Differentation strategies and its use by organizations

Differentation strategies and its use by organizations An organization that adopts a differentiation strategy seeks to distinguish itself from competitors through the quality of its products or services. Organizations that successfully implement a differentiation strategy are able to charge more than competitors because customers are willing to pay more to obtain the extra value they perceive. For example in case of Rolex they pursue a differentiation strategy, Rolex watches are handmade precious metals like gold or platinum and stainless steel and are subject to strenuous tests of quality and reliability. The firms reputation enables it to charge thousands of dollars for its watches. (à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦..) Firms use differentiation strategy to achieve a competitive advantage by providing unique products and these products attributes high quality and innovations. Differentiation is not just limited to the product but it also covers the delivery system and many other factors. Firms provide additional services to its customers with these differentiation characteristics which brings more profit with a premium price. Porter (1985), further suggests that these two generic strategies are fundamentally contradictory to each other and its important for the business to choose one of them. Cost leader can only gain the high performance if the business offer a satisfactory level of value to its customers which fulfilling the demand of their customers. Similarly differentiation strategy will only be successfully if the premium price of the product charged to customers characterized with some valuable features and customers are satisfied with that (Porter, 1985). There are many factors which results in differentiation. some of them are, To have a competitive edge on its rivals. To facilitates the entry restrictions for newcomers by building a new product To minimize the threats from its substitutes. To create a differentiation advantage  [1]   Different areas of differentiation While Porter bases his work on manufacturer, Walters Knee (1989) suggest a similar conceptual model for retailers with productivity led (e.g. effective cost management and economies of scales) and marketing led differentiation (e.g. product range, range characteristics or customer services). This model is similar to Porters generic strategies. Only one empirical study focus on differentiation analyses within the retailing. Morschett, Swoboda Schramm-Klein (2006) surveyed managers of food retailers and customers in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. Hypermarkets, supermarket, convenience stores, discounters and other were analyzed based on a pool of items derived by marketing mix elements. It provides evidence of three differentiation strategies: Price, quality (goods and services) and convenience. Reilly (2002) suggests that differentiation is one the key business strategy of Porter. Bauer and Colgan (2001) said that when a company use differentiation strategy, it focus on providing a product or service with unique features. Product differentiation satisfies the specific needs of customer and it allows the company to charge a premium price which helps the organization to capture the market share. The differentiation strategy only gets implemented effectively if the business provides product of superior quality and after sale support. Organizations charge higher prices to its customers when they follow the differentiation strategy based on the product features, their customer service and the delivery system business use. The quality it offers to its customer can be real or distinguished based on the fashion or brand name. The differentiation strategy fulfills the specific or complicated customers interest in a unique and higher quality product and for which he is ready to pay a higher price. When organization use the differentiation strategy then it must be ready to add a premium to the cost but it is not to recommend that costs and prices are not be considered but is not the main focus of the organization. However as the customers likes the product because of its uniqueness and higher quality so they become loyal to the business and do not mind in paying the higher price for the products (Hlavacka et al., 2001) Sources of Differentiation Its not only the low prices of products that can create the differentiation of company from other but offering a unique product to its customer can create a differentiation to its competitors. That unique product should be more valuable to its customers. Differentiation also happened that how a company perform its function and what impacts does it have on its buyers. For example differentiation enables the company to meets the demands of its customers anywhere. It should have uniqueness and must have superior quality of its product as compared to its competitors. Factors/ Drivers for Differentiation Location- This is a very important for an organization to have a uniqueness in respect to its competitors. If the organization have its branch at a location which is easily accessible to its customers as compared to the others companys stores then the store will defiantly will have a competitive edge on the others organizations. Integration- An organization will be considered to have uniqueness its level of integration is high, its mean its level of coordination of value activities is high then it will create differentiation. Timing- An organization can effectively adopt a differentiation strategy if its timing of enchasing the opportunities is well on time. It will create uniqueness in the organization. Interrelationships- Customers can be offered better services by using effectively the different activities in the company. Scale- If the goods are produced at a small scale then the uniqueness of the products will be lost over a long period of time. Larger the scale of goods and services then there will more uniqueness. Differentiation of the organization depends on the volume of uniqueness. Learning- In order to perform well in the market a continuous learning process should be adopted. Institutional factors- If the management will have good relation with its staff that mean company will be having a good impact on its sale. This will also create uniqueness. Waitrose Quality Differentiation Strategy Waitrose has a differentiation strategy of quality product and services to its customers. It has a strategy in providing quality goods which are unique in the market to customers which helps Waitrose to differentiate itself with its competitors. Waitrose also pays too much attention in providing the goods with its own brand name and its specifically target a elite class of the market who dont care paying little bit much for best quality product. Focus Strategy A firm pursuing focus strategy concentrates on a specific regional markets, product line, or group of buyers. This strategy may have either a differentiation focus, whereby the firms differentiate its products in the focus market, or an overall cost leadership focus, whereby the firm manufactures and sell its products at a low cost in a focus market  [2]   Focus strategy is different from other strategies of a business as it remains a segment based and has a comparatively narrow scope in any business. In the focus strategy a organization target a specific segment of the market (Porter, 1979 pp.137-140). So what kind of market to be targeted, McCracken (2002), suggests that a organization can select a specific group of customers, a specific range of product, specific areas or some specific services for the customers. For example some European firm specifically concentrates on the European markets for its products. Aims of adopting a Focus strategy according to Porter (1980), is to achieve a narrow competitive advantage in the market. Focus aims is to concentrate on a niche market with its product that has been ignored by other larger competitors in the market. A specific geography, buyers purchasing behavior, different ethnic peoples demand and product features all makes niches for a organization. David (2000), Focus strategy of a organization can only be successful if the target segment have the potential to make good growth and it does not carry any importance to other competitors. Market penetration and market development can make an important focus strategy. Larger or medium organization use focus strategies but only with the combination of differentiation and cost leadership strategies in some segment of the market. The successfulness of the focus strategies depend only if the people have some specific demands and when there is not competition for other rivals.