Friday, December 27, 2019

Research Report Analysis And Critique - 1465 Words

Name: Jennifer Kressel Points: _____/15 Research Report Analysis and Critique ATTACH A COPY OF THE ARTICLE TO THIS FORM. Author: Mollie Galloway, Jerusha Conner, and Denise Pope Title: Nonacademic Effects of Homework in Privileged, High-Performing High Schools Source: The Journal of Experimental Education Galloway, M., Conner, J., Pope, D. (2013). Nonacademic effects of homework in privileged, high-performing high schools. The Journal of Experimental Education, 81(4), 490-510. doi:10.1080/00220973.2012.745469 Researcher(s): ____ Classroom teacher(s) __x__ University-based researcher(s) ____ Other: ____________________________________ Data†¦show more content†¦491) ____ Stated, but not as a question (p. ____) ____ Implied _____/2 Pts. Participants and Setting: Who were the participants? What was the setting? Why were they chosen? The study was based on surveying a sample of 4,713 students at 10 high schools in the San Francisco Bay area. The subjects came from high-performing high schools in upper middle class communities. †¢ four public †¢ six private According to Galloway, Conner, and Pope (2013), â€Å"All of the schools in [the] study were college preparatory schools in advantaged, upper middle class communities and had elected to participate in the study as part of the larger research and intervention project† (495). _____ /3 Pts. Data Collection: What data were collected? Comment on the â€Å"trustworthiness† of the data (e.g., Do the participants talk as â€Å"real† second-graders do?) and the â€Å"doability† of data collection (e.g., How difficult would it be for you to collect this data?). The student survey included Likert-type and open-ended questions. Likert-type questions assessed students’ self-reported homework load and perceptions of homework load, well-being (stress over schoolwork, performance anxiety, physical health, sleep behavior, and time for outside activities), behavioral engagement, and enjoyment of schoolwork.The open-ended questions were posed in the middle of the survey, The Data Collected: Nightly homework hours (by Grade and Gender) †¢ On average, students reported spending 3.11 hr. per

