What Type of Parent I Will Be Essay Example for Free

What Type of Parent I Will Be Essay To be able to decide what type of parent I will be and discuss my issues I feel I may come across when the time comes; I first need to decide what style of parent I feel I will have. In order to do this I have researched Dr. Diane Baumrind’s three styles of parenting; permissive, authoritative, and authoritarian. (Baumrind, 1967). All three of these styles vary dramatically but the one I feel I would fit into the most would be the authoritative style of parenting. By Dr. Baumrind’s definition that is: a parent that attempts to direct the child’s activities but in a rational, issue-oriented manner. The parent encourages verbal give and take, shares with the child the reasoning behind her policy, and solicits his objections when he refuses to conform. Both autonomous self-will and disciplined conformity are valued. Therefore the parents exert firm control at points of parent-child divergence, but does not hem the child in with restrictions. The parents enforces their own perspective as adults, but recognizes the childs individual interests and special ways. The authoritative parent affirms the childs present qualities, but also sets standards for future conduct. They use reason, power, and shaping by regime and reinforcement to achieve their objectives, and does not base their decisions on group consensus or the individual childs desires. (Baumrind, 1967). When a person becomes a parent they will truly discover what style of parenting they will have. However, until that day comes, I chose the style of authoritative parenting based on how my parents were and how they raised me to be. I feel both of my parents fit into this category, therefore I have a strong background with this style. While I have been exposed to all three styles of parenting from watching my friend’s parents, my own brother as a parent and now my step mom as a parent, I feel the authoritative style is the one that fits my values, beliefs and issue concerns the best. For example, my step mom, who I feel has a very permissive style of parenting, doesn’t have much â€Å"control† over my step brother. There is one movie in particular that I feel displays the permissive style of parenting very well. Problem child 1 and 2. The child is adopted so the father wants the child to be as happy as possible and in turn the parent gets walked all over. My step brother is a 12 year old boy, who is a good child who listens for the most part has a terrible diet. This is because my step mom wanted to be his friend first and a parent second. She does not like conflict so she allows him to each the sugary starchy foods instead of enforcing healthy choices. On top of that his idea of exercise is playing video games. This may not present health issue at this very time, however, my concerns arise when he is older. What type of choices will he make diet wise, exercising and over all what type of lifestyle will he have? My mom on the other hand, fully enforced eating fruits and veggies at a young age and always made sure my two brothers and I played outside and did extra-curricular activities to get healthy amounts of exercise. Today at 25 years old, I can probably count on one hand the number of foods I don’t like. I also thorough enjoy exercising. A healthy diet and exercise are extremely important for the growth and development of any child. This brings me to one of my issues I am concerned with when I become a parent. Will my child enjoy and eat the healthy choices I make for them. I feel this all begins with infants. After reading a couple journal articles from an online nursing search engine breast feeding is where it all begins. I find it interesting that some mothers would choose not to breast feed. Breast feeding provides multiple benefits for both the mother and the child. The breast feeding processes represents an intricate bonding between the mother and child that is far greater than just nutrition. It creates an immune system, aids in building brain function, developing socialization and establishing long term health. (Godfrey. J Lawrence, R. 010) I feel this relates to one of my issues with being a parent because nutrition of my child is my most important concern. According to our textbook, nutrition is especially crucial in the first two years for brain and body development because they grow so rapidly. An infant’s energy needs are twice that of an adult. Breast feeding provides the correct balance of fat and protein, helps ensure healthy physical growth and protects against disease. (Berk, 2010). According to Piaget, infants think with their eyes, hands and ears. Therefore, I would want my child to be developed to the max potential and not held back for nutritional reason. Erickson’s theory of basic trust vs. mistrust in the first year affect the way a child socializes later in life also related to will the child be into physical activities. The trusting infant expects the world to be good and gratifying, (Berk, 2010) so the child feels confident about exploring and venturing into new things. I feel this related to children wanting to be involved in different activities with other children. The mistrusting baby cannot count on the kindness and compassion of others and therefore withdrawals themselves and protects themselves from other people and activities with other children (Berk, 2010). I feel perhaps this may relate to my step brother and why he plays video games all the time and is glued to the television, instead of playing outside trying to make new friends. As the child begins to grow and develop into the next phase of early childhood I will be faced with new concerns but still centered on nutrition. In this stage the body growth begins to slow down but the brain development from ages two to six increase by about seventy percent of its adult weight to nighty percent. In early childhood the skeletal part of the body also begins to change. Between the ages of two and six years old there is approximately forty five percent new growth centers, in which cartilage becomes bone. (Berk, 2010). According to an article posted in a sports medicine journal, the relation to calcium and bone development during this time is crucial. There is a correlation between calcium intake, physical activity and bone development at this stage. Although there are varying factors such as genetics, age and body type there is still a positive influence. This article discusses the importance of children in the early childhood to adolescent stage to have a calcium intake of 1000mg/day or more of calcium to help build stronger bones and increase the development of the femoral head. There are many different sources of calcium such as dairy products; most cereals have some amount of calcium as well. I feel that it’s important to give children in this stage a multivitamin as well to ensure the child is getting enough calcium. At this stage many children become picky eaters and