Group work

How Does Group Work Contribute to Teaching and Learning in Primary Schools?Group work, known to others as collaborative or concerted acquisition, is defined as a â€Å"situation in which, two or more people learn or attempt to larn something together† [ Wikipedia Contributors, 2010 ] . This paper focuses on how on the job collaboratively impacts both instruction and acquisition in primary schools. It describes the background to the development of collaborative acquisition and high spots the techniques frequently employed. The rules to effectual group work are explained, with both advantages and disadvantages noted. Collaborative acquisition is a pedagogical scheme which utilizes a assortment of larning activities to heighten a pupil ‘s apprehension of a peculiar subject. This is an betterment to traditional acquisition theoretical accounts besides defined as non-interactive talks, where cognition is gained from direct talks or the reading of books and articles. Traditional larning bids really small interaction or engagement from the pupils, hence a batch or really small may be learnt depending on the person. Collaborative larning accordingly stands as a constructivist attack to acquisition, and is identified as arising from a constructivist epistemology, as pupils are asked to take part and lend to their ain acquisition and development. The thoughts of bookmans such as Burner, Kohlberg, Piaget and Vygotsky are used in the development of collaborative acquisition, which basically implies that both the pupil and the environment are actively dynamic entities in the acquisition procedure as the pupil tries to portray the lessons. This procedure requires that cognition be discovered and translated utilizing linguistic communication and other larning Plutos to which the pupils can actively associate. Lawrence Kohlberg researched the moral determinations made by kids. His probe is such that â€Å"he developed an interview procedure offering a figure of scenarios, each with a moral dilemma† for which he had pre-determined replies. He realized that six phases of moral development existed and that some people are unable to make most advanced degrees of ethical reading. He thereby concluded that ; â€Å"the development of moral concluding happens in a peculiar sequence, and that each measure of the manner is a precursor to the next† [ KidsDevelopment.co.uk, 2010 ] . Jean Piaget ‘s theory of Cognitive Development suggests that persons go through a series of phases on their manner to independent thought. Piaget provinces that â€Å"all cognition refering world consequences from actions or operations upon it, which makes it alter, uncovering its stable and variational properties† ( Piaget, 1980 p222 ) . Lev Vygotsky believed that socialisation increases cognition and frequently clip changes a kid ‘s ideas and behaviors. Vygotsky suggests that larning is achieved in three ways ; imitative, instructed and collaborative. Imitative larning involves the pupil merely copying what was taught and instructed acquisition involves the pupil following waies antecedently given. Vygotsky ‘s work was focussed on two of import thoughts. First being the Zone of Proximal Development ( ZPD ) ; this describes the degree of distinction between a job that a pupil can work out independently and a job in which a pupil will necessitate the aid of others. ZPD is frequently identified as an person ‘s degree of existent competence relation to their degree for possible development. The 2nd thought is known as staging and describes the facet of support given to pupils when it is desired. Group work allows pupils to work together in little squads, uniting people with changing backgrounds, experiences, proficient and rational competences, towards the attainment of a specific aim. Each member of the squad has the duty of larning the stuff for himself, while besides assisting other members to clearly understand the lesson therefore making an â€Å"atmosphere of achievement† ( Palmer, Peters and Streetman. 2008 ) . Students thereby derive both cognition and societal accomplishments. The usage of group treatments helps pupils to explicate constructs and thoughts by supplying immediate feedbacks. Students learn how to trouble-shoot hand in glove in order to happen the best solution to a job. â€Å"When pupils formulate their ain solutions in this mode, they are genuinely believing critically ( Davis, Mahler & A ; Noddings, 1990 ) . Swortzel expresses that there are two major theoretical attacks to group work â€Å"Motivational and Cognitive† ( Swortzel, 1997 ) . Group work is seen as motivational because pupils recognize that their success or failure in the attainment of the specified end is dependent on them being able to work together as a squad. They thereby encourage each other to acquire the assigned undertakings done decently and on clip, in so making â€Å"cooperative acquisition additions pupils ‘ motive to make academic work† ( Johnson, Johnson & A ; Holubec, 1986 ) . The cognitive attack suggests that through group work pupils go more critical with their thought. Students are stimulated to believe ‘outside the box ‘ , therefore geting increased degrees of perceptual experience, consciousness, and concluding and judgment abilities. Group treatments are really synergistic with each person showing their point of view. Within a diverse group, there will be doubtless changing sentiments accordingly foregrounding attacks to the same subject. A collaborative model must foremost be established before the execution of collaborative larning techniques. The instructor should research collaborative acquisition and observer other instructors who have already implement the usage of group work. The instructor should hold on a good apprehension of the advantages and disadvantages to group work and must develop a acute grasp for the technique of scaffolding. The instructor so needs to make up one's mind if collaborative acquisition is ideal for the topic being taught, the type of pupils and take into history schoolroom limitations, if any.Teachers implementing collaborative acquisition are expected to be competent in the undermentioned countries:* Stipulating instructional aims * Determining group size and assign pupils to groups * Determining Group Size and Assign Students to Group * Classroom agreement * Planning instructional stuffs to advance Interdependence * Assigning group functions * Assigning undertakings * Structuring positive mutuality and answerability * Explaining the standards for success * Stipulating desired behaviors Before implementing collaborative larning the instructor should explicate to the pupils their determination for the usage of group work and explicate the advantages and disadvantages. The finding of group sizes may change depending on the nature of the undertaking and the work load. Groups can be homogenous or heterogenous, grouping pupils with similar involvements and strengths or they may be wholly indiscriminately selected. Once groups are established they normally do non alter really frequently, so as to let pupils to develop a constructive working relationship with each other. It is of import that the furniture in the schoolroom be organized in a manner which allows the pupils to work as a unit, sooner confronting each other, whilst leting for their flexible motions. Teachers should take into history the bing resources needed for successful undertaking completion and guarantee that they are readily accessible by the groups. The instructions and stuffs a instructor chooses for a group should guarantee that each member of the group makes a meaningful part and that single assignments within the group will be equally distributed. Teachers should construction positive mutuality and answerability by regularly proving both the groups and the members of the group for apprehension of the capable affair. Members should be encouraged to be able to actively support the stance of the group and their ain. The standards for success of the group should be clearly communicated and measures put into topographic point to measure the group ‘s public presentation as a unit every bit good as the single public presentations of the members. Once the groups have been established, instructors need to supervise the behavior of the pupils and aid with demands while monitoring. In so making, instructors may help with the answering of inquiries and supply and jump point of position or sentiment. Teachers may besides supply feedback on the work completed or the advancement made. Should struggles originate within the groups, instructors should step in to guarantee that such struggles are rapidly resolved and explicate the deductions of unwanted behaviors. It is besides really of import that instructors provide approbation and, or motive where it is deserved. Students play the most of import function in the art of collaborative acquisition. Their functions include and are non limited to, working together, actively listening to each other, maintaining records of work and advancement, oppugning each other, presuming personal duty and finishing the assigned undertaking.An article written by Dillenbourg and Schneider provinces that there are a few mechanisms to collaborative acquisition:* Conflict or Disagreement, proposing that when equal to peer struggles originate, societal factors cause scholars to disregard the dissension and to some extent forces them to happen a executable solution to the job. One facet of this theory states that diverging point of views normally lead to academic additions, while the other provinces that â€Å"when struggles are non verbalized they do non foretell positive outcomes† ( Dillenbourg and Schneider, 1995 ) . This article draws two decisions relative to this mechanism one being that â€Å"slight misi nterpretations can be every bit efficient as a clear struggle between two agents who severally believe P and non P† and the 2nd being that â€Å"verbal interactions generated to work out struggle are related to larning outcomes† ( Dillenbourg and Schneider, 1995 ) . * Alternative Proposal besides referred to as the â€Å"confirmation biases† by Dillenbourg and Schneider ( 1995 ) . In so making pupils actively develop thoughts that support their suggestions and wholly disregard thoughts that do non. They frequently times can non abandon their thought or suggestion because another suggestion may non be forthcoming ; nevertheless other group members make alternate suggestions. * ( Self- ) account ; the Self-Explanation consequence, as it is in known in many cognitive scientific discipline literature, describes that in a state of affairs where one pupil is more cognition that the other, the latter will automatically larn from the signifier, and besides that the former will hold on a better apprehension of the subject being explained as he endeavours to interpret into to footings to with the latter pupil can actively associate. Having successfully explained the more knowing pupil would hold improved upon his accomplishments to interrelate and gained improved assurance. Had there been any uncertainnesss in the account, person even more knowing might be able to clear up. * Internalization ; the article explains this mechanism as one in which pupils explain or justify their suggestions to each other, the verbalisation of such impacts all involved and that the constructs communicated are integrated into the hearers concluding. â€Å"Thinking is viewed a treatment that 1 has with oneself and which develops on the footing of treatments we had with others† ( Dillenbourg and Schneider, 1995 ) . The article besides states that for this mechanism to be effectual a few conditions must be met, â€Å"One status is that topics can merely absorb constructs which are within their ‘zone of proximal development ‘ , i.e. within the vicinity of the current cognitive degree. Another status is that the less able equal is non left as a inactive hearer, but participates into the joint job work outing strategy† ( Dillenbourg and Schneider, 1995 ) * Appropriation, this is explained as one pupil detecting the thoughts or accounts of another and taking those thoughts or accounts and edifice on it to do their ain. Learning is double as the first pupil reinterprets his actions relative to that of the 2nd, and the 2nd pupil got a sound foundation on which to construct. * Shared Cognitive Load, this involves the distribution of undertakings which will come together to accomplish the overall aim of the group. When the work load is even shared between pupils, each pupil can work meticulously on the assigned undertaking, thereby extinguishing redundancies and bettering the efficiency of the group. * Mutual Regulation, by using any of or a combination of the mechanisms antecedently described, pupils frequently have to modulate the actions of each other to guarantee that the stipulated guidelines are adhered to for the attainment of their ends. * Social Grounding, described limpidly by Dillenbourg and Schneider as â€Å"the mechanism by which an person efforts to keep the belief that his spouse has understood what he meant, at least to an extent which is sufficient to transport out the undertaking at hand† ( Dillenbourg and Schneider, 1995 ) . This mechanism requires the talker to look into for apprehension, and where misunderstand is seeable to clear up, thereby constructing a portion apprehension of the job. George W. Gagnon. Jr. , and Michelle Collay developed another design for collaborative acquisition and in this theoretical account teachers develop a series of stairss that their instruction construction follows every bit listed below: * â€Å"They develop a state of affairs for the pupils to explain† ( Gagnon and Collay, 2004 ) * â€Å"They select a procedure for groupings of stuffs and students† ( Gagnon and Collay, 2004 ) * â€Å"They build a span between what pupils already cognize and what the instructors want them to learn† ( Gagnon and Collay,2004 ) * â€Å"They anticipate inquiries to inquire and reply without giving away an explanation† ( Gagnon and Collay, 2004 ) * â€Å"They encourage pupils to exhibit a record of their thought by sharing it with others† ( Gagnon and Collay, 2004 ) , and * â€Å"They solicit pupils ‘ contemplations about their learning† ( Gagnon and Collay, 2004 ) .A comparing of there collaborative techniques, is illustrated in Appendix 1.Johnson, Johnson, and Smith ( 1991 ) high spots three cardinal undertakings instructors should follow for the rating of the efficiency and effectivity after there group work is completed. First, instructors should supply a closing through summarisation. That is, to sum up the lessons of import points or to hold each group explain their work and the points they found of most significance. Second is to measure the pupils larning, by measuring how they have attained or failed to achieve the coveted result and supplying the feedback required, leting pupils to better on their ability to work as a group and therefore personal development. Third, instructors should do note of the techniques that worked and why they worked and if necessary adjust their lessons. A popular definition of constructivism is that â€Å"Constructivism is a theory of cognition which claims that cognition is non passively received but actively constructed by the scholar, and that the map of knowledge is adaptative, functioning to organize experience, instead than detect reality† ( online, 2010 ) Group work has academic, societal and physiological benefits to both pupils and instructors. Academic benefits include: the development of critical thought and the active engagement of pupils in the acquisition procedure. The societal benefits include: the development of societal larning systems for pupils and physiques diverseness apprehension among pupils and instructors. The physiological benefits include: increased self-esteem through peer-to-peer instructions and it reduces the anxiousness of pupils. Although collaborative larning seems to be dependent on the actions and willingness to larn, which should for many be a natural procedure, there are many disadvantages as there are advantages to is execution. A few of the obstructions faced are ; some pupils prefer to work competitively instead that collaboratively, instructors lack the ability to readily measure the work produced, instructors sometimes do non cognize how to mensurate the effectivity of their instructions in a collaborative scene, sometimes the assigned undertakings are non applicable to a pupils ends or abilities, and sometimes the undertakings are non â€Å"difficult plenty to dispute but non so hard as to stonewall a conversation.