Thursday, December 19, 2019

The Alchemist Book Review - 984 Words

* Mundane Wisdom Book review of â€Å"The Alchemist† Regine Carlo N. Alvarez BSBA-FTM/ I-2 The theme of the phenomenal novel â€Å"The Alchemist† written by Paulo Coelho revolves around dreams, symbols, and adventure. It tells of a young shepherd named Santiago who travels around Andalusia and once dreams of a treasure hidden in the pyramids of Egypt. It is a book full of wisdom and life lessons used to achieved one’s dreams and fulfill self-happiness. The story opens in the mythical region of Andalusia in Spain. The shepherd travels along this place to feed his sheep and to sell wool to merchants. There he finds peace in the familiarity of the place, until his dream is interpreted by a gypsy woman and meets the King†¦show more content†¦Because of his help, the shop grows financially stable and more people go to his place atop the hill. When he saves enough money to go to Egypt, he finds a caravan to take him there. In Al-Fayoum, he meets a lot of tribesmen in tents surrounding the oasis. There are also a great number of women and children living i n the area. He also meets the woman he is going to love forever – Fatima. A desert woman by heart, she willingly waits for Santiago to go back after his search of the treasure is over. Santiago seeks wisdom from the alchemist – a man with the elixir of life and the philosopher’s stone. This man aids the shepherd to reach the treasure in the pyramids, and he learns that the destination is not the most important thing rather the experiences along the way and the knowledge one gains throughout one’s journey. One of the conflicts in this novel is when Santiago, the young shepherd tries to accept or more accurately, tries to believe the concept of â€Å"Personal Legend†. This illustrates a man against himself conflict. The Englishman and Santiago have a rather pretty discussion about whether one has to read books or one has to pay more attention to the caravan. This describes indifference with the two characters’ personalities; shows a man agains t man conflict. There is also a man against society conflict. It is when Santiago robbed by an Arab in Tangier. The young shepherd is helpless and wants to give up, but suddenly thinks of his dream and the King of Salem’sShow MoreRelatedThe Life of Paulo Coelho1274 Words   |  5 PagesPaulo Coelho is a famous author that has written many popular works in these past few decades. He is most notably known for The Alchemist, which was written in 1988. The Alchemist was â€Å"one of the greatest best-sellers of all times† (Kaaki). During his lifetime, Coelho went through many obstacles; the most notable event was getting an electrical shock when he was in a mental institution and getting placed into prison. He was able to move past all of these difficulties and became a well-known authorRead MoreThe Alchemist by Paulo Coelho1168 Words   |  5 Pagesâ€Å"The Alchemist† was originally written in Portuguese by a famous Brazilian author Paulo Coelho. The bookâ€⠄¢s original title is â€Å"O Alqumistia†. The book was first published in 1988 which is since then been translated into 56 different languages and is one of the bestselling books of the history. This translation of the book was written by Alan R. Clarke and was first published by Harper Collins Publishers in 1993. The genres of the book are fiction, fantasy, psychology, drama. The writer followingRead MoreAnalysis Of Paulo Coelho s The Alchemist 1378 Words   |  6 Pages ASSIGNMENT NAME: Abhishek Aggarwal DIVISION AND ROLL NUMBER: C-003 DATE OF SUBMISSION: 9th MARCH 2016 Title of the book: ‘The Alchemist’ Written by: Paulo Coelho WHY THIS PARTICULAR BOOK? I have always been interested in books and movies which have a strong message.According to the critics’ review,Paulo Coelho’s books have had a life-enhancing impact on millions of people. It tells people that they should follow their dreams and should not be afraid of the failuresRead MoreHistorical Perspective of Alcoholism2104 Words   |  9 Pagesliquid (boiling point 78.5 º C). Ethanol, produced by fermentation as in wine or beer or by synthesis, is a dilute solution and must be concentrated by distillation for making other alcoholic beverages or pure ethanol for injections. This article will review the origins of alcohol and its many uses throughout history. Early Alcoholism Since antiquity, alcohol-containing beverages played a vital part in the daily lives of ancient people. Beer, from fermented barley, is the earliest known alcoholicRead More Frankenstein: The Impact of God-like Sciences Stemming from Modern Technology1317 Words   |  6 PagesImpact of God-like Sciences Stemming from Modern Technology In Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein’s life story is the heart of the tale. As a young Swiss boy, he grew up in Geneva reading the works of the ancient and outdated alchemists, a background that serves him ill when he attends university at Ingolstadt. There he learns about modern science and, within a few years, masters all that his professors have to teach him. He becomes fascinated with the â€Å"secret of life,† discoversRead MoreAstrology and Alchemy - the Occult Roots of the Mbti4990 Words   |  20 Pagesorganisation and management, which is surprising given the continuing popularity of astrology. Aside from some research into how marketing executives are using astrology to target products and services more effectively, a small number of business books written by professional astrologers and some interest in the financial world, the field remains largely unexplored. Why does astrology appeal to the executive world? Where and how is it being deployed, and what are the organisational consequences?Read MoreThe Rude Awakening By Mary Shelley2059 Words   |  9 Pagesdid. Janet Horowitz Murray writes a review of Shelley’s Frankenstein in her article named â€Å"My Monster, Myself†, she adds her interpretation stating, â€Å"Mary Shelley s is the story of a woman who tried to live out a feminist vision of womanly dignity and freedom of choice - her dead mother s vision - in a world that was not ready for it (16). Women in her era were devalued as being any sort of a serious author. In consequence, when Shelley first published her book at age nineteen, she deliberatelyRead MoreThe Birthmark, Rappaccini’s Daughter and the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde1922 Words   |  8 PagesAlymer is so obsessed with this mark that he exclaims â€Å"I even rejoice in this single imperfection, since it will be a rapture to remove it!† (Hawthorne,1026). Finally, after concocting a potion in his laboratory which resembles that of an ancient alchemist, Alymer gives Georgiana this â€Å"draught of immortality;† she drinks it and the birthmark fades away, resulting in her immediate death (Hawthorne, 1031). Aylmer depicts a â€Å"mad scientist† because he secludes himself in his laboratory to initiate hisRead MoreEminem4792 Words   |  20 Pageswhich saw his lyrics take a decidedly darker turn, in songs like No Ones Iller and Murder Murder, the latter of which he talks about having to commit crimes to feed his daughter.[12][13] After this album he received much attention and mixed reviews in the hip-hop underground scene, due to his distinctive style and the fact that he was white in a predominantly black genre. Mathers had done a notable amount of rapping with fellow Detroit MC Royce da 59 early in his career. They referred toRead MoreA Short History of Nearly Everything6112 Words   |  25 PagesA Short History of Nearly Everything is a popular science book by American author Bill Bryson that explains some areas of science, using a style of language which aims to be more accessible to the general public than many other books dedicated to the subject. It was one of the bestselling popular science books of 2005 in the UK, selling over 300,000 copies.[1] instead describing general sciences such as chemistry, paleontology, astronomy, and particle physics. In it, he explores time from the Big

