Censorship Essay -- essays research papers

Censorship of Violence Why does anyone care if our society is aggressive? Does the kid who decides to fire a gun into his school do so because he watched Natural Born Killers? Is violence in our communities really causing anyone any abnormal amount of heartache? To the victims, and the families and friends of the victims, surely it does. Perhaps there are still some individuals who care just for the sake of caring, not because they are grieving a loss. But what does it all mean, and what is causing it? Some will point fingers at their televisions and movie theatres and assert that they are to blame. Not being one in the habit of pointing fingers and making absurd accusations, I will explain the free will of man and his inalienable rights to free speech. To censor television and motion pictures because of one faction's set of morals is earily similar to book burning. Censorship of media messages is an explicit violation of our constitutionally protected right to expression, and as such, should not be looked to as a solution for modern-day violence in society. The First Amendment states; "Congress shall make no law†¦ abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press." (Jefferson, US Constitution). We are an enlightened population well-versed in the understanding of our constitutionally protected natural rights. Freedom of Speech protects us, as citizens, from being persecuted for expressing our thoughts and ideas. This transcends into the idea of freedom of expression. We all have the right and ability to express ourselves, and to analyze the messages we receive. Our republic was founded on what were then radical, controversial ideas. The founding fathers understood the importance of freedom of expression. So why today do we not? Cries for censorship ring loudly across the nation. Kids are killing kids. Schools are slowly becoming places of violence, not educational institutions, and the solution is not to infringe upon our rights. Information is power. New ideas and thou ghts propagate improvement. Without free expression, this is not possible. To control the free exchange of thoughts, ideas, and social and moral inquiry, is to severely handicap the intellect of our society. First and foremost, censorship is a blatant violation of free speech. Second, it is a poor approach to controlling the omnipresent problem of violence in society. In the novel... ...lines of communication so that what is being watched is discussed. Teach the difference between reality and fantasy. It is not the duty of the government to monitor and regulate what Citizens do. This is a personal responsibility we have to ourselves. Open your eyes, pay attention to the messages around you, and make a conscious effort to analyze what you are accepting into your head. Censorship of media messages is an explicit violation of our constitutionally protected right to expression, and as such, should not be looked to as a solution for modern-day violence in society. Infringing upon our freedoms of speech and expression is not a substitute for being a responsible viewer. Paternalistic Moralism by the government limits our thinking. A universal code of acceptability confines our thoughts to that of one narrow faction. We have the right to express ourselves openly in many outlets. Censoring these outlets not only hurts the artist- be he a writer, painter, or musician, it also denies our society the opportunity to elevate its' thinking. Censorship of violent themes in the media accomplishes little to nothing, and has the exorbitant cost of our personal freedom of expression

