Category: Uncategorized

Ethical profile

Name

Instructor

Course

Date

Ethical Autobiography

Morality is defined as the sense that is able to differentiate decisions, intentions and actions between those that are right and wrong. As human beings, we are able to perceive what is right and wrong. However, it is a relative conclusion and depends on an individual. What a person sees as right may be seen as wrong by another person. Deciding what is right and wrong is a personal decision that one reaches alone. Determination of what is right and wrong is done using what is termed as a moral compass (Hall, 2004). Moral compass are things that guide an individual when making personal decisions on the basis of virtues and morals. It can be anything from a person, a book or even religion. Among the most common moral compass used in determining right from wrong in daily life is one’s conscience. An internal subconscious is used to determine what is right and wrong. The conscience is an inner voice that prompts a person when they do something wrong. When one does something that is good for them as an individual and those that are around them then it is something right. As a child, one learns to differentiate what is right from wrong but as they grow older, one is required to make their own decisions based on their conscience. Common sense can also be used to determine what is right and wrong. When one is required to make a decision on ethics, they use their brains to come up with an appropriate decision. In our day to day lives, we are supposed to decide right and wrong based on whether our decision is fair or good.

Ethical behavior is acting in a manner that is consistent with what individuals and the society think are good values. Ethical behavior involves demonstrating key moral principles such as fairness (Hall, 2004). Fairness is ethical behavior whereby an individual does not practice injustice or biasness. It involves making judgments without any form of discrimination. Another example of ethical behavior is being honest. Honesty is the choice of not lying, cheating, or deceiving others in any way. It means being trustworthy, sincere and loyal in everything that one does. Another ethical behavior is practicing equality. Equality is ensuring that people are treated equally according to ability, degree or value. It involves treating people in a fair way and equally regardless of whom they are or where they are from. Another ethical behavior is being loyal. Loyalty means being faithful or devoted to a person, country or a particular cause. It means remaining faithful to things one is committed or obliged to do (Hall, 2004).

People develop ethical behavior as they grow up in their family environment. Ethical behavior is mostly influenced by the cultural heritage of where an individual is from. Culture heritage expresses the way people live and it has developed over time and passed through generations. Cultural heritage shapes our values because it comprises of practices, customs, values and expressions that people have. Cultural heritage produces a representation of belief, value systems and lifestyles of people. In short, cultural heritage influences the behavior of people and hence shapes their values. People’s values are formed on the basis of their cultural heritage.

I have found myself exhibiting the four ethical behaviors through my day to day activities. I am always fair in everything that I do in my day to day activities. I am not bias and neither do I practice injustice in anything I do. I am honest in everything that I do, I do not cheat, lie or deceive others in nay way. I always practice equality and do not discriminate anyone that I deal with. I am always loyal in what I do. I am devoted and faithful in everything that I am set to do.

Professional Ethical Hero

My ethical hero is my football coach and he is undoubtedly my role model. He is professional and ethical in everything that he does. He is quite sensitive on different issues and knows how well to approach different people and situations that he faces. He always thinks about others and goes an extra mile of ensuring that everyone is okay. He knows what to say and when to say it such that he does not hurt anyone’s feelings. He puts his team members first and always makes sure their needs are taken care of without any favor. He knows how to set boundaries with his team members as well as his colleagues. He knows how to maintain these boundaries and ensure that no one crosses the boundaries. If a situation requires him to remain professional he dies exactly that. However, he knows when to change from being professional to casual when the situation requires. He also respects other people’s privacy and is not considered about people’s personal lives.

He only involves himself with issues pertaining to the game and nothing else. He does not bother about our personal lives. He only gets involved in one’s personal life if they willingly share their personal information. He is also has an ethical commitment whereby he carries out his activities in an ethical manner. He does mot discriminate the team members in what he does. He treats everyone equally and does not favor anyone regardless of whom they are. For instance, there was a time we needed a team captain for the team. All the team members expected to appoint someone he wanted. However, he did not anyone as we had expected, instead, he decided we should vote for our preferred captain. We ended up voting and the person with the highest number of votes was appointed as the captain. The incident shows that he has ethical commitment in his dealings. He has also shown ethical courage many times. He always stands by what is ethical and is not influenced into acting unethically. There was a time the team had qualified for national competitions. The team that had won the previous year did not qualify and their coach was willing to do anything to go to the nationals. The coach offered our coach some money to bribe him into not going to the nationals so that his team can go instead. Our coach did not agree and refused to take the bribe. He was ethically courageous to stand by what is right and not follow what the other coach wanted.

My coach is not corrupt, he does not believe in corrupt dealings. He always makes sure that he is straight forward in what he does. He does not believe in shortcuts but follows the correct procedure in everything. He is honest in his dealings and does not cheat or lie. He is not deceitful and is always truthful. He compassionate and cares about the feelings of his colleagues and employees.

He serves as a role model to other people who are in the helping profession. Those in the helping profession are supposed to be caring and compassionate. They are supposed to put the needs of others before their own and always show concern. They are also supposed to be fair in their dealings. Those in the helping profession interact with different people and hence they are not supposed to discriminate people in any way. They are to treat people equally regardless of their tribe, age, color, nationality, gender and so on. In the helping profession, there is a lot of assistance offered to organization in the form of grants. Those in this profession are expected not to be corrupt and be transparent in issues to do with finances. My boss exhibits all these characters that can be emulated by those in the helping profession.

We often pick values from those we interact with everyday. My coach has been a great influence in my value system. I often find what he as admirable and hence strive to be like him. I see the satisfaction he derives from what he does and would certainly what to feel the same way he does. Seeing him do what he does gives me great confidence to follow suit.

Ethical Decision-making style

The understanding of how ethical decisions are made and followed through is the first step involved in making better choices. The second step involves taking a systematic approach in making ethical decisions. There are various ethical decision making models that can be applied in our day to day lives. Decision-making models help in making better ethical choices. Taking a systematic approach on an issue encourages an individual to define a problem, get the required information and apply the necessary ethical values and standards, examine alternatives and follow through the choice they make. Ethical decision-making models also help an individual defend the choices they make. Ethical dilemmas are not always solved through application of ethics codes (Cottone, & Claus, 2007). Ethical decision-making models can be useful in analysis and making ethical decisions. The ethical decision-making model that reflects on my early and ongoing experiences with moral issues and values is work by Corey et al. It comprises of eight steps; the first step is identification of the problem. The step enables one acknowledge that there exists an issue that needs attention. For instance, one can be late for a party that is seen as a violation of cultural expectations. However, the act is not a moral problem that involves right and wrong. On the other hand, when decides to accept a kickback from a supplier then there is an ethical dilemma involved.