(David, 2000) Organization which adopts focus strategy in the business concentrates more on niche market and by understanding the dynamics of that particular market and work on the particular needs of the market and then try to produce unique product which fulfill the needs of that particular market. As that organization serves well to their customers in uniqueness, so they create a brand name in the mind of the people and create loyalty brand amongst the customers as well. This makes that particular market segment less attractive to its competitors. As with broad market strategies, it will be essential to decide whether organization pursue Cost leadership strategy or Differentiation strategy once a company have selected a focus strategy as a main approach. Firms that manage to adopt a focus strategy are able to tailor a large number of product developments strengths to relatively narrow market segment that they know very well. Focus strategy has two variants, which are; Cost focus is a variant where the organization looks for a cost advantage in a target segment. This is niche low cost strategy where the organization gets cost advantage in the focusers target segment. According to Porters Cost focus exploits differences in behavior in some segments Differentiation focus is where an organization looks for differentiation in the target segment. In this strategy the organization offers to its customers something different to its customers from rivals. Following are the situations where a focus strategy is efficient; Market segment has to be large enough to be profitable; more customers will bring more profit for the organization. Market segment has good growth potentials. High costs are difficult for the rivals to fulfill the demands of the niche. Focuser has to be able to choose from different segment of the market  [3]   Tesco Express Stores Tesco express stores are neighbor hood convenience shops, stocking mainly food with an emphasis on higher margin products alongside everyday essentials. These are found in busy city centers and small shopping mall in residential areas and on petrol station forecourts. There are more than 700 stores all over UK. Tesco Express is gaining a competitive edge in the small scale grocery market as it is providing additional gasoline facility as well. Cost Leadership Strategy A strategy in which an organization attempt to gain a competitive advantage by reducing its cost below the costs of competing firm. By keeping costs low, the organization is able to sell its products at low prices and still make a profit. Timex uses an overall cost leadership strategy. For decades, this firm has specialized in manufacturing relatively simple low cost watches for the mass market. The prices of the Timex watches starting around 39.95 dollars are low because company has an efficient high volume manufacturing capacity.  [4]   The firms operating in this highly competitive are always desires to be more and more successful. To stay in this competitive environment the company should have an competitive edge on its rivals. In order to have a competitive edge on its rivals the company should be selling its goods to its customers at lowest price with best quality as compared to its competitors. Porter (1980), suggest that in order to achieve the competitive advantage there are fundamentally two different approaches and those two approaches are cost leadership and differentiation strategies. In cost leadership strategy the business look for gaining the above average sale over its competitors with reducing the prices of all the elements of activities. To achieve the cost advantage of this nature, the organizations will employ the considerable efforts to reduce the cost of operating and production and will try hard to use all the available resources to their maximum level, including increasing the utilization of R D and advertising.(Porter, 1980) According to Malburg (2000), there is another strategy of Porters generic strategies which is cost leadership strategy. This strategy is about achieving a competitive advantage in the market by reducing the prices of products. In order to have a competitive advantage, business must focus on the low cost leadership strategy, low cost production and labor which committed to the low cost strategy. The business must be ready to stop all the production activities in which they dont have any cost advantage and must outsourcing all the operations to other businesses which have the cost advantage in the market. He further suggest that there are many areas in which cost leadership can be attained such as production on large scale, mass distribution, innovation of technology, improved product design, access to the raw materials and full utilization of available resources. Porter (1985), purports that only one business in a market can be the cost leader. Porter (1985), stressed there is incompatibility in between cost leadership and differentiation strategy, for instance he believe that differentiation is costly as compared to differentiation. He also used the sentence struck in the middle to put more stress that by combining the cost leadership and differentiation strategy will not results into a prolong competitive advantage. But Hill (1988) and Miller (1992), argued that that it is not only possible to combine both strategies but the combination of these two strategies will produce a competitive advantage for the business. Businesses which adopt differentiation strategy target a specific segment of the market and this strategy also has a broad scope. In the both lower cost strategy and differentiation strategy the businesses concentrates on larger segment of the market. An organization which adopt the lowest cost strategy or differentiation strategy that has a aim to focus on one target segment of the market or few defined segments of the market carry out focus strategy. There are two parts of the focus strategy one is lowest costs focus and the other one is differentiation focus7. (Bas P. Singer, 2007) Product Portfolio Strategy, BCG Matrix The notion of portfolio exists in many areas of life, not just for products. A broad portfolio means that business has a presence in a wide range of products and market sectors. A narrow portfolio implies that the organization operates in only a few or even in one product or market sector. A broad portfolio offers the advantage of robustness in that a downturn in one market will not threaten the whole company. The Boston consulting group matrix offers a way of examining and making a sense of a companys portfolio of product and market interests. It is a way of examining a whole product range to see a companys product as a collection of items in similar way that a holder of shares in several companies might the consider the decision on what to do with the shares. One of looking at the products in a portfolio is to considers each product in its position in the product life cycle and aims to have a balance of products in