Characters in Teechers Essay

The characters that I played were Mr Basford and Doug the Caretaker. Mr Basford is the deputy head, a typical child hater, a nasty piece of work while Doug the Caretaker is, a miserable old man who hates kids and drama. I think I was very well suited to play these characters, as I like to shout a lot and use my voice to project what I’m saying. With Mr Basford my face was in a permanent frown, as that’s how I would imagine him to be, just a man that would never ever smile, even at anything that everybody else would find funny. I don’t think that I did any specific gestures as Mr Basford. I know that when I was shouting, I was rocking back and forth on my feet to try and emphasise that I was angry and to try and show that I was so angry that I couldn’t control myself. I walked around the room like I owned it, to try and show that I was in total control as I think that Mr Basford would just have a lot of authority so that’s what I was trying to show. I put my back straight and led my walk with my nose, as if I was looking down it at people because I had a higher status then them. My favourite phrase that I used was â€Å"May the Lord thy God have mercy on your soul, for I, my child, certainly will not!† I used this one obviously to show what Mr Basford would be like, using ridiculous phrases to show how angry and crazy he is, which I said in a sarcastic tone. I didn’t necessarily put a specific accent on, but I did raise my voice quite a lot because I think that he would just be shouting all the time. I think that if I could choose a costume for Mr Basford then he would be wearing a grey, boring dull coloured suit with an equally dull shirt and tie, just to emphasise how boring and dull he is. He would probably wear the same clothes all through the week only washing it at weekends so that he had a quite stale smell. He would also be wearing some sensible black shoes because he is in general a sensible man that wouldn’t really be caught wearing trainers. My other character, Doug the Caretaker I think was quite an easy character to play as he was sort of a stereotype of a caretaker. He wasn’t a very smart character and only moaned about was everybody else not letting him do his job. Again, with Doug, I had a frown on all the time I was in role as him. As I said earlier Doug is a miserable old man who hates kids and drama. So because of this I thought it would be a good idea to make him look as grumpy and miserable and unhappy as possible. I tried to show this by changing my facial expressions accordingly. When I was arguing with Mr Nixon, I tried to show as clearly as possible that I was not very happy that he wasn’t letting me clean the hall. All the way through, I had my buffer out and tried to show that I wanted to clean so I held my arms out to try and show that I really had it to try and show it realistically. When I moved, I was hunched over and I was on a quite low level. I did this for this character because I think he would have quite a low status and that all of those years of cleaning would have done his back in so therefore he would have to hunch over so he didn’t do anymore damage to it. With Doug, I put on a Norfolk-come-Farmer accent. I used this because I tried to make him sound different and kind of uneducated. I think that my accent was quite effective and it had a bit of a comedic effect on the audience, as it was so unexpected. I didn’t use any specific phrases while I was in role as Doug but I said things like â€Å"Argh†¦get out of my hall, I need to do my job and you’re not letting me!†

Encephalitis Lethargica Compared to the Movie Awakenings

Encephalitis lethargica is a rare disease which is an atypical form of encephalitis that can cause symptoms that range from headaches to coma like states. Other potential symptoms include things such as double vision, high fevers, lethargy, and delayed physical and mental reactions. The treatment of the illness was the main focus of the movie awakenings and the book it was based upon. The cause of the illness even today still remains much of a mystery with successful treatment also following suit, thankfully however since a large outbreak of the illness in the late 1960’s there have been very rare reported cases of the disease since.When the movie Awakenings begins we find one of the main characters, Leonard Lowe, as a child. In the movie the viewer sees young Leonard begin to suffer from early symptoms of encephalitis lethargica, he quickly becomes unable to keep up in school and is taken out so he can be watched and also presumably to prevent the disease from potentially spr eading. The movie then jumps to 1969 where the viewer is Dr. Sayer apply for a job in Bronx, his experience up to that point had been all research but the hospital being underemployed hires him anyways.Dr. Sayer soon becomes determined to improve the quality of life for his patients and begins to look for a way to alleviate there illness, despite the skepticism of his peers. After investigating into several of his catatonic patients he finds out that many of them had suffered from encephalitis lethargica at one point or another in their past. Soon after discovering this Dr. Sayer proceeds to learn more about them by consulting a doctor who had treated many patients with the disease.He learns that many patients who survived the outbreak would seem to have periods where they would appear to recover from the illness for a time but after an amount of time would fall back into a state of catatonia. Shortly after learning this probably due to the simple fact that the catatonic behavior of his patients was similar to that of Parkinson's patients, he chooses to pursue the latest advances in Parkinson's treatments.He then attends a conference on Parkinson's treatments, there Dr. Sayer first learns about Levodopa (also known as L Dopa) Sayer proposes that L Dopa should be tested as a treatment for one of his catatonic patients, his superiors express doubts that he will be successful but in the end agrees to let him proceed to try it on one patient. He selects Leonard Lowe to be treated with L Dopa. After some period of time Leonard awakens, after this success Dr.Sayer then tries to lobby the patrons of the hospital for more funding to expand this treatment to other patients and after donations from staff members and after showing Leonard to the hospitals investors he gets the required funding and puts the rest of the patients on L Dopa. They, like Leonard, soon awaken after treatment and appear to all make a full recovery from their catatonic states.It’s not long before Leonard begins to suffer side effects from L Dopa, he experiences convulsions, paranoia, and psychotic behavior which are all real symptoms of L Dopa treatment; Leonard also begins to build a tolerance to the drug and he soon has his symptoms of his illness slowly return. The rest of the patients ultimately experience the same course of events and eventually all return to a state of catatonia. The movie ends with Dr. Sayer giving a speech about what he learned from his patients.The symptoms experienced by the patients and the side effects shown in the movie from L Dopa are extremely accurate with those experienced in real life, such as Leonard extreme emotional state and However the research Dr. Sayer, whose real name was Dr. Oliver Sacks, was similar but wasn’t exactly what occurred during the summer of 1969. Rather than starting the L Dopa treatment with just one patient and then expanding the treatment to the rest of the patients as was depicted in the film, Oliver Sacks actually began his study as a double blind procedure with a placebo group and with a treatment group.He also originally intended to only let the study last for 90 days however once he saw that fifty percent of his patients were showing improvement, Sacks went ahead and began giving the rest of the patients L Dopa and dropped his 90 day window for the study. Within the film Dr. Sayer is depicted going from one patient to his whole group of patients, apart from this the movie appears to be completely in line with the events of real life. Works Cited Micromedex, Drug Information Provided By:. â€Å"Levodopa (Oral Route). †Ã‚  Mayo Clinic.Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 01 Nov. 2011. Web. 14 Feb. 2013. â€Å"Awakenings. †Ã‚  Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 14 Feb. 2013. Web. 14 Feb. 2013. â€Å"Side Effects of Carbidopa-Levodopa. †Ã‚  Side Effects of Carbidopa-Levodopa. N. p. , n. d. Web. 14 Feb. 2013. â€Å"NINDS Encephalitis Lethargica Information Page. †Ã‚  Encephalitis Lethargica Information Page: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). N. p. , n. d. Web. 14 Feb. 2013. â€Å"Awakenings. †Ã‚  Oliver Sacks MD RSS. N. p. , n. d. Web. 14 Feb. 2013.

How to Prepare for a Part in a Play? Essay

Essay 3: All of the actors, whether they are professional or just amateur ones, always reckon that preparation in a play is half a battle in making sure of doing the part well. This step helps the actor know in depth about the script and his character as well as brings him opportunity to practise carefully on his own. If you want to make it successfully, you must always go through three main stages below. First of all, read the script as much as possible, at least 3 times. It does not mean that you must learn by heart the whole script, but understand it, discover what is hidden or not yet revealed. The more you comprehend the script, the more easily you do your part. That is due to the character is a part of story and his thinking, his behavior are totally based on the story. Therefore, let’s try to pay your attention to all scene discriptions, ask yourself why, when and where for every event. Even you can take notes on a separate sheet of paper about all the characters. If you do so, you will have an overview of the whole screenplay. The next stage is analysing your character in all aspects. You must study his behaviors, his words as well as his style of dressing or working. More specifically, you have to hear and see the characters in their immediacy, and to always remain open and sensitive not only to what they do and say but what is implied by what they do and say. When one reads from â€Å"inside the story world†, rather than as an unwilling or gawking spectator, one intersects and interacts with the characters at approximately the same emotional depth at which they are operating. Let’s take yourself in the place of your character, try to ask yourself why, when, where for every his action. Once you have a thorough grasp of your part, you can make the last stage. An English saying:†Practice makes perfect† and in case of preparing for a part, this statement is totally right. You have analysed both script and character, but that is not enough. You must have a process of practice what you had acquired through the last two stages. You should speak out loud the dialogues combining with using the body language and the expression of your face. Expressing the part as if you are the character, or rather you must forget all about who you are temporarily. You may ask others for considering your way of playing. By this external way, you will realise what your weak points are to improve more effectively. Finally, I am sure that you are totally ready for doing your part well. Taking all the above into account, we can see that prepare for a part in a play includes three stages which require you so much arduous effort. But it is not difficult at all if you have a real passion for acting the play and follow three steps in the right way. The more carefully you prepare, the better you do your part. Your preparation is a firm basis for your success in making a strong impression with spectators.

