Bodega Dreams by Quinonez, Ernesto Research Paper

Bodega Dreams by Quinonez, Ernesto - Research Paper Example In order to understand light, we compare it to darkness; in order to understand man, we come compare it to woman; and in order to understand reason, we compare it nature. However, these binaries are not equal, in that one side of the binary is posited as good, rational, civilized, and empowered, and the other side of the binary is posited as bad, irrational, uncivilized, and subordinate. This process of dividing everything into categories of good and bad is important when attempting to understand the dynamics of power in social relationships, especially ones that are characterized by race, class, and gender. The codification of binaries has acted as a catalyst for the process of othering, which explains how certain groups remain in possession of power while other groups are continuous enslaved by social, political, and educational institutions that benefit from their oppression. Lena Dominelli defines othering as following: Thus, racism is about relations of dominance and subordination which are rooted in the ‘othering’of others as a social process of exclusion in which particular personal attributes are identified as the basis for a racialised ‘othering’ to occur. These characteristics are aspects of an individual’s or group’s identity which are castigated as ‘inferior’ by a dominant group which has the power to enforce its definitions of reality on others. They may be based on biological features such as skin color and hair type, cultural practices, linguistic abilities, or religious observances which are adversely valued socially and weighted against the interests of the subordinated group. (39). This assumption of the superiority of one race to dominate, manipulate, and abuse other groups who are perceived as inferior has colored much of American history (Lorde, 115). However, regardless of how hard the other tries

Vietnamese telecom market Essay Example for Free

Vietnamese telecom market Essay Introduction Together with breakthroughs in technology, mobile telecom has been showing great innovations and bringing enormous benefits to consumers. Vietnamese mobile telecom market, through only a few decades of development, has proven to be an extremely potential industry. With analysis from the microeconomic standpoint, I would like to clarify some notable matters seen in Vietnamese mobile telecom market today. This essay is organised in three parts: * Part I: Market Overview. This part provides brief information about development history of the market and what the situation of the market is nowadays. * Part II: Market Trends. This part deals with recent movements in Vietnamese mobile telecom market. * Part III: Consumers: Gain or Lose? The final part of this essay analyses the benefits and losses that consumers face as a result of recent changes in the market. PART I – Market Overview 1. Vietnamese Mobile Telecom Market: A Brief History As a developing country, Vietnam has its mobile telecom market started quite late. Though the demand for mobile services arose in the beginning of the 1990s, the first mobile telecom company of Vietnam – MobiFone – did not come into operation until 1994. This year marked the foundation of Vietnamese mobile telecom market. Following steps of MobiFone, two more company joined the market: Vinaphone (1997) and Viettel Telecom (â€Å"Viettel† for short) (2004). However, before 2000, the use of mobile phones seemed to be restricted for urban and rich people. At that time, only the rich could afford the cost of using mobile service. The cost for a postpaid subscription reached almost VND1,000,000 and the money consumed in one minute’s mobile phone call could cover the cost of food in a day for a rural family. One of the reasons for this extremely high cost was that the market at that time was highly monopolistic. Until 2000, there were only two mobile service providers in Vietnam, MobiFone and Vinaphone – both of which are subsidiaries of Vietnam Posts and Telecoms Group (VNPT). Most consumers were not wealthy enough to access mobile service, so they stuck to the use of landlines, which, in fact, were also not very popular especially in the countryside. The emergence of Viettel as a mobile service provider in 2004 was one of the biggest jump in the history of Vietnamese mobile telecom market. Viettel started to provide mobile services at a shockingly low price: a mobile phone user might pay as little as VND50,000/month only. This low price encouraged the quantity demanded for mobile services to increase sharply. As time goes by, the cost of using mobile phones has become cheaper and cheaper, causing the number of mobile subscribers to soar: at the end of January 2012, there were 118. 5 million mobile subscribers compared to only 0. 3 million in 2000. The number of service providers has also increased to 7: MobiFone, Vinaphone, Viettel, S-Fone, Vietnamobile, EVN Telecom and Beeline. Over 19 years of development, from a market exclusively for high-income consumers, the mobile telecom market has been recognised as one of the most active market in Vietnam and almost everybody, rich or poor, is capable of owning and maintaining a mobile phone. Why do service providers seek to increase their number of subscribers by lowering prices and giving big promotions? The answer is, in the short run, most costs incurred by a telecom firm are fixed costs, such as costs for infrastructure and bandwidth. Average total cost, as a result, decreases as the number of subscribers increases, thus making larger profit for the firm. Hence, firms have strong motivations to attract more and more people to use their services. 2. How the Market Pie Is Divided Today The current mobile telecom market in Vietnam can be seen as a typical monopolistic competition. Three biggest suppliers in the market are the ones with longest histories: MobiFone, Vinaphone and Viettel. All these companies are state-owned; MobiFone and Vinaphone are under control of VNPT, while Viettel is a subsidiary of Vietnamese Military Telecom Corporation. Together they control almost the whole mobile service market. According from statistics of the Ministry of Information and Communications, in 2011, Viettel was the leading firm with a market share of 36. 