Entrepreneurship Motivation Among Students Business Essay

Entrepreneurship Motivation Among Students Business Essay The Indian economy was previously highly depended on agriculture; however, the current development in the industrial and service sectors requires entrepreneurship to also parallely progress, so, entrepreneurship in India requires ample motivation. Many aspects play a role in developing entrepreneurship: Educational institutions help develop requisite qualities like leadership and team spirit, help in the development of business plans, and the gaining of financial support, besides setting up TBIs and EDCs. Established businesses can help with internship, apprenticeship, and collaborations. Small scale industrial associations can also act as facilitators in prototype labs, and expositions. It is the view of a number of first generation entrepreneurs that entering into entrepreneurship demands a lot of drive and passion. Not only is the entrepreneur expected to be inspired by the idea behind the business, but business man must also have ample leadership potential in order to be able to take the responsibility in case of failure. Role of educational institutions: What students posses? What is needed in an entrepreneur? Qualitative transformation required to be an entrepreneur Educational institutions must for this reason create leaders who are simultaneously both good team players, while at the same time being capable of exercising absolute control over their employees. With this view in mind educational institutions take active efforts to boost leadership skills through development of business plans, and conducting of best manager competitions. Various team-building games are also conducted. The concept of developing competitive business plans adds to the soundness of the plans, as each student would want to better upon the plans of the others. Students come from various backgrounds, and so those students from business families could assist students from non-business families in the development of their business plan. In this way even students who may not originally have been interested in business may be drawn into business as a result of their involvement with their business plan. Self-motivation is a slow process among Indian students, as compare to the youth in Western countries, where people begin work in their teens. Being conventionally risk-taking, western societies do not look to secured jobs, and are willing to experiment with different business enterprises. In India however, entrepreneurship is considered the preserve of a few hereditary business families, who posses the requisite business acumen. Educational institutions also lack behind in encouraging students to step into entrepreneurship as placement cells are often formed with the sole idea of only getting students into stable jobs, and a comparatively lesser emphasis is laid on the setting up of entrepreneurship development cells. Colleges should also take other steps such as the setting up of Entrepreneurship Development cells (EDCs), where people are called in the raise the awareness of students as regards the marked situation financial and other resolve available. College libraries must also be well stocked in books by renowned entrepreneurs, such as the books of Subroto Bacghi, which thorough light on the process through which the entrepreneurs have risen to the top. The lack of sufficient financial resources is another major hurdle faced by first generation entrepreneurs. Colleges step in this regard by sponsoring good business enterprises upto a stage when they are able to stand on their own feel and are well grounded. Initiative on the part of financial institutions, in giving business loans can give a further impetus to this endeavor. Educational institutions can play a role in connecting those students who have good business ideas, but lack financial resources with sponsers willing to finance them. Role of extant enterprises: The concept of internship is the crux of widespread entrepreneurship in foreign countries, and must be propagated in India also. Internship must be avidly encouraged among students at the college level itself, as students will be able to go through stints in various organizations, and form a clear picture of their interest and aptitudes. In this way, the business acumen possessed by the said business families can also be absorbed by those who do not belong to such families. Thus, the lack of confidence found in students, as result of dearth of industrial exposure can also be mitigated. The effectiveness of internship can be further enhanced by combining it with industrial visits to a varied variety of industries, in order to widen the scope of the students exposure. Interactive sessions, where students get to meet a large number of industry leaders can also be encouraged. Successful businessmen must also come forward to take up protà ©gà ©s and apprentices who can be groomed to succeed them. Role of business associations: Organizations like SIPCOT play an active role in the propagation of sound business plans and there by setting up the business. Educational institutions will profit by getting actively involved with such organizations in order to foster the growth of their students. Students can also be given a safe atmosphere in which to experiment with the implementation of their ideas if expositions are setup by small-scale industries associations where students can setup stalls, and market their prototypes to the people who come to visit the stalls. Awareness