Case study finance Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Finance - Case Study Example The firm provides equipment for performance inclusive of sport balls, socks, timepieces, bats, eyewear, golf clubs, protective equipment among others. Currently, the company is at its declining phase given that in spite of achieving global recognition, their sales are declining, the market share is declining and the profits are not growing. Moreover the share price of the company’s stocks is going down the drain and there are concerns over its investment in mutual fund where the rating of the company is slowly being lowered. In July 2005 a portfolio manager of the company noted that a mutual fund management company was concerned over the write-ups of the groups. As a result the security prices of the firm continued to decline considerably. The company was also noted to be investing much in shares of fortune 500 firms which emphasis on value investment. Whilst the stocks were declining, the North Point Large-cap Fund was doing well as noted from its return of 20.7% while the rating by Standard and Poor went down 10.1%. There were also concerns over the profits remaining constant at US$ 9 billion while the market share in athletic shoes went down to 42% in 2000 from 48% in 1997. Revenue was also adversely affected by the negative impact of the dollar currency. To boost the revenues and growth of the company has to deal with top notch operating performance and establish strategies to boost the sale of athletic shoes in the mid-priced market segment which a segment the company has neglected in the recent times. The company has to also extend its efforts to clothing line business where the under the latest management the firm has performed well. Moreover, on the cost side of the company the company has plans to increase its efforts on control of expenses. The meeting of top executives stressed the importance of having a target of long term increase in revenues of 10% and a 15% growth in earnings. Moreover

Health of special populations Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Health of special populations - Coursework Example However, a key aspect to note is that during these times ethic in medical trials was never observed, especially in America, where the blacks were subjected to these experiments with whites used as the control objects. Despite, the long-term outcome of any medical trial, ethical codes must be established to eliminate torture, humiliation and deaths of the participating individuals. The Tuskegee Syphilis experiment is a traumatizing medical trial that none of institutional review boards can approve in the today’s medical platform. The experiment has been characterized by various aspects of failure to observe the basic and the binding ethics of medical research. The trial aimed at finding the lethality of syphilis in males. This is a sexually transmitted illness that is chronic to individuals contracted by the disease (Darell and Sadaf, 2011). However, Rosenweld Foundation carried out the research using 600 blacks as the participatory objects and 200 whites as the control objects. All the ethical principles of research were debased in this study. For instance, it was based on racial profiling that included the use of low-income with high rates of illiteracy. The principles of beneficence, autonomy, veracity and justice were never observed. Knowingly, the committee withheld the right treatment for syphilis in order to carry on with the study (Darell and Sa daf, 2011). All participants were not allowed to make voluntary decisions in regard to the subject of the study. To cover the situation, the whites steering the study offered free burial services to the deceased members as a false concern. In addition, there was no disclosure of any information regarding the right treatment of syphilis. In regards to this, all the physicians suspected to have information about the treatment of the infection, were not allowed to make any intervention. Lastly, justice was not observed in implementing this medical trial. It was based on

Management Accounting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 4

Management Accounting - Essay Example When budgets are imposed, department managers feel they do not have full control in their departments, which results in low morale and job dissatisfaction. This is the cause of the high turnover among his employees. Participative budgeting encourage a bottom-down approach to budgeting, involving the lower-level managers in the process of planning. This bottom-down approach requires each department manager to submit their proposed budgets for their departments; and with the assessment of the top-level managers will be subject to either approval or revisions. This gives the department managers authority over their finances, without the feeling of being imposed by the top-level management, thus motivating the manager to stay within budgets’ and at the same time top-level management does not give up control over these departments so as not to let the costs balloon. I would recommend participative budgeting for Mr. Sparkes to encourage support from department managers. As previously noted, participative budgeting encourage a bottom-down approach to budgeting, involving the lower-level managers in the process of planning. This bottom-down approach requires each department manager to submit their proposed budgets for their departments; and with the assessment of the top-level managers will be subject to either approval or revisions. This gives the department managers authority over their finances, without the feeling of being imposed by the top-level management, thus motivating the manager to stay within budgets’ and at the same time top-level management does not give up control over these departments so as not to let the costs balloon. Participative budgeting gives department managers the authority they need to feel motivated in doing their jobs, without the top-level management giving up control. By involving the department managers, they will be more motivated to stay within their budgets, thus keeping their morale up and lowering the employee turnover

Able Corporation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Able Corporation - Essay Example Strategy choice and implementation are the primary determinants of strategy success. The analysis of strategy performance over time provides important diagnostic inputs into the development of strategy choice concepts. The early discussion highlights the importance of matching the strategy choice with the conditions of the environment and the organization's skills and resources. The long-term importance of selecting a sound initial strategy has research support. In order to define the identity of Able Corporation, it is important to take into account the nature of business and market strategies. Research suggests marketing strategy should be conceptualized and investigated within the context of the organizational mission. Most marketing strategy frameworks address the role of organizational mission but few empirical investigations actually take mission into account. Perception of market needs does not mean that an opportunity exists for any particular company (Fill, 1999). Available opportunities must be related to the particular company's resources, including its personnel, financial, and physical resources. Profitable courses of action vary with individual corporate postures and goals. The overwhelming majority of innovative opportunities will be rejected. But it is necessary to screen the many to find the few that do relate to the resources and the mission of the company (Johnson and Scholes, 1998). This function of innovation relates to specifying the company's innovative opportunity by identifying the various practical alternatives that exist to remedy the discovered dysfunctioning. This is a job in which the technician can assume a major responsibility. An analysis of total company operations and methods in the light of market opportunities is helpful in sifting the opportunities to arrive at the few that are most relevant and profitable for the company's current situation (Doyle and Stern, 2006). Because of different organizational goals and missions, each organizational type defines a unique strategic situation. The first group was labeled "mom and pop shops." These firms are extremely small and possess little marketing expertise or resources. The second group are stable, high-payoff companies. These enterprises have achieved some success and may have acquired substantial marketing expertise within a limited market. Such firms have no aspirations for future growth. A third group is composed of growth-oriented small firms. These are new ventures with a mission defined by aggressive growth (Johnson and Scholes, 1998). In order to prioritize the implementation steps, it is important to analyze a current market situation and take into account possible changes and market fluctuations. The extent to which a marketing strategy should be modified over time is an important strategy choice issue. Successful enterprises select and retain a strategy on a continuing basis. This issue has critical implications for the new enterprise, particularly when entering a new product-market where the lack of experience in the market provides little or no direction concerning strategy choice. Entrepreneurship research also provides insight into two important marketing strategy options: strategic alliances and product diversification. Small firms are also utilizing collaborative marketing strategies. In an empirical study of entrepreneurial high-technology firms, small firms at a competitive disadvantage with rivals in their industry were likely to utilize joint ventures or other cooperative strategies to launch new prod ucts (Doyle and Stern,

Social Groups Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Social Groups - Essay Example In European countries it seems that more emphasis is placed on the enjoyment of life, and not necessarily an enjoyment of money. In America it is often believed that fun and enjoyment cannot be had without spending money, whereas in Europe citizens learn to enjoy the simpler aspects of life and pleasures that come free of cost. The main difference between the work ethics of Americans and Europeans is that the United States is a more capitalistic society. 1.) "Capitalism is a system of wage based labor and commodity production for sale, exchange, and profit rather than for immediate use of the producers" (Scott). In the United States, citizens feel that they have to work in order to enjoy life. They hold the philosophy that one must work in order to receive. Americans believe that everyone is out for themselves and that if one wants to improve their quality of life they must work for it. 2.) While the United States work ethic is definitely money oriented, it is not purely capitalistic. 4.) The United States government has adapted some practices with a socialist background and applied them to the American way of life. Examples of these practices can be seen in free education for all, free healthcare for those that qualify, free food and food stamps for those that are in need, etc. In Europe, many citizens enjoy a more relaxed work schedule with longer weekends and more vacati

Team article review #3 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Team article review #3 - Essay Example pany, Under Armour, also tried to sign Kevin Durant for the sale of its sneakers, but Nike signed him back first, because if Durant had gone to Under Armour, then a lot of clients of sneakers would have turned to Under Armour. Hence, this all is a game of one competitor thinking about strategies to win over another competitor in business. This is why, this article is very interesting for my team, as it talks about very remarkable strategies that business adopt to earn huge revenues while losing some of it or investing some of it. This is kind of an investment that Nike has done in Kevin Durant, and then, it is also a business deal for Durant as it will benefit him too. Businesses and companies have to move very strategically while thinking about how to attract clients. Making one wrong decision, or taking one wrong step, can lead to disastrous results. Losing Kevin Durant and watching him go to Under Armour would have been a huge setback for Nike, because it would have meant losing c ustomers. The sense of competition and strategic management of business is what caused my team to choose this article. Stock, K. (2014). Nike needs Kevin Durant, even if he cant sell enough shoes. Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved November 14, 2014, from

