The African Roots of African American Religious Culture as Described by W.E.B. DuBois

The African Roots of African American Religious Culture as Described by W.E.B. DuBois Free Online Research Papers The roots of African American religious culture extend between Africa and the United States through the Trans-Atlantic slave trade that occurred during the sixteenth through nineteenth centuries. Religion was a reaction to the harsh conditions of slavery and an escape from the abuses of human trade. African American religious culture was an amalgamation of African and American customs, which blended in the most pragmatic fashion to accommodate the spiritual needs of the transplanted Africans. After the thirteenth amendment abolished slavery in 1865, African Americans continued with their religious practices and blacks were no longer property, but actual citizens. Being the pragmatic and dynamic force that it is, religion changed and served new purposes for African Americans. W.E.B. DuBois addressed the changes in his book The Souls of Black Folk. In it, he maintained that blacks operated on two separate levels of consciousness or a double consciousness as Africans and Americans. The Oxford English Dictionary defines this as â€Å"a condition which has been described as a double personality, showing in some measure two separate and independent trains of thought and two independent mental capabilities in the same individual† (Double consciousness). I posit tha t only way to deal with this dual state of being is through a religious identity and not through intellectual, social, or academic classifications. This research will identify DuBois’s call for a new religion to accommodate the African American state of being after Emancipation. Scholar Charles Long defies a definition for religion and determines that it is best described as a way to determine ones’ location in the world (Long 7). DuBois asserted that the sense of location was irrevocably disrupted by destroying the prospect of free human labor. Indirectly, this forced former oppressors to acknowledge blacks as a new class of people, and not property. The lack of location left slaves in a crisis of identity. People who were once considered property now had agency. Determining one’s â€Å"ultimate significance† was precarious in the midst of the economic and social upheaval. By the time DuBois wrote his essay about four decades later, former slaves continued to struggle economically and socially as policies in the South aimed against the very humanity of blacks. Changes prompted by Reconstruction left very little stability for the ex-slaves, because â€Å"Daily the Negro is coming more and more to look upon law and justice, not as protecting safeguards, but as sources of humiliation and oppression. The laws are made by men who have little interest in him; they are executed by men who have absolutely no motive for treating the black people with courtesy or consideration† (DuBois 198). Without political or financial stability, the state of the black union was precariously hanging on the opinions of bigoted Southerners who wanted to keep blacks oppressed. Nearly two millennia earlier, the Apostle Paul faced a similar predicament in reference to converting peoples whose entire state of mind had to change to accommodate a shifting world. In the Book of Acts Paul addresses a group of syncretic Greeks, who worshipped idols. Paul gave a speech about God’s presence in the Greek’s lives and the reality of creation, saying, â€Å"For in him we live and move and have our being† (Acts 17:28). Paul admonished the Greeks to rely on his god rather than the various idols that they worshipped. The god that Paul describes is a constant force that remains unchanged from creation up until the present. DuBois posed a similar argument in The Souls of Black Folk, saying â€Å"(African Americans) must perpetually discuss ‘The Negro Problem,’-must live, move, and have their being in it, and interpret all else in its light or darkness. With this come, too, peculiar problems of their inner life†¦All this must mean a time of intense ethical ferment, of religious heart-searching and intellectual unrest† (221). DuBois admonishes African Americans to acknowledge the constant in much the same way that Paul urged the Greeks in his speech to find â€Å"real† religion devoid of idols. DuBois points out a major factor in African American religious culture by recognizing the constant of split consciousness between their inherent beliefs and the European American consciousness of the ones around them. Accommodating change meant dealing with the constant of double consciousness and dealing with it. With this in mind, what does African American religious culture look like? How does it feel? How do we know when we have encountered it? A more definitive answer lies in material culture, such as arts and music. In â€Å"The Criteria of Negro Art,† which was written twenty-three years after Souls, DuBois calls on artists to define themselves and break from the constraints of Eurocentric notions of African inferiority. In some ways the ex-slaves were as if they had never left Africa in the eyes of the of their captors and oppressors. The newly emancipated nation of people would never be real Americans in the eyes of the European Americans who once enslaved them. African American religious culture is a response to the question â€Å"who am I?† Geographically displaced artists demonstrated answers to African American cultural and religious practices and embodied questions and answers in their artistic practices. Dubois’s â€Å"Criteria of Negro Art† influenced the Harlem Renaissance and such artists as Langston Hughes and Jacob Lawrence (DuBois). This period is crucial because it marks a shift when African American artists began to use double consciousness to expand on both African and American roots. Michael D. Harris pointed to a model that acknowledges the double consciousness that DuBois and his generation found so problematic (Harris 45). Harris notes further that artists, like Lawrence, made visits to Africa in order to bridge their understanding of the â€Å"African side† of their consciousness (Harris 45). Rather than advocating a rift and jettisoning the African for the American, artists then and now expand their knowledge of both sides of their consciousness. They learned canonical European practices and African practices that enriched their art in ways that created a solution to the â€Å"Negro problem.