Paraphrasing questions 3, 4, 5, and 6

3. The National Reading Panel (NRP) has proposed five essential components of a balanced reading instruction. Be able to list and discuss the five components. P.273

According to the NRP, there are five major components that students need in order to be able to learn how to read. These components are phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and text comprehension. The first two components deal with having an insight of the letters and sounds used during pronunciation. Phonemic awareness is necessary when reading. The sounds that people use in communication exist independently of the words formed by the same sounds. Every student must learn to differentiate between words and sounds having the understanding that each sound has its meaning. In addition, sounds are not only found in words, but also in other forms.
On the other hand, phonics helps students to learn the relationship between the letters used in the written language and the sounds used in the spoken language. Therefore, they need to know about the letters formed from the sounds and that each letter has a particular sound. The benefit of understanding phonics is that it helps students know how sounds interrelate in the formation of words. At some instances, letters like vowels may appear the same, but their sounds are different depending on the use.

Fluency, vocabulary, and text comprehension are useful in explaining how letters combine to form words and sentences. Fluency is applicable in combining letters to make fluent words. It ensures that all the sounds making up the words have interrelationships, such that they do not have separate sounds. Vocabulary is a list of defined words used in a certain language. It is important for students to learn the sounds that make certain words, but may remain less helpful if they don’t know their meaning. The steps used in vocabulary are; knowing words, and then the message they portray. Once a student understands phonics and phonetics and then applies the two steps in vocabulary, they acquire the skills of text comprehension. Text comprehension helps students to know how to combine words that portray certain meaning. The message portrayed by the combined words may be different to that of each separate word within a sentence. The key thing is having an insight of the meaning of the sentences formed for them to relay a certain message to the reader.

4. Explain why the acquisition of reading is more difficult for children who are Deaf or hard-of-hearing? (Will need to be specific and state factual information) P.305

A majority of the deaf and hard of hearing students; experience challenges in the five components of learning and reading. Most of them do not show further progress in language from the 4th-grade level. English is not the first language for the deaf since they use a signed language for laying the foundation for language development. Thus, challenges to the use of spoken language are inevitable. There are significant differences between the sign and the spoken languages. For instance, reading takes a different form to that of the signed language. In addition, there are no alphabetical words in the signed language does. Instead, words have particular symbols and meanings that are all different from one another. It is very challenging to have an alphabet for them unlike those using the spoken language. Hearing challenge makes it very hard to know the sounds that make up the words. The only alternative to the problem is learning how to master the movement of the lips when one speaks.

Deaf students have a different way of having an insight of the alphabet. Due to the difficulty in making sounds, learning new words takes a longer time than their counterparts. A greater challenge to the deaf students arises when dealing with a hard text. Their comprehending level has limitations to only the simple words and stories. It is due to the way that they speak and combine words in their signed language that is different from the spoken language. After the fourth grade, the language and inferential demands increase thereby posing challenges to the deaf children. They also lack the cognitive ability to relate things to their correct contexts for easy understanding of the meaning. The introduction to learning a language is essential since it creates variations in the way deaf students learn how to sound and know words. Therefore, many of them shy away from reading. In addition, they have to strive in language reading for them to be effective as their peers. The underlying fact is that deaf students have to know the alphabetical concept for them to read effectively. Thus, they have to embrace it despite the challenges that they have to face.

5. Reading materials beyond third-grade level requires what skills: (pg. 305) you will need to list the skills and explain why those skills are difficult for Deaf and Hard of Hearing students.

The skills and knowledge required in reading materials above third grade are different to that of the lower grades. The two skills are passage specific knowledge and having the knowledge of specific information. Passage specific knowledge requires students to understand the different concepts that are specific to the passage. In addition, students have to understand the message portrayed by the passage through reading and understanding the words in it. When students can effectively know how to sound out words used in a passage, they feel comfortable when reading them. It helps them in making sense of what they read by linking the ideas back to their cognitive development and what they portray in reality. It is always challenging for the deaf students to relate their experiences to what they read. It is because their experiences are different to those of their counterparts using the spoken language. Most of the stories available for use in school have real life experiences, but the same lacks for the deaf students. Their abilities to make inferences from what they read are different. Thus, assuming and having a clear picture of the readings is a challenge to most of them especially when the meaning is not vivid. They have limitations in understanding the meaning of the stories they read due to the lack of real experiences like the group using the spoken language.