are very unpredictable. They can like a food one day and the next say they hate it. This is another reason why I feel it’s important to give children in this stage a multivitamin. I also feel that introducing a wide variety of different food to children at this time helps. Being an authoritative style of parenting I would have my child try everything at least once, encouraging these new foods and if they didn’t like it tell them they can always spit it out. This is a major developmental stage that I feel sets the tone if your child will be or become obese. This is an increasing issue with children today. Moms are becoming more busy with work and aren’t stay at home moms anymore. It’s quicker and easier to just stop at McDonalds and get your child a happy meal than it is to come home and cook a healthy meal. I do feel fast food restaurants are trying to incorporate healthy choices with children’s meals but in my opinion fried chicken nuggets are still fried chicken nuggets even if they come with apples. The apples are a healthy choice however those come with sugary caramel sauce to dip them in. There are many consequence of obsess children. Diabetes in children is one of the most common major issues. Diabetes type two is the type of diabetes that was once an adult disease has increasing become more common in younger children. Many of the signs and symptoms are asymptomatic I feel many parents over-see what is really going on. There are many risk factors for early onset associated with type two diabetes which includes: overweight and obesity, especially in the abdomen area, high or low birth weight and rapid increase of weight in early childhood, physical in activity or sedentary lifestyle (playing video games all the time) as well as consuming foods that are low in fiber and high in fats and sugars. (Schub. T Caple, C. , 2011) The sad part is many of this risk factors are modifiable but too many parents reward with sugary fatty treats. Unless the parent is health conscious it is very difficult to change these issues. The other problem that arises with this is many times parents see their child as being perfect and over-see what is really going on. In this stage of development according to Piaget the child has moved from the sensorimotor to the preoperational stage. This spans the years from two until approximately seven years old. The major difference in this stage is symbolic or representational activity. A major example of this change is make-believe play. Piaget believed that through this type of play children are practicing and strengthening newly acquired representational schemes. (Berk, 2010) I agree with Piaget’s views. I feel it’s important for children to have make-believe play but only to a certain extent. As a parent I want my child to be more interested in playing with other children in more real activities opposed to always want to play make-believe by themselves. An example I feel is acceptable is when girls want to play house together with dolls or babies. I feel I control this situation as a parent by encouraging interactive play with other children with play dates. Exercise in this stage is also very important. Involving your child in activities outside of school helps the child develop social skills by having to interact with new children in different situations. As long as this is followed by positive reinforcement by the parent I also feel this helps build confidence in the child. Vygotsky’s theory of sociocultural is another major factor in this developmental stage. Language at this stage is the important factor in Vygotsky’s theory. Children begin to talk to themselves much in the same way they do with fellow students. This increases their ability to think and their ability to control their own behavior. (Berk, 2010). According to a study published in a developmental psychology journal there is little correlation between private speech and problem solving process. Approximately half the subjects had private speech and those who did, did not utter very much. The article also discussed within a Vygotskian framework, private speech will tend to co-occur with failure in cognitive tasks because both private speech and the likelihood of failure increase with task difficulty. We also learned that in this stage children begin to remember. It’s not that they are just now building a memory; they now have the language skills to describe their memories. We had a discussion board regarding our earliest autobiographically memory and as the textbook stated, no one could really come up with a memory early than three years old. This is explained because we didn’t have an understanding of language to describe what we were experiencing. The third developmental stage that I feel I will have the most parenting issues or concerns is now the adolescent stage. I can only hope that by this point in time I have taught my child to make good nutritional choices and I have engaged them in other activities so they are confident in socializing and want to have active lifestyles opposed to sedentary. I feel this is going to be the most difficult stay to deal with. Now I am dealing with hormonal changes which create physical and mental changes but now I will also have to deal with social changes and sexual activity. During the adolescence stage children go through puberty. This can cause many different physical changes. I hope that I can teach my child to always have a positive body image of them. I feel by keeping them active will help with this issue. If I have a girl I am going to have to be concerned with eating disorders and the possibility of becoming pregnant. I feel the only way to have control over these issues is just being open with my child or children and make them feel comfortable talking to myself or husband (hopefully present) about anything as well as taking responsibility in my own hands to make sure my children are properly educated about things like safe sex and sexually transmitted diseases. I don’t want to be a naive parent and think â€Å"oh my child would never do that! † I know I was there age at one point and they are going to do whatever they want to do. I will also teach my children about peer pressure to help prevent them from making mistakes because of it. Through this entire paper I feel I have learned that parenting is no easy task. A lot of things are learned by trial and error. Also, just because these are my views I hope that I have a husband who shares the same parenting style otherwise we ourselves will be in a pickle. I don’t want my household to have one good parent and one bad parent I want us to be equal and on the same playing field. I want my husband and I to work as one, which comes down to communication. I also feel my parents raised me with many skills I with use while parenting. All I can do is try my hardest to teach my children the same ways and hope they are responsive to me and respectful and understand one day they will be responsible for the same thing.

