Philosophies of organizational change

Regla de presencia de infantes para solicitar pasaporte

Regla de presencia de infantes para solicitar pasaporte Si usted es el padre o la madre de un infante que es menor de edad y es ciudadano americano, puede que tenga dudas sobre si es necesario llevarlo a la oficina donde se solicita el pasaporte, particularmente cuando se trata de un bebà © o tiene muy pocos aà ±os. En este artà ­culo se resolver esa duda claramente y tambià ©n se brindar informacià ³n esencial sobre los pasaportes americanos de los nià ±os. Regla sobre presencia de los nià ±os para solicitar el pasaporte americano Cuando se solicita por primera vez o la renovacià ³n un pasaporte para un estadounidense menor de 16 aà ±os, el nià ±o debe estar presente siempre, incluso aunque sea un recià ©n nacido. No hay excepciones a esta regla. Por el contrario, si ya ha cumplido los 16 y se trata de una renovacià ³n, se puede hacer todo el trmite por correo, sin necesidad de presentarse en ninguna oficina. Sin embargo, si se trata de una solicitud por primera vez, sà ­ que deber acudir en persona. Si se est en Estados Unidos, hay que llevar al nià ±o a la Oficina de Recepcià ³n de Solicitudes de Pasaportes o en la Agencia de Pasaportes. Si se est en otro paà ­s, deber cerrarse una cita y presentarse en la Embajada americana o consulado que corresponda al lugar donde se encuentra en ese momento el solicitante.  ¿Deben el padre y la madre estar los dos presentes cuando se solicita el pasaporte para un nià ±o? La respuesta es sà ­, si bien se admiten  tres excepciones a la presencia conjunta del pap y de la mam  cuando no es posible. El objetivo de todas estas reglas es evitar que nadie pueda sacar a un nià ±o americano de su lugar de residencia habitual  sin el consentimiento de los dos padres. Esto aplica incluso cuando un progenitor se enfada con el otro y se quiere llevar al menor a otro paà ­s. Si se cree que el hijo corre este riesgo, esto es lo que se puede hacer para evitar lo que se llama un  secuestro internacional de nià ±os. Quà © documentos son necesarios para solicitar el pasaporte americano para un nià ±o Adems de llenar la planilla de solicitud y aportar fotos tipo pasaporte, el documento ms importante es el que acredita la nacionalidad estadounidense. Si el nià ±o ha nacido en los Estados Unidos hay que presentar copia del certificado de nacimiento.   Si ha nacido en el extranjero pero adquirià ³ la nacionalidad por uno de los padres o la adquirià ³ posteriormente la ley seà ±ala cules son los documentos son vlidos para acreditar la ciudadanà ­a estadounidense. Por cunto tiempo es vlido el pasaporte de un nià ±o Los pasaportes de los nià ±os expiran a los cinco aà ±os de haber sido expedidos.    ¿Es siempre necesario el pasaporte para viajar internacionalmente? El pasaporte es siempre el mejor documento, pero se admiten excepciones, como una tarjeta de pasaporte. Adems, en el caso se nià ±os pequeà ±os que son ciudadanos caben otras posibilidades para  ingresar a los Estados Unidos por tierra procedente de Canad o Mà ©xico. El pasaporte no llega,  ¿quà © hacer? Si se solicità ³ el pasaporte y no se recibe, puede que se trate de una demora normal.  Si se desea acelar el trmite se tiene la opcià ³n de pagar para que se realice con carcter urgente. Pero tambià ©n es posible que se extraviara en el correo. Si sospecha que eso es lo que ha ocurrido entonces se debe solicitar la anulacià ³n de ese pasaporte y pedir otro sin ningà ºn costo aà ±adido. De interà ©s: doble nacionalidad, conservar ciudadanà ­a y derechos padres Es comà ºn que nià ±os estadounidenses residan en otro paà ­s. Estas son las reglas sobre la conservacià ³n de la nacionalidad y sobre la obligacià ³n de inscribirse al Servicio Selectivo en el caso de los varones. Adems, tener en cuenta que un nià ±o estadounidense puede tener el pasaporte de otro paà ­s, por ejemplo, el de los padres, ya que Estados Unidos aplica unas leyes liberales en asuntos de doble nacionalidad. Por otra parte, tambià ©n es frecuente que un infante estadounidense tenga paps que tienen otra nacionalidad.  Estos son los derechos de los padres de los nià ±os ciudadanos.  Es muy importante entender quà © derechos se pudieran derivar de esa situacià ³n, cul es el requisito de edad de los hijos y cundo, a pesar de tener hijos ciudadanos, no se puede sacar ningà ºn derecho. Y es que en este punto hay mucha informacià ³n equivocada. Consejo y curiosidad Ya que este artà ­culo trata de pasaporte para nià ±os viene al caso recomendar esta informacià ³n sobre cà ³mo entender fcilmente el sistema educativo de los Estados Unidos. Hay varias opciones para que los infantes estudien y todos ellos merecen las mejores oportunidades. Por à ºltimo, una curiosidad. Y es que los latinos somos la minorà ­a ms grande en Estados Unidos, lo cual se refleja en el censo. Dos apellidos hispanos estn entre los 10 ms comunes del paà ­s y 19 en el top 100,  Ã‚ ¿sientes curiosidad por saber si est el tuyo? Este artà ­culo es meramente informativo. No es asesorà ­a legal para ningà ºn caso concreto.

