Holocaust Museum Essay -- essays research papers

Fourth Floor The Nazi Assult 1. The first exhibit that I experienced was a film on Hitlers' rise to power. It showed how he played on the fears of the people by using propaganda to promote himself to becoming Chancellor of Germany. Ever though he lost the election, Hindenburg on January 30, 1933 appointed Hitler Chancellor. 2. The next thing that caught my interest was a film on anti-Semitism. This film showed the roots for people's natural fear of the Jews from the times of Christianity through the middle ages and up to WWII. 3. The more traditional type of exhibit they had was about how the Germans tried to separate Aryans from what they considered inferior races that did not deserve to exist. They tried to do this very scientifically by measurements, facial features, eye color comparisons, and other features. 4. In a different part of the exhibit, was the listing of all of the Jewish towns that were totally or partially whipped out because of the Holocaust. The names of the towns were engraved on the glass windows of a corridor there were so many of them that they filled up the entire wall. Personal Response 1. This movie was very informative, for example before this movie I thought that Hitler was voted into power, but really he was appointed by Hindenburg. I thought that it was kind of scary that a government system could fall apart that easily. 2. I was amazed at how long of a history anti-Semitism had. It went all the way back to the beginning of Christianity. I also learned that one of Martin Lutherans, of the Lutheran Church, goals was to convert Jews to Christianity. 3. I was astonished of how in depth the Germans went in measuring the body parts, such as the different parts of the head, the position of the nose, and so on. 4. I just stood there for a little bit, just looking at the names of the towns, and I saw people pointing out different towns of there ancestors, but I could not relate to it at all. Third Floor "Final Solution" 1. The actual start of the German plan for the Final Solution (1940-1945), was to isolate the Jews into Ghettos, and then to send them off to Concentration camps to be used for slave labor, or gassed. 2. The archway to Auschwitz was incorporated into the museum by having it as the archway to the part of the floor that describes the things that went on inside concentration camps. The Translation of the... ... drawers and closets. This is an interactive, hands-on exhibit. 3. The Quote "You are my witnesses" from Isaiah 43:10 is reminding people who visit the museum that the Holocaust really did happen, and that such an event should never ever happen again. 4. The middles of the museum from the first floor up is designed to look like a ghetto, and it gives sort of an eerie feeling to the place, that you are in the place of the Jews during the Holocaust in the ghettos, before the concentration camps. Personal Response 1. It is hard not to notice the architecture, because it was such a part of the museum. It had a lot of emotion in it, like it self endured the holocaust. 2. I thought that this was really nest, all of the hands on stuff, and the little bits of the diary everywhere. It was a lot different to see the holocaust through the eyes of a child. 3. This is a well known quote, and I thought about it a little bit, and I started to think about all of the bystanders of the Holocaust, not, Jewish, not Aryan, just there. They too must have been scared by it. 4. While I was standing there I felt like I was actually inside of a ghetto. It was a sort of eerie feeling that I got.

Barn Burning - Charcter Analysis :: essays papers

Charcter Analylis Barn Burning Character Analysis William Faulkner’s â€Å"Barn Burning† In â€Å"Barn Burning† the setting is a time when people drove horse wagons and the workingmen were generally farmers. The major character in this story is Colonel Sartoris Snopes, called â€Å"Sarty† by his family who is a ten-year-old boy. In the beginning, Sarty is portrayed as a confused and frightened young boy. He is in despair over the burden of doing the right thing or sticking by his family, as his father states,† You got to learn to stick to your own blood or you ain’t going to have any blood to stick to you.† Sarty’s father, Abner Snopes is accused of burning down a barn and Sarty is called upon to testify against his father and to tell the events of what happened. He wants to tell the truth because it is the right thing to do, but he knows he might have lie to save his father from being reprimanded. To his relief, it is decided that Sarty will not have to testify and is dismissed from testifying. It is decided by the Justice of the Peace to order Abner and his family to leave town at once. Sarty has moved twelve times in his ten years of age and although the story does not state clearly, that this is not the first time his father has set fire to a barn, but shows that the chances are, that he probably has done this in the past which has affected Sarty in how he feels about his father. Sarty’s other family members include the mother, aunt, an older brother, and two twin sisters who are minor contributing factors in this story. The family knows the father is responsible for the burning of the barns and they even unwillingly help him at his requests. This story describes the family somewhat concerned for the father, but they never challenge his decision to burn the barns even though it is wrong. The critical point of the story is when Sarty decides to tell Mr. De Spain that his father is going to burn his barn. Sarty is in disarray because he doesn’t know what is going to happen to him next and is probably speculating that his family will never forgive him because the of the harm that will come to their father if he is caught in the act.

