The Satire In Voltaires Candide Essays - English-language Films

The satire in Voltaire's Candide Annonymous The book The Scarlet Letter is all about symbolism. People and objects are symbolic of events and thoughts. Throughout the course of the book, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses Hester, Pearl, and Arthur Dimmesdale to signify Puritanic and Romantic philosophies. Hester Prynne, through the eyes of the Puritans, is an extreme sinner; she has gone against the Puritan ways, committing adultery. For this irrevocably harsh sin, she must wear a symbol of shame for the rest of her life. However, the Romantic philosophies of Hawthorne put down the Puritanic beliefs. She is a beautiful, young woman who has sinned, but is forgiven. Hawthorne portrays Hester as divine maternity and she can do no wrong. Not only Hester, but the physical scarlet letter, a Puritanical sign of disownment, is shown through the author's tone and diction as a beautiful, gold and colorful piece. Pearl, Hester's child, is portrayed Puritanically, as a child of sin who should be treated as such, ugly, evil, and shamed. The reader more evidently notices that Hawthorne carefully, and sometimes not subtly at all, places Pearl above the rest. She wears colorful clothes, is extremely smart, pretty, and nice. More often than not, she shows her intelligence and free thought, a trait of the Romantics. One of Pearl's favorite activities is playing with flowers and trees. (The reader will recall that anything affiliated with the forest was evil to Puritans. To Hawthorne, however, the forest was beautiful and natural.) And she was gentler here [the forest] than in the grassy- margined streets of the settlement, or in her mother's cottage. The flowers appeared to know it (194) Pearl fit in with natural things. Also, Pearl is always effervescent and joyous, which is definitely a negative to the Puritans. Pearl is a virtual shouting match between the Puritanical views and the Romantic ways. To most, but especially the Puritans, one of the most important members of a community is the religious leader; Arthur Dimmesdale is no exception. He was held above the rest, and this is proven in one of the first scenes of the book. As Hester is above the townspeople on a scaffold, Dimmesdale, Governor Wilson, and others are still above her. But, as the reader soon discovers, Arthur Dimmesdale is his own worst enemy. He hates himself and must physically inflict pain upon himself. He thus typified the constant introspection wherewith he tortured, but could not purify, himself to never forget what he has done (141). To Dimmesdale, it is bad that Hester is shown publicly as a sinner, but people forget that. What is far worse than public shame is Dimmesdale's own cruel inner shame. Knowing what only he and Hester know, the secret eats away at every fiber of Dimmesdale's being. As the Puritans hold up Dimmesdale, the Romantics level him as a human. The Scarlet Letter is a myriad of allegorical theories and philosophies. Ranging from Puritanic to Romantic, Nathaniel Hawthorne embodies his ideas to stress his Romantic philosophies through Pearl, Hester, and Dimmesdale throughout all of this.

The Trail Of Tears Essays - Cherokee Nation, Cherokee, John Ross

The Trail Of Tears Essays - Cherokee Nation, Cherokee, John Ross The Trail of Tears "We are now about to take our leave and kind farewell to our native land, the country that Great Spirit gave our Fathers, we are on the eve of leaving that country that gave us birth? it is with sorrow we are forced by the white man to quit the scenes of our childhood?we bid farewell to it and all we hold dear." This is the way that Cherokee Vice Chief Charles Hicks described, in 1838, the emotions that must have been felt after the mistreatment and the abuse that was wrought upon the Cherokee Indians. It was a trail of blood, a trail of death, but ultimately it was known as the "Trail of Tears". In this history of the Cherokee Nation we are trying, but without success, to be as unbiased as possible. It?s the War of 1812. Andrew Jackson is mounting up forces against the Pro-British faction of the Creek Indians. The United States appealed for Cherokee support for aid in war against Tukumsa and another Indian known as Red Sticks. The Cherokee Nation replied with six to eight hundred of their best warriors. It was this war were the Indians fought side by side with Jackson. After a treaty in 1814 was forced on the Creek Indians, the Cherokees filed claims for there lose. There was no promise that their claims would be acknowledged. This would bring on the biggest betrayal on the Cherokee Indians, Andrew Jackson. Andrew Jackson demanded the session of twenty-three million acres of land to the United States. The Cherokee Nation, however, owned Four million acres of this land. The Cherokees protested again to Indian agent Jonathan Meigs in the War Department. Once again their former ally called these claims "Cherokee intrigue". Andrew Jackson then suggested with troops already in the field that this would be the perfect time to remove Cherokees as well as Creeks out of Tennessee. The Indian Removal Act was introduced by Andrew Jackson and was passed by Congress in 1830. This act was to force the Indians west of the Mississippi River. This was largely carried out by General Winfield Scott and his army of approximantly seven thousand troops, in May of 1838. When the army arrived in New Echota Georgia thousand of Cherokee Indians would be rounded up with dragnets and penned up in wooden stockades. By June 5, 1838 it was estimated that only 200 Cherokee had escaped. There were between fifteen to se venteen thousand Cherokee held in these crude jails, where they would await their long brutal journey