Saturday, October 5, 2019
Standardized Testing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words
Standardized Testing - Essay Example A non-standardized test, on the other hand, is the opposite of a standardized test. This type of testing gives notably different tests to diverse test takers, or administers the same test under extensively different conditions. For instance, a non-standardized test might occur when one group is offered far less time to tackle the test than another group. It might also occur when one group evaluates a test differently than another group for instance when the same answer is regarded right for one scholar, but incorrect for another scholar. Standardized tests are considered as being fairer when compared to non-standardized tests (Butler & Stevens, 2009). The steadiness also permits more reliable contrast of outcomes across every test taker. Standardized tests, due to their fairness, should be regarded as the best way of testing English Language Learners. This paper will, hence, seek to support the argument that standardized tests are the best way of testing English Language Learners. Wh en it comes to English Language Learners, standardized testing should be considered as the best way of assessing their understanding (Coltrane, 2009). This is due to a lot of reasons that will be explained later in this paper. It is essential to discuss the pros and cons of standardized testing in order to understand the significance of standardized testing to English Language Learners. Standardized testing holds educators, schools, as well as their ELLs, accountable. Perhaps the best benefit of standardized testing is that educators and their respective schools are responsible for training their English Language Learners what they are needed to be familiar with for these standardized tests. This is mainly because these scores turn into public record and educators, as well as their respective schools, who do not perform as expected can come under severe scrutiny. This scrutiny might lead to losing of jobs and in some situations a school might be shut or run by the state (Coltrane, 2 009). Standardized testing also allows English Language Learners or ordinary students located in different districts, schools, or even states to be compared. If it were not for standardized testing, this contrast would not be possible. Students from public schools in Texas are all needed to do standardized tests at the same time, whether an ELL or not. This implies that a learner in Amarillo may be compared to a learner in Dallas. Being capable of accurately comparing data is priceless, and this is why that the Common Core Standards for each state have been developed. These will grant a more precise comparison between every state (Flores & Trumbull, 2002). Another advantage of using standardized testing with regards to English Language Learners is that standardized testing is naturally accompanied by a set of well-known standards or instructional framework that provide educators with help for when and what needs to be taught. Without this arrangement, a third grade tutor and a sixth grade educator could be teaching a similar content to their English Language Learners (Menken, 2008). Having this curriculum also keeps ELLs who shift from one district school to another from being far ahead or behind their new institution. Standardized tests are also objective in reality (Flores & Trumbull, 2002). Classroom grades set by a tutor are at the very least simply subjective in reality. Standardized tes
Friday, October 4, 2019
Spiritual Diversity Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words
Spiritual Diversity - Assignment Example Panentheism or animism characterizes the spirituality of Native American with an emphasis on personal spirituality and connectivity with daily activities that occur in spiritual and natural â€Å"worlds†(Rainbow of Spirituality, 2013). Native American Spirituality makes the people to have a belief in sacred and that everything that is done originates from the heart of an individual. As such, the spiritual perspective of this religion is that the Supernatural Being has the sovereign power of bringing illness to the community members. For individuals to receive this healing, spiritual components such as belief, meditation and prayer have to be integrated. This acts as the means of these people to communicate with their creator in order to receive this healing. Native American belief bases on the provision of services from the heart of an individual. As such, the faith of the people is vested on the quality and reliability of services, which are offered by care providers of othe r spiritual beliefs. However, differences in cultural practices make it complex for these people to focus on the healing from the health care providers of other spiritual beliefs. This is because of ethnic barrier and differences in communication pattern with source of healing power (Rainbow of Spirituality, 2013). This makes the Native Americans not to have a strong belief in healing from health care providers of other spiritual beliefs.... Further, the philosophy of Christian and Native American is connected in terms of reliability of health care providers from other spiritual beliefs to contribute towards healing of an individual. This includes provision of quality health care and protection, which is aimed at ensuring that the patient gets well. Treatment of patients in both cases is the same such that there is no bias in terms of how health care services are provided to the patients. This implies that both Christian philosophy and Native American Spirituality accept to have health care services provision from people of other spiritual beliefs provided that their services are based on best practices and interests for the patients under consideration. Buddhism is one religion that has a strong emphasis on â€Å"mindfulness†. This implies that health care providers have to note that patients may seek for quietness and peace in order to meditate. This is an issue of concern for Buddhism religion (Ehman, 2007). Mo desty is another virtue that Buddhism religion emphasizes on. As such, cultural concerns of treatment by opposite sex may impact the process of patient caring and delivery of medication. The perspective of this religion with respect to healing of a patient is that prayers that are characterized of meditation by the patient contribute significantly towards the healing process. These prayers should be done in a silent and secure place where there are no people to interfere with the patient during the meditation process. The critical components of healing for this religion are praying. This involves loud chants that are done in a repeated manner within a quiet environment, which is