Positioning Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Positioning - Research Paper Example n any organization by providing increased convenience, flexibility and controlling the users as well as influencing their service delivery options being offered, such as easy mobile accessibility at any time. The positioning strategy statement will provide guidance and the commitment by providing unrestricted and multi-channel access paths to information’s to the members of the society. Further, the provision of operational coverage and service capacity with respect to iPhone and network delivery will be ensured (Ortnes, 2011). The organization, on the other hand, appears unique since it provides the commitment to the growth of the technological infrastructure that provide users with the freedom to work with the iPhone mobile device of their choice compared to other organizations. Positioning is a powerful tool in marketing that creates an image of the organization. Best business positioning doesn’t limit opportunities and choices. Some of the primary elements of positioning that the organization aims at include affordable prices of the iPhone that will enable customers to purchase without complaint (Kotler & Keller, 2012). However, the iPhone quality is expected to be high. In connection to this, as the rate of competition is gradually increasing, the organization is required to offer customer-friendly guarantees, return policies and warranties that are not being provided by other competitors. The organization is also expected to provide customized and customized services to the customers (Webster, 2011). The channel of distribution of the iPhone should be strategized. In consideration of the prices, quality, distribution, and services, the organization will automatically capture most customers compared to other organizations in a competitive environm ent. Having visited various places around the market, I realized that the majority of entrepreneurs in the field of marketing selling iPhone models were majorly selling the iPhone, 5c model. Through this, I

Discuss the various ways which Robert Swindells presents life in The streets of London Essay Example for Free

Discuss the various ways which Robert Swindells presents life in The streets of London Essay Im invisible see? One of the invisible people. Link, a young 16 year old boy from Bradford who is homeless, desperate to escape his Brutish stepfather feels that he has become an invisible outcast. Another quotation to support this is when Link says, They dont like reminding I exist. Link says this to show the reader that he is worthless uses this type of language to make the reader more aware of how difficult it is to live on the streets of London. Links character in the book also emphasises a feeling of coldness. An example of this is shown when link says, Also I kept seeing people I knew Neighbours. Guys Id even been at school with. I even saw one of my teachers once. And if you have ever been caught begging by someone who you knew before, you cant possibly know how low it makes you feel This also makes the reader think that Link has a very lo self esteem and is very depressed. Another quotation to support this is when Link says, I was one of them now poised at the top of that downward spiral. Kink says this making the reader understand how hard it is to be living on the streets. Shelter, the less predominant character in the novel, who is trying to rid the streets of homeless people uses subject specific Lexis to show the reader that he has a background in the army or has worked for the army. This is shown to the reader as Shelter always starts his chapters with, Daily routine orders. Link uses sarcasm to emphasise a point, for example, Good old Vince. After Describing Vince as a Brutish, evil stepfather who is a boozer and a bastard, Link says, Good old Vince. The author, Robert Swindells uses this to create an irony. At the beginning of page three Link mentions, Born March 20th 1977 to Mr Mrs X. Link says this to show the reader that he has forgotten the past and wants to get on with life. The main quotation to support and emphasise this is, Mr Mrs X. Another statement to support this is when Link says, I strode out of the station with my backpack and bedroll, and it felt like a new beginning. This also shows the reader that link was positive life would improve from what it was with Vince. Another quotation to support this is Nobody knows you. Where youre from and whats gone before. Thats youre business. One other quotation to support this is when Link chooses the name to give to Ginger he says, Link I said. Id seen it on this signpost earlier. Thames Link. Its a railway. Robert Swindells also uses various techniques to make living on the streets look very hard and scary. The reader is informed of this when Link says, Sad is what it is, Sad and scary. Youre leaving a place you know and heading into the unknown with nothing to protect you. This also informs the reader that this novel appears to be tragedy in many respects. Link feels very depressed after applying for many jobs in London and not getting any because he was homeless and was looking rough and scruffy, also looking like a tramp because of sleeping in the same clothes on the solid concrete floor. When Link started living on the streets of London he thought he was a hard boy who everyone would be terrified of after hitting an old bloke but his hopes were soon dashed after he was kicked out of his bedroom by the streetwise, tough person he wanted to be. An example of this is shown to us when Link mentions, this guy was what I was kidding myself Id become. Robert Swindells uses Shelters storyline as a very good way in which to present living on the streets of London. As Shelter goes around London looking for young and old people, whenever Shelter says, Hostel he always manages to get them to his house so that he can kill them. This shows the reader that homeless people are desperate for somewhere comfortable to sleep at. An example of this is when Shelter gets his first client, That got him hostelhe fell for it hook line and sinker. On page twenty-one Shelter also says, I am not a murderer at all Im a Soldier out of uniform, killing for his country. After killing a homeless person shelter mentions to the reader that he is not a murderer but a soldier killing for his country. This statement is not true as Shelter has murdered people who have done nothing to him and his country. Shelter thinks he is doing a good thing and is particularly careful about every step he takes. The author, Robert Swindells uses this to create an irony. As the reader gets deeper and deeper into the book, they start to grasp knowledge of Shelters storyline and start to know the feeling of how it is to be homeless and the different setbacks and failures it may have. The reader also learns not to stereotype homeless people.

Academia and Text Matching Software Essay Example for Free

Academia and Text Matching Software Essay Critically evaluate the use of text matching software as an aid to developing good scholarship practice Introduction Academic dishonesty such as plagiarism has been a major factor in education that has affected students’ success and academic achievements in recent years. Plagiarism according to Park (2003) is the act of appropriating or copying another person’s work and passing them on as one’s idea without acknowledging the original source. Park (2003) noted that plagiarism is a growing problem and has been a misuse of the writings of another author, their ideas, hypothesis, theories, research findings and interpretations. Furthermore studies by Chao, Wilhelm and Neureuther (2009) emphasised that the rising trend of plagiarism among students can be attributed to several factors such as academic literacy, language competence and the technological advancements in the world today in terms of high speed internet facility available in hostels and computer labs. These factors according to Chao, Wilhelm and Neureuther (2009) has enhanced the ability of students to plagiarise a whole assignment by obtaining papers on the internet relating to their assignments which is as easy as copying and pasting. Park (2003) stated that students have different perceptions towards plagiarism. He noted that students view plagiarism as a minor offence which is different from cheating in exams. He further discovered that plagiarism could be unintentional (ibid). This is because some students possess a mental illusion in which they believe they have produced something from their own perspective while infact they are reproducing something which they have read from another author. The purpose of this paper is to critically evaluate the effect of text matching software as an aid to developing good scholarship practice. This paper will begin by briefly describing what good scholarship practise is. In addition the use of text matching software for detecting good scholarship practice will be critically discussed and a conclusion will be made based on the evaluation. Good scholarship practice can be referred to as a formal study which involves academic learning and achievement. It involves acknowledging where information used to support ideas in a particular context is gotten and citing the sources (Locke and Latham, 2009). Britag and Mahmud (2009) pointed out that different strategies whichinclude the use of electronic software tools such as turnitin have been derived for detecting plagiarism with the intent of allowing students’ take responsibility of their learning and also work hand in hand with their tutors in the drafting stages of their assignments. According to Britag and Mahmud (2009) manual detection of plagiarism is difficult because it is time consuming and this is the reason why some tutors are reluctant in pursuing potential cases of plagiarism. However both the manual method of plagiarism detection and the electronic text matching method should be employed (Britag and Mahmud, 2009). Scaife (2007) argued that the electronic text matching software is not the solution to eliminating plagiarism because the software only focuses on text matching of paper under review with documents (journals, articles, e-books and conference papers) found on the internet or which has been previously submitted and this is a limitation because the only detection are focused on electronic materials without considering some non-electronic paper based documents which could still be plagiarised. Walker (2010) stated that with the development of text matching software such as the turnitin plagiarism detection was made easier, however he emphasised that the turnitin detection software is not 100 per cent efficient, it merely identifies and matches materials present in a document uploaded to turnitin website to materials available on the internet. Walker (2010) describes the electronic text matching software as a tool only suitable for detecting word for word or direct plagiarism in electronic form and the refined ones from the paper based sources are not easily detected. Moreover Carroll and Appleton (2001) argued that the turnitin is just an option for measuring plagiarism and that alone cannot be used as a basis for judging good scholarship practice. In addition Carroll and Appleton (2001) insist that the use of electronic software for detecting plagiarism requires human application and interpretation and that using turnitin alone as a medium for plagiarism detection is not proficient. According to Barrett and Malcolm (2006) the electronic text matching software (turnitin) only indicates possible plagiarism without any certainty, it is left to the tutor to determine the extent to which the writer has plagiarised or included some sources in the paper without acknowledging where they were acquired. In conclusion the concept of plagiarism cannot be overemphasised. It has become a factor that has affected good academic scholarship practice and has  created an avenue for educators to develop methods for detecting and dealing with plagiarism. The development of the electronic detection software such as the turnitin has enhanced the detection of plagiarism however it cannot be relied upon completely because it is not effective. In addition it is important to understand that the best way to detect plagiarism is to use both the manual method which involves educators and the use of electronic text matching software such as turnitin. Students could also be assisted in understanding the criteria for academic writing such as the code of conducts which requires them to acknowledge any source from where data is derived when writing academically. References Barrett, R. Malcolm, J. (2006) Embedding plagiarism education in the assessment process, International Journal for Educational Integrity, Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 38-45. Bretag, T. and Mahmud, S. (2009) A model for determining student plagiarism: Electronic detection and academic judgement. , Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice, Vol. 6, No. 1, pp. 50-60. Chao, C. , Wilhelm, W. J. , Neureuther, B. D. (2009. ) A Study of Electronic Detection and Pedagogical Approaches for Reducing Plagiarism, The Delta Pi Epsilon Journal, Vol. 51, No. 1, pp. 31-42. Carroll, J. and Appleton, J. (2001), Plagiarism: A good practice guide, Oxford: Oxford Brookes University. Locke, E. A, Latham, G. P (2009) Has Goal Setting Gone Wild, or Have Its Attackers Abandoned Good Scholarship? , The Academy of Management Perspectives, Vol. 23, No. 1, pp.  17-23. Park, C. (2003). In Other (People’s) Words: plagiarism by university students—literature and lessons, Assessment Evaluation in Higher Education, Vol. 28, No. 5, pp. 472-488. Scaife, B (2007) IT Consultancy Plagiarism Detection Software Report for JISC Advisory Service. [Online]. Retrieved from:www. plagiarismadvice. org/documents/resources/PDReview-Reportv1_5. pdf [Accessed 24th October 2012]. Walker, J. (2010) Measuring plagiarism: researching what students do, not what they say they do, Studies in Higher Education, Vol. 35, No. 1, pp. 41-59.

