Rudolfo Anaya’s Bless Me, Ultima Essay -- Rudolfo Anaya Bless Me Ultim

Rudolfo Anaya’s Bless Me, Ultima In Rudolfo Anaya’s Bless Me, Ultima, the author uses Tony’s dreams as a way of displaying various symbols. Three symbols that are used often are weather, water, and the Golden Carp. Weather is used to represent conflict. Water represents cleansing, and rejuvenation. The Golden Carp symbolizes religion and Tony’s beliefs. Because dreams are not an exact mirror of reality, they become the perfect tool for introducing symbolism. The author uses the dream as a way to access the recurring themes of the book. Weather affects the lives of everyone. When the weather turns foul, it makes life more difficult. Stormy weather in Tony’s dreams represents the conflict in his life, and the lives of those around him. One example of the weather in his dreams is the wind. In one of Tony’s dreams the wind is used to represent conflict that disrupts the peace that is a still lake. "There was a howling wind as the moon rose and it’s powers pulled at the still waters of the lake."(Anaya 120) The wind here is used to represent forces of disturbance caused by nuclear testing taking place south of the town, just as wind kicks up dust and blurs the view. Another element of storms is thunder and lightning. In Tony’s dream he sees, ".....a flash of lightning struck and out of the thunder a dark figure stepped forth. It was Ultima......I sought more answers, but she was gone, evaporated into a loud noise."(Anaya 71) Lightning can offer glimpses of illumination, but then darkness retu rns, and the noise of the thunder that follows deafens the ears. This represents the moments of good that can occur within the midst of conflict. Ultima’s appearance gives Tony a glimpse of where he needs to search for innocence, but he is still confused from this encounter. He continues to search for answers. Another significant weather occurrence is the appearance of mist. " The mist swirled around me. I was at the river, and I heard someone calling my name. I peered into the dark mist but I could see no one." (Anaya 61) Just as the mist leaves a person feeling isolated, the mist represents the war and how it left Tony separated from his brothers. Weather, in the form of wind, thunder and lightning, and mist, provides powerful symbolism for the conflicts in Tony’s life. Cleansing and rejuvenation are themes that are suggested by the author, and symbolized thro... ...eath he had seen he can’t really trust the gods because they continue to let people that are close to him die. Tony’s belief in the power of the carp is beginning to fade here because he can not understand why the carp, and God continue to let people die. Tony knows what the carp represents, so he blames the carp for these deaths. All of these quotes show how the Golden Carp represents the power, and the importance of Tony’s religion. The Golden Carp was the most important religious symbol in Bless Me Ultima. In Rudolfo Anaya’s Bless Me Ultima, the other uses Tony’s dreams to show the reader symbols of conflict, rejuvenation, and religion. The weather in this story is used to represent conflict. Weather is shown in Tony’s dreams to represent conflicts in his life. Water is used to represent cleanliness in rejuvenation. We all use water to clean ourselves, but in this book water is shown to clean the mind, body, and soul. The Golden Carp is shown to be a symbol of Tony’s religion. The carp is a symbol that Tony turns to for answers in his life. In all of Tony’s dreams the reader is able to gain a better understanding of Tony’s life through the use of symbols in Tony’s dreams.

