Teaching Gifted and Talented Students

Many educators have become well-versed in modifying the regular classroom curriculum to meet the needs of students with disabilities. Educators are not as experienced, however, in meeting the instructional needs of high-ability students. In a growing number of states, revisions in regulations pertaining to gifted and talented students are requiring that high-ability students, previously served in part-time pull-out programs, must also receive appropriate instruction within the context of their regular classrooms. For example, in Kentucky, high-ability students can no longer be viewed as sufficiently served by a once-monthly or once-weekly program. These students have educational needs that must be met daily, just as students with disabilities have. Many regular education teachers report that meeting the needs of high-ability students equals and often exceeds the challenges of integrating disabled students in their classrooms. High-ability students can be delightful, but they can also be demanding, impatient, perfectionistic, sarcastic, and disruptive. In addition, few regular education teachers have received sufficient training in issues related to gifted and talented education. Before teachers can develop appropriate instructional strategies to meet the needs of high-ability students, they must recognize the value of such efforts. For many educators, services to gifted and talented students may seem to be elitist. However, public education is founded on the belief that all students (including those with high abilities) have the right to instruction appropriate to their needs. Gifted and talented students, like all students, should learn something new every day. General Strategies for Modifying the Curriculum The objectives for modifying standard curricula for high-ability students include: meeting the learning capacity of the students, meeting the students’ rapid rates of learning in all or some areas of study, and providing time and resources so that students can pursue areas of special interest. In order to modify standard curricula for high-ability students, Lois Roets (1993) proposed three options: lesson modifications, ssignment modifications, and scheduling modifications. Lessons can be modified through acceleration or enrichment of content. Assignments can be modified through reducing regular classroom work or providing alternate assignments. Scheduling options include providing opportunities for high-ability students to work individually through independent study, shared learning in homogeneous groupings with peers of similar ability and in terests, and participation in heterogeneous groupings of mixed-ability students. Lesson Modifications. One way teachers can extend or enrich the content they present is by asking open-ended questions. Such questions stimulate higher order thinking skills and give students opportunities to consider and express personal opinions. Open-ended questions require thinking skills such as comparison, synthesis, insight, judgment, hypothesis, conjecture, and assimilation. Such questions can also increase student awareness of current events. Open-ended questions should be included in both class discussions and assignments. They can also be used as stimulation for the opening or conclusion of a lesson. Another strategy for lesson modification developed by Susan Winebrenner (1992) is to use Bloom’s taxonomy of six levels of thinking to develop lesson content. Bloom’s model implies that the â€Å"lower† levels (knowledge, comprehension, and application) require more literal and less complex thinking than the â€Å"higher† levels (analysis, evaluation, and synthesis). Teachers are encouraged to develop thematic units with activities for students at all ability levels. This strategy involves four steps. Teachers first choose a theme that can incorporate learning objectives from several different subject areas. Secondly, teachers identify 6 to 10 key concepts or instructional objectives. Third, they determine which learner outcomes or grade-level competencies will be targeted for the unit. Finally, they design instructional activities to cover each of the six levels of thinking. Assignment Modifications High-ability students are often expected to complete assignments that they find boring or irrelevant because they represent no new learning for them. Allowing them to reduce or skip standard assignments in order to acquire time to pursue alternate assignments or independent projects is called urriculum compacting. The curriculum for a gifted student should be compacted in those areas that represent his or her strengths. When students â€Å"buy time† for enrichment or alternate activities, they should use that time to capitalize on their strengths, rather than to improve skills in weaker subjects. For example, a student advanced in math should have a compacted curriculum in that area w ith opportunities given for enriched study in mathematics. The first step in compacting the curriculum is determining the need to do so. A student is a candidate for compacting if he or she regularly finishes assignments quickly and correctly, consistently scores high on tests related to the modified area, or demonstrates high ability through individualized assessment, but not daily classwork (i. e. , he or she is gifted, but unmotivated for the standard curriculum). The second step in compacting the curriculum is to create a written plan outlining which, if any, regular assignments will be completed and what alternate activities will be accomplished. A time frame for the plan should also be determined. Modification plans can be limited to a few days (i. e. , length of lesson or chapter) or extend over the course of an entire school year. Alternate assignments for high-ability students can either be projects related to the modified area of study that extend the curriculum, or they can be independent projects that are chosen based on students’ individual interests. Winebrenner (1992) described a strategy in which students use written independent study contracts to research topics of interest to become â€Å"resident experts. † The students and teacher decide upon