Productivity and Process Improvement Research Paper

Productivity and Process Improvement - Research Paper Example Bread is an essential meal for breakfast because of its convenience, relative durability and adaptability, potentially low cost and nutritive value. People who live around green Valley Bakery like bread to an extent that they have changed the man must eat slogan into if man has to eat, he must eat bread. Therefore, the demand for bread is quit high. Unfortunately, this local bakery normally fails to meet this demand leading to bread importation from other towns. However, local people prefer bread from Green Valley because it is always fresh and tasty. The bakery management claims that it is normally unable to meet demand because of low productivity that results from low supply of basic ingredients especially flour, high cost of labor and lack of modern cooking equipments. Therefore, they produce very little while demand is almost twice of what they produce. This shortage is normally worse during weekends, when it is hard to locate fresh bread. Therefore, if Green Valley Bakers can im prove their productivity and processes, they are more likely to reap great profits that can even help it open chain bakeries. Productivity Measures In order to achieve its vision, the company has to take into account productivity measures that will help it improve its production and production processes. First, to deal with the problem of supply of ingredients, the company can choose to merge with a wheat flour miller or large scale wheat supplier. The company can then choose to sign contracts with such companies in order to ensure a steady supply. Such a measure will ensure that it is able to get sufficient flour and other ingredients on time as Laraia, (1999) observes. With enough supply of raw materials, the bakery will be in a position to produce enough bread for its loyal customers. The other issue that the company faces in its activities is poor and traditional equipments. These equipments are slow and can only accommodate few pieces of bread at a time. To deal with this probl em, the company must employ modern baking equipments like dough molders, dough mixers, and dividers. Though they are expensive in the short run, they produce significant results in the long run that will help the company achieve its goals (Torres, and Feld, 2010). Modern baking equipments like electric ovens have a large capacity that can accommodate many pieces of bread at a time. On the other hand, they are very fast and the bakery can manage to cook very many pieces of bread and cakes. With such improvements, the bakery will meet the high demand for bread to its local residents as well as other towns in California. The bakery also faces problem of high cost of labor that increases the cost of production. With high cost of labor and low production units, the bakery will definitely incur losses and will never achieve its vision and goals. To deal with the situation, the management can choose to employ cheap labor, even if it means importing workers from other areas with high labor supply. On the other hand, it can choose to increase the productivity per worker so that counter the high cost of labor. The bakery should ensure that it is able to produce at the breakeven point, that is, where productivity is able to meet the cost of production. Key Processes The key processes that are involved in the manufacturing process of bread include preparing the dough by mixing all the required ingredients like flour, yeast, oil, salt, and sugar. The dough is then cut into

Organisational Theory And Management In Practice Commerce Essay

Organisational Theory And Management In Practice Commerce Essay An organization is a structured social system consisting of groups of individuals working together to meet some agreed-on objectives. Organizational theory (OT) is the study of organizations for the benefit of identifying common themes for the purpose of solving problems, maximizing efficiency and productivity, and meeting he needs of stakeholders.   Consistently OT can be conceptualized as studying three major subtopics: individual processes, group processes and organizational process. Since organizations consider the field of public health from free clinic to refugee crisis support teams to research institutions, an understanding of organizations and how they work, helps public health professionals to be more effective participants in and leaders of organizations.      The first evaluate will try to accomplish the huge task of summarizing major concepts in organizational theory.   The three broad concepts that will be explored include:  individual processes, including  motivation theory,  personality theory, and  role theory;  group processes  including  working in groups/communication,  leadership, and  power and influence; and  organizational processes, as it relates to  organizational structure, and  organizational culture.   In the process a basically introduction to select organizational models will also be presented.  Organizational Issues: How well do the different units of care delivery fit with one another?   For example if the laboratory was contracted out to a lab several miles away, the hospital may be limited by the time it takes for medicine to be collected, transported, analyzed and transported back.   This process may also be on a schedule, (on the hour or half hour) which then adds the wait time for transportation.   An in-house lab staff might be considered, although cost of overhead and staffing would have to be considered for its cost.   What also is the climate in the organization, are works overall satisfied, dedicated, feel empowered to deliver excellent care?   Has the organization build and supported a culture of excellence? The second evaluate will carry on, Where is decision-making centralized, and what would be the benefits and disadvantages of diversifying sources of power?   