Five Approaches for Qualitative Research Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Five Approaches for Qualitative Research - Essay Example Thus, the research study critically evaluates the role of theory in qualitative research in relation to leadership styles employed by both directors of nursing and social services in promotion of psychosocial well-being of nursing home residents. The role of the theory in the grounded theory, narrative, phenomenology, grounded theory, ethnography and case study influence the research study in different ways. First, theory plays significant role of influencing research design such as enabling leaders to make vital decisions about things to research and implementation of research questions. Therefore, theory underpins qualitative research methodologies; hence, it can have an implication on data analysis and interpretation. The main role of theory is to influence the research; thus offering practical guidance to the researchers in order to enable them become aware of what the theory has to perform and the way it affects research design. Keele (2011) argues that the quality of a qualitative research analysis is influenced depending on the way the researcher attends to theoretical concerns at varied research process; the theoretical concerns plays significant role at all stages of research design. Although many nursing practition ers have tended to ignore the theory because they believe that they work on reality, understanding the role that theory play, in both five qualitative research approaches is significant. Grounded theory is an effective method employed by researcher and it utilizes the data obtained for developing or finding a theory in research study process. Grounded theory was developed by Glaser Barney and Strauss Anselm, and it has a particular purpose which moves beyond narrative or description approach (Creswell and Creswell, 2007). Both directors of nursing and social services can use grounded theory in discovering and generating a theory that will enable them to find the impact that their leadership styles can have on the

Critically assess how packaging, branding and design provide Essay

Critically assess how packaging, branding and design provide competitive advantage for the Brewdog portfolio - Essay Example Whatever it is that the Marketing group plans shall determine the organization’s success in the industry. The ability of the said in-charged group in making amends for the organization’s ability to make it within the industrial competition in the business world shall make it possible for the business to make a considerable reputation that could attract the clients who are being targeted by the said organization. This is particularly the reason why business organizations both large-scale and small-scale make it a point that the marketing procedures that they carry on for the sake of business progression is given careful attention and as well as an ample amount of investment. Particularly, marketing is a business branch that sets the path for the organization as to how they are supposed to trod the journey of success in the industry that they are dealing with. The intensity of the procedures taken by marketing experts particularly pertains to the quality of the advertising procedures that the organization ought to take into consideration for actual operational purposes. It is in this particular sector of the organization that the fast release or distribution of the services or the products offered by the organization towards the clients could be determined. In this particular case, BrewDog Beers marketing approach shall be examined as to how well the company is able to fit within the competing arena of huge brewery organizations around the world as they introduce their branded product to the target market that they are aiming to serve. How does the internet applications help in this particular goal of creating a feasible environment of marketing to the target consumers that they are aiming their products to be distributed to. With huge and well-known breweries already operating in the market, BrewDog is certain to have the need to get in the market with the use of effective marketing tools to make it in the said field of

