The film adaptation of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”

The film adaptation of Shakespeare’s â€Å"A Midsummer Night’s Dream† is one that gains three out of five stars in my book. With the director Michael Hoffman taking the fun and magical world of fairies from Shakespeare’s comedy and turning it into a rather serious tale, the movie, released on May 14, 1999 was given a new twist on its own.The story is about a complicated love affair where Demetrius and Lysander both want Hermia but she only has eyes for Lysander. This is made worse with Hermia’s father wanting Demetrius to be his son-in-law. Helena, Hermia’s friend, on the other hand wants Demetrius.Hermia and Lysander plan to flee from the city under the cover of darkness but are pursued by an enraged Demetrius who is himself pursued by an enraptured Helena. In the forest, the king and queen of the faeries, Oberon and Titania, are having a lover’s quarrel over a servant boy.Oberon’s mischief-maker, Puck, runs loose with a flower which causes people to fall in love with the first thing they see upon waking. In the twists that created unexpected pairings, the lovers are finally brought together rightly, thanks in part to the bungling work of Puck.The performance of Kevin Kline, who played Nick Bottom, has brought an element of compassion from the audience even in the light of the character’s buffoonery. Kline gives the comic relief character more life with his proclivity to exaggeration. Rupert Everett (Oberon) was radiant as the king, but gave no standout performance and looked a little deadpan in his acting. His partner, Michelle Pfieffer (Titania) looked so indifferent in her performance but still gets the beauty vote among the members of the cast.Stanley Tucci (Puck) has played the playful role of Puck well, seeming to enjoy the movie he’s playing in and stays comical all the way. Calista Flockhart, playing Helen, was a convincing lovesick ragdoll who clarified how pathetic the character re ally was.She was able to handle a very classic role with an enthusiastic energy only rivaled by her co-actor, Tucci. Hermia, played by Anna Friel, was average in her performance, and her mud-based fight scene with Helena was probably the most convincing part of her acting. Dominic West did not give any standout performances and was average all throughout the entire movie. Demetius, played by Christian Bale, had done his duty as an actor playing his part and did not rise above his role and made the character larger than life.The whole movie is devoid of any hi-tech special effects that we are constantly bombarded with in today’s movie industry. Some of the evidence of this is Bottom’s donkey ears and a great amount of facial hair; the wings of the faeries seem like strap-on contraptions that are so stiff and unrealistic.The forest setting, however, served its purpose, which is to have a magical, unearthly quality even though it looked more like a set than a real forest. Make-up and costume design were effective in creating the strange creatures found in the story, despite the lack of technology.Most of the costumes for the humans, however, seem ready to be ripped off from their bodies as were suggested in some of the scenes making the movie very sexually suggestive.

Historical linguistics Essay

Linguistics is the scientific study of human language.[1][2][3][4][5] Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context. The earliest known activities in descriptive linguistics have been attributed toPÄ Ã¡ ¹â€¡ini around 500 BCE, with his analysis of Sanskrit in Ashtadhyayi.[6] One subfield of linguistics is the study of language structure, or grammar. This focuses on the system of rules followed by the users of a language. It includes the study of morphology (the formation and composition of words), syntax (the formation and composition of phrases and sentences from these words), and phonology (sound systems). Phonetics is a related branch of linguistics concerned with the actual properties of speech sounds and nonspeech sounds, and how they are produced and perceived. The study of language meaning is concerned with how languages employ logical structures and real-world references to convey, process, and assign meaning, as well as to manage and resolve ambiguity. This category includes the study of semantics (how meaning is inferred from words and concepts) and pragmatics (how meaning is inferred from context). Linguistics also looks at the broader context in which language is influenced by social, cultural, historical and political factors. This includes the study of evolutionary linguistics, which investigates into questions related to the origins and growth of languages; historical linguistics, which explores language change; sociolinguistics, which looks at the relation between linguistic variation and social structures;psycholinguistics, which explores the representation and function of language in the mind; neurolinguistics, which looks at language processing in the brain; language acquisition, on how children or adults acquire language; and discourse analysis, which involves the structure of texts and conversations. Although linguistics is the scientific study of language, a number of other intellectual disciplines are relevant to language and intersect with it.Semiotics, for example, is the general study of signs and symbols both within language and without. Literary theorists study the use of language in literature. Linguistics additionally draws on and informs work from such diverse fields as acoustics, anthropology, biology,computer science, human anatomy, informatics, neuroscience, philosophy, psychology, sociology, and speech-language pathology. Prev Page

Life After Death

Life after Death. Daniel Yashinsky 16/09/2011 Death is a word that someone never likes to hear but questions that always come to mind are what happens after we die. Many people believe in different situations but ultimately I assume that the way we live out our life will determine our results in the afterlife. Almost like being punished in a sense it’s the way of the society to believe in morals such as right and wrong. Who or what judges the fact of where we go. Are these theories accurate or is it all just a fabrication. All in all it’s pretty hard not to think of the one thing you can’t run from. Since the moment I was born my parents have been telling me what is right and what is wrong. So if I was to do something wrong I would get punished so these morals have always been engraved in my brain. Who decided what is right and what is wrong, why do we have these morals and why do we get punished for committing so called sins? I don’t think there is a true answer for that, but people think that if you are a good human which can mean so many different things but in general if you live out your life doing good deeds that you will go to a heaven. This theory also works in the opposite way as well, when people commit sins that are against the â€Å"norm† of the society they live in then they will go to hell. This is one of the reasons why religion has been followed for so long to keep society in control according to what we presume is in control. If one believes in this then it will be easy for someone to just live their life and not fear what is beyond the threshold of death. But one question still remains, who decides our faith after death. Today I was asked â€Å"do you believe in god? I didn’t know how to respond because all I could think about was the reasoning for his asking. Did he want me to believe in god? Was he just curious to know what my thoughts were on the matter? All I know is it’s a personal question but it felt like I was being judged. I like to have my own views on things I don’t usually conform to society, almost like an existentialist. So the answer to the question is somewhat, I don’t particularly believe in god itself, but I think there is some sort of higher power. The real question is if this higher power ends up judging us just like this man did to me today. So this higher power for some odd reason gets to judge me and the rest of the world to decide if we get to go to a happy place or a sad place in simple words that is what religion means. People devote their whole lives thinking if they follow this rule their afterlife will turn out well for the rest of eternity. Now I will see beyond this and look at people who do not believe in god what so ever, so these sorts of people are condemned to live in the underworld. Now who’s to say that the way I live my life will determine my afterlife. Why should I believe something that someone has just made up without any proof? Anything can happen after you die; people shouldn’t spend their whole life deciphering the code of death. The reason people feel such a need to believe in something is because they have a fear, the fear of the unknown. When you don’t know what is going to come after you die, how can’t face those fears. I honestly believe that any of these theories can be true, but little did I know how much death plays a star role in so many people’s lives. Truthfully everyone sees death differently and depending on who you are Now life is an important thing to all of us, why waste it thinking about what’s going to happen after death. If I was to die I would like to one to judge me on the things I have done in my lifetime. This will give a meaning to my life and many other lives as well. Seeing how so many people believe in this way of life that it would be terrible not to see it fulfilled, also a something of a higher power judges us and leads us through the rest of eternity. Finally we can go against it all and say that all that happens is we rot in the ground. So for all we know life as we know it can be death without any real proof we just have theories but my beliefs will stay strong .

Rallying the Masses (1 January 1992) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Rallying the Masses (1 January 1992) - Essay Example f the Republic) This creative process will afford us great opportunities, which the people of Kazakhstan merit for sure, but we are also going to face great challenges, which I’m sure the people of our country will rise to. One of the greatest opportunities that lie ahead and will directly result in people’s prosperity is the development of an independent republican economy based on the market principles. Kazakhstan is abound with natural resources – uranium, chromium, copper, coal, iron, oil and natural gas (International Crisis Group, r.133) – which, if managed properly, could provide a steady inflow of foreign currency and thus, along with our wheat, textiles, and livestock exports, to predetermine our success in the economic field. As to which way is the proper one such wealth to be managed, I vote for profit-orientated management, but with strong regard for the national interest. In that connection, what we need is to attract large foreign investments into the national economy, under strict governmental supervision, as well as to help the formation and growth of domestic private capital. Therefore, we are going to face some of the greatest ever challenges. First and most impor tant is the matter of stepping out of the centralized economical structure of the former Soviet Union, which matter should be carried to its logical conclusion with perseverance, as well as with a certain dose of cautiousness – in order to be minimized the shock for the Republic’s economy, hence to protect the living standard of the people against collapse. In that train of thoughts, as major obstacles ought to be mentioned our exports’ exclusive dependence on trade partners within the ex-Soviet Union, the vast distances between Kazakhstan’s coalfields and the European industrial centers, the existing infrastructural deficiencies, etc. Second and not less important is the process of privatization of many industries hitherto owned by the state. The correct manner of

Differences in Accounting and Finance Case Study

Differences in Accounting and Finance - Case Study Example Industrial analysis always looks forward to analyzing the things in a perfect and well-organized manner. Budgeting is the most important thing from the viewpoint of an organization and the main perspective of this assignment also relates to the same (Joseph V. Carcillo). Basically, this is a case study analytical assignment, in which there are different questions that need to be answered accordingly. From the above-mentioned table, it is clear that that the total expense required by the company is $ 726,900, hence the budget should be higher than that of the same. It is required to allocate at least $ 1 million budget in order to finance all the things accordingly. Let compute the proportion of each attribute and then apply the same on the new budgetary line in order to get a certain amount of figures. The variances in the activities have been found from the difference of each activity while the difference or variance in the total has been found from the net total figure amounting to $ 273,100. The new flexible budget is very much in the favor of the company as a whole, as most of the things have low difference among the things. The newly allocated budget is well enough to analyze the same in total. Let’s now move towards the third question Cost efficiency is an important factor from the viewpoint of an organization and every organization has to control its cost both direct and indirect cost in order to become economically viable and efficient. In the scenario of the selected organization, it is found that the company is able to control some parts of its cost but not cent percent. The compensation of Directors have a high proportion of 47% of the total budget which is quite high and it should be decreased accordingly because the allocation of funds would disturb heavily merely because of this particular provision. If I will be in the team of the board of directors, then I would not prefer this much of cost.