Wednesday, December 11, 2019

Philosophy of the Human Person free essay sample

For me, the whole point of doing philosophy, of understanding who we are and what we are as humans, and of understanding our lives can be compared to the simple act of writing that as a student, I can very much relate to. I personally love to write, especially in my native language, Tagalog. Each time I decide that I want to write, I can think of the best beginning and end that would perfectly support my chosen topic. However, as I write, I tend to stop. In the course of my writing, the ideas and thoughts that I previously had seem to cease and I cannot go on. I often find myself thinking and wondering what would be the best direction I can take to be able to reach that perfect ending that I had in mind. I get confused a lot and most of the time, I become undecided. Now that I think about it, this is no different from the life that we live as individuals, and as part of society. As humans, we always already know that our existence in this world has a definite beginning and end—that is, birth and death. We know for a fact that our time on this earth is limited; that we are mere mortals. And it is precisely because of this fact that we often find ourselves worrying, and sometimes even fearing, the idea of death. We are very anxious of making our lives worthwhile so that we can say to ourselves in the end that we have lived a good life. We will all end up with the same fate and there is nothing we can do about it. In the end, what would matter is how we have lived our lives—what we have done, what we have achieved—in reaching that end which is death. In other words, what matters is the direction that we have chosen for ourselves in living the life that we want. However, for me, there is no better achievement that a man can get than to understand who he is and what he is as a person. In our lives, we would often be confronted with different challenges, we would be introduced to various cultures, ideas, and concepts, and we would meet people who differ from us. All these experiences, and their influences, can change the way we view our lives, and even the way we view the world. These, too, can have an effect on the direction that we have chosen for ourselves. We will get confused. We will doubt if the path that we are on is the right one. This confusion—doubt— now leads us to the main argument of this essay. This will revolve around the idea that we, humans, are thinking beings and that we are capable of discerning what is right from wrong—that we have the ability to make decisions for ourselves in living our lives. This essay will explain the relationship between the idea that we are thinking beings and why we do philosophy, why we question, the problem of philosophy, our existence, the existence of others, language, and self-understanding. We, humans, have always been curious about our surroundings. We never fail to wonder. We have this innate characteristic of wanting to know how things work. This natural curiosity could be traced back to the Greeks. During the ancient times, the Greeks were always in awe and in astonishment for nature. They concentrated on what is there—on reality as it presented itself. What mattered for them was the nature of things: how they worked, and what it is that is already contained in each thing. In other words, they valued the substance or the whatness of things. For ancient thinkers, things existed by acting out their substance—their whatness—which remained potentially in them. In applying the notion of substance to human beings, Aristotle asked, â€Å"What is the substance of being human, and how is it acted out? † Aldo Tassi gave an answer to this question by saying that, â€Å"The world of Aristotle is populated by entities each of which possesses a nature enabling it, by virtue of its relationship to other things, to be or to develop what it is. The terms by which anything is are already fully contained in each thing and if we are to do justice to things, we must allow ourselves to be engaged by these terms. Looking at the nature which man displays in the various relationships he enters into with his fellowmen, it becomes apparent that the political order is the context which gives the greatest scope for man to be or to develop who he is in relation to his fellows (Tassi 1985, 190). † The nature of the human being for Aristotle, then, was to speak—to be in relation with others. According to him, persons must engage in politics. It is where man finds his purpose. Man, therefore, is a political animal; a rational animal. Now, what I have done so far is prove that we, humans, are hinking beings. What I am trying to get at here is prove that it is because of this idea that we are able to understand and direct our lives. For the next part of this essay, I will try to prove why thinking leads us to self-understanding. First, it is precisely because we are thinking beings that we do philosophy. During the earlier part of this course we have established that what we do