The Chocolate War Essays - The Chocolate War, Free Essays

The Chocolate War Essays - The Chocolate War, Free Essays The Chocolate War The Chocolate War The Chocolate War is a book written by Robert Cormier. It is about a teenaged boy named Jerry and his life as an individual at an all boys catholic school called Trinity. Every year the school sells chocolates to raise money. Every student is meant to sell fifty boxes, and they all do, except for Jerry. Jerry was forced not to sell the chocolates for 10 days by the Vigils, a school gang. At first thats what he planned to do, but as the 10 days went on, Jerry started to feel control over his life and decided to continue not to sell. By doing so, Jerry disobeyed the Vigils and made them look like a bunch of fools. Jerry is a fourteen year old freshman at Trinity. He is 59 and 145 pounds. He plays football for the school team. His mother just recently died of cancer and he lives alone with his father. While dealing with his mothers death, Jerry felt that he had absolutely no power or control over his life, that is until he stood up to the Vigils by refusing to sell chocolates. Archie is a part of the Vigils. He plays the role of the assignor. For this job he has to select students and give them assignments. In this case, He assigned Jerry the duty of not selling chocolates for 10 days. Archie is a very powerful and manipulative person and he can turn someone against another in the blink of an eye; Just like when Jerry prolonged his assignment. In the following paragraphs, it will be showed how Archie turned Jerry from a hero, to an outcast and finally, to a victim. Jerry became a hero to all in Trinity. A hero by definition being a man or boy admired for his bravery, great deeds or noble qualities. In this case they looked up to him for his bravery to stand up to Brother Leon and refuse to sell the chocolates, something they all had wanted to do, but never had the guts. For example, in roll call on the first day of the chocolate sales Brother Leon went through each boys name and they were to answer yes or no. Yes meaning they would sell the chocolates and no meaning they wouldnt. Every single boy said yes, except for Jerry, he said no. Brother Leon didnt just let him be, he put pressure on him, tried to make him feel badly about not selling, tried to make him feel guilty. It didnt work though, Jerry stood his ground and stuck be his original answer, NO. At first Jerrys motif not to sell the chocolates was just the assignment given to him by the Vigils, but soon after, that changed. Jerry started to feel control over his life, he started to feel like an individual for once. He also had become recognized by the school as a rebel, and as a leader. For example, Jerry was on the bus and this person hes never talked to before sat down beside him and said, -Hey, Renault, you got guts, know that Boy, you really let Leon that bastard have it. Beautiful. People hed never talked to were looking up to him, he couldnt back down after ten days, nor did he want to, so he continued not to sell chocolates, even after his assignment was finished. Jerrys fame didnt last long after he disobeyed the Vigils, due to Archies ways, Jerry soon became an outcast. An Outcast by definition being a person or animal cast out from home and friends, friendless. When Jerry continued his refusal, he made a mockery of the Vigils, something no one else has ever done. He also unknowingly set the Vigils up for some trouble. The Vigils had made a deal with Brother Leon to support the chocolate sales, and with Jerry standing up for himself like that, things couldnt go on for the better. Other people were bound to follow in his footsteps and that wouldnt be a good thing. Archie had to come up with something quick, so he decided to take charge put Jerry on the spot. The Vigils somehow made chocolate selling the