In light of ever-expanding network activity, what should be the role Essay

In light of ever-expanding network activity, what should be the role of supra-national organizations in crises like the Arab Spring and Libya in 2011 Why - Essay Example The mistreatment of the people in Libya and victims of the Arab Spring should have been a concern for the supra-national organizations. The political leaders in Africa for example in Libya use their power to oppress the minority. These leaders deny their subjects their human rights and make their lives miserable under their rule. The success of NATO depended on the chance of Libya emerging as a stable democratic nation.2 The success of supra-national organizations is dependent on their objectives. Doubts have been casted over the responsibility of networks to protect vulnerable populations. Supra-national organizations have the ability to protect the vulnerable through ensuring there are fair elections among less democratic state. Such states are exposed to unfair elections and election violence, as well as oppressive rules. However, the supra-national organizations have legal authority only over member states. This means that cases of Libya and the Arab Spring can be handled by the African Union or the United Nation among others.3 This is legal right of membership is the reason why Falk questions NATO’s involvement with Libyan issues. Conclusively, networks may be a threat to governments; however, confronting them is not a simple task. This is because interaction of individuals through the internet is the cause of the expansion of networks. Supra-national organizations must ensure every person around the globe practices his or her human rights. NATO intervention in Libya might be question, but despite going against the UN, NATO’s move might have saved lives of many individuals in Libya. Jie Tang, Irwin King, and Ling Chen, Advanced Data Mining and Applications: 7th International Conference, ADMA 2011, Beijing, China, December 17-19, 2011, Proceedings, Volume 1. New York: Springer,

Objective and Projective Techniques Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Objective and Projective Techniques - Assignment Example At such times, projective techniques can provide information about the covert aspects of an individual’s personality (Gregory, 2004). Projective techniques like the Rorschach’s Inkblots or the Thematic Apperception Test use ambiguous stimuli that need to be interpreted by the individual. There are no limits to the kind of interpretations possible; and thus, the test allows the clinician to understand aspects of the individual’s personality that may not be accessible to them otherwise (Anastasi, 1997). The more ambiguous the test material, the more likely it is to elicit honest responses that reflect latent aspects of personality. This is because when the test material is ambiguous, it is difficult for the individual to predict how a response would be interpreted (Gregory, 2004). Projective techniques are often criticized as having less reliability as compared to objective techniques. This criticism comes from the fact that there are many different interpretations of a response, and subjective evaluation can play a strong role in this process (Gregory, 2004). The validity of these tests is also difficult to verify as the motivations they measure are unconscious ones. In order to counter these criticisms, many clinicians have published means of standardizing the interpretations and research that helps in accepting them as valuable clinical tools (Anastasi, 1997). Projective techniques are useful in assessing personality as a global construct and to identify latent anxieties and attitudes (Anastasi, 1997). These tests provide valuable information about factors that the individual is unable to tap directly; and can help in bringing together the results of other objective tests (Gregory, 2004). The one concern is that over exposure to the test material can reduc e the efficacy of these tests; and that the interpretations are best used when supported or complimented by data from other more objective

CRIMINAL JUSTICE 1 question drugs Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

CRIMINAL JUSTICE 1 question drugs - Coursework Example Narcoterrorism refers to the relationship between the insurgent terrorists and drug traffickers (Lyman, 2011). Insurgent terrorists protect the drug traffickers and acquire part of the substantial profit that drug trafficking industry makes. This discussion will consider the relationship between insurgent terrorists and drug trafficking industry. Insurgent terrorists engage in insurgency and terrorism and exploit the drug trafficking industry for financial benefit. In most cases, the exploitation of drug trafficking industry involves guerillas at rural level (Forest, 2007). The relationship between drug trafficking industry and guerillas tend to be very common in rugged, rural areas where the government control is relatively weak. Most rural areas do not have a nationally integrated economic infrastructure (Forest, 2007). The rural-based insurgent terrorists make money by extorting war taxes from drug traffickers and the growers of illicit drugs, such as the narcotics. The relationship between insurgent terrorists and illicit drug traders has its root in conflict and coercion (Bibe, 2001). Sometimes, however, insurgent terrorists and drug traffickers can cooperate in a marriage of convenience. According to Lyman (2011), the degree of government action against trafficking of drug in an area can act as a unifying factor. A number of insurgent terrorists have used both cooperation and coercion to exploit the drug trafficking industry. An example of insurgent terrorist includes the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), which is Colombia’s oldest and largest insurgent group (Bibe, 2001). The FARC has a close association with a range of drug trafficking activities, such as cultivation, distribution, and taxation of illicit drugs. In the 1980s, the FARC in Columbia maintained taxation on the production of cocaine in various territories, in exchanging for establishing law and order that favored growers (Bibe,

Reflective Analysis Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Reflective Analysis Assignment - Essay Example The piece is also academic based on the fact that it makes reference to works done by other researchers in the same discipline. Another strong point of the formal essay (iii) is that it contains paragraphs that present the ideas of the essay in a logical manner. This is contrary to many essays written extemporaneously that mainly do not have a logical flow of ideas. The same structure is demonstrated by the formal essay (i) on â€Å"Learned Habit.† Nevertheless, the formal essay (i) contains large paragraphs that seem to express a mix of ideas. For instance, in the second part of the formal essay (i), the purpose of the essay and the negative impacts of smoking have been integrated in the same paragraph (formal essay i). Such an integration of ideas could be avoided by the use of an extemporaneous work that enhances the initial development of ideas. Considering the extemporaneous informal writing (i), the paper is written in a single paragraph that has a repetition of ideas, lacks a thesis statement, and lacks a logical flow of ideas. The work could be improved by ensuring that every idea has its logical significance by being presented as a paragraph. The informal writing (ii) starts with hanging ideas that do not have either an introduction or a conclusion. It appears like an excerpt from another essay that is incomplete. It was better if the essay was developed in point form since the length is like an outline of a better version of the paper to be developed later (informal writing ii). One of the best essays developed so far is the formal writing (ii). Although the writing does not have an introductory statement and a conclusion, it presents ideas in a logical manner and separates ideas based on their importance in the writing. Nevertheless, the informal writing (ii) does not recognize the ideas of other authors from which the essay is developed. Overall, the extemporaneous formal