† Some groups may be comprised of ‘slow scholars ‘ who may be viewed as others as priceless, thereby advancing ‘superior ‘ behavior by the ‘fast scholars ‘ . Table 1, Appendix 2, illustrated assorted group constructions and the advantages and dis advantages to these groups. Nigel Hastings and Karen Chantrey-Wood from Nottingham Trent University explores the many schemes instructors utilize in group work activities, many of which are strongly endorsed by a commission known as the ‘Plowden Committee ‘ . â€Å"By disbursement clip with groups of kids, instructors could set their instruction to the demands of the persons of that group to a greater extent than when working with an full category of pupils as a whole. This besides ensures that all kids have a sensible sum of direct contact with their instructor regardless of the fact that they are working in groups† [ Hastings & A ; Wood, 2002 ] . This suggests that collaborative acquisition enhances the happening of individualised attending given to pupils, by presenting â€Å"one-on-one† interactions between pupils and equals and pupils and instructors. The article besides illustrates that schoolroom agreement is really of import in guaranting that collaborative acquisition is efficient and effectual. It shows that collaborative acquisition in widely accepted and really normally practiced across the Earth ; â€Å"In primary schoolrooms throughout the UK, it is standard pattern for kids to sit around sorted tabular arraies – normally with four to six kids in each group. Such agreements are besides common in primary schools in other English-speaking states, Australia and USA for illustration. Precisely because this constellation is so normal and so good established in our schools, it is unusual to inquire about its principle or to oppugn its appropriateness† [ Hastings & A ; Wood, 2002 ] . An abstract written from an experiment conducted by Gillies and Ashman, â€Å"One hundred and 92 Grade 6 kids participated in a survey which compared the effects on behavioral interactions and accomplishment of ( a ) co-op acquisition in which group members were trained to join forces to ease each other ‘s acquisition, and ( B ) co-op acquisition in which members were non trained but were simply told to assist each other. Graded random assignment of participants occurred so that each gender-balanced group consisted of one high- , two medium- , and one low-ability student†¦Ã¢â‚¬  ( Gillies & A ; Ashman, 1999 ) . The observations showed that the pupils who worked in the ‘Trained ‘ groups where more antiphonal and helpful to each other, giving accounts where necessary to help as they worked together. It showed that pupils in the ‘untrained ‘ groups were a batch less helpful towards or concerted with each other. From the consequences it was besides co ncluded that â€Å"the kids in the ‘trained ‘ groups exercised more autonomy with their acquisition and obtained higher acquisition results than ‘untrained ‘ peers† ( Gillies & A ; Ashman, 1999 ) . This survey is one of the many to certify to the success of group work. Despite some drawbacks Collaborative acquisition has legion benefits, as is explained, runing from academic to physiological and it execution in primary schools is rather a positive move. Students at the primary school degree are rather waxy and there is no better clip for them to develop the really valuable competencies that working in a group has to offer. At the primary school degree they are mature plenty to hold an apprehension of what group work requires. Many of the surveies conducted were centralized around childhood developments. Students who can successfully work in groups from the primary school degree are normally better equipped for when come ining higher degree larning establishments. They would hold learnt to comfortably associate with equals and grownups, such as instructors or other authorization figures, they would hold learnt the value of self-expression and self-explanation, actively listen and esteem the positions of others. These pupils realize that as persons w e have different backgrounds, experiences and traditions and as such may hold diverging attacks to the same job. These pupils will besides be better able to distinguish between the demand to work collaborative and the demand to work competitively and in so making will cognize when best to use the several attacks. This research has revealed that both the instructors and the pupils play a polar function in the success of collaborative acquisition. Teachers are non expected to merely delegate undertakings and sit back while the pupils work on their ain. Teachers must play an active function throughout the procedure. They must be after for the assignment with clearly structured undertakings that will advance collaborative interactions, promote mutuality and excite cognitive thought among pupils. Teacher must supervise the procedure supplying ongoing feedback and be readily able to decide struggles should they originate. Teachers should be able to actively scaffold their pupils, cognizing when their support is needed and that it should bit by bit be withdraw. Students in order to successfully accomplish their aims in groups must appreciate the benefits of group work. They must hold a clear apprehension of the coveted aim and the sub-task demand to successfully accomplish the aim. They must be able to actively and reflectively listen to each other and utilize creativeness and objectiveness to work positively together. In so making they will larn to further positive work attitudes with others, thereby bettering on their interpersonal accomplishments as they prepare for the work universe. Appendix 1 Three Constructivist Design Models [ 1 ] 1. The Learning Cycle 2. The Learning Step developed by George W. Gagnon. Jr. and Michelle Collay 3. The Information Construction ( ICON ) theoretical account created by Robert O. McClintock and John B. Black, and is really similar to Dillenbourg and Schneider.Appendix 2Table 1: Forms of Cooperative Groups [ 2 ]Name OF GROUP WHAT IS THIS? WORKS BEST FOR Benefits Drawback Pair-share 2 pupils with one job portion their thoughts or inquiries. Each individual speaks, listens, & A ; gives feedback. Content that requires treatment, contemplation, or account. Increased engagement clip, Helps those who are diffident Fewer positions and solutions Saber saw Each member of the little group researches one portion of the inquiry /content for a certain sum of clip. The members of the group come back together. Each member teaches his/her portion to the remainder of the group. Content with four or five parts to research. Students gain learning and research accomplishments Some pupils feel pressured by a clip bound Split-class treatment The category is split into half. Each side discusses /debates their cognition /beliefs, etc. Arguments or treatments Students may alter their sentiment or develop a different position Some pupils may talk less with such a big group. Random groups of 3 Class is split into groups of 3. The groups discuss the subject. Predicting what will go on, reacting to a state of affairs. Receive a assortment of feedback, group members are accountable Easy to go forth out or team up against a diffident pupil or one who has a different sentiment Ability/Interest/Friendship Group Students are divided into groups based on some quality that they all have in common. Making plays/skits or an activity in which pupils must work together outside of category. Students can work at a gait that best suits them, pupils are seldom world-weary and frequently motivated It is unrealistic to happen a wholly homogenous group, weaker or unpopular pupils may be excluded. Diverseness Groups Students are formed into groups where they come from a broad assortment of backgrounds, involvements, etc. Researching geographics, history, and diverse life styles. There are many chances to derive different positions Minorities may go anomic Multi-aged groups Students are divided into groups in which there are a mixture of ages Older pupils learning younger pupils ( i.e. scientific discipline experiments ) . Older students- there is less force per unit area to vie with equals, Younger pupils fell of import that an older individual is passing clip with them Older pupils may be a bad influence ; Older pupils may non cognize how to work with a younger kid or an â€Å" at hazard † pupil Peer-led Conferences Students prepare and take a treatment of stuff with parents, teachers, pupils, etc. A major undertaking in which pupils set up Stationss for several intelligences. Students get the chance to genuinely learn, pupils learn self assurance. Students whose parents are inactive in the school may be alienated from those whose parents participate ; some pupils may non be involved in interactions.Notes:These diagrams were obtained from: hypertext transfer protocol: //www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/constructivism/implementation_sub1.htmlThis tabular array was obtained from: hypertext transfer protocol: //projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/index.php? title=Cooperative_Learning # Frequently_Asked_Questions_about_Cooperative_LearningMentions* B. , Mahler, C. A. & A ; Noddings, N. ( 1990 ) . Constructivist positions on the instruction and acquisition of mathematics. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education by National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. [ Online ] hypertext transfer protocol: //home.capecod.net/~tpanitz/tedsarticles/coopbenefits.htm. [ Accessed: March 20, 2010. ] * Concepts to Classroom. Three Constructivist Design Models. Disney Learning Partnership. Thirteened Online. 2004. hypertext transfer protocol: //www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/constructivism/implementation_sub1.html. [ Accessed: March 21, 2010 ] * Davis, R. Palmer, G. , Peters, R. , & A ; Streetman, R. ( 2003 ) . Concerted acquisition. In M. Orey ( Ed. ) , Emerging positions on acquisition, instruction, and engineering. hypertext transfer protocol: //projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/ . [ Accessed: March 21, 2010 ] * Harel, I. & A ; Papert, S. ( 1991 ) . Constructionism. Norwood, NY: Ablex Publishing Corporation. * Johnson, D. W. , Johnson, R. T. , & A ; Holubec, E. J. ( 1986 ) . Circles of acquisition: Cooperation in the schoolroom. Edina, MN: Interaction Book Company. * Kafai, Y & A ; Resnick, M. ( Eds. ) ( 1996 ) . Constructionism in pattern. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. * KidsDevelopment.co.uk. Jane Marshall. [ Online ] hypertext transfer protocol: //www.kidsdevelopment.co.uk/PiagetsCognitiveDevelopmentTheory [ Accessed: March 20, 2010 ] * KidsDevelopment.co.uk. Jane Marshall. [ Online ] hypertext transfer protocol: //www.kidsdevelopment.co.uk/VygotskySocioCulturalTheory [ Accessed: March 20, 2010 ] * KidsDevelopment.co.uk. Jane Marshall. [ Online ] hypertext transfer protocol: //www.kidsdevelopment.co.uk/KohlbergsMoralReasoningStages. [ Accessed: March 20, 2010 ]  · Nigel Hastings & A ; Karen Chantrey Wood. ( 2002 ) . Group Seating in Primary Schools: an untenable strategy1? Nottingham Trent University. Education-Line. Online. hypertext transfer protocol: //www.leeds.ac.uk/educol/documents/00002181.htm [ Accessed: March 21, 2010 ] * Orey, M. ( Ed. ) . ( 2001 ) . Emerging positions on acquisition, instruction, and engineering. Online. hypertext transfer protocol: //projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/ [ Accessed: March 21, 2010 ] * Retrieved from â€Å" hypertext transfer protocol: //projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/index.php? title=Main_Page † * Panitz, T. ( 1996 ) . A definition of collaborative vs. concerted acquisition * Papert, S. ( 1993 ) . The Children ‘s machine: rethinking school in the age of the computing machine. New York: Basic Books. * Perkins, D. N. ( 1986 ) . Knowledge as design. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. * Pierre Dillenbourg and Daniel Schneider. Collaborative Learning & A ; the Internet. ICCAI 95 article. TECFA ( unit of Educational Technology ) , School of Psychology and Education Sciences. Feb 8, 1995. hypertext transfer protocol: //tecfa.unige.ch/tecfa/research/CMC/colla/iccai95_5.html # HEADING9. [ Accessed: March 20, 2010. ] * Robyn M. Gillies and Adrian F. Ashman ( 1999 ) . Teaching collaborative accomplishments to primary school kids in classroom-based work groups. Graduate School of Education, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. Online. hypertext transfer protocol: //www.sciencedirect.com/science? _ob=ArticleURL & A ; _udi=B6VFW-3VV41V4-1 & A ; _user=10 & A ; _coverDate=09 % 2F30 % 2F1996 & A ; _rdoc=1 & A ; _fmt=high & A ; _orig=search & A ; _sort=d & A ; _docanchor= & A ; view=c & A ; _searchStrId=1261791467 & A ; _rerunOrigin=google & A ; _acct=C000050221 & A ; _version=1 & A ; _urlVersion=0 & A ; _userid=10 & A ; md5=000d51b3bb0b63ad82d4d7cbe3fcd552 [ Accessed: March 21, 2010.  · Swortzel, K. ( 1997 ) . The effects of concerted larning methods on accomplishment, keeping, and attitudes of place economic sciences pupils in North Carolina. Journal of Vocational and Technical Education, [ online ] . hypertext transfer protocol: //scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/JVTE/v13n2/Abu.html [ Accessed: March 20, 2010. ] * Thomas, H. W. , Mergendoller, J. R. and Michaleson, A. ( 1999 ) . Project-based acquisition: a enchiridion for center and high school instructors. Novato, CA: The Buck Institute for Education * hypertext transfer protocol: //www.nrs.dest.gov.au/glossary.htm. Online. [ Accessed: March 21, 2010. ] * The Vygotsky Internet Archive. Online. hypertext transfer protocol: //www.marxists.org/archive/vygotsky/ [ Accessed: March 21, 2010. ] * Vygotsky Resources: Review & A ; Analysis of Vygotsky ‘s Thought & A ; Language. Online. hypertext transfer protocol: //www.kolar.org/vygotsky/ [ Accessed: March 21, 2010. ] Retrieved from â€Å" hypertext transfer protocol: //projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/index.php? title=Cooperative_Learning †