Strategic management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 7

Strategic management - Essay Example Strategic planning helps in formulating the business approach to a context. As shown in figures 1 and 2, it is seen that the strategy stems out of the context which influences the strategy and the actions that lead to a solution on the strategy and finally, provides the results which in turn leads to altering the context. The strategy should get altered based on the change in the context thus altered. Strategies are worked out using various tools. One of the oldest methods involved using the SWOT analysis for bringing out the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and the Threats perceived by the company and the business2. The strategy would primarily enhance and capitalise on the strengths of the company for tapping the opportunities and to counter the threats perceived while at the same time would offset the weaknesses perceived. This would help the company to realise its objectives of enhancing the profitability of the company. Porter’s Five Forces helped the strategists to model the environment and the business is positioned in it to understand the effect of the environment. This was perceived to have been made up of the five forces that Porter projected. He further qualifies some of the approaches to strategy as generic. There are three types of generic strategies that are used by companies, employing the common economic forces that are in play in the market. These are: Cost Leadership by providing the best cost for a product or a service, product differentiation and thereby commanding higher prices and finally, identifying its own niche products for a specific product-segment thereby monopolising the entire business for that product or at least dominating it. While these strategies help the company to move forward, without a basic strategy the company stutters. As can be seen from the figure 2, the markets are created by companies which fall under any one of the strategies depicted in it, either consciously or otherwise. The perfect competition would