† The African roots of African American religious culture began in a hellacious state of existence. It was defined by tragedy and loss created by a slave trade that refused to acknowledge Africans as human beings. Their culture was denigrated and they were despised. DuBois in his impassioned essays urged African Americans to deny European deceptions of religion and false selfhood. The fact that DuBois places the term â€Å"Negro problem† in quotes, indicates his oxymoronic style of saying something in an ironic way by using two words to contradict each other. DuBois never considered himself a problem. Out of all of the issues of racism that existed for African Americans, DuBois notes it as a source of inspiration rather than a hindrance saying: â€Å"Such is the true and stirring stuff of which Romance is born and from this stuff come the stirrings of men who are beginning to remember that this kind of material is theirs: and this vital life of their own kind is beckoning them on† (DuBois). He never saw the state of the African American religious culture as a problem but rather a series of solutions. The Harlem Renaissance revealed solutions and they continue to unfold even now as African American artists respond to a dual consciousness by incorporating religious experiences of then and now, here and there. Bibliography Double consciousness. The Oxford English Dictionary (1989). DuBois, William Edward Burghardt. Criteria of Negro Art. The Crisis 32 (1926): 290-297. - . The Souls of Black Folk. New York: Penguin Books, 1995. Farrington, Lisa E. Creating Their Own Image: The History of African-American Women Artists. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005. - . Reinventing Herself: The Black Female Nude. Womens Art Journal 24.2 (2003-2004): 15-23. Harris, Michael D. From Double Consciousness to Double Vision: The Africentric Artist. African Arts 27.2 (1994): 44-53, 94-95. Lemons, Gary L. Womanism in the Name of the Father W.E.B. DuBois and the Problematics of Race, Patriarchy, and Art. Phylon 49.3 (2001): 185-202. Long, Charles H. Religion, Discourse, and Hermeneutics: New Approaches in the Study of Religion. (n.d.): 1-26. - . Significations. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1986. Owen-Workman, Michelle A. and Stephen Bennett Phillips. Readers, Advisors, and Storefront Churches: Renee Stout a Mid-Career Retrospective. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2002. Pinder, Kymberly N. Our Father, God; Our Brother; or Are We Bastard Kin?: Images of Christ in African American Painting. African American Review 31.2 (1997): 223. Prothero, Stephen. Black Moses. Prothero, Stephen. American Jesus: How the Son of God Became a National Icon. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Girooux, 2003. 200-228. Stott, Annette. Transformative Triptychs in Multicultural America. Art Journal 57.1 (1998): 55-63. Thompson, Robert Farris. Flash of the Spirit. New York: Vintage Books, 1983. - . Illuminating Spirits: Astonishment and Powere at the National Museum of African Art. African Arts 26.4 (1993): 60-69. 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Diversity in the Workplace Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Diversity in the Workplace - Research Paper Example Some of the repositioning programs used are mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, divestitures and demergers. It helps in running business operations effectively: Efficient strategy management by reorganizing business operations can guarantee a role in corporate market. Disadvantages of Restructuring. It can be a ploy: The biggest disadvantage of the restructuring process is that it can be a ploy of saving the company from bankruptcy or acquired by another firm to leverage the buyout by a private equity firm. Staff Retrenchment: It may result in staff cutting as some business segment is sold to another company. Question 12 Evaluating the effectiveness of Propco’s program for increasing diversity of its work force Propco’s program for increasing diversity of its workforce lacks density of devotion on the part of senior management. Racial discrimination has been institutionalized here. They are not giving enough opportunities to the blacks at higher levels. On the name o f restructuring, maximum number of black workforce is being shown pink slip. The company is not benefitting from the multicultural advantage (Greenberg, 2009). Feelings of the black workforce are highly hurt because being a rich company, it is on the spree of firing staff although it could have found some other way like working with the Governor to settle tax breaks and such other options, which the senior management didn’t Diversity helps in promoting unbiased agreement programs through workplace environment and culture to find ways amid differences. It is about learning from the experiences of others who are not similar but respect for all helps in achieving the benefits of varied outlooks (Cornell University, 2010) but in its desire to become one of the more leaner and flexible organizations, Propco is not keeping on regular duty the interns it provides summer jobs from the minority community colleges. No workforce diversity program can be fruitful if incessant lay-offs ye ar-on-year are made. Although there are regular diversity meetings but no genuine effort seems to be made on recruiting more women and minorities. Blacks are there on the company rolls because of contract obligations with the government. As per the rule performing government function requires it to recruit some blacks in the workforce. That’s