pauper.? They also knew they could pity her and the woman even came to her house to console her. They found it interesting when they saw no sense of grief amongst her face, and that she acted like she had no idea of the death of her father. People of Jefferson still didn?t think she was crazy, they had just figured it was all she had to do. She wasn?t very tidy and she had left an African American to clean up her house and be her butler . They women knew that a man surely didn?t know how to clean a house so they knew he was the reason for the horrible smells. The scent of her house was gruesome, and left people nauseous. Unfortunately, no one had the guts to let her know that she had basically had an odor, which surrounded her property. So the townspeople had squeezed lemon juice around her yard to relieve the horrid smell. When Miss Emil... ...dering emotions which might have driven Emily to her insanity. Although it is hard, I have not even thought of the perverted things that she had done to Mr. Barron, nor have I thought that an individual was capable of telling themselves that someone isn?t dead and argue with people and say I wouldn?t give up their body. Emily did go through a lot in her lifetime. It is hard to loose someone close to you, and especially if that is all you truly have. I feel that all Emily wanted was to feel loved, and to have someone in her life that made her feel special and feel like she was somebody. She was lonely, and she needed someone to love her and someone for her to love. She sought attention which she rarely received as a child. She demonstrates a quite luminous type of psychosis that was affected and hindered from her father?s death and corrupt and shelter childhood.

Energy Harvesting and Nanotechnology

Energy Harvesting and Nanotechnology| April 28 2011 | Energy harvesting generators are attractive as unlimited replacements for batteries in electronic devices and have been the focus of new researches for past years. This paper reviews the principles behind this technology and their integration to harvest energy. Also proposes a greener alternative for the production of quantum dots before the integration to new technologies. | Nanowires and Quantum Dots| Energy Harvesting with Nanowires and Quantum Dots Introduction Harvesting energy is the core of our modern human existence. We need to power our cars, homes, and personal electronics. T o power our technology we need energy. Most electrical energy is harvested in one of two ways. These ways are mechanically harvested or harvested from solar power. Mechanically harvested energy needs moving parts, for example, to turn a generator. Solar energy can be harvested through solar cells via the photoelectric effect. As technology becomes smaller and more compact, power conversion technology needs to also adapt to this changes. Nanotechnology has shown great promise to become the power generator for future nanotechnology. 1 That is the purpose of this paper to show how this technology works and is integrated to the production of energy. Nanowires have a diameter in between 20 nm and 100 nm. They can be made from many types of material, however most research is being done on silicon nanowires1-2 3 4 5 6 ; carbon and CdS/CdTe7 nanowires also are being researched. These nanowires can convert solar energy into electrical energy with enough efficiency to power small devices. This technology can create self sufficient nanotechnologies that do not need batteries or need to be connected to a power source. This new technology will be completely different to the macro-technology we have today, were we have to change out batteries or plug them into a wall. Self-sustaining technology is very green, because they do not need a non-renewable outside energy sources. Quantum dots are being researched as a viable alternative to silicon based solar cells. Quantum dots are small particles, or â€Å"nanoparticles†, of a semiconductor material, most common chalcogenides (selenides or sulfides) of metals like cadmium or zinc (CdSe or ZnS), which are usually from 2 to 10 nanometers in diameter. Because of their size, quantum dots display unique optical and electrical properties that are different in character to those of the corresponding bulk material. The most relevant of these is the emission of photons under excitation, which are visible to the human eye