The second step involves identification of the potential issues involved. It is important to get adequate information on the issues involved that will be required to make effective decisions. There is need to thoroughly examine the ethical dilemma in order to establish the issues that require attention. The third step involves reviewing the relevant ethical guidelines (Joseph, 2008). There are different ethical standards that have been set and are used to determine ethical behavior. The ethical standards are used in ethical dilemmas to find out what is ethically wrong and right. The forth step involves knowledge of relevant laws and regulations (Joseph, 2008). There are laws and regulations that can be used to determine what is wrong and right. The fifth step involves obtaining consultation from other people on the ethical issue (Joseph, 2008). There are times when one needs a second or even a third opinion on a matter before reaching a decision. Seeking consultation helps in finding out other people’s views on an issue. The sixth step is looking at the possible and probable courses of action (Joseph, 2008). It is important to look at the different options that are applicable in a situation. The seventh step is noting down the consequences of the different courses of action that can be taken (Joseph, 2008). It is important to look at the advantages and disadvantages of the course of action that one considers using in solving the problem. The last step is making a decision on the best course of action to take. It involves stepping up and making the ethical decision (Joseph, 2008).

The course and my cultural heritage have played an influential role in helping come up with the ethical decision-making model. Through the course, I have learned various ethical decision making styles. The knowledge has enabled me to come up with the best ethical decision-making model. Culture heritage also influences the ethical decision-making model I use because of the values within my cultures. There are things that are things that are acceptable as ethical in my culture while others are considered unethical. Culture heritage helps in establishing the existence of a problem. It also helps in providing possible cause of action that can be used to make ethical decisions (Cottone, & Claus, 2007).

Professional and Ethical development

Ethical development is mostly considered to be a career long process (Qizilbash, 2005). There are various areas in the module that need development such as ethical theories. Ethical theories provide a framework that can be used as reference points on particular moral issues. There are different philosophical ethical positions that can be applied in our day-to-day lives. An individual needs ethical development on ethical theories so as to understand them better. Ethical development is also required so that an individual can know how to apply these ethical theories in life (Qizilbash, 2005). Another area that needs ethical development is ethical decision-making models. There exist different ethical decision-making models that an individual can apply in the process of making decisions. One requires ethical development in decision making in order for them to be bale to come up with ethical decisions. Ethical development can be acquired through self-evaluation in order to find out if one is acting ethically. It involves asking yourself whether one’s individual ethics fit what they do in their day-to day-lives. Ethical development can also be achieved through research and seeking information. Active information searching is a crucial way of approaching ethical issues people face. Research on relevant legal standards, ethical codes, procedures and policies provide a lot of information on the ethical approach of a particular situation.

References

Cottone, R., & Claus, R. (2007). Ethical Decision-Making Models: A Review of the Literature. Journal of Counseling & Development, 275-283.

Top of Form

Bottom of Form

Hall, K. (2004). Student development and ownership of ethical and professional standards. Science and Engineering Ethics, 383-387.

Top of Form

Bottom of Form

Joseph, M. (2008). Developing and teaching models of ethical decision making (Rev.Ed.). Chicago, IL: School of Social Work, Loyola University of Chicago.

Qizilbash, M. (2005). Ethical development. University of Southampton, Department of Economics.

C-JUN

Student’s name

Instructor

Department of affiliation

Course

Date

C-JUN

C-jun is a protein which has evolved over a long period of time and it has effects both on the human body as well as other parts of the body. it in the human body this virus is coded using the JUN gene. In combination with the c-Fos, this virus forms early response transcription factor known as AP-1. Fistly this protein was discovered as Fos-binding protein f 39 however with time it came to be discovered as related to JUN gene and as its product. For the proto-oncogen which is c-jun, it I the cellular homolog of v-jun. the human protein and the viral protein are similar and therefore encoded almost in a similar manner. Discovered in avian sarcoma virus seventeen, the viral homolog v-jun was named as ju-nana. Ju-nana is the Japanese word for number seventeen and therefore this is an indication of the geographical location in which it was discovered. The human jun encodes with a protein that is in close interaction with specific dna sequences. This type of interaction is for the sake of controlling gene-expression. Being intronlesss, the gene is mapped onto a region involved in both deletions in humans and translocations.

A protein has to perform its functions and it is for these functions that proteins are synthesized on demand as the need arises for them to be used in a particular function within the body. The DNA contains the correct protein encoding information for any protein. Nucleosomes are composition of chromosome structure basic units and they are a representative form of high structure of DNA. Jun and its partners in ap-1 are highly subject to regulation by multiple extra-cellular stimuli. The activation of transcription machinery requires a release of a DNA compaction and the histone post modulational translations. For RNA transcription one strand of DNA is used and the RNA produced is complementary to the dna strand which is complimentary (5Xia, et,al, 2013)

The jun protein is composed of three members. These members include; c-jun, junB and junD . the three members are disctinct and sometimes play roles which can be termed as antagonistic. C-jun is the oldest member of this protein family. junB and junC share about 45% of amino acids but still they are in different in their structure and function. One of the differences is that junB contains a JNK docking domain for acids 35 and 61 while on the other junC this does not exist. Therefore this is an indication that the activation of junB is independent of JNK activation. In junC phosphorylation Trans-activates the protein while phosphorylation in junB leads to its degradation. Sumoylation in T cells reduces the activity of junB as well as the subsequent cellular activation. junB does not form homodimers as spontaneously as junc does. These differences also include those of the mode of gene regulation and signalling pathway activation.

junD is a transcription factor that is encoded by jund gene in humans. It is one of the members of jun family as well as a functional component of complex transcription factor ap1. The negative mutant variant which is dominant acts as an antagonist transcript. It opposes many neurological changes that occur specifically with addiction.

The G1 phase of cell cycle requires c-jun for its progression. Increased G1 arrest is shown by c-jun null cells. C-jun is actively incloved in the regulation of the transcriptional level of Cyclin d1, which is a major rb kinase. Rb kinase is a growth suppressor which is inactivated by phosphorylation. It is therefore true that the presence of cjun is important in maintaining sufficient d1 kinase activity. When c-jun is absent cells show a cell cycle defect.

There have been many researches about cjun and focusing on its different components which have resulted into different kinds of results and information. Therefore focusing on two of these researches ill discuss about the findings and what the role of cjun isin these researches. In the research published by Sehwan Jang, Li-Rong Yu, Mohamed A. Abdelmegeed, Yuan Gao, Atrayee Banerjee and Byoung-Joon Song, the very essential and important role of c-jun N-terminal protein by the name of kinase in promoting mitochondria dysfunction and acute liver injury is discussed. In their research they used rats to test for the mitochondria dysfunction and acute liver injury when cjun N-terminal was used. They thus needed to portray and display in a better manner and to provide an understanding to many people on how n-terminal kinase promotes tissue injury, a concept which is rarely understood by many people.

