Blog Archive GMAT Impact Help! The Deadline Is Approaching, and I Do Not Have My Score!

Blog Archive GMAT Impact Help! The Deadline Is Approaching, and I Do Not Have My Score! With regard to the GMAT, raw intellectual horsepower helps, but it is not everything. In this blog series,  Manhattan Prep’s  Stacey Koprince  teaches you how to perform at your best on test day by using some common sense. It is that time of year againâ€"business schools are announcing their application deadlines, and I am hearing from candidates who do not yet have the GMAT score they want. What to do? First, do a little research. What kinds of scores are posted for the schools to which you plan to apply? Check their Web sites; most will publish scores for admitted students. If you cannot find scores for a certain program, you can try checking various MBA ranking reports (though many require you to buy the information). How far are you from the goal? Next, consult the experts. First, talk to an admissions consultant (hint, hint,  mbaMission) to gain help in deciding how far you really need to go with the GMAT. The general rule is that you would like to be at or above the average to be competitive for a certain school, but you may need to push higher (or you might get away with a lower score), depending on other aspects of your application profile. Be sure to discuss multiple scenarios: if I apply first round, can I get away with a slightly lower GMAT score? If I wait to apply second round, is the possibility of a higher GMAT score likely to make much of a difference? (Disclaimer: Of course, nobody can tell you whether you will definitely get into any particular school, just as nobody can tell you that taking the test again will definitely net you a higher score. As always, you take your chances!) When you have an idea of your “ideal” goal score, talk to some GMAT experts to see whether your desired goal score and your time frame are reasonable, given your starting point. If someone tells me that she just scored a 600 and wants a 720 in 30 days, that person has an “expectation adjustment” conversation in her near future, because not many people would be able to raise their score by 120 points (particularly to such a high final score) in only one month. Next, think about what resources would help you to learn better than you have in the past. Online forums? A friend who has already taken the test? A private tutor? A mix of all three? (I am not suggesting a course here, because I am assuming that we are talking about six weeks or fewer, in which caseâ€"if you are going to spend moneyâ€"you might as well spend it on a tutor. That will give you much more targeted and customized help, which is crucial in such a short time frame. If you have more time, though, add “a course?” to the list of possibilities.) You may have to make a tough choice between going for your goal score while postponing your application and lowering your goal score while sticking to your application time frame. Either way, take advantage of the expert advice out there to help you with this decision. Share ThisTweet GMAT Impact

What to Do if Youre Failing a Class in College

Failing a class in college can be a major problem if its not handled in the right way. A failed class can have an impact on your academic record, your progress toward graduation, your financial aid, and even your self-esteem. How you handle the situation once you know youre failing a college course, however, can have a significant influence on what happens after grades get turned in. Ask for Help as Soon as Possible Ask for help as soon as possible once you know you are in danger of failing any class during your time in college. Keep in mind, too, that help can take many different forms. You can ask for assistance from a tutor, your professor, your academic adviser, a learning center on campus, your friends, a teaching assistant, members of your family, or even people in the surrounding community. But no matter where you go, start going somewhere. Reaching out for help just may be the best thing you can do. Learn What Your Options Are Is it too late in the semester or quarter to drop the class? Can you switch to a pass/fail option? Can you withdraw — and if you do so, what is the impact on your transcript or financial aid eligibility (and even health insurance)? Once you realize youre failing a class, your options vary depending on when in the semester or quarter you make that realization. Check with your academic adviser, the registrars office, your professor, and the financial aid office about what you can do in your particular situation. Figure Out the Logistics If you can drop the course, when is the add/drop deadline? By when do you have to get paperwork in — and to whom? Dropping a course at various parts in the semester can have varying effects on your financial aid, too, so check in with the financial aid office about what needs to be done (and by when). Give yourself a little extra time, too, to gather all the signatures and coordinate other logistics for whatever you plan to do. Take Action One of the worst things you can do is to realize you are failing a class and then do nothing. Dont dig yourself in deeper by not going to class anymore and pretending like the problem doesnt exist. That F on your transcript may be seen years later by future employers or graduate schools (even if you think, today, that youll never want to go). Even if youre not sure what to do, talking with someone and taking some action about your situation is a critical step to take. Dont Be Too Hard on Yourself Lets be honest: lots of people fail classes and go on to live perfectly normal, healthy, productive lives. Its really not the end of the world, even if it feels overwhelming at the moment. Failing a class is something that youll handle and move on from, just like everything else. Dont stress too much and do your best to learn something from the situation — even if its how to not let yourself fail a class ever again.