Field trip example for developing questions Essay Example for Free

Field trip example for developing questions Essay Listed below are some sample questions that were asked about a hand plow used in the 1800s that one group of students saw in a museum. These might give you some ideas for developing questions: †¢ What function do you think this object had? †¢ When do you think it might have been used? †¢ Who might have used it? †¢ What materials were used to make it? †¢ How do you think it was made/manufactured? †¢ Imagine using this plow all day. How would you feel? †¢ How do farmers plow their fields today? †¢ Do you think they feel any differently than the farmer using this plow did at the end of the day? Explain. †¢ Do you think there are people in the world today who still use tools like this? Explain. ACTIVITY TO BE DONE: FIELD TRIP TO A OLD-TIMECRAFT MUSEUM Questions: †¢ Are the crafts carefully made to show the culture and beliefs of the people who made them? †¢ Basing from the craft materials that you’ve seen, how might you describe the ancient generation of humans? †¢ How are you able to connect the past with the present through the crafts that you have seen? †¢ Are there any depictions of the past that you could identify to characterize the present human society today? †¢ Do you think these crafts could still be improved through the usage of modern technology? †¢ How would technology actually affect the presentation of the said crafts? Appendix 23. 07c Sample Pre-, During- and Post-Field Trip Activities for a Field Trip to a California Mission Grade Level: 4 Pre-Trip Activity: Who Built the Missions? I will read sections from â€Å"Missions of the Southern Coast† by Nancy Lemke (1996) to my students. After reading the story, we will record information learned about who built the missions on a wall chart. We will discuss how the life of many native Indians changed after the Spanish padres taught the natives Indians to speak Spanish, make adobe bricks, sing Spanish religious songs, and change their religious beliefs, etc. I will set up a computer station for students to explore the site: http://library. thinkquest. org/3615/index. shtml, which describes the layout of the missions and how the structures were built. Students will record their findings for later use in their creative story writing. During the Trip Activity: Mission Architecture At the site I will gather students around me at the entrance to the mission. Here we will take a close look at the basic architectural design of the building and compare it to the photos we examined in class, looking for similarities and differences. Students will sketch three architectural features that they see. As we walk through the mission building (using the mission’s map to navigate our route), students will make a list of the different rooms and make note of several objects or architectural design elements in each room that are similar to items in use today. We will also discuss items that are no longer used. Post-Trip Activity: Travel Brochure for the Mission After the trip, students will summarize their learning by working in pairs to design a travel brochure inviting tourists to visit the mission. Students will need to include the following information: mission name, date built, brief history about why missions were founded, a brief story unique to this mission, a statement that explains to the tourist why missions are an important part of California’s history. Brochures will also include students’ decorative artwork. Per-trip Activity: Sharing the Goals of the Trip with the Students This activity shall help the instructor outline the reasons for the fieldtrip thus guide the students with the necessary learning that they are supposed to receive from the activity that they are to encounter in the field. It is expected that through this particular activity, the students would have a logical understanding of how much they are supposed to be benefited by the said activity. During the trip activity. It is simply through the actual field trip that the understanding of the gist of the activity shall be realized by everyone involved in the project. Thus, through the activity itself, the students would realize the real impact of the process within their learning and personality as well. With the realization of the students with regards the benefit of the trip to their learning process, they are then expected to apply in themselves whatever it has been that they have learned from the trip. Post-Trip Activity Recollection of the things learned is a primary focus of the instructor after the trip is over. It is through this after activity meeting that the educators as well as the coordinators of the trip would naturally measure the success of the activity thus scale it for further pursuance during the following years of operation. Appendix 23. 07b Field Trip Planning and Implementation Form 1. Decide where you are going and record the pertinent information, including: †¢ site address †¢ relevant telephone numbers †¢ admission costs; group rates; group size limitations †¢ hours of operation †¢ content of the exhibits †¢ facilities (bathrooms, area to eat, etc. ). †¢ availability of food concessions, gift shops †¢ requirements for reservations †¢ availability of guided tours (Are they required? Costs? ) †¢ availability of curriculum materials for teachers †¢ special requirements (walking shoes, binoculars, warm clothing, etc. ) †¢ handicapped accommodations, and other relevant information (brochures, handouts) Enter Step 1 information here: 1. Craft Museum in Los Angeles: features the exhibit of the works of the families and cultures of both ancient and modern America. 2. Schedule of Tour: Wednesday or Saturday in the afternoon beginning 1pm. 3.time length of tour: 3hours 4. Exhibit Content: family crafts of the ancient and modern American civilization. 5. Facilities: With comfort rooms and lobby for resting purposes 6. Ground Rules: No eating within the premises of the showroom during the tour activities. 7. No Reservation Payment; but there is an enlisting process before the tour begins. 8. school uniforms for quick identification is required due to the continuous tours taking place in the museum. 2. Educational and other considerations for the field trip. †¢ How does taking a field trip relate to your classroom studies? †¢ What are your objectives for the field trip? †¢ What information will tell you if your students have achieved your objectives? †¢ Visit the museum/site before your field trip. †¢ Which exhibits would you like to use? †¢ Are there any special conditions you will need to accommodate? †¢ What are the rules and procedures for group visits? Lunch plans? †¢ Do you have a map of the museum/site? †¢ Do you have some pictures, slides or postcards of the site that you can use with your students? †¢ Do you know your way around the museum/site? Enter Step 2 information here: 1. The field trip is expected to enhance the knowledge of the students with regards how much ancient America connects with the modern generation of people of the country today. 2. This field trip is rather pursued to help the students see the actual display of intellect of both the ancient and modern Americans whether with the aid of technology or those others that were created without the said utilization of modern technology. 3. to ensure safety of the whole class, it is advised that the instructor sees the museum first for security measures and assessment of the place whether it would be feasible for the subject or the students the like. 4. Souvenirs are given to the students visiting there and several brochures which could later on be used for classroom discussions. The said brochures are accompanied by maps showing the interiors of the museum. 3. Make Advance Arrangements †¢ What are your school’s procedures for field trips? Do you need special permission? †¢ Have you made reservations at the site for your trip? †¢ What transportation arrangements do you need to make? †¢ Have you kept copies of forms, requests, reservations, etc.? †¢ Have you sent out and received permission slips from parents? †¢ Can you anticipate any student behavior problems? Do you have a plan to cope with them? †¢ Have you arranged for payment of field trip expenses? †¢ What is your policy about visits to the museum/site gift shop? Tell students in advance! Enter Step 3 information here: 1. Parental permission must be first received before a student is to be joined in with the group for field trip. 2. Hiring a bus is a necessary step for getting the students safe into the museum. 3. The transportation is supposed to fetch the students back and forth from the school within at least five hours time difference. 4. To avoid unruly behaviors, the instructor is to have three appointees per group who would serve as group leaders thus making the trip much more controllable and the students easier to accompany with. 5. Snacks are to be served to the students in the bus after the three-hour field-trip. 6. all ground rules are to be discussed during the pre-trip meetings with the students. 