The use of rats was also an essential part of the research as rats are easy to study. Therefore young male mice were exposed to a single dose of CCL4 and were euthanized at different points. Some of the major measurements included blood alanine aminotransferase, liver histology and other enzyme activities were also measured. With this kind of experiment the liver damage was maximal at 24 hours after the first injection. This research was also inspired by the fact that most of the people suffer from acute liver failure which is caused by overdose of potentially toxic components like acetaminophen, binge alcohol and cocaine. In the United States more than 56000 room visits were due to APAP induced acute liver injury and out of these there are about 400 deaths. Therefore there was a need to investigate into the issue of liver problems associated with apap and the deaths thus the research (Jang et,al, 2015)

The research therefore found out that alcohol and other components consumed have these components which make it easy for liver destruction while at the same time it is possible to have cell damage leading to more complications and even death in some cases. Even though these components are mild they serve a prolonged time before the effects can be seen and thus makes a person’s life in danger because the liver is always one of the most complex parts of the human body to treat and make sure the infection does not re-occur. Therefore even though some drugs like APAP are allowed and regulated by FDA they still have an effect and impact on the human health and can cause complications. The complications arise especially when these drugs are not used in the right manner and when they are misused.

Another research which has been carried out in related to c-jun protein is the research about the role played by differential regulation of c-jun proteins in chemoresistance of cancer cells. cisplatin  is a drug used mainly for chemotherapy and it has had issues to do with what leads to its resistance by the tumors and this has been alarming. Therefore in this concern Yan Xia, Weiwei Yang, Wen Bu, Haitao Ji, Xueqiang Zhao, Yanhua Zheng, Xin Lin, Yi Li, and Zhimin Lu carried out a research into this issue to determine how the regulation of cjun could be of effect in minimising or increasing the acceptability of the medication by the body of a person infected with cancer. In the research the treatment with cisplatin which can also be abbreviated by CDDP resulted into downregulation of C-jun expression. There was also observance and finding of the degradation of c-jun in cancer-sensitive cells. Expression of cleavage resistant mutant supressed CDDP induced aspoptotis of sensitive cells. These findings therefore suggest that c-jun is a perfect target for the improvement of cancer therapy (Marques et.al, 2014).

These two researches play a big role when it comes to c-jun and its relation to other aspects of the human body and how these affect the process and the issue of functionality and ability to be properly organised. Therefore it is of essence to know what it means to study c-Jun and also what this specific protein means for the other proteins, how they react, the vulnerabilities of this protein as well as its stregths which can be used to provide better medication and other solutions to the human problems.

It is indeed true that this is a protein which belongs to a higher group of the gene of Jun thus it has so many relations within the human body. From the above researches we can also identify it is not only found in humans but also found in many other animals like the rat which was used for experiment in the first research discussed and summarised. This makes it even easier and better for the researchers to be able to research more keenly and with confidence the different aspects of this proteins and how they affect the human body from different angles and aspects using different animals.

References

Marques, N., Sesé, M., Cánovas, V., Valente, F., Bermudo, R., De Torres, I., … & Paciucci, R. (2014). Regulation of protein translation and c-Jun expression by prostate tumor overexpressed 1. Oncogene, 33(9), 1124-1134.

Xia, Y., Yang, W., Bu, W., Ji, H., Zhao, X., Zheng, Y., … & Lu, Z. (2013). Differential regulation of c-Jun protein plays an instrumental role in chemoresistance of cancer cells. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 288(27), 19321-19329.

Mialon, A. (2009). Role and function of c-Jun pRotein complex in canceR cell behavioR.

Jang, S., Yu, L. R., Abdelmegeed, M. A., Gao, Y., Banerjee, A., & Song, B. J. (2015). Critical role of c-jun N-terminal protein kinase in promoting mitochondrial dysfunction and acute liver injury. Redox biology, 6, 5Xia, Y., Yang, W., Bu, W., Ji, H., Zhao, X., Zheng, Y., … & Lu, Z. (2013). Differential regulation of c-Jun protein plays an instrumental role in chemoresistance of cancer cells. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 288(27), 19321-19329.52-564.

Class 2, Case Study 3 (Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Incident)

Name

Institutional Affiliation

Introduction

The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear incident in Japan is one that will remain etched in people’s minds for a long time to come. Not only was Japan hit by a 9.0 earthquake, it was further hit by a tsunami. The earthquake resulted in the crippling of the power grid in the nuclear plant’s area, after which back-up generators came in handy. With the hit by the tsunami, the nuclear plant lost all power, resulting in the plant’s reactors’ experiencing damage, thus losing all ability to cool the reactors. To make matters worse, Japan’s “government, the regulators, TEPCO management, and the Kantei lacked the preparation and mindset to efficiently operate an emergency response to an accident of this scope” (Price, 2013). TEPCO stands for the Tokyo Electrical Power Company: the organization responsible for the running of the nuclear plant. The quote just means that any leaders linked to the plant were unprepared to handle any of the occurrences on the nuclear plant and the devastating effects that this had on the operational systems of the plant as well as on the lives of people. With this in mind, this essay will seek to assess the strategic leadership process in light of the strategic leadership essential skills applied in the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear incident of 2011. This will give a good idea about the role that the Japanese leadership played in either averting the situation or making the situation worse.

The Strategic Leadership Process during the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear incident

Anticipation

2011 was a year in which Japan was heavy-hit by the effects of the earthquake and the tsunami that the country experienced, especially following the damaging effects to the country’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear plant. There were devastating effects that followed. To gauge the effectiveness of the country’s leadership at that point in time, it is important to ensure that the strategic leadership process is assessed in line with the essential skills that strategic leaders ought to possess. The writer will consider the skills of anticipation, challenging, interpretation, decision, alignment, and learning; all of which play a significant role in defining a strategic leader (Schoemaker, Krupp, & Howland, 2013). The first essential skill in consideration is anticipation. Strategic leaders are expected to have the ability to spot any signals of change through their scanning capabilities of various situations. This aids them in detecting any threats or opportunities presenting signs of ambiguity and trying to interpret them in line with their business.

In consideration of the Japan case, several organizations that could be said to have had a say on the matter of the plant failed in their ability to anticipate the devastation by the earthquake and tsunami. Looking at the political leadership, for instance, it was still new in office following their takeover from the office-holding by the opposition for 50 years. As a newly appointed cabinet of government officers, there was a lot of difficulty that the team took over, including a lack of emergency planning by that government, insufficiency in their bureaucratic capabilities, and a situation that came with vested interests by opposition leaders (Parker, 2014). Their abilities and capabilities in this case were, to a great extent, limited. These were some of the issues that were an obstacle to the government’s efforts to consider anticipation of such occurrences. The inheritance of power by the new government was the source of the lack of anticipation by the same government.