The Moon Hoax Essay -- Publicity Stunt Media

The "Moon Hoax" has been around since 1835, when the New York Sun printed an article about this whole ordeal. The New York Sun used and credited Sir John Herschel, who was a British Astronomer. Herschel claimed that he had tried out a new type of telescope on the Cape of Good Hope in January of 1834. While in Cape Town, he said he'd set up an Observatory. Using this, he claimed to have observed what he thought of as the "Real" Moon. He claimed to have seen vegetation, bodies of water, and living creatures. He also said he had seen "Bat People" who were described as being furry winged men. This took the People at a shock, and the "Evidence" and science astounded them. So many began to believe this is true. Today, there is still talk of this "Moon Hoax". There are many things that one can say doesn't make sense about the whole idea of landing on the moon. Most astronauts that have landed on the moon have brought back samples of a type of Lunar rock. According to Dr. Sten Odenwald, we have accumulated at least 841.6 pounds of moon rock.. ?Moon Hoax? Believers say that this Moon Rock could be any thing, and that if you take an unfamiliar type of rock, and call it a Moon Rock, people are going to believe it. There is one major problem with this theory. ?Dr. David McKay of NASA's Johnson Space Center says that faking a Moon rock to fool scientists around the world would be next to impossible. ?It would be far easier to just go to the Moon and get one!? he says.? (2) Moon Rocks have been tested, and tested, and tested. Each time scientists have found many different minerals in Moon Rocks that aren?t in Earth rocks. Earth rocks contain many clay minerals, which is exactly what Moon Rocks don?t have, clay minerals. In the... ....astronomycafe.net/qadir/q1019.html. This site is a good source because it?s a recollection of common known data. 4. Percy, David, and Mary Bennett. "The Faked Apollo Landings." 15 Oct. 2007 http://www.ufos-aliens.co.uk/cosmicapollo.html. This site is not a good source because it uses doctored and biased pictures and arguments to prove its points. 5. Phillips, Dr. Tony. "The Great Moon Hoax." Science@ Nasa. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. 15 Oct. 2007 http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2001/ast23feb_2.htm. This is a good source because it was written my a team of space and engineering specialists. 6. "The Moon:3 Exploring the Moon." The Worlds of David Darling. 15 Oct. 2007 http://www.daviddarling.info/childrens_encyclopedia/Moon_Chapter3.html This site is a good source because it?s information can be backed up with other good sources.

Autobiography: Dance and Middle School Essay

Autobiography My name is Rickeya Ward. I was born December 26, 1997 and yes fortunately the day after Christmas. I am 15 years old and I have one brother and sister I’m the middle child. I was born in Galloway, NJ where I lived for a little. I have a very different name; I was named after my dad. My dad’s name means powerful ruler so my name must have the same meaning since it’s just about alike. I have a well-rounded personality. I never had problems making new friends I always got along with everyone. I am very outgoing. When I was in middle school I would play and try out for every sport I could get into. When I meet new people sometimes I happen to be very shy and quiet. Sometimes I like being very aware of my surroundings when I meet new people. People find me to be funny and interesting when they meet me. It feels good to have good vibes with people. When I was younger I had dreams of being a big time fashion model and traveling the world as a fashion icon. I wished I could be on Americas Next Top Model for a short period of time. Ever since I was little I was one of those people who enjoyed life. I enjoy traveling I been traveling since I was about 4 years old. Read more:Â  The person I admire essay I have been to Atlanta, Ohio, North Carolina, California, Virginia and a few other places. One of my favorite places was actually California, Los Angles to be exact. The feel that it brings you was magical and a Hollywood lifestyle feeling. I enjoy making new friends and being around my family. My family means something so special to me. My family and I have a bond that we share. We share different laughs, and bond with each other in different ways. The genes run very strong in my family we have a lot of similarities with each other. I have an exact look alike which is my little sister we could be twins. My sister is my joy. That’s my partner in crime with anything we are always doing something together. My two cousins are the two people I favor also. We all have personalities that are alike and we get along very well. We are very close in age but I am the oldest. My extended family lives near me and some of them live far away. I always communicate and talk to them so it’s not that far of a distance because we stay in touch often. They are like my support team whatever I try to accomplish they are there to back my idea up. I know a lot of people and have a lot of different friends that I hang around. I am grateful for my life and the people that came in it. Another place that I enjoy being is school. I know that’s a weird thing hearing a teenager say but I enjoy school. I like learning new things that enriches me. I always did well when I was in school. When I was in elementary and middle school I was on the Honor Roll and Merit Roll. I always strive for the highest grades at school. I received a lot of awards. I am a very hard person on myself. I can be considered as a perfectionist because I have very high expectations for myself. Another thing I like about school is meeting new people and having different challenges come against me each year. School is very interesting to me with the different subjects every year and the different things I learn. When I learn about each subject it informs me about something that maybe come up in the future to help me. I tried so many different sports in my life. I played soccer, field hockey, track, swimming and cheerleading. When I was in middle school I thought I could do it all. The sports that I actually take pleasure in is track, cheerleading and I would love