among educational institutions has also increased, and many colleges now have vibrant Technology Business Incubators (TBIs), which are connected to important industries. These industries carry out the ideas innovated upon by the students. Students are also allowed to directly interact with the industries where their ideas are implemented and can be principal part of the implementation process affording the students better clarity about the viability of their ideas, and awareness as to what and how changes are to be enacted to the idea. Other factors to enhance entrepreneurship: Another point to be kept in mind is that a business need not start big. An entrepreneur can always begin with a little organization based on a small idea and then diversify into numerous fields as new and innovative ideas come to him. Collaborations are also a good idea. Start-up entrepreneurs can begin with the small enterprise, in collaboration with a lager firm, so that they can receive financial support, and mergers are possible in the case of worst case scenario. In this regard, parental support plays a vital part as parents should encourage their children to follow their heart and go after their dreams, however big or small. The government can do its part by encouraging ancillary support to entrepreneurs from such sources as suppliers, retailers and distributors. Co-operatives can be formed among groups of suppliers, retailers, distributors, and businessmen, so that they can all work towards their common profit. The government has also nowadays become more liberal in its economic policies, providing more space to entrepreneurs. Risk-taking is a problem area for most first generation entrepreneurs. Many fist generation entrepreneurs do not have ample financial resources in order to be able to bare the brunt of heavy losses. This situation may be eased by setting up business on the basis of partnerships. This, not only distributes risk, but also leads to the sharing of ideas, and the best ideas can be selected after detail deliberation. E-commerce is now affording new entrepreneurs fresh pastures, as the investment on tangible assets in a web-based business is very limited, hence reducing the risk of huge financial losses. Education is a great benefit to students as it makes them more articulate, and so it helps the new-age entrepreneurs build a better rapport with customers, who are they life-blood of the organizations. Industrial training institutes formed the ideal atmosphere for motivating students to enter into entrepreneurship, as the scope of education at ITIs naturally gives the students the require technical know-how, which will help them fine-tune details at the grassroots level in the enterprise which they setup. In conclusion, India, a country which has produce business masterminds like JRD Tata, has the potential to develop entrepreneurial skills among its sizable working age population, which is slated to grow from 77.5 Crores in 2008 to 95 Crores in 2026, according to the 2008 -09 annual budget. Literature Review According to the prevailing literature, entrepreneurial behavior of any society is determined by different factors. These are social, personality and environmental factors (Gurol and Atsan, 2006). Social factors or demographic factors examine the personal background, family background, gender and the early experiences of entrepreneurs and potential entrepreneurs, while the environmental factor model looks at the contextual factors such as the value of wealth, tax reduction and indirect benefits, timing opportunities in career process and the impact of market condition. Personality factors, widely known as trait model, focus on personality characteristics of entrepreneurs. Trait model rests on the assumption that entrepreneurs possess certain inherent characteristics, values and attitudes that provide an impetus for them and distinguish them from others. Personality Traits and Socio-demographic Background A number of personality traits, such as risk-taking propensity, the need for achievement, and locus of control, have been discussed as factors affecting peoples aspirations to start their own firms. Need for achievement McClellands need for achievement theory (1961) highly emphasized that need for achievement is one of the strongest psychological factors influencing entrepreneurial behavior. It is believed that individuals with a high need for achievement has a strong desire to be successful and are consequently more likely to behave entrepreneurially. Individuals, who have a strong need to achievement want to solve problems themselves, set targets and strive for these targets through their own efforts, demonstrate a higher performance in challenging tasks and are innovative in the sense in looking for new and better ways to improve their performance. Risk taking propensity A persons risk-taking propensity can be defined as his/her orientation towards taking chances in uncertain decision-making contexts. According to Cantillion (1775) the main factor in differentiating the entrepreneurs from employed workers was the uncertainty and risk taken by the former. It is believed that entrepreneurs prefer to take moderate risks in situations where they have some degree of control or skill in realizing a profit. Locus of control Another personality trait is locus of control. While individuals with an internal locus of control believe that they are able to control lifes events, individuals with an external locus of control believe that lifes events are the result of external