Cause and Effect essays

Cause and Effect essays There have been many conflicts throughout history that have caused many people to remember what it is like to take freedom for granted. The ascension of the world wars have taught a great deal to the people of the world just how precious life is. Although we have not learned from our mistakes throughout history, the rise of World War II can be categorized into three post emptive effects. This can be categorized by Germany losing its land, army, and valuable resources, the effects of genocide running rampant throughout Jewish community, and the rules of war are carefully mended. Many changes occurred after the Allies tightened their grip on Germany. Germany soon realized after the war that their second attempt to take over the world had failed miserably. After war sanctions reduced Germany to four divided territories. The United States, Great Britain, Russia and France were to take control over Germany taking the four cardinal directions to ensure the destruction of Germany. The over throw of Hitler came down on the German race especially hard by creating animosity toward all the Allie powers. Germany was to stop all military actions, especially the production of military equipment. This became a big part of Germanys economic downfall. Their economy was based primarily on the production of war materials. This led to a great depression lasting for almost 20 years during Germanys recovery to worldwide acceptance. Despite all Germanys attempts to rebuild what the lost twice, it was never gained back to its original strength. Many horrible actions took place in Europe during the early 1940s. Many of which occurred because of only racial and religious backgrounds. Although the mastermind behind all this genocide was not what he claimed to be the master race, over two million Jewish people lost there lives in vain. Thankfully I have had the privilege to speak to some of the victims of this h ...

Aurora of a Dream essays

Aurora of a Dream essays Arthur Millers Death of a Salesman, has an aurora of a dream. It is an enduring play that alludes to the unconscious motivations of life. It is a genuine tragedy. This is a story of rags to riches in reverse. It is a story of failure, uphill struggles, and a dream from reality. The American Dream, which is a myth of success, models the events of the plot, the character and the situations. Death of a Salesman illustrates what most people are up against. The reader sees the situations of civilization that he lives in himself, not the situations that Willy Loman, the salesman, encounters. Willy has conversations that are inside his head, which Miller once considered to be the title of the play. The past and present weave into one. The play is set during the 1950s. During this time, Senator Joe McCarthy was responsible for a movement known as McCarthyism. Readers during this era sometimes view Millers play as an attack on capitalism. Willy unknowingly symbolizes a revolt against society. He instills this on his sons with the value he places on manual work, sports, fitness and capability to handle tools and build things. Willy was an outdoorsman and did not realize it. In Act Two,Willy talks about their house and the work he had done: All the cement, lumber, the reconstruction I put in this house! There aint a crack to be found in it any more. This explains Biffs success as a ranch hand. In the Requiem, Linda remarks, He was so wonderful with his hands. It was bred into their family to do this type of work, not to be a white-collar worker. Biff replys to his mother in the Requiem, He never knew who he was. Willy declares in Act One, A man who cant handle tools is not a man. Willy could not believe that Charlies son; Bernard who became a lawyer, would ever be successful because he lacked all t...