Is Time Travel Possible Albert Einstein - 975 Words

Is the time travel possible? If we want to find an answer to this question, we should firstly understand the nature of time. We all understand that past is different from the future. The future seems to have a wide range of possibilities, while the past is always related to the one thing that already happened. Studying the time revealed two things about it. First, time is often considered as a river that flows forward and slows for no one. We can also formulate this idea as the river of time that goes forward, taking us from one present moment to another, as the past moves away with the passing view and the future forever waiting for us downstream. Second, time seems to look like an arrow. Past trajectory of an arrow cannot be changed, because it’s already happened. Something could appear in front of the arrow and so change the direction. The arrow exist only in the present moment of time because, as it is moves, the past falls away and the future is about to become. Time s eems to have a peculiar direction, pointing from the things that already happened in the past to the things that might happen in the future. Albert Einstien’s theories of special and general relativity have a significant influence on the ideas of time travelling. He showed that time is no longer invariable and that different observers in relative places measure different time. Einstien first developed the special theory of relativity in 1905. It is based on the two postulates: 1. Velocity of light isShow MoreRelatedAn Interview with Albert Einstein Essay1284 Words   |  6 Pagesthat his impact on the world is astonishing. Yes, many people have heard of Albert Einsteins General Theory of Relativity, but few people know about the intriguing life that led this scientist to discover what some have called The Greatest Single achievement of human thought! JB: So here with us today is Alert Einstein, So Albert... do you mind me asking you to tell us a little about your childhood? Einstein: No not at all, lets see here... I was born in Ulm, Germany on March 14th of 1874Read MoreThe Nature And Process Of Science1542 Words   |  7 PagesBefore Einstein, Scientists believed that light waves travelled through a medium called ether. Einstein proved that ether was irrelevant and that light doesn’t travel through a medium. Einstein proved this by figuring out that the speed of light was constant, and in order for ether to be the medium light waves travel through, the speed of light would change depending on the observer. This discovery was one piece of the Specific Theory of Relativity. The nature and process of science are a collectionRead MoreAlbert Einsteins Journey to Become one of the Most Well-Known Scientists in History678 Words   |  3 Pageswell-known scientists in the world. Albert was considered a very lazy person and even ignorant; although he was very smart, he was bored with what he considered old ideas and concepts. Without graduating high school Einstein applied for entrance into a polytechnic institute in Zurich, Switzerland. After two tries he finally gained entrance and graduated with the same bored attitude to the irritation of his professors. None of which, expected him to succeed (â€Å"Albert†). Albert spent seven years reviewing patentsRead MoreEssay on Albert Einstein1358 Words   |  6 PagesAlbert Einstein Albert Einstein, perhaps the greatest mind ever to have walked the face of the earth, was born on March 14, 1879 in Ulm, Germany. As a boy, he hated school, and felt that the regimented and repetitive nature of schooling in Germany at that time had any promise of helping his future. He did not do well in school, mainly because he did not care to learn what was being taught to him. While he seemed to be a bright child, his schoolwork did not interest him, but at the same timeRead MoreThe Value of Time Travel Essay663 Words   |  3 PagesPeople have often thought of going back in time because of regrets or mistakes they want to fix in the past. The only way to go to the past is time travel there. Time travel has been know as science fiction but now scientist have been believing time travel is possible based on the physics laws. If time travel is possible, then will it be helpful for human begins to go back to the past. Time travel can’t be worth it because if you change somet hing in the past, it will affect a lot in your futureRead MoreAlbert Einstein Essay1763 Words   |  8 PagesAlbert Einstein is looked at as one of the most magnificent scientific thinkers throughout history. His theories on the nature and dimensions of time and space immensely changed the way people thought of the physical world and established many of the major fundamental foundations for a tremendous amount of the our scientific discoveries and inventions in the 21st century. Albert Einstein was born on March 14, 1879 in Wà ¼rttemberg, Germany, into a middle-class Jewish family that owned a small electricalRead More Einsteins Relativity, Literature and Perception Essay1283 Words   |  6 Pagesthe way relativity causes someone to think. The biggest direct effect on literature was that relativity made time travel possible. Before Einstein was thought to be a fantastic yet impossible feat. Relativity only solved half the problem, time travel into the future. This occurs through time dilation. The science fiction pulps picked up on this idea and went wild. In 1905 Albert Einstein introduced a theory called special relativity. Special Relativity deals with objects at a speed near the speedRead MoreIs Time Travel Possible?2057 Words   |  9 PagesIs Time Travel Possible? Introduction Time Travel is a concept that has fascinated me and many others throughout time, using the question of ‘Is Time Travel Possible?’ also asked by many others in the world today. I will research what time travel is, how it can be done, and if and when it could be possible to develop my understanding of the concept then state my views and opinions on time travel. What is Time travel? Time travel is a concept of movement between different points in time usuallyRead MoreTheory of Relativity and the Special Theory of Relativity by Albert Einstein1850 Words   |  8 Pagesbirth, Albert Einstein has had the most beneficial effects on the events of the world. Albert Einstein was born in Ulm, Germany on March 14, 1979 and as a boy displayed an unquenchable curiosity for understanding science and all of its mysteries. As Albert Einstein’s life progressed, he found himself working as a patent clerk in Bern. While working as a patent clerk in Bern, Albert Einstein had a plethora amount of time which was devoted to formulating his theories. Also during this time, AlbertRead MoreEssay about Informative Speech Scientists Einstein and Heisenberg1715 Words   |  7 PagesInformative Speech Scientists Einstein and Heisenberg A. Introduction My Speech is about the scientists who had the main influence on our current time and have shaped our contemporary view of the world (Also called in Theology the Zeitgeist). I have chosen two of them who were in many ways just opposites. One is extremely famous and the other is almost unknown except to specialists. The most famous is of course Albert Einstein. He has significantly altered our view of the world with his Theory