factors, such as chance, luck or fate. The empirical evidence shows that small business entrepreneurs are more oriented at the internal level, than the population in general. The socio-demographic background refers to a persons social background and earlier experiences. It is revealed that the family, particularly, the father or mother, plays the most powerful role in establishing the desirability and credibility of entrepreneurial actions. It was found that significant relationship between small business work experience and interest in owning a small firm as compared to other types of work experience, past entrepreneurial experience may be more important for entrepreneurial success and for interest in an entrepreneurial career. The respondents whose parents owned a small business showed the highest preference for self employment and the lowest preference for organizational employment. By examining the relationship between demographic variables and entrepreneurial intention if was discovered that family background and gender did not contribute to entrepreneurial motivation but self employment experience was marginally supportive. The result indicated that a post graduate with entrepreneurship exposure was more likely to start a new business and have stronger entrepreneurial intentions than any other graduate. Entrepreneurial Intention Katz and Gartner (1988) define entrepreneurial intention as the search for information that can be used to help fulfill the goal of venture creation. They found that while 43% of Post Graduate preferred to be Self-Employed, only 7% showed real inclination to go ahead and step into entrepreneurship. Research Methodology This study aims to analyze the entrepreneurial characteristics of university students on the basis of data collected. The researcher assumed that certain entrepreneurial characteristics and their socio-demographic background motivates people to become entrepreneurs. A structured questionnaire was designed to gather the data required for this research. The research instrument covers socio-demographic variables, and entrepreneurial intention measures, along with such variables as, the need for achievement, risk-taking propensity, and locus of control. Sampling Design and Data Collection Procedure Students of the MBA department of Anna University, Coimbatore were surveyed. A questionnaire among 48 students and all the responses were found to be useable and relevant in the tabulation of data. Results and Discussions The results were found to be as follows: It was found that students from different social setups possessed different qualities. Students with business parentage were found to be strong in aspects of leading effectively and versatility. In fields of Competitiveness, taking initiatives, and having desire to create, students with employed parents were found to be capable. Students from agrarian setup were the ones most willing to innovate. According to gender classification, it was seen that women were willing to take the initiative, to compete forcefully. In all other respects, such as Innovation, Leadership, Desire to create and Versatility, the men were in the lead. In the measurement of other social demography variables Being well organized was rated at the highest, followed by Patience, then the ability to get along with peers. Perseverance, High level of energy and need to associate closely with others were on an equal footing. The survey also came to realize that the students were inherently highly self-confident. The students also display a desire to be self-reliant. Some showed a strong driving force, be it money or desire for power. The Propensity to take risks, however, was a quality which was discovered only in a third of the students and even fewer were willing to face uncertainties. Conclusion: Overall students displayed a high entrepreneurial intention in such aspects as innovation, the desire to take initiative and leadership potential. Men showed more entrepreneurship capacity, as compared to women. In personal traits, students were well-organized and patient. Though students are driven by ample self-confidence, their confidence suffers when it comes to taking risks and facing uncertainties. Thus it is to be understood that, though students already possess a reasonably good attitude but this attitude requires ample boosting in the sphere of risk-taking propensity. So, initiatives taken to protect entrepreneurs from risk will go long way in getting more students involved in entrepreneurship.

Point of sale system Essay

Introduction Most of this day the business organizations are using latest technology to ease their transaction and to improve their business process to another level. They are now applying computerized systems to their transactions according to their needs. Point of sale system is one of the most systems that are used of many businesses. It helps to improve the process and to fasten the transaction with the customers. Point of sale system is commonly used in fast food chain, pharmacy store, grocery store and some of the business that needs to monitor their transactions, sales and financial status. Creating a point of sale system of a facial care center can also improve their business transaction with their customers and can also help them to improve their business process. As the proponents see within the transaction of the Beau’ Secret Skin Essences Facial Care Center, they are using simple application but the feature of that application was very limited and prone for human errors that