Developmental Theories in Juno

The movie  Juno  is not only an excellent representation of film and the creative process coming together to create characters and a story that draws in the audience and allows them to invest themselves in the lives of the characters, but it is also an excellent example of the developmental process. This is because the movie reflects not only the development of its protagonist Juno MacGuff and her emotional growth and development, but also her physical development throughout her pregnancy.Juno  begins with the adolescent protagonist, sixteen year old  Juno MacGuff, realizing that her one night stand with her friend and long-time crush, Paulie Bleeker, has resulted in her being pregnant. However when Juno goes to the clinic to receive the abortion, she finds that both her conscience and the pro-life protesting of a fellow classmate prevent her from going through with the deed. This conflict and resulting action are what spur the young Juno on to the exceptional level of growth and development that are experienced by both her and the audience throughout the film.After nervously telling her dysfunctional parents about her pregnancy, a difficult task for any young and unsuspecting expectant mother, Juno decides that what is best for her child is to carry it to term and place it with a loving family who can provide it with what she herself cannot. From this point in the movie on, Juno's growth is more than evident, as the process of deciding on adoptive parents for her unborn child pushes her to the limits as to what a person of her age should be dealing with.After searching through a local paper Juno decides on an infertile couple from the suburbs of Minnesota, Mark and Vanessa, that is seemingly perfect, and upon meeting them they seem to be the perfect fit for her. However, as the young Juno's confidence in her decision grows, the stability of Mark and Vanessa's relationship is tested as Mark begins to befriend Juno and their mutual love of rock and horro r films makes Mark realize not only the sacrifices he has had to make personally to make his marriage work, but also whether or not a child is what he wants at this point in his life.The arising conflict, which puts extra strain on Mark's relationship with Vanessa, who is so sure in her desire to have a child, results in their separation and the falling apart of what seemed such a perfect solution to Juno's predicament. Mark and Vanessa's separation hits Juno especially hard, because in her helpless situation Mark and Vanessa's seemingly perfect situation not only grounded her but gave her hope, as her birth parent's divorce and the dysfunctional relationship between her father and stepmother seem to give her no hope for happiness now or later in life.As Juno's pregnancy reaches full-term her faith in others and relationships is restored when she realizes that Vanessa's desire and love for her unborn child makes her more than suitable to be the mother of her child, which also gives her the courage to express her true feelings for her friend Paulie. The movie ends on an inspirational and hopeful note, with Juno having a healthy baby boy  whom Vanessa willingly and lovingly accepts, and Juno and Paulie entering into a healthy and stable relationship.After watching the movie with some knowledge of the process of growth and development, the role that Bronfenbrenner's, Piaget's, and Erickson's theories played in Juno's development. Urie Bronfenbrnner stressed the importance of the systems that surround each person, and the significant impact they have on that person's development. These systems are the microsystem, which is made up of friends, family, and school, the ecosystem, which includes things such as the school system, religious organization, and workplace, and the macrosystem, which include cultural values, economic policies, and political policies.Juno  stresses the importance the microsystem and macrosystem play in a person's development. Juno's micro system is dysfunctional, and her relationship with her parents affects her development and her relationship with her friends and the other students at her school. The divorce between her father and her mother, who now has a new family and only sends her a cactus on Valentine's Day, and her impaired relationship with her stepmother have resulted in her adopting an abrupt and unusual persona that cause her to be somewhat of an outcast at school, as well as being unsure about her own relationships in the cases of Paulie and Mark.Additional strain is placed on Juno by the cultural values of her macrosystem, as the scorn she is shown by her peers and the staff at her school over her pregnancy causes her to feel angry with Paulie. Jean Piaget described the four periods of cognitive development, and Juno's ability to think and reason analytically show that she is in the formal operational stage of her cognitive development. This stage is characterized by adolescents thinking â€Å"about a bstractions and hypothetical concepts and reason analytically, not just emotionally.They can be logical about things they have never experienced. † (Berger, 2008, p. 45 Table 2. 2). The character of Juno is an excellent example of this development, because throughout her pregnancy, which is an extremely emotional time, she is able to reason logically about what is best for her baby without being driven solely by emotion. Juno's decision to still give her child to Vanessa, who she knows will be a great mother, after Mark leaves her (which Juno blames herself for), showcases Juno's ability to reason logically without emotion.Also, Juno's decision to have her child and to give it away to Mark and Vanessa despite how difficult it will be emotionally displays her ability to be logical about what is best for her and her child despite having never experienced the situation before. Erik Erickson describes eight critical developmental stages of psychosocial development, and the stage t hat the adolescent Juno is in is identity vs. role confusion. This stage emphasizes the importance of social relationships and the primary task is finding one's own personal identity.Failure to receive identity achievement results in role confusion, and for part of the film this seems that the dysfunctional relationships in her life will make this happen to Juno. However, a conversation with her father about the importance of finding someone who truly loves and knows you gives Juno the realization of who she is and what exactly it is that she wants. This spurs Juno on to enter into a relationship with Paulie, and after having the baby, is content with who she is and what she wants.Juno, is a film that is not only valuable for its cinematic content, but also for its accurate representation of development, including physical, cognitive, and psychosocial. The growth of the film's young protagonist Juno is not only representative of the hardships of teenage pregnancy and their effects o n a young woman, but that successful development can occur despite these hardships when there is a proper balance of emotional and environmental factors.