to try this year is crew. When I was in the 5th grade I studied and played the Clarinet. It was an amusing instrument to play but playing an instrument just wasn’t my thing. Something I have a true passion for is dancing. Dance is basically life for me besides my other dreams. When I dance it frees my mind from everything I’m thinking about. The dancing I study is Ballet and Hip hop. I did tap dancing for about two years but I decided to take a break. A program that I do is Champions of youth which makes sure you are on the right track and doing what you’re supposed to. On my free time I like reading books and shopping. The type of books I am delighted in are the realistic books that can relate to real life stories. Just like other teens I cannot live without my cell phone or my electronics that is a huge part of my life. While I am in high school I would like to stay focused and on task. I want to graduate a good number in the class and go to a good college. I want to go to college to become a lawyer. My dream since I was young was to become a lawyer. While I been in school I had previous people tell me I would become a lawyer because the way I disputed my points. I didn’t decide what type of lawyer I wanted to become yet. A big goal I am trying to achieve is going to a great college and becoming a big time lawyer. One of the icons I always looked at as a great lawyer was Johnnie Cochran. He’s been an inspiring lawyer for me. I have big dreams of living in a nice house and eventually getting married. In 10 years I will be graduating law school hopefully going to good law firm. I want to have no worries in the world at all. My dream is just becoming successful and knowing that I did from hard work. I have high and big goals for myself that I am going to achieve. I have a dedicated mind for what I want to become. After I pursued my career of being a lawyer I want to become a dancer as a side job or open a dance school for other youth that loves dancing. I plan on traveling to a lot of different places I’ve never been. At first I was debating if I wanted to become a lawyer or a doctor. But, as I got older I realized that being a lawyer was definitely the career I wanted to pick. The person I admire the most is my mom and my grandfather. They are two people that motivate me the most.

Gordon Wood’s Radicalism of the American Revolution Essay

Gordon Wood’s Radicalism of the American Revolution is a book that extensively covers the origin and ideas preceding the American Revolution. Wood’s account of the Revolution goes beyond the history and timeline of the war and offers a new encompassing look inside the social ideology and economic forces of the war. Wood explains in his book that America went through a two-stage progression to break away from the Monarchical rule of the English. He believes the pioneering revolutionaries were rooted in the belief of an American Republic. However, it was the radical acceptance of democracy that was the final step toward independence. The transformation between becoming a Republic, to ultimately becoming a democracy, is where Wood’s†¦show more content†¦It is the colonist self-motivated social and economic interests, which leads to the transformation they had been yearning for. Wood contributes several different social and economic factors to the transformation. The first social factor that led to the reformation was the colonist self-interest. The colonist self-interest seemed to conflict with principles of republicanism. The self-interest of the colonists led to capitalistic traits, while the republican idea of self-sacrifice was put on the back burner. It was natural for the colonists to want to advance their social and economic standards to that of the elite. The problem being republican virtues had to be sacrificed to gain individual prominence. Social factors played an important role in the transformation from a monarchy to a democracy. However, there were also economic factors that played an intricate role. One such economic force was trade interaction among the colonists. People became independent on one another for their lively hood. Through inner-commerce people began to share the same interests and the same goals. This was a change from previous republican views on trade. People became inherently dependent on one another instead of being dependent on the government. At this point in history you can begin to see the social ties of Americans grow stronger. Wood writes on the changingShow MoreRelatedRadicalism of the American Revolution990 Words   |  4 PagesIn the book Radicalism of the American Revolution, written by Gordon S. Wood, the author states, The Revolution was the most radical and far reaching event in American history.† What about the American Revolution made it so â€Å"radical?† Wood believes it to be so radical because it not only brought change politically from British monarch to American rule which is what we are used to, but it also brought about changes in the basic structure of American society. Within the revolution there was more thanRead MoreAnalysis of Linda Kerber’s Women of the Republic: Intellect and Ideology in Revolutionary America 690 Words   |  3 Pages Linda Kerber’s Women of the Republic: Intellect and Ideology in Revolutionary America was a refreshing historian analysis of the role of women in our nation’s history. In the early Revolution eras, the political role of women was nonexistent due to the traditional roles held by the patriarchal society the colonists lived in for most of their years. Kerber intertwined her book with an intelligent analysis, but also conveys this analysis in a clear way so that reader can comprehend further. ThroughoutRead MoreWas The American Revolution Revolutionary?1549 Words   |  7 Pagesextent was the American Revolution revolutionary, one must define qualifications to accredit such a revolution. Is a revolution defined as a complete and utmost overthrow of an established government by a new regime? Or is a revolution defined as a subversive change in societal values/roles that changes the structures of a pre-existing social order? Or possibly both? In light of both definitions, one can evaluate that the American Revolution was indeed revolutionary because American colonists were