can cause of business conflict. The Proponents propose the Beau’ Secret Skin Essences Facial Care Center Point of Sale System to help the facial care center in terms of security, reliability and accuracy of every transaction. From manual process, this system transforms the transaction into a modern way that will benefit a lot especially the cashier, employees, customers and the owner. Background of the study Most this days, many companies and businesses want to enhance and have a great technology to improve and make the jobs easily. A new generation comes, the point of sale system invented. Truly, it is so very helpful in companies and businesses locally and internationally. The Beau’ Secret Skin Essences Facial Care Center Point of Sale System was created for the development of transaction for this facial care center. It will be used to help the business for a better and easy transaction. Also it has lot of features that surely help the business. Before, beau’ secret skin  essences facial care center doesn’t have a system. They using a manual computation, auditing, checking, sorting, finding and many more that was so embarrassing even they have hundreds of products. In addition, this proposed system will surely help the business to change from manual to automatic and over whelming transaction. Statement of the problem General Problem: The foregoing study aims to develop Beau’ Secret Skin Essences Facial Care Center Point of Sale System that will serve as a tool of beau’ secret skin essences facial care center to enhance and to have a better transaction performance. Specific Problems: 1. Is Beau’ Secret Skin Essences Facial Care Center Point of Sale System fulfilling the needs of the cashier and manager? 2. How Beau’ Secret Skin Essences Facial Care Center Point of Sale System lessens the days of accounting, adjustments, and inventory and would help the business grow? 3. How Beau’ Secret Skin Essences Facial Care Center Point of Sale System secure cash receipts, audit inventory away from the theft that wants to gather some data from the business? General Objective: To find useful tools that will help to make a complete and accurate point of sale system. Specific Objective: 1. It fulfills the needs of the user specifically the manager and cashier because it accommodates the common problems when it comes to transactions, business process and lessens the common human errors. 2. Point of sale would make audit easier. Less errors with a systemized way of reducing the days of audit into hours with just one click away. Adjustment would not require that much more anymore since everything is already arranged in the system ready for review. Gain in profit would be most likely. Since the system is already doing the compilation of all incoming and outgoing transactions with the supply of products, earned money and money lost in the process. This will definitely be beneficial for the growth of Beau’ Secret Skin Essences Facial Care Center. 3. In retail, it’s important to keep tight control over cash receipts to prevent theft. The Beau’ Secret Skin Essences Facial Care Center Point of Sale System will provide log-in and password program. This is the best way to secure all audited files of the business that only the manager and administrator can open, check for status, add inventory, edit the audited files and print the files. Significance of the study The following persons are the beneficiaries of Beau’ Secret Skin Essences Facial Care Center Point of Sale System. Manager – He / She will know the reliable result of total net, payouts and expenses of the business. Cashier – Less effort on calculating transaction. Proponents – The proposed study will be their guide and will help them to improve their skills and hard work. INPUT PROCESS OUTPUT Conceptual Framework Figure 1.1 Scope and limitations of the study Beau’ Secret Skin Essences Facial Care Center Point of Sale System has its  own capacity and scope of operation as well as its own limitation and incapable to do. Scope The study can do easy and faster transaction, do printing like receipt using this system, saving list of the data and manage the sales of the facial care center. It can accept barcode reading and count the number of each product in inventory list and it has a meter percentage and message alert so that the user can check and be warned for their inventory list. It recognizes the availability of the stocks and inventory in the store. It will be friendly user and easy to understand the whole features inside of it. It is composed of textboxes, checkboxes and buttons, each of products will be arranged by group, it will be properly labeled accordingly. In addition, the system has a tool form where the register log-in account and settings of the system can be seen. It will work compatibly with the use of windows Microsoft from server 2008 up to windows 7. Limitations Only the administrator can operate the tools form of the system. The foregoing study does not require an internet connection. The barcode system can be performed by typing the item number. The foregoing study will only run with the use of Microsoft windows operating system and will be limited to other operating systems. Definition of terms The operational and technical terms that used for Beau’ Secret Skin Essences Facial Care Center Point of Sale System. Operational Terms Log – In – For Security of the system. User requires entering two important data, username and password. Inputs – Information fed into a data processing system or computer. Process – A