4. Pre-Trip Activities: Introduce Museum/Community Site †¢ What pre-trip activities have you planned to introduce your students to the field trip site? †¢ What pre-trip activities have you planned to enable your students to try out and practice perceptual skills? (touch-boxes, sounds, smells, same-different, matching, sketching, color) †¢ What pre-trip activities have you planned that pertain to the subject matter of your field trip? (vocabulary, experience chart, artifacts, speakers, research groups, developing worksheets) †¢ Design six questions to ask your students that will help them think about something that they will see on the trip. Enter Step 4 information here: 1. Each student is advised to bring short note pads where they could take down their notes for review purposes in class. 2. Questions: †¢ Are the crafts carefully made to show the culture and beliefs of the people who made them? †¢ Basing from the craft materials that you’ve seen, how might you describe the ancient generation of humans? †¢ How are you able to connect the past with the present through the crafts that you have seen? †¢ Are there any depictions of the past that you could identify to characterize the present human society today? †¢ Do you think these crafts could still be improved through the usage of modern technology? †¢ How would technology actually affect the presentation of the said crafts? 5. Plan Field Trip Activities †¢ Will your students be participating in a site-led program or tour? †¢ If so, have you talked to the guide about your students’ background and preparation for the trip? †¢ Will your students be using worksheets you’ve developed as a basis for their site activities? †¢ What other activities will your students do at the site (beyond a guided tour)? †¢ Have you planned the work in small sections (in case some children finish sooner than others)? †¢ Are the activities varied intellectually? †¢ Review field trip plans with chaperones. †¢ When will you meet with chaperones to review your plans for the trip? †¢ Have you recruited the chaperones you need? Do you have a back-up plan if a chaperone fails to show up? †¢ Have you prepared an information packet about the trip for each chaperone? †¢ Do the chaperones clearly understand what they can do to support the educational objectives of your trip? Enter Step 5 information here: Each group leader is assigned with a name of list in their groups who they would be appointed to check on time and again. Nevertheless, after the three-hour tour, everyone is expected to be intact in their groups as their grade on the said activity shall well depend on how well they behave during the tour activities. Making necessary pre-announced quizzes about the trip would also help the students more attentive and interested in the discussions presented to them during the tours and keep them safe with their groups as well. 6. Field Trip Day †¢ Review plans and schedule with students and chaperones. †¢ Give the bus driver a map, parking information and a schedule. Get the bus number. †¢ Bathroom stop before boarding the bus. †¢ Give a brief orientation to the site upon arrival; review what to do if anyone gets lost. †¢ Conduct at-site activities and adjust pace as needed. †¢ Finish activities and stop at the gift shop if planned. †¢ Move to the exit, do headcounts and board the bus. †¢ Notify the school office when you return. †¢ Discuss the trip with students. Enter Step 6 information here: Headcounts are to be performed, before, once during, and after the tours. The headcount is supposed to be a security check on the whereabouts of the students. If incase anyone gets lost, the enlisting before the entrance of the students in the museum shall be a great help thus alerting the museum securities of the said lost student. Once the trip begins to pursue, the administration should be notified as well as when it is already over. This would give the administration less frustration in handling activities as such in the future. 7. Post-Trip Activities †¢ What activities have you planned to continue your students’ learning back in the classroom? (murals, dioramas, newspaper, letters, tape recordings, posters, plays/skits, creative writing, travel brochure, museum memory capsule) Enter Step 7 information here: Poster making and role playing shall be the main activity inside the classrooms once the activity is over; so as to help the children recover about what they have learned from the touring activities held. 8. Evaluation of the Field Trip †¢ Does the kind of feedback you received from your students allow you to tell if you met your objectives for the trip? †¢ Did you meet your trip objectives? †¢ How did your students evaluate their trip? †¢ What were your students’ reactions to the trip? †¢ What did they learn from their worksheets or other activities? How do you know? †¢ Were there any problems you could avoid next time? Surprises? †¢ What improvements or changes would you make next time? †¢ Have you recorded your thoughts for future reference? Enter Step 8 information here: It should be understood that part of the activity is the assurance that each student is given the careful attention that they need, simply for them to benefit well from the activity. Through post-activity class discussions and presentations, the said matter could be then well measured as to how the activity applied well for the development of the students with regards their learning as considered within the curriculum that they are to discuss along with the integrated goals of the field trip within the development of the lesson. (Adapted from: â€Å"Teach the Mind, Touch the Spirit A Guide to Focused Field Trips† Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago) †¢ Describe your class, their interests, cultural backgrounds, SAT9 profiles, English language levels, reading abilities and special needs levels. The class to be dealt with is comprised of multicultural population that ranged from the fast and the slow as well as the average learners the like. This particular diversity on the part of the class make up actually makes the instruction of integrated lessons quite a challenge for the instructor. Moreover, the ways by which the instructor should deal with the situation should integrate both lecture and practical implication of the lessons as well. Seeing the cultural differences of the students, the instructors are rather required to have a quality that needs to be handled to the said specific types of students. It is understood that with a multicultural population in class, it is needed that the educational instructors utilize the different strategies to approach the learning diversity of all the students catered through the lessons presented in class. †¢ Profile your school culture, family involvement and home/school communication. Because of multiculturalism, the need for long understanding is required. For this reason, it is understood that the instructors could not be able to be expected to do the entire job. The cooperation of the parents and guardians of the students is highly regarded for the treatment within this particular situation. The communication between the parents/guardians and the instructors is to be treated as a primary source of success in this process. Thus it is encouraged that updating the parents/guardians with the development of their students as well as the extra needed attention that the young learners require be made known to the individuals needing the information. Doing so would give the instructors and the parents as well as the guardian of the students give full focus to the advancement of the young learners as primary receivers of the education that they are due. B: Learning Goals †¢ Select goals that are developmentally appropriate, culturally responsive, student-interest-based and drawn from the California academic content standards. There are numerous academic goals that actually outlines the need of increasing the capability of the students to deal with the challenges of life in a more practical process that would be most beneficial for their own good. Among the said goals is to teach them to become reliable at almost all the times needed. With regards this, it could be noted that understanding the primary issues that are related to life and the challenges that it offers shall give the students the real and right motivation to advance further with their learning. It is through this that they become motivated to hone their capability of being reliable at most especially during the times that their support and understanding are highly needed. Another goal is to help the students relate their school lessons with their real life situations. Being practical in dealing with real life situations could be stressed out during classroom discussions that are expected to be presented during class. Handling this particular responsibility is of utmost need for the instructors to consider during class operations. References: Shapiro, B. L. (1994). What Children Bring to Light: A Constructivist Perspective on Childrens Learning in Science; New York. Teachers College Press. Helm, J. H. , Katz, L. (2001). Young investigators: The project approach in the early years. New York: Teachers College Press.

