The Journey to Teaching Essay example -- Essays Papers

The Journey to Teaching My philosophy on education In taking this course there is one overwhelming fact that has become clear to me- Teaching is an ongoing process in which I will be te Student,as much as I am the Educator. My philosophy on education has greatly expanded from doing all that I can to help children learn, to a string of many ideas, and thoughts, which will shape my classroom. These are what i will discuss in this reflection. Lisa Delpit and her book Other People's Children, was influential to helping shape my educational philosophy. In her book, Delpit draws attention to educating minorities, and gives many examples as to why it is so hard. One reason is the language barrier between the teacher, and his/her students. I feel that from reading this book it is necessary for teachers to understand that culture impacts many of the ways our children speak. Delpit gives an example of this when discussing a conversation between a white teacher and her black student. The teacher is correcting the black child on how to say "brother." The student is reading to the teacher and he pronounces the word "bruvver," at which time the teacheer stops him and tries to get him to say the word in proper dialect (Delpit, 1995, p.59). There are a few problems that Delpit raises with doing this. First she says that you do not allow the child to gain confidence in their reading, and second, the child is interrupted continuous ly. Therefore the child will not be able to advance in the same manner as the other students who can read in the proper dialect. Culture plays a tremendous role in educating our youth, not only directly, like the example above, but also in the relationships between parent and teacher. Delpit ca... ...to a classroom, and embracing differences will help to create a multicultural room, full of respect and individualism. Each teacher has indifidual thoughts and beliefs, which they will bring with them to establish their own classroom. Although these values may not be the same for everyone, we need to respect them, because if we do not allow teachers to teach in their own way, then we are in fact telling them we don't trust their capabilities. This course has helped me gain an incredible amount of perspective on teaching, and there is one thing that I learned on the first day of class that will stick with me always. I think it sums up the every day routine that a teacher goes through, and will help me maintain my principles and strength through the most trying times. "BEWARE AND BE BOLD," never give up on a student, and never be scared to stand up for what I believe.

Environmental problems Essay

There are numerous environmental problems facing our planet at the moment. Economic globalisation is causing destruction of rainforests in South America while boring a hole through the ozone layer, global warming occurs because of the increased emissions by transport and industries, melting of polar ice-caps is threatening low-lying coastal areas, damage of marine resources through overfishing is taking place, acid rain and pollution of soil and groundwater resources results from using chemicals and artificial fertilisers to boost crop output, incidence of hurricanes and other natural disasters is increasing. There is little consensus within both academic and lay circles as to whether the nature is able to cope with the environmental problems itself. In my opinion, ecosystems have a great potential of restoring the state of natural balance; however, the devastating influence of the humankind has significantly undermined this ability. At the dawn of the 21st century, environmental problems are looming large, and many processes are already irreversible. For instance, species that became extinct due to man’s activity could have been essential elements of certain food chains and habitants. The frequency of large-scale natural calamities, especially in the places that have been for a long time considered relatively safe, is a telling manifestation of the inability of nature to sustain its balanced state. Yet the film argues that today is exactly the day when the humanity can redeem its attitude to nature and prevent a global catastrophe. Therefore, the need for a different approach to the relations between the mankind and environment is necessary. It is imperative to carry on conservation and purification activities coupled with a persistent effort by both businesses and individuals to reduce (and, under the dream scenario, to stop) their environmentally damaging activities. Both individuals and corporations can make a considerable contribution to stopping (or at least slowing down) the degradation of the environment. In fact, many individuals seldom realize how their consumption patters are contributing to the aggravation of the situation. The culture of consumerism that constitutes the underlying philosophy of the West fuels unnecessary overproduction: reconsidering one’s consumption pattern can be the first step on the long way of saving the Earth. As Hertsgaard (2000) argues, the adoption of Western consumerist lifestyle by developing nations poses great dangers and has to be stopped before it firmly catches on. Such an approach implies not only reduction in consumption of non-essential goods and services but also buying from companies that are known to use environmentally-benign technologies in the process of production. The question as to who will suffer first, the Earth or the humans, is incorrect in its essence. Such thinking about the environment is the root cause of the imminent crisis. It is a fatal mistake to think that man is the king of nature. Indeed, our disconnection from the nature resulted in the great degree of alienation and ignorance. While human species is an inherent part of the Earth’s global ecosystems, men prefer to view themselves as ‘outsiders,’ superior to other species. Such approach brought about the overexploitation of the Earth’s resources, considerable environmental damage, and global warming. As Hertsgaard (2000) argues, in many countries, like in Sudan, environmental problems are inherently and explicitly linked to survival through the supply of food and drinking water. In China, pollution at factories equally harms humans and nature. The future of our planet in 50 years is solely dependent on the measures the humankind implements now to prevent the imminent crisis. Hertsgaard (2000) associates hopes with new environmentally friendly industries such as solar power. Given the changing attitudes towards environmental problems, growing awareness, and public policy commitment to betterment of our natural habitat, the outlook for the Earth is not as grim as some doomsayers think.