Manor House Paper

Manor House is a TV show about 12 people in real life, who choose to live in a manor house and live as a servants like the people in the Edwardian time period. These people choose to go three months away from their jobs and without all the luxuries of modern life. In Manor House there many servants, but there is also the family that runs and lives on the estate. This family on the show is the Olliff-Cooper family. Sir John is the Master of the House; it is his job to keep the estates up and running. Lady Olliff-Cooper is the Lady of the House.Her duty is to make sure that when there is a banquet everybody is sitting in the right order. Mister Jonathan and Master Guy are the two sons of the family. The last of the family is Miss Anson she is Lady Olliff-Cooper's sister. Miss Anson is unmarried, so she is living with her sister. After the family, the order of servants goes from highest rank, which is the butler, to the lowest rank of servant, which is the scullery maid. Mister Edgar is the butler. It is the butler’s job to keep the servants separate from the family and to keep the servants in order.Mrs. Davies is the housekeeper; her job is to make sure the female servants and male servants stay separate and that everybody is working as they should. Monsieur Dubiard is the chef, and his job is pretty obvious: to order, prepare and cook to the food for the family. The last upper servant is the lady’s maid, Miss Morrison. Her job is to prepare, the lady’s hair and clothes, and it is also her unspoken duty to gossip with her Lady about the lower servants. The highest lower servant is Charlie, the first footman.His duty is to serve Sir John and to dress him as well, but mostly his job is to be the butler’s right-hand man. Rob’s job as the Second Footman is to keep an eye on Master Guy, and that often means playing with him. Also his job is to get up early in the morning and dump everybody’s chamber pots. Rebecca is the first housemaid and Jessica is the second housemaid, and there is not much of a difference between the two housemaids, but mostly just the pay and what time one wakes up is different. Antonia is the kitchen maid, and her job is simple: to do whatever the chef tells her to do.Kenny is the hallboy. He is the lowest of the male servants, and his job is to do all the dirty jobs that anybody and everybody tells him to do. The lowest female servant rank is the scullery maid. Her job is basically to stay in the kitchen washing dishes all day long and in the show they cannot seem to keep a scullery maid. Kelly was the first scullery maid, but left after only two days. After her was Lucy the second scullery maid. She lasted longer than Kelly with a whole of a couple of weeks, but she couldn’t last the full three months.A major difficulty in this setting and time period is the lack of freedom. The servants were completely at the mercy of the masters, and if the family was unhappy with anythi ng that a servant did, such as speaking to the family, they could be dismissed at any time. The servants had time off was when everything was done, but like on the show the work is never done. If the work is never done, then people get overworked, leading to everybody being worn out. Being worn out had more than one disadvantage.One of the disadvantages is the fact that the servants can’t do their work to the best of their abilities. Another disadvantage is that people’s tempers are very short meaning they are more likely to speak against or in front of the family leading to their possible dismissal. What is worse than not having any rights is that back then men and women were unequal. The women were taken advantage of more often than not and they could do nothing about it, especially if it was the master. If there was a choice between a guy and a girl, they would choose the guy.The men would always get paid more than the women. And the worst part of this would be not be being able to fight this rule, or in that time period it might as well have been a law. The servants did not get paid very much and they were expected to just accept it because they were being given food and housing, so in reality they were little better than slaves. The only servant that was really treated well by everybody was the chef; he could leave the family at any time because a high-class chef was in high demandThe rules in the Edwardian time period were very strict. The female servants and the male servants were never to be engaged in anything romantic. To help with keeping the servants separate, the manor house was set up with the females living on the complete opposite side of the house as the males. Another rule was that if the family were walking down the stairs, the servants were to make themselves as invisible as possible, such as going into a corner facing the walls to make sure that they never made eye contact.Another rule is that the servants, except the butler and the lady’s maid, were never to speak in front of the masters. That rule is very important to them, and if a servant breaks it the consequence was often dismissal from the manor. Overall I think it would have been an interesting experience, and I most likely would have jumped at the chance if they had offered it to me. But I know for certain that would not have wanted to live during that time period! I would hate having to deal with all of those rules.