series of actions or operations conducing to an end. Outputs – The information produced by the system. POS – The place where sales are made. On a micro level, retailers consider a point of sale to be the area surrounding the counter where customers pay. Technical Terms Visual Basic – The third generation event – driven. Programming – Programming language and integrated development environment from Microsoft for its COM programming model. IPO (Input Process Output) – one of the most fundamental designs patterns and makes perfect sense. HIPO (Hierarchical Input Process Output) – Technique which a tool for planning and/or documenting a computer program. It consist of hierarchy chart and IPO charts. CHAPTER 2 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES Local Literature EasyPos (DPos) Source: http://easypos.com.ph/ Findings: In this system, it has a barcode reader, monitors the log in and log out of the staff in time, monitors the inventory, can print receipt, computes the salary of each staff, automatically creates database for each customer and have the ability to handle specials and coupons. DPos is a Windows ® based point of sale system custom built for the retail industry, with a strong focus on the bar, restaurant, resort and hotel business models. Various login profiles allow for certain levels of access to utilities, maintenance and reports. Serving staff can be restricted to only placing orders, cashiers access to cash register, managers to reports and an administrator complete access to amend, add and delete items. SUPRA RETAIL PLUS v2013 Source: http://www.posworldphilippines.com/possoftwares.html Findings: This system has a report generator that helps the user to produce any kind of reports that is needed by the user. Supra Plus has been specifically developed the ultimate architecture of Windows-based Point of Sale (POS) system to satisfy various retail  requirements. Provide systems for Fast foods, Bars and Restaurants. SUPRA PLUS is an operating precision-engineered DELPHI Language programs designed exclusively to perform cash register operations on a computer. This compact and brilliantly constructed software product performs virtually every cashier operation known to Human with lightning speed and impeccable performance. SUPRA PLUS offers an exhaustive set of cash register features combined with the universal hardware connectivity, software accessibility, and computational speed that only DELPHI Language programming can deliver. Foreign Literature PosGuys Source: http://pos-systems-review.toptenreviews.com/pos-guys-review.html Findings: This point-of-sale company offers a large selection of POS hardware, software and supplies. It is also provides software for printing barcodes and managing inventory. According to Pamela S. Stevens, POS Guys offers both choice and flexibility. POS Guys provides everything for point-of-sale systems, from scales and kitchen monitors to age verifiers. POS Guys is one of the best full-service point-of-sale hardware and software providers online that offers a choice of components. The company offers numerous all-in-one systems, a wide range of hardware, a choice of popular POS software and three hardware support plans. In addition, you are not required to enter a payment processing agreement to obtain an affordable POS solution, so you have the freedom to shop around for the best rates. POS Guys is perfect for business owners who have a bit of startup capital and want the freedom to shop around for the best payment processor. Accupos Source: http://pos-systems-review.toptenreviews.com/accupos-review.html Findings: The system provides propriety software solutions for retail stores, grocers, restaurants, quick-service restaurants and bars. They also provide mobile POS software for Android devices and line-item accounting software integration. AccuPOS does not skimp on hardware. All full systems arrive with a touch screen PC, cash drawer, card reader and receipt printer. Retail POS bundles include barcode scanners. The retail entry-level version includes a single-line barcode scanner, while the deluxe version has an omnidirectional scanner and the grocery package includes an in-counter 52-line omnidirectional scanner. All but the entry-level system also include customer displays. This POS service’s accounting integration product, called AccuLink, is a unique tool. Most POS software can export CSV files and reports and accept CSV files of inventory or customer lists. Synthesis of Related Literature and Studies Much of the literature agrees that point of sale system is helpful, makes business transaction faster and easy and monitors everything in the business. According to EasyPos (Dpos) the point of sale system has various login profiles allow for certain levels of access to utilities, maintenance and reports. Serving staff is only allowed in order placing, managers to reports and administrator to maintenance. According to Supra Plus the point of sale system can generate any kind of reports that is needed by the user. PosGuy mentioned the point of sale system can print and read barcode. Accupos mentioned that the database of the point of sale can be backup and restored. CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY Method to be use in developing the system In this concept it focuses on the components and elements of a structure or a system and unifies them into a coherent and functional whole, according to a particular approach in achieving the objectives under the given constraints or limitations. The proponent’s