Advantages Disadvantages of Monsters Free Essay Example, 1000 words

Werber(p65) also showed that in the instance when a psychiatrist bumped on a patient that was afterwards possessed, demons appeared to talk through her. He mentions that a few of the most frequent phrases spoken were words like â€Å"Leave her alone, Leave. She is ours. † That took place at the same time with raising off of the bed since items inside the room flew round the space. She as well issued extortions and threats to the persons surrounding her. Consequently, Hillix (p89) is less convinced to suppose that demons are real. during his interview with J. P. Moreland, a Christian philosopher, he challenges the assertions of Moreland that demons and angels are real. He tackles the theme with great skepticism. That is maybe because he does not understand what to trust. All the same, his observations as well indicate the actuality that demons are beyond just monsters. Though they appear in monstrous manifestations, they are mystical/spiritual and exercise immense control over individuals. Shaw (p45) notes in his article, Where Monsters Hide, that demons are real. They might go by diverse names like evil spirits, monsters (although this is normally based upon their look), and beast, to mention just a few. We will write a custom essay sample on Advantages & Disadvantages of Monsters or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now Like Werber’s piece, this article asserts that demons as a class of monsters just cause humans to suffer. Their disadvantages in people’s lives are reputations preceding them. For example, the article asserts that these monsters cause insanity among other forms of misery. An evaluation of the abovementioned opinions that are considered as representative of several other positions, one might observe that most individuals do not still understand this kind of monster. Actually, several atheists might not perceive the actuality that spiritual monsters, also known as demons, are real. Thus, the perfect evaluation for the disadvantages and advantages of this kind of monsters can merely be advanced through the religious prism. Christianity indicates that there is no good thing that demons are able to bring into the life of an individual. In fact, I suppose that spiritual monsters are viewed as the Devil’s agents. The Scripture (Holy Bible) in John 10: 10 says that such kind of monsters only come to destroy, kill, and steal. A few versions might call them thieves, although they all represent monster demons (Shaw p76). One of the most usual conception of monster was formulated when individuals wanted to offer a face to these evil spirits known as demons (monster for the basis of several other definitions).

Canad A Country Of Multicultural And Multi Ethnic

1. Definition of Canadian Canada is a beautiful country in North America, was born in 1867. The country s second largest Canadian world population is only 33 million. Canada is known as a nation of multicultural and multi-ethnic. Therefore, whether your ethnicity, you also feel a little familiar. Canada is a country populated attracted from all over the world to live the most. Thus, Canada is a multicultural country. Therefore, ethnic cuisine and entertainment activities with the unique culture and distinct identity is also easily found in Canada. There are thousands of buildings, art galleries, museums and art institutes are distributed throughout Canada. In addition, From the early 18th century maple leaf is considered a symbol of†¦show more content†¦For example, Siro maple trees, stone wine, lobster baked Edvvard Prince s Island; Quebec s maple sugar cakes; cheese and traditional bagel of Oka; Alberta beef; Nanaimo cake. In Canada, cultural behavior is also important to people who is living here. In Canada are not allowed to smoke in restaurants, offices, public institutions. People who want to smoke must go outside, no matter if it s winter or rainy. Regarding sports, the sport is most popular in Canada is hockey and Lacrosse. However, hockey is popular with about 6 million people play this sport. In addition, there are other sports such as football, skiing, baseball, golf, volleyball. Canada has been the host of the 1976 Summer Olympics, it was held in Montreal. The festival is part of the Canadian culture alive. The festival is held in the summer at most, starting with May 24 Victoria Day. Furthermore, Caribana Festival is one of the largest cultural festivals in Canada are held within 18 days on all summer. On this festive occasion, hundreds of thousands of people that are there to enjoy the culture of the Caribbean. 2. Historical Influences: Richard Riot was a riot on March 17, 1955 (Saint Patrick s Day) in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. In a match held on March 13, 1955, the referee gave a penalty to Richard. This is seen as an altercation happened on a hockey game in the history of Canada in 1955. Soon after, the Richard was suspended for his behavior. From this reason, the supporters

A Narrative Inquiry on the Life History of Betty Siegel Free Essays

string(294) " talents of the member institutions to address areas of common concern in moving public education in Cobb Country from its current level of excellence to the exemplary level which will be needed to prepare students to become responsible leaders, capable workers, and well-rounded human beings\." Known for her outstanding achievement in educational policy, Dr. Betty Lentz Siegel was the longest serving female president at Kennesaw State University. In 1981, she assumed the position at Kennesaw State University, which then was a four-year college institution with 4,000 students and 15 baccalaureate degree programs. We will write a custom essay sample on A Narrative Inquiry on the Life History of Betty Siegel or any similar topic only for you Order Now Under her tutelage, Kennesaw State University achieved its university status with more than 18,000 student enrollees and 55 undergraduate and graduate degree programs (online Golden Key International Honour Society International). It was her vision and leadership that brought the educational institution to its current university status focusing on teamwork through the creation of strong administrative