Compare and contrast images of heroism in these two poems

Heroism is a trait that we seem to have no problem identifying, yet when asked to define what a hero is a myriad of answers emerge. This phenomenon is not unique to today's society; the definition of a hero is something that is constantly under revision and debate. An example of this can be seen in two older pieces of English literature: Beowulf, written circa 750-900, and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, written circa 1375-1400. These stories both have a main character that possesses heroic qualities, many of which are very similar. Gawain's identity as a hero is not clearly demonstrated, but when compared with Beowulf, who is demonstrated to be a hero, hiss merits earn him that title as well. Exactly what defines a heroic act, or a hero for that matter? Often times we dismiss the question due to its complex nature. But when confronted with an individual with heroic qualities we readily identify them as a hero. So what set of traits makes up this amorphous definition that we call hero? I would agree that the very definition is one that is dependent upon the time and society in which its context is being used. A person who shot someone to save the life of another may be viewed as a hero under the scrutiny of one culture, but in a different time or location the very opposite may be true. Nevertheless, heroes exist and posses these ever changing heroic qualities. Beowulf is clearly demonstrated to be a hero, and we can observe the qualities he possesses to enable him to have that title. While Sir Gawain's heroic accomplishments are a little more debatable, I would argue that he deserves the same title; he exudes qualities which can be considered heroic in the context of Arthurian Legend as well as today. Although we can attribute no authorship to Beowulf or Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, we can see that Beowulf was meant to be a hero and if nothing else, Gawain was portrayed as the story's protagonist. One such way this was done was by having neither of the main characters as all powerful rulers; in fact each Beowulf and Gawain served some sort of higher authority. Beowulf, throughout approximately 2/3 of the story serves Hrothgar. Similarly, Gawain was not ruler of his domain but served King Arthur. It is important to note that while both served other men, they were not themselves servants. Beowulf traveled from his land to assist in the destruction of Grendel, and Gawain chose to be a knight of the Round Table and indeed viewed his service to Arthur and his kingdom as an honor. By the construct of having both main characters serve others, the author has created more capacity for heroism to become apparent. If the President of the United States were to prevent nuclear war, the people would obviously be relieved and grateful that he fulfilled his duty. If a soldier on the field accomplished the same task, he would be regarded as a true hero. Transcending one's traditional role and going above and beyond is a characteristic which helps to set heroes apart from other people. Sir Gawain goes above and beyond his role when declaring his intention to battle the Green Knight. â€Å"I would come to your counsel before your court noble. /For I find it not fit, as in faith it is known, /When such a boon is begged before all these knights, /Though you be tempted thereto, to take it on yourself† (lines 347-350) King Arthur at this point had already accepted the challenge, yet Gawain decided to take his place because he was aware of the danger and risk involved in letting the King fight. He admits just a few lines later that â€Å"I am the weakest, well I know, and of wit feeblest; /And the loss of my life would be least of any;† (lines 354-355) This indication that is ability to fight is low makes his decision to fight that much more heroic, and this is all done in the name of Arthur. Beowulf, on the other hand, does not have an issue of inferior strength, but quite the opposite- he seems to posses a sort of superhuman strength. Even so, his level of self restraint and wisdom prevents him from overthrowing Hrothgar despite his superior abilities. This amount of loyalty and service is a trait that helps develop his character even further as a hero. Both Gawain and Beowulf having been in similar instances serving a higher authority have shown heroic qualities although they may have differed. While the two main characters in discussion are being portrayed as heroes, they are still human and have fallibilities. It is the dynamic experience, the rise and fall of these characters which makes them real and human, that shows what they are truly made of. This insight may prove to be disappointing or disheartening for many, I find the revelation to be comforting as it reasserts that a hero isn't an idyllic state but a condition which can be humanly attained. Beowulf's rise