each stage. A more sophisticated approach is based on the idea that the market share in mature markets is highly correlated with profitability and that is relatively less expensive and less risky to attempt to win a share in the growth stage of the market when there will be many new customers making their first purchase. This is the approach taken by BCG matrix. It is use to analyze the product range with a view to aiding decision on how the products should be treated in an internal strategic analysis. BCG Growth Share Matrix BCG, it is a management tool which helps for four distinct purposes. Product portfolio can be classified into four business types by using BCG matrix based on Stars, Cash Cows, Question Marks and Dogs. In order to determine that what priorities can be given to a companys product portfolio. It can also be use to classify an organization product portfolio according to that how much cash is generation and how much is usage and it helps the management to adopt different available strategies to handle different product lines. Companies like Apple, Semen, Nokia, Sony, Samsung are engaged in diversify the product lines7. According to Boston consulting there are five different types of businesses which require the cash flow in different ratios. First types of businesses require more cash than they generate the cash and these types of businesses are very common. The second type require less cash to invest in but these businesses generate more cash than actually invested in and these are very few in the market. The third types of businesses is self sufficient in cash flow and with the passage of time it generate large amount of cash and the fourth type generate less cash but also requires less cash to invest in. The fifth one is stays in unstable condition. Figure 1: Stars: Stars are the leaders in the high growth market. These products generates large amount of cash but also requires a large amount of money to invest in as well. As time passes on the Stars becomes Cash Cows if these maintain there financial position but if they become unable to maintain their positions in the market, they becomes Dogs. Cash Cow: Cash cows are the products that require low investment but these products generate high amount of cash. These are the market leaders in the low growth market. the cash cows funds themselves for their own growth. They supply the investment funds for other products. These help to justify the debt capacity for the whole company. Dogs: Dogs often have a unsecure future are they are the drainer on the company as they generate very low amount of cash as they have a low market share in a high growth market. Question Marks: Question marks have not achieved a dominant position in the market hence they produce low amount of cash. They require a lot of cash because of the growth market conditions. Tesco has a very good portfolio in the market. Tesco is considered as Cash Cows in the market as it has a fine record of distributing the fine and quality goods and services to its customers. At the same time it is also considered as Stars because they are investing and making a lot of efforts to its customers in creating awareness about the e-commerce and retailing. Many of Tesco stores stocks more than 40000 product lines and express sores stock more than 2000 product line which helps the customers to choose from different product lines and according to their financial positions. Waitrose on the other hands have a different Portfolio as it has a different strategy as compare to Tesco. Waitrose use quality differentiation strategy and concentrate on specific portion of the market and offers them high quality products at a high prices because of this it is not attracting a large number of customers as compared to the Tesco. So this thing makes most of the products of the Waitrose Dogs of the market. Market Growth Strategy, Ansoff Matrix: Ansoff matrix is a strategic tool use to measure or define the strategic future direction of the business. The model categorizes the options into four generic alternatives to simplify the process. Market penetration: existing market/existing product Product development: existing market/existing product Market development: new market/existing market The Ansoff Matrix is used with the strategic objective to determine the future direction of the business. A company might be faced with declining sales of its products in the domestic market and will use the Ansoff Matrix to evaluate the four generic alternatives for the future. e.g company would evaluate strategies to penetrate the existing market through pricing or increased brand loyalty. Another option is to develop the product or change the design, increase the length of the product life cycle and increase the sales. A third option is to export the existing product into other countries or finally stop and completely diversify with new products into new markets.(Diana, 2009) Figure 2: Ansoff Matrix model Market Penetration Ansoff matrix explains that a business attempts to penetrate in a market by using its existing products. Tesco has a history which indicates that it always penetrate in a market with its existing products. It always get benefited from its customers to penetrate into a market. In order to achieve its goals Tesco always uses its strategy in three ways. Tesco attract customers from its competitors then it provides its customers good quality product and then Tesco retains customers as customers feels that it is best provider of goods and services. And thirdly it attract more non user of its products and services by advertising and other promotional strategies. Market Penetration is very important for the Tesco as retaining customers are more important for the Tesco than attracting the new ones. Tesco international expansion strategy has responded to meet the maximum needs of its customers. It is hard to enter into a new country market so Tesco had a strategy to join the local businesses by joint ventures. So this helps Tesco to know that market that what are the demands of the people, their purchasing behavior to foreign goods. Product Development Product development is another strategic approach in which new product has been introduced in the market. Tesco always work on the product development by introducing new products in the market in order to satisfy the needs of the customers. Tesco always maximize its profitability by introducing this strategy into the market. Tesco has produce many products and as a market retailer it distribute into the market. Brand loyalty is very important for the Tesco to develop new product. As Tesco has a good reputation of its brand so it does not have to do more advertising in order to attract more customer to buy any new product. Brand loyalty must be conserved in pricing, quality and uniqueness. Market Development: Market Development happened when a company moves into different countries with its existing products. This strategy is used to find new international markets. Tesco has developed many stores in countries like China, Poland, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Slovakia, South Korea, Turkey and United States. For penetrating into international market, Tesco has adopted a joint venture strategy which helps the company to control its cost and help to know the market. Diversification Tesco is not only sticking to the food items but it also maximizing its profit by selling non food items. Tesco has introduced its own mortgage services, banking and credit card services. It has started to sell the mobiles phones and many other electronic products. The other diversification seen in Tesco is fuel. Tesco has also entered into bio fuel and diesel and bio-diesel and investing more in green energy resources which will help to improve its image as compared to other fuel supplying companies like Shell. B.P8.

