Free Essays on Narrative

It took me eighteen years to realize what an extraordinary influence my mother has been on my life. She’s the kind of person who has thoughtful discussions about which artist she would most want to have her portrait painted by (Sargent), the kind of mother who always has time for her four children, and the kind of community leader who has a seat on the board of every major project to assist Washington’s impoverished citizens. Growing up with such a strong role model, I developed many of her enthusiasms. I not only came to love the excitement of learning simply for the sake of knowing something new, but I also came to understand the idea of giving back to the community in exchange for a new sense of life, love, and spirit. My mother’s enthusiasm for learning is most apparent in travel. I was nine years old when my family visited Greece. Every night for three weeks before the trip, my older brother Peter and I sat with my mother on her bed reading Greek myths and taking notes on the Greek Gods. Despite the fact that we were traveling with fourteen-month-old twins, we managed to be at each ruin when the site opened at sunrise. I vividly remember standing in an empty amphitheatre pretending to be an ancient tragedian, picking out my favorite sculpture in the Acropolis museum, and inserting our family into modified tales of the battle at Troy. Eight years and half a dozen passport stamps later I have come to value what I have learned on these journeys about global history, politics and culture, as well as my family and myself. While I treasure the various worlds my mother has opened to me abroad, my life has been equally transformed by what she has shown me just two miles from my house. As a ten year old, I often accompanied my mother to (name deleted), a local soup kitchen and children’s center. While she attended meetings, I helped with the Summer Program by chasing children around the building and performing magic tricks. Ha... Free Essays on Narrative Free Essays on Narrative It took me eighteen years to realize what an extraordinary influence my mother has been on my life. She’s the kind of person who has thoughtful discussions about which artist she would most want to have her portrait painted by (Sargent), the kind of mother who always has time for her four children, and the kind of community leader who has a seat on the board of every major project to assist Washington’s impoverished citizens. Growing up with such a strong role model, I developed many of her enthusiasms. I not only came to love the excitement of learning simply for the sake of knowing something new, but I also came to understand the idea of giving back to the community in exchange for a new sense of life, love, and spirit. My mother’s enthusiasm for learning is most apparent in travel. I was nine years old when my family visited Greece. Every night for three weeks before the trip, my older brother Peter and I sat with my mother on her bed reading Greek myths and taking notes on the Greek Gods. Despite the fact that we were traveling with fourteen-month-old twins, we managed to be at each ruin when the site opened at sunrise. I vividly remember standing in an empty amphitheatre pretending to be an ancient tragedian, picking out my favorite sculpture in the Acropolis museum, and inserting our family into modified tales of the battle at Troy. Eight years and half a dozen passport stamps later I have come to value what I have learned on these journeys about global history, politics and culture, as well as my family and myself. While I treasure the various worlds my mother has opened to me abroad, my life has been equally transformed by what she has shown me just two miles from my house. As a ten year old, I often accompanied my mother to (name deleted), a local soup kitchen and children’s center. While she attended meetings, I helped with the Summer Program by chasing children around the building and performing magic tricks. Ha...