Symbols In Dolls House Novel - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 3 Words: 816 Downloads: 7 Date added: 2019/06/10 Category Literature Essay Level High school Tags: A Doll's House Essay Did you like this example? In most languages, each object is assigned a gender, typically either masculine or feminine, which determines how sentences are structured. In A Dolls House, certain objects serve as symbols that develop the theme of the play and portrays hidden aspects open to interpretation by the reader, similar to most works in literary drama. These symbols have been assigned masculine or feminine attributes and the gender determines how Nora feels towards her role as a woman in society. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Symbols In Dolls House Novel" essay for you Create order In A Dolls House, the feminine and masculine attributes of the symbols caused Nora, the protagonist, to either conform to her gender standards or sparked the desire to do the opposite and not accept the one she has been given, developing characteristics of her own instead, during her struggle to find herself as an individual. The most evident object in A Dolls House is a dollhouse itself and the gender typically attributed to the object is predominantly feminine as dolls are seen as being toys for girls. Dollhouses tend to be seen as fragile and a very isolated setting that is full of loneliness and conducive to internal monologues digesting what the perceived superior authority is promoting. Dollhouses have a closed back panel and an open front which symbolizes an access to escape yet the backbone of society is so beautifying that one feels compelled to be a prisoner. Throughout the play, Nora is treated like a doll as if she be put on a shelf to be controlled by all the men in her life, continuously referencing the control exerted over her by her husband and her father which could be seen as playing with her, as one would with a doll: Nora: Its true Torvald. When I lived at home with Papa, he used to tell me his opinion about everything, and so I had the same opinion. If I thought differently, I had to hide it from him, or he wouldnt have liked it. He called me his little doll, and he used to play with me just as I played with my dolls. Then I came to live in your house (pg ). Nora finally realizes the importance placed on their appearance in society by her husband is not more important than her own happiness and personal identity. In her feminine dollhouse she fulfilled her role that society assigned to women and this negatively impacted her personal identity as she continuously conformed to societal standards pertaining to women. The dollhouse symbol portrays how unreliable appearances are and how women sacrifice their personal identity and self-discovery to conform to gender standards assigned by society. Nora develops her identity throughout the play which can be seen through the dollhouse symbolism. In the beginning of the play Nora gives her children toys, specifically giving her daughter a doll: and a doll and a dollyrs bedstead for Emmy,they are very plain, but anyway she will soon break them in pieces (pg ). This is interesting as Nora seems to resent the control exerted over her by the men in her life but giving her daughter a doll suggests that she is raising her daughter to conform to the life that Nora is dissatisfied by and her mentioning Emmy breaking the toys foreshadows future events. In Act 3, the male dominant society in which men seek to benefit themselves while neglecting their wives is seen when Torvald says he will change to which Nora replies that he will only change if his doll was taken away. The feminine attributes of the dollhouse show that Nora desires to leave her husband but cant because she feels compelled to conform to her role in society. Another significant object assigned masculine attributes instead is the letterbox which causes Nora to want to break out of her role as a woman and instead discover her own identity and the letterbox clearly defines male and female roles. The letterbox is assigned masculine attributes as in A Dolls House, the letterbox is a source of secrecy and only Torvald having access to the letterbox, as only he holds the key, showcases his societal role as a controlling husband: Torvald: Someone has been at the lock. What can it mean? I should never have thought the maid here is a broken hairpin. Nora, it is one of yours. Nora: Then it must have been the children (pg 60). The masculine attributes of the letterbox causes Nora to begin to develop her own identity and not conform to her role in society. Instead of staying in her dollhouse she attempts to find her freedom, her freedom being locked in the letterbox and Torvald is the only one who has access to the locked letterbox, symbolizing his control over the whole house. Specifically discussing the letters in the letterbox, they symbolize the truths that the characters cannot get away from as once someone sends a letter, it cannot be taken back.