a description and the criteria for evaluating each project. A deadline is determined, and by that date, each student must share his or her project with the entire class. Before choosing their projects, students are also given time to browse various areas of interest. After completing compacted work, students are allowed to look through research materials to explore various topics. A deadline for choosing a topic for independent projects is also given to the students to limit their browsing time. Scheduling Modifications Cooperative learning through traditional heterogeneous groups is often counterproductive for high-ability students. When the learning task involves a great deal of drill and practice, these students often end up doing more teaching than learning. When placed in homogeneous cooperative learning groups, however, gifted students can derive significant learning benefits. This does not mean that high-ability students should never participate in heterogeneous cooperative learning groups. Rather, groupings should be chosen based on the task that is being assigned. When the task includes drill and practice, such as math computation or answering comprehension questions about a novel, gifted students should be grouped together and given a more complex task. When the task includes critical thinking, gifted students should be part of heterogeneous groups to stimulate discussions. Open-ended activities are excellent choices for heterogeneous groupings. Cluster grouping of high-ability students in the same classroom is another option for meeting the needs of gifted students in the regular classroom. The traditional method of assigning students to classes has often been to divide the high-ability students equally among the available classes so each teacher would have his or her â€Å"fair share. Under this system, however, each teacher must develop strategies for modifying the curriculum to meet the needs of the advanced students. With cluster grouping, four to six high-ability students are placed in the same classroom. This system allows the students to learn with and from each other and reduces the need for multiple teachers to develop appropriate instructional modifications. Case Studies The following case studies describe how the curric ulum was modified for three academically able students. Mark Mark entered first grade reading at a fourth-grade level. He had mastered math concepts that challenged his first-grade peers. He was placed in a second-grade class for math instruction and in a third-grade class for reading and spelling instruction. Despite these opportunities, Mark was always the first to finish assignments and spent the majority of his school day reading library books or playing computer games. His parents and teacher were concerned that he was not sufficiently challenged, but as a 6-year-old, he was too young to participate in the district’s pull-out gifted program. They were also concerned that he was having difficulty developing friendships in his classroom since he spent much of the day apart from his homeroom peers. A request for consultation was made to the school psychologist. With input from Mark’s parents and teachers, an independent study contract was developed for Mark to channel his high reading abilities toward study in a specific area. After browsing for a week, he chose dinosaurs as his project area. Mark then narrowed his focus to the Jurassic Period and decided to create a classroom reference book complete with pictures he drew. When he completed his daily work, Mark researched his topic area and worked on his project. When completed, Mark’s teacher asked him to share his project with his classmates. Because he had chosen a topic of high interest to his peers, Mark’s status as â€Å"resident expert† on dinosaurs made him attractive to his classmates. Mark’s teacher encouraged these budding friendships by asking the other students to bring dinosaur toys and books from home to share with the class during the following weeks. Katrina Katrina’s parents chose to move her from a private school to public school at the end of her third-grade year. Following the advice of the private school staff, Katrina’s parents enrolled her in a second year of third grade at the public school due to reported weaknesses in reading and written expression. After a few weeks of school, Katrina’s teacher approached the school psychologist with her concern that retention may not have been in Katrina’s best interest. The teacher reported that Katrina was performing on grade level in all areas and demonstrated high-ability math skills. Upon meeting with Katrina’s parents, however, they expressed the desire to keep her in the third grade. They felt that Katrina had suffered no harmful effects from the retention since it involved a move to a new school with different peers. Further, Katrina’s parents reported that she felt very comfortable and successful in her classroom. Although the committee decided to keep Katrina in the third grade, they developed a compacted curriculum for her in the area of math. A contract was written specifying modifications for Katrina in the regular class math curriculum. She was required to complete half of the assignments given to her peers, as long as she did so with 90% or higher accuracy. When finished with her modified assignment, Katrina then used her time earned through compacting for enriched study in mathematics. The committee was careful to avoid presenting material to Katrina that she would study in the future to avoid the possibility of repetition. Instead, an enriched program of study was developed that emphasized critical thinking and problem solving related to the addition and subtraction being taught in her classroom. Katrina’s contract included several choices of activities, any of which she could choose to do on a given day, such as creating story problems for the class to solve, drawing pictures or using manipulatives to demonstrate calculation problems, or activities involving measuring, classifying, estimating, and graphing. Katrina’s teacher would present a specific activity choice in these areas that extended and enriched the basic concepts being taught