Using Haber and Estar for Spanish Compound Past Tenses

Using Haber and Estar for Spanish Compound Past Tenses Spanish students usually learn fairly early in their coursework that Spanish has two simple past tenses, the preterite and the imperfect. However, these two past tenses arent the only past tenses available. Auxiliary verbs can also be used to form perfect and progressive, also known as continuous, tenses, some of which refer to the past. Present Perfect Despite its name, the present perfect tense refers to past actions. It is formed by using the present tense of haber followed by the past participle and is the rough equivalent of the same tense in English. Thus He estudiado - he is the first-person indicative singular form of haber, and estudiado is the past participle of estudiar - would usually be translated as I have studied, where studied is the past participle of to study. In general, the present perfect tense is used to discuss actions that took place in the past but still have relevance to the present or are continuing up to the present. Note, however, that the present perfect tense of Spanish doesnt always coincide exactly with that of English; in some cases, the tense in Spanish may be translated to the English using the simple past. And there are regional variations in the tenses as well; especially in Spain, for example, it is common to use the present perfect for very recent events. Nunca he conocido a nadie como tà º. (I have never met someone like you.) ¿Cul es el mejor CD que has comprado? (What is the best CD you have purchased?)Hemos sufrido una pà ©rdida irreparable. (We have suffered an irreparable loss.)Bolivia y Nicaragua han pedido que el Consejo de Seguridad sea convocado de urgencia. (Bolivia and Nicaragua have asked that the Security Council be convened in emergency session.)Hace una hora ha nacido mi sobrina. (An hour ago, my niece was born. In some regions, the preterite would be preferred: Hace una hora nacià ³ mi sobrina.)Hoy he visto algo raro. (Today I saw something unusual.) Past Perfect Also known as the pluperfect, the past perfect tense is formed by using the imperfect form of haber followed by the past participle. Its uses generally coincide with the past perfect of English, formed by using had and the past participle. The distinction in meaning with the present perfect is that in the pluperfect the verbs action is completed and clearly distinct from the present. Yo habà ­a entendido los conceptos del curso, pero no los habà ­a aplicado. (I had understood the concepts of the course, but I had not applied them.)A medio kilà ³metro de distancia se encontraron otros cuatro cuerpos masculinos, que hasta el momento no habà ­an sido identificados. (A half kilometer away four other male bodies were found, which until that moment had not been identified.)Habà ­amos luchado durante tres aà ±os defendiendo la Repà ºblica. (We had fought for three years defending the Republic.)Mi padre habà ­a tenido una vida dura, pero llena de triunfos. (My father had had a hard life, but one full of triumphs.) Preterite Perfect The preterite perfect, sometimes known as the pretà ©rito anterior, is rarely used today except for literary effect; you are unlikely to hear it in everyday speech. It most often follows a time expression (such as cuando or despuà ©s que) and is formed by using the preterite of haber followed by past participle. It is usually translated to English the same way as the past perfect. Cuando el nià ±o se hubo dormido, el cura me pidià ³ permiso para dejarme. (When the boy had fallen asleep, the priest asked me for permission to leave me.)Tan pronto hubo escuchado aquellas palabras, salià ³ corriendo hacia la plaza. (As soon as he had heard those words, he left running toward the plaza.) Preterite Progressive The preterite progressive or preterite continuous is formed by using the preterite form of estar before the gerund. It is the equivalent of the was/were verb -ing construction in English but is used much less frequently. The Spanish preterite progressive often suggests that an action takes place or is repeated over an extended period of time. Este fin de semana pasado estuve andando por las calles de Oslo. (This past weekend I was walking through the streets of Oslo.)Estuve leyendo todos sus mensajes.  (I was reading all your messages.)Estuvimos muriendo de frà ­o. (We were dying of cold.) Imperfect Progressive The imperfect progressive (or imperfect continuous) is similar in meaning to the preterite progressive and is somewhat more common. It also is usually the equivalent of the was/were verb -ing construction in English. The imperfect progressive often suggests the ongoing nature of an action, while the preterite subjunctive suggests that it had an end. In practice, however, the distinction is a subtle one; all the example sentences with the preterite progressive could have been said in the imperfect progressive with little if any translatable difference in meaning. Un dà ­a antes del examen estuve estudiando con mi amigo. (One day before the test I was studying with my friend.)El actor estaba comiendo saludable como siempre. (The actor was eating healthfully as always.) Past Perfect Progressive Tenses Combine the gerund with the present perfect or pluperfect tense of estar (or of to be in English), and you end up with the past perfect progressive tenses. Their usage in the two languages is similar. Present indicative of haber estado gerund is the equivalent of have/has been gerund and imperfect of haber estado gerund is the equivalent of had been gerund. The present perfect progressive can refer to continuing actions that may be taking place up to the present:  ¿Cà ³mo se sabe si alguien ha estado usando marihuana? (How do you know if someone has been using marijuana?)He estado pensando en ti.  (I have been thinking about you.)Mam y yo hemos estado hablando del futuro.  (Mom and I have been talking about the future.) The pluperfect progressive tense, in contrast, generally refers to continuing actions that are completed (or, if still occurring, are no longer relevant): Andrea habà ­a estado hablando con Pablo todo el dà ­a.  (Andrea had been talking with Pablo all day.)Habà ­amos estado buscando una casa en Madrid. (We had been looking for a house in Madrid.)Habà ­an estado viviendo allà ­ mucho antes de que los espaà ±oles llegaran.  (They had been living there long before the Spaniards arrived.)