Constructivism in International Relations

Constructivism in International Relations Explain and discuss how constructivism in IR attempts to re-shape discourses on security away from materialistic conceptions of power politics and towards a conception that takes account of power of ideas. Since the end of the Cold War, security studies in international relations have witnessed an overwhelming emergence of new academic literature reflecting the changes in international political environment. Concept of global security has evolved throughout the history going back as far as ancient Greece but arguably never been challenged and re-structured to the extent that it was in post Cold War era. Critical theories in general and constructivism specifically added a new dimension to the international relations studies with focusing on influence of social elements such as norms and ideas and rejected the notions of purely materialistic approach to world politics and security.  [1]  Collapse of the Soviet Union, following the suspension of the activities of the Communist Party by Supreme Soviet, the parliament of the U.S.S.R on August 29 1991, validated and renewed the International relations scholars concerns about the methodology of the international relations study and the ex tent in which it had played a role in the production of international powers.  [2]   The aim of this essay is to identify and discuss how constructivism influenced the concept of security in international relations with emphasising on the role of social elements and the extent in which constructivism has criticised the materialistic approach. In doing so this paper explores the structure of global security from the standpoint of constructivism and its core elements regarding the power of idea in response to the materialistic view of power politics. Furthermore, it will analyse the constructivist response and effort to alter the discourses of security in international politics theory by studying the process of social interaction in forming identity and role of norms and ideas in global security. Finally, concepts of Human Security and Collective Security will be looked at from both viewpoints. The end of the Cold War came as a surprise to the classical dominant scholars, who failed to predict or explain the changes in global politics, whilst simultaneously providing the opportunity for further development of critical thoughts, which were around since the mid 1980s. Realist theory and positivist methodology in international relations were criticised for their materialistic approaches by constructivism, which quickly flourished and was recognised as a theory that emphasised on the social dimension of international politics. This advance towards the possibility of change equipped the theory to capture important features of the worlds relations  [3]  .Among the many aspects of mainstream presumptions and beliefs in world politics, which were challenged by constructivism, was the pessimistic view towards peace and over-deterministic nature of these theories about the conflict, threat and the world security. Constructivism challenged the theory of power politics, dominant pe rception of the threat and struggle in global politics and took a completely different approach in studying the transformation of the security dilemma by focusing on subjects such as evaluation of security factors, construction of the threat, and appropriate responses.  [4]   Constructivisms approach to the subjects of threat, conflict and security in global politics originated from their fundamental emphasis on the social dimensions of international politics, thus it defined them as socially constructed elements in the process of identity formation under the influence of the norms and shared values of society. Over the years and especially after the Cold War, constructivism positioned itself as a major critique of the dominant theories in international politics by addressing issues such as balance of power, democratic peace and the re-introduction of the phenomena of collective security, security community, human security, human rights and many other social elements to the field of security studies of international politics. One could argue that most of the constructivists work was formed around their aim in explaining the changes in world politics in the period towards the end, and after the Cold War when dominant international relations theories failed to predict the sudden change in the global politics and old security regime. These changes to the international political environment, which occurred in the 1980s, raised questions about social construction and the methodology of international relations theories and their involvement and effects in the production of international power. The term constructivism was introduced by Nicholas Onuf in 1989 and identified simply as people and societies construct or constitute each other.  [5]  According to Wendt, constructivism assumes that the fundamental structures of international politics are social and these structures shape actors identities and interests.  [6]  World in constructivists term is constituted by both knowledge and material factors and moreover as a social theory, it is concerned with the relationship between agents and structures. Furthermore, all constructivists share a common concern when explaining how international structures are defined by ideas and how identities and interests of the states and non-state players are shaped by the structures.  [7]  It is at this juncture when a comparison is needed to understand the differences between mainstream international relations theories and constructivism in security studies. As a result, it is crucial to see global security from realisms point of view to fully understand the role of the elements such as threat, response and survival in constructing the realists approach to the security dilemma. Likewise, it is necessary to analyse constructivisms view of ideas and knowledge and to study the relationship between structure and agency as well as the construction and identification of threat. Security studies is a multidimensional subject in the field of international relations and has changed and evolved throughout history. This evolution was impacted, probably more than any other subject in international relations, by recent technological advancements and historical events. However, as far as history goes the core concern of security studies has centred on the states strategy to defend and protect its borders against external threats. Attempts to understand security and provide an answer to security dilemmas can be traced back to Greece in fifth century BC when Thucydides theorised the violence and war and describe the security dilemma based on Peloponnesian war. Many centuries later Carl Von Clausewitz and Thomas Hobbs devoted much of their time and work to define these contemporary security dilemmas. By following the work of these scholars we reach the conclusion that despite the differences in language, economical development, social and political intuitions, religio us and cultural beliefs, states faced almost identical threats and suffered from the same security dilemmas throughout history. Here a comparison is needed to understand the differences between mainstream international relations theories and constructivism in security studies. It is crucial to see the global security issue from realisms point of view to fully understand the role of the elements such as threat, response and survival in constructing the realists approach to security dilemma. Similarly, it is necessary to analyse constructivisms analysis of idea and knowledge in order to study the relationship between structure and agency as well as construction and identification of threat. In recent decades critical schools and other theories of international relations have challenged the traditional materialistic approach to security study, which focused on politics and power. Among them constructivism played an important role in developing an ideational approach that emphasised the effect and role of norms and ideas in global security.  [8]  Norms are produced through social practice as intersubjective beliefs about social and the natural world that defines the identity of the players, their roles and the possibilities of their actions.  [9]  Thus actors and their meaningful actions are constituted by the norms on the basis of their social roles and environments. These norms could also balance the actors behaviour by defining the appropriateness and effectiveness of their action.  [10]   Constructivisms approach differs with regard to the actors and social structures of the international politics in comparison with the rationalists view. The political environment in the Realists and Neo-liberalists view is comprised of rational actors, whose actions are self-interested in order to maximise their ultimate goal of survival and relationship between these actors, and is structured by the balance of material power.  [11]  In contrast, constructivism focuses on the actors and structures in a dynamic context, where actors are influenced by the environment and social elements and structures and are produced and reproduced by the actors.  [12]  On the other hand, in the constructivists view idea plays an important role in forming the actors and their actions.  [13]  This means that when ideas become norms, they can constrain the actors behaviour and reactions but at the same time they constitute actors and legitimise their action by opening the space for them to a ct and influence the social structure.  [14]   In essence, constructivism criticises the rationalist approach of ignoring the role of social factors in interaction between players in International relations. The constructivists critique of neo-realists and neo-liberalists concerns not what these scholars do and say but what they ignore: the content and source of state interests and social fabric of world politics.  [15]  According to Paul Kowert, rationalist theories explain how states should choose or how they should bargain. They offer answers to some important questions about when states should cooperate and when they might be expected to fight. Yet they say nothing about who the actors are or how their interests were constituted.  [16]   Constructivism believes in the dynamic nature of international politics and promotes the vision of change. In doing so it criticises the rationalist view of static material and considers the system of self- help, power politics and threat as socially constructed elements of international politics. Alexander Wendt notes, that self-help is an institution, one of the various structures of identity and interest that may exist under anarchy.  [17]  In examining the subject of security in international politics, constructivism concludes that threats are constructed in the process of social interaction in the process of formation of identity and interests. In such an environment therefore, norms and shared values play a role in improving the cooperation between actors by forming the economical and political structures that promote peace between the actors in international politics.  [18]   The constructivist account of identity formation in the process of social interaction in security studies attempts to answer the important question of how threats are formed and how international actors act against this threat. Both traditional and defensive realists share the view that threatening forces are formed around the phenomena of the balance of power, and states reactions are determined and guided by the state-centric system of self-interest and the anarchic nature of international politics. However, they engage in a different view when defining the kind of reaction states portray, as traditional realists believe that states balance their power against threatening forces whilst the defensive realists maintain the view that states form allies to increase their capability and security against the common threat. In contrast to this opinion, constructivists developed the idea of legitimacy and demonstrate that states reactions to threatening forces are influenced by social elem ents such as norms and shared values in the process of interaction, and are directed by the logic of appropriateness. In other word, norms and shared values define the legitimacy and appropriateness of states actions, as opposed to the traditional view of logic of consequence. Another aspect of global security is the phenomenon of security dilemma, which can be defined as a states uncertainty in evaluating and assessing the intentions of others. Hopf argues that while the security dilemma is an important factor to understand the conflictual relationship between the states, it may not be relevant to many others which face less or no conflict and have many common interests.  [19]  The constructivists account of security dilemma is quite different to that of the realist. In constructivisms view the reality of the world, which includes the world of international relations, has been socially constructed via a complex of inter-subjective understanding . In other words, anarchy as the prime structural feature of the international sphere around which all considerations of security and insecurity revolve is not an autonomous phenomenon that generates its own inescapable logic. This also means that the security dilemma, for example, does not exist before any int eraction between states but is in fact a product of social interactions of states.  [20]  In addition, Hopf notes that norms can reduce uncertainty: by providing meaning, identities reduce uncertainty. Enabling states to recognise their enemy may not result in security, but identity can replace the uncertainty with certain insecurity.  [21]   Constructivist security theory has also addressed the absence of war between liberal democracies or namely, the concept of democratic peace. Here liberals believe that democracies do not oppose each other since norms of compromise and cooperation prevent their conflicts of interest from escalating into violent clashes.  [22]  This can be interpreted in various ways first; it could be argued that these norms are bound to competition and constituted by domestic democratic principles,  [23]  or second, that they can be seen as the product of domestic institutions and their effect on states behaviour.  [24]  One could also argue that domestic principles and practice work together and therefore are mutually constituted. In constructivist ideology, the important aspect of peace or absence of conflict among the democratic states is the role played by norms within this context. Thus without accepting or rejecting any of the above arguments it could simply be stated that democrati c peace could be made possible with the concept of norms playing an important role in preventing conflict.  [25]   Constructivist interpretation of global politics as a socially constructed structure provides the necessary means, for the theory under examination, to respond to another important subject in international security study namely that of security community. The concept of security community was introduced by Richard Van Wagenen  [26]  in the early 1950s and further developed in a study by Karl Deutsch and his associates in the same period.  [27]  Theories and ideas evolved around this concept by attempting to explain the states actions in the face of a security threat from a different perspective than the rationalist view of balance of power. One theory included the idea of formation of a security community developed around the concept of collective security with the focus on the states effort to strengthen their own security by acting together. The distinctive feature of the security community idea, which set it apart from the traditional concept of democratic peace, was in it s emphasis on the states security and not on the democratic structure of the states. Lawson commented on this approach by adding that in a constructivist approach the idea of community is not limited to democracies.  [28]   The study of collective security and the constitution of the security community aim to explain how states react when facing threat and insecurity in the international political environment. In other words, a group of states identify a common threat and form a relationship to defend themselves by acting as a unified whole. Formation of such communities, based on a collective knowledge of a common threat not only improves the security of the states against the threat, it also results in peace between the members of such a community. More succinctly, those who are acting as one against the common threat would not fight each other for the same reason. As Deutsch illustrates, the security community as a group of states come together to the degree that they feel real assurance that members of the community will not fight each other physically, but will settle their disputes in some other way.  [29]  He identifies the states sovereignty as the point of differentiation in formation of tw o types of security communities and explains that a pluralistic community forms when states retain their sovereignty, whereas in an amalgamated type states formally unify in order to form a community security. Despite the earlier references to collective security by traditional international relations theories such as liberalism, the modern concept of collective security and states acting as a community against a common threat is a relatively new idea and has only been seriously considered subsequent to the Cold War in both academic and practical senses. The fact that the Cold War almost ended without serious confrontation between the two blocks has positively changed the international political atmosphere. A move towards a more peaceful future has been attained as well as an enhancement of the influence of theories, which have emphasised the role of identity, norms and social basis of the structure of international politics. Moreover, states once again saw the opportunity for constructing a new foundation to achieve a peaceful and stable international order.  [30]  Meanwhile, the social elements of international politics have received much more attention accompanied by friendlier treatment from politicians and Deutschs original ideas of shared understanding, transnational values including the possibility of peace, which were brought back to attention again.  [31]  In his observations Adler tried to address the issue of the circumstances where states are more likely to agree on forming a security community in the face of thre at, and noted that, those who realise the devastating effects of the insecurity of war on the economical, political and social aspects of a democratic system will agree on coming together in order to defend themselves and promote peace and stability. He believed that such an agreement was founded on shared values and actors identities and notes: security communities are socially constructed because shared meaning, constituted by interaction, engenders collective identities. They are dependent on communication, discourse and interpretation, as well as on material environment.  [32]  Almost all the literatures about security community agreed on the critical and centric role of identity, and identity formation processes in the construction of the collective security and formation of a security community. Identity in this case, is the distinctive characteristic of one group against another. Unlike the mainstream theorys approach to actors identity as a static and pre-defined status of the states, constructivism defines identity as a variable factor, which changes with time and is associated with cultural, political, historical and social contexts. As stated before, the introduction of collective security and security community can be traced back to the 1950s. However, despite Van Wagenen and Deutschs efforts to develop the idea, it did not receive much attention until the end of the Cold War. It can be argued that the dominance of the realist paradigm during the Cold War in the realm of global politics on the one hand, and the hostile circumstances of bi-polar structure of global security on the other hand are to blame for the states lack of interest in any security arrangements other than one which could guaranty their survival. The United Nations failure in bringing the sovereign nations together from both sides in order to form a pluralistic security community at an international level also added to the uncertainty of the nations in considering any order other than a bi-polar system. Following the Cold War, international politics has witnessed a new wave of ideas and theories which have found a voice in an attempt to theorise the new world order in global politics. At this time it can be said that the concept of security community and collective security has benefited from the critical theories emphasis on social dimensions of international politics and their special attention to social norms, culture, identity and shared values. For many decades realism and neo-liberal institutionalism were dominant forces in global politics and security studies and consequently played a major role in defining international politics. Whilst both of these theories assume that war is inevitable and always expected, realism identifies the distribution of material power as the defining element of global politics and relationships between states following with the conclusion that, factors such as the balance of power, the role of superpowers and alliances are only the means for preve nting war and not for creating peace. Neo-liberal institutionalism shows more interest in finding the means to encourage cooperation between the states and focuses on the role of institutions in enhancing cooperation between self-interested states in order to prevent conflict. As it appears in both paradigms, war and material capability remains inevitably at the centre of these theories about war and conflict, which continues to dominate global security in both theory and practice until the end of the Cold War.  [33]   Peaceful change and the idea of achieving long term peace and global security, not on the basis of material capability and deterrence but based on the concept of identity-formation processes and the role of norms and values, became the feature of critical theories in the mid 1980s. This notion was developed further with the rise of constructivism as an international relations theory. Constructivism explained how ideas and identities are created and how norms and shared values shape the states affairs, strategies and reactions to global security. Since it is unrealistic to ignore the power of material in the backdrop of international relations and security studies, constructivism complemented the existing theories by adding the social dimension to the international relations field and emphasising the importance of collective identities and shared values in developing security in particular, and the idea of collective security in general.  [34]   Human security is a relatively new subject in international relations and has dominated an integral portion of international security studies after the Cold War. Human security in its current form is the product of the shift from state-centric views of security and power politics towards accepting the role of social elements in global security.  [35]  The phenomena of security in the area of international relations has traditionally been limited to the military defence where states compete with each other for gaining or improving their security and survival in an anarchic system with their focus on military power. In such an anarchic structure national security becomes equally as important as defending the territory against external military threat.  [36]   The more modern approach in security studies accepts the crucial role of traditional views in protecting the states but does not believe that it is sufficient to protect human welfare, whether within the states borders or internationally. Basic human needs are the focus of modern security studies in the context of human security and as such the 1994 Human Development Report of the UN Development Program stressed that: for most people today, a feeling of insecurity arises more from worries about daily life than from the dread of cataclysmic world events. Job security, income security, health, environmental security, security from crime these are emerging concerns of human security all over the world.  [37]  The changing context of state security, especially after the Cold War, opened the space for the critical ideas to challenge state-centric, power-based systems of global politics that gave priority to high politics. It has also increased the opportunity to address transnational issues around the globe such as HIV/AIDS, the control and management of weapons of mass destruction, illegal arms and rug trades and environmental and population problems.  [38]   Widening the boundaries of security studies following the introduction of social and economical elements, which were not traditionally considered as part of the field of security, was not received well by the mainstream classical theorists and attracted criticism from traditionally dominant theories in international relations. The key argument against the critical thinkers and constructivists was that security should only engage with issues centred around the use of force and threats thus, elevation of the social and economical issues to the study of security and the promotion of non-military issues to the same level of real security elements is a threat to the coherence of the subject. Therefore, the broadening of security studies was criticised by a wide range of traditional scholars. On one side of the spectrum were those who believed that only military power and threatening force were subject to the field of security studies, and on the other side were scholars who could see the need for change. Furthermore, while they endorsed the conventional view that the military is the primary factor in security studies they also accepted the fact that especially in post Cold War era there is a need for opening the international studies to non-military cases of conflicts as well.  [39]   For traditional thinkers such as Chipman, opening the concept of security to non-military issues was only acceptable if they played the role in a context of utilised force and threats between political actors. He noted: the structuring elements of strategic analysis must be the possible use of force.  [40]  The essential point in Chipmans hypotheses is that he acknowledges the role of non-military aspects of security but at the same time emphasises that the use of military force should remain at the core of strategic analysis. Despite the shift among the traditionalists of moving away from the state-centeric system towards the wider approach to security, some traditionalist thinkers never accepted the idea of social elements playing a role in security and strongly argued against it. One of the most strongest traditionalists Stephan Walt, defines security as studying the threat and use of military force and opposes the widening of security fields and the inclusion of issues outside the miliary domain into security studies. He argues that, (it) runs the risk of expanding security studies excessively; by this logic, issues such as pollution, disease, child abus