software development may be used to refer to the activity of computer programming, which is the process of writing and maintaining the source code, but in a broader sense of the term it includes all that is involved between the conceptions of the desired software through to the final manifestation of the software, ideally in a planned and structured process. Cash Purchase Customer Data Cash Flow Reports Stock Storage Input Data Figure 3.0 Context Flow Diagram Figure 3.1 Entity Relationship Diagram Entity Relationship Diagram The entity relationship diagram is a data modeling technique that graphically illustrates an information system’s entities and the relationships between those entities. In this diagram it shows the customers pay their bill while listing correspondent detail for the cashier that would input in the system then inform the owner whether the input is correct then the owner can update the data. Software Prototyping Model Prototyping Model is a systems development method (SDM) in which a prototype is built, tested and then reworked as necessary until an acceptable prototype is finally achieved. Prototyping is an attractive idea for complicated and large systems for which there is no manual process or existing system to help determining the requirements. In such situations letting the client â€Å"plan† with the prototype provides invaluable and intangible inputs which helps determining the requirements for the system. It is also an effective method to demonstrate the feasibility of a certain approach. This might needed for novel systems where is not clear those constraints can be met or that algorithms can be developed to implement the requirements. The process model of the prototyping approach is shown in the figure. Figure 3.2 Prototyping Model of Software Development System Analysis The phase where all possible system requirement to be developed are identified. System requirement are those set of functional and non-functional that the end-user expects from the system. There are tools in gathering the requirements, consultations, interviews, research, etc. The goal of this phase is to determine how this requirement will be accommodated in the system. There should be broad communication between the customer and the developer. Finally, a requirement specification document is created to serves the purpose of guideline for the next phase of the model. System Design Once all the requirements have been collected and analyzed, this time is to identify the system will be constructed to carry out their task. The system has to be properly designed before any implementation is started. This phase is focused on the data requirements, software construction and the system interfacing. This phase is also will define the hardware and software needed. The aim of this phase is to generate a system architecture document that serves as an input for the software design phase of the development, but also as an input for hardware design or selection activities. Respondents of the study The respondents of the study include the employees wherein the proponents prepare a set of carefully prepared and logically ordered questions. This respondent focuses on the company’s employees for a very important in a sense that this study is all about them. Primary User The primary user of the proponents is the cashier of facial care center that is responsible of selling and the one who are knowledgeable enough to answer  the problem. Secondary User The secondary user of the proponents is the owner of the facial care center that are more knowledgeable that can answer more detailed to the questions ask by the customers. The owner helps the employee to clarify and distinguish the gather data in the system. System Flow Chart Diagram Bibliography The Importance of Technology http://voices.yahoo.com/advantages-technology-education-12209998.html http://www.shelbyed.k12.al.us/schools/rms/faculty/wrodgers/technology%20int/students.html EasyPos (DPos) Point of sale system http://easypos.com.ph/ SUPRA RETAIL PLUS v2013 Point of sale system http://www.posworldphilippines.com/possoftwares.html POSGuys Point of sale system http://pos-systems-review.toptenreviews.com/pos-guys-review.html AccuPOS Point of sale system http://pos-systems-review.toptenreviews.com/accupos-review.html The Entity Relationship Diagram http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entity%E2%80%93relationship_model The Prototyping Model http://www.google.com/search?=q=prototyping+model http://www.thecorner.org%252Fcengin%52Fpromodel

Reflective Essay- First day of school Essay

Approaching the intimidating building that holds the future of not only the rest of my high school career, but my entire life, I continue to feel a longing for my old school. I wish for my old friends who I know will recognize me and jump to greet me; my old routine that I grew so accustomed to. But none of that matters now. All that matters is that I currently feel like a â€Å"nobody† and I’m certain that is all that I’ll feel for the next two agonizing years of my life. see more:write about your first day at school Is it just my imagination, my insecurities flooding my brain, or is everyone staring at me as I walk down this hallway? I can feel eyes piercing me as â€Å"the new girl† nervously walks down the hall. I don’t know where to go, and even worse, I don’t know who to ask for help. I’ve always had tons of friends; I’ve always felt like I’ve had a place at school, but now everything has done a complete 180. My mom’s piece of advice was to â€Å"just