to the class as a whole. With these modifications, Katrina's advanced skills in math were addressed. Her parents and teacher judged her school year a success, and Katrina made an easy transition to fourth grade, where she was able to work on grade-level material with an average level of accuracy in all areas. Adam Adam demonstrated a very high spoken vocabulary and advanced ideas when participating in class. He completed few of his assignments, though, and showed strong resistance to putting pencil to paper despite obvious high abilities. He was able to read orally at a level 2 years above his fourth-grade status and could perform multidigit calculation problems mentally. However, in the classroom, Adam demonstrated task avoidance and disruptive behaviors. His teacher and parents were frustrated by his lack of work output and behavior problems, and they sought assistance from the school psychologist. In interviewing Adam, the psychologist found that he did not see the need to put on paper answers he already knew. It seemed likely that Adam’s behavior problems were related to boredom and frustration. To test this theory, the psychologist recommended the use of Winebrenner's (1992) â€Å"Most Difficult First† strategy. With this strategy, the teacher identifies the most difficult portion of an assignment and the student is allowed to attempt that portion of the assignment first. If he or she completes it with 100% accuracy, the student is excused from the remainder of the assignment and allowed to use his or her free time to pursue an alternate activity. Adam was resistant to this strategy at first, but he quickly saw its advantages and began completing those assignments that were modified using the strategy. With guidance from the school psychologist, Adam’s teacher then extended modifications to include pretesting and compacting opportunities across the curriculum. Adam used his time earned from compacting to pursue independent projects and recreational reading, and his behavior problems decreased accordingly. Conclusion The focus of educational services for high-ability students is shifting to the regular classroom. While this expansion of services to the regular classroom is a welcome recognition of the need to challenge high-ability students all day, every day, this initiative also brings with it a significant need to train regular education teachers. Support staff such as educators of gifted and talented students and school psychologists must learn to become effective consultants to assist regular classroom teachers in applying instructional strategies appropriate for meeting the needs of high-ability students References Roets, L. (1993). Modifying standard curriculum for high ability students. New Sharon, IA: Leadership Publishers. Winebrenner, S. (1992). Teaching gifted kids in the regular classroom. Minneapolis, MN: Free Spirit. One of the biggest complaints that teachers hear from truly gifted students is that instead of having different or more challenging work, they simply have more of the same work every other student is assigned. For most parents, it is difficult to understand the difference. They see their child who can write and read well, and who can do math calculations easily and quickly and think that by having twice as much homework, the student's needs are being served. Unfortunately, they are wrong. While there has been a significant push to improve the lot of students with disabilities, programs for the truly gifted student are often left to their own devices. Without training and supervision, some teachers will be intimidated by their precocious class and rather than opening doors to more advanced insight, will simply load students down with what amounts to busy work. A child who already knows how to read and write well, probably should not be burdened with basic grammar exercises. Instead, this student should be reading for research and writing essays. This isn't beyond the scope of truly gifted children as young as nine or ten. But with funding cut at every turn and demands being made on public schools to provide services beyond the scope of mere education, too often G/T programs are left to their own devices. The solution lies in the intervention of parents and the interest of the community at large. This is the point where mentors from various professions can spark a bored but talented student to the next level. Imagine how much more interesting a talk about cancer cells would be from a visiting oncologist. People in the community are often more than willing to help, but it takes more than just teachers making the request. Parents have to get involved. Quite often parents are the first to notice their child's abilities. Some schools will try to put off testing or divert attention, but the parent needs to be their child's advocate. Students are legally entitled to and schools are federally mandated to offer programs for students according to their abilities. This means that gifted children deserve and should receive educational work commensurate with their abilities. Don't take no for an answer. Parental involvement can be a double-edged sword. Gifted programs need parents to push school districts to offer and support programs for gifted students that go past minimum standards. Without parental pressure, districts will ignore programs and allow them to atrophy. But it is also important that the need for parents to view their children as gifted isn't allowed to drive the enrollment of the program. In some district, testing for admission has become a tug of war for parents to get their children into programs viewed as having better teachers or lower enrollment. While any gifted student should be encouraged to take more challenging courses, it is a mistake to simply place a student into a program. It is also a mistake to water down curriculum in order to raise enrollment in advanced classes. Students need to be in programs that fit. Some students are good across the board learners and will be in language arts, science and math programs; other students have abilities in just math or just language arts. Make sure your student is in classes that fit his or her needs. Many parents make