There is No Escaping the Matrix Essay -- Video Games Virtual Reality

There is No Escaping the Matrix In the video game world anything is possible, and if your player dies you can always play again. The videogame industry is exploding in the market place; it's far from child's play and far from the days of pong. In the most recent issue of Entertainment Weekly (December 6, 2002) there is an article, Video Game Nation, discussing a new video game experience being touted as the wave of the future, The Real World meets The Matrix. In this virtual world called The Sims Online, people "live" in a virtual environment peopled by avatars created by thousands of other gamers. Neal Stephenson envisioned this future ten years prior with his release of Snow Crash. Stephenson describes a computer-generated "metaverse" where the logged-on could take on "avatars" hang out, and walk around, meet other "avatars" and perhaps fall in love. These artificial realities offer millions of people a chance to step out of our world and enter another dimension where anything can happen. The setting may be artif icial in nature, an electronic stream of data creates this artificial world for the player back home, but the interaction and the emotional appeal for the players are very real. When Neo is "reborn" we see where technology has taken us; it has enslaved us and uses us humans as a power source. Why not see that for what it is: a warning. We see computer gaming as nothing more than just escape. This is what technology offers people escape -- from this world, but is something being given up? Perhaps we should look at the nature of the beast and realize we are already enslaved. We are already there linked together in a Marxist fashion struggling for power, shelling out time and money to find solace inside the World Wide ... ...real Matrix that is this planet if we spend all our time on the "net?" Perhaps the connected quality can translate into a more informed public, but I doubt the young players of video games would bother to take notice. Stephenson's vision is accurate, we are becoming more connected yet live separate from each other; separated by tract housing, highways and the 'metaverse.' The future generation video gamers will experience more complicated and time-consuming games. This virtual gaming world offers them a place to explore beyond their world but at the same time keeps the players from this world. The love we have for machinery has only served to create the world we have today. There is no escaping the Matrix. Even at the end of the movie, Neo is still using the Matrix to communicate his intentions; we are still trapped inside the glass womb waiting to be set free.

Vice-Principal :: essays research papers

Introduction The doctrine of employment-at-will emerged in the nineteenth century in the United States in a climate of unbridled, laissez-faire expansionism, social Darwinism, and rugged individualism. It is often referred to as Wood's Rule, named after Horace C. Wood, who articulated the doctrine in an 1877 treatise Master and Servant. No doubt the title of the treatise says all that need be said regarding Wood's view of employment relations and, unfortunately, the view shared by most of his legal contemporaries (Mauk, 1985). According to Wood, an employee must be free to quit at any time, otherwise there is the possibility of involuntary servitude, which is prohibited in the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The doctrine of mutuality of obligations then required a symmetrical right of the employer to terminate the employee at any time. At- Will Employment: Definition and Application In its narrowest sense, the doctrine of at-will employment only speaks to when an employment contract can be terminated: the contract can be terminated at-will of either party, i.e., at any time. A separate issue is why (i.e., for what reasons) the employment contract can be properly terminated. From the beginning, the concept of at-will employment meant that the employment contract could be terminated for any reason by either party (Mauk, 1985). Most employees of state governments in the USA are not at-will employees. And most members of labor unions in the USA are covered by a written contract, called a "collective bargaining agreement† that contains a clause specifying that their employment can be terminated only for just cause. This clause makes union members not at-will employees. Recognizing that this rule of law is too harsh, courts in the 1960s began to develop an exception to the absolute right of an employer to terminate an at-will employee, in cases where the employer violated a clearly expressed public policy. The process of developing the public-policy exception to at-will employment accelerated during the 1980s and 1990s, not only with judicial recognition of public policy, but also legislatures passing statutes providing whistleblowers with protection from retaliatory discharge (Mauk, 1985). At St. Thomas the Apostle school, we have a part – time Day Care provider, who works for our after school program and might be fired at the end of this school year. She has displayed unethical behavior towards co-workers, unprofessional attitude toward parents and students, and illegal actions by displaying negligence to safeguard students under her care. Therefore, a panel of several administrators has met to discuss the different legal issues that might arise before termination is announced to her this June.

Imagery and Themes in the Epic of Gilgamesh Essay -- Epic Gilgamesh es

Historical Context - Imagery and Themes Rosenberg notes that Gilgamesh is probably the world's first human hero in literature (27). The Epic of Gilgamesh is based on the life of a probably real Sumerian king named Gilgamesh, who ruled about 2600 B.C.E. We learned of the Gilgamesh myth when several clay tablets written in cuneiform were discovered beginning in 1845 during the excavation of Nineveh (26). We get our most complete version of Gilgamesh from the hands of an Akkadian priest, Sin-liqui-unninni. It is unknown how much of the tale is the invention of Sin-liqui-unninni, and how much is the original tale. The flood story, which appears in the Sin-liqui-unninni version, is probably based on an actual flood that occurred in Mesopotamia around 2900 B.C.E. (26). The Sumerian culture influenced the entire Near East (Swisher 13). The success of their culture was dependent on the agricultural viability of the area. Every year there were floods which provided rich silt for successful farming that encouraged the people to stay in the same area year after year instead of migrating to find new areas for crops (19). There are indications that the Sumerians were composed of two different peoples which mingled in the same area. The Semites are believed to have mixed with the Highlanders. The Semites were patriarchal hunters and more warlike than the Highlanders. The Highlanders were matriarchal and peaceful. Swisher suggests that there is evidence of both social groups and that the combination of the two led to changes in the perception of the roles of the gods and goddess as well as the men and women (21). Sumer was originally small groups of people that eventually grew to form cities. As a country it included 13 ... ...der to receive eternal life. The apparent belief in an afterlife which is indicated by the burial with useful objects may show that eternal life is achieved after physical death. The Flood - recounted by Utanapishtim is representative of the purification of human life by the gods. Their transgressions are swept away (with most of the population) and they are reborn into a fresh, new world and relationship with the gods. Ark - the symbol of the gods' love of the humans and their interest in preserving the human race. We also identified five themes in the Epic of Gilgamesh: Conflict between chaos and order, represented by nature and civilization; Man's quest for immortality and knowledge; Dealing with loss; Male bonding/brotherhood; Heroism (man's victory over nature).