teams and group interaction. With her guidance, the institution implemented several initiatives and high profile activities that created opportunities and recognition of the institution in the local and state communities. In the book Searching for Academic Excellence: Twenty Colleges and Universities on the Move and their Leaders, Dr. Siegel was in a limelight in her accomplishment for Kennesaw State University (online Golden Key International Honour Society International). In her 25 years of service in the institution, Kennesaw State University received numerous recognition and awards for its outstanding achievements (online Golden Key International Honour Society International). Its awards are as follows: †¢ 1987, chosen as one of the top three college colleges and universities in its nationwide competition focusing on â€Å"The President and the Public† by the Council of Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) †¢ 1989 – 1991, Kennesaw State also caught public attention as the US News and World Report acknowledges Kennesaw State’s exemplary programs in minority recruitment and retention, leadership programs for faculty, staff, administrators and students, and international initiatives. US News and World Report distinguishes Kennesaw State as the country’s â€Å"up and comers† and â€Å"rising stars† in the South’s regional institutions. †¢ 2003, KSU received recognition to become one of twelve founding institution included in the program entitled Foundation of Excellence in the First College Year of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities. In addition, this recognition also gave KSU the needed funding to pursue the projects of the RTM Institute for Leadership, Ethics Characters, which Dr. Siegel is the Endowed Chair. †¢ 2006, US News and World Report ranked KSU as number one among the 25 educational institution known for their learning community programs. In addition, the magazine highlights the school’s first year freshman experience program. Academic Background Behind the outstanding accomplishment of KSU is Dr. Siegel’s utmost leadership, dedication, and commitment to education. Dr. Siegel’s academic areas of expertise include child psychology and administration. Her outstanding academic achievement also marks her commitment for continuous learning. She received her Ph. D from Florida State University, A Masters in Education from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a B. A. n English and History from Wake Forest University and an Associate of Arts from Cumberland College. She also has received her two-year post-doctoral study in Clinical Child Psychology at Indiana University. She holds honorary doctorates from Cumberland College in Kentucky, Miami University in Ohio, Eastern Kentucky University, Lynchburg College, Morehead State University, and Southern Connecticut State University. Professional accomplishments Dr. Siegel had been an accomplished educational administrator even before coming to Kennesaw State. She started as a faculty member for several universities such as Indiana University and Lenoir-Rhyne College. And in 1967, she taught at the University of Florida. In 1971, she became the first woman Dean of Academic Affairs for Continuing Education at the University of Florida. She moved to Western Carolina University in the School of Education and Psychology in 1976 and was also the first woman to hold the position of academic dean for the University. In 1981, she came to Kennesaw State where she has started several programs and later became the first female president. Dr. Siegel was also co-founded and co-directed a non-profit organization chartered in North Carolina since 1982. She worked with an esteemed colleague Dr. William Purkey in establishing International Alliance for Invitational Education. The organization currently has more than 12,000 members of different professionals from over twelve countries, who seek to apply the concepts of invitational education to their personal and professional lives (online International Alliance of Invitational Education). In 1999, the Center for Invitational Leadership was created to advance the model of invitational education by offering opportunities for professional to participate in leadership development programs. Its mission is to â€Å"to enhance lifelong learning, to promote positive change in organizations, to cultivate the personal and professional growth and satisfaction of educators and allied professionals, and to enrich the lives of human beings, personally and professionally. † (online Radford University’s Center for Invitation Leadership). Moreover, with the high-regards to the accomplishments of Dr. Siegel, she has delivered keynote addresses at hundreds of national, regional, and state conferences throughout United States, Puerto Rico and ten other foreign countries and has lectured for over 120 colleges and universities around the world. She is an internationally- and nationally-known lecturer and motivational speaker on leadership, educational issues, and the concerns of women. She has also served as a consultant to a wide range of businesses such as educational institutions, businesses, non-profit organizations, health-care services, government and socio-civic groups (online Golden Key International Honour Society International). Public Service Dr. Siegel has also worked in community improvement programs of the government. In 1997, Governor Zell Miller appointed Dr. Siegel to represent the State of Georgia on the Southern Growth Policies Board’s 1998 Commission on the Future of the South. Prior to that, she also represented Governor Miller at the Presidents’ Summit of America’s Future held at Philadelphia in 1997. Currently, she has been appointed as to serve as member of Governor Perdue’s Commission for a New Georgia. Her work in the commission was largely publicized as she was the driving force behind the establishment of the Cobb Education Consortium. The Cobb Education Consortium was created to form a collaborative organization among the public educational institution â€Å"to combine the resources, energies, and talents of the member institutions to address areas of common concern in moving public education in Cobb Country from its current level of excellence to the