why they are there in the company. There is a classic case of not adopting workplace diversity as a policy. A black employee who worked on hourly basis and reached high up the ladder to earn $40,000 a year as manufacturing engineer was demoted as a dispatcher on hourly work basis as soon as his mentor left the company. Although he had an engineering degree, his services were not utilized the right way. In stead adding insult to the injury, he was shown an alternative way which went nowhere other than leaving the job. Question 13 Propco needs to make strenuous efforts in the direction of increasing workplace diversity. It should deinstitu tionalize racial discrimination: Racial discrimination seems to be at the heart of the company’s human resource policy. For that a changeover in the mentality of those who matter the most in the company is must. Until the company changes its policy to promote workplace diversity, all efforts would be just a cover. Real progress will come from genuine efforts, which can be easily brought to the notice of all by recruiting more women and blacks. Prejudiced behavior by the seniors by cracking jokes at

GLOBAL HEALTH CARE PAPER & PRESENTATION Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

GLOBAL HEALTH CARE PAPER & PRESENTATION - Essay Example By then, these efforts helped China achieve better results than those countries that they share the same level of economic development. One of the most remarkable health care reforms is patient-centered, which was introduced in 1997; the same reform agenda has formed the basis for hospital management reforms that have been introduced in China from 2005. This patient-centered approach has been promoted by improving the relationship between the doctor and the patient. Although the health care reforms in China have seen many positive results, it has also resulted to some negative impacts, which has threatened the country’s preventive health programs. Even the recent introduction of limited health insurance for preventative services and charges for immunization has not helped salvage the situation. The money that has been gotten from these schemes have proved insufficient to finance a preventative program, which currently uses 15 percent of the Ministry of Public Health’s r esources and barely 2 percent of the total health costs (Hillier & Shen, 2012). The main reason for introduction of reforms in China’s health care system was to relieve the government of some health care burden, which could be achieved by encouraging hospitals to make enough income to sustain their budgets. In this arrangement, the hospital fee is paid by labor insurance or the patients themselves through a straight fee-for-service program. The hospitals have, therefore, been forced to raise their prices in order to cover their charges and costs. In addition, the volume of healthcare services increased in the 1980s when the insurance increased their spending by 16 percent (Hillier & Shen, 2012). The health care in China has become ‘provider-led’ due to the self-financing system by the hospitals. This system has several shortcomings, including high cost of drugs and polypharmacy, longer in-patient waits for those who have an insurance cover, and inapt application of costly technology. The other major challenge of Chinese health care system is the inequalities that is introduced as a result of the reduced investment in township hospitals and the disintegration of rural health cooperatives. However, this system encourages CT scans such as the one belonging to those who have taken insurance cover for their health. In addition, this system ensures a detailed payment that encourages antibiotic injections, and infusion of intravenous vitamin among other forms of treatments (Hillier & Shen, 2012). Compare & contrast China’s health system with the American System before & after the implementation of the Affordable Health Care Act. In a bid to make healthcare affordable to the poor, who makes eighty percent of its population, China has made efforts to give them basic health facilities through a national strategy; even before the introduction of affordability policy. Unlike in the U.S., in China the accessibility of affordable healthcare has be en regarded as an essential human right and hence should be availed to the whole society. This shows that the Chinese healthcare is more equal than that of the U.S. especially considering that the cost of treatment is less than that of the U.S., although the GDP of America is larger than that of China by a large margin, China has experienced a greater growth in the rate of

Learning Plan Essay Example for Free

Learning Plan Essay The learning plan described in this paper is to have students debate a topic related to the Civil War. The debate topic is â€Å"Was the Emancipation Proclamation enacted for moral reasons or political reasons?† The main concept of this learning plan is to have students work collaboratively to research facts, and recall and use facts from the Civil War unit to incorporate into their arguments. (It should be noted that the learning plan described in this paper will take several classes to complete, however the learning plan procedures will only address the class where the debate will occur. ) It is assumed that debate skills were taught in a previous class. The learning theory certainly incorporates constructivist aspects. They are constructing knowledge rather than absorbing it. This is constructivist approach is illustrated through the collaborative nature of the assignment, as well as through the research that students’ must produce. In terms of the use of technology and media; the students will be instructed to research one source of information, from the internet, related to their argument. They must submit a one-page analysis of the information in which they found along with a references page. This must be submitted to the teacher a week before the scheduled debate. The teacher will assess the content of the paper, but the references page will also