Free Essays on Double Binds Present In Childrens Books

There are many double binds, dualisms, and constructs that try to limit what and what not women should do in today’s culture. The Binds That Tie by Kathleen Jamieson and Male Is to Female as ____ is to ____ by Katheryn Cirksena and Lisa Cuklanz both talk about these binds and dualisms . Binds are present in almost all forms of present media. In this paper, I will take the children’s book Elephant Eats the Profits by Jacquelyn Reinach and analyze three specific binds that the main character, Enormous Elephant, is subjected to. These binds are mind and body, public and private, and femininity and competency. Katheryne Cirksena and Lisa Cuklanz identify mind and body as a dualism of western thought. Enormous Elephant is subjected to this dualism. The mind and body dualism, according to Katherine Cirksena and Lisa Cuklanz is the belief that women are less evolved. They are also â€Å"both less intellectually capable and more closely tied to the animal and natural world† (Cirkensena, Cuklanz 33). Another point of the mind and body dualism is that women’s role should consist of childbearing and care taking. It is the male’s who are supposed to encompass â€Å"all activities thought to constitute culture including art, architecture, music, finance, skilled and unskilled trade, industry, and politics† (Cirkensena, Cuklanz 34). Basically, women are portrayed as uncreative, un-intellectual, and incapable of success outside of the home. It is supposed to be the men who take care of everything else. Women are also expected to achieve ideal body weight and appea rance. This is so they can find a man who will provide for them so they can stay at home. Enormous Elephant is a perfect example of all of these points. She is a single women who lives on her own. She owns a market, but it is close to going out of business. Ironically it is about to go out of business because her obsession is cooking and eating. She spends all of her... Free Essays on Double Binds Present In Childrens Books Free Essays on Double Binds Present In Childrens Books There are many double binds, dualisms, and constructs that try to limit what and what not women should do in today’s culture. The Binds That Tie by Kathleen Jamieson and Male Is to Female as ____ is to ____ by Katheryn Cirksena and Lisa Cuklanz both talk about these binds and dualisms . Binds are present in almost all forms of present media. In this paper, I will take the children’s book Elephant Eats the Profits by Jacquelyn Reinach and analyze three specific binds that the main character, Enormous Elephant, is subjected to. These binds are mind and body, public and private, and femininity and competency. Katheryne Cirksena and Lisa Cuklanz identify mind and body as a dualism of western thought. Enormous Elephant is subjected to this dualism. The mind and body dualism, according to Katherine Cirksena and Lisa Cuklanz is the belief that women are less evolved. They are also â€Å"both less intellectually capable and more closely tied to the animal and natural world† (Cirkensena, Cuklanz 33). Another point of the mind and body dualism is that women’s role should consist of childbearing and care taking. It is the male’s who are supposed to encompass â€Å"all activities thought to constitute culture including art, architecture, music, finance, skilled and unskilled trade, industry, and politics† (Cirkensena, Cuklanz 34). Basically, women are portrayed as uncreative, un-intellectual, and incapable of success outside of the home. It is supposed to be the men who take care of everything else. Women are also expected to achieve ideal body weight and appea rance. This is so they can find a man who will provide for them so they can stay at home. Enormous Elephant is a perfect example of all of these points. She is a single women who lives on her own. She owns a market, but it is close to going out of business. Ironically it is about to go out of business because her obsession is cooking and eating. She spends all of her...