exemplary level which will be needed to prepare students to become responsible leaders, capable workers, and well-rounded human beings. You read "A Narrative Inquiry on the Life History of Betty Siegel" in category "Life" † (online Cobb Education Consortium) In addition, she also served as a chair of subcommittee on post-secondary options for the Georgia P-16 initiative. The initiative aims to a comprehensive and collaborative statewide effort aimed at raising expectations and ensuring student success from pre-school through post-secondary education. The initiative is different than other educational reform efforts because it impacts the entire educational spectrum—not just the parts. (online University System of Georgia) Lastly, she initiated the Northwest Crescent Alliance between the three private colleges and three public institutions. The alliance was formed to develop programs of collaboration in economic development, enhancement of the arts, the preservation of Southern/Appalachian culture and history, and the development and promotion of community leadership. (online Northwest Crescent Leadership Alliance) Publications Dr. Siegel has recently co-published with Dr. Purkey entitled Becoming an Invitational Leader. The book offers a fresh and innovative model based on a single theoretical framework. It deviates from the traditional control and dominance model of leadership to one that focuses on connectedness, cooperation and communication. This model has been adopted in the International Alliance for Invitational Education and had been applied in numerous fields including administration, business, nursing, dentistry, counseling, and other professions. Purpose of the Study Successful and well-established teacher on leadership, Dr. Siegel’s life history has been a model for many aspiring leaders. She not only teaches about leadership, but she has embodied what she has taught. Her success has led to many researchers to examine what leadership truly is. Indeed, many have published life-stories and lessons on management’s leadership, but many have looked into it in lens following the theoretical framework of industrial management. The purpose of the study is to examine the perceptions of people surrounding the leadership during the tenure of Dr. Siegel at Kennesaw State University. We will looked at what people think within and outside Kennesaw State University’s phenomenal growth in relation to Dr. Siegel’s leadership. By examining the perceptions of Dr. Siegel in her tenure at Kennesaw State University, trends may emerge regarding leadership attitudes and/or leadership style. In undertaking this study using narrative inquiry, we hope to answer the following questions: 1. What are events and influences that formed Dr. Siegel’s mental model and invitational leadership theory? 2. What are the factors attracted and the perceptions students and alumni with Dr. Siegel’s leadership? 3. What is the value and contribution of Dr. Siegel to the understanding of leadership? Review of Related Literature In the book Telling Women’s Lives: Narrative Inquiries in the history of Women’s Education, Weiler and Middleton (1999) explored the broader questions of gender and power through education. They have in discussing the stories of women as teachers come across on topics of education bureaucracies, material condition of women teachers, and the ways concepts of gender and sexuality have shaped experiences of men and women in the educational state. Indeed, women had not been fairly represented in the leadership of educational institution. Dr. Siegel has been an exception and as our purpose is to understand the success of Dr. Siegel’s, we looked at it in a different lens of leadership framework. We undertake this study using narrative inquiry to understand further the leadership model of Dr. Siegel. General Presupposition on Narrative Inquiry Stories have always been a way to pass on tradition and history of a nation. People love to tell and listen to stories. It is way we communicate and more importantly a way we understand people and events. Hardy (1986) has described narrative as a basic mode of thought, and Brunner (1986) described it as a way of organizing knowledge. Cultures are created and traditions are transferred from generation to generation through narratives. It is through narratives that individuals and society expresses their world views and provide models of identity and agency to their members (Brunner 1996). Narrative inquiry differs from more traditional uses of narrative education, that is, from didactic and strategic uses of narrative. Conle et al. (2000) argues that narrative inquiry retains these qualities in two areas: (1) for research, and (2) for professional development. Narrative in Research Polkinghorne (1988) defined narrative as the process that humans use to make sense of their experiences. It is through the application of language and personal reflection that people are able to continually construct and reconstruct significant events in their life and gain a deeper insight of their experiences. Atkinson (1998) argues that people arrange their experiences in a manner that make sense of the events and places the seemingly chaotic world in a coherent order. Thus, narratives are the process by which people make meaning of their own experiences. Denzin (1989) describes narratives as simply stories. Polkinghorne (1988) suggests that these stories convey the organizational scheme used to make meaning out of experiences. Very similar to any story, narratives are thematically organized around a central plot. It in the theme, organization, and the play of language of story that meaning and knowledge is drawn out. That is, we learn and gain insights in the temporal relational nature of the author’s reconstruction of events (Polkinghorne 1995). Narratives convey an understanding of environmental and interpersonal context, temporal sequence, and affective domain of the story. Polkinghorne (1995) offered the simple example of the sentence: â€Å"The king died; the price cried. † Taken in isolation, each adequately describes an event. Understood as a narrative story, with a temporal relationship and context, these two sentences describe a son’s response to the loss of his father. They convey