4 tips for using December to prep for a 2019 job search

4 tips for using December to prep for a 2019 job search It’s one of the busiest months of the year – but not for hiring. Even if hiring managers and recruiters aren’t using up their use-it-or-lose-it vacation time at the end of the year for holiday preparations and travel, they’re likely to be focused on anything but work. This can make December a particularly frustrating time of year to look for a job. But don’t place your search on hold. Instead use this time to revise, revamp and revitalize your resume, LinkedIn profile and social networks.It won’t be easy, given the holiday madness at this time of year, but with a bit of efficient time management, you can use December to get a strong head start on your 2019 job search come January 2.The following tips can help you make the most of the final weeks of the year so you can spring ahead of the competition come the first weeks of your 2019 job search.1. Update your resume and cover letterNow is the perfect time to assess your job search materials. W here are your weaknesses? What could you improve?If it’s been a while since you’ve sent out your resume, consider using a resume builder to make sure you’re applying the optimal structure and design to effectively highlight your strengths as a candidate.Once you have a basic resume structure (and hopefully, your most current role added to the Work Experience section), spend some time evaluating recent job ads for the role you are seeking. Focus on skills they share and common keywords used to describe those skills. Use those keywords to describe your own skills and experience, and then tweak accordingly for each new job you seek.Because most employers use automated applicant tracking systems (ATS) to tally keywords and filter job candidates, using the exact wording in the job ad will help make sure your resume is seen by human eyes. Many ATS count keywords from your cover letter as well as from your resume, thereby increasing your overall keyword count. So, usin g the same list of keywords you’ve compiled for your resume revamp, craft a cover letter that tells a brief story – aim for 200 words total for the body paragraphs – about how you are uniquely positioned to help your next employer achieve their goals.2. Reconnect and NetworkStart making lists of people you know at companies where you might want to work. The holidays are a perfect excuse to send an email or direct message to old colleagues, classmates, and friends. If they have any time over the holidays, try to set up times to reconnect. If not, set up meetings, lunches, and coffee dates for the first few weeks of the New Year. As you’re catching up, ask if their companies are hiring.Focus on expanding your online network for your 2019 job search. Work on adding past coworkers and friends to your social networks, especially LinkedIn. Recent data shows that over 90 percent of recruiters use social media, and especially LinkedIn, to evaluate candidates. Spr uce up your LinkedIn profile with a new picture and new keywords to describe your skills and accomplishments.3. Polish your online presenceIn addition to refocusing your professional web presence, take some time to revamp your social media accounts as well. Of course, it’s fine to have a well-rounded life outside of the office, but you’ll want to make sure your social media accounts don’t contain anything that would cause a potential employer to become wary of hiring you.Over-sharing, angry rants, constant posting, and too many images of social drinking can all send the wrong message to a potential employer. Take some time in the waning weeks of the year to curate your online accounts, pruning where needed, to help present the image you want future employers to have of you.4. Launch your 2019 job searchIn the first few weeks the New Year, contact people who might not have gotten back to you over the holidays. Use the New Year as an excuse to send an email or mak e a phone call: â€Å"Now that the holidays are over I thought I’d get back in touch†¦.†Using the revamped summary from your revised resume, refresh your elevator pitch. Splurge on a new interview outfit item, even if it’s just a new tie or scarf- something that will make you feel confident and full of energy. When hiring managers are back from vacation and ready to make new hires, you’ll be ready, looking your best and primed to talk about how you can help them and their bottom line.Author Bio:LiveCareer assists jobseekers at every step of the journey to employment. Access free  resume templates  and  resume examples, plus a  cover letter builder  and advice on how to answer  interview questions  of all stripes.