Conditions to Effectively Leverage Technology for Learning Essay

Great leaders create results, inspire others and attain goals through their shared qualities such as vision, passion, decisiveness, commitment, influence, character and cooperation. Similarly, to foster academic success, all educational stakeholders ought to have a shared vision of what the can result to be and communicate this vision among themselves. To begin with, the principal plays a multifaceted and pivotal role in setting the path that school will take. This direction should not only be positive but also productive especially to the teachers. On the side of the students, it should provide the students with a vibrant learning environment. A comprehensive program ought to be instituted to cheer up, cultivate and sustain effective leaderships of schools for the realization and speeding up the achievement of the students. So as move the student’s achievement upwards, those endowed with their academic performance that is the teachers, principals, teacher educators and even district administrators are under obligation to be accountable for the students. For instance, New York City Department of Education won the 2007 urban education Broad prize since the entire district schools had performed well. The brawny leadership by the chancellor, mayor and the teachers union contributed much to the students’ achievement. Solidarity and sharing also foster the willingness of each leadership level and even the student fraternity to share knowledge, resources and accomplishments In order to achieve the above discussed shared vision, the educational leaders ought to be adequately empowered to assure the realization of the vision. To empower them undertaking leadership trainings that will boost accountability will be essential. These leaders have also adopted implementation planning to facilitate the effectiveness of their schools and also the learning process. They incorporate digital learning resources and information and communication technologies (ICT) for the creation of multiple learning opportunities and deeper understanding and exhibition of the contents of their curriculums. Most of the New York schools have availed high speed access internets, interactive white boards, LCD projectors and improved the right of entry to rolling laptop carts. These technologies have promoted the students’ skills in communication, fostered understanding in science and math and facilitating organizational skills. Consistent and adequate funding can not be ignored since for the academic achievements of the students, money is required to training the administrators, support the ICT infrastructure, other personnel and staff development and the installation of the digital resources. Although the State’s Legislature was reluctant to allot the necessary funds so as to constitutionally provide a sound basic education to each student, a divisional appeal saw the implementation of the same. District funds have been used to mould the school administrators into instructional leaders, change agents and civic leaders. This consistent funding, of around $428 million, has led to the excellence in the public schools in the entire district. Due to the increased use of the new technology in these schools, adequate technical support and a robust technical infrastructure are important. This will ensure that these technological infrastructures support the teachers’ work in a more realistic manner. Each student should be allowed equal access to the different technologies since each of the plays a totally different role from the other. This equity should be bias-free in terms of sex, ethnicity, students with special needs and also the disadvantaged. The universal technological participation supports engaged learning thus reducing the levels of inequality. Moreover, the district schools have ensured an apparent access to electronic networks and computers for the realization of a significant change in the classrooms. On-site technical support must also be easily accessible by the teachers since the support managers are bestowed with all-time assistance troubleshooting during and after lessons. Students can hardly achieve academically or benefit from the various technologies if their teachers are not conversant with them. Support has to be availed to these educators so as to make them choose the appropriate instructional strategies and technologies appropriately. This makes sure that the teachers are very comfortable and experienced in their demonstrations of these technologies. Additionally, they can integrate the technological knowledge in their curriculum and in fostering changes in the assessment methodologies. On-going professional development assists the teachers in learning how to use the new technology. Additionally, the teachers are able to unleash to the students meaningful instructions accompanied with relevant demonstration activities in class. The on-going professional learning is vital since single workshop training can not be sufficient for the teachers to learn and understand everything about the technology. Schools-proposed learning curriculums should aim and helping the students acquire superb communication skills so as to enable them to be in their expressions. This can be achieved through pencil