How to Create a Rubric in 6 Steps

How to Create a Rubric in 6 Steps How to Create a Rubric: Introduction Perhaps you have never even thought about the care it takes to create a rubric. Perhaps you have never even heard  of a rubric and its usage in education, in which case, you should take a peek at this article: What is a rubric? Basically, this tool that teachers and professors use to help them  communicate expectations, provide focused feedback, and grade products, can be invaluable when the correct answer is not as cut and dried as Choice A on a multiple choice test. But creating a great rubric is more than just slapping some expectations on a paper, assigning some percentage points, and calling it a day. A good rubric needs to be designed with care and precision in order to truly help teachers distribute and receive the expected work.   Steps to Create a Rubric The following six steps will help you when you decide to use a rubric for assessing an essay, a project, group work, or any other task that does not have a clear right or wrong answer.   Step 1: Define Your Goal Before you can create a rubric, you need to decide the type of rubric youd like to use, and that will largely be determined by your goals for the assessment. Ask yourself the following questions: How detailed do I want my feedback to be?  How will I break down my expectations for this project?Are all of the tasks equally important?How do I want to assess performance?What standards must the students hit in order to achieve acceptable or exceptional performance?Do I want to give one final grade on the project or a cluster of smaller grades based on several criteria?Am I grading based on the work or on participation? Am I grading on both? Once youve figured out how detailed youd like the rubric to be and the goals you are trying to reach, you can choose a type of rubric. Step 2: Choose a Rubric Type Although there are many variations of rubrics, it can be helpful to at least have a standard set to help you decide where to start. Here are two that are widely used in teaching as defined by DePaul Universitys Graduate Educational department: Analytic Rubric: This is the standard grid rubric that many teachers routinely use to assess students work. This is the optimal rubric for providing clear, detailed feedback. With an analytic rubric,  criteria for the students work is listed in the left column and performance levels are listed across the top. The squares inside the grid will typically contain the specs for each level. A rubric for an essay, for example, might contain criteria like Organization, Support, and Focus, and may contain performance levels like (4) Exceptional, (3) Satisfactory, (2) Developing, and (1) Unsatisfactory.​ The performance levels are typically given percentage points or letter grades and a final grade is typically calculated at the end. The scoring rubrics for the ACT and SAT are designed this way, although when students take them, they will receive a holistic score.   Holistic Rubric:  This is the type of rubric that is much easier to create, but much more difficult to use accurat ely. Typically, a teacher provides a series of letter grades or a range of numbers (1-4 or 1-6, for example) and then assigns expectations for each of those scores. When grading, the teacher  matches the student work in its entirety to a single description on the scale. This is useful for grading multiple essays, but it does not leave room for detailed feedback on student work.   Step 3: Determine Your Criteria This is where the learning objectives for your unit or course come into play. Here, youll need to brainstorm a list of knowledge and skills you would like to assess for the project. Group them according to similarities and get rid of anything that is not absolutely critical. A rubric with too much criteria is difficult to use! Try to stick with 4-7 specific  subjects for which youll be able to create unambiguous, measurable expectations in the performance levels. Youll want to be able to spot the criteria quickly while grading and be able to explain them quickly when instructing your students. In an analytic rubric, the criteria are typically listed along the left column.   Step 4: Create Your Performance Levels Once you have determined the broad levels you would like students to demonstrate mastery of, you will need to figure out what type of scores you will assign based on each level of mastery. Most ratings scales include between three and five levels. Some teachers use a combination of numbers and descriptive labels like (4) Exceptional, (3) Satisfactory, etc. while other teachers simply assign numbers, percentages, letter grades or any combination of the three for each level. You can arrange them from highest to lowest or lowest to highest as long as your levels are organized and easy to understand.   Step 5: Write Descriptors for Each Level of Your Rubric This is probably your most difficult step in creating a rubric.Here, you will need to write short statements of your expectations underneath each performance level for every single criteria. The descriptions should be specific and measurable. The language should be parallel to help with student comprehension and the degree to which the standards are met should be explained. Again, to use an analytic essay rubric as an example, if your criteria was Organization and you used the  (4) Exceptional, (3) Satisfactory, (2) Developing, and (1) Unsatisfactory scale, you would need to write the specific content a student would need to produce to meet each level. It could look something like this: 4Exceptional 3Satisfactory 2Developing 1 Unsatisfactory Organization Organization is coherent, unified, and effective in support of the papers purpose andconsistently demonstrateseffective and appropriatetransitionsbetween ideas and paragraphs. Organization is coherent and unified in support of the papers purpose and usually demonstrates effective and appropriate transitions between ideas and paragraphs. Organization is coherent insupport of the essays purpose, but is ineffective at times and may demonstrate abrupt or weak transitions between ideas or paragraphs. Organization is confused and fragmented. It does not support the essays purpose and demonstrates alack of structure or coherence that negativelyaffects readability. A holistic rubric would not break down the essays grading criteria with such precision. The top two tiers of a holistic essay rubric would look more like this: 6 Essay demonstrates excellent composition skills including a clear and thought-provoking thesis, appropriate and effective organization, lively and convincing supporting materials, effective diction and sentence skills, and perfect or near perfect mechanics including spelling and punctuation. The writing perfectly accomplishes the objectives of the assignment. 5 Essay contains strong composition skills including a clear and thought-provoking thesis, but development, diction, and sentence style may suffer minor flaws. The essay shows careful and acceptable use of mechanics. The writing effectively accomplishes the goals of the assignment. Step 6: Revise Your Rubric After creating the descriptive language for all of the levels (making sure it is parallel, specific and measurable), you need to go back through and limit your rubric to a single page. Too many parameters will be difficult to assess at once, and may be an ineffective way to assess students mastery of a specific standard. Consider the effectiveness of the rubric, asking for student understanding and co-teacher feedback before moving forward. Do not be afraid to revise as necessary. It may even be helpful to grade a sample project in order to gauge the effectiveness of your rubric. You can always adjust the rubric if need be before handing it out, but once its distributed, it will be difficult to retract.   Teacher Resources: Creative Writing Prompts for High School Students14 Ways to Write Better in High SchoolThe Top Reading Skills to Teach Your StudentsGreat Books to Recommend To Teens