Compare and contrast Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Compare and contrast - Research Paper Example For example, in a car petrol/gas (energy) is the forward movement. Without it, the vehicle cannot move, may be the best model, with the ablest chauffeur behind the wheel! It has been pre-ordained that the car will move only with the source of energy. The driver at the wheel forms part of the lateral movement. He can drive the vehicle, fast, slow, he can choose the ideal route as per his choice, if the vehicle unfortunately hits the divider he is responsible—meaning thereby, he has the free choice as for movements of the car. In the present story, Oedipus executes his actions of his free will. He makes the independent choices.†To what extent can anybody enjoy freewill? To what extents are we too the children of chance?†Ã¢â‚¬â€all these questions are analyzed in this drama. (Knox, 1994, Back Matter) Take one such example of freewill in the play regarding the punishment proposed to be meted out to King Laiaus’s killer. Oedipus asserts that he curses the killer to live in exile. This shows how he exercises his free will. He could have as well put the killer to death or ordered his imprisonment. Another example when Oedipus exercises his free will is when he inflicts self-punishment of blinding himself. The reason for this action is he comes to know that Jocasta is his mother and the individual he killed long ago, Lauis, is his father. He kills his father and marries his mother! When he realizes his cruel folly, it is too much for him to bear. He decides to punish himself severely. In the exercise of his free will he doesn’t care for the consequences. Instead of stabbing his eyes, he could have owned responsibility for his evil actions but he exercises his free will for self-punishment. Exercising free will doesn’t mean, one is assured of success in life always. We are told by Bernard Knox, â€Å"At the center of drama is Oedipus with his absolute determination to know the truth. He dominates from beginning to end. The paradox which divides interpreters and

Compare and contrast two pieces of art Research Paper

Compare and contrast two pieces of art - Research Paper Example It was painted between the years 1829-32 and is one of the most renowned pieces of work by Hokusai. The painting shows a picture of a huge wave intimidating boats all around it, close to the Kanagawa or Japanese prefecture. Most of the times, people mistake the wave to be a part of the tsunami since the disaster is a very common phenomenon near Japan and the Japanese islands. However, it is a wave of the open sea, a commonality in the region of the water body there. Mount Fuji can also be seen in the background of the picture. The dormant volcano has formed a very important part of Japanese paintings and art because of its significance in the environment around the waves. It is also sometimes painted in order to depict the kind of warning the volcano is supposed to show to its audience through a picture portrayal. The picture is also a part of the Thirty Six Views of Mount Fuji and is the first of the series. (Katsushika Hokusai and Japanese Art) â€Å"Washington Crossing the Delawa re† was made in 1851 by Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze. ... his crew helps him cross the Delaware River however many say that the American flag shown in the picture is a symbol of anarchism and does not show American unity. The painting had to undergo restoration after it had been destroyed in a fire and then further again, in a bombing. Other pieces of creative art like poems and sonnets have also been made on the basis of the picture portrayed in the painting, which is one of the best forms of art alive for the depiction of the important event that took place in American history. (Washington Crossing the Delaware) Both paintings have been made with a great amount of detail in their own ways; however the technique used in their creation is very different from each other. The Jap-Asian painting made by Hokusai has been made with the Ukiyo-e technique; this is used for making single brush strokes onto silk or even on paper. It is very easy to make very thin lines and use colour very well with this kind of painting. It helps to give a portrayal of a very simple sketch with deep detailing. The waves in the picture have very extensive detail and the lighting has been worked on fantastically with a cloudy background helping to make the same even more sinister in its own way. The fierceness of the waves has been shown wonderfully, especially with the volcano in the backdrop of the painting. In contrast to the same, the painting by Leutze is more realistic in its approach. It has a very artistic touch and composition to it with excellent lighting and Washington’s face looking at the bright sky and sun, revealing an image along the likes of emerging victorious. The picture according to the painting takes place at dawn with very dark tones all along the sky and the sun rising along the horizon. (Leutze, Emanuel) There are different

Isaiah verse 1.1-2.1 Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Isaiah verse 1.1-2.1 - Research Paper Example The book and the verses even depicts about the different displays of cruelty and wickedness practiced by the kings on the Jewish followers. The different developments of the books hence reflect on the political and social developments that have been evident within the kingship of Jerusalem. Furthermore, the book develops and provides a better insight towards the fact that â€Å"Lord† is for the overall universe and is not secluded for a particular class or race. Commendably, in the book the prophet develops a better understanding towards the sins that may be bestowed on the evildoers or the cruel people of the earth (Broyles & Evans, 1997). With this emphasis, the research provides an in depth understanding of the different approaches and diverse statements provided by the prophet are developing a better understanding of the wickedness of the people that has been prominent within the society. The diverse needs of the research attempt developing an effective understanding towards the wrath of God that may fall upon people owing to their improper practices according to the verses in Isaiah 1.1-1.2. In the first verse, Isaiah depicts his views towards the different types of wicked approaches adopted by mankind for developing their lifestyle on the earth. The wicked approaches of mankind, with the political intention towards developing a hold on the society has been creating a strong negative impact on the social progression and a diverse impact on the social lifestyle of people. The prophet proclaims that this type of attributes will never be acceptable by God and would be dealt severely for such occurrences (Calvin & Calvin, 2000). Over the recent decades and centuries, human kind has always been indulged into some or the other kind of punishable offences that has been creating a degree of distress within the social system. This practices that were prominent within the Jewish society in Israel and Judah has been noted to be

Safety Aspects of Food Processing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Safety Aspects of Food Processing - Essay Example Such secondary manufacturers can include re-packers, food caterers, and food retail outlets. As of a decade ago, the working legislation relating to this topic is EC Regulation No 2073/2005. It states that food should â€Å"not contain micro-organisms their toxins and metabolites in quantities that present an unacceptable risk for human health† (European Commission 2005). In addition, existing policy does require that some food business operators be required to demonstrate that the foods the produce comply with the stated criteria related to microbiological material throughout the entire period of time mentioned in the shelf-life. This relates specifically to reasonable and foreseeable conditions of distribution, storage, and use of the food. In regard to labelling, it is important to note that the legal definition of shelf life in Europe is defined as the ‘date of minimum durability’. This means that it refers to the date until which a food can be reasonably expe cted to retain its specific properties as long as it is stored properly. Another important term to note is the ‘use by date’, which relates to a microbiological perspective. Within a short period of time after this date, the food would be deemed to constitute an immediate threat to the health of a human. As such, as the the ‘use by date’ has passed, the consumer should consider the food to be unsafe, but prior to this date they have the expectation that it is, indeed, safe. In addition, the ‘best before date’ is taken to mean to the date until which a food retains its specific properties when it is stored properly. The properties include, but are not limited to, appearance, odour, texture, and flavour. It is one thing to understand the legal requirements of properly setting a valid shelf-life duration for any given product, but it is another thing entirely to do so

Research- managing small business Research Paper

- managing small business - Research Paper Example RAYZ is small company in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, having business interests in digital marketing and social media. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the behaviour of small business with respect to established theories and principles, taking RAYZ as an example. In most of the developed countries such as the United States and United Kingdom, big companies or corporates contribute heavily to economic development whereas in developing countries such as India and China, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) play a vital role in streamlining economic progress. Small business or SME has different definitions in different countries. As the name indicates, small business or SME is nothing but a business in which the revenue generated and the number of employees working is below certain standards. These standards will be different in different countries. While the United States has not set any criteria for defining SMEs, the European Union defines Small enterprise as a company with fewer than 50 employees, and medium-sized enterprise as a company with fewer than 250 employees (Investopedia, 2015). Saudi Arabia is one of the most rapidly developing states in the Middle East at present. As in the case of India and China, SMEs contribute heavily to the development of the KSA. A lot of small business operates in the Kingdom by the locals as well as foreigners. RAYZ is one such small company, started in Riyadh 2012 by a young group of creative and ambitious individuals. Bandar Alwabil and Yazeed AlGhuraibi are the founders of RAYZ which is specialized in digital marketing and social media business. Rayan Alwabil is the Chief Executive Officer of the company while Yazeed AlGhuraibi is working as the Chief Operating Officer of the company at present. Around 30 employees work in various departments of RAYZ now (RAYZ, 2015). The