Given that the issue was widespread, the lack of anticipation not only lay in the hands of the political leadership in Japan, but it also lay in the hands of any and every leadership that had, directly or indirectly, vested interests in the nuclear plant. The Tokyo Electrical Power Company (TEPCO), for instance, was the organization behind the nuclear plant. The inevitable was bound to happen, especially since the organization was responsible for making the decision to put up the plant on a known fault line. Their lack of preparation was deliberate, seeing that they colluded with the regulators in government to see it as a non-issue (Price, 2013). Owing to the decisions made by the government regulators, the prime minister back then was not in a position to manage the resulting issue due to unpreparedness. The emergency response, in this regard, was lacking within the country’s leadership. None of the leaders were able to foresee the amount of damage that would result from such a catastrophe nor have the effective capacity and capability to prevent or reduce the resulting damage. However, the lack of preparedness does not mean that the leadership put no effort into curbing or reducing the effects of the catastrophe. It just means that the leadership in charge at the time failed to see the oncoming catastrophe when it was already clear that the only thing was a “when” issue.

Challenging

Challenge is yet another essential skill in a strategic leader’s life. It means taking a decisive action following careful examination of a problem and careful reflection of the situation. At the same time, such strategic leaders question the normal while challenging the views of others as well as their own. It further helps to have strategic leaders open to other people’s thoughts and using this for a clearer thought process on the issue in question. This usually creates an open environment to differing views on the same matter, giving an opportunity to all to be heard. Strategic leaders should be able to use the available information during a crisis and put it to good use. However, in the case of the nuclear incident in Japan, the prime minister at the time, Prime Minister Kan, is said to have refused to delegate responsibilities to help improve the situation. Instead, he got caught in the details of the incident so much that confusion resulted (Yakowicz, 2013). His focus was on ensuring all the important facts had first been collected before acting. He did not understand the essence of using the available information and acting fast, as any strategic leader ought to have been doing. The situation should have needed him to encourage ideas from various people he was working with, encourage unfiltered communication of the situation, and ensure delegation of various aspects of decision making to those trustworthy of responsibility handling.

Averting a crisis requires leadership to acquire information critical to the situation in an expeditious manner. Prime Minister Kan is said to have failed in handling the situation strategically through the creation of effective communication system. The first issue in his system of communication was the long chain of communication that was in place. Conveyance of the information happened from TEPCO to Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA), passing through the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, and finally arriving at the doorstep of the Cabinet Office. The final step is where the prime minister’s office was located. Such a complicated communication system is bound to birth miscommunications, which resulted between the government and TEPCO. By the time the cabinet office was taking charge of the situation, five days have gone by since the difficulties with the tsunami and nuclear reactors began (Hayata, 2012). By this time, three nuclear reactors had already experienced a meltdown. This is when the cabinet office decided to establish the emergency response headquarters.

On top of the late response, the prime minister went ahead to decline international assistance. The U.S. government had offered to chip into providing expert knowledge and equipment to help with the crippled nuclear reactors but Kan turned it down. Not only did the cabinet office lack in important and factual information (considering the complicated channel of communication), it also decided not to take on external assistance that was much needed (Price, 2013). This is already an indication that the Prime Minister took on no challenge against his views while taking on no external thoughts for assistance. A lack of these can only be said to have reduced the chances of saving the situation.

Further still, the said nuclear experts on hand in the cabinet office were said to have and incapability in providing guidance that was considered useful. They neither made decisions on their own nor provided any important input that would have averted the situation. It is unfortunate that these were the experts that were to help out at the cabinet office. Prime Minister Kan made the situation direr after refusing to delegate responsibilities to those who would visit the site, and instead chose to go to the Fukushima site himself while disrupting the chain of command in the process. It can openly be said that the prime minister refused to be challenged or to take on a challenge as the case should have been (Reb, Iinuma, & Joshi, 2012). A further hindrance to the free flow of information and open ideas occurred since no one working with the prime minister took it upon himself to question authority and add ideas to the prime minister’s thought process. No one was willing to challenge or be challenged by the prime minister.

Instead, they all decided to borrow from the Japanese culture and what they had known all along: “our reflexive obedience; our reluctance to question authority; our devotion to ‘sticking with the program’; our ‘groupism’; and our insularity” (Price, 2013). This type of mindset is said to be successful in the event that there is ample information to work with, but not in the case of crisis management, which requires fast thinking and decision making, especially in a limited information environment. This micro management and counterproductive style of management came in handy when ambiguity was needed at the time when the country was confused regarding what the government was doing (Biello, 2013). The serious coordination and information problems were solved in the process, instead of a complete disaster resulting from the nuclear plant’s meltdown. Despite slight change on the positive occurring, there was still great damage. On this note, therefore, challenging happened to a small extent, with a greater portion of decisions made relying on the Japanese cultural way of decision making.

Interpretation

Interpretation requires the correct handling of a challenge to self and others, as well as the correct handling of others’ opinions on a matter. Complex information that is also difficult to process becomes easier to interpret when the challenging process is smoother. Any new insights, patterns, and ambiguity are better read into and utilized to be interpreted correctly if indeed the challenge has been correctly dealt with (Funabashi & Kitazawa, 2012). In this case, however, the cabinet office where the prime minister was situated, takes just a few challenges within the coordination and information sphere. In this regard, therefore, the prime minister was able to correctly interpret the need for a slightly more effective coordination system due to his micro management skills. Despite these few changes, the nuclear experts present within this office provide no useful information that can be applied to the situation, thus creating no challenge for what the prime minister already thinks, given that he is a layman in matters to do with nuclear reactors.

A great amount of effort was spent on activities that would essentially be ineffective in dealing with the situation. A good example would be the decisions variously made by the prime minister regarding the extent of the evacuation zone. The government, through the prime minister, created distrust in his people when he changed his mind twice by first deciding to evacuate people within a 3 kilometer radius, following by 10 then 20 kilometer radius. Kan was considered to be inconsiderate of the depth of the situation (Yakowicz, 2013). This can clearly translate into skewed interpretation since the prime minister went with the waves each time he acquired new information. It is, therefore, safe to say that he had an ineffective way of interpreting the information reaching him. This was especially fueled by the lack of challenges in his information acquisition level. At the same time, the prime minister is unwelcoming to external assistance as he declines help from the United States government. He is not ready to be challenged. He probably thinks of the acceptance of the hand lent as a weak move or having motive. Further still the prime minister refuses to delegate both responsibilities and decision making to those who can be of assistance (Hayata, 2012). With no challenge whatsoever, it can be courageously said that the interpretation done in this regard only took in the little information that the prime minister possessed to make decisions seeing that only the cabinet office was making decisions following a complicated communication system.