Effect of Positive Emotions Induced by Music

Effect of Positive Emotions Induced by Music Do positive emotions induced by music broaden thought-action repertoires? Music has the potential to communicate emotions, and this presence can be considered to be part of our everyday experience. Music psychologist believes that it has the capability to invoke specific emotions when listeners tune in to a specific type of music. For example, a faster toned and pitch music will indicate a lighter and happier mood, whereas a slow tone and pitch will indicate a sad emotion. On the scale of mood, Fredrickson’s broaden-and-build theory suggests that positive emotions builds up our thought-action repertoire, explains that we should harness positive emotions into our daily lives in effort to enhance our coping skills. The fusion of music with the broaden-and-build theory is an attempt to prove that positive emotions do indeed broaden our momentary thought-action repertoire as proven in Fredrickson’s theory, but on a different scale. Such fusion can be proven to be worth of research as music exists in our everyday lives and if we incorporate and fo ster positive emotions into individual’s daily lives, most, if not everyone, would have increased thought-action repertoire, which would then lead to better coping skills in situations. The broaden-and-build theory suggests the function of a subset of positive emotions such as joy, love and contentment. Fredrickson (2004) proposed that positive emotions produce optimal functioning over time, which includes psychological well-being, as well as physical well-being. These positive emotions, where individuals experience joy, which in turn creates the urge to play, or interactions with a stranger which will in turn create a supportive relationship, will broaden an individual’s thought-action repertoire. This broaden mindset is in contrast with negative emotions, where it prompts immediate and narrow action tendencies such as fight or flight. Fredrickson also proposed that with broadening of an individual’s thought-action repertoire, it would in turn create and build into the individual’s personal resources, and these personal resources are thought to be long term which can help individuals cope with situations in future. For the support of her theori es, Fredrickson reviewed some of other researchers who worked on the effects of positive affect and cognition and pointed out that Kahn and Isen (1993) found that individuals experiencing positive affect report having increased preference for variety and accept a broader array of behavioural options. Subsequently, Ashby, Isen, and Turken (1999) found that positive affect produces effects linked to increases in brain dopamine levels, particularly in the prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate, which are thought to underlie better cognitive performance. However, Isen’s work did not target specific positive emotions or thought-action repertoires per se, but it provides the strongest evidence that positive affect broadens cognition. As Fredrickson builds up on her theory which eventually became the broaden-and-build theory, Fredrickson and Joiner (2002) propose that positive emotions will elicit an upward spiral in the direction of enhanced emotional well-being. They assessed their prediction by testing whether positive affect and broad-minded coping reciprocally and prospectively predict one another. They made a conclusion that positive affect from a particular time will lead to enhancement of broad-minded coping at a later stipulated timing, and vice versa. It was also mentioned that positive affect at one particular time is able to predict the positive affect at a later time when changes in the broad-minded coping were controlled, and vice versa. Hence, it can be said that from this particular review, it has been found that positive affect and broad-minded coping are correlated and they mutually build on one another. However, later studies done by researchers such as Nickerson (2007) suggested that Fredrickso n and Joiner (2002)’s analysis tested within-occasion, across persons hypotheses, which are incoherent with Fredrickson’s broaden-and-build theory of emotions that is within person, across occasions. Nickerson changed their hypotheses so that the edited hypotheses would align with the broaden-and-build theory, in which Fredrickson subsequently tested the momentary broaden hypothesis, in which the efficacy was proven. Fredrickson (2005) made use of a Twenty Statement Test as a measure of thought-action repertoire when her participants were randomly assigned and exposed to videos which will induce a specific emotion. For example, participant A would be exposed to a video of some penguins, which would supposedly elicit the amusement emotion. The participant would then be required to fill in the Twenty Statement Test in which a higher number of statements filled in would indicate a larger thought-action repertoire, and this finding was consistent with their hypotheses. On another scale, Fredrickson conducted a qualitative analysis using the same data collected, and classified the responses collected from the participants into some categories. They found similar findings, for example, participants who viewed the amusement video are reported to have more frequent urges to play, have positive feelings or thoughts, and fewer urges to sleep or rest. Thus, the data presented by Fredrickson support 2 central aspects of the broaden hypothesis positive emotion broadens thought-action repertoires, as well as broadening effects emerge for 2 distinct types of positive emotion, namely amusement and contentment. Music can be thought to be a powerful tool in inducing specific mood states (Marin and Bhattacharya, 2010), and these moods refer to the states which feature a lower intensity than emotions, and this state tend to last much longer than emotions; these emotions denote the affective response that generally encompass some subcomponents – action tendency, as well as regulation. Although it is believed that there could be some correspondence between music induced emotion and mood, the two distinctions can be said as: music induced emotions are short lived, whereas music induced mood generally last longer. Various psychophysiological and psychological experiments such as emotion perception to emotion experiences have been proven by Thomas Baumgartner, Michaela Esslen, Lutz Ja ¨ncke (2006), where it was elucidated by their psychometric results that emotions can be evoked by pictures and classical music. There are a large number of empirical studies that reveal systematic relationsh ips between musical structures and emotional responses (Gabrielsson Lindstro ¨m, 2010). Lundqvist, Carlsson, Hilmersson and Juslin (2009) concluded in their study that self-composed music is effective in inducing specific emotions. For example, they explained that for a happy emotion to be induced, the happy music needs to feature fast tempo, high sound level, and major mode, while the sad music featuring slow tempo, low sound level, and minor mode. This was also proven in their research, as well as previous works, which gives the conclusion that music is able to produce specific emotions without contamination. Hence, it is of interest to study the interaction between how music is capable of inducing the emotions as required, and how the induced emotion can help in enhancing an individual’s coping skills, as well as building up their personal resources. The nature of the study is discovering whether positive emotions induced by music will broaden thought-action repertoire in a sample of Singaporean participants. The rationale of the hypothesis is to find out if the differences of cultures may pose a significant contributor