Heinrich Himmler Was The Reich Leader - 1678 Words

Heinrich Himmler was the Reich Leader (Reichsfà ¼hrer) of the SS of the Nazi party from 1929 until 1945† (â€Å"Himmler†). Himmler was appointed the task of carrying out the Final Solution created by Hitler, which was then delegated to even more people. Himmler â€Å"led the SS into a large paramilitary organization that was prominent in Nazi Germany,† (â€Å"Himmler†). Himmler had so much power that he controlled all of the police units in Nazi Germany, which made him the second most powerful person in Nazi Germany (â€Å"Himmler†). Himmler oversaw all the operations of the Nazi state, by bringing up the SS into a prominent position therefore making him a key figure in the atrocities committed by the Nazi Party using the SS and its agencies. Reinhard†¦show more content†¦The Sturmabteilung also known as the Stormtroopers, the Brownshirts, or the SA was a paramilitary organization that preceded the SS. The purpose of the SA was to allow Hitler to rise to power by taking down his opponents using violence (â€Å"Schutzstaffel†). It was made up of ex-soldiers who were discontent with the Weimar Republic and its incompetence (â€Å"Schutzstaffel†). The SA â€Å"was purged when Hitler used SS to execute SA leaders to secure political support,† which shows how a totalitarian state can even turn its back on its supporters (â€Å"Schutzstaffel†). The SA aided Adolf Hitler to become Chancellor and the Fuhrer but ultimately were dissolved due to the inevitable purges in the Nazi regime showing how The Nazis will do anything to implicate their ideas. The SD or the Sicherheitsdienst was the intelligence agency of the SS and the Nazi Party. It was led by Reinhard Heydrich, which was responsible for the security of the Third Reich (â€Å"Schutzstaffel†). They also served the same purpose as the Brownshirts which located and dealt with those who opposed the Reich using violence (â€Å"Schutzstaffel†). The SD had intelligence on many of Hitler’s enemies in order to keep the security. The SD also was a part of the many atrocities of the Nazis such â€Å"discovering evidence against Ernst Rohm that ultimately lead to the Night of the Long Knives in 1934,† (â€Å"Schutzstaffel†). The SD was the group that gathered vast amounts of

Button Button free essay sample

In the context of this particular lesson, we will be using literary analysis of Button, Button, by Richard Matheson, to give students a space in which to think critically, creatively, and ethically about their own experiences with ethical decision making in the world and then communicate those experiences in their own writing. Because students in middle school are soon going to be entering a phase in their lives where an empathetic understanding of the world will require the fair consideration of multiple perspectives, the primary competency at work here will be ethical thinking. In regards to ethical thinking, Lipman says education is not the extraction of a reasonable adult out of a reasonable child, but a development of the child’s impulses to be reasonable† (Lipman 263). We know our students will be naturally inclined to want to make reasonable decisions, and we believe our lesson will start them on the path to thinking about what exactly should go into making those decisions. Objectives: 1) Students will learn to actively â€Å"read† social texts for comprehension and analysis. As part of this analysis students will also be expected to draw and justify conclusions about the ethics of decision-making according to context. ) Students will work collaboratively in small groups to uncover meaning in the texts they’re analyzing. b) In small and large group discussion students will be asked to communicate their interpretations of the text, using supporting evidence from the text and their own experiences to back up their reasoning. 2) Students will compare and contrast the moral situations described in multiple social texts, understanding what circumstances may play into a certain decision. 3) Students will be able to understand the concept of a narrative arc and apply it to their comprehension of the text and their own narrative. ) Comprehension of the narrative arc concept will include an understanding of the terms exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution and the ability to identify them at work in a piece of writing. 4) Students will be able to write to exemplify understanding of the three competencies of thinking. a) Students will recreate a scene using dialogue and other storytelling techniques to tell an original story. b) Students will fully consider the ethical implications of their experience and write to accurately portray them. ) Students will have to critically consider their prior knowledge and experience in the terms newly defined by class discussion regarding ethical decisio n-making and literary analysis. Context: Ideally, we would be teaching this lesson as the beginning of a unit centered on choices—namely, how the choices we make are influenced by others and how our choices impact the people around us. Eventually, the unit would develop into the ultimate exercise of empathetic understanding: a consideration of social injustice currently on display in the world today. This topic is very broad in scope, however, and in order to do it justice we would first focus on the individual with our analysis of Button, Button. Through our analysis, informal, and formal assessments, students will come to an understanding of how a decision of theirs influenced their lives. After working with Button, Button, we will move on to an analysis of a novel dealing with ethical questions in the context of situations laden with peer pressure and how other people affect the choices we make, such as The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian, by Sherman Alexie. Finally, we will end the unit by reading A Wreath for Emmett Till. At the conclusion of this unit, students will have a fully developed narrative in which they consider how an ethical choice(s) impacted their lives and the lives of those around them and what influenced the making of that choice(s). Introductory Set: 1) What is your definition of ethics? 2) Who decides what is right or wrong or ethical? Does it come from authority? Is there a difference between collective and personal ethics? Can the two be different and both be â€Å"right? 3) What do you take into consideration when you compile your own ethical principles? 