and paper work, audios, animations and also videos. Moreover, it should facilitate the learners’ ability to analyze and interpret data, manage and prioritize classroom tasks, develop problem solving methodologies and utilize the acquired knowledge in identifying and mitigating probable risks. So as to ensure that the learning process is student-centered, their goals, expectations, population and their learning criteria should be identified prior. This will enable the education direct their efforts in satisfying them. In gauging the understanding level of the learners, various assessment and evaluation methodologies are incorporated. This appraises both the technological applications put in place and also the achievement of the student. Furthermore, the administrators get to know the adaptability, usefulness and appropriateness of the technology. Remedial actions are then taken at a later date to streamline the students in case of deviations. This evaluation is based on the National Education Technology Standards. Besides, a community stakeholders’ committee assesses the ideas that emanate from various educational stakeholders and those committee scrutinized proposals that go through are adopted by schools in the entire district. This committee also performs equity assurance and guidance roles. Other support policies and supportive external context have been set up to further student achievement. For instance, teachers are provided with classroom computers and also have also adopted the use of electronic grade-books. This has become a requirement so as to report on the students’ attendance trends. Moreover, daily log-ins has been instituted. In other cases, students and administrators have received rewards that are based on their performances.

Cost Accounting and Management Decisions Assignment

Cost Accounting and Management Decisions - Assignment Example 1). Management of this company believes in ranking the automobiles by the quantity of contribution margin earned for internal decision-making purposes. They view direct labor, direct material, and the variable manufacturing overhead as product costs while fixed manufacturing overhead as period costs (Hicks, 2002, p. 36). A major change in the company’s manufacturing has been conversion of most of the plants to produce smaller cars instead of the bigger cars that are seen as fuel inefficient. In the recent past, Ford Motor Company has concentrated of production and sell of small cars that achieve higher mileage on less fuel. This strategy has been influenced by the desire to cut on the global air pollution, something responsible for the global warming. The current global challenges have made the company embark on manufacturing varieties of the automobiles to ensure that the costs are balanced. For this reason, management has lately discouraged any production of goods that do no t produce adequate sales to cover up its variable manufacturing costs (Weygandt, Kimmel and  Kieso, 2011, p. 23). The company has maintained the main manufacturing lines of cars, trucks, buses, tractors, and their spare parts. Ford’s success motorsport has been evident in their ability to manufacture rally cars, stock cars, formula one, sports cars, as well as touring cars. It is also important to note that the company has maintained its presence in all parts of the world, having assembly lines in many countries in order to serve many regions. Changes in the Variable/Fixed Cost Structure of the Company on Cost-Volume Analysis Decision by Managers First, it is important to note that fixed costs do not change as a whole but register changes per unit when production volume changes, and on the other hand, variable cost indicates constant unit cost but changes in total when a decrease or an increase in production is registered. Ford’s fixed costs may include rents for the plants and machinery while variable costs may include direct labor. This means that fixed cost is as important as variable cost and monitoring the changing trends stands to help managers make informed decisions. World over, absorption costing is commonly used for both internal and external information in an organization. Most companies use absorption approach entirely because of its attention on full costing of units of a particular product. In order to make informed choices, most managers assume that fixed manufacturing overheads directly vary in relation to the automobile units sold, something that never works (Weygandt, Kimmel and  Kieso, 2011, p. 103). Managers who make this mistake may assume that since costing is done per unit base, an additional manufactured should cost the same, while reality shows an additional expense. Ford Motor Company is a multinational manufacturer, employing very many employees in all the plants across the globe. Labor has been an important factor in ensuring that production consistency is achieved in this company. In the current economic uncertainties, managers in this company are sometimes faced with the dilemma of laying of workforce in an attempt to maintain profitability. Such a decision is informed by the notion that direct labor is variable cost, something that is disputable because most of its workers are highly skilled and are under employment contracts. For this reason, any decision made by the