the mistake of thinking that having a child in a G/T program of classes is a ticket to academic success. That isn't really the case. Students in advanced classes suffer from some of the same problems that students in regular classes endure. And students in gifted classes have been known to fail. Failure is seen as anathema for most parents, but especially those of gifted students. Their first reaction is to blame the teacher or the school. Sometimes that action is justified, but just as often students make the choice to fail. Sometimes the decision to fail is an attempt to fit into the prevailing social structure of the school. Gifted students sometimes have difficulty dealing with their peers and will â€Å"dumb down† in order to fit in. Other times, learning disabilities such as ADD or anxiety will create situations in which the gifted student has problems processing or completing work. This doesn't mean the student doesn't deserve to be in an advanced program; it means that the student's educational disabilities need assistance in much the same way that a nearsighted student needs glasses to see the board. It's a balancing act. One of the biggest hurdles gifted students face is the social acceptance within the school. In some schools being in the gifted program is a mark of excellence. In others, it labels you as a nerd and causes problems that can be difficult for a shy or immature student to overcome. Teachers and parents should always monitor their student for situations where they are settling for lower recognition in order to avoid confrontation or bullying. This is especially a problem for some minority students and needs parental intervention and outside activities in church or the community in order to give the student a social support structure. Students such as this thrive in activities such as Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, church service, community volunteer programs and other activities that require a level of independence. By having a group of friends outside of school, the gifted student won't feel the need to mitigate their own achievements in the classroom in order to keep friends. Finally, and this is a very hard situation, parents have to learn to separate their personal needs from the accomplishments of their child. It's very easy to look at the kid who does math and science well and try to push them into a program for Med school. Don't do it. Gifted kids learn quickly, but they also suffer from the same false starts and lagging development that other kids experience. The failure or success of your gifted child belongs to them. And if that is the case, parents have to develop a hands off policy towards homework and projects. Teachers can spot the project where Mom or Dad tweaked something here or added something there. By intervening on such projects, parents dilute the learning experience and undermine their child's self-confidence. Gifted children often have self-doubt because they are doing things that are months or sometimes years beyond their peers. Don't exacerbate that by taking over the learning experience. Gifted children can offer a great deal of joy, but they are also a huge challenge. Quite often hey will offer opinions far beyond their years and understand provocative situations while still appearing innocent. It is important to support your child without smothering them. No matter what their abilities, they will still suffer the same teen angst and doubt held by others of their age. Roll with the punches, expect to be challenged and encourage them to explore areas beyond their comfort zone academically. BACKROUND http://www. azagt. org/teaching-gifted. html Common wisdom of the day once said bright children take care of themselves. Leta Hollingworth didn't believe a word of it. Instead, she thought teaching gifted students required specialized environments designed to bring out the full range of talents of the student. Hollingworth stumbled onto the concept of teaching gifted and talented students in a different way than the ordinary when her own teaching career hit a dead end. Hollingworth had been born and raised in Nebraska. She even graduated from the University of Nebraska at the age of 20, in 1906. Two years later, Leta Anna Stetter (Hollingsworth) moved to New York City and married Harry Levi Hollingworth, a Columbia University graduate student. Expecting to resume her teaching career in New York, her plan failed when she learned no one in New York City hired married women as teachers. Bored with the prospect of being a housewife for the rest of her life, Hollingworth took the next step in developing the methods for teaching gifted students still in use today. She enrolled at graduate school, too. Perhaps it was here that her interest in teaching gifted children sparked to life. She studied educational psychology and became a Columbia University professor. She focused her research and studies on finding the origins of human intelligence. She measured thousands of babies and monitored others for decades. It seems to have been important to Hollingworth to uncover any gender issues before tailoring methods for teaching gifted children of either gender. Her meticulous studies debunked the idea female inferiority. Over the years, her research and her methods for teaching gifted children led to more research and more books. She considered it vital to identify gifted children at as early an age as possible. She also advocated grouping gifted children with other gifted children instead of placing them in classes designed for the average student. Because Hollingworth considered daily contact a key component to her methods of teaching gifted and talented students, she eventually established a school in New York that was devoted to exceptionally bright students. Instead of a teacher-led program of study, the flow of the education was student driven instead. Hollingworth felt her special students would benefit from knowing about some of the challenges life might send their way. To prepare them, her curriculum for teaching gifted students included learning experiences based on issues they were likely to encounter at some point in their adult lives.