Music Classroom Management

Classroom management is a challenge in any field. Effective classroom management in music classes or performance ensembles has the additional challenge of having to be able to encourage creativity and self-expression.   Gordon reflects that there are significant stress factors in music classes that it is critical that teachers develop all the necessary skills not only to ensure the artistic and co.uk/does-television-have-educational-value/">educational value for students but also to endure that classes also fulfill teachers (162-164). Considering these, music educators have to adapt standard classroom management skills to accommodate the nature of music as an expression and art (Moore et al 5-8). This entails an understanding of the students learning and performance, indicators of learning, manner of interaction and physical set up of the classroom. Those these factors are not the only ones to be considered, they are basic factors that are to be considered in any music classroom (Gordon 158-159). Students Learning and Performance Music classes require greater participation form students not only in discussions but also in actual performance. Similar to a physical education class, performance serves as the students’ main means of participation but music students are still required to master knowledge as they would in a science or mathematics class. Therefore, students will need equal amounts of knowledge in literature to allow understanding of notations and technique whiles at the same time just as much instruction to translate it to actual performance (Moore et al 37-40). According to the Teacher Vision sponsored article Strategies for Developing Basic Music Knowledge, this entails a child learning essentials of form in holding an instrument as much as learning to read notes. Both elements of learning are critical in music education which in a standard classroom for other disciplines may not be required as much. In other disciplines, there is a general inverse relationship between â€Å"book learning† and performance. At the same time, much of the studying that students do for the class lies beyond the direct control of the teachers. Mastery is of knowledge or a piece must be translated by students into practice. It thus becomes even more critical that students are driven to develop positive learning attitudes in students because of the interdependence of learning and practice in student performance (â€Å"Discipline Strategies in the Music Classroom†). Indicators of Learning As mentioned, there is an equal emphasis on the theoretical and practical application of music learning. However, music teachers also give greater allowance to the manner of performance to accommodate technique or style. Since music is inherently an expression, there should be an expectation that there are variances to the performance (Moore et al 17-23). Though mastery either in performance or form is a common indicator of learning, it should be remembered that it is not universal. Since musical aptitude varies greatly from one individual to another, standards may be developed in a progressive scale (Gordon159-160). After students learn the fundamental of music, the development of performance indicators becomes more challenging for music teachers. One suggestion for the qualitative indicators cites that learning in music must create value, allow for expression and be a tool for communication. Teacher Vision suggests that is important that students be able to learn the value of musical learning which can be indicated by the reflection and insight students make from the lesson of musical piece (â€Å"Strategies for Establishing a Thinking Music Classroom†). Next, students should be encouraged to use the learning as a means of expression whether directly or indirectly. Finally, music should create a foundation for communication for students whether they are performers or not. Manner of Interaction Communication and interaction is one of the most important elements in any music classroom. Since feedback is critical in improving performance, teachers have to develop interactivity among students. This is to be done by developing a communication platform among students and with the teacher that can facilitate not proactive critique and reinforcement as well as encourage accommodation or assimilation of various styles and techniques (â€Å"Strategies for Making Music Happen†). Though these are also critical in any standard classroom, music teachers have to develop this to a higher degree because of its significance in terms of encouraging expression and performance. This is even more critical in classes were there ensembles: in this scenario, individual students’ performances become only an element of the performance of the group (Moore et al 46-48). Students need to work more closely together or depend much more on each other’s performance and this in turn will require greater sensitivity in terms of managing friction among students (â€Å"Strategies for Making Music Happen†). Physical Set Up In a similarity to learning requirements, music classrooms must be set up to be conducive both to learning and performance wither individually or as a group. It should be helpful to develop specific sections of the room for specific uses or groups so that study can be done independently. Sectional divisions should be appropriately sized according to the needs of a section and ordered according to their association with other sections. These should also afford opportunities for collaborations as they may be needed (Moore et al 22-29). There should be particular attention given to the care and safety of not only students but instruments. Since most schools also use the music classroom to store or maintain instruments, a portion of the room should serve not only as warehouse. At the same time, there should be common area for performance or instruction. The common areas also serve as cohesive factor for the class (â€Å"Discipline Strategies in the Music Classroom†). Works Cited â€Å"Discipline Strategies in the Music Classroom†. Teacher Vision. 16 April 2007. <http://www.essaywriters.net/sys/index.php?rate=20&order=58130> Gordon, Debra G. Discipline in the Music Classroom: one component contributing to teacher stress. Journal Music Education Research (2001) Volume 4, Number 1. Pages 157-165 Moore, Marvelene C., Batey, Angela L.,Royse, David M. Classroom Management in General, Choral and Instrumental Music Programs. The National Association for Music Education, 2002 â€Å"Strategies for Developing Basic Music Knowledge†. Teacher Vision. 16 April 2007. <http://www.teachervision.fen.com/music/teacher-training/6764.html> â€Å"Strategies for Establishing a Thinking Music Classroom†. Teacher Vision. 16 April 2007. <http://www.teachervision.fen.com/teacher-training/printable/6766.html> â€Å"Strategies for Making Music Happen†. Teacher Vision. 16 April 2007. <http://www.teachervision.fen.com/curriculum-planning/music/6770.html>