be important. Teacher must evaluate the kinds of internet sources that the students have used. The credibility of the internet source, and the strength of student’s research will be analyzed by the teacher. The purpose is to assess student’s traditional literacy and critical analytical skills (assessed when evaluating the content), and information literacy/interpretation skills of online material (assessed by reviewing the reference page). Finally, the teacher will hand back papers to the students, and he/she will instruct each group to use at least two of their group members’ papers into their group’s arguments. Media and technology will also be incorporated with the use of social media. The teacher will tell students that their debates will be recorded and submitted to youtube or a private school website (if issues of privacy are raised). Others will be allowed to view th e video to evaluate the strength of each team’s arguments. Based on the comments of public viewers, a winner will be chosen (by popular vote). This popular vote will be incorporated as a small percentage into the assessment. This is being done as to allow students to  participate in new media opportunities within an educational context. Learning Plan Context Setting The high needs school will be a High School in the Bay Area, either in San Francisco or Oakland. There will be 25-30 students in an individual classroom.  The lesson will take place the week after the Civil War unit is finished. It is anticipated that the unit will last about two weeks, therefore the debate class will occur during the third week. The actual debate class will take up one class period. The content area is US History/Politics. The grade level is Juniors (11th grade). In sum, the curriculum unit is 11th grade, US History/Politics, Civil War unit. Standards According to California standards for literacy in History/Social Studies in 6-12th grades. A student must be able to demonstrate analysis of primary and secondary sources, and connect these insights to the understanding of the whole text. This ability will be addressed and assessed when students must incorporate information learned from the textbook with information gained from the internet, and use both sources of information, into their debate. The student’s ability to undertake this task will be evaluated by the teacher with the submission of student’s sources, and also during the debate. (http://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/documents/finalelaccssstandards.pdf.) Also according to California standards, students must be able to evaluate various explanations for events and actions. This standard is illustrated in the nature of the activity. A debate, in itself, evaluates different explanations for one event, which makes it an ideal means of addressing this standard (http://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/documents/finalelaccssstandards.pdf.)  Finally, according to California standards, students must be able to evaluate differing points of view on the same historical issue. Once again, this standard is illustrated within the nature of a debate. It is also illustrated when students submit their own analysis of internet research (http://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/documents/finalelaccssstandards.pdf.) Learning Objective Students will be able to collaboratively demonstrate their knowledge of Civil War policy, events and information, from the textbook and from online sources, by formulating arguments to be presented within a debate. Learning Theory Applications Constructivism is certainly at play in this lesson plan: The activity allows knowledge to be organized into schemas, concepts, and worldviews. This activity is emphasizing the use of authentic activities by constructing knowledge through interaction with the environments (internet and peers), and applying it to real-life situations (debate). The collaborative component certainly illustrates constuctivism; learners will help each other create conceptual connections. Finally, students are working autonomously with the help of the teacher as facilitator, supporter, and model (Ormrod, 2006). Learning Accommodations: Individualized Education Plan for Special Accomodations: In each team, all students will be assigned a role. For example, â€Å"speaker†, â€Å"writer†, â€Å"time-keeper†. A student’s IEP will be taken into consideration when assigning roles. A student with an IEP, will be assigned a role that best fits their IEP. For example, a student with ADD, may be best suited to be a time-keeper since their attention span is not as focused. They may be anxious to change the pace of the group’s discussions, and therefore they may be eager to keep track of the time. Language Development needs: When assigning the internet-based research; the teacher will give ELL students a website to navigate to, instead of having the students navigate the internet themselves. Teacher will give explicit instructions as to where to look on the website so students do not feel too overwhelmed with the English language. Teacher will ask the students to try to comprehend some of the information, however if this proves too difficult, then the teacher will ask the students to find 15-20 words from the website that the student did not understand. The student will then find the meanings of these words in their own language. They must write at least a paragraph about the Civil War unit incorporating five of the words that they found on the internet. Also,  at least two of these words must be incorporated into the arguments of their team. Gifted and Talented needs: This is a challenging component to consider because a gifted/talented student does not necessarily mean an academic-rigorous student. To really tailor the lesson to address the interests of a gifted/talented student, then the teacher will have to be familiar with the personality of that particular student. However, some situations will be addressed here. First of all, from the research, the lesson itself