west. This route from Georgia through Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, and finally ending in Oklahoma, would later be referred by Cherokees as Nunna-da-ul-tsun-yi, or "the trail on which they Cried". The journey on which the Indians traveled would bring many deaths due to starvation, droughts and disease. There were two main ways of travel, by land and river. River travel was difficult if not impossible because low river levels due to the drought. All in all it took 645 wagons, 5000 horses and oxen and river vessels used primarily for the ill. Grant Foreman, Dean of Indian Historians, recorded this appalling period. He stated that the weather was extremely hot, there was a drought, and water was scarce and there were suffocating clouds of dust mixed with the oxygen. He also stated that at least three but, up to five people died per day on the trail. By the end of June 1838 two to three hundred Indians were sick. On June 17, 1838 General Charles Floyd of the Georgia militia wrote to Governor Gilmen of New Echota that they were convinced that there were no longer any Cherokee in Georgia. This would hold true that they succeeded in removing the Cherokee from the state, but not compl etely from the east. This would bring on a great supporter of the Cherokee people, a white man by the name of John Ross. John Ross campaigned heavily for the Cherokees. Ross was part of the immigration management committee. Ross persuaded General Scott to approve a budget for the captive Indians of Seventeen cents per Indian per day. This was double the amount figured by congress. This money was

I love you Rosa Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

I love you Rosa - Essay Example An 11-year old Jewish boy’s love for his young, widowed sister-in-law! A writer-director can do more justice to the strength and originality of the movie than a professional director. For, a writer-director puts his heart and soul of the story, in the minutest details of direction. A religious theme has been tackled in a professional style without bias, fear or favor. He doesn’t bind the viewer and causes stress, with tension-producing interpretations, of religious revelations. â€Å"His story, unfolded mostly through a flashback, derives from the tenets in Deuteronomy on the duty of a man to marry his brothers widow as well as those involving the widows rights if shes refused. His hero, even under ancient law, is too young to marry, but he jumps at the chance to live with the sister-in-law he adores despite the opposition of his family and the taunts and attacks of friends and neighbors.† (Movie Review†¦.) The strongest character is the determined widow. Notwithstanding the ridicule and criticism she faces by the community leaders, she sticks to her position, she understands the affection of the 11 year young boy, but rejects him as her husband. Rosa, who has a progressive outlook, is not interested in either child-rearing or remarriage. Her rejection is strong and humiliating for the boy as she shoos him away. The boy still loves her and his sacrifice for his love is genuine, (they say, true love doesn’t expects to be loved back), he frees her from her religious commitment. In the end, she decides to marry him. The main characters in the movie are, Michal Bat-Adam, is the stalwart Roza, Gabi Otterman does the role of the boy torn apart and confused by tough and difficult-to-challenge religious beliefs. Avner Chezkiyahu is the understanding and affectionate rabbi, Yosef Shiloah is the widow’s suitor and the boy’s employer, who is trying to take undue advantage in a difficult

2 Questions Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

2 Questions - Assignment Example Liking - so now that the consumer is fully aware and knowledgeable about the product, he begins to relate the product with itself and establishes a connection. At this stage, the marketer should already know which level consumers feel the product and should draft their ad campaigns accordingly. It is best for the marketer to now evaluate his consumer base as to whether they think the company offers a better product than its competitors. Conviction - the second to the last stage. Now the consumer is hit with strong advertising and reasons to want to purchase the product over the competitors. A conviction must be created within the mind of the client to support the product. So the marketer must push the advertisement in such a way that the consumer will feel that the competitors cannot compete with this particular brand. Purchase - the final step in the buyer readiness - stage. The effective product information dissemination and strong advertising push creates a conviction within the clients mind that gives him the confidence to push through with the purchase of the product. Once the sale occurs within the consumer base of the product, then the marketer can effectively say that he has done his job properly. 2. An appeal is what an advertiser doe sin order to get a consumer to purchase a product or service. There are three types of appeals that are commonly used in advertising by marketers. These appeal types are known as: Ethical Appeal - this is an appeal targeted at at someones or somethings image. The public does not normally come across this type of advertising unless it is election season. This is because politicians use this advertising platform to present themselves in a better light than the other candidates, oftentimes using criticisms to make them more appealing to the voter. Consumers though, normally do not use this kind of dialog unless they are writing to a company to complain

Boston Consulting Group Matrix (BCG) Explained