Natural gas is the most economical and environmental friendly fuel for Essay

Natural gas is the most economical and environmental friendly fuel for motor vehicles - Essay Example The most common types of alternative fuels considered for motor vehicles are electric fuel, natural gas, hydrogen and fuel cell. Each of these fuels has its own advantages and the disadvantages . The best alternative fuel will be the one that is economical and reduces air pollution . There are various types of motor vehicles depending on the kind of fuel utilized in it such as electric vehicles, hydrogen fuel vehicles, fuel cell vehicles and natural gas fuel vehicles An electric fuel vehicle has the capacity of not producing any pollutants and even if they do, it is easier to control it. However, the cost associated with it is very high. Since the vehicle operates on electricity, the refuel time is high and refueling is not possible in case of power interruption. Such vehicles have lower performance than other types of vehicles. [Alternative vehicles, n. d] Hydrogen is one of the most abundant gases in the atmosphere. The utilization of this gas in the motor vehicles does not produce any green house gases however, it produces small amount of Nitrogen oxide. One of the major hazards of utilizing hydrogen as fuel is that it is hazardous in nature and is difficult to store in vehicles. It also has limited refueling structure. . [Alternative vehicles, n. d] Fuel cell produces electricity by the chemical reaction between cer

Chapter 3 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Chapter 3 - Assignment Example The percentage contribution of food is 32%, products 21%,housing 29% and mobility 18%.Therefore ecological footprint will be as shown; Food=2.72, goods=1.79, shelter=2.5, mobility=1.53.The total ecological footprint is an average of 8.5 global hectares per person. The ecological footprint of a person living in the primitive U.S.A, there is a reduction in general carbon emission by this person. The person does not need a vehicle to move and, therefore, will take a walk or ride a bicycle. The food the person consumes is more of natural and, therefore, there is a reduction in the overall emission patterns. Food=25%, goods=17%, shelter 20%, mobility 10%.Therefore the ecological mobility will be (0.25*8.5+0.17*8.5+0.2*8.5+0.1*8.5) =6.12 global hectares/planets. The ecological footprint of other countries is low or high. This depends on the natural resource endowment. For example, in Australia is 12.25 global hectares because of the use of coal to generate energy. WWf calculator exists on an online platform, but it derives the calculations by asking questions like the kind of food one consumes and the frequency of its consumption. It asks questions about all components of carbon footprint and ecological footprint. My ecological footprint in the calculator is 3.14 planets, and carbon footprints are 2202.4 because of the difference in their questions used in calculations. Some of the behaviors that can reduce the emission of greenhouse gases come from an individual. One can decide to use his or her vehicle once or twice in a week. One can opt to board a train once in a while to job. One can ration the amount of food consumed and also the appliances used at home can avoid issues of using kerosene stoves to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide. Overall, we can conclude that it would be so important for a society to work towards lowering the ecological footprint. This would be paramount. Some of the measures to ensure this can include; the country is