Thursday, October 3, 2019
Residential Housing Essay Example for Free
Residential Housing Essay KB Home, one of the major housing companies in the market made a statement telling the public that they do not see housing sector to stabilize by this year. Number of housing companies has been acquiring great losses by the end of 2005 as disposable income of consumers’ declines as the consequence of lowering down of per capita income in the economy. According to the President and Chief Executive Officer of KB Home, Jeffrey Mezger, they have suffered to a staggering loss of nearly $10 per share during the first quarter of 2007 (Steverman 1).            Deutsche Bank’s economists, Peter Hopper, said that the housing correction works sluggishly just like a ‘slow-motion train wreck’ which made worse the housing sector of the economy. Moreover, the said loss of KB Home worse than what they have expected. Analysts expects around $7 loss per share which is very far from the $10 per share loss accounted last quarter. Therefore, with the further worsening of the stock prices in the stock market, this only means that there will be no improvement in the coming first quarter of 2008.            To make the situation worse, there has been a rumor in the market regarding the bankruptcy of Countrywide which supplies loans and mortgages worth 2 million and 9 million respectively. Countrywide suffered from 25 percent losses as of January 8 of this year. Meaning, there would be a shortage on the supply of loan and mortgages in the financial market just in case Countrywide is really approaching to bankruptcy. Moreover, the shortage of supply of loans and mortgages in the economy will only worsen the purchasing power of the consumers, giving way for a further deterioration of demand to housing industry.            One possible reason behind the turmoil in the housing industry would be the oversupply of homes in the market creating a pressure for its prices to decline. By the time price level of housing units starts to decline, profitability of housing companies begins to deteriorate giving way for experiencing a low return on investment in the next quarter. Driven by speculation, investors will start to pull out their stocks in the housing sector causing stock prices to turn down. In this regard, the connection between the oversupply of housing unit in the market with the deterioration of stock prices is already established. Moreover, it is not only the oversupply of housing units in the market that caused the instability of the housing sector. The growing competition also adds up to the growth of the problem. At the end of the day, market analysts still believes that housing sector will not recover this year based from the current degree of losses that housing companies and financial institutions had experienced on the last quarter of 2007. Analysis            It is true that the turmoil in the housing sector started during the last quarter of 2005 when consumers have high disposable income. During then, consumers spent more in the housing market attracting the housing companies to produce more house units next quarter. By the start of the first quarter of 2006, per capita income of consumers starts to decline giving them a limited disposable income for housing sector. At this point, the housing industry experienced oversupply of housing units since companies did not anticipate the deterioration of consumer’s disposable income. The said oversupply caused the price level of the housing companies to decline causing the return on investment to depreciate which later on forced stock holder to withdraw their stocks in the market. The increasing competition in the housing sector also add up to the lowering down of housing unit prices since companies in this industry starts to compete each other through price competition. Meaning, housing companies tries to lower down the prices of their home units in order to attract more customers.            The negative effects of eh oversupply of housing units will not be that severe if there is only adequate number of financial institutions that will provide loans and mortgages to uplift the purchasing power of the consumers, therefore, improving the demand on the housing industry. But the problem now would be, even financial lenders is also having a hard time providing loans and mortgages due to the low income level of consumers in the market which imposes the threat of bankruptcy to the financial lenders.            It would be best if the government would start making action by offering low interest rate on credit. The federal bank must structuralize a special credit scheme for housing sector customers, e.g. low interest rate on borrowing or longer payment period, in order to solve the problem of over supply on the said industry.            Another way by which the government could solve this instability of housing sector would be to provide financial aids to Countrywide which, as what have already pointed out during the first part of the paper, plays a major role in uplifting the purchasing power of consumers though provision of loans and mortgages that can be used in purchasing housing units. The said government aid may be in the form of monetary of fiscal Moreover, the government could also increase the wage rate of the workers in the economy in order to improve the current level of disposable incomes of consumers in the market. By the time the disposable income of consumers increase, they will now have enough money to purchase housing units which will solve the problem regarding the oversupply of home units. Works Cited Steverman, Ben â€Å"Housing: A Fresh Jolt of Bad News.†8 January 2008. Business Week. 11 February 2008 http://www.businessweek.com/investor/content/jan2008/pi2008018_503594.htm?chan=search.