Free Essays on Cystic Fibrosis

Cystic Fibrosis Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a progressive and chronic disease. The passageways in many of the body’s organs, especially the lungs and the pancreas become clogged as a result of this disease. The passageways become clogged because mucus in the body because thick, dry and sticky. People with cystic fibrosis only have an average life expectancy of about 30 years. This is mainly a result of the complications of the disease. In the lungs, it can cause serious breathing problems and in the pancreas, it can result in malnutrition and corresponding problems in growth and development. Cystic fibrosis is a type of genetic disorder. This type of genetic disorder is known as an autosomal recessive disease. This means that to have the disease, a person must inherit a certain gene from both of their biological parents. If a person inherits the gene from only one parent, he or she is only classed as a carrier. This means that the person carries the gene for this disease, but does not suffer from the effects of the disease itself. If someone has received the gene from both of their parents, than this defect that occurs causes problems with the way salt and water move in and out of mucus-producing cells in the body, which causes the mucus to become thick, dry and sticky. Things such as the environment, diet, exercise or other external factors do not cause CF. It is not contagious so it can only be passed from one person to another through inheritance. Cystic fibrosis is usually diagnosed during childhood. Some babies who have the disease may show signs of it immediately but other may not develop symptoms until later on in their lives. The first respiratory symptom of CF is a cough. This will most develop into a repetitive cycle between lung infection and inflammation. This cycle results in lung damage, and as this increases, things such as shortness of breath occur and it becomes harder for the individual to exercise. This lu... Free Essays on Cystic Fibrosis Free Essays on Cystic Fibrosis Cystic Fibrosis Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a progressive and chronic disease. The passageways in many of the body’s organs, especially the lungs and the pancreas become clogged as a result of this disease. The passageways become clogged because mucus in the body because thick, dry and sticky. People with cystic fibrosis only have an average life expectancy of about 30 years. This is mainly a result of the complications of the disease. In the lungs, it can cause serious breathing problems and in the pancreas, it can result in malnutrition and corresponding problems in growth and development. Cystic fibrosis is a type of genetic disorder. This type of genetic disorder is known as an autosomal recessive disease. This means that to have the disease, a person must inherit a certain gene from both of their biological parents. If a person inherits the gene from only one parent, he or she is only classed as a carrier. This means that the person carries the gene for this disease, but does not suffer from the effects of the disease itself. If someone has received the gene from both of their parents, than this defect that occurs causes problems with the way salt and water move in and out of mucus-producing cells in the body, which causes the mucus to become thick, dry and sticky. Things such as the environment, diet, exercise or other external factors do not cause CF. It is not contagious so it can only be passed from one person to another through inheritance. Cystic fibrosis is usually diagnosed during childhood. Some babies who have the disease may show signs of it immediately but other may not develop symptoms until later on in their lives. The first respiratory symptom of CF is a cough. This will most develop into a repetitive cycle between lung infection and inflammation. This cycle results in lung damage, and as this increases, things such as shortness of breath occur and it becomes harder for the individual to exercise. This lu...

Public Cloud a Source of Danger to Businesses Essay

Public Cloud a Source of Danger to Businesses - Essay Example Actually, the cloud services are offered by a third party. So the secret data and information of an organization are stored on the servers of that third party. In this scenario, organizations believe that the public cloud is a source of danger to businesses. This paper discusses the arguments of other researchers to prove this claim. Introduction Cloud computing is a most modern information technology trend that a lot of business organizations are adopting due to its environmental aspects, money savings, mobility, scalability and energy effectiveness. Basically, the cloud computing allows organizations or individuals to access all their tools, applications and files from anyplace on the earth, as a result releasing them from the limitations of the desktop and allowing widespread group partnership (Modavi, 2010; Miller, 2009). It is now very common to use the public cloud for carrying out business tasks. A public cloud is basically a cloud computing model used by the service providers to offer their resources, similar to storage and applications to the wide-ranging public over the internet. The majority of public cloud services are free of charge or presented on a pay per usage based model. In this scenario, the fundamental advantages of making use of a public cloud service