In light of the patient population needs, what types of problems are most commonly seen?   Uniform vs. diversity pressures help to guide modes of action.   If a lot of non-acute conditions are presented to the hospital we might want to consider the utilization of an Urgent care model ancillary to maintaining the ER for acute condition. We will assume that acute issues, and staff related issues are not the problem, since resolving them would be self-explanatory.   We will consider only adjustments in organizational structure and design for the sake of relevance to the topic of OT.   For example, Queens Hospital consider a new model of care delivery, in which the Emergency Department diversifies to a decentralized model of management and adds new modes for care delivery.   The new process would look something like this : When a patient enters the hospital they are seen immediately by a Triage nurse.   The nurse has the option, after registration is complete, to one of three routes:   the nurse can channel a patient through the traditional method, to be seen by Emergency room physicians according to priority.   The nurse can also decide to transfer non-acute patients to urgent care center (an initiative of this hospital or a close center), or to initiate pre-approved protocols for common illnesses, (such as asthma) prior to visitation from the physician.   Utilizing this model has a few advantages.   By developing the structural complexity, patients can take service initiated and completed at a faster rate.   That is not only provide the hospital to see more patients, but it will improve consumers satisfaction.   Also job roles and responsibilities may increase the motivation of staff by maximizing their control of patient care.   Nurses can more effictively utilizie their professional skills and doctors can focus on patients with conditions or complications that require their skill and training. Reference: Organizational Theory by Kathryn Barzilai Management and Organisational Behaviour Plus MyLab Access Code  by Laurie J. Mullins  (Paperback  Ã‚  27 Apr 2010) 3.2 Analyse the relationship between management structure and culture and its effect on business performance Managers are people who guide an organization towards achievement of the business objectives (thetimes100, 2010). Management impacts the culture of the organization. Culture is an intangible set of practises that take their origins from socio, political, religious-norms and values of the society. Its the responsibility of management to develop a coherent culture that allows the members of organization to develop their individual and collective abilities. Thus having the right management structure that would assist in this regard is quite crucial. In the modern business environment when the rules for running the business have been formalized management is responsible for the overall running of the organization. The modern business employees the M-form (Multi-divisional form) or U-Form (Unitary form) of management structure depending on the type of firm. The structure of the firm is closely linked to its success (Abe, 1997).By classifying management into these two categories management of modern organizations have been able to focus on developing a structure that would best meet the needs of the organization. Management plays a key role in inducing the kind of organizational culture that could lead to organizational success. Management if effectively utilizes its potential it can induce a culture that would translate into motivated staff that feel associated with the core values of their organizations. It was the vision of the management of South West Airlines that transformed it into one of the most successful Low cost airline s of the world. Each member of the organization was valued by the company and their opinions were given important. Mintzberg suggested a topology of five different configurations of management structure whose various combinations could be used to manage an organization. These five components include The operation core , the strategic apex , the middle line , the techno structure and support staff ( Bedrouni et.al.,2009 ).Depending on the what component plays the key part in the operations of the organization there could be wide variety of coordination mechanism that could run the organization. When the strategic apex holds the key, management part that it is able to carry out direct supervision of over the staff and is a lot more control of the organization. As mentioned earlier every organization has got its own type of culture that is created as a result of several factors. A culture builds over a number of each and it is not easy to identify. According to Harrison culture can be categorized into four different types .These four types include Power, Role, Task/achievement and Person/Support Cultures (Harrison, 1986). In an organization power culture originates from a single source. This kind of culture stems in a situation where there are less procedures involved and members of the organization put a lot of faith in a single person that lies at the centre of the web (Naouman,2001 ).In the modern organizations where members are given great deal of importance individual culture could be most appropriate to describe them. In this type of culture a lot of focus is given to the individuals so that their interests are better served. The problem with this type of culture is that such individuals cannot be managed easily as organization is too concerned about appeasing them. In the role culture the focus is on the roles and the culture is associated with posts rather than individuals who are on them. Finally the task achievement culture encourages much more disciplined management style where achievement of the objectives is of paramount importance. For successful business operations execution