72%. MobiFone and Vinaphone stood at the second and third positions with 29. 11% and 28. 71%, respectively. In total, the three state-owned companies took up nearly 95% of the mobile service market, leaving just over 5% for the remaining service providers, namely EVN Telecom, Vietnamobile, Beeline and S-Fone. The reputation of these firms is so huge that once a person starts using a mobile phone, his first thought of what provider’s service to use that crosses his mind would generally be one of them. Three leading firms in the market pursue different business objectives. Aiming at low-income consumers, Viettel has applied low-cost packages to meet the needs of the majority of consumers. On the contrary, MobiFone and Vinaphone focus mainly on providing high-quality services to people with higher income. Below are the ranks in market shares and service quality of the three biggest providers of mobile services in Vietnam according to an examination conducted by Department of Information Technology and Communications Quality Management (under the Ministry of Information and Communications) in 2009: Provider| Market Share| Service Quality| MobiFone| 2| 1| Vinaphone| 3| 2| Viettel| 1| 3| Overwhelmed by big firms in the market, small firms such as S-Fone, EVN Telecom, Beeline and Vietnamobile have had to struggle to survive. Sharing only 5% of the market, these providers have been facing enormous difficulties in increasing the number of subscribers and profits. Two of them, EVN Telecom and Beeline, are eventually sold to other firms. These MA’s will be analysed in the following part. PART II – Market Trends The three leading firms in Vietnamese mobile telecom market – MobiFone, Vinaphone and Viettel – now possess great market powers, and naturally they desire to take over the small firms in order to have more control of the market. Below are three notable events that have occurred recently in the market which would have lasting effects on its path of development in the future. 1. Viettel’s Acquisition of EVN Telecom EVN Telecom is a company belonging to Electricity of Vietnam Group (EVN). Joining the mobile telecom market in June 2010, after just over one year of operation, EVN Telecom faced the risk of being acquired due to poor business outcome (slow subscriber growth, unsatisfactory revenue, pressure on EVN to focus on its major field, etc. ) and substantial liabilities to Viettel and VNPT. Some telecom firms had the intention of acquire EVN Telecom, such as Viettel, FPT Group and Hanoi Telecom (the owner of Vietnamobile). After many speculations about what firm would take over EVN Telecom, it was officially announced that EVN Telecom was going to be sold to Viettel. However, the acquisition was not smooth right from the beginning. In November 2011, Hanoi Telecom expressed its view that Viettel’s acquisition of EVN Telecom might violate Competition Law, emphasising that it would probably make Viettel a monopolistic firm in the market. Until December 2011, Government eventually agreed on Viettel’s plan as in this case, Viettel was merely a market leader, not a monopolistic firm. 2. Beeline Disappeared in the Market. In 2009, GTel Mobile Company, a joint venture of GTel Global Telecom Corporation of Vietnam and VimpelCom Group of Russia, brought Beeline mobile telecom service into operation in Vietnamese market. However, after three years, VimpelCom decided to sold all of its 49% of shares in the joint venture at US$45 million to GTel â€Å"in order to focus on our key markets†, said the Vice President of VimpelCom. Of course this is not the real answer to the question of why VimpelCom withdrew from Vietnamese market while it had not broken even, regarding its total investment of up to US$463 million. Right after its debut in the market, Beeline conducted many discount programmes and promotions to raise the number of subscribers, such as Big Zero and Millionaire’s Cost Package. These policies thus lowered its ARPU to less than US$1. Moreover, its shockingly low prices cannot help them surpass the â€Å"giants† in Vietnamese mobile telecom market whose brands have been set in minds of consumers though its subscriber growth was exceptional: about 15,000 new subscribers per day in 2011. The fact that Beeline’s profit did not live up to its VimpelCom’s expectation caused it to constrain Beeline’s operation and eventually to sell out its shares to GTel, making Beeline a completely domestic brand. Many people would doubt whether Vietnamese mobile service market has become â€Å"immune† to foreign investment as VimpelCom has failed to make profit here while it has been extremely successful in Russian and Eastern European markets. Is the market so saturated that no new firm could possibly achieve a market share from the hands of established firms? Will VimpelCom’s failure warn foreign investors against entering Vietnamese telecom market although we have been a member of WTO for five years? 3. MobiFone and Vinaphone to be Merged March 2012 was a month of vibrancy in Vietnamese mobile telecom market when rumour had it that MobiFone and Vinaphone, two out of the three biggest service providers, would be merged as a step to restructure VNPT. MobiFone and Vinaphone have followed different development directions despite being subsidiaries of the same group, which has been an enormous waste in infrastructure. A merger of the two companies is expected to improve service quality and efficiency, thus lowering the prices charged on consumers. This information was confirmed by VNPT’s management though an official decision of Government has not yet been made for fear that this merge might violate Competition Law. If the merger of MobiFone and Vinaphone is successful, the new company will constitute almost 58% of the market, threatening the survival of other companies, especially small firms like S-Fone and Vietnamobile. Earlier in 2011, according to the regulations of Telecommunications Law – an individual or organisation is not allowed to own more than 20% of shares in each of two telecom firms operating in the same telecom market – VNPT stood between two options: equitising either of MobiFone and Vinaphone or merging the two. If choosing to equitise MobiFone, VNPT still could not own more than 20% of shares and might have to sacrifice a large amount of profit as MobiFone contributed to over 50% of its profit while taking up only about 4% of human resources. The second option – a merger – would subject VNPT to violation of Competition Law. On the other hand, according to the Vice Head of Department of Competition Management (Ministry of Industry and Trade), market share is not the only criterion to examine VNPT’s merger scheme as it may vary from year to year. Competition power, market access capacity, opportunity seizure, etc. are vital elements to be considered. The cornerstone of the merger, if successful, is a close supervision and control of Ministry of Industry and Trade as well as Ministry of Information and Communications. 4. What Are the Trends? Along development steps of the market are the shifts showing what its trend is. Overall, Vietnamese mobile telecom market, although service quality has been greatly improved and price never stop falling, has hardly ever been viewed as a competitive market. At first, it was a complete monopoly, and then reached the peak of competitiveness with 7 suppliers; now it is getting closer and closer to an oligopoly. (For illustration purpose only) The market now is the race between VNPT and Viettel. Nevertheless, this is a counterfeit competition as both are state-owned firms. Government ought to study this matter intensively since it has both advantages and disadvantages. If it continues to let the two compete with each other, consumers will benefit while state funds invested in them will be partly wasted due to self-competition and vice versa. PART III – Consumers: Gain or Lose? 1. Competition Makes Consumers Better off Most mobile phone users would agree that they are benefiting more and more from service providers’ policies. Ten years ago, only wealthy people could own a mobile phone and afford the use of mobile telecom service, which is a completely distinct from today’s situation where mobile technology is nothing strange to most people, regardless of their income. The shift of the market from a monopoly to a more competitive one enables consumers to choose the service provider which suits them best in quality and price. Landlines services are being outnumbered by mobile services and will probably soon become obsolete as now they cannot compete with mobile services in price, let alone in convenience, diversity and flexibility. In addition, telecom services are the only items whose prices have constantly decreased, moving against the storm of inflation in Vietnamese economy. D2 S11 S2 D1 E1 P1 P2 E2 Q2 Q1 (For illustration purpose only)| The increase of quantity supplied is greater than the increase of quantity demanded, making the equilibrium point move from E1 to E2. At E2, P2 is lower than P1 and Q2 is larger than Q1, which makes consumers better off. | 2. The Trend of Monopolisation: Would Consumers Suffer? Monopoly causes deadweight losses – this is undeniably true. Though consumers have been enjoying more and more benefits from service providers at least in the past few years, we may wonder if this could last for long when it comes to the trend of monopolisation which is becoming clearer and clearer in the market. After EVN Telecom and Beeline, will there be another acquisition that makes another small brand disappear? Will big firms take over all the small ones to rule the whole market? If someday there are only state-owned companies providing mobile services, will they agree with each other to raise service prices and prevent new firms from entering the market, which undoubtedly shrinks consumer surplus? Suppose that day would come, consumers may try to constrain their use of mobile services. However, the amount of reduction would be negligible since mobile services are now so necessary that the demand for them is relatively inelastic. Consumers today are richer and much more dependent upon mobile services than they used to be; therefore, it would not be easy for them to cut down on using mobile phones to save money. Service providers would keep earning more and more profits from consumer welfare. In general, monopolisation harms the benefits of most people while benefiting only a small group of people. Monopolisation is a two-edged trend, so it is important to balance the benefits between suppliers and consumers. An ideal mobile service market may be one with a small number of firms, i. e. three or four, but with comparatively uniform market shares. This enables infrastructure to be effectively exploited as well as market power to be evenly distributed among suppliers, reducing the probability of a monopoly arising. Conclusion There would be not enough space to discuss all factors of a market within a short essay; however, I have tried to apply microeconomic theories to analyse notable features and remarkable changes in the market that have had significant influences on consumers, together with given personal evaluations and opinions about the development trend of the market. I hope that eventually I have achieved a clarification of economic principles hidden in daily-life matters such as behaviours of firms and consumers in the mobile telecom market in Vietnam. Due to time pressure as well as inexperience in researching and writing, my essay may contain errors and misunderstanding. I would like to receive your feedbacks and suggestions to help me improve its accuracy and quality. Reference * Gregory Mankiw, Principles of Microeconomics (5th Edition). * VnExpress. net, Development of Vietnamese Telecom Market. * CafeF. vn, Viettel’s Aquisition of EVN Telecom Might Violate the Law. * Tuoitre. vn, Beeline Is to Disappear. * Tienphong. vn, Merging MobiFone and Vinaphone: Good and Harm. * Vcci. com. vn, Telecom Market: Back to Monopoly? * National Assembly, Competition Law, 2005.

