Project Report on Performance Appraisal Essay Example for Free

Project Report on Performance Appraisal Essay It is not constituted by individual sounds but by their accurately measure the performance of its members and use it objectively to optimize them as vital resources. The performance of an employee is his resultant behavior on task which can be bserved and evaluated. It refers to the contribution made by an individual in the accomplishment of organizational objectives. Performance can be measured by combining quantity, quality, time and cost. People do not learn unless they are given feedback on the results of their actions. For learning to take place, feedback should be provided regularly and it should register both successes and failures. It should also follow soon after the relevant action or actions. Performance appraisal system provides management an opportunity to recall as well as give feedback to people. This feedback is pertaining the performance of the worker. This helps them to correct their mistakes and acquire new skills. Performance appraisal (PA) refers to all those procedures that are used to evaluate the personality, the performance and the potential of its group members. Evaluation is different from Judgment. The former is concerned with performance and the latter is concerned with the individual. While evaluation deals with achievement of goals, a Judgment has an undercurrent of personal attack and is likely to evoke resistance. Performance appraisal could be informal or formal. Informal performance appraisal is a continuous process of feeding back information o the subordinates about how well they are doing their work in the organization. The informal appraisal is conducted on a day-today basis. For example, the manager spontaneously mentions that a particular piece of work was well performed or poorly performed. It is due to the close connection between the behavior and the feedback on it, the informal appraisal quickly encourages desirable performance and discourages undesirable performance before it becomes permanently ingrained. Therefore, informal appraisal should not be perceived merely as a casual occurrence but as an important activity and an integral part of the organizations culture. The formal performance appraisal occurs usually annually on formal basis and involves appraise and appraiser in finding answers to the following questions: 1 . What performance level has to be achieved during the period? 2. Has it been achieved? 3. What has been the shortfall and constraints? 4. What are we going to do now? 5. How will we know that we have done it? 6. What kind of feedback can be expected? 7. What assistance can be expected to improve performance? 8. What rewards and opportunities are likely to follow from the performance appraisal? When the employees have this type of information, they are aware of the following pecifications:- 2. What assistance is available? 3. What can they expect when the required level of performance is achieved? This increases employee acceptance of the appraisal process and results in the trust that the employee has in the organization. An environment that affords an opportunity for further growth while minimizing stressful situations certainly enhances appraisal acceptance. Establishing this type of environment goes far beyond the performance appraisal process. Every aspect of managing people and their work relates to the improvement of their quality of work life. Performance appraisal is an integral part of trusting, healthy and happy work environment that goes a long way in promoting the same. Performance appraisal has been used for the following three purposes: Remedial Maintenance Development A performance appraisal needs to cover all these three purposes with the same focus. If any purpose predominates, the system becomes out of balance. For instance, if remedial purpose is foremost, then the performance appraisal may become a disciplinary tool, a form of a charge sheet and a tool of power instead of instrument of evaluation.

Human Life :: essays research papers

The beliefs and views of modern society are hypocritical and unjust. By the time an individual matures from a young child to an adult, they have been taught an uncountable number of life lessons. One of the outstanding lessons that each and every person has learned is that killing another human being is wrong. This is perhaps the first recognizable lesson on the value of human life. Most children know that killing is against the law and learn religiously that it goes against all religious morals and beliefs, yet society is bombarded by violence everyday in the media and in real life. Today, the value of human life can be questioned, especially that of the young. Through numerous examples of child murder and abortion it is rather obvious that the lives of the unborn or newly born are not valued to the degree that they should be. In most cases, the young are not recognized as "people" and are robbed of their human rights and freedoms. Young lives, both born and unborn, are s een as more of a commodity these days, than as precious, magical miracles. In the media today there are ridiculous numbers of reports pertaining to accidents, shootings and robberies-these are just a few examples of unjust acts that are occurring everyday. There is also a shocking amount of coverage about parents accidentally, or on the other hand, brutally murdering their kids. Parents are supposed to be loving and supporting caregivers, they have a great influence over everything a child can possibly say or do. It is hard to believe that some parents would actually take their children’s lives into their hands. Recently in the news there have been accounts of a mother poisoning her son to a father taking a knife and slashing his son’s throat. These are all cases where the parent in charge has taken advantage of their control. Each helpless child is defenseless in these situations. In many cases, children have become victims of a parent’s mental instability. In one case a mother claims to have been "suffering form delusions about h ell when she took the life of her twenty month old child." In the end this woman was found not criminally responsible because "she had apparently been suffering from psychosis the day of the drowning." She was then committed to a psychiatric hospital. This seems to be common place today, and there is no justice done for the young slain victims.