Recruitment and Selection Processes Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Recruitment and Selection Processes - Essay Example Through the process of recruitment, a company tries to locate prospective employees and encourages them to apply for vacancies at various levels. Recruiting thus, provides a pool of applicants for selection. Selection is a process of picking individuals who have relevant qualifications to fill jobs in an organization (Rao, 2005, p-143). The basic purpose is to choose the individual who can most successfully perform the job, from the pool of qualified candidates. 2.1 PepsiCo India: Pepsi is a flat organization. There are a maximum of four reporting levels. Executive here emphasis achievement, motivation, the ability to deliver come what may. As the Personnel manager of Pepsi Foods remarked Recruiters must be capable of thinking outside the box, cutting the cake of conventional barriers whenever and wherever necessary. They must have a winner mindset and a passion for creating a dynamic change. They must have the ability to deal with ambiguity informality. PepsiCo has to tap external sources for various positions. ... (Business Today, 2000, p.129) Recruiters must be capable of thinking outside the box, cutting the cake of conventional barriers whenever and wherever necessary. They must have a winner mindset and a passion for creating a dynamic change. They must have the ability to deal with ambiguity informality. Recruitment process includes PepsiCo has to tap external sources for various positions. Running enterprises have to recruit employees from outside for filling the positions whose specifications cannot be met by the present employees, and for meeting the additional requirements of manpower. The following external sources of recruitment are commonly used by PepsiCo. (i) Direct Recruitment. An important source of recruitment is recruitment by placing a notice on the notice board of the enterprise specifying the details of the jobs available. It is also known as recruit factory gate. (ii) Casual Callers or Unsolicited Applications. The organizations are regarded as good employers draw a steady stream of unsolicited applications in their offices. This serves as a valuable source of manpower. If adequate attention is paid to maintain pending application folders for jobs, the personnel department may find the unsolicited applications in filling the vacancies whenever they arise. The merit of this source of recruitment is that it avoids the costs of recruiting workforce from other sources. (iii) Outsourcing Under this arrangement, PepsiCo India draws the required personnel from the outsourcing firms or agencies on commission basis rather than offering them employment. This is also called leasing of human resources. The outsourcing firms develop their human resource pools by

Topics Discussed in Class - My Participation in Class Assignment - 3

Topics Discussed in Class - My Participation in Class - Assignment Example In their view, physical forces, such as technological restraints may make it demanding or even not possible to develop a significant international market. For instance, a number of developing nations contain such primitive storage and transportation systems that make global distributions inadequate or at times, impossible. The presenters made this claims when they were explaining the scenario using food as an example. This is because food is frequently damaged by the time it reaches the destination of business in particular nations (Jensen & Hansen 2006, p. 443). In addition, according to them, this fact can be compounded with lack of adequate sewer systems and unclean water. I made a contribution to this topic by asserting that exporters in the United States should be informed that particular technological disparities have an impact on the nature of exportable products. For instance, internet and computer utilization in a number of developing nations may be nonexistent or extremely thin. ... In addition, the physical global marketing environment has an impact on the economic and political activities, models cultural components, for example, religion and language, and determines transportation, usage of land, and commercial flows. Domestic Consumer Predispositions: Ethnocentrism and Disidentification The presenters argued that clients’ local bias is a significant determinant of behaviour of domestic product purchase. In their view, consumer ethnocentrism explains customers’ leaning to prefer local commodities and stay away from foreign commodities. They also argued that marketing managers and researchers examine degrees of consumer ethnocentrism to determine the degree of local biases in the business environment. They also argued that consumer disidentification has a tremendous effect on purchasing choices beyond and above the effect of consumer ethnocentrism. In my argument, I highlighted that components, for example, ethnic identification and acculturation are significant indicators of both consumer disidentification and consumer ethnocentrism. In addition, I explained that businesses could evaluate the degree of consumer disidentification as part of their continuous tracking studies to determine the degree of consumer disidentification in their local market to attain specified insights into regional disparities in consumer disidentification levels. Such details could be employed to signify whether the national origin of the commodity should be marketed in the respective areas (Shankarmahesh 2006, p. 153). The external resource emphasizes that consumer disidentification may be traced by domestic organizations that attempt to understand consumer disidentification and want to safeguard their markets against escalating global competition. Also,