are simple and low-cost set-up for the reason that application, hardware and bandwidth costs are covered by the service provider. In addition, the public cloud offers the scalability to meet users’ requirements. In fact, public cloud does not waste resources because we pay for what we use. Moreover, the idea of public cloud appeared to make a distinction between the standard model and private cloud that is a proprietary communication data center or network that makes use of cloud computing systems, like that Virtualization. In this scenario, a private cloud is managed and organized by the business it serves. On the other hand, a 3rd model known as the hybrid cloud, is managed by both i nternal and external providers (TechTarget, 2009; Tchifilionova, 2011; Rittinghouse & Ransome, 2009). This paper discusses the possible impacts of the public cloud on the businesses and how a public cloud can be a source of danger to businesses. This paper will discuss different aspects of the public cloud and possible security issues associated with public cloud. Public Cloud: An Overview Public clouds are managed and controlled by a 3rd party organization, as well as the implementations from different clients are possibly combined together with the cloud servers, storage devices and networks. In view of the fact that the public clouds are not managed and controlled by a host organization itself thus they could be wonderful technique to decrease client risks, burden, responsibilities and cost by means of an efficient however conditional development of business structure. On the other hand, if a cloud service provider manages a cloud keeping security, performance and data storage lo cations in mind, the maintenance of additional applications executing in the cloud can be easy to follow for both cloud architects and cloud users. Undoubtedly, public cloud services present a potential to upgrade and move down according to certain conditions, and transfer varying infrastructure risks and dangers from the corporate to the cloud source, if even just temporarily (Sun

Transition of Art to Photography in Terms of Realism Essay

Transition of Art to Photography in Terms of Realism - Essay Example Presently, such a world seems unimaginable thanks to photography: it comes with visual souvenirs; pictures of common and prominent people; advertising pictures that create a desire within the public while, at the same time educating them concerning all products the modern consumer culture is capable of offering; medical, diagnostic devices; incredible perceptions of exotic places, together with the outer space; world news pictures; and most significant, pictures of the events, as well as intimate moments of personal life (Keil 19). The photography technology is partly chemical and partly optical, dating back in 1839. Shortly after its instantaneous discovery by William Henry Fox Talbot of England, together with Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre of France, photography get used in documenting foreign places of interest like India, the American West and the Holy Land. Apart from that, it got applied in portraits along with photographs of kings, statesman, as well as theater or even literary personalities. However, during the 19th century, cameras were in most cases in the hands of either professionals or entrepreneurs who were self-educated thereby trying photography as a trade. Photography does not require professional licensing or even guild membership; therefore, in the mainstream, anyone has the capability of buying the equipment, obtaining the directions, and proceeding. This directness of the medium makes photographic practice liberated from the traditions, which had grown up throughout painting or a variety of printmaking arts (Keil 32). With the introduction of precoated dry plates in 1878, the tiresome and cluttered coating of glass plates inside the darkroom or even dark tent, for those photographers out in the field got eliminated, and with the availability of precoated photographic papers, printing of photographs turned out to be much easier, while, at the same time, more predictable. As a result, photography could be exercised by hobbyists or amateurs, mor e so by lovers of the medium since the majority of the people, who had the leisure for an advanced hobby such as this one, were not only educated, but also sophisticated, and desired to come up with photographs resembling Art (Keil 47). In the past, film cameras filters got used in the modification of both the spectral content i.e. color, intensity of light, while, at the same time, generating outcomes like soft focus. However, digital cameras tend to operate differently when it comes to color; there is a possibility of performing color modification in camera with ease by setting white balance. Therefore, for film warming, as well as cooling filters, or those filters capable of converting fluorescent light unto daylight where necessary, digital has the ability of achieving the same effects through internal operation of the digital data. There as a number of filters needed for digital including a polarizing filter, special effect filter, a UV filter, filters for infrared effects, a n eutral density filter plus a given graduated neutral density filter. It is impossible to digitally simulate the results of a