Exploring and learning Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Exploring and learning - Essay Example There are also some students who take a strategic approach, where they intend to maximize their chances of getting high marks. In today’s intellectual world, the three approaches of learning namely; deep, surface and strategic have become very popular. The surfacing issue therefore emerges on which of the three learning approaches is the most effective. This raises a very highly debatable issue. While some learners adopt a deep approach as noted by Morgan (1993), others prefer a surface approach when engaging in their studies. This paper seeks to critically analyze the three approaches of learning; deep, surface and strategic. Further, it will seek to examine how the chosen approach of learning affects the performance of a student. Marton and Saljo are the scholars behind the theory of deep and surface approaches to learning. They wrote a scholarly paper describing the varied manner in which learners approached learning in the academic sector. This studied was in the psycholog y department which at that time was quite unusual. This is because by default, they would have set up an artificial laboratory experiment for purposes of isolating one element from the other. Instead, Marton and Saljo sought to engage university students and their habitual behavior during learning. The students were required to read an article and thereafter answer questions based on the same. The study revealed that to some learners, the text was perceived as information with such discrete units meant to be memorized (Stanger-Hall, 2012, 294). The memorization was meant to help to answer the questions that would follow. The two scholars referred to this as the surface approach. On the other hand, some students perceived the text as one containing structured meaning. They were eager to discover the meaning of the article, its implications and the impact it had on them. They termed this as the deep approach. It follows that learners who engage in the deep approach had a better unders tanding of the article and were therefore able to answer a variety of question deciphered from it. In addition, they were in a better position to remember the content effectively compared to the others. Subsequent researches after this study have shown that there are different approaches to learning that students engage in while undertaking their academic tasks. A surface approach to learning can be defined as the result of low cognitive level engagement which yields to fragmented outcomes that do not translate to understanding or meaning. This process takes place when the learner takes in information ‘by heart’, but is in the least interested in engaging with the meaning of what s/he has taken. When taking this approach, the learner’s motive lies in only carrying out the task (Lauriland, 2003,47). This is due to some either positive or negative pressure/consequence. Negative in that if s/he fails, it is bound to affect his life in a not so pleasant way and posit ive in that if s/he passes, he will be favored by the teacher/instructor. Rote learning is a surface strategy whereby the learner focuses on what s/he perceives as the most important information and embarks on memorization of the same. Since the intention is as earlier noted to pass a test or exam, the learner finds not interconnections found in what is being learnt between meanings implications of the same. Surface learning is

Factchecking Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Factchecking - Essay Example He said he would but that law does not exist and that he had been clear that he supports exceptions for abortion in cases of rape, abortion and to save the life of the mother. Romney also employed deception in his attack with Obama with his ad that Obama will raise taxes by $4,000 on American middle class. This was an outright fabrication because Obama is not planning to raise taxes on the middle class to service the debt. The articles in Factcheck.org and politiFact.org also reveal how politicians use false information to make accusations. We can use as an example the most common issue of sequestration which is the spending cuts to arrest the deficit. Republics blamed Obama in FastCheck.org in the article The Obamaquester that it will specifically target certain sectors in society. When it was verified in with PoliticalFact.org, this accusation was in fact false because the sequester does not make distinction quoting Obama saying as it â€Å"won’t consider whether we’re cutting some bloated program that has outlived its usefulness, or a vital service that Americans depend on every single day. It doesn’t make those

Cleopatras hand Essay Example for Free

Cleopatras hand Essay After listening to Cleopatras poor advice he then flees the battle to follow her, his heart. Once Antony has recovered from the embarrassment of fleeing battle he regains the upper hand in a violent scene with a messenger from Caesar who has kissed Cleopatras hand. This scene parallels a similar scene between Cleopatra and a messenger when she found out about Antonys marriage to Octavia. Throughout the argument there are recurrent references to food, love and the supernatural. The hyperbolic language is an open expression of their excessive love and passion for each other. Antony shouts and makes a lot of noise throughout the argument as he is trying to regain his once respected position. He is totally aware of the fact he is loosing power to Cleopatra this is why he is acting in such an arrogant manner toward the messenger and his lover. In Act three scenes eight, nine and ten the battle of Actium is about to begin and there is fierce fighting and violence in the next three scenes but the audience would not see this as it is set offshore. In Act four Scene twelve Antony is infuriated as the Egyptian fleet has surrendered and he feels Cleopatra has betrayed him. He takes a very Roman view of Cleopatra and refers to her as a witch. Antony foresees his own demise and this is delivered to us through imagery in his speech; Osun, thy uprise shall I see no more. This is suggesting Antonys thoughts about his suicide. The two lovers have a bitter quarrel in which Antony uses very graphic imagery for example; Octavia plough they visage up/ With her prepared nails! Cleopatra flees in terror and goes to her monument. The uses of hyperbolical and simple language throughout this scene show the contrast between the two main characters in their struggle for power. At the end of this scene Antony has the upper hand as Cleopatra has left, but she soon regains power over him. Act four Scene fourteen shows Antony at a remarkably low point. Mardian, a messenger from Cleopatra brings news of her death and Antony decides it must be the end for him too. But Cleopatra is not actually dead. Even in Antonys low times his soldiers would rather die than kill him as we find out when Eros kills himself. Even as Antony falls on his sword he is making reference to love and sex: A bridegroom in my death and run intot / As to a lovers bed. Cleopatras power over him it at its most evident when he kills himself because of her death. Whilst he is bleeding to death he finds out that she is not dead and has a very unusual reaction. It shows his great love for her yet again, even thought she had lead him to make the most flawed decision possible, killing himself. Even in Act four Scene fifteen, Antonys death scene, we are aware of Cleopatras power over Antony. She takes control and wants to speak even though Antony is dying, interrupting his dying words; No, let me speak Cleopatra says this so she can have the final word, though this is not intended as she does love him. As Antony is dying he speaks about himself in the third person, giving himself a regal address to prove he has achieved honour even if it is in death. Not Caesars valour hath oerthrown Antony,/But Antonys hath triumphd on itself. Cleopatra changes her tone considerably after Antonys death. She becomes very subdued and dignified which leads to a restrained end to a tempestuous scene. Cleopatra ends the play in Act five with all the power, as Antony is dead and she still has the final scene to herself which is very unusual as a female character is never given the final scene. She has achieved power over Antony in his life and his death proving she is a domineering and ingenious woman, much to the Romans disapproval. In conclusion, Shakespeares handling of the balance of power is wonderfully documented through the plot of the play and through his use of language. The lifestyle enjoyed by Antony and Cleopatra is shown through the hyperbolical poetry.