Brokeback Mountain And The Western
Brokeback Mountain And The Western Brokeback Mountain (Ang Lee, 2005) integrates traditional western motifs and iconography, and follows a common plot structure of the genre, but at the same time overlooks certain aspects and introduces new concepts and motifs, mixing western with melodrama to create a contemporary Western. Brokeback Mountains queerness challenges us to question the usefulness of boundaries and categories, not just between straight and gay masculinities, but mainly between the films genre leanings as both melodrama and western. The western represents American culture, explaining its present in terms of its past and virtually redefining the past to accommodate the present. Thomas Schatz (1981) The westerns various cultural forms indicate the central role that it continues to play in conceptions of national identity. If the western genre represents American culture, as Schatz implies, then can the film Brokeback Mountain be considered a western? On the one hand, if Brokeback Mountain is to be considered a western this would imply that homosexuality has always been part of the narrative and logic of the western. However, to reject the film as a western would also overlook the ways in which it rewords the genre through contemporary political concerns. Brokeback Mountain is made in such a way as to be considered both a revision of and an extension of the western genre. It integrates traditional western motifs and iconography, and follows a common plot structure of the genre, but at the same time overlooks certain aspects and introduces new concepts and motifs, mixing western with melodrama to create a contemporary western. In most films, a true western is set in a particular historical moment approximately between 1836 and the Mexican Revolution in 1913 (Kitses, 1969). Brokeback Mountain is set between 1963 and 1983, which seems to come too late by historical definition. The impression given by the film, however, is of an American setting that represents a continuum with the old ways of western life. This western life, though drastically altered by twentieth-century capitalism is seemingly unchanged by twentieth-century ideology. Although Brokeback Mountain is not set in the distant past, it clearly conjures up the mythology of the West; the lonesome cowboy figure: the cowboy attire; the solitary lifestyle; the restriction of the homestead on mens freedom; working with animals; rodeo culture; the power of the wilderness; and melancholy produced through country music. Since Brokeback Mountain begins in 1963, it might not represent the west as an epic moment and Ennis and Jack might not be considered rea l cowboys but it portrays a west that exists through the ideologies and practices of specific American regions associated with western mythology. Set between Wyoming and Texas, Brokeback Mountain still presents the West as a mythic, imagined fantasy, a concept of a way of life that remains intact with the west of the past. Brokeback Mountain presents the contrasting relationship between wilderness and civilisation through its aesthetic conflict between freedom and restriction, namely between the mountain and the town. The film characterises the western through its structuring of life in the wilderness, symbolised through Ennis and Jacks freedom to express their love there. In contrast there is the reality of rural town life with their respective wives and children, which forces them to conform to a failed normal life. As Gary Needham states, Brokeback Mountain claims the landscape and the frontier for its symbolic meaning to express freedom and the cowboys affiliation and closeness to nature, the land, and of course to the other cowboys who might be out there too. The wilderness is fabricated by the title Brokeback Mountain. Created by Annie Proulx, it not only represents isolation and secrecy, but also empowerment. The mountain symbolises the only place where Jack and Ennis are able to express themsel ves unrestricted and free from fear, shame or paranoia. The place comes to symbolise a temporary escape from the closet, an almost-freedom, and this is shown through the landscape in the film. The landscape is juxtaposed against the bleak suffocating small town. Masculinity and the western landscape are the two most symbolic elements in the western because of their power to be translated into epic mythologies and concepts of freedom. The traditional western is, more than anything else, about the conflict between civilization and savagery on the frontier. In the genre, the western man has a duty to uphold justice and honour all that is good in civilisation. He is characterised as brave, honourable, rugged and a loner. Tompkins (2004) argues that the west functions as a symbol of freedom, and the opportunity for conquest. It seems to offer escape from the conditions of life in modern industrial society; from mechanized existence, economic dead end, social entanglements, unhappy personal relations, political injustice. The desire to change place also signals a powerful need for self-transformation. With his tall masculine frame, quiet reserve and deep voice, Ennis looks and sounds like the typical western hero traditionally seen in the genre. E nnis is forced to deal with the pull of the wilderness while at the same time remaining true to civilisation by quitting his job to attend his daughters wedding rather than quitting to see his unorthodox lover Jack. In Brokeback Mountain, every