Team Building Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Team Building - Essay Example But a basic disadvantage in this type of functioning is that the employee doesn't feel the belonging to the organization and therefore may not go for value addition and creativity to the task. An individual is least bothered about the final product, once he/ she has done his/ her share of task. A team on the other hand helps in networking of the individuals, with exchange of ideas and suggestions. This not only helps in regular updation of the knowledge level of the team members but also enriches the final product and service. When the customer feels the advantage of value addition, he'll naturally be attracted towards the product/ service. The figure below depicts the difference between these two types of systems. Teams in general are committed for common goals as they are accountable for them. Teams can pool there resources, synergize their acts and the team members can complement and supplement each other's efforts to come out with the final product. Contribution from the concerned team members helps in widening the thoughts, assigning responsibilities, helps in implementing and constantly monitoring the results and feedback helps in devising a still better strategy. Structure and composition of a team forms the basis of its working. ... But the core characteristic is the commitment to a common goal. The team structure determines how to maximize the common efforts. If any one members of the team works in a manner adversely affecting the final outcome, then it acts as a de-motivating factor for other members in the team, which in turn affects the quality of the final product. Therefore an efficient team structure also takes care of such eventualities. A well designed team structures helps in polishing the abilities of the individual team members. A person's strengths may not always be visible; it might be overshadowed by something that he has done in the past. Sometimes it requires a personal trigger from the team leader. When the team members find that the team is behind them and the leader has enough confidence in them they come out of their shell with readiness to take initiatives. The trigger has to be the right one, because squeezing the wrong one might lead to further detachment. Strategies must be in place to s upport such initiates and experiments. Answer-2 Part-I: Contribution of leadership towards strategy implementation Howard Good (2006), the former president of Highland Central School Board in Highland, N.Y., says, "Being board president brings power and prestige, but you must inspire and help others to be successful". A team leader therefore plays the central role in making or breaking the team. It is the team leader who can synergize the efforts or just wither away the advantage, with his actions. A team leader is supposed to delegate the powers and responsibilities amongst his/ her team mates, inspire the team members by being an example and motivate his team with appropriate motivating factors. A leader

Over Representation of African American Students in the Special Education System. Essay Example for Free

Over Representation of African American Students in the Special Education System. Essay Introduction My current school has special education roster of 32 students in self contain with over 90% of the students being African-American. This paper will address the large number African-American students in the special education system. Attention will be focus on the social economic roles that play a part in placement. When done properly and in appropriate perspective, special education is beneficial for students with a real disability, but special education services are inappropriate when a student receives it when it is not needed. African-American students are being placed in the special education system at an alarming rate. They are being labeled with disabilities at ages as early as five years old, because they progress slower than the rest of the class, bias in assessment instrument, discrimination in society reflected in the school or they may present some behavior issue. Special education is appropriate placement for students with real disabilities, but minority blacks are being disproportionately place in special education. This unjust placement at early ages are causing these children to be stereotyped as slow learners causing low self esteem and low achievement rate during and after school. This is a major problem when addressing special education for African Americans. Many attempts have been made to solve the issues but there have been no satisfactory results. Theoretical Framework The disproportionate representation of African-Americans students in the special education system is well documented. This misrepresentation has been problematic since the inception of the special education program. This paper will probe the reasons many of these students have been categorized with various type of learning disabilities or emotional disturbances. These labels given to students have proven to be life altering to students given incorrect placement. Lawsuits have been filed charging that placements of high numbers of African American, especially male, in special education classes has been a tool for resisting court ordered desegregation (Harry and Anderson, 1992). In many instances there is a lack of or unwillingness to properly place African American students because of educators in some systems being culturally diverse. Secondly there is a lot of mistrust between educators