befits that of a gifted/talented student. Competition, which characterizes a debate, usually suits the nature of gifted/talented students. (http://www.teachersfirst.com/gifted_strategies.cfm) The first situation to consider is a student who is gifted/talented, but not academically rigorous. This student will be given a leadership role within his/her team. He/she may be assigned to organize/manage all the ideas of the students. He/she is the one who will be given the rubric for what the teacher is assessing when observing the team’s discussions and arguments. He/she is the manager, and he/she will be assessed on their ability to keep his/her team on task. In this way, this student isn’t necessarily doing more â€Å"academic† work, but he/she is being challenged in a rather difficult manner. A second situation to consider is to have a gifted/talented student who is academically rigorous. The teacher will give this student a second component to add to his/her research paper. The student must connect textbook material and internet material to the US politics of today. This is increasing the cognitive process from analyze (which all students must do with their research papers) to evaluate (Anderson and Krathwol, 2001). The student can choose to incorporate this extra component into their team’s arguments. Resource Accommodations: Low tech: There are no computers, projector, or internet access in the classroom. If this is the case, teacher may have to allocate time in different lessons to use school facilities where computers are available. Computers must be used so that the teacher can show students the kinds of websites that are credible, as well as to use sites, like youtube, to show students examples of debates. Computer use is necessary so teacher may have to take time before or after school to meet with students (who are willing) to show them the above-mentioned websites. Mid tech: One computer connected  to a projector is available in the classroom. The teacher can use this computer to show examples of credible websites, as well as to show examples of debates online. High tech: Class is equipped with several computers. Teams can go online themselves to view videos of debates and start research for their paper. In this way, the collaborative nature of the lesson will start even earlier (in the pre-plan ning stage). Content-Based Literacy Skills In terms of text-based literacy; students must incorporate information from their textbook into their arguments Critical thinking, reflective thought, and text-supported thinking will be illustrated when students must draw connections between internet-based information and textbook information while doing their analysis/research paper. This connection will be evaluated when student’s cute their sources within their paper. (This explanation will also illustrate students’ information literacy.) New Media Literacy Skills Performance: This skill is illustrated when students view sample debates on the internet and use this as models of performance in their own debates. Collective Intelligence: This skill is done when students are within their respective teams and they must draw upon their own and others ideas, research, and knowledge to formulate strong arguments. Judgement: This skill is illustrated when students must judge which websites and information are to be included in their research/analysis paper. Networking: Once again, this skill is illustrated when students must search, connect, and analyze information on the internet for the purpose of their research/analysis paper (Jenkins, 2001). Learning Material: Textbook: Learners will need textbook so that they can recall information. Paper, pen: Leaners will need so that they can write down information. Rubric: Both the learner and teacher needs. Learners need it so that they are aware of what’s expected of them while working in teams and formulating their arguments. Teacher needs it so that he/she can refer to it when assessing the team’s progress. Notes: Learners will need them as a reference when formulating arguments. Stopwatch/watch: This will be given to the student whose job is timekeeper. Video Camera: Used to record the debate Learning Plan Procedures Phase I: Motivation Activity Teacher will show a short clip of a very powerful, interesting debate. Possibly a presidential debate. The clip will only show the most poignant part (according to the teacher) of the debate. Hopefully the clip will be no longer than 5 minutes long. (if there’s no computer available, then teacher must bring in her/his own computer.) In a class of 30 chair/table. There will be 15 chairs/ tables on each side of the room. They will be facing eachother. Learners will enter the classroom and sit down immediately with their team. The teacher will then show the video as soon as the class is seated and quiet. This activity is being done to motivate, encourage, and remind students of what a good debate looks like so that the output of the students’ debates can match skills such as speaking (clear and concise) and eye-contact of the debaters within the video. Phase II: Input (Teacher Driven) Activity: During this class, the teacher will, serve only as facilitator, therefore not much activity will be driven by the teacher. However, after the video, the teacher will remind students of the rubric that was given to them, and tell students that she/he is only their to assist in the logistics of the debate (time, flow, managing emotions if this becomes a problem). The teacher will also instruct students to take notes on each other’s arguments because this assignment will be important for their homework assignment. She/he will also remind student that they will be recorded. Teacher will tell all students to take out their rubrics. She/He will go over some key point from the rubric as it relates to the debate. The teacher will tell students to make sure that they keep these key points in mind because these points will be assessed during the debate. The teacher will instruct students to have their rubrics out for the entire class so they can monitor their team’s progress by themselves. Teacher will formally go over key questions from the rubric that he/she hopes the teams have incorporated into the nature of the debate (clear speech, eye contact,  concise points, respectful behavior) as well as into the content of the debate. In term of the nature of the debate, questions might look like â€Å"Is my team being quiet/respectful as the other team presents their arguments?