4) If no one’s watching or if there are no consequences, does acting ethically matter? Why? Procedures: Day 1: 1. Milgram experiment reenactment—5 minutes 2. Debriefing questions orally as class—5 minutes a) Why did you do it? b) Would you all have done it? 3. Watch Milgram experiment video w/ background—10 minutes a) Introduce first t wo questions of introductory set. 4. Small group discussions—10 minutes a) Assign questions to small groups and have groups answer questions 5. Large group discussion—10 a) Groups report findings and discuss questions leading into tomorrow’s reading of Button, Button 6. Freewrite about a time when they had to make an ethical decision—10 minutes a) Notify class that the story will be part of the final project Homework: Embellish story Day 2: 1. Large Group discussion reviewing yesterday’s group findings—10 minutes 2. Intro to Button, Button—5 minutes a) Author background and story context. 3. Read Button, Button out loud (teacher or audio recording)—15 minutes 4. Large group discussion of story—20 minutes Day 3: 1. Introduce notion of the narrative arc and explain/discuss—10 minutes 2. In pairs: plot Button, Button narrative on narrative arc diagram—20 minutes 3. Debrief with class; share/discuss—10 minutes 4. Directed freewrite: plot out your own narrative—10 minutes Homework: find a genuine conversation with anyone (text message, IM, facebook, email, real life, etc) and bring it the next day (5-8 exchange conversation) Day 4 – Grammar: 1. Explain dialogue and good techniques for writing dialogue—5 minutes 2. Teacher model example with class participation (â€Å"Spice things up! †)—10 minutes 3. Students enliven their artifacts—10 minutes 4. Verbs/adverbs definition work—5 minutes 5. â€Å"Spice verbs/adverbs up† on overhead/board—10 minutes 6. Free write: spice up narrative—10 minutes Homework: Bring a 1st draft for next class Formal Assessment: For the formal assessment of our lesson we will have students write a narrative about an instance in which they had to make an ethical decision. Integral to the compilation of their narrative will be the execution of effective techniques for writing dialogue and skillfully employing verbs and adverbs in correlation with our in-context grammar lesson. Formal Assessment Rubric: Content – 40%: -Must be based on a central ethical issue. -Must include at least 2 exchanges of dialogue between two or more people. -Must include a reflection on the ethical situation answering these questions: Why did you make the choice you did? Did you make the right choice? Why/why not? Would you change it if you could? Organization – 10%: -Must include a title. -Must be 2-3 pages, double-spaced. Conventions – 50%: -Proper use of Dialogue -Varied use of verbs and adverbs -Varying sentence structure -Proper spelling and punctuation Informal Assessment: Our informal assessment will consist of completion of daily writing as well as students’ active participation in small and large group discussion. Materials Needed: 1. Enough soda for every student. 2. Computer and Internet access to Youtube 3. Projector 4. Milgram Experiment video 5. Copies of short story Button, Button, by Richard Matheson 6. Narrative arc handouts 7. Narrative arc blank diagrams 8. Overhead projector/ELMO 9. Verb/adverb activity 10. Copies of Teacher dialogue model Grammar Lesson: Essential questions: 1. How does narrative writing benefit from the skillful employment of dialogue? . How does the active use of varied verbs and adverbs make writing more engaging? Rationale: Students need to understand the role of dialogue and engaging verbs and adverbs in bringing a text to life. Our selected text, Button, Button, employs these techniques especially well, and so students will be able to see a model of what their effective use looks like so they can more fully understand how they might utilize dialogue and diverse verbs and adverbs to enhance their own writing. Objectives: 1) Comprehend traits of effective dialogue writing and apply to their own writing. ) Comprehend what verbs and adverbs are, how to use them skillfully, and be able to transfer this understanding to their own writing. Introduction/anticipatory set: 1. How does dialogue work in real life? How is that similar to or different from written dialogue? 2. What are the roles of verbs and adverbs in writing? Procedures: Day 4 – Grammar: 1. Explain dialogue and good techniques for writing dialogue—5 minutes 2. Teacher model example with class participation (â€Å"Spice things up! †)—10 minutes 3. Students enliven their artifacts—10 minutes 4. Verbs/adverbs definition work—5 minutes . â€Å"Spice verbs/adverbs up† on overhead/board—10 minutes 6. Free write: spice up narrative—10 minutes Homework: Bring a 1st draft for n ext class Closure and assessment features: Our grammar lesson is integral to our students’ understanding of how to complete the formal assessment for the lesson as a whole. We will evaluate student understanding of the concepts of effective dialogue and verb and adverb use by the presence of dialogue and diverse verbs and adverbs on display in their own writing, as per the following guidelines of the formal assessment rubric: Content: Must include at least 2 exchanges of dialogue between two or more people. Conventions: Proper use of Dialogue Varied use of verbs and adverbs We will further assess students’ understanding of the contents of our grammar lesson by their participation in our in-class â€Å"spicing up† of bland dialogue and verb/adverb use. This will extend to encompass students’ display of dialogue and verb/adverb use as evident in their writing journals and homework. Such will be the contents of our informal assessment. Six Essential Curriculum Design Questions: ) What do you want students to learn? We want students to be able to apply aspects of critical, caring, and creative thinking to social texts and their own experience. Critical thinking: students will display comprehension and analysis of social texts. Caring thinking: students will elicit an emotional response to our social texts and analyze how that response affects their reading of the texts. Creative thinking: students will take what they have read and express it in a creative project, utilizing prior experience in some way. A) Why are these your beliefs/ ideas? We believe the combination of these three schools of thought fosters the ability of our students to act in critically literate ways on the world in which they live. B) How is â€Å"what counts as the content of English† determined? We search out texts that bear analysis of the English language in such a way that will help students use English to make meaning from their lives. When you study English you’re studying more than the words on the page. You’re studying it to gain meaning from the text that can affect you in some way. How you interact with the text determines the meaning you make. We’re teaching students to interact with texts in meaningful ways (comprehension, analysis, composition, etc. ). 