and parents. Many parents don’t seek appropriate services or disagree with educational placement because they feel they will be see as ignorant or â€Å"talked down† to by teachers and administrators placing their children in special education. This paper will also discuss the long term effects that hinder students educational progress as well as there adult life. Once placed in many special education programs student may not be in line to receive a high school diploma. Many students have difficulties in the community getting jobs because employers feel they will be slower then there counterparts that received a regular education. This then snowballs into the child being placed in a lower social economic bracket because of the type of employment they will have to settle for in adulthood. African-American students are disproportionally placed in the special education system around the country. This misrepresentation is may be due to teacher ineffectiveness. Improving teachers’ capacity to provide culturally responsive instruction to African American students is like to improve student learning ability (Darling-Hammond, 2004). New teachers must meet a vigorous undergraduate program to become certified they continue to graduate enable to effectively teach African American students. Many exit program with a misconception of black students. They think that the African American students are not as smart as other races. The purpose of this study is to prove there is a misrepresentation of African American students in special education. I also plan to illustrate the problem of disproportionate representation of African American students in special education is not just a special education problem issue or concern but, instead, must be viewed in the context as it refers to racism in the whole educational system. I will discuss how racism contributes to and maintains disproportionality in special education by (a) insufficiently funding schools attended primarily by African American and poor children: (b) employing culturally inappropriate and unresponsive curriculum; (c) inadequately preparing educators to effectively teach African American learners and other students of color. I will show that to effectively address the problem of disproportionality, researchers, practitioners and  policymakers must place inequitable educational resource allocation, inappropriate curriculum and pedagogy and inadequate teacher preparation at the center of education research, policy, and practice. Significance of the Study There is much significance for this study. Being a special education teacher I have seen many students come to me because they were a behavioral problem during their elementary years. I believe it is our responsibility to find a solution to this growing problem. First, we as educators, we need to find out if this race of students are get misplaced in the educational system. These students not getting a proper education are causing a negative effect on their entire life. This causes this particular group to have to depend on state aid and weakens the workforce. Secondly, we need to find out if there is a problem with teacher preparedness. If this is a problem we need to figure out what can be done in state colleges and universities to solve these problems. Would adding a more ethically diverse curriculum better prepare teachers to educate African American students? The majority of the teachers coming out of college will be spending there first few years teaching intercity kids, with the majority being African Americans. Finally we need to educate or children to be reliable productive citizens. I feel that these children are not being given an equal shot at being productive if they are being thrown in the special education class in the back of the building. We already know there is a problem, now we need to work together to find a solution that will best benefit the students. Definition of Terms Disproportionate numbers: Having greater representation within a subgroup  compared to the number of students in the population as a whole. Some researchers use plus or minus 10% to determine proportionality (Harry Anderson, 1994). Discrimination The ability to make or perceive distinction; discernment. Partiality, or bias, in the treatment of a person or group, which is unfair, illegal, etc(Loren Orfield, 2002). It is my opinion that African American children are being placed in special Education because of biases unfair grouping. High Achieving: School-wide trajectory of API (if in California) and Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) growth over three years of all subgroups. There must also be a minimum movement of two deciles within 3-5 years. ] Special Education: Services and supports designed to minimize the impact of disability and maximize opportunity to grow and learn (Hehir, 2007). Limitation, Delimitation and Assumptions Limitations of Study The limitations of this study would be to find willing participates, because of the reasons I have discussed earlier parents will be willing to admit that their child was placed in special education because of a lack of knowledge on their part. Another limitation that will affect them outcome of this research is because I am directly employed in the parish that I have chosen to do research. This position will limit the effectiveness of my research because of student privacy and my position in the parish. It is also my opinion that