†, â€Å"Are my responses to the other’s teams arguments not insulting?† etc. In terms of the content of the debate, questions may look like, â€Å"Did my team incorporate facts from the textbook?†, â€Å"Did my team use at least two credible internet sources within the argument?†, â€Å"Did my team follow special instructions assigned by the teacher (e.g. incorporating ideas from IEP students, ELL student, gifted students)?.† This activity and these questions serve to remind students of the importance of the collaborative nature of the learning objective. They also serve to remind students that they must be able to demonstrate their understanding of the Civil War unit, as well as their understanding of outside sources within the context of an argument. Phase III: Output (Learner Driven) Activity Students will take part in a debate. The topic is â€Å"Was the Emancipation Proclamation enacted for moral reasons or political reasons?† This activity will illustrate the learning objective in several ways. First, the collaborative nature of the previous classes will finally be demonstrated. Second, the students must illustrate their knowledge of Civil War policies within their arguments. Third, both sides’ arguments must include information from outside sources. The teacher will select one team to present their arguments first. Recording will begin The speaker of that team will stand up and come to the front of the class. They will present their team’s argument. In the argument they must mention the sources in which they got their information. For example, if they got a particular piece of data from the textbook, then they must state â€Å"As is presented in the textbook†¦Ã¢â‚¬ . If they got a particular piece of data from the internet then they must state, â€Å"As is presented on so-called website, or by so-called author†¦Ã¢â‚¬  They must also explicitly state how they used the â€Å"special instructions† from the teacher. For example, â€Å"(ELL’s student’s name) found that ‘compromise’ was not a possible solution of the Civil War.† In this example, it is assumed that compromise was on a list of words that an ELL student did not understand. He/she presented these list of words to  his/her team. The team reviewed the list, and chose to use the word compromise as part of their argument. The student will finish the presentation of his/her argument. The teacher will tell the next team to present its argument. The team will follow the same procedure as above. The teacher will then stop recording of the debate. This debate will naturally lead to questions, comments from both the teacher and the students. Phase IV: Culmination.  The teacher will ask the groups to clear up any misunderstandings or misinformation the teams may have had within their argument. This is to give other team members a chance to speak about the argument, which reinforces the collaborative effort of the lesson. The teacher will also ask students how their team’s or the other team’s information and debate skills differed and how these things were similar to the debate presented in the beginning of the class. As a smaller activity, the teacher will instruct all the students to come up with one question, comment, critique of the other team’s argument. This assignment will illustrate each student’s understanding of the Civil War Unit because it challenges students to relate, connect, or counter-argue their own knowledge of the unit. This question will be submitted to the teacher. Phase V: Exte nsion For homework, students will write a one-page analysis of the opposing teams arguments. The student will address the opposing side’s arguments. He/she will evaluate the argument’s weaknesses, strengths; and why he/she disagreed or agreed with the points that were made. Learning Plan Analysis Formative assessments will include analyzing the collaborative efforts of the team, the behavior of each team during the presentation of the opposing team’s arguments, how well each team member took on their role within their team, and how well the team incorporated textbook information, outside information, and ‘†special instructions† from the teacher into their argument. A summative assessment will include the teacher’s evaluation of the internet analysis/research paper, the one-page analysis of opposing team’s argument, teacher’s evaluations of the strength of the arguments, and finally the â€Å"popular vote† (the results of youtube or school-based website). Weaknesses of this lesson plan include time constraints, and the many assessments involved. It may be difficult to accurately assess how well each team members took on their roles. Some students may still be taking on more work than others. Also, incorporating ELL/IEP students proved to be a difficult task.. Strength of the lesson is it fosters team work, analytical skills, and gives students more power in the direction and implementation of a lesson. The teacher will implement these varied assessments in its first year, and then will evaluate the effectiveness of these assessments for future classes. The learning theories applied in the first phase was Vygotzky’s Cognitive Process. Students are witnessing two adults debating and they are expected to try to learn/imitate the behaviors of those adults. In the second phase, social cognitive theory is at play. The teacher both models desired behaviors/outcomes, as well as emphasizes self-efficacy and self-regulation. In the third phase, constructivism is illustrated. The debate is student-driven because the students are demonstrating their constructed knowledge within the debate. The assessments have a behaviorist component. Negative reinforcement (decrease a behavior) is illustrated when the teacher warns students that if they are not respectful or a team member does not contribute meaningfully, then they may be marked down (Ormrod, 2008). References Anderson, L. W. , Krathwol, D. R. (2001) . A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing, 28-31. California Department of Education. (2013) California Common Core State Standards. http://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/documents/finalelaccssstandards.pdf Jenkins, H., Clinton, K., Purushotma, R., Robison, A. J., and Weigel, M. (2006). â€Å"Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century.