Chinese Funeral Traditions and Preparation

Chinese Funeral Traditions and Preparation While Chinese funeral traditions vary depending on where the deceased person and his or her family are from, some basic traditions still apply. Funeral Preparation The job of coordinating and preparing  Chinese funerals falls on the children or younger family members of the deceased person. It is part of the Confucian principle of filial piety and devotion to one’s parents. Family members must consult the Chinese Almanac to determine the best date to hold the Chinese funeral ceremony. Funeral homes and local temples help the family prepare the body and coordinate the funeral rites. Announcements of the funeral are sent in the form of invitations. For most Chinese funerals, the invitations are white. If the person was age 80 or older, then the invitations are pink. Living until 80 or beyond is considered a feat worth celebrating and mourners should celebrate the person’s longevity rather than mourn. The invitation includes information about the funeral’s date, time, and location, as well as a small obituary that includes information about the deceased that may include his or her birth date, date of death, age, family members that survived them and sometimes how the person died. The invitation may also include a family tree. A phone call or in-person invitation may precede the paper invitation. Either way, an RSVP is expected. If a guest cannot attend the funeral, the tradition is that he or she sends flowers and a white envelope with money. Chinese Funeral Attire Guests at a Chinese funeral wear somber colors like black. Bright and colorful clothing, especially red, must be avoided as these colors are associated with happiness. White is acceptable and, if the deceased was 80 or above, white with pink or red is acceptable as the event is cause for celebration. The deceased person wears a white robe. The Wake There is often a wake preceding the funeral that  may last several days. Family members are expected to keep an overnight vigil for at least one night in which the person’s picture, flowers, and candles are placed on the body and the family sits near by. During the wake, family and friends bring flowers, which are elaborate wreaths that include banners with couplets written on them, and white envelopes filled with cash. Traditional Chinese funeral flowers are white. The white envelopes are similar to red envelopes that are given at weddings. White is the color reserved for death in Chinese culture. The amount of money put in the envelope varies depending on the relationship to the deceased but must be in odd numbers. The money is meant to help the family pay for the funeral. If the deceased person was employed, his or her company is often expected to send a large flower wreath and a sizable monetary contribution. The Funeral At the funeral, the family will burn joss paper (or spirit paper) to ensure their loved one has a safe journey to the netherworld. Fake paper money and miniature items like cars, houses, and televisions are burned. These items are sometimes associated with the loved ones interests and are believed to follow them into the afterlife. This way they have everything they need when they enter the spirit world.   A eulogy may be given and, if the person was religious, prayers may also be said. The family will distribute to guests red envelopes with a coin inside  to ensure they return home safely. The family may also give guests a piece of candy that must be consumed that day and before going home. A handkerchief may also be given.  The envelope with coin, sweet, and handkerchief should not be taken home.   One final item, a piece of red thread, may be given. The red threads should be taken home and tied to the front doorknobs of the guests’ homes to keep evil spirits away. After the Funeral After the funeral ceremony, a funeral procession to the cemetery or crematorium is held. A hired band resembling a marching band typically leads the procession and  plays loud music to frighten spirits and ghosts. The family wears mourning clothes and  walks behind the band.  Following the family is the hearse or sedan containing the coffin. It is typically adorned with a large portrait of the deceased hanging on the windshield. Friends and associates complete the procession. The size of the procession depends on the wealth of the deceased and his or her family. The sons and daughters wear black and white mourning clothes and walk in the front row of the procession. Daughters-in-law come next and also wear black and white clothes. Grandsons and granddaughters wear blue mourning clothes. Professional mourners who are paid to wail and cry are often hired to fill up the procession. Depending on their personal preference, Chinese are either buried or cremated. At a minimum, families make an annual visit to the gravesite on the Qing Ming or Tomb Sweeping Festival. Mourners will wear a cloth band on their arms to show that they are in a period of mourning. If the deceased is a man, the band goes on the left sleeve. If the deceased is a woman, the band is pinned to the right sleeve. The mourning band is worn for the duration of the mourning period which can last 49 to 100 days. Mourners also wear somber clothes. Bright and colorful clothes are avoided during the mourning period.

3 Tips for Careful Writers

3 Tips for Careful Writers 3 Tips for Careful Writers 3 Tips for Careful Writers By Mark Nichol 1. Know the Rules This doesn’t mean to simply remember what you learned or what you think you learned five or fifty years ago. Careful writers continuously educate and reeducate themselves about grammar, syntax, usage, and style. In preparing to write my posts over the last few years, I have engaged in extensive research, consulting print and online authorities to confirm or correct my own understanding of what constitutes good writing. Confront your prejudices, and check your recall and understanding of the basics. Most important, don’t believe everything you think. 2. Be Open to New and Unusual Usage Language changes, and writers must change with it. This doesn’t mean that you should abandon your high standards and accept colloquial language; some contexts simply do not allow for a relaxation of the rules. But most forms of writing are flexible, and you should be, too. Adapt the language to the content, but consider also adapting the content to the language. 3. Verify When in doubt, look it up. When not in doubt, look it up. Don’t be content with spell-checking programs; check not only definitions of words, phrases and expressions but also their connotations. When discussing a person, place, or thing, don’t simply double-check the spelling and treatment of the term; reacquaint yourself with the person, place, or thing to confirm or correct your impression that the reference is appropriate for the content. (And check your facts.) Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Writing Basics category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Punctuating â€Å"So† at the Beginning of a SentenceHow Long Should a Paragraph Be?Predicate Complements