Differentiation in the Classroom

Differentiation in the Classroom Brittany Hunt University of Toledo Differentiated instruction in the classroom can be beneficially for every child’s needs to learn to their best ability. Differentiation means tailoring instruction to meet individual needs. Whether teachers differentiate content, process, products, or the learning environment, the use of ongoing assessment and flexible grouping makes this a successful approach to instruction. No student learns the same and differentiation is helping each student grow and succeed by meeting each individual needs.Whenever a teacher reaches out to an individual or a small group to change his or his teaching to create the best learning experience possible, that teacher is differentiating the instruction for the student(s). Four characteristics shape teaching and learning in an effective differentiated classroom (Tomlinson, 1995a): 1. ) Instruction is concept focused and principle driven. All students have the opportunity to explor e and apply the key concepts of the subject being studied. All students come to understand the key principles on which the study is based.Such instruction enables struggling learners to grasp and use powerful ideas and, at the same time, encourages advanced learners to expand their understanding and application of the key concepts and principles. Such instruction stresses understanding or sense-making rather than retention and regurgitation of fragmented bits of information. Concept-based and principle-driven instruction invites teachers to provide varied learning options. A â€Å"coverage-based† curriculum may cause a teacher to feel compelled to see that all students do the same work. Related article: Cda Competency Goal # 1In the former, all students have the opportunity to explore meaningful ideas through a variety of avenues and approaches. 2. ) Ongoing assessment of student readiness and growth are built into the curriculum. Teachers do not assume that all students need a given task or segment of study, but continuously assess student readiness and interest, providing support when students need additional instruction and guidance, and extending student exploration when indications are that a student or group of students is ready to move ahead. 3. ) Flexible grouping is consistently used. In a differentiated class, students work in many patterns. Sometimes hey work alone, sometimes in pairs, sometimes in groups. Sometimes tasks are readiness-based, sometimes interest-based, sometimes constructed to match learning style, and sometimes a combination of readiness, interest, and learning style. In a differentiated classroom, whole-group instruction may also be used for introducing new ideas, when planning, and for sharing learning outcomes. 4. ) Students are active explorers. Teachers guide the exploration. Because varied activities often occur simultaneously in a differentiated classroom, the teacher works more as a guide or facilitator of learning than as a dispenser of information.As in a large family, students must learn to be responsible for their own work. Not only does such student-centeredness give students more ownership of their learning, but it also facilitates the important adolescent learning goal of growing independence in thought, planning, and evaluation. Implicit in such instruction is (1) goal-setting shared by teacher and student based on student readiness, interest, and learning profile, and (2) assessment predicated on student growth and goal attainment.Teachers can differentiate at least four classroom elements based on student readiness, interest, or learning profile: * Content- what the student needs to learn or how th e student will get access to the information; * Process- activities in which the student engages in order to make sense of or master the content; * Products- culminating projects that ask the student to rehearse, apply, and extend what he or she has learned in a unit; and * Learning environment- the way the classroom works and feels.Examples of differentiating content at the elementary level include the following: using reading materials at varying readability levels; putting text materials on tape; using spelling or vocabulary lists at readiness levels of students; presenting ideas through both auditory and visual means; using reading buddies; and meeting with small groups to re-teach an idea or skill for struggling learners, or to extend the thinking or skills of advanced learners. Several elements and materials are used to support instructional content. These include acts, concepts, generalizations or principles, attitudes, and skills.The variation seen in a differentiated classr oom is most frequently in the manner in which students gain access to important learning. Access to the content is seen as key. Align tasks and objectives to learning goals: designers of differentiated instruction view the alignment of tasks with instructional goals and objectives as essential. Goals are most frequently assessed by many state-level, high-stakes tests and frequently administered standardized measures. Objectives are frequently written in incremental steps resulting in a continuum of skills-building tasks.An objectives-driven menu makes it easier to find the next instructional step for learners entering at varying levels. Differentiated instruction should be concept-focused and principle-driven. The instructional concepts should be broad-based, not focused on minute details or unlimited facts. Teachers must focus on the concepts, principles and skills that students should learn. The content of instruction should address the same concepts with all students, but the deg ree of complexity should be adjusted to suit diverse learners. Some examples of differentiating process or activities at the elementary level include the following: 1.Using tiered activities through which all learners work with the same important understandings and skills, but proceed with different levels of support, challenge, or complexity; 2. Providing interest centers that encourage students to explore subsets of the class topic of particular interest to them; 3. Developing personal agendas (task lists written by the teacher and containing both in-common work for the whole class