Skungpoomery - Textual analysis Essay Example for Free

Skungpoomery Textual analysis Essay Skungpoomery features two characters, a mother and her son. The mother is very much a dominant woman who still enjoys fussing over and bossing about her rather useless, weak son. We did an exercise where we visualised what the characters would look like in our heads. Both the mother and the son reminded me of a famous duo, Laurel and Hardy. Mrs Wibble being Oliver Hardy, the domineering one and PC Nicholas Wibble being Stan Laurel, the simple one. Like Hardy treats Laurel, Mrs Wibble treats her son in a condescending way, much to the chagrin of PC Nicholas who would much rather be treated like an adult, and not have his mother still nagging at him. I can picture Mrs Wibble being quite a large character who would be wearing some sort of floral dress with bright red lipstick. I can imagine her voice being loud and perhaps quite high pitched and can see her walking around the stage with a good posture and large strides. PC Nicholas Wibble, I can picture being tall and lanky with a short bowl haircut, which of course his mother would have made him get, and can see him slouching across the stage, with a decidedly nervous disposition. I would imagine his voice would be rather quiet and perhaps slightly squeaky, as if it had not quite broken yet. I found that doing this exercise, helped improve my performance on stage as it meant I was able to act out the characters easier now that I had a clear image of what they looked like and how they acted in my head. PC Nicholas Wibble is still very child like, probably because he still lives at home and Mrs Wibble still treats him like a child rather than the adult that he is. Although PC Wibble may try to stand up to his mother, she will tell him otherwise and he backs down easily, here is an example of this: MRS WIBBLE- Take them off and let me give them a quick press. WIBBLE- O no, Mum-look Im going to be ever so late now. MRS WIBBLE-Take them off, Nicholas, it wont take a moment. WIBBLE- No. MRS WIBBLE- Nicholas!!! WIBBLE- Ooooooooooooh! Doing this exercise made it easier for me to do the butter and trouser scene in the play. This is where the phone is ringing and Mrs Wibble accidentally picks up the iron and puts it to her ear, rather than the phone, and then gets Nicholas to get her some butter to soothe it, and burns his trousers. To make this part of the performance more comical, we had to look at how the characters would move in a panicked way. For example, we thought that we could have Nicholas running about the stage in circles in a confused way, hands on his head, looking about, and thinking what to do while mumbling to himself. We could then have Mrs Wibble shouting at him to get the butter, while sobbing and moaning about her ear loudly, as it would make it more comical for the audience. To make sure that we had enough space on stage for all that was going on, we had to plan out the set and make sure we knew where everything was going to be so that we could determine exactly what the characters had to do and where. Learning and using all of these different techniques was useful when developing our final piece as it meant that we could piece together things that wed used from this practice piece, as well as our own new ideas, to get a good performance. We were now able to visualise exactly what our character would look and act like as well as the way they would move on stage, so that we could get a better understanding of our character and act them out in a suitable way.

Essay --

In 1815 The Battle of New Orleans was fought, became the largest battle of the war of 1812, and was won by Andrew Jackson. From that time he was recognized as a national hero for winning such a huge war, even though the Treaty of Ghent was the armistice which had ended the War of 1812, and was signed earlier than when The Battle of New Orleans occurred. The Product of The War of 1812 was nationalism. â€Å"America may not have fought the war as one nation, but it emerged as one nation.† (â€Å"Nascent Nationalism†). American art and literature had developed and proceeded to show that nationalism began. â€Å"Washington Irving and James Fenimore Cooper attained international recognition in the 1820s, significantly as the nation’s first writers of importance to use American scenes and themes† (â€Å"Nascent Nationalism†). American authors had begun to receive equal attention to European writers, and were capable of achieving the level of writing only European authors were recognized as having. â€Å"Irving’s Bracebridge Hall (1822) received at least 32 reviews in the British press, equaling the attention given the work of the two most popular British authors, Byron and Scott.† (Eaton). The American System, similar to the Federalist System, produced economic diversification and represents an effect of nationalism, with its goal to create a unified expanding economy. Henry Clay wanted to create a strong national bank, which would grant lots of mortgages in the West and South. He also envisioned a strong transportation system. The tariff of 1816 was the first tariff in American history passed by Congress â€Å"instituted primarily for protection and revenue† (â€Å"The American System†). Clay wanted a protective tariff that would allow for the flourishing of eastern ma... ... A strong central government was important to Jackson. This strengthened the improved and developed American nationalism. With the belief in a strong democracy and increased involvement and power of man in the government, Jackson supported the rise of nationalism. Nationalism pushed Jackson to make decisions, which shaped the country. This was shown when he threatened South Carolina by getting military ready for action to enforce the federal tariff. Although South Carolina did not go along with paying the tariff, they complied with the government and their idea of collecting a federal tariff. Nationalism imposed many different ideas and was the guiding factor in important American leader’s decisions. Nationalism, as a political ideology shaped the social life of Americans, and was responsible for the political culture of the United States within the years 1815-1836.