Document Requirements for Childcare Organisation

Document Requirements for Childcare Organisation Child care at home Due to the strict ruling of Ofsted, the independent regulatory body for schools, it is essential for individuals to have clear and correct documentation when establishing an at home child care business. Strict studies of the documents are carried out and can make the difference between a good or outstanding report and this can be a contributing factor in determining just how successful the business is. One of the most important documents that Ofsted and parents will want to look at is the CRB (Criminal Records Bureau) check, or recently changed to the DBS (Disclosure and Baring Service). This is necessary for any adult that will have contact or care for the children in the childcare setting. It is essential to a thriving childcare business, to ensure DBS checks are carried out, as many parents will not leave their children to be cared for by someone with an unknown criminal history. A child record form is the next document that is needed for a new child care institution. This should contain all the information needed about each child, such as their name, date of birth and address along with the parents address and contact details. The name and address of the childs doctor will also be needed along with two emergency contacts, medical history and details of any allergies, dietary requirements, medical conditions and religion. This document should be used as the first reference in any emergency and should always be to hand for the responsible adults to refer to. Without this the child’s best interests may not be met, which would not be productive for either child or child minder. The child information record book is an informal way of parent and childcare provider communicating as well as informing the parent and Ofsted of the types of activities the child has taken part in, along with the food they have eaten, quantity of nappies changed and other relevant information regarding anything that happens during the day. This is usually taken home by the parent weekly and is updated every day by the childcare provider, giving the parents a real insight into how their children are progressing and developing. Another document that can either go hand in hand with the child record book, or filed separately, is the Prescription and non-prescription medical record card. This contains information of any medication that the child should have administered when they are in the home child care setting. It should include the name of the drug, the dose and the frequency that it should be given as well as when it has been administered to the child. The child care provider will need written permission from the parent for each drug to be administered and each time it should be recorded on the form. This also applies to non-prescription drugs, such as Calpol, and there must be written information by the parent detailing when and in what circumstances they are happy for this to be given. By having this form it is easy to keep track of the amount of medicine being given and for what reasons. It will reassure both the parents and Ofsted that it isn’t being given sparingly. Child care agreement forms are the documents that create the contract between the parent and the child care provider. They detail all the child’s general information along with the specifics of the days and hours that the child will attend and fee information. There are standard agreements that can be purchased online and used. One of the most popular being the National Association of Childminders contract which clearly explains to each party what they are agreeing to. Childminders find this option one of the best as the NCMA have a legal team who are available to help the care givers with any issues relating to these contracts. The accident record and incident form allows for an extremely detailed account of any accident that has occurred, where it happened and the names of any adults that were witness to this, along with a record of the first aid administered (if applicable). It gives space for the person who has completed the form to sign and the signature of the parent to say that they have also read this and are aware that the accident occurred. The incident form is very similar but is used to give details of anything that may have affected the child. For example, the child playing with a family pet and becoming scratched or bitten. Again, it is asked that the parent also signs the form to say that they are aware of the incident. In some cases the parent may also want a copy and this form is another essential way of the parents and child care providers communicating to ensure that the child has the best and happiest time when they are away from their parents in this setting. The fire safety form is used to detail the evacuation process in case a fire occurs. All of the children should regularly participate in fire drills and be aware of what they should do. The dates and names of the children involved with these drills should be documented on the child safety form. It is also possible to ask the local fire service to attend the home and inspect each room to offer insight, which may not previously have been thought of and considered, into possible fire hazards. In the unfortunate event that a real fire evacuation needs to be carried out, it is important for safety reasons that all the children know what to do and where they need to locate to. The vehicle records and parent permission for a child to travel in a vehicle documents contain all the information regarding the registered vehicles that will be used for the purpose of the childcare. These should have appropriate insurance cover and documentation about who is insured and registered to drive the children. It is also necessary to have a sign parents consent form giving permission for their child to be transported in these registered vehicles no matter how long or what the journey is for. Along with this being there to ensure safety for the children and reassurance for the children, it is important for Ofsted to have a record of the vehicles if there was ever any legal issue that had to be investigated. Outings are an essential part of a childs development. They allow the children to explore their surroundings and learn new things. In order for a child care provider to take the children in their care on these such trips, they need two different outings and consent forms. One for small trips which include details of the trips the child will be participating in and can include permission statements for trips on public transport, on foot, in the child carers car or any other car. This form must be signed by the parents and kept in the childs file. Another form may be used if necessary for larger pre-planned trips or for trips which require financial contribution from the parent. In