BP and US Government Negotiations Analysis

BP and US Government Negotiations Analysis Zacharia Dainkeh An evaluation and critical analysis of the decision making process and the negotiations and agreement between BP and the US government including other relevant parties positions regarding the out of court settlement with respect to the Deepwater Horizon BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in the United States of America On the 20th of April 2010, the Golf of Mexico was rocked by an explosion from the Deepwater Horizon oil platform, and caused serious environmental and economic damage. In response BP provided a swift response to remedy the crisis by employing the services of Entrix, a renowned environmental consulting firm in the United States to evaluate the oil spill impact. Since Entrix is specialised in assessing crisis such as the impact such as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Even though the U. S. administration attempted to distance itself from British Petroleum in handling of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico,   the willingness for both parties to work together in assessing the nature and scope of the level of harm caused by oil spill, shows as a notable exception. BP is a British owned MNC/oil company that leased the Deepwater Horizon rig, owned and operated by Transocean, an offshore drilling oil company. The Deepwater Horizon oil spill is as of yet the biggest environmental disaster to have rocked the United States in its history. That precipitated scores of negotiations to settle financial claims of the affected parties, immediately after BP had claimed responsibility. Taken together, the rulings meant that BP was on the hook for a fine of up to $13.7 billion under the Clean Water Act alone. Billions more could be levied from a federal Resource Natural Damage Assessment. Following the 2010 catastrophic BP oil spill off the coast of New Orleans, in the Gulf of Mexico, which instantaneously led to a criminal investigation by the U.S Department of Justice? It would be recalled that this dreadful event induced a quagmire of complex legal proceedings against BP, Transocean and Anadarko for a violation of two Federal Acts of government. At the initial stage the path towards settlement was doubtful, after the September 2014 ruling, during which BP was held to be grossly negligent It was estimated that over 3.19 million barrels of oil was spilled from the disaster off the coastal areas of Southern United States in the Gulf of Mexico. the Clean Water and Oil Pollution respectively. By and large, the rationale of this paper will critically focus to unravel the complexity of the decision making and negotiating process(s) that eventually yielded a compensation settlement to those affected. Beach defines negotiations as actions aimed at helping the parties in a n egotiation to overcome high transaction costs, enabling the achievement of mutually acceptable outcomes that would otherwise not be reached. (Beach, 2012). It is the responsibility of senior management leaders to facilitate negotiations in times particularly in time of crisis, which is considered as part of a strategic management decision making process and shaping the agenda by determining relevant issues to be discussed. Before then, a risk assessment should have been done which will provide an advance warning of any unknown or known recommendation in preparation for the negotiating team of respective parties. The first section seek to identify the relevant parties to the negotiated agreement between British Petroleum (BP) and the (U. S. Department of Justice (USDOJ), which includes relevant claimants and the purported parties responsible for the damaged and the two main dominant party of the final negotiations that derived from the Deep-water Horizon oil spill. This case study will proffer unravel how wide range of issues are addressed in the current literatures of oil spill devastations in relation to the negotiations process and application of the definition and relevant theory to this case study with a supporting argument to justify the dominant party position. The second part of this paper an attempt to illustrate and describe alternative perspectives and approaches that could have been explore by other relevant parties to improved their bargaining outcome that may have reduce or prevent the scale of relative dominance observed as displayed in the decision making and negotiating process that eventually resulted to the structured settlement reached in this case. In the third and final section, the main focus will proffer to provide meaningful suggestions as to the method and approach in future scenario and advise based on the conclusive assessment and analysis of the negotiated parties, with respect to their decision making and negotiating process and its (their) outcome with the relevant lesson learnt based on the BP oil spill structured settlement. Finally, a conclusion will closed this paper with reference drawn from the respective dominant parties, decision making process; lesson learned and proffer solution on lesson learned from the case study, followed by a summarized conclusion. This   paper seek to evaluation and critically analyze the decision-making and negotiated agreement processes between the relevant affected parties with main focus on the two major parties; namely: (British Petroleum-BP), the responsible party for the damages and the relevant claimants main representative on the final negotiated agreement the United States Department of Justice. Furthermore, an analysis of the settlement stages and process towards the structured settlement will also be assessed. An evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of the interconnected interest of MNC such as BP financial strength, investments, influence and association with the U.S economy and government socioeconomic, environmental and political interest with a need for a balance and an objective assessment that will unravel the true winners and losers of this negotiated agreement. The parties to the agreement are from two separate angles, namely the claimants and responsible partie(s), the claimants are as follows: The United States of America Government represented by The U. U. Department of Justice (USDOJ were the main and dominant party that represented all claimants in the negotiations that concluded the structured settlement reached with BP), U. S. Coast Guard, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, media, Oil Industry, Environmental activist and organizations, Fishermen, Tourist-driven Communities, Tourist Driven- Business, Tourists, Oil spill, Cleanup Workers and Home owners and developers. Whiles the responsible parties are British Petroleum (BP owner of the well), who happens to be the dominant responsible party, justification for the dominant parties will be explained later. BP was also the main party that negotiated as the responsible party with the USDOJ, and Transocean (owner and operator of the Deepwater Horizon), both of whom were name d as the responsible parties by the U.S. Coast Guard. For clarity purposes, it is important to understand that among the above mentioned parties the dominant parties in the out of court settlement were BP and the United States Government. This was so because BP owner of the well, with vicarious liability, is the main responsible party and the United States Government as a democratically elected government, for obvious reasons, its part of its responsibilities to not only represent the claimants, but to create a balance between the interest of the victims and the responsible party and to ensure that an appreciated deal is reached in the interest of the victims and the responsible party within an acceptable redress, but   are forced to take one side and be tough with BP to ensure that an adequate compensation is paid that commensurate to the damaged and loss caused. As the main representative of all claimants. It was believed that the government has the required expertise to accurately determine the financial means and compensate those that lost their jobs, property etc by reimbursing them with financial assistance from the responsible party,   If they pay the bills, theyre welcome at the table, said Peter Tuttle, an environmental contaminant specialist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service who is coordinating NRDA activities among Interior Department bureaus. From a superficial glance, the ambition behind this legislation was to redress two major concerns: 1) unbearable delays and 2) fiercely problematic legal battles in subsequent oil spill catastrophes (see Issacharoff and Rave, 2014: 399). The prevailing perspective of relevant actors were mixed as the process continued. To some, the entire agreement was very important especially on the part of BP and the United States government in getting the balance right in an attempt seek its national interest and to protecting its investors (MNC) and BP is keen in regaining back lost confidence from its investors and those residing in the affected areas. With such deal in place, BP was seen to have provided assurances to its current and potential investors that they are willing to sincerely honour their own part of any agreement reached in compensating those residing in the Gulf in case of any environmental harm done whilst they continue to carry out their activities within the Gulf Coast. Why not, some will hold this argument that the fact that BP was willing to stepped aside and allow the establishment of an Independent Claim Facility, it was an efficient move geared towards properly assessing claims and counter claims made by BP to an extent it was ascertained that BP doesnt have what it takes to quantify or properly determined and estimate the damage claims as such responsibility doesnt fall within its functions and was asked to refrained from the matter of surveying and working claims. The Feinberg claims facility though at some point was deemed to have worked more than its predecessor, it also faced serious condemnation on its objectivity in handling the whole process as it was paid by BP and there was a possibility that its more committed to it employer. Criticisms were also made against Feinberg Law firm that the way it handled the process was too slow and marred with delays, tough and unfair in handing out monies. Both claims were denied by BP. Other actors said BP agreed for an out of court settlement because they want to settle the victims far less than what it would have cost them had the matter settle in court. They deliberately and cleverly agreed to allowed the court to monitored the compensation process creating an atmosphere in the minds of the victims that what they are doing is in line with whatever agreement they could have reached in court, but in reality, it was very clear that BP with its financial might, was just too smart and powerful with its n egotiating team for the Golf Oil Spilled victims as the out of court settlement seriously cut down their financial responsibility to the victims. Surprisingly they used the same court they refused to go to monitor the process. Whatever the outcome was, the fact is that, it was always going to be very difficult in determining oil spill disasters against these multi billions oil companies if laid down rules and regulations arent put in place that can stand the test of times. For instance, the International Tankers Owners Pollution Federation states: the tendency to react to political, media public perception and pressures rather than basing decisions on technical realities, is a special problem that can also escalate the cost of any incident beyond what would be considered reasonable under the International Compensation Convention( ITOPF). This is a terrifying one sided analysis with a sense to purely exonerate oil companies that they are often treated unfairly by he mentioned parties during oil spill disasters. Taking these words in to serious consideration one would be tempted to ask whether BP compensation was commensurate to their purported damaged caused in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Guif of Mexico? As there is no laid down straight formula to determine such payments according to the International Tankers Owners Pollution Federation. With incidents and circumstances of oil spill changes from one to another and in most cases depends on close factors say for instance the type of oil, the location of the spill and characteristics of the affected area as well as the effectiveness of the preventive measures and genuine commitment of the management, we shall continue to face problems, if well established rules arent put in place to asses oil spills. The oils and gas industrys was and is said to made significant moves in developing advance technological ideas relating to the extraction of oil in the Deepwater Horizon, but make no mistake, their ideas doesnt stand the test of times. And in terms of developing robust pre-emptive measures to tackle potential oil spills and hold oil companies objectively responsible for potential reckless actions, there is more than meet the eye with the current pre-emptive measures. Whilst some analysts would agree that the $ 500 million from fines and penalties from BP and Transoceans meant to improve precautionary measures through well research based materials with development in education and training was a brilliant move; its also true that large cooperation the likes of BP have well experienced total legal practitioners whose main focus is to always look for loopholes within the ambit of the established laws to minimise financial effect of the company. Currently, laws and policies within the lo ss of multibillion companies for any potential reckless actions against society and people residing in their areas of operations needs reforms to block the use of escape routes in mitigating liability irrespective of political influence. It is imperative that to flesh up my argument by looking at the current liability rule for civilian nuclear power with respect to the Anderson Nuclear Industries Indemnity, which clearly shows the important disparities between the Price Anderson Acts and what the Administration considered supporting in their 2010 discussions with Congressional Staff. From those discussions, it was established that the Price Andersen value total damaged loss at about $ 12 billion in 2011, which was later assumed by analysts may not be sufficient to address future financial damage of any nuclear incident and is also lacking the required precautionary measures. The said Act is also considered to be unfriendly in tackling potential spill situations as it failed to efficiently address the regular payment of premiums for insurance nuclear power plants activities as it only pay in to compensation funds when disaster occur at a nuclear power plant facility and in such situations, such monies exceed the initi al $ 375 million stated operator damage responsibility fees. Its also very important to lay down very clear quality rules and regulations with the clean understanding to check and confirm that the well genuine established preventive measures are correctly adhere to for firms operating in the insurance scheme. With the seldom oil spills, theres a lack of well reliable information to reference in appropriately and fairly determining potential premium for disaster victims. With this in mind, there should be an independent body with continuous free access to check and determine high level of safety with punitive measures for firms that fails to efficiently adhere to the agreed standard rules of operation. The need for sharing information of defaulters in public is also necessary as it will raise genuine concerns within companys shareholders, in the first instance, they will learn about the poor way administration is protecting the credibility of their company. This will move genuine investors to question whether company administrators are genuine enough to operate within the agreed standard laid down rules as part of it operations commitment in the Deep water Horizon. In conclusion, agreed parties can base their strength in the knowledge of the industries and it expertise to form the industry rules and regulations; whilst the government could ask for joint experience guarantee safety as a requirement for any firm to demand authorisation act of boring a hole in the Deepwater Horizon.