Boston Consulting Group Matrix (BCG) Explained The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) growth-share matrix is a very vital inclusion in marketing or strategic management. The Boston Matrix developed by Bruce Henderson in the early 70s of the Boston Consulting Group. Even thou considering the flaws in the model, the Boston Consulting Group model is one of the most famous portfolio management tool implemented in product life cycle theory. It can provide effective guidance towards resource distribution. The BCG matrix works on two variables: market share and market growth. This variables point at the status of the organisation. It can be also stated as, products which have a greater market share or fall in the fast growing category can yield higher profit margins. It basically serves four distinctive purposes: It can be used to categories products portfolio in four types namely Stars (high growth, high market share) , Cash Cows (low growth, high market share), Question Marks (high growth, low market share) Dogs (low growth, low market share); it can be used to prioritize products in the products portfolio; classifying products on the bases of cash usage and generation; helps generating strategies to tackle possible product lines. Hence, the BCG model proves to be a useful analytical tool to value a companys product ranges. The four cells classified in the BCG are: Stars This category holds the market leaders which also have greater market share. The products in this category generate large amount of income but also require heavy investment to sustain market share rapid growth. Cash Cows The products in this category basically have high market share in an already developed market. They generate high profits and generate good cash flow. Such products do not require much investment as they are already established products. Question Marks Question marks are products which fall in a high growth market with relatively low market share. Such products require considerable investment to hold and increase the market share. The return on investment is also low due to the lack of market share. Dogs Dogs thrive in a low growth market with a low share. They do not generate any effective profits for the company and show little signs of growth. Such products should be generally liquidated. Although BCG matrix is a well-known tool for portfolio analysis, it has numerous constraints too. Some of them are: The foremost and important problem is how to define the market and collection of data regarding a products market share. It is not necessary that a product with a high market share result in profitability at all times. The model only works on two aspects namely market share and market growth. Businesses with low market share can also be profitable. It only rates the products on the bases of one competitor i.e. the market leader. It overlooks small competitors with high rate of growth. It overlooks the effects of synergy between strategic business units. Internal and External Audits The marketing audit forms a very core part of the marketing planning process. Audits are undertaken at the beginning of the plan, as well as at fixed intervals during the execution of the plan. The marketing audit consists of both internal and external influences on marketing planning, also considering the review of the plan itself. Many tools and methods are available to undertake such audits, e.g. SWOT analysis which can be used for auditing internal as well as external environment. Altogether such marketing audits help evaluate the opportunities and threats, and help the marketing heads to assess and make necessary changes to the plan. Many a times when things start going downhill in a company in ways like falling sales, weakening margins, reducing market share, the need for an audit spurges up. Management often overlook the actual problem and work towards the wrong symptoms. Launching of new products, reducing costs, cutting costs are some of the tactics used. Such measures are highly ineffective, if core problems are not addressed. Such problems have to be effectively identified and auditing helps in defining such problems. Internal Audit Internal audit consist of controllable variables in a firm. Internal audit helps in evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of an organisation which provide certain advantages and can relate to the needs of the specific target market. Strengths can be classified as internal factors which can support an organisation accomplish its objectives or to reduce threats. Weaknesses are factors which may hamper the organisational growth and foil organisations from achieving their targets. Some of the areas of internal audit in order to analyse the internal factors of a company are:- Resources, sales, market share, profit margin, costs, marketing procedures, marketing organisation, marketing information, marketing mix variables as : Products, Price, Distribution, Promotion. External Audit External audit is related with the uncontrollable variables, outside the firm such as the market, the competitor, etc. The external audit is concerned with factors such as political-legal, economic, social-cultural and technological (also known as PEST or STEP), with these the ecological and competitive factors which may stand opportunities or pose threats. An opportunity can be termed as an external factor which the company can exploit to gain higher profits margins. A threat can be any external circumstances that could curtain organisational performance. Areas of analyses for external audit include information regarding customers, suppliers, partners, market share, technical standards; customer feedback through surveys, suggestions, complaints; government, academic or syndicated studies of the market, the industry, competition; industry groups; employees, suppliers, and