2) Why do you want students to learn these things? We’re giving students an opportunity to become better users of the English language. For example, you shouldn’t leave an English classroom without being able to analyze a social text and make a connection between it and the world as you know it. Because the texts we’re dealing with are concerned with personal ethics, the connection we will be fostering is one that will instill morals and skills in students that need to be in operation every day in and out of school. A) Why are these your justifications and where do they come from? State standards dictate that these are the types of things we need to be teaching students. The following state standards dictate that the lessons we have prepared for students are essential:   Reading: 12. 1. 1: By the end of the twelfth grade, students will  identity  the basic facts and essential ideas in what they have read or viewed. 12. 1. 3: By the end of the twelfth grade, students will identify, analyze, and apply  knowledge  of the basic forms of text and various literary genres. 2. 1. 8: By the end of the  twelfth grade, students will interpret the meaning of poetry, drama, prose-fiction, and non-fiction film, or media by using different analytic techniques and presenting specific evidence from the text. These standards provide rationale for both reading Button, Button and for analyzing the texts through comparison-contrast and various strategies. Writing: 12. 2. 3: By the end of the twelfth grad e, students will produce varied written texts that communicate effectively in expository and narrative prose. 12. 2. : By the end of the twelfth grade, students will use creative and critical thinking strategies and skills to generate original and meaningful products. These standards provide rationale for our personal narrative writing assignment. Speaking: 12. 3. 1: By the end of the twelfth grade, students will pose questions and contribute their own information or ideas in group discussion. This standard provides rationale for our students to engage in extensive conversation about Button, Button in both large and small groups. Listening: 12. 4. : By the end of the twelfth grade, students will use listening skills for a variety of purposes. This standard provides rationale for students to consistently listen to the instructor and one another in class discussion over the text. B) What are the most effective ways to develop and communicate your justifcations? The most effective way to develop justifications for teaching is to think critically about what we want our students to learn and consult authorities that have conducted research on the matter—like the Lipman text. Only when we apply our justifications to practice, however, do we truly discover their merit. Before we begin teaching, we need to communicate our justifications to students by connecting them to a â€Å"big idea† students can latch onto as meaningful and practical. In this case, making a personal connection to the ethical basis of the decisions students make is a very relevant idea for 8th graders. 3) How will we know if students have learned or understood what we want them to? We will know if students are understanding on the level we want them to if they are demonstrating an understanding of the reading in their discussion and writing. A) Why are these your beliefs? These displays are measurable evidence that students are engaging and nteracting with the text. We will be able to see and hear students’ interpretations of the text first hand and facilitate their understanding from there. B) How might this be determined in teaching contexts? We will have rubrics for both our informal and formal assessments that will determine if students fully understand what we want them to learn. We will be sure to evaluate students’ efforts to make meaning from the text on an individual basis. Participation in discussion will help students better analyze the text, which will in turn have an effect on how they develop their formal assessment. ) Why are you going to determine your students understanding in these ways? We believe the more creative forms of assessment we are emphasizing do not promote rote learning—the accumulation of knowledge—but understanding. If students know they’re going to take a test at the conclusion of a reading based on random facts from the book, they’re going to read the text differently—and more superficially—than if they know they’re going to have to develop a meaningful composition from their interaction with the text. A) Where do these ideas come from? Why? These ideas come from experiences in accidental apprenticeships where we have seen these principles at work. None of us have ever had a positive experience with a class where an understanding of a text was based on our accurate regurgitation of surface details from the text. However, classes that have forced us to make personal connections with the text and explain that interaction have been much more beneficial across the board. B) Why do these ways â€Å"make sense† to you? Our personal experiences as students have informed us that when we read a text for a test, we don’t come to the same understanding as when we read a text for a more authentic, meaningful purpose. Creative assignments that have tasked us with scouring our own experiences for ways of making meaning from reading of a text lead to a more authentic engagement with the material. 5) How are you going to facilitate your students’ learning of the things you want them to learn? We will lead students in discussion by asking thought provoking and open-ended questions, encouraging students to think beyond the â€Å"right/wrong† answer paradigm. Also, we will model writing techniques with the goal that students will become comfortable sharing their thoughts in a forum and writing about them. A) Why are these your beliefs and where do they come from? We’ve learned about the benefits of modeling writing and encouraging open-ended discussion in several of the English education classes we’ve taken thus far. Additionally, we’ve seen the benefits first hand when teachers use these techniques in the classroom. B) How might you determine the best ways to facilitate student understanding of the school subject â€Å"English? We determine our methods by drawing from what we’ve read and what we’ve seen in action. Then, if our own interpretation of that is effective, we continue to use those methods—if not, we modify our methods to reflect the needs of our students. For example, we mention we want students to think outside of the â€Å"right/wrong† answer paradigm, a tenant we can gather from Lipman’s idea that â€Å"An inventive thought contains many problems and many