Rene Castellani

In 1965, Rene Castellani was working as a radio promotions manager on his show â€Å"The Dizzy Dialer† in New Westminster, and slowly killing his wife, Esther Castellani, by poisoning her with arsenic. This had been going on for a period of several months with no one noticing, not even the doctors. Mrs. Castellani had gone to the hospital many times but doctors could not discover what was causing her illness. After having been sick for nine months Mrs. Castellani died on July, 11 1965.The autopsy report showed that Mrs. Castellani had died from â€Å"a viral infection and heart attack. † Several months after her burial, a woman named Adelaide Miller, presumably Rene’s accomplice, who planned to marry him after Rene had collected the insurance money, contacted the Crown Attorney and said she knew how Mrs. Castellani was killed. She and Rene Castellani had been having an affair from approximately the fall 1964 to the spring of 1966. Both Adelaide Miller and Rene Ca stellani were poisoning Mrs.Castellani with arsenic. Authorities exhumed the body of Mrs. Castellani on August 3rd, 1965 from the cement crypt of Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the Municipality of Burnaby, and delivered it to a morgue in Vancouver where a post? mortem examination was conducted by Dr. Thomas Redo Harmon. Tests known as â€Å"X-ray diffraction† procedures were done. The results showed that the arsenic levels in her body were high enough to kill her. During the trial, which took place on 26 September 1967, Dr.Moscovitch, who treated Mrs. Castellani, said he had never considered arsenic poisoning. Dr. Moscovitch said: â€Å"The possibility of arsenic never occurred to us at all. † Of all the 125 clinical tests that had been performed during her illness, none had identified arsenic. Subsequently, Mr. Castellani was arrested, sentenced for murder on November 12, 1966, found guilty, and sentenced to death, which was later changed to life in prison. Rene Castell ani died on January 4, 1982.

Creative Spark Talk Analysis Essay

Creativity is a subject that is very disputable amongst psychologists. Psychologists have argued on a definition for the word creativity for many years now. Regardless of what most psychologists chose to think now, most believe that it is a creative act no matter big or small that is unusual and most likely become very useful to society. The video I watched was by John Bohannon and dancers from the Black Label Movement. The name of the video is tilted â€Å"Dance vs. PowerPoint†, a modest proposal and was filmed at TEDxBrussels, which was also posted in November 2011. John explains in this video how one of his friends tried to tell him about a science experiment and just simply couldn’t. His friend finally explains what the experiment was about to John, and then he tells his friend that â€Å"Maybe next time if you had dancers to try to better explain it will be much easier. He then tells his friend that numerous scientists have started using dancers to describe many d ifferent scientific things simply because it is more sufficient. Dancing PHD is the group of scientists that have started using dancers to explain various things. He starts to explains why it would be more productive to use dancers and instead of PowerPoint presentations. John then gives an explanation on how it is a waste of cash, eventually getting rid of PowerPoint and replacing them with dancers. John even expresses that by using this method even the government could better explain things, therefore making it more understandable to our fellow Americans. Such as things like why are we invading other countries? The talk that Mr. John Bohannon describes does prove a valid point and it does throw a light on some of the stages of creativity. He has done his proper research and makes it very clear on why his solution to PowerPoint could be very productive. John showing more creativity thinking beyond the box, he even has some dancers performing while he is talking so that he quickly proves his point. Curiosity and imagination were used to determine a resolution because dancers would’ve seemed incredible before seeing the actual presentation. Mr. Bohannon was obviously eager to know and see how dancers worked and once seeing it all in motion he ha d a better interpretation towards it. Without his imagination, and thoughts of how dancers and different situations could be put together John would’ve never come up with something as this genius idea. He definitely had to put in a lot of effort, plenty of time and eventually will have to put his ideas on paper to see it active. Sometimes the mind can be very tricky which can make it very hard to put thoughts onto something concrete but once has it will be all worth it. Sharing with the world a different view of things benefits everyone and there will be many key facts from it. From my personal experience PowerPoint’s are easy but can definitely end up being very boring. Even when I was in the military I have had to sit through plenty of them and that got old very fast. Now attending College I also had to put them together and present them. Personally I think the dancers could work better to describe a certain subject or topic but not all the time. Don’t get me wrong some topics should just be left as power points but using dancers on some matters or discussions may be easier to explain. Using dancers could truly benefit in society as a unit then kids in elementary co uld learn easier and this would allow them to use their curiosity and imagination more often. Without having creative minds surrounding us continuously thinking, we would not be the society we are today. We might even live in a different country or the country we do live would’nt have developed the way it did. Numerous people minimize their thinking skills and say no to thinking more than they claim they need too. Each and every person is one of a kind and if they share their thoughts and ideas they could potentially benefit our society as a unit. Doing the least just to get by and not continuously thinking of better and simple ideas only hurts yourself and you are minimized to what you can accomplish. Reference Bohannon, J. (2011, November). Dance Vs. Powerpoint, a modest proposal. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/playlists/11/the_creative_spark