Crisis Intervention

Crisis and Intervention An environmental crisis situation occurred on New Year's A tornado touched down in the area serve in Missouri. I was one of the first on the scene after the first responders Many of the victims had been evacuated and were not being allowed back into the are The few people that did service were In such shock that lust a cup of coffee and help In communicating with their loved ones was all they wanted at the moment. Ell towers, phone lines, power lines, etc were down In the area, so communication was difficult. On a dally basis however I encounter developmental crawls situations; these tuitions are developmental In nature because many have been raised In homes where financial crawls Is a dally event. Many of the clients I serve have been repeat clients for many years. Often times their parent's or grandparent's were also habitual clients.They often times are seeking food assistance as well as assistance In paying utility bills and rental cost. These situations a re all crisis because tot the effect they have on the individual. Whether the crisis is situational, environmental or developmental the basis emotion is the same tort the person in the midst tot the crisis. A crisis is a negative event that is often times unexpected to the individual. Even in the case of the person in need of utility assistance. Ear on a daily basis, â€Å"l thought rd get the money to pay my bill, I never thought I'd be disconnected. Crisis Intervention Crisis and Intervention An environmental crisis situation occurred on New Year's A tornado touched down in the area serve in Missouri. I was one of the first on the scene after the first responders Many of the victims had been evacuated and were not being allowed back into the are The few people that did service were In such shock that lust a cup of coffee and help In communicating with their loved ones was all they wanted at the moment. Ell towers, phone lines, power lines, etc were down In the area, so communication was difficult. On a dally basis however I encounter developmental crawls situations; these tuitions are developmental In nature because many have been raised In homes where financial crawls Is a dally event. Many of the clients I serve have been repeat clients for many years. Often times their parent's or grandparent's were also habitual clients.They often times are seeking food assistance as well as assistance In paying utility bills and rental cost. These situations a re all crisis because tot the effect they have on the individual. Whether the crisis is situational, environmental or developmental the basis emotion is the same tort the person in the midst tot the crisis. A crisis is a negative event that is often times unexpected to the individual. Even in the case of the person in need of utility assistance. Ear on a daily basis, â€Å"l thought rd get the money to pay my bill, I never thought I'd be disconnected.