it is important that organization that are running their operations overseas are fully aware of the type of cultures that exist in the other countries. E.g. in China people in the top management position are generally older people who are generally respected due to their age. A new manager coming from USA needs to be aware of the cultural norms of China otherwise he mind up end of upsetting senior Chinese officials and it would create an air of mistrust in the organization. Therefore success of business is closely linked with the induction of a culture that enhances the potential of the company employees and makes them feel responsible towards their company. An organization depending on its industry type needs to understand that what management style would be best suiting it. Due to non-tangible of culture it is paid less attention to by the senior managers and later it could give rise to lots of un-foreseen complication resulting in failure of organizations. References: Abe,E.,(1997)The Development of Modern Business in Japan The Business History Review , Vol.71.,No.2,pg299-308 Harrison , R. ( 1986 ) Understanding your organizations culture Harrison Associates Inc., C.A. Berkley rintegration of mergers and acquisitions Research Conference on the changing roles of management accounting as a control system The times 100(2010) Management structure and organisation [Online][Accessed on 15th November 2010]url:http://www.thetimes100.co.uk/theory/theorymanagement-structure-organisation264.php 3.3 Write about different motivational theories and their application and performance within the workplace There are a number of different opinions as to what motivates workers. The most iconic held theories are discussed below and have been developed over the last hundred years or so. Unfortunately these theories do not all reach the same conclusions. Motivation is the stimulus that can either be conscious or unconscious which acts as an incentive for achievement of goal ( Borkowski, 2010). The drive to achieve a goal is based on psychological or social factors. The building block for motivation includes expectation, behaviour, goals and some form of feedback ( Srivastava, 2005 ).What it means is that an individual may have a number of desires and expectation that could be driven by a person needs to gain higher position in an organization or to gain some kind of financial benefit . There are various number of motivational theories. Based on what has been stated in the literature motivational theories have been classified into two types by Borkowski (2010). These two groupings are based on content and process. Content theories or the need theories identify various factors that motivate people. Its the individual desire to satisfy inner needs that motivates them. It tries to look at the behaviour from the perspective of individual working in an organization. It is helpful for managers who want to understand the behaviour of their employees. The process theory looks at the behaviour itself that is generated by the individual. It sees that how behaviour is energized, directed, sustained and how it can be stopped (Borkowski, 2010). Motivational theories have gained significant importance as the co-relation between employee attitude towards his work and its impact on the quality of work has been analyzed. Motivation is not just about giving speeches but it is about ensuring higher level of staff satisfaction in the job role that they are in. There are a number of motivation theories that are in the literature. Two important motivational theories considered are as follows. Maslow Hierarchy of Needs Theory It is one of the most popular theories that are stated about motivation. According to this theory human needs are put in a hierarchical form ( Koontz Weihrich,2006 ). These needs are ascending from the lowest to the highest. According to Maslow when one set of needs is satisfied at a certain level it no more becomes a motivational factor and person moves on to the next level. The various levels starting from bottom up as suggested in the figure are physiological needs, Security or safety needs, acceptance needs, Esteem needs and Need for self actualization. This theory helps the organization in better understanding the needs of its employees. The organization are made aware that if they want to satisfy the needs of their employees they have to provide an environment where their individual needs are satisfied on various levels. The categorization of needs into different levels helped in better understanding of how motivation works in the organization. Maslow theory though quite daring has been criticized as a simplistic division of individual needs. According to the critics such as Douglas T Hall and Khalil Nougaim ( Koontz Weihrich,2006). The needs the priority of needs may vary at the top depending on the individual. D:Rana_assignmentRAUFMaslowsTheory.png Maslow Model (Source: Koontz Weihrich, 2006 ) Herzbergs Two Factor Theory Herzbergs two factor theory is based on the actual research that was carried out by Herzberg. For establishing his theory he asked a number of employees to recall the instances when they felt motivated towards their work and the times when they felt frustrated. Based on what he observed Herzberg suggested that when certain factors are present in the work environment they lead to motivation of staff members and this absence causes dissatisfaction of employees towards their work (Davies, 2007). The satisfaction is closely related to the environment in which employees are working. Therefore management should provide the environment where employees feel satisfied with their work. This could include safe working condition, reasonable salary and benefits. The criticism of Herzberg theory is that motivational factor can be relevant. A single factor can be motivational for some and could cause job dissatisfaction for other people ( Borkowski,2010 ) e.g. for some a certain salary amount might be enough to motivate them where as some could see the same amount as far less and it could negatively impact their motivational level. The finally, all that great motivation theories does not include same point. Therefore, there is no single theory that gives the answers to all of the raised questions about motivation. What motivation is and how it impacts a person behaviour varies from individual to individual References: Borkowski, N.,(2010 ) Organizational Behavior in Health Care Jones Bartlett Learning Srivastava,S.,K.