Underezding Abusive Parents Essays - Parenting, Childhood, Family

Underezding Abusive Parents Essays - Parenting, Childhood, Family Underezding Abusive Parents STUDY OF FAMILY INTERACTION LEAD TO NEW UNDERSTANDING OF ABUSIVE PARENTS Researchers at the University of Toronto have taken important steps toward producing a profile of an abusive parent. Prof. Gary Walters and doctoral student Lynn Oldershaw of the Department of Psychology have developed a system to characterize parents who physically abuse their children. This could ultimately allow social service professionals to identify parents in child abuse. Over the last five years, Walters and Oldershaw, in collaboration with Darlene Hall of the West End Creche, have examined over 100 mothers and their three to six-year-old children who have been physically abused. In the laboratory, the mother and child spend 30 minutes in structured activities such as playing, eating and cleaning-up. The family interaction is video-taped and later analyzed. The researchers have developed a system which allows them to record the effectiveness of parenting skills. They are particularly interested in disciplinary strategies because abuse most commonly occurs when the parent wants the child to comply. "It's a question of trying to determine which type of parent produces which type of child or which type of child elicits which type of parental behaviour," explains Oldershaw. As a result of their work, Walters and Oldershaw have identified distinct categories of abusive parents and their children. 'Harsh/intrusive' mothers are excessively harsh and coneztly badger their child to behave. Despite the fact that these mothers humiliate and disapprove of their child, there are times when they hug, kiss or speak to them warmly. This type of mothering produces an aggressive, disobedient child. A 'covert/hostile' mother shows no positive feelings towards her child. She makes blatant attacks on the child's self-worth and denies him affection or attention. For his part, the child tries to engage his mother's attention and win her approval. An 'emotionally detached' mother has very little involvement with her child. She appears depressed and uninterested in the child's activities. The child of this type of mother displays no characteristics which set him apart from other children. In order to put together a parenting profile, the two researchers examine the mother/child interaction and their perception and feelings. For inezce, Walters and Oldershaw take into account the mother's sense of herself as a parent and her impression of her child. The researchers also try to determine the child's perception of himself or herself and of the parent. Abusive parents are often believed to have inadequate parenting skills and are referred to programs to improve these skills. These programs are particularly appropriate for parents who, themselves, were raised by abusive parents and as a result are ignorant of any other behavior toward her child. One of the goals of the psychologists is to provide information to therapists which will help tailor therapy to the individual needs of the abusive parents. "Recidivism rates for abusive care-givers are high," says Walters. "To a large extent, abusive parents which require a variety of treatment. " Their research is funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.