Beyond the Classroom :: Teachers Teaching Education Essays

Beyond the Classroom Teachers in training have a lot to focus on and plan for in their futures. How to handle a classroom, fulfill the curriculum, and accurately assess students are all tremendous responsibilities. Experienced teachers have a decided edge in these categories. One area of the high school environment that developing teachers may be able to more strongly relate to, however, is the life of a teenager. It was only a few years ago that the future teachers of today were just students themselves. It is important to remember that high school is only partly about classroom teaching. A vitally important part of a good high school is it’s extra-curricular environment. Good teachers have the ability both to teach their content area skillfully and to relate to their students. A great way to learn more about students, and for students to learn more about each other, is through the clubs, sports, and extracurricular academic activities of a school. I do not remember a whole lot from my first two years of high school. I went to classes, did a decent job, went home and spent some time on my homework before spending time with my family and going to bed. I felt strangely disconnected from school. I had some friends whom I would occasionally visit after school, but living far from my high school often even prevented that. I looked at school almost as a job, doing the minimum, enough to appease the teachers, and moving on. It was not until my junior year of high school that I learned how to truly develop in school. Part of this sudden realization came from my success as a tennis player, and from my decision to join several other school clubs. I developed closer friendships at that time, and saw teachers who stayed after school to run and even participate in the activities differently. Not coincidentally my grades improved at the same rate as my social life. The teacher’s involvement in Peer Counseling really impressed me. Teac hers would share personal experiences and join in the activities done as a group. I realize now the effect that after school events had on my personal growth. That is one reason that I feel it is critical for a good teacher to participate in something outside of the normal school day. Coaches can have an even larger impact on students in that capacity than they have as teachers.