Students also require having the knowledge of the specific information portrayed in a passage as the second skill. It is essential that students understand specific details derived from the broad passage. It helps in narrowing down to a specific idea other than concentrating on the whole issue. Students require knowing the words that make up a story for them to understand it in whole. It does not matter, whether one reads it or not, because the failure of understanding the words make it difficult to understand the whole story. It is challenging for the deaf students since they do not easily understand the words for lack of life experiences and knowledge. For the deaf students, combining the specific topics that make up a story is hard. Due to the lack of adequate information about the topic at hand, they find it hard to understand the story, and the difficulty in understanding the words used aggravates it further. The only way of getting most out of a story is seeking for additional ways of gaining the information. The deaf students have to translate everything to the sign language for easy understanding of the concepts discussed.

6. List and describe the five stages of writing. Explain why it is difficult for Deaf and Hard of Hearing students acquire the English written language. P.330

Planning, composing, revising, editing and formal sharing are the five main stages in writing.
The first stage is planning which involves proposing a topic and strategizing on how to write about it. The key consideration in planning is the writing style to use and the selection of the main issues to discuss the topic.

The next step involves composing. It is the preliminary stages of beginning to write. Thus, the student can develop a rough draft that will form the basis for the other work. The rough draft will only serve as a guideline to the other sections.

Next is the revising stage. The student has to have the assurance that the work written will portray the intended meaning to the audience. The information presented has to be relevant to the topic and substantive.

Editing is the next step, and it ensures that the work is devoid of errors. Among the issues checked is the grammatical errors and fluency in the ideas.

Formal sharing comes after the writer validates the work; and ensures that it can serve as a source of information to others.

Deaf students face a lot of challenges in writing because they have to apply a skill that they are not conversant. Speaking and writing are interrelated, but the deaf use the sign language other than the spoken language. It is challenging for the deaf since the words used in writing are not the same as what they use in their sign language. The design of the sign language is different to the spoken language. The issues of composing sentences by combining words are difficult and full of grammatical errors for the deaf students.

For the deaf students to write, they have first to relate their sign language with the words found in the alphabet. The alphabet is not a common tool in the sign language, hence challenging. They have to incorporate a lot of reasoning before they write since they have to remember extra words than those used when speaking. In addition, combining the words to form meaningful sentences is a challenge for them. Therefore, most of the work they produce after writing is not easy to understand due to the many challenges. It cannot clearly portray the intended meaning, hence finds it hard to share the work with others.

Building shared services at RR communications

Question 1: Advantages of a single customer service
A single customer service ensures is essential for ensuring that there is the easy management of the IT system and the entire organization. There are cost savings compared to having specific IT needs for each division as required by separate customer services for each division.
Consolidation of customer data in one place through leveraging a single service center makes it possible to carry out data mining to generate new opportunities.
The company wants to have one consistent brand and so a single customer service center has a good alignment with that vision.
The presence of separate divisional IT services allows a single audit to take place at the company’s financials and processes. It eliminates the need for individual audits at each division.
The consolidation of company data auditors will help the company to have fewer auditors requirement that will coordinate their task more effectively.
There will be one customer service handling requests; thus, the outsourcing options of the company will help create more value and improve the efficiency of service delivery.
A single customer service brings the IT and business closer in terms of decision-making. It helps join the governance services for all divisions, meaning that every individual in the company will have a share in the company’s future.
Question 2: Implementation strategy for a customer service center to guarantee support from the divisional presidents

Solicit the support of the top management
The soliciting of the support for the management if the first strategic step towards the building of a single customer service center. It will be necessary to have all the presidents agree on the essence of having a single customer service center across the entire organization. It incorporates eliminating their ill-formed mindset that the merger will not be beneficial by highlighting to them the benefits to accrue from the single customer service center. It will involve having a workshop with them to discuss the idea and then presenting clear benefits to them during that workshop and allowing them to make queries as one responds to those queries. There will be a head-to-head comparison of the costs and resources in the requirement for both cases of a separate customer divisions and a single customer center.

Costs and benefits analysis in both cases
Without clear comparisons of costs and benefits in both cases, they will not understand the need for merging the customer centers so as to have a single customer service center. Some of the benefits of talking to the presidents, for instance, will entail three areas that will include regulatory compliance, financial benefits and alleviation of risks. In the case of regulatory compliance, advantages come in three ways in terms of audits, costs of production, and processes. Separate divisional IT services mean there are individual audits at each of the divisions, resulting in the company processes failing to have regulatory compliance. A single customer center fosters the company’s operations, and it helps the company to apply best practices that will consequently shorten audit durations (Laudon & Laudon, 1995).