( 2005 ) Organizational Behaviour and Management Sarup Sons Koontz,H.,Weihrich,H.,(2006 ) Essentials Of Management Tata McGraw-Hill Borkowski,N.,(2010 ) Organizational Behavior in Health Care Jones Bartlett Learning Davies,S.,J.( 2007 ) Security Supervision and Management: The Theory and Practice of Asset Protection Butterworth-Heinemann 3.4 Evaluate the impact of technology on a given organization Communication technology has involved positive and negative effects on organizational communication, which is communication between people in the same organization. Organizations you belong to use organizational communication to establish communication patterns and systems. Communication technology, like email and teleconferences, makes organizational communication easily accessible. Using these methods of electronic communication can help make distance a non-factor in organizational communication .Also it helps you better collect data around the workplace, allowing her to make more informed decisions, such as how much of a raise you deserve . Technology also creates a more connected workplace. Electronic communication, like online forums, gives you a place to complain about work. Managers can obtain constructive criticism from your complaints and make changes in order to improve the workplace. In the past design and of computer system and products were not sensitive enough to use of ordinary users. They were complicated and could only be handled by the expert users. Punch cards were fed into system that required complex processing of data. With improvement in both computer hardware and softwares tasks became simpler and hardware devices became easier to manipulate. The large frame computers that required expensive cooling systems , which occupied large office space were replaced by desktops that could now perform the same time with many times greater efficiency in a short span of time . The paradigm shift in the development of modern technology can be attributed to the development of microprocessor. Microprocessor is a small intelligent device that takes inputs processes those produces outputs with a speed that cannot be comprehended by an ordinary person. Another consideration is that might be increased accessibility of organizational communication can complicate the boundaries between your work life and home life. Be wary of how you use communication technology. For example, it might not be a good idea to accept friend requests from managers on social networking websites in order to avoid crossing boundaries. Also impact of electronic communication on organizational communication depends on how management implements the technology in the workplace. For example, email becomes beneficial when used to schedule a company meeting. On the other hand, hackers are increasing threats to the network security. they can breach into the technological systems to get information about the individuals that they are not supposed to get. The employees are expected to perform their task with higher level of accuracy. This causes increase in stress level in the work place as failure to complete the task in an accurate manner could threaten the job of an employee. Softwares are creation of many months, years of individual hard work. With the increase in piracy an individual might not get rewarded for his efforts. Not everyone has got the right to access the information that is out there in organization system .Unauthorized access to the organizational resources could result hierarchical protocol getting violated and it could pose a challenge to the discipline of the organization. Therefore technology has had a positive impact on the organizational infrastructure in many ways. Still it has caused certain challenges that have to be dealt with in the modern business environment.

St. Augustine Essay -- essays research papers

Saint Augustine of Hippo Theologians, Biblical scholars and Christians all over the world often wrestle with two extremely important questions about their faith. These questions are, "What is God like?" and "How should we live in response to God?" Some feel that we need others to direct us, some feel we need them to challenge us, but everyone agrees that we need others. That is exactly how Saint Augustine struggles to find his faith and beliefs. He found it extremely difficult to come with a conclusion when it was staring at him straight in the face, but just as he did, we draw up our own conclusions with the guidance of others. Saint Augustine, born Aurelis Augustinus, was an influential and great philosopher and theologian of early times. He was considered the most important of the Latin Church Fathers. His writings of sermons gained fame, notably Confessions and his Treatise City of God. Through his work he helped distinguish the church in Western Europe from the church that it had reformed elsewhere. Saint Augustine was born on November 13, 354 AD in Tagaste, Numidia (modern-day Nigeria). His father, Patricius was a pagan and his mother, Monica was a devoted Christian who prayed untiringly for her son’s conversion to become a Christian herself. His mother later became officially declared by the Roman Catholic Church and became a saint as well. Due to his parents mixed beliefs, St. Augustine questioned both sides of re...