emotion and evoke empathy. Conle (2000) describes the two purposes of narratives: (1) to convey meaning to others from unrelated events into a thematic story (Polkinghorne 1995), and (2) to convey norms and values to newcomers on a cultural or community level (Mattingly 1991). Narratives, therefore, are both the process of constructing and reconstructing events into organized schemes and the resulting that conveys the scheme (Polkinghorne 1988). Further, Polkinghorne (1988) explains that narratives can be used to either describe or explain an event. Descriptive narrative inquiry reports and interprets existing narratives. Descriptive narrative research describes what underlies the values and assumptions of people within a community by examining several narratives for similarities and themes. Explanatory narratives seek to explain why something happened or to explain an event. It, thus, looks narrative accounts for connections between events and actions that led to a particular occurrence. To put it more succinctly, it looks for casual connection between antecedents and events. Narrative research uses linguistic data in attempt to understand empirical reality from the perspective of the teller. It uses the resulting story to understand the organizational scheme the teller used to make sense of his or her world. In narrative research, then, it is not only the content of the story that helps in understanding the experience, but the way the story is constructed that reveals more about the experience. It therefore looks at the study of ways humans experience the world (Connelly and Clandinin 1990). Thus, narrative research begins with the narrator’s story, but moves the research toward interpretation. Denzin (1989) suggests that interpretation allows researchers to look for and connects patterns of meaning and experience in the respondent’s narratives. Bloom (1998) furthers this discussion by asserting that by connecting patterns and meaning and experiences of respondents, the researcher are able to draw from a wide array of theories to set forth his/her interpretation. Furthermore, Atkinson (1998) advises researchers to examine the respondent’s narratives for ordering of events. Context is revealed by understanding the emotions and values conveyed in the narrative. However, Feldman et al. (1990) cautions researchers on the need to scrutinize the respondent’s use of metaphors, irony, and other rhetorical devices as it may result to misinterpretation. It is therefore, important to understand and gain insight into the mental state of the respondent in order to fully interpret the story. More importantly, the end result should be a synthesis of several stories into one thematic narrative. Interest in the use of narrative research has strong precedents in other fields such as in Psychology, Anthropology, and Educational Research. They use narrative as a medium of data representation and as a guide in the development of methodologies, if they did not want to lose the temporal quality and contextual detail of what they were studying (Fenstermacher 1994). They view narratives as a metaphor for human conduct (Sarbin 1986). Narrative, thus, did not stay confined to data representation, but became an entire mode of inquiry where data analysis and final documents did not have to relinquish their narrative quality. Dewey’s work on time, experience, and sociality had been central for narrative inquiry, which consists of experiential stories that combine the social and the personal (Dewey 1904). It is these experiential stories without abandoning the particular, the contextual, and the complex events that the inquiry attempts to give voice to tacitly held personal knowledge of the respondents (Polanyi 1966; Schwab 1970). This personal knowledge has practical function or serves as an instrument in order for the researcher to evaluate and explain previously determined outcomes on the subject’s deliberations, intuitive decisions, daily action and moral wisdom. Narrative inquiry, therefore works best in getting such ‘practical knowledge’. In fact, MacIntyre (1981) promotes narratives for the study of practices, of lives and of traditions. The methodology allows the researcher to recover the moral qualities of all aspects of the subject’s contemporary lives, qualities that he sees as practically and theoretically lost. Micheal Connelly’s concept of personal, practical knowledge (Connelly and Diennes 1982) combined Polanyi’s sense of the personal with Schwab’s notion of the practical and MacIntyre’s moral intent. Connelly later saw the construction of narrative accounts of experiences as the perfect medium for the study of personal practical knowledge (Connelly and Clandinin 1982). Benefits Narrative Inquiry Conle (1997) notes that the most important contribution that narrative inquiry is a language that implicitly forces the issues of open-ended meanings and of the ‘constitutedness’ of identities, both ethnic and narrator’s identities. Narratives are about temporal events and tell us where and when something happens, in which contexts, who said what to whom, with which feelings and in what mood, and under which moral constraints. Such contextualization on the surface seems to convey facts, but it also potentially subjuntivizes these ‘facts’. If generalization do not accompany the specifics, narrative contextualization limits the factual to the ‘once only’ and to the reliability of observation made by a specific observer at one particular time. If the temporal quality of narrative inquiry is heeded, the tentativeness of conclusions and the open-endedness of stories will prevail. These are much-needed qualities in pluralist societies. It is the open-endedness that allows readers the ability to further interpret and understand the contextual framework of such actions (Conle 2000). Nonetheless, Berstein (1992) cautions that it is equally crucial for a narrative inquiry not to contribute to the rampant relativism, especially more moral relativism and should not deviate against reason. Such relativism can reduce the instrumental rationality of the research and can hinder the ability to draw insights especially in intercultural settings. How to cite A Narrative Inquiry on the Life History of Betty Siegel, Essays