Decision

The decision making stage requires a lot of input and guidance. It is a stage that considers all the possible options available to averting the situation. The government, through the prime minister, was able to make a few good decisions in line with Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear incident. The micro management skills that the prime minister applied through his requirement of all minute facts on the situation came in handy during coordination of the efforts by the Kantei (Akiyama, et al., 2012). Information was kept secretive, which helped prove both the effectiveness and the ineffectiveness of the cabinet office. It was effective due to its ability to deal with challenges in coordination and information management (Parker, 2014). However, it was also ineffective due to since decision making was concentrated within this office, and only little could be done at this point.

The ineffectiveness was also clear when the office could not take in new information or assistance from external parties, within the country and outside its borders. Decisions were solely made on the basis of the decision makers’ experiences and information held so far. This was limited, and could best be said to have been the source of the exaggerated effect of the tsunami on the nuclear plant and on the people that were affected as a result. The effects outgrew the capabilities of both the government and TEPCO, seeing their inability to be challenged or challenge others. If it would have been a difference scenario, the leaders in this case would have taken to listening to external ideas (other than their own), which would have calm in handy in managing the situation greatly and in a short amount of time (Acton & Hibbs, 2012). More clearly now, the government took a huge risk on the human lives that were affected during that period and the nuclear plant by taking little to no consideration of the devastation that would result from decisions made from limited information.

Alignment

The success in alignment can best be attributed to gaining common ground in the views aired by the various stakeholders through constant engagement, communication, and building of trust. This is the only way that strategic leadership is born and bred. However, the one issue that led to the greatest effect to both the nuclear plant and the people was that of the Japanese culture. The Japanese culture greatly affected the decision making abilities of the leadership so much that no one made the point of challenging the leaders in the Kantei either through sharing new ideas or providing alternative options to what the leadership was holding on to for decision making. Stakeholders did not provide much input that would have made an impact in the way matters were handled. There was little or no input by the stakeholders; otherwise, their information would have been used to improve the effects of the nuclear plant meltdown as well as building trust (Kushida, 2014). Those that had been trusted to help with improving the situation had no useful information to add on. Looking at the engagement that the leadership involved itself in, there was a lot of ineffectiveness owing to the complicated communication channel from TEPCO to the cabinet office. Considering the fact that the first order of business by the prime minister was five days after the meltdown began, then it is clear that no alignment occurred, apart from the limited coordination at the Kantei.

Learning

A lot was learned from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear incident. Leadership faced one of the most difficult moments of all time for Japan. The issues that arose during that period cannot be entirely placed on the shoulders of the government at the time, since planning had not been effectively done for such an occurrence, even though it happened every once a century. The case of the change in evacuation stretch zone was a lesson for the government that there is significance in sharing the thoughts leading up to the decisions made, especially if the decision is provisional. Mistrust would have been eliminated (Price, 2013). At the same time, a better approach to the lack of information sharing with the public would have been dealt with through assuring the people that the government representative would report the progress so far once or twice a day to gain their trust and reassure them.

There was greater importance in noticing the signals before the devastation happened. When TEPCO was putting up the plant, the government regulators were aware of the building on a fault line as was TEPCO, but no action was taken due to collusion. The need for crisis preparation is important. However, an excuse can be given in this case that the new government did not have enough to go by on this front, thus leading to little or poor planning. Another lesson was the need for functional communication systems as opposed to complicated and lengthy ones, thus reducing chances of miscommunication (Hayata, 2012). Lastly, the structural problems could best be managed through learning, something that the Japanese government is yet to do. Improper investigations were done leading to limited information to guide in structural solutions. It would be important to consider the significance of accepting external assistance.

Conclusion

To summarize, the essential skills are significant to a strategic leader. They are needed in daily decision making, not only in the most difficult moments. Japan, to a great extent, failed to see the importance of this process when it was handling the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear incident. The Japanese culture had the greatest impact on the way things were handled during this period, since this affected every point that required decision making. The occurrence was neither anticipated nor averted as it should have. There were a lot of government structural problems, given that information was mostly concentrated within the decision making docket of the Kantei. The government officials were not bold enough to share their thoughts regarding handling of the issues at hand (Yang, 2014). The Japanese government would have done a better job had it had better access to information and to views and thoughts on other approaches other than of those that were in the decision making dockets. The government should also have been open with its people so that creation awareness would have reduced anxiety. Overall, the government and other points of leadership within Japan associated with occurrence learned a lot from it for the sake of Japan’s future, although the structural problem investigations were ineffectively done.

References

Acton, J. M., & Hibbs, M. (2012). Why Fukushima was preventable (p. 50). Washington, DC: Carnegie endowment for international peace.

Akiyama, N., Sato, H., Naito, K., Naoi, Y., & Katsuta, T. (2012). The Fukushima nuclear accident and crisis management-lessons for Japan-US alliance cooperation. The Sasakawa Peace Foundation.Biello, D. (2013). The nuclear odyssey of Naoto Kan, Japan’s prime minister during Fukushima. Scientific American, 16.Funabashi, Y., & Kitazawa, K. (2012). Fukushima in review: A complex disaster, a disastrous response. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 68(2), 9-21.

Hayata, K. (2012, Feb). Leadership in Nuclear Crises: Lessons from Three Mile Island and Fukushima.

Kushida, K. E. (2014). The Fukushima nuclear disaster and the DPJ: leadership, structures, and information challenges during the crisis. The Japanese Political Economy, 40(1), 29-68.

Parker, C. B. (2014). Japan’s political leadership helped save country from worst-case Fukushima disaster. Stanford News.Price, S. (2013, Oct 3). Lessons in Leadership from the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster. Wharton, University of Pennsylvania. https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/lessons-leadership-fukushima-nuclear-disaster/Reb, J., Iinuma, Y., & Joshi, H. (2012). The Fukushima nuclear disaster: Leadership in crisis.

Schoemaker, P. J., Krupp, S., & Howland, S. (2013). Strategic leadership: The essential skills. Harvard business review, 91(1), 131-134.

Yakowicz, W. (2013, Oct 8). Leading in Crisis: 3 Tips From The Fukushima Nuclear Disaster. Inc. https://www.inc.com/will-yakowicz-3-leadership-lessons-from-fukushima-nuclear-disaster.htmlYang, J. E. (2014). Fukushima Dai-Ichi accident: lessons learned and future actions from the risk perspectives. Nuclear Engineering and Technology, 46(1), 27-38.