addition to the forms above there are three financial forms that are essential for starting an at home child care setting and record financial details relating to the home child care business. The first form is a record of payment fees, used to record the payments by the parents in which the child care provider signs to say that the payments have been received, and it can also be used as a receipt for the parents with a tear off strip. The record of complaint form needs to be completed accurately and as soon as possible. The form must contain information detailing who made the complaint, the nature of it and the date it occurred, along with a full account of the complaint, how it was dealt with and any actions that were taken. This is then signed and dated by the child care provider. It is important to all parties involved to have such a detailed account so it may be referred to, if necessary, by Ofsted, particularly if it is alleging abuse or harm to a child. It is essential to a child to develop through play and there are many activities that can be carried out in the home child care setting to encourage this. It can not only help them develop intellectually but also socially and physically and is an important part of a child’s growth. Physical activities help to develop a childs gross motor skills and refers to the physical movements made in babies, such as crawling, rolling or walking and in children, such as walking, running, skipping and hopping. Activities such as throwing or catching a ball, developing hand eye coordination or hopscotch, developing jumping and numeracy skills are important parts of not only a childs growth but also their childhood. Throwing and catching a ball will encourage them to interact and play with another child or grown up, something that some children may find difficult to begin with. Fine motor skills involve dexterity and fine control of muscle movement such as writing, drawing, using a knife and fork and using scissors. For babies, toys are a good way to develop these skills, some can make a noise and have different feels to them and finger foods such as pieces of banana or raisins are good to improve a babies hand eye coordination. At around 12 months a child will enjoy a shape sorter, the bright colours and noises will encourage them to find the right holes to fit the shapes into and develop their fine motor skills. Water is also a brilliant way to develop both fine and gross motor skills, using sponges to soak up and squeeze out the water. Intellectual development for babies provide them with something to touch and see and listen, an excellent tool is a touch picture book where they can feel different materials whilst being read to. Children can also be developed intellectually by card games like Pairs or board games and Connect 4. They also learn by questioning during the day like What are we going to do next?, What time is it? and What letter does cat begin with?. These sorts of questions allow the child to understand what is happening in their day and to apply these learnt answers in another setting such as nursery or school. To increase social development, role play is a great way to encourage a child to express themselves and interact with others. They can explore different settings such as a supermarket or post office and interact being either the shop keeper or customer. Adults playing with babies will encourage their social development like tickling and chatting with you, as well as copying your actions such as sticking your tongue out and shaking your hands, along with them watching other older children play. Around two years old they will start interacting with other children and being mindful of how the others react to them as well as being aware of how the others feel. Food health and safety policy – Please fill in the relevant sections concerning your child: Name of child – D.O.B – Food allergies – Medical allergies – Food preferences – Special dietary requirements From this information we will provide the best healthy, nutritious and balanced meals that meet the needs of all the children in our care. Fresh drinking water will be provided and accessible to the children at all times and the food will be prepared hygienically and we ensure that all staff handling food have been trained in food hygiene. According to The Food Standards Agency we will ensure that HACCP (being a preventative system designed to ensure food safety by identifying all the critical control points in a food process where contamination can occur) is implemented. The overall and ultimate responsibility for Health and Safety within the Provision rests with the members of the Management Committee. The Senior Supervisor will generally advise the Management Committee in the implementation of its Policy and Practices. Members of the Management Committee will be responsible for areas/activities in which they are involved: By ensuring that the Health and Safety Policy is satisfactorily implemented; By ensuring that all new employees, whether paid or voluntary, aware of and observe the Policy; By conducting a full investigation of any accidents or incidents that result in injury. All employees, whether paid or voluntary, have a responsibility for Health and Safety including the safety of others that may be affected by their acts or omissions. As such, they should familiarise themselves with the Health and Safety Policy of the Provision and the safe practices appropriate to their place of work. Policy Approved By: __________________________ Date: _____________ Travel Plan Within this plan I will discuss the main risk factors and my solutions for them when travelling with children in my care that may perhaps be encountered. The car that will be used has the relevant insurance needed to transport the children for a business purpose and all of the staff driving the car have sufficient driving licenses with no convictions. Written permission from each parent has been collected to say that they are happy for their children to be transported in the car in question. Enough car seats for the necessary children have been implemented and are all relevant for the children’s varying ages. I have enough petrol in the car to complete all the journeys needed without having to stop at any petrol stations enroute. In the car I have a medical bag and first aid kit with all necessary medicines for the children in my care along with spare clothes, drinks, nappies and wipes, if applicable. I have spoken with all the parents and then in turn the children about how we travel in cars safely and stressed the importance of this, for example not unclipping their seat belts whilst the car is still travelling and acted in an appropriate way, should this ever happen. I have sufficient breakdown cover for the vehicle being used and a mobile phone with enough battery at all times to use in case of an emergency.