Auditory Learning Style Essay

Individual differences establish the well-acknowledged concept of the variety of learning styles exhibited by learners. This means that learners are likely to learn differently according to their fortes and preferences. The ability to learn by using one’s auditory capabilities is one learning styles. Students who are more likely to learn through auditory learning styles focus on the things that they hear. Information that they obtain through auditory sounds is more likely to register within their minds, allowing the retention of the information, thus, reinforcing the learning process. Other learning styles include bodily-kinesthetic, visual, social, and such. With this in mind, teachers should be able to realize the need to accommodate these individual differences regarding learning styles in order to teach purposefully and efficiently, realizing the goals and objectives of learning. However, accomplishing this particular motive is not an easy task since teachers themselves have their own learning styles. It becomes a difficult challenge for teachers to accommodate all learning styles when they themselves are inclined to learn by a singular means. For the remainder of this text, the strategies and techniques on how to facilitate the different learning styles exhibited by the students considering I myself display an auditory learning style will be discussed. Since the issue concerns me as a teacher, I believe that the changes or modifications should start from me. Primarily, I should not even consider or dwell on my learning style as it will only contribute to the difficulties of trying to get over the challenges of overlooking all the varied learning styles. The task at hand should focus on understanding the structures and dimensions of each learning style. In this way, I will be able to obtain comprehensive knowledge on how students with unique learning styles are able to learn and from this kind of information, design the teaching-learning or instructional process in order to facilitate the various learning styles. However, the first thing that I should do is to conduct a survey or to observe how my students learn in order to identify the kind of dynamic styles that exist within the learning situation. Perhaps, exhibiting auditory learning style myself would be able to help in achieving my purpose of accommodating the various learning styles of my students. Surveying or understanding their learning needs may be implemented through recitation. This is so, because my own personal learning style permits me to learn most efficiently by hearing, and conducting a recitation to understand their motivations and preferences during the learning process will greatly assist my in my considerations of what they need during the teaching-learning process. In addition, during the learning process, it would help to listen to the students in order to pick up some hidden concerns or complaints that I should be considering in designing the teaching-learning interaction. Responding to the acquisition of knowledge on the variety of learning styles is another challenge that I should be able to conquer. For instance, each lesson or course presented to the learners should be able to incorporate all strategies or techniques that are common to the various learning styles in order to accommodate all the students. For instance, an entire lesson should utilize music for auditory learning styles, iconic materials such as pictures and videos for visual learning styles, practical activities such as demonstrations, role-playing, dramatizations, and such for bodily-kinesthetic learning styles, groupings and social interaction for the extroverted learners, individual work sheets and activities for the introverted learners, etc. The most important thing to consider is to incorporate the requirements or necessities of each learning style, particularly on the instructional materials that are being utilized to facilitate the learning process.

Politics and the English Language Analysis

â€Å"Above all, we cannot play ducks and drakes with a native battery of idioms which prescribes egregious collocations of vocables as the Basic put up with for tolerate, or put at a loss for bewilder . â€Å" This passage is written by Professor Lancelot Hogben(located on pg. ___ , the second example) This is shown as a prime example of bad writing habits which are identified in George Orwell’s essay. This passage shows examples of dead metaphors, the problems with putting implicit words that confuse the reader, and the sheer unwillingness to look up proper meanings of certain words such as egregious. As you can see our presentation is about the essay â€Å"Politics and the English Language†. This essay classifies the bad writing habits in modern English as opposed to the traditional style. We would first like to start off with a quiz to check the class’s general knowledge of the classesIf you could not identify any examples of slang and bad writing habits it would be smart to listen to what were going to talk about. George Orwell writes about the traditional style of English, and the connection between language and action. Orwell discusses the problems of Modern English and the slow spread of vagueness in writing. In this essay the thesis was explicit; it stated that the English language is in a decline and that modern English of full of bad writing habits which are spread by imitation. In this paper Orwell identifies different errors that writers generally make as his subtopics such as dying metaphors, operator or verbal false limbs, pretentious diction and meaningless words. The first sub-topic talks about dead metaphors. The method of development for this sub-topic is cause and effect. Dead metaphors show that writers are becoming lazy with metaphors; they use old pre-made metaphors so they don’t have to invent new ones. This causes writers to use metaphors in the wrong context and never have a chance to express their own imagery. Also these metaphors are not precise enough and produce vagueness in the written work which shows the writer might not be interested in what he is writing. Now the second sub topic is about operators or verbal false limbs. The method of development for this paragraph is cause. Operators and verbal false limbs show that writers are using words for filler in order to make the sentence balance with no thought about meaning and they. This means that the passive is always being used instead of the active which is wrong. The third subtopic is about pretentious diction. The method of development for this paragraph is cause and effect. Pretentious diction occurs when writers are using words that have no strong purpose. They are interchangeable and have no strong tone. A good example of pretentious diction is Marxist writing. Marxist writing is when words are improperly derived from German, Russian, or French. The fourth and final subtopic in this paper is meaningless words. The method of development for this paper is effect. Meaningless words are when writers using larger words with more syllables in their text, but are more unclear than their more simple words they are replacing. So now were going to go on about the tone in this essay. The tones expressed in this essay were feelings of assertiveness and bitterness. Orwell was self assured that what he was writing was true in our society and was bitter about the downfall of the English language. In this essay we found three examples of negative connotative diction. The first example of negative connotative diction was found when Orwell stated in paragraph four which states that â€Å"Each of these passages has faults of its own, but, quite apart from avoidable ugliness, two qualities are common to all of them. The first is staleness of imagery; the other is lack of precision. † In this passage he chooses to use the word â€Å"Staleness† to show the negativity. The second Example of negative connotative diction comes from paragraph five where its written that â€Å"But in between these two classes there is a huge dump of worn-out metaphors which have lost all evocative power and are merely used because they save people the trouble of inventing phrases for themselves. In this case Orwell decides to use the word dump instead of â€Å"amount† or another word of positive diction. The third example of negative connotative diction is also found again in paragraph 5 when Orwell states â€Å"In real life it is always the anvil that breaks the hammer, never the other way about: a writer who stopped to think what he was saying would avoid perverting the original phrase. † In this case Orwell decides to use perverting to show his disgust for what the writer is doing when he is demonstrating an example of a dead metaphor. In this essay we found two good examples of figurative images. The first figurative image can be found on pg. 348, where it says â€Å"It follows that any struggle against the abuse of language is a sentimental archaism, like preferring candles to electric light or hansom cabs to airplanes. † This image is a simile working with the subject of the struggle against abuse of language. This is a figurative image because it makes an abstract comparison of language to preferring candles to electric light. The second figurative image we found was on pg 355, where it says â€Å"In (4), the writer knows more or less what he wants to say, but an accumulation of stale phrases chokes him like tea leaves blocking a sink. † This is also a simile working with the subject of stale phrases. This is a figurative image because it makes this image with tea leaves blocking a sink, and in real life there is no correlation between tea leaves and choking. .