Crime and Theory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Crime and Theory - Essay Example Policy bureaucrats and advocates have paid a lot of concentration and allocated the most funds to the domestic violence form of couple violence. But there is beginning to be some interest amongst the public bureaucrats and community leaders in sustaining approaches that deal with couple conflict in most of the cases. These include couples and marriage education programs that teach engaged and married couples a way of communication and conflict declaration skills in order to reinforce their relationship, evade unhelpful forms of conflict that may lead to divorce and support less unfriendly co-parenting after divorce. There are various types of domestic violence, few of them are mentioned below. (Richard L. Davis., 1998). Sexual abuse is distinct as the forcing of undesired sexual acts by one person to another. There are different kinds of sexual abuse which involves non-consensual, forced physical sexual deeds such as rape or sexual attack, psychological types of abuse such as oral sexual behavior, the use of a position of trust for sexual reasons and incest, when it is derived by force or emotional treatment; the euphemism is at times used to illustrate such abuse. Psychological Abuse Psychological abuse or emotional abuse is a type of abuse that is characterized by a person subjecting or revealing another to behavior that is psychologically dangerous. Psychological abuse is the obstinate infliction of mental or emotional suffering by threat, shame or other verbal or nonverbal behavior. It is frequently linked with circumstances of power inequity, such maybe as the conditions of abusive relationships and child abuse. However, it can also take place on larger ranges, for example, Group psychological abuse, racial domination and prejudice. A more gentle case might be that of place of work abuse. Workplace abuse is a large cause of workplace interrelated strain, which consecutively is a tough cause of illness, both physical and mental. When a child is emotionally abused, some may not even identify it and make it seem like daily behavior. In fact, it can have severe long term effects on the child at hand. There need not be an activist for psychological abuse to take place; one can experience self-abuse, as in the case of someone who is a depressive, or self-mutilation. In any circumstances in which the frequent and severe impact of a situation influences a person's emotional and rational thinking, in such a way that can adversely affect their lives later on. Stalking Stalking means repeating physical harassment to a person over an extended period. Laws vary between jurisdictions but may include such acts as repeated physical following, unwanted contact, observing a person's actions closely for an extended period of time, make a contact with family members, friends, or associates inappropriately and cyber stalking. Stalking can also consist of seeking and getting hold of the person's personal information in order to contact them, for example, searching for their details on computers, electoral rolls, personal files and other stuff with the person's

Compare and Contrast Essay Example for Free

Compare and Contrast Essay Religion is a great topic to develop and more when you compare and contrast them. Everyone has different views based on their belief. In this essay Im going to compare two basic religions that are still use in today’s society after so many years of development. These religions are buddhism and christianity. Considered to be the two great distinctive religions of the world, both Buddhism Christianity today covers a large section of the world population with numerous similarities and differences. There are huge differences on this religions that outstand all the others. The existence of a personal creator and Lord is denied by Buddhism. However, Christianity believes in a personal creator and each may have a relationship with the creator, Jesus. Buddhism believes the world operates under natural law and power and Christians believe that there is a divine order to the world. Some in Buddhism deify the Buddha and worship other gods as well. Christianity is clear that a personal God exists but He is to be the only object of worship. Buddist believe that through a blowing out of yourself, freeing you from desire, will you break the cycle of reincarnation. Christianity says that a relationship with God through belief in the sacrificial work of Jesus Christ on the cross is what allows people to go to heaven. This only comes when someone completely trusts in what God has done for us in the person of Jesus Christ. There is no such thing in Buddhism as sin against a supreme being. In Christianity sin is ultimately against God and affects man and this world. According to Buddhist belief, the human life is not consider to have much worth, having only temporary existence. Life is understood in such a way in getting rid of all desire (good and bad) and not placing any value on this life on earth and not to believe there is any eternal soul to a person. In Christianity people are of infinite worth, made in the image of God, and will exist eternally. The human body is a hindrance to the Buddhist while to the Christian it is an instrument for glorifying God as well as God will restore the body of those who commit their lives to him so that they can be in his presence forever. Also there are some things in which Buddhism and Christianity are really similar. Lord Buddha based His ethics on the golden rule, which was for the welfare of the human beings. Christianity, Jesus Christ also preached His ethics as per the golden rule, which was for the welfare of His people and easily approachable. Buddha, the founder of Buddhism rejected extreme asceticism and gave an emphasis on self-liberation through knowledge. On the other hand Jesus Christ also rejected extreme asceticism. The worship in Buddhism includes monasticism, ringing of bells, bowing, use of incense and rosary, erection of towers or stupas, prayers and meditation. Similarly, the Christians also follow almost same form of worship Monasticism, Confession, the cult of images, ringing of bells, use of rosary and incense and the erection of towers. The Buddhist doctrine gives an emphasis on love for the entire mankind and every other beings as well, no matter whether the being is a friend or an enemy!. The Christian doctrine is also based on the principle of Love the neighbour like into yourself, which means that love should be showered upon not only your friends, but the entire beings. In conclusion buddhism and christianity like any other religion have their similarities and their own differences.

One Flew over the Cuckoos Nest Essay Example for Free

One Flew over the Cuckoos Nest Essay The six psychological approaches are biological, learning or behavioral, cognitive, sociocultural, psychodynamic, and humanistic. Each approach is unique in its own way and used by psychiatrists to diagnose the problem. A biological approach is applied when the there is a known medical condition. The medical condition normally connects to mental health, and the solution comes from therapy. This particular approach looks at the whole body. The learning or behavioral approach is all about analyzing the person’s the behavior and modifying their behavior biased on their response to the environment. This approach works from positive and negatives items in their environment, and is sometimes cured by brings these elements in and out of their life to fix the problem. The events in the environment can be rewards or punishments that will influence the patients behavior. The cognitive perspective is about understand a patients thinking and understanding. How we process, store, and retrieve information influences our behavior. It is said that all problems are located in the brain, and using this perspective you can find a medical issue that is affecting how the brain is working. The sociocultural approach is when the mental health has something to do with the environment that deals with growth. The culture in which the patient is a large factor. In a psychodynamic approach an individual’s problem is inside the unconscious mind. This can be from a dramatic event that happened earlier in their life. Sometimes the cure can be from the patient themselves accepting the fact, or acknowledging that they have a problem. The final approach is a humanistic approach. This is about individual or self directed choices that influence behavior. This approach deals with the physical health of a patient to eventually cure their mental health. There is a well known philosophy that a healthy mind equals a healthy body. In this approach, a psychologist will control the patients diet and exercise to regain their mental health. The hospital used many methods on the mentally ill patients. They had group counseling scheduled every day where Mrs. Ratchet interrogated the patients and made them feel uncomfortable. The hospital also had electric shock therapy and lobotomy as other treatment methods. Also, the hospital gave the patients medicine, this is a biological approach, even though it was given to these people unwillingly. Mrs. Ratchet also allowed McMurphy to receive a vote in order to watch the ball game and she bended the rules or was too strict in order to win her position. This is a behavioral approach because McMurphy watched the baseball probably in his normal environment at home. She teased him with the thought of watching the game as a reward, then took it away. McMurphy had behavioral or learning approach. He would congratulate people when they did things he thought were good and he would yell at them when he thought they did something bad. For example, when McMurphy taught Chief how to shoot a basketball, he cheered after every point he made. The other patients looked up to and really admired McMurphy, which put him in a very powerful position. He had a strong effect on the other patients and they really admired him. Chief Bromden’s recovery began when McMurphy came to the hospital and started talking to him and making him do tasks. McMurphy worked on chief to see if he was smart enough to complete simple tasks. The first step was him raising his hands above his head at the basketball court, which was the first movement he had done in his whole time being there. Before chief wouldn’t handle directions from others very well. His next step was raising his hand to vote on watching the baseball game, which McMurphy also encouraged greatly. Later, McMurphy rounded up the patients to play some basketball. McMurphy passed the ball to Chief and he shot it, which was followed by him beginning to follow orders and run up and down the court. The final step was when McMurphy gave him the gum before Electroshock Therapy and the Chief spoke fo r the first time at the clinic. After this, chief revealed his intelligence to McMurphy. Ken Kesey was always very interested, and was very talented with the subject of psychology. In 1959 he volunteer to take part in a study named Project mkultra  , this was a CIA funded project dealing with psychoactive drugs. Some of the drugs included were LSD, psilocybin, mescaline, cocaine, AMT, and DMT. This and his work at the state veterans hospital, which gave him access to LSD, inspired him to write One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest. At the state veterans hospital, Kesey spent a lot of time talking to the patients. sometimes under the influence of the hallucinogenic drugs with which he had volunteered to experiment. Kesey did not believe that these patients were insane. Kesey believed that society had pushed them out because they did not fit in the the culture, and that they just wanted a place to keep all the mentally ill. I think that Kesey was trying to convey to people at mentally ill hospitals were treated in a bad manner. He tried to show people that the mentally ill were probably sheltered away from everybody just because they were different. The hospital portrayed in the film didn’t seem to help the patients out or want them to recover and go home. They seemed to have no rights. These patients adjusted to this lifestyle and didn’t want to leave, that is a problem when the assumed goal was to improve these people’s problems. The rewards from good behavior seemed nonexistent and He also wanted to show how cruel the punishments were in the hospital. Psychedelic 60s: Ken Kesey the Merry Pranksters. Psychedelic 60s: Ken Kesey the Merry Pranksters. University of Virginia / Charlottesville, Virginia, 16 Dec. 2009. Web. 19 Sept. 2012. . I really enjoyed One flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest. I thought the movie was genius. There were parts of humor, and it kept you interested and wondering so many things. I enjoyed that there were many main plots and side plots, like the hospital verses the patients, or the patients versus their own recovery. McMurphy was a very mysterious character, because he was crazy, and nobody could figure out if there was anything wrong with him. I though that putting him in that section of the hospital was a mistake, because he is so manipulative and high functioning that he abused all the hospital’s loop-holes. At the same time he was very good for the patients. I also enjoyed the character and all their different problems and personality differences. I enjoyed watching how Billy and the Chief progressed mentally throughout the film. I also love the thought of people breaking structure, and that is what McMurphy definitely succeeded in. This movie very closely related to psychology, because it directly dealt with people who were mentally ill. Also psychology was involved when McMurphy used his genius mind to go against the hospital in various ways. Thinking of these schemes uses a large amount of psychology. Even for the viewers, the movie left you deep in thought, with predicting and questioning what is going to happen next. This movie made you think deeply making this a very psychological movie.