to the difference in thought-action repertoire. Secondly, inspection can be done to see if cross-cultural differences may produce different results as compared to what Fredrickson originally done in her study, and lastly, findings may have possible implications of music to enhance psychological and physical well-being. Thus, the first hypothesis is that positive emotions will broaden momentary thought-action repertoire. Secondly, the emotion experienced in amusement will broaden momentary thought-action repertoire to a greater extent when compared to contentment. The third hypothesis is that negative emotions will narrow thought-action repertoire, and the last hypothesis is that object-focused negative emotions (e .g. anger) will narrow momentary thought-action repertoire to a greater extent when compared to object-less negative emotions (e.g. anxiety). This study is considered to be an advance over previous works; in the original broaden-and-build theory, Fredrickson made use of videos to induce emotions, and for modifications, the new experiment will use audio materials, which consists of self-composed audio clips; the rationale here is to identify if the usage of video and music clips will yield the same kind of findings. Additionally, two additional steps will be administered; before starting the experiment (measuring skin conductance level), and at the end of the experiment (performing relaxation techniques on participants). The first step ensures that each participant is at neutral emotional state (baseline) before we induce a particular emotion with the music clip. The second step ensures the momentary emotional well-being of participants as they do not leave the experiment with induce d emotions, but with neutral emotions (baseline). Method Participants 100 university students enrolled in an introductory psychology course received course credit for their participation. Only students who spoke English as their first language were eligible to participate. Some ethical issues to be considered are the initial screening before participation. It is required that the participants are mentally healthy, and it is essential to exclude those with history of mental and physical illnesses because of the emotional manipulation involved in the experiment; the confidentiality of the information provided by the participants will be ensured. Another ethical issue is that of informed consent: Participants will be informed of experimental procedure, the materials that will be used, and the rights to withdraw before the start of experiment; they also have the option of counselling services and exit interview at point of withdrawal. Questions from participants will be answered at all times of experiment. Finally, participants can be sure that their answe rs remain anonymous as the forms and tests that they filled in during the experiment do not require them to fill in their names, as well as undergoing a debrief of the original intent of the research. Design The nature of this research is considered to be a quasi-experiment, where the independent variable (IV) is emotions, which are induced by the respective music clips (Amusement, contentment, anger, anxiety, neutral), and the dependent variable (DV) is the thought-action repertoire, in which will be measured via two methods: quantitative and qualitative. Materials Participants will be selected at random to be exposed to audio clips which are intended to induce emotions. The audio clips that are exposed to the participants are: Amusement, contentment, anger, anxiety, as well as neutral. Skin conductance level (SCL). To ensure that the participants will not contaminate the data being collected, the SCL will be used to ensure that the participants will start off the experiment in a neutral state. This is done by attaching a node onto the participants’ hands, followed by measuring the skin resistance, which will be varied with the state of the sweat glands on the skin of their hands. Emotion Report Form. Ekman, Friesen, and Ancoli (1980) made use of the emotion report form to identify and test if the emotions induced by the experimenter are successfully manipulated by music clips. This is done by participants giving a rating of emotions felt on a Likert scale. Participants who rated the greatest amount felt of the emotions above on a 9-point Likert scale (0 = none, 8 = a great deal). Twenty Statements Test. Kuhn and McPartland (1954) constructed the Twenty Statements Test to measure the thought-action repertoire of individuals after they are exposed to audio clips. They are required to fill in 20 blank lines which began with â€Å"I would like to†¦Ã¢â‚¬  to their greatest extent possible after listening to the audio clip. A higher score is thought to indicate a larger thought-action repertoire. Procedure Before the participants begin the official experiment, they would be required to be put under the SCL test, which is to ensure that they start off the experiment on a neutral state. Participants would then be randomly exposed to one particular audio clip which elicits a single emotion, i.e. a faster tone and pitch audio clip would indicate the participants listening to a happy music. The next step would require the participants to describe the strongest emotion that they felt in a few words, and subsequently asked to complete the Twenty Statements Test. Before the participants finish the experiment, they would be required to complete the Emotion Report Form so that there is consistency in their emotions felt and the emotions written down onto the Twenty Statements Test. Lastly, participants would be given a mandatory relaxation session so that they can fall back to their baseline (neutral state). Results Statistical analysis can be done on various scales, which includes quantitative level, as well as qualitative level. For the quantitative level, analysis can be done for the self-reported emotions from the Emotion Report Form, where a 1-way ANOVA and Tukey pairwise comparisons to test if music clips altered emotional experiences as intended. Positive emotion music groups/Negative emotion music groups will be compared with neutral emotion music group to produce a less ambiguous result. Secondly, a 1-way ANOVA and Tukey pairwise comparisons can be conducted for the number of responses from Twenty Statements Test, and for the group differences in repertoire size, a 5 x 2 ANOVA, where the 5 groups are the audio clips exposed, and the two groups are the culture, which in this case is the Singaporean Culture compared with Foreign culture. On the qualitative level, analysis can be done via coding, where participants who responded in a certain manner will be classified into a category, and f or each participant, proportion scores for each activity was determined by dividing the tally for that activity by the total number of statements the participant generated. Discussion The expected results are that all hypotheses proposed are significant, that is to say that positive emotion will broaden momentary thought-action repertoire, and the amusement emotion will broaden momentary thought action repertoire to a greater degree when compared to contentment. Some of the limitations include the possibility of the individual’s desire to be socially desirable may cause contamination of the data as participants may not write their intended behaviours or thoughts as per the emotions they experience in the music clips. For instance, an individual may not write that he or she will hit someone even though he or she wants to. Future researchers can look into exploring the usage of recording the participants’ response instead of doing the Twenty Statements Test, as there is a possibility of identifying the emotions of the participants through the way they speak.