† Chicago, IL: MacArthur Foundation. Ormrod, J. E. (2008). Educational Psychology Developing Learners, 8. 25-36. Teachers First. 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Satire and Surrealism in Kurt Vonneguts Cats Cradle :: Kurt Vonnegut Cats Cradle Essays

Satire and Surrealism in Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle In 1963, Kurt Vonnegut published his second novel Cat's Cradle. It is a distressing yet satirical critique of our society and the surrealistic end that is its destiny. Through his use of irony and sarcasm he attacks and exposes society's flaws while questioning its intelligence. Nothing is safe from his satiric pen. He attacks science and religion with equal intensity. He creates a novel that has left, "an indelible mark on an entire generation of readers" (back cover). Society has constructed many pillars (religion, science) to protect us from the unknown. Kurt Vonnegut uses satire to tear them down. He attacks religion through his false religion of Bokononism. It is a religion of "shameless lies"(5). Newt summarizes religion up best when he compares it to the cat's cradle. "Religion! . . . See the cat? . . . See the cradle?" Yet, perhaps the greatest attack on religion comes in the last paragraph of the novel. Bokonon himself says, "If I were a younger man, I would write a history of human stupidity. . . and I would make a statue of myself, lying on my back, grinning horrible, and thumbing my nose at You Know Who"(287). The antithesis of religion is science. It is the provider of horrifying truths. Kurt Vonnegut satirical looks at how science will lead to the destruction of mankind. It is the scientist who created the atom bomb and it is the scientist who created Ice-9, yet the scientist refuses to take responsibility for it. Vonnegut satirically looks at the irresponsibility of the scientist through Felix Hoenikker who says, "Why should I bother with made-up games when there are so many real ones going on?"(11). He never understands that the games he is playing will have a disastrous effect on the human race. This disaster comes in the form of Ice-9. Kurt Vonnegut creates a surrealistic view of the apocalypse. It is a new and strange world that Jonah returns to after hiding for a week in the bomb shelter. It is a world that could have been found on the canvas of a Salvador Dali painting. The earth is a blue-white pearl, and the sky is filled with worm-like tornadoes while the sun has become a tiny cruel sickly yellow ball (261).

Issues on Paid College Athletes

Should college athletes be paid? Many have different opinions on this subject. Some feel that a fully paid scholarship is enough for these talented individuals. But for the athletes it†s not enough. Allen Sack, a former football player said: † No matter their economic circumstances, college scholarship athletes, almost universally agree that there needs to be a way for money to find its way into their hands ligitimatley.† But what most the public doesn†t know is that intercollegiate athletics is a primary source of income for colleges and universities in the United States, and the athletes aren†t seeing a penny of it. The N.C.A.A. is what†s keeping the athletes from seeing some of the money they deserve by calling it â€Å"Amateurism.† Rule 2.9 says: † The principal of Amateurism Student athletes shall be amateurs in an intercollegiate sport, and their participation should be motivated primarily by education and the physical, mental and social benefits to be derives. Student participation in intercollegiate athletics is an avocation, and student athletes should be protected from exploitation by professional and commercial enterprises.† These rules show you how the N.C.A.A. controls the actions of the student athletes, only to allow them to be manipulated by their universities and take away their freedom to earn money on their own. College athletes who come from low-income families have little or no money, leading them to accept money and gifts illegally. Presidents of division I schools are allowing boosters to offer big money to talented athletes for competing on the fields of play, and try to attract wealthy TV networks to commercialize the sports and make Billions off the consumers. College athletes are young and naive and maybe that†s why they accept money and gifts. Maybe they feel they deserve it and lack the fear of any consequences or maybe they truly need the money since they can†t make it elsewhere. Athletes know they have a scholarship, but they also know that a scholarship doesn†t give you any money for normal everyday spending. For whatever reason student athletes accept money, whether good or bad, they still take it and they always will as long as it†s offered. The star athlete is basically hired to bring success to a certain sports program, regardless of his or her educational goals or intellectual background. Technically it is a phrase describing an individual student who engages in a sport for the academic institution they represent. But the problem that haunts the N.C.A.A. is the realization that the student athlete is truly two different words, describing two different groups of people and one day they will have to admit that they are separate. The bottom line is winning, and winning requires talented