other partners; media and online reports; special interest group (Woods, 2007)*. SWOT TOWS It is very an important part of planning to understand the environment an organisation operates. SWOT analysis summarises a companys strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. SWOT analysis is a tool for auditing a company and its environment. It is conducted at the initial stage of planning and helps point out the key issues. SWOT is an acronym used to define Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats which are strategic factors for a company, where the strengths and weaknesses form the internal factor, opportunities and threats are external factors to the firm. Where SWOT analysis is a tool used to identify business strategies for an organisation to adopt. It comprises of specifying and grouping together internal organisational strengths and weaknesses and environmental opportunities and threats. In real life scenario this is not so viable as although having all identified all the information in hand, the problem arises of what to do with the information. Whereas, the TOWS matrix is a mechanism which helps in explaining the strategy rather than just helping in its generation. The TOWS matrix (Weihrich, 1982)* presents a mechanism for facilitating linkages and presents a framework for identifying and formulating strategies. In order to conduct Strategic management, brief market research needs be carried out using accurate information systems to evaluate key issues in the company and environment. Factors such as: Market Research External and internal which may affect a company. Target customers. Driving forces behind sales trends. Company Research Information of company resources assets, I. P., etc. Information of company capabilities. Competition Research Competitive edge. Needs of products and services. The information thus collected needs to be scanned and evaluated into four elements: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, where in opportunities and threats are used to analyse the external factors and strengths and weaknesses are used to analyse the internal factors. It is very important to bear in mind that internal and external factors should clearly distinguished, as it may obscure both the management approach and decision making body. The SWOT TOWS process can carry on till the time the body feels it is productive, as long as the information is properly evaluated and refined by discussions and arguments. At the end, the points put forward should be agreed by the whole board on which points to reject and which to retain, so the final gird will contain only the key strategic marketing external opportunities and the key strategic internal strengths and weakness. As concluded by Tony Proctor (2000)* with his case study on over 50 organisations, that practising such tec hniques have helped the organisations in gaining greater insights in the process of strategy creation and have helped structure their thinking process and have helped them profoundly in coming up with better strategic ideas. Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning process The STP process is a very important process in a marketing strategy as it helps the organisation in creating personalised marketing mix packages which target specific group of the market segment with similar characteristics and needs. The STP process consists of three main activities: market segmentation, market targeting and market positioning. The level and category of segmentation process employed varies significantly depending factors like Dimension of the organisation Point at which it is carried in the marketing planning process Financial position of the organisation Current market position Segmenting targeting positioning (STP) consist of different steps as stated by Pelsmacker and Geuens (2007)* namely, definition of segmentation criteria, definition of segment profiles, assessment of the attractiveness of segments, selection of target groups, definition of the desired unique position in the mind of targeted consumers. The STP implementation begins with defining potential factors based on which segmentation of the market can be carried. The market segments created should further be divided in to generalized subgroups, in which the members of one group should respond identically to marketing stimuli and be different in their reaction to such stimuli from members of other segments. For example, the furniture market can be disturbed into different groups such as home and business market. Further division of these segments can be carried out such as, home market can include segments like student home furniture, classic furniture, design furniture etc.; likewise business segment can be divided into office furniture, hotel furniture etc. In the next stage, Points in each segment can be combined to form segmentation profiles. On the basis of identified segmentation profiles, their attractiveness can be assessed. The attractiveness of the segments depends on many factors like the size and forecasted progression of sales, buying power and competition amount targeted for the segment. Considering the analysis of segment attractiveness, a number of target groups will be selected which will be focused upon, keeping in mind the companys strengths. This process is called targeting. Further objectives, strategies and tactics created will circle around these particular groups. In the end, the organisation has to create a unique and appropriate position for its product in the mind of the target group. Positioning can be defined as how a product is perceived by the target group based on its important attributes. Positioning is one of the fundamental element of marketing strategy and of marketing communications.