Computers & social change Essay

To argue for and against, use authors that are for and against technological determinism. In order for me to carry out this task effectively, I will define what is meant by the term technological determinism then break down the mystery of these term into parts and also demonstrate out some different technologists who have had a say on the term. According to Babylon, Technological Determinism is considered as an autonomous ling and is defined as technology being developed by its own ruling, with its potential limited by material resources. 1 Authors For As said by Neville Holmes a senior lecturer at the University of Tasmania â€Å"Computers are merely tools. They are not members of society; they are not even pseudo members, like corporations and governments. They are not independent agents. Like cars and telephones, they only do things if and when someone uses them. They can neither be blamed for what they do (are used for), nor given credit for what they do (are used for). â€Å"2 Here Holmes is arguing in favour of the above statement, he is telling readers that computers should not be classified as living being that they are just machines which we can control or use to assist ones doing, they are helpers or assistants. Also Jacque Ellul is arguing alongside Holmes, he also apply that computers are not independent of social change as he wrote that; †Technology, is symbolic of a cancer which as it grows increases the fundamental danger to its host, in this case society† Ellul see’s the idea of technology as a whole as an autonomous means with no ruling. He suggests that computers can not be autonomy of social change because they are not only created by humans but they are also used by humans. 3 Arthurs Against Whereas the Dutch social critic Michiel Schwarz is against the above authors opinion as he stated that; †Technology has become our environment as well as our ideology. † †We no longer use technology, we live it. † Schwarz is arguing for computers, he believes humans see computers as the structure of society. He is trying to tell us that computers are independent of social change. Also Marshall McLuhan is arguing alongside Schwarz, he believes that computers are independent of social change as he stated that †inventions in technology invariably cause cultural change. † McLuhan is trying to inform readers of his theory that the introduction of technology has changed the world, is still changing the world and will always have some kind of connection to do with the rapid evolving of the world. 4 Conclusion As a whole having looked at different authors’ point of view over the past years, one can see that computers have played and are still playing a great responsibility amongst our society since technologies are improving in terms of their functioning and capability, the society is adapting to it. I agree with (name of author u fink is right) and because of his/her point, we can see that technology is definitely the motor of our society therefore, I recon. 1 Babylon Translation, Available at: http://dictionary.babylon.com/Technological_Determinism (Assessed on 17-December-2008) 2 Neville Holmes, University of Tasmania, Available at: http://eprints.utas.edu.au/2765/1/ieeec97may.pdf (Assessed on 3-November-2008) 3 Jacque Ellul, Available at: http://www.umsl.edu/~keelr/280/class/gregtd.html (Assessed on 16-December-2008) 4 Amy Schick, Technological Determinism: A Critique, Available at: http://oak.cats.ohiou.edu/~as491398/tdaes.htm (Assessed on 17-December-2008)

Free Essays on Tyler Perry

You may not know Tyler Perry yet, but you will soon. He is a man who can do it all. The writer, actor and producer of urban gospel plays has just signed a deal with CBS to develop and star in a comedy series targeted for this fall. His trademark role is Madea, who totes a pistol full of blanks, smokes her glaucoma medicine, and can’t imagine how her daughter "got saved growing up in my house." Perry’s hybrid format mixes hilarious street comedy with spiritual messages and exuberant gospel songs. It’s a winning combination. This is Perry’s fourth play featuring Madea, a widowed grandma with a trouble seeking mouth and a bosom so enormous it grazes her chin when she jumps around excitedly, which she does a lot. Madea’s class reunion of 1953 is just an excuse for an outrageous cast of characters to share stories that are rich with opportunities for forgiveness. Christian themes and biblical phrases are a definitive part of the production. But the preaching is kept in balance by high quality acting, raucous dialogue, and voices that can steal your heart and make you dare to dream. Before he makes his appearance as Madea in Act 2, Perry plays Doctor Willie Leroy, who works as a bellboy who won’t carry bags, and a bartender who can only make rum and cokes, at a fancy hotel where all the action takes place. Leroy isn’t a real doctor. "My mama just named me that because she knew I was never going to amount to nothing." Leroy is a character who can’t get over how funny he is, and neither can the audience. I suspect a healthy chunk of the dialogue was successfully ad-libbed. Peter Wolfs’ two story set design is detailed and effective. The hotel lobby occupies the first floor, while the second floor bedrooms provide a setting for personal scenes between couples seeking truth and redemption. Supporting performances by David Mann as Mr. Brown and Chandra Young as Emma are two hi... Free Essays on Tyler Perry Free Essays on Tyler Perry You may not know Tyler Perry yet, but you will soon. He is a man who can do it all. The writer, actor and producer of urban gospel plays has just signed a deal with CBS to develop and star in a comedy series targeted for this fall. His trademark role is Madea, who totes a pistol full of blanks, smokes her glaucoma medicine, and can’t imagine how her daughter "got saved growing up in my house." Perry’s hybrid format mixes hilarious street comedy with spiritual messages and exuberant gospel songs. It’s a winning combination. This is Perry’s fourth play featuring Madea, a widowed grandma with a trouble seeking mouth and a bosom so enormous it grazes her chin when she jumps around excitedly, which she does a lot. Madea’s class reunion of 1953 is just an excuse for an outrageous cast of characters to share stories that are rich with opportunities for forgiveness. Christian themes and biblical phrases are a definitive part of the production. But the preaching is kept in balance by high quality acting, raucous dialogue, and voices that can steal your heart and make you dare to dream. Before he makes his appearance as Madea in Act 2, Perry plays Doctor Willie Leroy, who works as a bellboy who won’t carry bags, and a bartender who can only make rum and cokes, at a fancy hotel where all the action takes place. Leroy isn’t a real doctor. "My mama just named me that because she knew I was never going to amount to nothing." Leroy is a character who can’t get over how funny he is, and neither can the audience. I suspect a healthy chunk of the dialogue was successfully ad-libbed. Peter Wolfs’ two story set design is detailed and effective. The hotel lobby occupies the first floor, while the second floor bedrooms provide a setting for personal scenes between couples seeking truth and redemption. Supporting performances by David Mann as Mr. Brown and Chandra Young as Emma are two hi...