There is nothing that interest organizational management like hearing that there will be reduced expenses in the daily operations of the business (Moss & Brodie, 2002). That itself will have the presidents’ full support for a single customer service. In terms of reduced expenses, removal of centers from the divisional levels will save resources meant for individual audits. Monitoring of security will also be easy and less costly as it will eliminate the need for specific IT security services. Data mining will also be possible so as to generate new ideas for informed decision-making. Also, data consolidation will shift the risks mitigation from the divisional levels to the central authority, making it possible to apply single and uniform security architecture and policies. Common security protocol and procedures reduce the risk of data breaches (Laudon & Laudon, 1995). The information will also reside in a common framework.

Integrating the Business and IT
After meeting with the presidents and then explaining to them the benefits of the merger and setting the objectives for the project, it is the time to integrate the business and IT. To have an Integration of the two is a vital task required in the organization because there no common IM system in the RR communications. Business and IT integration entails a set of applications supported and delivered, known as the application portfolio (McKeen & Smith, 2009). It is such an integration that will make the business to reap the fruits of its investment. Technology is driving businesses to have great improvements, and it is high time that RR communications have to realize that and integrate business and technology accordingly. A wide gap exists between the IT and business because of the disjoint between the information assets in the organization. The business cannot master the rapid pace of business complexity, but it is possible for it to manage the consequences of its operations (Dvorak et al., 2013).

Question 3: Is it possible to achieve an enterprise vision with a decentralized IT function?

It is not possible to achieve the enterprise vision with a decentralized IT function as this will not support a singular focus on the vision of the enterprise. Each of the lines of business will have their visions on which they will focus, and there will be a little alignment of the divisional visions with the corporate vision. Each division will have to set its strategies for reaching their visions, and this will greatly vary from the enterprise vision achieving strategies. A decentralized IT function in an organization leads to the eruption of many issues in the various divisions. There can be conflicts of interest regarding the management of the IT functions when they exist in a decentralized format. It is hard to have a common strategy and view from the company’s vision when the IT function exists in such a way. The success metrics of each division will only focus on the individual divisions rather than on the enterprise vision.

A centralized IT function ensures that an enterprise runs seamlessly and is relevant to all departments including the accounting and financial (McKeen & Smith, 2011). A single and centralized IT operating system enhances quick decision-making across in the enterprise because all the divisions have a singular view of the same data. The time for making decisions with a decentralized IT functioning is long because there has to be a consensus of all the divisional heads and lengthy brainstorming sessions to come to an agreement. A decentralized system lengthens decision-making. The customers will also have to receive incomplete services for each division, and this will consume much of their time going through all the division of contacting each division.

Question 4: Business and IT problems caused by lack of common information and IM strategy

Lack of a common information and enterprise information management strategy can raise many issues in an enterprise. The mini case shows us that there is tarnishing of the enterprise’s name due to having separate bills for similar business lines. Lack of a common information and IM strategy makes them lack a focus on the new growth opportunities that may emanate from the market. Lack of common enterprise information and IM strategy curtails additional revenue streams that could be possible due to the absence of responsiveness and flexibility (Baum & Singh, 1994). It will be hard to amalgamate information and make substantial plans to seize the upcoming market opportunities. There is also a possibility that conflicts are occurring due to the different approaches of managers to the administration strategies for information (Khan & Sikes, 2014).

Separate paths for information and IM strategies make it difficult to have regulatory compliance in the enterprise. The enterprise lacks synergies, and this leads to a reduction of growth opportunities through the focus on the divisional realm. “Lack of a common information and IM strategy leads to less efficiency of services and high operational costs. That will be uneconomical for the firm” (Porter, 2008). The services offered to customers may be poor due to the many points of service for the customers. That will culminate in loss of customers due to dissatisfaction. Vital projects that can improve the operations of the enterprise will not receive the required support from the business or the IT administration (Smith & McKeen, 2007). That is because of the lack of information sharing and different communication pathways in the enterprise. Lack of a common information and IM strategy makes it difficult to implement uniform data and information security strategies (Smaltz, 2011).