think positive†, but I don’t find that possible while I’m roaming around in an unflattering, frumpy uniform feeling like a clueless fool. I don’t know if I want to cry to my parents and have them make it â€Å"all better†, or if I just have burning resentment toward them from yanking me from the school I really belong at. I never knew how much a simple smile from a stranger would mean to me until I felt completely lost. I began to wake up a little bit from my little pity party and actually notice that there are quite a few friendly faces around this place. I even made a few friends, I guess you could say. My mind continues to bring me back to thoughts of how much I miss my old friends and public school, but my mindset starts to shift a tiny bit once I get more familiar with the place and the people around me. The time of the day finally comes that I’ve been dreading the most†¦ lunch. I pictured myself as one of those loners who sits in the corner by themselves. What I really want right now is my old lunch table crammed with eight or so friends to be waiting to greet me, but instead I’ll have no one. â€Å"Hey, Grace! It’s Waffle Wednesday; remember? Let’s go get some waffles with extra whipped cream before it’s all gone!!† My old buddies and I never missed Waffle Wednesday at my old school. Well guess what? There are no more Waffle Wednesdays. There are no more old friends. There’s no more old school. I snap out of my daydream, grab my brown paper lunch bag, and shuffle toward the new cafeteria†¦ really slowly, hoping to procrastinate and waste a couple minutes. My stomach hurts after lunch, and you would never guess why. A couple of the friendliest and brightest faces came right up to me and welcomed to sit with them at lunch. They seemed so genuine, as if they actually wanted to get know me. That is the last thing I expected all day. I mean, I did come across a few nice people, but I never thought anyone would actually want to sit with the anonymous, shy, timid girl during lunch. As I was saying, my stomach hurt from laughing so much during lunch. A stomachache induced by a laughing fit is undeniably the best kind of stomachache. Not only was I invited to sit with some people, but they were extremely kind, and on top of that, they were hilarious. I can actually say that I made friends today who I plan to sit with at lunch every day from now on. I walked in with no friends today, and I can say that I ended the day with two. It may not seem like a lot, but it’s only day one and there are so many more days to get to know new people. My mom’s advice to â€Å"just think positive† didn’t seem too promising when there seemed to be a giant raincloud over my head. I was so self-absorbed in my own dread that I was much too consumed to look up and gain a new perspective of everything around me. When I was closed-off and had a pessimistic attitude, I cheated myself of so many good opportunities. I noticed that once I began to lighten up and exude a sense of optimism, I started to attract positive energy. I see this new school as more of an opportunity instead of a torture chamber. I can do anything with this opportunity that I want; I can make it an unpleasant and dreadful experience, or I can make it something fun and exciting, all depending on my attitude. I know what it feels like to feel lonely; so now I’m going to be that stranger who offers a kind smile and potentially brightens that person’s day. It’s only day one of my journey, so I have quite a while to make my impact. I still may have a tad bit of distaste for the frumpy uniforms, but at least I can say that I’m able to make the best of my days here.

An Formal Study Of Assessments - 1322 Words

Even before beginning the formal study of assessments, it is clear that there are many serious problems with the ways in which students, teachers, and schools are assessed in this country. Studies have shown us what needs to be done, the research all points to the same conclusion – we are doing it wrong. Despite the fact that assessment, informally, is a consistent part of our everyday lives, we still place so much weight on standardized methods which provide no context, few allowances for socioeconomic status, disabilities, or second language acquisition. These are methods which do not assess the whole child for individual strengths and struggles, but which serve to standardize them – an impossible and undesirable result. There is no need for assessment to be so contrived and complicated. Making it so not only skews the results to the point of invalidity, but also creates an unnatural practice out of something that is already in our nature. From the time we are very small, we are assessors. We are constantly testing ourselves and the world around us, looking for information that will help us keep moving forward, keep learning and keep growing. Little by little, we begin to make sense of our environment by experimenting with what we can do and what we cannot†¦yet. We experiment with what effect the objects and substances and creatures we encounter may have on us; what those things are. Does that yellow crayon taste as good as it looks? Can I let go and do it myself, or willShow MoreRelatedFormal Assessment Vs Informal Assessment1675 Words   |  7 Pagesthat can be complicated. Formal Assessment vs Informal Assessment Both formal and informal assessments are used to help students meet specific standards (Yell, 2006). They are also used to identify a student’s strengths and weaknesses in the child’s performance, which can improve the