in philosophy is thinking. However, it has not come to me until now that there seems to be a problem with this argument. Do we do philosophy because we think or do we think because we do philosophy? Philosophy is something that we do, perform, and commit. Along with many other sciences, it is an activity. But in order to be able to perform something, we have to have a foundation—perhaps knowledge—about a certain activity. Therefore, I firmly believe that we have to have the thought first before we can do philosophy. However, we would not really explain what is around us if we do not ask ourselves first what it is that surrounds us. In other words, we question. The human person is defined by an infinite thirst for knowledge, for the truth, for life and for love. According to Karl Rahner, we are defined by the dynamism of transcendence. We have an a priori tendency to go beyond ourselves, to transcend objects, and to constantly seek to find more and more knowledge to find the truth. It is already innate in human nature to seek to discover mysteries that are sometimes beyond our knowing. According to Kavanaugh, there is an assumption that all individuals are driven to authenticate who they are. The initiation of philosophy, therefore, is the act of questioning—particularly the kind of questioning that asks â€Å"Who am I? Questioning, for me then, is a life-long experience that we do until the end. â€Å"Every man wants to know himself and do something about himself. (Kavanaugh 1970, 21)† The self is closest to us but it is that which we are most unfamiliar with. This unfamiliarity with who and what we are necessitates our need to question. We need to be open to what and who we are. However, as we age, the way we view the world changes, the kinds of questions we ask change,and together with these, we change. The same thing goes for the things we write about. I have experienced a lot of times, while writing, the feeling of being uncertain about what to say next. I ask myself, â€Å"Is this the best statement to follow that previous one? † Sometimes, I even have doubts if what I am writing coheres with the whole idea of the topic. And when I run out of things to say, I seek help from others. I either ask them about their opinions or ideas or go to the library to research. Now, if I may relate this to philosophy, it stems from the fact that we, humans, are thinking beings that the problem of philosophy arises. Philosophy is not an acquisition of knowledge. However, in a considerably long period of time now, this is what seems to be the impression that people have about philosophy. We often see philosophy as a science of learning things just for the sake of learning them. Moreover, the astonishment, the harmony, the correspondence of humans to the nature of things has been lost through time. Our relation to the whatness of things has been obscured and confused. Before, people wondered what their place in the world was. They wanted to know what their purpose was and they understood themselves based on what is there. Today, we are faced with a completely different scenario. Nowadays, people ask â€Å"What is the place of that thing in relation to me? † From a cosmocentric view of the world, men have shifted to an anthropocentric one. This view of the world can be mainly attributed to the French philosopher Rene Descartes. He recognized the fact that error exists and therefore, he felt the need to be critical and asked himself, â€Å"How can I distinguish what is true from what is false? † For modern thinkers, â€Å"natural† observation was not enough; it was necessary to put nature â€Å"on the rack†Ã¢â‚¬â€that is, to manipulate nature—in order to know anything with certainty. As Tassi quoted Francis Bacon, â€Å"simple observation is not sufficient to give us scientific knowledge. We must vary the circumstances in order to induce nature to give up her secrets; that is, we must put nature ‘on the rack. ’ (Tassi 1982, 185)† Descartes did this by doubting everything outside the â€Å"I† and his way of â€Å"paying attention† explicitly showed how much he wanted to avoid uncertainty—error. With his universal methodic doubt, Descartes was able to come up with the conclusion that his proposition, â€Å"I am, I exist, is necessarily true each time I pronounce it, or that I mentally conceive it. Gallagher 1984, 32)† With this, we are led to the coincidence of thought and existence. What good Descartes has contributed to philosophy is that he introduced the idea that it is precisely because we, humans, think that we exist. However, when Descartes has proven the certainty of the â€Å"I† when he said that †Å"all beings which think exist,† his next task of proving the existence of the not-â€Å"I† has become very problematic. He failed to realize that human consciousness, or knowledge, is bipolar. For Thomas Aquinas, the subject can only know if it has already known its object. Therefore, we always already are aware of the existence of that thing which we think of or talk about. As Edmund Husserl stressed in