How would it affect a child to read inappropriate books “adult books”?

Learning is normal for every living creature, even more so for humans. But what we learn is far more important than learning itself. Some of the things we learn are not beneficial to our lives thus one needs to really look at what they consume using their brain. Matilda a character out of the novel “Matilda” by Roald Dahl was exposed to adult material content at the early age of about four years. A question then arises as to when some things are to be learned?

Some content is not appropriate for some ages and thus age restrictions are put in place so as not to give in appropriate information. Now how then does inappropriate material affect the child? For example a child at the age of five has a very active and creative imagination. This is seen in some children who create imaginary friends. So by reading a book that has a lot of monsters like Harry Potter for example may stimulate nightmares. The most feared of all in adult content is the dreaded pornography. Children exposed to this are affected negatively for not only do they want to actually do what they see or read about, but they get addicted to it. Not good because it will affect them for the rest of their lives.

A child may be affected differently depending on the content of what is being read. Not all the effects are bad, a book out of science may inspire the child to love science whilst a book from fictional stories like Cinderella might make the child to become a princess one day, the girl child in this case. This is good for it is at the child’s level of development.

 A child like Matilda may go on to become a great author because she understands literature and the English language due to her reading. At her age she was able to write poems, this is also due to all that reading she did because even geniuses also need to hone their skills.

The overarching principle in this whole discussion is learning, especially for the child because children learn what they see read, hear and more. Monkey see monkey do! In this case Monkey reads monkey does!

Unmention might of a woman reflection.

This article is written from a famanist point of view understably so because the author is a woman. I would say she better understand the stresses and pressures of being a woman.

The attitude of the article is one of an imbalance in gender relationships. The dipiction of how men think they are superior to women not knowing what an influence women have in their lives is one example.

What is being said about men in this article is partly true because men do tend to hide their true feelings to protect their pride. But in all fairness that very quality enables men to be what they are, men. They are decisive because they do not rely on their feelings mostly. This can be good or bad, it is the men's job to decide.

This style of writing is not effective for me for its not easy to comprehend. It is written as though it is a poem and one needs the skills to decode poems in such text.

The value of Web-blogs in higher education, my experience with blogs and how their effectiveness can be improved as learning tools for students.

Plagiarism is one topic that is a challenge for both lecturers and students in many universities. For students the continuing urge to copy content and submitting it as their own work is constantly at work in them. There are various reasons for that like the inability to reference work done by other authors for example. For lecturers the work of having to receive and critic plagiarized material is a challenge as they have to train professionals who will have to research and state their views on various topics in their different professions. Needless to say, the challenge here is plagiarism and web-blogs can provide an antidote for challenges concerning plagiarism in the classroom (Oravec,2003). 

Web-blogs help organize the reader's online experience, which can be of a special assistance to students struggling with new material or information (Oravec,2003). 

Classroom experiment with weblogs over the course of one or more semesters can be used to explore the development of a genre page (Oravec,2003).Thus web-blogs bring value to higher education in many ways such as those stated above.

My experience with blogs is not one that is very formal like in the classroom context but rather from a personal point of view. As one who is interested in many activities such a music, many blogs I have seen are for people who share their knowledge, know how and expertise on specific subjects, in this case music. People use blogs to share their views and feelings about what they are passionate about. They take it a step further by monetizing their blogs and earn money for their work. Many you-tubers also have blogs that are linked to the YouTube channels making it easier to engage their followers. For people like these a blog is a cheap alternative to a website as it does not require one to buy a domain name and get hosting.

To make blogs useful to students they must be relevant to what the students are doing in class, in the same time students must be informed that the blog is a personal thing they can do what ever they want with it as long as it is legal. Meaning they can share their experiences and feeling on subjects that interest them. With that said A blog can be like a Facebook account (fun) and not be looked as a work.

 

Reflection on Service Learning

What is service learning?

Service learning is defined by Bringle and Hatcher (1999) as a course - based, credit bearing educational experience. This means service learning forms part of the student's studies, for students do not Marely engage in it for the experience alone but they earn credits for their work. Service learning requires students to participate in organised service activities that meets the identified community needs. It also requires students to reflect on these activities in such a will enrich their understanding of course content, appreciation of the discipline and their sense of civic duty.

In many ways this definition is true for one who has participated in such activities greatly understands the course content, gains an appreciation for the profession of teaching and realizes that they have a responsibility a citizen of the country. These services really impacts the upcoming teachers for they will not only be typical state employed teachers who are unmotivated to work for the good of the children but to be caring, critically reflective and accountable professionals.

My Final School Year

I am Nhlakanipho Knolege Mthethwa a student studying to be a teacher in the foundation phase at the University of Mpumalanga. I was born in Mpumalanga in a little township called Elukwatini. This was not a busy township but in recent years it has developed well enough to have attracted people of nearby areas to come and do business, shopping and more. It has also been helped by the fact that a new mine has been opened up nearby, opening the opportunity for business growth and economic development. This town is made up mostly of a Swati speaking people hence it closer to Swaziland.

https://www.google.co.za/maps/place/Takheni+Secondary+School/@-26.046585,30.7984275,1056m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m6!1m3!3m2!1s0x0:0x71550f3a49db2179!2sElukwatini+Crossing!3m1!1s0x0000000000000000:0x87237a31dafa71cb!6m1!1e1

All of my life I have spent there and hence my education as well. My final year in school was in 2011 in a school called Takheni Secondary School. This school was a public school like most schools in the area. I was enrolled in this school because it was the best science school known to produce good results for its pupils. Indeed it was the best as I have experienced it myself. Although at the time I thought it was the best option because it was closer to home so I could walk there. Having the experience of being left behind at the station by the bus in my primary school days was one I wished never to experience again.

Amazingly my school never had all the resources a science school should have but we passed. That being said we never had any form of technology that we used in our classes, accept for those who did CAT a computer subject. Our teachers were brilliant, giving their time and effort to assist where possible even if it meant spending their own money for us. It was there that I learned to make do with what I had.

In my grade twelve year I was in the science stream. I had been for two years for in our time we chose streams in grade ten. This meant I had to spend lots of my time studying, for this stream was not an easy one. But with determination and hard work coupled with good friends and good teachers, not to mention wonderful and supportive parents I had a good recipe for success.

We were also encouraged to make study groups to improve marks and it worked. I also have to say that it was difficult for we made a few different groups before we found ourselves being a well-oiled machine. This was a perseverance lesson well learned. 

The science stream has seven subjects. SiSwati (Home Language), English (First Additional Language), Mathematics, Life Orientation, Life Sciences, Physical sciences and Geography.

It was hard, tough and mostly tiring. But at the end I managed to pull through. For this pass I had to sacrifice a lot of things I loved. To mention a few, I had to stop going for soccer practice on a regular basis, practice piano less, play with friends less and sometimes even church as we had to attend on Sundays. For this though I managed to pass with an average of seventy to eighty percent average which is pretty good if I say so myself, although I would have wanted to achieve more.

Because school is not all about the formal education but also about the community and us as pupils form a community in the school, I had the pleasure of meeting the greatest of friends. Overcame some of the most terrifying experiences and challenges. School was an experience to remember for sure!