relevant, promising ideas† (Lipman 247). If our students are too focused only on the â€Å"problems† in their inventive thinking, they may discount what they have in the way of â€Å"relevant, promising† ideas. However, because students are traditionally taught that there is usually only a single â€Å"right† answer, we may have to try a number of different methods to get them to see that an idea that doesn’t align with the â€Å"right† answer can be immensely valuable too. 6) Why are you going to facilitate your students learning in these ways? What are your justifications and rationales? What, then, is your theory of learning the content of the school subject English? Honestly, we believe that the methods we’ve outlined above have the potential to be very effective mechanisms for helping our students come to an understanding of what we want them to learn about ethical decision making in the context of social texts and their own lives. We’ve compiled these methods with the notion that we should always aim to engage our students in similarly meaningful forms of instruction so they can transfer what they learn into an understanding of what it takes to be a productive and conscientious member of society. Questions to consider during lesson development to†¦ Foster critical thinking: 1. In his explanation of the key role judgment plays in critical thinking, Lipman says the making of thoughtful judgments mandates that â€Å"knowledge and experience are not merely possessed, but applied to practice† (Lipman 210). What steps can we take to ensure that what we teach bears practical application or is meaningful to our students? 2. Lipman stresses that â€Å"claims and opinions must be supported by reasons† (Lipman 212). How can we impress upon our students the importance of carefully evaluating what they think and believe by stringent criteria? 3. What can we do to help our students achieve self-corrective thought not only on an individual, but also a communal basis? â€Å"One of the most important advantages of converting the classroom into a community of inquiry is that members of the community begin looking for and correcting each other’s methods and procedures† (Lipan 219). 4. â€Å"Individual situations need to be examined on their own terms and not forced into some Procrustean bed of general rules and regulations† (Lipmman 219). How can we ensure our students understand the importance of context when thinking critically? 5. According to Lipman, the critical thinker can â€Å"apply problem-solving techniques appropriately in domains other than those in which they were learned† (Lipan 59). What assessments can we implement to ensure that what we teach has transferrable potential? Foster creative thinking: 1. Lipman states, â€Å"Creative thinking requires a constant trying out or testing,† but how can we get students to separate the concept of creation from the fear of failure that often prevents students from taking creative liberties (Lipman 245)? 2. How do we get students to trust in the novelty of their own thought processes? Lipman believes â€Å"creative thinkers are those who ask questions where others are content to proceed without further reflection† (Lipman 245). 3. Lipman notes, â€Å"creative thinking defies not the rules, but the odds† (Lipman 251). How can we use this principal to form a union between the â€Å"rules† of grammar and creative thought? 4. How much attention should teachers pay to fostering students’ ability to think creatively? â€Å"Success of creative thought done by students hinges upon the ability of the practitioner to understand and identify with the creative process from within† (Lipman 252). . How can we get students to think beyond the traditional right/wrong paradigm as they ask questions and engage in discussions? â€Å"An inventive thought contains many problems and many relevant, promising ideas† (Lipman 247). Foster caring/ethical thinking: 1. Lipman states, One can conceive of emotions as themselves forms of judgment or, mor e broadly, forms of thought† (266). How can we safely provide students the opportunity to render judgment based on emotion within the classroom? Is this a process that we should value in the English classroom? . â€Å"To care is to focus on that which we respect, to appreciate its worth, to value its value† (Lipman, 262). Due to the personal nature of caring, how can a teacher foster a community of caring thinkers without stressing personal biases? 3. Empathetic thinking deals with â€Å"what happens when we put ourselves into another’s situation and experience that person’s emotions as if they were our own† (Lipman, 269). What types of pedagogical decisions must be made in order to foster a community of empathy? 4. According to Lipman,  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Caring has ample credentials as a cognitive enterprise, even though it often consists of hardly discernible mental acts (270). Due to carings ambiguous nature, how can teachers assess ones engagement in this type of thinking? 5. If thinking does not have a value component, it is liable to approach its subject matters apathetically, indifferently, and uncaringly and this means it would be diffident even about inquiry itself† (Lipman, 270). Is it possible for students or teachers to think completely objectively, without a value component? Should they be able to?

Good Country People free essay sample

Oliver is able to make a strong argument when she writes about Joy-Hulga’s emotional detachment and artificial beliefs, yet could have went into more details instead of being so vague with her examples and correlations when it came to show how she was blind to reality. O’Connor’s original short story takes place on a Southern farm in the mid 1950’s. This was a time when Christianity was a strong belief in the South and when people were more trusting in each other. Oliver makes a point to show how Joy-Hulga’s physical impairments symbolize her clear internal lacks when it comes to emotion, reality, and beliefs. Oliver argues that Joy-Hulga’s weak heart is meant to symbolize her emotional detachment, her eyeglasses show how she is blind to reality, and her artificial leg symbolizes her artificial beliefs. Each one of her physical impairments is met with a deeper emotional impairment. We will write a custom essay sample on Good Country People or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Oliver believes that Joy-Hulga’s weak heart symbolizes her emotional absence when it comes to loving others. She was able to make a strong argument out of this by elaborating on Joy-Hulga’s philosophy degree, her lack of friends, and her nonexistent relationship with her mother. By Oliver stating â€Å"However her weak heart symbolizes her emotional detachment – an inability to love anyone or anything† (234), this shows her main point of her whole argument in this section of her analysis. O’Connor