Ece 315

EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT ECE 332 ROBERT GALLO FEBRUARY 20, 2012 Child development is a process involving developmental milestones during predictable time periods. Brain maturation lays the foundation for all other aspects of a child’s development. Growth and development of the brain is rapid, exceedingly complex, and influenced by a combination of maternal environment and genetics (Marotz, p28).This paper will include the developmental characteristics/milestones of preschoolers, appropriate activities that will enhance their cognitive, motor, social, emotional, and language development, and how the activities will enhance their development. Child development is a process that every child must go through. Major markers or points of accomplishments are referred to as developmental milestones in tracking the emergence of motor, social, cognitive, and language skills. They represent behaviors that appear in somewhat orderly steps and within fairly predictable age ranges for typ ically developing children.With developmental milestones, the child will need to develop a portion of skills before he/ she can establish new ones (Marotz, p. 26). Cognitive Development Jean Piaget called early childhood the preoperational stage of cognitive development because children this age are not yet ready to engage in logical mental operations, as they will be in the concrete operational stage in middle childhood. The preoperational stage, which lasts from approximately ages 2 to 7, is characterized by the use of symbols to represent objects and relationships among them (Rathus, p. 48). Advances in symbolic thought are accompanied by a growing understanding of causality, identities, categorization, and number. Some of these understandings have roots in infancy and toddlerhood; others begin to develop in early childhood but are not fully achieved until middle childhood (Papalia, p. 269). At this age, preschoolers: request stories with riddles, guessing, and suspense, plays re alistically, experiment with things to see how they work; takes objects apart and reassembles them into â€Å"new interventions†, places eight to ten egs in a pegboard or six round and six square blocks in a form board, Attempts to draw; imperfectly copies circles, squares and some letters, sorts objects logically on the basis of one dimension; usually chooses color size as a basis for classification, identifies triangle, circle, square; can point to requested shape, listens attentively to age appropriate stories, and makes relevant comments during stories, especially those that relate to home and family events (Marotz, p. 39). Motor Development Children ages 3 to 6 make great advances in motor skills both gross motor skills, which involve the large muscles, such as running and jumping, and fine motor skills, manipulative skills involving eye-hand and small-muscle coordination, such as buttoning and drawing. They also begin to show a preference for using either the right or l eft hand. Motor skills do not develop in isolation.The skills that emerge in early childhood build on the achievements of infancy and toddlerhood. Development of the sensory and motor areas of the cerebral cortex permits better coordination between what children want to do and what they can do. Their bones and muscles are stronger, and their lung capacity is greater, making it possible to run, jump, and climb farther, faster, and better (Papalia, p. 257).Preschoolers are able to: walk up and down stairs unassisted, balance momentarily on one foot, kicks a large ball, feeds self, needs minimal assistance, jumps in place, pedals a small tricycle or riding toy, catches a large bounced ball with both arms extended, enjoys swinging, shows improved control of crayons or markers, uses vertical, horizontal, and circular strokes, holds crayons or marker between first two fingers and thumb(tripod grasp), turns pages of book one at a time, enjoys building with blocks, builds a tower of eight o r more blocks, begins to show hand dominance, manipulates large buttons and zippers on clothing, achieves complete bladder control, for the most part, during this time (Marotz, p. 138). Language Development The development of vocabulary proceeds at an extraordinary pace. Preschoolers learn an average of nine new words a day (Rathus, p. 158). The preschooler can use their growing vocabulary and knowledge of grammar and syntax to communicate more effectively.Children seem to form a quick hypothesis about the meaning of the word, which then is refined with further exposure and usage (Papalia, p. 269). Word learning does not occur gradually but is better characterized as a process of fast mapping in which the child quickly attaches a new word to its appropriate concept. There is a grammar explosion during the third year. Children’s sentence structure expands to include the word’s missing in telegraphic speech. Usually between the ages of 3 and 4, children show knowledge of rules for combining phrases and clauses into complex sentences and add an array of articles, conjunctions, adjectives, pronouns, and propositions to their vocabulary (Rathus, p. 159).Preschoolers talk about objects, events, and people not present, talks about the actions of others, adds information to what has just been said, answers simple question appropriately, asks many questions, particularly about location and identity of objects and people, uses an increasing number of speech form that keep conversation going, calls attention to self, objects, or events in the environment, promotes the behavior of others, joins in social interaction rituals, comments about objects and ongoing events, recites nursery rhymes, sings songs, uses understandable speech most of the time, produces expanded noun phrases, answers questions dealing with familiar objects and events(Marotz, p. 141). Social and Emotional Development In early childhood, children’s sense of self develops and grows mo re complex. They begin to acquire a sense of their own and abilities and their increasing mastery of the environment. In the preschool years, children continue to develop their sense of self. Almost as soon as they speak, they describe themselves in terms of certain categories such as age grouping and sex. One category of self-concept is self-esteem. Children with high self-esteem are more likely to be securely attached and have parents who are attentive to their needs. They are more likely to show prosocial