Classroom Management Essay

You are the teacher of a 5th grade class. Two students finished their assignment early, one student arrived late, and one student is not attempting the assignment. Being able to have the skills to handle situations like this takes practice and experience. The skills that are required are the ones that complete Jacob Kounin’s Classroom Management Model, â€Å"Lesson Movement. † Kounin’s theory on classroom management was the first to integrate instructional and disciplinary aspects of the classroom. The basis of the model is for teachers to be organized, prepared, and use proactive behavioral management combined with high student involvement with the goal of leading to a more effective classroom while minimizing disruptive behavior. Kounin coins his theory as Lesson Movement, comprised of techniques called: withitness, overlapping, momentum, smoothness, and group focus (â€Å"Classroom Management Theorist and Theories/Jacob Kounin,† 2009). Withitness is the ability of a teacher to know everything that is going on in his/her classroom at all times to prevent discipline problems before they occurred. However, as important as it is for teachers to achieve this skill, it is just as important for students to believe they their teacher is â€Å"withit. † Students will still act disruptively if they feel the teacher does not notice them. Some ways that teachers can display this technique are: consistently suppress misbehaviors of exactly those students who began the problem; dealing with the more serious of two discipline problems occurring simultaneously; and decisively handling off-task behavior before it gets out of hand or imitated by other students(â€Å"Whom are We Talking About: Jacob Kounin,† 2008). Similar to withitness, overlapping involves the ability to attend to multiple classroom events at one time, and avoiding fixating on one event at the expense of all other classroom activities. For example, if a teacher is conducting small group assignments, and a pair is off task, a teacher may address them from a distance while still conducting the activity. (â€Å"The Kounin Model,† 2008). Momentum is keeping the lesson moving briskly, requiring the teacher to plan effectively to avoid slow downs. Kounin believes that teachers should not lecture for a long period of time to allow students to gain knowledge by moving around and maximizing their allotted time. By minimizing delays and interruptions, causes students will not lose interest and misbehave. (Charles, 1989). In conjunction with momentum is smoothness. While lecturing, a teacher must maintain direction and not drift off on tangents, be diverted with irrelevant questions and information or fall victim to â€Å"flip flops,† â€Å"dangles,† or â€Å"truncation. †Otherwise, students will be confused and act out from loss of interest. (â€Å"Classroom Management Theorist and Theories/Jacob Kounin,† 2009) Lastly, Kounin refers to group focus as the ability to engage the whole class. Some techniques he offers are: building suspense or ask community questions Though community questions may appear random, it draws the group’s attention and intrigue. The teacher must incorporate procedures to handle multiple situations at once to maintain group focus. For example, if a student completes an assignment early, he/she must have a back up plan such as providing another assignment or enrichment activity while he/she helps other students that are struggling (â€Å"Classroom Management Theorist and Theories/Jacob Kounin,† 2009). Kounin’s Model of Classroom Management is an important topic for teacher’s today, because it is one of the most difficult skills to acquire. Student-centered classrooms and discovery lessons are becoming much more popular in our classrooms, leading to a more active learning environment. Being able to handle multiple situations at once, keeping students engaged, maintaining momentum and smoothness in your lessons and transitions takes experience. These are the most difficult techniques for a first year teacher to learn; therefore, making them a habit during that year will allow for mastery of these skills to occur. I believe that Kounin’s Model is important to develop an effective classroom environment; however, discipline problems will occur, no matter the amount of preventive planning a teacher makes. Kounin does not address his procedures for disciplining, if he would or would not discipline children differently, nor does he address misbehaving as a response to some factor that is outside of the teacher’s control. As a teacher, I would incorporate Kounin’s theory in my teaching planning and practices, though remembering that each student may require different accommodations. References Charles, C. M. (1989) Building Classroom discipline: from models to practice. New York City, New York: Longmans Inc.. Teacher Matters, (2008). The Kounin Model. Retrieved May 31, 2009 Teacher Matters http://www. teachermatters. com/index. php? option=com_content&view=article&id=9:kounin-model&catid=4:models-of-discipline&Itemid=4 WikiBooks, Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. (2009). Overview/History of Jacob Kounin’s Work. Retrieved May 28, 2009, from http://en. wikibooks. org/wiki/Classroom_Management_Theorist_and_Theories/Jacob_Kounin WikiEd. (2008). Whom are we talking about: Jacob Kounin. Retrieved June 8, 2009 from http://wik. ed. uiuc. edu/index. php/Kounin,_Jacob.

The Egyptian Emporium Blog By Gemma Ellen Wood - 1719 Words

John Macias ID #90131885 The Egyptian Emporium URL: https://egyptianaemporium.wordpress.com/ For my blog review I decided to go with The Egyptian Emporium blog by Gemma Ellen Wood. This blog centers on Egyptian archaeology and particularly focuses and discuses Egyptian museum artifacts, mummies and tombs. The author of the blog is Gemma Ellen Wood, a post graduate with a Masters of Arts in Ancient Egyptian Culture and first class honors degree in Egyptology and on the pursuit for her PhD. From her blog posts it seems as though her intended audience for the blog is between amateurs and students but leaning more towards students as it seems the blogs are for academic purposes as she is reviewing and evaluating known artifacts, demonstrating although she is pursuing her PhD, she is not using it as a means to further her own level of degree as she is not making her own discoveries and using the blog as a means to publish her findings. The material is presented to the audience as reviews of past Egyptian discoveries such as tombs, des cribing their importance and what made them so unique and different mummies, not only of the Pharaohs but of others including a priest and a great royal wife. The first blog post I want to discuss is titled â€Å"Tuesday Tomb-KV2†. This post covers Egyptology as it focuses around the history and design of the tomb of Ramesses the IV. The tomb is a little over 3000 years old and located in the Valley of the Kings. Although the tomb was completed it is