Proposal (How to increase organ donating in the United States) Essay

Proposal (How to increase organ donating in the United States) - Essay Example In 2005, 7,593 deceased donors provided 21,215 organs for transplantation, and there were 6,896 living donors. But this growth lags far behind the increasing need, as approximately 40,000 individuals are added to the U.S. transplant waiting list each year, with a net increase of about 6,000 people over the prior year. At the start of 2006, more than 90,000 people were waiting to receive organs." (News) There is a wide figurative gap between availability of organs and the number of patients waiting for them. If not given immediate attention, human mortality will reach to even higher summit and still rising. A number of proposals have been put forward to dramatically increase organ and tissue donation in the United States. One proposal has been to provide financial incentives to donors or their families. Another proposal to increase rates of organ and tissue donation is presumed consent. This is "an opt-out system in which everyone is considered to be a donor unless they take appropriate steps to declare themselves a nondonor." (Gallup Organization, 2005). Counteracting misinformation through public education is also one of the suggested options. Mandated choice also offers "an alternative to obtaining consent from the family by returning control to the individual. This plan would require all adults to record their wishes about posthumous organ donation and would consider those wish es binding." (Spital, 1996). As mentioned by James F. Childress, John Allen Hollingsworth Professor of Ethics, professor of medical education, and director, Institute for Practical Ethics and Public Life, University of Virginia, Charlottesville in the News of Institute of Medicine of the National Academies last May 2, 2006, the "best approaches are to pursue ways to increase donations based on circulatory determination of death, to enhance public education about the value of organ donation, to increase opportunities for people to opt in, and to sustain quality improvements in the organ donation system." These mentioned approaches are the result of government's examination of a wide range of proposals to increase rates of organ donation. Surely, the mentioned approaches will dramatically increase the figure of organ donation, in short term basis. This therefore, does not guarantee a steady and effective supply of organs in the long run. Most organs come from deceased donors whose deaths were clinically found to be neurologic-"irreversible loss of activity in the brain, including in the brain stem" (News) and circulatory-"irreversible loss of heart function that leads to permanent cessation of blood circulation" (News) and therefore eligible for the cause. Circulatory determination of death still has to consider and evaluate the ethical implications of deceased organ donation. On the other hand, increasing opportunities for people to opt in may work. People are now considering their organs to be donated. In a 2005 National Public Opinion Survey on Organ Donation, this was manifested when 52.7% of Americans have granted permission for donation of organs or tissues on a driver's license or an organ donor card. The statistics represents "a significant increase since 1993 when only 28% had granted permission for donation on a driver's license or an organ donor card" (Gallup Organization, 2005), and yet this number does

Middle school Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Middle school - Essay Example According to Staff (2007), middle school students between the age of twelve and fifteen are driven by peer pressure to engage in sexual activities. Though there has been concerns about the safety of these middle school students in terms of the side effects of birth control measures (Staff, 2007), it is worth noting that the benefits of providing birth control among school going teenagers far outweigh the drawbacks. Therefore, contraceptives should be made available to school going teenagers particularly in schools. This paper presents an argument in support of provision of contraceptives to middle school teens. One of the reasons in support of provision of contraceptives to middle school teens relates to education. Welsh (2012) posits that "Half of girls who had children before age eighteen graduate from high school and less than two percent earn a college degree by the time they are thirty". In other words, teenage pregnancy denies them a right to education. In essence, this is attributed to the challenges associated with pregnancies particularly health issues. In addition, the pregnant teen has to drop out of school in order to take care of the child. Access to contraceptives can thus help prevent unplanned pregnancies among middle school students and consequently elevate their chances of completing their education and a better future. The case of T.C. Williams school for instance presents an illustration of the benefits of contraceptives to middle school teens. Before the clinic was moved to the school, a total of fifty pregnancies were reported within a year. In the first year of the c linics relocation to the school, the number of reported teen pregnancies dropped to thirty five and twenty in the second year (Welsh, 2012). As noted by Welsh (2012), individuals who argue against issuance of contraceptives to middle school girls argue that the practice would encourage more teenagers to engage in dangerous sexual activities.