and work that addresses individual needs of learners) to be completed either during specified agenda time or as students complete other work early; 4.Offering manipulative’s or other hands-on supports for students who need them; and 5. Varying the length of time a student may take to complete a task in order to provide additional support for a struggling learner or to encourage an advanced learne r to pursue a topic in greater depth. Samples of differentiating products at the elementary level include: giving students options of how to express required learning (e. g. create a puppet show, write a letter, or develop a mural with labels); using rubrics that match and extend students' varied skills levels; allowing students to work alone or in small groups on their products; and encouraging students to create their own product assignments as long as the assignments contain required elements. Items to which students respond may be differentiated so that different students can demonstrate or express their knowledge and understanding in different ways. A well-designed student product allows varied means of expression and alternative procedures and offers varying degrees of difficulty, types of valuation, and scoring. Examples of differentiating the learning environment at the elementary level include: 1. Making sure there are places in the room to work quietly and without distract ion, as well as places that invite student collaboration; 2. Providing materials that reflect a variety of cultures and home settings; 3. Setting out clear guidelines for independent work that matches individual needs; 4. Developing routines that allow students to get help when teachers are busy with other students and cannot help them immediately; and 5.Helping students understand that some learners need to move around to learn, while others do better sitting quietly (Tomlinson, 1995, 1999; Winebrenner, 1992, 1996). Characteristics of a differentiated classroom likely to be responsive to the needs of gifted (and other academically diverse) students are the following: * Teacher sensitivity to the varying needs of learners; * On-going assessment of student progress and modification of instruction based on assessment data; * Multiple learning options at a given time on many occasions; * Variable pacing; Respectful (interesting, important) tasks for all learners; * Use of flexible grou ping (balancing like-readiness grouping, mixed-readiness grouping, grouping by interest, random grouping, whole class instruction, and individual/independent work); * Teacher use of a variety of instructional strategies (learning contracts, compacting, group investigation, complex instruction, interest centers, learning centers, tiered lessons, tiered products, graduated rubrics) that invite varying students to learn in a variety of ways; * Varied modes of assessment likely to give students maximum opportunity to demonstrate knowledge, understanding, and skill; and * Grading based, at least in significant measure, on student growth rather than in comparison to one another or to an absolute scale (Tomlinson, 1995a). Additional guidelines that make differentiation possible for teachers to attain is key to having a successful differentiated classroom, this includes: * Clarify key concepts and generalizations. Ensure that all learners gain powerful understandings that can serve as the f oundation for future learning. Teachers are encouraged to identify essential concepts and instructional foci to ensure that all learners comprehend. * Use assessment as a teaching tool to extend rather than merely measure instruction.Assessment should occur before, during, and following the instructional episode, and it should be used to help pose questions regarding student needs and optimal learning. * Emphasize critical and creative thinking as a goal in lesson design. The tasks, activities, and procedures for students should require that they understand and apply meaning. Instruction may require supports, additional motivation, varied tasks, materials, or equipment for different students in the classroom. * Engaging all learners is essential! Teachers are encouraged to strive for the development of lessons that are engaging and motivating for a diverse class of students.Vary tasks within instruction as well as across students. In other words, an entire session for students shoul d not consist of all drill and practice, or any single structure or activity. * Provide a balance between teacher-assigned and student-selected tasks. A balanced working structure is optimal in a differentiated classroom. Based on pre-assessment information, the balance will vary from class-to-class as well as lesson-to-lesson. Teachers should ensure that students have choices in their learning. Most classrooms employ single-size instruction. Thus, moving toward differentiated instruction requires considerable change on the part of teachers.Changing habits or patterns of teaching in busy and pressure-laden classrooms is difficult and stressful. Teachers who are helped to understand specific benefits to students and to themselves of differentiated instruction may be more willing to risk the change than those who are not assisted in developing a solid rationale for change, or those who are mandated to change rather than assisted in doing so. The design and development of differentiate d instruction as a model began in the general education classroom. The initial application came to practice for students considered gifted but whom perhaps were not sufficiently challenged by the content provided in the general classroom setting.As classrooms have become more diverse, differentiated instruction has been applied at all levels for students of all abilities. Many authors of publications about differentiated instruction, strongly recommend that teachers adapt the practices slowly, perhaps one content area at a time. Additionally, these experts agree that teachers should share the creative load by working together to develop ideas and menus of options for students. Differentiated instruction is an instructional process that has excellent potential to positively impact learning by offering teachers a means to provide instruction to a range of students in today's classroom situations.