4 tips for talking work-life balance with your boss

4 tips for talking work-life balance with your boss From time to time, almost every working adult will struggle with work-life balance. But what does work-life balance even mean? Simply put, work-life balance is how your obligations at work and home are prioritized. It boils down to how many hours a week you spend focusing on your career  ­Ã¢â‚¬â€œ completing projects, turning in assignments, responding to emails – versus the time in a week you spend engaging in activities in your personal life, like spending time with friends and family, running personal errands, exercising, or even just relaxing.Americans work a lot. In fact, a 2015 Gallup poll found that Americans who are employed full-time work 47 hours a week on average, or the equivalent of nearly six days a week. And, nearly four in 10 workers reported logging more than 50 hours a week working.With this amount of time being devoted to our professional lives, when the scales tip in work-life balance, it’s usually towards more work and less play. That can be fine for short periods but long term it can be problematic.When the delicate balance between your career and personal life are out of whack – and stay out of whack – it can leave you feeling off-kilter, frustrated, and resentful. But, since a demanding work life often stems from a demanding boss, it can be difficult to know how to broach the topic.We’ve compiled 4 tips for having a productive conversation with your boss or manager about work-life balance. Read on to learn how to find the balance you seek.Do some soul searchingBefore you discuss the issue with your manager, do your best to get to the root of the problem. Is your personal life suffering because of unrealistic expectations from your superiors at work, or is it possible that these expectations are self-imposed and that you are â€Å"overworking† your job?How do you judge? One way to gauge whether the problem lies with you or whether it lies with your boss is to work a normal 40-hour week and see w hat happens. Skip staying late for one week. Forbid yourself from logging work time over the weekends and then just wait.If your boss doesn’t notice that you haven’t worked longer hours or completed extra work, the demand might be self-inflicted. If your boss does notice and mentions it, make a note. This will become important in later discussions.Identify the problemIf you’ve determined that the pressure you feel at work is, in fact, coming from your manager, next you must identify the exact problem.Ask yourself: Is your work-life imbalance stemming from an unreasonable workload that is impossible to complete within the confines of a 40-hour work week? If so, you aren’t alone. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, one-third of employed people in the U.S. spend some part of their weekends doing work.For others, the problem of balancing life and career lies in a rigid schedule that doesn’t offer the flexibility to duck out of work for, say, a n annual doctor’s appointment or important errand. Both scenarios can be frustrating and confining.Identify the source of the problem before you meet with your boss. This will allow you to come to the meeting armed with suggestions on how to handle the situation at hand.Arrange a meeting and come prepared with ideasOnce you have identified the problem, ask for a meeting and come equipped with solutions. This will look different for everyone but here are some possibilities:Suggest ways to delegate tasks to spread the workload more evenly across your team to lighten your workload.Request flexible hours that work better with your schedule. For example, if you are a parent and want more time with your children, you might suggest a schedule that allows you to work from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. instead of the normal 9-to-5.Suggest an amended schedule. Instead of working five days a week, ask to work four 10-hour shifts. This will enable you to have three days off each week instead of the t ypical two-day weekend.Request a longer lunch break. This will allow you to run errands or attend appointments without taking time off work.Suggest one work-from-home day each week. Cutting your commute out of your day even one day a week can free up additional hours.While not ideal, asking for unpaid time off can be a solution in a pinch.Know when to move onA severe work-life balance can wreak havoc on your well-being. If you’ve exhausted all these possibilities and still can’t make headway in achieving a reasonable work-life balance, it may be time to move on. This means you’ll have to dust off your job application skills, and get ready to build a resume and cover letter for each new opportunity you discover. Put aside some time each week to begin looking for a new job. Finding this time will likely be tough, given that your work-life balance is already out of whack, but it’s critical that you find it. You’ll never move on to a better work-life b alance situation if you don’t.The best way to ensure a rational work-life balance next time around? Ask about it during the interview process, or do some research on the company you land an interview with to see what its employees (or past employees) have to say about work-life balance.