Wis :: essays research papers

. What I Know My first introduction to Islam was when I heard that a new movie would be coming out called Malcolm X. I heard it was supposed to be really good once the filming was finished. So I decided to read the book before I watched the movie so that it would be easier for me to understand it when I see it on the big screen. I borrowed the book from the library and I was really enjoying the book until I got half way through, to the point where the Nation of Islam teaches that white people are devils. I was so disgusted, I didn't finish the book. Finally, the movie was about to be released and I saw the previews on television, plus the reviews in the paper. It looked appealing, and I heard that Malcolm X later dropped out of the NOI and realized that white people are not devils. So I decided to read the book again, and I was very pleased that I finished it this time. However, I did not pursue more knowledge on the subject at this time. Then when I entered Gallaudet, I met a lot of people who were Muslim and I spent quite some time with them. I learned bits and pieces about Islam through socializing with them. I never really asked questions, maybe occasionally I would. I know a little bit about women in general and even less about women's roles. My knowledge about Islam is superficial, but I want to know more in depth; the soul of the Muslim Woman. I know that women must dress modestly and cover their hair. Only their face and hands can show. I also know that many men prefer or consider the main role of women is to stay home and take care of their husbands, children, and protect the home. That practice is stronger in Eastern societies than in America. I understand that many non-Muslims stereotypically think that the way Muslim women are treated is derogatory, because of the way they dress, the roles they play in their community, the limits that society bestows upon them, and that they have few rights. My main goal i s to see why most women choose to stay in Islam and what is really behind the Islamic stereotypes. II. What I Want to Find Out I chose to pick Women in Islam as my topic because I have many Muslim friends and I think they are very interesting.

An ideal family Essay

To create a strong and happy family is a difficult task. Person’s upbringing and education starts in his or her family, even when children grow up and become independent, their parent never stop influencing their lives. From my point of view, parents are our first teachers and most influencing people. The way our parents train and discipline us influence how we act and reason out. Being a parent is one of the most challenging task in the world. Parents should love, protect us and guide their child. As children in many cases take after their parents, the latest should be a good role model. They should bring their kids up in the atmosphere of love, mutual respect. But in some situations they should tell their young ones off. Parents should nurture the most important values in them, such as kindness, compassion, respect, generosity, honesty and responsibility. Teach them to be good critical and creative thinkers in a world that isn’t always friendly with them. Parent should help their kids limp through a crisis and help them to grow useful members of society. Children, in their turn, should try to understand that their parents do their utmost to bring them up correctly. Kids should share their problems with their parents and remember that they can rely on them, not retire into their shells. They shouldn’t use bad language or talk back to their mom and dad, because they may hurt them through the bad words without thinking. Youngsters should look up to their parents, don’t lie to them. They should try not to have their parents worry about them all the time, should act as a grown up. Children should support their parents too, as sometimes they can be bad-tempered or a bit depressed. And, of course, children shouldn’t be shy to show love to their parents, doing it by saying some sweet words, sending gifts, kissing or other ways.

The eNotes Blog eNotes Teachers Corner To Teach or Not to Teachâ€That is theQuestion