Claim: Practice is Essential

Practice is essential in every aspect, most importantly towards feedback and improvement. Accordingly, the article provides that practicing enables individuals to give better feedback. Giving feedback provides an opportunity to be extremely helpful through the describe, evaluate, suggest framework. Moreover, practicing gives students better ideas as they can be able to go through their specific responses and correct where possible. It is also vital in developing a revision plan hence having a standard and well-structured work. In addition, its essential in review as it helps in communicating to writers on their work and giving opinions that contribute to development of written work.

Making a commitment to practice is essential to maximize the impact of learning in any environment. After all, practice is the only way to become proficient in a new skill or behavior. As learners, we therefore need to embrace the discomfort of being beginners, to allow us to continue growing and improve as best as possible in any learning environment. Writing is a process that requires a lot of practice to be proficient. One needs to keep writing, various articles and work and through it, one improves and becomes qualified. Also, in providing feedback of work of other writers, practice is vital to ensure the writer receiving the feedback understands the information given and is able to implement in their work and develop better articles. In learning environment, practice in writing is helpful to fellow students and also one benefits through the feedback received.

Practice is essential and we should therefore consider improving on the claim. We can do this by using, deliberate or mindful practice. This form of practice is systematic and highly structured activity, that is more scientific. Instead of mindless trial and error, deliberate practice is an active and thoughtful process of hypothesis testing where we relentlessly seek solutions to any problems. Due to many challenges in the learning environment. Mindful practice ensures one is able to solve the challenges and find a way to move forward and improve their learning. Proficiency in both learning and teaching comes from more practice done during the learning processes. However, the success of learning has to involve other parties’ suggestions and feedback, in order to know where to change and improve.

With increased technology currently, practice helps to make people fast in using them and perform many of their operations through the technological systems. This is also applicable in the learning environment as assignments and classwork require technological devices to accomplish them. Regular practice makes students skilled and increase experiences, hence making activities easier and faster. Student achievement is also dependent on the writing skills as clear information requires flow of information, organization and easy understanding by the recipient. To achieve this, students need to practice a lot and ensure the incorporate the feedback received from peers and the reviewer of the course works done by students. Practice helps give a conductive, respectful and specific feedback and reviews that is constructive and helpful to recipients.

Class 2, Peer Response 1

Name

Institutional Affiliation

The author has given a glimpse of their former understanding of leadership and managed to give a detailed version about how this has changed, owing to their exposure to what strategic leadership really means. I agree with the author regarding leadership placing its focus on the accomplishment of a goal made possible through human participation and motivation (Prentice, 2004). However, a strategic leader is more than this since there are essential skills, competencies, and responsibilities that are taken into consideration, as the author details. Furthermore, a strategic leader is one who is able to bring to alignment the envisioning of the future of the organization they run and the goals to be met. This calls for a balance of a strategic leader’s expectations.

From the studies done so far, it is important to note that real-life examples help give a clearer view of what a strategic leader looks like and how that interlocks with the expectations in place. The author has managed to identify this through identifying the concepts pointed out in leaders such as Barack Obama, Winston Churchill, and Franklin Roosevelt. They were all strategic leaders, each managing to bring their competencies and skills to their ability to lead their countries despite the difficulties, but in an informed way (Lindsay, 2011 & Rhodes, 2019). In their uniqueness, there were strengths that came into play, making it possible for them to be great orators and applying their skills in decision making. Such experiences help give one a good idea about the roles that strategic leaders play in a bid to be successful at their endeavors and meeting the needs of their people.

A strategic leader especially stands out, as the author mentions, when they are good communicators, anticipatory making them a visionary, have a good grasp of the systems in place, and alignment with the forces around them. These characteristics are effective in dealing with any challenges they may be faced with. The author gives an example of anticipatory skills in the Affordable Care Act for Obama and the World War II for Churchill and FDR (Cimino, 2018 & Gale, 2016). This is spot on since the leaders were able to adequately prepare for challenges before their occurrence or before the consequences took a turn for the worst.

Strategic leaders also employ consensus building with their teams for effective leadership, although this does not happen always. This means that a leader at times has to stand on their own while putting the interests of their people first. The author has been clear on this. For decisions to be made effectively, the strategic leader has to have a good understanding of the environments within which they operate and the needs as the likes of FDR, Churchill, and Obama have (Gale, 2016 & Cimino, 2018). Lastly, a strategic leader ought to be a good orator as these three were. Further to the author acquiring a good understanding of this, it is important to note that these characteristics have to align and be in sync with each other for the leader to adopt them in practice (Guillot, 2003). Understanding the system makes consensus building and anticipation easier, thus leading to clear communication with the people and the leader’s team.

References

Cimino, A. (2018). Roosevelt and Churchill: A Friendship That Saved the World. Chartwell Books.Gale, H. (2016). Obama Evaluates Obama Care Positively Some Analysts Disagree With His Conclusions. Missouri medicine, 113(5), 328.

Guillot, W. M. (2003). Strategic leadership: Defining the challenge. Air & Space Power Journal, 17(4), 67.Lindsay, J. M. (2011). George W. Bush, Barack Obama and the future of US global leadership. International Affairs, 87(4), 765-779.

Prentice, W. C. H. (2004). Understanding leadership. Harvard Business Review, 82(1), 102-109.

Rhodes, A. (2019). The Geographic President: Franklin D. Roosevelt as a Geographic Thinker and Communicator. NAVAL WAR COLLEGE NEWPORT RI NEWPORT United States.

My personal Opinion

Name of Student

Name of Institution

My Opinion

The argument of the Court of Appeal in this case is worthwhile. I concur with the Court that the jury and the District Court Judge erred in the award of damages. Of the three claims by Mrs. Clarkson, only the breach of contract claim stands out. The other two claims on fraud and breach of the Unfair Trade Practices Act were not sufficiently proven by the Plaintiff. Enquiry into damages has been a difficult area for most judges. This is because it has not been possible to arrive at one principle for awarding damages. Civil cases require judges to approximate sums of money for the loss or inconvenience suffered by the Plaintiff due to a violation of the Plaintiff’s legally enforceable interest or right. The general position on damages requires that once the Plaintiff successfully proves the facts on which damage approximation is based, the court is bound to award a reasonable sum to the Plaintiff as damages (unless public policy bars the court from awarding damages on that subject). Damages should be neither too high nor too low regarding the circumstances of a case and most importantly, courts should not award damages for sentimental reasons (Davison, 2008).