An Effective, Professional Teacher Essay -- Professionalism and Ethics

Introduction The statement ‘Teaching – reflections, questions, decisions’ sums up what it means to be an effective teacher. Teachers are constantly making decisions about professionalism and ethics, teaching strategies, classroom management, and how to keep their students motivated. These decisions can have a major impact on student learning and how effective they are as teachers. Questioning is an essential—and one of the most important—instructional skills that a teacher can possess. Teachers need to be able to ask the appropriate types and levels of questions, such as the high and low order questions based on Bloom’s taxonomy, as well as being skilled in responding to students answers. Teachers also need to be constantly evaluating and reflecting on the curriculum, the teaching process, the learners and the diversity of their backgrounds and how it can affect their learning process. Discussion Decisions Professionalism and Ethics ‘Teacher professionalism’ has played a significant role in improving the quality of student learning in Australian schools (Preston, 1993, p. 5). Whitton, Barker, Nosworthy, Sinclair & Nanlohy (2010, pp. 49-60), divided the standards of teaching into six categories: academic – formal academic qualifications needed to become a teacher; ethics – behaving ethically with the right conduct and practice; legal – total compliance with child protection requirements, laws on working with children and duty of care; professional – lifelong learning and professional development by reading, research or study; personal – appropriate personal presentation and personal development; and cultural – accepting and respecting all cultures and everyone in the school community. Teachers need to make decisions on h... ...ards-based instruction (5th ed.). Boston: Pearson Education, Inc. Preston, B. (1993). Teacher professionalism: Implications for teachers, teacher educators and democratic schooling. Independent Education 23(4), 4-12. Retrieved from http://edocs.library.curtin.edu.au/eres_display.cgi?url=dc60261746.pdf ©right=1 University of Tasmania. (2010). Maslow’s hierarchy of needs pyramid. Retrieved April 19, 2011, from http://www.ruralhealth.utas.edu.au/comm-lead/leadership/maslow-diagram.htm Wesley, D. C., (1998). Eleven ways to be a great teacher. Educational Leadership 55(5), 80-81. Retrieved from http://proquest.umi.com.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/pqdweb?did=26126116&sid=1&Fmt=6&clientId=22212&RQT=309&VName=PQD&cfc=1 Whitton, D., Barker, K., Nosworthy, Sinclair, C., & Nanlohy, P. (2010). Learning for teaching: Teaching for learning. South Melbourne: Cengage Learning.

The novel Frankenstein written in 1831 by Mary Shelley

The novel Frankenstein written in 1831 by Mary Shelley is a tale that seems to expound on many of the ideas set forth in John Keats’ â€Å"Ode on Melancholy.† The thematic elements concur in their references to the unknown and to the unwanted and melancholic results of knowledge that lies beyond a certain threshold of life. Both works take on a very tenebrous tone and even hint at a certain inevitability in the coming of doom and the destruction of beauty. They might even be considered works that celebrate the sadder circumstances in life—which is in direct contrast to the unbridled optimism of many Romantic poets of the era. The monster created by Victor Frankenstein, as well as Frankenstein himself, enter the dreamlike and unknown territory of Lethe warned against by Keats, and in return find out first hand the inner workings of life’s melancholy.The very first line of Keats’ poem warns against entrance into the unknown, as therein lies even more evidence of the grief that life can hold. He writes, â€Å"No, no, go not to Lethe†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (line 1). Lethe refers to a river found in the Greek mythologies that flowed through the underworld of Hades. This river is one that causes forgetfulness and in that way casts a shroud over reality that is similar to the misty and dreamlike sense created in the novel Frankenstein. Shelley does this using several devices, such as through the setting she creates. The story begins while the first narrator and Dr. Frankenstein sail together on a vessel in the dark and expansive waters of the Arctic. The atmosphere speaks volumes of the lack of clarity that is shown to exist on the earth. It also prefigures the idea of Dr. Frankenstein’s forgetting (as on Lethe’s waters) lessons learned from Faust about seeking too much that which lies beyond death.It can also be seen from the very first letter written by Walton that life is itself shown to be unclear and unstable in its abilit y to mete out despair and melancholy no matter which actions are performed by the persons involved. Walton writes to Margaret: â€Å"And when shall I return? Ah, dear sister, how can I answer this question? If I succeed, many, many months, perhaps years, will pass before you and I may meet. If I fail, you will see me again soon, or never† (Shelley, 4). It is clear that life is like a voyage into the Arctic or on the river Lethe. What lies ahead is unknown and what happiness has past may easily be forgotten, as quickly as sadness may come.Yet Keats’ message is much more specific than the mere pointing out of the dreamlike nature of life. It goes further to deter men from seeking out the underside of life. He specifically warns against the deliberate seeking of things that are associated with death and the underworld. He speaks of the foolhardiness of twisting Wolfs-bane or allowing Proserpine (the goddess of the underworld) to kiss one’s forehead (lines 1-4). Thi s is significant in the novel Frankenstein as the actions performed by that doctor may be compared directly to what Keats warns against.The doctor himself admits: â€Å"The moon gazed on my midnight labours, while, with unrelaxed and breathless eagerness, I pursued nature to her hidingplaces† (Shelley, 45). Frankenstein reveals that he deliberately seeks out the halls of death in his quest to give life to a cadaverous body. He goes beyond the call of the living man and ventures uninvited into the underworld to have his brow kissed by Proserpine. The warning Keats gives seems to be merited as the consequences of his actions serve only to illuminate the more melancholy aspects of life.A portentous smudge on Dr. Frankenstein’s eagerness to infuse the dead body with his new concoction of life symbolizes the doom that is foretold by Keats for those who meddle with the things of death. Frankenstein describes his state during the times leading up to the creation of his monste r, and he reveals, â€Å"I pursued my undertaking with unremitting ardour.My cheek had grown pale with study, and my person had become emaciated with confinement† (Shelley, 44). This demonstrates the toll that his illicit actions were taking on his body. It is as though Proserpine’s kiss of death were spreading through his body while he attempted to give life to the dead one lying on his table. The unfavorable circumstances that are yet to come are prefigured in this episode where Frankenstein seems to be transferring his own life to the cadaver on which he operates.Keats goes on to speak of the fall of melancholy when â€Å"fit,† and this demonstrates that sadness itself will lie in incubation during periods that seem happy. He writes, â€Å"But when melancholy fit shall fall sudden from heaven like a weeping cloud†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (lines 11-12). This demonstrates how in the fullness of time, melancholy itself will burst forth upon the heads of those who have per formed the actions to deserve it. This is also true of the events of the novel Frankenstein. Once the scientific endeavor has been achieved, the Monster becomes a herald of fear and doom.He also becomes the hand of premature death to several of the characters, all of whom were loved by Victor. Furthermore, Keats’ comparison of melancholy’s â€Å"fall† to the weeping of a cloud makes it known that such sadness is a part of the cycle of life—and therefore gives the impression that there is no real need to seek it out, since it comes of its own accord anyway. Death would have come to Elizabeth, William, Justine and Frankenstein’s father without the help of the monster that was created. There was no real need for the Dr. Frankenstein to create that artificial taker of life, since life itself has its own built-in machinery of death.Yet Keats’ solution to the fall of melancholy holds a cryptic message that appears difficult to interpret. It is nec essary to dig deeply into its meaning before it can be reconciled with the events portrayed in Mary Shelley’s novel. He indicates that when melancholy falls, one should â€Å"glut thy sorrow on a morning rose or on the rainbow of the salt sand-wave or on the wreath of globed peonies† (lines 15-17). When one â€Å"gluts† or oversupplies something, this leads to a drop in the price of the thing.Sorrow glutted upon these things of beauty causes itself to become cheap, and therefore easily acquired. It is difficult to see how this can be a solution to sorrow at all, since it merely proliferates it. However, it does support the thesis that sorrow is easily achieved in life; and it can also be seen to fit well with the ideas of the novel Frankenstein, in which the Monster goes on a rampage and gluts sorrow upon the happiness that once existed in Victor’s world.Yet, the glut of sorrow that Keats indicates exists in life is even more visible when one considers th e condition of the Monster himself. The â€Å"life† into which he is brought is even more desolate and melancholy than that experienced by real humans. He is the only one of his kind and is marginalized by his very dissimilarity to man. His hatred and wickedness is spawned directly from this fact—which is a direct result of Frankenstein’s â€Å"[twisting] Wolfs-bane [†¦] for its poisonous wine† (Keats, lines 1-2).When the Monster speaks to Frankenstein, it is to display the condition to which he has been brought in life. He says, â€Å"I am malicious because I am miserable. Am I not shunned and hated by all mankind?† (Shelley, 147) It is this immense sorrow that the Monster’s life has brought him that overflows in its surplus and gluts itself on the morning rose of everything that is good in Frankenstein’s life. It affects the promise of his friend and brothers’ lives, and causes the shedding of his wife’s bloom and beauty.The ideas concerning the melancholy of life, which are reflected in this poem and novel, demonstrate several notions that are usually considered Romantic. The idea of something’s being Romantic gives the impression that it affects more gaiety than it really does possess. This can be shown to be true of the novel Frankenstein as the contentment that the doctor proposes to receive from fulfilling his plan is in direct contrast to what actually results from his work. Yet further ideas concerning Romanticism can also be extracted from these two works.The moral and Romantic belief in the apocalyptic events (as those portrayed in the Bible) followed by an era of peace and serenity can be shown to be reflected to some extent in the texts of the Keats’ poem and Shelley’s novel. Shelley’s protagonist is hit upon by doom and destruction as a result of the actions he performed during his life. This is also demonstrated in the melancholy that â€Å"fallsâ₠¬  in Keats’ poem as a result of the actions of one who deliberately seeks out the underside of the life. Similarly, Romantic (biblical) destruction of the earth is also purported to be a direct result of the actions of mankind. However, once the destruction is