Classroom Management Plan Essay

I will provide the right environment for all students to learn. I will generate energy, ideas and opportunities to foster student achievement. I will motivate learners to high academic achievement. I will care for, love and understand my students. I will center my decision making about curriculum around my students. I will never feel that I cannot better myself as a teacher. My Philosophical Beliefs About Teaching In evaluating my philosophy for my future teaching career, I have been very seriously considering my values and beliefs about discipline, my own management style and the social goals for my students. As organization is one of my top priorities as a student, I will strive to be as organized as possible when I start my career. My goal is to organize the logistics of my classroom so that I can make my classroom student-centered instead of teacher-centered. I value the education process, and young minds and new ideas never cease to intrigue me. I am committed to making my classroom a safe and challenging environment and engaging my students through the curriculum as well as getting to know them and interacting with them one-on-one. I believe that meeting the needs of my students is a very crucial part of my classroom. I want them to be comfortable with the other students, as well as me, so that there can be meaningful discussions and interactions. Talking will be common place in my classroom, along with group work. I want to encourage all students to participate in class so that they can learn from each other as well as me. I want to have a democratic and equitable classroom so that students can learn. I want to be a fair as I can be, so the students trust me. I feel that I have a very patient and calm attitude with my class. I ask students about their life outside of class and feel that they respond in class even more, knowing that someone is paying attention to them. I want them to feel comfortable asking questions of me. I think my attitude towards the students is not overbearing or authoritative. I do not believe in forcing the students to do anything. I want to work with them in all circumstances so that we can achieve together and they do not feel like I am spoon-feeding them information. I want students to be a part of their learning. I want to motivate students to learn and keep their interest by using engaging curriculum. I want to involve students in rules about the classroom as well as what curriculum they would like to study. I believe if students feel they are involved in the workings of the classroom, they will be more motivated to engage in the class and in turn, learn. In order to be as organized as possible, the structure of my classroom will be variable, allowing me to change parts of my plan from year to year. I realize that this management plan is a work in progress and what I value now as important points to address in my first management plan may eventually come easily to me with experience and other issues of management may require more attention than those I have addressed. In order for my classroom management plan to be effective it needs to align with my beliefs and values. Therefore, I have chosen the theories and practices that reflect my personal teaching style. There are numerous beliefs and practices that serve as the foundation on which I am building my classroom management plan. I believe that the teacher and students should work cooperatively together in order to create a safe and inviting classroom. Linda Albert’s Cooperative Discipline theory emphasizes that the teacher and students should work together to make class decisions. Albert recommends informing and involving the students’ parents in class decisions as well. This can be accomplished by implementing what Albert refers to as the Three C’s: connections, contributions, and capabilities. I agree with Albert that the classroom should be safe and free of threat for all students. The classroom should be a place that the students feel welcome. If the students are contributing to the class, they will feel as if they are an asset to the class. Finally, I believe that the teacher and students should work together because it is essential to developing a community of learners. I believe in creating a code of conduct cooperatively as a class. This belief coincides with Linda Albert’s Cooperative Discipline as well. A class code of conduct indicates how students are expected to behave instead of how they should not behave. Albert states that the teachers and students should work together to determine consequences for when a student does not follow the class code of conduct. When the students are involved in the determining the consequences, Albert feels the students are more likely to follow them because they are connected to them. I believe that having a class code of conduct in the classroom allows the students to know how they are expected to behave. The students will be more likely to remember what is expected of them because they were involved in creating the expectations. Therefore, the students feel as if the expectations are reasonable and can be met. I like that the teacher is not telling the students how to behave. I feel that students should play an active role in the classroom, and that students are capable of making good decisions. I will be sure to place the code of conduct in a visible spot in the classroom so the students can refer back to it. I believe in using â€Å"I-messages† to communicate my feelings to the students. This practice is introduced by Thomas Gordon in his theory of Discipline through Inner Self-Control. â€Å"I-messages† allow the teacher to share their personal opinion with the students in a non-threatening way. On the other hand, â€Å"you-messages† blame the students for their behavior which causes the students to become defensive. I believe that the teacher should have open communication with students, but in a positive way that creates a safe environment. This method could be taught to the students as well in order to help them solve conflicts. I believe that teachers should encourage their students. William Glasser refers to teachers who provide encouragement to their students as â€Å"lead teachers†. Glasser states that teachers should not try to force information into their students. This makes common sense to me because who likes to be forced to do something. I agree with Glasser that the students’ motivation to learn resides within themselves. It will be my job as a teacher to spark their interest to learn. Therefore, as a teacher I will need to create engaging activities, and be there to provide support to the students as necessary. I believe in creating a sense of community in my classroom. Alfie Kohn mentions that classrooms should be â€Å"learning communities in Beyond Discipline. A classroom should be a place where the students feel cared about and are encouraged to care about others. Eventually, the students will begin to feel connected to one another and see themselves as part of the whole class. I believe that in order for my classroom to be an effective learning environment the students need to feel comfortable. A sense of community will encourage my students to be active participants in class matters. I believe that the teacher should teach â€Å"life skills† to the students so that they can be successful not only in the classroom, but in life as well. Kagan, Kyle, and Scott’s Win-Win Strategies promote the use of â€Å"life skills† in the classroom. They refer to â€Å"life skills† such as