and fall is demonstrated rather clearly throughout the progression of the story. At his peak, he kills Grendel with his bare hands. In the second encounter with Grendel's mother he is victorious, but requires the use of armor and the sword Hrunting. As time passes, he becomes king. He helps to slay the dragon that is terrorizing the land with the assistance of Wiglaf and his men, but at the cost of his life. This failure of his strength is foreshadowed earlier by Hrothgar, â€Å"Choose dear Beowulf, the better part, /eternal rewards. Don't give way to pride. /For a brief while your strength is in bloom/ but it fades quickly† (lines 1759-1762). Beowulf's wisdom, which he relies on throughout the story even diminishes as he faces the dragon, as shown when he elects to strike first by himself with full knowledge that his strength is not as great as it used to be. Another interesting point is that while in the service is Hrothgar is heroic qualities shown through but when he became leader, he was still a hero but many of the qualities such as his wisdom and strength in this instance have decreased. Likewise to Beowulf, Gawain experiences a rise and fall. His circumstance is slightly different than Beowulf's however. Gawain's worthiness to even be named a hero is often put into question, and his final deeds tend to overshadow the previous ones when that consideration is made. This is an unfair judgment as no one would rescind Beowulf's status as a hero because of his pride blinding his judgment towards the end of his life, but would still consider him a hero because of his previous heroic actions. The same is true of Sir Gawain. Near the end of the story when he thinks he will die and flinches when the ax is coming down on his neck, he's viewed as a coward. I'll concede that it was a cowardly thing to do, but then I'm forced to ask the rhetorical question, â€Å"What would you do? † Moments later, Gawain recomposes himself, doesn't flinch and gets nicked. Of course, one could argue that Gawain is a coward disguised as a hero because of his protest to the Green Knight claiming his debt is paid, and that he decided to use the green girdle. First of all, Gawain spends the rest of his days lamenting his decision to use the girdle, so he isn't ignorant of what he as done. Secondly, there is absolutely nothing heroic about dying without a cause, which is what would have been the case had the Green Knight carried out his threat. I see no harm done in preparing oneself for an encounter such as the one he went through. We often laude heroes for their cunning in wisdom, so why should those same traits in Gawain be looked upon negatively? While there are many more facets to declaring someone a hero, these are a few that both Beowulf and Gawain share. Beowulf demonstrates that its namesake is a man who is supposed to be regarded as a hero. This same intent is not made in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, but when the two are compared with each other, Sir Gawain is shown to be a hero, not a simple coward that he may initially appear to be.

Project Plan Management Essay

ABSTRACT In recent years, there has been a lot of progress in the knowledge area of  project management; however, many companies continue ignoring the techniques and tools that assist the conduct of projects. The project planning phase is considered, by many scholars, a crucial stage for the success completion of a project, especially when it comes to multi-project environments; where managers and team members participate in multiple, concurrent projects. The main objective of this project is to use the many project management techniques and tools to plan a Fitness Festival to educate the Tampa Bay community about the benefits of fitness and health while promoting the sport of CrossFit. PROJECT HISTORY Each year, the United Health Foundation and the American Public Health Association team up to rank the health of America’s states. I was surprised to read that Florida was ranked number 33, behind many states like Colorado (ranked 8), and Minnesota (ranked 3). How could a state named â€Å"The Sunshine State† be so low in the rankings? And how could I help change that? Three years ago, I was introduced to CrossFit, and since then, my own health has changed radically. I stopped smoking, started to exercise often, and while learning about nutrition changed the way I eat. It not only changed my lifestyle, but I noticed it started to change my family and friends as well. In educating people around me about the benefits of a healthy lifestyle, they became motivated to try it themselves. PROJECT OBJECTIVE The purpose of this project is to create Fitness Festival that can educate the community about the benefits of fitness and health while promoting the sport of CrossFit. â€Å"CrossFit combines aerobic conditioning, Olympic weightlifting, gymnastics along with some other old-school training