School Leadership

School Leadership From educational research journals, to find three research articles, which are related to each other in their research questions, for example They studied the same research area or even same concept in education, such as â€Å"students’ discipline problems in school†, or â€Å"self-esteem of students†. They proposed the same or similar research question(s), such as â€Å"the relationship between self-esteem and achievement of the students† and â€Å"the relationship between self-esteem and family support†. It is better (not compulsory) to find the studies were conducted by using different research methods (Note: Please do NOT include article(s) by using the method of â€Å"meta analysis†. For kind of article it will be very difficult to answer the questions below. However, it will be a good idea from this kind of article to find several original research articles.) You are required to provide where did you find the articles and how did you find them. Provide the sources of them. (2%) Articles about educational leadership are common in graduate school library. You can select the best researches with relevant findings to help you understand the subject matter. On this behalf three of the most innovative and latest issues on educational leadership are the selected. These are the following; Study about program for School Leadership Improvement, it was retrieve at online library archive of Educational studies in United States done to improve the leadership in US schools (www.questia.com). School Leadership Study: Developing Successful Principals was a research study conducted to develop leaders to manage educational institution conducted at several institutions in United States. This research study employed the necessary elements of research in order to develop and improve the leadership characteristics of principals in a educational settings and institutions. This research was published at Education Magazine in Instructional Leadership for Systemic Change in 2005. The third research study was Conceptualizing principal leadership of school renewal conducted by students from Curtin University of Technology in 2003; this research was retrieve through Educational Leadership Gazette 2004 online submitted to annual conference for the Australian Association for Research in Education in Melbourne. These researches are performed to elevate the standards of leadership especially in secondary and tertiary levels. There is common ground in all of these researches; this is based on the foundation of effective leadership and governance in any educational institutions. Providing relevant data and new found knowledge, method of teaching, leadership and techniques are highly stated in the objectives of each research studies. Briefly describe the studies reported by each of the articles How was each of these studies conducted? What type of research method(s) were used in these studies? What results have been reported in these articles? After read your description, the reader should be able to know studies roughly (6%). Program for School Leadership Improvement The program engages in continuing self-assessment and improvement of its performance. Throughout this report, terms such as â€Å"model,† â€Å"strong,† and â€Å"inadequate† programs and variations thereof are used. This study employed case study method. A model or exemplary program is one that substantially meets all nine criteria. A strong program is one that substantially satisfies most of the criteria. An inadequate program is defined as one that fails to achieve most of the criteria or has a fatal flaw such as an incompetent faculty. The findings of this study were very disappointing. Collectively, educational administration programs are the weakest of all the programs at the nation’s education schools. This is distressing not only because of the magnitude of the jobs that principals and superintendents must perform, but also because of the large number of school leaders who will need to be hired in the next decade. In the course of the study, we managed to locate only a small umber of strong programs in the United States. None was considered exemplary. The most promising model that we found was located in England at the National College for School Leadership (NCSL), which operates in a very different fashion than school leadership programs in the United States. The development of the nation’s school leadership and management programs, offer a profile of the numbers and types of leadership programs in universities today, describe the growing number of non-university-based school leadership programs, examine the most promising model of school leadersh ip education encountered, and offer recommendations about how to strengthen university educational administration programs â€Å"School Leadership Study: Developing Successful Principals† Principals play a vital and multifaceted role in setting the direction for schools that are positive and productive workplaces for teachers and vibrant learning environments for children, but existing knowledge on the best ways to develop these effective leaders is insufficient. The need to identify and replicate effective pre- and in-service programs and program structures that produce the most highly qualified school leaders has motivated a major research study commissioned by The Wallace Foundation and undertaken by the Stanford Educational Leadership Institute in conjunction with The Finance Project. This study — â€Å"School Leadership Study: Developing Successful Principals† — conducts a series of in-depth case analyses of eight highly developed pre- and in-service program models in five states, and tracks the graduates into the schools they lead. The study not only examines the conduct of the programs and the perceptions of Participants, but it also interviews and surveys graduates — along with a comparison sample of principals — about their preparedness and practices. The study also follows a sub-sample of program participants into their schools, examining school operations, teachers’ views of the school leadership, and trends in student performance. Cost analysis of case studies is conducted by The Finance Project, a Washington, DC- based, nonprofit research organization. The Finance Project also explores the state policy and finance structures that foster effective programs. Research on principal preparation and development programs suggests that certain program features are essential in the development of effective school leaders. There is also little discrepancy between guidelines for pre- and in-service programs. Evidence indicates that effective programs are research-based, have curricular coherence, provide experience in authentic contexts, use cohort groupings and mentors, and are structured to enable collaborative activity between the program and area schools. Despite existing consensus, empirical evidence for the impact of these features is currently minimal. Conceptualizing principal leadership of school renewal This paper reports the findings of an investigation into school renewal and leadership that was conducted in 2003. School renewal is a type of whole-school change that engages and excites the school community to promote, accept and embed the change leading to improved student learning. In respect to the research objectives presented data were collected through interviews with a purposive sample of principals in situ and identified through the quantitative phase of the study (Silcox, Cavanagh and Dellar, 2003). The design of the interview schedule was based upon the preliminary conceptual framework presented in the research output and was developed taking cognizance of the findings of quantitative data. The paper concentrates on the study of leadership of school renewal with specific reference to some of the key influences in implementing a renewal agenda in schools. It provides an invaluable and reflective insight into renewal and change processes in schools. This research study , based on a mixed methodology research format conducted in Western Australia, shows the critical role the principal plays in bringing about school-renewal. The paper concludes by presenting a conceptual framework of principal leadership and school renewal for consideration. In so doing it both challenges and confirms literature and research in the area of leadership and school change. The research has important implications for all school communities. Make comments on each of the articles (20%) Is the research problem clearly stated? Be specific. Is the significance of the problem established? Be specific. Identify the hypothesis (if there is any). Is the hypothesis clearly stated? Be specific. How could you identify the type of research method used in each study? Explain your answer. How were the variables measured in the study? Are the measurements reliable and valid? How were the participants in these studies selected? What type of sampling method was used? Explain your answer. Make comments on the research design of each of these studies. List the strength and weakness of each study, provide possible improvements. What type of data analysis was used in each study report? Specify the details. Do you think the data analysis conducted correctly and effectively? Any suggestions for improvement? Is the study ethically sound? Is the report written well? Explain your answer. Program for School Leadership Improvement The study’s problem was clearly stated in the research report. The research work try to explain the and identify what kind of program to be implemented in order to achieved the improvement in school’s leadership and administration. There is no stated hypothesis in the study because the purpose of the study is not probing certain speculations but to develop new concepts of leadership through program implementation. The significance of the study was concentrated on the educational institutions and other learning community. The result of this study according to the desired result of researchers is focused on achieving the possible highest standard of leadership in education. The study employ case study, this method typically examine the interplay of all variables in order to provide as complete an understanding of an event or situation as possible. This type of comprehensive method understand the arrived phenomenon at through a process known as thick description, which involves an in-depth description of the entity being evaluated, the events and circumstances under which it is used, the characteristics and identity of the people involved in it, and the nature of the community in which it is located. Thick description in this study also involves interpreting the meaning of all demographic and descriptive data collected such as cultural norms and mores, community values, ingrained attitudes, and motives. Unlike quantitative methods of research, this study chooses participants or respondents through selection process because the target population is only the supervisory level which is limited in number. Like the survey, which focus on the questions of who, how much, and how many, what, where and archival analysis, which often situates the participant in some form of historical context, this method which is case studies are the preferred strategy when how or why questions are asked. Likewise, they are the preferred method when the researcher has little control over the events, and when there is a contemporary focus within a real life context. In addition, unlike more specifically directed experiments, case studies require a problem that seeks a holistic understanding of the event or situation in question using inductive logicreasoning from specific to more general terms. Data analysis performed through application of certain methods drawn from the in formations and data gathered. School Leadership Study: Developing Successful Principals The study’s problem was also stated in the research report. The research study try to develop and improved the leadership skills of principals in educational settings, the study will lead and aim the improvement in school’s leadership and administration through developing of effective and successful principals. There is stated hypothesis in the study; the purpose of the study is to develop skills and supervisory method and leadership techniques in leading schools through empowerment of principals. The significance of the study was also concentrated on the educational institutions and other learning community specially principals. The result of this study according to the desired result of researchers is focused on achieving the possible highest standard of leadership character and skills in education. Recognizing that some of the variables in this study do not have problems as such. The educational organization may be doing quite well. Leadership in educational setting are real-world situations, it not necessarily examples of bad leadership or management. The situations in this study are approaching with a point of view. I can say that the researchers may be alert for the danger that some of the data and information in some circumstances is coming from biased participants and therefore must be taken with a grain of salt. Recommendations in this study must be logically follow from the analysis and they should be feasible. Finally, the study report must be well-written, clearly organized, and sequential and has a logical flow. Poor writing will affect the reader’s apprehension. It usually helps to provide a brief summary statement and â€Å"roadmap† at the beginning of the analysis to orient and guide the reader. Also make sure that making any recommendations to be provided follows directly from the analysis of the problem, and that your overall conclusions are consistent with your analysis. Those are the strengths and weaknesses of this study. 