The Houses of Windsor and Hanover

The Houses of Windsor and Hanover It is not at all unusual for European royal families to have bloodlines and names from foreign nations. After all, it was common for European dynasties over the centuries to use marriage as a political tool for empire-building. The Austrian Habsburgs even boasted of their talent in this regard: Let others wage war; you, happy Austria, marry.* (See  Austria Today  for more.) But few people are aware of how recent the British royal family name Windsor is, or that it replaced very German names. *The Habsburg saying in Latin and German: Bella gerant alii, tu felix Austria nube. - Laßt andere Krieg fà ¼hren, Du, glà ¼ckliches Ãâ€"sterreich, heirate. The House of Windsor The Windsor name now used by Queen Elizabeth II and other British royals only dates back to 1917. Before that the British royal family bore the German name Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha  in German). Why the Drastic Name Change? The answer to that question is simple: World War I. Since August 1914 Britain had been at war with Germany. Anything German had a bad connotation, including the German name Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Not only that, Germanys Kaiser Wilhelm was a cousin of the British king. So on July 17, 1917, to prove his loyalty to England, Queen Victorias grandson King George V officially declared that all descendants in the male line of Queen Victoria, who are subjects of these realms, other than female descendants who marry or who have married, shall bear the name Windsor. Thus the king himself, who was a member of the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, changed his own name and that of his wife, Queen Mary, and their children to Windsor. The new English name Windsor was taken from one of the kings castles.) Queen Elizabeth II confirmed the royal Windsor name in a declaration following her accession in 1952. But in 1960 Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip announced yet another name change. Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, whose mother had been Alice of Battenberg, had already Anglicized his name to Philip Mountbatten when he married Elizabeth in 1947. (Interestingly, all four of Philips sisters, all now deceased, married Germans.) In her 1960 declaration to the Privy Council, the Queen expressed her wish that her children by Philip (other than those in line for the throne) would henceforth bear the hyphenated name Mountbatten-Windsor. The royal familys name remained Windsor. Queen Victoria and the Saxe-Coburg-Gotha Line The British House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha) began with Queen Victorias marriage to the German Prince Albert of Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha in 1840. Prince Albert (1819-1861) was also responsible for the introduction of  German Christmas customs  (including the Christmas tree) in England. The British royal family still celebrates Christmas on December 24th rather than on Christmas Day, as is normal English custom. Queen Victorias eldest daughter, the Princess Royal Victoria, also married a German prince in 1858.  Prince Philip is a direct descendant of Queen Victoria through her daughter Princess Alice, who married another German, Ludwig IV, Duke of Hesse and by Rhine. Victorias son, King Edward VII (Albert Edward, Bertie), was the first and only British monarch who was a member of the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. He ascended to the throne at the age of 59 when Victoria died in 1901. Bertie reigned for nine years until his death in 1910. His son George Frederick Ernest Albert (1865-1936) became King George V, the man who renamed his line Windsor. The Hanoverians (Hannoveraner) Six British monarchs, including Queen Victoria and the infamous King George III during the American Revolution, were members of the German House of Hanover: George I (ruled 1714-1727)George II (ruled 1727-1760)George III (ruled 1760-1820)George IV (ruled 1820-1830)William IV (ruled 1830-1837)Victoria (ruled 1837-1901) Before becoming the first British king of the Hanoverian line in 1714, George I (who spoke more German than English) had been the Duke of Brunswick-Là ¼neberg (der Herzog von Braunschweig-Là ¼neberg). The first three royal Georges in the House of Hannover (also known as the House of Brunswick, Hanover Line) were also electors and dukes of Brunswick-Là ¼neberg. Between 1814 and 1837 the British monarch was also the king of Hanover, then a kingdom in what is now Germany. Hanover Trivia New York Citys Hanover Square takes its name from the royal line, as does the Canadian province of New Brunswick, and several Hanover communities in the U.S. and Canada. Each of the following U.S. states has a town or township named Hanover: Indiana, Illinois, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia. In Canada: the provinces of Ontario and Manitoba. The German spelling of the city there is  Hannover  (with two ns).

PAPER WRITING SERVICE

PAPER WRITING SERVICE Paper writing service has become extremely popular as a large number of people is coming back to school in order to receive their degree and have better lives they want. The paper writing service if created in order to help all people who are short of time or not being able to write the assignments they are being given at school. The writers who work at out paper writing service do have over 5-7 years of experience and this is pretty important to all of us. College paper writing may at times be very demanding as the writing assignments are constantly growing. Paper writing services are available to you 24/7. If there any questions, ask customer service to address them and the representative will be able to help you at once. Another important factor is the time. It means that not all people do have enough time for paper writing as there are other important responsibilities like having families and jobs. When you don’t have enough time to finish up your paper, you can ask for additional help from qualified paper writing services and they will be able to do a good job for you.