10 Magical Multiplication Tricks to Teach Kids to Multiply

Not all kids are able to learn  multiplication facts using rote memorization. Luckily, there are 10 multiplication magic tricks to teach kids to multiply and many multiplication card games to help. In fact, research has shown that rote memorization doesn’t help kids to learn the connections between numbers or understand the rules of multiplication. Practically-based math, or finding ways to help kids do math activities in real life, is more effective than just teaching the facts. Represent multiplication Using things like blocks and small toys can help your child see that multiplication is really a way to add more than one group of the same number over and over again. For example, write the problem 6 x 3 on a piece of paper, and then ask your child  to create six groups of three blocks each. She will then see what the problem is asking us to put together six groups of three. Practice doubles facts The idea  of â€Å"doubles† is almost magical in itself. Once your child knows  the answers to her â€Å"doubles† addition facts (adding a number to itself) she magically knows the twos times table as well. Just  remind her that any number multiplied by two is the same as  adding that number to itself—the problem is asking how much are two groups of that number. Skip-counting to five facts Your child may already know how to count by fives. What she may not know is that by counting by five, she’s actually reciting the fives times table. Demonstrate that if she uses her fingers to keep track of how many times she’s â€Å"counted† by five, she can find the answer to any fives problem. For instance, if he’s counted by five up to twenty, he’ll have four fingers held up. That’s actually the same as 5 x 4! Magical Multiplication Tricks There are other ways to get the answers that aren’t as easy to see through. Once your child knows how to do the tricks, she’ll be able to amaze her friends and teachers with her multiplication talent. Magically Multiplying Zero Help your child write out the  10 times table and then ask if she notices a pattern. What she should be able to see is that when multiplied by the number 10, a number looks like itself with a zero on the end. Give her a calculator to try it out using large numbers. She’ll see that every time she multiplies by 10, that  zero â€Å"magically† appears on the end. Multiplying by zero doesn’t seem all that magical. It’s hard for kids to understand that when you multiply a number by zero the answer is zero, not the number you started with. Help your child understand that the question really is â€Å"How much is zero groups of something?† and she’ll realize the answer is â€Å"Nothing.† She’ll see how the other number disappeared. Seeing Double The magic of the 11 times tables only works with single digits, but that’s okay. Show your child how multiplying by 11 always makes you see the double of the number she’s multiplying. For instance, 11 x 8 88 and 11 x  6 66. Doubling Down Once your child has figured out the trick to her twos table, then she’ll be able to make magic with fours. Show her how to fold a piece of paper in half lengthwise and unfold it to make two columns.  Ask her to  write her twos tables in one column and the fours table in the next column. The magic that she should see is that the answers are the doubles doubled. That is, if 3 x 2 6 (the double), then 3 x 4 12. The double is doubled! Magic Fives This trick is a little odd, but only because it only works with odd numbers. Write down the fives multiplication facts that use an odd number and watch as your child finds the magical oddity. She may see that if she subtracts one from the multiplier, â€Å"cuts† it in half and puts a five after it, that’s the answer to the problem. Not following? Look at it like this:  5 x 7 35, which is actually 7 minus 1 (6), cut in half (3) with a 5 on the end (35). Even More Magic Fives There’s another way to make the fives tables appear if you don’t want to use skip-counting. Write down all the fives facts that involve even numbers, and look for a pattern. What should appear before your eyes are that each answer is simply half of the number your child is multiplying by five, with a zero on the end. Not a believer? Check out these examples:  5 x 4 20, and 5 x 10 50. Magical Finger Math Finally, the most magical trick of all—your child just needs her hands to learn the times tables. Ask her to put her  hands face down in front of her and explain that the fingers on the  left hand represent the numbers 1 through 5. The fingers on the right hand represent the numbers 6 through 10. And, for the  first trick, ask her to fold down the index  finger on his left hand, or finger number 4.Remind her that 9 x 4 36, and then have her look at her hands.  To the left of her bent finger, there are 3 fingers. To the right are her remaining 6 fingers.The magic to this trick is that the number given to the finger that she folds down  x 9 is equal to the number of fingers to the left of the bent finger (in the tens place) and the fingers to the right (in the ones place.) Recalling the  answers to multiplication facts is a key skill your child will need to master in order to move on to more complicated types of math. That’s why schools spend so much time trying to make sure that kids can pull up the answers as quickly as possible.