elements like kettlebell, rope climbs, tire flipping and sledgehammer into daily WODs (workout of the day)† (Upton 2013). By using Project Management skills, I will be able to â€Å"provide a vision of what the project is to achieve, communicate the vision to all involved, ensure that everyone stays focused on the vision, motivate all involved, as well as coordinate all tasks  necessary to complete the project† (Kleim, 1998). PROJECT SCOPE â€Å"The first step in the planning process was to identify exactly what was to be delivered as well as the major elements of work† (Heerkens, 2002). The main goal of the project was to educate the community about the benefits of a healthy lifestyle, but we also wanted to focus on promoting CrossFit. We know that CrossFit athletes are very competitive, so what a better way to promote the sport, but to create a friendly competition among Tampa Bay Crossfit athletes? All tasks had to be completed under the approval budget of $1000. DELIVERABLES †¢Finalize Location of Event †¢Develop Competition Workouts †¢Plan Marketing Strategy †¢Inventory of Equipment †¢Obtain Sponsors and/ or Vendors †¢Obtain commitment of Resources/ Volunteers †¢Entertainment MILESTONES †¢Reserve competition location- January 18th 2014 †¢Create event flyers, website and social media- January 31st 2014 †¢Finalize workouts-February 10th 2014 †¢Confirm vendors and volunteers- February 17th 2014 †¢Organize swag bags- February 24th 2014 †¢Host Competition- March 1st 2014 TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS †¢Location must accommodate the intended number of athletes and spectator †¢There must be at least 1 judge for every team competing †¢Location must have bathrooms †¢All Athletes must sign a release form ASSUMPTIONS †¢At least 15 athletes will sign up to compete †¢Volunteers will not receive monetary compensation †¢Sponsors and vendors will pay an entry fee LIMITS AND EXCLUSIONS †¢Sponsors and vendors will bring their own tent, table and chairs †¢DJ is responsible for all music equipment including a microphone CUSTOMER REVIEW Taylor Smith and Nicole Smith WORK BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE The Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is â€Å"developed by sub-diving a process, product, project, or service into its major work elements, then breaking the major work elements into sub-elements† (Stewart, 1995). The WBS is the â€Å"skeleton and foundation of every project and acts as the project’s major support mechanism† (Dow, 2010). I have found it to be useful in not only projects, but also in any brainstorming session. It helps team members â€Å"remember all major portions of work to be accomplished† (Stewart, 1995). Creating a focus helps organize the team and therefore, assure that all major deliverables are recognized. The WBS â€Å"graphically displays all the work items for the project in a single chart† (Dow, 2010), so it can be used as a helpful communication tool. The WBS is also used to reduce the â€Å"possibility of overlap, duplication and redundancy of tasks† (Stewart, 1995). There is a lot of misconception that the WBS is an organizational chart or a schedule. PMs have to be very careful in explaining the function of the WBS as it does not have a sequence and should not be used as the project’s schedule. PROJECT NETWORK â€Å"The network diagram’s purpose is to sequence and logically order all tasks on a project. It’s an organization of the project layout† (Dow, 2010). It allows for the PM to know what tasks are being worked on, their duration, when they should start and when they should finish, along with any predecessors and successors. Furthermore, the PM should identify the project’s critical path in order to assign the best team members to those tasks, as those tasks are critical to maintain â€Å"cost and schedule savings† (Warburton, 2013). CRITICAL PATH The critical path will assist with maintaining control and keeping the project on schedule. â€Å"The critical path is derived by performing two manipulations of the schedule- a forward pass and a backward pass. The forward pass calculates the earliest times (or dates) that activities can start and finish. The backward pass calculates the latest times (or dates) that activities can start and finish† (Heerkens, 2002). â€Å"The critical path is the longest path and the shortest time in which a project can be completed† (Warburton, 2013). The critical path activities are the ones the PM needs to pay most attention to as â€Å"one day of slippage in a critical path activity means one day of slippage in the overall project†. COST ESTIMATE I started my project with a high level/ macro estimation. I used my experience from a previous In-House competition I planned as the basis for estimating the current competition event I am planning†. â€Å"While this method is less costly than other techniques, in most cases it is also less accurate† (Hill, 2009). Even