Online Learning Environment Essay

The recent shift towards intensive use of computer technology in educational practices has already become so powerful that computer-based learning is no more perceived as something new. Whether it is computer laboratories in the primary schools or Internet-equipped computer facilities in the high-school, computers have turned into unalienable part of students’ life. However, such rapid and overwhelming spread of the new technology raised serious questions concerning positive and negative aspects, new opportunities for students and teachers, age peculiarities, and gender specifics of computer-based learning. The latter seems to be one of the major focuses of contemporary research in computer-based learning. Article â€Å"Gender differences in the use of computer mediated communication by post graduate distance students† written by Barrett and Lally (1999) investigates into the gender aspect of computer-mediated education, namely the use of Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) in a specific learning context by a small group of postgraduate (MEd) distance learners and their tutors. Taking into consideration the fact of steadily growing audience of students involved into online educational practices, relevance of such research can hardly be questioned. Although the number of participants is rather small – probably the first and foremost drawback of the research – the authors have managed to collect comprehensive amount of data using students’ electronic diaries, questionnaires and transcripts of all their online contributions. Barrett and Lally (1999) apply content analysis – arguably the most popular method in psychology – to evaluate on-line dialogues between members of the group. Specific attention has been paid to studying learning and socio-emotional pattern of behavior demonstrated by participants, since the major hypothesis of the authors is that male and female students differ significantly on this dimension. The choice of method seems absolutely correct keeping in mind the hypothesis posed by the authors. Key outcomes of the study supported the authors’ hypothesis: content analysis of the available data has revealed serious difference in behavior of men and women put into the online learning environment. Firstly, male students tend to send more messages than their female counterparts. Secondly, messages written by male students were on average twice as long as messages written by female students. And thirdly, male students tend to write socio-emotionally oriented messages, while female students exhibit interactive orientation. These three findings make it possible for the authors to establish strong correlation between student’s gender and his/her behavior in the online learning environment. Despite seeming plainness of this study, it seems rather difficult to give it a univocal assessment. On the one hand, there is a small sample group, which raises the issue of the study’s reliability, and simple research design, while on the other hand, there is exceptional relevance of the study (keeping in mind that it was published in 1999) and important findings, which have shown right direction for further research. Although there may be another point of view, the second component outweighs all drawbacks of the research: while the drawbacks relate to formal aspect of the study (e. g. insufficient sample size, poor data capturing techniques, etc), the content (hypothesis and findings) is really great. Newness of the author’s ideas has turned the article into a good starting point for other researchers, whose works help develop the most optimal learning and teaching strategies designed according to specific learning behavior of both sexes in a mixed online learning environment. Although newness is the most important characteristic of Barrett and Lally’s (1999) work, they apparently relied upon a number of previous studies. As soon as the overall subject of their research is concerned, the study can hardly be addressed as absolutely original: a number of studies dealing with the impact of computer technologies on the learning environment of classrooms (including the learning activities that take place in the classroom, and various educational strategies designed to make them more effective) were written throughout the 1990s. Although none of them paid serious attention to gender differences that might characterize behavior of students in computer learning environment, they definitely revealed a number of specific features of computer-based (including online) learning and teaching practices. For example, Richards (1996) conducted one of the first studies of the influence of computer-based environment on student motivations. His research conducted as a part of the Bell Atlantic’s World School Program revealed that computers and the Internet significantly improved students’ motivation. Thus, 92 percent of the respondents in Richards’ program classified the Internet as an effective learning tool (Richards, 1996). Findings of another research performed by Follansbee (1996) and his colleagues the same year stand in line with those of Richards. Comparison of the learning outcomes of students doing a task with access to the Internet demonstrated much higher level of confidence in conducting and presenting the research task. Besides, the study discovered that students with access to the Internet demonstrated better diversity and inventiveness presenting their tasks, could better integrate various perspectives, and presented their answers/projects more accurately (Follansbee 1996). In 1997, Proost and Lowyck (1997) published a study devoted to gender aspect of computer-based education. The sample group of the study was impressive: traditional and distance learning