main character suffers because of the masculine western myth, with Ennis suffering the most. The antihero Jack meets his antihero end at the hands of the unsympathetic civilisation which cannot accept his true identity. But the hero (Ennis), the frontier cowboy who stays close to the land but resists natures temptations, and who attempts to do right by his daughters has a more painful fate. He is left ultimately alone in his trailer forever knowing that what might have been can never be. And this is all because he is the man of the west, the lonely hero forever doomed to tread alone. The most obvious change introduced to the western genre in Brokeback Mountain is the issue of homosexuality. The lead characters Ennis and Jack share a homosexual love interest, a concept very rarely explored in western texts. Chris Packard (2006) states, If there is something national about the cowboy, and if there is something homoerotic about the partnerships he forms in the wilderness, then there is something homoerotic about American national identity as the literary West conceives it. Because of this, homosexuality is not an issue that is readily explored in western literature or cinema, especially within the western genre. The romantic interest in the traditional western is the femme fatale, desired for her feminine charm and allure. Brokeback Mountain twists this concept by placing another male (Jack) as the heros love interest. However, in doing so, Jack merely takes the place of the femme fatale and is therefore attached with the same ideologies of femininity. It is Jack wh o seduces Ennis, tempting Ennis when he calls him into the tent. So while exploring the relationship between the two men, Brokeback Mountain aims to put a twist on the traditional western, but ultimately adheres to the motif of the femme fatale. Although many of the motifs and structures used in Brokeback Mountain follow the western genre, the ultimate powerlessness and emotional involvement produced in the film fall into the melodrama genre. The power of melodrama to create intense feelings is contrasted with the serious genre of the western in which masculine identity is of greater importance than any romantic connection. The film creates overly emotional responses and attachments through portrayal of tears, separation and loss, thus removing all seriousness, reason and propriety. our experiential investment in the narrative of Jack and Ennis relationship is primarily emotional; for Needham, then, Brokeback Mountain mobilises melodrama as a tactical way of provoking feeling and sentiment that are politically efficacious. It exhibits an excess of confusion, suffering and restlessness and it expands on two key motifs of melodrama in order to express and to some extent work through this excess. By utilising a version of the maximised type David Lusted has argued, the Western emerged in the earliest days of Hollywood as a generic form of melodrama, dependent on the melodrama stage for its dominant narratives, themes and performance styles (Lusted, 1992: 13). [1] These melodramatic themes, Lusted suggests, include love sacrificed and reunited; suffering, misunderstanding and reconciliation; victimhood, emotionalism and pathos (Lusted, 1992: 17ff). The films melodramatic mode and form are constructed through narrative situations of separation and loss. Suffering and failure, and helplessness and pathos. Brokeback Mountain is places as a melodrama to narrate to great affect the ongoing problems of the closet and homophobia. Brokeback Mountain uses several structures which fall under the melodrama genre. These include and expressive use of music to produce heightened emotion; discrepancies in point of view and the timing of narrative events that are mobilised to induce tears. It is Brokeback Mountains melodramatic form that allows it to express a history of unjury, backward feeling and affectivity thought the conventions of melodrama that work so well in dealing with themes of secrecy, passivity, paranoia, shame and temporal irreversibility. though many western films traditionally use long shots, Brokeback Mountain makes use of close-up shots to key the audience into the main characters relationship. This heightens the sense of intimacy between the two characters. Nearly all of the love scenes between Jack and Ennis are close-ups, bringing the audience into their relationship. The Western genre is ultimately one which incorporates other genres, including romance, war, melodrama and action. As Kitses (1969) puts it, Experiment seems always to have been varied and development dynamic, the pendulum swinging back and forth between opposing poles of emphasis on drama and history, plots and spectacle, romance and realism, seriousness and comedy. Brokeback Mountain utilises this flexibility to successfully introduce new ideas into its plot, while still retaining traditional structures of the Western. Not only does the film follow the genre specific framework and incorporate classical Western motifs (cowboy costumes, alcohol, and a landscape which represents paradise), it also builds on the theme, creating a new and contemporary version of the genre and demonstrates the detrimental impact to identity brought about by social ideologies of what is normal. Brokeback Mountains queerness challenges us to question the usefulness of boundaries and categories, not just between straight and gay masculinities, but mainly between the films genre leanings as both melodrama and Western.