The Gilded Age And Imperialism Expansion - 1827 Words

Luke McGrath HIS 122-101 Midterm Exam 09/29/2014 Part I: Short Essay Format Question #1, American attitudes toward our culture can be paradoxical The Gilded Age or Imperialism expansion examine the conflicting values that America held for each. The gilded age was a period in history that caused a vast transformation due to the increase of American industrialization. Values and attitudes toward The Gilded Age varied. The poor workers often saw the changed caused by the Gilded Age as corrupt, where the rich business men looked at it as a positive change. The poor laborers in the gilded age often viewed the change that occurred during the era as a negative one. The fact that working conditions for laborers were poor was no secret. A passage from Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle depicts these conditions of an old man stating, â€Å"He worked in a place where his feet were soaked in chemicals and it was not long before the chemicals had eaten through his boots. Then sores began to break out on his feet and grew worse and worse.† In the end of this story the man continued to work until he died because he needed to take care of his family. This alone would tend to develop an attitude of negativity by poor immigrants and laborers toward changes made by the gilded. For more proof one can find various examples of strikes and civil unrest by workers usually against business owners and police. This too is evidence that the poor laborers of the time were unhappy with their situation. On theShow MoreRelatedThe Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World1417 Words   |  6 PagesBartholdi†. (Edwards 90.) It is important to note that gift was not from the French government. It was a gesture of friendship from its citizens and I feel symbolized the stature, in France’s eyes, that America had achieved in the world during the Gilded Age. The Harper’s article discusses the dedication on October 28, 1886 of the statue of â€Å"Liberty Enlightening the World†. The article uses the dedication to reflect on the relationship between the countries of France and the United States. Harper’sRead MoreThe Imperalistic Monster644 Words   |  3 PagesThe roots of imperialism have emerged from the ground since the beginning of time. Imperialism is the expansion of a countrys power and influence through diplomacy and military force. Imperialist nations of the recent past used brute force to conquer and enforce their control over other parts of the wo rld. For example, when one looks at Europe at the beginning of the 19th century. One can see that the brutal force of Napoleon Bonaparte’s military extended French dominance over much of Western EuropeRead MoreU.s. Foreign Policy Up1045 Words   |  5 PagesImperialism Questions Describe US foreign policy up until 1890. What key events took place in US I in regards to expansion. Summarize them. In the 1800s, there were many disputes over land borders involving Canada, Britain, and Mexico. The Aroostook War was a border dispute between Canada and Maine that was settled by the Webster-Ashburton Treaty in 1842; both sides gained some concessions. There was a border dispute with Britain in the Oregon Territory. In 1846, America and Britain agreed on theRead MoreThe United States And The Industrial Revolution1261 Words   |  6 Pagesundertaken. The different genres of its people all endured hardships and historic changes from the times of the Native Americans being forced out of their lands, to changes in population with the amassing amount of immigrants and lack of jobs through the Gilded Age, all the way through the change of the United States becoming an empire based on its acquisitions. But through all these events whether viewed as positive or negative, the powers that were in control, always viewed these changes as progression ofRead MoreThe World War I : An Era Of Socia l Unrest1114 Words   |  5 Pagesideals of the common man. Faced with growing economic and expansion problems in American society, these three major influential parties of the era had their own distinct economic visions as well as similar interests as time progressed on. In early 1890s, democratic and republicans were similar in their support for industrialists. 1890 marked the end of Gilded Age as well as a beginning of progressive era. Gilded Age is an age of industrial giant domination in politics and economics inRead MoreFrom The Reconstruction Era Through 1929 American Changed1441 Words   |  6 PagesRoosevelt came the hunger for more expansion. Imperialism was the solution for this, and was considered the most powerful factor in politics at the time (pg. 667). â€Å"Fellow citizens, It is a noble land that God has given us; a land that can feed and clothe the world; a land whose coastlines would enclose half the countries of Europe; a land set like a sentinel between two imperial oceans of the globe, a greater England with a nobler destiny.