Sample College Admissions Essay on Teaching Summer Camp

Sample College Admissions Essay on Teaching Summer Camp Many college applicants have had summer camp experiences. In this Common Application essay, Max discusses his challenging relationship with a difficult student who ends up having a lot to contribute.   The Essay Prompt Maxs essay was originally written for the pre-2013 Common Application essay prompt that states,  Indicate a person who has had a significant influence on you, and describe that influence.  The influential person option no longer exists, but there are many ways to write about an important person with the current seven essay options on the 2018-19 Common Application. Maxs essay has recently been revised to fit the new 650-word length limit of the current Common Application, and it would work nicely with the 2018-19 prompt #2:  The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience? The essay would also work well with Common Application essay option #5,  Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others. Max's Common Application Essay Student Teacher Anthony was neither a leader nor a role model. In fact, his teachers and his parents were constantly chastising him because he was disruptive, ate too much, and had a hard time staying focused. I met Anthony when I was a counselor at a local summer camp. The counselors had the usual duties of keeping kids from smoking, drowning, and killing each other. We made God’s eyes, friendship bracelets, collages, and other clichà ©s. We rode horses, sailed boats, and hunted snipe. Each counselor also had to teach a three-week course that was supposed to be a little more â€Å"academic† than the usual camp fare. I created a class called â€Å"Things that Fly.† I met with fifteen students for an hour a day as we designed, built, and flew kites, model rockets, and balsawood airplanes. Anthony signed up for my class. He was not a strong student. He had been kept back a year at his school, and he was larger and louder than the other middle school kids. He talked out of turn and lost interest when others were talking. In my class, Anthony got some good laughs when he smashed his kite and threw the pieces into the wind. His rocket never made it to the launch pad because he crumpled it in a fit of frustration when a fin fell off. In the final week, when we were making airplanes, Anthony surprised me when he drew a sketch of a sweep-wing jet and told me he wanted to make a â€Å"really cool plane.† Like many of Anthony’s teachers, and perhaps even his parents, I had largely given up on him. Now he suddenly showed a spark of interest. I didn’t think the interest would last, but I helped Anthony get started on a scale blueprint for his plane. I worked one-on-one with Anthony and had him use his project to demonstrate to his classmates how to cut, glue and mount the balsawood framework. When the frames were complete, we covered them with tissue paper. We mounted propellers and rubber bands. Anthony, with all his thumbs, created something that looked a bit like his original drawing despite some wrinkles and extra glue. Our first test flight saw Anthony’s plane nose-dive straight into the ground. His plane had a lot of wing area in the back and too much weight in the front. I expected Anthony to grind his plane into the earth with his boot. He didn’t. He wanted to make his creation work. The class returned to the classroom to make adjustments, and Anthony added some big flaps to the wings. Our second test flight surprised the whole class. As many of the planes stalled, twisted, and nose-dived, Anthony’s flew straight out from the hillside and landed gently a good 50 yards away. I’m not writing about Anthony to suggest that I was a good teacher. I wasn’t. In fact, I had quickly dismissed Anthony like many of his teachers before me. At best, I had viewed him as a distraction in my class, and I felt my job was to keep him from sabotaging the experience for the other students. Anthony’s ultimate success was a result of his own motivation, not my instruction. Anthony’s success wasn’t just his plane. He had succeeded in making me aware of my own failures. Here was a student who was never taken seriously and had developed a bunch of behavioral issues as a result. I never stopped to look for his potential, discover his interests, or get to know the kid beneath the facade. I had grossly underestimated Anthony, and I am grateful that he was able to disillusion me. I like to think that I’m an open-minded, liberal, and non-judgmental person. Anthony taught me that I’m not there yet. Critique of Max's Common Application Essay In general, Max has written a strong essay for the Common Application, but it does take a few risks. Below youll find a discussion of the essays strengths and weaknesses. The Topic Essays on important or influential people can quickly become predictable and clichà © when they focus on  the typical heroes of high school students: a parent, a brother or sister, a coach, a teacher. From the first sentence, we know that Maxs essay is going to be different: Anthony was neither a leader nor a role model. Maxs strategy is a good one, and the admissions folks who read the essay will most likely be pleased to read an essay that isnt about how Dad is the greatest role model or Coach is the greatest mentor. Also, essays on influential people often conclude with the writers explaining how theyve become a better people or owe all of their success to the mentor. Max takes the idea in a different direction - Anthony has made Max realize that he isnt as good of a person as he had thought, that he still has much to learn. The humility and self-critique is refreshing. The Title Theres no one rule for writing a winning essay title, but Maxs title is perhaps a little too clever. Student Teacher immediately suggests a student who is teaching (something that Max is doing in his narrative), but the true meaning is that Maxs student taught him an important lesson. Thus, both Anthony and Max are student teachers. However, that double meaning is not apparent until after one has read the essay. The title by itself does not immediately grab our attention, nor does it clearly tell use what the essay will be about. The Tone For the most part, Max maintains a pretty serious tone throughout the essay. The first paragraph does have a nice touch in the way that it pokes fun at all the clichà © activities that are typical of summer camp. The real strength of the essay, however, is that Max manages the tone to avoid sounding like he is bragging about his accomplishments. The self-criticism of the essays conclusion may seem like a risk, but it arguably works to Maxs advantage. The admissions counselors know that no student is perfect, so Maxs awareness of his own short-comings will probably be interpreted as a sign of maturity, not as red flag highlighting a defect in character. The Essay Length At 631 words, Maxs essay is at the upper end of the Common Application length requirement  of 250 to 650 words. This is not a bad thing. If a college is requesting an essay, it is because the admissions folks want to get to know the applicant better. They can learn more from you with a 600-word essay than with a 300-word essay. You may encounter counselors who argue that admissions officers are extremely busy, so shorter is always better. This little evidence to support such a claim, and youll find very few applicants to top-tier colleges (such as the Ivy League schools) being admitted with essays that dont take advantage of the space allowed. The ideal essay length is certainly subjective and depends in part on the applicant and the story being narrated, but Maxs essay length is absolutely fine.  This is particularly true because the prose is never wordy, flowery, or excessive. The sentences tend to be short and clear, so the overall reading experience isnt labored. The Writing The opening sentence grabs our attention because it isnt what we expect from an essay. The conclusion is also pleasingly surprising. Many students would be tempted to make themselves the hero of the essay and state what a profound impact they had on Anthony. Max turns it around, highlights his own failures, and gives the credit to Anthony. The balance of the essay isnt perfect. Maxs essay spends far more time describing Anthony than it does describing Anthonys influence. Ideally, Max could cut a couple sentences from the middle of the essay and then develop a little further the two short concluding paragraphs. Final Thoughts Maxs essay, like  Felicitys essay, takes some risks. Its possible an admissions officer would judge Max negatively for exposing his biases. But this is unlikely. In the end, Max presents himself as someone who is a leader (he is designing and teaching a class, after all) and as someone who is aware that he still has much to learn. These are qualities that should be attractive to most college admissions folks. After all, colleges want to admit students who are eager to learn and who have the self-awareness to recognize that they have room for a lot more personal growth.