Storm Drainage Design Project - Scientific methods Assignment

Storm Drainage Design Project - Scientific methods - Assignment Example To understand more on the subject at hand, we first define what is a storm and a hydrograph. According to Wikipedia, a storm is any disturbed state of an astronomical body's atmosphere, especially affecting its surface, and strongly implying severe weather. It may be marked by strong wind, thunder and lightning (a thunderstorm), heavy precipitation, such as ice or wind transporting some substance through the atmosphere.1 Meanwhile a hydrograph is defined as "a representation of flow for a particular stream and is used to evaluate the watershed runoff volumes and the peak flow rates from a single storm or set of storms. This information is then used in the design of flood control facilities."2 A storm obviously has a fundamental effect on the course of rivers and other bodies of water and is part of the process known as the water cycle. The water cycle "..consists of four distinct stages: storage, evaporation, precipitation, and runoff. Water may be stored temporarily in the ground; i n oceans, lakes, and rivers; and in ice caps and glaciers. It evaporates from the earth's surface, condenses in clouds, falls back to the earth as precipitation, and eventually either runs into the seas or reevaporates into the atmosphere."3 Thus, we see the relationship between storm and runoff (which is flooding) in this cycle. Storm hydrographs are therefore "..graphs that show how a drainage basin responds to a period of rainfall. They are useful in planning for flood situations and times of drought as they show the discharge (amount of water reaching channel via surface run-off, through flow, and base flow) that originated as precipitation."4 The hydrograph in other words is simply a record of the flooding events in a river as an effect of rain and storm. II. Factors Influencing Hydrographs What are the factors that influence the appearance of storm hydrographs Since the hydrograph is a graphical representation of the flow versus time, any aspect that will affect flow will likewise affect the graph. Flow, being a unit of volume over time or velocity and area, implies that the parameters of area and velocity contribute to how the hydrograph is presented. The following are the factors as stated in Wikipedia : Soil Saturation is dependant on previous rainfall, or otherwise known as antecedent rainfall. The surroundings; Rural or Urban (Could be less impermeable surface, or the surface type could vary) Vegetation type (Deforestation and amount of interception) Steepness of surrounding land, or 'relief' land Drainage density (Number of tributaries) Geology (Rock Type; Impermeable=flashier hydrographs. Or Permeable) Season dependent; Very dry weather creates a crust on the river bed. Wet winters create increase in discharge. Soil Type (Clay, sand etc.) Clay would create a flashy hydrograph, but there could be a continuum between the two.5 As can be observed from the above factors, when the factors contribute to a faster flow, the resulting hydrograph is a "flashy" one. It means that peak flow is high and the time from the heaviest rainfall and the largest flow of the river is very small. It is noted that the term "flash" floods are similarly coined. Other factors mentioned above such as impermeable surf

LLB Law, Media Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

LLB Law, Media Law - Essay Example ge of its duties, is guilty of contempt†¦Ã¢â‚¬ 1 The test as to what constitutes contempt of court was enunciated by Lord Russell in the English case of R v Gray: ‘Any act done or writing published calculated to bring a court or a judge of the court into contempt, or to lower his authority, is a contempt of court.’2 In every court proceeding, what every litigant is in search of is a good judgment and in most court proceedings involving trial by jury, having a good, reasonable and unbiased jury is the key to that. Taking a view from the Attorney General’s speech, it is true that the law of contempt was meant to arrive at a middle ground between competing interests. There are so many opposing interests to every trial. The law of contempt has at least three fundamental objects – providing a fair trial, ensuring compliance with the court’s orders and generally protecting the administration of justice. If these competing interests are balanced, it is the only way which requires the court process to be fair and that the community accepts the court’s decisions and obeys their orders. It is the duty of the trial judge always to warn the jury of the likely consequences of which any pre-trial publicity may have on the trial. The jury must always and constantly be cautioned to try the case on the basis of the evidence it hears and not on the basis of anything it reads in the newspapers or heard on radio or television. A question that should be asked at this point is that is this a reasonable position? If this is reasonable, how will the law be successful is protecting the rights of those concerned with a trial from intrusion by the media? How does the law attempt to balance the conflicting interest of all parties to the trial, and in particular, in relation to freedom of speech/freedom of the press and the right to a fair trial? Are the any dangers of a miscarriage of justice with regards to pre-trial publicity? It should be noted that a lot of jurors have become