complete, peace returns to the earth.This is seen to occur at the end of the novel Frankenstein when the monster destroys his maker and then wanders off to seek his own destruction. This appears to restore equilibrium to the world. Yet, this equilibrium cannot be said to be of the same optimistic quality as the â€Å"peace and tranquility† that is supposed to follow the apocalypse. In fact, this equilibrium keeps itself closer to the theme of melancholy being present naturally within life, as it is a balance between good and evil that defines this equilibrium.The novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and the poem â€Å"Ode on Melancholy† by John Keats bear many similarities to each other. They contain the i dea that seeking too much the things that lie beyond life will unleash a measure of death and sorrow that is not only unnecessary, but that will disrupt the gentle equilibrium that exists on earth. Life, in equilibrium, contains both joy and sorrow—so melancholy will come in good time without being sought.The actions of Dr. Frankenstein prove Keats’ theory to be correct in that he pushes to see beyond life and finds the death and sorrow in greater abundance than that which he sought. The optimism typical of the romantics is challenged in the ideas of these writers, as even the return of life’s equilibrium means that death and sorrow will have as much freedom to harm humans as life and happiness to comfort them.Works CitedKeats, John. 1819. â€Å"Ode on Melancholy.† The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Vol. I.   Ã‚   M. H. Abrams, et al. New York: W.W. Norton, 1993.Shelley, Mary. 1831. Frankenstein. Bowser, BC: Aerie Publishing, 1988.

Red Scarf Girl

Feelings of Sympathy There is nothing worse than the act of betrayal. Jiang Ji-li, a girl who was always praised by her teachers and always felt warmth in her home started to be exposed to the real world and how people can walk away from those who were there for them their whole life and treated as if they were non existent. She never thought that her fellow peers could deceive her, betray her. Who would have ever thought that the same people who Jiang Ji-li kindly helped with their home work could easily point their guns at her.Not only does the reader feel sympathetic towards Jiang Ji-li but also fury towards the students and how she was treated because of her family's black status. Jiang Ji-li is not really not to blame for what kind of traits she bears or her stance, she was babied and never really let out of her cage into the wild where she could see things for herself. Jiang Ji-li's weak character also contributes to the kind of mood the author feels during the time he/she read s the book.Ji-li, by the way she acts, she seems very fragile and she is not one that can easily accept what negative things that are said about her. Ji-li thinks that there is only good things and good people in the world. If it's not said or pointed out to her, she would never have noticed it. She is too carefree, allowing herself to think that there are only harmless people, that they would never hurt her until there was a da-zi-bao written about her, â€Å"Ke Cheng-li doesn't like working-class kids. He only likes rich kids†¦We have to ask the question, What is the relationship between them after all? † If she had been a very strong girl, knew where she stood and didn't care what others said about her or her family, the reader would have felt a different mood. Though there are other factors that contribute to the story, for instance â€Å"setting. † In this novel, it talks about the Cultural Revolution of Chairman Mao whose intention was to do good things to C hina starting by ridding the Four Olds and bringing in the Four News.Without this historical time period in the book, there would be no chaos in the country, and there would have been no class status that separated the rich from the working-class families. The setting affects the mood of the reader. If the author of the novel chose to change the setting and only the setting, there would be a huge to the mood the reader feels. â€Å"Suddenly I wished that I had been born into a different family. I hated Grandpa for being a landlord,† one cannot help but feel sympathetic towards Ji-li, who was not yet ready to face the cruel world.It's unimaginable how much anger can be inside her especially if she hates someone she has never met, which makes the reader feel pity for her. How hurt she must be, a girl always showered with warmth, love and compliments now being thrown dirt on. Throughout the book, I've felt sympathy towards Ji-li. She tries very hard to do what's right, and aims to be successful but her black class status held her back. Always fearing that people will make fun of her black class status, she shied away from doing things she wanted to do.In the epilogue of the book, even though Chairman Mao had died, her status continued to follow her, refraining her family to move forward, and remain under those who had better statuses. Some might feel fury towards the movement, how it was not right because it allowed many others, besides the Jiang family to suffer because of criticism due to their wealthy lifestyle or committing other â€Å"crimes. † What might make the reader feel especially sympathetic towards Ji-li's situation is how she was confused about what to do, she was suffering and she was told she had two roads she could take.She could either leave her parents and their family's black status or she could stay with her family and remain loyal. Ji-li didn't have a choice, she didn't choose to be born into the kind of family she was born in. Why did it matter that her grandfather was a landlord? She wasn't. The main contribution to the mood, in my opinion was probably the traits that Ji-li bear. What she felt, the readers could feel because it was her point of view that they looked at.