Week 1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

Week 1 - Essay Example Chinatown first noticeable thematic device is the presence of an anti-hero protagonist who, although is basically a good guy, makes questionable moral decisions.  Gittes comes out as the prototypical noir style detective (Miller, Vandome and McBrewster 15). He is a solitary searching hero who comes out as someone with questionable moral attitude.Gittes indecisive morals are most of the times augmented and reflected in the people that are around him throughout the film. He is the good guy of the film, but his big ego at times drives him in making decisions that are questionable. This private investigator finds himself following his ego and ends up thinking he is ahead of the rest when in real sense he is the one who has been left behind. Gittes desperation in trying to assist the femme fatale of the film results in ruining her. Apart from the inducts of the anti hero protagonist, he comes out as a good guy. The plot of this film is full of deceit, greed and murder (Miller, Vandome and McBrewster 10). The audience is told the story through the central character who happens to be a former cop turned private detective. The good guy of the film, Gittes, tries very hard to seek the truth and to try to ensure that the good morals that are lacking in some characters are restored.. He starts with a case of adultery, but ends up getting caught in the middle of murder cases as well as the lies and conspiracies that appear to be entwined into the evil side of humanity. This investigator finds himself in more criminal case when he finally meets Evelyn. He entangles himself in case of corruption and even falls for Evelyn making the issues even more complicated and leaving the viewers questioning his decisions (Miller, Vandome and McBrewster 10). China town, though a film that was shot in the 1974, still has some feelings associated with the traditional film noir style. Some of the feeling can be traced to the cinematography that has been