Management Guru Peter F. Drucker Essay

Drucker is considered as â€Å"the father of modern management† and â€Å"Guru’s Guru†, who has published over 30 books such as The Practice of Management, The Effective Executive, Management: Tasks, Responsibilities and Practices ,The Essential Drucker and so on. Although I have only read two of his books, his sagacity, profound knowledge, common touch and being practice-oriented captivates me: ? If you had ever read Mr. Ducker’s books, you should be impressed by his sagacity. He has the ability to see through the appearance and perceive the essence. He shows a knack for identifying sea changes in business and economics years in advance. He foresaw the emergence of a new type of worker whose occupation would be based on knowledge†¦ ? No doubt Mr. Drucker has profound knowledge. He studies a new subject every two or three years, which covers economics, psychics, math, politics, history and so forth. In his books, you will not be surprised when he uses well-documented and extensive evidence to prove his principles. ?In spite of being regarded as the most enduring management thinker of our time, Mr. Drucker has a common touch. He is a master of management, but his ability to explain his principles in plain language makes himself as a friend to his readers. ?Mr. Drucker is practice-oriented. As he says: â€Å"Management is practice rather than science. †

Education Reflection papers Essay

Reflection Students Can Improve by Studying their Learning Processes Before I started my student-teaching at the UBHS, I listed down some of my observations with the Grade 8 students like their strengths and weaknesses. This is why I formulated my goals and objectives that I need to achieve in order to address these concerns when I will be teaching them. Most of the students are actively participating but there are times that they are too active to handle. When they get bored during the discussion, they start talking creating nuisance and distraction on the teacher’s part. On the other hand, most of them also are expressive into sharing their feelings and experiences to the class. When I ask them what they felt unto a certain experience, they can describe this in details. But when I tell them to write it as an essay or in few paragraphs, they are unable to do so. Moreover, I also observed that students keep making the same error during Science classes especially in the problem -solving activities. The worst part is that they don’t really mind if they fail maybe, because most of them are doing it. I can foresee that this is becoming a habit and when they are promoted to the next level, it would be the same problem all over again unless they decide to change this cycle. It’s a good thing that I read this article when I was preparing my orientation with the class before I would be their teacher. At the very first day that I entered the room as their teacher, I introduced my rules on behavior, attitude and classroom management. Along with attitude, I told them that in my class, â€Å"Science is not only about intellect but it also includes perseverance, determination and other virtues they should keep in mind.† I shared to them what I read in this article, that they should know their learning processes in order to improve not only their grades but also their learning strategies. â€Å"According to the principles of learning, Learning is an active process whic h is activated by the learner himself†. On the other hand, â€Å"Learning is a painful process but it is non-sense if you got hurt and learned nothing. So, get up, face your mistakes and make it right this time.† These are my words to them which got their attention and until now, they keep on reflecting on them and finding out what this means to them. Every time I got the chance, it may annoy them but I keep on reminding them these principles. Whenever they got low scores during quizzes, â€Å"I ask them, so what should you do about it?† I pause and  say, â€Å"That’ right, find out where you went wrong and next time don’t make the same error again. In that way, you will make-up for the lost points while gaining up confidence for your achievement. Don’t give up with just few failures; instead use these failures to motivate you to learn a lot more.† Sometimes, I think I’m not teaching Science anymore or I’m teaching Science less. My objectives in my lesson are to define terms, derive formulas, demonstrate the concept, etc. but it seems at the end of the lesson, I wasn’t able to achieve them ‘cause I discussed more on how to improve their study habits, attitude, behavior. After teaching with them in almost three weeks, I noticed that with the self-regulated assessment, most had improved with this experimental method. I think it’s a slow, long process like the evolution but with patience, perseverance and other necessary characteristics, I will be able to achieve this goal. I hope that during my stay with them, I will be able to help the students not only to survive but also to excel. Source: Glenn, D.The Education Digest.September 2010. p.13-20 Reflection 3 Using Humor in the Classroom It’s a trend for the students to have a misconception and pre-conviction that Science is a stone-cold, serious and boring subject. This is why few are interested to listen during Science classes and which is also why it makes our job as Science teachers a lot more difficult. According to this article and the principles of teaching, using humor is effective for the students to like the teacher. At first, I don’t really care if the students like me or not just as long as they listen to me. But at the students’ age and level of maturity, it’s a pre-requisite for them to like me so they will listen to me. So, I started adding the enough sense of humor during my Science classes. And, it works, at least most of the time. Just like what the article says, â€Å"the benefits of humor is that it can help capture and retain students’ attention, reduce stress and anxiety, increase student motivation and participation, promote a sense of acceptance in class tha t allows students to think in creative and divergent ways and others.