his concept of intentionality, to be conscious is to be related to something—that which consciousness intends. â€Å"The nature of a conscious act is such that the act is reference to another. It intends, or tends out to its other; the intelligibility of consciousness is its intentionality. (Gallagher 1984, 49)† Now, the whole idea of existence can be perfectly elaborated by going back to the act of writing as an example. Why do we write in the first place? For me, personally, people write because they do not want to be forgotten. They want, in the smallest of ways, to leave something that would last forever. This is precisely because we know that we are mortals. For some, writing is their way of telling the whole world that they exist. They want to express how they feel and they want to be heard. Sometimes, we write because we want to escape the complexities of the reality that we are in and we create our own world with what we write. Here, we try, as much as possible, to change whatever it is that we do not like about our own realities. Therefore, writing proves the existence of the person who writes. On the other hand, we write because we have an audience. We write because we always intend for someone to read our work. If one’s main purpose in writing is to prove his existence, then this gives us the idea that he wants to prove his existence to someone other than himself. In other words, what we write is supposed to be shared. Otherwise, if one keeps it to himself, he does away from the main purpose of his writing. Simply put, the act of writing proves the existence of the â€Å"I† and the non-â€Å"I. If we go back to Aristotle’s concept of the nature of the human being, that is, to speak and be in relation to others, then we can say that by performing the act of writing, we are serving our purpose as humans. With this, several questions arise: â€Å"How exactly do we write? How do we relate to others? How do we speak to them? † This is where the concept of language comes in. We can ne ver separate man from language. â€Å"We can only think in a language, and just this residing of our thinking in a language is the profound enigma that language presents to thought. Gadamer 1976, 62)† Therefore, it is precisely because we are thinking beings that we are able to communicate with one another. Language has constituted a big part in our discussion of the philosophy of the human person. This may be attributed to the fact that it is in the presence of language that we exhibit our nature and serve our purpose and consequently, become humans. As Gadamer puts it, we are always already familiar with language. â€Å"We are always already at home in language, just as much as we are in the world. Gadamer 1976, 63)† And, when we talk about language, we cannot avoid the concept of speaking. Like consciousness, when we speak a language, it is always intended towards someone. Language is always shared. â€Å"Whoever speaks a language that no one understands does not s peak. To speak means to speak to someone. (Gadamer 1976, 65)† Because of thing sharing of language, when we speak, the words we utter are always open to interpretation. The same thing goes for writing. When a person writes, it cannot be helped that what he knows will affect the output of his work. After all, it is his work. Whatever cultural backgrounds that person is from and whatever his beliefs are, all this will greatly influence the kind of writing that he does. However, once a person has written something and has shared it to the whole world, the text suddenly acquires its own entity. It now has its own being. â€Å"Writing renders the text autonomous with respect to the intention of the author. What the text signifies no longer coincides with what the author meant. (Ricoeur 1986, 83)† It is when we write that we get to express what we like, what we believe in, and how we want certain things to be. It is when we write that we understand ourselves better—just like when we read. I believe that our writing mirrors our lives. It reflects the way we view the world, the kind of person we want to be, and where we want to be. We understand ourselves when we write. We write because we have a language. We have a language because we think. Remember what I said about fearing that we might not have lived our lives to the fullest when confronted by death. In the end, it is all a matter of choice. After all, we are a rational being. Only we have the right to direct our lives. Yes, at times we will doubt, we will ask if we are on the right path. But, whatever path we choose to take for ourselves, it will be right depending on how we look at it—how we interpret it. Ayn Rand said, Man has been called a rational being, but rationality is a matter of choice — and the alternative his nature offers him is: rational being or suicidal animal. Man has to be man — by choice; he has to hold his life as a value — by choice; he has to learn to sustain it — by choice; he has to discover the values it requires and practice his virtues — by choice. Works Cited