The fraud claim fails just as the Court of Appeal enunciates. The element of “deliberate or intentional” is necessary to establish any fraud claim. The Plaintiff did not reach that threshold and could not have reached it following the true picture of the facts. Moreover, the Plaintiff did not meet the threshold of violating the Unfair Trade Practices Act: the tendency to deceive. Because punitive damages are possible only where other damages such as actual and compensatory damages exist, the punitive damage in this case would also face a reversal now that the validity of two major damages are disputed. The Court of Appeal is, therefore, right to reverse the District Court’s decision in part. Perhaps the case of Pulliam Investment Co., Inc. v. Cameo Properties Banner Equities, Inc. Independence Construction Company Freedom Savings and Loan Association Independence Investment Company, 810 F.2d 1282 (4th Cir. 1987) could shed more light on the award of damages for fraud and violation of the Unfair Trade Practices Act.

References

Davison, R. P. (2008). Evaluating Contract Claims. Sussex: John Wiley & Sons.

Name:

Instructor:

Course:

Date:

My profound appreciation for your efforts aimed at promoting the welfare of Kentucky residents. There are developments that have taken place in the recent past that required I relocate to Sacramento, CA. My mother has a low back injury she succumbed to after a fall, a situation that called for me to move in with her to help out. The gravity of the matter required that I resign from my job at Danville and relocate. I envisioned this abrupt decision to be a temporary undertaking after which I should be able to resume residence in Kentucky State.

I have financial obligations that require an immediate income, in the midst of which I am still expending my energies trying to find a bearing in Sacramento. I have not been able to get myself a job that will see me through the myriad of expenses I have to attend to. I am currently surviving on my savings that will soon be depleted. I have limited options, so financial aid from your Unemployment Insurance Benefits is the only direction I can look towards to alleviate my situation. My unfortunate predicament is three pronged:

My sick mother cannot afford to put us up in her condition, she requires constant attention and her sickness requires that she uses most of her income on healthcare and proper medication, in addition to the debts she is servicing.

I have enrolled for culinary studies at Le Cordon Bleu Institute of Culinary Arts and I am wholly depended on their financial aid that is barely enough to pay for the course.

I am jobless and have not been able to find employment in Sacramento, the conditions are harsh and I am yet to acclimatize to the job market disposition in California.

I filed a claim and followed due process towards the same. Your ruling to disqualify me from accessing unemployment benefits pegged wholly on my leaving work voluntarily. Be that the case, I would want you to also consider my reasons for resignation; It does not make economic sense to take care of my sick mother in Sacramento while attending to the demands of my job in Danville at the same time. My decision to enroll in College in the State of California was based purely on my desire to improve my job marketability and an understanding of the requirements of a positive growth trajectory of income.

I have had to reschedule virtually all my commitments to attend to that unfortunate family predicament. I saw priority in walking my mother through the recovery period, given that I am the only one she can depend on to run errands for her that include collecting her medication. Her emotional drain due to her condition told so much on her I felt obligated to attend to her constantly.

I have had the rigors of this personal responsibility and moving residence take their toll on my time management that I had to put off several duties that required ample time dedicated to them; these included writing this appeal and following up on it. I have enquired extensively with your office on the acceptance of this belated appeal, so I am sure I am making an informed decision. Thank you for reading my letter and I hope my appeal will be considered.

Sincerely,

Signature

Name

BIBLIOGRAPHY l 1033 Talbot, Fiona. How to Write Effective Business English: The Essential Toolkit for Composing. Centre City: Kogan Page Publishers, 2009.

My Personal Qualities

Right from childhood, I have had a fond regard for certain personal qualities, accomplishments, contributions and talents that I can conclusively say have contributed to making me the person I am today. Born of a humble background, 25 years old now, and a student of English and Literature, I have come to understand the value of simplicity in life. I know for certain that my own life is the most precious gift I can ever have and based on this understanding I have been able to use my life to give moral support to the disadvantaged groups in the society. I strongly understand that every human being deserves a right to be happy and I consider it my personal initiative to guarantee this to every person.

I am a strong believer of social justice and I know for certain that every human being should be considered equal. I do not hesitate to do all that I can to ensure that justice prevails in the society particularly for the weak. The desperate and the destitute members of the society are held close to my heart of hearts and I believe they also have reasons to live. Since I was a child, I have always felt pain when I see others suffer. I have realized that I cannot be happy when others are sad and I have believed that the only way to be happy is making other happy.

Humility is the driving force towards my good relationship with people, my teachers, friends and family members. However, I am also very assertive especially when my conscience propels me to doing what I fundamentally believe is right. I have no reservation for the course of justice and truth. And am always willing to go an extra mile in ensuring that what my conscience considers right is done. I have no apologies at all for doing the right thing. This has sometimes seen a few friends break up with me. However, I lack ability to hold grudges; there is no hate in my heart. Even as they run away from me, I continue treating them with humility and love. With time, they come to realize that after all, I meant no harm. This has made many close friends cling to me amid many challenges.

In the field of business, I am very entrepreneurial, inventive and innovative. I have contributed significantly to the growth of my mother’s small shop in town. With the ideas that I constantly give her, she has been able to expand the shop and today it is her main source of livelihood. I particularly imparted into her the idea of taking risks, however I warned her not to take very huge risks are the consequences might sometimes be too great to contemplate. Modesty and humility are some of the key attributes that mother has learnt from me. She uses these virtues to relate well to her customers who are mostly low and medium income earners. She constantly tells me that she did not believe she could learn from her son. After all she was supposed to be my role model and I was to learn from her.

I have a wide experience in writing. I write articles and poems. Sometimes when I have nothing else to do, I find myself with a pen and a piece of paper. At one point I wrote what went down as a masterpiece article on justice and truth. Then, I was still very young and everybody wondered where I got the ability and the knowledge to write such an impeccable piece. It also goes without saying that I love reading a lot. I read biographies, novels, articles on the social world, psychology, philosophy, religion – comparative religion, Hindu, Islam, Christianity. I have an insatiable thirst for knowledge. I always want to know more.

My contributions to the social well being of the society are very immense. Through the articles I have been able to write, people have been enlightened on the importance of justice and truth. I have particularly played a very fundamental role in ensuring that I inform my readers on the value of truth and justice. I have had reservations for dirty, racial and ethnic politics. I believe the most fundamental thing in politics is to judge individuals not on the basis of the depth of their pockets, not on the basis of their ethnicity or race. The leaders ought to be judged by the content of their character and on the basis of the keenness of their minds. I have also been actively involved in several community development forums. I have given talks to the students in disabled schools, I have encouraged them to be useful members of the society and this has worked positively. I particularly believe in making others happy and this has guaranteed my own individual happiness and social well being.