3. Conceptualizing principal leadership of school renewal The study’s problem was clearly stated in the research study. The research work try to explain the and conceptualize what kind of leadership styles to be adapted by school principal in order to achieved the improvement in school’s leadership and administration. Renewal is also one of the subjects in this research, transformation of technique and method will probably lead to more advancing and productive leadership. There is no stated hypothesis in the study because the purpose of the study is not probing certain speculations but to develop new concepts of leadership through adaptation of new leadership concepts and program implementation. The significance of the study was concentrated on the educational institutions and other learning community. The result of this study according to the desired result of researchers is focused on achieving the possible highest standard of leadership in education. The research study is related to the investigation of the relationship between the leadership behavior of school principals and school renewal, and, in particular, tried to investigate and explain the type of leadership behaviors showed or displayed by these principals engaged in school renewal activities. Practical aspects of the study necessitated the use of a mixed method paradigm. As the study sought to examine attributes of school leadership and their influence on school renewal in a local education district data, therefore, needed to be collected from a sample of principals sufficiently large to be representative of the general population. In the first instance, this required application of quantitative data collection methods. On the other hand, investigating the influence of leadership on renewal was anticipated to require careful attention to the context of the individual school and of the interaction between the leader and other members of the school community. This necessitated qualitative data collection methods in a small number of schools to provide highly detailed and contextualized information. Thus, both quantitative and qualitative research methods were originally applied in a mixed-method investigation format. The two methods were invoked sequentially at different points in the study, hence maximizing the strengths of both methods. In respect to the research objectives presented data were collected through interviews with a purposive sample of principals in situ and identified through the quantitative phase of the study (Silcox, Cavanagh and Dellar, 2003). The design of the interview schedule was based upon the preliminary conceptual framework presented as Figure 1, and was developed taking cognisance of the findings of quantitative data (Silcox, 2003). A set of survey questions was developed and adapted within parameters of study area established by the research objectives. The qualitative phase of the research sought to obtain information from a particular cohort of principals on their perception of a specific concept, school renewal, and specific leadership behavioral characteristics employed in bringing about renewal as a change paradigm in schools. Therefore, it was appropriate to use an interview survey technique. There is no indicative of major weakness in this study; all data and analysis are drawn properly. There are justifications in the elements present in every variable. Summary: In general all these studies presents the concrete narrative information and details of actual, or at least realistic events, it has a plot, exposition, characters, and sometimes even dialogue Generally, these three educational leadership study reports are extensively descriptive and narrative in presenting their data and analysis, with the issues concerned are being the determinant of the right combination of identity, description and analysis.. Typically, all the authors of different studies addressed each step of the research methodology and process, and they attempted to give the reader as much enough data and in context as possible for the decisions and analysis they made in the research studies and for the conclusions being drawn from the study. This contextualization was included a detailed presentation and explanation of the theoretical positions of all the researchers, how those data and theories drove the inquiry or led to the guiding conceptualization of research questions, of the processes of data collection, of the participants backgrounds, of the training and limitations of the coders, with a firm or strong attempt to make all connections between the information and data and the conclusions was clearly evident. Although the educational leadership researches study is completed, it does not reports which include the reactions of all the respondents to the research study or to the conclusions of the researchers. Because theses studies tend to be more exploratory, most ends will be with implications for further study. Here in this study, researchers identified the significant factors or variables that come up or emerged during the research process and suggested studies related to these, the authors also suggested further general questions that their research study generated. The second study concludes with a section dedicated solely to the topic of implications for further study and research, in which they suggested several means by which this particular study could have been improved, as well as questions and ideas raised by this study which other researchers and leadership institutions might like to address, such as: is there a correlation between a certain personality in leadership styles and a certain composing process of population’s profile. Also included in these studies is a section dedicated to implications for teaching, because the topic is about leadership in educational institutions which outlines the pedagogical ramifications of the studys findings for teachers and managers who are currently involved in school programs. The sample is defined as the representative of the population, but in this study selection bias is a possible. A statistic used in the third study have the possibility of being biased if the value of the statistic tends to be wrong or more precisely, if the expected valuethe average value from many samples drawn using the same sampling methodis not the same as the population value. A typical source of bias in population studies is socioeconomic or age status: people with extreme values for these variables tend not to take part in these studies Thus a high compliance (the proportion of people contacted who end up as subjects) is important in avoiding bias. Journal editors of the publications where these researches published happy with compliance rates of at least 70% in the study done. In these researches the most important variable the researchers have to balance is the implementation of pre-test ion the dependent variable itself. The researchers balanced randomization for this study or another by numeric factors. When selecting subjects and designing protocols for studies, researchers often strive to eliminate all variation in subject characteristics and behaviors. Their aim is to get greater precision in the estimate of the effect of the specific protocols. The problem with this approach is that the effect generalizes only to subjects with the same narrow range of characteristics and behaviors as in the sample. Depending on the nature of the study, the researchers may have to strike a balance between precision and applicability. If they lean towards applicability, their subjects will vary substantially on some characteristic or behavior that you should measure and include in your analysis. Compare and the contrast the research methods used in the three studies (12%) From methodology point of view, what are the similarities and what are the differences of these studies Which study do you think was conducted better? Why? Which study you dislike? Why? These three researches have different characteristics in terms of methodological designs. But all of them used the proper and best methodological designs and draw important conclusion and outcome that benefited and improve the educational leadership. In the study about Program for School Leadership Improvement, a case study was utilized and was discussed within the context of qualitative research and naturalistic inquiry. This study was done with some method with field study, ethnography, and participant observation to draw conclusions properly. The philosophical assumptions underlined in this research are similar to these types of qualitative research design because each takes place in a natural setting such as a classroom, and other educational institutions .The study also arrives for a more relevant and holistic interpretation of the specific event or situation being observed in the study under study. This kind of research design is different from statistically-based research stud ies which search for quantifiable data. The main objective of this study is to find and give new variables and questions for future studies. The second study was entitled School Leadership Study: Developing Successful Principals. The researchers used case analysis method in conducting the study. A major characteristic of conducting this kind of research is that you never have all the access for the information that you need and oftentimes considerable data and information which is nor important, irrelevant, obscure, trivial or even obfuscating. The lack or absence of important information may force the researchers to make one or more assumptions. Assumptions drawn u from this research is clearly labeled, they are appropriate and they realistic. The last research study entitled â€Å"Conceptualizing principal leadership of school renewal† used quantitative research design. This research profile a target specific population by determining the proportion of the population’s has certain attitudes , behaviors, behavioral, intentions, skills and knowledge related to the leadership concern, and whether specific determinants predict effectiveness at a statistically significant level. The researchers used a structured type of questionnaire that contains predominantly closed-ended, or forced-choice, questions. The research design and research conduct in the research quantitative survey implemented by this study consider getting information and data from a survey result. The major concerns need to consider issues and circumstances is mostly related to designed appropriate sample, this stuffy used reliable and valid measures, and conducted a pilot or pretest before the actual survey study was launched. This study is a custom type designed to seek specific knowledge or answers from a specific set of research questionnaire. This study is also somewhat omnibus in nature because it added questions about the topic with regards to an existing survey. The findings were generalized beyond the participant group which is the supervisory level in educational institutions. At the conclusion of each research analysis, the researchers offer recommendations for change or application of knowledge drawn from the study. These recommendations are also for situation to be handled better like interventions, programs and behavioral modifications. Some of theses recommendations have both positive prospects and negative consequences when applied to certain cases. A solution may eventually work for certain cases but be very costly, some changes are difficult to achieve or implement and take a long time and effort to have a significant impact in any area of target. Researchers must develop the recommendations that impact is for maximum positive products and minimum negative consequences. Any other comments or points related to these research reports. These educational leadership research study must advocates and point out that research can produce much contain and more detailed data and information that is readily available Many analysis can also use as an alternative to discover the relationships between variables, some of these can be obtain through a statistical analysis. Research advocates on educational reform will also implement different kind of methods suitable for the study while statistical methods might also be used and be able to deal with situations where attitude and behavior is homogeneous and routine. Methodological designs are also needed to deal with creativity, change, innovation, and overall context that they can apply to improve the study more. Many research detractors argue that some educational studies are difficult to generalize or apply to all concepts because of inherent subjectivity and because most of the research is based on qualitative subjective data and the generalizability are applied only to a particular context. Suggestions: In doing researches overcoming many challenges including the accessibility and brevity of the study is necessary for any educational or social institutions doing the research study. I have the following suggestions to make the impact of this study and research stronger. First, the presentation of your research must be as user-friendly as possible provided with a clearly marked sections, marks and sidebars with some of the additional and supplementary information. Second, defining the important terminologies and provide some examples for every items made. Third is the anticipation of questions from the researchers must answer them in the publication. Fourth is illustrating your findings through the use of graphs or charts. Fifth is you have to break all the information into short sentences, paragraphs or lists. Using of different colors, lines, images and sizes of fonts are good to improve the interests of reader to browse the researches. Adding references and footnotes with further information for readers is also vital. And lastly you have to mention who prepared the research, and audience or for whom it was prepared, and contact information for each author. This is necessary for the readers to clarify or to verify some information and data indicate d in the research paper. Research papers and other studies must have the connection between theory and empirical data -empirical data is the evidence we obtain from the social world. Makes the connection between theory and empirical data. This empirical data is the evidence we obtain from the social world. By starting with a theory and then testing it with data, this is also referred to as deductive research. By developing a connection between social theory and data the researchers must first collect data and then develop a theory supported by the findings or inductive research. For the researcher to come up with a good research, they must manage bias by testing ideas without becoming too personally invested in a particular outcome unlike what they did in certain methodology in these researches. Being systematic in carrying out investigations is also important to have good research. Documentation of all procedures and making it available to public and other researchers are also limits the bias. Clarifying of underlying assumption that the research is based on and all the underlying assumptions in the research in must be clarified as well as the definitions of terms used in the research which is not applied in these researches. Another way to manage bias is by testing the ideas without becoming too personally invested in a particular outcome. The researchers must be systematic in carrying out investigations Maintaining a skeptical stance toward current knowledge can also be a factor to produce good research work. This improves upon the validity of their results. Critiquing current research by addressing the problems in the research can generate additional research. Ethical issues must also address in any research studies, honesty and openness is vital in conducting research. Researchers need to be honest about their procedures in order for other researchers to be able to duplicate the research. Duplication of the research lends validity to results. Additionally, openness is needed in order for researcher to learn from the work of others. The lack of openness sometimes happens because researchers want credit for their discoveries. Good research should also be ethical and should cause no harm to subjects or respondents. All subjects should be voluntary participation; subjects must give informed consent. Researchers should fully disclose their identity. Unless voluntarily waived, anonymity or confidentiality must be maintained for all individuals participating in research. Benefits of the research must outweigh foreseeable risks. Good research also conceptualizes terms conceptualization is defined as the process of specifying what we mean by a term. In deductive research, conceptualization helps to translate portions of an abstract theory into testable hypotheses involving specific variables. In inductive research, conceptualization is an important part of the process used to make sense of related observations. And lastly, good research devise operations that measure the concepts under investigation. Length of the assignment: 3000 words. REFERENCES: Jackson, B. L., Kelley, C. (2002). Exceptional and innovative programs in educational leadership. Educational Administration Quarterly, 38(2), 192-212. Jaquiss, N. (1999, November 10). A Matter of Principals. Willamette Week. Retrieved from http://www.wweek.com/html/education111099.html Knapp, M. S., Copland M. A., Talbert, J. E. (2003, February). Leading for learning: Reflec- tive tools for school and district leaders (research report). Seattle, WA: Center for the Study of Teaching and Policy. Kolb, D. A., Boyatzis