school districts will not want to release information that could possible be used against them. As stated before I think students of color or being illegal classified as students with special needs and placed in special education. These are a few factors that could limit my study. Delimitations of the Study  External validity may be effected based on the number of student/parents being interviewed. Validate may be effected due to other minority races not being included in the study. Also the size and school locations may limit my ability to get adequate data to fully prove my hypothesis. The small sample population was feasible for my research rather then venturing out into larger areas. This is significant in that the findings may not be applicable to other schools. Assumptions of the Study References Artiles, A. J. (2003). Special education’s changing identity: Paradoxes and dilemmas in views of culture and space. Harvard Educational Review, 73, 164-202. Artiles, A. J. , Rueda, R. , Salazar, J. J. , Higareda, I. (2005). Within-group diversity in minority disproportionate representation: English language learners in urban school districts. Exceptional Children, 71, 283-300. Billingsley, B. (2004). Special education teachers’ retention and attrition: A critical analysis of the research literature. Remedial and Special Education, 25, 22-39. Blair, C. , Scott, K. G. (2002). Proportion of LD placements associated with low socio-economic status: Evidence for gradient. Journal of Special Education, 36, 14-22. Blanchett, W. J. , Mumford, V. , Beachum, F. (2005). Urban school failure and disproportionality in a post-Brown era. Remedial and Special Education, 26, 70-81. Chamberlain, S. P. (2005). Issues of overrepresentation and educational equity for culturally and linguistically diverse students. Intervention in School and Clinic, 41, 110-113. Countinho, M. J. , Oswald, D. P. , Best, A. M. (2002). The influence of sociodemographics and gender on the disproportionate identification of minority students as having learning disabilities. Remedial and Special Education, 23, 49-59. Coutinho, M. J. , Oswald, D. P. , Best, A. M. , Forness, S. R. (2002). Gender and sociodemographic factors and the disproportionate identification of culturally and linguistically diverse students with emotional disturbance. Behavioral Disorders, 27, 109-125. Eitle, T. M. (2002). Special education or racial segregation: Understanding variation in the representation of Black students in educable mentally handicapped programs. The Sociological Quarterly, 43(4), 575-605. Elhoweris, H. , Mutua, K. , Alsheikh, N. , Holloway, P.(2005). Effect of children’s ethnicity on teachers’ referral and recommendation decisions in gifted and talented programs. Remedial and Special Education, 26(1), 25-31. Ferri, B. A. , Connor, D. J. (2005). In the shadow of Brown: Special education and overrepresentation of students of color. Remedial and Special Education, 26, 93-100. Hosp, J. L. , Hosp, M. K. (2002). Behavior differences between African American and Caucasian students: Issues for assessment and intervention. Education and Treatment of Children, 24, 336-350. Hosp, J. L. , Reschly, D. J. (2002). Predictors of restrictiveness of placement of African American and Caucasian students. Exceptional Children, 14, 20-34. Hosp, J. L. , Reschly, D. J. (2003). Referral rates for intervention and assessment: A meta-analysis of racial differences. Journal of Special Education, 37, 67-81. Hosp, J. L. , Reschly, D. J. (2004). Disproportionate representation of minority students in special education: Academic, demographic and economic predictors. Exceptional Children, 70, 185-199. Kurlaender, M. , Yun, J. T. (2007). Measuring school racial composition and student outcomes in a multiracial society. American Journal of Education, 113, 213-235. Neal, L. V. , McCray, A. D. , Webb-Johnson, G. , Bridgest, S. T. (2003). The effects of African American movement styles on teachers’ perceptions and reactions. Journal of Special Education, 37, 49-57. O’Connor, C. (2002). Black women beating the odds from one generation to the next: How the changing dynamics of constraint and opportunity affect the process of educational resilience. American Educational Research Journal, 39, 855-903. Park, J. , Turnball, A. P. , Turnball, H. R. , III (2002). Impacts of poverty on quality of life in families of children with disabilities. Exceptional Children, 68, 151-170. Shealey, M. W. , Lue, M. S. , Brooks, M. , McCray, E. (2005). Examining the legacy of Brown: The impact on special education and teacher practice. Remedial and Special Education, 26, 113-121. Skiba, R. J. , Michael, R. S. , Nardo, A. C. , Peterson, R. L. (2002). The color of discipline: Sources of racial and gender disproportionality in school punishment. Urban Review, 34, 317-342. Skiba, R. J. , Poloni-Staudinger, L. , Gallini, S. , Simmons, A.B. , Feggins-Azziz, R. (2006). Disparate access: The disproportionality of African American students with disabilities across educational environments. Exceptional Children, 72, 411-424. Skiba, R. J. , Poloni-Staudinger, L. , Simmons, A. B. , Feggins-Azziz, L. R. , Chung, C. G. (2005). Unproven links: Can poverty explain ethnic disproportionality in special education? Journal of Special Education, 39, 130-144. Zhang, D. , Katsiyannis, A. (2002). Minority representation in special education: A persistent challenge. Remedial and Special Education, 21, 180-187.