quality of teaching and learning (Yell, 2006). Formal assessment is the use of specific assessments to determine the level of learning the student is at (McLaughlin, 2006). Formal assessment strategies may include,Read MoreEvaluation Of Assessment And Evaluation1062 Words   |  5 PagesAssessment and Evaluation Introduction Assessment and Evaluation are two very different aspects in the realm of education that appears to be fairly similar, both are the different sides of the same coin which is testing. The marked differences in both assessment and evaluation are especially important. Assessment refers to the referral and collection of data to describe or better understand an issue, whereas evaluation is done by referring to data by comparing data in order to judge and decideRead MoreInformal Assessments : Observation Of Everyday Performance1274 Words   |  6 Pages Informal assessments includes the observation of everyday performance. This is the method in which teachers collect information about their students’ performance in usual classroom conditions. Informal assessments are a part of the instructional process and can include â€Å"systematics observations, work sample analysis, task and error analysis, interviews and questionnaires’† (Sacks, 2011). It is done without establi shing test conditions such as in the case of formal assessment. Teachers must be roleRead MoreThe Assessment Methods Used By Speech Language Pathologists1390 Words   |  6 Pages A study by Skahan, Watson Lof (2007) examined the assessment methods used by speech-language pathologists (SLPs) when assessing children with suspected speech sound disorders (SSD). Through a national survey, the study also examined the assessment of non-native English speakers and the length of the assessment process (Skahan, Watson Lof, 2007). The study was pursued due to a lack of research regarding the assessment methods used by SLPs to identify children with SSD. Previous research byRead MoreEffective Instruction For English Learners1414 Words   |  6 Pagesparticipate and exchange information with each other. At the end of the article, the author mentions how ICT can really motivates students and improves their independent learning. Summary four: Using state assessments for teaching English language learners Luster (n.d ) starts the article â€Å"Using state assessments for teaching English language learners† by states the number of English Language Learners (ELL) in the united states in general and in California particullary, and how most of teachers are â€Å"unprepared†Read MoreThe Article Learning Through Play : Portraits, Photoshop And Visual Literacy Practices `` Written By Michelle A1020 Words   |  5 Pagescreativity in education. But there should be a formal assessment to prove this. Next an area of critique is the fact that the article highlights the success if the program without once mentioning how it was funded which raises question. Honeyford and Boyd believe that â€Å"research in early childhood education demonstrates the vital importance of play to young children’s linguistics, social, emotional, intellectual and physical development.†(p.65). This particular study was about an afterschool program in CanadaRead MoreLink Between Autism And Noonan Syndrome1135 Words   |  5 Pagesthis study was characterized as a formal assessment. They were as follows: The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children- Revised, Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales, and Test of Problem Solving skills. For speech and language evaluation specifically, the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-Revised was given. (Ghaziuddin, Bolyard, Alessi, 1994) Wilson and Dyson (1982) targeted speech and language characteristics of children with Noonan Syndrome. They used the following assessments to evaluateRead MoreEssay about Princilples of Assessment Unit 12 Pttls1553 Words   |  7 PagesUnit 012 Principles of assessment in lifelong learning The types of assessment a trainer will use in lifelong learning include initial, diagnostic, independent assessment, formative, summative, internal, external, formal and informal assessment. â€Å"Assessment is a way to find out if learning has taken place.† Tummons (2007: p5) Gravells (2011:p91), describes the assessment cycle in the following terms; â€Å"the initial assessment, assessment planning, assessment activity, assessment decision and feedbackRead MoreComponents Of Reading Essay1282 Words   |  6 Pagesliteracy activities† (p. 41). Syntax, semantics, phonology, and pragmatics are the four key components that make up oral language. To determine whether or not students are developing their oral language, teachers must monitored it using informal assessments, such as observations, asking questions, and singing songs. Phonological Awareness Phonological awareness is the skills that helps students identify and manipulate units of oral language. According to Phonological awareness (2016), â€Å"children whoRead MoreAre Four Kinds Of Assessments?935 Words   |  4 Pagesfour kinds of assessments. One initial assessment: A progress during which start to build up a picture of a leaner’s achievements, skills, previous learner, goals and learning needs. This will help to place learners in appropriate learning programmes. Assessment number two is diagnostic assessment: A detailed assessment of a learner’s existing skills and areas of need with respect to a particular subject area. Assessment number three is formative assessment; this is an ongoing assessment of what process