† (Beveridge, pg. 95) Imperialism had a greater impact on AmericaRead More The American Renaissance Essay1168 Words   |  5 Pagesthe Brooklyn Bridge in the State of New York, along wit h cultural advancements found in the Prairie School houses, Beaux-Arts Institute of Design in architecture and sculpture. The political heir of American nationalism evolved with the Gilded Age and New Imperialism school of thought. The American Renaissance produced major influential literary works from some of the most brilliant minds in U.S. history, including Ralph Waldo Emersons the Representative Man (1850), Nathaniel Hawthornes The ScarlettRead MoreNegative Examples Of American Imperialism1324 Words   |  6 Pages Negative Examples Of American Imperialism After temporarily resolving the problems of reconstruction and industrialization created during the Gilded Age, Americans began to resume the course of expansion. Control of the sea was the key to being a world power, which explains the reason behind colonizing heavily populated islands far away from the home country. These islands were not seen as suitable to become territories, and later states, but only as colonies. Commercial and business interests wereRead MoreThe American Renaissance Essay1648 Words   |  7 Pagesperiod in 1835-1880 in which United States literature came of age as an expression of a national spirit. Literature became one of the most historically significant effects that occurred throughout the time period of the American Renaissance. The American Renaissance is also characterized by renewed national self-confidence new ideas and technologies. Politically and economically, this era coincides with the Gilded Age and the New Imperialism. By the end of the eighte enth century, Enlightenment secularismRead MoreWonderful Wizard of Oz and the Populist Movement3033 Words   |  13 Pagesthe main characters and symbolism inherent in the story, suggest an outlook into the Gilded Age. Many historians, beginning with Henry Littlefield, have interpreted The Wizard of Oz as being an allegory to the Populist Movement and the issue of money that surrounded the Gilded Age. Although Baum mentions that The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was written as a bedtime fairy-tale to be read and enjoyed by people of all ages, the hidden symbols and deeper implications present in the book, such as silver shoes

Essay on James Joyces quot;The Deadquot; - 964 Words

James Joyces short story The Dead deals with the meaning of life. This title is significant and enhances several aspects of the story. First of all, it reveals that the characters are unable to be emotional. They are physically living but emotionally dead. Second of all, it contributes to the main subject of the story, Gabriels epiphany. The title contributes to these aspects of the story by adding meaning and acting as a reminder of the overall theme of the story. The title, The Dead, reveals the difference between how the people appear to be and who they really are. All the people at the party appear lively, but inside, these people are dead. Dead in this context implies that they are emotionally dead, but also that they†¦show more content†¦Another example where the characters are dead occurs where they talk about an order of monks who sleep in their coffins. These monks actually act as a metaphor for the characters. While discussing why the monks do this, the reason is given that it was the rule; that was all (Joyce 871). This statement shows the ability to accept something because it is a rule without even understanding the real purpose and parallels the acceptance of social rituals by the characters. They each act the way they do because it is the rule. The characters also call the monks very good men (Joyce 871). This represents that the characters see the blind acceptance of these social rituals as a good thing. This metap hor illustrates the characters as empty and meaningless. It is also noted that the monks do not speak to each other. This is also true about the characters. They do not really interact with each other out of this ritual. The only difference between the characters and the monks is that the monks have a greater purpose for their actions. This emphasizes how self-involved the characters are. It is also relevant that each of the characters in the story seem to feel they are superior and able to control their lives. The title The Dead is a reminder to the reader that these characters are wrong.Show MoreRelated James Joyce Essay1100 Words   |  5 Pages In selecting James Joyces Ulysses as the best novel of the twentieth century, Time magazine affirmed Joyces lasting legacy in the realm of English literature. James Joyce (1882-1941), the twentieth century Irish novelist, short story writer and poet is a major literary figure of the twentieth-century. Regarded as quot;the most international of writers in English ¡K[with] a global reputation (Attridge, pix), Joyces stature in literature stems from his experimentation with English prose. InfluencedRead MoreEssay on James Joyce1722 Words   |  7 Pages James Joyce nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;James Joyce, an Irish novelist and poet, grew up near Dublin. James Joyce is one of the most influential novelists of the 20th century. In each of his prose works he used symbols to experience what he called an quot;epiphanyquot;, the revelation of certain revealing qualities about himself. His early writings reveal individual moods and characters and the plight of Ireland and the Irish artist in the 1900s. Later works, reveal a man in all hisRead MoreEssay on Guilt, Duty, And Unrequited Love2223 Words   |  9 Pages Guilt, Duty, and Unrequited Love: Deconstructing the Love Triangles in James Joyce’s The Dead and Thomas Hardy’s Jude the Obscure amp;quot;It’s no problem of mine but it’s a problem I fight, living a life that I can’t leave behind. But there’s no sense in telling me, the wisdom of the cruel words that you speak. But that’s the way that it goes and nobody knows, while everyday my confusion grows.amp;quot; --New Order, Bizarre Love Triangle, from Substance, 1987 Most people who have watched

Langston Hughes’s Harlem Free Essays

His parents divorced when he was a small child, and his father moved to Mexico. He was raised by his grandmother until he was thirteen, when he moved to Lincoln, Illinois, to live with his mother and her husband, before the family eventually settled in Cleveland, Ohio. Hughes had a very poor relationship with his father. We will write a custom essay sample on Langston Hughes’s Harlem or any similar topic only for you Order Now He lived with his father in Mexico for a brief period in 1919. Upon graduating from high school in June 1920, Hughes returned to Mexico to live with his father, hoping to convince him to support Langston’s plan to attend Columbia University. Hughes later said that, prior to arriving in Mexico: â€Å"l had been hinking about my father and his strange dislike of his own people. I didn’t understand it, because I was a Negro, and I liked Negroes very much. Initially, his father had hoped for Hughes to attend a university abroad, and to study for a career in engineering. On these grounds, he was willing to provide financial assistance to his son but did not support his desire to be a writer. Eventually, Hughes and his father came to a compromise: Hughes would study engineering, so long as he could attend Columbia. His tuition provided; Hughes left his father after more than a year. While at Columbia in 1921, Hughes managed to maintain a 8+ grade average. He left in 1922 because of racial prejudice, and his interests revolved more around the neighborhood of Harlem than his studies, though he continued writing poetry. In Lincoln, Illinois, Hughes had begun writing poetry. Following graduation, he spent a year in Mexico and a year at Columbia University. During these years, he held odd lobs as an assistant cook, launderer, and a busboy, and travelled to Africa and Europe working as a seaman. In November 1924, he moved to Washington, D. C. Hughes’s first book of poetry, The Weary Blues, was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1926. He finished his college education at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania three years later. In 1930 his first novel, Not without Laughter, won the Harmon gold medal for literature. Hughes, who claimed Paul Lawrence Dunbar, Carl Sandburg, and Walt Whitman as his primary influences, is particularly known for his insightful, colorful portrayals of black life in America from the twenties through the sixties. Langston Hughes died of complications from prostate cancer in May 22, 1967, in New York. In his memory, his residence at 20 East 127th Street in Harlem, New York City, has been iven landmark status by the New York City Preservation Commission, and East 127th Street nas been renamed â€Å"Langston Hughes Place. † First published in The Crisis in 1921, â€Å"The Negro Speaks of Rivers† became Hughes’s signature poem which was collected in his first book of poetry The Weary Blues in 1926. Hughes’s first and last published poems appeared in The Crisis; more of his poems were published in The Crisis than in any other Journal. Hughes’s life and work were enormously influential during the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s, alongside those of his contemporaries, Zora Neale Hurston, Wallace Thurman, Claude McKay, Countee Cullen, Richard Bruce Nugent, and Aaron Douglas. Except for McKay, they worked together also to create