as light. Moreover, Quantum dots can be tuned to certain wavelengths based on their size and are able to produce more than one electron per absorbed photon. These molecules are generally made out of CdSe and are cheap, their synthesis is relatively green, and they have great stability over many years. They do not bleach like other dyes and their efficiency does not fade nearly as quickly as normal dyes. 7 Nanowires and quantum dots have become very interesting topics in chemical research. They have potential to start a new wave of technology and may be the future power source of almost every technology. This article is about how scientists can harvest solar power on a nanoscale, with quantum dot technology showing much promise as a green solution. Solar Power. Today, solar power is harvested by large photovoltaic cells (a solid state electrical device that converts the energy of sunlight directly into electricity) that are made of crystalline silicon; the generation of electricity from the sun was a landmark in Green Chemistry. However, these large panels are bulky and expensive. Silicon nanowires use the same mechanism for power generation, but are smaller and more portable. The coaxial silicon nanowires operate by using coaxial shells selectively doped to absorb photons and produce electrons. 1,3 Coaxial silicon nanowires have 2 shells and a core, figure 1 shows the nanowire and a view of the cross section of the nanowire. Figure 1. The blue outer shell is the n-type shell, the inner yellow shell is in the i-type shell, and the pink core is the p-type core. The diagram on the right shows how the holes (h+), and the photo generated electrons (e-) flow across the nanowire. (Adapted from figure 1 in Nature 2007, 449, 885-889) The outer shell is crystalline in structure which enables the wire to absorb photons. The semiconductor material construction made this nanowire operate like a diode. Diodes allow current to flow one way but not another. Diodes are very common in household electronics and circuits. This means that self-powered circuits can be created from these nanowires. , 3-4 Quantum Dots are able to emit three excitons from one photon through an effect called the Multiple Exciton Effect. An exciton is an electron and its hole. Quantum dots can be tuned to many different wavelengths of light, because the wavelength they absorb is based on the diameter of the dot. The material for quantum dots is more cost effective than silicon-based solar panels. Theoretical limits for power conversion efficiency are approximately 60% 7. This is an amazing efficiency, but there are some debates about how true this efficiency is. There is not much known about quantum dots still, the organic outer layer that is used to separate these particles seem to have photo-electronic effects as well. Figure 2, shows an experimental power generator utilizing quantum dots and a mechanical piezoelectric generator. Figure 2 This is a power generator that uses both solar and mechanical means to harvest power. The quantum dots are interlaced in the ZnO nanowires. The solar cell power conversion efficiency of this device was 15. 8%. Unfortunately, the process of making heavy metal quantum dots is not very green. Some processes require high temperatures and heavy material loss. Current production methods have seen some LCA assessments of quantum dots. There is a lot of waste developed during the production and purification of quantum dots. Mass-by-mass comparison with silicon solar cells, show that quantum dots require far more energy and solvent. However, since only a small amount of quantum dots are being used in technology and the long lasting and high efficiency of power generation gives quantum dots a better assessment in all environmental aspects except heavy metal emission. Since emerging technologies rapidly change, this assessment could be outdated in six months with a new greener synthesis. Proposal Greener QDs: Cadmiun free quantum dots In many parts of the world there are legislation that restrict and in some cases ban heavy metals such as Cd in many household appliances such as Lighting equipment , Electrical & electronic tools, sport telecommunication equipment and entertainment devices. Many reports have shown that cadmium-based QDs were toxic at the tissue and cellular levels when their surfaces are not carefully functionalized. 