† Humor has really helped me a lot into refraining my students sleep during my classes. However, I have to admit that sometimes I go too far and make inappropriate jokes. Just like everything, there is a need of balance. Too much of  anything is not good so just like what this article say, there should only be small doses of humor just enough to maintain the students’ attention which is also appropriate for their age and status. There are also times that students can hardly connect at the essence of my jokes. I think it’s because my jokes are sometimes outdated or too complicated for them to deduct. So, I associate my jokes with the current trends along with my lesson. I also use the terms they use with their peers like â€Å"boom-panes†, â€Å"ice-bucket challenge† and other trendy words at the moment. In choosing an instructional materials and preparing activies, I see to it that it is fun, funny and explorative but at the same time informative and educational. For example, when I had my lesson on Work as defined in Physics, I made them perform a role-playing activity. In order for the students to be attentive, I asked them to re-enact the work done by a ballot vendor, â€Å"bote-landok† buyer and seller, a beauty queen and a secretary. I chose those attention-seekers in the class to do the activity and I was impressed how they were able to give a very energetic performance. I enjoyed it personally and so does the audiences which are the other students. In this way, the students laughed and learned a lot in relation to our topic. Just like what the article says, there are positive and negative effects of humor. When used properly, it enhances learning in many ways but when it is misused, it can hurt the students’ as well as the teacher’s feelings. Therefore, in using humor, proceed with caution and use it wisely. Source: Ivy, L. The Education Digest. October 2013. p.54-57 Reflection 1 Creativity: A Cure for the Common Curriculum Students love it when I compare them to the process of metamorphosis. I tell them that they are just caterpillars for now and soon, they will become beautiful and colorful butterflies. In order to achieve metamorphosis in the world of Education, Creativity is not only a miscellaneous but rather a need in the students’ learning process. However, in this day and age, few students realize the importance of enhancing their own innate creative being. In the classes that I taught, I observed that there are hesitations which hinder them into letting out their creative self. They are afraid to make mistakes or try then fail. They think they are doomed if they fail once  or twice. This is why I always assure them that in my class, there are no wrong answers but instead there are trials, lots of trials in order to arrive at the correct answer. Whenever they answer and their answer does not directly address my question, I ask them supplemental questions until we arrive at the main poin t. In this way, they hone their convergent and divergent thinking ability which are requirements of Creativity. In the traditional curriculum, students are trained to follow patterns and do things by the textbook. Yes, this is essential for the students should be oriented of the basics and disciplines. However, they must also learn how to do things their own way, create new things and innovate from what they know, from what they learned. This is why in my Science class, I require my students to create and design things. Just like when we had the lesson on the law of motions, I required my students to make a paper-balloon car which is functional, durable and presentable. When they submitted their outputs, I can see that they have the potentials and that they can do more. So I appreciated their effort and recognized their ingenuity and innovativeness. I also gave recommendations for them to improve. On the contrary, it’s hard to measure the creativity presented in their product. So I learned that in process and product-assessment activities, there should really be a reliable and valid rubric to be prepared so that the students will have a guide into creating things. According to the article, â€Å"Creative tasks are, by nature, ambiguous with no clear right or wrong answers. Such tasks require taking intellectual risks, trying, evaluating and discarding ideas, and making connections.† In reality, there are lot of difficulties in infusing creativity in my lesson and curriculum as a teacher. I’m realizing it now that creativity is not taught in few settings but rather it is honed and developed through time. It’s a holistic process which involves all the learning areas and dimensions. It is not only the brain (cognitive domain) involved in this process but also the heart (affective domain) and body (psychomotor domain) as well. However, I am still hoping that with more experience and practice, I’ll be able achieve this creative goal of mine. Source: Berret, D.The Education Digest.October 2013. p.13-20 Reflection 4 Classroom Control In the traditional classroom setting, teachers can literally spank those students who are misbehaving. It seemed effective back then like the friars in the Spanish period but it only instilled fear and forced obedience among the students. With the principles of teaching-learning and also with my personal experience, I strongly oppose this as a method of controlling the class. This is neither effective nor complement the students’ learning process. During my teachings at the UB-High School, first on my list of difficulties is how to manage the class. Most of the Grade 8 students are highly active in making noises rather than in participating