behavior9Rathus, p. 174).Preschoolers express a wide range of emotions and are able to use appropriate labels such as mad, sad, happy, and just okay to differentiate their feelings. During this age, children’s emotional states are very situation-specific and can change as rapidly as they switch from one activity to another. As children develop from three-year-olds into five-year-olds, there is an increasing internalization and regulation over their emotions. As three-, fo ur-, and five-year-olds acquire new cognitive and language skills, they learn to regulate their emotions and to use language to express how they and others feel. Their emotions are very connected to the events and feelings that are occurring at that moment (Seefeldt, Wasik, p. 46).Preschoolers seem to understand taking turns but is not always willing to do so, laughs frequently; is friendly and eager to please, has occasional nightmares and fears about the dark, monsters or fire, joins in simple games and group activities, talks to self often, identifies self as boy or girl, uses objects symbolically in play, observes other children playing; might join in for a short time; often plays parallel to other children, defends toys and possessions; is becoming aggressive at times, engages in make believe play alone and with other children, shows affection toward children who are younger or children who get hurt, might continue to have a special blanket, stuffed animal, or toy for comfort ( Marotz, p. 142). Activities that will enhance cognitive development is I Spy (colors, shapes, textures, and so on), board games such as Memory, candy land or connect four , and simple puzzles. Motor activities may include dancing, pretend play, or riding tricycles, scooters, and pulling wagons. Language activities are reading the child’s favorite books, letting child be the storyteller, or simply engaging in conversation while asking questions.Musical activities, books or stories that deal with emotions, worries, and so on, and writing or drawing about what the child is feeling. Through music and movement young children express themselves, explore space, develop language and communication skills, increase sensory awareness, and express themselves through rhythm, gesture, time, and space. Recent neuropsychology research suggests that music and movement integrate the functions of both hemispheres of the brain and contribute to the language, social/emotional, cognitive, and phys ical development of young children. Music is one of the basic intelligences possessed by all humans and, as such, is an aspect of human potential.There is a musical impulse in young children, and their potential and aptitude for music are nurtured by the musical environment provided to them during infancy and early childhood. Music activities require neither specific skills nor competence, and all children are able to participate at varying levels of involvement from listening, to singing, to active movement (Eliason, p. 353). Music skills such as rhythm, meter, pitch, and tone are introduced to young children through music. Music enhances a sense of belonging to and functioning within a group. When responding to music and movement, the whole child is involved with voice, body, and emotions: listening, singing, moving to the beat, playing instruments, and imitating simple movements of objects or concepts.Learning music and words together, often accompanied by hand and body motions, is a wonderful way to wire brain connections for children’s learning. Reading and singing are closely connected; reading lyrics while singing also helps to develop reading and language skills. Additionally, it has long been recognized that music is a valuable memorization tool (Eliason, p. 353). Play promotes significant mental or cognitive skills. Research on brain growth and development supports the need for active and stimulating play for all children. Play gives the child opportunities to express thoughts and ideas. It provides occasions to organize, plan, solve problems, reason, try out solutions and skills, create and explore.According to the work of Piaget, play allows children to construct knowledge through assimilation, acquiring information through experiences, as well as through accommodation or modification of an existing point of view because information cannot be integrated into a particular scheme of understanding. Play contributes to the child’s develop ment of imaginative thinking. Play enables children to formulate ideas and then to test them. Much skill development occurs through play. During play, children have the opportunity to develop their senses of touch, taste, smell, sound, and sight to assimilate new stimuli. In addition, their attention spans are expanded as they stay on task and remain attentive to activities in which they are involved (Eliason, p. 25). Play assists communication, language, and literacy development.Many researchers think that communication skills are developed in part through peer play and the need for children to communicate with each other in their play. Play stretches the vocabulary and expands language development by providing opportunities to use new words, converse with playmates, listen to another’s language and point of view, learn new semantics (meanings of words), and hear and subsequently use new syntax (parts of speech). Play synthesizes previous experiences and thoughts, allowing c hildren to piece them together. Because children plan, communicate, listen, read, and write in their play, it offers the right conditions for learning language and literacy skills.Play also fosters creativity and aesthetic appreciation, which can influence the way children think and solve problems (Eliason, p. 26). Play promotes physical–motor development. Play is active; children are never passive recipients. Children use their bodies and increase large-muscle dexterity as they run, climb, skip, hop, jump, throw, and catch. Play, therefore, provides the exercise and physical activity needed to strengthen and coordinate children’s muscles and bodies. Children need play for health reasons. According to the American Heart Association, the U. S. obesity epidemic is currently affecting even young children, with more than 10% of 2- to 5-year-olds being overweight.The physical activity of play facilitates release of stress and helps children manage feelings in a positive way . Through physical play, children can learn appropriate ways to display