self-control, anger management, good judgment, and empathy. These theorists believe that if the students require these skills they will be able to live more successfully. I believe that teachers are responsible for preparing students for life so this theory matches my belief. After my students leave my classroom, I want to see them succeed in life. I am strong believer that one needs to be the change that one wants to see in the world so I will model these â€Å"life skills† for my students. I believe that a teacher should handle behavior problems privately. If the teacher must get involved, Glasser believes that the teacher should do so in way that does not punish the student. I am going to take this one step farther, and say that the teacher should talk to this student in private about his/her behavior. Hopefully, the student and I will be able to determine a longterm solution for the behavior problem. I believe that students should be taught procedures in order to maximize their learning and show them responsibility. The Wong’s Pragmatic Classroom Management Plan supports this belief. Harry and Rosemary Wong state that most students will act responsibly if taught the procedures to do so. They believe students’ achievement is affected by how well the procedures are laid out and taught to them. I agree with Harry and Rosemary Wong that procedures are an important aspect of a classroom. I believe that procedures provide students with a structure that lets them know what is expected of them. This will help cut down on disruptions if the students are not confused about what they are supposed to be doing. Management Plan Goals Having the right environment for all students to learn. The ability to manage children’s behavior. Students will have a complete understanding of the classroom rules. Keep parents involved and â€Å"in the know† of their child and the classroom. Instructional strategies will be taught to the best of my ability. Physical Environment The importance and variety of a properly designed early childhood classroom cannot be over-emphasized when providing a learning environment for children. I will provide in my classroom safe and orderly spaces, filled with a variety of materials that will make the classroom more satisfying for both the teacher and the children. Furthermore, well-designed areas will decrease the number of conflicts that may arise. Quite naturally, any space must accommodate all the activities it will be required to house. Therefore, when making my classroom environment safe and orderly, I must make accommodations to have certain spaces to be multipurpose. It will be very important to make sure these areas, as well as other areas in the classroom, are filled with a variety of materials organized into appropriate activity areas. Clearly defined interest areas will allow young children to work best in small groups where they can learn to relate to other children, establish friendships, and solve problems together. The use of low furniture in these areas will allow me to see into all areas while at the same time giving children a sense of privacy. Use of low furniture also helps define work spaces that help children concentrate because they will not be distracted by other activities taking place in other areas. These different areas will be defined by what activities will be taking place in them. For example, I will have such areas as: dramatic play, art area, building area, science/sensory area, game area, and quiet area. I will also make sure to provide an area where children can relax and be alone with friends. This space will have large pillows, beanbags, and carpet. This so called â€Å"soft area† is very important for young children because it is important to their mental health and it promotes positive behavior because children who spend long hours in a group environment need time to themselves where they can rest. When it comes to supplies and materials in the room, they should be displayed on low shelves where children can reach what they need. This helps promote independence because the children will be responsible in getting materials out and putting them away. When displaying materials on shelves they must be in the area where they will be used. I will place labels and pictures showing where each object belongs. Logical grouping of materials promotes their appropriate use. Labeling the place for each object helps children maintain a clean and orderly environment. When it comes to the teacher’s supplies and materials, I will keep them up and away from the children so that they cannot access them. When the children walk through the door, they will be hit with all different colors coming from the pictures and posters on the walls. I hope to have a room with big windows that allow for natural lighting. The pictures I will have on the wall will be displayed on the children’s eye level, thus children will take better notice. I will also display the work of the children. Displaying their original artwork shows them respect and value for their hard work and effort. One last important thing to me, when it comes to the physical environment of my classroom, is that I will make sure the classroom materials will reflect the cultural richness of our society, the backgrounds and life experiences of the children, and people with different abilities. Children need materials they can relate to through past experiences, before they are asked to learn new concepts. A respect for diversity is important for identity and self-esteem. Behavior Management Many disputes and conflicts can be prevented by careful planning and with positive adult support. There is always a reason behind children’s behavior. Misbehavior is usually directed at achieving one of four goals: revenge, power, attention, and/or feelings of adequacy. I know I can’t force a child to change his or her way of behaving, I can only change the way I behave with the child. My ultimate goal in behavior management and child guidance is not to manage children’s behavior, but to help children manage their own behavior. I am aware that conflict situations provide important learning opportunities for children. Therefore, when it comes to classroom management, I will not deprive the children these opportunities to learn problem-solving skills. My role as a teacher in children’s conflicts is to de-escalate them when the children can no longer work out their problems by themselves. When I communicate with the children in my classroom I will use â€Å"I† statements instead of â€Å"you† statements. I will use gentle body language and make sure that I listen to both sides of the issue. I will try to focus on the present and future of the child’s behavior instead of past behavior. Also, I will focus on the child’s behavior and not the child. Most importantly I will keep in my mind the needs of each child and their best interest when it comes to fixing their misbehavior, and not focus on my best interest. My classroom rules will consist of four basic principles. Those four basic principles will be caring, honesty, respect, and responsibility. I believe any rule thought up by a child can fit into one of these four basic principles. For example, if a child is not keeping their body to themselves, they are not respecting the other child’s space. That is why I will not have a list of rules in my classroom, but rather have these four principles posted in my classroom where every child will see them. Therefore, when a child is not following the rules I will state what they are doing wrong and how it relates