Nationals infrastructure accident Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Nationals infrastructure accident - Essay Example This paper aims at highlighting the various actions that are necessary for the U.S. government to consider in order to mitigate occurrence of similar events in future. For those who watched the media news about the New Orleans landfall made by the Hurricane Katrina in the year 2005, highly remember how water flooded over the numerous levees, which were built to prevent an occurrence of such accidents as well as protecting the city. Several factors contributed to the failure of New Orleans levees ranging from poor engineering designs to the storm’s sheer ferocity (Reilly, 2009). All these factors were into consideration during the reconstruction of the levee after the wake of the Hurricane Katrina. The other low-lying cities in America learned a lot from the failure of New Orleans levees and considered such factors when making evaluation on their preparedness prevent occurrence of such storms. New Orleans is an American city that is located in a unique site, because it is completely below the sea level. Residents of this city cope with the surroundings of large water bodies such as Lake Pontchartrain, Mississippi River, and Mexico Gulf with array of levees designed to prevent flooding water from entering the city (United States, 2006). When conditions caused the breakage of the constructed levees during the Hurricane Katrina in the year 2005, the effect was highly harming and flooding water pooled out covering the entire city. With the initial 24 hours after the storm started, 28 levees had already failed. The total number of failed or broken levees increased to over 55 within the first week. The U.S. USACE (United States Army Corps of Engineers), the core constructor of the levees issued out a public explanation on why the levees failed after several days. According USACE’s account, the design of the levees was only to protect the city from Category Three storms, and the Hurricane

Report on recruitment and selection processes Assignment - 1

Report on recruitment and selection processes - Assignment Example A company then selects successful applicants from any of these recruitments methods and takes them through interviews. The company often updates recruitment and selection processes in order to set acceptable standards that meet the demands of the company (Hobson, et al 2010). Like any other company or organisation, Healthcare United has had it recruitment, and selection processes changed. Its recruitment and selection process of 2000 is not the same to that of 2010. There are certain changes introduced to the selection of 2010. Some of the changes affected the timeframes, personnel involved, documentation, training, and monitoring and evaluation. There are some news features that the organisation introduced to its selection and recruitment process of 2010, which were not in that of 2000. Again, there are those, which it exempted on its recruitment and selection process of 2010 and were in that of 2000. In the recruitment and selection policy of 2000, the manager had two to three days to analyse the necessity of a vacant position and then notify and request the Human Resource department for a from allowing recruitment. After receiving the form that permits recruitment, a manager had to complete his/her section of the form in the same period of two to three days. After that, the senior management validates the form permitting recruitment, and then the HR department uses three to five days to fill the description of the position. After description, advertisement of the position took 20 to 25 days whereby internal advertisement used the first ten days and while external advertisement took the remaining ten days. Short-listing of applicants took a minimum of five days while preparation of interviews took one to two days just as the interviews, which the organisation also allocated one to two days. Reference checks consumed a period of one to two days. Job offer took a time of one to fi ve days while feedback to failed applicants