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu A Modern Martial Art Form History Essay

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu A Modern Martial Art Form History Essay Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, the Gentle Art, is a relatively modern martial art. Its roots however stretch all the way back to the days of the samurai. How, you ask, did this system of fighting make its way to the other side of the world? It all began with the founding of Judo, the precursor to Jiu Jitsu, in the 1880s. Jigoro Kano, the founder of Judo, had studied many ancient Japanese forms and techniques. In his new style he used only the most effective techniques from the indigenous Japanese arts; he called his creation Kodokan Judo. The difference between Kanos new style and the ancient styles was that it could also be used as self defense, because non-cooperative free training was highly emphasized. This new form of training not only prepared the body, but also the mind and it changed the martial arts world as a whole. It was Judo that began the wave on other styles relying more on effectiveness and free-sparring, than on flashy techniques that do not actually work. In the late 1800s, Kanos Judo was put to the test at the Tokyo Police Tournament. There he fought many opponents and won all but two matches, which were declared a draw. His style was indeed the most effective of the time considering Jigoro Kano was smaller and weaker than the other practitioners. Judo remained undefeated for many years, until a master from a Japanese school teaching ancient fighting styles finally won. The loss came due to Kanos lack of experience at fighting on the ground, which was the opponents focus in training. After this loss, the weakness of Judo was exposed, as new schools began challenging the Kodokan Judo and winning on the ground. From this moment on, ground fighting was trained extensively at the Kodokan. A few years after ground fighting was implemented at the Kodokan, Esai Maeda began training at the school. He excelled far past his fellow students and went down in history as one of the greatest practitioners of Judo, or Judoka, in the world. He remained undefeated in his fighting career in Japan. In 1904 Professor Kano sent Maeda to the United States to help spread Judo. Throughout his travels, Maeda fought countless opponents; some say he even had over a thousand matches. He is credited as having a spotless record, with zero losses. All over the world, this new Judo was catching on, as the style proved more effective than others. At his retirement, Maeda was literally a human encyclopedia of Judo, and he wanted to share his knowledge. In the early 1900s Maeda decided to move to Brazil with the wave of Japanese immigrants going there. He settled in Rio de Janeiro and established a Judo school there. One of his first students was the now famous, Carlos Gracie. Gracie excelled just as Maeda had years ago and eventually became the best student. Carlos eventually went on to open his own school. Throughout the years, Gracie and his brothers continued to teach and perfect their Judo. The youngest of the brothers, Helio, was not allowed to train because he was very weak and constantly ill. He took notes and gave tips on how to make moves more effective and helped his brothers develop their own style. In 1928 Carlos Gracie and his brothers cannot teach a lesson at their school, so youngest brother Helio fills in for them. Even with his weak and frail body, he was able to maneuver and control his students. He had finally perfected the art of Judo; this new form of Judo became known as Gracie Jiu Jitsu, or Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. The brothers were amazed at young Helios incredible technique. What made him so good was that he used his opponents weight and force against them. He was a smart man and used his knowledge in physics to help him by incorporating levers and momentum into his newly developed style. In 1931 the professional boxer, Antonio Portugal, was defeated by Helio, proving that with Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, a smaller and less athletic person could beat a larger and more athletic one. His goal was to provide anyone of any size the techniques in which you could defend yourself against any one of any size. This was only the first of countless victories that the Gracie family would see. In the 1940s Helio challenged Joe Louis, the professional heavyweight champion of boxing, to prove the superiority of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. The boxer, who looked like a giant next to Gracie, declined and the two never fought. The two actually became friends and taught one another their techniques. Years later, at the peak of Helios fighting days, he fought Masahiko Kimura who was considered to be the best Japanese fighter at the time. Kimura outweighed Gracie by over eighty pounds, and was much stronger. Helio fought for over thirteen minutes before he was caught in a shoulder lock that broke his shoulder. Still, he did not give up and continued to fight, until his brother threw in the towel to prevent any serious injury. Kimura was so impressed with the performance of Helio and his modified style that he invited him to teach it at schools in Japan. The last of his memorable fights was the one against Waldemar Santana. Santana was 20 years younger and heavier than Gracie, he also studied at the Gracie Academy. The fight went on and on for about five hours, with Santana as the victor. Even though Helio lost, his style proved supreme. He was able to defend himself against a much younger and stronger assailant for hours at a time. It also proved to be effective in self defense, because the young challenger also knew the secrets of Jiu Jitsu, where an attacker on the street would probably not. In the early 1980s Rorion Gracie, Helios eldest son, moved to California to spread the familys Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. He was not welcomed at martial arts schools with his unorthodox methods and unusual fighting style. This eventually led to him inviting martial artists of all styles from around the world for a match against him. The event came to be known as the Gracie Challenge. Gracies Jiu Jitsu proved more effective than every challengers martial art, including Kung Fu, wrestling, boxing, and karate. The challenge was made to prove that simple yet effective movements are crucial to self defense, rather than flashy and eye-catching techniques. The Gracie family finally got their big break in 1994 when Rorion Gracie began the Ultimate Fighting Championship, or the UFC. In this competition martial styles were put up against one another without any restrictions or weight classes. Royce Gracie, the youngest of Rorions brothers, was the first to compete. He ended up winning the entire competition, making opponents much larger than him submit. Once again, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu proved to be the most effective and realistic martial art. After the first few Ultimate Fighting Championships the popularity of Jiu Jitsu skyrocketed in the U.S.; everyone wanted to learn the art. Around this time many of the other Gracie family members began to move to the United States and Japan. Rickson Gracie, considered by many to have been the greatest fighter in the world, revolutionized the sport. He combined all of the techniques his elders taught him, with those from practitioners around the world. He became a complete athlete when he began developing his strength and agility, which, when added to Jiu Jitsu, only made it easier for him to win. He went on to defeat many of the greatest fighters in the world. He eventually retired when his son died, with a record of only wins. Rickson Gracie founded the Rickson Gracie International Jiu-Jitsu Association in 1996 in order to provide a thorough and complete system in which Jiu-Jitsu students, for the first time, are presented with clearly defined standards of progression relating to proper Belt Ranking and Testing. Through the Association, the traditional, technical and philosophical aspects of Jiu-Jitsu can be shared wit h students around the world. (rickson.com) Nowadays, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is everywhere, from various academies around the world, to police academies, and even the army. Throughout the years it has proved to be the most effective martial art as a whole. The ever-growing popularity of the UFC, and mixed martial arts in general, is associated with the boom in popularity of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. The championship has now reached its one hundred and fourteenth event. Every fighter currently fighting in the UFC, and any mixed martial arts tournament, has some knowledge of Jiu Jitsu, whether for defense or offense. So even though Brazilian Jiu Jitsu originated from Judo, it has many differences, such as those of body mechanics.

Encryption - How Sensitive Information Is Protected on the Internet :: Exploratory Essays Research Papers

Encryption - How Sensitive Information Is Protected on the Internet Have you ever visited a web site and seen something that you wanted to purchase? Were you apprehensive about making that purchase, because you were unsure of who would see your personal information? Well, for an e-business to be successful, the leaders of that business must take special security measures to protect their customer’s sensitive information. The most reliable method to protect sensitive information that is transmitted via the web, is encryption. Encryption is the coding and scrambling of messages to prevent any unauthorized access to data that is being transmitted. Applying a secret numerical code called an encryption key encrypts a message. This allows the message to be sent as a scrambled set of characters. If the message is to be unscrambled, it must be decrypted with a matching key. These keys consist of groups of letters, numbers, and symbols. If a website is secured by encryption, you will see a small lock on the lower right hand side of your screen on the status bar. There are two basic standards of encryption. They are, Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and Secure Hypertext Transport Protocol (S-HTTP). Both of these allow the client and the server computers to manage encryption and decryption as they communicate with each other during a secure Internet session. Public key is a widely used type of encryption. However, there are several different types. This type of encryption uses two different keys. One key is private while the other key is public. First, a private and public key must be created. The private key, of course, is kept secret. The public key is kept in a directory. The sender sends a message with the receiver’s public key, and the receiver uses the private key to decrypt it. Another type of internet security device is called a digital signature. This is a digital code attached to a message that is electronically transmitted and used to identify the origins and contents of that message. The digital signature is then used by the receiver to verify that the message was not tampered with after being sent. A digital signature is similar to a real signature, in that it is a way to be sure that the person sending the message is indeed that person.