Summary of two articles Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Summary of two articles - Essay Example tin also acknowledges the Philippines’ move to draft and enact environmental laws but it is of concern whether the implementation would be successful. The United States affirmed its commitment to environmental conservation with the planned installation of windmills that is more preferable than solar power at the Adirondack Park. In her article â€Å"Will Warmer Soil Be as Fertile†, Lance Frazer (2009) explains the role played by soil in organic matter decomposition. She also explains how heating of the atmosphere hastens plant photosynthesis. Frazer (2009) further discusses studies by Myrna Simpson in a report â€Å"Nature Geoscience† November 2nd 2008 that outlines the anticipated effects of global warming in causing unpredictable patterns of carbon circulation in the environment. A study by the team showed increased microorganisms decomposition activity in warmer conditions that result in high release of CO2 into the atmosphere. Frazer (2009) highlights concerns by Howard Epstein an associate environmentalist on drawing conclusions based on the study. Epstein also questioned sustainability of the findings. Simpson (2008) concludes by pointing out the increased CO2 levels with increased degradation. Frazer recommends more study on soil with a keen interests on the effects of the molecular levels on the

Revenue Recognition under US GAAP and IFRS

Revenue Recognition under US GAAP and IFRS International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) are working together to provide a single revenue recognition model that can be applied to a wide range of industries and transaction types. US GAAP currently has many industry-specific requirements that are not always consistent with each other. Keywords: revenue recognition, IASB, FASB, contracts The topic of the research is Revenue Recognition under US GAAP and IFRS. Revenue is the largest item in financial statements, and issues involving revenue recognition are among the most important and difficult that standard setters and accountants face. Revenue  recognition requirements in U.S. GAAP are different from those in IFRSs and both are considered in need of improvement. U.S. GAAP comprises broad revenue recognition concepts and numerous industry or transaction-specific requirements that can result in different accounting for economically similar transactions. Although, IFRSs contain less guidance on revenue recognition, its two main standards IAS 18 Revenue and IAS 11 Construction Contracts can be difficult to understand and apply beyond simple transactions. Also, they lack guidance on important topics such as revenue recognition for multiple-element arrangements. Reporting inconsistencies in this accounting area arise because there are no comprehensive accounting standards covering revenue recognition. Several authoritative accounting pronouncements have addressed detailed, industry-specific revenue recognition issues which caused practitioners to use standards in situations for which they were not intended. As a result, in 2002, the FASB added revenue recognition to its project agenda. In accounting, revenue recognition refers to the point when one is able to record a sale in the financial statements. Years ago, the sale was made and then an invoice was issued. Now, products are sold with added services, TVs are being sold with long term warranties, mobile phone contracts sold with a free phone, tickets sold for concerts which will not occur for a number of months, and software sold with free upgrades. International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) (collectively, the board) are working together to provide a single revenue recognition model that can be applied to a wide range of industries and transaction types. U. S. GAAP currently has many industry-specific requirements that are not always consistent with each other. The boards intend to improve current revenue recognition guidance by: Enhancing consistency and comparability. Simplify U. S. GAAP. Currently, there are more than 100 revenue recognition standards in U.S. GAAP. Many of these standards are industry-specific, and some provide conflicting guidance. Providing guidance lacking in IFRS. The two main IFRS revenue recognition standards are vague, inconsistent, and difficult to apply to complex transactions, IASB and FASB published a joint discussion paper, Preliminary Views on Revenue Recognition in Contracts with Customers, in December 2008 that proposed a single revenue recognition model built on the principle that an entity should recognize revenue when it satisfies its performance obligation in a contract by transferring goods and services to a customer. This principle is similar to many existing requirements. A contract is defined as an agreement between two or more parties that creates enforceable obligations, and may consist of either explicit or implicit arrangements. However, IASB and FASB think that clarifying the principle and applying it consistently to all contracts with customers will improve the comparability and understandability of revenue for users of financial statements. The Discussion Paper sought comments on the Boards preliminary views on a single asset and liability based revenue recognition model that they believe will improve financial reporting under U. S. GAA P and IFRS by (Ernest Young, 2009): Providing clearer guidance on when an entity should recognize revenue. Reducing the number of standards which entities have to refer to in determination of revenue. Establishing principles that will result in entities reporting revenue more consistently for similar contracts regardless of the industry in which an entity operates. In September 2002, the IASB and FASB announced plans to achieve convergence in a document referred to as the Norwalk Agreement which called for detailed differences to be removed rapidly and then other differences gradually. In 2007, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) accepted the plan to apply IFRS to the statements filed with the SEC in 2008. According to Mintz (2008), the SEC detailed a road map for the adoption of IFRS that would monitor progress until 2011, when the commission will consider requiring U. S. public companies to file their financial statements using IFRS. The road map includes a potential phased transition over three years, beginning with large accelerated filers in 2014 and then nonaccelerated filers starting in 2016. The research will be done using secondary data collection from Google, Google scholar, ProQuest, discussion