though the end deliverable (host a competition) is the same, there are a lot of differences between In-house and a community competition. The scope is much larger, the timeline is greater, a lot more resources are needed, etc. This is why a Bottoms-Up or Micro estimate is a better technique. This type of estimate is â€Å"used when the PM wants to improve the estimate and account for risk and estimation uncertainty†Ã‚  (Heldman, 2013). Unfortunately, this technique is hard to do in the beginning stage of the project because there is not enough information at that time. The best time to use this technique is after the PM finalizes the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). During this technique, the PM will estimate the cost of each activity in the WBS. â€Å"The cost and accuracy are driven by the size of the individual work packages- smaller work packages increase both cost and accuracy† (Hill, 2009). â€Å"The calculations used in the Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) approach recognize the variability inherent in each activity and applies rudimentary statistics in a way that accommodates the variability† (Heerkens, 2002). PERT uses three estimates. â€Å"The most likely time is the effort to complete a task under normal or reasonable conditions. The most pessimistic time is the effort to complete a task under the worst conceivable circumstances. The most optimistic is the effort to complete a task under the best or ideal circumstances† (Kleim, 1998). PERT CALCULATION Estimated Cost = Optimistic Estimate + 4* (most likely estimate) + Pessimistic Estimate 6 $800 + 4* ($1,000) + ($1,500) = $1,050 6 EXTERNAL BUDGET This project is not expected to warrant a profit. Its objective is to educate the community about health, nutrition and the sport of CrossFit. Sponsors, including apparel stores, equipment stores, etc. will pay a fee of $250.00 each. The funds will go towards each athlete’s swag bag (which will include a competition t-shirt). The fee will also be used for the purchase of t-shirts for volunteers and judges. All Vendors, including vitamin stores, sports drinks, and any food vendor will pay a fee of $100.00 each. The fee will be used for the marketing of the competition which will include all vendors’ information and advertising. RISKS â€Å"Risk management is a proactive attempt to recognize what can go wrong and to plan ahead† (Warburton 2013). Risk reporting is the act of informing team managers and senior management of those risks. RISKSCONSEQUENCES Not enough athletes will sign upPotential cancellation of project Judges/ volunteers don’t show up on competition dayDelay and over-allocation of resources Athlete does not sign a waiver and gets hurt during competitionLiability to the Sponsor Property damage caused by heavy equipment Cost not in budget EARNED VALUE (EV) The earned value concept consists of examining the past, present, and future in order to determine the end point. IDBaseline EstimateSpent to DateCost to Complete Revised ForecastUnder (Over) 1$1,000$200$600$800$200 1.2$200$200$0$200$0 1.3$100$0$100$100$0 1.4$100$150$0$150($50) 1.5$80$95$0$95($15) TOTAL$1480$645$700$1,345$135 *** Local companies donated money towards the project in return for advertisement, which covered some costs within the planned budget*** RECOMMENDATIONS/ LESSONS LEARNED Even though I understood that the project scope was one of the most important documents, I did not â€Å"invest an appropriate amount of time to fully understand all aspects of the project† (Heerkens, 2002). That caused a lot of wasted time on my part, as I struggled maintaining the timeline and handling over-allocation of resources. During the WBS exercise, I was clueless on what to do, so I kept focusing on â€Å"how† to deliver a task and  ended up wasting a lot of my team’s time. After understanding the purpose of the exercise, I was able to focus on â€Å"what† work was needed to be performed and not â€Å"how† to do it. The PM needs to make sure every team member understands the concepts of what each â€Å"exercise† is. Many SMEs, stakeholders, etc. are not familiar with project management skills. When I was working on the network diagram, I realized I made the wrong assumption on the duration of some tasks, and had to adjust those ti mes in order to meet the deadline. That created even more pressure on the, already â€Å"stretched thin† resources. I also had to combine some tasks in order to simplify the diagram. The once separated tasks of commitment from Athletes, Sponsors, and Vendors are now combined and have the same duration time. After learning the importance of having the best people assigned to critical activities, I had to shift the assignments of resources and add other volunteers to help with the planning phase of the project. Also, I could have done a better job recognizing changes in the critical path through the ongoing schedule updates. If not