then correlates to this in her article by her use of â€Å"she didn’t like dogs or cats or birds or flowers or nature or nice young men† (3). This supports the fact that Joy-Hulga really just doesn’t have any love or emotion towards any other living things. Kate Oliver was able to make her argument about this part of the story very strong due to the fact of the direct interrelation between her analysis and the facts that are shown in O’Connor’s original short story. Another point Oliver makes is how Joy-Hulga’s artificial leg symbolizes her artificial beliefs, or better yet how her having no real leg shows how she has no beliefs. The author is able to further make this point by stating, â€Å"Religion would have provided Joy-Hulga with spiritual and emotional support, a so-called real leg on which to rebuild her life. Instead, Joy-Hulga revels in her rejection of God† (Oliver 236). This is strengthened by many excerpts from O’Connor’s original short story including, â€Å"My daughter is an atheist and won’t let me keep the Bible in the parlor† (4). This quote is able to further support Oliver’s claim with Joy-Hulga not having any real beliefs and rejecting the thought of a higher power. Kate Oliver was able to show how her assumptions were justified in her analysis by directly relating many of her points to O’Connor’s original short story, where it is clearly shown that she has no religious beliefs. Lastly, Oliver writes about how Joy-Hulga’s eyeglasses show how she is blind to reality. Oliver is going in the right direction with this claim, yet could have made a much stronger argument with it had she gone into more detail with how she was. Oliver stated, â€Å"But she is blind to reality, having knowledge only of books and abstract ideas, rather than of people and concrete objects† (234). Oliver’s claim does correlate with O’Connor’s original story, yet she could have shown a lot more elements of how she was blind to reality by elaborating more on the conversations Joy-Hulga had with her mother and Manley Pointer, and with how Joy-Hulga was perceived/acted in the original story. O’Connor’s original short story read, â€Å"with the look of someone who had achieved blindness by an act of will and means to keep it† (1), although this quote does support Oliver’s claim about Joy-Hulga being blind to reality, it shows it in more of a complex sense in which Oliver didn’t. Oliver’s argument was overall weak in this part of her article, but with a little more detail and reference to the original short story it could have been a very strong and secure argument. Overall Kate Oliver was able to make fairly strong point with her article through her use of examples and by relating Joy-Hulga’s internal and external problems to one another. If she was able to correlate more of the details from O’Connor’s original short story, Oliver could have turned her fairly strong point into a very strong point with her analysis of â€Å"Good Country People. † Although Oliver did have one weak point in her article when she talks about Joy-Hulga’s blindness to reality, she was able to more than make up for it with her details and examples when she wrote about her emotional detachment and her artificial beliefs. Fill out the Outline below before you begin writing your rough draft (the information for each section should be based on the â€Å"Suggested Article Analysis Outline† above. I. Introduction a. Kate Oliver’s analysis of Flannery O’Connor’s â€Å"Good Country People† claims that Joy-Hulga’s physical defects are a symbolization of her emotional impairments. b. By going into detail of the context of O’Connor’s original short story, Kate Oliver is able to make an overall moderately strong argument of how she feels she is correct in her analysis. c. Oliver is able to make a very strong argument when she writes about her emotional detachment and artificial beliefs, yet could have went into more detail and shown more examples when it came to show how she was blind to reality. II. Background Information and Presentation Article’s Evidence (present evidence objectively; note: be sure to repeatedly name the author of the article so that it is clear that these ideas belong to the original author) a. In O’Connor’s original short story takes place on a Southern farm in the mid 1950’s. This was a time when Christianity was a strong belief in the South and when people were more trusting in each other. b. Oliver makes a point to show how Joy-Hulga’s physical impairments symbolize her clear internal lacks when it comes to emotion, reality, and beliefs. c. Joy-Hulga’s weak heart is meant to symbolize her emotional detachment, her eyeglasses show how she is blind to reality, and her artificial leg symbolizes her artificial beliefs. III. Analysis of Evidence 1 (subjective analysis begins here) a. Oliver believes that Joy-Hulga’s weak heart symbolizes her emotional lacks when it comes to loving others. b. She uses evidence from O’Connor’s original story (in the quote below) to correlate to her claim. c. â€Å"However her weak heart symbolizes her emotional detachment – an inability to love anyone or anything† (234) d. She was able to make a strong argument out of this by elaborating on Joy-Hulga’s philosophy degree, her lack of friends, and her nonexistent relationship with her mother. i. â€Å"she didn’t like dogs or cats or birds or flowers or nature or nice young men. This supports the fact that Joy-Hulga really just doesn’t have any lover for any living creatures. e. She was able to make a strong argument by directly relating her claim to O’Connor’s story. IV. Analysis of Evidence 2 a. Another point Oliver makes is how Joy-Hulga’s artificial leg symbolizes her artificial beliefs, or better yet how her having no real leg shows how she has no beliefs. b. Her evidence is strong in her analysis. c. â€Å"Religion would have provided Joy-Hulga with spiritual and emotional support, a so-called real leg on which to rebuild her life. Instead, Joy-Hulga revels in her rejection of God† (236). d. This evidence is strong because it does clearly state in O’Connor’s original story that Hulga has no type of religion. So her lack of a leg can be directed to her lack of religion. i. â€Å"My daughter is an atheist and won’t let me keep the Bible in the parlor† (4) ii. This quote supports Oliver’s claim because it also states that Joy-Hulga clearly has no type of religion. e. Kate Oliver was able to put more meaning in her analysis by directly relating it to O’Connor’s original story. V. Analysis of Evidence 3 a. Lastly, Oliver writes about how Joy-Hulga’s eyeglasses show how she is blind to reality. b. Oliver is going in the right direction with this claim, yet could have made a much stronger argument with it had she gone into more detail. c. â€Å"But she is blind to reality, having knowledge only of books and abstract ideas, rather than of people