Reflective Account On Social Theory Social Work Essay

Reflective Account On Social Theory Social Work Essay This assignment will critically reflect upon the learning that I have gained through group participation. It will also look at what knowledge I have learnt in relation to how I look at putting theory into practice. It will also explore how these theories interconnect and how I used elements of psychology and sociology to explain how I might work with individuals in future practice. As a group we chose to analyse scenario two, the case of Fiona and mainly focused on her mental health issues, her lack of support as a result of family breakdown and her social isolation. To begin with we identified that Fiona seemed to have a lack of control in her life and as a group we felt that this was a huge area that needed to be addressed. To begin to support Fiona she needed to be given meaningful choice and valuable options (Clark, 2000, p.57) in order for her to gain greater control over her life and her circumstances. As a social worker we promote social change, problem solving in human relationships and the empowerment of liberation of people to enhance well-being. (IFSW, 2000, cited in Banks, p.3).This was an important aspect to remember when applying theory to Fiona. Theory in social work is an attempt to explain situations and social relationships. So to be begin with as a group we began to look at theories that may help Fiona holistically such as Marxist theory and in particular conflict theory which seeks to examine structural inequality within society. This theory argues that society is structured along lines of inequality such as wealth, health and income thus providing people with different life chances which in turn can result in different life experiences. So whilst this theory could be linked to Fiona with her structural issues of deprivation and relative poverty and the issue of crime and deviancy in her neighbourhood, this was not the main focus that our group were concerned with and we wanted to concentrate more on her social isolation and her lack of a support network. Systems theory was looked at by the group and I came to understand that this theory would fit perfectly with what we were focusing on. Although I did not do much research into this theory for the group work I did get a greater understanding of how this theory would link to Fiona. Systems theory is a functionalist perspective that takes into account how individuals relate to one another and society as a whole. It would seem that this theory is popular with social work texts and in practice as it has been suggested that it can be attributed to the consistency with social works long-standing mission to understand and respond to people in their environment (Bartlett, 1970, cited in Healy, 2005, p.89). This theory seeks to provide ways to understand problems and issues and after perusing through some of the literature, I had to agree that this theory links closely to an empowerment approach which aims to seek social change at both an individual and a social level for a service user and as I already know, empowerment is a core component of social work practice. From the start as a group we always knew that we were going to apply cognitive theory to Fiona. As part of my individual research I focused on cognitive theory and cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) as this was the perspective that we felt as a group would be most beneficial to Fiona. While researching this theory my understanding of it was that Fiona needed to address the distorted picture she had of herself as she was blaming herself for experiences not of her making. She had low self-esteem and low self-efficacy and as such she had developed faulty cognitions about herself. Wessler (1986, cited in Gross, 2005, p.286) suggests that CBT is the attempt to change cognition and is always a means to an end, that end being lasting changes in target emotions and behaviour. This I felt is exactly what Fiona needed to do. She needed to change the ways she thinks (her cognition) so she can change what she does (her behaviour) and as such this is the theory that we are a group used in our pres entation. It became evident the more I researched CBT that this is a theory that could be applied to many service users as the struggles of daily life can be stressful and CBT could help them cope better in the future as it can be completed in a relatively short time. I gained a vast amount of knowledge about why social workers use theory as we prepared for the group presentation. I understand now that theory helps to explain a situation and perhaps how that situation came about. I recognise that theory can be seen as helping to describe (what is happening), explain (why it is happening) and predict (what is likely to happen next). In practice, if I understand all the above I can help to control a situation and bring about change for the service user. I began to recognise that there is no one single theory that can explain everything. Theories have limitations too and will not work for everyone. I learnt that much of the theory that is used in social work is drawn from outside the profession and has its roots in psychology and sociology and that we should always apply the value base to theory. Theory can help to avoid discrimination and as social workers we are orientated towards anti-oppressive and empowerment practices which seek social change. Dominelli (2002 p.4) suggests that social workers can help individuals to understand their situation, make connections between their personal plight and that of others, examine power relations and their impact on the specifics of their daily routines and acquire the knowledge and skills for taking control of their lives. When theory is used in practice it can undo jumbled information and give the social worker more direction in their work with the service user. Using theory in practice can give an explanation about why an action resulted in a particular consequence and as such can help the social worker to review and possible change in an attempt to make the consequences more effective. It became clear to me as I researched that theory is important in practice both for the service user and for the social worker to be more valued in society.