papers, and other academia databases. According to Dohrer (2009), U.S. GAAP revenue literature is built on principles that are similar to those in IFRS. However, U.S.GAAP has industry industry-specific revenue recognition literature, such as that for the software industry, which is limited under IFRS. U.S. also includes more detailed implementation guidance. The problem for this research is to find a single asset and liability based revenue recognition model to improve financial reporting within both U. S. GAAP and IFRS. The researcher will seek to answer the following research questions: 1. How does realizability affects the measurements of rights? How is performance obligations identified? When will a customer control the asset? Recognition under U.S. GAAP specifies that revenue should not be recognized until the revenue is either realized or realizable, and earned. Preparers, users, and auditors of financial reports have struggles with issues surrounding the timing of revenue recognition. This has led to fraudulent entries. In 1999, a report by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations (COSO) of the Treadway Commission reported that more than one-half of financial reporting frauds studied from 1987 to 1997 involved overstating revenue. In response to the COSO report, the SEC issued SAB 101, Revenue Recognition in Financial Statements. This bulletin summarized applying revenue recognition principles to specific conditions (Stout and Baxendale, 2006). According to GAAP, revenue is realizable and earned when all of the following criteria are met. Persuasive evidence of an arrangement exists. Delivery has occurred or services have been rendered. The sellers price to the buyer is fixed or determinable. It is reasonably assured that payment will be collected. According to RevenueRecognition.com (2006), regardless of the companys size, ownership structure, or what systems it has in place, having a written revenue policy is essential to accurate revenue reporting. The policy should govern how contracts are written, how orders are booked, define the revenue accounting workflow, as well as how journal entries are made as revenue is managed through the finance department. Revenue recognition in IFRS is contained primarily within two standards: International Accounting Standard (IAS) 18 Revenue, which applies to the sales of goods, rendering of services, and the use of company assets by others yielding interest, royalties and dividends. IAS 11 Construction Contracts, which prescribe the accounting treatment of revenues and cost associated with construction contracts. These standards are that revenue is recognized when it is probable that future economic benefits will flow to the entity and these benefits can be measured reliably. This occurs when the earnings process is substantially complete and is realized or realizable and earned. The Discussion Papers stated that the proposed model should not significantly change the accounting for many arrangements from the current practices under IFRS. Under IFRS, revenue is usually recognized when the risks and rewards associated with the goods or services have been transferred to the customer. Delivery is deemed to have occurred when the customer takes title to a good, indicating that the risks and rewards of ownership have passed to the customer. RevenueRecognition.com surveyed senior financial executives from 515 companies about the Discussion Paper. RevenueRecognition.com worked with staff members from the FASB and IASB revenue recognition project to create an internet survey based on the key questions raised in the proposal. The survey was conducted in April 2009. More than 75% of respondents were senior finance executives including CFOs and Controllers. The key findings were that 54% of the respondents agreed or strongly agreed that a contract-based approach to revenue recognition would clarify the earnings process. And 66% said there would be little or no difference in the timing of their revenue recognition if delivery is defined as the transfer of control over good and services. Also, 70% agreed or strongly agreed that the Boards definition of a performance obligation as an accounting unit would help them identify components more consistently than existing practice. The history of difficult with revenue recognition in the corporate sector is full with instances of fraud. A COSO report, Fraudulent Financial Reporting 1987-1997: An Analysis of U. S. Public Companies reported that half of frauds involved overstated revenue. Online business-to-business transactions have led to questions about the validity of reported revenue. Past revenue recognition has involved fraudulently setting aside inventory not actually sold. Also, practices include written agreement for sales that are not signed by both parties because the seller would recognize revenue with only the verbal acknowledgment which is no longer permits. Auditors focus on revenue recognition overstatement in financial statements. Recommendations for improving revenue recognition are the following: The person recording or auditing revenue should have a strong knowledge of U. S. GAAP for revenue recognition. The audit committee should be aware of issues and make appropriate inquires. All relevant individuals should be knowledge about recent revenue recognition guidelines, including SAB 101 and EITF 99-17 and 99-19. In conclusion, International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) are working to provide a single revenue recognition model that will be applied to a wide range of industries and transaction types. Revenue recognition requirements in U.S. GAAP are different from those in IFRSs and both are considered in need of improvement. Recognition under U.S. GAAP specifies that revenue should not be recognized until the revenue is either realized or realizable, and earned. Under IFRS, revenue is usually recognized when the risks and rewards associated with the goods or services have been transferred to the customer.