Colombia Essay -- Economics Colombia Government Essays

Colombia History Colombia was one of the three original countries along with Ecuador and Venezuela that emerged from the collapse of Gran Colombia in 1830. Over the last 40 years, there has been a campaign to overthrow the government partially because of the drug trades throughout Colombia. The movement does however lack support from military and support from the necessary influences. In recent years, there have been challenges for control of the territories throughout Colombia and also for the drug trade. Economy The economy continues to improve despite the last couple of years, by having an increased number of government budgets, increases number of efforts to reduce the public debt levels, and an export oriented growth focus. Some of the negative aspects of the economic problems range from to changing the current pension system, reducing high unemployment and the need to fix the declining oil production. On the positive side, some of the changes being done are reducing the public deficit which is now below 2.5%. Also, coffee prices were at an all time low and have begun to raise again. Colombia makes most of their money from exports, some exports are coffee, petroleum, iron, steel, fruits and drugs. Drugs Throughout the 1980’s, Colombia earned the name as the major narcotic trafficking center. The country’s involvement with drugs did not stem in the 1980’s, it started with the first colonization, which had grown and chewed coca for thousands of years...

Comparing Arnold’s Dover Beach to Hecht’s Dover Bitch Essay

Much as it is a poem of vivid images translated into feelings of melancholia and uber sentimentality, Dover Beach has been touted as one of Matthew Arnold’s most admired poems. It was probably composed in the summer of 1851 and subsequently revised for the volume of New Poems in 1867 (Baum, 1958, p. 85). The poem basks in the feelings of self-conflict, loneliness, alienation and inexplicable emotions set during the Victorian times. The poem consists of four sections or stanzas: the setting (1-14); Sophocles, or the Greek parallel (15-20); the sea at Dover and the Sea of Faith, or the parallel extended (21-28); and the personal appeal (29-37). At the start of the poem, readers could visualize a man standing at the edge of Dover Beach, feeling down and out. His tone is some what indifferent and philosophical about life’s iniquities. He then revealed that there is a woman with him, which he refers to as â€Å"love†. And, it then concludes with a pessimistic lamentation relative to the possibility of human happiness in a time bereft of faith: for the world, which seems To lie before us like a land of dreams, So various, so beautiful, so new, Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light, Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain; Anthony Hecht’s Dover Bitch (1968) claimed notoriety in parodying the uber romantic machinations of the male persona in Dover Beach. Hecht even acknowledged Arnold in his poem and begins with these lines: So there stood Matthew Arnold and this girl With the cliffs of England crumbling away behind them, And he said to her, ‘Try to be true to me, And I’ll do the same for you, for things are bad All over, etc. ’ Noteworthy is that Hecht frankly assumes Arnold to be the speaker and his companion to be a woman, but he does not go on to suppose that Matthew Arnold was telling her not to worry and to leave it all to him; he was fully aware that ‘things are bad/All over’ for everybody, not just for the two of them. There doesn’t seem to be any suggestion in Dover Bitch that Matthew is going to do ‘this girl’s’ worrying about the world as well as his own. Nor is there any such suggestion in Dover Beach; the speaker’s point is that they are both, and indeed we are all, in the same boat; he is as helpless as his friend, whatever the friend’s sex. Gender seems here to be about as irrelevant as it can ever be. Whatever the appearances to the contrary, the world â€Å"Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light, Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain†. Nearly everyone assumes that Dover Beach was written with Mrs. Arnold in mind. If one assumes further that the picture of Dover Beach in the moonlight – â€Å"Come to the window† -represents the stop of Arnold and his wife at Dover on their wedding journey in June 1851, there would be corroboration in the later lines: â€Å"the world which seems To lie before us . . . So various, so beautiful, so new†, there would be additional poignancy in the appeal â€Å"let us be true To one another† in spite of all its hostile forces mentioned in the poem. In fact, Duffin (1962) illustrated that Dover Beach provides a lovely picture of married love: the poet, looking out on the calm, moonlit straits, speaks over his shoulder to his wife. In his way, the poet interprets for her the sound of the waves upon the beach, hearing â€Å"the eternal note of sadness† and comparing it with the ebbing of â€Å"the Sea of Faith†. He lets the mood oppress him, making him see life as a loveless, joyless confusion of struggle and flight, with but one refuge—â€Å"Ah, love, let us be true/ To one another! † (p. 75). On the other hand, Hecht assumed that the girl was some sort of a high-class prostitute: Well now, I knew this girl. It’s true she had read Sophocles in a fairly good translation And caught that bitter allusion to the sea, But all the time he was talking she had in mind The notion of what his whiskers would feel like On the back of her neck†¦. To have been brought All the way down from London, and then be addressed As a sort of mournful cosmic last resort Is really tough on a girl, and she was pretty. Hecht translated Arnold’s romanticism and helplessness to be viewed by another person who exhibits anarchic individualism, who viewed the iniquities of the woman rather than the feeling. Hecht even deconstructed the poetry form of Dover Beach as he wrote the poem that has a casual tone, something that is spoken as a gossip in a tavern or bar. Readers could even probably assume that the speaker is a bartender. When the presence of the universal becomes more important than its structure, value comes to reside more in intensity than in the meaning of actions, more in the fact of participation with the forces of process than in the results achieved by action and society’s approval of them. Clearly, Hecht took advantage of Arnold’s aloofness to the girl at the starting stanzas. The woman’s presence is only recognized at the end of Arnold’s poem, crafted in such a way readers should think about the whole picture about what the remainder of the story really is. Hecht’s speaker in Dover Bitch could only roll his eyeballs about the uselessness of the heart-rending oration to a woman is who is not all interested in the entire romantic conflagration. The speaker feels that this woman more concerned with her own tangible pleasures than the speaker’s bleak view of life. Both poems are exquisite in their own way. Arnold’s poem was romantic and Hecht’s was allergic romantic. Arnold created this scene at the Dover Beach and Hecht just criticized the speaker in the poem to stop the â€Å"mournful cosmic last resort† idea to view and start to view life’s realities in a different perspective. It somewhat a poetic way of saying that â€Å"Life is a bitch, I know. Deal with it! † Clearly, reading these poems, readers could tell the significance of what â€Å"point-of-view† means when to ascertain what thoughts of the people could be in a story. Works Cited Baum, Paull F. Ten Studies in the Poetry of Matthew Arnold. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1958. Duffin, Henry Charles. Arnold the Poet. London: Bowes & Bowes, 1962.