during the discussion of the lesson and other activities. What really annoys me is that they are unaware that they are distracting me even if their chatter is louder than my voice. They think they’re innocent of such fault. After reading this article, I started to draw my plans in implementing classroom management strategies. It†™s a good thing that at the first day of my teaching with them, I oriented them of my expectations into behaving into class. Every now and then, I keep reminding them of the house rules that we established following Ivan Pavlov’s conditioning technique. Just like what the article suggested, I pause for a while whenever most of the students are noisy and I make a strong direct gaze at the offenders until they get the message to stop their noise. If it doesn’t work, I sit instead and let their classmates call the attention of those misbehaving. I also try the numbers game. I tell the class that I would give them at least two minutes to settle down before we can proceed. If it is break time, I tell them that I would not dismiss them until they are all well-behaved or I dismiss the behaved ones on time but I let the offenders stay in the classroom a little bit longer so I can have a talk with them. As much as possible, I refrain from embarrassing the students who are misbehaving. So I tell the class to stop teasing the student whom I called his/her attention. There are times that I go near the st udents who are being noisy instead of calling out their names. I would stare at them while I would still be discussing the lesson to avoid interruptions. I thought my grooming would be irrelevant with the lesson discussion but students are actually bothered if I didn’t groom neatly and properly. There are times that instead of asking something related to the topic, they would ask if I wore my uniform properly comparing me to the other student-teachers. They also care about my hair and make-up, shoes,  nail polish and accessories. They made me conscious then of what I’m supposed to wear because I realized that I will earn their respect somehow by dressing professionally. Not all students are misbehaving so I also give praises and encouragement to those who are behaving properly so that they can be the role-models of the class. I give credits to them so they will continue their good behavior and not be discouraged if all the attention goes to the noisy ones. There are really difficulties when it comes to managing the class especially that we are student-teachers and most students don’t abide with us because of this. We still have to earn their respect through time and exposure. We have established routines, disciplinary measures and other strategies to manage t he class. Therefore, patience and endurance are the key values needed. Source: Andrew Ilagan. The Educator. March-April 2013 Reflection 2 Hands-On Science To many students, Science might be a unicorn or a leprechaun at the end of the rainbow. They do not appreciate the reality of the lessons being discussed in Science. In the traditional lesson proper of the Science subjects, students are asked to read and memorize definitions and terms with just theoretical explanations. Sometimes, it’s like telling a fairy tale like the unicorn and leprechaun that I mentioned. With the new K-12 curriculum today, students are made to explore in order to deepen their understanding with the concepts. How? Through having experiential learning activities such as laboratory activities and varied approaches and instructional materials in teaching Science, students are able to transfer or convert the theoretical knowledge into a concrete experience. And with my teaching experience and the principles of teaching-learning backing me up, these are more effective methods for the teaching-learning process. According to the article, resourcefulness is one o f the most important qualities of a science teacher. Conducting laboratory activities and presenting real objects for the lesson could be a challenge especially if the resources are scarce at the teacher’s location. This is why as a Science teacher, I should be able to substitute, improvise and customize as suggested in this article. At the UB- High School, the Science Department’s  projector is not functional. So instead of presenting video clips and animations which I find very helpful, I demonstrate or I let the students demonstrate the concept with the real objects to explore. I also give the students varied activities like role-playing, designing, composing jingles/songs and other group-works so they will actively participate with the lesson proper instead of me just talking in front. However, in conducting these activities, the class should be oriented of the rules and guidelines which must be observed before, during and after each activity. Organization is essential so the task will be carried out in accordance to the objectives to be accomplished. Instructions should also be given clearly and carefully. Curiosity among the students should also be developed. In my classes, I always encourage my students to be asking questions if they didn’t understand the lesson and they shouldn’t hesitate into asking questions especially if it’s a â€Å"what if?†. As a Science teacher, I also promote creativity and innovation. At their young minds, I believe they can create and design peculiar things which can be productive. I gave my students a task on designing a balloon car and some of them surprised me. It is fulfilling on my part as a teacher that they submitted more than what I expected them to. For those who were not able to excel, I encourage them to do better next time and don’t give up trying. In general, many say that Science is a difficult subject but I say, sometimes it depends on the teacher. No task is that hard to a person who is dedicated to her work. Source: Reyett Paunan. The Educator. March-April 2013