and concrete objects† (234). d. Oliver claim does correlate with O’Connor’s original story, yet she could have went into a lot more detail with how she was blind to reality by elaborating more on the conversations Joy-Hulga had with her mother and Manley. Although this quote does support Oliver’s claim about Joy-Hulga being blind to reality, it shows it in more of a complex sense in which Oliver didn’t. e. Oliver’s argument was overall weak in this part of her article, but with a little more detail it could have been a very strong argument. VI. Conclusion a. Overall Kate Oliver was able to make fairly strong point with her article through her use of examples and by relating Joy-Hulga’s internal and external problems to one another. If she was able to correlate more of the details from O’Connor’s original short story, Oliver could have turned her fairly strong point into a very strong point with her analysis of â€Å"Good Country People. † c. Oliver was able to make a very strong argument when she wrote about her emotional detachment and artificial beliefs, yet could have went into more detail and shown more examples when it came to show how she was blind to reality. Active Reading Worksheet: Article Analysis Title of primary source (short story): Flannery O’Connor: Good Country People Title of article: O’Connor’s Good Country People Article Author: Kate Oliver Article Place date of publication: Explicator 62. 4 (2004) Part 1: Understanding the primary source List the major characters: Protagonist(s): Joy-Hulga Antagonist(s): Manley Pointer What is the social or historical context of the story (in other words, what â€Å"real world† issues is Flannery O’Connor responding to)? It takes place on a southern farm in the mid 1950s whenever Christianity was big and when people were trusting in each other. List the conflicts in this story (internal and/or external): Joy has many internal conflicts having to do with her faith, blindness to reality, and her view of nothingness in the world. Some external conflicts are her and her mother’s relationship, and her trusting in Manley Pointer yet him leaving her legless and visionless in the barn. What is the climax of the story? (note: the climax is the most exciting and emotional point of a story; it usually occurs near the end) The climax to the story is whenever Manley and Joy were in the barn and he takes her fake leg and glasses. What happens during the resolution of the story? Joy is left in the barn with literally nothing; no leg and no glasses. Her emotional nothingness is matched with actual physical nothingness. How are the conflict, climax and resolution related to the story’s historical or social context? It shows that Manley wasn’t a â€Å"good Christian boy† and that people couldn’t always be trusted. Part 2: Evaluating the Article What is the writer’s main point/thesis about the story? Olivers main point was showing how Joy’s physical impairments symbolized her emotional impairments. List at least three specific examples that the writer uses to support her or his main point. 1) How her weak heart symbolizes her emotional detachment. 2) How her eyeglasses show how she is blind to reality. 3) How her artificial leg symbolizes artificial beliefs. Are the writer’s ideas about the short story consistent with your own? Explain. I do believe that Oliver did have a very strong argument in regarding how each of her physical defects were matched with an emotional defect, by going into detail she was able to make a very strong argument of how. What information do you have that challenges the author’s argument? Does he/she accurately reflect the content of the literary text being analyzed? If not, please explain. Oliver does reflect the content of the literary text, she uses only things in her theory that are explicitly stated in the original story. Does the article introduce any opposing viewpoints? If so, which ones? If not, what refutation may be possible for their argument? It doesn’t show any opposing viewpoints, but she could have went into more detail with her examples whenever it came to how Joy was blind to reality, and she could have correlated it more to O’Connor’s original short story. In the space below, write a thesis statement for an analysis of the article. Your thesis statement should include an EVALUATION of the article, as well as a clear sense of the DIRECTION your essay will take. Oliver is able to make a strong argument when she writes about Joy-Hulga’s emotional detachment and artificial beliefs, yet could have went into more details instead of being so vague with her examples and correlations when it came to show how she was blind to reality.

Quick Review of Radioactivity and Radiation

Quick Review of Radioactivity and Radiation Unstable atomic nuclei will spontaneously decompose to form nuclei with higher stability. The decomposition process is called radioactivity. The energy and particles which are released during the decomposition process are called radiation. When unstable nuclei decompose in nature, the process is referred to as natural radioactivity. When the unstable nuclei are prepared in the laboratory, the decomposition is called induced radioactivity. There are three major types of natural radioactivity: Alpha Radiation Alpha radiation consists of a stream of positively charged particles, called alpha particles, which have an atomic mass of 4 and a charge of 2 (a helium nucleus). When an alpha particle is ejected from a nucleus, the mass number of the nucleus decreases by four units and the atomic number decreases by two units. For example: 23892U → 42He 23490Th The helium nucleus is the alpha particle. Beta Radiation Beta radiation is a stream of electrons, called beta particles. When a beta particle is ejected, a neutron in the nucleus is converted to a proton, so the mass number of the nucleus is unchanged, but the atomic number increases by one unit. For example: 23490 → 0-1e 23491Pa The electron is the beta particle. Gamma Radiation Gamma rays are high-energy photons with a very short wavelength (0.0005 to 0.1 nm). The emission of gamma radiation results from an energy change within the atomic nucleus. Gamma emission changes neither the atomic number nor the atomic mass. Alpha and beta emission are often accompanied by gamma emission, as an excited nucleus drops to a lower and more stable energy state. Alpha, beta, and gamma radiation also accompany induced radioactivity. Radioactive isotopes are prepared in the lab using bombardment reactions to convert a stable nucleus into one which is radioactive. Positron (a particle with the same mass as an electron, but a charge of 1 instead of -1) emission isnt observed in natural radioactivity, but it is a common mode of decay in induced radioactivity. Bombardment reactions can be used to produce very heavy elements, including many which dont occur in nature.