Wednesday, October 2, 2019
Petroleum Crisis Essay -- Oli Shortage
Petroleum Crisis Everyone wants appliances such as toasters, microwaves and fridges to be cheap even though they are rich, but what about the poor people or so called middle class. What will they do if the prices are too high to afford? Petroleum is something that we all need to go from place to place, anyways most of us do; four to five years ago, when I first came to Canada, the gas prices were quite low, but in the past 2-3 years, it is still increasing up to date. Prices of toasters and petroleum etc shouldn’t increase because we are getting our taxes cut and on top of that our level of price for the gas has increased, which makes our lives hard and tedious. Gases, Petrol are essential tools for the 21st century. It is something that all the people need to go from places to places because using buses gets expensive in the long run. This crisis began only because the Middle East began to charge more for their barrel. This happened because they realized that they are giving their petrol for less, when they could be making much more selling the same quantity, which is fair. They can charge whatever they want because it is their own Gasoline and they can do whatever they want with it. Canada has Alberta to help them a lot with the losses of Petroleum and charges of it because it has it’s own oilrig, from where oil is produced, and can help them by giving the oil locally so that the gas prices will not be that high. The government for some unknown reason to the public ar... Petroleum Crisis Essay -- Oli Shortage Petroleum Crisis Everyone wants appliances such as toasters, microwaves and fridges to be cheap even though they are rich, but what about the poor people or so called middle class. What will they do if the prices are too high to afford? Petroleum is something that we all need to go from place to place, anyways most of us do; four to five years ago, when I first came to Canada, the gas prices were quite low, but in the past 2-3 years, it is still increasing up to date. Prices of toasters and petroleum etc shouldn’t increase because we are getting our taxes cut and on top of that our level of price for the gas has increased, which makes our lives hard and tedious. Gases, Petrol are essential tools for the 21st century. It is something that all the people need to go from places to places because using buses gets expensive in the long run. This crisis began only because the Middle East began to charge more for their barrel. This happened because they realized that they are giving their petrol for less, when they could be making much more selling the same quantity, which is fair. They can charge whatever they want because it is their own Gasoline and they can do whatever they want with it. Canada has Alberta to help them a lot with the losses of Petroleum and charges of it because it has it’s own oilrig, from where oil is produced, and can help them by giving the oil locally so that the gas prices will not be that high. The government for some unknown reason to the public ar...