the short-lived magazine Fire, devoted to younger Negro artists. Hughes and his contemporaries had different goals and aspirations than the black middle class. They criticized the men known as the midwives of the Harlem Renaissance: W. E. B. Du Bois, Jessie Redmon Fauset, and Alain LeRoy Locke, as being overly accommodating and assimilating Eurocentric values and culture to achieve social equality. Langston Hughes is famous for his poems during the Harlem Renaissance. In his poems he incorporated the real lives of blacks n the lower social-economic strata. He criticized the divisions and prejudices based on skin color within the black community. Hughes wrote what would be considered their manifesto, â€Å"The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain† published in The Nation in 1926. Hughes identified as unashamedly black at a time when blackness was d ©mod ©. He stressed the theme of â€Å"black is beautiful† as he explored the black human condition in a variety of depths. His main concern was the uplift of his people, whose strengths, resiliency, courage, and humor he wanted to record as part of the general American experience. His poetry and fiction portrayed the lives of the working-class blacks in America, lives he portrayed as full of struggle, Joy, laughter, and music. Permeating his work is pride in the African-American identity and its diverse culture. â€Å"My seeking has been to explain and illuminate the Negro condition in America and obliquely that of all human kind,† Hughes is quoted as saying. He confronted racial stereotypes, protested social conditions, and expanded African America’s image of itself; a â€Å"people’s poet† who sought to reeducate both audience and artist by lifting the theory of the black aesthetic into reality. Langston Hughes has many famous poems; Mother to Son, 50:50, but my favorite is Harlem (A Dream Deferred). Harlem† is a lyric poem with irregular rhyme and an irregular metrical pattern that sums up the white oppression of blacks in America. It first appeared in 1951 in a collection of Hughes’s poetry, Montage ofa Dream Deferred. In 1951 †the year of the poem’s publication†frustration characterized the mood of American blacks. The Civil War in the previou s century had liberated them from slavery, and federal laws had granted them the right to vote, the right to own property, and so on. However, continuing prejudice against blacks, as well as laws passed since the Civil War, relegated them to second-class citizenship. Consequently, blacks had to attend poorly equipped segregated schools and settle for menial Jobs as porters, ditch-diggers, servants, shoeshine boys, and so on. In many states, blacks could not use the same public facilities as whites, including restrooms, restaurants, theaters, and parks. Access to other facilities, such as buses, required them to take a back seat, literally, to whites. By the mid-Twentieth Century, their frustration with nferior status became a powder keg, and the fuse was burning. Hughes well underst what the tuture held, as ne indicates in the last line ot the poem. Langston Hughes’s poem â€Å"Harlem (A Dream Deferred)† is about what happens to dreams when they are put on hold. Hughes probably intended for the poem to focus on the dreams of African-Americans in particular because he originally entitled the poem â€Å"Harlem,† which is the capital of African American life in the United States; however, it is Just as easy to read the poem as being about dreams in general and what happens when people postpone making them come true. Ultimately, Hughes uses a carefully arranged series of images that also function as figures of speech to suggest that people should not delay their dreams because the more they postpone them, the more the dreams will change and the less likely they will come true. Harlem (A Dream Deferred) is my favorite Langston Hughes’s poems because he is talking about how problems are in the world we are living in. He knows that African Americans have their freedom and rights now but, they are still issue with unfair treatment. Hughes dreams that his race keeps battling through adversity and hopes that things will get better. I think what makes Langston Hughes poems so popular is his interaction to his audience. Hughes relates and involves real world events in his poems. Langston Hughes was one of the most important writers and thinkers of the Harlem Renaissance, which was the African American artistic movement in the 1920s that celebrated black life and culture. Hughes’s creative genius was influenced by his life in New York City’s Harlem, a primarily African American neighborhood. His literary works helped shape American literature and politics. Hughes, like others active in the Harlem Renaissance, had a strong sense of racial pride How to cite Langston Hughes’s Harlem, Papers