to one of the four principles. When it comes to classroom management and discipline, I will not use punishment, but logical consequences. There are two types of logical consequences. They are naturally occurring consequences and imposed consequences. Naturally occurring consequences usually occur when the problem belongs to the individual on whom the consequences fall. For example, Sally leaves her coat out on the playground and when she goes back for it, the coat is gone. I then say to her, I am sorry that it is gone and tell her it is her responsibility to keep track of it. Imposed consequences often occur when a behavior creates a problem for another person who then must impose consequences in order to change the behavior of the individual creating the problem. When I impose logical consequences on the children in my classroom I will try to keep certain things in my mind. Such things as being a consultant in helping the child solve his or her own problem. Keep the burden of the solution on the child and not me while implying that the child is capable of solving his or her own problem. I must also tie the time and/or place of the misbehavior to the consequence. These are just a couple of ways I will try to manage children’s behavior in my classroom. Parent Communication One of the most vital parts of teaching children and managing a classroom is communicating with their families. There is no one right way to communicate with parents, therefore as a teacher, I have to utilize many different methods to communicate with parents to build rapport. One of the first methods I am going to use is a parent board. On the parent board will be pictures of the activities the children have been doing and other information such as the weekly curriculum and things the children have to bring from home to school. I will have the parent board on a table where there will also be a notebook where parents can leave me messages, and where I can leave them messages. I will also have monthly newsletters to the parents that I will set out on the parent table. Another way I will communicate with parents is by having parents come into the classroom and be a classroom helper. I would try to get every parent to come into the classroom at least one time during the school and spend the day with their child or at least a couple hours. This would help me to get to know the parents of the children I teach and this would give me a good chance to build rapport with the parents so that communication will be made easier. Some of the most basic methods I will use to help me communicate with parents are by use of the telephone. I will call parents when need be and make sure that they know they can call me when needed. Finally, the last way I will communicate with parents is by talking to them face to face. Things I know to remember when talking to a parent are to first approach them with a smile or pleasant look and then introduce myself if I have not ever done so in the past. I will always try to start out the conversation with the parent with something positive about their child. If I were communicating with the parent because of a problem their child is having in my class, I would first tell them the issue at hand and then offer some possible solutions. I then would tell them what I want their role to be after I let them talk about what solutions they have. If they need to further talk to me I would offer them other times they can talk to me. I also would give them other possible people to talk to if they feel that they need to. When communicating with a parent I want them to feel that they can ask me questions about their child’s education or other issues they might have. If I can’t answer their questions, I will flat out tell them I don’t know the answer, but I will find out. I also will make sure not to make promises I can’t keep. If need be, I will always make myself available for a teacher-parent conference when scheduled ahead of time Instructional Strategies and Methods When it comes to instructional planning in my classroom I am going to start with the Pennsylvania Academic Standards. The reason I am going to start with the standards is because in the classroom the students are working towards a goal, and those goals should be set higher than the standards. If I do not teach my students to at least the level of the Pennsylvania standards, then I have not set the goals high enough for my instructional planning. If I set goals for my instructional planning, that gives me a start in what direction I need to go in my lesson planning. The second step I am going to take in my instructional planning is assessment. I have to measure the progress of achieving my goals by doing assessments of my students. Two kinds of assessment I will be doing are what you would call summative assessment and diagnostic assessment. The summative assessment will be tests, examinations, final projects, or other things depending on grade level of the students. These types of assessments will tell me if the students are learning the objectives and making progress towards meeting the goals. On the other hand I will use diagnostic forms of assessments when it comes to planning on how far I have to go to get my students to reach the goals or in meeting the standards. I will use diagnostic assessment at the beginning of the school year and before I begin each new unit. The third step in my instructional planning is planning for the long-term. My long-term plan will be as simple as planning my year end academic goals and group those goals into some discrete units to make sure that I cover my long-term academic goals. When it comes to the delivery of my lessons, I am going to keep it as simple as possible. Even though there are many different formats of lesson plans I can use, there is one general way I can make all the different types of lesson plans fit me. Using the following format to teach my lessons will help my students obtain the goals and objectives of my lessons. The format I will use is to first introduce the lesson. Then have an opening to the lesson, which is when I will tell the students what they will learn and why it is important. Next, I introduce the new material and teach it to the students. Afterwards, I allow time for guided practice and then independent practice. These two areas are where I make some informal assessments to check to see if the students learned the objectives. Last, but not least comes the closing. This is where I stress the connection of the lesson and check the students’ understanding by doing some type of assessment, usually a summative form of assessment. Schedules and Routines. When I go to a class, I like to see a schedule of what we are working on for the day. I believe that all students should be given this courtesy of knowing what is going to be happening during the school day by reading a daily schedule of the day’s activities. I will always have the schedule posted at the front of the class, each day updating any changes in the schedule. In addition, I will list the specifics of the day: for instance, what we are working on that day in math. I have seen schedules that list the basic outline of the day: math, language arts, social studies, lunch and science. I would like to take the schedule one step farther and include some details about the day and what will be happening. Not only are daily schedules helpful for students to see what is happening during a given school day, but my daily schedule will allow me to evaluate my the activities in my classroom, assuring that