Teachers Corner To Teach or Not to Teach- That is theQuestion Teachers Corner is a monthly newsletter from just for teachers. In it, experienced educator and contributor Susan Hurn shares her tips, tricks, and insight into  the world of teaching. Check out this months Teachers Corner column below, or sign up to receive the complete newsletter in your inbox at . Recently over lunch, a dedicated career teacher told me that she could no longer advise anyone to go into teaching; the joy is gone, she said, with teachers now locked into regimented lesson plans and required to spend all their time chasing test scores. She also worried about what we’re doing to kids in the classroom- demanding more and more of them at younger and younger ages. There’s no time now to let them be kids, she said, or color outside the lines, if they get to color at all. It was a depressing lunch. I drove home with a lot to think about, especially since I had encouraged my own daughter when she decided several years ago to change careers, earn a second college degree, and go into the classroom. Had I steered her wrong? Remembering our animated conversations after she began teaching, however, I don’t think so. Teaching may be different today- the demands greater and the stressors more intense, but it still engages the heart and the mind in ways unlike those of any other profession. No two days are alike, and every day is a fresh opportunity to achieve something glorious, even for one unforgettable moment. Students aside- and that’s a big aside- it’s true that our profession is less respected in some quarters than it once was, for reasons that seem to be bound up in politics and publicity. If a teacher is arrested for some terrible offense in any part of the country, it becomes national news; a steady drumbeat of these stories erodes confidence, creating the impression that teachers somehow have degenerated into an immoral lot, not to be trusted. On the positive side, however, every time teachers risk their lives or lose them trying to protect their students, which seems to be happening more and more frequently, their actions make the news, too. Ask the parents of those students if teachers can be trusted. There’s also a lot of discussion these days about â€Å"bad teachers†; judging from what the public hears daily on the airwaves and reads online or in press releases, our schools are about to crumble under the cumulative weight of lazy incompetents in the classroom. Teacher tenure is under attack, with tenure laws represented to the public as guaranteeing lifetime employment for bad teachers; tenure, its foes allege, makes it impossible to fire all those bad teachers doing little while collecting large monthly checks. The term â€Å"due process† is rarely mentioned. Most recently, teachers have been stripped of tenure and the right to due process in California and in Kansas. Teachers in those states can now be fired not just for cause but for any reason at all, and stating a reason isn’t required. You can read about the California ruling at  cta.org  and about the Kansas legislation at  washingtonpost.com. Tenure aside- and that’s another big aside- teacher evaluations have become central in renewing or not renewing contracts, which brings us back to bad teachers. Supposedly, everybody can spot one a mile away. Defining what constitutes a bad teacher, however, is another matter.  This article at  teaching.about.com  boils it down to seven deficiencies, six of which would apply generally to people in any line of work. Being able to relate to students and to inspire them is not mentioned, suggesting that it is often overlooked as a characteristic of a good teacher, even though it is essential in educating kids. Another discussion of good vs. bad teachers, which touches as well on the California tenure case, can be found here at  sfgate.com. Currently, districts around the country, feeling political heat and racing for funds, are scrambling to rewrite evaluation instruments and practices to better sort out who’s doing what in the classroom, effectively or ineffective ly. According to Dr. B. R. Jones, author of  The Focus Model, the increasing emphasis on teacher evaluations, combined with new academic standards and â€Å"next-generation† assessments (think CCSS), is setting the stage for a â€Å"perfect storm† in education. He contends that an â€Å"evaluation fix† is needed in many of the instruments now being written to assess teacher performance. Jones identifies four â€Å"distinct ‘potholes’† that could result in â€Å"serious damage† in evaluating teachers effectively:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Using inappropriate evidence of a teacher’s quality   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Improperly weighting appropriate evidence of a teacher’s quality   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Failing to adjust evidence weights for a given teacher’s instructional setting   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Confounding the functions of formative and summative teacher evaluation Everyone agrees we don’t want bad teachers in the classroom, but how to evaluate teachers, it seems, is also an area of contention in education. You can read Jones’s article at  corwin-connect.com. Our vocation, more than ever, is rife with conflict and controversy and voices raised in promoting personal, professional, and political agendas. Why would anyone want to be a teacher? Why would I encourage my daughter in her desire to leave a successful career and join the ranks? Obviously, I wouldn’t- unless I knew in my heart she would be a great teacher and would find in teaching the kind of fulfillment that only other dedicated teachers can really understand. She has asked for lots of advice along the way, and giving my children advice has never been a problem! Ultimately, I told her this: Close your door, do your job, and focus on your students; give them your best because it will make a difference in their lives, and don’t forget to enjoy them every day. So, to teach or not to teach? Regardless of whatever winds are blowing outside the classroom door, I say yes! I’m not sure how it can be July already, but here it is. Have some fun in the sun! Susan