done, the â€Å"PM could very well spend time, money, and resources fighting fires that don’t necessarily matter (i.e. not in the critical path)†. (Heerkens, 2002). Understanding the cost estimate is extremely important as it will drive the project. It took me a long time to understand the concept in relation to my project, as resources were volunteers (not paid) and a lo t of the budget came from fees paid by vendors and sponsors. In hindsight, I would have preferred picking a different type of project- one that I could clearly explain each cost. The biggest frustration and biggest lessons learned came from MS Project. Not being familiar with the application; I struggled completing that assignment. I learned the tool is excellent and hope to use in the near future; however, the PM should not attempt to promise to deliver something without having a basic knowledge of the process or tool being used. I had planned to run the schedule based on a 7 day/ week work schedule; however, could not figure out how to accurately change it in MS Project, so I had to constantly manipulate the tasks and duration to try to fit the timeline. I hope to run the same exercises and use the same tools during the next CrossFit completion I get involved in. I am curious to see how I go about it and see the difference in results. REFERENCES Dow, W. (2010) Project Management Communications Bible, John Wiley & Sons, 2010. Heldman, K. (2013). PMP: Project Management Professional Exam Study Guide. John Wiley & Sons, 2013 Heerkens, G. (2002) Project Management, McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 2002 Hill, G. (2009). The Complete Project Management Methodology and Toolkit. CRC Press, 2009. Kleim, R. and Ludin, I. (1998) Project Management Practitioner’s Handbook, AMACOM Books, 1998. Stewart, D. and Wyskida, R. (1995) Cost Estimator’s Reference Manual, John Wiley & Sons, 1995. Upton, J. (2013, May 10). The CrossFit Craze: 5 Reasons You Need to Get In on It. [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/julie-upton/crossfit_b_3240705.html Warburton, R. and Kanabar, V. (2013). The Art and Science of Project Management. RW Press, 2013.

Discrimination in Text and Discourse

Discussing about discourse is a linguistic term that views language in its social context as well as psycholinguistic; its approach is descriptive rather than prescriptive; as Michael Stubbs (1993, p. 10) noted, â€Å"it refers to attempts to study the organization of language †¦ and†¦ larger linguistic units such as conversational exchanges or written texts. † Primarily, it aims to investigate the language used in social interaction of two or more people in some given situations.Similarly, discourse studies have been defined by J.  Renkema (2004, p. 1) as â€Å"the discipline devoted to the investigation of the relationship between form and function in verbal communication† that are both context-based and situation-based. To explain further, the two discourse analyses, the descriptive and critical analysis differentiate types of discourses. Descriptive discourse analysis according to Patrick Doyle (2002, p. 625) â€Å"involves mention of characters and the ir actions;† this means, the action and the character of the person himself provide hint to the meaning of the message.Critical discourse on the other hand investigates the â€Å"effect of power and ideology in the production of meaning† (Wodak & Meyer, 2001, p. 3). Here, the analysis focuses on the â€Å"dominance† factor of a given culture that exhibits inequality in a society. These two approaches in discourse analysis are relevant for the explanation and interpretation of a text or verbal discourse and in the study of linguistic as a whole. Understanding of the meaning of a message may come in through the action of character of a person (descriptive and psycholinguistic), or through dominating/discriminating one or two social groups (critical/social context).Understanding of social context of language leads to understanding many discourses at schools, community, societies, and governments, in order to achieve the purpose of effective communication through the use of language. In the same manner, discourse analysis in the study of language through the use of different theories and model is a powerful tool towards achieving language competency. Kay O’Halloran (2006, p. 1) puts it, â€Å"Language studies are thus undergoing a major shift to account fully for meaning-making practices†¦Ã¢â‚¬ 

Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes

Honors Literature Independent Reading Assignment Staying Fat For Sarah Brynes The book Staying Fat For Sarah Brynes revolves around a young swimmer by the name of Eric. Eric was also called Moby by his classmates due to excessive weight. Throughout the book Chris Crutcher allows readers to witness a transformation that takes place for Eric not only physically but emotionally. The hundred meter freestyle champion was determined to shed his weight and replace it with muscle.His dream of ending the days students called him Moby was placed on halt due to his commitment to one of his close friends Sarah. Sarah was a girl who lived a familiar lifestyle to Eric. She was constantly teased by the students who attended her school. At a young age Sarah’s face and hands were placed on a woodstove by her dad leaving her with untreated scars that later turned into dead tissue. The scars would later serve as a sign on strength and self-unity . â€Å"You learned a good lesson about pain,â₠¬  when you can’t take it anymore, your body stops feeling for you, (Crutcher89) .One of the major themes Chris Crutcher portrayed in â€Å"Staying Fat For Sarah Brynes is friendship . Eric and Sarah became friends as social outcasts. Both were often rejected by society so they learn to appreciate each other . They discovered ways to understand each other and soothe each other’s pain. They learned to be there for each other through the thick and thin. â€Å"Look, if you keep eating like a starving Biafran turned loose at the Food Circus just to prove me wrong about why were friends , you’ll die of a heart attack before your fifteen† (Crutcher page 93).This showed how much Sarah Byrnes friendship meant to Erick, because he was willing to continue to be fat, even though he had always been made fun of, just to prove to her that he would not stop being her friend. Throughout the book Crutcher takes readers on an adventure of some of the things Sarah faced o n an everyday basis. By providing readers with this discrepancy it showed the building structure of Eric and Sarah’s friendship. It made onlookers realize the seal of respect they had for each other.Even though outside sources tried to detour Eric’s love and compassion for Sarah â€Å"Taking on someone else’s monster will kill you† Crutcher 219-220) he stalwartly stood by her side . The book states that Eric came face to face with Sarah’s dad to confront him on the mistreating of his friend. Sarah’s dad was symbolized throughout the book as a troubled guy who battled alcoholism most of his adult life. The courageousness of Eric to stand up to him despite putting his life in danger shows the commitment he had to Sarah. Apart of supporting Sarah it made Eric a stronger person.While witnessing the harsh reality of Sarah’s life and how she dealt with it inspired him to be as strong as her. â€Å"I wanted to be tough like Sarah Byrnes , t o stand straight and, oblivious to gut eclipsing my belt buckle. He learned that without her friendship his life would have been the same and he would have never learned that he had valor. Erick gave the ultimate sacrifice by putting his life on the line in order for Sarah Byrnes to escape from her father. He helped the world know about the horrible abuse that Sarah Byrnes went through every day of her life.

Schools inflicted with poverty Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Schools inflicted with poverty - Essay Example The six schools surveyed had fared well in their respective state literacy tests â€Å"recording between 68 to 89 percent of students who had either met or exceeded their state’s standard of proficiency†. All six schools used the ‘Four Blocks Framework’ for balanced literacy. Having established the common strain in all six schools, the writer then identified 12 factors that are important for high academic achievement and set about studying how these factors functioned in these six schools. These 12 factors are, assessment; community involvement; comprehensive curriculum; engagement instruction; leadership; materials; parent participation; perseverance and persistence; professional development; real reading and writing; and specialist support. Assessment needs to be devised in a manner that it guides instruction, the community members must assist the school in its instructional task. Curriculum should be centered on the basics in the primary stage but must not exclude science and social studies totally. There has to be a high level of student engagement in the literacy activities if real learning has to take place. Teachers have to devise a method for one-to-one instruction and monitoring even while teaching the whole class. A strong leadership â€Å"embodied in a committed, passionate and hands-on Principal† is a prerequisite for any school wanting to achieve its goals. Schools must have adequate material and resources for effective instruction. Parent participation in literacy activities enhances the effectiveness of the system. Perseverance and persistence is required no matter which method of instruction is followed, since the results will begin to show only after a reasonable period of time. Professional devel opment of teachers cannot be ignored. Teachers need to upgrade their skills constantly. To become good readers and writers, students must actually spend a lot of time