Though still a student, I consider myself to have had a wealth of learning experience considering the many books and articles I have read. These have fundamentally shaped my character and personality. The experience I have accumulated over the years has made me to know well that the freedom of individuals should be given a very huge consideration. I am sometimes angered by the numerous prescriptions that the government and society has placed on individuals. I believe that every individual should be allowed to do what he/she wants without any restrictions so long as he/she is in his right frame of mind and his actions are not causing any harm to other individuals. This is what right to individual liberty should entail. My experience in helping the desperate and destitute members of the society has been an immense source of pride, satisfaction and fulfillment. Whenever I sit and see how many souls I have uplifted, I can’t help but expose a wide smile.

I take significant pride in these qualities because they are what define the person I am. I believe I live for some thing and when I die, I need to die having done something or better still die for something. I live because other individuals do. If it were not for them, I would not be the person I am, the more reason I do what I do.

Student’s Name

Professor

Course

Date

My Reading and Writing Experience

Since I was a small kid, I can comfortably state that I have always had great interest and awareness regarding reading and writing. As a kid, I had a smooth experience of learning because of the eminence of teaching and support that I was receiving from my family members particularly my father. I can remember well my father reading and interpreting some bedtime stories to me as a small kid, and I can attribute this to where my reading and writing experience originated from. At some times he could come home with some newspapers and other publications like magazines and ask me to read out the content for the whole family. I struggled, but with time my reading habit and skills were significantly improving.

It was during the early education that I achieved to sharpen my skills of writing and reading and this played a significant role in my life. Therefore, all the support that I received provided a good ground for me in learning first the reading and writing basics of the English language. The support made my learning to seem more manageable, and thus I had enough time to relish reading and writing outside my school work as well as handling the tasks that were set in front of me.

My school library was stocked with many books, and I never imagined setting my foot there possibly because of shyness. One day I decided to visit the library during my free time. Inside the library, I felt in a different world because of how the place was terrific. There was a serene environment, and everybody was busy with their stuff, some reading while others were writing. My attention was caught by the book entitled “Harry Potter” on one of the shelves. The book looked nice as it was well decorated by having an attractive cover page. I decided to read the first pages of the book before the library time was over.

The story was about a young boy named Harry Potter who lived with his wand-wielding friends at the time of witchcraft and wizardry. The book had an epic story such that I could not control myself from further reading. Suddenly I had the voice of the librarian, “Hey you there! The library time is already up, and you are the only one left in the library.” I looked around, and it was true, all the other students had already left. As I walked outside, I felt like I can write a whole book and I started seeing myself differently. From that day I developed the habit of going to the library since I realized that was where I fitted most. I became a great fan of the “Harry Potter” series after reading that first book. I also managed to read other fascinating books such as “The Hobbit,” “The Book Thief” as well as “The Outsiders.” These books opened my mind by increasing my reading habit up to a point where my friends regarded me as a bookworm.

Therefore reading became my hobby and hence the more books I read, the more my skills improved. When I became old enough to be able to read fluently without much struggle, I would read a storybook and then put my mental pictures from what I had learned into writing. I thus found the novice of writing as well as reading to be enjoyable as I grew. However, I was not the fastest reader nor the best writer and currently, I am still not. I prefer reading the words in a sentence at a moderate rate to read and still understand the context by just reading the writing once. Therefore my experience in reading made me believe reading as one of the significant features of education as it provides a substantial platform for all the other knowledge to be absorbed. When individuals learn to adore reading, they will hence find it simpler to enjoy all the learning.

However, I feel that my interest, as well as my desire to write, grew once I reached middle school. There before I used to read a lot with some little writing but in middle school, we were required to write some stories for a test. Our English teacher was so encouraging, and she supported us where necessary. Her proficiency in the language made to see her as my mentor. I used to go to her for assistance, and she would give me some topics and articles to write about where she later corrected me where I was wrong. She demanded a one hundred percent score from me in her subject and most of the time I gave out my best my emerging to be the top student. She encouraged me to keep reading as she saw I had a great passion for it. Presently I enjoy writing a lot since it consents me to express my feelings, establish my beautiful thoughts and to study information. Consequently, writing helps me to get my beliefs as well as opinions out in the open.

Overall, it is vivid that writing and reading come in hand in hand since, without writing, there would exist no reason to read. I consider both as my enjoyable aspect in all my school years as I enjoy both writing and reading at a personal level. Also, I tend to be very obsessive about literacy since I regard both writing and reading as the basis of learning as well as finding oneself. My journey about literacy started while I was young and I have seen the best coming from it. Reading and writing are my talents, and I feel like I can read and write forever.

Claim: Practice is Essential

Practice is essential in every aspect, most importantly towards feedback and improvement. Accordingly, the article provides that practicing enables individuals to give better feedback. Giving feedback provides an opportunity to be extremely helpful through the describe, evaluate, suggest framework. Moreover, practicing gives students better ideas as they can be able to go through their specific responses and correct where possible. It is also vital in developing a revision plan hence having a standard and well-structured work. In addition, its essential in review as it helps in communicating to writers on their work and giving opinions that contribute to development of written work.

Making a commitment to practice is essential to maximize the impact of learning in any environment. After all, practice is the only way to become proficient in a new skill or behavior. As learners, we therefore need to embrace the discomfort of being beginners, to allow us to continue growing and improve as best as possible in any learning environment. Writing is a process that requires a lot of practice to be proficient. One needs to keep writing, various articles and work and through it, one improves and becomes qualified. Also, in providing feedback of work of other writers, practice is vital to ensure the writer receiving the feedback understands the information given and is able to implement in their work and develop better articles. In learning environment, practice in writing is helpful to fellow students and also one benefits through the feedback received.

Practice is essential and we should therefore consider improving on the claim. We can do this by using, deliberate or mindful practice. This form of practice is systematic and highly structured activity, that is more scientific. Instead of mindless trial and error, deliberate practice is an active and thoughtful process of hypothesis testing where we relentlessly seek solutions to any problems. Due to many challenges in the learning environment. Mindful practice ensures one is able to solve the challenges and find a way to move forward and improve their learning. Proficiency in both learning and teaching comes from more practice done during the learning processes. However, the success of learning has to involve other parties suggestions and feedback, in order to know where to change and improve.With increased technology currently, practice helps to make people fast in using them and perform many of their operations through the technological systems. This is also applicable in the learning environment as assignments and classwork require technological devices to accomplish them. Regular practice makes students skilled and increase experiences, hence making activities easier and faster. Student achievement is also dependent on the writing skills as clear information requires flow of information, organization and easy understanding by the recipient. To achieve this, students need to practice a lot and ensure the incorporate the feedback received from peers and the reviewer of the course works done by students. Practice helps give a conductive, respectful and specific feedback and reviews that is constructive and helpful to recipients.