university students – a total of 1368 students (945 males and 416 females) over 18 years of age (Proost and Lowyck, 1997: 371-372). However, that study dealt only with the gender differences in perceptions of and preferences for computer based learning environments, while Barrett and Lally (1999) went deeper into the subject. Thus, Proost and Lowyck (1997) found out that female respondents had, on average, more negative perception of computer based technology and a preference for traditional methods than male respondents (p. 380), but did not try to answer the question whether male and female students demonstrate different behavioral patterns in the online learning environment or not. While Barrett and Lally (1999) relied on a number of previous researches, their own findings were further explored, confirmed, corrected, and extended by later studies. Kelly (2000) used Barrett and Lally’s (1999) assumption that girl pay more attention to the interactive aspect of computer-based communication and learning to explain why girls normally have little interest to computer science. In her account, computer does not involve a lot of teamwork and social interaction and, therefore, is less interesting than traditional communication and learning. In the same way Kelly (2000) explains why absolute majority of the computer games are designed according to tastes of male audiences and emphasize things (violence, intensive action, speed) that are not attractive to women. Therefore, boys feel more attraction to computers and computer-based learning and â€Å"†¦ with more males getting into careers in the computing industry, they perpetuate this cycle of catering for the needs of a predominantly male audience who gain an entry point into the computing world via games and later take up careers in the computing industry† (Kelly, 2000: 156). Similarly, Passing and Levin (2000) explored gender difference amongst pre-school students trying to reveal their preferences to various designs of multimedia learning interfaces (in order to improve outcomes of learning). The study involved a sample of 90 children (44 girls and 46 boys), and its major outcome was significant difference in boys and girls’ preferences: boys demonstrated more attraction to movement while girls paid more attention to visual elements. Shin and Chan (2004) also cite Barrett and Lally’s (1999) in their study of the effects of online learning on distance education students. The authors assume that there is a direct relationship between students’ involvement in online learning and distance learning outcomes taking into consideration gender aspect as the major factor that affects online learning (p. 277). Riding and Grimley (1999) investigated how differently the same computer multimedia affects cognitive style and performance of boys and girls (11 years). The study involved 40 boys and 40 girls and was conducted in two stages: firstly, participants underwent the procedure of assessment which revealed their cognitive style; secondly, they were offered a multi-choice recall test after studying a science topic with the help of computer and CD-ROM (p. 44-45). Upon completion of both stages the authors compared computer-based scores of the participants with scores given for similar topics learned with the help of traditional educational methods. The authors reported that â€Å"with regard to the mode of presentation of the multimedia materials, girls who were Wholist-Imagers and Analytic-Verbalisers were better with presentations which had picture and sound than those which had only picture and text. Those who were Wholist-Verbalizers and Analytic-Imagers were better with presentations which had picture and text than those which had only picture and sound. The results were the opposite for boys. For both gender groups performance was best with presentations which combined picture, text and sound† (Riding and Grimley 1999: 55). Evidently, the article written by Barrett and Lally (1999) can hardly be addressed as a classic work which has already become the basic reference point of modern studies in computer-based teaching and learning. At the same time, it is far from being a mediocre and irrelevant study that has absolutely not scientific value. The truth is somewhere in between: the article is a well-written piece of work which stands in line with previous research, has an element of newness and, therefore, opens new opportunities for scientists. REFERENCES Barrett, E and Lally, V. (1999) â€Å"Gender differences in an on-line learning environment† Journal of Computer Assisted Learning 15, 48-60 Follansbee, S. , Gilsdorf, N. , Stahl, S. , Dunfey, J. , Cohen, S. , Pisha, B. and Hughes, B. (1996) The role of online communication in schools: a national study . Peabody, MA: Center for Applied Special Technology. Kelly, Karen. (2000) â€Å"The Gender Gap: Why Do Girls Get Turned Off to Technology? † The Digital Classroom, ed. D. T. Gordon, The Harvard Education Letter, Cambridge, pp 154-160 O’Hara, S. P. (1998) â€Å"A case study of attitudinal effects of Internet use in a middle school integrated science curriculum†. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching, San Diego, CA, April 19-22, 1998 (Eric document ED417978). Passing, D. & Levin, H. (2000) â€Å"Gender Preferences for Multimedia interfaces†, Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 16: 64-71 Proost, K. , Elen J. & Lowyck J. (1997) â€Å"Effects of Gender on Perceptions of and Preferences for Telematic Learning Environments†, Journal of Research on Computing in Education, Summer, 29(4): 370-384 Richards, F. C. (1996) â€Å"The impact of the Internet on teaching and learning as perceived by teachers, library media specialists and students† Masters thesis, Salem-Teikyo University (Eric document ED410943)