Quick Facts About the English Alphabet

Quick Facts About the English Alphabet Writers spend years rearranging 26 letters of the alphabet, novelist Richard Price once observed. Its enough to make you lose your mind day by day. Its also a good enough reason to gather a few facts about one of the most significant inventions in human history. The Origin of the Word Alphabet The English word alphabet comes to us, by way of Latin, from the names of the first two letters of the Greek alphabet, alpha and beta. These Greek words were in turn derived from the original Semitic names for the symbols: Aleph (ox) and beth (house). Where the English Alphabet Came From The original set of 30 signs, known as the Semitic alphabet, was used in ancient Phoenicia beginning around 1600 BCE. Most scholars believe that this alphabet, which consisted of signs for consonants only, is the ultimate ancestor of virtually all later alphabets. (The one significant exception appears to be Koreas han-gul script, created in the 15th century.) Around 1,000 BCE, the Greeks adopted a shorter version of the Semitic alphabet, reassigning certain symbols to represent vowel sounds, and eventually, the Romans developed their own version of the Greek (or Ionic) alphabet. Its generally accepted that the Roman alphabet reached England by way of the Irish sometime during the early period of Old English (5 c.- 12 c.). Over the past millennium, the English alphabet has lost a few special letters and drawn fresh distinctions between others. But otherwise, our modern English alphabet remains quite similar to the version of the Roman alphabet that we inherited from the Irish. The Number of Languages That Use the Roman Alphabet About 100 languages rely on the Roman alphabet. Used by roughly two billion people, its the worlds most popular script. As David Sacks notes in Letter Perfect (2004), There are variations of the Roman alphabet: For example, English employs 26 letters; Finnish, 21; Croatian, 30. But at the core are the 23 letters of ancient Rome. (The Romans lacked J, V, and W.) How Many Sounds There Are in English There are more than 40 distinct sounds (or phonemes) in English. Because we have just 26 letters to represent those sounds, most letters stand for more than one sound. The consonant c, for example, is pronounced differently in the three words cook, city, and (combined with h) chop. What Are​ Majuscules and Minuscules Majuscules (from Latin majusculus, rather large) are capital letters. Minuscules (from Latin minusculus, rather small) are lower-case letters. The combination of majuscules and minuscules in a single system (the so-called dual alphabet) first appeared in a form of writing named after Emperor Charlemagne (742-814), Carolingian minuscule. Pangrams Pangrams are a sentence that contains all 26 letters of the alphabet. The best-known example is The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. A more efficient pangram is Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs. Lipograms Lipograms are text that deliberately excludes a particular letter of the alphabet. The best-known example in English is Ernest Vincent Wrights novel Gadsby: Champion of Youth (1939) - a story of more than 50,000 words in which the letter e never appears. Zee Versus Zed The older pronunciation of zed was inherited from Old French. The American zee, a dialect form heard in England during the 17th century (perhaps by analogy with bee, dee, etc.), was approved by Noah Webster in his American Dictionary of the English Language (1828). The letter z, by the way, has not always been relegated to the end of the alphabet. In the Greek alphabet, it came in at a quite respectable number seven. According to Tom McArthur in The Oxford Companion to the English Language (1992), The Romans adopted Z later than the rest of the alphabet, since /z/ was not a native Latin sound, adding it at the end of their list of letters and using it rarely. The Irish and English simply imitated the Roman convention of placing z last.

General Marx's Theories Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

General Marx's Theories - Essay Example Marx gives reasons as for the need for such assessment. Value is social because it is determined by the total result of the fluctuating efforts of each individual producer; objective because it is given, upon the completion of the production of a given commodity, and becomes independent from personal or collective valuations of customers on the marketplace; it is historically relative because it is linked to each important change, progress or otherwise, of the average productivity of labor in a given segment of output, including transportation and agriculture.   This does not, however, mean that Marx’s concept of value is detached from consumption. He only distinguishes between the living labor and dead labor, like tools and raw materials. But he says values determine prices only basically and in the medium-term sense of the word. Marx respects the operation of market laws, also of a law of supply and demand, in determining the short-term fluctuations. The Communist Manifesto declares, â€Å"The bourgeoisie, wherever it has got the upper hand, has put an end to all feudal, patriarchal, idyllic relations and has left no other nexus between man and man than naked self-interest†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (Communist Manifesto) Marx does treat labor as a commodity but one can not say that his value theory is unscientific and wrong. His observation should not be read in isolation. Karl Korsch points out, â€Å"It was never the intention of Marx to descend from the general idea of value as expounded in the first volume of Capital, by means of ever closer determinants to a direct determination of the price of commodities.

Strange Fruit Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Strange Fruit Paper - Essay Example Billie Holiday composed and performed the song Strange Fruit in 1930s with the main themes of the growing hypocrisy by the southern American whites and the increased lynching of the blacks as explained by racial discrimination. The book by David Margolick however fails to have an extensive analysis of the politics of racial discrimination and lynching of the blacks by the song but touches on the issues of race as influenced the music industry of the time. The main concern of Margolick in the book is on how such a single song as ‘strange fruit’ would stir up awareness in subverting political cultures that are rather backward as well as ‘reaching to the soul’ of the listener. The song is therefore portrayed as having been very effective in exposing the behind scenes efforts by the whites to promote desegregation while black artists took a lead in using creative arts to express themselves and protest against racial discrimination in the time. The book is theref ore very clear on expressing such themes as martyrdom and suffering as were the song’s identity (Margolick 15-107). The Strange Frui song as originally composed is portrayed as having been a very controversial and powerful type of jazz ballad within the story. Unlike the common themes such as love and dancing that are typical of jazz especially in moonlight, the song moaned the strange ‘fruit’ that trees from the south bore. Blood was on the trees’ leaves, as well as roots and this right away raised the eyebrows of people when the song was first performed within the January of 1939. Through well planned and neatly organized piece of art, sad, harsh as well as unforgiving words are what illustrate the feeling of Holiday towards racism. Through taking the traditional vocal jazz format, the song rose be very popular, controversial and influential of the time. Thematic concerns of a ballad jazz are often much