1, 12 CuInS2 is a direct band gap semiconductor material with a band gap of 1. 45 eV. Thus, by tailoring their composition and size, it is possible to fabricate CuInS2 QDs that emit from the visible to near-infrared (NIR) region, with high quantum yield. More importantly, CuInS2 QDs are more suitable for biomedical imaging applications and integration in household devices because the particles are free from toxic elements such as cadmium, lead, mercury. The properties of these nanoparticles are very similar to those of CdS quantum dots, but the overall efficiency and shifts in spectra are still lower that the ones obtained by cadmium QD’s. More research needs to be done to increase the overall properties of this nanoparticles and their integration to electronic devices, but some ideas that are being currently tried are coating CuInS2 with organic materials that enables the particles to be more efficient and increases their luminescence. Currently this QD’s are being mass produced for example by Nanoco is a nanotechnology company located in Manchester, United Kingdom that uses a molecular seeding method adapted for other compound semiconductor materials, which have similar optical properties to those of CdSe quantum dots (such as the family of III-V materials), but do not contain heavy metals. So the possibilities for the implementation of this technology on devices that are in constant contact with humans are infinite, if new alternatives like this are implemented in future designs. Conclusion Self-sustaining technology is the end goal for these nanogenerators; this can lead to a green revolution in technology and reduce the emissions into our atmosphere. Currently, quantum dots are beginning to show amazing properties that may one day replace batteries and carbon- based energy production. Unfortunately, the current process for the synthesis of quantum dots generates too much solvent waste and uses too much power, but there is research trying to quantify the environmental impact and reduce it. Since quantum dots are an emerging technology, the production and utilization may drastically change in the coming years and hopefully a strong emphasis on low environmental impact will be on the forefront. Meanwhile this technology is being introduced in the solar energy production and medical procedures like targeting cell and biomarkers, giving results that promise a change in the way energy is produced. References 1. Tian, B. Z. ; Zheng, X. L. ; Kempa, T. J. ; Fang, Y. ; Yu, N. F. ; Yu, G. H. ; Huang, J. L. ; Lieber, C. M. , Coaxial silicon nanowires as solar cells and nanoelectronic power sources. Nature 2007, 449 (7164), 885-U8. 2. Peng, K. Q. ; Wang, X. ; Lee, S. T. , Silicon nanowire array photoelectrochemical solar cells. Applied Physics Letters 2008, 92 (16). 3. Sivakov, V. ; Andra, G. ; Gawlik, A. ; Berger, A. ; Plentz, J. ; Falk, F. ; Christiansen, S. H. , Silicon Nanowire-Based Solar Cells on Glass: Synthesis, Optical Properties, and Cell Parameters. Nano Letters 2009, 9 (4), 1549-1554. 4. Tian, B. ; Kempa, T. J. ; Lieber, C. M. , Single nanowire photovoltaics. Chemical Society Reviews 2009, 38 (1), 16-24. 5. Tsakalakos, L. ; Balch, J. ; Fronheiser, J. Korevaar, B. A. ; Sulima, O. ; Rand, J. , Silicon nanowire solar cells. Applied Physics Letters 2007, 91 (23). 6. Yang, R. S. ; Qin, Y. ; Dai, L. M. ; Wang, Z. L. , Power generation with laterally packaged piezoelectric fine wires. Nat. Nanotechnol. 2009, 4 (1), 34-39. 7. Lee, M. ; Yang, R. ; Li, C. ; Wang, Z. L. , Nanowire-Quantum Dot Hybridized Cell for Harvesting Sound and Solar Energies. J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 2010, 1 (19), 2929-2935. 8. Sengul, H; Thomas T. , An environmental impact assessment of quantum dot photovoltaics from raw material acquisition through use. Journal of Cleaner Production. 2011, 19, 21-31. 9. Ken-Tye Yong, Indrajit Roy, Rui Hu, Hong Ding, Hongxing Cai, Jing Zhu, Xihe Zhang, Earl J. Bergey and Paras N. Prasad; Synthesis of ternary CuInS2/ZnS quantum dot bioconjugates and their applications for targeted cancer bioimaging, Integr. Biol. , 2010,  2, 121-129 10. www. nonoco. com 11. K. -T. Yong, H. Ding, I. Roy, W. -C. Law, E. J. Bergey, A. Maitra and P. N. Prasad, ACS Nano, 2009, 3, 502. 12. Y. Su, Y. He, H. Lu, L. Sai, Q. Li, W. Li, L. Wang, P. Shen, Q. Huang and C. Fan, Biomaterials, 2009, 30, 19.