Question 5: Governance mechanisms for common customer data and shared customer service. The useful metrics

There are several governance mechanisms and metrics for encouraging the implementation and usage of a common enterprise data system. The governance mechanisms for ensure common customer data and service center include a common vision of the systems and the IT alignment with the business. The required metrics for that alignment is the sharing of the strategies and the objectives for both IT and business departments. The management should continue to focus on strong risk mitigation, business opportunities, as well as appropriate regulatory practices. Both It and business need to monitor continually the outcomes that are accruing from the merger so as to address any issues that may come up in the course of time. There will be a need for a steering committee that will have the mandate to oversee the progress of the common data and shared customer services. That committee will be reporting to the management periodically.

The steering committee should have a commitment towards ensuring proper monitoring of the strategic operations. RR communications will have to consolidate its data from multiple silos to a single data warehouse, and this will help them achieve the greatest benefit (Smaltz, 2011). They will have to formulate metrics with the idea of improving customer focus because they are the key to improved overall performance. The success of the implementation of the above strategies will not be possible without having appropriate metrics that link the objectives of both sides. The required metrics include putting the divisional data into the organizational structure and then focusing on the validity as well as the speed data.

Why do employers utilize IQ tests and how can you perform well on them?

To choose applicants, most multinational firms employ testing akin to IQ assessments. A good score on an IQ test might be the difference between being hired and being promoted. What are the essential tactics for improving IQ test scores? Advice from the developer of IQ testing.

What types of IQ tests are now in use?
IQ tests have evolved throughout time. Old IQ tests assessed your knowledge, such as language abilities and math skills. They are still used for evaluation, but studies reveal that they are not as reliable as a test of IQ since education levels alter findings. This is why they had to be replaced.

Modern IQ tests, on the other hand, assess your capacity to solve problems and think rationally. Mensa, the world’s oldest and most prominent high IQ society, employs these exams. Because they test a variety of critical skills, including reasoning, problem-solving, and learning capacity, a shorter version is utilized as an employment exam.

How are IQ tests used in business?
According to statistics, those who score well on current IQ test tend to perform well in professional settings that need knowledge. This is why matrix-based IQ tests are beneficial.

Despite the fact that IQ tests were not designed to be used in business, research demonstrate that they predict work performance at least as well as competence interviews (the most often used evaluation technique) and 10 times better than personality tests.

Figurative matrices are the ideal assessment of these abilities, and you will find them in these recent examinations. Each exam question requires us to identify the missing part that completes a form pattern. We must uncover the rule that describes the development in order to solve it.

Because of its visual structure, it may be utilized internationally by huge organizations without regard for language difficulties.

A high IQ indicates that you are a quick learner and an excellent prospect. As you are aware, learning all of the processes at a new job might take many months. If you are a rapid learner, this might be reduced to a fraction, resulting in millions of dollars saved.

How can you improve your IQ score?
You generally have one minute per question, but if you use a minute, you will not finish. Why? The questions are listed in order of difficulty, with the simplest coming first and the most difficult coming last. At the conclusion, you must save and move time from the easy to the tough.

Most individuals are unaware that you may prepare for an IQ exam. Training, like any other exam, enhances your IQ score, according to several research. The greater your score, the faster you are. Let’s look at an example.

This is a medium difficulty matrix. Ideally, you’d have less than 30 seconds to respond. An expert would respond in less than 5 seconds.

But before, please have a look and try to make the right decision on your own. The way you solve a matrix reveals a lot about yourself. Return to reading after you’ve found it.

There is a long way and a short way. Which one did you employ?

Long journey: The forms move from one cell to the next by “jumping.” Starting from the top left and proceeding horizontally right: The circle traverses two spaces, as if on a diagonal. 1 point clockwise around the triangle 1 place anticlockwise on the square If we don’t see a form, it is hidden behind a larger shape, such as when we can see the triangle’s corners behind the circle. The correct answer is B.

In a nutshell: Have you noticed any symmetry? When you fold the matrix diagonally, all of the cells are the same. The bottom left corner equals the top right corner. Our solution B is in the upper left corner. Other cells on both sides of the diagonal are repeated as well. Can you tell how much faster this is?

This is due to the fact that this matrix follows a certain rule. There are a limited number of regulations; there are many, yet they are few. Your chances of achieving a significantly higher score increase as you practice and grasp the fundamental guidelines.

As the adage goes: “Perfect practice makes perfect.” You’d be astonished at how much you can improve with a little practice.