Public Schools vs Private Schools Essay

Introduction Are private school students better than those in public schools? What are some of the factors that separate the quality of education received by the two groups of students? Controversy has in the past brewed over studies that have indicated that students in private schools perform better than those in public schools. This paper is therefore meant at an in-depth analysis of both the public and private stakeholders in the education system. The paper will focus on a study that reveals the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats experienced by students going through both systems. The study employs a unique selection model that involve religious and non-religious in comparison to public schools. The study focuses on how these factors affect the selection of schools by individuals and what exactly make private schools attractive. The paper also evaluates measures that can be taken to ensure that both the public schools and the private schools offer the same quality of education. R esearch problem The competition between private and public schools has been ongoing for a long time. It is only with determining which one is better that we can establish who is better between private school students and public school students. Although research has been continuous for quite some time, it is impossible for anyway to state empirically that one system is better than the other. Similarly, there hasn’t been enough improvement in the educational sector despite the fact that recommendations have been made constantly as to how to try and equalize these systems. This therefore begs the question. How can the research be carried out in such a way that it highlights major issues in the educational sector that need to be addressed? The research is also supposed to bring to light an empirical way through which the quality of public school students can be measured against that of private school students. Human beings tend to be proud of institutions that they are affiliate to. That being said, conduction of an analysis of the system could be hindered by exaggeration or even false witness statements. Research questions and variables The study should allow for the comprehension of issues that lead to the rift between public and private schools. It should also allow for the answering of questions such as are private school students better than public school students? If so how different are they from public school student? Or rather, in what aspects do these students differ? The paper should also address the possibility of an intervention in the education sector so as to address the issues that demarcate the two institutions in terms of quality education. This should be able to create a lasting solution to the quality issue. Variables involved in this study include socioeconomic status, parental education, peer group characteristics and community support. Socioeconomic status This is commonly referred to as SES. This could affect education at the home level as well as the attitude towards education. The materials read at home could be very resourceful in improving the student’s intake of knowledge. Similarly, a good environment, one without parental quarrels, where all the basic human needs are met can ensure that the student can focus more on education. Availability of books and access to the internet is a major contributor to the learning process. These facilities are not available to all though and this could affect the quality of education. Socioeconomic status could also affect the attitude towards education making data collection during the research rather difficult. Parental education The level of education of the parents is also a variable in this study. Parents could influence their children to either, study hard and achieve as much as they did or to disregard education all the same. Parents with a lower education level are not able to monitor their children’s progress in school or even to determine if they are receiving quality education. This may lead to reduced standards in education. Parental education could affect the quality of a students work at school as well. Peer group characteristics The company that is to be found at a prospective school may without a doubt determine whether a parent considers the school for his/her child. Parents always want what is best for their children. The thought that negative behavior is quite common in public schools could be a negative aspect. This study should however establish whether this is true and find ways to mitigate the same. Community support The community does in a way regulate the activities of a learning institution. The community influences discipline and behavioral mannerism that are acceptable. This is a major variable since different communities could prefer different behavior. Importance and benefits of research This research could without a doubt be the elusive solution to the issues surrounding equality and equity in the educational sector. The research will also answer the unanswered questions like what factors make private and public school students different, whether the students are different or not as well as the question as to what can be done to ensure that there is a lasting solution to these issues. Research objectives The study and subsequently the research process, is meant to highlight issues that separate quality education provision between the public and private schools. It should also establish if at all public schools are better than private schools and vice versa. The research process will highlight areas where these two differ and find ways to resolve these issues creating a lasting solution to the issues that have plagued the educational sector for a very long time. This paper, with the focus on past studies, will also look at past recommendations and what has been done to put them into effect not to mention the results they have achieved so far. What challenges have been faced during the implementation process and how they can be remedied in the future are also questions meant to be answered in the study. Literature review The literature reviews in this paper has paid special emphasis on the choice of schools. The academic article has been tackled by David N. Figlio and Joe A. Stone. The ideas and measures stipulated in this article are as per stipulated by the two researchers. Their study is mainly aimed at comparing private and public schools. Several factors have been put into consideration. They include the performance, management of the school, the quality of the teaching process, class size and the facilities offered by the school. The writer of this article argue that private schools are more superior than public schools because the learners in private schools are more likely to successfully graduate from high school and get chances in colleges or universities. The proponents of this article can be criticized by the fact that public schools offer comparatively equal quality education. Also this article has used data from different private and public schools to understand the best school between private and public schools. This article has also placed a special emphasis on the unique difference that occurs between the public schools and private schools sponsored by the church. Reality stipulates that other factors apart from religion can influence the quality of education that can be provided. For example the writers of this research article should have considered factors such as the selection process. Perhaps the selection process used during the intake of private schools mainly focuses on bright students. The second article that has been tackled in this literature review a research that was done by The Center of Educational policy. The most unique thing with this research is that it recognizes that factors such as family background and the level of the school should be considered before making a comparison between any public and private schools. Also, a lot of studies that have been done in the past by scholars such as Hoffer, Coleman and Kilgore(1982) made conclusions th at private schools are incomparably better than public schools. It is important to consider other important aspects of family life during any study. The good thing about this research is that it did appreciate the fact that the difference in issues such as the family of origin can make a great difference in the performance of different students. Although this study has considered these factors, it is still vivid that there are other issues within their methodology that have made their conclusion that those public schools are better and private schools appear lame. They argue that public schools improve the value of students and help them to continue maintaining the spirit of their private school performance, but there are still others who whose performance indicate a dropping graph. The other article dealt with in the literature review is the comparison made between private schools, public schools and market schools done by Andrew J. Coulson. His paper focused on informally collected information and this is likely to be biased. Sometimes, the media can encode information that private schools are better than public schools so that they can only create a public opinion that private schools should be preferred to public schools. The strength found in this article is that the information used is data that has been collected from various parts of this world such as Chile, Thailand, India, Nigeria and Indonesia among other countries. The Educational Next JournaL IS the last article of the literature review in this proposal. The author of this articl e is known as Elena Llaudet and Paul E. Peterson. This journal was written on winter 2007. They used NCES model that used to infer to a student’s background during the study and comparison of family backgrounds to identify incidences of poverty in families. They argued that the use of this model would help to identify the strengths of both private and public schools considering that the factor of poverty should be held constant. They also analyzed the number of students who had language difficulties and researched to see the language used in their homes. The writers of this article should have considered to analyze other factors that are likely to affect a student’s performance apart from their backgrounds. Research design The research design of this particular study is mainly based on the understanding that a lot of comparison and analysis should be done in order to be able to answer the research problem. This research will be carried out by the use of field interviews, questionnaires and other methods that will be found workable at that time. To ensure that all possible comparison is made, the researcher will ensure that they make a list of Ten public school and ten Private schools to compare several variables about them. The main area of comparison is the academic performance, but other factors that are likely to affect academic performance will also be considered. These factors include; facilities, human resource, discipline and the environment among other vital factors. Data collection methodology The data collection methodology of this research proposal is aimed at collecting data from students, teachers, the ministry of education and its departments together with youth correction institutions. Correctional Institutions for the youth will be very resourceful to help us to understand the rate of school truancy between the population from the public and the private schools. The data should be collected by means of questionnaires, interviews, as well as hypothesis. The questionnaire should also be aimed at helping the researcher to understand how students feel about being in a public or private schools. Other possible questions include; Do you think you would perform better if you were in a private school? Or Do you think that you would add more value in private or public school? If you were given a chance to rate the facilities of your school out of ten, what value would you give? Also, the interviews will be conducted to students in school (both private and public), teachers, Heads of various school departments and the parents too. Expected results When family background is taken into account, the following results are expected from the research; First and foremost, young adults whose education was at private schools are likely no to be engaged in civic activities compared to young adults whose education was at public schools that are known to have limited resources and traditional ways of education. Also, when the population of young adults who schooled in private schools is compared to those who schooled in public schools, it is clear and vivid that those people who attended traditional public high schools are more satisfied with their jobs compared to the others who schooled in private schools. The performance of students in public schools is also expected to be better than those in private schools considering that they are trained to be more independent. Finally the people who are more likely to attend college are those in public schools and not private schools. Generally, these expectations are meant to reveal that the peo ple in private schools neither receive short term nor long-term academic advantages. Conclusion In conclusion, it is unequivocally vivid that to understand the differences and uniqueness of both public and private schools, a lot of analysis has to be done. This research is only a proposal of a lot of work which is in the offing to try and answer the research question. Public schools have various shortcomings and strengths at the same time. In the same way, private schools also have their uniqueness and shortcomings too. References Andrew J. Coulson, Routledge Taylor and Francis Group, (2009) Comparing Public, Private, and Market Schools: The International Evidence, Journal of School Choice Coleman, J. S., Hoffer, T., & Kilgore, S. (1981). Public and private schools. Washington, D.C.?: National Center for Education Statistics :. Coleman, J. S., Hoffer, T., & Kilgore, S. (1982). High school achievement: public, Catholic, and private schools compared. New York: Basic Books. David N. Figlio, School Choice and Student Performance: Are Private Schools Really Better?, , September 1997 Elena Llaudet, Paul E. Peterson, The NCES Private-Public School Study, Winter 2007/Vol. 7/NO.1 Hoxby, C. M. (1994). Do private schools provide competition for public schools?. Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research. Mendelssohn, J. (2007). Which school?: beyond public vs private. North Melbourne: Pluto Press.

First Poem for You Essay

The Shakespearean sonnet â€Å"First Poem for You† has an iambic pentameter and consistent rhyme scheme. Every other line represents a true rhyme – the final accented vowels and all succeeding consonants or syllables are identical. For example the words â€Å"complete† and â€Å"neat† (Addonizio 1, 3). Every line of the poem has a basic stressed and unstressed syllable format, except the last line. The extension of the last line â€Å"but touch them, trying† implements a longer stress (14). I believe this has definite meaning to the structure of the poem. In addition, the final verse of the poem is the longest line. In relation to the word â€Å"trying†, I believe that the longer stress and length in the final line of the poem emphasizes the woman continuing to mend the relationship with her boyfriend. The theme of the poem is about love and desire, a woman who cares for her boyfriend seeks to mend the brokenness in their relationship. The title of the poem, â€Å"First Poem for You†, is simplistic and straightforward. Nevertheless, it has direct meaning and relation to the poem. There is a woman writing to her boyfriend about her feelings towards him. She likes to touch his tattoos, have sexual intercourse, yet she recognizes the pain between them and states that â€Å"such permanence is terrifying† (13). These split feelings cause a tone of ambivalence – conflicting feelings toward a person. She is touching the tattoos in complete darkness, which can help the reader understand her desire for her boyfriend yet the shame or timidity that is shared as well. Most shameful acts are done in the dark. Culture and society distinguish the pros of light vs. darkness. This poem does not directly reflect light vs. darkness (good vs. vil), but I believe the negative connotation the word darkness holds, transcends into this poem. If she was touching her boyfriend in the light the poem may have a more optimistic mood. However, darkness is usually related to death, therefore having a pessimistic mood. Furthermore, the connotation of death demonstrates a more in depth meaning of verse 11, â€Å"you’re seared to ashes†. This is a representation of the boyfriend’s death. Perhaps, he is burned alive, but I believe it refers more to him being cremated. Either meaning the reader interprets, the writer wants the reader to understand that the tattoos will remain until death. This is important because I believe the lasting of the tattoos reflect the â€Å"until death do apart† affections the woman has. This brings us back to the last phrase of the poem, â€Å"but touch them, trying†. Despite the confusing feelings, the woman wants to work through the relationship till the death of one of them. Just as the tattoos will remain till death, so will her pursuit towards her boyfriend. The tattoos have many symbolic representations that help the reader understand the feelings the woman has for her boyfriend. Water and lightening are two words that have a symbolic meaning for the poem. â€Å"Lines of lightening pulsing just above your nipple, can find, as if by instinct, the blue swirls of water on your shoulder where a serpent twists, facing a dragon† (4-7). Though symbols can have multiple meanings, the tone and theme of the poem helps to point out the specific meaning behind the relationship. The girlfriend, of the guy with the tattoos, enjoys touching the tattoos when she is unable to see the guy. She knows by heart just where the lightening is pulsing. In this case, the lightening symbolizes power of love that has a pulse, just like a person’s heartbeat; a beat that can go faster or slower depending on the situation. It is instinctive for the woman to know where every tattoo on the guy, just like in a relationship, a person may know every mark or scar on the other’s body. The woman knows that just above his shoulder are the blue swirls of water, where the water is symbolizing that the boyfriend may be pure at heart. The serpent facing the dragon symbolizes the warrior in him, and it also shows he has no fear against his enemies. When I pull you to me, until we’re spent and quiet on the sheets, I love to kiss the pictures in your skin† (Kennedy, 601), means that she pulls him closer to her while they’re laying down and falling asleep, she expresses her love and care for him until there’s no more time left in the night, until it’s all spent. To kiss the pictures in his skin simply means kissing his tattoos. â€Å"They’ll last until you’re seared to ashes; whatever persists or turns to pain between us, they will still be there† (Kennedy, 601), whatever persists†¦