athletes, but some athletes realize their value and demand some compensation for their efforts. With all their long hours of hard work and endless practice, they put everything on the line. They risk life and limb for the university they represent and for what? Why undergo the stress and strain of a season, year after year, to only be tossed aside after their eligibility or talent is used up? Obviously for some, it†s that small possibility one day turning professional, but for others it†s the question of why can†t I get paid for my work now? Universities realize that they take in millions of dollars in revenue, and in return all the athlete gets is a scholarship. It all adds up from grants-in-aid to student athletes which generates about 5 million dollars a year. Add that to the millions spent on travel, housing, equipment, health care and other costs, pretty soon were talking about real money. According to the Bureau of Census is that the free education a scholarship athlete has, typically generates an extra $500,000 or more in that persons future. An education is priceless, and the student athletes at American colleges and universities reap the benefits of the finest higher education system in the world. So the knowledge that a student athlete gains in the classroom is something that will never depreciate. What paying players would do is free them from a system in which they do most of the work and assume all of the risk, yet are prevented from sharing in the results of their labor. This in effect, would terminate any forms off corruption and exploitation of intercollegiate athletics. It would also benefit the universities, while still profiting from their athletic programs they would also be scandal free and have the pressures of winning taken off their shoulders. The majority of the pressure would be carried by the already high paid coaches and soon to be high paid athletes. The N.C.A.A. could benefit by engaging in more high profit venues and would be relived of enormous amounts of pressure due to an employee situation within the system. Overall, a system of salary paid athletes put into intercollegiate athletics would change the views of many. Whether it would benefit society depends on such a proposal. I see no reason why such a proposal could not be created.

Essay about The Role of Fortinbras in Shakespeares Hamlet

Steeped within his own pool of madness, the prince of Denmark seeks to avenge the premature death of his father. Claudius must die, die, die! Nothing else matters: not love, or death, or preservation of state, or the means to which the task is accomplished. To right what is wrong is the only focus that matters. Hamlet, blind by his own emotional transitions, is not aware until it is too late that his counterpart to the north also plots and prepares. Being one of the first writers to develop dynamic and intricate characters that leave the readers to question and interpret the characters’ actions for themselves, Shakespeare understood better than anybody else what a piece of work is a man! (2.2.305). In the play Hamlet, Shakespeare†¦show more content†¦Hamlet’s motivation throughout the play is to kill Claudius and avenge his father’s death, so every action he makes works to accomplish that goal. On the other hand, Fortinbras’ motivation towa rd action does not lie exclusively for the sake of revenge. Fortinbras, like Hamlet or any other proud prince, feels a certain obligation to exact revenge on his father’s killer. However, whatever he decides to do it would not entirely be accepted as revenge because King Hamlet is already dead when the play starts. Although it is unclear if Fortinbras desires to kill Hamlet in the name of his father, killing Hamlet would not be the same as killing his father, the true murderer. Rather than act as if responding to a vendetta, Fortinbras is motivated to restore honor to his father by reclaiming the parcel land in Norway that is seized after King Hamlet kills King Fortinbras. At his first appearance, young Fortinbras is shown to be inferior to Hamlet; being of unimproved metal, hot and full (1.1.96) Fortinbras is initially shown as a sharp contrast to the sweet and commendable (1.2.87) Hamlet introduced in the next scene. Despite going through emotional and mental highs and lows, Hamlet seems to constantly be in a state of regression and thought: Thus conscience does make cowards of us all, And thus the native hue of resolution Is sicklied oer with the pale cast of thought, And enterprises of great pith and momentShow MoreRelatedFortinbras in Hamlet by William Shakespeare691 Words   |  3 Pagesmajor role in Shakespeare’s plays, they have some type of significance. In Hamlet, one of these characters is Fortinbras. The character of Fortinbras is someone with an extremely similar background to the protagonist of the play, Hamlet. One might say that Fortinbras and Hamlet are parallel versions of each other, being in the same situation even though they have a different lineage. 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Rather, the intellectual protagonist understands all too wellRead MoreHamlet, By William Shakespeare1053 Words   |  5 PagesWilliam Shakespeare’s ravishing play Hamlet was performed at the Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre on November 18th, 2014. To recap what went on in the play: Claudius had killed Hamlet’s father, the King of Denmark. Hamlet’s mother Gertrude then married Claudius two months after the death of her husband’s murder, but she did not know. The guards of the castle saw the ghost of Hamlet’s father. Hamlet was told by his father’s ghost that he was killed by Claudius, and that is when Hamlet lost it. TheRead MoreMinor Characters Of Shakespeare s Hamlet1595 Words   |  7 Pages Through Shakespeare’s use of minor characters in his play, Hamlet, the playwright was able to subtly develop Hamlet’s character. In using minor characters, Shakespeare emphasized certain traits which the main character held. 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