Tuesday, October 1, 2019
Depth of a River :: essays research papers
Depth of a River      Poetic expression is evolved from a web of emotions and thoughts. With the help of imagery, formation, and figurative language, a poet is able to transport readers to another world of his creation. Robert Burns uses these attributes to invite readers into world of peace and serenity in his poem â€Å"Sweet Afton.†This lyrical poem expresses the gratitude the persona feels for his homeland’s beauty, while asking nature to be quiet so his love may enjoy the tranquillity of her sleep. Burns’s use of imagery, use of figurative language, and construction with musical aspects help him convey his feelings and ideas to his readers.      With the rolling hills, winding streams, and wandering sheep, Burns has created a pastoral setting in â€Å"Sweet Afton.†Burns use of imagery helps add to the reality of the poem. A reader is able to hear the blackbirds’ whistling, the dove’s resounding echo, and the lapwing’s screaming. A reader is able to see snowy feet, crystal streams, and green valleys. A reader can even smell the sweet-scented birch. Burns appeals to senses by using imagery words that create the illusion of sound, sight, and smell. Imagery helps express the persona’s feelings in his environment, enabling the reader to stand along with him in his world.      Slow-moving rivers symbolize the simple life. Peace is traveling at a pace easily kept. There are no dangerous undercurrents or rocky obstacles; Afton River is gliding crystal. Burns is able to create this illusion through figurative language. He also uses apostrophe by having the persona command the river and wildlife to be quiet, as in â€Å"Flow gently, sweet Afton, disturb not her dream,†(lines 4 and 24). Much like imagery, figurative language is another vehicle used to carry the feelings of the persona to the reader.      â€Å"Sweet Afton†is a poem broken up into six stanzas. Each stanza contains four lines. These stanzas attribute to the musical effect of the poem. The first and last stanzas are incremental refrains. Burns uses this repetition to emphasize his plea for the river to flow gently and his great appreciation for its beauty. The middle four stanzas each focus on a different feature of nature. The second stanza focuses on the sounds of the birds in the narrow and secluded valleys. The beauty of the surrounding hills, little streams, and the persona’s own sheep are emphasized in the third stanza.
Iphone Micro Environment
Micro-environmental factors such as customers are essential in determining the success of marketing especially when the needs of the clients are satisfied. Similarly, the contribution of employees to the company is fundamental in production of high quality products which are highly marketable (Apple, Inc. 2008). The media is an equally crucial factor of the micro-environment because any information which originates from the media either positive or negative can adversely affect the sales of the iPhones.Macro-environmental factors include worldwide change in technological perspectives of the digital world as well as evolution of more sophisticated software. This attributes creates an edge for Apple iPhones hence increasing their demand in the global market. The global problems such as the recent financial crisis which hit the whole global market contribute negatively towards the marketing of products (Apple, Inc. 2008). SWOT analysis SWOT analysis involves seeking to understand the st rengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that are within the vicinity of the firms reach.Strengths include qualities which may be possessed by the iPhone and not present in other similar models which are in the market. Similarly, strength may be ability of a brand to meet the needs of a particular age bracket thus placing it on top of the others (Linzmayer, 1999). [pic] Weaknesses are negative attributes especially contributed by the micro-environmental factors such as poor publicity. Such a weakness may lead to collapsing of the brand especially when urgent measures are not undertaken to counteract it (Blokdijk, 2008). [pic]Opportunities involve taking advantage of the weakness portrayed by competitors and ensuring that the brand attains higher recognition. During the low season for competitors in addition to ensuring that the firm takes note of the activities and in case of any chance of failure to make a breakthrough (Apple Inc. 2010). [pic] Threats are negative aspects whi ch dampen the occurrence of any successful strategies. Negative aspects which hinder the achievement of certain goals are referred as threats as they interfere with execution of the firm’s productivity. SWOT analysis  |Apple’s iPhone |Samsung |Nokia | |Strength |Unique features of product |Presence of a wide variety of |Reputation in the market | | | |products | | |Weakness |Position of moisture sensors onShortage of distributors in the |Presence of counterfeits bearing| | |the iPhone hence it easily |local market level. almost similar names. | | |exposed to moisture. | | | |Opportunity |Increased taste of customers |Well established international |Easy recognition of the brand as| | |requiring customized products. |niche thus increasing the |it has been in the market for | | | |international sales of its |quite some time. | | |products. | | |Threat |More competitors dealing with |The wide ranges of products in |Counterfeits being sold at | | |iProducts in addi tion to |the market tend to limit |cheaper prices than the original| | |increased availability of the |consumer loyalty as they cannot |products hence consumers tend to| | |internet at lower prices. recall the name and use of the |reject the real Nokia products. | | | |various products. | |
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