aggression and other assertive behaviors without hurting themselves or others (Eliason, p. 27). Play encourages positive emotional development. Play affects the child’s motivation. It is the means for fostering a healthy personality, and it provides the opportunity for each child to discover the self. Play lets children express thoughts and ideas and try out ways of behaving and feeling. Play experiences provide safe avenues for expressing both positive and negative emotions.As they express thoughts and ideas, children can learn and be directed to the most positive ways of handling their emotions through support and reinforcement by both peers and teachers (Eliason, p. 27). There are many meaningful and remarkable benefits of stories in the lives of preschoolers; they open minds to understanding, touch hearts, and capture imaginations. Stories help children to make sense and meaning of the things that the y are taught. When ideas and concepts are taught with stories, they are remembered. Stories have a powerful effect because they not only impart ideas, concepts, and information and describe people, events, and places, but they also engage emotions.Through stories we exchange experiences and feelings. Stories clarify what is being taught and enable children to make sense and meaning of what the teacher is trying to teach (Eliason, p. 45). In conclusion, the developmental characteristics/milestones of preschoolers, appropriate activities that enhanced their cognitive, motor, social, emotional, and language development, and how the activities enhanced their development were discussed. Children in the stage of early childhood need a strong base of experiences that will provide a foundation for later learning. Children need experiences that encourage them to manipulate, explore, use their senses, uild, create, discover, construct, take apart, question, and ultimately understand the world in which they are living. They must be active, engaged, and involved in their learning. The larger the stock of experiences, the more meaning that they develop, the more elaborate is their map, and, ultimately, the clearer their thinking (Eliason, p. 41) REFERENCES: Allen, K. & Marotz, L. , (2010) Developmental Profiles: Pre-birth through Twelve Papalia, D. , Olds, S. & Feldman, R. (2010) A Childs World, Infancy through Adolescence, 11th Edition, McGraw Hill Rathus, S. A. (2011) CDEV 2010-2011 Edition. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth CENGAGE Learning Seefeldt, C, Wasik, B. A. (2006) Early Education: Three, Four, and Five Year Olds Go to School

Cango Wk 4 Swot

SWOT Analysis: Swot stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The SWOT analysis will assist CanGo understand the opportunities that are obtainable and what threats may have an effect on its business. Before moving onward with new ventures CanGo needs to evaluate the arrangement they currently have in the market. Performing a SWOT analysis technique would be very beneficial at this point and will serve as the baseline to elaborate on a strategic plan for the organization.C&G consultants have been monitoring CanGo’s processes for quite sometime, and we have developed the following preliminary SWOT analysis: Strength: ?Purchasing an automated storage and retrieval system (ASRS) would help to improve the warehouse, by purchasing an automated storage and retrieval system it is a great solution for CanGo’s handling inventory in a more effective and efficient manner. ?CanGo has had tremendous growth over the past couple of years. CanGo has also been recogni zed for as one of the fastest growing small business in the Hudson Valley. CanGo is continually looking to venture out into other areas, in an effort of improving the overall organization. Weaknesses: ?One of the biggest issues is the fact that CanGo does not have a Vision and Mission Statement. Without a vision and mission the organization does not have a clear direction of the organization. ?CanGo is also missing a Strategic plan, without a strategic plan there is no roadmap for growth and prosperity. Strategic planning will help you foresee and react quickly to market changes and opportunities.CanGo should conduct these strategic plans routinely, by doing so it helps you to see opportunities earlier and set up contingency plans so threats are minimized. ?Lack of a system analysis and programmer is also a weakness for CanGo, in general a system analyst would ensure that the requirements set forth by the business are captured and documented correctly before the solution is develope d and implemented. Currently this is not happening for CanGo, so this is an area that needs to be addressed, without it CanGo would not have the knowledge of understanding how present and future business needs will impact the olutions and the implementation process. Opportunities: ?Investing in an in-house database that incorporates into an automated storage and retrieval system ASRS. Fully automated and integrated storage systems are the ultimate in warehouse management and efficiency. They allow for complete integration of the company’s ERP software with warehouse retrieval storage system. Order picking is optimized and controlled. ?CanGo would also benefit from updating their website to reinforce corporate and brand identity, this would help their existing investment in marketing go further.This would allow for CanGo to advertise services and products, build customer relations through personalized services, they could also benefit by conducting market research through thei r website. The internet is a great opportunity for your business to compete on a much more level playing field with much larger businesses. Threats ?CanGo faces losing business from their website to other websites due to their web search taking too long, where the competition’s website is optimized and produces the results quicker Recommendations Issue 1: Marketing to the right customers and consumers is vital to every business.A company needs to know how to market to a certain target to attract their customers so they can sell their goods and create a profit from their inventory. CanGo built their success onluck and they never bothered to get into the details of how their company became successful. They are lacking important and vital information to keep their company successful. Since there is no marketing department in CanGo, I would suggest for them to hire an outside company to conduct their marketing research; I