the type and variety of activities are appealing to different types of learning situations. Also, I want to find a good balance between teacher directed instruction, independent work and cooperative group work. Repetitious activities can sometimes impede the school day as it may evoke comments such as â€Å"We’re doing this again? † However, having routines in which students can predict what will happen can ease the transition from the bus, car or the walk to school to the classroom. To be specific, I will have a beginning of the day routine and an end of the day routine, so that I maintain consistency each day and convey the message that in our class, we use all of our time together to learn and we do not like to waste time. For my start of the day routine, I will play music as the students walk in. I will play quiet music that sets the tone for the day: a warm and relaxing learning environment where we are safe and ready to learn. I will have a welcome message posted on the board with a list of housekeeping items to do before we get settled for the day: sharpen pencils, turn in homework, put coats and backpacks away. In addition to this everyday welcome, I will have a list of activities that students can work on from previous days of school, including plenty of options to accommodate those that have finished all of their work. Also, I will greet my students as they enter the classroom, talking to each student as they get settled for their day, ensuring that I get to see each student and have contact with each one first thing in the morning. At the end of the day, I will take the last ten minutes to wrap up the day. I will post an end of the day wrap up list on the overhead for students to use a guide to get ready to go home. I will have mailboxes with the days handouts in them and my students can collect these handouts and place them in their â€Å"take home† folder. Then I will ask groups to get their backpacks and put away all of their materials. I will ask that they clear off their desks and the area on the floor around their desks so that the custodian does not have to clean up after us. As the students line up to go home, I will have my goodbye salutation: a piece of poster paper with four types of goodbyes: a handshake, high five, or smile. The students can pick any combination of these goodbyes when the leave. I want to have this goodbye so that I can be sure to have contact with each of my students before they leave for to go home. In doing this, I want to convey to my students that I care about them and I want to wish them a safe trip home and tell them that I look forward to seeing them tomorrow. By having structured routines for the beginning and end of the day, I will be setting the tone for the school day. For the beginning of the day, I want to imply that we structure our mornings so that we can get off to a good start with our minds and materials ready for the day. At the end of the day, I want to bring the day to a close with daily routine to ensure that my students understand that every part of our school day together is as valuable as any other part. Individualization In order to promote individualization and responsible behavior, I will implement a job chart where students will have jobs throughout the week. I will have paper passers, overhead cleaners, board erasers, recyclers, lunch duty, and line leaders. I will introduce these jobs on the first day of school and assign jobs to random students. Emphasizing the importance of the jobs will enhance the students’ desire to have the job to demonstrate their responsible behavior. I will have a policy stating that any student who cannot demonstrate responsible behavior and reliably complete their job will have to give up their job title and a different student will get their job. I have seen such a job system in another classroom in which I worked and this system was very successful in creating a sense of responsibility among students. Reflection As I complete my management plan, I feel that I am fully prepared to teach tomorrow. However, I know that that is not the case. My management plan will forever be growing and changing. My management plan focuses on the students’ needs in my class. By organizing many structured components of the school, I am attempting to prepare myself for any discipline problems that may occur. I will organize many aspects of my class before the year starts, but I will also sit down with my students during the first weeks of school and have discussions about rules and expectations to determine what they need from me and from each other. While I know that some misbehavior will occur in my classroom, I am instituting this plan to assist me in dealing with these issues as they occur. I believe classroom management is the key that unlocks the ability for children to learn and in creating an environment where children feel safe. I will set high expectations and encourage my students to succeed. Finally, my classroom management will not only be about creating a good rapport with the students, but creating a rich and engaging curriculum. | | | | | | | | | | | | References Albert, Linda, Pete DeSisto, and Linda Albert. (1996) Cooperative Discipline. Circle Pines, MN: American Guidance Service. Web. Guillaume, Andrea M. (2004). K-12 Classroom Teaching: A Primer for New Professionals. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Merrill/Prentice Hall. Print.

Jan Matzeliger and the History of Shoe Production

Jan Matzeliger was an immigrant cobbler working in a shoe factory in New England when he invented a new process that changed shoe-making forever.   Early Life Jan Matzeliger was born in in 1852  in Paramaribo, Dutch Guiana (known today as Suriname). He was a shoemaker by trade, the son of a Surinamese homemaker and a Dutch engineer. The younger Matzeliger showed an interest in mechanics and began working in his dad’s machine shop at the age of ten. Matzeliger left Guiana at age 19, joining a merchant ship. Two years later, in 1873, he settled in Philadelphia. As a dark-skinned man with little command of English, Matzeliger struggled to survive.  With the help of his tinkering ability and support from a local black church, he eked out a living and eventually began working for a cobbler. A Lasting Impact on Shoe-Making At this time the shoe industry in America was centered in Lynn, Massachusetts, and Matzeliger traveled there and eventually landed a job at a shoe factory operating a sewing machine for soles that was used to stitch different pieces of a shoe together. The final stage of shoemaking at this time--attaching the upper part of a shoe to the sole, a process called â€Å"lasting† -- was a time-consuming task that was done by hand.   Matzeliger believed that lasting could be done by machine and set about devising just how that might work. His shoe lasting machine adjusted the shoe leather upper snugly over the mold, arranged the leather under the sole and pinned it in place with nails while the sole was stitched to the leather upper. The Lasting Machine revolutionized the shoe industry. Instead of taking 15 minutes to last a shoe, a sole could be attached in one minute. The efficiency of the machine resulted in mass production—a single machine could last 700 shoes in a day, compared to 50 by a hand laster—and lower prices. Jan Matzeliger obtained a patent for his invention in 1883. Tragically, he developed tuberculosis not long after and died at the age 37. He left his stock holdings to his friends and to the First Church of Christ in Lynn, Massachusetts.