National Deficit and National Debt Essay - 982 Words

The growing national deficit is a looming problem in the United States now more than ever. The national debt is constantly increasing and government spending is out of control. If these issues are not solved then they could spell disaster for the nation’s economy when the infamous debt ceiling is finally reached. Currently the national policy on the debt is to continue raising the debt limit until a solution is found that is agreeable between both parties in Congress. The two main issues of over spending and the constant raising of the debts ceiling by Congress can both be resolved by government spending reform, balancing the federal budget and initiating pro-growth policies in order to increase the government’s tax revenue. The debt†¦show more content†¦The other issue that is facing the American government is overspending. Overspending is a pertinent problem facing the lawmakers in Congress. In 2012 discretionary spending reached $1.3 trillion and mandatory s pending $2 trillion, while only bringing in $2.5 trillion in revenue. Since the turn of the century back in 2000, non-mandatory spending by the government has topped out a whopping $16.1 trillion just in the past 13 years (Boccia, Frasser Goff 2013). This persistent overspending on programs and services that are not necessary to the functionality of the country is what is causing the deficit to rise year after year. To remedy this issue the government must either increase the revenue it brings in through taxes and trade or reduce the amount of money it spend or perhaps even both. In 2012 thirty-one cents of every dollar that Washington spent was borrowed (Boccia, Frasser Goff 2013). Most of which went to large programs such as Social Security and Medicare and if these large, growing programs, or just the budget in general, do not undergo financial reform it could spell disaster for the economy and fiscal state of the nation. Government spending in the United States needs to change and it needs to change soon. As mentioned earlier, in 2012 nearly a third of governments budgetShow MoreRelatedFederal Deficit And The National Debt1661 Words   |  7 Pagesyears of the federal deficit and the national debt, as well as examination their relationship. This paper also looks at how the deficit is created and dealt with, along with what happens to different areas of the economy when the deficit’s size changes. Lastly this paper covers who owns the national debt, how these people are paid off, and the interest rate of the debt. 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Public policy is defined as a â€Å"system of laws, regulatory measures, courses of action, and funding prioritiesRead MoreThe Federal Budget Deficit And National Debt870 Words   |  4 Pages The Federal Budget Deficit and National Debt Basically, what the federal budget deficit is a shortage of funds that are available for the government, where more money is being spent than what the government receives. But, national is where the government borrows money through various ways. The data for national debt and federal budget deficit from the year 2001-2013 is given in the chart above. As we can see in the graph, the deficit is still remains in our economy even though there hadRead MoreFederal Budget Deficit And The National Debt1524 Words   |  7 Pages These two graphs are dealing with the federal budget deficit and the national debt and just how diverse they are from the time differences with both begging approximately in the 2001’s and making their way to 2013. Different types of numbers, but the relationship between the Federal budget deficit and the national debt is by how the Deficit deals with taking the difference of what the U.S. government gets in from taxes or other revenues calling these receipts, but on top of that the amount of moneyRead MoreThe Federal Budget Deficit And The National Debt747 Words   |  3 PagesAlvarado ECON 2301.SY2 The Federal Budget Deficit and the National Debt The United States national debt is large. The U.S. Debt-to-GDP ratio has grown to over 60 percent in recent years. We are more than $15 trillion in debt. In this paper I will address the federal budget, the United States debt, and the resulting impacts on society in several sectors. In our textbook, â€Å"Principles of Macroeconomics,† the relationship between debt and deficit is described. 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To analyseRead MoreAnalysis Of The Federal Budget Deficit And The National Debt1642 Words   |  7 PagesTHE FEDERAL BUDGET DEFICIT AND THE NATIONAL DEBT Morgan Sibley The Federal budget deficit is the amount of spending by the Federal government that is in excess of how much money the government brings in annually. While the Federal budget deficit has steadily decreased overall during the past fifteen years, our Federal debt continues to grow at a drastic rate. A review of how the Federal deficit has evolved over the past fifteen years, the rate of growth of the Federal debt during that same periodRead MoreA National Debt Is The Difference Between The Government s Budget And Deficit And The Expenditures1291 Words   |  6 Pagesway, a national debt is the difference between the government’s budget/deficit and the expenditures. The U.S. federal debt was set up by the first Treasury Secretary, Alexander Hamilton. Our initial debt incurred during the American Revolutionary War. Over the following 45 years, the debt grew. Although, the national debt actually shrank to zero by January 1835, under President Andrew Jackson, it quickly grew into the millions again, soon after. The American Civil War resulted in dramatic debt growth