The Vision Statement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Vision Statement - Essay Example In other words, the vision statement describes the strategic objectives of an organization that are to be accomplished in the long run. â€Å"Your vision Statement is a succinct declaration of your ideal future, usually three, five or ten years out† (Woolf, 2012). On the other hand, the mission statement describes the short-term goals of the organization. Another perspective about the difference between the vision statement and the mission statement of an organization is that the vision statement talks about the personal growth of business as wanted by the owners of an organization in the long run whereas the mission statement talks about the benefits the organization will provide the society with as it functions by delivering its goods or services to the consumers. The vision statement gives a direction to the organization. Both the vision statement and the mission statement consist of goals, but the factor that distinguishes between the two kinds of statement is the entity t hat will benefit from the achievement of those goals. Mobilink is a telecommunication company in Pakistan. The vision statement of Mobilink is, â€Å"To be the leading Telecommunication Services Provider in Pakistan by offering innovative Communication solutions for our Customers while exceeding Shareholder value & Employee Expectations† (Mobilink, 2012). ... The importance of a vision statement for an organization cannot be overemphasized. Having an appropriate vision can help an organization because the vision statement gives it direction. â€Å"Without it, it’s like setting sail in a yacht with neither a sail nor an anchor – the sail to get you there with the help of the wind, and the anchor to moor you both along the way and when you get ‘there.’† (Woolf, 2012). Once the leader of an organization knows where he/she wants to take the organization in the future, he/she decides the course of action accordingly. There are various milestones in the identified course of action leading to the attainment of the ultimate objective. For example, Mobilink’s vision statement suggests that the leader of this company needs to adopt such strategies that Mobilink is not just as good as its contemporaries in the market, but is good enough to lead them in Pakistan. Vision statement does encourage organizational change. Change is an inherent process of any organization that wants to progress. In order to be successful, the micro- and macro-culture of an organization needs to be modified so as to adapt to the changing environment and advancing technology. In case of Mobilink, if Mobilink wants to be the leading telecommunication services provider, it is imperative that it keeps advancing constantly to keep performing better than other telecommunication services providing companies in Pakistan. This requires adoption of new technology, which in turn requires constant change. Change needs to be introduced at every level. Not only the new technology is to be purchased, but also the workforce has to be provided with education and training in order to inculcate the necessary skills in them required to use the

4 questions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 3

4 questions - Essay Example Leadership has been in existence since the traditional times where people elected chiefs and warrior who represented smaller groups of people and has been developed to the kind of leadership today where people elect presidents and governors who represent larger groups. It is the study of knowledge application on action of people, individual actions, and group actions in an organisation. Organizational behavior therefore tends to interpret organizational relationships basing facts on an individual person, a group of individuals, or the whole social system. The purpose of organizational behavior is to improve the relationship among people in an organization by achieving all the objectives (human, organizational and social) at a go. An example of its application is a situation whereby the human resource manager carries out a research to understand the employees so that their personal objectives are achieved while at the same time the objectives of the organization are achieved. Most organizations operate according to the four models of organizational behavior which are autocratic, custodial supportive and collegialization. Politics dates back in the 17th century when leadership was introduced and the competition for the leadership position influenced the rise of politics. Politics can be defined as the influencing other people on a civil level or it can also refer to the process of controlling the community or state in an organized manner. Politics involve things such as influencing people to ones political views, making laws, exercising equality among the people and negotiation with other political subjects. The level of politics depends upon the number of people that the politician is leading and the power that the group has. An example of a political situation is the government of USA where Obama is the president and this is the highest rank of