believe that they would benefit from this.The upper manage ment of CanGo should research the company that would best fit the job; perhaps choosing a company that specializes in the same industry as CanGo. There are many advantages to hiring an outside research company; they would be able to determine who the target customers are, where these customers are located, how to reach the target customers and exactly what type of product or services they are looking for. Once the marketing research company determines all of these issues, CanGo would be more effective in marketing their product.Issue 2: The fact that no one is tracking where the work is and who is supposed to be working on what can lead to many problems. Some employees may be doing more work than others because they are efficient and everything seems to land on their desk while others may be receiving credit for work they are not doing. In the video we saw that Nick was tasked out with creating a process flow chart, but he passed it on to someone else, and that some one pass it down to two more people. I believe in fair and equal work between team members so they should break down the work prior to initiating any task.There is nothing wrong with helping your teammates but not do the work for them. Passing work like that can also lead to it getting misplaced. They should use a flow chart to track where the work is. A Gantt chart or a document flow chart seem like a perfect fit for this occasion. The document flow chart will trace the process flow chart document through the system to avoid it getting lost. Losing information can also lead to the loss of secret or personal information. It can be very costly and time consuming to redo all the work that was lost.No one wants to redo what he or she already did. Issue 3: CanGo has been experiencing issues where customers are browsing the website and even selection items to purchase and placing them in their check-out cart; however the customers are leaving the website without making their purchases. It appears that t he customers are experiencing issues regarding making purchases from the website. C&G consultants have a number of recommendations to enhance the shop experience on CanGo’s website. One of the reasons may be due to trust.With internet connection, people want instant gratification. If your sale process is not hassle-free, many customers will go elsewhere. In order to keep customers coming back and to making purchases, CanGo needs to make sure that it is easy to navigate throughout the website, such as making sure that when a customer click on an item it loads up in a timely fashion, time counts, when shopping on websites. Other things that could enhance the website are having a clean and professional design; your home page has a huge impact on visitors.I would also include a search box that is user friendly, this way customers can locate items that they are interested in quickly. Online customer service is another feature that would enhance business, if customers wanted to cha t about checkout problems, this could prevent cart abandonment. Not only can live support help customers figure out your site, locate products or ask questions, live chat can be reactive, where the system triggers a chat invitation based on user behavior. Last but not least there should be links to social networks, such as (Facebook, Twitter, etc. , all of these functionalities would enhance the customers visit to your website more inviting and pleasurable. Issue 4: At CanGo, there is an increase in customer complaints and returns, and before they bring in a new ASRS system and spend more money, they need to correct the customer issues beforehand. If customers are not satisfied with CanGo products or the way they are handling the ordering process, then complaining is a good way for CanGo to realize they are doing something wrong, so they can fix it.In order to keep loyal CanGo customers as well as gain more, the company needs to address where the customers complaints are coming from . This could be from the website not being user-friendly or the customer is not getting enough feedback and going through with the purchase. If the customer does go through with the purchase, then CanGo seems to be getting more returns of the merchandise bought through the website.What CanGo needs to do is to start at the beginning to to look at the company through the eyes of the customer, and they need to figure out the best way to have the customer feel great and good about their purchases from step one of the buying process to the final purchasing stage of the process. Issue 5: Website optimization is very important to online businesses, when a customer makes a search on the website they do not want to have to wait long periods for the results.To improve the issue with the long search times they need to optimize their website and use website compression, this will allow the website to run much faster and produce the quicker results that the customers are wanting. Issue 6: To sol ve is issue with where the employees that are pickers will go once the ASRS system is implemented is simple, they can look at areas that have performance and possibly quality issues and they can place these employees there as opposed to terminating them. By placing these employees in these â€Å"problem† areas, this can increase the productivity of these areas increasing more work flow.Reference Monique. (2012, January 23). [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://upandrunning. bplans. com/2012/01/23/the-benefit-of-market-research/ Best practices for speeding up your web site. (n. d. ). Retrieved from http://developer. yahoo. com/performance/rules. html CanGo Video Week 3&4. (2012, November 11). Retrieved from DeVry University: www. devryu. net Harris, D. (n. d. ). Types of Flow Charts. Retrieved November 20, 2012, from eHow: www. ehow. com/about_5061018_types-flowcharts. html CanGo Videos Weeks 3&4. 2012, November 19). Retrieved from DeVry University: www. devryu. net Center for simplified Strategic Planning. (2011, November). Simplified strategic planning. Retrieved November 2012, from The best ways to reward employees: www. cssp. com/http:;www. entrepreneur. com/article/753340 CanGo Videos Weeks 3&4. (2012, November 19). Retrieved from DeVry University: www. devryu. net Top 10 Things Customers Expect from Your Online Store. (2012, 11 20). GetEelastic. Retrieved from http://www. getelastic. com/customer-expectations/