Tuesday, December 3, 2019

What Are Permalinks in WordPress How to Set Them and Why

TL;DR: Permalinks in WordPress = permanent links. Those are the permanent URLs of the  blog posts and pages on your WordPress site. For example, the permalink of this very blog post that youre reading right now is: https://themeisle.com/blog/permalinks-in-wordpress/Permalinks are also among the key parameters of any WordPress blog, and something that you should set right away after  you launch your shiny new website.Heres why:Why permalinks in WordPress are importantBasically, its through permalinks that the world identifies the individual pieces of content on your WordPress blog as grand as it might sound.For instance:If another blogger wants to link to your content, they point to one of your permalinks.If you want to share your content on social media, you share the permalink.If Google wants to index a piece of your content, they use the permalink.If you want to show your content to a friend, by mentioning it in an email for example, then you give them the permalink.I might be missing some important uses, but you get the gist.The problem with permalinks in WordPressThe main problem with permalinks in WordPress, as great as they are, is that the default permalink setting the one that WordPress comes preinstalled with isnt optimized at all.If you go to your wp-admin / Settings / Permalinks right after installing WordPress, youll see this:The default permalink structure therefore is:http://www.YOURSITE.com/?p=123where 123 is the ID of a given post or page in the database.Why is this bad?The chief reason is that a structure like that gives you no possibility to optimize the permalink for neither human beings nor Google (not good for your SEO).Heres why:Say you publish a piece of content on, Why Jamon Iberico Is the Greatest Ham in the World. If your permalink is:http://www.YOURSITE.com/why-jamon-iberico-is-the-greatest-ham then youre basically giving everyone a hint as to what this piece of content is about. This goes for both Google and human beings. Eve ry person, algorithm, and bot can decode that information.http://www.YOURSITE.com/?p=27 then no one knows anything. As simple as that.How to set permalinks in WordPressOkay, luckily, this is very simple. But the task  is two-fold:You need to set the permalink structure right after you launch a new WordPress site.You should set the permalinks for every piece  of content individually.In that scenario, #1 will give your site the right structure to work with for the future. And with #2 you can fine-tune the individual permalinks of all your posts and pages.Lets explain both of those quickly:1. How to set the permalink structure in WordPressTo set your permalink structure, go to your wp-admin / Settings / Permalinks. Once there, select this option:Just to make sure were on the same page, its the one labeled Post name.Now, why this one?Quite simply, it holds the least amount of unneeded clutter There are no seemingly random numbers, no dates, no arbitrary words (like archives). There s just the post name that you can control 100% (more on that in the next point).Note. Why you dont want dates in your permalinks?  The main reason is  because  dates discourage your visitors from reading  your older content. Any date thats older than  last week (or so) looks like out-of-date information, despite the fact that it might still be very valid, or might even be evergreen.After you select that new permalink structure (Post name), just click Save Changes at the bottom of the settings page:2. How to set the  individual permalinks for posts/pagesOnce you have the overall permalink structure set, you can proceed to tweaking your individual posts and pages.This can be done through each individual posts or pages editing screen.  When youre editing content, youll see this little area directly below the title field:You can click on the Edit button and adjust that permalink.  A box will appear, and you can put pretty much whatever you wish there:The standard, though , is to either use the given posts whole title or some simplified version of it. For example, this posts title is, What Are Permalinks in WordPress? How to Set Them and Why, but the permalink part is just, permalinks-in-wordpress, just like you can see above.Note. Try not to update the permalink structure once you publish your post or page. One of the main ideas behind permalinks is that they are permanent, hence the name. Changing those links later on makes finding your content more difficult for people as well as search engines.Thats pretty much all there is to permalinks in WordPress. The good thing is that point #1 you have to do only once after first launching your site. And from there, WordPress is quite good at proposing optimized permalinks for your posts and pages on its own, so #2 becomes easy too. When working on new content, you just need to have a look if WordPress version of the permalink makes sense, and then tweak it slightly in case of any issues.Setting the right p ermalink structure is one of 10  things that you should do after launching any WordPress site. We talked about the other 9  in one of our  previous posts. Check it out here.Free guide5 Essential Tips to Speed Up Your WordPress SiteReduce your loading time by even 50-80% just by following simple tips.