Graded unit development stage Essay

Abstract The purpose of this project was to create a house corner, so the child-minder and her assistants are able to assess the children in their care more easily. As well as having somewhere for the children to be able to go and role/pretend play. The aim of the project was too: To lead the development of creating the house corner, within the child-minding setting †¢ To resource a house corner facility in my childminding setting The methods were completed by interviewing child-minder’s and giving parents questionnaires to get their opinions on role play and the house corner. It was found that there are mixed views regarding role play, role play areas and role play to assist assessments. My assistants participated in the creation of the house corner, my parents participated in the questionnaires given out to them and four local childminders participated in my interviews. Throughout this piece of research it has become apparent that everyone has different ideas regarding role play and how children should be doing this. My recommendation is that there should be a framework for childminders stating what equipment they should have and what they need to do for a basic education for the children. Introduction The purpose of this project was to create a house corner, so the childminder and her assistance’s are able to assess the chidren in their care more easily. As well as having somewhere for the children to be able to go and role/pretend play. Within graded unit a house corner will be created within the child-minding setting because one of the parents had said â€Å"it would be nice to have a house corner area’. This is because the child within this family has no brother’s and sister’s and the family would like to see how their child role plays and interacts with others. Also working with the Community Child-minders a house corner is a good place to be able to assess a child through role play. The Community Child-minder Area Manager also recommends having a house corner in place in the setting. This is for assessment and observational reasons as a community child-minder can have a lot of Child Protection referrals. While developing this unit various mandatory units of the HND Childhood Practice relates to this topic they are Sociology and Psychology. The Sociological theory Symbolic interactionism, Feminism and Psychological theories of Piaget, Vygotsky and Bruce will be looked at. I will also be looking at leadership though this unit and looking the democratic leadership style. I will also be looking at various legislations though out this unit as this relates to getting it right for every child (GIRFEC)2012, because when working together with other authorities to make everything better for the child/children involved in the service. You can see what is going on in ‘their world’ from the role play the children do. It will enable assessments to be carried out while the child is at play. I will be looking at the Data protection act 1998 and the Equality Act 2010, this is relevant so at every interview everyone is treated the same and all the information is kept confidential. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). The Convention gives children and young people over 40 substantive rights, including the right to: †¢special protection measures and assistance †¢access to services such as education and healthcare †¢develop their personalities, abilities and talents to the fullest potential †¢grow up in an environment of happiness, love and understanding †¢be informed about and participate in achieving their rights in an accessible and active manner. Bench mark Standards 3.9 Managers/lead practitioners have the knowledge and understanding needed to support evidence informed practice. They: know how to access, and apply relevant research and enquiry-based findings know how to reflect on and engage in the systematic investigation of practice can make informed choices among particular research methods and methods of evaluation draw on a range of sources of evidence to analyse and evaluate practice draw on relevant principles, theories and approaches to inform their practice demonstrate the ability to share and discuss with others the principles and perspectives that underpin their own professional practice. Aims Within the graded unit I have two aims to achieve, these are: †¢To lead the development of creating the house corner, within the child-minding setting †¢To resource a house corner facility in my childminding setting Methods For all the research methods, questionnaires and interviews, the responses will be kept confidential and all the aspects of confidentiality will be respected. Interview four child-minders to see how they set up their house corners, For this method I contacted four local Fife childminders that also work with the community childminding, I discussed with them over the telephone what I was required to do and how I would visit their setting to see their play area and to do an interview to gain qualitative information. (Appendix 1) Visit child-minding settings to see the home corners and how they work. I visited the childminders setting so I could see their play area and the home corners and how the childminders used the area to assess the children. All parents’ views on role play will be gained by a questionnaire which will mainly have closed questions to gain quantitate information on role play, this will be piloted in class with my peers. I created a questionnaire which will mainly have closed questions to gain quantitate information. I piloted the questionnaire with my class peers using email. I then handed the questionnaire out to the 8 parents that use my service. They all completed the questionnaire by the return date of the 25th April 2013. (Appendix 2) Fund raise to gain funds to resource the house corner. For the funds to resource the house corner, I had  £20 available through petty cash. I then did a sponsored toddle with my pre-school children on the 23rd April 2013 and created sponsor forms for the children to take home and get family and friends to sponsor them. (Appendix 3) Morrow The code of ethics written by Morrow (1996) will be looked at while researching this unit. Ethical considerations in research with children and young people occur at all stages of the research process. They should be considered as an on-going and reflexive part of the research process throughout the life of a research project and not just as the first hurdle to be overcome. Results I have interviewed four childminders for research purposes and to gain qualitative information regarding the house corner and role play. I had asked if the childminders believed if having a house corner was an effective way to aid role play 25% said yes while the other 75% said no and their reasoning for this was that despite having a house corner children would role play no matter where they were. â€Å"Children will role play whether there is a house corner present or not†. I asked if the adults get involved in the children’s role play 75% said they sit back and observe/none and 25% said they get involved if the children ask but with draw as soon as possible. During the interview I asked the four childminders what sort of assessments do they already do in their setting 100% answered Observations and Photographic only. (Appendix 4) I have visited four childminding settings to see what role play facilities childminders have in their setting. Each childminder had little role play equipment out for the children to use and the children were sat playing board games, reading books or playing outside on apparatus. I ask two of the childminders about their role play equipment-one responded â€Å"Children don’t need equipment to role play, they turn things into equipment and pretend play†. I gave all my parents that attend my setting questionnaires, to gain quantitate information which is eight in total. I had a 100% return on my questionnaires. I had asked if my parents thought a house corner was an effect way to aid role play? 62.5% said yes it is an effective way while 37.5% said it wasn’t effective. (Appendix 5) I had asked if role play promotes or condemns a child’s development? 87.5% said it promotes a childs development while 12.5% said it condemns the development. This parent stated â€Å"My child doesn’t role play and their development is fine†. I asked the parents what role play toys do the children have at home? Fundraiser The fundraising for the house corner we did a sponsoredtoddle. At the fundraiser there was 2 adults and 8 children involved and we raised  £159.26. (Appendix 6) With this money I intend to buy the following for the house corner. Kitchen pots and pans Plastic kitchen food Play plates cups and cutlery Paint and decoration for the home corner Table and chairs Discussion Feminism According to the feminist belief, women are being exploited by the sources like books, media, and the society by means of children’s toys. Feminists are of the view that the society aims to put conditions on children from their birth about their anticipated roles in society. In the statement, ‘pink is for girls and blue is for boys’, radical feminists would strongly argue that through parental expectations things like toys, books, and television begins the exploitation of women. For instance, girls are given dolls to play with, kitchens, prams, and tea sets. Feminists would claim due to imposition of such conditions, girls into their expected roles of playing the housewife and caring for children. On the other hand, boys are given footballs, computer games, cars, trucks, and are encouraged by their fathers for dummy fight. This encourages men to be masculine, violent and physically powerful according to the feminists. Symbolic Interactionism This theory focuses on the way that people interact through symbols: words, gestures, rules, and roles. In order for interaction to work, each person must interpret the meanings and intentions of others; this is made possible by common symbols this is what Mead called ‘role taking.’ This involves one person taking on a role of another person, by imagining that they are the other person, which they are interacting with. For example, if a person observes another smiling, crying, waving a hand or shaking a fist, they will put themselves in that persons position so they can interpret the intention and meaning. This will create their response to the action of the other person. Human interaction is a continuous process, with people taking it in turn of playing the role of the other. Mead argued that the process of role taking helps individuals develop a concept called ‘self’. There are two aspects of self these are ‘Me and I’. Me is a definition of yourself in a particular role for example a ‘good parent’ or a good colleague’. The I is an opinion of yourself, which is otherwise known as your-self-concept, which is built up from the reactions of others and the way you interpret those reactions. Self is not something we are born with but it is learnt during childhood. There are two main stages in the development of this. The first is known as the play stage which involves children playing roles that are not their own for example a child may play Mums and Dads, Drs and Nurses. In doing this the child learns there is a difference between themselves and the role they are playing. Piaget Jean Piaget, a philosopher and psychologist, was one of the first researchers to take children’s play seriously. He came to recognize that children learn step-by-step through experience and interaction with the world around them. In fact, Piaget’s research discovered that the young mind is not capable of formal logic and abstract thinking until 11 or 12 years old. Up until then, children learn inductively through experimentation and testing – through hands-on play. Piaget identified these stages of children’s development: Sensorimotor Stage: Birth to 2 years The child at this stage uses senses and motor abilities to figure out the world. Squeeze the rubber ducky and it quacks. Drop the ball in the hole and it rolls down the chute all the way to the bottom. Through repetitive play, the young child learns how to keep in mind what’s out of sight and how to cause a reaction. Preoperational Stage: 2 to 6 years During this stage the child acquires the ability to use symbols but still requires physical props and concrete situations to solve problems. A preschooler will line up 4 blocks and 4 more and then count up to 8. Concrete Operations: 6-11 years From physical experience, the school-age child learns to conceptualize. Now 4+4 can be solved with numbers, not just with objects. Still the young student relies on experiment and discovery to hotwire the brain. Vygotsky Vygotsky’s research on play, or children’s games. Vygotsky gives the famous example of a child who wants to ride a horse but cannot. If the child were under three, he would perhaps cry and be angry, but around the age of three the child’s relationship with the world changes: â€Å"Hence play is such that the explanation for it must always be that it is the imaginary, illusory realization of unrealizable desires. Imagination is a new formation that is not present in the consciousness of the very raw young child, is totally absent in animals, and represents a specifically human form of conscious activity. Like all functions of consciousness, it originally arises from action.† The child wishes to ride a horse but cannot, so he picks up a stick and stands astride of it, thus pretending he is riding a horse. The stick is a pivot. â€Å"Action according to rules begins to be determined by ideas, not by objects†¦. It is terribly difficult for a child to sev er thought (the meaning of a word) from object. Play is a transitional stage in this direction. At that critical moment when a stick – i.e., an object – becomes a pivot for severing the meaning of horse from a real horse, one of the basic psychological structures determining the child’s relationship to reality is radically altered†. As children get older, their reliance on pivots such as sticks, dolls and other toys diminishes. They have internalized these pivots as imagination and abstract concepts through which they can understand the world. â€Å"The old adage that ‘children’s play is imagination in action’ can be reversed: we can say that imagination in adolescents and schoolchildren is play without action†. Vygotsky also referred to the development of social rules that form, for example, when children play house and adopt the roles of different family members. Vygotsky cites an example of two sisters playing being sisters. The rules of behavior between them that go unnoticed in daily life are consciously acquired throug h play. Bruce Tina Bruce’s theory is a theory on play, which includes 12 features that assist in cultivating, recognising and monitoring free flowing play. The features that make up the theory include, making up playing rules, having fist hand experience, playing together, pretending, having personal agenda, making props and deep involvement, among others. The theory emphasized on the importance of outdoor pay in the lives of children. (Appendix Democrative Leadership Style The leaders invite and encourage the team members to play an important role in decision-making process, though the ultimate decision-making power rests with the leader. The leader guides the employees on what to perform and how to perform, while the employees communicate to the leader their experience and the suggestions if any. The advantages of this leadership style are that it leads to satisfied, motivated and more skilled employees. It leads to an optimistic work environment and also encourages creativity. This leadership style has the only drawback that it is time-consuming. These findings show that children role play as a part of learning and they develop all their developmental skills through doing this. Despite whether you have a role play area/equipment children will find other ways to role play using equipment and pretending it is something else. There has been theorists studying role play and although they all make good points I feel Tina Bruces 12 features of play is the closest to being true. Conclusion Throughout this piece of research it has become apparent that everyone has different ideas regarding role play and how children should be doing this. Each childminder does things differently and I feel there should be an overall standard that each childminder should have when setting up a childcare setting.