Being a Good Leader Essay -- leader, leadership

Leadership is a term on which no one can develop a mutual consensus as it carries a different meaning for ach individual. Some people may consider a person as their leader who is capable of taking them away from hardships, some people may consider the one as their leader who is quite charismatic and can show them dreams of a bright future or some people may consider that man as a leader who can make them progress by devising wise strategies for them etc. There is, somehow, something very common in all the perspectives that are the philosophy behind the definition, which is related to choosing a best of the best person as their leader. Nobody wants to have a person as his leader who doesn’t have knowledge of the needs and aspirations of his people or who is not blessed with a certain temperament foe bearing hardships for the nation etc. But there is something on which all of us would agree that it is a philosophy or an attitude that helps the people in achieving a common goal or destination by having a guide who can give directions to his people. In other words, a leader is a person who is having enough authority to drive others on his commands and directions. It is also be said that leader is the person having its followership because if there is no one who is following a person, the person cannot be granted the status of a leader in spite of all of his leadership qualities (Peter F Drucker; as cited in Mahatma Gandhi, 1982, p.1). Similarly, Warren Bennis has also defined a leadership as quality of knowing one’s own self along with having a vision for the sake of taking the people forward. Interestingly, he doesn’t consider it enough to have a vision but believes in its effective communication to the people to make them convin... ....org/history/gandhi/autobiography.pdf House, R. J. "A path-goal theory of leader effectiveness". Administrative Science Quarterly Vol.16: (1971) 321-339 Keshvan Nair. The code of silence. 1996. P. 35. Maury Jim. Thoughts on Leadership, from Warren Bennis. Leader Values. Optimal Solutions International. Web. 27 May 2015. http://www.leadervalues.com/Content/detail.asp?ContentDetailID=298 Mosby. Medical Dictionary, 8th edition. 2009. Elsevie Parel, A. J. Gandhi, M.K. Hind swaraj and other writings. 1997. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Richard Attenborough. Leadership: Mohan Das Karam Chand Gandhi – Father of the Nation. Mahatma Gandhi. p.1. 1982. Web. February 07, 2011 from http://www.scribd.com/doc/27495243/Gandhi. Weber, M. ‘The Theory of Social and Economic Organization’. 1947. Glencoe: TheFree Press and the Falcon's Bring Press.

Benito Juarez Essay -- essays research papers

Benito Juarez was one of the most prominent and resourceful leaders in Mexico’s history. He raised the standard of living and championed the poor. However, it took Juarez half his life to become such a dominant political figure. He was born in San Paulo Guelatao in the Mexican State of Oaxaca. His parents were Indians, and he was raised a shepherd boy. His parents died when he was three, leaving Benito to his unmarried uncle. His uncle believed that the only way for him to better his place in society was to become a priest. So, on December 18, 1818, Benito at the age of twelve ran away to the city to learn. He entered the city penniless, and didn’t even speak the language. He soon got a job helping a bookbinder, and attended a parish school. He soon left the school because of discrimination, and social class divisions. He worked, and was then able to enroll in the Holy Cross Seminary. Benito did not want to become a priest, but the free education kept him there. Then, at 22 he entered the Institute of Sciences and Arts, and he studies Physics, and then law. In 1831 he finished his studies, and went to work in a law office. That same year, at age 25 he was elected to the position of city alderman. Then, in 1833 he was elected to the Oaxaca State legislature. Next, in 1834 he became the attorney for the state. Governments changed, as was characteristic in Latin America, and he was thrown in jail. He then was released, and gained support of both Libe...

On Course Journal Entry

Dick Gregory, The Memoir of Dick Gregory by. Dick Gregory, Slavery by Another Name by. Douglas A. Blackman, The Autobiography of Malcolm X by. Alex Haley, and Stolen Legacy just to name a few. I also watched documentaries; Hidden Colors 1-3 and Dark Girls. I also studied a couple museums, the most recent being the one in contribute of Martin Luther King and Accelerator Scott King in Atlanta. I talked amongst other individuals who were interested in the topic, as well. B. What do you do to learn the Information or skills needed to learn this? I read more than anything else.I was so intrigued by what I was reading and how it all was so connected to modern day society I just continued to read and make notes mostly. C. What did else do you do to learn this? I spoke to other people who were also interested In the topic and we all shared our new found knowledge to expand the wisdom we were digesting. I looked at some African pictures and old news articles. I also, consumed Information off the Internet. The more I learn the more I realize there is so much connected to present day activities. So, I still to this day study this topic. D.How often do you engage in learning this? I honestly engaged in this study every day. I have a whole collection of books pertaining to the subject, sometimes I think so many books so little time. E. When you engaged in learning this, how long did you usually spend? My studies were constant. I'm talking at least 6 to 7 hours out of the day usually. That was before school started of course, now it's more so 2 to 3 hours every other day. F. What feedback did you use to determine how well you learned this? When I enlightenment. They were quite fascinated with my learning in such short period of time.Some people didn't believe me, but those are the closed minded individuals who are content with what they were taught in the American education system about their ancestors Just being nothing more than slaves. G. How did you feel when you engaged in learning this? At first I was filled with anger and disappointment. Then, I found balance in it as I do in everything. Know I'm actually glad that they chose us. I feel so alive, empowered, conscious, and mindful now, the list can go on and on. Just so many emotions! So many volumes of life have taken over me that I have a totally new found perception.H. What are the rewards for learning this? There are an astonishing deal of rewards in regard to this lesson, including knowledge of self being my number 1 gain. I got closer to myself and my spirituality, discovered my destiny in the mist of it all by coming into visualization of what I want to do with my life. I can go on in a great abundance on what this topic has taught me and brought forth into my life. I can truly say I am grateful for the experience and I wish to enlighten others so they come into realization of who they are and what they mean to America. Part 3.By reading and writing about learning, I have relearned that if you want to know and/ or understand something it takes hard work and dedication. I will use this knowledge to maximize my learning in college by taking great pride in my work. When I stepped on the campus of Eastern Florida College to enroll I knew I was ready and by any means necessary I will stay motivated. I wish to understand everything that is being taught to me. I am a very active learner so a lot is already hitting home. I now when things do decide to get tough I will seek greater explanation of the topic.I was informed there are tutors. There are plenty of methods I can take to absorb information. My most dominant styles of learning are logical learning; I prefer using logic, reasoning, and systems. And Solitary(interpersonal) self-study learning. I also like sound such as aural learning sometimes to remember certain things. These are styles I use when I am working on school lessons. There are other styles I prefer when it comes to labor or something else. I enjoy writing t hings down a lot. I see theirs is a lot of work in college.I'm not sure if it's due to the classes being 8 weeks or f it's always like this, but it seems it can get a little intense if you're not organized or focused. I have a schedule around my lesson and I still find the time to get all of my work done with no distractions. So, honestly when it comes to learning I think it depends on the individual and how bad they want their education. I know what I am her for, I am willing to take every calculated step in order for me to absorb the information. And again, I am not interested in taking in information Just to take a test. I'm not here to regurgitate information!I'm trying to fully understand everything Hess teachers are supposed to be teaching me. â€Å"Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world†. It sure didn't surprise me when we were asked, if we won the lottery would we still be interested in coming to college? Students were more interested in the illusion of having money. Fortunately, I am not motivated by money. I wish to make a difference in the world that's my motivation. Making a better society for my son and the other generations to come. I have great desire to touch every life around me, like Vive been doing since birth.

Public’s perception of police Essay

Do you think the events of September 11, 2001, changed the public’s perception of police? Explain how and why. One believes the public perception has swayed from good to bad over years. For instance, right after the September 11th terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers, the mass loss of civilians, police, as well as fire department personnel gained public sympathy. The Cypress Times explains, â€Å"It remains the deadliest day in U.S. law enforcement history: 72 peace officers killed in the line of duty during the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001† (Kouri, 2011). The public saw the loss of departments as well as law enforcement officers as heroes for the courage of trying to attempt to save lives and dyeing in action. These individuals were no longer just the people one would try to avoid such as with traffic tickets, these were the individuals society would recognize and come to thank. However, as society is not just one person and includes the minds of many came m uch debate. Along with such massive plot to kill Americans included the matter of who to blame for such attacks. Was the blame toward the lack of airport security and personnel by the airport police, the President of the United States or for the hijackers? Despite the blame game many laws were indeed enforced after the September 11th attacks on United States soil. The League for Revolutionary Party illustrates, Perhaps, many thought, September 11 would mark the beginning of a time when all Americans would stand together in unity and equality†¦. politicians passed new laws like the â€Å"USA Patriot Act† that greatly expanded police powers to spy, arrest and interrogate suspects (League for Revolutionary Party, 2011). Indeed, as many laws aim to help, one believes this would give police officers more leeway to employ powers of police actions. The League for Revolutionary Party further illustrates, â€Å"The pro-cop atmosphere fostered after September 11 gave the police a green light to beat, shoot and kill without fear of punishment or even much attention† (League for Revolutionary Party, 2011). One believes this is somewhat accurate as the attacks are very much imprinted in many individual minds, however, the thankful attitude of Americans shifted fast from the heroes of that day to the heroes that are currently deployed because of the September 11th attacks. No matter what there will always be bad cops; there were some before September 11th and after September 11th. The attacks had an effect but despite the attacks much of the public will believe police racially profile or are the bad guys that just give individuals tickets. Despite opinions, officers are there to serve and protect. References: Kouri, K. (2011, August 20). 72 Police Officers Killed On 9/11 To Be Remembered On 10th Anniversary. Retrieved from http://www.thecypresstimes.com League for Revolutionary Party. (2011, Fall). Police Terror since September 11. Retrieved from http://www.Irp-cofi.org